Chapter 36: Origins: Part 2

I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty six! This is the second part of the Origins arc, and if you're asking how many parts to this arc there will be, well, I'm not quite sure yet. The next couple chapters will consist of Ben's earliest days with the Omnitrix. We are getting pretty high up there, chapter wise. A few of you may be wondering when this story will end, or rather, how many chapters are going to be written. Well, the answer is that I don't know. The Ben 10: Bride To Be storyline, is a lot like a comic book series to me, and right now, we're in the first volume. There will be multiple volumes, I just don't know when volume 1 will end. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you guys enjoy the second part of the Origins arc!

Present Day

"So, you found it out in the woods?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"Yeah. It was some kind of alien pod. And it's still there today." I said.

"It's still there? Can we go see it?" she asked.

"Later. I came back a few days later and covered the pod with all kinds of dead vegetation. Branches, dead shrubs, you name it. I used it to cover it up." I said.

"What happened next?" Gwen asked, her emerald eyes wide with excitement.

Last November

Whatever the alien watch was, it suddenly latched itself onto my wrist. I let out a grunt of pain, as it felt like it was drilling itself into my flesh. I tried to pull it off, but it was hanging on. It was like it had burrowed it's own "veins" or "tendrils" deep into my skin.

Whatever this thing was, it was coming off anytime soon. I kept trying to pull it off, but like I said, it wasn't going anywhere.

"What the hell are you?" I asked, as I pulled so hard that I fell over.

After making several attempts to pull it off, from pushing a stick underneath it to force it off, to whacking it against a tree, I gave up. It was on my wrist to stay. I fell onto my knees in defeat as I stared at the thing on my wrist. It was glowing green a little and it had a few buttons on it.

Overtaken by my own curiosity, I pressed one of the buttons and the "watch's" ring, if that's what that was, popped up. The cursor in the center of the ring changed and showed me the silhouette of a humanoid creature. Ever so cautiously, I turned the ring and almost jumped when the silhouette changed.

This time, it looked like a dog. A really big dog, that is. Even more curious, I turned the ring again, this time seeing the silhouette of a giant, with four arms. I kept turning and turning, until I cam around to the first silhouette I had seen. I concluded that there were only ten of them.

There must have been a reason for the ring having popped up. What would happen if I pushed down on the ring?

I couldn't decide if I wanted to push down on the ring or not. I eventually decided I might as well. I didn't notice the voices right away. Maybe it was because I was fearing this thing so much. But I finally realized, that with every turn of the watch's ring, I heard a new voice in my head, whispering. It was too low of a whisper to tell what was being said.

And, yes. I can still hear it, right before I transform. Sometimes, I just forget that it's a thing, because sometimes it's so loud around me. Anyway, I couldn't decide which silhouette to push down on. So, I did the eenie meanie minie moe method. That might be how Ghostfreak decided how to randomly pick you.

Once I had chosen the silhouette, it was the first humanoid figure I had seen, I pressed down on the ring. The whispers that were in my head came to a halt, so only one whisper could be heard in my head. There was green flash that came from the watch and when it cleared, it appeared I was no longer human.

I was composed of some sort of type of charcoal and I was on fire. Freaking out, I began running around the crash site, letting out screams of agony. But, I stopped when I realized that they weren't screams of agony. They were just screams.

"Hold on a second." I said, as I stopped running and looked myself over. "I'm on fire, but I'm not getting hurt. Oh, man. I am totally hot!"

I began laughing to myself, when I looked at a tree nearby. I was getting the urge to shoot a fireball at it. I don't know how I knew that this alien could shoot fireballs, but it just came to my mind.

I was about to try and figure out how to shoot a fireball at the tree, but stopped. The logical side of my brain was telling me that it probably wasn't a wise idea.

Present Day

"You almost caused a forest fire?" Gwen asked.

"I could have. The mischievous part of my brain wanted me to do it so badly." I said, as I continued telling the story. "But the logical part me decided not to."

"You were reckless when we were younger, Ben. What happened to you?" Gwen asked.

"It's this thing. I think." I said, as I looked at the alien watch. "It's one of the ten gifts that I got from it. It increased my intelligence."

"And the other nine gifts?" Gwen asked.

"I'll get to that part as I continue telling you the story." I said. "Trust me, Gwen. If you thought my life had just gotten crazy that night, you haven't seen nothing yet!"

Last November

I had begun to fear that I would never turn back into my normal self and that I'd have to live the rest of my life as this fire creature. But then, as I was beginning to fear the worst, I changed back. I knew that I had to get back home.

But this alien watch, this thing, still wouldn't come off. I tried pressing all of the buttons. I ended up pressing that one button again, that caused the ring to pop up. In a panic and not wanting to push the ring down, I pressed that button again, and the ring slowly lowered itself. I guess that pressing the button twice cancelled the action, but I didn't really know.

I kept pressing buttons to try to get it to come off, when I eventually settled on something that would have to work. When I pressed the second button on the left, it transformed, to look like a human wrist watch. One that I wanted, at that.

"It'll have to do." I said, letting out a sigh as I started back towards home, putting my hands in my pockets, to hide the new watch.

I made it back to my backdoor within, I'd say, ten minutes. I opened the door and closed it behind me, to see that all of my relatives were now having dessert: pumpkin pie.

"Ben, you're back!" my mom said, getting up to greet me. "Sit down and have some pie!"

I shook my head, as I walked past her.

"It's okay, mom. I just want to be left alone." I said, as I walked out of the dining room and into the hallway.

I was almost to my room, when I stopped, having heard whispers from the kitchen. It was my mom and dad whispering to each other! But something was wrong. I could hear them, as if they were right next to me.

"Carl, he just refused to eat pumpkin pie! That's his favorite dessert! He is your son! You have to speak to him! I know he doesn't want to talk about what happened, but he is obviously not well!" my mother whispered from the next room.

"Sandra, no amount of talking will help him. This is something he has to accept on his own." my father whispered back. "He'll come around when he's ready."

I get the fact that as my father, it was his job to help me, but he wanted to leave me alone. I appreciated his decision. But at the same time, I resented him for it.

"Fuck you, dad." I whispered under my breath, closing my room door behind me.

I stayed there for the rest of the night. Eventually, and despite my own wishes, all of my relatives came in to say good bye. The only relative that I actually appreciated coming in to speak with me was Grandpa Max.

The night progressed and I waited and waited. Eventually, it paid off and my mom came in, to kiss me good night, as she still did, even though I was sixteen, going on seventeen. When she left my room, I quietly closed my door and locked it. I opened my bedroom window quietly as well and snuck out.

I spent the rest of the night trying to test these alien forms. First, I transformed into a four-armed, "red-furred" alien. My night was cut short when I got my next alien after that. It was the alien that came to be known as Ghostfreak. I spent the remainder of my time, flying around as Ghostfreak.

Ironically, Ghostfreak was my first favorite alien form before it happened. I felt good, more than myself! All of the pain from Kai dumping me had gone away! It was great. I felt better than I ever had before! It didn't last.

Present Day

"I don't know what the watch had become, or what it had done to me, but I was supposed to be able to control these forms and with the alien watch, even I couldn't control Ghostfreak." I said, as the memories came flooding back. "So I came to the conclusion that no one could ever hope to."

"But, for a time you could control him. Is that what you're getting at?" Gwen asked.

"At first. But the more I transformed into him, the amount of time I had control over him decreased more and more." I said. "I swore to only use him when I absolutely needed to. And there were the times that the watch messed up my request and I transformed into him anyway."

"Is that why you always felt like you weren't really yourself? Because Ghostfreak was alive the whole time in that watch?" she asked.

"I think so. I just wished I had figured that out the easy way." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I think it happened two weeks ago at the water park. When Vilgax threw me around like a rag doll, the watch must have been damaged and that's how Ghostfreak escaped." I said. "He must have been watching me for a while. And when he found out what I was really doing, that I wasn't using his form on purpose, well, he was pretty angry."

Gwen looked at me, looking as scared as I was when I came face to face with him a couple days ago.

Last December

When I got back to school at the start of December, I was in for a nasty surprise. Not only were they already preparing for the winter dance, but finals were coming up as well. And it was not a good thing for me.

Almost everyone at Madison High School would agree with this. Almost all of us would agree with this. The reason we're all here, is not to learn. The real reason we are all here is to have fun, fun, fun. Unfortunately, when I say "we", I don't mean me.

"I'm sorry, Benjamin." my counselor, Mr. Armstrong said.

I was so traumatized after what I heard him say previously, that I hardly comprehended what he had just now said.

"Can you please repeat that?" I asked. "Um, it's a lot to comprehend."

"Of course." Mr. Armstrong replied, with a worried look. "If you fail your Chemistry final, you will flunk the class and you will have to repeat your junior year. I am sorry."

I hung my head, looking down at the carpet floor of his office.

"That's what I thought you said." I said in a glum tone.

"Ben, you seem so sad since our last talk. Did something happen?" he asked.

"Yeah. And I don't want to talk about it." I said, as I continued looking at the ground.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said, as I got up and went to the door and opened it. "Thanks, Mr. Armstrong."

"Ben, wait-" he spoke, but I was already gone.

After that day, I walked home with Kevin, since we lived in the same neighborhood. I was surprised that after my outburst last week, he actually wanted to be around me. He called it even after he treated me so badly.

"Oh, man!" I wailed in defeat as we walked. "I can't believe I'm gonna flunk Chemistry!"

"Just because your counselor said that you might flunk doesn't mean you will, man." Kevin said. "And you need to shut up about it. It's all you think about."

I shot him a glare.

"I don't think you understand, Kevin. If I don't pass chemistry, I have to repeat my junior year of high school!" I exclaimed. "I'll be a super senior!"

"I understand, Ben. Jesus. You need to calm down. You'll do just fine." he said, as we walked into our neighborhood.

I looked at Kevin with a hateful look after he said that.

"Ben?" he asked, with notable concern in his voice.

"What I need, is to quit being dissed by all my friends! I need time to get over the fact that Kai dumped me for someone else!" I hissed in anger at him. "But what I need most of all, are supportive friends, you jerk!"

Before I could let him say something, I ran away from him and ran all the way home. When I got home, I opened the door and slammed it behind me, to see my parents sitting on the couch, with unhappy looks on their faces.

"What?" I asked, out of anger.

"Sit down Ben." my mother said, in a unhappy tone.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Sit down, young man." my father said.

I had to do what he said. I took off my backpack and sat down.

"We got a call from the school today." my mother said. "When were you going to tell us that you're failing Chemistry?"

The fact that they knew didn't surprise me.

"I wasn't going to tell you. I-" I tried to continue speaking, but my father cut me off.

"Why?" he asked, in a stern tone.

"Because I thought I could get myself out of the hole that I've fell into. I'm trying." I said. "I really am. But it's h-" I was cut off again.

"How is a fifty five percent in Chemistry trying?!" my father exclaimed angrily.

"Carl! You don't have to be so harsh! He is going through a tough time!" my mother said, defending me.

"You're right. I'm sorry, son." my father apologized for his outburst. "But in all seriousness, how is your grade supposed to be you trying?"

"You always said if I tried, you'd be happy." I said. "The tough thing about trying, is that most of the time, I hardly understand what Mr. Fargas is saying! I thought if maybe, I tried my best on the assignments, it'd be enough. But I guess it wasn't."

"If you don't understand what your teacher is saying in class, then why didn't you ever go to him for help? You should have gone to his tutoring sessions before and after school! You can, it's not too late!" my mother urged me.

"No, it is. The Chemistry final is in a week and a half." I said, as I stared at the ground. "I'm out of time."

"Benjamin, I am frankly getting tired of your attitude." my father said. "I understand after Kai dumped you, that you were down for a while. But that is no excuse for your attitude and your failing grades!"

"How dare you?!" I exclaimed, looking up at my father in anger. "Kai didn't just dump me! She had cheated on me for several weeks! And when it came time to break up with me, she wasn't nice about it! She was a total bitch about it!"

"Benjamin Tennyson!" my mother exclaimed in disapproval.

I had been so angry at my father, that I had hardly comprehended what I said just then. It didn't end well.

After sitting in silence for so long, my mother spoke up.

"You are grounded. No T.V., video games, comic books, or Sumo Slammer stuff. Starting tomorrow, every morning you'll go in early and every afternoon you'll stay after with Mr. Fargas to try to bring up your grade and study for your final." she said. "On the weekends, from morning till evening, you will be at the kitchen table studying. And if you do fail Chemistry and have to repeat this year, your summer will be a living hell for you. I can promise you that."

I just sat there in silence. I had never seen or heard my mother this mad.

"Go to your room, Benjamin. Get out of my sight, son." she said.

I grabbed my backpack and got up from the single person couch.

"I'm going to go take a nap." I said, as I walked to my room.

"No. Get out your Chemistry textbook and start studying!" my mother called with irritation.

"Whatever." I said under my breath, as I rolled my eyes.

Once I got into my room, I closed the door and flopped down on my bed, with my textbook lying on my chest. No amount of studying would help. None of the shit in that book made a sense to me.

Present Day

"So, if you told me that you had gotten A's in every class last semester, than why were you failing Chemistry and other classes the previous semester?" Gwen asked.

"The watch did it for me. The whole intelligence thing kind of happened overnight." I said.

"What about those?" she asked, as she traced her fingers on my stomach, over my almost six pack.

The feeling of her fingers on my bare chest sent tingles up my spine.

"That didn't happen overnight. The watch enhanced some of my muscular physique, but I had to work for most of it." I said, as I took her hand in mine. "When the spring swimming season started up again, that's when my muscles really started to grow. I started wanting to work out more and more everyday I wore that thing. Eventually, all you see here was the end result."

Gwen seemed to be blushing.

"Can you continue with the story?" she asked.

I nodded.

Last December

The next day after school, I was supposed to go to Mr. Fargas's room. But I didn't. Kevin found me after school and asked me what I was doing. I told him all about what happened yesterday. He asked me if I wanted to come to the weight room with him and study there while he did his afternoon workout. Determined not to allow my parents to win, I said yes.

I sat against the wall, with my Chemistry textbook open in my lap, as I listened to the Kevin strike the punching back in with rhythm.

I had made my parents a silent promise. And that was to finish high school on the honor roll list.

"Hey man, I'll be back. I have to refill my water bottle." Kevin said, picking up his water bottle. "If you have to leave for some reason, lock the door behind you. Remember, as the only ones here, Coach Beck is trusting us with the weight room."

I just nodded at him as he left the room. I was so God damn frustrated. All day today, any textbook I opened, for one minute, it was like I understood everything clearly. But the next minute, it was as if the words would swim off the page. I was too frustrated. I closed the textbook.

I had lost my girlfriend. But, I got something back in return.

I let out a grunt of anger, as I threw the Chemistry textbook at the punching bag. I watched as the punching bag quickly moved back and forth. I had never known just how much strength I had locked up inside me.

Along with the new burst of strength, all five of my senses seemed to function with superhuman sharpness. I could see better than I ever could and I could see in the dark now. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. I could hear even better than I ever could. Now, if someone was whispering across the room from me, I heard them clearly, as if they were sitting right next to me.

My taste buds were incredible now. I didn't use it all the time, but just one taste of something and I could tell you what almost every ingredient was. My smell was the weirdest. The only change that I noticed, was the ability to recognize someone by the scent they had. Everyone's scent was unique to me. Like your scent Gwen? It was like strawberries. Every time I sniffed the air when you were around, I always smelled strawberries, even if the scent was faint.

And there was my sense of touch, which might be just as weird as my smell. Everything I touched had a sort of unique texture. I could tell you what color something was just by touching it with my eyes closed. And I could do the same with books! Whenever I touched the pages of a book, the ink stood out. So, I could read a book with my eyes closed if I so wanted to.

Sure, it was weird and it got me in trouble a few times, but it was cool. Every time I read like that, it was like I was reading braille.

I walked over to the still moving punching bag and grabbed it, stopping it's moving. Suddenly, I got the urge to hit the bag. So I did. I lightly punched the bag. And then did it again. And again. And again. I liked punching the bag. So, I kept doing it.

After about a minute of punching the bag, I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to be studying. All of the pain that I had endured in the past weeks was gone. I kept punching the bag just as rhythmically as Kevin had been doing. I kept hitting it and hitting it, until I was out of breath.

"Holy shit." I heard Kevin say.

I turned to my right, to see him standing in the doorway, holding his water bottle, with his jaw dropped in surprise.

"I know." I said, as I smiled. "I had no idea that I was so pent up."

Kevin just stared at me.

"You handled that bag like a pro. Are you sure you haven't done it before?" he asked.

"I'm sure." I said.

And it was at that moment, that an idea came to my mind. It might have been a diabolical idea, sure. But it was an idea to test my new strength.

"Hey, Kevin?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Sign me up for your fight clubs." I said, a grin coming onto my face.

A wide grin came onto Kevin's face, as if a dream of his had just come true.

A/N: And that is the chapter for today! So, what do you think of how Ben's life used to be, before finding the Omnitrix. He would have flunked Chemistry, that's for sure. What do you think of how Ben was much more angry back then? His parents grounded him, because he was so close to failing. And at the end of the chapter, all of his gifts from the Omnitrix are beginning to develop. And to test his new strength, he requests that Kevin sign him up for the fight clubs, how about that? Well anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.