Chapter 10: Retirement
I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters
I woke up to my alarm going off. My eyes snapped open, and I turned off my alarm. I got out of my bed, and stretched. I took off my top, and put on my casual black striped shirt. I put on my new pair of blue jeans that I got over the summer. I walked out of my room, and into the kitchen.
"Morning, Honey." My mom said, pecking me on the cheek.
"Ugh, uh-huh." I grunted.
"What's the matter, Ben?" she asked me, walking over to get the toast out of the toaster.
"Uh," I grunted, sitting down. "Do I have to go to school?" I asked.
My mom smiled sadly, and walked over to me.
"Sorry, Hun." she said, patting my shoulder. "As much as I want to keep you home, you have to go to school."
I looked up at her.
"But, Mom-"
She glared at me.
"But nothing, Benjamin!" she said, walking back over to the fridge and getting out the orange juice. "Now, you'll be eleven in a few months, and you will start acting like a young adult!"
"Ugh, fine!" I groaned, as she stuck a plate of food in front of me.
"Eat." she said. "Your bus comes in ten minutes."
I looked at her.
"Can I walk to school?" I asked.
She furrowed her eyebrows, surprised.
"Is that what you want?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Okay," she said, leaving the room. "Hurry up and eat! The school is only a few blocks away!"
After she was gone, I grinned.
"Not for XLR8!" I said, stuffing a piece of toast in my mouth, and washing it down with some orange juice.
I ate another piece of toast, and drank the rest of the orange juice.
"Maybe the fifth grade won't be so bad." I said, getting up, and taking my dishes to the sink.
I walked back into my room, and made my bed. I opened my closet, and took my school bag out. I put it on my back, to get school forms for the day that my parents need to sign. I walked out of my room, and closed the door behind me.
"Bye, mom!" I said, heading for the door.
"Bye, Ben!" I heard my mom's voice down the hall. "Try and have a good day!"
"Oh," I said, walking out the door. "You have no idea!"
I walked down my driveway, and took a breath of the warm morning air.
"Probably, not in my best interest to go hero right here in my front yard." I said, beginning to walk towards the end of my street.
After I got to the end of the street, I activated the Omnitrix, despite Azmuth's warnings last night.
"Going XLR8!" I said, grinning and turning the ring to XLR8's silhouette.
I slammed down on the Omnitrix, but all I got was the time out sequence.
"Come on!" I said, repeatedly smacking the Omnitrix. "Whose side are you on?" I asked, smacking the watch against a pole.
I stopped attempting to go hero and let it deactivate.
"Forget it." I said, starting the long walk. "Guess I'm walking."
Fifteen Minutes Later
I finally stopped at the beginning of the school's street.
"Finally!" I said, catching my breath. I walked up to the school's entrance and walked in. "Wonder how bad the year will be?" I asked myself. "Can't possibly be any worse than it already is with J.T. and Cash always prowling the school for new blood."
I walked down the hall, and towards my classroom. I walked all the way to the end of the hall, and down the next hall. I stopped at the door, where the teacher, I guess was waiting.
"It's Mr. Hal, isn't it?" I asked the teacher.
He looked down at me.
"I'm Ben Tennyson. I'm in your class this year."
He looked at the clipboard on his hands.
"Tennyson, Tennyson." he grunted, running his fingers along the page.
He frowned and turned it over to the other side.
"Tennyson, Tennyson. Ah, here it is! Third seat, fourth row."
I smiled in return, and walked in and took my seat.
"Maybe this won't be so bad after all!" I said, grinning.
No such luck.
"Well, look what the trash dragged in!"
I looked up to see J.T. and Cash, my bullies enter the room.
"Oh, no!" I gulped.
"Oops, I forgot Tennyson. You are trash!" Cash said, walking over to me, J.T. not far behind him.
They pulled me out of my seat, and flipped my upside down, and started shaking me.
"Hey, put me down!" I said, punching at the air.
"Wimp!" J.T. said. "Sorry, Tennyson, we have to make up for lost time!"
"Hey!" I heard Mr. Hal's voice.
"Break it up, you two!" he said, walking in. "You two haven't been in my class for even fifteen seconds, and you're already in trouble!"
They dropped me on my back.
"Ow." I grunted, after getting up.
"Gee, sorry Mr. Hal." Cash said. "We were just messing with the squirt."
He glared at the two.
"Just go to your seats!" he hissed, through gritted teeth.
They hung their heads, and walked to the opposite side of the room.
"You okay, Ben?" Mr. Hal asked in a softer after they were gone.
I nodded.
"Good." he said, walking away.
I sat my head down on my desk, and slept until class started. I heard the bell ring and all the students shuffled in. I sat up and waited for class to start. Mr. Hal walked in, and wrote his name on the whiteboard and underlined it.
"Good morning class." he said, putting the cap back on the marker he was using.
He turned around and sat down on an empty desk.
"I'm Mr. Hal." he said. "And on behalf of the Bellwood School District, welcome, to your fifth grade year at Bellwood Elementary School."
I heard J.T's voice.
"Do we need an introduction?" he asked.
"Do I need you in my class?" Mr. Hal asked in a smug tone.
That shut him up.
"Okay class, this year we will be focusing on your multiplication and division skills, and exceptional literature. Also, you are fortunate enough to be put in class with the teacher who will cover early earth history and astronomy."
He got up from leaning on the desk, walked over to his desk, and took out a box of freshly sharpened pencils.
"Okay," he said, opening the box. "I'm going to pass out these pencils, and then we will start your first assignment."
He walked around the room, placing the pencils on the desks. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a stack of worksheets.
"Okay," he said, walking to the front of the room. "On this worksheet, you will tell me a little bit-"
Mr. Hal was interrupted by a knock at the door. He sighed, and put down the worksheets on an empty desk.
"Excuse me." he grunted, walking to the door.
He opened the door, and said, "You're late."
Late student, go figure, I thought. I won't give this any thought.
I closed my eyes and slumped down in my seat a bit.
"Class we have a late student." Mr. Hal said, as I heard him walk back into the classroom.
When I heard the student's voice, I snapped my eyes open.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Gwen Tennyson."
I looked over at Gwen, who hadn't seen me yet.
"Gwen?" I asked, under my breath.
"Welcome, Gwen." Mr. Hal said, "You may take a seat over there behind Ben Tennyson."
He pointed over to me. Even worse. I gulped. Our eyes met, and we shared an awkward silence as she walked over and took her seat behind me.
"As I was saying before we were interrupted," he said, eyeing Gwen. "You will tell me a little bit about yourselves on this sheet of paper. This is not a test. Well, it is for you I guess. There are no wrong answers, since it's about you."
He walked around the room passing out the sheets. When I got mine, I started immediately. Name? That's a trick question.
Ben Tennyson, I wrote on the paper.
"Yes, Gwen?" I heard Mr. Hal's voice.
I looked up, but only slightly.
"I don't have a pencil, sir." she said.
"Sir?" I asked under my breath. "That's typical of you."
Mr. Hal took out a box of pencils, took one out, and held it out.
"Well," he said, waving it. "what are you waiting for? Chinese New Year? Come get it!"
I heard Gwen get up, and she walked past me. She took it from him, and turned back around.
Don't make eye contact with me, don't make eye contact with me, I pleaded in my thoughts.
She made eye contact with me. We shared an awkward glance, as she walked past me. I continued writing, praying that she wouldn't attempt contact with me. This time, apparently luck was on my side.
Hobbies? Playing video games. Talents? None. Favorite songs? None.
I felt the tip of a pencil poke me several times in the back. Here we go, I thought, somewhat irritated. I turned around and looked at Gwen. She waved at me. I was confused. I looked back behind me, and then looked back at her. I smiled casually, waved, and turned back around.
"Talk about creepy," I said, under my breath. "What is she even doing here? Not that I don't want her here, but still."
I thought about this, and finished up my sheet. I raised my hand.
Mr. Hal looked up after a few seconds, and said, "Yes, son?"
I was confused by the nickname, but then remembered that it was the first day, and he didn't even know our names yet.
"I'm finished, do I-" I started to ask him what to do, but he interrupted me.
"Keep it," he said, raising his hand, gesturing me to stop. "Just sit there for a few minutes, everyone else will be done soon."
I sighed, and turned my paper over.
"Yes, sir." I grunted silently, putting my head down.
After a few minutes, I heard Mr. Hal's voice.
"All right class," he said, as I lifted my head back up. "Everyone in here is going to introduce themselves, and tell us something they did this summer. No interruptions, please."
Great, I thought. I hate this part of the first day.
I sat back in my chair and listened to the students come and go.
"Ben Tennyson." I heard my name called, and I got up and walked to the front of the classroom with my sheet.
"Uh, hi," I started.
"Boo! Do you even rehearse this?!" I heard Cash booing me.
Mr. Hal got up, looking pretty mad.
"What did I say about interrupting?" he asked, angrily.
Cash looked pretty scared, and slumped back in his seat.
"Continue." Mr. Hal said, sitting down.
I cleared my throat.
"My name's Ben Tennyson," I said. "This summer, I went around the U.S. with Grandpa Max."
Mr. Hal nodded, and motioned for me to sit down.
"Gwen Tennyson." he said.
Gwen got up from behind me, and walked up to the front of the room.
"Hi, my name is Gwen Tennyson." She eyed me. "No relation to him." she said, pointing to me.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"This summer, I hung out with my Grandpa and annoying cousin."
Oh, so I'm annoying, I thought.
I shrugged.
"Thank you, Gwen," Mr. Hal said, getting up. "You may sit down."
She nodded and walked back over to her seat.
After a few more people went, Mr. Hal got up at the front of the room, and said, "All right class, as part of the school's rules, you guys have to go down to the library and get your reading textbooks checked out. So we're going to go do that. Everyone get in a single file line. And let's go. No talking in the hallways."
So, we all got up and got into a single-file line. I was hoping to be the last person in line, but knowing my luck, Gwen got in line directly behind me.
"Great." I said, under my breath.
We left the classroom, and went to the library. We walked in and took our textbooks off the cart. We all waited in line, until in was my turn. I handed Mrs. Whitcam, the librarian, checked it out to me in Mr. Hal's name.
"Have a good year." she smiled.
I grunted in response, and left. Gwen was next, and she got checked out.
"Have a nice year." Mrs. Whitcam said, smiling.
"Thanks," Gwen said, walking away. "You too."
I scoffed.
"That is so typical of you." I said.
Gwen turned to me, glaring.
"What?" she asked, slugging me in the arm. "That I remember to be nice? Yeah, how typical of me! Typical that you forget people exist."
I laughed.
"Well, excuse me if I hate school." I said, crossing my arms over my book.
"Well," Gwen said, countering my words. "I happen to like school. I want to get a good education!"
I glared at her.
"You wanna go?" I asked. "Let's go!"
Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Let's not go." she said.
"What do you have against me?" I hissed at her.
"This summer, I had a lot of things against you." she said, lowering her voice to whisper. "Until I got a crush on you, and you rejected me!"
I looked around, but no one was looking.
"I didn't reject you, Gwen!" I whispered. "We're cousins! The love life we would have ended up sharing would have been weird!"
She looked at me, sadly.
"As far as I'm concerned Ben," she said. "You rejected me!"
With that she slapped me across the cheek. I held my left cheek, and looked up.
"Did you really have to do that?" I asked, but she was already gone.
I sighed and walked back to the line, getting ready to go back to class.
"All right class," Mr. Hal said. "Let's head back."
We walked out of the library and to the classroom.
Later In The Cafeteria...
I sat down for lunch, and sighing.
"Well," I groaned, digging into my turkey sandwhich. "This is a great first day of school. Gwen won't talk to me. And it's a half day, so that's always good."
I continued eating, and I heard a voice.
"Whatcha got there, Tennyson?"
Cash. Just what I need.
"Turkey sandwich. Go away."
They laughed.
"Go away?" J.T. asked, scratching his chin. "I've never heard of it. Hey, Cash let's see if Tennyson can chug milk."
Uh-oh.
I tried to get out of the way, but Cash pulled my head back, and held me like that.
"Let 'er rip, J.T!" he said. J.T. opened the carton of milk, and dumped it down my throat.
I started gagging as I threatened to puke.
The milk stopped coming, and Cash said, "Let the kid have his turkey!"
Then I felt J.T. shove the last of my sandwich down my throat.
"Have a great day!" Cash said, smacking me in the back, sending me flying forward.
I gagged and tried to cough of the piece of sandwich stuck in my throat. I started hitting my chest, and finally bent forward, and coughed up the sandwich, and the milk I didn't swallow poured out. I gasped for air, and sighed in relief.
"Oh, God," I said, breathing fast. "I hate those guys."
I held and massaged my throat after the frightening ordeal it went through. The cafeteria should really have monitors for stuff like this. I sat back and waited to be dismissed to recess. I looked across the table, where Gwen gave me the evil eye from another table.
Five minutes later, we were dismissed to recess. I didn't really like playing on the playgrounds equipment, so I just sat on one of the many benches they had out there.
I was sitting there, messing with the Omnitrix, when Gwen sat down next me. I let out a groan.
"What?" I asked. "Come back to hit me some more?"
She slugged me in the arm.
"That," she said. "And I don't have any friends in this place."
I raised my eyebrow.
"I count as a friend?"
She scoffed.
"As if, but if I'm near you, maybe your bullies won't try again."
I looked at her, not interested in the Omnitrix anymore.
"You saw what happened at lunch?" I asked.
She nodded her head.
"Yes."
I stared at her, horrified.
"If you saw what was happening, then why didn't you try to stop them?!"
She shrugged.
"I thought it'd teach you a lesson," she said. "But when I saw how it got horrible when they tried to choke you with a chicken sandwich, I thought about interfering."
I rolled my eyes.
"Sure," I said, going back to messing with the Omnitrix. "And it was a turkey sandwich, by the way."
"Whatever!" she exclaimed. "What's wrong with the watch?"
I looked at her.
"Since when do you care?"
She crossed her arms, and looked away.
"Fine," she said, getting up. "I don't care!"
She started to walk away, but I sprang up and caught her by the shoulder.
"Okay, okay!" I said, apologetically. "For once, I'm sorry, Gwen."
I took my hand off her shoulder, and she turned around to face me.
"So, what is wrong with it?"
I looked at it, as it glowed recharged green.
"Uh, well, see that's complicated." I said, rubbing my neck. "Last night, after Grandpa took you home, I used Ditto to clean up my room. And after I was done, I started playing video games, and the watch started beeping. And then, I started transforming into mutated versions of my aliens."
She rolled her eyes.
"What did you do?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"I don't know! Even Azmuth didn't seem to know what happened!"
"Azmuth?" Gwen asked. "As in Azmuth, creator of the Omnitrix?"
"Hello?" I asked, waving my hands. "What other Azmuth do we know? I mean, yes! That Azmuth. He pulled up a DNA Helix from the Omnitrix's database, and he found the problem. He said that the DNA samples had somehow merged."
She yawned. "Okay, I guess that makes sense."
All of a sudden, I heard an explosion across the street. I looked over across the street and saw a familiar levitating figure in a red cloak.
"Hex!" Gwen exclaimed.
"And where the's a Hex, there's probably a Charmcaster!" I said.
"Well, I'm sure the police can handle this." I started walking away.
"Ben!" Gwen called, running after me. "What do you mean by that? Go hero!"
I turned around.
"I can't!" I said, pointing at the Omnitrix. "The Omnitrix isn't working!"
Gwen glared at me.
"Just try!"
I sighed.
"Okay," I said, grabbing her wrist. "Let's get closer!"
We ran over to the opposite side of the playground and jumped the fence.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
I asked her, regarding the fact that we were now skipping school.
"Not really." she said, as we ran towards an alley.
We stopped on the alley and I grabbed her hand.
"No, Gwen." I said.
"What?" she asked, glaring at me.
"Gwen," I said, looking her in the eyes. "This is my fight. And as much as I hate saying it, you are my best friend. I realized that this summer. And I don't want you getting hurt."
She looked at me, her eyes full of sadness.
"Okay," she said, pulling away. "Go, but be careful!"
I snickered, as I activated the Omnitrix.
"Duly noted." I said, as I selected a random alien.
"Here goes nothing!" I said, slamming down on the Omnitrix.
I started to grow a weird fungus up my arms. It started to grow up to my head, and when the flash subsided, I stood there as Wildvine.
"Wildvine! Today isn't my lucky day." I said, smacking my forehead, as I wobbled out of the alley.
"Tennyson!" I heard Hex's voice. "I've been expecting you!"
How do my villains always seem to know when to expect me?
I heard him mutter an incantation, and I started floating off the ground.
"This isn't what I need right now!" I said, struggling to move my frozen limbs.
He used his power to throw me across the street, and into a building. I got up, and walked over to him, being unnoticed, and slapped him around with my tendrils.
"You know Hex,"I said, continuing to slap him with my tendrils. "There's thing called letting your guard down. And you just did it!"
He muttered another incantation, and threw me away.
You irritating little man!" he screamed.
You want more irritating? 'Cause I can do irritating, I thought.
"Diamondhead!" I said, as I transformed.
I got up and fired shards at him, but he shouted an incantation and deflected them.
"I'm really not in the mood Tennyson," Hex said, starting to levitate away. "We'll finish this another time."
I glared at him as he levitated away.
"Hey!" I yelled, running over to him. "I didn't call a timeout!"
I jumped on his back, and breaking his levitation.
"Apparently, I'll finish you now." Hex said, after he recovered.
He shouted an incantation, and his hand started to glow red. I braced for whatever twisted spell he had prepared for me, but all of a sudden, a beam of blue hit the beam of red that protruded from his hand and forced it back.
"Wha-?" I said, flipping around.
Gwen stood there, a blue beam coming from her palm.
"What?" she asked. "Did you actually expect me to listen? How dumb are you!"
I smirked.
"My client would like that stricken from the record." I said.
She frowned.
"Cute," she replied. "But we're not in court."
I shook my head.
"Take a joke." I said, getting up.
She muttered an incantation, and Hex got stuck to the wall.
"That should hold him until the police get here."
Ben, I thought.
I brushed my shoulder once I was human again and crossed my arms, glaring at her.
"What?" she asked, walking up to me. "Embarrassed that a girl did your job?"
I sighed.
"You completely disobeyed me, Gwen."
She glared at me.
"You're just jealous!" she said, sticking out her tongue at me.
"Whatever, let's get back to school." I said.
"School let out after recess, Doofus." she said.
"Fine," I said, walking away. "I'm going home."
Gwen tagged along.
"I'm coming with." she said.
"Oh no, no, no, no." I said, shaking my hands. "Go home."
"Maybe I don't want to go home." she said, not stopping. "Want to tell me why you rejected me?"
I sighed in frusteration.
"I never rejected you!" I said, trying to speed up my walk, but she grabbed my wrist.
"What the?" I said, tugging on my wrist. "Let go!"
She glared at me.
"Not until you tell me why you rejected me!" she said, pulling really hard on my hand.
"Ow, wow wow!" I shrieked, pulling away, and rubbing my wrist.
I glared at her.
"You want an explanation?" I asked. "Fine! I'll give you one!"
She stared at me, waiting.
"I never said anything about rejecting you." I sighed awkwardly, as I rubbed my neck. "I just wanted to cut it off, before it got weird."
She stared at me, her eyes starting to water a bit.
"You see, Gwen," I replied. "If we weren't cousins, we would have never had that conversation. We'd probably be having an early lunch or something right now. There, happy?"
I crossed my arms, proud of my "confession." She stared at me, not moving.
"Uh, you okay?" I asked, waving my hand in her face.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Earth to Dweeb!"
She continued to stare, and finally, she spoke.
"My God," she said stepping forward. "You do care!"
She crushed me in a bear hug.
"Ah!" I said, waving my arms. "Ah, wow, yeah, okay."
I stopped moving, letting the weirdness take me.
She finally let go.
"You actually meant that?" she asked, her eyes glinting.
"Of course, I did." I said. "But we still can't be together. I'm sorry. But I will always be your friend. Well, that is, if you accept."
I stuck my hand out. She stared at it for a couple seconds, until finally she took it.
"I accept." she said.
Fifteen Minutes Later
I opened the door to my house, as Gwen and I walked in.
"You know," I said, closing the door. "I think I can get used to being in school with you."
She smiled at me. I turned around to go and get a snack from the kitchen, but I saw mom and dad blocking my path.
"What?" I asked. "Oh! Gwen goes to my school now."
They glared at me.
"We're aware of that Ben." Mom said, as they crossed their arms.
"Okay," I said, groaning. "What did I do this time?"
Dad snickered.
"Why don't you tell us?" he asked, as mom turned on the TV, revealing Diamondhead being clobbered my Hex.
"Oh," I said. "Gwen, Grandpa and I have been seeing those all summer."
Dad shook his head, walking up to me.
"We meant this!" he said, jerking my Omnitrix arm up.
"I told you!" I said, thinking that they could know. "I got this at an arcade!"
"Benjamin Tennyson!" my mother said. "How dumb do you think we are?"
Oh my God, they know, I thought.
"We know you were that thing on the news! So, talk!"
I sighed.
"Okay," I said, as my dad let go of my wrist. "It's the Omnitrix and I found it in the woods on our first summer night."
My mom nodded.
"Okay," she said, grabbing my hand. "You're not allowed to use it. It's coming off!"
She attempted to pull on it, but couldn't get it off.
"It's stuck to my wrist!" I said. "It bonded to my DNA structure."
Gwen sighed.
"You can believe him, Aunt Sandra," she said. "Grandpa and I tried everything. It doesn't come off."
"Okay," dad said. "Ben your grounded from that thing."
I stared at them, bewildered.
"What?! But the Omnitrix is awesome! It sends out special energy that can turn me into a range of 19 different aliens!" I said.
Mom narrowed her eyes.
"And it's too powerful for a ten year old like you!" she said. "If I catch you using it, you'll be in more trouble. Ben, you're grounded for lying. Gwen, go home, dear."
Gwen looked disappointed.
"Well," she said, walking to the door. "See you tomorrow."
I nodded as she walked out the door. After she was gone, I went off to my room, hoping to escape the trouble I was facing.
The Next Morning...
I woke up the next morning, yawning. When I stretched, I felt like something was wrong. I looked at my wrist, and realized the Omnitrix was gone.
"What?!" I asked, leaping from my covers. "No, this is impossible!"
I got up and saw the Omnitrix lying facedown on the floor. Azmuth's warning drilled through my head. I got out of bed, and tried to reattach the Omnitrix.
"Come on!" I said. "Get back on!"
I tried, but after several fruitless attempts, stopped trying. I looked at the dead Omnitrix.
"Maybe I should have listened." I said.
I walked over to my closet, and threw the Omnitrix in.
"I guess that's the end of that." I mumbled in a sad tone.
A/N: No, Ben! It's just the beginning! Over time he will eventually become Ben 10 once again someday. Stay tuned for the next chapter. This story is just beginning!