Chapter 25 Storm is Coming
During the peak of the night, the lights were flashing, and the music was booming on the pier beside the beach. In celebration of luminary festival. Ben looked up at the night sky as it was lit up with lanterns that flowed through the air like a bird against the win. Fireworks and fountains flared catching his attention. He gazed along the pier and saw everyone having a time of their lives. He smiled to himself as he was also enjoying his night with the melodies hummed in his ear.
"Oh Ben!" Irina called out. Ben turned around to have his eyes forming into a shocked expression. He saw all of the girls in a kimono outfit in their own personal colors. Ben almost drooled as he was amazed by their beauty.
"Nice tent, hero." Izzy said. Ben looked down real quick and saw that nothing was there, yet. He turned away with a red face.
"Sorry, you girls look really good." Ben said, as he saw that even Rose's body could be barely contained by her kimono. He gulped as the girls giggled to his reaction.
"Come on everyone, we can all tease Ben later, for now, let's just have a good time." Rias said.
"YEAH!" Everyone shouted. All of the girls went their own separate way, going to the game booths, and snack shacks that were lined up along the sides. Ben stepped to the side and took a look at his watch and saw that it was at full charge. He was then grabbed from behind and pulled into Rias's mounds.
"Hi Riash." Ben said looking up.
"Seems like you've been too caught up with hero time, you lost how to spend your Ben time." Rias said. Ben laughed awkwardly.
"Sorry about that, I guess I've spent to much of my time fighting gods and all." He said.
"Come on, let's have something to eat." She said as she was dragging him to a noodle booth.
The two were at a table eating their food until Kuroka and Koneko appeared with dongos on a stick in their hands.
"Ben say ah." The two said. Ben looked at the two and opened his mouth. The tow dongos entered his mouth before he bit down. He nodded to himself as he enjoyed the snack bite.
"It's good, thank you." Ben said. Their faces lit up.
"I would like to attend the ritual of feeding my Ben." Xenovia said.
"Here Ben, take a bite of this." Irina said.
"What is this stuff? It's exceptionally delectable." Hades said in her human form.
"Ben, do you mind trying this out with me?" Raynare asked shyly.
"Hang on girls, one at a time, we have all night." Ben said smiling.
"This is getting out of control." Rossweisse said, shaking her head.
"Haha." Ben laughed like a dork that even made Rose blush a little.
Everyone continued their night with more food and games as the music began to turn up and everyone started dancing. Everyone was laughing at their own ridiculous dancing. They were having the time of their lives until a spot of fire formed in the sky. No one noticed as the sky was filled with firework flares and glowing lanterns. The meteor became closer and the air began to rumble and the music abruptly stopped. Ben immediately looked up and saw the meteor just missing the pier at hitting the water.
Everyone backed up from the end of the pier, fearful of what the meteor was, or if anything was going to happen. The water began to tremble, something was emerging from the water far from the pier, but the size still made everyone fearful. As the object emerged, Ben recognized it as one of Vilgax's robots. It was three stories tall as it's arms and legs spread, forming, showing that it was ready for a fight.
All of the people ran to the main land, screaming for their lives as the robot began to move forward towards the pier.
"Make sure everyone gets out. GO!" Ben yelled. He slowly walked toward the end as everyone was passing him. The last person ran passed Ben almost tripping over. Ben made sure he was okay before pushing him to go and began to run towards the end of the pier.
"You finally decided to show your face, can't say I'm surprised." Ben said. The robot scanned Ben and was verified of his identity as he was the holder of the omnitrix.
"If it's a fight you want, DIamondhead!" Ben said before turning. He jumped onto the robot and attempted to slash the armor with his sword arm. His arm only bounced off, shaking his body.
"What is this piece of junk made of?" Diamondhead yelled. He couldn't believe the fact that Diamondhead, his main guy for robot destruction, didn't on this piece of machine.
"Let's try Heatblast!" He said as he turned. He flew up to the machine and placed his hands on its body.
"How about we heat things up." Heatblast said. He heated up the metal, only to see that it did no good, Only made it hot that was too much for the human touch. Heatblast jumped back onto the pier, turning back to Ben.
"So the usual doesn't work." Ben said. The girls joined Ben behind them.
"Everyone got out safely, now can we tear this thing apart?" Gabriel asked.
"Be my guest, I'm going to need help with this one." Ben said.
"All you had to do was ask." Izzy said. "Balance Breaker." She called out as her armor formed around her. Kuroka and Koneko formed their cat form and prepared their magic. The jumped in mid air and fired their Neko attacks while Izzy did a dragon shot, and it did absolutely nothing.
"That's just great." Irina said.
"Wait. it's a robot, and robots use electricity. Ready Akeno?" Ben asked. She nodded.
"Oh, do I get to have some fun, too bad it's only a robot." She said licking her lips. Which sent a chill down ben's spine.
"Alright then, let's go Feedback." Ben said. He transformed and aimed at the robot.
"Time to short you out." Feedback said. The giant machine swung its arm around trying to his him. Feedback side jumped over it before grabbing onto it and sending an exact current inside the robot. Akeno sent her rain of thunder onto the robot. It shook as it began to short out. Everyone else took the opportunity and used their attacks and pushed it back into the water, making a splash that reached above the pier.
Feedback turned back to Ben and sighed to himself. He was actually enjoying himself, and now a robot attacks, hinting that Vilgax is back, if he was honest with himself, he would feel sick.
"Man, why did that thing have to come and ruin our fun." Ben said.
"You know what it means right?" Rias said. Ben gulped.
"I know, but we beat him once Rias, we can do it again, am I right?" He said.
"I'm not so sure." Hades said.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"That thing resisted our magic, is this Vilgax familiar to our magic?" She asked.
"Besides my friends, no, it shouldn't be enough to figure out a resistance to their magic attacks." Ben said.
"Strange." She said. Sirens were heard from a distance and drawing near.
"We should go." Raynare said.
"Good idea." Ben said and they left in a hurry to avoid the police.
Back at their home, Ben was pacing back and forth in his room, debating on what to do next, the whole festival was ruined, and he was having such a great time with the girls, it started to frustrate him the more he thought about it.
"Damn it Vilgax, why now?" Ben frowned to himself.
"Aw, someone's upset." Kuroka said, stepping into his room.
"Yeah, I was having a good time, you know?" He said with a soft disappointed smile.
"I know, everyone's a little mad from the festival getting ruined." She said. "But the question is, what are we going to do?" She finished.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out now, but I got nothing, but I might be able to figure it out." Ben came up with an idea as he finished the sentence. He rushed out of the room leaving Kuroka confused.
Ben made his way down to the basement and turned on all of his computers. The consoles connected to the plumber's old servers and he messed around until he opened up a servalense of earth from outside the atmosphere.
"Where are you?" Ben asked himself. He zoomed out and saw all of the galaxies surrounding. An alert suddenly rang throughout the room, the screen zoomed in onto a familiar ship that was on course straight towards earth.
:A communications alert rang, Ben clicked on the screen and saw the squid face that made him step back a bit.
"How long has it been since I've seen your pitiful face." Vilgax stated.
"Not as long as I wanted before I saw your squid face again." Ben said crossing his arms.
"Just as witty as the last time we faced, and just as irritating." Vilgax said.
"Oh you haven't even scratched the surface, I've grown to have a bit of a potty mouth. Thanks for ruining my good time by the way." Ben said.
"That will only be the least of your worries, for I have evolved my robots after each battle as I slowly make my way to take your life, and finally have the omnitrix." Vilgax spat.
"Goodluck with that, just give me a time and date and I'll face you one one one." Ben said, getting cocky.
"We'll see, but for now, lets see how you handle my next android that is deadlier than the last." Vilgax laughed.
"I have one question, this android that we fought last, how do you know about the magic aspect, you haven't been here long enough to figure it out." Ben asked.
"I have no desire to answer to you at all." Vilgax spat. "It won't even matter after I throw you into your demise." He said. The comms disconnected.
"That's what all of the assholes say before I kick them into the ground." Ben growled.
Ben didn't know that the girls were eavesdropping on Ben's conversation with his nemesis. They snuck back up knowing that Ben needed some time to himself.
"What is it about Vilgax that has Ben so angry?" Rose asked.
"Yes, I would like to know also." Gabriel added. Raynare also didn't really know, but she had a feeling that Rias was going to spill. Rias sighed before speaking up.
"Before Ben first arrived here, he lived with his mother and father halfway across the earth. When Ben first found the omnitrix, Vilgax killed his parents in attempt to take it from him." Rias explained. It all made sense to them. Why Vilgax bothered Ben so much.
The night became late, and everyone decided that the best thing to do was to get some rest. Well, everyone except Ben. He just laid still and stared at the ceiling in paranoia, just waiting for the next android to impact earth. Where would it land? The city? His house… again? He couldn't handle the mystery. He decided that he wasn't sleeping anytime soon, and that lying down wasn't going to solve anything.
He sneaked out of the room, making sure not to wake up the girls. He sneaked down the hallway passed Gabriel's and Hade's room, and made his way downstairs to the plumber station.
Starting up the computer again, he looked at the surveillance once again and saw that there was no activity around the planet. Ben sighed to himself and thought was debating on whether to go back to bed, or stay in front of the screen and watch.
"Villains have to sleep too." Ben was taken away from his thoughts by Gabriel's voice.
"I can't be too careful with Vilgax, he's the type to mess with my head, catch me off guard, that's how he was the last two times I've had to deal with him." Ben said. He was back to his more serious side again, but know one could really blame him, it was Vilgax after all.
"Does it make you angry that much?" Gabriel asked.
"Of course it does, my last memories of my parents, is me getting into an argument with them, and as soon as it was getting better, as soon as I thought everything was going to be okay, this ugly asshole took them from me, and all for this." Ben said, grinding his teeth. He wanted to punch the computer, but all he could do was place his hand on it.
"Do you regret getting the omnitrix?" She asked.
"No, I saved Rias using it, I helped countless other people." Ben started.
"And you saved me, saved Hades. I don't think the omnitrix was a bad thing, everything just played out the way it did, like destiny." She said. Ben looked up over to Gabriel and began to laugh.
"I guess you're right, but I plan to keep that night the only time destiny took control of my life. I will make sure that I send Vilgax back to the farthest corner of the universe if it means I can defeat it after it defeated me once before." Ben said with a stone face. Gabriel just got the chills. He faced the computer again and typed.
"Half a year ago, I woke up from a three year slumber, it may have happened a few years ago, but to me, it feels like its only been such a short time." Ben said. Gabriel felt sad for Ben and hugged him tightly.
"I know it hurts, but to you can't lose sleep over it, not now. If something is coming, I will know it. Please don't lose yourself for this, I know it's difficult and hate the thought of fate, but remember the choices that you make affects everything that happens even in the future." Gabriel said. Ben started to cry as it broke his heart from what she as it sounded familiar. .
"Someone said something similar to that." Ben said.
"Was it your mother?" She asked.
"Yeah." Ben almost choked. He buried his head into her shoulder and cried for a few minutes. Letting out the last of the suppressed pain.
After Ben dried his tears and felt the pain wash away again. He may have held on, and dealt with the pain, but he still needed to cry once in awhile, especially when the storm of the past came back.
"Thank you, I feel better now." Ben said with a deep breath.
"Your welcome, come on, we need to sleep for tomorrow." Gabriel said.
The two walked back to the floor where their rooms were. Ben walked Gabriel to her room and turned to get to his.
"Uh, Ben." She called out.
"Huh?" Ben reacted and only got a kiss planted on his lips.
"Don't stop being you, promise me." She said before going into her room and closing the door behind her. Ben felt his lips for a moment and smiled to himself.
'Izzy will be so proud, but even I don't even know how I'm doing this.' Ben thought to himself. He sneaked back into his room and got comfortable back in his spot and the girls recentered themselves onto him. He giggled to himself as he slipped into his sleep without any effort.
Early in the mourning, a crash was heard throughout the entire neighborhood. The crashing shook the earth as another android impacted in the park. Ben shot himself up from the bed, as did the girls. He nodded to them before turning into XLR8 and made his way to the park.
The people were in a panic as the android was even bigger than the last. As tall as one of the skyscrapers even. No one in the city felt safe due to its size. One step could kill a whole group of people. Ben wasted no time getting there, and the girls weren't far behind.
"I'm not sure even Feedback can handle this guy." XLR8 said.
"I'm not sure that any of your guys can handle it." Izzy said.
"Can or not, I still have to try." He said. "Fourarms." He said. He then took a tree out of the ground and threw it at the android. It turned and faced him as the girls caught up.
"Well you got it's attention, any other ideas?" Raynare asked.
"Uhh, that's all I got." Fourarms said.
"BEN!" Kuroka shouted, but Fourarms was knocked from his feet and into the air, colliding with a building. The girls didn't expect a robot to sweep him off his feet… literally.
"Okay, Ophis, your up." Rias said. Normally they wanted her to stay put due to her destructive nature, but if she wasn't going to destroy the city, the droid would. Ophis shook before shooting herself up in the air where she was faced to face with the mechanized monster. She punched it with her bare fists knocking the robot down. It caught itself though by activating its afterburners and slowly moved back up. The droid sent missles after her. The impacted her body, but it didn't do anything. Ophis went in for another attack, the the droid was ready. It grabbed her almost crushing her under all of that steel. The droid threw her down to the ground. She stood back up and and sent a massive dragon shot leaving a cloud of smoke.
"That's for hurting my Ben." She said. The cloud of smoke cleared, leaving the robot without a scratch. "Oh no." She said before it swatted her away again with one swoop.
"Oh now your going to get it!" Red Devil yelled. He struck the droid multiple time, causing it to stumble back. "You don't just swat away my Ophis." He yelled. He flew into it and rammed it down to the ground. He hit it multiple times, leaving small dents in the armor.
The droid activated its defenses and sent a shock of electricity around its body, shocking Red Devil into agony. His body shook as the energy went through his body like a current. It slowly stood up and Red Devil fell to the ground. He turned back into Ben rendering him unconscious. The droid stood back up and lifted its fist. Before it laid the smack down on him, it sent out missiles to to make sure that there was nowhere to run. Rias and the others wanted to put up a shield, but they were too far away to be able to reach. The missiles hit and its punch landed, leaving everyone in shock.
"BEN!" They cried again. The droid picked up its fist and stood up straight.
"Target Eliminated, extracting package." It said in its robotic voice. It reached out to pick Ben's body up until the Omnitrix lit up.
"Emergency protocol activated, new DNA sample added to the data set." A digitized Ben's voice was said from the omnitrix, making Ben begin to transform.
His skin began to harden into a white shell and a large fin grew onto his head. He then began to grow, as tall as a skyscraper. Everyone slowly looked up in awe, seeing the huge alien that was before them.
"Waybig!" He yelled. "Looks like you picking on someone your own size now." He said. The droid threw a punch, only to have Waybig catch it. "Not so tough now are you?" He said before throw a punch of his own. He then grabbed its arm and leg and pulled them apart in an instant. He then grabbed its head and ripped it off its shoulders, making all of its functions useless. It crashed to the ground with a large thud. Waybig turned around and faced the girls before turning back into Ben. They all ran to him and hugged him, glad that he was safe. They all made an exit.
"I'm gonna have to call grandpa for a plumber clean up." Ben said as they made their escape.
As they all ran into the house, everyone took a breather and Ben let out a laugh. Everyone thought he almost died, which made them confused.
"Damn it, I thought Azmuth was just teasing me earlier, guess I have to thank him for the life saver." He said, trying to suppress his laughter.
"I still don't see what is so funny." Rose said with a frown.
"What's funny is that Vilgax has another thing coming if he thinks he can take me on. Because after this stunt, I'm taking the fight to him." Ben said. His smile looked almost scary. Kuroka walked up to him and slapped him in the face to snap out of his state.
"Are you feeling better?" Kuroka asked. Ben nodded in silence.
"Sorry, I don't know what came over me." He said. The truth is, is that he hates Vilgax with every bit of his soul, and now that he almost died from his droid, he hates him to where he was almost consumed by his hatred.
"You just walked away from a lethal attack, its normal to act that way, but try not to be too reckless next time." She explained to Ben. He nodded. Remembering what Gabriel said, he felt like a dick.
"I'm still sorry though, but we still have to make a move before Vilgax sends an even more dangerous droid." Ben said. He looked over to Ophis and kneeled.
"He didn't get you too badly, did he?" Ben asked. Ophis shook her head and he sighed in relief. "That's good. I need to call Grandpa and tell him my situation." Ben said as he left for downstairs, his distant attitude left everyone worried.
He sent a call out to Grandpa Max, trying to keep himself together. A few moments passed and Grandpa's face appeared on the screen.
"Ben? We saw Vilgax's unit impacting. Are you okay?" Grandpa said.
"No." Ben said with his voice trembling.
"What's wrong, Ben, you know you can talk to me." Max said.
"I almost died back there, if Azmuth didn't put Waybig in my omnitrix, I wouldn't have made it." Ben began. "And somehow Vilgax knows about magic, and all of the girls efforts are useless against his droids, and I don't know what to do, but face him myself again." He said.
"What do you think needs to be done?" Grandpa asked.
"Stop him before he hurts anyone else." Ben said.
"Then I trust you'll be able to do it, and remember, they may or may not be able to help, but I know Rias and the others will still be there for you, so don't lose it now." Max said. Ben already knew what Grandpa was trying to say, that he was strong enough to do the right thing.
"Thank you Grandpa, by the way, can you have a clean up team deployed?" Ben asked. "Clean up at aisle dead robot." He said with a smirk. Grandpa laughed and nodded before ending the call.
Ben walked back upstairs and reassured everyone that he was okay, but he had to make a plan to get up to his ship before he sends another droid down to earth.
"Is there anything we can even do?" Hades asked.
"I have no clue, but we have to think of something before Vilgax attacks us even harder." Ben said. His omnitrix started to send an alert signal. He ran down to the basement again and with Rias behind him. Facing the screen again, he showed that he was already done with Vilgax's games.
"Impressive, I could have sworn I've done enough to the next model in order to kill you." Squid face said.
"I'm done with your games Vilgax, just come down so we can fight, face to face." Ben said.
"That would make it more satisfying yes, but with you wielding the omnitrix, I would lose at an instant." Vilgax said.
"So your just going to hide up the entire time, like a coward?" Ben asked.
"No, I just need some leverage?" Vilgax said.
"What are you talking about?" Ben asked with no patience left.
"You will know when it happens." Vilgax said before ending the line.
"His new and mysterious schemes are starting to piss me off." Ben said. He turned around and saw Rias sitting on the floor and patting her lap. Ben laid his head back and felt at peace once in the past couple of days.
"Your letting him get to you." Rias said.
"I know, but I can't help but be angry at him, after all he did." Ben said.
"Then be the hero and defeat the villain, don't become a villain yourself." She said.
"I'll try not to, thank you, Rias." He said. Rias planted a kiss on his forehead, leaving Ben to doze off as he was overly exhausted.