Ben 16

"So many different ways to tell a story that's what makes them so interesting as a Multidimensional traveler I have many different stories to tell so many in fact that I never tell the same one twice but the one I am sharing with you today is one about a teenage boy that is already infamous throughout the multiverse Ben Tennyson. Don't worry I promise this one will be different from the one you've probably already heard now lets begin."

"Come on Ben we're burning daylight" a firm yet gentle voice called out to Ben. Ben turned to find Grandpa Max sitting in the driver's seat in the Rustbucket smiling. If he had been upset at Ben for not noticing him pull up he didn't show it though it was rare for Grandpa Max to get mad at anyone. Ben waved goodbye to his parents who had been standing right beside him outside on his lawn waiting for Grandpa Max to pick him up. "Sorry grandpa" he said, quickly grabbing his things and walking up the steps of the rustbucket. "Have fun sweety and don't forget to call us." His mom said, looking at him with a bright smile. "See you in a few months kiddo." His dad said. Ben knew that his parents didn't like it when he called them mom and dad but it just felt weird to call them by their real names.

Ben set his things in the bedroom of the rustbucket. It was a small area towards the back; it was smaller than Ben remembered it being when he had been a kid. "Hi Ben" his cousin said looking up from her notebook giving him a somewhat forced smile. "Hey Gwen, how's summer been for you." Ben said putting his things on the bottom bed and taking a seat on the Bench opposite to Gwen. "You're not going to put your stuff away?" She asked looking down at her notebook doing... whatever it was she was doing. It looked like math to ben but it had all sorts of letters and it looked like a lot of text. "I'll finish unpacking later." Ben said, trying not to be annoyed. He liked Gwen and remembered all the fun they had as kids together but lately whenever they met she was always busy doing something and only seemed to talk to Ben if he needed to be doing something, not if she wanted to hang out with him. "Hmm…ok whatever" Gwen said, not looking up from her work. "All right, kids, the first thing we're going to do is fill up the Rv with some Gas and then we're going camping." Grandpa said enthusiastically looking at the two of them before waving to Ben's parents and driving away from Ben's house. Grandpa Max had taken Gwen and Ben camping almost every summer saying that it would help them "build character by learning to live off the land." "Can't wait to eat worms for breakfast again right Gwen." Ben asked. Gwen mumbled something that sounded like an agreement still concentrating on her work not looking up and Grandpa Max was focused on the road. "I probably should have just signed up for summer school." Ben thought looking out the window with a slumped posture feeling dejected.

Meanwhile In space…

"Xylene there's nothing we can do, we have to escape before he catches us." A slender creature that was around 12 ft tall with legs that looked almost robotic with tentacles around her neck said frightened about her fate knowing who was coming after them. "If we leave then the omnitrix will fall into his hands and all of the galaxy will be at his mercy. I refuse to let that happen Myaxx. The slender green alien said her tentacles were a part of her head and waved only if she wanted them to. Her ship's engines had been struck when she had stopped in an unknown galaxy to contact Azmuth for additional instructions; he had them do this routinely so he could make sure they were safe and in case his transmissions were tracked he could give them new instructions ahead of time to prevent them from being followed although it seemed like that idea hadn't quite worked out. The explosion had caught her and myaxx off guard; she had no choice now she would have to fight Him. "Lets just dump it overboard and get out he won't follow us." Myaxx said, clasping her hands together as if to beg, still terrified of the monster she knew was coming for them. "No, too risky. He could still end up getting it after all and then would come after us anyways." Xylene said striding out towards the cargo bay doors she began typing the self-destruct code down on a panel nearby so that if that He did board their ship he would be destroyed along with them. "You can stay but I'm getting out of here." Myaxx said heading for the nearest escape pod too afraid of the monster that had been banished from her planet long ago. "What about the omnitrix?" "Forget that stupid thing Im getting out of here!" She said already inside an escape pod." Xylene knew that she couldn't stop her and that she likely would die fighting the Vilgax, the monster who destroyed entire galaxies for refusing to comply with his will. She opened up the capsule and placed the omnitrix inside to prevent it from damage she was tempted to try and activate its self destruct sequence but even if she somehow guessed the right combination Vilgax would be able to deactivate it not to mention Azmuth the creator once said that the energy inside the watch could destroy the entire universe if ever unleashed which while preferable to Vilgax obtaining it wasn't a very good alternate solution. Suddenly the doors exploded open and in he came standing at 16 ft tall ducking to enter the ship he was bigger than Myaxx and unlike her his tentacles flowed down in a way that made him look sinister his red eyes beaming with hatred when he looked at xylene and said "give me the omnitrix and I will make your death painless Uxorite." Vilgax said in a deep voice that while calm exuded hated and malice and made xylene shake with fear it took all her mental focus to respond in a somewhat calm voice "your too late vilgax this ship is about to self destruct and the omnitrix is sealed inside a device that will not open to those unworthy of it." Xylene knew that at any moment the ship would self-destruct she decided at that moment to send the omnitrix to earth with any luck vilgax would be destroyed and the omnitrix would be located and sent back to Azmuth. She pushed the button on the console and watched as the omnitrix flew out. Suddenly she felt a pain inside her that made her scream in agony when she looked down she saw Vilgax's fist jutting out of her torso. "No matter, I can pry open the device with my ship's technology." With that he retracted his fist from Xylenes torso and walked back towards the exit he clicked a button on the console wall detaching Xylenes ship from his own and leaped back towards his ship. "No I can't let him escape '' Xylene, clinging to her last few seconds of life, used her physic abilities to hit a lever on the control console. It hit and destroyed the command center of Vilgax's ship. "I hope that was enough to stop him." Xylene thought before she finally succumbed to her wounds.

Back On Earth….

Ben and Grandpa Max were finishing up the tent while Gwen sat in the Rustbucket and did her summer homework. Ben hit the last stand into place for their tent, glad to finish up. It hadn't been easy setting up the camp site especially because for whatever reason grandpa still used the same camp equipment he had bought when he had first taken Gwen and Ben camping when Ben had been 10 he was 16 now and Gwen 17.

"Well that should do it now let me see if I can't find us some dinner." Grandpa Max said standing up looking around the campsite for potential ingredients. "I'm gonna go for a little walk see you around Grandpa." Ben stood up and walked away from their campsite not wanting to see where Grandpa Max would gather their food from. Ben walked through the dark forest thinking about all the summers he and his family had spent together and how much had changed. "Gwens probably going to college soon so it'll just be me and Grandpa next year. Wow, where did all that time go?" As a kid the summers had always been a drag. Ben had always been waiting for something exciting or world changing to happen, not that it ever did. He remembered once dreaming about becoming a superhero over summer. Like that'll ever happen." He just felt so alone Gwen didn't talk to him much anymore and even though he had friends at school(despite what Cash and Jt said) it just wasn't the same as when he was a kid. Back then anything had seemed possible but now it felt like he was just destined to live a normal and mediocre life and Ben just hated that idea. Ben looked up to the stars "it looks like it's getting late man I really should've brought a watch with me." Suddenly he saw a comet shoot through the air. "No wait, that's a shooting star." Suddenly the star changed course and… was headed straight towards Ben! Ben jumped out of the way and landed in the rubble. "What was that!" Ben got up and scraped the dirt off his black and white t-shirt that Had the number 10 in green. It had been a gift from his parents when he was 10 and surprisingly it still fit. Ben walked towards the crash site and saw a strange ball sitting in the middle with smoking rising from the top. "It looks strange, is it some kind of satellite or probe?" The ground gave way beneath Ben but he managed to keep himself from falling on his head. Ben's hands grazed the front of the pod and suddenly it opened up. A neon green light blazed outward and Ben, curious as to what it was, crept closer to it and saw a strange hourglass symbol on it. "Is that some kind of watch? What could a watch be doing in outer space?" The watch continued shining and Ben, almost as if called to it, reached out towards the watch. He didn't understand why he had done it, he just felt as if he should and suddenly it changed from solid to a black oozing liquid that wrapped around Ben's wrist. Ben fell backward from shock and when he looked down at his wrist he saw that the liquid had somehow changed back into a watch again. "What just happened?" Ben said out loud. When Ben touched the watch it felt smooth and sleek like it was made of glass the dial being the only thing different it felt more like rubber and whenever he twisted it the hourglass would change to a diamond shape and show ben outlines of strange creatures. "Is it some kind of communicator?" The front of the dial suddenly jutted up towards ben. Ben realized that his thumb had accidentally hit the green button when he had been feeling the watch. Ben pushed it back into place and When he did a green energy enveloped him. He felt it in every part of his body, no that wasn't right the energy was part of him. "This feels incredible." Ben thought as he felt a sudden rush and exhilaration throughout his entire body. When the light faded he looked down seeing his ten shirt stretched out and realized that he was much taller now. "What just happened?" Ben looked at his wrist to see that not only was the watch not on his wrist but that his arm was much larger and longer than it had been before. On top of that it was a bright shade of red now. Ben was still shocked at what had happened and looked over his entire body before finally finding the watch on his shoulder. Curious he touched it again but nothing happened, he tried twisting the dial...nothing happened. "Oh no don't tell me I'm going to be trapped like this forever." Ben thought worried about his fate.

Suddenly he heard familiar screaming in the distance. "That sounds like gwen." Ben jumped out of the crater that had formed when the watch had landed. He soared through the air. "Whoa, I jumped so far like this. I wonder what else I can do." Before Ben could continue marveling over his new power he landed on a tree knocking it down with sheer force causing it to crash into a nearby tree causing a chain reaction that ended with Ben in a crater surrounded by fallen trunks. "Whoa...gotta be careful when I'm like this or I could hurt Gwen and Grandpa." Ben jumped again this time trying to hold back enough so he didn't land so rough it was tricky but eventually he got it down and landed near the campsite only making a small crater compared to the one he had made in the forest. "Grandpa Gwen!" Ben called out his voice much deeper than it normally was and sounded almost animal-like. Ben turned and saw a strange green creature that had strange tentacles where its neck should have been with legs that looked metallic and gave off small thuds as it walked towards him. Ben lunged at the strange creature who leaped backward to prevent being caught. Ben used his bottom to arms to stabilize himself and looked up at the creature. Ben pushed himself with his bottom arms and with his upper ones punched the creatures head and used the other arm to uppercut the creature causing it to launch upward and land back to the ground with a thud. Ben used his arms to pin the creature to the ground and looked at its deep crimson eyes and said...

"Where's my Grandpa and cousin?" He used all four of his arms to pin the creature's arms to its side. "Ben?" Ben turned and saw Gwen looking down at him with shock and saw grandpa max next to her as well. "You're ok." Ben said, sighing with relief which sounded strange as well in this new body. "Mind getting off me kid?" The strange creature said in an annoyed voice that sounded strange to Ben. Realizing he was still on top of the creature he released his grip and slowly got up. "Sorry I heard a scream and thought you had done something." Ben said embarrassed for attacking this thing and confused by what was going on. Before anyone could say anything there was a sudden Beeping going off and Ben felt himself change again. This time it felt like he was suddenly splashed in the face by cold water while simultaneously straining from running. He looked at his arms and realized that he was back to normal, the feeling gone as quickly as it had come. "What just happened." Ben and Gwen said simultaneously in shock Gwen from suddenly seeing her cousin go from a strange creature and go back to normal and Ben from shock that he wasn't trapped as that weird monster. "Was I a monster or some weird creature like her?" Ben thought looking down at his wrist even more curious now as to what this thing really was. "Why don't we sit down and our friend here can explain what's going on." Max said politely, though he looked at the strange creature with what seemed more like unease and maybe even anger. "Grandpa never gets angry, this day really is strange." Oddly enough though Ben wasn't scared at all in fact he was rather excited to learn more about the watch on his wrist.

They sat around the fireplace well Gwen explained that she screamed when she first saw Myaxx. Myaxx was the strange creature's name and had apparently crash landed on earth she explained to them how her ship had been attacked by a warlord known as Vilgax and how. "You just left her there?" Ben asked looking at Myaxx "why not stay and fight." Myaxx looked at Ben and for a second Ben wondered if he had offended her but she just looked at him with her red eyes lost in thought and said "trust me kid you don't want to pick a fight with Vilgax." Something about the way she said it made Ben shiver.

"What happened to Vilgax?" Grandpa Max asked curiously, leaning forward looking directly at Myaxx. He had been quiet throughout her story and seemed to be deep in thought about everything Myaxx had told them. "He must be even more surprised than us but he's good at not letting it show." "As I descended from orbit it looked like vilgax's ship was destroyed when Xylenes exploded." Myaxx said in a tone that while calm seemed shaky to Ben as if she was afraid to say what she had outloud. "You're sure Myaxx?" Grandpa said sternly "I don't want someone coming to hurt my Grandkids." "I'm sure even Vilgax couldn't survive that explosion." Myaxx said, sounding as if what she was saying was obvious although Ben noticed that her eyes shied away from Max when she spoke as if afraid of him. Max noticed it as well and asked "You don't look like it, is there something you're not telling us?" Myaxx looked towards each of them first Grandpa Max then Ben and finally Gwen as if they were some kind of jury(did her planet even have those?).

"Look Vilgax is gone but he caused a lot of death and did terrible things that got him banished from our planet. Most of my kind dont like to talk about him much." Myaxx said standing after she had finished talking. "I'm gonna go and make some repairs to my ship and try to head home but before I do there's one last thing I should tell you." She paused looking at the three of them this time, her eyes focused on Grandpa Max. "The omnitrix has a unique energy signature and while I doubt the creator or anyone else will come for it, it's not hard to track if you'd like. I can take Ben with me and try to remove it." She then looked towards Ben and Ben looked toward Grandpa Max who said "well Ben it's your choice." Gwen looked from Grandpa to Ben and turned to Myaxx who she still seemed uncomfortable around and asked "why wouldn't the creator want it back?"

"The creator intended the omnitrix to bring peace to the galaxy by letting alien species literally walk a mile in each other's place to hopefully bring them closer together. Unfortunately his device was seen as the ultimate weapon by people like vilgax and many other scientists across the universe began working on more deadly versions. Because of this he sent me and xylene to find somewhere we could abandon the watch and this seems as good a place as any." Myaxx said "Why not just destroy it?" Gwen asked. "The energy inside the omnitrix is very unstable even the creator, for as much as he claimed otherwise didn't fully understand how it worked. If it were ever released from the watch it could destroy the entire universe." Myaxx said looking at the watch or rather omnitrix as she had called it. "If it's that dangerous maybe you shouldn't keep it Ben." Gwen said, looking at Ben as if he were sick and needed to lie down. "I don't want to force you to decide Ben but maybe Gwen has a point."Grandpa Max interjected looking at the watch with a curious glance.

Ben stood there thinking about what Myaxx and Gwen had said about how dangerous the watch was and yet when he had used it in the forest he felt so alive, so special. "This Vilgax guy is gone and Myaxx did say it was unlikely anyone else would come looking for it." Ben remembered how he felt when he was that four-armed creature, how it felt to leap into the air, how the surge of energy and power he felt when he first transformed. He looked down at the watch. It was black with white lines that formed an x-shape pattern. The hourglass had changed back to neon green and glowed faintly in the dark night. Ben knew his answer then and there. "I think I'd rather keep it if that's ok." Ben said looking at Myaxx completely confident, the most confident he had ever felt in his life. "Ok" Myaxx said, nodding her head, turning and walking away. "Are you sure about this Ben?" Ben couldn't tell if Grandpa Max or Gwen had asked but he responded immediately "absolutely"

"You can never tell how a story's going to end. Don't worry I promise to tell you more about Ben 16's adventures but for now I want to focus on why he chose to keep the omnitrix. Now to be fair of all the Ben's I've met in the multiverse there's never been one who would willingly give up their omnitrix. But this Ben, despite hearing the dangers of the watch as he calls it and the concern everyone showed about his choice, was still so attached to the omnitrix that he chose to keep it. I wonder if this choice was just simple headstrong foolishness as even I've come to get used to from Ben or if his choice was something deeper. Ah but alas I suppose it doesn't matter in the end or maybe it will who knows."