===Disclaimer: Okay, I own all the rights to the entire Ben 10 series and everything from it!!! ...See? It doesn't even sound believable, so you know it's not true.===
Chapter 11: Lakebed
"Jen, you know this could be really dangerous." Matt was worried about how his friend would do trying to help the lake-dwelling alien with his problem. "You're basing your entire underwater abilities on a hologram you saw on the watch. How can you be sure that one can even breath underwater? And even if it can, how will you be able to fight with an alien you've never used before?"
Jen was impatiently waiting for Acanthii to return. "Geez, quit worrying. The alien I'm gonna use looked fish-ish, so it must be usable underwater. And I was able to use Glooby, Zip Zap, and Highjump pretty well without taking much time to learn their moves. Just chill – I can handle it."
"Yeah, Jen can do it!" Kelly said with confidence. "She's a superhero now, remember."
"Thank you, Kelly. At least somebody thinks I can do this."
Acanthii returned to the teens carrying a yellow object. "Here," he said, handing the object to Jen. It resembled a crumpled up backpack of some sort. "Fill it with air. It won't last for an incredibly long time, but it should be enough to support you should you need it."
"I'll do it," Kelly offered, "We have an air pump back at the cabin. I'll try to keep my parents from noticing anything." She took the breathing apparatus and went back up to the cabin.
"I probably won't need it," Jen said, "I'll just keep my head above the water until we get to this machine. Then I can just go alien and dive under to help you."
"You tried something like that before, didn't you? I wouldn't do that again, if I were you. You had a very hard time staying out there last time."
"No, I can become other aliens, too," Jen clarified, "I was trying to turn into some fish one last time, but it messed up. Stupid thing..."
Acanthii looked at her with interest. "Well, you seem to be full of surprises. Alright then, are you ready to go?" Kelly was returning with the filled apparatus. Jen placed the pack on her back and hung the mouthpiece over her shoulder for easy access.
"Ready."
----
Jen swam behind Acanthii further out into the lake. He was making sure to move slowly enough for the human to keep up with him. Jen took notice of his golden tail, which had replaced his legs upon entering the water. The alien slowed to a stop.
"Are we there?" Jen asked him.
"Not quite yet," he answered, "but at this point, the small creations it makes will likely come out to defend it. Allow me to take care of them before we move on." He then dove under the surface. Jen couldn't see him through the murky water, but she could feel the water below her stirring as he fought off the attackers. Jen felt something rough bump into her leg a couple times and she put her face in the water to see what it was. She could see an arrow-shaped fish made of stone with a tiny, glowing piece of metal on the front of it. She kicked it away from her, but it turned around and tackled into her leg again.
"Okay, this thing's really bugging me." She pressed the button on the watch and the face lit up, projecting a hologram of Burstfire. "Not this time, watch." She switched through the holograms until she found the fish alien again and pressed down on the face. A green flash shrouded her body again. When she had finished transforming, she dove into the water, able now to see much more clearly, and crushed the stone creature in her many-toothed jaw.
Acanthii slashed his clawed hand through a rocky fish and broke another into pieces with his tail. He checked over at Jen to see she had taken a different form. She was a blue-green fish creature with a large open mouth full of sharp teeth and small green eyes. Her tail and fins had sharp edges to them. Six, octopus-like tentacles extended from between her mouth and fins and encircled her body like a large necklace.
"Quite full of surprises!" he said, impressed. "It is good to see a kind from my homeworld again after being away for so long. Now, let's finish with these pests and move onward." Jen moved her body in a nodding motion. While Acanthii continued to claw and bite the stone fish, Jen swung her tentacles forcefully at them and sliced them with her tail, biting through any that got too close to her face. Once they stopped coming, the two swam in search of the machine again.
The alien stopped again and motioned for Jen to do the same. He quickly swung his tail in front of him, stirring up the water. Suddenly, a large mechanical arm lifted up, shaking off sand from the bottom of the lake. The arm narrowly missed hitting the two aquatic fighters. The lakebed began to move and the machine raised itself up, knocking sand and stones off it. Jen was startled at the size of the contraption; it was much larger than she was expecting.
"Now, we just have to get to that panel down there on its side," Acanthii pointed out. "That's where the power source is located. We'll need to distract it long enough for us to get close to that panel and disconnect it. That should shut the whole thing down."
Both of them swam towards the machine. The machine raised seven more of its long arms and swung at the attackers, though both managed to get out of the way in time. It's not very fast, Jen thought. She attempted to swim straight for the panel, but two more arms blocked her course and pushed her away.
"Wait until it is distracted," he reminded her, "Its arms must all be kept busy before we attempt to approach the power source." He dodged another attack and bit the arm, barely scratching the metal.
Jen swam around the machine, two arms always following her at a time, another arm picking up the pace when one was unable to travel further. This wasn't getting anywhere. Jen tried to wrap her tentacles around an arm, but it was too large to fully grasp. She got an idea, and tried to swim towards the center of the machine, but again the machine blocked her from getting too close. Jen did a spin to get back from the arms and noticed a swirl form in the water that was larger than that motion should have created. She had a plan. She swam over to get Acanthii's attention so she could tell him about her idea. When he moved over to her, she started to explain her tactic to him, but found she couldn't utter a word.
"Sorry, but if you have something to say, I'm afraid you won't be able to in that form. That species of creature is incapable of speech," he informed her.
Oh, that's just great..., Jen thought to herself. She struggled to figure out a way of communicating what she needed to. Then it hit her. She swam over to the machine once again and dived straight down to the exact center. Again, the arms moved to defend the main part, but Jen turned around and swam straight up above it, every arm reaching up to grab her although she was just out of reach. Acanthii thought he understood her plan and made a break for the panel, but one of the arms came down and pushed him away again.
Jen swam back over to him. "If that was your idea, it wasn't a very good one." Jen shook around to tell him 'no'. She pointed at him with one tentacle and up to where she just was floating with the other. He was able to perceive what she was telling him and he swam to over the machine like she had, making sure to draw all of its arms up after him. The machine kept one arm down near the panel on its side however. Jen hadn't counted on this, but she felt it wouldn't matter too much if all worked out right.
Alright, here goes nothing. Jen swam into position a distance from the arms, but at a point between the ends and halfway along their length. She then sat still and used her fins and tail to roll her body to one side. She picked up speed and let her tentacles all extend outward and forward, but remain mostly limp, causing them to curve in the opposite direction as she spun. The water in front of her began to rotate and picked up speed as well. Acanthii saw what was coming and swam up higher to avoid it. Then the arms of the machine were caught up in the vortex and shook violently. Jen suddenly ceased spinning and righted herself before swimming down towards the panel once more. All of the arms above the machine were still swinging back and forth, unable to readjust themselves. The arm down by the panel swung forward to push Jen away again. She let it hit her and force her back.
Acanthii quickly moved in and opened his mighty jaw wide before clamping it back down on the panel, tearing it from the machine. He then reached in and tore out the power source, a glowing ball. The arm pushing Jen sank to the lakebed and the other arms eventually stopped being affected by the vortex and did the same. Jen did a backward loop in celebration of her plan's success.
----
"Thank you, Jen," Acanthii said to the girl once they were back to shore. "Now I will be able to spend my time here peacefully while I figure out a way back to my planet."
"No problem," Jen replied, "Just helping out."
"How much still needs to be done before you can leave?" Matt asked.
"Very much," the alien responded, "but with the time to actually work on it and the parts I can scavenge from the machine, it shouldn't take me too long."
"That's great!" Kelly said. "I hope you get to see your huge ocean again soon."
"Yes. That would be nice." He said his farewells to the three teens and dove back into the lake.
The three of them stood on the shore and watched the sun get lower in the sky.
"Well," Jen said, "let's go have a nice relaxing swim now!"
"Kids!" a voice came from the cabin, "Come help us pack up! We need to leave as soon as possible if we're gonna get home before it gets too dark!"
Jen stopped in her tracks and sighed. "Figures..." Kelly and Matt just laughed as they all headed back up to the cabin.
"Oh crap! I still have this alien air pack thing!" Jen realized.
"Aw, don't worry," Kelly said, "Dad saw me filling it at the air pump earlier and I just told him it was a fancy life jacket." The other two looked at her in slight disbelief that that worked and then continued on.
"Master. I am ready now to retrieve the Omnitrix for you."
"You had better be, Zykan'nok. I do not want to experience another failure because of your lack of foresight."
"I shall be sure to take a DNA scan of the available species in the Omnitrix this time, though I will likely not have need of the information at a future point. I was caught off guard before, but I know what to expect from her this time. And things should be much easier once I am aware of any other possible form she may take."
"And what if it receives support? The human's comrades attempted to assist it last time, did they not?"
"You are correct, master, however they were of absolutely no threat. Her friends are of no use to her in battle with me, unlike Tennyson's. I won't even have need of the molecular transporter once the Omnitrix is off with no one else to oppose me. This time it will be delivered directly to you."
"See that it is. Now go."
"Yes, sir."
===Extra Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own it. That was a joke up there... o.o" ===