A/N: This episode has elements of Pier Pressure in it. I figured I'd address Ship's fate since Julie isn't in the picture, and I also wanted to add a little something concerning the aftermath of Max's supposed death.

Honestly, the little reaction that was shown by Gwen and Ben concerning Max wasn't very much. I get that they couldn't really make a big deal out of it given they had to move from episode to episode, but still. I feel like it'd bother both of them more than was shown. It's enough to warrant a small chapter.

Ben punched the tree trunk with all of the effort he had. His knuckles were stinging, but the pain mattered little to the teen. He just really needed to hit something. And on a day all the aliens and criminals take off...

"It's the only way they can't do to the rest of the world what they did to Ken."

"There was another way. There had to be another way," Ben thought furiously, aiming a punch towards a branch higher up.

He could easily chop through them, but the pain he felt from punching them was more welcome. More distracting. It still wasn't enough.

"I hate feeling like this. Helpless even with the most powerful device in the universe on my wrist. Can't even keep my family safe!" Ben thought furiously, headbutting the tree as if he was trying to put his head through it. "I got lucky with Gwen. But I didn't get lucky with Grandpa Max. He's dead."

Ben sunk to his knees while a lone tear fell down his face. But he felt more angry with himself than sad. It wasn't helping anyone feeling this way, but he wanted one day. One day where he could sit here and hate the world for how unfair it was.

It wasn't long before his ears picked up on a high pitched beeping that was coming from the Omnitrix. Ben bit down a scream of frustration before looking at the watch, smacking it on the tree to try to make it stop. Obviously, it didn't work nearly as well as he was hoping.

"Turn off, will you?!" Ben exclaimed, twisting the dial back and forth. Then, without warning, a holographic map suddenly popped up in front of his face. And there was a blinking red dot marking a spot further in the woods.

"Is that a signal?" he thought as he got to his feet. "Maybe it's something to hit."

Walking towards the signal, his mind wandered to Gwen and Kevin. He knew he should probably call them to help out, but he could probably handle it himself.

He also knew that Gwen wouldn't leave him alone if she knew where he was. She was probably hurting just as bad as he was, but he couldn't help her deal with her grief when he couldn't even deal with his own. It was better that he was alone until he could.

When he neared the signal's location, Ben could see a red light shining behind a thick clearing of trees. Even with it being daytime, it was still shining clear enough to be visible.

"What is that?" Ben mused aloud as he deactivated the map. It turned out to be some sort of energy field, and a Mechamorph was inside while trapped underneath a metal bar. "Hello?!"

"Gahhhhh!" The alien yelled after the energy zapped him, but he didn't look any worse for wear. "Yes, you there!"

"What happened?" Ben asked.

"Little time to explain. Are you the Plumber my symbiote contacted?" the alien asked.

"I guess so. How do I get that field down?" Ben asked.

"It is connected to the malfunctioning power core... ahhhhh!" the alien was cut off by another zap of energy. "You can contain the power core's blast, disarm the bomb, or get it out of range. But this energy field might pose quite a problem."

"Leave that to me," Ben said before dialing the Omnitrix and slamming the cylinder. "Humungousaur!"

Running in the energy field, he struggled through and ripped the energy core out of its socket before throwing it in the air.

Then, quickly changing to Jetray, Ben fired two neuroblasts that caught up to the bomb in order to blow it up. And thankfully, the explosion didn't do much more than upend some rocks and dirt from the force of it.

"For once, a problem that gets solved fast," Jetray said, removing the metal bar off the Mechamorph before turning back into his human form. "You hurt?"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you," the alien said.

"Who are you? What happened here?" Ben asked.

"I am called Baz-l. My ship crashed, and it resulted in the very messy situation you saw before you," the Mechamorph said simply.

Before Ben could say anything else, he could feel something touch his leg. He quickly looked down to see that it was a small, legless version of the Mechamorph in front of him.

"So this is the symbiote you mentioned," Ben said.

"Ship," the thing cooed, rubbing its head on the Tennyson's leg. It reminded Ben of the way a cat would cuddle up next its owner. It made him smile softly, despite himself.

"He seems to like you," Baz-l noted.

"Don't really know why," Ben said with a shrug. "So if that's all..."

"Yes, indeed. I'll likely be spending all day repairing my warp drive," Baz-l said, several finger like extensions coming out of his hand and hitting buttons.

"Can I help?" Ben offered, hoping the work would keep him distracted. After all, the pain that was still registering in his knuckles helped until his body started to ignore it better.

"You sure you are up to it?" Baz-l questioned, eyeing the injuries on his knuckles.

"I'm fine," Ben said gruffly. "You want the help, or not?"

"Well, I never... Yes I do," Baz-l quickly said when he saw Ben was about to walk away.

Using Echo-Echo helped turn what the Mechamorph told him was several Earth hours of work into a half hour. Of course, the symbiote that was working with them was a help, given that he could adapt to machines easily.

"Right, well. All done. Off I go," Baz-l said.

"You forgot about him," Ben said, gesturing down to the symbiote. "Doesn't he fuse back into your body or something?"

"No, that's not how that works. Symbiotes from our species take on a life of their own. Besides, he seems to like you. He'll come and go as he pleases," Baz-l said before flying off.

Ben exhaled heavily before looking down at the small Mechamorph, who was rubbing up against his leg again. Something in Ben softened as he looked at the small creature.

"Alright, I guess I'm your owner now," Ben said, kneeling down to the alien's level. It started panting like a dog when the teenager rubbed the top of his head. "What should I call you, then?"

"Ship," the Mechamorph said immediately.

"Ship?" Ben questioned, a puzzled look crossing his face. "Alright. Ship then."

"Where is he?" Gwen asked, looking out of the window.

"Not sure yet. But wherever he is, he sure is far from the city," Kevin said, looking at his Plumber's badge. The device could track Ben's Omnitrix, which was probably going to be useful in future situations. "Why can't we just let him have his time to himself?"

"That's the last thing we should do," Gwen said, shooting him a look of disbelief. "He might do something stupid and get himself killed."

"If I was in his situation, I know I'd want to blow off some steam by knocking a few heads together," Kevin said.

"Yes, but Ben's not you," Gwen said.

"No. When he gets mad, he's way worse than me," Kevin corrected.

"And you think he needs to be left alone with that kind of logic?" Gwen questioned, unable to process his reasoning.

"Alright. So maybe you've got a point. But different people deal with pain in different ways, and he probably deals with it by himself," Kevin offered.

"I promised him that I'd never leave him to deal with hardships alone. And I don't plan on breaking that promise now," Gwen said, digging her nails into her palms.

"We're getting closer to where he's at. Looks like he's just outside the outskirts of the city," Kevin said, noticing his blip was on the road.

"Ben, what have you been doing?" Gwen mused, tapping her finger on the door impatiently.

When they got close to his signal, both teenagers could see Ben was just walking on the road. While looking down at something that was bouncing up and down next to his feet.

As soon as they got close, Gwen hardly waited for the car to stop before jumping out. And she had an angry expression on her face that made Kevin glad he wasn't in to his feet.

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! I'm going to kill you!" Gwen growled in his direction before noticing she was being glared at by a small black and green blob. "What the..."

"Ship! Down," Ben said firmly, and the alien took one last look at Gwen before moving closer to Ben's feet. Whatever it was, it was certainly protective of Ben.

"Dude... what is that thing?" Kevin asked, approaching them.

"It's an alien I got saddled with. I call him Ship," Ben said, kneeling down and rubbing the top of the Mechamorph's head. Ship started to pant like a dog again.

"Ship," the alien said softly.

"I can see why," Kevin said flatly before looking at Ben. "You sure it won't try and attack Gwen?"

"I'm sure when he accepts Gwen's freakouts as something normal, it'll be ok," Ben said before laughing when Gwen punched him on the arm. Hard. "Do it again. I didn't feel it that time."

"You sure? The next time will be upside your head. You had me worried sick. You skived off school and didn't contact any of us for the entire day," Gwen said, jabbing a finger in his chest.

"Because I wanted to be alone, and I was not in the mood to deal with school," Ben said in an annoyed tone, moving her finger out of the way. She noticed the blood that transferred to her hand before seeing the state of his knuckles.

"What the hell did you..."

"I was just punching some trees. It's not even that big of a deal," Ben said, waving it off.

"We're wrapping them up," Gwen said.

"It's not that big of a..."

"Don't you start with me, or I'll make sure they're broken if they aren't already," Gwen said threateningly.

While Gwen and Ben continued to argue, Ship had made its way over to Kevin and looked up at the Osmosian imploringly.

"Ship?" it questioned, tilting its head towards Ben and Gwen.

"Never seen them like this either," Kevin said with a shrug before looking back at the two cousins. Then he frowned when he realized that he somehow understood what the alien meant. Guess it was body language or something.

"I thought you had learned to be responsible!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Taking one day to myself counts as being irresponsible? In case you haven't noticed, a lot has happened over the past few days!" Ben yelled back. It was here Gwen managed to take a breath of fresh air before speaking calmly.

"That's ok, but you have to understand you're not alone in this. We're here for you," she said, putting a hand on his arm. There was a steady flow of energy traveling between them, and it felt... comforting.

"I wanted to be alone for a while," Ben said before looking out at the river.

"Obviously not a good idea," Gwen said, staring at his knuckles again. "We'll take you to a hospital, and you're getting those knuckles treated."

"Then will you give me some time alone? I just... I feel useless right now, despite all the people I help," Ben said in a frustrated tone.

"You're not..."

"I know. But it doesn't stop me from feeling it," Ben growled. His tone seemed to scare Ship a little. "How am I supposed be strong for you... for anyone, when I can't even keep myself together?"

"Why do boys care so much about being strong?" Gwen said in a tone full of disbelief.

"It's a guy thing," Kevin suddenly said, catching both cousins' attention. "And unless you want to finish this conversation on this bridge, I suggest we get in the car."

"Right, right," Ben said, shaking his head.

Ship, who seem satisfied that his newfound owner was back to normal, immediately started chasing after a car in the distance. Ben raised a hand, about to say something to stop the alien, but then he remembered what Baz said about Ship coming and going as he pleased.

"Aren't you going to stop it?" Kevin asked, looking at the male Tennyson.

"I was told Ship comes and goes as he pleases. At least he seems harmless enough," Ben said, making Gwen raise an eyebrow.

"Explain," she said with a raised brow.

"In the car," Ben said before getting in the backseat.

"So you got dropped off with some Upgrade's growth that has a mind of its own?" Gwen asked.

"Basically. But by the looks of things, I won't even have to deal with him all that often," Ben said with a shrug.

"His species isn't inherently violent. It'll be more annoying than anything for anyone who owns technology," Kevin told him.

"So basically everyone," Ben said before shaking his head. "Convenient for me, really. It's not like I can show up to my house and explain to my parents, 'Hey, I found this alien on the side of the road. Can we keep him?'"

"Try convincing them to let you go to a bar. Your odds are about the same," Kevin said with a snort.

"Speaking of which, you do realize your parents are going to kill you when they learn you skipped out on school?" Gwen asked.

"I'll take the yelling," Ben said, unconsciously rubbing his knuckles. Gwen watched him do it for a few seconds before putting a hand over his to make him stop.

"Stop that. You're basically spreading the blood at that point," she told him.

"Stop nagging me," Ben said in an irritated tone.

"I'm not nagging you, I'm..." Gwen bit back a retort. She knew arguing wasn't going to help anyone. "Fine."

The rest of the car trip was silent, because even Kevin felt too uncomfortable to say anything in order to break the tension. Ben glanced up at Gwen, who was looking out of the window with her hand on her cheek. Her expression was a mix of annoyance and sadness.

"I'm sorry. I just miss him," he apologized softly. Gwen looked back at him with a soft expression, the annoyance fading.

"Me too. But... it'll be ok. Eventually," she assured him before looking back out of the window.

Kevin glanced at them both out of the corner of his eye before facing forward again. This atmosphere was depressing. And the older teen had no idea what he could say to make the cousins feel better. Now he got what Tennyson meant about feeling useless.

A/N: Like I said, small, but it has some meaning to it. Hope you enjoyed, nonetheless.