Edited by GreyKing46

"So what exactly do you do in your free time?"

"What is 'free time?'"

"Er...when you don't have any duties to carry out."

"Duties?"

Ben sighed. Despite his attempts, Artemis's mentality was vastly too different for him to understand. She was willing to help, that much he gave her. She never tired of answering questions the group posed, even if it did take her a short pause to come to a decision. He stood up, holding out his hand to support Artemis. "Come on, lets go see Grandpa Max."

Artemis stared at the hand for a few seconds before grabbing it and lifting herself up.

Ben knew it was unnecessary. After all, a deity like her wouldn't need a human like him to help her stand up.

It did feel nice though. Her hand was...it was warm like the hearth of a flame, cool like an ocean breeze, soft like ...

"Oi, Tennyson," said Kevin, whacking Ben across the head. "Stop spacing out already."

While Gwen scolded Kevin for his violence, Ben led Artemis to Kevin's car.

"Come on, guys," he called out, stoppibg the two from fighting. "Let's find Grandpa Max."

As Kevin drove them in his car, Ben found his thoughts lingering on thr feeling of Artemis's hand.

It was a nice sensation.

Once they had arrived, they headed straight for Max, unimpeded by everyone due to their shock at seeing Artemis.

Max turned around, and when he saw Artemis, he blinked and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ben...is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. And Grandpa Max, she does have a name. It's Artemis."

Artemis had drawn lots of attention from the Plumbers who until now had never seen a Celestialsapien before. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and turned to face her. "My name is Artemis," bowed Artemis. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure is mine, I'm Max..." wavered Max, unsure of how to deal with this situation. "How did a Celestialsapien like you get dragged into Ben's mess? Did he cause another intergalactic explosion?"

"Hey!" shouted Ben.

"Your grandson has become what is potentially the most dangerous being in the universe. I am here to make sure he does not have to resort to using Alien X again."

"Of course," groaned Max. "Ben, what did you do this time?"

"Well, it started with Zombozo..."

After Ben had finished explaining, several Plumbers had wide eyes at how close the universe had been to being changed again. What shocked them the most was how Ben had supposedly transcended beyond the limits of Alien X, and as such had absolute power at hia disposal.

"So what do you plan on doing now?" asked Max.

Ben shrugged. "Same old, same old, I guess. I want to keep fighting off bad guys, keep saving the world, the usual. I don't mind my life right now, since after I finish high school I'll just join the Plumbers. What about you two? Same thing?" he asked, addressing Kevin and Gwen.

The two looked at each other and scratched their heads.

"About that," began Gwen. "I'm starting college early. I got accepted into an Ivy."

"And I'm staying at a place near campus," continued Kevin. "Gotta stay close to my girl."

Ben blinked, surprised. He never thought that the team would finally split. He swallowed hard. "Yeah. Cool. That's cool. Good luck..."

Gwen pulled him into a hug, seeing how crushed he was now that the team was finally breaking up. "Oh Ben, we'll still see each other. You know, during spring break and stuff."

Kevin punched Ben lightly. "Come on Tennyson, you've fought off alien hordes by yourself. Don't tell me you can't handle a little trouble without me having to save your butt."

Ben broke into a small smile. "Guess you're right."

Ben left the hug and grinned at the two. "Alright, come back soon, yeah?"

"Of course," laughed Gwen. "Wouldn't want to miss seeing a doofus like you mess up again."

"Right back at you, dweeb."

Ben smiled before he got a text message from Julie, his face paling as he read its contents.

"What is wrong, Benjamin?" asked Artemis.

"I... forgot about my date with Julie today..."

He then turned to Artemis, giving the alien a weak smile. "I don't suppise you can teleport me to her?"

*time skip*

"Who is that?" exclaimed a stunned Julie.

"She's Artemis, my..." Ben faltered as he didnt know how to describe her in simple terms.

"I am a guardian of sorts. A parole officer, if you will."

Julie blinked before sighing. "Ben..."

"Hey, trouble comes my way."

"What did he do?" she groaned out loud.

"Benjamin has essentially broken the laws regulating the safety of the universe. For his deeds in stopping an omnipotent sociopath who could bend reality, however, he was not prosecuted but instead let off with a warning."

Julie groaned again. "Ben, would it kill you to not look for trouble?"

"The crazy guy came up to me!"

"So what? Why can't you just leave it to others? You're going to get killed someday!"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Not for long," scoffed Julie. "Ben, I'm not sure I can keep doing this."

"Huh?" Ben's face froze, dread welling up inside him as he realized what she was about to do.

"I...I think we need to end this," sighed Julie. "You're a great guy, Ben, but you're a trouble magnet. Everytime something goes wrong, you always happen to be Ground Zero. I can't live like this. I want a normal life away from aliens and battles. I want a husband that won't be forced to leave every time something goes wrong." She shook her head, giving him one last hug before looking him in the eyes. She was crying, clearly heartbroken as her lip trembled "You can't give that life to me, Ben. You're a sweet guy, find someone else that deserves you. My selfishness will only get the two of us hurt later on." she cupped his cheeks, giving him a gentle kiss before she pulled back "I am sorry. I do love you... but... it is time we go our own ways. I hope you are happy." she bid farewell, walking away.

After she waved and left, Ben was left standing there, his feelings in a turmoil. So much pain, after so little time. First he lost his team. Now this?

"Benjamin," stated Artemis. "Your emotions are conflicted. Are you feeling normal?"

Ben didn't answer, causing Artemis to stand directly in front of him before kissing him.

"Hnngh?!" Ben was shocked out of his frozen state when Artemis placed her lips on his. The feeling was as if kissing the stars, or kissing water.

Spending time with a force of nature was weird.

Artemis tilted her head. "Was that not the correct time for a kiss?"

"Er...in what situation would that surprise kiss be appropriate?"

"I do not know. I scanned through your emptions briefly and saw that your dopamine levels rose while kissing, so I concluded that kissing would make you feel happier. Was it not to your liking?"

Ben was at a loss of words. This girl...not only did she look through his memories without permission, she kissed him out of the blue. Before he could respond, the Ombitrix beeped, signalling that someone was calling him. He picked up.

"What's up?"

"Tennyson," breathed out Azmuth's voice, trembling with either excitement, dread, or fury. "Meet with me. NOW."

"Uhh...". Ben looked at Artemis who stared back, her impassive expression never changing since the day he met her.

"Artemis, mind teleporting us to Azmuth?" Artemis stared back for a few seconds before nodding and teleporting them both to Azmuth.

*on Galvan Prime*

Azmuth dropped everything as soon they arrived. "My, oh, my, a Celestialsapien gracing my planet? I do hope you don't plan on destroying it."

"I will do no harm," promised Artemis. This caused Azmuth to sigh in relief before turning to Ben.

"Explain. Everything."

After he finished, Azmuth gave a thoughtful nod.

"Artemis," he said, gaining the alien's attention. "What do you think are the odds that Benjamin here will have to fight aliens with the same capabilities of Ixion, in his current state?"

"Ixion was an anomaly, the odds of another one of us becoming belligerent or maniacal are negligible. Combat wise, I would estimate Benjamin's chances of meeting someone that could potentially beat him as approximately 45%."

"Too high," muttered Azmuth, before looking at Ben. "Get over here, Tennyson." As Ben followed the Galvan, he noticed that the Ultimatrix was being taken apart by Azmuth. "Albedo was," started Azmuth. "Admittedly, very bright. As much as I am loathe to say this, I could not have completed the Omnitrix as quickly as I did without his help. Such a shame his mind was warped by a desire to surpass me. The Ultimatrix...never would I have thought of creating such an abomination. Promoting such violence...I absolutely despise it. The ability to change oneself and adapt should be to help, to support! And here we are with a corrupted dream." Azmuth sighed. "Benjamin, as much as it pains me to say this, I do care for your well-being."

"Aw, Azmuth, you DO care about me."

"Hush, don't get your ego inflated. If you were to die, that would mean the precious Omnitrix was destroyed. I refuse to let the Omnitrix be destroyed because the monkey it decided to attach itself to wasn't able to defend it. Especially not after you destroyed the first one."

Ben laughed nervously. "Well, haven't broken this one yet."

Azmuth grunted. "I don't have high hopes. Only a few days in, and you've already fought a Celestialsapien with it."

He looked back at the Ultimatrix. "I'll need the Omnitrix for a few hours to implement a few upgrades. As smart as Albedo claims to be, he failed to understand the risks of combining the Codon Stream with the evolutionary function. The Stream itself is unstable enough, adding in more complications without a stabilizing mechanic would only risk contamination." He tapped the Omnitrix a few time before it came off Ben's wrist and opened it up before beginning to work on it.

Artemis stared at Ben, who was deep in thought. "May I know what you are thinking about, Benjamin?"

"Call me Ben. And honestly, I am a bit worried. You remember Big Chill?"

"Your Necrofriggian form, is that correct?"

"Yeah. And you know how they reproduce asexually, right?"

"That is correct."

"Well, as Big Chill, I fathered 14 children. And thinking about the Codon Stream has gotten me worried about their fates."

Artemis said nothing for a few seconds before her eyes glowed briefly. "Many of your children died. Contamination was present in at least 10 of them. Only three are still alive, and all have illnesses related to genetic incompatibility."

Ben paled and swallowed hard. His children...most of them were dead. and the ones that were alive...

"Can...can I see them?"

Artemis nodded after a pause and sure enough his three children appeared.

It was not a pretty sight.

All had Necrofriggian shapes, but their wings were misshapen, as if they had tried to grow larger but were stunted. Their heads were almost skeletal looking, and Ben swore that the ice breath they should have had was replaced with blood. Their faces were mangled, as though someone had tried transforming into Big Chill and stopped halfway.

The final blow? They all resembled Ben.

Azmuth glaced at the new visitors and froze, slowly turning around.

The largest of the three looked up weakly and caught of Ben, before gasping lightly.

"F...Fa...Father?" whispered a female voice.

Silence befell the group before Azmuth roared.

"BENJAMIN KIRBY TENNYSON!"

"Of all the things to not discuss with me," muttered a furious Azmuth. "You failed to tell me your Necrofriggian form gave birth?!"

Ben didn't say a word, opting to hug his children.

"Have you learned NOTHING in biology class!" growed the Galvan. "There is a reason why mixing DNA between species is a terrible idea! Your children are the textbook definition of hybrid inviability!

"If you were mating sexually with a Necrofriggian, I suppose I could give you a pass, as the odds of fertilization are slim to none. But asexual reproduction runs the risk of spreading deleterious genes, particularly when the Codon Strean is so liable to contamination!

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT YOU OLD TOAD!" Ben yelled, the day just being too much for him and he just... exploded. Ben felt vomit rising listening to Azmuth. It was true that it had slipped his mind in telling Azmuth he gave birth. But... to have their deaths on his hands... He was no hero. He was a failure.

Artemis extended her hand as if preparing to comfort or soothe one of them, but froze up, indicating that her personalities were conflicting.

"I... I'm sorry Azmuth." Ben whispered "I... I just don't know what to do."

Azmuth sighed. "Ben, I'm getting too old for this. I'll try to fix whatever damage hybridization has caused them but for the love of Ascalon, tell me next time something big happens." This caused Ben to nod mutely, looking at the children in his arms.

"Dad," groaned the middle one weakly, who had a male voice. "What's going on?"

"Grandpa Azmuth will heal you," he stated softly patting the child's head. This statement caused Azmuth to pause for a second, before he resumed his search. After a few seconds rummaging through his shelves, Azmuth triumphantly pulled out three pieces of technology. They looked like disks with the Omnitrix symbol on them but when Azmuth pressed them, they opened up like when Ben used the Omnitrix. "Now to activate the genetic stabilizer," he muttered, tinkering with the tech. "Add in a flesh disguise to deter the xenophobes...ooh, almost forgot about the optimal reconfiguration program, that could have been nasty...and the masterpiece: isolationist mechanisms." Azmuth then grabbed the disks and brought them over to Ben's children. "Wearing these should help fix the Codon Stream contamination. It functions by separating both strands of DNA to allow for normal gene function. Although I doubt that it would be likely their DNA crosses over again, I recommend keeping this on them until I can create a more permanent and less clunky solution." He placed one on the chest of each of the children before looking at Ben, handing the Omnitrix back to him. "Whenever you are ready, just scan them with the Omnitrix."

Ben took a deep breath after slipping on the Omnitrix before turning his wrists so the watch faced his children. As his children were essentially an undiscovered species with their mixed DNA, they were considered a new species by the Omnitrix and triggered a scanning mechanism.

ERROR! DEFECTIVE DNA DETECTED. PREPARING DNA REPAIR SEQUENCE.

Normally, the Omnitrix would scan and implement new DNA and add it to it's database. However, the sheer amount of inaccurate DNA base pairs, as well as deleterious genes as miscoded proteins, everything that made his children essentially abominations of nature, overrode the Omnitrix's basic functions and caused it to repair the DNA, like it did with the Highbreed.

However, with the addition of Azmuth's device, the device's reparation mechanism was changed. While before it would fix the problem by overlaying new DNA, the Omnitrix's focus was now shifted to separating the DNA strands, base pairs properly filling in the missing areas with the correct base pairs.

Though the process occurred within a few seconds to the eyes of Artemis and Azmuth, it felt like eons for Ben. He swore he could see each DNA base pair being overlayed with a new, proper one, prions and polypeptides denaturing and reforming. He felt each individual cell shudder and relax as it was changed from the inside. He could see their bodies slowly turning into a proper Necrofriggian's.

It was a miracle of life. And all it did was make him ever more nervous.

At last, after what seemed like an eternity for Ben, it was over. His children had been changed into what was considered normal Necrofriggians. Curiously, though, there were evident size differences, and seeing it from an outsider's perspective Ben could imagine viewing them as being born in different years.

"Azmuth, I'm pretty sure I gave birth to them all at the same time, so why does one of them look more or less a year younger than me, while another one looks like a toddler?"

Azmuth frowned. "I'm fairly certain that I did everything correctly, unless old age is catching up faster than I thought..."

"I suppose that the Omnitrix factored in their mental state when determining what was an ideal body shape for them to assume," he stated, not taking his eyes off the disks. "The largest one, I would imagine, acted as a protective caretaker, a surrogate mother figure. The second youngest, the son, most likely attempted to protect the youngest, resulting in a somewhat adolescent appearance, but I would imagine that a fierce devotion to following the older one had a hand in it. The smallest one...perhaps fear regressed her mental state to that of a child."

Said youngest had freaked out when Azmuth had placed a disk on her chest, but had slowly relaxed with some soothing words from Ben. For now, he was cradling her as if he were cradling a four year old.

"Does that mean that if their minds mature, their bodies will as well?" asked a concerned Ben. He didn't fancy the idea of adult-looking aliens calling him "daddy."

"Nonsense," snorted Azmuth. "There's only so much errors the Omnitrix can cause, and the only one it has made so far is binding to you," he joked, causing Ben to crack a smile. "Amusements aside, these forms are relatively stable for now. I doubt that their physical appearances would change at all. I'll work on a proper model that will allow your children to grow up normally." He then glanced at Ben. "I know how xenophobic humans can be so I took the liberty of implementing a flesh generator into the devices. Similar to the Omnitrix, all you have to do is PRESS it, not SLAM it. Honestly, Ben, would it kill you to be more careful with one of the most precious devices in the universe?"

"Hey I was never given an instruction manual and NO ONE has ever corrected me!" Ben huffed, playfully to show he had cheered up a bit. "But seriously, Azmuth, I can't thank you enough," grinned Ben, incredibly grateful that the First Thinker was so kind towards him. Azmuth waved him off and walked into his lab, hollering for Myaxx to help him find some parts.

"What will you name the children?" asked Artemis, who had knelt down in order to look at the children on eye level. She was surprised when the middle one hugged her suddenly, but returned it after a brief pause.

This feeling...it was not bad. Unusual, but not bad.

"Father," whispered the oldest one, grabbing Ben's attention. "I would like...a name...if that's not too much trouble."

"Me too, Dad," added on the second child, enjoying his hug with Artemis.

"Name me, daddy!" giggled the last one, whose mind was essentially a baby's.

Ben nodded for a second before looking over their appearances. The first one had a very slender shape compared to his form of Big Chill and had green patches instead of dark blue on her skin, and the curve of her body verified that she was a female. The second one was built similarly to Ben when he was 10. He had a white shading where light blue shading should have been. As for the youngest one, her color scheme was a split copy of Ben when he was Big Chill, and was as small as the day he gave birth to them. "For you, kiddo," he said, tickling his daughter's neck while smiling. "How does Elyse sound?"

Elyse grinned when she heard her name. "Thanks daddy!" she said, hugging him.

"You're welcome baby girl." He nuzzled her for a bit before moving onto his son, who was trying not to look excited for his name. "Hmm...Ark?"

"Hmm...Ark?" Ark nodded, pleased with his new name.

He looked at his oldest daughter, who gave him a curious stare. "Artemis, why don't you name her?" Everyone else save Elyse seemed stunned when he asked this.

"Ben, are you sure you wish to entrust me with this?" Ben nodded in reply, causing Artemis to look at his daughter, who returned it with a hopeful look.

Artemis stared for a few seconds as she thought of a fitting name before speaking. "You acted as a surrogate mother to your siblings. To my people, the creator of your world was a Celestialsapien named Gaia, the Mother of Earth. For that, I deem you Gaia."

Gaia's face broke into a smile as she pulled everyone into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered, a tear of joy streaming down from her eye. "I've never felt so happy in my life before."

Ben chuckled, returning the hug. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you never feel sad again. After all, that's what family is for." Ben then thought of something. "We'll be going to Earth soon. You might want to change into your human forms. Earth is slowly accepting aliens arriving, but there are still a couple xenophobes out there trying to hurt your reputations."

"Daddy," asked Elyse. "What's a xenophobe?" Ark and Gaia also voiced their confusion on the word.

"They don't like aliens because they don't look like them. They're willing to attack you if it means you'll leave, and I don't want you getting hurt," he explained as carefully as he could. His three children nodded in understanding before pressing against the Omnitrix symbol on their chest. Once they turned into humans, two things were evident to Ben.

One, they all looked like him.

Elyse looked like a female version of him back when he was around 5 years old. Her hair reached down to her shoulders and were black, while her eyes were startlingly icy blue.

Ark was easily the palest one of the bunch. Looking like Ben back when he was still 10, his hair was black with white streaks, but what shocked Ben the most were the red eyes which reminded him of...ugh, Albedo.

Gaia had green hair, and eyes to match. She looked more or less like a female Ben a year ago, and her hair reached al the way down to her lower back. She wasn't overly curvy, perhaps a soft B cup, and her skin seemed a very, very slight tinge of blue, while her lips were dark blue.

Two, they all were naked.

Ben froze as he saw the naked bodies of his children before closing his eyes.

"Artemis, please give them clothes."

Artemis was less stunned, since as she was one of the more isolated Celestialsapiens, she was used to being nude. Nevertheless, ever since she had first gone to Earth, she admitted she had taken to wearing traditional clothing like her more social colleagues and understood the value of clothing for decency. With a snap of her fingers, she materialized clothing for them.

Elyse received a green and black mid-shin length sundress. It was simple, with the Omnitrix symbol on her back, but it looked cute on her. She was confused as to why she suddenly had clothes, but chalked it up to her daddy helping her.

Ark gained a white hoodie with black undershirt. He wore red sweatpants with black streaks going down, and his undershirt had the Omnitrix symbol on it. He too was somewhat confused as to why he needed clothes but made no comment on it. Again, Ben was given the unpleasant memory of Albedo.

As for Gaia, she wore a green shirt that went to her stomach, a black skirt that stopped an inch before her knees, green leggings and black shoes with no heels. She also had a gold necklace that had the Omnitrix symbol hanging as a charm, dangling between her breasts. Overall it looked modern, stylish and slightly attractive but it still looked great on her. She alone had felt mildly uneasy while naked around her family, since her father and Artemis were wearing clothes while she was not, and was the most thankful for her clothes.

Ben smiled as he saw his children enjoying their new attire before turning to Artemis.

"I hope I'm not asking too much by asking you to teleport us back home. I want the kids to meet their grandparents."