Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10.

Chapter 2 – Hunted

I opened my eyes and found the world upside down. It took me a few seconds to figure out that I've fallen out of the bunk.

Aw man, not again.

Groaning, I picked myself up and rubbed the sore part of my head. Thank goodness I wasn't sleeping on the top bunk, or the fall would have been extremely painful. I was pretty sure the noise of the impact would have woken the whole RV.

I quickly wiped off the drool with my sleeve. Since I was upside-down, it had ended up all over my face. Urgh.

Seriously, I've got to stop having these dreams. Somehow they always finish off with me on the floor.

My clock showed three-forty-five in the morning. Right in the middle of the dead of the night.

I hated those dreams. I really, really hated them. I mean, who would want to see Vilgax every single day? As if that one visit to the Null Void with Mr. Octopus-head wasn't enough for a lifetime already!

I decided that I would pay a visit to the bathroom. A splash to the face surely would help me cool off.

As the ice cold water stung the surface of my skin, I wondered why I kept having these dreams. It's been a while since that incident happened – two weeks to be exact. I didn't think normal people had dreams that repeat themselves over and over again.

These dreams, visions, nightmares…whatever, really disturbed me. As in troubled me, made me feel sick, kept me awake for nights and so on. But the most important thing was, they made me hate myself.

I've never really hated myself before. I mean, I wasn't a super cool kid at school and all that, but that never bothered me too much. After all, with the Omnitrix, I was a hero, and not to mention the most powerful ten-year old in the world. I should be proud, I guess. I was doing the world a lot of good.

Okay, I take back what I said about never hated myself. I did, once, when that Joey woman, aka Rojo, attacked Grandpa. That was only about a month ago. I tried to run away the last time, but in the end, Gwen and Grandpa convinced me that in was for the best that we stayed together. Now, however, I wasn't sure I was going to stay convinced.

With the Omnitrix on my wrist, I'm bound to be constantly targeted by aliens all over the universe. That's okay by me, because I love kicking alien butt. I guess Grandpa will be fine, too, as he was an excellent Plumber before he retired, right? But Gwen…she doesn't have any powers of her own. Not since her lucky charm's power got destroyed the last time we beat Hex and Charmcaster anyway. If really tough aliens come looking for a fight, she can be in serious trouble…

Hey, don't get me wrong. It's not as if I'm worried about that mega dweeb or anything. I mean, she's a total doofus, right? It's just I don't like getting people into trouble. Okay, maybe I do like getting Gwen into trouble, but not that kind of trouble when people get hurt or get held hostage. That kind of trouble seriously sucks.

I didn't understand why those dreams kept haunting me. I wouldn't exactly call them a nightmare, because I wasn't really scared. Seeing the reality replay before your eyes again and again can be rather eerie, but that didn't spook me or anything. It just made me feel like a total jerk.

The idea of telling Grandpa and my cousin about those dreams was ridiculous enough, even though it was pretty abnormal to have the same dream every night for fourteen days. I could see Grandpa saying that it was no big deal and Gwen laughing and teasing me about it the very instant.

Maybe it's time I went to bed again. Hopefully my sleep will be dreamless this time.

I dragged myself out of the bathroom. That's when I noticed a change in the RV.

Gwen's bunk was empty.


"Where do you think she went?" I shouted to Grandpa as we went running through the forest, screaming Gwen's name.

"I don't know," Grandpa replied, brows furrowed and panting slightly, struggling to keep up with me. "Why would she go out in the middle of the night?"

How could I have been so stupid? I should have been aware of Gwen's absence the moment I awoke. I haven't heard anyone leave the RV during my little stay in the bathroom, which meant she must have gone before the dream woke me up.

The lights of our flashlights danced from one tree to another, but there was still no sign of my cousin.

I started to worry. What if some aliens have her? What if she's been dragged out of the RV? But then there should be signs of struggle, right?

I decided to speed up the search. Wildmutt could easy sense Gwen if she was around. I quickly found the alien I wanted on the Omnitrix and slammed it down. A flash a green light blinded everything within five feet of the watch, and when the light died down, I was, thankfully, the orange, eyeless, dog-like alien.

"Good thinking, Ben," Grandpa nodded his approval. I gave no answer but immediately went to my search and started sniffing around. I ran a little way in front and looked desperately for any sign of Gwen at all. If I could just find her scent…!

BOOM!

The pine tree next to me blew up in a bang and was soon consumed by flames. I turned round in shock, and came face to face with a round, red flying robot, armed with guns and lasers.

It was one of Vilgax's drones!

No! I thought, horrified. What if Vilgax's got Gwen?

"Ben! Where are you?" Grandpa's voice was distant. I've been so into the search that I hadn't realized that I'd left him a long way behind. I tried to call back to him, but all I could make out was a grunt.

So I did the only thing I could. I charged at the drone.

It dodged my attack as I went crashing into a tree. Fortunately I have done this a million times before, and instead of smashing right into the prickly leaves, I turned around, kicked off using the tree as a launching pad and flew at the flying robot. It shot at me, as all robots do, and went zigzag through the air, slipping away from my clutches.

Aggravated, I gave a roar, threw myself at the drone and clung on. I was about to rip the wires out when one of its guns appeared out of nowhere, took aim, and blasted me right off it.

I fell through the air and hit the rocks below with a gigantic thud. And just my luck, the Omnitrix timed out.

"Aw man!" I moaned. "Not now!"

In a flash of red I was back to my human form. I grabbed my shoulder that was searing with pain. Stupid rocks! Of all the places on earth, why do they have to be right where I landed?

Now my head was hurting too. But that couldn't be right. I didn't remember hitting my head anywhere, except the floor of the RV, and that was ages ago.

When I looked up, my heart almost skipped a beat.

Three gigantic attack drones were hanging in mid-air, as if surveying me with interest. The first one has brought its friends.

Could this day be any worse?


With all the good sense I was born with, I ran.

I want to say that I did a great job of getting away like a real hero, and that I dodged every one of the drones' attacks with ease. The truth was, I went stumbling all the way. I was blasted into the air and fell painfully down again couple of times when their missiles exploded behind me.

I was dashing blindly through the forest, the three flying robots hot on my trail. I couldn't see where I was going, and kept bumping into trees. I had dropped my flashlight in the place where I transformed to Wildmutt.

The pine leaves scratched at my face as I zoomed pass them. It hurt a bit, but I couldn't possibly care about that now.

Come on, come on! I pleaded the watch. However, it remained red and useless. I resisted the urge to curse.

Now my shoulder hurt more than ever. My legs were begging me to stop. I started to get dizzy. My vision started to get foggy. This wasn't good.

I didn't know how much longer I could run.

And then just about twenty feet ahead, I saw a light. With renewed speed, I darted towards it. I didn't know what it was doing in the middle of nowhere during the night, but I was sure it meant there was someone there, and whoever he was, he might be able to help.

The robots were closing on me fast. I tried to ignore the laser beams raining down behind me. Another glance at the watch told me that there was no "going hero" yet.

Then I saw it – it was a flashlight. Approaching closer, I saw the initials M.T. written on the side of it.

Gwen was near!

And sure enough, I found my cousin, just a few feet away, senseless on the ground. Feeling terrified, I raced towards her.

"Hey! Doofus, get up!" I shook her shoulder, but she wouldn't stir. Out of the corner of my eye, the drones were almost upon me. Panicked, I grabbed Gwen and dragged her out of the way behind the trees.

The Omnitrix was taking longer to recharge than normal. I beat it repeatedly, but that got me nothing but a sore hand. Helpless, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "GRANDPA!"

One of the drones turned to the direction of my voice and fired at everything in its sight, including the tree I was hiding behind. It went up in flames and went tumbling down us. Instinctively, I grabbed Gwen and jumped out of the way, trying to avoid all the forty feet trees that came crashing down as they were swallowed by the sea of fire.

"Come on, Gwen, WAKE UP!" I yelled into her ears and shook her furiously, but she remained unconscious. Trust me, dragging your cousin who weights more than a million pounds with you when the world is trying to squash you into a pancake is not fun at all.

Then it was as if the earth itself blew up, and both my cousin and I were flung into the air. I landed on my already sore shoulder, so that I screamed in pain as the impact was made. Gwen landed right on my stomach, knocking all the air out of me.

I groaned. This was definitely not my day.

Finally, and not exactly miraculously, Gwen stirred. "No," she whimpered like an injured animal. "Stop it…"

"Stop what?" I muttered. Only then did that doofus figured that she was right on top me. "B-ben? What –?"

"LOOK OUT!" I shouted, as behind her I saw two of the drones scooping down upon us. I gave Gwen a mighty push as she flew five feet away and hit a tree trunk.

The last thing I ever remembered was a great flash of yellow light.