newbienovelistRD asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)
Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action. I only own Rachel and Megan.
Learning From Your Mistakes
"Okay, this worked once before," Ben said, staring at his clone, who stared back at him in Vladat form. "Do it."
Nodding, the clone strapped Ben down to a table as the hero thought about his decision. He wanted to be more serious, more mature, and more intelligent in battle and had told some of the Plumbers, who had laughed in his face.
"You, become more mature?" One of them said.
"That's impossible for someone like you," said another. "You'll never be more mature than you are, because humans are always immature and can never be as mature as us higher life form aliens."
Ben now grinded his teeth together. "I'll show them," he said. His clone, which was another one of him thanks to Echo Echo, now stood in front of him, ready to use the Vladat's signature hypnosis. "Okay, remember, you have to brainwash me into becoming more intelligent and mature."
"Alright," said the clone Vladat, whose eyes now widened and the spirals of his hypnosis started, soon appearing in Ben's eyes.
Rachel saw Rook come in, but he didn't look happy. He looked like the mission had gone bad. "My love?" Rachel asked in worry. "Did the mission not go well?"
"It went well, but…it was different," Rook answered.
"Different?" Rachel asked in worry.
"It's Ben, isn't it?" Snare-Oh asked. "Something's not right with him."
"What are you guys talking about?" Rachel asked, her worry increasing.
Rook looked at her. "Ben has been acting very differently for a few days now," he said. "He came in and he devised a plan to capture Psyphon and a few minor criminals that not only worked, but…he was very mature about it."
Rachel didn't quite understand. "I'm afraid you've lost me," she said.
"He's not acting himself," Snare-Oh clarified. "He's…someone else."
"He's smarter than usual and better at his job, but…he's changed," said Ghostfreak. "And it doesn't feel right."
Frankenstrike came out. "He doesn't even want to do anything fun," he said sadly. "All he thinks about it work and how to become better at his job. He even rejected going to Mr. Smoothy."
"Okay, that doesn't sound like our Ben at all," Rachel said. "He'd never turn down going to Mr. Smoothy and he doesn't like to think about work."
"Well, that's all he does now," said Snare-Oh.
Rook then looked at Rachel. "He even said he doesn't have time to come to the mansion and that he must be on guard at all times," he said.
"What made him change so drastically?" Ghostfreak asked in worry. "It's like he's been brainwashed or hypnotized."
Rachel's head lifted up. "Where's Pesky Dust?" She asked.
Ben woke up, trying to remember what had happened when he came face to face with his friends, who didn't look pleased. "Ben, why did hypnotize yourself to become like this?" Rachel asked him. "How could you?"
"I had to," Ben said.
"But it's not right, Ben!" Rachel said in frustration.
"She's right, Ben," said Frankenstrike.
Ben stood up. "No, you're all wrong," he said. "I'm a better, responsible, serious person while my arrogant and stupid friends are just holding me back!"
They were all shocked that Ben was speaking like that. "Ben, this isn't like you," Rachel said firmly. "You're the one being arrogant and stupid, by changing yourself into what you are now."
"Rachel's right. You're not the true Ben 10," said Rook. "You're…someone else."
Ben turned to them angrily. "I'm a better Ben 10 than before," he said. "You just don't want to admit it! You want the dumb, immature, and embarrassment Ben Tennyson! Well, he doesn't exist anymore!"
"Ben, we never thought of you like that," Ghostfreak said firmly.
"Yes, you did!" Ben said angrily. "You know what? Why am I wasting my time here? I have better things to do that don't include aliens!"
With that, Ben stormed away, leaving the aliens and Rachel at a loss before Rachel slammed the door hard in anger. "If he wants to be that way, then so be it," she said as she stormed to the kitchen, but the aliens could see the tears running down her face.
"What are we going to do?" Snare-Oh asked. "We need our Ben back."
Pesky Dust gave a thoughtful hum. "What about Azmuth?" He asked.
Ben was in his room, filling out an application to Harvard. "I need to be around smart people," he said. "This is perfect for me."
"But not for the Omnitrix," said a voice as Azmuth appeared on Ben's desk.
"What do you want, Azmuth?" Ben asked a bit snippily.
Azmuth looked more serious than ever. "Ben, I'm concerned about your current behavior," he said.
"You shouldn't be," Ben said. "You should feel proud of me, because I'm now a mature, higher life form, better than before, smarter, more responsible, and much more mature. I should have decided to be like this long ago. It's better to be a higher life form over being an embarrassment, laughed at all the time and not taken seriously. No wonder everyone admires Galvans so much. You guys are the perfect higher life form."
"Ben, would a higher life form have done with the Omnitrix what you have done with it?" Azmuth asked gently. "Would a higher life form have chosen a selfless path as you did years ago? Would a higher life form have family in aliens? What about your wife? What would she think of you if she saw you like this?"
That last one hit Ben in the gut as he thought about his beautiful wife, who was half alien herself. She had always told him she loved him for who he was.
Seeing Ben deep in thought, Azmuth smiled a little. "Did she choose a, as you put it, 'higher life form' you, or did she choose a selfless hero who makes mistakes but learns from them and becomes wiser in learning from those mistakes? Who did she choose, Ben?" He asked.
Ben swallowed. "She…she chose…," he started to say and then hung his head. "She chose a fool."
"A fool?" Azmuth asked curiously.
Ben's hand clenched into a fist, crumpling up the application in his hand. "I'm a fool," he said. "I just wanted to prove that I could act more mature, serious, and intelligent."
"Ben, you already are those things," said a voice and he turned to find Whampire standing in the doorway. "May I come in?"
Ben nodded and the Vladat stood beside him. "Ben, there's one thing I've learned living with Rachel and the others here at this mansion," he said. "Maturity only comes with age and as you learn from your mistakes, you become more mature."
"But, I'm not very mature," Ben said in protest.
"Who truly is?" Another voice asked and they saw Rachel standing in the doorway with a smile as she held her adopted daughter in her arms. "I know for a fact that I'm not completely mature. You've seen me not act my age countless times when playing with the children, or messing around with my brothers."
"You've even seen my brother and I act immature at times," said Whampire with a smile. "But, while we can all be mature adults, maturity cannot be gained through brainwashing or memorizing books on it. It can only be gained though learning."
Rachel stepped forward, resting a hand on Ben's shoulder. "You were young when you gained the Omnitrix, Ben, but you faced danger without thinking about yourself. All those times villains attacked, you weren't thinking about your pride or how your next battle would give you better hero stats," she said. "What were you thinking about when villains attacked?"
"The innocent lives that would be hurt if I didn't stop those villains," Ben said immediately. "Grandpa. Gwen. Kevin. My parents."
Rachel now decided to hit the nail home. "Azmuth, I wish to speak my mind, but I don't want to offend you as my example is about you, Great Thinker," she said respectfully.
"I have never known you to purposely offend me, Miss Jocklin," Azmuth said with a friendly smile. "Go ahead."
Rachel turned to Ben. "Azmuth is a higher life form, yes?" She asked.
"Well, yeah," Ben said. "He's got two brains over our one brain. He's the smartest alien of all and can create anything."
"But even with two brains and being a genius, did he come up with the idea that the Omnitrix could achieve the peace among the alien races he was looking for if it had someone to use it properly?" She asked gently. "The Omnitrix does not have a brain of its own and a machine cannot function without someone running it, someone with a brain."
Ben looked at Rachel, who smiled. "Think of it like this, the Omnitrix provides the brawn, but you provide the brain," she said. "Only a balanced mixture of brain and brawn can bring all those alien races together and bring them to be at peace with each other."
Azmuth smiled at Rachel's wise words. "Ben, you remember when we first met, how I refused to fix the Omnitrix, thinking it was a hopeless cause," he said. "But you changed my mind."
"I did?" Ben asked.
Azmuth nodded. "As Rachel said, even with my two brains and all my knowledge, I didn't even consider that the Omnitrix was only one part of my quest to bring peace to the many galaxies," he said. "It needed someone not as rigid in thinking as I was, someone who would make mistakes, but learn from them as well, someone like you, Ben."
Ben gave it some thought and suddenly felt someone hug his side and turned to find Megan, Whampire's daughter, looking up at him. "I don't want super smart Ben," she said. "I want my fun-loving, awesome Uncle Ben, who is smart in his own way."
Her words struck a chord in Ben and he picked her up. "Why don't you want me to be super smart, Megan?" He asked curiously.
"Because you're no fun that way," she said. "And I love my fun-loving Uncle Ben, because he loves me too."
Ben was silent and Azmuth looked up at him. "Do you see now, Ben?" He asked gently. "It's important for you to be your old self, because your old self is more mature, responsible, serious about his duty, and more intelligent than this new personality you now have."
"Is it really?" Ben asked, a bit unsure.
Azmuth nodded. "This 'new' you is hurting your family," he said gently. "Is that what you want? To hurt those you love? Those who care about you as you care about them?"
The gentle questions tore into Ben and he felt Whampire's hands on his shoulders and he turned to the Vladat. "You know it would hurt my niece to see her husband like this," he said. "It would hurt her more than any attack Transyl could do."
Knowing his family had good points, Ben hung his head again. "I'm such an idiot," he said before tears began running down his face. He then felt Megan hug him around his neck and then felt Rachel and Whampire hug him from both sides. Their gestures made his tears fall harder and his shoulders began heaving.
"Shh, my little brother," Rachel whispered soothingly.
"Don't cry, Uncle Ben," both Megan and her cousin said to him.
"We have your back, Ben," Whampire said soothingly. "We always have."
Ben continued to sob, feeling them hold him to comfort him while he hugged Megan, who hugged him back. Unseen to them, Alien X was in the doorway and his hands were glowing as he reached towards Ben, undoing the brainwashing that Ben had done to himself using his Vladat form. Finishing, he quietly moved away.
Ben had felt the alien presence and knew only one alien was capable of undoing something like that. "Thanks, Alien X," he said very softly so that no one heard him.
He then sat up, feeling Rachel, Whampire, and his two nieces let him go. "Do you feel better, Uncle Ben?" Megan asked curiously.
"Yes," he said. "I'm feeling like my old self again."
"Does that mean you'll play Twister with us?"
Smiling at her, Ben tickled both his nieces. "Yes," he said, hearing them giggle happily as both young girls stood up and grabbed Ben's hands, dragging him to the playroom, making Rachel, Whampire, and Azmuth all chuckle.
Ben watched his nieces set up the game and saw Azmuth next to him. "Azmuth, for the record, you are the higher life form," he said.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm the smartest alien, despite being called the Great Thinker," said the alien wisely. "Then again, what is knowledge and brains worth having if that's all you care about?"
"They're both good, but shouldn't be overdone," Ben said thoughtfully.
"Yes," Azmuth agreed. "Or you might hurt those you swore to never hurt."
Ben nodded and joined his nieces in playing Twister, thinking quietly about what he would have missed if he hadn't realized his error. He would have missed spending time with his family, whom he loved dearly.
He suddenly felt his nieces start tickling him and he fell down on his back, laughing as he let the young girls tickle him and he tickled them back before the Galactic Monsters all came in and joined in the tickle fight and the hero didn't stop them as he laughed his hardest before they let him rest and Ben sat up, hugging his nieces affectionately.
I'll make sure I learn from my mistakes, he said to himself. And always think about my family first.
After all, when you learn from your mistakes, you become a better person.
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GoldGuardian2418