Anti-Ben 10 Chapter One: And Then There Were Ten
Ben Tennyson wasn't your average student. The fact that he'd been sleeping in a tree since the school bell had rung for afternoon lessons was more than enough evidence to tell you the sort of person he was. He was tough, mean and barely liked people enough to make friends, he'd figured since it was the last day before summer vacation he wouldn't even put in his usual low standard.
He'd turned up to school five minutes before the lunch bell, beat up a few geeks and nerds for lunch money, had lunch then hid in the tree and fallen asleep. As the final bell of the day rang Ben woke, yawning slightly. He looked down as he heard voices below him, two other bullies of the school were cornering a nerd against his tree "Normally we'd beat you up then take your money, but since it's the last day of school we'll save time by not beating you to a pulp and just take your money" The taller of the bullies said, holding out his hand. His partner cracked his knuckles loudly and tried to look threatening. It was working.
Shaking his head Ben stood up on the branch and shouted "Hey!" looking up the bullies and nerd saw Ben in the tree "That's my bread and butter you're fucking with!"
Leaping from the tree Ben slammed into the two bullies, knocking the wind out of them as they hit the ground "Taking his money and NOT beating him up?" Recovering quickly Ben grabbed the tallest of the two by the shirt he reared his head back then swung it forward hard, head-butting the kid in the nose and letting him drop as he rounded on the other bully. The kid fell to the floor clutching his nose and groaning deeply as the blood spurted through his fingers in a thick crimson river.
Ben had been head-butting people for years and had gotten very good at it. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He grabbed the other bully by the shirt before he could run away Ben repeated the same move with the same effect, except for the added bonus of smashing his glasses. He dumped his limp and semi-conscious body on top of his blood stained friend. Ben stood on top of them and struck a triumphant pose, holding it for a few seconds he then rounded on the nerd
"Th... Thanks Ben." He gulped, hardly believing the meanest kid in school just saved him from being robbed.
"For what?" Ben asked. He leapt at the nerd, slamming him hard into the tree and tripping him to the ground by hooking his foot around the kids knee. Leaping on top of the nerd and pinning him to the ground he began rooting through the kids pockets for money. The nerd struggled only once. A knee to the face took care of that urge. After taking the kids money Ben then preceded to beat him up and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Once the only sound around Ben was that of the three kids groaning from the pain of their mutual beatings and possible internal bleeding, he finally stopped and rose from the 'corpse pile' as he dubbed it and smiled to himself "Yep!" He said with a cocky stretch. "Not a bad way to end the school year"
"Ben, get a move on" a voice shouted. Looking over his shoulder Ben saw his grandpa Max with his trademark Hawaiian shirt, goatee and cigar. He leaned against a large beige coloured RV which he himself had dubbed 'The Rust-Bucket.' "I want to get to the camp-site before dark"
"Don't worry grandpa" Ben smiled; out of all his family Max got him the most. He always said 'you're a Tennyson, so you're the best, it's just a matter of proving it to everyone else!'
Ben raced up to his Grandpa, pocketing the cash he'd taken. Max climbed aboard the RV and Ben was close behind, his excitement was growing with every step he took on board the Rust-Bucket. "I've been waiting for this all year, nothing is going to…" Ben stopped in mid-sentence as he stepped into the old RV. His stomach tightened and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. 'I feel a disturbance in the force!' He thought. He turned, "AW CRAP!" Sitting at the small table still, in her White and Blue cheerleader uniform and filing her nails was his cousin Gwen. She glanced up from her cuticle treatment and looked as annoyed as he felt about the fact that she was there
"What are you doing here? What's she doing here?" Ben shouted, turning to look at his grandpa who was seating himself into the drivers seat of the vehicle.
"Oh shut up already, Dweeb!" Gwen snapped. "This wasn't my idea. Someone," She paused to glare at the back of Max's head, "convinced my parents that this would be 'a good experience' for me" Gwen threw her nail file at Max. It missed and bounced off the back of his seat. "I wanted to live in the mall with my friends"
"This will be a good chance for you two get to know each other better" Max called over his shoulder as he strapped himself into the drivers seat and turned on the engine of the old R.V "Now shut up and deal, this is happening!"
"But... I... We...!" Unable to form any words Ben went with what seemed right and threw himself at Gwen, aiming to head-butt her.
Unfortunately for him Gwen saw what he was going to do, as Ben threw his head forward she pulled out a thick, hardback school book and held it up.
A dull thwack rang out as Ben's head collided with the book followed by a grunt of pain "Ow... Hardback... Pain" Ben clutched his forehead, wincing at the dull, throbbing pain, and staggered back a step then suddenly found himself flung backwards as the R.V launched itself forward with an astounding burst of speed for a vehicle so large and old. A loud clatter rang out as Ben slammed into the back of the R.V.
"Buckle up" Max shouted over his shoulder as he pulled onto the free way
"Thanks for the heads up, JERK!" Ben shouted out angrily. Looking into the back Gwen laughed as she saw Ben, upside down, on the back seat with a pissed off look on his face, unable to resist she pulled out her cellphone and took a picture. "So going on Facebook." She laughed to herself.
Pulling himself into the seat opposite Gwen, Ben slumped back, a bump was already showing on the front of his forehead where he'd head-butted Gwen's book. "I can't believe I've got to spend the whole summer with my queen-bitch of a cousin" he muttered to himself.
"You think I'm enjoying this?" Gwen snapped back. Pulling out a small diary Gwen opened it to show two pages covering the whole summer vacation organised into colour coded slots with times and little notes written in. "look how many parties I'm going to be missing, do you have any idea what this is going to do to my social standing?"
"Yeah, you might actually have to let people touch your boobs to get popular again. Instead of just letting them look. Y'know 'cause you're a whore" Ben smirked
'I got it!" Gwen glared.
"Something tells me its going to be a long summer" Max sighed to himself, pulling out a Cuban cigar and lighting it with a match, skilfully cutting through the traffic whilst working the steering wheel with his knee.
.***.
By the time night had arrived the Tennyson's had arrived and set-up at the camp-site in the Yellow Stone National Park.
Ben and Gwen were sitting at a picnic table waiting for Max to bring out the evening meal, which he had insisted upon cooking without any help. Not that either of them had actually volunteered, or would have if the opportunity had arisen.
Ben was drumming his fingers on the table which annoyed Gwen more than usual. Her temper was shorter than usual since she'd lost the signal on her phone almost an hour ago. She was at the limit of her patience and was just about to leap across the table and brake Ben's fingers when Max opened the door. He had a large bowl in his hands. "Grubs on!" He shouted enthusiastically.
"Finally!" Ben and Gwen said together. The only time they had ever agreed on anything this whole day. As they looked into the bowl they saw...large worms slithering around wriggling and squirming among each other in a van attempt to escape the bowl that was their prison.
"Oh barf-tastic" Gwen moaned, flopping back into her seat and clutching her stomach. It felt like it was turning inside out. A greenish tinge appeared around the sides of her face.
"Alright I give, what is it?" Ben asked, sounding nauseous himself.
"Marinated meal worms." Max smiled, pulling out a cigar and lighting it "considered a delicacy in some countries."he said through puffs of smoke.
"And totally disgusting in others, especially this one!" Gwen shouted as she watched one particularly fat and slimy worm flop from the bowl and crawl away across the table and to freedom. She had to force herself not to gag.
"Well, if you don't want these we've got smoked sheep's tongue!" Max smiled as he puffed on his cigar.
"Ugh, can't we just have a burger?" Ben asked, he'd forced several people to eat worms the past school year alone but there was no way in hell he'd ever voluntarily eat worms himself.
"Nonsense." Max laughed as though Ben had said something ludicrous. "This summer is all about trying and experiencing new things. I'll grab the sheep's tongue" Turning, Max went back into the R.V. The two knew he was serious in his menu.
Leaning in, Ben whispered to Gwen, "I've got a candy bar and a half eaten bag of corn chips in my backpack, what you got?"
"Some hard candy and rice cakes." Gwen responded.
"Think we can make them last all summer?" Ben asked doubtfully, slamming his head on the table with frustration and groaning loudly as he realised he'd just squished the one worm that was slithering around on the table. It was as slimy as it looked.
...***...
At the same time, high above, the planet two intergalactic ships were tearing through the heavens and firing upon each other with powerful laser blasts. One a trading ship designed for speed and the other a Battle Cruiser of the Galactic Alliance captained by Commander Vilgax; hero of the alliance and honorary member of the Galactic Enforces.
Both ships fired at each other but the Alliance ship obviously had the better fire power. As it's cannons blasted the engines of the smaller ship the shield's collapsed and the engine section exploded with a large and powerful blast.
.*.
On The Bridge:
"Their propulsion system has been destroyed Commander" The robotic droid at the helm informed the large creature in the captains chair. Commander Vilgax, tall and muscular. He cut an imposing figure of authority. His black and gold uniform only added to the aura of authority he seemed to exude from his green, tentacled, face.
"Prepare to bored," he called in a raspy voice. "I want that smuggler and the cargo contained and secured!"
.*.
Before the order could be fulfilled the smuggler ship targeted and fired upon the bridge section of the Alliance ship with a powerful laser cannon. It hit, a fluke one in a million shot. It hit the bridge section, destroying nearly everything within in a huge fiery explosion. The explosion caused a power surge through the power systems causing Vilgax's ship to fire. The powerful laser blast hit the vessel and the huge plasma explosion completely destroyed the back of the ship. Before the rear section of vessel was completely consumed in the explosion a tiny section opened up below the bridge of the vessel. A small escape pod flew from it just in time as the smugglers vessel was boarded. The small pod raced towards earth and away from the debris of it's original vessel and the remains of Vilgax's damaged ship. As the pod hit the upper atmosphere it broke apart into pieces and from within a small sphere was freed and proceeded to fall to the planet below.
.***.
Back on Earth.
Gwen sat at the table, carefully painting her nails. Near the small camp-fire Max had built, Ben sat in the dirt playing on his game console which a nerd had so generously donated to him after receiving a kidney punch. They sat with their backs to each other.
Max stepped out of the R.V, holding a large bag of marshmallows. He tossed his cigar to the ground and brushed it out under his shoe. "Who wants to roast marshmallows?" He asked, after a few seconds of not getting a reply "Okay, how about we tell scary stories?"
"Here's a scary story," Ben laughed over his shoulder. "A man and a woman do-the-do and nine months later out pops Gwen, after that the man was so guilty about knocking up a teen girl he was forced to marry her. The End." He laughed wildly.
Hearing a growl behind him Ben look over his shoulder "Uh-oh!" Before he could move Gwen leapt from her seat and landed on his back, pinning him to the ground. She grabbed his arm and twisted it up his back as far at it would go. Until it felt like it was going to snap. "Say it twerp, say it or I break it off!" She growled furiously. Max ignored all of this. He just sat at the table and lit another cigar. They'd been like this since they were two. Nothing he said was going to change anything.
"NO!" Ben shouted up at her. He struggled and writhed underneath her but Gwen had him pinned tight. She pushed and pushed and hot fire burned through the joints of his arms as they were pushed to breaking point.
"Say it!" She shouted down at him, tightening her grip on his wrist and pushing more.
"Fine, I... Love you" Ben said through clenched teeth.
"No! Say it right" Gwen twisted the arm a little more making Ben grunt in pain
"Agh, I... Wuv you!"
"Ha, you're my bitch!" Gwen laughed cruelly. Just to humiliate him further she kissed him on the cheek before letting go of his arm and leaping off him and back to the table, well out of range of any kicks and punches Ben might want to try in revenge. He'd have to get up and chase her and she knew she could run faster than him.
Ben picked himself off the ground slowly, rubbing his sore arm gingerly. He noted the red nail paint on his arm. He glared at Gwen. Opening his mouth to say something, nothing came out. He couldn't think of anything clever enough and just stood there with his mouth open for a second "... I'm going to take a walk." He growled sulkily.
Watching Ben walk into the woods Max sighed shaking his head and took a long drag on his cigar. "I think they're starting to grow on each other" He sighed heavily.
.*.
Kicking random twigs, bushes and stones Ben took his anger out on nature "Stupid Gwen and her stupid martial arts. This is going to be the most stupid summer ever! who does she think she is ruining my summer? Selfish bitch!"
Suddenly overhead there was a sounds of an explosion like thunder. Ben looked up into the cloudless sky just in time to see a bright streak burn through the sky "Cool, a shooting star." He was half tempted to make a wish. Gwen losing her looks and gaining about 500 pounds seemed pretty adequate.
Suddenly the shooting star changed direction and made a right angle turn and flew straight at Ben. "Wha?" Ben cried as he raced away from the spot and, he hoped, from the giant flaming something that had decided to target him. The fiery thing slammed into the ground right in the spot where he'd been standing seconds before. The explosion from its impact was so powerful it sent him flying into the air like a Hero in an action movie. It was always a lot cooler to watch than actually go through it. Ben shouted in fear and got a mouth full of dirt as he slammed into the ground face first. As the dust settled Ben spat out of his dirt ball. That's what dirt tasted like? Maybe he'd go easier on feeding it to the nerds and geeks? Maybe not. But he wasn't willing to try any more in the near future. "What the hell?" He said as he got to his feet. He looked up at the source and saw a small crater where he'd previously been standing "Whoa" He said in a weak voice. His heart was raced at a thousand miles an hour and he couldn't stop trembling. Pulling himself up Ben looked into the crater, you might as well look at the meteorite that tried to kill you. Besides it might be valuable to some science guys somewhere. In the bottom of the crater wasn't the smoking piece of rock he'd expected to see. In the bottom of the hole was a metal sphere.
Ben leaned in as far as he could dare. The ground suddenly crumbled and collapsed from underneath his feet. He fell butt first down into the crater. He landed hard and slid and skidded in the dirt, feeling sharp stones and twigs scrape and dig into his back. He finally skidded to a halt in the bottom of the crater, in front of the large metal sphere.
"Ow! This day just keeps getting worse." He moaned furiously. "My bad luck is NEVER going to run out!" Slowly picking himself up again his attention returned to the weird metal sphere that he'd mistaken for a shooting star. What on earth was it? Some kind of satellite? Dollar signs flashed behind his eyes. He thought of what kind of reward NASA would pay for returning a downed satellite. He would have to get this thing back to Grandpa and the RV. He wondered if it was cool enough to hold? He reached out a hand to test the temperature of the metal. As he did the metal sphere opened with a loud hydraulic HISS. Any normal person would've probably taken a step back but Ben not being normal in any way leaned his face inwards to get a closer look. From inside the now open ball issued out a cloud of mist. As the mist started to clear he caught sight of some ominous looking green glowing light and heard a loud beep. The mist cleared and revealed what looked like a glowing green watch sitting inside the sphere. Ben stared at it curiously. What was a watch doing inside some satellite? Suddenly the green glow of the watch intensified, the band opened and the watch leapt up like it was alive ad clamped itself tightly onto Ben's bare wrist. Ben cried out in horror, leaping back and jumping out of the crater and rolling on the forest floor shaking his arm wildly. "Oh god its eating my arm!"
.*.
Back at camp Max slowly smoked his way through his cigar and looked around at the dark of the forest beyond their brightly lit camp.
Gwen was painting her nails, again. She's changed out of her cheerleader outfit and into more casual clothes; a knee-length skirt and a tight top that showed off her midriff. She was repainting her nails to match the new outfit.
"Ben's been gone a while." Max said out loud to himself. If they were near civilisation he might think about checking the cops for any juvenile arrests. He would even think about bail money. But out here in the woods his thoughts were; "oh well, what's the worst that could happen?"
"He could be chased down, torn to pieces and eaten by a bear." Gwen said with a smile, looking up from her freshly painted nails she met the unamused expression on Max's face "I can dream can't I?" She shrugged and let out a deep sigh. She tried her cell phone in the hopes that a bar of signal had found its way to her in the last ten minutes. It hadn't.
.*.
Back in the forest Ben had calmed down after realising that all his limbs were in tact and he wasn't being eaten alive by some kind of alien watch. He was now busy trying to take it off. The strap was seamless with no kind of catch or release button or anything of the kind. Right now he was trying to wedge a stick between his arm and the strange watch, unfortunately all this did was stab and cut his skin with splinters of wood until he bled and, finally, the stick snapped in two. Swearing loudly Ben tossed the two halves of the stick away and slumped to the ground. He was thankful the watch wasn't trying to eat his arm. Or whatever it was. Watches weren't placed inside satellites, they didn't move and leap onto people at will and they certainly didn't have straps that showed no way of getting them off again once on. Now that he thought about it he realised that the face had no numbers either. He had no clue what this thing really was. Whatever it was he was stuck with it, for now. Turning his wrist over and over Ben examining at the strange watch (he decided that's what he was going to call it; that's what it looked like anyway). The only thing on it looked like a large button on the side and a circular screen where the watch face would be. No numbers, only a symbol that looked a little like an hourglass.
Thinking he'd already gone this far and tried everything else Ben pressed the button,secretly hoping that a countdown wouldn't begin. There was a scare for a second as the watch made several beeping noises, then the circular screen rose up about half an inch from the watch. The hourglass symbol changed and showed a weird shape that looked like a silhouette. Ben looked close at the tiny image. It looked like a guy with weird wavy hair standing up. "Cool." He said to himself out loud. It was cool, but wholly unhelpful. He'd have to figure out what it meant later. He had to get the watch off. You couldn't sell the thing back to NASA if you were wearing it. Ben pushed the screen down. There was a bright, blinding,, green light and he started to feel weird, like his body was twisting, changing, was he becoming taller?. His skin itched and felt different and he started to feel warm against the cool night air.
The light went as quickly as it came and as Ben looked down and saw he was on fire.
So astoundingly shocking and unbelievable was this fact that it actually took a second for Ben's brain to truly realise what being aflame meant. Then it clicked and Ben did what any sane, normal person would've done, and totally freaked out "FUCK! I'm ON FIRE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and ran around wildly, waving his arms and running blindly into everything nearby. After running around for a few seconds it occurred to Ben that he didn't feel hot or any pain and certainly wasn't dying; as was traditional when you found your entire body burning. "Hey, I'm on fire, and I'm ok!" He laughed loudly to himself.
Ben not looked over his new body properly. He was tall, at least as tall as Grandpa Max and as far as he could see he was just made of fire. A living thing of fire. "Fucking-A. Just Too Cool! I'm a whole new level of bad ass, and it's hot!"
Looking around Ben picked a tree close to him "I wonder?" An evil grin appeared on his burning face. "Time for a test run." Pointing a finger at the tree Ben concentrated. A fireball burst from the tip of his finger and flew at the tree, the branch it hit exploded into ash and burning, smoking, splinters. "Awesome!" He yelled triumphantly. "This is totally awesome!" Ben laughed. "Now no-one'll mess with me. Not even Gwen!" He said with a laugh as this realisation came to him. "Next time I see her I'm so kicking her ass."
Putting his hands together Ben formed a large fireball "Likin' it!" Ben threw the fireball hard. It flew through three trees before it exploded, spreading sparks and flames to surrounding bushes and branches "Oh man, I'm setting a new record for awesomeness!" Ben laughed as he walked through the fire. It didn't hurt. If anything the fire felt better than the cool night air, comfortable. He didn't notice how quickly the flames were spreading.
.*.
At the camp Max and Gwen saw the thick column of smoke raising above the tree line.
"What's that?" Gwen asked, pointing to the smoke.
"Looks like the start of a forest fire," Max said with concern. "I suppose we should call the rangers office, we don't want to get caught in the middle of it. It's probably some idiot blazing up, getting high and just dropping their match's into some bushes." It took a split second but one name came straight to both Max and Gwen's mind "Ben!"
Opening a metal box in the Rust Bucket, Max pulled out two fire extinguishers "You'd better take this."
"Damn it!" Gwen growled as she took the extinguisher. "If my nails, clothes or hair get ruined I am so snapping his arm off." Gwen growled, pulling the pin out and getting the fire extinguisher ready as they ran into the forest.
.*.
Back in the forest Ben was putting his hands on anything not already burning "This goes way beyond cool!" He chuckled. The whole forest was being burned down and he was the one doing it, him all alone, without even a lighter or matches. Behind him came a loud hissing noise. Ben recognised the sound almost instantly. He'd set off more than his fair share in school; the sound of a fire extinguisher. There was nothing like the look on a nerds face when you stuck the nozzle down his pants and just fired that thing off. But who was setting one off in the middle of the woods? Were they trying to put out his fire? Spoil his fun? He'd show them. Give them the fright of their lives when the fire jumped out and said "Stop it!"
Gwen released the cold foam on the base of a tree that was just starting to burn. The fire was spreading rapidly and her efforts didn't seem to be doing anything to slow its progress. She felt like she was trying to stop the Titanic from sinking by bailing it out with a coffee mug. But she kept at it. They had to make sure the fire didn't reach their camp before the rangers came.
A sudden wave of heat flared up behind her. Her first thought was that the fire was right behind her. She whirled round and sprayed quickly. "THE HELL!" The thing she had sprayed shouted at her furiously.
It was a man. No, a Thing. A Thing made of fire! A fire thing standing right in front of her!
Ben growled. That foam hurt. Ironically, it burned.
Gwen's eyes grew wide and vacant as her brain struggled to process what she was looking at. Then, like Ben, it clicked. Her reaction was the same too. She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Shut up already!" Ben yelled at her angrily. "I know I look weird but..." Gwen didn't even hear him. She swung the extinguisher hard and into the side of his face sending him flying backwards several feet. He slammed hard into the ground. The pain was indescribable. For a second he saw his worst nightmare; two Gwen's.
As Ben was picking himself up he got another face full of foam "I don't know what the fuck you are, but if you know what's good for you you'll stay the fuck down!" Gwen screamed, pointing the extinguisher at him like the barrel of a gun. Glaring at Gwen Ben smirked and pointed his finger at Gwen's skirt. The edge of it caught flame "The Fuck?" She screamed. She quickly put out the flames with tricky aiming of the extinguisher. She hadn't been burned but her skirt was ruined; a long black charred line of material, two inches long where the flames had eaten at her clothing. She glared at the creature as it started laughing. Made of fire or not she was going to show it that you didn't burn Her clothing and get away with it. She pulled the extinguisher back to hit it again "I warned you!"
"Don't even think about bitch queen!" It snapped as it climbed to his feet.
That made her stop. He sounded familiar. Too familiar. It couldn't be, could it? "...Ben?" Gwen gasped, amazed. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Well when I was walking a meteor nearly splattered me but it wasn't a meteor or a satellite but a weird watch that jumped onto my arm and I thought it was eating me but it wasn't so I tried to get it off but I couldn't so I pressed a button and pushed the screen down and I turned into This and set the forest on fire! Isn't it awesome?" Ben panted as he caught his breath.
They both jumped, startled, by the sound of someone approaching quickly. Grandpa Max raced into view.
"Gwen" Max shouted as he ran up to her. He skidded to a halt as his eyes focussed on Ben. "What in the...?"
"Grandpa, guess who!" Gwen pointed to Ben.
Ben smiled sheepishly and waved lightly "Hi grandpa it's me, Ben."
"Ben?" He gasped, shocked. "What the hell happened to you?" Max asked as he took a step closer.
"Well when I was walking..." Ben began bit was cut off by Gwen.
"We'll have time for that later, right now we've got a more immediate problem, we have to put this fire out!"She indicated the great inferno that had begun to surround them. The whole forest was going up while they were standing in the middle of It and talking.
"Are you kidding?" Ben demanded. "This is my best work, give me one good reason to put it out?" He looked around him proudly.
Gwen looked at him darkly and folded her arms across her chest. "How do you think grandpa's gonna feel if the Rust Bucket burns down and You're responsible?" She asked snidely.
Looking at Max, Ben saw he had a look on his face that said 'You don't want to know'
Clapping his hands together, Ben nodded, "OK how do we put this bitch out?" He asked quickly, not wanting to cut his vacation, or his life, short.
Max thought hard for a second. "Back fire!" He declared loudly after a moment. "start a new fire and let the two snuff each other out, got it Ben?"
"Burn more stuff, what's to get?" Ben shrugged his shoulders casually and raced off through the burning forest until he was past the fire and into clear, untouched, forest land. Once he was a good distance from the fire he cracked his knuckles loudly and held up a hand. Concentrating hard, a stream of fire shot out his palm, igniting the tree's and bushes with intensely raging flames that built into a great wall of fire in seconds.
The two great walls of fire burned and, for a second, Ben thought this wasn't going to work. Then the two inferno's seemed to move like they were alive; two great beasts coming together for battle. The storm of fire burned and raged with unbelievable intensity and then just as suddenly as it had started the battle ended with both fires dying out, their fuels gone, the oxygen burned away, they simply could not survive.
Once the fire's had burned themselves out Max and Gwen found Ben again who had a smug look on his face "Nice plan grandpa, worked like a dream."
Max smiled and nodded. He pulled a cigar from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt. He leaned in close to Ben's head and lit the cigar off the flames coming off him. Taking a large puff Max said "I love it when a plan comes together."
"Dude, personal space" Ben pulled back as Max chuckled.
"Well we better get out of here before someone turns up, plus you still owe me an explanation young man."
.***.
High above the planet the Alliance ship was going under rapid repairs by it's robot drones. Most of the systems had been restored but the bridge was still out of action. Deep in the ships medical bay was a large tube filled with a clear, green-coloured, liquid, inside was the remains of Commander Vilgax. Barely a shell of his former self, his arms and legs were gone, along with most of his torso and his face held bad burn scars. But there was enough of him left alive for reconstruction.
Even though he was inside the pod, and most of him was missing and waiting to be regrown, he was still commander of the ship. Right now he was receiving a status report from a drone acting as the first officer.
"What do you mean it's not on the ship?" He demanded furiously. "This battle nearly cost me, cost the crew, their lives and it's not there?"
"Systems report a pod was released just before we bordered." The drone informed him. "Trajectory indicates it landed on the planet below."
That was bad and Vilgax knew it. If some primitive got a hold of the weapon...It couldn't be allowed to happen. He had no choice. A top level threat required a top level response. It had to be kept safe, at all costs.
"Send the Retriever!" Vilgax rasped loudly.
.***.
Back at the camp Ben had finished explaining everything that had happened to him to Max. From the shooting star, right up to the moment he'd come up on Gwen. He left out the part of her flooring him with the fire extinguisher. Unfortunately Gwen was more than happy to include that little detail
"So this, watch, just leapt up onto your arm?" Max asked.
"Yeah, this time it wasn't my fault" Ben pressed intensely. Gwen threw a marshmallow at him, he caught it and within a second it caught flame and he tossed it into his mouth. "I swear."
"It's always your fault" Gwen muttered as she ate a marshmallow straight from the bag.
"Listen you little-" Ben was cut off as Gwen sprayed him in the face with the fire extinguisher. "Will you stop that?" He yelled at her. "You got how much that stings?"
"I can guess" Gwen smiled cruelly and sprayed him again.
"Knock it off you two!" Max snapped. Gwen put the extinguisher down and Ben wiped the foam off his face. "I believe you Ben" Max grabbed the extinguisher before Gwen decided to pick it up again.
"Think he's going to stay a monster forever? Are we gonna have to fireproof the Rust Bucket?" Gwen asked. Sulking now her fun had been taken away.
"He's not a monster, he's an alien" Max blurted out. He stopped as he saw the looks on their faces and quickly added, "well look at him, what else could he be?"
"I don't want to be stuck like this," Ben said in a panic. "Sure I look cool, and I'll scare the crap out of people. But what good is it? Any money I grab is going to burn or melt" He moaned.
"Nice you have your priorities sorted." Gwen muttered.
"Don't worry Ben, we'll figure this out." As Max was talking there came a beeping sound from the symbol in the middle of Ben's chest. It flashed red in time with the beeps. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light. When it was gone Ben was in his normal body again.
"Hey, I'm me again." Ben jumped to his feet and laughed ecstatically. Instantly he got a kick to the stomach from Gwen. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his belly and gasping fr breath. "What was that for?" Ben said as his face grew red.
"Well for one, setting my skirt on fire. And two you ruined my nails, again!" Gwen held up two of her fingers to show Ben her chipped nail polish, which had been ruined by the soot and heat "and, I liked it better when you were a walking BBQ. I could kick your ass with a water pistol."
Picking himself up Ben started to try and pull off the strange watch again but it didn't move at all again. "Dammit! Still can't get this thing off." Ben grunted heavily and gave up. It felt like he was pulling all the skin off his arm.
"Better not mess with that thing till we know more about it." Max advised. "I'll head over to the crash site and see what I can find, you two stay here" Picking up a flash light Max walked into the forest leaving Ben and Gwen alone.
.***.
Above the planet on the Alliance ship a hatch opened in the base of the hull a probe flew out at high speed and headed down to the planet. As it crashed into the ground near to the same crater where the strange watch had landed.
Once it had cooled enough the probe cracked open like a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon. Arms, legs and a huge head revealed themselves. It rose out of its crater and walked like a spider across the ground. After a quick scan of the immediate area it found the small capsule the watch had been hidden in. It scanned the pod and discovered the item was no longer there. It followed its programming and destroyed the sphere. It may have been metal and simple circuits but it was still too advanced for the world. The alloy alone could advance their primitive technology hundreds of years ahead of their time. It now followed the second part of it's program; find and secure the weapon; guard it until they could be retrieved. It would prevent the technology falling into the wrong hands at all costs. Use of lethal force was not advised, but it was authorised. Another hissing noise and from it's shoulders, what looked like two large disks detached themselves from the main body. The two flying scout drones flew into the forest, scanning for any sign or signal from the watch.
.*.
Back at camp Ben sat on the bumper of the R.V twisting and taping the screen of the watch "I wonder what this does?" He asked himself, before he pushed the button he made sure he was alone. He seemed to be. He didn't know where Gen was and he didn't care as long it was away from him.
Something hit him hard around the back of his head and Gwen shouted "Caught ya!" She laughed as Ben glared at her and rubbed the back of his head.
Mock laughing back "Very funny," He said sarcastically. "Like your face!" He turned his back to her and looked to the watch. He started turning the small circular screen again.
"Hey grandpa said not to mess with that thing." Gwen slapped Ben's hand away from the watch. He clenched his fists at her angrily.
"What's your point?" He snapped. He rose the watch to his mouth and started to bite it. He'd tried everything else.
"Did your parent's drop you when you were a baby?" Gwen scoffed.
"Several times, but that's not the point. Aren't you curious what else this thing can do?" Ben waved the watch under her nose. Gwen simply pushed it away and checked her freshly re-painted nails and said "not in the least"
Cocking an eyebrow Ben asked "Are you sure you're related to me?"
Gwen mimicked the look and stared right back at him. "Dunno. I'm still not convinced your parents didn't just adopt you from the zoo."
.*.
At the crash site Max sifted through the dirt, noting some strange tracks and small shards of metal, scorched and scattered in a small blast pattern. Picking up a larger piece to get a closer look. Melted, scorched, carbonised and useless. Max said out loud "I don't like this. Not one bit."
.*.
"Don't you get it?" Ben argued with Gwen "if I can figure this thing out I can do pretty much whatever I want, rob banks, steal prized possessions, who knows I might be able to get you a decent dress sense."
"So, what did it feel like?" Gwen asked as she roasted a couple of marshmallows over the fire on a large stick "turning into that alien thing?" If he wasn't going to shut up about it he could at least stick to subjects she found mildly interesting. Robbing banks? He should start such sentences with 'Once upon a time' it might make them more believable.
"At first, it freaked me the fuck out" Ben sighed, "it felt like I was me, but also someone else."
"I feel sorry for them." Gwen muttered to herself. Hearing a loud beep behind her she looked at Ben and at the watch and saw the screen had risen.
"Hey, I think I figured how I did it before." Ben smiled, twisting the screen slightly and watched as the pictures and silhouettes changed. "Think I should try it out?"
"I wouldn't" Gwen said simply.
"I know you wouldn't" Ben scoffed. "But what would a person who likes having fun do?" Without waiting for an answer he pushed the screen down. He felt the familiar feeling of his body changing shape, forcing him onto his hands and feet which were turning into large paws.
When the light had disappeared what stood in front of Gwen was an extremely large, orange furred creature that looked like a lage dog with no eyes and something that looked like gills on his neck and a vary large mouth, with very large teeth.
"Ew, this things more disgusting than you are normally, I might have to put a flea collar on you."
Unable to say any real words all Ben could do was growl and roar and shake his head side to side, sending globs of drool flying.
"And no eyes?" Gwen waved her hand in front of Ben's face. Suddenly a nasty idea jumped into her mind. Quietly she picked up the small branch that was holding her marshmallow's. Getting a good grip on it she walked behind Ben and aimed for his rear.
Hearing something moving behind him Ben 'looked' in that direction. It was the only way to describe it. It wasn't sight as he'd previously known it, it was more a combination of smell, sound, taste and a very sensitive temperature sense that all came together to make something like sight to this creature. His gills opened and he 'saw' the heat outline of Gwen's body and the hot marshmallow's she'd raised, feeling the temperature the same way a person feels the heat from flames. He smelled the singed wood, the perfume she was wearing, the smell of the nail polish on her fingers, and even the faint scent of that burnt part of her skirt.
Guessing what she was about to do Ben leapt at the last second as Gwen swung the branch. She missed and the force of her swing made her spin, overbalance and fall to the ground. Ben leapt far, landing on top of the R.V. He looked over at Gwen and gave a weird snorting laugh as she picked herself up and brushed the dirt of her clothes. "OK, not so blind then" Gwen said annoyed. She tossed the small branch aside.
Jumping from the R.V Ben flipped in the air and landed neatly in front of Gwen, breathing heavily in her face. She waved her hands in front of his mouth. "Ugh two words, Breath, Mints" She gagged as Ben breathed on her.
Turning around Ben kicked dirt into Gwen's face and leapt into the forest. His hands turned clawed feet grabbed branches tightly and he swung agilely and quickly from branch to branch and tree to tree.
"Ben get your furry ass back here!" Gwen shouted "I'm gonna tell grandpa you turned into a weird alien dog and leapt into the forest and swung from branch's..." She stopped and sighed heavily as she realised what she was screaming into the woods. She felt a headache coming on. "This day has been too weird." She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
As Ben swung from tree to tree he felt something watching him. Whatever it was he didn't like it. Landing, he opened his gills. DANGER. He leapt, just in time to dodge a laser blast that incinerated the spot where he'd been standing.
The droid followed him, firing several more times but missing. Ben leapt into the trees, jumping and climbing into the higher branches and into the cover of the foliage.
The droid lost site of him and paused on it's flight and started scanning the area. It couldn't find him.
Roaring ferociously Ben leapt from the trees and landed on top of the droid. He dug his sharp claws and teeth into its metal body. His sharp claws tore into it. Shreds of metal flew in all directions. With a roar Ben grabbed and pulled of its electronic arms. The droid started to fly wildly, through low hanging branches and even through tree's themselves. It's tough casing smashed through them like a hammer through glass. Ben clung on for dear life, feeling the force of every impact. Not wanting to find out which body was tougher Ben roared with rage and grabbed the head of the droid and tore it off. He tossed it aside and into the woods.
Hearing a now familiar beeping sound Ben looked at the symbol that was now located on his left shoulder. He quickly remembered what it meant. He leapt from the droid and let it fly into a large rock. As he landed on the ground Ben turned back into his human self. He landed hard, rolled a little but was pretty much unhurt. Looking back he saw the smouldering debris of the shattered drone and laughed triumphantly. "Oh yeah! Who's the ultimate bad ass? The best there is! No one can stop..." He stopped. Looking around Ben saw a second robot drone and it was right in front of him "Me?" He gulped as it pointed its laser at him, set to Maximum Stun.
Out of nowhere a shovel whacked the drone on the head, knocking its sensors off-line. It flew wildly and crashed into the ground. "Back off metal head!" Gwen shouted, whacking it several more times. "No one messes with my Bitch, but me!"
"Never thought I'd say this, but am I glad to see you!" Ben watched as the drone burst into flames. Gwen grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him back to the camp as the droid exploded.
"Grandpa is so going to kill you. And I'm going to film it. And enjoy it!"
.*.
"I had a feeling you'd want to get friendly with that thing," Max chided Ben in a raised voice. "That's why I told you not to mess around with it until we know what we're dealing with!" Ben hung his head, Gwen watched with a smirk on her face and her cell-phone in her hand, filming everything.
"Sorry grandpa, but at least I figured out how this thing works, you press this button and when the ring pops up you turn it until you find the guy you want, then slam it down and BAM, you turn into one of ten totally bad ass aliens!" Ben laughed.
"Or smelly ass aliens" Gwen shuddered, remembering the alien dogs breath. She stopped filming with her cell-phone. Now that Ben wasn't being punished anymore the fun had gone out of it for her. "But what about staying as a totally bad ass alien and not transforming back into my bitch?"
Slamming a fist onto the table Ben pointed a finger right in front of Gwen's face "I am NOT your bitch!" He shouted. Before he could move Gwen grabbed his finger tightly and twisted it back, hard.
"OW! OW!" Ben pulled, trying to free himself from her. Gwen just tightened her grip and pushed his finger back further. "All right already!" Ben snapped. "I wuv you!"
As she let go of his finger Gwen had an even more smug look on her face that usual.
"Anyway," Ben continued as if the last few seconds hadn't happened. He was going to pretend they hadn't from now on anyway. "I... Haven't figured that out yet."
Taking a cigar out of his shirt pocket Max lit it and took a few short puffs. "Well with something that powerful we better help you figure it out, and fast."
Staring at Max for a second Ben cheered out "Alright! Now that's the grandpa I know. What do we do first?"
"Well duh! You pick and alien and transform." Gwen said sarcastically. "But outside, we don't know how big you'll get."
"Good idea Gwen." Max agreed. "OK Ben fire up the watch and show us what you got."
Following Max outside Ben quickly picked an alien and slammed the ring down. Once the light had faded Max and Gwen saw a large, green alien that looked like it was made out of solid crystal, standing in front of them "Oh man, this is way beyond cool!" Ben said in a deep voice.
"A crystalline alien?" Gwen walked up to Ben and tapped a fist against his arm. "Must be tough to even scratch"
Picking up a rock Max tossed it to Ben who grabbed it, clenching his fist tight the rock as crushed into dust that ran out from between his fingers.
"I've got the feeling I'm going to like this one." Ben smiled. "What next?"
"Well hell, why not give our fellow campers a little scare?" Gwen suggested, a cruel smile spreading on her face. "and if we make a little something on the side from the stuff they leave behind, all the better"
"Now you sound like you're related to me." Ben smiled.
"What are you two talking about?" Max snapped as he flicked away the butt of his cigar, his tone was deep and full of disapproval. "You are talking about taking things from peoples R.V's and tents. Petty Theft!"
"So?" Gwen and Ben asked together.
"So?" Max said, shocked. "We're Tennyson's. We go after the big scores! Not dime-store dealings and petty mugging. We're better than that!"
"C'mon Grandpa," Gwen said in a saccharine sweet tone. "It's not like we're just grabbing an iPod or cell phone from one tent. We're robbing the whole sight. There's got to be, like, what? 20, 30 people here? 20 cell phones at $50 each, not to mention iPod's, CD Players, Sat-Nav systems. Even a few car radios if we have the time. Doesn't sound like a small-time deal to me."
Max lit himself a new cigar. The grin on his face told them both he was convinced.
Keeping in the tree line Ben, Gwen and Max looked at the camp-site
Over a dozen R.V's were parked for the night and there were plenty more tents pitched. There were several families sitting out camp fires, or huddled together at picnic tables over lamp light. They were chatting away, laughing and happy. Oblivious to their visitors. "Alright," Ben whispered "time to get this party started."
"Remember Ben, you focus on making panic. We'll grab what looks expensive" Max reminded him. Nodding, Ben ran from the cover of the trees roaring as loud as he could. He leapt around and stomped his feet. Leaping hard he smashed through a wooden table. The family that had been sitting there scattered just in time. The wooden table was turned into kindling under his immense weight. He then moved to an R.V. Without even making an effort he easily tore through the metal front, turning the radiator and engine into scrap.
"Panic achieved." Ben thought to himself as a dripping wet teenage girl ran out of the R.V, wrapped in a towel and very little else "There's an image I'll not soon forget." He laughed a little and moved onto the next tent. The panicked screams of the people around him was almost as entertaining as a good action movie. They were running away and into the woods, leaving their camp sites, and valuables, behind.
As Ben moved from camp to camp, Max and Gwen followed at a slight distance, quickly looting everything they could find inside the tents, cars and R.V's. They were quick and silent and all the chaos Ben was causing made sure no one noticed them. All was going smoothly and Ben was having the time of his life. But he noticed a noise above the smashing and screaming around him. A heavy, deep, thumping noise like a giant hammer pounding on the ground.
Turning to the face the noise Ben saw a giant robot stomping its way out of the forest and heading straight for him "Looks the same as those drones that attacked me earlier" Ben said to himself. "Must be time to take down the big boss." He slammed a fist into the palm of his other hand.
Charging straight for it Ben shouted "HEY METAL HEAD, LOOKING FOR ME?"
Clenching a fist Ben leapt and pulled his fist back. The giant robot got a quick lock on him and fired a laser, blasting Ben backwards, fast, slamming him into an R.V. Firing a second shot the R.V exploded into a giant fireball. A towering column of thick black smoke rose into the air.
Out of the burning wreckage a crystal spike cut through the metal, pushing the two metal half's into metal lumps Ben shook his head to clear it
Sitting up Ben looked at his hand and saw it turned into a large, spiked crystal "Cool!" He said out loud. Standing up Ben glared at the robot and charged at it, swinging his spiked arm and aiming to cut it to scrap. The robot leapt into the air at the last minute and crashed down on top of Ben. It's giant leg pinned him to the ground underneath its foot. "Ok, no problem, just a minor set back." Ben grunted with frustration. He tried to move his arms and legs but to no avail. "Ok, maybe more than minor."
Gwen had just finished clearing out an R.V. A sat-nav and a few cell-phones, not a bad haul. She looked over her shoulder to see if she'd missed anything when she bumped into a ranger. "What are you doing?" He asked her seriously. He knew exactly what she was doing.
"Um!" was all she repaid before kicking him as hard as she could between the legs. He dropped to his knees, his face turning white and he clutched his balls tightly, and gasped and struggled for breath. Gwen ran for it before he had a chance to recover.
At the same time the robot got off Ben and grabbed him with it's large metal arms. With one swift move it threw him hard. Ben flew over the wounded ranger and crashed in the R.V. The metal body of the vehicle crumpled around him like tinfoil and it actually served to soften his blow. Ben growled and roared with frustration as he ripped and tore his way out of the R.V. The ranger slowly got to his feet as he started to recover from his assault. "What... What are you?" He asked with wide, fearful, eyes.
Looking past him Ben watched as the droid raised its gun. It didn't fire, instead it walked up to him, scaring off the ranger.
Pulling himself from the wreckage Ben squared up to the robot "Come on then. You want a piece of the best?" Ben shouted furiously.
Taking cover beside a tree Gwen watched as Ben dived wide to avoid the laser blasts. A stray laser blast hit a tree near her. Its trunk exploded and it started to fall in her direction. Gwen froze in shock and could only watch as the giant pine fall and came closer and closer to crushing her.
Appearing out of nowhere Ben stood in front of Gwen. Giant crystal spikes shot out of his back and cut through the tree like it was paper, shredding it to toothpicks and dust. The crystal's disappeared back into his body. Ben looked down at her and said "Even?"
"Yeah, even." Gwen just stared up at Ben. The robot came ever closer toward them.
Ben's smile widened slightly. "Good, 'cause you're gonna hate me after this." He grabbed Gwen with one arm Ben held her to his chest. As the robot reached for him it's giant metal arms froze as they saw Gwen. They had halted just feet from her face.
"What are you doing?" She screamed furiously at Ben. She kicked him and punched his arm to no avail. He barely felt her impacts.
"It's programmed not to hurt innocent people." Ben smiled. "Now shut up. Shields don't talk." He walked past the robot arm and toward the robot itself. The drone up-righted itself, it's arms back at it's side. It stared at Ben, waiting for him to make the next move. When he was about ten feet away Ben dropped Gwen and leapt at the robot, aiming to slash it's legs and body to shreds. But the robots reactions were too fast and it grabbed him in mid-leap "Crap!" was all he could say before it blasted him with the laser again, sending him flying into a store house.
"Ben!" Max shouted. He appeared from nowhere and helped Gwen to her feet.
Tossing things out of way Ben rose up stumbled out of the debris of the building. "That the best you got?" He yelled, he sounded slightly woozy.
Raising its gun again Ben raised his hands and turned them into a large spiky, pointed shield. The laser fired but the beam hit Ben's shield and bounced off Ben's arms sending random beams of laser everywhere. One lucky shot hit the robot in its left arm. The arm exploded and the shrapnel flew away in all directions. The dead and destroyed arm fell away, a smoking ruin.
"hmm, idea!" Ben said to himself, reverting his hands back to normal. He stepped in front of the robot again "come on gear-head, try and blast one right here!" Ben taunted, tapping his chest.
The robot fired its laser again, Ben held up his hands and dug his feet into the ground "Told you once already you techno-freak!" Ben grunted "I'm the best there is!" Moving his hands together the laser reflected down into the ground, cutting a huge ditch into it. Moving his arms more he moved the beam upwards, cutting through the ground and up into the robot's head. The beam hit and the whole section exploded.
The smoking and sparking body of the giant robot collapsed at Ben's feet. He looked over his shoulder and folded his arms across his chest. Some of the camper's had returned to watch him, he turned to them he simply said "Who's next?" He held up on arm and turned his hand into a spike. All the campers ran screaming into the woods as he smiled to himself.
.***.
Above the planet on the Alliance ship the major repairs were almost completed. The report of the destruction of the two drones and the robot had just come in to Vilgax "Destroyed?" He growled furiously. "So a primitive earth creature has discovered the Omnitirix. It cannot possibly know the full power of the weapon it has found. It must be recovered. At all costs!"
.***.
Back on earth it was morning, Max and Gwen were packing up the camping equipment into the R.V. Max had already found a buyer for the lot. An 'old friend' as he had put it; that would their first stop of the day. "Where's Ben?" Max asked.
"Dunno, haven't seen him all morning. Or any of the stuff we got last night actually." Gwen muttered grumpily as she threw her things into the R.V.
They both stopped suddenly. A noise was coming toward them. Looking in the distance they both saw a dust cloud getting closer. Whatever it was it stopped in front of them. Gwen and Max both closed their eyes and covered their mouths to protect themselves from the dust cloud. When the dust settled they saw a thin, blue skinned, alien with a black and white striped tail and balls on its feet standing in front of them holding a duffel bag "Ben?" Max asked
The front of the mask opened up and the alien smiled at them. "Who were you expecting, Santa Claus?" Ben asked. "Watch this." Dropping the bag Ben raced around the camp, collecting up the equipment and putting it all away. In less than a minute he was done. He stood in front of Max and Gwen again. "Pretty fast right?" Hearing the beeping again Ben turned back to normal "This going to be the best summer ever!" Ben smiled and pulling out one of Max's cigar's from his pocket. Before he could light it Max snatched it back.
"Definitely!" Max agreed, lighting the cigar "But take my cigars again and you'll be finding that watch and your arm in a place where the sun don't shine!"
"Gotcha!" Ben said casually.
"It's going to be interesting." Gwen sighed. "Where'd you go anyway? And what's in the bag?"
Smiling Ben unzipped the bag. It was full of money "Been pawning off the stuff we got last night, all morning, across county, no way is anyone going to trace back to us now." He laughed.
"Holy hell!" Gwen gasped. "Wait, you pawned stuff off, as a large, blue alien? How?" Gwen asked as Max picked up the bag and took it into the Rust Bucket.
"I wore a disguise" Ben shrugged following Max into the R.V
"Oh...Wait! What disguise?" Gwen shouted after a second, unable to think of any that would make a blue alien with a striped tail look normal.
To Be Continued.