Chapter 1

The sun shone brightly overhead, gifting those below it with warmth and relief, relieving the irritation of most people in Bellwood. The town's near constant storm clouds that had plagued the city for weeks had finally lifted and everyone in town was taking advantage of it, whether they were playing sports or taking their work to peaceful fields.

After all the rain, everyone was looking for ways to enjoy the sun and fresh air and Benjamin Tennyson was no exception.

"Come on, surely you guys can do better than that!" He shouted happily, twisting around Kevin with ease before kicking the soccer ball towards the goal. His smirk disappeared and turned into a mock groan as a flash of blonde hair intercepted the ball's path before it was kicked back to the other side of the clearing. "I guess you really can then."

"Did you forget I spent a week at the Xiaolin temple?" Roxas asked cockily, a smirk of his own. "Rai's from Brazil. This is by far his favourite thing to do."

Shaking his head dramatically, he quickly spun around and headed back, hoping to get back near the goals before Danny took a shot. He needn't have worried however, as Kim's quick movements caught the flying ball with ease.

"Oh man, you would get the cheerleader in the goals." Danny sighed as Ben caught up to him. "I'll never get a shot in."

"That's the point." Kim called as she tossed the ball to Gwen. The fellow red head also proved more than Danny or Kevin could handle and quickly slid around both of them. Grinning mischievously as she approached the other team's goal, her finger glowed as she muttered a coupled of words under her breath and kicked the ball.

Roxas' eyes widened as the ball sped his way like a rocket. Though the others had missed it, he'd felt the presence of magic and as he had no way of stopping the ball without risking injury, he had no choice but to dive out of the way, only just escaping a serious blow to the head as the ball made it through the goal.

"And that's another point for us." Gwen cheered, Ben and Kim shouting woohoo behind her.

"Well you can get the ball, Miss magic." Roxas stated, crossing his arms and trying to look demanding, but faltering as everyone turned his way, suddenly looking self conscious, his arms tightening around his bare chest. "After all, you did it and you cheated. I remember us agreeing to no powers as Kim has none and mine would blow up the ball."

"But you guys are on opposite teams so it wouldn't matter anyway." Gwen said smugly as she wave her suddenly glowing hand. A few seconds later, the ball shot back out from where it landed, that being the lake and right into her waiting palm. "Now I believe your team starts off this time." She added, casually passing it to Danny.

"Guys, put that ball away. The food's ready." Max Tennyson called, waving a spatula.

"Sweet, I'm hungry." Danny cheered, taking off like a bullet towards the barbeque.

"Should we warn them about your Gramps' choices in food?" Kevin asked lowly, hanging back with Ben and Gwen as the others joined Danny.

"Nah, tell them after they've eaten it. In all honesty, I don't think Roxas will even care." Gwen answered, shaking her head amusedly.

"Especially if he's more worried about whether or not his shirt's dry yet." Ben added with a chuckle as Roxas stared forlornly at his dripping shirt.

Spending the day at the lake, everyone was only clad in their bathing suits, except for Max. However, when they got to Max's secret place, it proved to be still too cold for swimming. That didn't stop Kevin from pushing Roxas into the lake however, and unlike his board shorts, the shirt refused to dry, forcing the freezing boy to take it off. Had it been Ben or Kevin in that position it wouldn't be a problem, they were walking around shirtless to begin with, but like Danny, he proved to be very shy about his body and had gone to check on his shirt every ten minutes. Too bad it simply refused to dry.

"I don't know why he's so shy. He looks fine." Gwen commented with a shrug, not noticing the suddenly jealous look crossing Kevin's face.

"Let's just leave him be and see if there's anything I can stomach." Kevin muttered picking up the pace. Confused by the sudden attitude, Gwen turned questioningly to Ben, but her cousin could only shrug.

"This is... different." Kim commented, looking strangely at the food before her. Purple patties were definitely something she hadn't seen before. Nor ever want to see again.

"These are squid burgers. Dig in, they taste great." Max said proudly, throwing a patty in a bun, adding mayo and lettuce and taking a bite with a groan of pleasure.

"Do you think he'll be offended if I pass?" Danny whispered to Kim, looking a little green.

"Don't know. I could really used a Bueno Nacho right now." Kim replied, just as softly.

Roxas however, as Gwen predicted, didn't seem to mind at all. Giving up on his shirt, he walked to the barbeque, made himself a burger and chowed down. The others stared on in amazement as he finished his burger even faster than Max did, licking his lips as he finished.

Feeling someone staring at him, he turned his attention back to the others, another self conscious look replacing the happy one he'd worn the whole time he ate. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

"You just ate a squid burger!" Ben stated incredulously, a bit louder than he'd intended to. "You didn't even give it a second glance. And you liked it."

"Yeah... why is that surprising?" Roxas asked slowly and confusedly. "It's food, why wouldn't I eat it? Is there something wrong with it?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with it, don't worry Roxas." Gwen replied, smiling reassuringly. "It's just a weird food to us. Something that most people would be too grossed out to touch around here. Grampa tends to enjoy the weirdest foods from around the world."

"Oh, well I've had much weirder looking food in different worlds. Their appearance don't stop them from tasting good." Roxas responded almost defensively before turning thoughtful, as if he was trying to solve a complex puzzle. "Besides... I think I've had squid before. I remember that my other originates from an island and seafood was the most frequently eaten food and the food group with the most variety."

"Really? A place that loves all the different types of sea food? You'll have to take me there one day." Max said happily, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "There are a number of old fashioned recipes I used to love. Too bad I can't find them anymore. Either the recipes weren't attainable, or the fish went extinct."

"Sure. Just as soon as I get interdimensional portals down." Roxas replied happily, forgetting the looks he'd gotten before.

"It's so nice to find someone who shares my taste in good food."

"Let's just let them be." Danny suggested as Max and Roxas made more burgers for themselves. "If we're lucky, they'll eat all of the burgers and won't notice we didn't touch any."

"It could happen. They're too busy talking about food that I wouldn't touch if my life depended on it to notice what we do anyway." Kevin agreed before heading into the mobile home, muttering about good, edible food.

...

Across the lake, hidden within the trees, a dark smirk grew beneath a pair of red eyes. The boy's piercing gaze had been focused on the group for hours, watching how they moved and aced around each other. With so many new faces, he had to make sure that they possessed nothing that could ruin his plan.

By the time that he had busted out of jail and reclaimed his power, some of the planet's heroes had allied with Tennyson and he had no experience with them or their powers. The information he'd managed to pull up from Earth's databases was useful, but if he wanted to ensure that the plan worked perfectly, he needed to gather a lot more information on their skill levels and reaction times. So, like any great mind, he observed from afar as they moved and reacted to each other and their messing around gave him a distinct idea on each of them.

"Them being here makes this part of the plan harder, but in the long run, but it'll make the rest two phases so much simpler." He muttered to himself as he pushed himself to his feet, his hands clutching a very advanced looking alien gun. "In mere moments, we'll be rid of Tennyson, his sidekicks, his legendary grandfather and three other potential pains in the neck."

...

"Pizzas with maggot toppings?" Danny asked, gagging at the thought as Ben and Gwen laughed. "You could have warned us to bring our own food. Does your grandfather ever eat normal food?"

"Only when we drag him to a restaurant." Gwen answered, turning to look at the man in question affectionately. "And even then, he asks if they have any of his favourites."

Kim and Danny shivered at that while Ben just laughed. Watching the two of reminded him of the old days. That was exactly how he and Gwen had reacted most nights when Max put food on the table.

Man were those simpler times.He thought fondly, turning his gaze to the Rust Bucket. It's hard to believe that we're the same people who existed back then. Who would have thought we'd turn out the way we did?

Turning back to the lake, still thinking about the past, he completely missed flash of red and white and wasn't aware of any danger until a bright flash reached the corner of his eye.

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" He screamed, throwing himself onto the grass. Not bothering to question him, the others quickly followed suit as a beam of blue and white energy whizzed just over their heads and struck the barbeque, causing it to disintegrate instantly.

"What the heck was that?" Kim cried, jumping back to her feet. Glaring, she turned to the direction it came from, only to gasp, gobsmacked. There, about thirty feet away, was a white haired, red eyed version of Ben Tennyson, Omnitrix and all. "Ben, you never mentioned having a twin."

"That's because I didn't until about a year ago." Ben growled, glaring heatedly at his miscoloured match. "How did you get out of prison Albedo?"

"That's on a need to know basis." Albedo retorted, aiming his gun again. "And as you're about to die, you don't need to know."

"Watched it. That's a molecular disperser and a level 6 version to boot." Kevin cried, staring fearfully at the gun. "That thing will rip your molecules apart."

Tensing, Danny transformed at that as Roxas summoned his Keyblades, holding them defensively. Seeing little that she could do at that moment, Kim leapt behind the boys while Gwen joined Ben, between the others and Albedo.

"Thanks for gathering in one place." Albedo snarled and fired again, before any of them could so much as blink.

Relying solely on instinct, Gwen pushed Ben back into the others and thrust hers hands out. Screaming a spell, she shot her own darker blue beam at his, the energy of both colliding. However, instead of the beams fighting each other, as both battling entities expected, the energy gathered into a ball between their beams that quickly grew.

"What it this?" Albedo cried, looking on in terror as the ball grew and released wild streams of energy. Scared as to what would happen if it approached him, he increased the power of his weapons to its maximum. However, that only made the chaotic energy ball growl quicker, as did the wild streams.

"Gwen, everyone, get out of there." Max screamed, his eyes wide in panic as the energy became more and more dangerous. Ignoring his own safety, he charged towards Gwen, Kevin not far behind him.

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that two enormous tentacle like streams of energy shot from and around the sphere. Albedo was struck by one and sent flying painfully into the lake. At the same time, the other lashed at Gwen and moved on to hit Max and Kevin. Feeling like a thousand volts of electricity were surging through their veins, they too were blasted off into the air and smashed into trees. The three of lay limp where they fell.

"Gwe- ARGH!" Ben screamed. As he tried to get to his family, the ball, no longer being fed, imploded, covering a huge area in an extremely bright, blue light, encompassing every one of the remaining, standing teens. Their screams reverberated through the air as the light grew brighter and bright. A moment later the light faded away and the screams disappeared. When the light had completely disappeared, it was to reveal an almost empty field, containing only a damaged vehicle and an injured old man, teenage boy and teenage girl.

...

Gasping painfully, Albedo shakily crawled out of the lake. Bruises covered his body and his head was pounding. When finally made it out of the water, all he could do was fall down.

"That was definitely not in the plan." He groaned as he slowly managed to raise his hand holding his disrupter, only to find nothing but the handle remaining. "That's not good, they'll be able to..." Looking up, his eyes widened with pained glee at the sight before him. Four heroes gone and three more barely alive, all with their bodies twisting in painful, unnatural places. "I must have managed to destroy the others. Even if it were to search for me, they wouldn't leave their friends like this. And now, my injuries... and there's, I can make this even less conspicuous." Cackling painfully to himself, he pulled another device from his pocket and pressed the button. In a flash of light, his colour scheme changed so he looked exactly like Ben. Putting it back away, he belly crawled through the grass, slowly making it to a table by the van where one of the Guardians' communicators sat in plain sight. Still unable to stand when he reached the table, he reached up with his hand, crying out in pain the whole time and grabbed it. Opening it, he found it had a button to used to immediately contact the Satellite. Pressing it, he only had to wait a moment before a Japanese boy with really messy black air appeared on the screen.

"Valour's Light, what's going... Ben, what happened?" Gohan gasped, going from calm to panicked in an instant.

"Blasted by someone... Danny knew. Didn't get time to find out who. I'm hurt, Gwen, Kevin and Grampa are in serious... condition and the others... are gone." Albedo managed between groans, using his pain to aid in his act. Having the remaining Guardians believe he was Ben was critical to the plan.

"Hold on. Namine's already on her way." Gohan stated as a flash of white light flared to existence in the background. Nodding, Albedo cancelled the connection and waited.

Phase one complete and better than expected. Phase two going as planned. Ha ha ha, soon the Valour Guardians will be no more and their planet will share their fate.