Ben 10: Bride To Be: Volume 1 (Reboot)
Chapter 1: Trip to Vegas
I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to Chapter One of the rebooted version of Volume One of Bride To Be!
* If you've been paying attention, if you've read the last author's note from the last chapter of Volume Three, then you will have already known that this was coming. I announced my intentions to do this project in my last chapter for Volume Three and this project has been in development for quite a while now, really. This isn't something that just came up overnight, this took time to get going.
* Another thing I want to talk about regards criticism. I'm not stranger to criticism. My work on this site has been heavily criticized over the years, especially with the Bride To Be series. So, before anyone criticizes my work on this story, the reboot, just keep two things in mind. One, no one is perfect, not me, not you, no one. I'm just an average ordinary guy, trying to keep a hobby going, that's all this is to me, this isn't something I necessarily want to make a career out of. And two, I've put a lot of work into this specific story. I've spent a dozen hours (maybe more than that) just taking notes on the old version of the story, dictating what should stay, what could be improved and what should just be cut altogether.
* I've put a lot of time into planning this story and after all the notetaking that I've done, I think I have a pretty good idea on how I want this story to be retold. So, just try to keep this in mind when you're thinking about criticizing me and this story. You don't have to hit the post button on that hate review that you've been typing out. I'm not saying that anyone is currently doing this, that's just a hypothetical comment.
* A couple of things that I have left before you get into the story, I just want to say that I had to go back and reread the original version of this story to do this. And I just want to say right now that if you're new and you haven't read the original version, please, I beg of you, don't go read it first. You're not missing out on anything, that story will be retold here, just in a better way. This rebooted version really will be the superior version. And while we're kind of on that topic, I want to say that the original version will no longer be canon to the rest of the story. From here on out, this is the only canon version of Volume One.
* And lastly, if you've been following me and this story for a while, you may know that I "introduced" Review Responses at the end of every chapter toward the end of Volume One. Well, using the word introduced is an interesting choice, as I wasn't the first one who did that. Far from it, probably. I got the idea from a writer with the pen name of Gojaimas. They used it in one of their stories, titled "I Wanted What I Saw That Day". So, I decided to try it for myself and the rest is history. Anyway, I'm implementing a similar type of thing at the end of every chapter (if not every chapter, than most of them) in this story. So, maybe stick around and see what it's all about?
* Now, that that's out of the way, on with the story!
Earth-Prime
Thursday, May 24th, 2018
The Tennyson House
Ben
Hi, my name is Benjamin Tennyson, but you can just call me Ben. Everyone does when I really think about it. Well, the only person to ever call me "Benjamin" is my mother, but that's only when I'm in trouble. This is the story of how in just one summer, my life got flipped upside down. Some good things happened, some bad things happened, but when I think about it, bad things were a bit more common.
To start at the beginning, it was the first day of summer vacation and things were looking good for a change. I had just gotten done with my junior year of high school and I was currently seventeen years old. Six months prior to summer vacation, back in November, I had discovered an alien watch of some kind in the woods behind my house. Like I said, that was back in November and now it's around the end of May.
This alien watch that I found while out on a walk can unleash a special energy that can turn me into ten different alien forms. My favorite one is an alien I called "Diamondhead". Shortly after I had found the alien watch, I started using it for good, sneaking out every chance I got to stop crimes in the city and surrounding area outside of the suburbs that I lived in. Right now, I was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching T.V., when my mom came to talk to me.
"Ben?" she asked as she walked into the room.
"Yes, Mom?" I replied.
"Your father and I have an announcement to make."
I looked up at her from the T.V.
"What, am I going to have a little brother or sister running around anytime soon?" I joked.
Mom's eyes widened in response to my joke.
"What?" she asked in a surprised tone. "No."
"Then what's the announcement?"
Mom took a breath before speaking once more, albeit a bit slower this time.
"We are taking a three week trip to Las Vegas."
Vegas? Cool!
I smiled in response to that.
"Cool!" I exclaimed.
"No, no, you misunderstand, Ben." she spoke, even slower this time. "I said we're going to Las Vegas."
"I know. For three weeks, right?"
She nodded.
"Yes, but you still misunderstand."
"What do you mean?"
"Your father and I are going, along with your Aunt Natalie and Uncle Frank."
"But I'm going, too. Right?"
A sad smile appeared on her face, as she shook her head.
"No, Ben. Besides, you're only seventeen. You're not the legal age to drink and you can't gamble yet, either. What would you even do in Las Vegas if you went with us?"
I don't why she asked me that. At the end of the day, it was more of a rhetorical question than it was a serious one. Nevertheless, I tried to answer, only for her to cut me off midsentence.
"I don't know, I'm sure that I could figure out something. Surely Vegas has arcades or—"
"You're not going, Ben." she reaffirmed.
"But that's not fair!" I exclaimed.
"Benjamin Tennyson," she spoke my name in a stern tone. "it's perfectly fair. Aunt Natalie, Uncle Frank, your father and I have been planning this trip for months. And besides, you wouldn't be able to go, anyway. We've already made plans for you."
"What? Are you sending me to summer camp?"
She shook her head.
"Ben, you haven't been to a summer camp since you were twelve."
"Fine. Are you sending me to summer school?"
She shook her head again.
"Summer school enrollment ended almost a month ago."
"Then what am I going to be doing?" I asked in an irritated tone.
"You're going to be hanging out here with Gwen."
Gwen? Who is—Wait, as in my cousin?
"Gwen?" I asked. "As in my cousin?"
She nodded.
"Do you know another Gwen other than her?"
I shook my head.
"Mom, I haven't seen Gwen since we were ten."
"Exactly!" she happily exclaimed. "Since your father and I, along with her parents, are going to Las Vegas, we thought that you two could have the entire three weeks to catch up and to get to know each other again!"
I sighed.
"Of course." I said in a glum tone.
"Ben?" she spoke my name with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
I got up from the couch.
"I'll be downstairs in the game room."
I left the room and entered the hallway leading to the basement stairs before Mom could say anything else. If you were wondering how my parents hadn't noticed the alien watch yet, it's because of it having its own camouflage feature. What it did instead of just turning invisible, was it took the shape and look of a regular, water-proof wristwatch. So, it literally hides in plain sight.
I could also remove it while in this form, which is weird, because I couldn't remove it while it was in its true form. I walked into the game room and turned on the lights. My dad has a government job, so we were kinda wealthy, but still lived in the suburbs. Sure, we weren't rich, but we were far from living in poverty. There was no reason why we couldn't live comfortably and that we did.
Just so you can get an idea of what kind of stuff that we had in the game room, there's a good amount. We have a hockey table (not air hockey, but you can't really complain) that could change into a pool table my flipping over the tabletop, a dart board on the wall across the room from the hockey and pool table, a flat screen T.V. and two game consoles. Well, technically, we had three game consoles.
Two Xbox 360s (one of which was up in my room, the other of which was down here) and I also have my old game system down there, that I played Sumo Slammers on from time to time. On the 360, I played first person shooter games, like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor (the older ones, not the two reboots), and Halo. Speaking of Halo, I was also a fan of the machinima series based off of the games, called Red Vs. Blue.
I also had a bit of a mini science lab down here. After getting the alien watch, I began to display more interest in science and so, the "lab" was one of my Christmas presents last year. Believe it or not, it seems to have helped increase my intelligence, along with helping me pickup my grades. You can't beat that!
Forty Minutes Later
"Hey, Doofus!" a feminine voice spoke from behind me.
I had assumed that the voice belonged to Gwen, so I briefly turned my head to greet her.
"Hey, Dweeb." I spoke in a glum tone, before turning back to my game.
It took me no less than a second or two to double take. She was really pretty now. When we were younger, words like "pretty" and "cute" where never in my vocabulary. I'm not saying that I commonly used those words now, but I thought that she had grown up to be really pretty. Having her red hair pulled back into a ponytail; she was wearing simple blue T-shirt, jeans and black Nike shoes. She gave me an odd look as she crossed the room to where I sat on the couch.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just in kind of a bad mood."
She walked over to the couch and jumped onto it next to me.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Our parents are going to Vegas." I said in a glum tone. "And I'm not going."
"So? I was looking forward to being here for the next three weeks!"
"Glad to see you're enjoying it."
"You'll enjoy it, too!"
"I doubt it."
"No, really! We can order a pizza tonight," she spoke as she began counting on her fingers. "we can catch a few movies or just watch a few movies here, we can watch T.V., we can go to that new water park that just opened, The Riptide Rapids Zone, we can go up to the middle school for open swim, we could play some Sumo Slammers, we can do lots of stuff!"
As she finished speaking, she threw up her hands in an effort to display how excited she was.
"Hmm." I said as I turned back to the T.V. screen. "You're really trying to sell me on this."
"You know it."
I unpaused and continued playing my game of Halo: Combat Evolved. To my surprise, Gwen almost immediately expressed interest in my game.
"Wait, is this Halo?" she asked. "Halo: Combat Evolved?"
Hold on, I thought. She knows what I'm playing?
"Um, yeah..." I spoke as I looked at her from out of the corner of my eye.
"Is this the second level, Halo?"
I nodded without a word.
"Where are you at?"
"Uh, I just met up with Sergeant Johnson at the first Forerunner structure."
"Cool."
What she said next completely threw me off guard.
"Can I play?"
I paused the game, out of surprise. I was also being shot at by an Elite, so I needed a second to process Gwen's question without being fired at. I turned to look at her with surprise.
"I'm sorry?" I asked.
"I asked if I could play. So, can I?"
"Do you know how to play?"
"Are you kidding? I love Halo!"
Wow, I thought. I didn't see that coming.
"Sure. You can play."
I got up to get a spare controller for her. I walked back over to her, handed it to her and she took it from me.
"Do you want to play the co-op campaign?"
She had a thoughtful expression on her face for a second or two after my question, before she spoke.
"Can we play a match of Slayer, instead?"
"Um, sure. I don't mind."
I paused the game to save and quit out of the single player campaign. A couple minutes later, we were sitting in a local multiplayer lobby.
"So, what map do you want to play?" I asked.
"My brother and I usually play on Sidewinder when we play." She replied. "What's your favorite map?"
Now that I thought of it, I knew that her brother, Ken, played Halo. In fact, every other weekend, Ken, my friends J.T. and Cash and I would all gather down here to play four player split-screen Slayer.
"Blood Gulch." I replied after a few seconds of thinking. "My favorite map is Blood Gulch."
"Hmm. Since it's only us two, why don't we just play on Battle Creek?"
I shrugged.
"Okay."
I set up the game, with the score limit being fifty points with no time limit. As we sat there, I felt the urge to brag to her or something. So, I did.
"I'm not going to go easy on you."
What she said in response kind of surprised me.
"Good, don't."
"Fine, then I won't."
"Tell you what. If you win, I'll pay for the pizza tonight. And if I win, then you'll pay for the pizza."
I chuckled with a smirk.
"Better get out your wallet."
As the match loaded, I couldn't help but say Battle Creek's description out loud.
"Splash, Splash."
"Bang, Bang." Gwen finished for me.
Damn, I thought.
"You really know your stuff, Gwen."
She just laughed in response.
I was beginning to get the feeling that these three weeks might not be so bad.
One Hour Later
Well, to make a long story short, Gwen pretty much kicked my ass. The final score came out with her having fifty points and me having just over half of that, with twenty seven points. I did a fairly decent job, but it still wasn't enough. We had to stop halfway through the match and pause the game in order to go say goodbye our parents.
They told us to have a fun three weeks and I believed that I may actually have fun. Once they had left, we both took a bathroom break before going back downstairs, grabbed a couple of sodas and then returned to our game. I put my controller down on the coffee table in front of me, feeling a bit frustrated.
"Better get out your wallet!" Gwen teased me.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault that I lost! How would have known that you would be that good?"
She smirked.
"Well, when you play a match or two with your brother a few days every week for five years, the practice pays off."
Five years?
"You've been playing for that long? You could go pro!"
She started laughing in response.
"I'm not that good at the game, Ben."
Given what she said, I let the subject go.
"Still, you beat me and I thought that I was pretty good. Sometimes I fall a bit behind your brother or both my friends, J.T. and Cash, but I don't recall the last time I came in last in a game of Combat Evolved's multiplayer."
She giggled.
"You know what? Since I feel bad about kicking your butt so much, I'll pay for half of the pizza tonight."
"You don't have to. You won fair and square. I'll pay for the pizza."
"I know I don't have to help pay for it, but I want to."
"I didn't say no."
She got up from the couch and stretched. As she did this, she took a look around the game room.
"You certainly have a lot of stuff down here."
"And you are welcome to use any of it whenever you want."
"Thanks. That's so nice of you, Ben."
I shrugged.
"It's just who I am. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that we're getting along."
She turned to face me with a look of confusion on her face.
"Why? What makes you say that?"
"The last time you slept over, when we were ten, we got into a fight. I said some things, you said some things. Mainly, you said that you never wanted to see me again."
"And you thought I meant it? That was seven years ago, Ben! We were kids! We probably didn't even realize what we were saying! One of the reasons that I was so excited to come over here for three weeks was because I was hoping to reignite the spark in our relationship."
I smiled as I began to think back.
"Yeah, we did have some good times here back in the day." I spoke as I reflected on the good memories.
We used to play Super Mario Bros. on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Good times. Unfortunately, we moved the SNES into the attic after Gwen stopped coming over here. I couldn't bring myself to touch the controller, as it reminded me of the big fight that we had back then. I haven't seen it since. And for all I know, it's still up there.
The one thing that never changed here was Gwen's old room. In hopes that she would come back one day, I begged my parents to leave it as it was and they did. And yes, she came here so much back then, that she had her own room. She was here every weekend since the age of six. We took turns on a regular basis, with her coming to my house and with me going to her house.
"We didn't even have all this cool stuff back then. I'm sorry."
She continued looking at me.
"You don't have to apologize. Neither of us meant what we said that day. I don't have to apologize, either."
"It was just us being bratty kids. We were growing up. And we pretty much have."
She smiled and eventually laughed as she walked over to me. She grabbed my sleeve, pulled it up and touched my bicep.
"Speaking of growing up, where did these guns come from?!"
I couldn't help but laugh as well.
"Gwen, you'd be surprised what happens in seven years."
Or six months, I thought. That's right. Since finding the alien watch, my muscles have seen significant growth. It's not like the alien watch did everything on its own, though. I had to do most of the work. Ken, Cash, J.T. and I had our own private hangout not far from our houses. It was ours and only hours. I could make it there on my bike in just ten minutes, it wasn't that far from my house.
Dad paid for the electricity on the building, so it was rightfully mine. Since getting the alien watch, I had renovated half of our clubhouse into my own personal gym. Complete with weights, a barbell and bench, a treadmill and one of those things to do pull ups on. Dad paid for the equipment.
When he and Mom found out that I was interested in working out, that turned out to be half of my Christmas present. That and the science stuff for my "lab", too. I can't tell you how expensive that shit was. It was practically my only Christmas present from them.
"You want to go upstairs and watch T.V. or something?" I asked. "Play a board game?"
"Sure!"
She went upstairs and while she did that, I turned off the Xbox, T.V. and on my way out, I shut off the lights, too.
Three Hours Later
Gwen and I watched T.V. and played Battleship until it was time to order the pizza. Once the pizza came, I let her pick the movie since I had picked the T.V. show. She ended up picking Finding Nemo.
Leave it to my cousin to pick a great movie and a hit first person shooter game, I thought. Go figure.
We stayed up until about ten thirty or eleven. Once Finding Nemo was over, we put the left over pizza into the fridge and said our good nights. She went to her room—the guest room—and I went to mine. I locked my bedroom door and undressed except for my boxer briefs and socks. I went over to my dresser, pulled out a white undershirt and put it on.
I tapped the time change button on my wrist watch, which would return it to its original form. I figured since I was alone in here, I could afford to leave it in its original form. Besides, I always slept with it like that, in case of an emergency. I turned off the light and walked over to my bed, where I got under the covers. As I began to drift off, I couldn't help but think:
I think I may enjoy these three weeks.
Author's Note:
* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!
* I hope that you all like this better than the original version (for those of you who read the original version). I know it's a little early to tell, but I would like to think that this is already the better version of this story. So, please, leave a review and tell me how I did. I'm really curious on hearing whatever it is you might have to say.
Director's Commentary
* So, this is the new little thing that I've added to the story. These "Director's Commentary" sections are where I will explain why I decided to cut some things or if I can remember, what led to some story elements being implemented in the first place. No one really asked for this, but I thought that it would be interesting to do.
* So, to start off, I cut Ben's thoughts of Gwen being hot, upon her coming back into his life. That was kind of a red flag. For one, she just got back into his life and two, she's his cousin, so he really shouldn't be thinking that. Obviously, we know that they end up together, but I don't need Ben obsessively thinking about her in that regard. I don't even remember why I thought that was a good idea to do, but looking back, it was a dumb thing to have done, so it was cut.
* And for the second (and last thing) before we wrap up this installment of Director's Commentary, there are little bits throughout the story that don't add anything to the overarching plot. Chapter one's version of this, was Ben explaining the context of his Xbox profile name and setting up Gwen's profile. This adds nothing to the story and it was kind of pointless, so it was cut. Little, pointless things like that will be cut out of the story, to make room for the more important plot. Again, I don't know why I put that into the original release, but looking back now, it really doesn't belong here.
* Okay, before we wrap up, I just want to say that if any of you have any questions about decisions of mine regarding the first edition of this story, whether it be questions regarding the original plot or why I put certain scenes in, please go ahead and message me about it or mention your question in a review. Don't be shy, I will answer any and all questions that I can. If I can't answer your question without spoiling a future event, than your question will be saved for a future installment of Director's Commentary and will be answered there. Will of that said, we can wrap this up now. Thanks for reading.
Next Chapter: Ben and Gwen get used to the concept of living together for three weeks and later in the day, Gwen reveals a side hobby of hers to Ben.