Ben 10 and all of its affiliations are not owned by GreenNightStar.

Chapter 1

Ben Tennyson was finally going to be able to relax and enjoy some of his first summer vacation. Even though he had been on the vacation for almost two months, it wasn't until now that he actually got some time off from being a hero.

On the first night of their cousin-grandfather camping trip, Ben had been wandering through the forest looking for anything to suppress his boredom. Eventually he stumbled on an alien-ejected pod from a space ship. Inside was the all-powerful Omnitrix – which found its way onto the young boy's wrist. It took him a few weeks to get used to the technology and what it could do, but before he knew it he was saving lives and being a hero. Being an alien hero was just what Ben needed to escape the predicted boredom, but it didn't help his liking of the trip. He knew that as long as his cousin, Gwen Tennyson, was on the trip with him that he would probably not like anything they would do over the three-month summer.

It wasn't until they arrived on a beach in Pensacola, Florida did his disposition towards the whole 'vacation' idea change. The steaming hot sun beating on his back and the cold waves crashing against the blinding white sand had him sold. He was ready to dive into the cool ocean right at the moment he laid eyes on it. Unfortunately for Ben, his T-Shirt was still on; although, it wasn't really a problem. Quickly, he removed his plain white T-Shirt and joined his cousin Gwen in the ocean water.

Grandpa Max took to sitting on the shore in a large beach chair under an umbrella. In his hand was a refreshing coconut beverage that he had bought from one of the shops just off the shore. Max never liked the idea of swimming too much and always complained about getting sand stuck to him. He said it was just uncomfortable.

Not for Ben or Gwen, they both enjoyed the water and the sand. They knew that they could simply rinse off then get dried of the water in no time.

The water was very calm and was just the right temperature to enjoy their first real vacation day. Gwen had decided to float on her back in the refreshing water – attempting to get a tan in the process. Ben quickly saw that she was vulnerable to an attack. Performing the quietist swim over to her as he could, Ben ended up right beside her. She had her eyes closed and looked peaceful. He almost felt guilty about what he is going to do. Shaking the feelings of guilt aside, Ben spread his arms out to their full span and then pushed them together as hard as he could. This stunt made quite a large wave and it washed right over Gwen's face.

Startled, she stood up on the sandy ground below the water and turned to face Ben directly. Her face was a beat red and annoyance was in her eyes. It was just the right time to get mad too, as the waves started to pick up and ruin the perfect oasis of the calm ones.

"You little…grr!" She made an angry groan but didn't speak anymore. All the blood that had rushed to her head out of anger vanished and was replaced by a devious smile. This had Ben a little worried.

"Uh oh," was all the ten year old boy could manage to let out before the scene before him took his breath away. Gwen's eyes had turned a shade of blue and her hands rose up with a slight curve in her fingers. Right behind her was a wave at least ten feet high. "Wait…Gwen!" Ben tried to reason with her, but she just smiled and continued what she was doing.

It was easy to here the screams of terror from all the people around them. They began rushing out of the water and onto the shore. Gwen waited until they were all safe and then allowed the wave to crash right on top of Ben. In no time, he found himself underneath the surface of the water – being pushed very quickly in some direction. He just hoped that direction wasn't towards the middle of the ocean.

Luckily for him, his back had been facing the shore when the monstrous wave hit him. So after he had drifted a bit under the water, his body eventually came onto the shore. He sat up, a bit dazed, and looked back at his cousin – who was just about the walk up onto the sandy coast.

"Gwen, I was just playing. You didn't have to throw a huge wave at me!" Ben yelled angrily at her, before storming off towards Grandpa Max and his little beach-fort he made with the umbrella.

Gwen stood on the shore, alone, and looked at her cousin who was moving away from her. Maybe I did overreact, but it's not like he didn't deserve it, she thought. Besides, Gwen knew that Ben would come along with a scheme to get her back for what she did to him in no time. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked back into the water to enjoy a little bit more of the beach before they had to leave.


A few more hours flew by, in which the two cousins stuck to themselves. Gwen had decided to continue floating around in the water, but she never did get a tan – only a sun burn. This made her a bit more irritated than when Ben had splashed her. Still, she shrugged it off and decided not to worry too much about it.

Ben, on the other hand, stayed on the shore probably traumatized of water at that point. He stuck to making odd sand castles and sculptures. One of his artistic creations resembled Four Arms; although it was missing an eye and all of the muscles. Gwen kept a mental note to find a way to tease him about that too.

Eventually the trio decided it was time to leave and do some shopping at the local stores along the boardwalk. They decided by a majority vote, because Ben didn't really want to go.

"Well, Ben, if you don't want to come with us you need to wait back at the Rustbucket." Grandpa said to him.

Ben didn't really want to sit cooped up in the run-down RV, but he really didn't have a choice. So he returned to their home-away-from-home and tried to find something to do while he waited. Gwen's laptop was password-protected and he had no idea what it could be. Her password was probably something girly, like a boy's name or the name of a secret stuffed animal. Ben chuckled at the thought. However, it was no laughing matter, as Ben had guessed what her password was. It was definitely a boy's name, but he didn't know that.

Gwen, Ben thought, she's probably the most annoying cousin anyone could ask for. Always thinking she's right. Always trying to make me feel bad about something. She reminds me of Cash, from my school. I'm just glad she's only around for the summer. As soon as the last sentence left his mouth, he realized that his words sounded hollow; almost as if he didn't mean them.

Without much else to resort to, he pulled out his GameStation from under the bunk in the room the two cousins shared in the back of the vehicle. Hooking it up to electrical outlets by the bench, the gaming device was soon powered on and life had been brought to it. Sumo Slammers was his first choice of game, and really his only choice, as he didn't have many others with him.

He played the game in the silence of the Rustbucket. Passing a couple levels of the addicting game, he got lost in the virtual world of Sumo Slammers. Battling through evil monsters and other martial artist, he finally passed the game in only about 40 minutes. Just as soon as he beat the final level, the Rustbucket's door slammed open and two familiar faces walked in. Grandpa walked in and threw a T-Shirt at Ben.

"Got you something, from your cousin Gwen," was all he said before he went into the bathroom of the RV.

Ben quickly unfolded the T-Shirt and became quite angry with what was on it. The shirt had a picture of a cartoonish Four Arm's on the front, probably from that rip-off show that used his aliens. That's not the only thing that the shirt graphic reminded him of. A memory swept back into his mind of the Four Arms sand sculpture he made while on the beach. The shirt was disgraceful, as it didn't even have any of the muscles the real Four Arms had.

He looked back up to where Grandpa had came in and instead found Gwen standing there with another one of her devious smirks on her face. Just as her eyes locked with Ben's she exploded into laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. So first you crush me with a wave and now you're going to make fun of me?" Ben said, sounding a little hurt.

"Oh come on Ben, lighten up," Gwen said to him before sitting across from him at the table. She moved the GameStation out her way and folded her arms across her chest. "Okay, something's definitely wrong. Usually you would want to get me back with some diabolical plan or something."

It's true. Usually Ben would want to get back at Gwen for what she did to him with some unorganized plan of torment. However, this time he felt different about the whole process of teasing her. What if, every time he calls her a name or embarrassed her, she really does feel hurt inside? Maybe she just covers it up by acting tough. Gwen is pretty good about keeping an unmovable attitude, but everyone has emotions.

Even though he hadn't said anything, Ben had been thinking about the way he's been treating Gwen over their first vacation trip together. Maybe it isn't right to be putting her through this every day. I mean, hey, I deal with bullies at school all the time and it definitely does not feel good to be made fun of, Ben thought to himself.

"Hello? Ben? Earth to Ben," Gwen's voice rang through his scattered mind. He had gotten so caught up in his thoughts that he completely forgot Gwen had been talking to him.

"I-I'm just really tired. That's all. I'll…get you back tomorrow or something," he didn't sound too serious. And to be honest, he wasn't.

She shot him a smirk that said she took what he said as a challenge. "I'll be waiting," came Gwen's voice as Ben began to move to the back of the Rustbucket. Ben decided that it was time for him to head on to bed, but before he could make it all the way Grandpa came out of the bathroom and looked at Ben, shocked.

"Ben? You can't be going to bed yet! Don't you want to go down to the beach one last time before the sun goes down?" He asked in his usual excited, but sincere voice.

While Ben was thinking of an answer, Gwen slid over in the bench to get close to the window. She moved some of the blinds out of the way and revealed a pink sun going down just over the ocean water. The rays of light beamed throughout the remaining clouds. The sky had darkened and the night was beginning to fight for control of the illuminating the sky.

"Wow! It's…beautiful. Come on, Grandpa, let's go!" Her voice sounded excited, but also in awe. Ben, even though he didn't want to say it, thought the sun looked very nice over the water.

"Yeah, Grandpa, let's go." Ben said quickly after Gwen.

Grandpa Max gave a hearty laugh, his usual sign of approval. "Alright you two, just remember we're not getting in the water this late. We are just going to walk around the shore. Maybe even collect some seashells to remember your visit here."

Usually, that would have sounded dull to the cousins, but for some odd reason it sounded more exciting than playing in the sand or swimming. Taking off the flip-flop sandals Gwen and Ben had both wore the first time they went to the beach – because of the heated sand – they decided they were ready to go as they were. Bare-footed and in their bathing suits, the three of them left the RV and began the short walk down to the shore of sand and seashells.

No, this is not a one-shot story. I just wanted to let you all know that I am now planning these stories out before I write them. I do have the setting of the next chapter in mind already. I have decided to plan ahead so that way I can leave some clues (*hint* *hint*) in my writing as to what might happen.