Chapter 118: Comatose: Part Six

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

I Don't Own The Rights To Nathan Black Or Any Associated Characters, The Rights Go To annihalator2015

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen. The only thing I will say is that there may be a bit of a surprise at the end of this one.

* So, with that said, let's get into the chapter!

Earth-Prime

Late May, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

Ben

"Jesus, Tennyson." Someone said from out of nowhere. "What have you done?"

I looked up, to see Nathan Black standing a few feet away from me. I didn't question him being here this time. I just sniffled, as I wiped a tear from my cheek.

"I'm changing the future." I said. "I have to."

"Don't you see what you're doing? You're making things worse! You need to stop what you're doing!"

I shook my head.

"Look, I don't care if you're real or not. I want you to leave me alone. Stop trying to tell me that it's not good to change my past."

Nathan gave me a look. A disappointed look.

"You idiot! By trying to change your past you're just making it easier for them to dig deeper in! I'm not just trying to save your hide, but mine as well!"

I gritted my teeth, too angry to be confused.

"I don't know who 'they' are and I don't care! Just my subconscious or not, I know what I'm doing. Nothing, and I mean nothing, you say will stop me from fixing everything!"

"Nothing?"

I turned and began to walk away.

"Nothing!"

As I walked away, he began to speak again. And he spoke in such an ice cold tone that made him sound angry. No, worse. He sounded mean! I had no choice but to stop walking and turned around.

"How about the pain of watching everyone you love, die by your own hands, knowing you did nothing to stop it from happening? Will that stop you from trying to 'fix' your past?"

He then approached with lightning speed and picked me up by my shirt. Now, I don't know how he could move so fast or how he could pick me up like that. But I couldn't think of that right now. Because I could swear to you that Nathan Black had become the scariest thing I'd ever seen. Sure, I've seen mutated space aliens and an alien werewolf, but this was different. It was almost like I was staring at a demon, with blazing, red flames where his eyes should have been.

"You listen to me, and you listen well." He said, no longer sounding human, but almost like stone grinding on metal. "If you continue this ridiculous crusade to stop everything bad that happened in your life, you'll make it so much worse and the pain and grief you felt when Kevin died will be a small puddle in comparison to the Hell you'll throw yourself into if you don't fucking listen. Stop what you're doing, and let the past be, Tennyson."

He then dropped me and I fell on my ass. Hard. As I rubbed my backside I looked back up, to find myself now alone on the roof.

I didn't know what to think. First, I was confident about telling Nathan to fuck off. But now he had to go and try to persuade me to stop all of this. Did it work? Maybe. But I can't let that stop me!

Ben's House

Ben

After the incident at the apartment building, I waited until the Omnitrix recharged so I could use XLR8 to get home quickly. It took about fifteen minutes for it to recharge this time for some reason and another five minutes or so to get back home. When I got home and walked through the door, Gwen was waiting for me in the living room.

"Well?" she asked as she got up to greet me. "How'd it go?"

I sighed.

"Not good." I said as I walked past her and towards my room.

She followed me closely as I walked.

"Well? What happened then?" she asked as we walked into my room. "Is it that bad?"

I sighed as I dropped my mask on the floor, followed by dropping my gloves and leather jacket onto the floor.

"It's worse." I replied as I took off the top of my costume.

"How so?"

"The building still burned down." I said as I took off my shoes and jeans. "And I feel twice as worse than I did the last time this happened."

"Ben!"

I turned to look at her, to see that her cheeks were slightly turning red. I looked down; the only thing I was wearing were my boxers. I moved to my dresser and pulled out a pair of gym shorts.

"Can you just tell me what happened?"

I sat down on my bed.

"I was distracted, by Nathan and Mr. Trench Coat. Both of them showed up again."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah." I replied with a nod. "Both of them. Mr. Trench Coat distracted me, so I didn't notice that Animo had found me and was setting up a trap for me to fall into."

"And Nathan?"

"He showed up at the end and lectured me. He was disappointed that in the fact that I seemed to be doing what he told me and then I changed my mind."

"And what did you do?"

"I told him to back off. I told him that I'm going to do whatever I want and to just leave me alone."

"Do you think that he'll listen?"

I let out a sigh as I flopped back onto my bed.

"I can only hope. But I honestly don't think he will."

She got onto the bed with me and snuggled up against me.

"And what about that Mr. Trench Coat?"

"I don't know what to do with him. He doesn't seem to be phased by anything. He just does what he wants. I think he's stalking me, actually."

She was silent for a second.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"Thanks."

We laid there for a few minutes before I began to get up, prompting her to do the same. I walked over to my closet and got a white T-shirt out. I began to walk out of the room.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I want to turn on the news."

I walked down the hall, back to the living room, once again with her following me. I sat down on the couch and she sat down next to me as I turned on the T.V. I turned to the news channel and prepared myself.

"There are still no reports of where this 'Alien Guy' is hiding." The newscaster replied. "For those of you who are just now joining us, about thirty minutes ago, the 'Alien Guy' burned down an apartment building in Downtown Bellwood, resulting in former tenants receiving and suffering from second-degree burns."

I stood up with shock.

"Wait, what?!"

Gwen stood up as well.

"So, I'm assuming that didn't happen in the original timeline?"

"No!" I replied as I shook my head. "The first time, it just burned down! No one was hurt from what I can recall!"

I looked back at the newscast.

"His actions today have convinced the people that he is not hero, but a public menace. If you see him, you are to report where he is. If you know where he is, you are to report where he is hiding. We are now going to go live to the Chief of the Bellwood Police, Chief Andrew Simmons, with his report on the situation."

The scene on the news shifted and I looked at the Chief of Police, who was standing at the stairs of the Police Station.

"Chief Simmons! What do you plan to do about the "Alien Guy"?" a member in the crowd asked.

"The so called vigilante, 'Alien Guy', burned down an apartment building today. And we're initiating a city-wide manhunt for him." Chief Simmons spoke. "If you see any of these ten 'aliens', you are to report them to the police force of Bellwood."

I fell back onto the couch and put my hand on my forehead. As I did this, pictures of all ten of my aliens appeared on screen.

"Oh. So, that's what they all look like." Gwen replied.

I turned off the T.V. I put the remote down and let out a sigh. Gwen sat down on the couch next to me.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

I shrugged.

"I don't know. I have no idea what to do now."

"Is there anything that I can do?"

I shook my head.

"No. I've lost confidence in myself."

A Few Hours Later

A few hours passed after that point and now we were lying on the couch in silence. Well, Gwen did eventually break the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about the future. About the one that you came from."

"Okay. What do you want to know?"

"Everything you can possibly tell me. If it pops into your head, tell me about it."

"Well, there's a lot that I could tell you. I'm not even sure where to start."

"Like I said, just tell me anything that pops into your head."

"Okay. Well, I guess to start, in the future, we're together. We've had a couple of rough patches, but we're still together. If that was the only thing that I could tell you, I'd say that's the main thing."

Gwen chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me."

"Um, there's really a lot of bad in my future, that's why I want to fix things so badly."

"If you just want to name off things slowly, one by one, that's fine with me."

"Okay. Oh, well there is one thing that I can tell you."

"Okay, shoot."

"In the future, if things go the way that they're supposed to, which they should, you'll end up having another cousin: my little sister, Verdona."

She sat up a little from her spot on top of me and stared down at me.

"You have a little sister?"

I nodded.

"Yes. And I'm thankful for her existence."

"Well, I suppose that's understandable. Where does her name come from?"

"Verdona is my Dad's mother, as well as your father, I think. And I believe that makes her our grandmother."

"Will we meet her one day? Your little sister's namesake?"

"It's tough to tell. It seems from Dad and Grandpa Max's point of view that she never cared much about Earth and left a long time ago."

"Oh. Well, that sucks."

"Mmm."

"What else can you tell me?"

"Okay, for this next bit, you're going to tell me that I'm crazy."

"Well, most of what you've told me sounds crazy, but I believe you."

"Okay, well here I go. In the future, we confirm the existence of a multiverse. I've crossed dimensions and met multiple other versions of myself."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"How does that work?"

I sighed.

"I don't know. It's so complicated to explain."

"I would imagine. Jeez, the multiverse?"

"It really is complicated."

"I'll take your word for it. What else is there you can tell me?"

"Well, there's only one other thing that I can think of. And it's not a good thing."

"Just tell me."

I was silent for a second.

"Um, my best friend, Kevin, got himself killed."

She was silent after I said that for a few seconds.

"Wait. How?"

"The Omnitrix puts an enormous strain on the body when you transform. Imagine your cells being ripped apart and then put back together again once they match the DNA of the alien that you selected."

"Um, I bet. It sounds painful."

"That's what the Omnitrix does. It doesn't allow you to constantly transform, that way the strain won't harm you in the long run."

"And how does this cause Kevin to get himself killed?"

"He's an energy sponge."

"An energy sponge? What's that?"

"He's able to absorb energy. And that's what he did. He absorbed the Omnitrix's energy and he kept using it and using it. In the end, it caused to much stress for him to survive. He suffered a heart attack and died."

"When?"

"In about a month and a half. Maybe longer. And this time, I'm going to stop it."

She went silent after that.

"Well," she spoke after several seconds. "This just got dark."

And so, that ended our talk about the future.

Sometime Later

Eventually, we retired for the night. This time, we slept in her room instead of mine. As we laid in bed, I held her close to my chest as I had last night.

"What's next on the timeline?" Gwen asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"I believe Vilgax's attack on the water park." I said.

"And when is that?"

"I want to say tomorrow. I'll check my notes in the morning."

Gwen snuggled closer against me.

"Okay. Good night, Ben. I love you."

I kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, too."

The Next Morning

I would have expected that we'd sleep in the following morning. But, no. We woke up early and we were both out of bed by eight o'clock. After a quick breakfast, I went to go check my notes. And I can confirm that Vilgax's attack on The Riptide Rapids Zone was today.

"So?" Gwen asked from behind me as I continued going over my notes.

I nodded before speaking.

"Yep. The water park attack is today."

"When do we leave?"

"Well, originally I think we got there at around noon. And the attack happened an hour and a half later, I think? Two hours tops?"

"Okay. Then let's leave one hour earlier and get there at eleven."

"Alright then. Sounds good."

Several Hours Later

The Riptide Rapids Zone

Gwen and I had been at the water park for maybe two hours now. And I was expecting Vilgax to strike at any moment now. I just wish that I could remember exactly why he attacked the water park in the first place. Also, Gwen was wearing the same orange and blue striped bikini that she had originally worn. Anyway, to pass the time, Gwen decided that we should go down the tunnel of love. And who was I to refuse? So, we were waiting at the beginning of the tunnel, waiting for the employee to get it ready.

Alright, he's going to mention that we're a cute couple. Any second now. And... now! Wait, no. How about... now! Still no!

"Alright, you two can get into the boat now." He finally spoke.

"Okay." Gwen said. "Come on, Ben."

I got into the boat with Gwen and we started forward.

Wait. So, the guy just isn't going to mention how we're a cute couple? Weird.

We were silent at first as our boat moved through the tunnel, but eventually Gwen grabbed my arm and hugged herself against me.

"See?" she asked. "Isn't this nice?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

The silence continued as we moved still. Eventually I broke the silence again.

"You know, in the original timeline, we went through the tunnel of love."

"We did?"

"Uh-huh."

"We were together at that point?"

"Nope."

"Wow. That's interesting. Why did we go through, then?"

"Because you asked me to."

"Did I really?"

"Yep. And you want to know the weird part?"

"What's that?"

"In the original timeline, that employee that gets the boat ready for us, he comments that we make a cute couple. In this timeline, he does no such thing."

"Huh. That is interesting. Maybe it has something to do with you messing with the timeline."

I nodded.

"I would think so, yes."

We were in silence again for a minute or so, until she spoke again.

"So, when is this attack supposed to..."

Just then, the boat jerked to a stop, interrupting her and scaring both of us.

"Well, that was scary!" she exclaimed.

I nodded.

"We should get out here now."

She looked at me with confusion.

"Why?"

"Because the ceiling above us will collapse in a minute or so."

I didn't leave her time to question me, as I jumped out of the boat myself, forcing her to follow my lead.

"Oh! I would have thought that I'd be able to touch the bottom!"

I shook my head.

"Nope, it's too deep for that. Now, come on."

"How will we get out?"

"I have an alien that will help us. Hold on."

"Okay." She replied as I activated the Omnitrix.

I turned the ring until I found Ripjaws' silhouette and pressed down on it. I then transformed, my legs automatically turning into a tail due to me being in water. I turned to look at Gwen, who returned my look with one of shock.

"Look, I know it takes a lot to get used to." I spoke in his gruff voice. "Just come on now!"

I held out hand to her and she nervously began to swam toward me. I don't know why I held out my hand to her, seeing as she'd be riding on my back on the way out of the tunnel. Once she took my hand, I spoke again.

"Now, get on my back and wrap your arms around my neck. And hold on!"

She did as I told her got onto my back. Once she had her arms around my neck, we took off. As we moved through the tunnel, Gwen spoke.

"This is so weird but so cool at the same time! The thought of you getting to do this all the time almost makes me jealous!"

I chuckled.

"Well, it took me a while to get used to it. And trust me, this isn't as fun as I make it out to be."

"I refuse to believe that!"

"Eh, whatever you say."

Once we made it to the end of the tunnel and heard the screams of panic, I let Gwen off my back.

"Alright, this is where we part ways for now." I said.

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just go hide while I go find Vilgax. I'll find you when I'm done."

She nodded and off she ran, eventually leaving my field of vision. I then looked up at the sky, to see Vilgax's ship in the lower atmosphere of Earth.

"Alright, Vilgax." I replied. "I'm coming for you."

Ten Minutes Later

After ten minute of searching and running from pool of water to pool of water because of Ripjaws, I found what I was looking for. Vilgax himself, who was currently charging toward me. I jumped out of the way before he could hit me. He then turned to look at me. He had the same octopus for a head and glowing red eyes.

"What is your species doing on Earth?" he hissed.

"Oh, I'm not of the species." I said. "I'm something else entirely!"

I then ran forward to attack and knowing Vilgax, that was the worst move that I could have made. He punched me in the stomach, stunning me and while I was stunned, he grabbed me and picked me up. He then slammed me back first into the concrete, causing me to groan. He looked down at me, before getting on his knee.

"Ah, now I see." He said as he used his talons to interact with the hourglass symbol on my chest.

I then changed back into my human form, accompanied by the flash of red light. I stared up at him.

"How the hell did you do that?!"

He just laughed back at me.

"You are just a human child? How funny!"

I (still) took offence to that.

"There's a difference between a child and an adult, Vilgax! Now, what do you want?"

He stared down at me with what I assumed was surprise.

"You know who I am. Good, that means my reputation precedes me. And if you know who I am, then you know what I want."

"You want the Omnitrix, right?"

"That device is rightfully mine. Hand it over, human."

"Really? I didn't see your name on it."

"I grow tired of your games! Hand over the Omnitrix or die!"

I was mainly stalling him at this point, waiting for the Omnitrix to turn green again.

"Yeah? What do you want for it?"

"What?"

"I'm not just going to hand it over to you for free! I expect something in return!"

He stared down at me with what I assumed was anger.

"Okay, then. If that's how you want to do things. I'll have to take it from you."

He reached to pick me up, I assume so, anyway. However, I jumped out of the way. And not a moment too soon, because that's when the Omnitrix turned green again!

"Don't touch that button!" he exclaimed in an angry tone as I got up.

"What, this button?" I asked as I activated the Omnitrix.

I quickly turned the ring until I found Fourarms' silhouette. I then pressed down on it and transformed.

I believe that I had used Diamondhead to fight Vilgax the first time I did this. Now, Fourarms seems like the wiser option.

Once I had transformed, Vilgax looked at me with surprise, but not for long.

"Alright. Death by brutality then. That works for me."

He charged toward me, but I repeated the move that he had used on me. I punched him in the stomach with one of my fists, stunning him and then punched him in the jaw. He then stumbled backwards.

Okay, I got one good lick on him. Now I just have to keep it up. I can't allow him to take a piece of the Omnitrix!

Vilgax recovered from my attack and charged me again. And somehow, I managed to attack him again. I stunned him again and then used all four of my arms to pick him up. I then threw him into a container that was used to store noodles and inner tubes, along with other water park equipment.

I can't believe how much I am kicking his ass! I never did this good when I went up against him originally!

However, he surprised me by sprinting over to me and clocking me in the face. I instantly fell to the ground.

Hey, Earth to dumbass. Maybe you want to take that back.

I then felt Vilgax grab me by one of my legs.

Uh-oh.

He picked me up and slammed me into the container that I had thrown him into, causing it to shatter beneath me. I got back up quickly and was going to attack again, but Vilgax beat me to it. He rushed me and tried to strike, but I blocked his strike and returned the strike. He threw a strike towards me and I blocked his fist with my arm, as the force of the strike brought me to a knee.

I used another one of my arms to repeatedly sock him in the face, causing him to step backwards. I took the opportunity that he provided me to rush to one of the nearest pipes and rip it off from the rest. I proceeded to rush him and hit him with it several times. However, he surprised me by blocking all of my strikes by lifting his arms in front of him. After blocking my strike, he grabbed the pipe and wrenched it out of my hands.

He busted it over his knee and threw the fragments of the pipe aside. He then did something that surprised me. He slammed down on a button that I hadn't seen on his chest. At first, nothing happened. But then, he let out a roar of fury, as his arms increased in size. He sprinted toward me and I tried to evade him, but failed miserably.

He sent strike after strike into my chest, before eventually punching me in the face with all the force he had, sending me to the ground again. Before I could get back up or even try to for that matter, he grabbed me and picked me up over his head. He slammed me into the ground and then pressed down onto my chest with his boot.

"Don't get back up." he said.

"Jesus, it's like Bane on Venom." I replied.

He didn't respond. After I spoke, the Omnitrix began beeping and so he took his foot off of my chest. I was then reverted back to human form.

"I will admit that you've impressed me with your persistence to keep the Omnitrix, although I hate persistence. So, I'm going to let you keep the Omnitrix. For now."

"For now?"

"For now. I'm going to talk and you're going to listen, so listen well. I like you, kid. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age. You have a lot of – oh, what is it that you humans call? Oh, yes. Moxie. You have a lot of moxie. And you may or may not have made a new enemy today."

"Uh-huh."

"So, listen closely now. You stay away from me kid; you let me do what I need to do. Or, I will kill everyone you love and then you, just to make a point. How does that sound?"

I nodded.

"Sounds agreeable."

"Good. And kid, don't be a hero. Nobody likes a hero."

I beg to differ. They just don't like the kind of hero that I am.

Once I didn't say anything in return, Vilgax seemed satisfied enough to turn and begin walking away from me. Once he was out of my sight, I pushed myself up and back onto my feet. I began to walk in the opposite direction of where Vilgax had gone.

"Gwen!" I called.

I continued walking further back into the ruined park, but I didn't have to walk for long. She eventually rushed out from behind one of the rides and ran over to me.

"Did you do it?!" she asked with curiosity. "Did you get him?!"

I lifted my right arm into view so I could see the Omnitrix. I was relieved to see that it was not sparking with red electricity.

"I did it. The future's changed and for just maybe for the better this time." I said as I looked back at her with a smile. "The Omnitrix isn't damaged, so Ghostfreak should be unable to escape."

"That's good! I'm glad you did it!"

"Yeah, I'm glad..."

I cut myself off when something stood out behind Gwen. It was him, of course it was. It was Mr. Trench Coat. And he was shaking his head as he stared at me from a distance. Gwen took notice of my staring over her shoulder and spoke.

"Ben?"

I didn't answer, so she turned around and looked behind her, but Mr. Trench Coat had already disappeared.

"Ben, what is it?"

"It's nothing. I just thought I saw something. Come on, let's go home."

I didn't give her the time to respond as I turned around and began walking.

A Couple Hours Later

Ben's House

We were back home now, sitting on the couch in silence as we watched T.V. The next time it went to commercial, she got up.

"I'm going to go do your dishes." She replied.

"Um, you don't have to."

"I insist."

She walked into the kitchen after that without a word, leaving me alone. I decided now would be a good time to update my notes, so I got up and walked to my room. I entered my room and walked over to my desk, where my notebook still sat open from the other day. I flipped to the first page, put a dash next to the entry about the attack on the water park and wrote:

Omnitrix undamaged. Vilgax lets me off with a warning.

I nodded as I put down my pen.

"Pretty basic, but it'll do."

I walked back out of the room and toward the living room. Before I could even sit back down, there was a knock at the door.

"Can you get that?" Gwen called from the kitchen. "It's your house after all!"

"Yeah, no problem."

I walked over to the door and opened it. I didn't see anyone outside, so I stepped outside and shut the door behind me. There was no one that I could see. I was about to go back in, before I heard someone speak to my left.

"Hey, brother."

I turned to my left and you won't believe who I saw. It was Albedo, who was here much earlier than he should have. The Omnitrix couldn't have created him yet!

"You've been busy." He said.

I just stared at him for a few seconds, before I spoke myself.

"What?"

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed.

* So, what did you all think of this one? What do you think of the aftermath of the apartment incident? How about how the attack on the water park differed from the original timeline? And what do you guys think of Albedo showing up early? I hope that surprised you guys, but it may not have.

* I think that's all I have to say. I'm going to go though, so have a Bwen-tastic day and bye.

Author's Note:

Daniel6 (Chapter 117): You're welcome. As far as Gwen goes, Ben got his head out of his butt. Sooner rather than later.

Thank you, Daniel. As for Gwen, I'd say that I agree with that statement. Thanks for the review, as always.

jasongd (Chapter 117): And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever

Thank you, Jason. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for the review, as always.

mike204 (Chapter 117): Good job with the chapter keep it up

Thank you, Mike. I'm glad you liked the chapter. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben and Gwen try to get used to having Albedo around earlier than usual in the timeline. Ben confronts Clancy and keeps him from getting too close to Gwen. In the days following, he tries to prevent Kevin from absorbing the Omnitrix's energy.