Ben 10 alternate universe
"FLClimax" chapter 13
Ben awoke to rapping knuckles on his chest, yet there seemed to be something wrong in his usual routine.
It was dark; Ben's spontaneous sexual act was around lunchtime, and afterwards he and Todd had fallen asleep.
Apparently Todd was just waking up, at what felt like one in the morning.
Instead of getting up right away, they only lay there snuggling.
Ben stared into Todd's blue eyes; "I think I love you."
***
Ben and Todd walked out of their room; they were at least decent, as they were wearing some rarely worn pajamas.
They were somewhat confused to see Grandpa sitting at the wheel of the RV; Thep sat in the passenger seat.
Suddenly the two boys realized that the Rust bucket was moving; Gramps had been driving for some time now.
"What's going on, Grandpa?" Todd questioned.
"Where're we going?" Ben added.
"South Dakota," Grandpa replied, "the sunshine state."
"South Dakota?" the teenagers asked in unison.
"So why are we going there?" Ben inquired.
"Plumber business," Grandpa answered.
Ben and Todd grew excited, as if this was the answer they'd wanted.
In spite of his joy, Ben's stomach growled; "hey Gramps, I'm hungry," it said.
"There's smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge," Grandpa explained.
Ben stuck out his tongue in disapproval; Todd continued to get their Sumo Slammer cereal and Grey's stash of donuts.
"And there's coffee on the counter," Thep added, emphasizing this fact by raising his own steamy mug.
A bandaged hand grabbed a donut; Grandpa was offered one but refused.
"These are healthier," Grandpa said, pointing to a bowl of slimy worms, which he'd apparently been snacking on while driving.
Ben only furiously shook his head at Grandpa, then pointed at his cereal bowl.
"Ha," Thep laughed, "I think Grandpa and Rock Lobster have the same taste in foods."
** *
They arrived at the plumber's base, which happened to be in South Dakota, more specifically, Mt. Rushmore.
They meet an old partner of Grandpa's, Phil, at the base's entrance.
After a brief "haven't seen you in awhile" conservation, Phil tells Grandpa where to go.
The mummy-alien and two teenage boys followed the old plumber to one of the base's larger rooms.
In this room there were familiar faces, Slick and Marcus.
There were three others inside this room that Thep, Ben and Todd didn't recognize.
Grandpa introduced them.
"Ben, Todd and Thep," Grandpa exclaimed, "This is Cooper," he explained pointing to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, teenage boy.
"This is Cooper's grandfather," Grandpa continued.
"How're you doing, Max?" the older man said, smiling and shaking Grandpa's hand.
"And this is Rip," Grandpa finished, pointing at the Necrofriggian.
Rip somewhat resembled Big Chill; although he was snow white with pink tinge.
Grandpa and Cooper's grandfather walked over to Marcus and Phil; Slick had been with Marcus, but was now walking over to the group of teenagers and aliens.
Ben and Todd were socializing quite a lot with Cooper, and through conversation they discovered his unique ability in working with technology.
"Yeah, my grandpa says that my brain must look like the inside of a computer."
"He's like a Galvanic Mecomorph," Rip added, "well… mentally."
Thep turned to Rip, "so are you the used-to-be-bad, scary alien in your group?"
Rip raised his eyebrow in confusion; "what?"
"Well, I travel with these lunatics," Thep explained, pointing at Ben and Todd, who had shot him childish faces, "and their grandpa. I saw a teenager," referring to Cooper, "and an old plumber," he said, referring to Cooper's grandpa, "so I assumed you were their alien."
Rip smiled.
"No, I wouldn't put me in their group. But I do more often than not aide, or am aided by Cooper and his grandfather when dealing in plumber affairs."
As Rip explained this to Thep, he'd ruffled Cooper's hair; Cooper pulled away from Rip's cold hand, blushing brilliant red, embarrassed.
Rip had become like an older brother to him, and he could only assume that Ben and Todd shared the same relationship with Thep.
"I may better relate with your situation, Thep," Slick chimed in.
"Seeing as Rip travels alone, and I'm partners with Marcus. Though I suppose we lack Mark's grandson."
***
"More plumbers are coming," Ben overheard Phil say.
He realized that he and Todd hadn't been given much of an explanation as why they were at this plumber base.
"Slick, Rip," Ben started, "you're plumbers, right? You've any idea why we're here?"
"Sorry sport," Slick replied, "Grandpa hasn't told you?"
"There's negative alien activity," Rip said in his ghoulish tone, "a lot of it… it doesn't look good."
As if on cue, the lights flickered.
For maybe twenty seconds, it stayed dark; Todd's grip on Ben's hand had tightened during the blackout.
The lights came back on, brightening the room once more.
There was a moan from the group of old plumbers.
"Fuck!" was screamed; Ben thought it had been Marcus.
"What's wrong?" Slick cried out.
"The screen's blank. Whatever alien activity had been on it's now gone. Fuck, fuck!" Marcus answered his partner.
For a moment there was silence.
The metal door, which could only be entered or exited through with the correct password, until now, melted of its hinges to the floor; three figures walked into the room.
All ten of them (the five plumbers, three teenagers, Thep and Rip) were quick on their feet; Rip had unfolded his wings and hovered above them.
"Surrender," the Aerophibian demanded, "we only want the omnitrix."
There was a flash of green light; "fat chansss," Benum hissed.
"I recognize these three…" Cooper's grandpa stated, "don't you Cooper? Rip?"
"… oh yeah!" Cooper exclaimed, just remembering who the three intruders were; he'd fought them before.
"Bo," he said pointing at the Aerophibian.
Bo had red wings and a red face; his body was yellow.
"The last time we (my grandfather, Rip and I) fought you, you and… and… Glop!" he pointed at the blue Polymorph.
Glop resembled Goop, though he's blue instead of green; he'd been the one to melt the door.
"You and Glop were trading tech with the Forever Knights," Cooper finished.
"And he," Rip said to Benum, "is Six Six."
The armored alien roared some incomprehensible garbage.
"You've evaded us long enough, Ben Ten," Bo said; it was unclear whether Bo had ignored what Six Six had said or was agreeing with him.
Ben was hesitant; Glop had grown impatient.
"We haven't the time for this!" Glop declared, "Vilgax wants that omnitrix and I'm going to take it, right now."
The blue Polymorph jumped out at Benum; his UFO-like machine was swatted away by Rip, and a harmless blue puddle lie in front of the symbiote.
Everything afterwards happened so fast.
The UFO-like thing returned, Glop was back in control; Six Six and Bo flew around, shooting energy blasts and plasma ammunition in every direction.
The plumbers shot back with their standard-issue guns, with little effect.
Rip circled the air, dodging Bo's and Six Six's attacks, but also fighting back.
Freezing vapor clouded the room; Benum charged forward, slashing at Glop.
***
Rip had frozen Glop solid.
He'd also froze his UFO-like machine; the layer of ice made it too heavy for flight and Rip chucked it down the hallway.
Thep struggled with Bo; his bandages wrapped around the Aerophibian, yet Bo still flew.
It looked like Thep were flying a Bo-kite.
Invader and his SIR unit fought Six Six.
Six Six screamed some more incomprehensible speech.
"Liar!" Invader yelled, pulling out a cable from Six Six's jetpack with a metal claw.
Without the wire, the jetpack malfunctioned, sending Six Six into a wall.
Bo ripped out of Thep's bandage-grip, and exited through the melted doorway.
"Don't worry," Invader said; green light flashing, "I'll get him," Star Fire finished.
Star Fire grabbed Todd, and flew through the door after Bo.
Star Fire shot green energy bolts at Bo, who led him outside.
The cold night air chilled him, he shuddered.
He let Todd down to the Mt. Rushmore stone, he'd lost track of Bo.
Without warning, a clawed hand grabbed Star Fire.
A finger tapped Star Fire's faceplate, (somewhat like Benum had done to Negative Star Fire; chapter 11) and red light flashed.
Vilgax laughed; there wasn't much humor in this laugh, at the boy in his grip.
"So you're the one that all those bounty hunters couldn't retrieve," Vilgax growled, "Billions of beings on this planet, and the omnitrix winds up on the wrist of a foolhardy youth!"
Ben, who felt very vulnerable in the fist of Vilgax, with the added disadvantage of a non-working 10-alien-watch, began to scream.
Again Vilgax laughed
that humorless chuckle, then turned away from Todd back to his
ship.
***
Rip phased through the stone; "what's wrong, Todd?" Rip asked, "You look as if you've seen an Ectonurite."
There was a soft chuckle from the Necrofriggian.
"That's just a little plumber humor-" Rip was cut off.
"V-V-V-Vilgax, he's g-got B-Ben!" Todd cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Rip, now serious, asks Todd: "where are they To-" and once again he was cut off.
This time, he'd been cut off by Vilgax's ship launching.
Rip grabs Todd, (Todd's tears actually freeze on his face) then flies high enough to see where Vilgax's ship is.
Once spotted, Rip flies over and into the massive ship; "we have to work fast," Rip explains to Todd.
***
"Hey squid face," Ben yelled at the infamous Chimera Sui Generis, "let me go!"
"You're in no position to give orders, punk," Vilgax explained to Ben, who he'd imprisoned with a bunch of energy beams.
There was an annoyed groan from Ben, why isn't the omnitrix working?
Vilgax had been messing with the controls, fucking with the coordinates or something, then became frightfully puzzled.
The many buttons and controls, the panel itself, suddenly froze solid.
Vilgax clumsily smashes the iced machine, and roars in frustration.
"Who's responsible?" Vilgax demanded, "Show yourself!"
Rip appeared above the broken machinery, which cables sparked electricity.
"You've made a grave mistake, going against my wishes in a foolish attempt to recover the omnitrix."
A clawed had slashed at Rip, but he'd become intangible.
Vilgax grew frustrated, wiping frost off his paw.
Unaware that Rip was merely a distraction, Vilgax continued battling him.
Todd reunited with Ben, and was trying to figure the way to free Ben of these energy-shackles.
Vilgax, glimpsing over to Ben in mid-battle, grew violently angry.
He retreated from the fight with Rip to go slaughter the blue-eyed boy.
Halfway to his target he was blasted with an all too familiar weapon.
Grandpa stood with his Vilgax-blasting, plumber gun; behind him were the four other plumbers and Cooper.
The six had apparently flown up to Vilgax's ship via jetpacks.
Cooper ran over to the dismantled controls.
With the averaged intelligence of Grey Matter and Brainstorm, Cooper went to work with whatever wires there were inside the broken machinery.
"Hey Coop," Ben yelled, "not to be a burden… but I could use your help over here!"
Cooper ignored Ben's cries for help; the lights flickered off then returned.
Ben managed to free himself when the power had been off.
"Thanks, Cooper," Ben apologized.
"Yeah," Cooper said, still working at the cables and circuitry.
Vilgax returned, rejuvenated and angrier than ever.
Ben grinned grimly, "You want me? Vill-E? Come an get me."
Vilgax, foam practically running down his chin, charged towards Ben 10.
Heavy Metal met Vilgax in a death grip.
Heavy put all his might into keeping Vilgax from driving him backward.
Vilgax grew frustrated; he reached for Heavy's faceplate, but Heavy dodged his claws.
A Mack truck-Heavy Metal drove Vilgax backward, but the villain kept his stance.
There was the odor of burning rubber; Vilgax was pushing Heavy-truck back.
Green light flashed; Vilgax stumbled forward, stumbling over Grey.
Star Fire rocketed into Vilgax; the two went flying out of the ship.
The plumbers and Cooper flew out of Vilgax's ship, after the two.
The infamous Chimera Sui Generis went rocketing to the ground, crash-landing in thick forest.
***
When Vilgax continued having troubles capturing Ben, he decided to try a different approach.
He ran to the plumbers, who scattered.
Vilgax took Todd in his clutches, threatening to kill the boy.
He demanded Grandpa and his plumber-friends to stay back, but offered Ben to trade the omnitrix for his lover's safety.
"Alright Vilgax, you win," Ben said, surrendering.
The Chimera Sui Generis threw Todd aside, now taking Ben in the grasp of his claws.
"How noble…" Vilgax mocked.
"Ben!" Todd cried, as the two disappeared into the ship.
"Vilgax, no! Don't go back in there!" Grandpa warned.
Despite Grandpa's warning, Vilgax's ship rocketed away.
"Foolish earthling," Vilgax muttered to himself, "why would I-"
Red light flashed, yet it wasn't the familiar flash of red.
The red flashes came from Vilgax's ship; they were warning flashes.
The voice of a monotone woman came from all directions, simply warning that the ship would self-destruct.
"The autodestruct launch sequence has been initiated!" Vilgax roared.
He threw Ben to the floor, then rushed over to the controls in some attempt to stop the self destruct, only to remember he'd destroyed them earlier.
Vilgax grunted in frustration and agony when he was struck in the back of the head.
He turned to see Benum, who began webbing him to the wall.
Vilgax struggled to free himself from the wall he'd been glued to, and Benum waved "goodbye."
"Sssee ya," Benum had started, "wouldn't want to be ya," Heavy Metal finished.
***
As a jet he propelled himself away from the soon-to-explode ship, and Vilgax.
Vilgax had supposedly torn away from Benum's webbing, and jumped onto Jet-Heavy.
The jet struggled to stay afloat; "you're becoming quite the nuisance, Ben Tennyson!" the Chimera Sui Generis screamed.
Vilgax, groping in pain and anger, tore at the jet's right wing.
With much force he broke the wing; it hung uselessly blowing in the wind.
Heavy Metal growled in pain, yet managed to fly higher.
When above Vilgax, green light flashed; Stitch dropkicked Vilgax back into his own ship.
Vilgax's ship exploded, Stitch fell past the epic sight.
Green light flashed.
Unable to fly with a broken arm, as Star Fire, he continued to rocket to the ground.
An instance before becoming liquid as Goop, a bandaged hand wrapped around Ben.
"Thep?" Ben said in a daze, "you can fly?"
Thep had used Bo's persistence to fly at his own advantage.
A Thep Khufan was so light; Bo flew the mummy-alien around like a boat pulls a water-skier, except through the sky instead of on a lake.
Ben, assured of his safety, and Vilgax's defeat, fell unconscious in Thep's arms.
***
Ben awoke to rapping knuckles on his chest; he lies on a floor of the plumber base.
Todd had been kneeling next to him, making sure he'd wake up.
"Oh good, you're up," Todd looked very relieved, "he's awake, everyone."
Marcus had just sucked the frozen Polymorph and his UFO-like machine into his Null Void projection.
"Ben," Grandpa said, walking over to him, "are you alright?"
"Yeah, I think so…" he tried getting up; "ouch," Ben groaned.
"Watch your arm, sport. I'm afraid it's broken," Grandpa warned. "Slick's getting the standard-issue plumber's first aide kit."
Slick doctored Ben up, successfully putting Ben's broken arm in a splint.
Todd helped Ben to his feet; Ben looked around the room, the number of plumbers had at least quadrupled.
"Where are Bo, Six Six, Glop… and Vilgax?" Ben asked confused.
"Bo, Glop an Six Six are chilling in the Null Void," Rip answered.
"As for Vilgax," Thep began, "you destroyed him, Ben. Don't you remember?"
Ben shook his head, then said, "Yeah," in contradiction.
"You," Ben said to Thep, "you saved my life, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Thep laughed, blushing, "…I guess I did."
He walked through the crowd of plumbers, both human and alien, unsure where he was being led.
Ben was congratulated by a number of plumbers; one even gave him a Vulpimancer pup.
Grandpa let him keep it as a pet… without much reluctance.
Ben, who was holding the Vulpimancer pup, was led right outside of the base, where the Rust bucket sat.
Ben waved "goodbye," to Cooper, Mark, Phil, Rip, Slick, Coop's grandpa, and some other plumbers by accident.
He climbed into the RV; Todd, Thep and Grandpa followed.
Ben grinned and hung an arm around Todd; their new pup licked his face.
The rusty sound of Grandpa starting up his RV, and they were off to travel the world.