"Hello again, today I will continue with Ben 16's adventures. Now Ben 16 is no longer an ordinary kid. Yes I know that statement may seem a little belated but trust me the statement is true for today Ben 16 is facing the decisions that will decide his future as a hero. In today's story Ben 16 will be facing off against more extraterrestrial threats rather than the more earth based threats he's come to expect. Now let us begin"
Hunted:
Ben put his two hands together and created a fireball. As quickly as he had formed it he chucked it at the targets in front of him. The first one hit the target dead center but the second one missed. Ben turned and saw dozens of cans being launched into the air he quickly used his hands to create a stream of fire and burned them all to crisps. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw something pop out of the ground he turned preparing to throw another fire blast but paused when he saw the sign. The sign had an image of one person holding what looked like a badly drawn gun at a woman's head. "Gotta aim the blast just right." He threw a fireblast at the head of the man with the gun but ended up missing and hitting the woman's head instead. "That's exactly what I'm talking about Ben." Grandpa Max said sternly, he had been watching him closely throughout the practice. Lately Grandpa Max had been much harder on Ben. "He must still be upset about what I did to Rojo." Thinking about Rojo made Ben remember the vision he had seen and the cruel voice that had told him "Be Afraid."
"Ben, are you listening to me?" Grandpa Max said standing right in front of Ben not being the least bit worried about standing near Heatblast's flaming body. "Uh sorry Grandpa, guess I spaced out for a second there." "You can't afford to be distracted during battle Ben." Grandpa Max said, crossing his arms "Ben, listen those aliens in the watch are like tools in a tool kit you have to pick the right one for the job-" "Otherwise it'll be like I'm banging a screw in with a mallet." Ben finished. Ben had become increasingly frustrated with Grandpa Max's speeches about the right way to use the watch. Sure he mostly used his aliens offensively but that didn't mean he didn't use them right. "Just answer this Ben, why did you choose heatblast?" Grandpa Max said, sighing , uncrossing his arms. "To hit the target's easier. Diamondhead's projectiles are too small to aim with." Ben replied not understanding what his Grandfather was getting at. "Ben, you could have gone upgrade and simply taken control of the course or even Stinkfly so that you could shoot the target's and dodge the cans all at once." Ben was starting to understand his Grandfather a little better. "So I should've tried to attack from a safer distance?" Ben asked. "No Ben you didn't have to attack at all especially at the guy who had a civilian. Might isn't always the right way to solve a conflict, Ben." Grandpa Max finished looking exhausted. "I think that's enough for today, why don't you get some sleep. Ben looked up noticing for the first time it was night. "It was daylight out when we started training. Have we really been doing this all day?" He thought to himself before going inside the Rust-Bucket. Gwen was already asleep on the lower bed. "How long has she been sleeping?" Lately Gwen seemed to avoid watching Ben train and whenever Ben brought it up she said she was busy "finishing up some school work." Ben didn't doubt Gwen had a lot of work to do but he had started to wonder if maybe she was mad at him for what happened with Rojo. Ben went up to the top bunk and quickly fell asleep.
The Next Day…"Ben, come on, wake up." Ben looked up to see a concerned Grandpa Max standing over him. "I'll get ready for training Grandpa." Ben said as he got out of bed. "Actually Ben the rust-bucket's acting up a little so I need to make some repairs so I turned off the engine which means no a.c so brush your teeth and get outside." He said.
After brushing his teeth Ben went outside and looked around. Wherever they had stopped had clearly been abandoned for some time. "What is this place?" Ben asked out loud, causing his cousin to respond "It's an abandoned steel mill from around the 1800s."
"Geez Gwen I knew you were smart but to tell all that just by looking at it-" "I looked it up online Ben." She said Ben turned and saw that indeed his cousin was on her laptop with a picture of the town currently displayed. "Oh, guess that would make more sense." Ben still wasn't sure if Gwen was mad at him or not. Their conversations were usually awkward like this but Ben couldn't tell if it was because of Rojo or not. "Hey Ben, can we talk for a moment?" Gwen asked, closing her laptop and looking up at him. "Uhh...sure why not." Ben replied. Ben and Gwen walked over to a nearby building for shade and once inside Ben asked. "Look Gwen I know I messed up with Rojo and I'm sorry but-."
"Ben, listen I don't blame you for what happened."
'You don't?" He was shocked by what she had just said. "No I realize now that you were probably right but I can't help but feel like I was responsible." She said, looking down away from Ben's eyes. "Why do you think that?" Ben asked, even more confused now than before "I just feel like if I hadn't been in that hospital bed in the first place none of that would have happened." She said sitting down with her broken leg outstretched. "Gwen… I'm sorry you feel that way." He was genuinely not sure about what to say. "I thought this was all my fault. I never thought that Gwen would feel responsible." But now he started to understand why his cousin had been distant after all how would Ben, have felt if he had been in Gwen's place ending up in a hospital after failing to help your cousin. "It's alright Ben and for what it's worth even though Grandpa disagrees I don't think helping Rojo would have been the right thing to do." Ben wanted desperately to agree with his cousin and finally move on but he just couldn't. "She was afraid of Steel and I left her like that even after knowing that Steel had been hurting people." "Gwen, I think Grandpa was right. Leaving Rojo behind like that was cruel even if she did deserve it." Ben said now it was his turn to look downcast. He looked at the omnitrix and for once not even it's green glow made him feel better. "Hey, that's not true. As someone who was a victim of her attack I think she got what was coming to her." Gwen said slowly getting up. "Thanks Gwen." Ben said although he still wasn't sure if his decision had been right the fact that Gwen adamantly supported him made him feel a lot better.
Suddenly the ground began to shake causing Gwen to fall onto her back. Ben ran over to help her up but was thrown backwards as suddenly a huge crab-like creature broke free of the earth. "There you are." It said the creature's left arm resembled a regular hand but unlike a human one it had only four fingers. His right arm looked more akin to a claw one might find on a crab or lobster and its legs resembled crabs as well. Four little claw-like structures that somehow supported the large metal creature's weight. "Who are you?" Ben asked in shock. "Name's Kraab kid now hand over the omnitrix if you please and nobody has to get hurt." "You're the only one who's going to get hurt." Ben said as he hit the button on the omnitrix and turned the dial to the four-armed silhouette before quickly slamming it down. Ben was enveloped by the green hue of the omnitrix it's power becoming one with him. He felt two arms break free from his rib cage and felt his torso become bigger and more muscular and finally his eyes split apart into four yellow eyes with no pupils. Immediately he ran right at Krabs. "Gotta end this quickly or else Gwen could get hurt." He quickly rushed at the crablike monstrosity and used two of his arms to throw a punch straight at Kraab's Torso. The punch landed but much to Ben's surprise Kraab didn't move at all. He didn't even seem to flinch; he merely looked down and then back up at Ben. "A Tetramand really? And here I thought retrieving the omnitrix would be a hard job." He pointed his claw arm right at Ben and opened it. Immediately a giant red beam erupted out and sent Ben flying backwards. He hit some kind of Machine which came tumbling down on top of him. Ben quickly pried himself out of the debris but just as he became free another blast hit him dead center. This blast made Ben's Muscle's spasm in pain causing him to scream. Kraab slowly walked over to him while the beam continued to cause Ben immense pain. "Hardly worth the hunt." He said as he approached Ben. "I can't move the pain's too much!" Ben looked around for Gwen and found her frozen in shock. "Gwen...go…" He was too weak to finish his sentence. There's gotta be something I can do." Kraab walked over and the beam finally disappeared. "Don't struggle, it'll only make the pain worse." A spear jutted out of his clawlike arm and as he prepared to use it Ben summoned the last of his strength and threw a rock he had felt as he had been struggling under the beam. The rock he threw at Kraab immediately crumbled to dust on contact. "Now you're just embarrassing yourself." He swung the claw down but just as he did Ben heard the familiar beep from his shoulder. "For once this thing's timing is perfect." Ben de-transformed just as Kraabs claw had swung where his head would have been. Ben felt his strength instantly restored and quickly got up and ran away from Kraab. Kraab turned his head all the way and saw Ben leaving and for a second Ben thought he would simply turn around and blast him. Luckily for Ben it looked like Kraab was stuck. Ben saw that his arm had actually become stuck in the ground where he had missed Ben. "Perfect now to get Gwen to safety and then I can get some payback on this guy." Ben quickly helped Gwen up and helped her move quickly by placing his shoulder over her. The two went as fast as they possibly could, which wasn't much due to Gwen's injury Gwen kept turning her head as if expecting Kraab to be right behind them. Ben was more focused on the omnitrix. "Did the creator send those guys after the watch?" Ben wondered as he and Gwen made their way back towards the Rust-bucket. "Hey kids how's-" "Grandpa we have to get outta here there's this Kraab guy chasing us and-" Ben began cutting off Grandpa Max's greeting before Gwen interjected "Just get us out of here now!" Gwen said. In moments the Tennyson's were all in the Rust-bucket and driving away. "Now what exactly happened back there?" Grandpa Max asked not glazing over at the two of them for a brief moment. "There was this guy who wanted the watch Grandpa. I think maybe the creator sent him to get it back." Ben said looking down at the watch hoping to see a green glow but being met with a dark red one instead. "Now why would he do that? Myaxx said he wanted to abandon it here." Grandpa Max responded, eyes now focused on the road. "I know Grandpa but Rojo said that the owner wanted it back when she was in her robot body." Ben said feeling guilty at having kept this secret now that he suspected that the creator had sent Kraab to get the watch from him. "And you're just now telling us this Ben!" Gwen said looking at Ben, arms crossed clearly upset. "I didn't think something like this would happen!" Ben replied. "Ever since you got that thing we've gone through nothing but trouble and now you're keeping things from us too?" Ben had never seen Gwen so mad before but before he could even think of what to say he heard a loud crash on the roof of the rust-bucket. Ben looked up and saw a knife crash through the ceiling. He fell out of his seat just as the knife retracted and saw a strange helmet with what looked like lines for a mouth and eyes. "Grandpa!" Gwen screamed. Suddenly the Rust bucket. Came to a stop and Ben saw the figure go flying off the top. "That was way too close." But just as Ben thought they were safe the Rustbucket Came to a crashing stop. "What happened?" Ben yelled. "Thing must've taken out the tires somehow. Come on you two, let's get outta here." He said quickly getting out of his seat and helping Gwen to the door before turning his head to Ben. "Come on Ben quickly." Ben was up and out of the Rust-bucket right behind them he turned and saw the ground tremble and the crab like creature from before came shooting out of the ground. Ben also saw the creature from the roof flying through the air shooting lasers down at Ben. He quickly turned again and followed Grandpa and Gwen into a nearby tunnel. Once inside he saw that it was some sort of mine. "Grandpa I'm gonna try and distract them as soon as the watch recharges and as soon as I do you need to-" "Out of the question Ben." Grandpa Max said. "But Grandpa." "No way Ben those two are professionals, besides you're still too rusty with that thing to take on two people at once just follow me and Gwen and we'll see if we can lose them in the tunnels." Ben reluctantly followed even though he knew he was outmatched he still didn't like not being able to do anything. The three emerged out of the shaft and Grandpa Max quickly led them to some sort of cart. There was an explosion and Ben saw the figure from atop the Rust-bucket emerge out and fly towards them. He looked down and saw that the watch had fully recharged. "Grandpa, go with Gwen I'll take care of these guys." "Ben wait-" "We don't have time just go." Ben said before quickly hitting the button and selecting the alien to use. "Ben you can't win in a fight between those too think carefully about the alien that you select and what to do with it." Grandpa Max said before getting onto the shaft. "Alright Grandpa I'll do what I did with Rojo that should work." "Ben should work isn't the best plan-" Grandpa Max began before Ben interjected and said. "It's all I've got." He quickly pulled the lever and sent the other two away. He quickly selected upgrades silhouette and slammed the watch down. He felt the rush of power again and felt his skin change to smooth as glass diamond and felt two spikes spring out of his back while his head became encased in Crystal. The green flash faded out and he realized at once that the watch had given him the wrong alien. "Guess I'll have to make do with Dimondhead." Ben turned his hands into crystal spears and rushed head on at the two aliens. The creature that had attacked the Rust-bucket jetpacked into the air so instead Ben went after Kraab. He slashed at him but Kraab had leapt into the air just as he did. Ben looked up and saw all his legs spin for a moment before he landed right on Ben pinning him to the ground. "Now what do I do?" Ben thought, panicking. The other alien creature landed next to Kraab and said something in a language Ben didn't understand. Kraab in response to the creature said "split the reward, you kidding me six-six, I did all the hard stuff so I'll be taking the pay." The creature responded in an angry bark of words that Ben was certain was some sort of language and pointed two gun-like contraptions at Kraab. Suddenly a strange orb rolled over to the pair. "What the-'' the orb quickly released a strange cloud of gas that caused Kraab and the creature called Six-Six to fall over. Ben started to feel woozy as well. "Gotta stay awake." He struggled to his feet holding his diamond arm near his mouth to avoid inhaling the smoke. Ben felt a hand grab his back spike and before he could even register what was happening found himself being flown away from the scene. He still felt strange from the gas so at first he couldn't tell where he was going but suddenly he was thrown onto the ground. The fall cleared Ben's head and he quickly got up and looked behind him. He saw a creature in a grey suit with a black helmet that had a strange rectangular design in front of him. The watch let out several loud beeps and Ben felt the red light surround him and change him back to human. "Of course a reckless youth is the one to pick up the omnitrix rather than the billions of other species on this planet." The creature's black mask retracted downward revealing it's crystal face. "Hey your a diamondhead?" Ben said in surprise. "Don't tell me you've begun naming your alien transformations as if they were pets?" The creature said angrily. "Well it makes it easier to remember them-wait that's not the point, who are you and why did you help me?" Ben said changing the topic. Although the alien didn't seem to want to harm Ben, that was no reason to take it lightly. "I am Tetrax and I have been instructed by the creator to finish the job Myaxx was sent to do." He reached out for the watch but before Ben could even pull his arm back a strange energy emitted from the omnitrix. "I see it's already synched to your dna just as I feared I'll have to take you with me to remove it." The creature came closer to Ben who reflexively walked backwards away from it. "Myaxx said I could have it, the creator just wanted to abandon it anyways." Ben said, looking down at the watch. 'I can't just give this thing up." The alien stopped in front of Ben and said "Myaxx and Xylene were supposed to destroy the omnitrix not abandon it." Ben looked up at the alien in shock and said. "What that can't be true Myaxx-" "Is a liar. She was supposed to take the omnitrix to the forge of creation where it could safely be destroyed but instead gave it to you a rash and careless human." The creature said, looking at Ben with its yellow eyes narrowed as if suspicious of him. "But you can't take it away please...I need it." Ben said desperately trying to change the aliens mind. "Ah now I see you're addicted." The creature said. "What?" Ben asked, confused. "You love the thrill of battle and using the omnitrix is how you fulfill this desire, no wonder you're so reckless." The creature's mouth formed a narrow line that Ben wasn't sure was a smile or anger. "That's not true!" Ben said angrily. "Oh really tell me human in all the time you've had the watch did you ever even realize that it acts as a beacon to people like Kraab and Six-six? Or how about the dozens of non-lethal commands available?" The creature asked crossing its arms to look down at Ben. Ben wasn't sure how to reply to that. The idea of the omnitrix being used for anything other than transforming seemed strange to him. "How would I have even-" "You had more than enough time to ask Myaxx or even try using the omnitrix on your own to figure out those features instead you use it as though it were a weapon. Luckily you haven't hurt anyone...yet now come with me we've wasted enough time as is." The creature Grabbed the arm that had the omnitrix and started dragging him. Ben looked at the omnitrix which was currently red."I can't believe it, I'm never gonna get to go hero ever again." Suddenly a large red beam shot out in front of the Tetrax. "You're not going anywhere pal." The smoke quickly cleared and Ben saw that it was Kraab who had spoken. The other creature Six-Six walked over next to him and Ben saw that he had both Grandpa and Gwen in his arms. "No." Ben said outloud. "That's right earthling we've teamed up now give us the omnitrix or these two will be...crushed." Kraab snapped his claw loudly to illustrate his point. "I won't allow you to harm anyone Kraab now release the humans." Tetrax said in a voice that made Ben shiver. Instead Kraab opened his claw and fired a Beam straight at tetrax. Ben desperately tried to pry himself from tetrax's grip to no avail. 'That Beam's gonna kill him!" Tetrax turned his body shielding Ben. The beam struck and much to Ben's surprise did no damage to him. Tetrax ran awkwardly with Ben in his arms into a nearby house while Kraaab continued firing at them. Ben fell out of his arms and onto the floor. "Stay here." Before Ben could even form a response Tetrax quickly ran out the building towards Kraab. "I gotta help Grandpa and Gwen." Ben looked down at the omnitrix only to find it still in the red recharge mode. "Dang it still in red." Ben slowly crept out towards the exit and looked out towards the battle. Tetrax was currently fighting Six-six while Kraab was knocked to the side. Kraab slowly got up and lunged at Tetrax. His large claw landed a hit on Tetrax's back causing little crystals to flake off it. Tetraxkicked Six-Six down and turned to face Kraab. He grabbed his claw and launched him away. He skidded to a halt right outside the building Ben was in. "Looks like He's down for the count." Suddenly Kraab looked up at Ben. "Or not." Ben quickly ran to the back of the building hiding behind a table. In a desperate bid to protect himself he fiddled with the omnitrix. 'Come on...come on work." Suddenly the omnitrix glowed green. "Alright now to go upgrade." Ben heard Kraabs loud footsteps. He hit the button and turned the dial but just as he was about to hit the upgrade silhouette he thought back to what Grandpa Max had said. "Might isn't always the way right way to solve a conflict, Ben." Ben heard Kraabs footsteps grow louder and saw his shadow creep closer to him along the wall. "In all the time you had the omnitrix did you ever even realize it had dozens of non-lethal commands? Your addicted to the thrill of battle." Tetrax's words echoed in Bens head as he turned the dial towards another alien silhouette. "All right upgrade could work but Kraab might be able to block him plus lunging at Kraab and merging with him could mess with my head like it did with Rojo. So then I should choose someone who can use his tech against him without having to merge with him." Ben quickly selected the alien he needed and slammed the watch down. Just as he begun to change Kraabs metal arm swung down launching Ben towards the ceiling where he landed on his now much smaller feet. "Luckily my smaller size made the impact of Kraabs arm propel me into the air instead of pulverising me as he intended." Ben was surprised by just how complex his thoughts became while using grey matter. He had only used him once on accident when trying to use another alien but even then the experience had felt strange. "Where'd you go?" Kraab said looking around confused at the wreckage. Ben quickly focused his attention on Kraab. Calculating the distance he needed to leap he landed on Kraabs back. "Get off me you tiny little-" Kraab said in reaction to Ben landing on his head. "There should be a nerve cluster here somewhere." Ben said reaching his hand down to Kraabs neck pulling out a bundle of wires. Kraabs head spun around and sparks flew out his back as he fell outside onto the ground. "Thats one down." Ben said looking over at the fight between Six-Six and Tetrax. Tetrax landed a punch causing Six-six to stumble. Tetrax threw another punch but Six-Six turned and dodged it. He quickly got behind Tetrax and using his Jetpack launched them both into the air. As he did so he extinguished the flames on his jetpack and turned around in midair. The two crashed with Tetrax taking the blow on his way down. Six-Six looked over at Ben and reached for his pistol. "Ben run!" Grandpa Max said as he jumped on to Six-Six. The struggle between the two was over quickly as Six-Six quickly threw Grandpa Max on the ground. "Grandpa!" Gwen screamed. Ben quickly rushed over and jumped onto Six-Six's back. "What are you doing?" Tetrax asked. Ben quickly reached down and pulled wires out of Six-Six. Six-Six rocketed into the air. Ben quickly jumped off just as he did so rolling on the ground to come to a halt. He turned and saw Six-Six crash into a water tank and landed on the ground beside Kraab as the water tank crashed down wood flying and water spilling on top of them. "Not bad human." Tetrax said. Ben's watch sent out several beeps before washing away his strength turning him back into a human. Tetrax went over and put strange electric cuffs over the two criminals. "I'll take them back to my ship and send them off to Incarceron. "And then?" Ben asked looking at the omnitrix. "It looks like it's in good hands." Tetrax said his mouth forming a grin. Ben surprised asked "but I thought the creator wanted to destroy it?" Ben quickly regretted saying it outloud out of fear the creature would take the watch then and there but instead he said. "True but since I nor anyone else no the route to the forge of creation anyways I don't see the point in giving it back to the creator when you clearly have found a better use for it." Tetrax reached down into his belt and gave ben a round circular disc. "Here this might help you in your journey as well." Ben took the disc but still curious about the watch asked. "I thought you said I was addicted that I didn't deserve it besides didn't the creator send all these guys to get it?" Tetrax narrowed his eyes and said "I apologize for that kid. It's just that you reminded me of a foolhardy youth from my planet that caused a lot of pain." He looked to the ground at that last part in a way that made Ben think he was ashamed of the person he mentioned. "As for the creator he only sent me to locate Xylene and Myaxx. As for these two bounty hunters I have no idea who sent them although I have a pretty good Idea of what they were after." He looked down at the omnitrix as he spoke. "So it wasn't the creator but then who did send them." Ben wondered to himself. "Can you take it off of him?" Gwen asked, limping over to the two shaking Ben from his thoughts. "Yes but only if your cousin wants." Tetrax looked over to Ben. "No thanks like you said, it's in good hands." Tetrax nodded and then walked over to the two bounty hunters. "Until we meet again." With that he pressed a button on his belt and the three teleported away. "Looks like everythings back to normal." Ben turned towards Grandpa and Gwen ready to head back to the rust bucket. "I can't believe you kept that thing!" Ben was taken aback by Gwen's sudden anger. "Why what's wrong?" Gwen seemed to be even angrier at him when he said that "that thing has caused nothing but trouble for all of us and instead of giving it up you chose to keep it? Ben, just look at what happened today, we all nearly died!"
"But we didn't." Ben said hoping that would calm Gwen down. "That's not the point Ben, do you really want to keep doing this forever? More and more weird things will happen unless you get rid of that thing." Gwen crossed her arms awkwardly over her crutches clearly mad at Ben. "Look, why don't we all head back to the rust-bucket? This heat is not good for any of us." Grandpa Max said, putting a shoulder over the two as if they were 10 years old arguing with each other. "Fine." Gwen said, limping away from them. Ben looked down at the omnitrix with a glum expression across his face before he and Grandpa followed after Gwen.
Later at Night…Ben sat outside on the ground staring at the nightime stars twinkling above. He heard the door of the rust bucket close behind him with a thud. "Hey grandpa." Ben said. Grandpa Max put a hand on Ben's shoulder before he spoke. "You alright Ben?" Ben looked up at his Grandfather's worried face. "Yeah I'm just confused. Why's Gwen mad at me?" Ben replied. "She's not mad at you sport she's just upset." Grandpa Max sat down next to Ben. "Try putting yourself in her shoes Ben. First she sees her cousin get attacked by tons of different monsters after he receives a magic watch from outer space and next thing you know you end up in a hospital bed trying to protect him." Ben didn't know what to say to that even though he knew Gwen felt responsible and was upset he didn't see what that had to do with the omnitrix. As if reading his mind Grandpa Max said "Ben ever since you got the omnitrix crazy things have happened and to you they may seem like an adventure but to Gwen she sees her cousin constantly in danger from threats that terrify her." Ben nodded finally understanding what Grandpa Max was saying. "Is there anything I can do about it?" Ben asked genuinely unsure of how to help his cousin or even if he could. "I don't think so kid." Grandpa Max said, looking at Ben sympathetically. "I'm taking Gwen back home for a while, maybe some time away from all this will help her." "Your sending her back for the summer?" Ben asked. In all the times they came out together neither Ben nor Gwen had ever gone home once the trip began even after the two had grown apart from each other they had always stayed together with one another throughout the summer. "Until now." Ben thought dejectedly. "Just for a while so she can get better." Grandpa Max got up and turned to walk away but before he did he said "and Ben just so you know I think you did great today you used the watch in the right way." Even Grandpa Max's praise didn't shake Ben out of his sorrow but he looked up and nodded at his Grandpa anyways. Grandpa turned and entered the rust-bucket. Ben looked up at the stars one last time before he got up and followed him inside. "Guess that's it for the summer." Ben thought glumly as he opened the door and entered the rust-bucket.
"Once again I must cut our time short I have somethings to take care of. In the meantime I shall leave you to ponder this. I mentioned that ben would make choices here that would define his future career as a hero and as i'm sure you noticed he learned how to use the omnitrix in a way that gave him the upperhand even though he could easily have chosen to use it in a more Ben way for lack of a better term. But the lesson here that I think he truly learned was letting go. It's a hard lesson for a boy his age and one that even I despite all the eons I've had to myself still struggle with. Well anyways good-bye."