Ben is 17, Gwen is 17, and Kevin is 18. JetStream is just a fan alien created by... well... check my profile to see who made it.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ben 10, Alien Force, or Ultimate Alien. But if I did, I would be rich! (The Man Of Action is a lucky guy.)

*Zephyr is pronounced [ZEFF - ARE]

*A pyronite is Heatblast.

Ben is a bit more serious in this chapter and onward. The first chapter...meh.

October 8th, 2010

Ben and Kevin stood outside the bedroom door of Grandpa Max. Ben was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed and his left foot tapping against the ground the way it always does when he gets impatient or nervous. Kevin, however, didn't seem nervous at all. In fact, he was digging inside of the leather pouch that Gwen had given him for his 18th birthday. He pulled out a silver marble and squeezed it tightly. His arm immediately turned the same color as the marble, and silver continued to creep up around his body until he was completely engulfed in the blinding color.

Ben looked over at his friend and said, "I thought you needed a lot of something to do that."

Kevin shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess it's some sort of enchanted marble. I should ask her how she did it, shouldn't I?"

As if right on cue, the bedroom door swung open, and Gwen walked out, holding a Plumber's badge. "Got it."

Five minutes later, the three teenagers found themselves - much to Kevin's dislike - sitting on the hood of the 1970 Dodge Challenger, listening to the message that had been left on Grandpa Max's Plumber's Badge.

There was a man on the floor. His arm was outstretched, but his hand was not visible because he was holding the badge out in front of him as a communicator. He was wearing a Plumber's uniform, but the sleeve of his left arm was completely ripped off, and there was a large, burn mark where he had obviously been attacked by a *Pyronite, or some other flame - producing alien.

"Max? Max, if you can hear me -" for a moment, there was only static, but the man's lips were still moving, then sound returned. "NGC 4826 - Death Trio... Max, hurry - too late!" There was a very loud, very large crash, and the hologram flickered off for a moment, but then it returned. This time, there was a horrible sight. The very same man was on the floor. The teenagers didn't need the pool of blood that surrounded him to tell that he was dead. His arm was twisted at an odd angle, and his leg was almost completely severed. Gwen screamed. Kevin snatched the badge from his girlfriend's hand and turned it off. For a while, no one said a thing, until Ben spoke.

"What do you think NGC 4628 -"

"4826," Kevin corrected. "It's NGC 4826, also known as the Black Eye Galaxy. It's pretty far off into space. No one, not even plumbers, dare to go there. All anyone knows, is that that Galaxy makes some of the highest tech. Except for Galvan Prime of course," he added, looking over at Ben's Ultimatrix. Two year ago, something so intelligent coming from Kevin's mouth would've been amazing, but it'd seemed to have lost its novelty.

"And what's the Death Trio?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow towards Kevin.

Kevin gave a non-convincing shrug and then jumped off of the car to stare at the two cousins. "Well, from what I know, they're just three criminals that escaped from *Zephyr, a high security alien prison, a few weeks ago.

"WHAT?" Ben and Gwen exclaimed in unison.

Gwen leapt off the hood off the car and began to pace back and forth in front of Kevin. "Why didn't you tell us about it?"

Kevin began to back away. "Well... I thought that the plumbers would be able to take care of it."

"Yeah," Ben said sarcastically. "They're taking real good care of it, aren't they?"

Kevin sighed a 'fine-I-give-up' sort of sigh and grumbled, "Fine, I'll go get the Rust Bucket."

Moments later, they were speeding off towards the Black Eye Galaxy at full speed, with Kevin at the controls.

Ben sat uncomfortably in the middle of the ship. "Are you sure we don't need our plumber suits?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Kevin replied, not really paying attention.

"Cause, the last time we didn't wear our plumber suits, we were attacked by hundreds of giant alien spiders that could smell Gwen's magic essence."

"Mmm-hmm," Gwen said, flinching at the memory.

Kevin grinned sheepishly. "Everyone makes mistakes."

It must've been an hour later when Kevin finally announced, "Well, here we are. NGC 4826, A.K.A. The Black Eye Galaxy."

Sorry it took me a while to upload, but I attend something called SCHOOL!

Remember, if you don't write a good review, then I'll send Roger after you. Who's Roger? Oh, you don't wanna' find out...