And now, after placing Ben into the story, here's how it's gonna go down. Basically this story, while yes it has elements and characters from Omniverse, I primarily want it to involve Ultimate Alien elements, nothing against Omniverse but...why would you retcon everything from the past two series to settle on the original when you have so much potential with Ultimate alien and Alien force? I know they do callbacks, and some elements I actually like (like Zombozo being a supernatural entity) but others I don't.

This story is gonna primarily have ultimate alien feel to it...only darker, you'll see. And I still am gonna keep Omniverse Ben, though he'll be going through development through the interactions with my guys, it'll mainly be referenced a few times, also keeping Rook, because Rook is awesome.

Anyway enjoy this chapter, also Disclaimer alert, I do not own Ben 10 or any of the animes, manga, or cartoons features in here, they belong to their developers, I do own my characters and planets and stuff, anyway enjoy!


Chapter 6: Act 1-Training (New/Old Threats)

"Well, asides from the fact I was anxious to get out of the hospital, I was glad for Luna and Christine's visits, really, they're really nice when you get to know them…and hot too…uh…yeah, anyway, I've been getting posts from the videos on my blog and I'll try to answer as much as I can. *sigh* man…I never thought people would like this blog…actually I didn't know how to do this until Max showed me.

I guess I kinda owe it to him, our group would be kinda dead without his guidance…mm…its kinda weird…but I kinda like being away from Earth, gives me time to think you know? Plus without all that war and pestilence on earth, I like it in outer space…but I also miss home too…I wonder if we'll ever be able to go back…or rather CAN we go back?"

-Audio Log 4: Dreadzone Infirmary, 14 days after Nabrillloth Incident, Mark I.

I was in the suite's living room, watching the video feed from a planet I don't know the name of. Since our team is basically on standby, we're stuck recovering while other teams are busy fighting. I did however wonder, why did Blackwell decide to get us patched up? I just figured that he'd just kill us with the Deadlock collars; just what was he planning? I soon heard the door open as Luna came in; she sometimes visited me in the infirmary, other times it was Christine, who usually got a little close for comfort, yet I loved them and she was...very affectionate at times. I did like these visits, they did sneak some food that actually tasted good and gave it to me in place of hospital food. I wonder where Christine was today? Maybe she was busy with something, a challenge maybe.

"How are you doing?" Luna wondered as we watched the Holovision.

"Good, just watching TV since the fact we're all on recovery and I'm bored out of my mind" I joked with a grin. Luna giggled cutely as I flipped the Holovision to Earth TV, where there was a news segment on us by…oh shit Will Harangue…what's that racist reporter up to now?

"Ben Tennyson, a threat to society, now he's got some friends with these…these freaks who love to kill innocents and destroy public. People of Earth, I urge you to help put a stop to this madness, I saw we banish these…monsters from our planet and-" I shut off the TV, disgusted by what Harangue said. Especially since he had used shots of the destroyed Nabrilloth City.

"If I ever get my hands on him, I'm gonna so tear him to pieces!" I yelled with a growl.

"Not all of you humans are nice huh? He sounds like a real jerk," Luna mused, huffing.

"He is, he attacked Ben to use the footage as slander, when his secret that he was all the aliens that showed up was revealed, kids loved him, adults don't trust him, yet he saved the universe, if he didn't we'd be slaves right now for some mining company or dictator empire," I said bitterly. Playing video games made me have a dark outlook on humanity in general...along with personal experiences.

Luna hummed a bit about that and we heard the door open. We saw it was Joseph, but with a humanoid replacement leg since his old one was gone. I had to admit, it did look cool, even if it had a bunch of lines common with augmentation.

"Hey dude, you look like a train hit you or something," I joked with a smile.

"Ha ha, let's see you try losing a leg to a robot homicidal maniac," Joseph said as he sat down in a chair.

Well he had us there I suppose.

"So, what happened while I was…getting operated on," Joseph asked me after finding a way to speak his question. I explained to him about what I learned since I woke up and everything that happened since.

"Wow…so…Conner's…damn…I thought you'd be the one to do it," Joseph stated nonchalantly.

"I know right?!" I replied.

"What is this, a party?" Zach asked as he came in, asides from a few stitches he had, he looked normal, despite his blonde dyed hair.

"Glad to see you're doing well," I said.

"Heh, so What'cha y'all talking about?" he asked. I explained, again I might add, about what's happened and about Will Harangue.

"I am so going to hurt him, talking shit about us…that's wrong…" Joseph said sourly.

"Yep…hey check it out," I said and turned up the volume on the TV.

"Well if you're just tuning in it appears Team Terraforce's new team just finished a new challenge in the arena and are one step closer to the Avenger Tournament. And also a chance to face Shellshock, who is already raking in the popularity like a sponge in a sink." Josh said.

Joanne just gave him a confused look, "…Right…and in other news Will Harangue has been getting much heat from Ben 10 fans across the universe that have come to worship the hero, claiming Harangue is the real villain and an embarrassment to human kind, following his recent news broadcast" Joanne spoke.

"About time!" I said cheerfully.

"Yeah, take that Harangue!" Joseph called back.

"Well seems like you guys have been feeling better," Max said as he walked in.

"Hey Max, yeah we are, plus they just dissed Will Harangue," I said with a grin.

"Oh him, I'll never appreciate what he did to Ben and to our state's capitol, if only he didn't get away with what he did…" Max said.

"Yeah…when I meet him I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind and a foot shoved right up his ass," I said and pounded my fist into my hand.

"Ha-ha, reminds me of myself when I was your age, the whole rebellious type and all, minus the vulgar language" Max chuckled.

"Heh, but we have more rock music now then when you were a teenager, especially Rise Against…awesome band ever…" I grinned.

"Right, so, training?" Max asked. We looked at each other then at Max.

"Uh, sure…" we said.

"Alright then, Luna, are you coming?" Max asked her.

"Well, only to see how you humans fight," Luna said with a shrug. I had followed Max to the gym, which was filled with equipment for various species that were here, ranging from dumbbells and other Earth exercise equipment, to alien kinds of equipment that I had no idea how to make them work. I wonder if there were places on Earth where they had these? The next few hours were of the rest of us training with each other in one of the training rooms. It was hard, but…okay, it sucked, I kept getting hit and I tried my hardest to block and attack, but I tire out easily from my asthma and my punches didn't do any hits.

God I'm so weak.

"Well, at least there are some humans that know how to fight," Luna said, obviously trying not to sound too hurtful after seeing my sparring.

"Shut up," I grumbled at her.

"Hey, hey, no need to be a grouch…" she retorted. I growled at her and she smirked with a sense of accomplishment, then her ears shot up with an idea.

"Tell you what, meet me here later when the others are asleep," Luna said to me.

"Why?" I asked. Her wolf ears flattened and she gave me a look that said 'are you stupid or something?' which was what I bet she wanted to ask me.

"I'm going to train you to become stronger," Luna replied.

"Oh…but why?" I asked her again, my brain trying to comprehend what she just said.

"I could tell that you have a good heart and want to be stronger, but you don't know if you can…or you're lazy," Luna explained.

I moaned from that in annoyance, "What time?" I asked her, defeated.

"Hmm…how about eight o'clock sound good? Assuming you don't have anything?" Luna asked with a flirty gleam in her eyes.

"Well…I did start a blog a while back, explaining a few things about what's going on, venting a bit, that sort of thing," I replied with a quick shrug.

"Oh, give me the website, I'll check it out sometime," Luna said. I nodded, writing down the name and giving it to her.

"There you go, wait what about Christine?" I asked quickly.

"She's off doing a challenge so she'll be busy, or sleeping off the challenge when she gets back if she's ok, so we're safe" she added and took the slip, slipping it in her cleavage teasingly.

"Thanks, remember, eight!" She said, winking at me as she left.

…YES!

"Wow, you scored big time…" John said as he, Ben and my brother appeared.

"Uh…how long were you guys there?" I asked them, concerned.

"The whole time," Ben said simply.

"Okay…" I said with a quick sigh.

"Come on, we'll have to have a little talk," Chris said and all but dragged me.

"God damn it…" I muttered with dread over what the conversation was going to be about.


Dreadzone Z Station- Training Room 5, 8:00 p.m.

I arrived at the Training Room like Luna had asked me…god it's scary when its dark, no time to be a pansy…where's Luna? I soon remembered the talk my brother gave me about what to do with a woman when alone, then Max came in and just gave me simple advice of just being myself. I'm trying hard to burn that discussion with my brother out of my mind...damn it go away!

"Boo!" a voice spoke from behind me. I swear to God I nearly jumped out of my armor and turned to the wolf girl.

"Don't do that!" I told her, "You almost gave me a heart attack!" I added with some yelling. She giggled from my freak out and put a finger to my lips.

"Shush, you don't want to wake up the whole station…come on," she said and walked off. I decided to follow her, since I just saw something move from the corner of my eye and I had a feeling it was hungry. I soon followed her to some sort of bio-dome place in the station. It held large trees and plants that looked and reminded me of the trees from Earth, only these trees were huge, with giant roots spanning over the place like a jungle.

"This is where some races come to train their survival skills, not to mention combat skills," Luna explained. I looked around and could tell two things, one was that we humans are really weak compared to every other species, and the second was that I was probably gonna get creamed.

"And you brought me here why?" I asked Luna.

"To train you, think fast!" she said and tried to land a punch on me. I blocked it instinctively, and she threw some more punches, then a kick, I managed to block some punches but was on my back after the kick.

"Get up and try again," Luna said offering a hand to help me up. I sighed and took it, this wasn't going to be easy, in fact I think I am gonna be needing a ice pack.

Luna's POV

I was thankful Christine came back tired from her challenge, it let me go and train with Mark, though if she could she'd join us, maybe I'll let her join and give us a chance at two-on-one fights. I had helped Mark train with basic punches, but given how tired he became after a few minutes, which barely would've constituted a workout for me or any normal person, I was curious. How exactly can someone be so weak, unless he barely worked out. I had nothing against him or his kind, but why aren't they making their people exercise often? At least with Wolfens and the other Animali we are encouraged to work out and stay in shape.

"Mark, I need to ask, and don't take this the wrong way, but…how is it you managed to survive all this, yet you can barely throw a punch?" I asked curiously while sitting next to him on the ground, staring up at the artificial ceiling above the dome. The artificial starlight did remind me of my home, but it wasn't real, just an imitation.

"Well…" Mark panted heavily and glanced at me, "It's because of my asthma…it's a…a condition I got…it prevents me from actually going out and doing fun things like…running, or jogging, or sports" he explained as he tried to catch his breath. "That…and I don't go out much" he added. "I am not an outdoors person, the most I did besides school is go get the mail" he added once more.

The last part was obvious enough, given his stickly arms and weak muscle mass, not to mention his pale complexion. "Oh…" I muttered. Of course he had a hard time doing athletic things with asthma, I heard of it, and some friends of mine had the same problem he did. You'd think someone on Earth would've cured it by now…

Unless…

"Mark…is there a cure for asthma?" I asked curiously.

The terran looked at me, and then sighed sadly, I took the hint, but he explained anyway. "No…we're too busy fighting each other for things like resources, or fighting our own people in our countries to pass bills others don't want passed…not to mention dealing with problems that aren't ours" he muttered darkly.

Now it was making sense, his people…but the tone he said that in, it sounded…hateful…angry almost.

"But...surely they're trying, right?" I asked, hopeful for something good.

"No…" again he dashed that up nicely, "If we had a cure for cancer, or STDs, we'd have to either pay huge sums to get a vaccination, or they'd hide it…I've learned to live with this, so what if I can't run fast like everyone else? So what if I can't play basketball or soccer like everyone else? I don't care, I like being who I am, a video gamer, anime enthusiast, shut-in lone wolf guy" Mark declared, staring right at me in a serious glare.

Wow does this kid have issues, "Sounds like you hate everyone…" I mused and twirled my tail on the ground.

"You don't know the whole truth about it…" I heard him mumble.

"Looks like there's an underlying problem here…I think sparring might help you let it out" I smirked and got up, offering a hand to him.

He looked up, then shrugged it off, "if it helps I think I'll sit this one out for now" he said politely, even if it did sound hurtful.

Well too bad for him, I don't go easy on my partners, hoisting him up against his will, I got into a stance, with him sighing and getting into a mock stance of his own.

"You aren't getting off that easy" I smirked and threw the first punch at him.


Mark's POV

My god that was painful, who knew Wolfens could hit that hard? Luna agreed we'd keep training in secret afterhours, but now I was glad to get some sleep. Though, when I headed to my room I thought I spied someone…nah just my imagination. I rubbed my aching shoulder, despite my own knuckles feeling like they'd break off at any moment from delivering the punches.

Ow, god I'm going to feel that one in the morning. I sighed, wheezing a bit from my asthma still lingering, why did I have to be cursed like this, I wonder? Well I pushed a button, retracting my armor into a pin that was the Dreadzone Z logo and showered, brushed my teeth, then hit the hay, shutting off my light as I did.


The man was wearing a dark green trench coat an dark brown pants with black boots, goggles, had white hair that seemed to compliment his almost sickly olive green skin tone, but didn't bother hiding the fact his brain was showing in a jar on his head nor the antenna-like digits on top. This man, was Doctor Aloysius James Animo, a infamous scientist who was a regular adversary of Ben Tennyson.

The doctor turned his face, as if addressing a camera, "Now some may wonder, 'how did Animo escape Plumber HQ?' Well it was rather complex manner of sneaking, and a brilliant tactical mind, and given my intellect the manner of escape was simple. Plus given the Plumber's track record, it's fairly simple to escape if the force field surrounding it can be fooled." he spoke to his reflection.

"And now you may wonder, how was it that I was able to leave Earth? Well my fine spectators, it was the simple manner, of making a call to the right people, to an...interested party" Dr. Animo replied. He soon began to walk through the hallways of the station, he had gotten a call from the man behind Dreadzone Z and he wanted to speak with him personally. He did have to admit this place was amazing; this would take years in Earth to build.

'Our technology is very primitive compared to these aliens, perhaps I may have a use for all their DNA,' he thought as he soon arrived at the office of the director. He was surprised to see it was a lion alien, but then again with Ben Tennyson, he had to expect he and his new friends associated with races like him.

"Alright, I'm guessing you're the one who called me?" Dr. Animo asked the Director.

"Why yes I did, please sit, shall I get you anything?" Alistair asked, surprising the doctor with his fluent English accent.

"Uh…no thank you, so what did you wish to talk with me about?" He asked.

"Well, I assume you know of Ben Tennyson?" Alistair asked him.

"Who hasn't? That little punk has been a thorn in my side for years, ever since he was a kid" The doctor spoke, remembering all the humiliating defeats that he suffered at the hands of the hero from the age of ten till now.

Alistair started laughing at that, picturing the famous savior of the universe as a ten year old beating doctor Animo, it was kind of funny really.

"Reasons aside, I require your help" Alistair replied once he finished laughing.

"And you want my help why?" Dr. Animo cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Well, you despise Ben 10 as much as a thousand other people in the criminal underworld do, how about we make a deal, I help you get rid of Ben 10 and team Terraforce, you become my spokesman for my corporation and get to use your experiments to give my show higher ratings, sounds like a deal?" Blackwell said, offering a hand to him.

"Hmm..." The Doctor pondered on this, on the one hand he would be using his experiments for a sociopath, on the other, he can get rid of Ben 10 and also get funding for his experiments. "It sounds like a reasonable offer, but give me another reason to agree with you" he stated.

"Because if you don't, I will have you arrested for going against a universal icon"

"Universal icon, Ben Tennyson? Sure I mean he's famous the world over, but universal?" Animo asked, confused as well as surprised.

"You didn't think I'd call you here without some…insurance to cooperate?" Blackwell asked as a mini-monitor on his desk showed the footage of Animo trying to kill Ben with the various experiments and other genetic creations he used.

Animo paled when he saw the footage, the unedited footage, his first thought was how he got that feed, the second thought was why he didn't edit out his failures, making him watch them over and over...wait this gave him an idea. "How did you get that?" he asked coldly.

"I got sources, so, shall we make our deal?" Blackwell asked once again, offering his hand.

Animo sighed, "Deal…" he muttered and shook his hand, Blackwell smirking happily with his success.

"However, I require a suitable lab for my equipment and time for my experiments to become useable, also the videos you have, I wish to study them, to find any weakness in Ben Tennyson's arsenal" he explained.

"Done"

"Excellent! Mr. Blackwell, I believe this is the beginning of a very useful partnership" Animo said shaking the director's hand.

"Indeed" he replied smiling. 'Maybe for me more than you' he thought.


None of them had noticed another person spying on them, one who heard everything, and now was determined to take manners into his own hands...


Well, that was a shock huh? Bet none of you expected that. I had planned for Will Harangue to take his place, but I figured, 'eh, lets add Dr. Animo instead' given his history with Ben. Plus I don't think that Harangue would be ok with working with aliens given his agendas. anyway R&R and stay tuned for more!