===Disclaimer: In a parallel universe, I may actually own the Ben 10 series. Unfortunately, that would be parallel me and not this me; this me does not own it.===
Chapter 37: Challenge
"What?!" Ben couldn't believe what he had just heard. "I swear, I didn't go near the mall! And I would never hurt anyone, especially Julie and Gwen."
"Then who could it be?" Kevin retorted. "It's not like there's another Ben Tennyson wandering around, using alien powers to kidnap people."
"Maybe it's Albedo again," Ben conjectured, "except Azmuth took his Omnitrix away..."
"There's another Omnitrix?" Xain questioned, surprised and somewhat concerned.
"Was," Ben clarified.
"Hold on," Matt spoke up, "when Jen was Zip Zap once, she split into two. The other one got pulled into another dimension, but Jen told me that the copy had come back for a bit. Apparently she went to a sort of parallel universe."
"So what, there really might be another Ben?" Kevin was a little confused.
"Let's discuss this more on the way there," Xain suggested. The others agreed and set out in a hurry.
Gwen opened her eyes slowly, her vision blurred. She shook her head to clear her eyesight and looked around. She was locked in a cage of some sort. She gasped as she recalled what had happened.
"Ben..." she whispered sadly. Or was it Ben? Gwen remembered him changing into Eon; maybe he was back. She grabbed the bars of the cage and looked out through them. She saw that the cage was hanging from the ceiling of an artificial cave. There was another cage in her sight with Jen inside. She too was just regaining consciousness. Gwen then turned her attention to someone on the ground. It looked like Ben, but he was wearing a grey jacket instead of his usual green one. She tried to feel his mana, to confirm his true identity; but she was unable to use her powers.
"Ben!" Jen shouted from the other cage. "What are you doing? Let us down!" Ben looked over his shoulder at her, but he ignored her request and turned back to face the cave entrance.
"That's not Ben," Gwen said as she glared at the impostor. Jen glanced over at Gwen. "It's Eon, a dangerous alien that possessed Ben five years ago." The boy below began to laugh at this.
"Oh, I'm Ben all right," he contradicted her. "But I also know there's another Ben in this universe. And I intend to dispose of his Omnitrix." Jen gasped as she came to a realization.
"Wait, you're from the parallel universe?" she asked him, to Gwen's shock.
"Yours is the parallel," he countered. "But yes, I'm from another dimension. I found someone with a green Omnitrix there." He pulled back his sleeve to expose his own silver Omnitrix. "When I killed that person, their Omnitrix disintegrated along with their body – clearly a copy." Jen was mad now; he'd killed what was essentially her?! The parallel Ben continued, "The very thought of someone else having the same kind of power as me bothers me. So I came to get rid of the original Omnitrix here."
"Come on!" A voice could be heard echoing through the tunnel outside of the large room. "It's just up ahead!"
"And it sounds like my little trap worked." Gwen attempted to break out, but again her powers wouldn't work. "Don't bother trying to escape," the other Ben said to her. "Though your abilities surprised me – the Gwen of my world is completely useless – those cages will be more than enough to cancel them out."
"You're nothing like the Ben I know," Gwen said quietly and angrily.
Ben and the others entered the room now. While surprised to see the other Ben at first, they quickly prepared for a fight if necessary.
"Let Gwen go," Kevin demanded.
"And the others, too," Jen added from the cage, rolling her eyes.
"You can have them," parallel Ben said, "after I've taken away your Omnitrix!" He pointed at Ben.
"Why do you want my Omnitrix?" Ben asked. "You already have your own. How would you even use two, anyway?"
But the other Ben wasn't about to waste time explaining. A white flash covered him without him even lifting his arms, and he stood afterward as a strange blue creature with a big tail and thin limbs. He moved with incredible speed toward the guys. He knocked Matt over, then Ben. Kevin had removed his I.D. mask and made his hands into shields, and the other Ben slammed right into them. Xain jumped on him to pin him down.
"Get out of my way. I don't need you bugging me." The alternate Ben shifted into an alien wearing a big metal suit and pushed Xain off of him.
"He must have the master control unlocked," Ben pointed out as he stood again, beginning to cycle through his Omnitrix.
"Yes," the other Ben responded in a deep voice, "once I stumbled upon the code five years ago, I discovered the full power of the Omnitrix. And ever since, I've been using that power however I see fit."
"How do you mean?" Matt asked, feeling that he already knew.
"It mostly started with getting new video games. But I quickly realized that I could do anything I wanted and no one could stop me! People will do whatever I say. And if they don't, then I take care of them."
"Humongousaur!!" Ben had changed into a huge dinosaur-like alien. "That's not right! You can't just use the Omnitrix to push other people around. You have a responsibility to protect people with it." The other Ben rushed at Ben, both of them grabbing each others hands and pushing against the other.
"You don't know what you're talking about," parallel Ben shouted as he struggled against his counterpart. "I have more power than anyone! Your power is no match for mine, either."
In a flash of white light, he changed into a Glooby form and splattered himself in Ben's eyes. Matt and Xain began to blow wind at him to remove the slime. When he was off, the other Ben changed into a being made up of swirling winds – one like them and their father. They paused in shock when they saw this. He grabbed them with small twisters and threw them into opposite walls of the cave. They both attempted to cushion the impact with their own wind bursts, but the invader drew the air away from them before they could. The brothers slammed hard into the walls and fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Jetray!!" The other Ben turned back to his real opponent to see him flying swiftly out of the room. "If you want me, you'll have to come get me!" Kevin moved to block the exit so the other Ben couldn't follow. Ben landed behind him. "Kevin, wait. Let him follow me outside, I can handle him. You get the girls out of those cages." Kevin hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"You better know what you're doing, Tennyson." He moved from the opening as Ben took off down the tunnel again. The other Ben, in the form of Cannonbolt, shoved Kevin aside and proceeded to roll down the passage after Ben. Kevin then looked up at the hanging enclosures. "How am I supposed to get to those?"
"You'd better not just leave us up here," Jen said in a warning tone.
"Oh, he won't," Gwen assured the other girl, "will you, Kevin?" The boy gulped, knowing not to test her patience.
"Of course not. I'll get you down from there. ...Somehow."
Ben shot out of the cave entrance and hovered in the air, turning back to wait for his enemy. It wasn't long before the large yellow ball rolled out after him.
"Needed more room to fight, huh?" the parallel scoffed. "Why don't you make this easy and just give it to me?"
"Not going to happen, buddy."
The other Ben changed from Cannonbolt to a monsterish alien Ben recognized as Benvicktor. He generated a bolt of electricity that was then shot up at Ben. But Ben was quick to act, switching into...
"Diamondhead!!" The electrical attack struck Ben and was shot back out from him. The other Ben avoided the attack, shifting into Echo Echo and initiating a screaming shockwave. Ben knew this was trouble and changed into the same alien. Both Bens stood their ground, neither of their attacks breaking through the other. Eventually, they both had to stop to breathe.
"You may have matched me so far," the parallel Ben said, "but I doubt you can defeat this one!" Another flash surrounded him. When it was done, Ben stared with his mouth wide open in utter surprise.
"Vilgax!?"
"I suppose you never thought to absorb his DNA, did you? Too bad." The strong alien rushed at Ben and punched his smaller body. Ben was sent soaring through the air before crashing down on the ground again. He struggled to stand up, but a swift kick put him back down. Ben grabbed his chest as a cough echoed from him. The other Ben placed his large foot on Ben's small back, starting to crush him. "Any last words?"
"Y-yeah... two," Ben replied, his voice shaky . A green flash encompassed his body and it began to grow larger and larger. The size became too big for the other Ben to keep down, and Ben stood upright again as he now towered over his opponent. "Way Big!!!"
The other Ben chuckled smugly. "Is that supposed to frighten me? Two can play at that game." The white flash returned and he too grew to gigantic proportions as he became the same creature as Ben.
Ben got into a defensive stance as the parallel attacked. Ben grabbed the other's arm, but a knee in the gut made him let go. The other Ben threw another punch, hitting Ben in the face. One more punch in the stomach forced Ben to his knees. Ben glowed green and shrunk back into his human form.
"I told you I was more powerful. Now to finish you off for good." He raised his arm and aimed his fist at Ben's tiny form for a final blow. As he about to strike, however, he felt a barrage of lasers dance along his back. "Aaaggh!!" He looked over his shoulder to see a green ship flying around, guns out and ready to fire again.
"Good boy, Ship!" Julie shouted from the ground. All the others were with her, with the exception of Jen.
"Ben!!" Gwen and Matt ran over to Ben as he lay in the grass, unable to move. "Are you alright?" Gwen asked him. Ben groaned as he was helped up.
"The... Omnitrix...," he said weakly.
"It's okay, Ben," Matt told him. "It's in good hands."
Jen stepped out of the cave and raised her left arm, the Omnitrix firmly attached to her wrist once more. "It's my turn now."
A/N: Sorry this took so long. Been busy lately and haven't had a lot of time to write. But I promise I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. So please don't ditch me. Or kick me too hard. D: