A/N: I know you'll be reading this from your bed, but:

GET WELL SOON RYGEL-N!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to see more of your art soon! Especially that one with Emil in it…I know how much work you put into that in grade 10...

…which means no one's proof-reading my work…if its rough, sorry! Oh, and read my poll, I want to give Rygel-n a get-well-soon present.


CHAPTER TWELVE: BEN 10-2

The Camero pulled up in front of Carl Tennyson's house, followed by Frank's car. It had taken several minutes to get a hold of Gwen and her parents, and several more before they came home, confused out of their minds.

Tena stood in the front yard, of her old home, her arms folded with worry. What did they mean they found Ben? Did they learn her secret? Gwen grabbed Tena's arm and gave it a light squeeze before leading the way into the Tennyson's home, her family following awkwardly.

Carl threw the door open in Gwen's face. She gasped and jumped back just in time. "You're hear! Finally! You'll never guess what!"

Gwen could hear the excitement in his voice and her throat went dry. She cast one last look back at Tena, Kevin, and Owen, before Frank pulled her into the living room. There were several police officers in the room, as well as a paramedic. Gwen's eyes narrowed as she saw who was sitting on the couch…

Anne had her arms wrapped tightly around Ben's shoulders. He was wrapped in a blanket and was retelling some lame story that the officers would believe. He looked up as Gwen walked into the room and smiled.

"Hey Gwen." He waved,

Gwen just stood there for a few seconds, staring at Ben as if he was a ghost, "H-how?"

Ben cast her a confused look, he tilted his head, "Oh, right! I guess I should explain where I've been?"

"Not until you eat something! You look famished!"

Ben nodded, a smile crossing his face, "I am! Can I get some chili fries and a smoothie?"

"Anything baby." Anne cooed, kissing his forehead. She then turned to yell at Frank to go get Ben's requested items.

Ben stood up, "I'd like to go to my room now."

The officer nodded, "We've got all the information we needed. Get some rest Ben."

Ben tightened his grip on the blanket, "Yes ma'am."

He looked over at Gwen and smiled, "Come on!"

Gwen saw the regular, unrevamped Omnitrix on his wrist and gasped. She looked back at the other three. Tena looked so shocked that she wasn't even moving, and Kevin and Owen did not look impressed. She smiled at them and followed Ben. Kevin sighed and pulled the shocked Tena after them up to Ben's room.

Ben sat down on his bed and sighed, Gwen sat down next to him and stroked his back. He watched with curiosity as the others walked into the room. "Who are they?"

"I was going to ask the same question." Tena snapped, standing across from Ben.

"This is Tena and Owen." Gwen mentioned, pointing at the two of them, "Tena is an exchange student, and Owen is one of the Baby Chills…only human."

Ben's face lit up, "Cool! I thought Kevin said we'd never see them again?"

Owen folded his arms and sat defiantly next to Tena, the look he gave Ben was sheer poison.

Ben shivered and looked away, "I bet you want to know what happened?" Gwen nodded. Ben sighed and looked from face to face, "Well, I was walking to Mr. Smoothie, when some of Vilgax's goons jumped me. He hired them because he was banned from Earth and could never return.. They took me to Vilgaxia where Vilgax was going to 'Publicly Execute' me." He looked down at the Omnitrix, "I managed to escape and turn into Big Chill to fly back here…took forever though." He smiled and looked over at them, "No thanks to you guys."

"That's a lie and you know it!" Tena screamed, jumping up. She walked over to Ben, "You're not Ben!"

"Tena!" Gwen snapped, pushing Tena back, "He's more of a Ben then you are!"

Tena gasped. She turned towards Gwen, "He's got to be Albido or something!"

"Albido is in a maximum security prison." Gwen folded her arms, "I thought you never looked like Ben…even as a boy. When we saw you lying there, I knew there was something wrong!"

Tena froze. She took a few steps back, "G-Gwen? You have to believe me! I'm the real Ben!"

Ben smiled and stood up, "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Shut up Imposter!" Tena snapped, she turned back to Gwen, "G-Gwen!"

Gwen grabbed Ben's arm, "I'm sorry Tena."

She closed her eyes and they glowed purple, "They have the exact same Mana Signature." She released his arm, "No way to tell who is the imposter."

Tena shook her head vigorously, "No!" She turned back to Kevin and Owen, "You believe me? Don't you?"

Owen nodded, "I tracked you all the way to Demetrious. I know your Dad. He is an imposter." Tena smiled and threw her arms around the boy. He smiled and hugged his 'father' back. Tena looked up at Kevin with worry.

There was no way Kevin would side against Gwen…no way…

"I hate to say this Gwen." Kevin snapped, moving in front of Tena, "But you're wrong."

"I'm wrong?" Gwen repeated, placing her hands on her hips, "Just LOOK at them Kevin."

"I am. And do you know what I see? Tena and an Imposter."

"Kevin!" Ben gasped, he took a step towards the Ex-Con, but Kevin tensed, as if he was ready to attack the other. Ben stopped in his tracks, "Its me! Come on, isn't this proof enough?" He held out his arm, showing the Omnitrix, "There is only one…" Ben paused as Kevin grabbed Tena's hand and pulled her arm out into view. Gwen growled as she saw him grab her hand…even if it was just to prove a point.

"Yeah, and it doesn't work." Gwen snapped,

"I-I just don't know how to use it yet!" Tena cried.

Gwen growled, "Kevin, you can't choose her over me."

"This isn't about choosing." Kevin replied. Tena was shocked at how calm his voice was, "This is about what's right and what's wrong. We did not go all the way to Demetrious to rescue an impostor. Ana and Owen BOTH tracked him down to Demetrious. Ana is never wrong, if this Imposter was the real Ben, she would have tracked him down."

"Everyone makes mistakes." Gwen said bitterly,

"Both of them?" Kevin asked,"What does Owen know? He's just a young Necrofriggian!" Gwen yelled, grabbing Ben's hand, "You are real right?"

Ben nodded, "C-come on Kevin! Look at her! To my knowledge the Omnitrix can't change your gender."

Kevin moved directly in front of Tena, as Gwen stepped forward. It looked like a fight was about to break out…

"Ben!"

Everyone turned towards the door. Julie stood in the doorway beaming brightly. She ran over to Ben and threw her arms around him, "I knew that wasn't you! I just knew it!"

Tena's jaw dropped. She looked at Julie in shock, "N-no wait!"

Julie looked over at Tena with disgust, "I knew you were never my Ben. Right from the moment I saw you."

Carl poked his head in the doorway, "Benjamin, I brought you your chili fries and smoothie." He stopped and looked at everyone's faces, "Um? I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"We were just leaving." Kevin snapped, grabbing Tena's wrist tightly and pulling her from the room.

Ben turned away from Julie, "I have ANOTHER imposter? Great. What are we going to do now?"

Gwen shook her head, "I don't know. I don't think Tena could cause any real damage, not now that you're back."

Ben sighed, "I'm not too sure about that. 'Ben 10' is a galactic hero. If she tricked you, who else could she trick?"

Gwen smiled, "Cocky…now I know you're the real Ben."

~ * ~

"Who does he think he is!" Tena screamed as Kevin's Camero roared down the highway,

"Apparently you." Kevin muttered, trying to output all his rage into his driving. They roared down the empty highway.

Owen folded his arms from the back seat, "I don't trust it."

Tena felt tears coming to her eyes. She fought them back, "Gwen she…she took the impostors side!"

Kevin gripped the steering wheel tighter, "I know."

"And I can't believe you chose me over her." Ben whispered, turning back to look out the front window,

"I know." He repeated.

"Kevin?" Tena asked.

Kevin pulled the car to the side of the road, "Grr! I just don't understand any of this. All I know is that for once, Gwen is wrong." He looked at Tena with determination, "She is…I know you're the real Ben."

Tena let out a small smile, "Thank you Kevin. You don't know how much this means to me."

Kevin sighed and slammed his head against the steering wheel, "I know it means that me and Gwen might not be so cool after this."

He placed the car in park and turned to face Tena completely, "And this also means you can't go back."

Tena lowered her head, "Why?"

"Because…if your own cousin sided with that creep, then what do you think Max would do?" Kevin's voice was like acid in Tena's ears, "He's going to side with the impostor and you know it! Which means, we're going to have every Plumber on earth against us."

Tena lowered her head, "I…don't like the sound of that."

Owen shivered, "What do we do?"

"Run like fuck?" Kevin stated, "Its either that or wait for Manny to come and rip your head off."

Tena grabbed her neck with a gulp, "B-but where do we go?"

Kevin bit his lip, "The last place they would think we'd go…New York."

Tena slowly nodded, "Why?"

"We can hide among the crowds, and I know the backstreets better then anyone else." Kevin sighed, "I swore I'd never go back there, but desperate times calls for desperate measures."

Tena looked back out the window, "Gwen's probably telling Grandpa Max right now…"

Kevin put the car back into gear, "Which means we're leaving now. We can stop later for some supplies."

He stomped on the gas pedal.

~ * ~

"Tena is an imposter?" Grandpa Max gasped. He called a soon as he heard that Ben was back,

Gwen nodded, "Yes Grandpa. Kevin turned on us and went with the impostor."

"I'll send Manny and Helen to investigate…do you know where they may have gone?" Grandpa Max asked,

"I have a pretty good idea." Gwen nodded, looking out the window, "Kevin's garage."

"We'll look. I'll also put a memo out with the plumber to be on the look out for a green and black alien-tech enhanced car."

"Thank you Grandpa." Gwen agreed.

She sighed and placed the phone down. Had it really come down to this? Was she really up to fighting Kevin? She gritted her teeth…that impostor had Kevin wrapped around her pretty little fingers! How dare she make Kevin choose against her! Was Kevin blind? It was obvious that this Ben was the real one…

Ben walked into the room, happily sucking back on a smoothie, "What did Grandpa Max want?"

"He's sending some of the Plumber's kids out after Kevin, Owen, and the Impostor."

Ben nodded, "We should help."

Gwen sighed and folded her arms, "Yeah but…that means we'd be fighting Kevin."

"I always knew he'd turn on us…right from the start." Ben huffed, throwing out the empty cup,

"Excuse me?" Gwen replied,

"Think about it," Ben looked at Gwen darkly, his green eyes almost sneaky, "All he had to do was completely earn our trust. He was probably the one that tipped off Vilgax's goons where I was."

Gwen lowered her head, "You think so?"

"Doesn't that sound like Kevin?"

"The old Kevin…not the new one." Gwen replied,

Ben turned away and started out of the room, "Old habits die hard. He already sold the Rustbucket One, instead of helping us back on the red vs. blue planet, he was only interested in making money…should I go on? All he's ever been interested in is the money." He growled, "Argh! Why did we never see it?"

Gwen rubbed her arm shyly, "Maybe…we did not want to believe it?"

Ben grabbed her by the arms, she flinched back against the feel of his calloused fingers, but kept her gaze staring at those large green eyes…

"Gwen." Ben said softly, almost seducingly, "Who knows what those three are up to. With Kevin's street sense, and that Impostor's no how…Heck, even the car alone could pass them off for us. They could be causing all kinds of chaos."

"They could reveal your secret." Gwen agreed, "What do we do?" She could not pry her eyes from his…she missed that face too much.

"We have to stop them." Ben continued, "I know it will be hard…but we're going to have to stop them."

Gwen felt her eyes sag as she continued to stare at Ben. She wanted to pull him close and…

The phone rang, snapping Gwen out of her deluded thoughts. She blushed and pushed Ben away from her, walking over towards the phone again, "Hey Grandpa!" She smiled and turned back towards Ben, "They found Kevin's car. It's not heading for the garage at all…its on the highway."

Ben nodded, "Let's go."

Gwen turned back to the phone, "How fast can you have the Rustbucket 2 here?"

"I'm outside honey." Grandpa Max replied.

~ * ~

"Kevin." Owen warned, "Can this thing go any faster?"

Kevin looked into his rearview mirror, "Yeah, why?"

Kevin sighed, "Dammit. I was hoping at least to be in New York before they found us."

"Step on it Kevin!" Tena gasped.

Behind them, the Rustbucket roared, their weapons ready to fire, Helen running next to it, gaining speed…soon she would be on top of them…

And Kevin punched the car into Nitro, sending them speeding down the highway, and for such a large RV, the Rustbucket soared after them.


Dramatic fight scene next. Sorry for the delay, I've been working on a get-well-soon present for my little sister.