Chapter 37: Origins: Part 3

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

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty seven! So, in this chapter, Ben will be testing his new strength by signing up for the underground fight clubs that Kevin co-runs. Later on in the chapter, Ben will begin to train himself to use the Omnitrix. In this chapter, we'll also see how Ben gets his grades up. So, I can't really think of anything else that I should say, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Ben

Present Day

"You actually wanted to sign up for Kevin's fight clubs? And you'd rather do that then study for Chemistry?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"I wanted to really test the new strength that I now had." I said. "And besides, I could study at a later time."

"Go on." Gwen said, telling me to continue.

Last December

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" I exclaimed, as I opened the door.

I closed the door behind me, seeing that my parents were sitting on the couch, with the same unhappy looks on their faces from yesterday.

"Oh, come on! Is this seriously another lecture?" I asked.

"Mr. Fargas emailed me, Ben." my mother said. "He said that you never showed up for his tutoring session. Where did you go?"

I let out a sigh of frustration.

"I went to the library, okay?" I asked. "I wanted to give it one more try by myself. If I couldn't make sense out of the assignments, then I would go to Mr. Fargas for help."

My mother shook her head, a frown growing on her face.

"That's not good enough, Ben. You have to go into tutoring. It's what we say you should do." she said.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I had to resist that urge.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I said, as I moved with my backpack in hand, towards my room.

"Ben, you're not taking you're current situation seriously!" my mother exclaimed, as I heard her get up to follow me. "You are aware that if you flunk Chemistry, you will repeat your junior year, right?"

I turned around to look at my mother, slowly becoming irritated.

"Yes, mother. I am aware." I said."And I'm going to get out of this. Just you watch. You'll see."

Present Day

"Gwen, do you remember a couple weeks ago at the water park, I told you that I preferred not to wear sun screen?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Well, this next part is why I said that." I said. "I think I might be immune to burns."

Gwen looked confused.

"I can tell that you're confused. So, let me explain." I said.

Last December

That night is when I first noticed the second of the ten gifts that the alien watch had given me. I came out of my room, tired of lying in there in silence, doing nothing. So, I was getting hungry and wanted to see what my parents were doing for dinner.

I got off of my bed and walked out of my room. I walked down the hallway, into the living room, where both of my parents were sitting on the couch.

"Hey, what are we doing for dinner?" I asked.

"There are some hot dogs heating up on the stove, since we can't use the grill outside." my father said. "They'll be ready pretty soon."

"Okay, cool. I'm going to get something to drink from the fridge." I said, as I walked into the kitchen.

"You do that." my mother said as I walked into the kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I was reaching for a soda, when I sniffed the air. The smell of hot dogs cooking that was in the air was overwhelming to me. I closed the fridge and walked over to the stove.

I looked around, to make sure no one was watching. No one was, of course. I looked at the pot on the stove, with cooking hot dogs in it. I stuck my hand inside of the pot and grabbed a hot dog. Yes, you heard that right.

I had disregarded the fact that it would be hot. In fact, to me, it didn't feel hot! I pulled the hot dog out of the pot and bit into it, walking back into the living room.

"Hey, why is the water in there cold?" I asked.

My mother and father looked up at me shock, seeing me chewing on one of the hot dogs.

"Ben, that was boiling water!" my mother exclaimed.

I shrugged.

"Didn't feel like it." I said, as I continued eating the hot dog.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah. I feel fine." I said, as I finished eating the hot dog.

My mother got up and walked over to me, putting the back of her hand against my forehead.

"You're not running a fever." she said.

"Like I said, I feel fine." I said, as I walked back to my room.

Once back in my room, seeing nothing else to do, I went back to studying. It was only later that I realized that I had stuck my hand into a pot of boiling water and had felt nothing.

Present Day

"Let me get this straight," Gwen replied. "You stuck your hand into a pot of boiling water and it didn't hurt?"

I chuckled, reacting to the serious look that was on her face.

"I do believe that's what I'm saying." I said.

Gwen slapped me on the cheek. My head snapped back, as I put my hand to the now red mark on my cheek. I looked back at Gwen, to see that there was an unhappy look on her face.

"Okay, I guess I kinda deserved that." I said, as I rubbed my cheek.

"Yeah, you kinda did." she replied. "Jesus, Ben. With all of these gifts that you're telling me about, are you even human anymore? Like, is that thing slowly converting your human DNA into alien DNA?"

"I think you're overlooking it." I said. "And you're one to talk. What about that weird energy shit that you can do? Does that make you human anymore?"

"Don't change the subject." Gwen replied.

"Sorry. But seriously, what about it?" I asked.

"Do you think that you are human anymore?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I be human?" I asked. "I still bleed red. So, doesn't that make me human still?"

"But, it's your DNA that worries me." Gwen said. "There has to be someone in the world that can find out if you still have human DNA or not."

I shrugged again.

"Can I continue with my story?" I asked. "You're the one who asked me to tell you the story."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." she replied.

Last December

I sat at my desk, tapping my fingers on it's surface out of anxiety. I was in Chemistry class and was awaiting Mr. Fargas coming up to talk to me. I heard footsteps and looked up, to see the gray haired teacher walking up to me.

"Mr. Tennyson, you didn't arrive to my classroom yesterday afternoon." he said. "Where were you?"

"I went to the library. I thought maybe I could try to-" I was speaking, but Mr. Fargas cut me off.

"You didn't come to my session." he said, in a stern voice. "I can't help you unless you want to help yourself by coming to my sessions."

I was about to say something, but I stopped myself.

Why even bother?

I hung my head, before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fargas." I replied. "I promise I'll show up today."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to yourself. You decided to go to the library and not to come to me." he said. "And I can't do a session today. As funny as it probably sounds to you, I suggest you go to the library."

I rolled my eyes as Mr. Fargas walked away.

No. I wouldn't go to the library that day.

Present Day

"So, where'd you go instead?" Gwen asked.

"I went to Kevin's underground fight clubs." I said. "I wanted to put my strength to the test. And see just how much money I could make off of my skills."

"So, you decided to exploit your skills?" she asked.

"I know. It sounds bad. But after a while, I realized that what I was doing wasn't right." I said. "Once I had made my way to the top of the fight club food chain, I cut myself off from the fights. Even if the fans demanded that their number one fighter return to the ring, I refused."

"Wait, you became the fight club's number one fighter? And how long did that take?" Gwen asked.

"It didn't take that long at all. I had strength and agility that I originally didn't have." I said. "The agility that I gotten was the thing that made it so easy to dodge my opponent's attacks."

"Will you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Of course. But after you and I get dressed. And over lunch." I said, as I smirked. "It's almost noon."

Gwen looked at my phone, realizing I was right and that we'd been sitting in bed all day.

Last December

"So, you ready?" Kevin asked me.

"I think so." I said, being fairly nervous.

Kevin and I walked through the basement of the school, looking for the stairwell that led to the sub basement. I know it sounds complicated, but apparently Madison High School wasn't always the school I knew and didn't love.

Some story about how the school used to be an asylum back in the old days. Did I believe it? No, of course I didn't. We found the stairwell and descended down the flight of stairs. He led me to a metal door and opened it, revealing dozens of students in a large, but confined area.

"Wow." I said.

"Of course it's wow to you. To me, it's business." Kevin said.

"Is this legal?" I asked, as we walked through the sub basement.

"Not at all!" Kevin exclaimed. "Why do you think it's called an "underground fight club"?"

I nodded, as I continued to observe the "fight club". There were several fenced off areas, with gates to open them up. I assumed that those were the fighting rings. And there were, like I said, dozens of what I assumed were students down here.

"Are all of these people students at Madison High?" I asked.

"Some. There are a few high school dropouts here." Kevin said.

"So, if I'm going to be fighting, then who is my opponent?" I asked.

"Opponents. You're fighting two of our strongest fighters." Kevin said.

"Two?! Why?!" I exclaimed.

"Because I saw what you were capable of. You can take more than one fighter." Kevin insisted. "How much do you want to bet on yourself before the fight begins?"

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"All the fighters have to bet on themselves. Makes things more interesting." Kevin said.

"Fine. Five bucks." I said.

"More than that. You can't bet any less than ten bucks." Kevin said.

I thought that was bullshit. I knew it was bullshit. Why did I bet on myself? Later on did I realize that the "I knew I'd win" reason was bullshit as well. So, why did I bet on myself? Well, the big reason was I had to. And I don't even know why I bet on myself instead of leaving.

"Fine." I said, as I handed Kevin the ten bucks. "So, when do I begin fighting?"

"Um, now. Did you want to take off your jacket?" he asked.

I just looked at him, with a look of shock on my face. He had a dark grin on his face.

"Well, you wouldn't want to bloody up your favorite jacket, would you?" Kevin asked, with the same dark grin on his face.

"No." I said, as a serious look crossed my face. "I wouldn't."

I slipped off my favorite green jacket and threw it into Kevin's hands. He held onto it for me.

"So, when do I begin?" I asked again.

"Right now." Kevin said. "You ready?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Not really. You said you wanted to sign up for the fights." Kevin said. "I granted your wish."

"You're an asshole." I said, through gritted teeth.

"I am fully aware of that." Kevin said, with the same look on his face. "Now, get in the ring. Prepare for your match."

"Fuck this. I'm not doing this." I said, trying to take my ten bucks back from him.

Kevin withdrew his hand, not letting me get my money back.

"Give me my money, Kevin!" I exclaimed.

He shook his head, pointing at the cage.

"Cage. Now." he said.

It was then that I questioned why Kevin and I were still friends. I still don't know the answer.

"No." I said, in a firm tone. "Don't force someone to do something that they don't want to do anymore!"

"Get in the damn cage!" Kevin exclaimed.

Anger growing inside of me, I punched Kevin in the jaw. He stumbled backwards a little bit, before giving me a very angry and hateful glare. He gripped me by the back of my shirt and pushed me into the cage, locking it behind me.

"Just for that, I'll make sure everyone here puts an additional bet on you losing the fight! You heard me, an additional ten bucks!" Kevin exclaimed.

His fans complied.

"Oh, Kevin, now I hate you!" I exclaimed, as I looked at him through the cage.

"I know you do, Benji!" he exclaimed with sinister laughter. "Prove to me that you're tough enough to survive and I'll let you out of there!"

I was about to curse at Kevin some more, when I was pulled backwards, away from the cage wall. I was punched in the jaw, which sent me into the opposite corner of the cage. I looked at my attacker and didn't recognize him. He must have been one of the drop outs.

I looked at my other attacker and barely recognized him as a boy who used to bully me in the third grade. I backed up against the cage, as they drew closer to me. I knew I was about to get my ass kicked.

But then, time seemed to slow down for me. I could see more clearly and I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew that I was going to have fun kicking their asses. I don't know what happened, I guess my instincts kicked in. I continued to watch them slowly approach me. Well, in theory, it looked slow to me, but they were still coming at me as fast as they had been.

Time resumed normally for me and I looked all around the cage for an advantage. I began running along the cage wall, using my right hand to maintain my balance, making sure I wouldn't fall. I then jumped from the wall, and met one of my attackers with my foot in their face.

I then kicked off from their face and went into a back flip. I grasped the top of the cage with both hands and looked down at my opponents.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" my victim exclaimed, obviously not able to understand that I was above them.

"Oh, boys!" I said, before whistling.

They both looked up, to see me hanging from my hands above them.

"Why you little-" one of my opponents said, but I cut him off by swinging both my feet into their faces.

I allowed myself to fall, landing right in front of them. After they recovered, they tried to attack. I swept my leg into one of my opponent's knees, causing him to stumble. As he recovered, I punched my other attacker in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

I didn't know how this was even happening. I had never gotten into a fight in my life. So, I didn't understand how I was winning. As my other attacker recovered, I punched him in the jaw. He blindly struck at me, and I ducked, causing him to nail his partner in the face.

His partner stumbled back, as I punched my attacker again. I grabbed both of their heads once they were close enough and pulled them towards each other. Once they headbutted, they fell to the ground. They didn't get back up.

I looked up at Kevin through the cage.

"There, you prick! Are you happy now?!" I exclaimed.

Instead of answering, Kevin just looked at me in shock.

"The Ben I know wouldn't be able to do that." Kevin finally spoke. "You're a freak! A freak!"

And then, dropping my jacket and all of the money he had collected from the bets, he ran, along with everyone else out of the place. My jaw dropped. Kevin was actually afraid of me!

A minute later, I was alone in the sub basement, with my two unconscious opponents.

I think it was then that I realized that Kevin wasn't the friend I thought he was. He was frightened by my strength and ran. What kind of friend runs away when they find out that their other friend has a new found strength?

I sat down, leaning against the cage, realizing that I may have just lost my friend, all because I finally did what he wanted. He was just taken back a little too far by how powerful I now was.

"Someone help me." I said, as I put my head into my hands. "I'm scared of myself."

A/N: And so that is the chapter for today! Well, how are you guys enjoying Ben's origin story? How about the few fluffy moments between Ben and Gwen? In the next chapter, Past Ben will probably start training his abilities in the city. I'm not quite sure yet. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. I'm gonna go though, so have a great day and bye!