Life…
It can even be found beyond the seemingly single planet capable of life in the Milky Way Galaxy in one of many solar systems, which was named Earth.
Many of Earth's scientists had the idea that Earth wasn't the only planet capable of nurturing life on its round surface, but alas, many didn't believe there were ways of traveling outside from their solar system's borders. Either the lack of fuel needed to travel out to such distances, or lack of proper technology that would be needed to sustain such space travel and longevity off their primal world.
That was the case of one such young mind, a ten-year-old boy named Ben Tennyson.
Now Ben was what you could call a normal kid: He had a mother and a father, a pet dog, and went to school like any other boy his age. And like many others, he too was curious about what was beyond the borders of his planet... That is… until a faithful summer vacation that changed everything.
It was on the very first night specifically. Going off on a country tour with his grandfather Max and his cousin Gwen seemed to be a typical summer activity, but discovering that life did exist beyond Earth, accidentally gaining access to alien technology and learning that his grandfather had ties to extraterrestrials, the government, and even to a line of duty beyond Earth changed his view on life.
During the faithful summer vacation, Ben had fought many foes. Some from beyond the planet and some from his earth. Many things had changed for the young Ben Tennyson. Many indeed. But none would impact the boy until a year later.
A now eleven-year-old Ben Tennyson, back on the road for another summer vacation full of ghouls, monsters, and aliens. The boy would soon become the savior of the universe. Saving it a couple of times.
But now we follow the boy before he would give up the device after losing a favorite transformation of his.
Ben looked at his enemy, which was a humanoid giant dog-like creature that had no ears or eyes. Ben looked at it with a smirk showing his arrogance to the monster. His smirk then formed into a confident smile as he looked at his watch, the alien device known as the Omnitrix.
The Omnitrix was a wristwatch that could transform the user into multiple different aliens. It sports a black and gray color scheme. Two white lines extended from around the length of it, and in the middle of the device was a black dial with four green circles, and two green buttons. Sporting a bright emerald green was an hourglass-shaped circle in the middle.
Ben quickly pressed the two buttons of the Omnitrix as he got back onto his feet. The dial popped out, revealing green circuitry on the core. He quickly began to turn the dial a few times and immediately the hourglass figure of the dial turned into a rhombus-like shape, with a black silhouette of a humanoid creature appearing in the green outline. The dial glowed a brilliant emerald green color before Ben slammed on the Omnitrix's core.
Then in his place appeared a humanoid-like being with the height of an average human child. He had white skin, a black and white head and face, black shoulders, large hands with four digits and feet,t which are merely stubs. He as well had three fin-like growths on his head and gem-like extended sensory nodes on his arms and waist. His clothes were black and had an overall-like design. He had green eyes with light green shines and wore the Omnitrix symbol on his chest that was an hourglass.
"DITTO!"
"Ben, wait!" An old man in a Hawaiian red t-shirt and blue jeans yelled out to the boy. He had a very worried look as he clenched the gun-like device in his hands. This was a null void projector.
The null void projector was designed close to a gun with the handle and trigger like a pistol. With the end of the gun being an almost half bowl-like look.
This man was Ben's grandpa, but he was known as Max Tennyson. One of the greatest Plumbers imagable, the Plumbers were an intergalactic organization that took down aliens.
The alien creature that was causing havoc was a Vulpimancer that escaped from the Null Void, a prison dimension that the plumbers used to cage aliens.
Ditto ran towards the creature with a cocky smirk, his body slowly morphed outward of itself until two Ditto's were there. The two Ditto's jumped to the Vulpimancer landing on its nose and eyeless face.
"Grandpa-" The first Ditto yelled out, struggling to hold its grip.
"Open the portal!" The second Ditto screamed, having just as hard of a time holding on.
Max nodded and pointed the gun in his hand to behind the Vulpimancer. He pulled the trigger making the bowl at the end of the gun light up a bright golden light, and behind the aliens opened a rift in space itself to a dimension. A dimension that seemed to be an endless void, full of bizarrely shaped floating asteroids, and a multitude of bizarre creatures to accompany the eeriness of this space.
The Vulpimancer shook desperately, its keen senses picking up the endless void behind him. It growled in desperation to get away from the portal however, the mole-like alien kept its grip.
Finally, the Vulpimancer managed to launch one of the Ditto's off of him and into Max, knocking the old man off his feet and on his back.
The last Ditto on the Vulpimancer noticed that the portal was closing and that he and his Grandpa had a discussion not long before the encounter started was that the null void projector had only enough energy for one shot. Ditto gritted his teeth as his back morphed and suddenly three more Ditto's popped out and grabbed onto the Vulpimancer.
"Grandpa!" Max held his head in slight pain and looked to the voice who called out to him and saw one of the Ditto clones talking to him. He looked at the boy's face and recognized a certain look in his eyes. It was one he saw many times with his Plumber partners in the past, it was a look that told him he was going to do something stupid. "Tell Gwen I'll see later." The Ditto's smiled and then all pushed themselves into the Null Void. The Vulpimancer was right with him and fell into the portal.
Max widened his eyes and ran as fast as he could to the portal, he didn't care about his arthritis that made his legs ache every time he moved his legs. He didn't care how much it hurt, he needed to save his grandson. But, unfortunately, it was too late. By the time the old man arrived at the portal, it had closed.
"No…" Max muttered out in desperation, falling to his knees. He clenched his fist and punched the ground. Once again his arthritis kicked in again and made his hand sting in pain.
"Grandpa?" Max turned to the noise behind him and a tear almost fell from his eye when he saw the original Ditto walking up to him.
"Ben!" Maz ran to the boy and hugged him. "You're alright."
"Yeah, but the clones are now in the null void, I can't turn back-" A beeping noise then rang from the Omnitrix dial on his chest.
A robotic noise rang through the area and seemed to echo. "Splixson clone DNA signal lost. Commencing backup contingency. Code: 000 - Clone - 0."
A beeping was heard signifying the Omnitrix timing out. And then in a blinding green light, Ben stood before the old man both looking at each other with a mixture of confusion and surprise.
"Uh… what just happened?"
In the Null Void
The Ditto's all grouped up with each other before joining into one being.
"Huh, I guess I'm going to be stuck like this for a while-"
"Splixson original DNA signal lost. Commencing backup contingency. Code: 000 - Clone - 0."
A beeping was heard signifying the Omnitrix timing out. And then in a blinding green light, Ben was seen in his signature white and black shirt. He looked around the dimension in confusion. He knew there was one Ditto that was left on Earth so he knew he couldn't time out if that was the case. But that didn't seem to be the case here.
He was somehow back to his normal self with the original Ditto nowhere insight, he was lost in thought another voice suddenly echoed through the endless void.
"Ben Tennyson!" Ben recognized the voice as the creator of the Omnitrix known as Azmuth. He looked down at his watch which seemed to be the source of the noise to see a green hologram above the Omnitrix that appeared to be a frog-like being.
"Azmuth?"
"Hello, Ben Tennyson, if you are seeing this… you must have been stupid enough to have gotten lost in another dimension or universe. It must have been far enough that the Omnitrix has lost signal of the original body of your Splixson form called 'Ditto'." Azmuth says with a heavy sigh, sweat dropped from Ben's forehead from the very accurate description of his situation. "Either way you should know on your last visit I installed a new protocol I call the cloning process. With this prerecorded message with it. To put it in the simplest words possible, your Splixson clone has been lost in a different universe or dimension, so I made sure to make sure that if that ever happened the Omnitrix would spit your DNA and make an exact copy of you."
Ben widened his eyes at that.
"So you are now your very own Ben Tennyson, unfortunately, this also means you can never go back to Earth," Azmuth explains which made Ben gasp.
"WHAT!? WHY?!"
"You probably just screamed. 'What?! Why?!' completely forgetting this is a recorded message." Ben blinked, it was creepy how he was able to predict that. "Listen closely Tennyson, there can only be one Omnitrix. If other Omnitrix wearers came from other universes that would be different, however, an exact copy of another Omnitrix cannot exist in the same plane as the original."
Ben took in this information all in one and nearly fainted from it. 'I'm never going to see my family again?' Ben thought to himself and finally took in his surroundings fully and realized where he was as his vision landed on the knocked-out Vulpimancer a few feet away from him.
He was stuck in a prison dimension, a place where they put the worst of the worst. Even with the water… how could he ever survive?!
"It is sad, yes, and I'm truly sorry, Benjamin. But before I leave this message I will give you a few commands to use in the future." Ben brightened up at that and immediately jumped for joy. "No, I will not give you master control." Ben's big smile turned into an immediate frown and sigh. "First we will go over the 'Decouple Omnitrix Command Code' you will have to say this to the Omnitrix after saying 'Voice Command' I already made it so it recognizes your voice. Now for the code, it goes, Decouple Omnitrix Command Code: 000 - Release Coupling - 0. Next is the 'Life-Form Lock' Command Code 1010, state your name and then you will stay as the alien for as long as you need." Ben's mind began to overload as all the information started to stockpile onto itself and never seemed to stop. "Write this down, it's critical, Tennyson!"
Ben was lucky he had a very good memory, even if he didn't use it too often. Otherwise, this would have all been forgotten by now.
As Azmuth listed off the other commands Ben looked to the sky and sighed he had no idea what he was going to do now. But all he could do was hope he could find a way out of the Null Void, and fast.
Five Years Later
The Null Void, an alternate dimension used for imprisoning intergalactic criminals. However, while the space is used for the previously mentioned individuals, sometimes, other cases may bring other people inside accidentally, which is the circumstance for the young boy.
On top of a large asteroid shaped in a bizarre-like structure was a young Ben Tennyson in a makeshift bed. Compared to what he was wearing four years ago and how he previously appeared, he was now wearing a dull grey shirt with black lines, olive green pants with black stripes on the bottom, with black and white sneakers. His skin was also a bit slimmer, yet had a stronger build on his body.
Ben rolled over in his makeshift bed, ruffling his now slightly longer brown hair as he yawned. As he slowly opened his eyes he sat up and stretched his arms out. He looked around, blinking a few times before getting out of his makeshift bed, which was made out of many stitched together sheets of orange and blue fur coats.
"Well, at least you're not getting eaten or attacked by anything so far today Ben, that's a good sign." The boy said as he called out his safety.
Now standing, the boy did a few stretches. He then began to search the vicinity of the asteroid as his stomach began to growl.
"Well, better get something to eat… what shall I have for breakfast today?" Ben wondered with a slight grin.
Scanning the area with his eyes, the brunet spotted a colony of some airborne creatures in the vicinity. Ben leered and began to route a course in the direction of the swarm. Stopping at the edge of the asteroid, he activated the Omnitrix. It now had been recalibrated, the Omnitrix resembled a slimmer and sleeker watch-like shape, now with a green wristband, and the face of the dial becoming black and green. When Ben was selecting his aliens it showed the alien's hologram standing on the core rather than the alien's silhouette.
With the recalibration, he got 11 new aliens but lost his old ones, thankfully the recorded Azmuth told him the codes to get back his old aliens. Probably for this exact reason. It scared him how much he thought ahead.
"At this distance… It's probably best to go with—" He quickly turned the dial and pushed down the core.
In a flash of emerald green, he was replaced with a green humanoid plant creature with 5 vine-like legs and flytrap flaps surrounding its blue-eyed head. The Omnitrix dial was displayed on its chest as he revealed himself.
"Wildvine!" The plant alien yelled out.
Wildvine then embedded his five limbs into the asteroid. Prodding his arms out, they cultivated in length and rushed towards the swarm. Elongating out the four fingers on each of his hands into a makeshift net of sorts, he clutched a small cluster of the creatures and heaved them back towards himself. As his catch grew closer, he let go of one of his arms while still entangling them.
Taking a pod out from his back, he hurled it at the group, making it detonate into a puff of gas. In a short bit, the cluster ceased to resist moving in Wildvine's hold.
"Well, that takes care of that. Nothing a little sleeping gas can't handle." Wildvine said with his gravelly voice. Hauling his legs out from the asteroid, Wildvine then started to pace back to his settlement, placing down his new catch. Taking a closer look revealed them to be an alien species resembling that of flying fish. "Huh… I still can't get used to the fact that some of these creatures look like some from Earth. Meh, doesn't matter, let's get cooking!"
Wildvine then tapped the Omnitrix dial on his chest, enveloping himself into another gleam of emerald green light. After the light dissipated, Wildvine was replaced with another humanoid plant creature. It had two root-like legs and displayed a flame patterned head with green eyes. The Omnitrix dial was placed on its chest as he looked down.
"Swampfire will do just fine." He decided, speaking out with a nasal voice.
Kneeling and slamming his arms down, green roots rose from the ground, skewering the fish-like aliens and placing them in a line. A small pile of roots gathered in front of them as Swampfire stood up. Holding one of his arms out, from a hole in the palm of it exerted ignited methane, which quickly caught fire. Lightly dousing the pile of roots, they slowly began to become inflamed, fabricating a makeshift campfire that began to cook the fish-like creatures.
"And now we wait. But while that's happening…" Swampfire whistled as he turned around. The plant alien took a few seconds to walk over to another part of the asteroid he was living on, stopping at what looked like a plain wall of stone. Swampfire looked up as he slammed his hand on the dial. The Omnitrix dial flashed, replacing the plant being with a humanoid alien that was approximately twelve feet tall, had well-developed muscles, two pairs of four-fingered arms, and red skin. A black stripe went from his chin to his lower lip, and he had four orange eyes: the main pair, and a smaller pair below them. He wore a shirt that was close to Ben's in his human form, black pants, and fingerless gloves, and wore the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
"Four Arms!"
Gripping onto the wall with his four powerful limbs, Four Arms dragged it to the right, causing it to slowly budge over until enough was done to reveal a hole. Letting it go, Four Arms entered the hole and dragged the wall back from the other side. He exhaled from the physical feat as the Omnitrix flashing, reverting him to his human form.
Ben glanced down at the device on his wrist for a moment. He couldn't believe it had been five years. And now, he was going to get out.
Ben then walked over to a small lever, pulling it down. Several illuminating lights then flickered into existence, revealing a lane ranging down into a cave. Ben started walking down the path until he reached a large metal gate that had the symbol of the Omnitrix on it.
"Voice Recognition: Tennyson 10. Authorize access." Ben quoted as he cleared his throat.
"User Ben Tennyson recognized; proceeding."
The gate opened up with the confirmation of the mechanical voice, with Ben walking through afterward. As he entered, the door closed behind himself, trapping Ben in a pitch-black sight before further lights went off, revealing another room.
The chamber was occupied with belongings of various origins. Naming a few of these objects were a bunch of what seemed to be alien devices, storage containers, and a mess of papers. But the foremost article was a bulky mechanism that was linked up to a gate-like device. Ben walked to it and patted it while giving a small smile.
"Well, let's continue working on you, shall we?" Ben said as he looked up and down the machine.
Walking over to a table full of tools and materials, Ben began activating the Omnitrix. Turning the dial, Ben pressed down the core after selecting his chosen alien, enveloping him in another flash of green light. Replacing him was a small humanoid frog creature wearing a grey and black jumpsuit. It had two large green eyes with rectangular pupils, blinking with horizontal eyelids. A black stripe was on its head, with the Omnitrix dial on its chest.
"Let's start off with Grey Matter!" The alien spoke with a high-pitched voice.
Hopping onto the table, Grey Matter began to immerse himself with the tools and materials. Beginning to build some sort of machine, he began muttering various things to himself as the pile of materials began to form something entirely new as time went on. Grey Matter cheered in joy after jumping back to look at its finished work, but his stomach started to growl.
"Ugh… well, first things first. Time to satisfy my need for nourishment!" He said with a gnarly grin.
Gray Matter tapped the dial on his back, causing the dial to flash green again, replacing him with a blue velociraptor and humanoid-like creature. He wore a white and black jumpsuit, with 3 claws for fingers, and sported a five-striped tail and a helmet, leaving only his blue-skinned face that had green eyes and black lips with black stripes along with its eyes. He wore the Omnitrix dial on its chest as he took a stance.
"Gotta XLR8 to the food before it burns!" He squeaked, almost blurting out his words while making the pun. His face was enclosed with a blue visor.
Speeding off to the entrance while swiftly reciting the previous code, the door unlocked itself slightly, but XLR8 zoomed past it in a flash. Once he reached the stone wall, the Omnitrix dial flashed green to reveal Four Arms again, who opened the entrance.
Four Arms went to the fire and plucked out the cooked fish, putting out the flames in the process. Shortly after, he quickly ran back to close the entrance before transforming back into XLR8 again.
Returning to his lab, XLR8 reverted back to Ben. He pulled up a chair and placed his food in a container, holding onto one as he began eating. While eating, he proceeded to continue Grey Matter's work in his human form, attaching a few small pieces to the device's nooks and crannies.
As smart as all the Galvin, which were what Gray Matter and Azmuth were. Unless they were born like Azmuth, a mega genius of over five galaxies since he was a tadpole. It would be hard to make the device Ben was making, thankfully the Omnitrix transforms Ben into the healthiest physical peak of that species' potential, but only relative to his age. So even his 16-year-old Grey Matter was much smarter than any other 16-year-old Grey Matter.
Ben does not become an exact copy of the alien's DNA Sample, but a version of what he would be like had he been originally born as that alien. When becoming an alien, the Omnitrix implements the alien's basic instincts and abilities into Ben's mind when his DNA temporarily merges with the alien.
After finishing the rest of his meal, Ben burped loudly as he patted his stomach. He chuckled for a bit before standing up from his chair. Smiling at his finished creation, he held it up in his hands with the proudest expression he ever had.
"At last, it's finished!" He yelled cheerfully.
Quickly running back to the larger machine, he opened up a hatch and inserted the newly finished creation. Walking over to a terminal next to it, Ben began to scan the machine's system, checking on all its functionalities. After tampering with it for a bit, Ben closed the terminal and grinned.
"With the subatomic battery now implemented into the Vortex Generator, I can finally leave the Null Void… It's been five long years!" Ben cheered.
The boy held his hands on his hips as he gazed upon his machine. "Now to just gather up my things and get out of here!"
He then proceeded over to a nearby table and picked up a device that resembled an alien blaster. Ben walked over to the middle of his lab, in front of all his belongings. Aiming the device and firing it shortly afterward, it shot out a dark blue cube that engulfed the entirety of the area. It shrunk back into its normal size as Ben pressed a small button on the launcher, picking it up and reattaching it to the device.
'I'm really glad I got a good look at Tetrax's device before he left…' Ben thought, reminding himself of an old friend.
Ben then looked back at the machine, his hand on his chin. He wondered what he should do with all of this scrap material here in this place. He thought hard, before throwing all of his initial plans for a simplistic one. 'Hmm… I might as well destroy any evidence that I was ever here too then…'
After deciding, he proceeded to use the cube again to capture his larger machine. After grasping up the cube again, Ben activated his Omnitrix. In a flash, he was replaced with a short green humanoid creature resembling a mix between a hamster and a toad. It wore a grey and black jumpsuit, and it had a green tail. The Omnitrix was placed on its chest.
The green alien opened its mouth, and out from it spewed out 3 sprouts like tongues that attached to a large boulder. Somehow lifting it up and pulling it into its mouth, it swallowed it whole, causing its stomach to bulge out and a green glow to appear in it.
"Well, I guess I'll Upchuck this entire place down then!" Upchuck exclaimed.
Expelling out a large green energy ball out of his monstrous mouth in the form of a giant loogie, it exploded once it reached contact with the opposite end of the wall. This triggered the inside of the lab to begin collapsing. Upchuck proceeded to eat the gate and spit it towards the rock entrance, blowing it up as well.
As Upchuck emerged from the shadows of the cave, a mass of dust clouds came along with it. He ran out until he was a few meters away and looked back at the entrance, which was now covered in rubble.
"…And that takes care of that," Upchuck said while crossing his arms in a smirk.
Reverting back to his human form, Ben proceeded to walk to an empty lot on the asteroid. Taking out the cube launcher again, he tapped a few buttons and aimed the device out again. Shooting the cube out, it expanded and began to expand. After reaching its intended size, the cube then reverted again, revealing Ben's Portal Generator.
The Omnitrix wielder walked to pick the cube and put it away. He gasped as he saw the other cubes on the ground. "Damn, the lab crashing down broke apart the other cubes." He sighed and huffed the last cube over his shoulder. "Oh well."
Activating the terminal, Ben proceeded to check the specs of his machine, making sure no irregularities were evident in the system. After doing so, he began to input the coordinates for the destination of his portal. Closing the terminal after completing his plans, Ben then walked over to the generator's vortex gate, opening up a small hatch that revealed a small lever. Pulling it down, the vortex gate began to spark to life with red electricity.
"Ha… HA! Yes! Freedom, at long last!" Ben shouted out. "It only will take five minutes till-"
"RRROOOAAARRR!" A large erupt of sound echoed throughout the endless void. The floating asteroid rumbles as if a volcano was about to go off. Large bangs went off from behind him making the asteroid shake even more.
Ben turned in the direction of the noise to see a giant grey titan that was getting closer by the second. Its skin color was grey with multiple purple armor spread on its body. It had an almost reptilian-like head and tongue. Blades in varying places, a fin on top of its head, and some parts of its body showing bones, and have bizarre scars.
"A Way Big?!" Ben's voice was barely visible from the greater noise of the giant's footsteps and loud roars. "It must have been alerted by Upchuck's explosion. Fine, you want a big bad fight!?" He turned the dial until the right hologram was there and slammed on the dial.
In a bright emerald light, the boy was replaced with a white colossal humanoid creature with a large fin on his head, which is black at the front and red at the bottom. It had blade-like growths on his shoulders and spikes on his waist. He also had red arms with two black lines and white fins on the elbows, wristband-like outgrowths on his wrists, and yellow eyes on his head with two extra eyes protruding on his cheeks, one on each. He had red feet with two toes, a black sandal-like covering on the middle of his feet, and three black lines on the side of his neck.
"WAY BIG!" The titan's booming voice also echoed through the endless void, its sudden appearance surprising the To'kustar and making it growl. "You want a big bad battle?! Let's go!"
Ben had to protect the portal before it was stomped on by the To'kustar. He had about four minutes left till the portal opened.
Without another word the two giant beings ran towards each other, closing the distance of 16 miles apart in 6 seconds. Both punched each other creating a shockwave that blew back dust and rocks off the asteroids. Both titans stuttered back and Ben nearly fell on his butt. He was a little out of practice since he only used Way Big twice and that was against Vilgax. And he easily floored him. Although he did fight Azmuth as a Way Big that was a short fight he lost since his father kept getting in the way.
Just then more rumbling caught his ears and he saw the Way Big charging to him. Copying one of the best moves in his favorite game 'Sumo Slammers'. He allowed the To'kustar to tackle him forcing him to roll on his back, but he then immediately kicked him off, causing the beast to fly off the asteroid but just barely grab onto the ledge of it. Way Big then started to walk towards the portal and saw some more electricity build up until a fully formed vortex was present.
Ben grinned but not before the To'kustar halted itself up onto the asteroid once again.
The To'kustar ran back at Way Big getting ready to punch him but Ben was ready for the attack and crossed his arms in an 'X' formation. That singular movement made green energy start to build in the middle of the 'X' and then a large cosmic beam of light and energy shot at the To'kustar. Exploding on impact and burying the To'kustar in a large blast of energy mixed in with green smoke.
Ben wasted no time as he ran for the portal quickly changing into a yellow spherical alien with yellow eyes. "Cannonbolt!"
With his now claw-like fingers, he adjusted the settings of the portal to self-destruct in a couple of minutes. After that, the alien rolled into a ball like an armadillo and started spinning in place like a tire in mud.
Then in a blast of force and power, the alien blasted off towards the portal with the To'kustar right on his tail. The portal was being projected into the air so Cannonbolt had to launch off the asteroid to make it to it, but the To'kustar right before it jumped off the asteroid with the alien boy, smashed the main battery.
The portal became almost corrupt in a way and took the formless of a rip in the space and more of a galaxy-like black hole that sucked in its victims.
Both aliens were immediately taken into the blackhole and lost sight as a bright white light loaded both of their visions.
Earth, Washington D.C. 2010.
A man in a bat costume looked at a giant terminal that was displayed on the wall of the Hall of Justice. A location for the group who named themselves the Justice League. It was used more as a tourist trap to make people seem as if it was their place. What really is the Justice League base of operations was a satellite in space.
He narrowed his eyes as he saw an erupt of energy coming from New York's ocean. "Batman calling all Justice League members, meet me as these coordinates. We have a large spike of energy erupting near New York."
The now named Batman explains as he walks towards a large device. A golden sparkle effect appears around the device.
"Batman 02." A robotic voice echoes through the room as he steps inside the device and teleports away.
New York
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Cannonbolt yelled out. The alien was now speeding out from the vortex that consumed him. He was continuously yelling as he tried to figure out what the heck was happening, only to then reappear in a blue sky all of a sudden. "WOAH! Where am I? Wait, oh no, AH!" As he tried to notice his surroundings, his attention was immediately turned to his own condition. He was falling fast through the air, at who knows what given height!
He really couldn't understand where he was going to land towards, as he was basically revolving and whirling at an irrepressible rate. Curling up into his spherical form, it added more rotational momentum into his overall acceleration, increasing his speed drastically on purpose.
"I just hope that I don't land on anything important!" Cannonbolt shouted in his rolled-up form.
Like a meteor, he slammed into the belly of New York bay causing a giant splash that almost touched the sky. Cannonbolt untucked itself and looked around to see the water surrounding him but not before a giant shadow started to cover the sky above him. He looked up to the sky and saw the To'kustar falling from the sky.
The portal seemed to still be open but Ben knew it wouldn't be for long. Cannonbolt tucked into a ball and the To'kustar slammed into the ocean sending him flying into the air and landing somewhere far into New York.
To'kustar roared out in pain and shakingly stood up. It took in its sights for a moment slowly becoming shocked that it was out of the Null Void. But its sights were then blinded by a blinding explosion being shot at its face.
Batman flew in his batplane and looked over at the monster. "He seems to be disoriented. Fire now!"
2 blurs, one green and the other blue, in blinding speed flew off to the To'kustar's head. The To'kustar growled and then tried to swat them away, but the blue blur split off from the green one and then punched the To'kustar's hand away, once again making it roar out in pain.
The green blur held its hand out that seemed to sport a green ring on it. The green ring shot a multitude of green lasers at the face of the To'kustar blinding it once again.
"Green Lantern spit off from us. When I got here I saw something get launched into the city. I don't know what it was, but it could either be a bomb or weapon." Batman says as the green blur stopped in its tracks. The man looked at the batplane and nodded before taking off towards the city.
The blue blur also stopped but above the plane revealing it to be a man in a blue jumpsuit with a red cap. His eyes were blue and his hair raven black.
"The others won't be here in a while, they're all dealing with other villains around the world. And I don't think it's safe to ask the team." Superman says with a grim look on his face.
"I guess this is fine for now," Batman speaks in a low gruff as Superman smiles and rushes off towards the beast delivering a hard right hook to its jaw.
Meanwhile, Ben shook his head slightly as in a bright flash of light he was back to human form. He slowly got up from the ground and saw he was almost completely buried in a crater. He sighed to himself and quickly turned the Omnitrix dial until he found the right alien. He smacks down the dial and then transforms into a large, dinosaur humanoid being. He had light and dark brown skin, with brown plating on his wrists, quads, and knuckles. He also had additional yellow plating on his chest down to his waist. He had a tail that extended up to his back and into his spine.
"Humungousaur!" The large dinosaur-like alien announces as he jumps out of the hole. He quickly took in the sights around him gasping at the sight of the familiar buildings and cars. He almost started sobbing but instead smiled brightly. "I'm home…"
"...Not even close to it ugly." Humungousaur's attention was then taken by Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. A man in a green and black jumpsuit with a mask that was similar to glasses. He held out his white-gloved hand clenched in a fist and his green power ring glowed brightly.
"Who are you?"
"Green Lantern. And Earth isn't your home, so I recommend you and your giant friend over there to go back up to your little sky portal and never come back." The hero warned as his ring glowed slightly brighter.
The alien started to growl before a large roar shook the very ground he was standing on.
Humungousaur's attention was taken again by the large alien trying to swat away what looked like from his distance a blue blur and a black plane. Humungousaur quickly huffed and looked back at Hal. He seemed as if he was trying to help out so Ben figured he could work with him.
"Listen, buddy, I'm not with that guy, I'm my own hero," Humungousaur says with a huff.
Hal raises a brow and looks at him. "Never seen you before…"
"I would be surprised if you have," That made Hal question the alien more, what could he shrink in size or something, how could he not have seen giant dinosaur-like aliens on the news yet. "All you need to know is that I'm here to help."
Hal looked at the alien in its bright emerald eyes. He gulped down some spit and the bright glow on his ring disappeared. "You got an idea of how to beat this thing then?"
Humungousaur looked at the To'kustar and then back at the hero. He seemed deep in thought before he remembered something useful.
"Aim for the top of the fin on its head. It will stun him long enough for me to throw him back in the portal." When he said that Hal looked at the sky and saw the giant red vortex starting to close. He looked back at the alien and nodded and sped off towards the giant notifying the other heroes about the new discovery.
"Bat's, Supe's,"
"Did you find what was launched into the city?" Batman asked
"Yeah, it was another alien, he claims to be on our side though, he even told me the alien's weak point. It will stun him long enough for it to send the giant to the vortex in the sky." While Hal explained the plan Batman started to think if they should really trust some random alien that came from the same space as the giant they were fighting. But in this kind of situation, there wasn't much they could do.
"Ok, where is the weak point?"
"The top of the fin on the head…"
"Both you and Superman meet up there, I'll distract him with whatever firepower I have left, hopefully, it will be enough for your friend to end this."
Superman quickly uppercut the alien in the jaw and then flew to the top of the head with Green Lantern right behind him. Meanwhile, Ben had just made it to the bay and jumped high enough in the sky so he could land next to the To'kustar's feet. And Batman had fired several missiles at the To'kustar's stomach and the same missiles went all the way to its chest.
Green Lantern shot a green blast of light from his ring and Superman shot red lasers from his eyes. Both attacks collided with the fin, and the To'kustar felt a paralyzing sensation run throughout its body. It was about to drop to its knees but then it felt its right foot being lifted.
Humungousaur used all of his strength while still underwater. Normally even in his base form like now, Humungousaur could lift a To'kustar, but while he was underwater which added more pressure to the giant was a little harder, not to mention he would have to throw him so far in the sky so he would go into the vortex. He would need a boost for that, so he immediately began to grow larger and his skin became denser and spikier.
Humungousaur grew so much he was once again visible to the world as his appearance came up from the water. With one roar, Humungousaur tossed the To'kustar in the air, sending it hurtling through the sky and back into the Null Void vortex where it immediately closed and the sky went back to normal.
With a heavy breath, Humungousaur swam back to land, were in a bright flash of light changed back into human form. The boy didn't know that Hal had followed him to land and saw this. When he looked over at the boy he saw how muscular and skinny the boy was, his long hair, his dirty and ragged clothes. All gave him two guesses of what the boy had been through. A non-stop war zone or had been homeless his whole life and had to defend himself.
Either way, he scooped up the boy and brought him to Superman and Batman who exchanged glances with one another.
Later
Ben had woken up in an interrogation room in Mt. Justice, a previous headquarters to the Justice League and new headquarters to a special team for the Justice League.
"What the hell happened?!" Ben figured he had timed out and lost enough energy from the constant use of the Omnitrix he passed out but he didn't know why he woke up in an interrogation room.
He sighed to himself as he fully took in the situation. He didn't want to return home… well he wanted to, but he couldn't since like Azmuth said 'there can only be one Omnitrix'. So he was planning to go to where Azmuth lived and have him teleport him to some alternate dimension. But it seems with the To'kustar's interference he was sent to Earth.
He now had to just hope Azmuth was being dramatic about only one. Although he knew the 'first thinker' better than that.
"Alright," Batman says, entering the integration room. "Start talking!"
Ben looks at the man and then narrows his eyes. He didn't know whether to give this guy a snarky attitude or be responsible. He didn't have the teen bound, so Ben could suspect he wasn't a villain trying to learn his powers. He might even be with the green jumpsuit guy.
'Geez, what's with all the costumes though?' Ben thought. He knew heroes had silly outfits in comic books, but no one would catch him dead with a cape and underwear outside his pants. And the logo on his chest seemed a bit old-fashioned. "You could ask nicely, you know."
Batman narrowed his eyes at the boy glaring at him. "How were you able to transform into that creature-"
"Alien."
"Alien." Batman corrects himself.
"If I answer you, I would like a couple of answers myself." Batman peered into the boy's eyes. He hastily nodded. The teen pointed towards his watch which gained the hero's attention, it was certainly an odd wristwatch. "This is the Omnitrix, it can transform me into multiple different aliens, with multiple different abilities."
Batman then looked back at the boy's eyes. "How does it work?"
"I don't know, you would have to ask the guy that built it."
"And who was that?"
"Another alien. His name is Azmuth." Ben paused for a moment. "Wait, that was two questions buddy, now I get two."
Batman sighed then gestured for the boy to go on.
"Were on Earth right?"
"...Yes, why?" Even though he appeared from the sky portal Batman still was thinking he would ask that.
"I've been trapped in an alternate dimension for five years now." Batman's eyes widened slightly at this in a curious form.
"I see, but that still doesn't explain it…"
"Explain what?"
"We tried to do a DNA scan on you and tried to find any records of you. However, there isn't a single ounce of evidence you exist on this planet."
Ben's eyes widened, then he sighed. 'Well it's obvious where this is going… eh it's not like this isn't what I wanted in the first place anyway.' Ben looked at the hero in the eyes and started to explain. "I think I get it, I must be in an alternate universe."
"Alternate universe?"
"Yeah, it's not my first time around the block with this kind of stuff. Eh doesn't matter anyway, I need to be in an alternate universe so I don't care."
"Why is that?"
"The Omnitrix is the most powerful device in the- my universe. I have the potential of becoming over a million different aliens, although right now I have about 20 something." Ben explains nonchalantly.
"Over a million?"
"Yup," Ben then realized he was being asked a question once again. "Hey, quite turning it to me answering instead of asking."
"Do you have any more questions to ask?"
"...No …oh yeah where are we?"
"One of our headquarters. Now onto business…"
"Ben, Ben Tennyson."
"Ben, I'm going to have to ask you to hand it over," Batman said.
This caused Ben to choke slightly. "Sorry, what was that?" He asked not believing what he just heard.
"I need you to hand it over," Batman said again. "I don't even want to imagine if someone like Lex Luthor had a device like this or any other villain for that matter." Batman reasoned.
"Sorry to inform you." Ben scoffed, it was one thing to be worried. He could get that, but full-on demanding for his Omnitrix was not going to happen. "But it is impossible to get off, it's bonded to my DNA, it's like a foot or an arm, it's stuck to me. If someone is even somewhat close to pulling it off it will release a high amount of energy knocking the person back."
Batman raised a brow at this. "I see-"
"And just to let you know I'm the only person who can take it off me, but there is no way in hell I'm just giving it up. You probably said that because you don't trust me, which I get. However, there is no reason for me to trust YOU either. You're not the boss of me, and if you try something like that again I'll transform and bust out of here myself, and believe me… I CAN."
Ben did not get stuck in the Null Void for five years just for someone to boss him around. Batman could see in his eyes he was serious, he didn't want to see if he wasn't kidding and could beat every leaguer and the team who were behind the one-way mirror.
"Hmm, I see, well Ben when someone is a danger to the world, I like to be prepared or stop it before it happens."
"I get that. However, I'm not a danger. And whether you like it or not I can't leave this Earth. So how about this. You set free, I do my hero thing you do your… bat thing. And we never talk to each other again. Because frankly I'm a bit hungry and by the second it seems to me like I'm being held captive here more than being interrogated."
Batman became lost in thought for a moment before deciding. "How about this, I'll be perfectly upfront with you. My teammates are outside that door. You tell me your… origin per-say. And I'll tell you some history about this world if you want. Then me and my team will hold a meeting of what will happen and we'll go from there while that is happening I'll show you to the lounge area where you can grab a bite to eat?"
Ben smiled. "Now you're speaking my language."
And so they two exchanged stories.
Meanwhile, outside the one-way mirror.
The Justice League stood looking and hearing over the conversation, with their very own sidekick covert ops team behind them.
The Justice League members that could make it consisted of the two Green Lanterns, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Zatara.
The team members had the entire group there. There was Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Superboy.
"Hard to believe this kid is from another dimension." Black Canary says, trailing her fingers through her blond hair.
"There are many unbelievable things in the world. However, it is strange for them to be talked about so casually," Zatara says, cupping his chin with his hand. "I have to wonder myself what his childhood was like if he can just say phrases like 'other dimension' or 'other universe' as if it were nothing."
"J'onn? Are you getting anything?" Flash asks, turning to the Martian. As he spoke to the green-skinned man, J'onn's eyes stopped glowing a bright ruby red and looked towards his comrade.
"No," He says, holding his head slightly frustrated. Even if it wasn't shown on his face. "It's as if something is blocking me from entering his mind."
"Wish Supe's was here, he could have just listened to the kid's heartbeat to make sure he wasn't lying-" Hal Jordan says but was quickly interrupted when a hand slapped the back of his head. The hand belongs to John Stewert, the second Green Lantern.
"Well, he had his own issues to take care of," John says, both their eyes immediately went to Superboy. 'Or… avoid…' Superboy saw both of their stares and gritted his teeth, but bit his tongue and didn't say a thing.
"If we're not certain if he is telling the truth or not I could always use the lasso." Wonder Woman says, patting the golden whip tied in a circle clipped to her waist.
"Do we really need to though?" Captain Marvel's got all of their attention. "I mean Batman is- like you know, the greatest detective… I'm sure he's got this."
It was surprising but the hard head known as Captain Marvel had a point. They shouldn't judge Batman's skilled integration, not to mention his trusty 'batglare' that always did the trick.
"I do not see why this 'Ben' would be lying," A robotic voice was heard and they looked towards Red Tornado. "I know our enemies are getting 'smarter' however, I don't see a possibility where they could make up a story like this. And if he is working for our enemies, I doubt they would have revealed such a powerful weapon to us."
"That's not the only issue though." Hawkman retorted "What if this kid is lying where he truly came from. What if he's an evil dictator there and he's here to do the same that he did in our world as he did his."
"I doubt a 15 or 16-year-old would be an all-powerful dictator… watch holding a handful of alien powers or not..." Black Canary gave him a deadpanned look.
"You'd be surprised by what you see around the universe." Shockingly Hawkgirl spoke up that time surprising the blond.
With the covert op's team.
"You guys buying this guy's story? You know about him being from a different dimension or universe or whatever." Kid Flash asks his team, gaining their attention. "I kind of want to but it seems a little ridiculous…"
"You can break the sound barrier, Kaldur is from Atlantis, Miss M is from Mars and Superboy is a clone… and you think a guy from another dimension is ridiculous?" Robin replies smugly.
While the two had their back and forth discussion Aqualad turned to Miss Martian. "Anything?"
"Nothing, Uncle J'onn was right, something is blocking his mind… it could be that watch…"
"What do you think, Superboy?" Aqualad asked the cloned Kryptonian.
"His heartbeat has been steady this whole time. You either have to be highly trained or just telling the truth, for your heart to not change while you lie." He responds as they all listen back in on the conversation.
Batman had seemed to be getting up with Ben already a step ahead of him and jumped off his seat and ran to the door. Even the monitor was picking up the sound of his stomach rumbling.
They exited the integration room and looked at the onlookers. Ben gave them all a deadpan stare, they had very… colorful outfits to say the least. The only real question was why did they all think wearing that was a good idea?
"The Justice League will meet at the entrance of the cave, it will only take about 10 minutes or less, the lounge area is just down the hall to the left so you c-" Right before he could finish Ben darted off to the kitchen and started planning to make a snack for himself.
Batman just sighed and walked off towards the entrance with the other Leaguers following him. He then stopped and looked at the team.
"If you all could, can make sure he doesn't make a mess."
The team nodded and walked to the lounge. They were surprised by the sight of Ben making some kind of chili and popping some fries in the oven. He then went to the fridge and grabbed himself some water and drank the entire bottle in one go. He hadn't had bottled water in the five years he was in the Null Void.
How he made water in the Null Void was by transforming and creating ice and then unfreezing it with fire. He then let it cool off and drank the water afterward.
But he was grateful he finally had cold water to drink instead of lukewarm water. He then noticed the team and greeted them. "Hey."
"Hi…" Miss Martian says hovering towards him. "What are you making?"
"Chili fries… never forgot the recipe and I am craving it like crazy after five years," Ben answers and takes out the fries in the oven.
"Um," Robin speaks up while walking towards Ben. "So we heard you can transform into multiple aliens. What did you first transform into?" Robin asked curiously.
"This alien that's made entirely out of fire and magma. I call him Heatblast." Ben told him before taking one of the fries and eating it, not minding the hot sensation burning his mouth slightly. "I freaked out at first but then it was really cool. The only downside was I started a forest fire." Ben informed them shamefully. This comment caused the speedster to laugh.
"What are you laughing at? First time I saw you use your powers you ran into a wall." Robin reminded him, shutting him up and causing Ben to laugh.
"What powers it, Kryptonite?" Superboy asked, seeing it was green when it was fully charged.
"I'm pretty sure just energy… self-sustaining energy to be exact. But after a while, it has to recharge." Ben told them and grabbed the chili and bag. He then put the fries in a basket and poured the chili onto the fries. He then did the same with two other bags before he stopped. "Oh, does anyone want any?"
Kid Flash was the first to respond by speeding towards the closest basket and taking it. Robin was next and took his own basket. Superboy shook his head and went to sit on the couch in the lounge. Miss Martian and Aqualad, intrigued with the new food, took one themselves. Ben smiled and made a batch for himself as well and then looked at Superboy.
"You sure you don't want any?" Superboy looked at him, he then sighed and walked up to the boy as Ben made another basket just for the clone.
"Wow man, these are good." Kid Flash says
"Hmm, not bad," Superboy says as he takes another Fri.
"Very delicious." Miss Martian says with glee, happy she got to taste new Earth food.
Kaldur merely nodded as he enjoyed the treat while Robin voiced his opinions. "Where did you learn to cook this?"
"Found out a fast food place recipe when I was on a summer road trip. Never got to make them until now." Ben says with a smile happy with his concoction.
"Anyway back to the old questions, so you can't stay as a transformation as long as you want?" M'gann asked.
"It used to be about only ten minutes more or less and I could only be one alien at a time," Ben informed them.
"How long is it now?" Aqualad questioned.
"I think it's just until the Omnitrix runs out of power…" Ben says while taking another frie.
Soon after their lunch and a long talk, the Dark Knight came in and the Team plus Ben walked over to him.
"So Mr. Tall, dark, and spooky, what's your verdict on Ben 10? Hero or number 1 on your wanted list?" Ben asked in a joking manner but planned to fight his way out if necessary.
His sense of humor, somehow, survived the Null Void. Nothing was really scary in there, with his superior smarts, speed, and strength, he didn't exactly need to sleep with one eye open. However, it did let him adopt new ways of fighting, planning strategies, and survival instincts. And it definitely got rid of his arrogance or at least his cocky personality, with all the fighting he had done he realized that while taunting your enemies could leave an opening, being full of yourself and thinking you're better than them was a weakness.
Batman just kept his glare and replied. "The League has decided that you... for the time being at least... should remain here."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "As your prisoner or-?"
"As part of the new covert ops team, the League has created." Batman corrected.
Ben thought about it for a second then smiled. "Oh, I get it. This way you can keep an eye on me to see if I am a threat or not without looking like the bad guy."
The only ones who weren't at least a little surprised by this were Batman and the Boy of Wonder. It was a very… direct way of saying it, which of course is the thing that surprised them. But it didn't seem out of the ordinary for that to be Batman's plan.
Before Batman could deny or confirm that Ben shrugged. "I get it so sure why not. Just don't do one of those things where you get somebody to be my friend just to spy on me. Deal?"
Batman merely nodded and walked off leaving the teens to their thoughts.
That was until the shapeshifter spoke up. "So is anyone in the mood for smoothies? I've been craving them for five years for some reason."