Chapter 3

1 A.M

The Forever Knights Castle: Outside

September 20

1 A.M

Gwen stares up at the Forever Knights and cracks her knuckles. "Let's do this!"

The Forever Knights arrive right on queue; they storm out the Forever Knights' castle in the thousands.

Kevin bends down and absorbs the Stone Pavement. Once absorbed, the Stone Man observes the Forever Knights as they rush towards the pavement in front. With that knowledge in mind, Kevin uses his elbows to lift up his side of the pavement. Then, he slams it hard down. Doing so creates a ripple effect across the entire pavement and the Forever Knights collapse on their backs, utterly defeated.

"The Plumbers will be here in 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1!" Professor Paradox counts down; he stares down at his pocket watch. Immediately after, a huge Magma dome appears in front of Team Ben. Inside the dome are Grandma Verdona, Darkstar, Manny, Helen, Pierce, Alan, Cooper, Tetrax, and Argit.

"Hey, kiddos" Grandma Verdona greets her fellow grandchildren.

They've longed for a family hug, but now was not the time. And if the Highbreed recovered their species from Area 51 and used them to destroy Planet Earth, then who even knows if a hug would ever be possible again. A Forever Knight charges at Grandma Verdona, who appeared distracted by seeing her grandchildren. But the Forever Knight was dead wrong; the Anodite quickly zaps them with her Magma projectiles. Enemy eliminated.

"Alright, let's split up into teams" Ben explains. "Grandma and Gwen. Manny, Helen, and Pierce. Alan and Tetrax. Kevin and Argit. Me and Julie. I guess that leaves just Professor Paradox, Cooper, and Michael Morningstar!"

In the middle of that dialogue, The Forever Knights shoot a freaking missile at them. Fortunately, Professor Paradox stops the missile in mid-air. It remains frozen in time. Cooper stares at the missile with utter fascination. His eyes glow. The missile reassembles into a huge laser gun for Cooper to use for himself.

"Let's do it!" he utters

Team #1: Professor Paradox and Darkstar

1:05 A.M

50 Forever Knights shoot lasers at the unlikely duo. Fortunately, time comes to the rescue once more: Professor Paradox stops the laser bullets in mid-air. Along with that, the Professor freezes the Forever Knights, pretty much paralyzing their movements below the neck.

"Tell us the Highbreeds plan or remain in a frozen state of conscious" he gives them an ultimatum.

Darkstar shoves the professor aside and cracks his own knuckles. "Oh, it's gonna take a lot more to get 'em to talk"

The Professor gives a puzzled look; Darkstar demonstrates. He flies high up in the sky and shoots a charcoal-colored beam at the paralyzed Forever Knights. The motionless minions scream and yell. Darkstar removes his mask and experiences instant rejuvenation: The lively skin, the blonde hair. Michael Morningstar is attractive again. His dream to woe the attracted could now be fulfilled.

Basically, Darkstar is sucking out the Forever Knights' life force to make them talk. And also turn himself into an irresistible hunk, except for Gwen who would never return to such a man; the rest, however, were fair game.

"What are you doing?!" the professor asks, horrified upon his observation.

"Forcing them to choose between loyalty to the Highbreed or imminent death!"

"Michael, stop!" Ben orders. "Now is not the time for torture; they're just following orders!"

"He said stop!" Gwen intervenes. Her inclusion within the conversation was enough to make Michael give up. He sighs, puts his mask back on, and reverses the effect of what had just transpired.

Ben and Gwen revert to helping out their sub-teams.

"You've made it extra difficult!" Professor Paradox admits. "After such torture, there's no way the Forever Knights will spill out such information!"

He reluctantly agrees:

"Alright. Let's just keep doing it your way"

Team #2: Grandma Verdona and Gwen

1:10 A.M

Grandma Verdona and Gwen work together as a team. An army of Forever Knights charges towards them; Gwen felt intimidated. This was the largest hound of enemies that she'd ever fought. Fortunately, Gradma Verdona came to the rescue:

"Say the water monster spell with me!"

Both of the Anodites look at each; they hold hands to unite their Mana energy: "Animo Cataractum!"

Suddenly, a water creature forms and attacks the Forever Knights. The Forever Knights scream as the water creature squishes and brawls with them; causes their laser guns to malfunction from the water.

"Oh, Gwendolyn. Combining our energy makes me feel powerful again!" she comments: "I feel as young as 80!"

Team #3: Kevin and Argit

1:15 A.M

Kevin is busy beating up Forever Knights in his stone form. He knocks one of them to the ground and absorbs the metal armor. Then, he repeatedly punches the knight in the face: "Tell me now. What's the Highbreed's plan?!"

"I'm not OW telling you anything!" the knight refuses.

Argit notices a Forever Knight and also knocks him down to the ground

"Argit?!" the Forever Knight screams, causing a confused Argit to pause.

"Do you not remember me? You supplied us with weapons!" the Forever Knight recounts their dealings to the con artist.

"Oh, yeah!" Argit remembers. "So, as a thank you, can you tell us the Highbreeds' plan?!"

"YES! Just let me go!" the Forever Knight pleads with the surprisingly strong rat.

"Good" Argit agrees; he turns back to Kevin: "I hope this makes up for when I betrayed you!" [Talking about Kevin's Big Score]

"Forget it!" Kevin refuses to forgive him.

Forever Knights Castle: Outside

2 A.M

Team Ben and the other Plumbers surround the now defeated Forever Knights; they remain motionless on the pavement. Grandma Verdona's eyes glow as she surveys the location [Pretty much what Gwen did to survey the Highbreed ship in Ben 10 Returns]:

"Alright, that's all of them" she concludes. "I can't see any remaining Forever Knights inside the castle"

"Grandma, how many Forever Knights did we just beat?" Ben asks. "The body count seems to be...is it over 9000?"

"9102 Forever Knights have been defeated"

"Argit got a confession from one of the knights" Kevin explains. "Apparently, the Forever Knights wanted to seize Area 51 for high-tech weapons from the aliens; the Highbreed would have teamed up with them"

"Seriously? These are the people you fight?" Julie asks, dumbfounded. "They have no sense of humor"

Ben shrugs until Gwen casts a Mana teleportation dome over Team Ben and the Plumbers.

"Julie, when you're hellbent on saving the world, there's no place for humor"

"That's a line from the Sumo Slammers Movie" Julie reminds him. "Speaking of which, will this be over soon? I want to finish the movie"

"Julie, I don't know" Ben admits. Then, he yawns and rubs his reddening eyes. "We might have to get a rent extension on the movie DVD"

"Alright, now we gotta defend Area 51!" Gwen explains. "The Highbreed will attack in an hour. So, it's best that we reach there first. Then, we plan out the battle!"

Everyone nods.

"Ugh. I totally forgot!" Kevin admits. "What we gonna do about the humans?!"

"Umm. What do you mean?" Tetrax asks, confused.

"If the humans raiding Area 51 notice our fight with The Highbreed, then they'll ask too many questions!" he asks.

"I have an idea. But we'll have to split up the team" Ben admits; Gwen casts the teleportation spell: "Abeo Exorior!"

To be continued

[A/N: Apologies for the delay. I haven't been dead since posting Chapter 2 last month; I've spent the past few weeks moving to a new house and still working part-time. College starts soon so I'm planning to have a Chapter 4 and then end the story at Chapter 5]