THOBETSA! Okay, so this is my first story in the history of forever, so please don't forget to review. Thanks

Chapter 1: The road less travelled

Benjamin Tennyson was drenched from head to toe. There was nothing he could do to shelter himself from the rain pouring heavily down through his soaked clothes that had long since reached saturation as he couldn't remember where he had left his car. Somewhere on the highway perhaps. He kept his head down to stop raindrops coming into his eyes and carried on walking down the dark road towards Bellwood; finally relieved he was leaving Los Soledad. He could still hear the sirens of plumber emergency space ships over the loud shower of rain all the way down the street where he had just come from.
The image of the shocked plumbers' faces when they arrived and realised what had happened was forever burned into his memory. They had looked back and forth from Ben to the monster laying on the ground and back to Ben again as he walked away in disbelief. He was not used to having people look at him in that disturbing way, the same way they would look at Vilgax or- he stopped short of saying Kevin's' name in his mind. Finally Ben closed his eyes and looked up as if the rain would wash the memories out of his head, and cleanse his feelings of guilt. The rain wasn't bothering him at all; he had stopped caring as the rain helped him wallow in his melancholy. "It's going to take longer to get home like this…" he thought sadly to himself. "Or Maybe I just don't wanna go back home, maybe I shouldn't". "You have to go back eventually, Ben" came a voice behind him. Ben turned around startled.

He was not surprised though to see Professor Paradoxs' very imposing presence standing next to something very small that wasn't entirely visible in the dark, but he deduced that it could only be Azmuth; and surely enough, the tiny Galvin creature motioned Paradox to bend down and lift him onto the palm of his hand."Come Ben, lets take shelter under that tree, we need to talk" said Paradox, pointing to a nearby tree. They walked away in silence, with their heads down and nothing but the noise of the rain pounding their ears until a large tree covered them from the rain.
Ben figured Azmuth had come to take back the watch that he had found. He instructed the watch to come off of his wrist with voice command. He reached out his hand with the ultimatrix in his grip and motioned Azmuth to take it. A moment of silence pursued before Azmuth said finally "I remember why I created the ultimtrix; it was to insure peace and safekeeping, to keep people, creatures, aliens and all species across this vast universe safe from extinction. Then, you found it and used it to protect those who cannot protect themselves -he paused for a few seconds- what you did tonight was nothing short of bravery and unselfish leadership that I am so proud that you found the ultimatrix because you deserve it" he said valiantly.
"Azmuth please, don't; don't say that, I already feel guilty enough as it is- I don't deserve it, please take it" said Ben looking away and avoiding their gaze."No, I cannot do that Ben it's not mine, its yours and besides you need it to save the universe". "What makes you think I will carry on saving the world" said Ben coldly,"Unless", he said thinking of a good idea, "Professor Paradox you can take me back in time to stop all of this from happening", right? he said hopefully. " I'm sorry Ben, I can't take you back in time to fix this, It's not a good idea, just ask your cousin" said Paradox sadly.
"Ben you did what no one could have done, we don't blame you, you just need to explain to everyone so they can understand. " I can't go back not now" he said softly barely audible in the pouring rain. " I f you don't go back it'll make you look even more of a bad guy and everyone will forget you're a hero" said Paradox " C'mon, your last chance to get home quickly will be arriving soon, I suggest you'd better take it" he said. " Good luck Ben Tennyson" said Azmuth reassuringly. And with that they both vanished into thin air, just as a truck appeared and he decided to hitch a ride. The truck driver seemed nice enough and after the "Hey! You're Ben Ten aren't you? That he was all too used to, they were off.

Sitting in the truck drivers' passenger seat and occasionally nodding when he asked questions, Ben tried to gather his thoughts. "What a long night, and however long it's been it's still not over. I can't believe it; things always work out for me in the end, what happened this time. No one understands the huge pressure I have being the protector of the universe, why can't I make this go away?".He thought about what Paradox had said to him "I can't take you back in time to fix this, it's not a good idea, just ask your cousin". He felt his throat tighten as he thought about his cousin."I hope she'll forgive me…" and with that he knew what he had to do, he had to make her understand that he was only trying to protect her and their friends. Suddenly he felt the effects of walking in the rain and how severely it had drained him of his energy. Slowly his head began to droop down the cold window, and his eyes failed to stay open further sinking him into darkness…

"One more and this'll be over"… he said in his echoed robotic transformation 'ultimate echo echo' as he pointed the sharp end of one of Diamondheads' large crystals towards Kevins' disfigured face. "Ben! No! You can't do this, since when have you been a murderer?!" yelled his cousin. "I have no choice!, get out-of-the-way, Gwen I have to protect everyone" he replied. " You need to protect Kevin too; please give me a chance to heal him" she begged. His robotic eyes looked into her desperate eyes… Next thing they were in the lab; he had decided to wait and give Cooper a chance…but it didn't work. "IT DIDN'T WORK, HE'S WAKING UP!" Cooper yelled. Kevin growled awake and reached for Ben's neck. Ben sprang into action and transformed into 'ultimate echo echo' again and fired his sound disks at Kevin with all his might… then all he could hear was his cousin screaming in the background. He was at such close range… Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that; his cousin running towards where Kevin was falling; Darkstar fleeing before him; Cooper's face frozen in horror, all he could do was hear screaming, a scream that reverberated through his mind…

Ben woke up with a start. He didn't realise that he had fallen asleep in the took him a few moments to understand what had happened; he had just relived all that had happened that night in his dream. It was beginning to become a nightmare, and he couldn't trust his sleeping anymore. He knew that he had to settle this matter once and for all, but before he could think any further the truck driver announced "Here we go, Bellwood, say it's still raining out there; you need me to give you a lift to your neighbourhood or something?" "No thanks", said Ben as he stepped out of the truck; "There's something I need to take care of".

Wow, I can't believe it's done just like that! please read and review this chapter! Honesty will be more appreciated than flattery, so you can lay it on me pretty thick if you want to.