Chapter 4: The Blobs

Now, Ben, Gwen and I were in an ice cream place, trying to get ice cream cones, while Max used the ATM outside.

Max: "How much do I need from here?" He was thinking to himself as he got up to it. Some guys in an old pickup truck snuck up behind him. A big, fat guy got out, and pushed him aside from behind. The skinny one stayed in the car, and the big one tied a hook on a chain to the rear of it. Inside, we were just ordering.

Gwen: "Do you have anything with no fat in it?"

Guy: "Napkins. How 'bout you?" He was looking at Ben.

Ben: "Rocky road, please."

Guy: "Alrighty then. You?" I was about to say something, when I heard a truck start up, and turned around.

Dustin: "Chocolate. She's sharing with me." I went out, and became Upgrade. I merged with the truck's engine, and shut it down.

Skinny dude: "What gives? The engine won't start!"

Fat guy: "What the hell?!"

Upgrade: "Sorry, boys. Your access has been denied." I appeared from behind the wheel, and threw him out of the truck.

Fat guy: "Hey!" He threw the anchor at me, but I grabbed it, and became Diamondhead. I reeled him in, and socked him in the face. He fell backwards. The skinny guy brought out a crowbar, and hit me with it, but I was unphased.

Diamondhead: "Are all crooks this dumb?" I took the crowbar from him, and hit him across the face with it. He fell unconscious. The fat guy got up, and punched me. He only hurt himself. I socked him in the face again. He fell over, and I stepped on his belly.

Max: "A little, um, extreme, don't you think?"

Diamondhead: "Takes all kinds, Max."

Ben was eating his ice cream as he got out, and Gwen was holding the chocolate one.

Gwen: "Dustin stops yet another robbery. Dustin at hmm… 13. Bad guys at a big fat 0!"

Diamondhead: "Can I help it? I'm so awesome?"

Max: "I'll call the police."

Diamondhead: "So, where do we go from here?"

Max: "Ben's Aunt Vera's house."

Ben immediately stopped eating his ice cream.

Diamondhead: "Ben?"

Ben: "NOOOOOOOO!" He ran away in one direction, while his ice cream cone was quickly melting. I went XLR8, and stopped right in front of him.

Ben: "I'm not going there!"

XLR8: "It's our next stop, so I'm not complaining."

Gwen: "Yeah, Ben. Chill."

Ben: "I AM chill! I just don't like old people!" I grabbed him, and started carrying him so his upper half was going down my back.

Ben: "Let me go-oo!" He licked his ice cream as I took him back.

Dustin: 'Oh god! Now I know how mom felt when I was a kid.'

Some time later…

Gwen and I were sharing the chocolate ice cream.

Gwen: "It's my turn! You've had enough licks already!"

Dustin: "Alright! Jeez calm down. It's just that since this isn't fat-free, I thought you wanted less of it."

Gwen: "Yeah, but… I still want some!" She started licking quickly.

Ben (snickering): "Yeah big bro. Never learned to share with your sis."

Dustin: "Excuse me, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson? I didn't hear that quite right. You mind saying it again?" I got the Omnitrix ready as I said it.

Ben (noticing and freaking out): "Sorry!"

Dustin: "That's what I thought."

Gwen: "Okay. Here you go." I got it back, and noticed half was gone.

Dustin: "Hey!"

Gwen: "I'm done. Now you can finish the rest."

Dustin: "Fine." I did just that, and we had pulled up to right in front of Vera's place.

Max: "Here we are."

Ben: "You have no right to use my full name like that, man."

Dustin: "I had the right, then, meany boy."

Ben: "Now that's just going over the deep end!"

Max: "Quiet!" We both shut our mouths, and Gwen just giggled.

Gwen: "Boys. Ha ha ha!" She left with a smirk on her face. Ben and I sat silently for a few seconds.

Dustin: "Ben, I think we've been had."

Ben: "Me, too."

Dustin: "We never speak of that incident again."

Ben: "Yep."

We both came out, and we saw Vera.

Vera: "Oh! There's Ben! Hi!" She got to pinching his cheeks. I snickered at this, trying hard not to laugh.

Ben: "Ow!"

Vera: "And aren't you just handsome!" She got my cheeks, but I wasn't complaining.

Dustin: "No kidding, Ben. Ow…" Ben laughed at my pain. Vera was definitely not skinny, but not huge, had white hair the same color as Max's, and had a purple dress on. She had a REALLY happy expression on her face.

Vera: "And what's your name?"

Kyle: "Dustin Hogan. I'm a friend of Ben and Gwen's"

Vera: "Nice to meet you young man." I smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of my neck and blushing. We entered her house.

Ben: "Ugh!? Why do old people's houses always smell like sweaty socks?"

Dustin (whispering to him): "Ben, show some respect. This is your aunt's house."

Ben: "I don't see you enjoying this, yet."

Dustin: "She's a lot like mawmaw Doris."

Ben: "Who"

Kyle: "My great grandmother."

Vera: "What have you all been doing this summer?"

Max: "Driving."

Gwen: "Summer reading".

Ben: "Playing Sumo Slammer on my GBA."

Kyle: "Hanging out with Ben, Gwen and Max."

Vera: "You three must be good friends I take it."

Dustin: "These two are kinda like the siblings i never had." I went bashful again. Ben smirked. I noticed and gave him a 'death stare'. He backed down immediately.

Max: "What's cookin' tonight, huh, Vera?"

Vera: "You'll see when it's done." Gwen walked over to a statue of a red-colored bird.

Gwen: "Is this a red-tailed swallow?"

Vera: "Yes. And-"

Gwen and Vera: "They have the highest pitched mating call of all birds. (Both do a bird screech)"

Dustin: "Oh a blue jay! I love those birds. Besides the red cardinal." I said seeing a blue jay statue.

Vera: "Quite beautiful aren't they?"

Dustin: "Oh yes ma'am. I love all kinds of animals. Especially birds. When I was just a tyke, I had a stuffed blue jay that I took with me where ever I went."

Ben: "Ugh…" I just sighed.

Dinner was ready. It was gelatin with pork chop bits and cauliflower. Ben and Gwen immediately did not eat it. I ate everything, even the cauliflower. I was always a veggie kid. Ben put his dinner onto Gwen's plate and said, "Boy, I'm stuffed!" and faked a burp, but sounded surprisingly real. (But I know he faked it.)

Vera: "Do you want candy, Ben?"

Ben: "Now that's more like it!" He ate a piece, and said, "Yuck! Coffee-flavor?"

Dustin: "I'll pass miss Vera. I don't have much of a sweet tooth. Except for chocolate." I looked at Gwen's plate, and asked, "You gonna eat all that, Gwen?"

Gwen: "You can have it all." She passed it over to me, and I, again, ate everything, even the cauliflower.

Dustin: 'Man, this place reminds me of mawmaw Doris' house. I hope everyone's doing okay with out me.'

Ben: "I'll be, uh, out."

Dustin: "Okay. Just don't do anything funny." I said with a slight glare. 'He's gonna do something stupid. I just know it. Hopefully I'm wrong.'

Vera: "Okay. Be back soon." He left the house, and started walking around.

Ben's POV…

Ben: "Ugh. This place is anything but cool."

I said as I then looked at the Omnitrix on my wrist.

Ben: "How about we make it less boring?" I put the Omnitrix on. I then became Ghostfreak. I still can't believe he is one of Dustin's favorites, I found this one kinda creepy.

Ghostfreak: "Now, where's something I can mess with?" I noticed a lone golf cart. I got the engine starting. I turned invisible as I started up the golf cart, and drove through the whole suburb with it. The other old people looked on with startled and surprised faces.

Ghostfreak: "What? Ain't you guys ever seen a self-driving golf cart? Wave of the future, people!" I said. I then smelled something, and parked the golf cart.

Ghostfreak: "What is that smell?" I turned visible, flew towards the smell, and got behind a bush.

Ghostfreak: "Ooh! Pie!" It was on an open windowsill. I turned invisible, and prepared to take it, when I was watching an old lady try to swat a fly. She had a hard time.

Ghostfreak: "Heh. Too fast for ya, lady." The fly got on the ceiling, and she jumped onto it, and ate it.

Ghostfreak: "Whoa! No way! Ninja old lady!" I said as I decided to leave the pie. I rather not get my butt kicked by a NINJA old.

Ghostfreak: "Let's try something else back at Vera's." I took the 'self-driving' golf cart route and I had a wicked idea.

Dustin's POV

In the house…

I was admiring her Sea shell collection. She had so many cool shells. Even some sea stars and sand dollars.

Vera: "You can hear the ocean through this seashell, Gwen."

Gwen picked it up, held it to her ear, and…

Ghostfreak: "Loser… loser… loser…" She looked very disturbed. I appeared in her face with a "Boo!"

Gwen: "AAAHHHH!" Max, Vera and I looked in her direction, and turned invisible immediately after.

Max: "What's wrong?"

Gwen: "Ghostfreak…" She looked scared as all crap.

Vera: "Ghostfreak?"

Max: "I'm sure it's okay."

Dustin: 'Dammit Ben! I knew you would do something stupid.'

Vera: "*Yawns* I'll head off to bed now." She did just that.

Max: "We'll keep it quiet."

Dustin: "Rest well miss Vera." Once she was out of sight, we turned to the wall.

Gwen: "That was so not funny."

Max: "Ben, I know you're there." He reappeared, and I looked at him angrily.

Dustin (whispering): "Change! Back! Now!" I said through gritted teeth now angry.

Ben wasn't stupid enough to argue so he changed back.

Dustin: "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson!"

Ben: "Dude! What did I say about using my full name."

Max: "What were you thinking?"

Ben: "Aw c'mon grandpa. I was just having a little fun."

Max: "You scared Gwen too badly."

Dustin: "And your not one to talk Ben! I said not to do somethin stupid. I can't Ben leave you alone with the Omnitrix for one second."

Ben: "All I said was, 'boo'."

Gwen: "Don't do that again!"

Dustin : "Can you guys excuse us for a minute. Ben and I are gonna have a little chat."

Max: "Just don't get into a fight, alright?"

Gwen: "No Ghostfreak attacks either, alright Ben?"

Ben: "Understood." Ben and I walked to the living room.

Dustin: "What have I told you Ben?"

Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility."

Dustin: "Exactly. That watch is no toy Ben! If either one, or even both of our Omnitrixes fall into the wrong hands, it could spell disaster. Plus I get that you're bored around here but I for one find this place amusing. She may not be apart of my family, but miss Vera is already like a family member to me." I said wit a lowered tone to not disturb Vera's sleep.

Ben: "Look, I know you miss your family dude. I…" I held up my by hand to shut him up.

Dustin: "I'll tell you why I like this place. It reminds me of my great grandmothers place. But she eventually moved to a retirement home for assistant living. Do you know why?" I said as I was getting less angry now.

Ben: "Because she's getting too old?"

Dustin: "Well yes, but she also has Alzheimer's disease."

Ben: "What disease." I was starting to tear up.

Dustin (crying): "A progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. She can't even remember her own children's names Ben. I'm scared that if I ever do return home, I'll find that she died while I was gone. It's a very fatal disease Ben. And so far there's no known cure for it. That's why I like miss Vera so much. She reminds me a lot of my great grandmother." I said as I sat on the couch and wept.

Ben was next to me and he put his hand on my shoulder.

Ben: "Hey. I'm sorry dude. I had no idea."

Max: "I'm very sorry to hear that about your great grandmother.." Dustin and Ben looked to see Max and Gwen in front of them. Gwen looked like she was on the verge of tears as well. Max had a sympathetic look as well.

Dustin: "You guys heard all of that didn't you?"

Gwen: "Every single word." Gwen came up to me and hugged me. I hugged her and cried my eyes out. After a good long minute, I finally calmed down.

Dustin: "Thanks guys. I'm gonna go out for a stroll.

Max: "Just be back before sun down okay?"

Dustin: "Sure thing."

Ben: "Want me to join you dude?"

Dustin: "No Ben. I'll be fine."

Ben: "If you're sure dude."

I walked out and walked off. I walked until I saw a guy near the dumpster.

Dustin: "He's not a garbage man, and there's no truck in sight. I better check it out." I said as I became Ghostfreak. I phased through the gate, and watched him push the dumpster aside, and said, "Wow! He's strong for his age!" He heard me, and turned his head 360 degrees around, and me.

Ghostfreak: "Oh crap!" I flew off as the old man burst down the gate, and ran right for me.

Ghostfreak: "Screw my morals!"

I became Diamondhead, and started shooting diamond shards at him. They all went right through him.

Diamondhead: "Not good!" I went Stinkfly, and shot goop at his feet, which he jumped over.

Stinkfly: "Dammit!"

Omnitrix 2.0: "If I may, I have information about this man."

Stinkfly: "I'm all ears!"

Omnitrix 2.0: This man is actually a Limax in disguise. Limax are shape shifting blob-like aliens. Despite their shapeshifting capabilities, they are highly afraid of water."

Stinkfly: "Really? Wait! Now I recognize this. Its where the Limax invade and…kidnap the elderly folks here. Oh crap!"

Omnitrix 2.0: Then it'll e best to keep a sharp eye out."

Stinkfly: "Right. But first we dispatch this fella." I found a nearby sprinkler system and smirked. I reverted back to normal and started going near a sprinkler system, and the man freaked out, and ran away from us. I had a triumphant smirk.

Dustin: "Well that takes care of that. But I know this only the start of it."

Omnitrix 2.0: "Indeed. We might want to warn the others."

Dustin: "Then there's no time to waste." I turned XLR8, then zoomed off to Vera's house. I then went Ghostfreak, and phased through the walls. I go solid again, and became Wildmutt.

Omnitrox 2.0: "Dustin! What do you think you're doing?"

Wildmutt: "Roar."

Omnitrix 2.0: "Ah. I see. Carry on then." I detected no other scents but Gwen's, Max's and Vera's, and changed back.

Dustin: "There's no one else here. We'd better tell the others."

Gwen: "There you are? Where have you been?" She came in from the bathroom.

Dustin: "I was just taking a walk, and then I found an old guy near the dumpster. He threw it aside, heard me talk, and I had to escape him. He followed me until I got near a sprinkler system, and he ran off, and now we're back here."

Gwen: "That is the funniest story I've heard."

Omnitrix 2.0: "Its true Gwen. It may sound a bit farfetched, but its true."

Dustin: "It looked like the guy who lived next door to miss Vera too."

Max: "Did he happen to ooze at any point?"

Gwen: "You actually believe him?"

Ben: "Trust me Gwen. He's a really bad liar. He usually goes all chuckle house when he lies."

Dustin: "Yeah that is actually true."

Max: "Kids. Let him finish."

Kyle: "Then the Omnitrix 2.0 told me the guy was a Limax, a shape shifting alien blob. I then realised in the show this the episode where the Limax kidnap the people around here and disguise themselves as the people they kidnapped. Even miss Vera!" I said with a sad look.

Max: "Were there any others showing weird activity?"

Ben: "While I was out there was a Ninja old lady earlier today."

Dustin: "Really?" Ben nodded.

Max: "So it is Limax.."

Dustin: "Disgusting parasitic amoebas. They love warm temperatures. In all honesty they remind me of the horror film "The Thing"." I said with a slight shiver.

Ben: "The what?"

Dustin: "Trust me Ben. When your old enough to see that movie, you'll now what I mean. I still get shivers just thinking about it. I've seen the 1982 version once and I'm never watendng it again."

Max: "The Limax also tend to possess older people."

Dustin: "We have to stop them!"

Max: "We'll check the neighbor's house." We checked, and found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Dustin: "Nothing. Absolutely nothing!"

Max: "Weird he'd leave it unlocked, too."

Gwen: "Let's head back. It's starting to get a little dark."

Dustin: "I'm feeling tired myself. Come on." We returned to Vera's place, and fell asleep for the night.

The next day…

I was fully awake, and had eaten breakfast.

Gwen: "*Yawn!*"

Ben: "*Yawn!*"

Dustin: "Finally!"

Gwen: "You must have woken up early!"

Ben: "Yeah… *Yawn*"

Dustin: "Yes. I did." Vera came out from the back.

Vera: "Hello, kids. How are you today?"

Dustin: "Where's Max?"

Vera: "He's out on a walk."

Dustin: "Okay." 'I wish I can believe that.'

Gwen: "I found some coffee for you…" She dropped it, and Vera did the full splits right over it.

Vera: "CLEAN THIS UP! Now!"

Dustin: 'Dammit. They got miss Vera too.'

Gwen: "Okay, Aunt Vera. Sorry…" She left, and went out.

Ben: "A Limax must've gotten Aunt Vera last night!"

Dustin: "And maybe they got Max!"

Gwen: "I'll clean this up, first."

After 5 minutes…

Ben and I wer both Ghostfreak, with Gwen.

Gwen: "This is the dumpster?"

Ghostfreak Dustin: "Yeah."

Ghostfreak Ben: " Then let's check it out."

Ghostfreak Dustin: "Right." I turned intangible and invisible, and looked through the wall between us and the dumpster.

Ghostfreak Ben: "How's it look?"

Ghostfreak Dustin: "The coast seems to be clear." I phased back through, became Four Arms, and broke the wall down. Unfortunately, one of them found us. I tried fighting it off, but I couldn't do much against it at all. Gwen grabbed some leftover coffee, and dropped it on the guy, and he backed away, burning up.

Four Arms: "It's weakness is…"

Gwen: "Anything that's a liquid." I became Stinkfly, and shot slime at him, and he melted down to a puddle.

Stinkfly: "Seems Stinkfly's the best alien for this." We went out more, to see if we couldn't interrogate one of the Limaxes still out there, and I got one.

Ghostfreak: "Where's Aunt Vera and Grandpa Max?"

Limax old man: "They're under the dumpster… It's a secret passageway…"

Gwen: "Thank you!" She threw coffee on him, and he melted. We found Grandpa Max, and we knew it was a Limax, so I went Four Arms to fight him instead. He had tracked us down after we interrogated the other Limax, and he had a whole army with him.

Max Limax: "There are the kids! After them!"

Four Arms: "Ben, Gwen! Move the dumpster! I got these guys!" They ran off, and I became Diamondhead. I made a diamond wall, and I thought they were blocked, but each Limax oozed through, and I went Four Arms again to pound my way out of getting pummeled myself. They each came back many times, and I threw them off me, and punched quite a few trying to get on me. The Vera Limax also attacked me, and they dogpiled me, until I went XLR8, and ran around in a circle, blowing them all off me. Ghostfreak eventually reverted back to Ben

Ben: "Where's the secret button?"

Gwen: "Um… here!" She pushed it, and called me. "Dustin! We opened it!" I ran for them, grabbed them both, and dove down the hole.

XLR8: " We have to keep moving…" I became Wildmutt, and roared.

Omnitrix 2.0: "He wants you to get on his back."

Gwen: "Um… how do you know what he's saying?"

Omnitrix 2.0: "I speak Vulpimancer. Now hop on!"

Gwen: "Don't need to tell me twice!" I ran off, and the Max, Vera, and neighbor Limaxes were chasing us. Thankfully, I was on fours. When Max caught up to me, I punched him, and he kicked me back. I then bit his leg, and socked him, which only made my hand go through him. He then kicked me off of him, and I went Stinkfly, and shot slime at him. He jumped, stretched out his arm, and socked me. I went Four Arms, grabbed his arm, pulled him towards me, and socked him right through the head. He fell unconscious, apparently. I went Wildmutt again, and we found a spaceship.

Gwen: "The Limax spaceship!"

Ben: "Grandpa!"

I became XLR8, and started looking for Max and Vera. Each old person was in a pod.

XLR8: "Wow." I broke Max's pod.

Max: "Oh… that was a bad dream."

XLR8: "Well, you're gonna be okay now, Max."

Max: "I know."

The three Limaxes found us, and became their true forms. They were giant walking masses of green slime.

Limax that was Max: "No! They found our ship!"

Limax that was Vera: "What do we do?"

Limax that was Vera's neighbor: "They have been marinating in those pods for long enough! We can leave!"

XLR8: "Not if I melt you snot rockets first!" I became Heatblast, and started chucking fireballs at them. They became a Giant Limax.

Giant Limax: "We love heat! Of all kinds! Why do you think we came in the summer?"

Heatblast: "Crap. Forgot that." I became Stinkfly, and went to shoot slime, but they caught me, and slammed me into a wall.

Max: "Dustin!"

Ben would help if the Omnitrix wasn't still recharging.

Ben: "We have to get people off of the ship! Now!" They proceeded to do that as I distracted the Giant Limax.

Stinkfly: "Oh… What the?" I noticed my symbol glow yellow.

Omnitrix 2.0: "New Alien form activated. Transforming now."

Stinkfly: "What the…" A huge flash of light came out of me, and I was a Limax myself. I was a little slime with a symbol on my face.

Limax Dustin: "Woah."

Ben: "Is this bad?"

Max: "I don't think so."

Limax Dustin: "Why do you want to take them?"

Giant Limax: "For our food!"

Limax Dustin : "That's not gonna happen!" I became Upgrade, and shot a laser beam at him. He dodged it, and I blew up a pipe, which released water. I became Ripjaws in the nick of time to stop myself from short circuiting.

Ripjaws: "Ahh. Good old H2O." The giant Limax was disintegrated, and the ship launched without anyone on it. Ben, Gwen, and Max got everyone out.

Ripjaws: "Well, the Limaxes are defeated. Now what?"

Max: "We get each person back to their homes."

Gwen: "But that could take hours!" Ben became XLR8.

XLR8: "Not now it won't. It'll just be a couple minutes." I smiled and became XLR8 as well.

XLR Dustin: "Then let's get to work."

Minutes later…

We were in Vera's front yard.

Vera: "I'm sorry you have to leave so soon, and Dustin, I'm sorry if I bored you and Ben too much."

Dustin: "You didn't bore me at all. Ben here maybe, but not me. In fact, you remind me a lot of my great grandma. Loved the gelatin pork chop cauliflower stuff by the way."

Vera: "Which is why I made some for the road for you."

Kyle: "Thank you miss Vera."

Max: "See you another time, Vera."

Vera: "Bye everyone."

Dustin: "Bye miss Vera. I enjoyed our visit!"

She waved, and we left.

Ben: "You seriously like that stuff?"

Kyle: "Jell-O, pork chops, cauliflowet, come on! Who wouldn't?" I put it in the fridge for later. I then turned on the Omnitrix, and turned it to the Limax.

Ben: "The Limax?"

Kyle: "Naming him Amoeblob. What do you guys think?"

Ben: "Definitely works for us." I became him.

Gwen: "Amoeba and blob? Seriously?" Gwen said with a smirk.

Amoeblob: "Oh yeah! I found it fitting!" I transformed back to my human form.

Ben looked into the Omnitrix and saw the same symbol.

Ben: "Looks like I got Amoeblob too."

Omnitrix 2.0: "Of course. Every time I scan new DNA, that sample is synced to the other Omnitrix.

Ben had a smile before he transformed into Amoeblob and slithered onto the floor and found his way on Max's arm. Max noticed this and screamed.

Max: "A Limax! AHHH!"

Amoeblob: "It's just me, grandpa!"

Max: "Don't ever do that again!" Ben changed back.

Ben: "Just like with Gwen. Haha!"