According to my latest poll, Ben 10 has won the honor of being a part of my first Ever After High story! So kick back, relax, and enjoy!

'Once upon a time,'

The classic words to begin a story. But this particular story begins in a very unlikely place. Not in a kingdom far, far away, but in a modern city called Bellwood, home of Ben Tennyson, wielder of the Omnitrix and famous superhero.

Sure, being a superhero has it's perks, but Ben was having one of those bad days.

"OUT OF MY STORE, TENNYSON!" Mr. Baumann roared as he shoved the teen hero out the door.

"Oh, come on! I just stopped Vulkanus from wrecking your store!" Ben argued. "The least you can do is be grateful!"

"Not after costing me thousands of dollars in damage repairs!" snapped Mr. Baumann. "One of these days, you are gonna get yours, Tennyson!"

And the grouchy shopkeeper slammed the door shut.

Ben stomped away from the store while Vulkanus was being taken in by the Plumbers.

"Do not be upset, Ben." Ben's partner Rook told him. "I'm sure Mr. Baumann does appreciate your help."

"Do you think I care?" Ben grumbled. "Let's get out of here and meet up with Gwen."

Ben and Rook went to visit Ben's cousin Gwen at Friedkin University. They drove onto school grounds and as soon as they exited the vehicle, a swarm of fans flocked to Ben.

"It's Ben Tennyson!" a fan girl squealed.

"Ben! Sign my forehead!" a boy in his leather jacket said.

"Can we take a picture with your sidekick?!" asked another girl.

"Can you turn into something?!" asked a nerd with thick glasses.

"Everyone, please!" Ben chuckled as he calmed the crowd down. "One at a time! There's plenty of hero to go around!"

"Um, Ben..."

Ben heard the weak call of his partner. That's when Ben looked and saw the pack of cheerleaders stroking Rook's fur and touching his face. "A little help here please..." Rook pleaded.

"Come on, Rook. You're living the fantasy of every college kid!" Ben said. "How many can say they have a pack of cheerleaders hanging all over them?"

"Not too many," a girl with short red hair and glasses walked into the fray. It was Ben's cousin Gwen along with her boyfriend Kevin Levin. "But that's because cheerleaders are evil." said Gwen.

"Now get back, ladies. Give the guy some air." Kevin said as he separated Rook from the girls.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Come on, Gwen. That's such a stereotype. Cheerleaders aren't evil. Heck, they don't nearly hold a candle to Vilgax or Aggregor or Albedo or-"

"Yeah, yeah, we get the point, Tennyson." said Kevin.

"So, how's my favorite cousin?" asked Ben. "Staying out of trouble?"

Gwen grinned. "Look who's talking." she said. "And if you must know, I've been doing great. I've had another visitor over."

Ben tilted his head. "Another visitor?"

"That's right," a voice said. Ben's eyes went wide when he saw Kai Green. "How's it going, Ben?

"Uh, just fine," Ben said in a slightly wary tone. Ben and Kai had recently become a couple. But Ben was still getting used to it because of Spanner, a time traveling hero, revealed that Ben and Kai are married in the future. It was a real bombshell, especially since the fact of them being married was broadcasted across the universe thanks to an alien game show.

"What's the matter, Tennyson? Nervous around your future bride?" Kevin joked, earning him a sharp elbow to the ribs from Gwen.

Kai frowned. "Very funny, Kevin."

"We're just friends." Ben insisted. "Anyway, what are you doing here, Kai?"

"I came here because I found this in an old ruin. It must be pretty special." Kai reached into her backpack and took out an old thick book. It was closed with a golden lock. A oval shaped pink mirror was on the cover.

"Wow, an old book. I can barely contain my joy." Ben said dryly.

Kai just glared. She never liked Ben's blunt rudeness.

"Anyway, I say we blow this scene of higher education and head to Mr. Smoothy." Ben said.

"Sorry, Ben. But I've got to cram for a test." said Gwen.

"And I'm off to the Auto show." Kevin said.

Ben shrugged. "Oh, well. Guess it's just you and me partner."

"On the contrary, Ben," Rook said. "I am a bit fascinated by Kai's book."

Ben frowned.

"At least someone cares." Kai said smugly. "Rook and I will investigate this book. Who needs a lamebrain like you anyway, Tennyson?"

"The feeling's mutual, Ms. Know it all!" Ben snapped. He activated his Omnitrix and turned into XLR8 and zoomed away from the university and headed to the nearest Mr. Smoothy.

When Ben arrived and got his order, he was ready to take a great big gulp from his blueberry and bubblegum smoothie until something whizzed by and whacked him on the head.

"OW! Hey!" Ben snapped. And much to his annoyance, it was Chadzmuth, Galvin attorney at law on his hovering briefcase.

"Watch where you're going, Short stuff!" Ben snapped, rubbing his sore head.

Chadzmuth grinned smugly as he turned to the boy. "Sorry, didn't see you. You're such an primitive species, I kind of forgot you were even here." He laughed as he hovered away.

Ben scowled. He hated that Galvan so much. It's bad enough he's a cutthroat lawyer, but he has to rub in being more intelligent than Ben. He got up and huffed away from Mr. Smoothy.

Ben kept walking, still irked from Chadzmuth. He just wanted to be alone, but that wasn't going to happen when he got a phone call. "What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Ben, is everything okay?" It was Rook. "You still sound upset."

"I'm fine, Rook." Ben lied. "What's the emergency?"

"I was going to tell you, but it sounds like there's something troubling you." his partner replied.

"Just spit it out, Rook!" Ben snapped into the phone.

After a pause, Rook spoke. "Uh, spit what out?"

"NEVER MIND!" Ben yelled in anger. He furiously hung up. "And Kai calls me a lamebrain." Ben turned on the Omnitrix and was going to be XLR8, but he got the wrong alien.

"Jury Rigg?!" Ben was really having a bad day. But with Jury Rigg's mechanical prowess, and psychotic tendencies, he spotted a car, a hot dog cart, and a guy on a motorcycle.

"Disassemble! FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX!" Jury Rigg cackled maniacally as he sprang into action.

A few seconds later, Jury Rigg was speeding through the city in a high speed hot dog cart. Laughing and cackling along the way. Amazingly, it carried him all the way back to Friedkin University.

The hot dog cart finally broke down and Jury Rigg transformed back into Ben. "Alright, what's the...emergency?"

Ben looked around and saw Friedkin University building debris everywhere. It looked like something big and mighty crashed and thrashed everywhere. But what Ben was really gaping at was Kai, she was scraped and bruised badly, her clothes torn, and her arm in a sling.

"KAI!" Ben called out. He ran right to her. "What happened?! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine..." Kai grumbled, glaring right through Ben. "No thanks to you!" She was about to punch Ben until Rook grabbed her arm.

"Please, control yourself, Ms. Green." Rook said calmly. "You are in very bad shape."

"I said I was fine!" Kai snapped at Rook.

"HEY! Don't yell at my friend!" Ben yelled, shoving Kai away from Rook.

"I can yell as much as I want!" Kai yelled.

But Ben ignored Kai's rage and turned to Rook. "What happened here?!"

Rook's eyes narrowed. "It was Exo-Skull and Subdora." he said. "They're back."

"They're back?!" Ben exclaimed in both shock and confusion. "I thought they were locked up back in the future!"

"Well, they returned and almost got away with this." Rook pulled out the book Kai had.

Ben took the book from Rook's hands. He stared at it deeply. If dangerous aliens like Exo-Skull and Subdora are after it, it must be extremely powerful.

"We just barely managed to stop them." Kevin said. "They got away when the Plumbers had them surrounded."

"Yeah, and no thanks to you, Ben Tennyson." Kai said, her words were cold as ice.

Rook was expecting Ben to say a wisecrack. But to his surprise, Ben looked sad.

Gwen stomped her foot forward, her glare meeting Kai's. "At least my cousin is more important than you are!" she argued.

"Well, if you ask me, you make a better hero than that stupid cousin of yours!" Kai argued back. "He doesn't even deserve the Omnitrix since he's a complete moron!"

"Says the girl who wanted to 'train and tame' Ben like he was a house pet!" Gwen said. "You're just as disgusting as he is! No wonder you two are meant for each other!"

While everyone was getting into an argument, Ben was long gone from Friedkin University. He was deep within the forest and just kept running. He kept running and running until he couldn't run anymore. He fell to his knees in shame, he looked at the book. His body started to shake.

"Why can't I do anything right...? Why me?" Ben asked no one. "I guess I was just born to be miserable...no wonder Azmuth let me keep the Omnitrix. He knew that it would make me suffer..."

Tears. Actual tears started to form in his eyes. "I wish I never existed here." he sobbed. "I wish I could just go to a place where I can be happy all the time, a place where there are no aliens and nobody fights."

Ben's tears fell and landed on the book's cover. He started to cry as he slammed the book against his forehead.

"But a place like that doesn't exist!" he wailed. "There's just no hope for me! Nothing!"

Suddenly, the book started to glow a shimmering gold aura. Ben choked back his tears and to his shock, the book unlocked and opened itself, the pages began to turn.

"What the-?!"

Ben saw the glow become brighter and the pages turning faster, bathing Ben in it's own glow as he felt himself pulled into the book!

A flash of light lit up the forest.

When it died down, Ben was gone.

All that was left was the book. It closed and locked itself shut.