Chapter 2: A Planet With A Sun

Ben walked away from his car wearing nothing but swimming trunks, he was also carrying some sun screen and a cooler as he walked from the parking lot to the beach.

After last night's disaster with his parents, Ben suggested that they need a break from all the drama, which is when Attea suggested the beach because it was one of her favorite places on Earth.

Ben smiled as he walked through the scattered civilians laying on the beach, building sand castles, or trying to get their disobedient children under control. He continued walking until he reached a part of the beach very far away from the crowd, and smiled even wider upon seeing Attea sunbathing on the beach.

Attea wore sunglasses and a yellow bikini, smiling as the sun's rays worked their magic on her skin.

She noticed Ben walking up to her and took off her glasses. "Well it's about time you showed up!"

"Sorry I'm late," he replied, "I couldn't find the sunscreen. Turns out it was sitting in front of me on the table in my apartment."

"Ugh, you're so dumb," she chuckled.

Ben laughed back and set down the cooler and lay down next to Attea.

They lay in silence, until Ben spoke up.

"Look, about what happened at my house, I'm sorry…"

Attea hung her head and sighed. "I should've seen it coming. All those years I thought I was accepted as if I were one of you, but I should've known they would never forgive me. I mean, after all I did, what else could I expect?"

"Hey, don't worry about them," he reassured softly, "They'll probably change their minds in the future."

"Yeah, you mean by the time we have kids?" Attea asked sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, Attea, don't be like that! Look, I know my parents can be a little…extreme in things, but trust me, just give them time and they'll come around once they get to know you. The real you."

"Maybe." Attea yawned and stretched her arms and legs, saying, "I kind of needed this. Ya know, I…I always envied other planets. I mean, I spent my whole life in a space ship with soldiers as my only family. I…I always wanted a sun."

"Huh, 'guess I never thought about that. Maybe it shows I take everything for granted."

"Ya think? But you're not alone in that either. I had what was given to me, but I never really appreciated it. I was raised to be a conqueror, so I never truly appreciated anything I had either." Attea stretches her limbs once more, and Ben couldn't help but stare. "Ben!"

"S-sorry, continue," he blushed.

"Anyway, me and my people never had the chance to just settle down and, you know…have a home," she finished as she looked at Ben, smiling as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Speaking of people, how's your mom?"

"Oh, she's great!" she said enthusiastically, "Last I heard, she found a nice, peaceful and uninhabited planet for the Incurseans. Lush, green forests, clean water, and a healthy orbit around a star. She said she and the others built a village and are starting construction on our new capital. Hopefully, the humble village will show the galaxy that the Incurseans are no-longer a war-hungry race."

"Yeah, except for the rebels who defected from your mom's rule."

"Yeah, but don't worry, Warton has been put in charge of tracking every one of them down and arresting him. He and the alpha squad caught three whole gangs in this year!"

"That's cool!"

"Yeah. I mean, they haven't found the leaders of the terrorists, but he says they're getting close."

"Well, at least that's better than nothing!"

"Yeah, you're right. Hopefully he'll be here for our wedding. I'm sure it's a moment he's been dying to see. My people finally laying down their arms, intermingling with those we would've shot down without hesitation."

"Will your mom be there too?"

"Of course she will! She's my mother!" she suddenly snapped.

Ben looked worried as if he offended her. "Oh, are you alright?"

Attea suddenly realized she yelled at him, so she turned away from him and hugged her knees to her chest. "I'm so sorry, Ben. It's just…well, I miss her."

"No, it's okay, I understand." Then, after a minute, Ben asked, "You know, I've always wondered, why was your mother in the stasis prison anyway?"

Attea sadly stared down at the sand.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Attea! If you don't wanna talk about it, it's fine, I just thought it might help. I don't know, it was stupid…"

"It was just another night," she started, making Ben look at her in surprise. "Daddy conquered another planet," she laughed sarcastically, "He wasted no time showing them who's boss. Mommy didn't like that, and she went to confront him. She tried to get him to stop, but he beat her." Ben looks confusedly at her but she says, "I was supposed to be in bed. I was 5." Ben looks so sad, "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" Attea held her hand up to stop him and continues, "He demanded she stay down and obey, but she...she said she had enough and would not submit to his cruelty again. He beats her, and beats her, until her blood covered the floor (she tears up), but she still doesn't back down. By the end, he thought the most fitting punishment would be for her to spend the rest of her life in a stasis pod, watching me grow up and not having any part in my life."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Attea!"

"Yeah, well, what could you have done? What could I have done? I couldn't stand up and protect my mother. It's my fault she spent so many years in stasis!"

"Hey, hey!" Ben softly said as he grabbed her shoulders and hugged her, letting her cry into his shoulders as he continued, "It wasn't your fault! You were just a kid! Besides, it's all in the past, 'cause she's free now. You freed her!"

"You," she sniffed, You helped me free her too."

"Well, I suppose I can take some of the credit. I mean, after all, I did save the universe a million times, so swing your mom was no problem."

"You dork!" laughed Attea, playfully shoving him.

"Oh, you did not!" Ben said, tackling her.

The two rolled across the sand, laughing as they wrestled each other. Soon, they stop and relax, their laughing slowly dying as they caught their breaths.

Suddenly, Attea looked sad again. "Ben, are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're Earth's greatest hero, I'm the daughter of one of Earth's greatest enemies. People hate me, they would never except me. If you marry me, people will just end up resenting you because of me."

"Ahh, let them think what they want. Besides, we hated each other before."

"Yeah, but that was before we spent more time together and saw our real selves."

"And it only took your dad hunting you down and cornering you to Earth to finally get us to do all that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and for a second there, I thought I was sadistic."

They both laugh once more, then Ben gets out his phone.

"Still no word from Grandpa Max?" asked Attea.

"No. I know he called me before but I couldn't get to him with driving you to my parents, then dinner, and then this break. Now that I finally have time, I've been trying to reach him but I can't."

"Maybe we should go to them. I mean, we already spent enough time here."

"Ah, I'm sure they're fine. Let's just enjoy this."

Attea smiled but it looked like she still wasn't done with Ben yet.

However, before she could say anything else, a voice boomed, "Hey, look! It's Ben dating a frog!"

Ben and Attea turned around and saw a tall boy about Ben's age walk toward them. He was wearing red swimming trunks and his hair was a bit spiky.

"Oh, great," said Ben, "If it isn't Trevor the Idiot."

"That's Trevor the Mighty to you!"

"Wait, you know this guy?" asked Attea.

"Before Cash and JT started ruining my life, this guy would always beat me up and make fun of me, always stealing my lunch money and my newly collected Sumo Slammers cards!"

"And I still got 'em propped on my dresser too!" said Trevor with a prideful smile.

"What do you want, Trevor?" asked Ben annoyedly.

"Oh, nothing I just spotted you while I was walking after my recent workout." Suddenly, he spotted Attea and slyly smiled at her, approaching her and putting a hand on her shoulder and put the other on his hip while saying, "And woaahhh hey there beautiful what's your name?"

"Walk away before your back ends up on the ground, that's what!" she retorted.

"Oh, a feisty one!" chuckled Trevor.

Then Trevor proceeded to put both his hands on her shoulder, but Ben shoved him away.

"Back off, Trevor!" warned Ben.

Trevor shoves him back. "Why, you!"

Suddenly, Attea slaps him in the face with her tongue. Trevor wiped his hand across his face to check for blood, which he found from his nose. Growling, he backhanded her and sent her to the ground.

That was it.

Ben slammed onto the omnitrix and transformed into Snare-Oh, wrapping his bandaged fingers around Trevor's body. Then he whipped his bandages and found him into the air, spinning him around as he retracted them. Trevor landed face first in the sand, then he got up and spat out sand, then he growled at the two.

"That was just a warning," said Ben, "I don't care what you do to me, but if you touch Attea again, then next time I won't show restraint!"

Trevor scoffed at him and dusted himself. "Fine! Whatever! She's way out of my league anyway! You pathetic idiots are perfect for each other!"

As he stormed away, Ben was about to go after him, but then he took a deep breath and relaxed. Then he changed back and helped Attea up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Please, I've seen Galvans hit harder without any fancy weapons or armor!"

Ben checked her face and saw it was slightly bruised. "Oh no, come here, sit down, let's get that cleaned up."

As Ben sat her down and rummaged through his stuff, she said, "Ben, relax! I'm fine!"

Ben didn't even hear her, finally pulling out a first aid kit and attending to her face.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Of course," he smiled.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go after Grandpa Max? You look like you need to hit something."

"Nah, I feel better now." Ben held her face in his hand, drawing it nearer. "I just want to stay here with you until the sun sets. Grandpa can bug me about whatever he wants later."

"I thought you said you were gonna take your Plumber duties more seriously," she said with a sly smile.

"Well, I think we can make this an exception this one time."

"Deal," she whispered, lips inches away from his.

With that, their lips passionately locked.

"I still think we should've grabbed Tennyson."

Kevin was at the controls, guiding the Rustbucket through the Methanos system. Gwendolyn sat next to him, while Max sat in the back.

"I mean, if we can be torn away from out son, then that should give him no excuse to hang out with his fiancé or anything."

"That is an excuse!" said Gwendolyn, "Ben is finally finding happiness, and after what he's done for us and the whole universe, he deserves this!"

"I'm afraid Kevin is right though, Gwendolyn," said Max, "Engaged or not, he is still a Plumber and needs to respond to the call no matter what. Anyway, it's too late now. He won't be able to reach us when we're this far from Earth."

"Well, can't we at least get Helen or Manny or Tetrax or whoever?" asked Kevin.

"Tetrax is on a mission in deep space, and Helen and her crew are settling a peace dispute on Prypiatos. I'm afraid we're on our own."

"Great," he responded sarcastically, "Three of us against a super strong frog monster and whoever sprung him. Lovin' our chances!"

"I've made sure to contact the Plumbers on Earth and sent out a distress beacon to any other Plumbers near or in the system, so with any luck, they'll arrive shortly after we get there."

"Speaking of which, look alive people, 'cause we're approaching Methanos."

The ship flew towards a large planet that had an extremely dark green hue to it, with lighter green clouds swirling around.

Kevin guided the ship through the murky clouds until he landed it in a large swamp.

A few minutes later, the trio emerged in their plumber suits with the domes on.

The area around them was very dark and murky, and green gas was everywhere. Trees were also scattered throughout the swampy, muddy waters, and a few giant bugs flew past.

"Now, remember," said Max, "We only have 2 hours of oxygen in our tanks, so we need to find Milleous, confirm he's here, and go back to the ship and wait for backup to avoid the toxic atmosphere. No heroics, got it?"

Max mostly looked at Kevin, who exasperatedly sighed and said, "Alright, fine! I won't punch him! Geez!"

Nodding with satisfaction, Max pulled out a scanner and led the group through the swamp.

After nearly an hour of walking, Max suddenly jerked his hand up to stop them. He turned to face the duo behind him and held a finger in front of his lips, then he snuck forward and peeked through some plants.

There it was: The stolen Plumber ship, half of it already sunk into the ground with the hangar door wide open. The trio could also see that there was a trail in the dirt behind it, indicating it must've crashed.

"Does this mean no one's home?" whispered Kevin.

Gwendolyn's eyes glowed pink, then turned back to normal. "I can't sense anyone. I can't be sure, but it feels like something's interfering with my powers."

"Then we proceed with caution," said Max, readying his weapon.

Gwendolyn and Kevin readied their weapons as well.

Slowly, they approached the ship.

When Max touched the platform with his foot, he suddenly looked up and saw a red light blinking from the main console.

"RUN!" he shouted.

They all turned around to run, but then the ship exploded!

The explosion sent the trip flying, breaking their domes and severely damaging their suits in the process!