Good day, Ultras! (Yes, that is what I've started to refer to the fanbase as. That, or Ultra Ones, I still haven't decided...) Thanks for coming back to Chapter 19 of the Ultra 10 Chronicles! And welcome to everyone who is new! Crazy to think that we are almost twenty chapters in already! Sorry for the long wait for the chapter, the day quickly went to crap after I submitted last chapter. I won't bore you with details, but I finally got some time to post this chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Several trigger warnings apply to this chapter. First of all, there is a death. If you want to skip it, it starts at the paragraph starting, "I guess that a meal could do me good..." and continues to the next line break. It is also a little bloody, so there's that.

There are also two instances of choice language. The first one is in the paragraph that starts with, "Woah, what the **** are you?"

The last one is in the paragraph after " 'Ack,' Ben coughed as he flew into the green cloud..."

Enjoy the chapter!

The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 1: The Beginnings of Ultra 10

Chapter 19: A Party and a Contract

Ben entered the house, and took a look around. There weren't as many decorations as last year, which was nice. Not as many girls that he didn't know either. He recognized a few people from school, not that he knew their names, or really cared. He surveyed the area, looking for any sign of Lukas or Sam. He spotted Sam, and made his way over to him.

"Hey, dude!" Ben greeted Sam. "You've seen Lukas?"

"Not yet," he replied. "But I just got here, so I haven't had the chance to look." It was about then that Lukas pushed his way through the crowd and joined them.

"Glad to see you two here," Lukas greeted Sam and Ben with a fist bump. "Being alone with all of these girls was about to drive me crazy!"

"Weren't you the one that was bragging about having a girl's number?" Ben teased Lukas.

"That's different," Lukas defended himself. "She's… just a friend. All of these girls are from school, and drive me nuts!"

"Sure they do," Sam joined in on the teasing., slugging Lukas playfully on the shoulder. "Whatever helps you sleep at night!"

"You have no idea," Lukas joked back. It was so much more true than Sam was even joking about. "So I don't mean to be rude, but what's the plan? Grab 'n go like we did last year? Or are you going with a Stash 'n Dash?"

"Probably a Grab 'n Go," Ben said. "I actually have some homework that I need to get done, so the quicker we're out of here, the quicker-"

"Hold the phone, you? Doing homework? On your birthday?" Sam questioned. "Who are you, and where is Ben Tennyson?"

"Yeah, seriously, dude, What's up with the homework?"

"I got in trouble with the folks," Ben fibbed. "Told me that I had to get a B in one of my classes, or I was grounded from Sumo Slammers for a month."

'Yeah, that'd probably get the great Ben Tennyson motivated," Sam joked. "You need help studying?"

"Not really, it's an easy class, just got some busy work to do." Ben looked around. "I don't see the cake out on the table yet, so our best bet is to find Gwen or her parents. Second objective is to find the presents."

"I think that I saw an adult in the living room," Sam said. "I'll go see if I can track down someone."

"Cool, Lukas and I will look for the presents." They split up, and and waited for Sam to get out of ear shot. "Lukas, I told my folks that I'm going to hang out at your place after the party. That'll give me cover if I need to go on patrol… That is, if we can clear this party."

"So the whole homework?"

"Made it up. I just need to be able to head out if something happens, you know?"

"Got it. Oh, and the whole girl in the phone thing? Cutting it a little close."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I kinda got carried away."

"You're cool, we just don't want to give Sam too many hints. You know, obsession with Sherlock and all."

"I hear you loud and clear." Ben said.

"So the presents?"

"Same place as last year. Gwen's folks like to do things in a specific order. It makes it too easy for pranks, or things like this."

"Let's go grab them, then." Ben nodded, as the two of them turned to make their way to the room full of presents.

Gwen's point of view

"Remind me why you both invited yourselves to my party?" Gwen asked.

"If we're going to be in a team, then your family needs to know that we are your friends. You know, so that we can cover for you and all," Ellie said.

"Right. And what better way for your parents to know that we are your friends, than to invite us to your party?" Maddisen supplied.

"Good point," Gwen said. She hadn't really invited anyone to her birthday party in years past, not anyone who had accepted anyway. Her parents had always taken care of that. It was kind of weird, but in a good way. "So how are we getting away to do some Black Cat work?"

"Well, we've been thinking about that, and we decided that I'd invite you over to my house for a birthday sleepover," Maddie said. "That way, you can sneak away to go on patrol."

"That sounds like a good plan," Gwen concluded. "I guess that we'd better get this party moving along." The trio went off in search for Gwen's mom, Natalie, or better, Frank.

"Kinda overdoing it, don't you think?" Maddisen asked. "Especially for one that you are planning on cutting short?"

"That'd be my mom's fault," Gwen apologized. "I asked for a small birthday party this year. She interpreted that to mean less glitter and balloons. So she compensated by inviting even more people than last year."

"Well, nothing we can do about that," Ellie chimed in. "Just going to have to make do with what we got." Gwen and her two friends made their way through the crowd, until Gwen heard a voice she recognized.

"Gwen's folks like to do things in a specific order. It makes it too easy for pranks, or things like this." Ben said. Gwen instantly felt her face start to flush slightly, and she turned around to find the little dweeb.

"Let's go grab them, then," a kid next to him said. They turned to head down the hall.

"What do you two think you're up to at MY party?" Gwen huffed indignantly. Both Ben and his friend turned around like they'd been caught doing something.

"Uh… Going to have a piece of cake!" Ben tried to squirm out of it.

"Nice try, Doofus! The cake's not out yet," Gwen corrected him.

"Uh… To the bathroom?" Ben tried again. Gwen sighed.

"Against my better judgement, go ahead. Just make sure it doesn't get out that I gave you permission."

"To use the bathroom?" Ben's friend asked confused.

"Don't make me spell it out for you! To do whatever prank you have planned!" Gwen answered. "Work your magic to end this party early, please!"

"And why would you want that?" Ben asked, suspecting a trap of some kind. "It's your party, and your house and your friends?"

"I don't even care for most of these people," Gwen said. "And Mom said she'd do a quick party this year. She lied, so I'm going to let you make it quick. Just forget that I said anything, alright?"

"Whatever, I'm not going to pull any prank," Ben said.

"Why not?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, she's even giving you permission!" Ellie said.

"Because if I pull a prank, you're going to get me busted, and then I'm going to be so grounded! So I'm going to out think you, and not do a prank!" Ben explained. Gwen grumbled into her palm.

"Your logic is so stupid, it's starting to make sense!" Gwen took a deep breath. "As your friend and my friends as witnesses, I won't bust you. Happy?"

"Delighted!" Ben said. "Come on, Lukas, Stash 'n Dash it is. We've got a toilet to explode." The two boys made their way off down the hall.

"Not the toilets, please!" Gwen called, to no avail. If they heard her, they ignored it.

"Girl, what just happened?" Maddi asked.

"That's my super annoying cousin, Ben. He's got a history of pranks, which I thought we could use to make the party end a bit sooner. I just hope that it's not a messy one…"

Ben headed into the bathroom with Lukas. He slipped off one of his shoes, and reached inside. He produced a small wrapped container, which he opened to produce a white pill.

"Do I even want to know what that is?" Lukas asked.

"Sir Laugh-a-lot's Ultra-strong Stink Bomb. Once it mixes with the water, it's going to start foaming, and smell really bad…" Ben said with a grin as he held the pill up for Lukas to see.

"So what's the plan? How do we keep ourselves from getting busted?"

"After we drop it, we close the door. That'll keep the smell in for a few minutes, long enough for us to grab the presents. The next person who has to go is going to have one heck of a surprise!" Ben grinned as he dangled the pill over the toilet. "One… two… three!" He dropped it into the bowl, and saw the water start to fizzle.

"Move it!" Ben urged Lukas as the two scrambled out of the bathroom, Ben slamming the door after himself. "And now, on to the presents!" The two made their way down the hall, and into the room full of gifts. After raiding his own pile, the two left to find Sam, to leave.

Gwen was starting to wonder if Ben had actually pulled whatever prank he had up his sleeve. After seeing the two boys head into the bathroom, Gwen didn't hear any shouting or disgusted yelps for a while.

"Do you think that he's going to actually pull through?" Ellie asked.

"I thought he would… but maybe-" Gwen was interrupted by someone screaming. Sarah came running from the hallway, acting as though she were gagging on something.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Sarah shouted. From the bathroom, a disgusting, rotten smell drifted down the hall, making several other girls cover their noses and gag. They quickly started to scramble over each other trying to get away from the advancing odor.

"Yeah, I'd say that Ben pulled through," Gwen said. "C'mon, let's get outside before we die in a stampede. I've seen Ben's work in action before." Ellie and Maddi nodded, and followed Gwen outside.

Above the earth

Six-Six's ship finally arrived above the Earth. He glanced out of his porthole at the blue and white planet, speckled with tan and green.

"What an ugly planet," Six-Six said to himself in his language. "So much disgusting Dihydrogen-monoxide! The creatures native to this rock must be ugly things indeed!" He pushed his control throttle down, urging his ship to descend through the clouds. It touched down in a gathering of fauna in the middle of a primitive mega-dwelling. He chose the spot so that the fauna would hide his ship from unwanted attention. He didn't know the tech-level of this planet, but he didn't really care. Caring didn't pay.

He got up from his pilot's seat, and headed into his quarters to suit up. The ship's scanners informed him that the planet's atmosphere consisted mostly of a mixture of Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Argon and trace other elements. There wasn't enough Methane or Sodium for him to be able to breath unaided. He hated his protective suit, but it was necessary to get paid. And in the end, that was all that really mattered.

After suiting up, he exited his ship, and surveyed his surroundings. His built in bio-scanner confirmed that he was close to where the Omnitrix had last been recorded being used. And there were certainly many members of the indigenous species nearby. Entire buildings full of them. Six-Six might even need to stop back for a few younger specimens to collect after he finished the contract. Large, fleshy things with few calcium-based bones to worry about. It was like meals to go.

"After the contract," Six-Six reminded himself. "I'll collect a meal after I collect my bounty." From his suit's heads-up display, he commanded his ship's computer to start scanning for traces of the unique radiation that the Omnitrix gave out. Meanwhile, Six-Six was going to get a lay of the land.

His ship collected sonar images of the fauna area he was in, as well as the dwellings surrounding it. These were downloaded into his suit's computer. However, Six-Six didn't rely on his ship's computer alone. He stalked away from his ship to view this ugly, strange planet.

At the birthday party

Ben and Lukas found Sam only moments before the "big reveal" happened, which caused everyone to start to rush to get outside and away from the stink. They followed the evacuation onto the front lawn. This scenario Ben had become accustomed to. Frank or Natalie would try to get everyone back into the house, but most of the partygoers would refuse. Eventually parents would be called to pick up their children, and the party would be effectively ended.

"Well, as much as I'd like to hang out here in the cold," Ben stated, "I've got a report to get started on. I'll catch up with you both later!" He then waived goodbye to Sam.

"I'd better be getting gone, too. Mind if I head out with you?" Lukas asked.

"Sure," Ben agreed. "Guess we'll catch up with you later?"

"Totally," Sam said. He said farewell to his two friends, and headed the opposite direction towards his own house. Ben and Lukas walked several streets away before checking that the coast was clear.

"Alright, I think that you're clear to head out on patrol now," Lukas informed Ben.

"Thanks for the assist," Ben thanked him. Lukas nodded and followed Ben towards a nearby hedge of bushes. Ben ducked behind it, and opened up his suit, letting it unfold over his entire body. Lukas kept watch until Ben emerged in his suit.

"Good to go?" Lukas asked.

"Yeah," Ben responded as he activated the Omnitrix and transformed. "Accelerate! You need a lift?"

"Sure do!" Lukas responded enthusiastically. He pressed a button on his communicator, which spread out over his hands and knees. He then climbed onto Accelerate's back, the magnetized discs allowing him to cling to Ben with little effort. "Ready!"

"Here we go!" Ben zoomed off with Lukas in tow. He flew through the streets of Bellwood at supersonic speeds, arriving at Lukas's house in under a second. For his enjoyment, Ben decided to run through the neighborhood for a few more seconds, before arriving again at Lukas's house.

"Woo!" Lukas whooped in enjoyment. "That's always such a rush!" He deactivated the magnetic discs and got off of Accelerate's back. With another push of a button, the discs changed back into his communicator.

"I guess I'll see you later," Lukas waived good night to Ben, before heading inside. "I'll still be on the communicator if you need any assistance, though."

"Cool, catch you later then!" Accelerate zoomed off to resume his patrol for the night.

Ross Park, about an hour before

Six-Six readjusted his ship's antenna to access a different spectrum of the various radio and television signals that were incredibly abundant in this city. The lingual translation chip in his brain had taken a moment to analyze the speech patterns of the dominate language, but eventually it started translating the language with little error.

Most of the chatter was irrelevant. There are channels devoted to the weather, entertainment and civil government processes. These didn't amuse Six-Six in the slightest. He was only establishing surveillance to find the wielder of the Omnitrix. The governmental radio channel dedicated to the human law enforcement was the only channel that Six-Six bothered to pay attention to. If the Omnitrix user were to enter the public eye, it would be on that channel first.

While Six-Six was distracted with analyzing these channels, a figure approached his location on the edge of the "park." Six-Six was unaware of the human until he was nearly startled with the creature's gasp.

"Woah, what the hell are you?" The jogger asked, thrown off his guard by the black-and-purple clad alien. Six-Six didn't even bother responding. If these primitive creatures had lingual translation chips, he doubted that they were advanced enough to cover alien languages. Further, he didn't care if these meat-bags understood anything he'd have to say. It was little more than a distraction.

"Hey ugly! I'm talkin' to you!" The jogger picked up a rocked and threw it at Six-Six. That greatly irritated him.

"I guess that a meal could do me good, while I wait…" Six-Six turned towards the jogger and shot a plasma bolt at him. It wasn't hot enough to cook the creature and ruin his meal. Just enough to keep him from running.

"Ahh!" The jogger screamed briefly, as Six-Six leapt onto him, and dug his teeth into the creature's neck. Delicious blood splattered on the snow, as Six-Six enjoyed his meal. On his HUD, Six-Six got a notification, that the Omnitrix energy had again been activated, and was now zooming around the city.

"Perfect," Six-Six growled, as he wiped the blood away from his mouth. "Ship, track his movements. I will lure him here!" He ran out of the park, using his jetpack as soon as he'd cleared the trees. He flew towards the source of the Omnitrix's radiation signature.

Ben zoomed past several alleyways, on his normal patrol around the city.

"Boy am I glad to get out of that birthday party!" Ben muttered into his comm link.

"You really should have tried to enjoy it," Julie commented from her side. "You are only twelve. You should take some more time to enjoy being a normal kid."

"Trust me, there is nothing 'normal' about me hanging with a bunch of my cousin's friends. They are all too girly," Ultra 10 replied. "It's not the birthday that I'm happy to get away from, just the party. That's all."

"Hold on a second," Julie said. "One of the cameras just picked up something flying over the buildings of Bellwood. Looks like someone on a jetpack…"

"That's a first," Ben said, coming to a stop. "I'd better go check it out. Where is it heading?"

"It looks like it's heading towards you!" Julie gasped. "You might be in for a fight!"

"I'll call in Lucky Girl!" Lukas said, as his communicator went silent.

"We'll see if it can keep up!" Ben said, as he swerved in between several buildings, trying to loose whatever was following him in confusion.

"It's keeping up," Julie concluded. "Ben, you're in for a fight!" Just as she finished that, Ben saw out of the corner of his eyes several plasma blasts shooting at him. He dodged out of the way, narrowly missing being shot by them.

He looked at where they had come from, to see something in a purple and black suit hovering in the air above an office building. It made some screeching and clicking noises, as it shot several more plasma bolts at Ultra 10.

"Hey, watch it!" Ben shouted as he dodged the plasma. "I just got this thing repaired!" The alien screeched again at Ben, before flying off.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Ben shouted. He palmed the badge on his chest, and instantly transformed into another one of his aliens. "StinkFly!" He shouted as he took off into the evening sky, following the alien.

The alien didn't seem pleased, as it fired several plasma shots over its shoulder at Ben. Ben dodged most of them. They weren't as well aimed as the ones before, but Ben wasn't as fast as Accelerate in this form. One of the plasma bolts hit one of his six legs.

"Ahh!" StinkFly shouted in pain. "I'll get you for that!" He shot stinky green goop out of his four eyes at the alien. He dodged the first round, and the second. The third round, he shot at with his plasma bolts, instantly frying and exploding the goop into a cloud of stinky green gas.

"Ack!" Ben coughed as he flew into the green cloud. He was momentarily blinded by the green gas, before he flew out of the cloud. As soon as his eyes cleared the cloud, they saw another volley of plasma bolts shooting towards him.

"Oh shit!" StinkFly shouted as he swerved to avoid being shot in the face. Several bolts struck his underside, causing StinkFly to shrivel up in pain, as the heat felt like it was frying him piece by piece. Momentarily dazed by the pain, StinkFly's wings stopped beating, letting him drop from the sky. He plummeted down towards the trees of Ross Park.

"Ben! Are you alright?" Julie shouted into her communicator. Ben, realizing what was happening, pressed the badge in-between his four eyes, and transformed into another alien. He curled up into a ball, braced for impact. Only a moment later, he impacted, this alien's tough outer shell taking the brunt of the crash, and bounced back up into the air. Another bounce, and Ben emerge from his ball.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Ben replied. "A bit beat up, but I'll manage."

"Lucky Girl is on her way," Lukas cut in. "Said she'd be at the park in a few minutes."

"Good," Ben muttered. "I'll probably need her on this one. Whoever this is, he's tough." Ben immediately curled up into a ball and spun forward, just as a plasma blast burned into a tree, sending it crashing down where Ultra 10 had just been.

At PLUMMER Headquarters

"Sir, the scanners picked up something descending rapidly over Bellwood airspace," Agent 44 communicated to her superior.

"Could it be aircraft, a helicopter?" Agent 10 asked.

"Possible, however unlikely. It is descending too quickly to be a controlled landing, and it is not over any airports. Computer is running a sweep through the radio channels commercial airlines use. Nothing yet."

"Do we have eyes on it?" Agent 10 asked again.

"Negative, sir. Our nearest surveillance drone is over five miles away. I can send them, but it'll be a while before they'll be able to be established," Agent 44 replied.

"Send for them. Hack into the local traffic cameras too. We don't want to send agents in before we have eyes on what we are dealing with. It could be nothing, or it could be an invasion vanguard."

"Affirmative, sir. Computer is hacking the local traffic cams now. Surveillance drones are in route. Estimated time of arrival is two-point-five minutes." Agent 10 raised his comm link to his mouth.

"Code Yellow. Be on alert for possible deployment. That goes for the entire squad, we don't know what, or if, we are up against yet." As he ended the transmission, he could hear the Agents quickly drop what they were doing, and prepare for a possible mission.

"Traffic cameras have eyes on the area. Whatever it is, it is small enough to land in a park in the middle of Bellwood. The traffic cams are useless to peer through the tree-line. We'll need to rely on the drones for surveillance," Agent 44 reported.

"Small enough or smart enough?" Agent 10 wondered out loud. "ETA on those drones?"

"One minute," Agent 44 responded. "They are arriving on the scene now, and are setting up a parameter." Max glanced down at the computer screen in front of Agent 44. On it were three different optical input feeds from the drones. Having surrounded the park, they started entering the tree-line, sweeping from side to side to survey the area.

The first drone came upon a ship, of obvious non-human design. It appeared to be decommissioned or turned off. It was impossible to know without analyzing it.

"That's no ship from around here," Agent 44 remarked.

"No, but from where?" Agent 10 asked. "Friend or foe?" The second drone came upon where the first drone had stopped to analyze the ship. The second one started to survey the small clearing around the ship. Still nothing. Finally, the third drone passed a section of the forrest that had been disturbed. On closer inspection, there was a trail of blood revealed in the snow.

"That is human blood," Agent 44 remarked. "Whatever the alien is, it's not friendly!" The drone followed the trail of blood, it leading into a clearing with torn clothing and broken bones scattered around the alien.

"Our database show no record of this ship's owner's identity," Agent 44 said. "But the externet could reveal something."

"Do it!" Agent 10 commanded, as he pressed the 'scramble agents' button on the desk. The light and alarm started, initiating a fifteen second count-down. Max took off towards the waiting transport van.

"Code Red! Hostile Alien activity, be ready for a fight!" Agent 10 grabbed a gun, and climbed into the van. He was followed by a dozen other agents.

Gwen finished her chant as the portal opened. She quickly stepped through, arriving in the middle of Ross Park. Off to the side, she saw Ultra 10 in combat with some alien in a flight suit. The alien reached into his belt and threw a grenade at Ultra, who curled up into a ball to protect himself from it. The explosion sent him flying back, crashing into a tree. The trunk cracked, sending the tree crashing down over Ultra.

"Ventus!" Gwen shouted, as a strong wind blew out from her hands, preventing Ultra from getting crushed by the tree. She turned towards the alien, who was still hovering using his jetpack. "Bombarda!"

An explosion rocked the alien to the side, sending him careening to the ground. She took the moment to rush towards the fight.

"Ultra!" She shouted, as she ran up.

"Ugh! I'm fine," he said in this form's deep voice. He pressed the Omnitrix symbol, and changed into another alien. "DiamondHead!" He shaped his hands into a shield, just as several plasma blasts impacted him, pushing him a few feet back.

"Take this!" He dissolved the shield, and shot several crystals at the alien, who dodged them, and threw another grenade in response. "Take cover!" Ultra shouted, and Lucky Girl dived out of the way of the explosion.

"Fauna pilae perpetuam!" Gwen chanted. The splinters of wood and sticks surrounding the area glowed purple as they lifted into the air. They straightened and sharpened into spears, and shot towards the alien.

He did his best to dodge or deflect the mass of spears flying towards him from every side, but it was an impossible task. One spear pierced his suit through the leg, and another imbedded itself into his jetpack. Sparks flew everywhere, as the jetpack malfunctioned, and sent the alien off in a chaotic pattern, eventually sending him into the ground hard.

"Alright!" Ultra 10 cheered as he gave her a thumbs up. They both rushed towards where the alien landed, to finish the fight.

A/N:

And that's it for this week! Sorry for the odd ending to this chapter, but I didn't want to get too carried away into their fight. What did you think of Six-Six? He is a little more 'inhuman' in this universe, but I think it suits him well. He's a bounty hunter for Vilgax, for cryin' out loud, of course he's going to be ruthless! What about the juggling that both Lukas as well as Maddi and Ellie are having to do for their respective heroes? Any ideas on when these two different teams start to cross paths? Ben's team is more technology based, while Gwen's is going to rely more on magic and luck. (Obviously.) Any other comments, ideas, reviews, criticisms, or excitement? Leave them in a review! If you make a good point, you could see it in a story arc!

Thank you again for reading, and have an awesome day or night, whichever it is!