Loss of Hope: Chapter 1
Ben 10: Omniverse
Frogs of War: Part 1 & 2
".. At least this way, I'll know you're alive," Grandpa Max said, laying a hand on his grandson's shoulder.
Knowing his grandfather was right, Ben lowered his head in defeat until he felt a hand on shoulder, which forcibly tore him away from the large Plumber group gathered around Max. "Hey! Let go of me!"
"Ben!" Max called as they watched the Incursean guards cuff his grandson and drag him towards the large ship. The teen had struggled against their strength but without his omnitrix, it was futile to even attempt. He watched as his grandpa and Rook get taken away as well, towards a separate small warship, probably enough to hold a hundred guards.
He lowered his head, knowing that would probably be the last time he'd ever see them.
Max and Rook had been thrown into a nearby Incursean ship without any struggle. While Max had been worrying on the safety of his grandson, Rook had remained too calm and was quickly devising a plan to escape.
"I have an idea," Rook spoke, catching the old man's attention as soon as they were practically thrown inside their holding cell. "I could try and contact Ben, maybe there is a way for Ben to release us."
"Rook."
"It has a 50% chance of success so we must act quickly."
"Rook."
"Maybe he could also retrieve our weapons from where ever they are holding them."
"Rook that's enough! Don't you understand? It's over with, the Incurseans have Ben and they're going to send him away forever. I'll never see my grandson again and our entire world is about to be enslaved by alien frogs. Ben was the last hope to stop the war. It's over, we've lost."
"Magister Tennyson, I cannot believe you are giving up. Are you not the person who had demonstrated that giving up, leads to downfall? You have been in tough situations before and this is nothing compared to them! You are Maxwell Tennyson, the best Plumber in history. You cannot let this bring you down.. not even the loss of your grandson," Rook argued, standing up and facing the commander. "I am distraught by Ben being taken away as well but I am not letting it phase me. We need a plan to escape and find others willing to help us fight this war."
Max glanced up at the Revonnahgander and smiled graciously, putting a soft hand on the alien's shoulders. "You've gained alot from Ben. I suggest you put them to the test to see what you've learned."
"Magister? If you could elaborate?"
"You've watched Ben in action. You know Ben well enough to know what he'd do. You need to escape and find Gwen and Kevin. They'll help you. Round up others and fight the frog war before it's too late," Max encouraged, "Ben would be proud of you."
Rook's gaze dropped, "What about you? I cannot leave you here to fend for yourself."
"I'm too old to do anything. You need to take it from here and become a leader. Good luck Rook Blonko. I know you'll do well."
The alien nodded and looked around to notice a air duct a couple feet above them. It looked pretty weak with the bolts and the Revonnahgander glanced over at his partner's grandfather. "If you could assist me, I could be able to open that duct."
Max hoisted Rook up, who managed to rip the bolts out of their sockets. He lowered the panel softly on the ground and jumped in, managing to pull himself in and turn around. Max handed him back the metal panel and he softly reattached it.
Rook glanced down and waved goodbye, "I promise not to let you down Magister. I swear this to Ben."
"Good luck."
And later that afternoon was when Ben was due to be shipped off the planet.
Max had lined up along with other fellow Plumbers, forced to walk this humiliating walk of shame towards the large ship that would take them to their official prison. There was also another small ship, or pod thing beside it. He had been horrified to see Ben pushed inside and strapped in like an animal. During that entire procedure, Ben didn't fight once. No complaint. No joke. He had been too silent, like he had lost all his fighting spirit.
He could see the dead hope that filled Ben's eyes. Those bright green eyes were dull and tired, as if he had done an excruciating amount of exercise before he had arrived.
And Max had nearly held his breath when his grandson glanced in his direction. He had nearly cried right there just at the look of dread and desperation on his face. Ben was begging him to get him out. This went against everything he had ever known.
He could remember when Ben was only 5, dreaming to become a superhero and save many people. He ran around the house, throwing small toys around and saving little Barbie dolls Gwen had forgotten there. It was almost like he was staring at 5 year old Ben again.
Too bad he couldn't do anything to help.
Max smiled softly and mouthed the last words Ben would never forget, "It's hero time."
Ben took a second but he smiled and nodded back, staring at the large crowd gathering around downtown.
Attea, her father and Dr. Psychobos stared evilly at Ben's trapped form, and Milleous clicked the button that soon ruined Max's life. Ben was blasted into the sky, never to be seen again. He swore he could hear Ben's screams as he vanished into the blue sky and he knew it was all his fault.
The guard behind him poked him in the back with the gun and muttered 'Keep going'. Max was forced to retreat out of his thoughts and continue leading the other captured Plumbers behind him into the large ships that would lead them to their new prison.
"Good bye Ben Tennyson, and good riddance."
Gwen and Kevin had immediately been alerted when the take over of earth had occurred. Gwen had been horrified to know that her cousin had been shipped off earth, exiled off his home planet, never to return. She had become depressed until she was snapped out of it by Kevin saying they were next.
No doubt Attea, the princess of the Incurseans and her father would have not forgotten about them two. They were Ben's sidekicks during everything! If they knew of Ben, they knew of them.
And just as Kevin predicted, the Incurseans had blasted and searched the area in which Gwen had went to college and Kevin's garage. Only to find that the two were missing.
Attea had shook her head and smirked, "Predictable of those two. Go! Search everywhere! Find Kevin Levin and Gwen Tennyson!"
Kevin and Gwen had thankfully escaped back towards the source of the problem; Bellwood. Once they arrived, they were shocked to see that everything had been taken over. They had gone to Gwen's household, which had a large hole right through the middle of the building. And Ben's was no better. It had collapsed as if the support beams to the house decided to break themselves. Sandra and Carl were nowhere to be found.
Gwen couldn't handle the stress of not finding her parents and decided not to explore that area for now. They had to get ride of the stupid alien frogs first.
It had only been a week and they had soon found another accomplice to their plan: Ben's partner, Rook. He had been in Mr. Baumann's store just as they had arrived. It was not hard to tell from his clothing, that he sported the Proto-Armor and his Proto-Tool on his persona.
They immediately teamed up and along the way had located Argit as well, finding as much weapon artillery as they could get their hands on. 3 weeks later, they had gathered various weapons from Undertown, Ben's demolished house and any other illegal shipment area Argit was aware about. It was enough to mount a full attack on Milleous's ship, and hopefully break inside and seize control. Until they had lost their last couple of bags to the Incursean guards, who managed to track them to an abandoned warehouse. Their weapons were half as expected and wasn't even enough to conquer anything.
Gwen banged her fist on the table, trying to take away the stress pouring in her body. Ben was gone. Her parents were gone. Everyone was missing. Grandpa had been taken into custody by the Incurseans. Everything was hopeless.
She had thought about unleashing her Anodite side on the Incurseans, until she realized that would be a large risk she would be taking. She would lose her humanity and her sense of sanity. She would be a blank slate to the massive powers of a young Anodite. And that wasn't worth the risk.
Rook had become more isolated from the rest of the group, refusing to believe he was in the middle of a one-sided war. His favorite partner had been blasted away from earth and he had left his Magister to rot in an Incursean prison. He had escaped thankfully and had resided in Mr. Baumann's store for hiding. The Incurseans had arrived one day and searched, only to find no aliens or fugitive humans in hiding. Good thing he had went searching for Ben's and Gwen's parents and had safely evacuated them from their homes.
He couldn't think without Magister's guidance and Ben's cocky attitude. It was thing that helped him become a successful Plumber at HQ.
And now? He was nothing. He had no thoughts in his brain anymore and just glanced off into the distance, wondering how Ben was. Was he dead? Had he run out of precious oxygen in his tank and was now drifting off?
He didn't let his thoughts get gruesome, since that wouldn't be helping the team out. He just had to listen to Gwen and Kevin for now. Until things got back to normal.
Kevin wasn't the least bit happy when they accepted Argit's help, when locating him in Undertown. That stupid rodent had cheated him of so many dollars, he could be a billionaire by now! But he had put that aside for Gwen and went along with whatever this cheese-bag had to say. He was happy when they had found a jackpot of weapons in an illegal hideout, enough to finish their plans of busting into the large vessel.
But the stupid Incurseans had forced them to leave the large stash behind and return back to their hiding. Great.
When Argit had suggested they attack the ship dead on and capture Dr. Psychobos, preventing him from using the Big Way Bads anymore, it had been a genius idea until they had been trapped by Attea and large number of frog guards.
Until a large bulky Incursean had managed to save them and board a ship a couple feet away. They had been thankfully for only a moment until their backs turned and they trapped him.
"Hey, why'd you hit me!?" Bullfrag slurred before regaining his natural voice.
"Hmm, because you're a filthy Incursean?" Kevin stated obviously, jumping off the metal table.
"I am not. I helped you escape!"
"Yes. Why is that, filthy Incursean?" Rook added, glaring at the alien frog.
"Eh, isn't it obvious? I'm-"
"Shut it salamander," Kevin silenced, crossing his arms.
"I'm telling you-"
"What if he's wearing a wire?" He concluded, both him and Rook searching their suspect.
While they did that, Gwen walked up to him and glared right at him, checking for something. After a while she smiled and nodded at Blukic, "He's cool."
Which automatically brought argument from Rook and Kevin. Until Gwen ordered him to double check the ship, which Rook reluctantly did.
"And how do we know you're not?" Kevin frowned, glaring at Bullfrag. How could Gwen just lower her defenses to a Incursean? How did she know he was fine and not playing both sides, to trick them?
"You'll know. When it's safe, I'll explain everything."
"I got you grandpa," Bullfrag mumbled, lifting the old man back onto the cot and staring at him with concern.
"Ben."
"Ben?"
"Ben."
"Ben," Another voice rang out behind them. They all turned to face the Incursean princess, who was smiling ear to ear. "The emperor's gonna want a public execution for you Tennyson."
"Hang on, hang on," Kevin waved, "Bullfrag is Ben?"
"Who else would come up with a dumb name like Bullfrag?" Gwen rolled her eyes at her cousin's stupid names. Even though he had gotten more creative on the battlefield, his names for his aliens where getting a whole lot lamer.
Bullfrag walked up to the two, "Whatever. Bullfrag is awesome."
Gwen smiled, "I knew it was you as soon as you showed up."
"I know but I couldn't risk the Incurseans finding out I was back on earth. That's why I couldn't say anything until I knew we were in the clear," He explained.
"Oh you better believe it," Attea interrupted, waving her gun around, "My daddy will fry you alive for coming back. And the rest of this miserable planet!"
"Course, you're kinda mixed up about me, aren't you?" Bullfrag grinned, "It's exciting, going against what daddy says, huh?"
He had expected the princess to fall against him and agree or bashfully deny what he was thinking but instead she aimed her gun at his chest. "Don't think you can get the upperhand on me Tennyson. If it has to do with you, then I rather take my chances on destroying you!"
She shot straight towards his chest, which successfully blasted him back so that his back slammed into the wall. The small metal object covering his omnitrix symbol, flew off and showed the perfect place for her to aim again. "If any of you try anything, and I mean anything. I'll alert the guards and no matter what you do, you'll be trapped. How about that?"
Gwen lowered her mana covered hands and glared hatefully at the spoiled princess. Kevin pushed back the urge to absorb anything and fight one-on-one with her.
"Now if you excuse me," Attea walked past the two hybrid humans and towards Bullfrag who was trying desperately to move.
"Why can't I move?" He asked, trying desperately to move any part of his body. The blast had laid one hit and he was already paralyzed? Way to top of his day.
She glanced at her gun with satisfaction, "Oh this thing? I just ordered from the best of the best on my planet. An Incursean MultiBlaster, useful for stunning, blasting, and.. killing.. anything that gets in my way. You're lucky I set it on stun. Now to finish what we started."
Attea spun the dial so it was set on red mode and aimed it straight for his omnitrix, "I wonder what happens if I shoot it at your omnitrix? Will you turn back to human? Will you stay an Incursean? Or will you be some sort of freak accident in between? Let's find out."
Gwen couldn't watch this and used her mana to create a rope that would grab the weapon away from the Incursean princess. Just as she was about to grab it with it, Attea pulled down on the trigger and stared marvelously at it work on her prey.
It hit his symbol dead on and flashed green as he reverted to normal. He looked unaffected until Gwen noticed at he was holding his chest with both hands. His teeth were clenched hard and his eyes were squeezed shut.
It seemed fine until a dangerous red spot started to spread on his chest, under his hands.
"Ben!" She screamed and rushed over to her cousin, removing his hands away from his torso.
A large portion had already began to absorb the blood and was already leaking onto the floor. She glanced at her hand and shivered when she realized she had touched Ben's blood and it was now stained on her fingers. Kevin sat opposite of her, kneeling down to his best friend and pulling off his shirt.
The wound was worse than they had imagined. There was a large red already beginning to blister and had been so badly burned, it was starting to burn away the flesh on the top layer of his skin and show pure flesh sticking to his shirt. It was continuing to bleed, not showing any signs of stopping in the near future if left untreated.
"He needs a doctor!" Gwen's voice shrieked at her boyfriend.
The teen shook his head, "It's too late for that Gwen. This.. this isn't good for him. It's going to spread to the rest of his body or he'll bleed out. Plus there's no doctors available anymore. There isn't a hospital. There isn't anything to help him. He's going to.."
"Don't you dare finish that!" She sobbed and grabbed Ben's pale face. He was still responding.. barely. His eyes were half shut and they were beginning to lose that bright shade of green. He was already beginning to freeze and his breathing became ragged. "Ben, keep fighting. We'll get you help, I promise. Just hang on."
Attea smiled and walked out of the cell, turning back on the force field and leaving the trio to tend to their dying friend. There was nothing they could do anyway. He was good as dead in a couple minutes. It was good for them to get some final last words before he left.
Ben's grip on Gwen's hand tightened as he felt tears fall down his cheeks. "D-Didn't.. think.. that would.. happen."
"You're so stupid. Why'd you try and mess with her. Oh God. There's so much blood.. Does anyone have a rag to block the blood?" She asked, turning to the two men beside her.
Kevin pulled of his black shirt and handed it to her, "It's the best I got."
"It's fine. Just rip it into a long piece so we can wrap Ben," Gwen ordered as she and her grandpa lifted up the bleeding boy and placed him on the metal cot. "Don't move Ben, I'm.. I'm going to see if I have any spells that would help for medicine."
"How is saying spells going to help us heal Ben? I don't thi-"
A death glare from the corner of his eye shut him up as he went back to facing her cousin, "Num corpus."
Ben's shivering and pained body stilled as he relaxed and breathed normally. Kevin smiled and glanced to his girlfriend, "Nice. What'd you use on him?"
"A spell that numbs the body of pain or emotions. It was the only thing that would help relieve him of the pain. But we also have another problem," She mumbled, shaking her head.
"And that is?" Max spoke up, brushing the hair from his grandson.
"Infection. No doubt that gun brought viruses into his body. We're left for him to fight it by himself. No spells I have are going to help him with this," Gwen against the wall, "If only we had a first aid kit or proper medicine. We just have to hope that Ben can survive this."
Kevin put a hand on her shoulder, "Ben can do it. That kid can do anything remember?"
Gwen just smiled at her boyfriend and turned to watch her cousin with hope.
The first day had been brutal. When they had awoke that morning, they had received a small portion of food, probably enough to feed one person. They had gotten a bottle of drinking water, which Gwen had taken and said was for Ben. The rest of the food was for them, some white gooey thing that looked like mashed potatoes, a greyish meat square, and some vegetables.
But Ben had gotten worse over night. The infection had spread around the blisters, which was now a greenish puss. Gwen, using the water she had taken, had used a bit of it to clean the wound and wrap it back up. He was more clammy than ever and whined most of the time.
"Ben?" She tapped him softly on the shoulder, "You need to drink something. Get up."
The teen forced one eye open to look carefully at her. Trying his best to sit up, he nearly shrieked at the pain ripping up his spine and into his head. He laid back down and whimpered softly.
Realizing that her cousin was unable to even get up, she brought the plastic bottle to his lips and slowly tilted it. "Here, drink slowly."
Ben parted his lips to accept the warm liquid and almost choked on how good it tasted. He hadn't eaten anything 'good' for a while, refusing to eat any Incursean food cause it looked too weird and disgusting. He had survived on water and even that wasn't as good as it used to be.
But this water? It tasted like heaven.
Either he had been in so much pain that food tasted wonderful to him or this water was just purely amazing, he didn't know. He was just thankful to get something in his system for once.
"Ben, calm down. You're going to choke if you keep doing that," She scolded lightly and took away the bottle. He swallowed before curling around his body and trying to return to sleep. Gwen placed the bottle on the floor beside him and glanced at the two bored men. "What are you two up to?"
Kevin shrugged, "I dunno. We can't honestly do anything. How'd you survive in this dump Max?"
Grandpa Max smiled, "Eh, I did have a red ball to play around with.. until I popped it."
"You popped the ball? Great," He rolled his eyes and slouched.
The entrance's shield buzzed down as Rook was thrown inside harshly and the shield slowly snapping back into place. The Revonnahgander hissed in pain and rubbed his shoulder. His eyes were immediately pulled towards the trio on the floor and a curled body on the metal bed. Until he realized that there was brown hair, a black with green striped shirt and brown cargo pants on this person which only meant-
"Ben?" Rook said.
Gwen and Kevin looked at each other sadly and Max nodded at the poor alien, "Yeah, that's Ben. Attea got him."
"Attea?"
"With her stupid Incursean gun."
"I.. do not understand."
Kevin's patience snapped, "What the fuck don't you understand about the damn situation? Ben got freaking shot by a freaking killer gun and he's barely going to live because of it. We don't have anything to help him and he's just going to die there! What's so hard to understand?"
Rook's ears flattened and he dropped to the floor, allowing Kevin's words to sink in. His partner.. had been shot? He paled drastically and put his head into his knees.
"Rook? I'm sure Kevin didn't mean to yell at you.. it's just.. this has been a very stressful day. We don't have the equipment to help Ben fight off the infection on the wound. Without the proper medicine.. Ben will..," She turned away, not daring to finish the sentence.
The Revonnahgander lifted up his head and nodded sadly, "I just.. could not understand what all of you were saying. I always thought Ben was invincible. He never seemed to lose at anything and always came out of any situation unharmed. It was just hard to grasp that idea."
Gwen laughed softly, "Yeah, I know how you're feeling. Ben was the hero. Heroes don't get hurt.. until now."
"Is there anything that I can do to help?" He asked quietly.
She shrugged, "I don't know. The Incurseans are barely giving us enough food for each of us, and we've used our water ration for Ben. We used Kevin's shirt to wrap up the injury, but I'm afraid it's not going to work forever. The shirt's going to get infected eventually with all that blood."
Rook glanced at his tool and unlatched it from its hook, throwing it to the opposite side of the room, "I cannot believe my Proto-Tool is unable to do anything. I wish the Galvans had made it more versatile for this kind of situation."
"I bet Azmuth wouldn't even had predicted this. I bet that old frog thought that Ben would win this war, like he wins everything," Kevin muttered, kicking his foot against the wall.
They paused when they heard hoarse coughing coming from the bed, which didn't sound.. normal. It sounded like a strange cry of suffering, which brought goosebumps to Gwen's spine.
They all rushed to the teen who was beginning to breathe in deeply and wheeze out painfully. Until Gwen's eyes widened and she shook her cousin hard, "Ben! He's hyperventilating! Ben!"
He began to have a seizure on the bed, his limps going everywhere and nearly slapping everyone in the face. He began to groan in pain until it began full out screams and shrieks. They all grabbed one limp; Kevin and Max, one arm and Rook holding down the legs. Gwen looked around in panic until she found the water bottle by his side. She grabbed it and glanced down at her cousin, who was getting worse by the minute.
She touched his skin gently and pulled it back, "He's burning up!"
She looked down at the bottle and uncapped it, throwing the contents all over his face and chest. He gasped and sputtered, relaxing once more before his eyes went wide and he jumped off the bed. The four of them watched as her cousin did his best to run to the sink, which was limping and holding the wall to get there. He threw up into the sink as he held his stomach tightly.
Gwen was immediately at his side, rubbing his back and half hoping that he wouldn't collapse unconscious. "Ben are you okay?"
Ben glanced over at her and cried, hugging her tightly, ".. I don't.. I don't know how m-much I can l-last."
"Just hold on a bit longer, we'll get you help," She assured, patting his back softly. "You'll be good as new soon."
Ben didn't believe a word she said as she guided him back to the metal cot. He couldn't handle watching them starve while he took the most important part of the meal; the drinking water. And watching each of them take care of him as if he was the elderly. He.. He could take care of himself.. right?
He was going to die. He could already tell by the pain slowly taking him over. The nightmares of death overwhelming him. Watching at his family and friends slowly starved for him. He.. It was best for everyone if he just died.. at least they wouldn't have to worry about him.
He felt his body shiver as his vision began to get dark. Not again. He hated when this happened.. he.. had to..
Ben didn't have time to think as sleep overcame him once more, falling limp as he collapsed on the bed.
Gwen hated her life. This was honestly the lowest she could have ever been. Not only was the life she knew before gone, but everything had been stripped from her. Her freedom. Her family. Her life. And most importantly her cousin.
Her favorite cousin; the one she had bullied since 5th grade. The one that had shared the summer of alien adventures with her. The one that had protected her every step of the way. The one that felt like her brother.
It was unbearable to think that she was going to lose him. There was just no way to heal him. No way to escape. Nothing she could do to prevent her cousin from fighting his infection and living. He was going to die anyway she thought about it.
The Incurseans had won. She didn't care about fighting the war anymore. She just wished for medicine. She could rot in this cell forever if they wanted her to. She just needed a cure.
She officially hated the Incursean princess. She hated the Incurseans. She hated aliens right about now. She wished she was never a Plumber.
She wished she had taken that offer from Grandma Verdona to train her undeveloped Anodite powers.
She wished she was strong enough to protect her cousin.
She wished her cousin hadn't returned back to earth.
She wished that everything would return to normal.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. The war was over.
They had lost.
One shot? I don't know.
I was watching 'Frogs of War' and thought of an idea for this. As you can see, I followed the beginning until the Attea part in the middle. It seems more like her character.
Support would be amazing! Review/Favorite/Follow!
~Tortoro15