(A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took a long time for me to get to. I've been really busy with all of my stuff and a bunch of other things, too. If you want to be upset because I left you guys on a cliffhanger, I get it, but please nothing harsh.

To be very honest though, I'm very excited for this chapter because I'm finally able to conclude the future until the (not-so-distant) future. See what I did there?)

I-I-o-I-I~*X*~I-I-o-I-I

With Diamondhead occupied with his worst enemy, Dr. Animo proceeded to activate the Null Void projector. Just as he was about to do so, a flash of yellow energy stopped him.

The shot came from Gwendolyn, the charms were growing and the energy she shot at him was still around her fist. "Animo's trying to open the Null Void chamber!" she affirmed.

"And free everyone me and grandpa ever captured!" Ben stated.

He looked in the direction of a large hole in the wall. He was surprised to see his future self fighting Vilgax.

"Vilgax? He's mine!" he told the others. "Get Animo!"

"With pleasure!" Gwen and her future self responded in unison.

He then looked at Layla and her counterpart. Both looked at him with clear determination in their eyes.

"We'll be fine," Layla told him.

"Go!" her adult self commanded.

The four of them then sprung into action. It should be a quick fight, but anything's possible.

While they did that, he started to play with the Omnitrix. He dialed up Four Arms and slammed his hand on the face. However, instead of Four Arms, he transformed into Upgrade.

He slapped his forehead and slumped over in frustration, "Oh, man!"

All the while this was occurring, Diamondhead was holding his ground as best he could against Vilgax, but he was too much for him. It seemed as if he was ten times more powerful than the last time they fought.

Just as he was about to deliver another blow, he was suddenly hit in the back of his multi-tentacled head. The assailant was none other than an upgraded black, white, and green hoverboard.

Upgrade did a U-turn and separated himself from the hoverboard just as it was about to make contact with Vilgax, who destroyed it with the swift wave of his clawed hand. He landed near Diamondhead just as he was standing up.

"Get out of here!" Diamondhead demanded.

"When are you going to get it through your thick skull? If this is your fight, it's my fight, too!" Upgrade declared. He tilted his head to the side.

He then did something very unexpected. He touched the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, "Well, then, this might help." He finally caved in and decided to let him help with this fight.

He suddenly turned into Cannonbolt and blinked in surprise, "Hey! I don't have to be Ben anymore!" He fell to the ground in a rather comedic manner.

He then transformed again, this time into Wildmutt. The future-version of Wildmutt looked similar to his present counterpart, but he had a more feline appearance and purple stripes on his back. He let out a lion-like roar and charged Vilgax. Cannonbolt rolled up into a ball and followed him.

Meanwhile, Gwen, Layla, and their adult counterparts fought Dr. Animo, trying to keep him from the Null Void projector. The doors of the projector parted open slightly, revealing an orange light.

Gwendolyn shot flames at him, but he was able to avoid them. Gwen tried to deliver a kick, but she missed him. She tried again, but he blocked her with ease.

Future Layla's fingers turned into tentacles again and she started to lash out at him as if they were whips. While present Layla used her powers to tear pieces of metal and turn them into liquid metallic spheres. The spheres turned into blades and quickly hardened. She sent them down onto him and some embedded themselves into his arm, but not much else.

"I've done that raining daggers attack plenty of times and they didn't do anything!" she stated, her voice beginning to sound slightly nervous.

Her adult self retracted her tentacles and they turned back into fingers, "He's upgraded his tech, we're not making a dent in him."

"You won't keep me away for long!" he claimed.

As if on cue, large blue tentacles slipped through the crack of the slightly opened projector. It looked like they were trying to open the remaining portion of the machine.

Layla gasped when she saw them, her future self noticed her reaction. She looked back at the chamber with gritted teeth.

She looked up at her long-time friend, "Gwendolyn!"

She nodded, "Right!" She pressed her hands together and flames shot down at him again. "We'll handle Animo."

"We'll take care of the Null Void chamber," she told her. She looked down at her younger self, "Come on! Follow my lead."

She raised her hands and a royal blue aura bordered around them. Her present self did the same thing, the same aura surrounded her hands as well. The aura bordered the projector and the monster trying to get out.

"On the count of three, we're going to push it inside and close the chamber," she informed her. She nodded. "One, two, three!"

They were able to push the creature back into the Null Void and close the doors of the chamber. But who knows how long it will hold it?

Layla looked over at her future counterpart, she was breathing in and out heavily and she was sweating. "Are you okay?"

She pulled herself together and wiped her forehead, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked again. "You look pale."

She gave her a reassuring smile, "Yes, I'll be fine." She then looked up at the projector, "That should hold it, but not for long."

"How long do you think we'll have?" she inquired.

"A few minutes at most," she answered. "That means we have to take down Animo as soon as possible."

She then looked at Gwen and Gwendolyn as they continued to fight him. A smile that showed an eagerness for thrills grew on her face.

"Come on, let's join in on the fun," she grinned down at her before she left to get in on the action.

She smiled at her adult self and thought before following her, 'I am such a badass!'

Wildmutt pounced onto Vilgax, but he smacked him away with the back of his hand. Cannonbolt tried to ram into him, but he stopped him with the palm of his hand, quickly slowing him down until he stopped moving completely. Red sparks then flew from devices on his arm and he gave his hard armored shell a punch, burying him in the concrete.

Wildmutt then transformed into Heatblast, who had small volcanoes on each shoulder, but otherwise looked the same as his present day counterpart. He shot flames at him from his hands and the impact created a cloud of smoke.

However, it did nothing to him, he ran out of the black cloud straight towards him. His fist briefly scraped the ground before punching him and sending him flying.

In mid-air, he transformed again, this time into Stinkfly. He looked very different from the present day Stinkfly. For one, the stinger on the end of his tail was much larger, as were his legs and eyes, which had black pupils. His clothing was black with white stripes, the exact opposite color scheme his younger self wore.

He shot slime out of his mouth down at Vilgax, but missed. He tried to fly into another position, but a fleshy, corpse-colored tentacle wrapped around his stinger.

"You think you can destroy me?" Vilgax taunted.

He threw him against the wall, causing it to break, and he fell to the floor. He then transformed into XLR8 again and rushed him.

"I analyzed every one of your aliens…" he continued, releasing round bombs from the top of his wrist.

XLR8 ran around the bombs, each of which exploded as soon as he was near them. He dodged most of them, until one finally got him and he was caught in the explosion.

"...and Animo programmed their moves into my new DNA!" he proclaimed.

He then transformed into Four Arms again and attempted to stand up, but he grabbed him by the face and drove his head into the concrete. He then picked him up by the front of his shirt.

"Nothing you do can surprise me!" he declared.

Suddenly, Cannonbolt shot up out of the floor. He tried to attack him, but he used Four Arms as a mace and slammed his body into his. He uncurled as he shot a tentacle at him from his wrist and wrapped it around him. The tentacle retracted, bringing him close to his face.

"Get your claws off my grandson!" a familiar voice shouted and an energy bean was fired at him, hitting him in the back and releasing both of them from his grasp.

It was Max. He carried a massive weapon that looked like it could pack a serious punch.

"Help the Gwens and the Laylas. They're by the Null Void," Cannonbolt told him. He smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Just as they were about to get back to their battle, Vilgax suddenly came up behind them and rammed them off the platform! All three of them were falling down to the city below, all whilst fighting.

Some civilians saw them as they neared the city and ran out of the way. Some looked over the platforms they stood on and took pictures and videos of the fight.

They eventually landed right in the middle of the city, creating a crater. A slight shockwave and dust clouds resulted from the impact.

Gwen did a series of acrobatic flips as she avoided being captured by Dr. Animo. While Layla used her telekinesis to stop him from throwing punches.

"You can't protect the Null Void and yourselves at the same time!" he asserted.

"Oh, yeah?" Gwendolyn playfully rebuked. "Meena Goh!" Flames shot out of her hands and down onto him. She looked at the adult Layla with a small smile and nodded.

Her friend nodded in return and touched the charm around her neck. It glowed as she raised her hand, directing it at him, "Tum Eradico!" Bands of purple energy came out of her hand and directly hit him, exploding upon contact.

Her younger self looked up at her in utter shock, while she simply smiled. "How did you-?"

"Gwendolyn's not the only one who knows magic," she responded.

He eventually recovered from their respective attacks and started to attack Gwen and Layla. Both girls ran away from him as fast as they could, but weren't paying attention and tripped, falling to the floor. He was about to crush them with his massive fists and they curled up into balls waiting for the incoming attack.

However, before he could, a hand grabbed Gwen by the shoulder and dragged her to safety. While Layla's telekinetic energy surrounded her and she was pulled away from the zone of strike.

Gwen was completely flabbergasted to see it was Max's hand that grabbed her, but was even more shocked to see that it was cybernetic, "When did you get that?!"

"A lot can happen in twenty years," he replied, future Layla nodded in agreement. His entire arm then turned into a cannon, "Come on, let's show him what we Tennysons and Patellidays are made of!"

All five of them sprung into action, their powers and weapons ready for battle. Dr. Animo looked down on them with an agape mouth. It was clear that he was outnumbered now.

Four Arms and Cannonbolt emerged from the smoking crater and Four Arms fell to his knees on the city grounds in exhaustion and deep thought. Vilgax now knew exactly how each of his aliens fought, if he transformed again he would simply use what he's been programmed with to defeat him.

Seeing how he was in deep thought, Cannonbolt made the decision to voice his thoughts, "He might know how all of your aliens fight, but does he know what Ben Tennyson can do? I just hope that after all this time you haven't forgotten, too."

Another bomb was thrown at them and they took cover. Vilgax walked out of the smoke, not a scratch was on him.

"You're finished! Both of you!" he declared.

Four Arms transformed again, but when Cannonbolt looked he saw not an alien, but a human: Ben 10,000 himself! He could see many similarities between the two of them, he even wore a shirt with the opposite coloration of his.

He had slicked back hair, a beard, pants a slightly darker shade of green, black boots and fingerless gloves. The Omnitrix was now more like a gauntlet than a watch and it was still on his right arm.

"Maybe you're right," he started, picking up a hoverboard, "maybe it is time I start fighting like me." He smiled when he heard that.

Vilgax scoffed at the sight of his normal form, "Your weak human form! What a novelty. Are you finally ready to surrender?"

"Actually, I was getting ready to settle this the old-fashioned way," he replied in a flippant manner.

He hit the Omnitrix on his past self again and he transformed into Diamondhead. He got onto the hoverboard and headed straight for his enemy.

"Follow my lead!" he told his younger self.

He started to do circles around him while he tried to strike him and failed each time. He was laughing in a childish manner and doing flips the entire time this was happening, even throwing in an occasional 'whoop!' for added effect and to further anger his enemy.

"If this is your attempt to stop me, it's pathetic! And pointless!" he growled.

'Oh, you'll see,' he thought with a mental smirk.

He then started to lead him away from the highly populated area. He led him to an area slightly less populated where he can spring the remainder of his plan into action, all while trying to avoid being turned into a bloody mess.

He crossed over a massive pool of water that was easily over a hundred feet deep. It looked like he was going to soar away, but then he did a U-turn at the last second and headed directly for Vilgax.

He did a back-flip just as he destroyed the hoverboard and transformed again. He turned into the bulbous pufferfish alien from earlier.

He spewed out slime from his large maw with force great enough to push Vilgax back closer towards the water. Diamondhead then showed up and punched the ground, crystal shards emerged from the ground and pushed him into the pool.

He then transformed again into a humanoid iguana with cold light blue skin wearing black and white clothing. A beam of ice breath came out of his mouth just as Vilgax was about to resurface.

Diamondhead walked up to the top of the road of crystals, "Hey, what do you call this guy?"

"I don't name-" he paused - his voice sounded like someone in a hazmat suit in freezing cold conditions - and shook his head, "uh, I don't know. Absolute Zero?"

"Boring! How about…" he thought about a name for a second, "Arctiguana?"

He was silent for a moment, before finally responding, "Cool."

Gwendolyn spun around Gwen as she casted another spell, "Twista Combititus!"

Gwen was surrounded by a yellow aura as she gave a hard kick to Dr. Animo. The impact was hard enough to temporarily stun him for a brief moment.

Her eyes glowed blue as she cast another one, "Interdamoto Laborator!"

A powerful ray of fiery energy was fired down on him and it appeared to have done some serious damage. Future Layla took this opportunity to melt the metal underneath his feet and solidify it around him to keep him immobilized.

"Now, uncle Max!" she shouted.

He used his metal fist to deliver the final blow and knock him to the ground. His head unscrewed from its socket and tried to slither away, only to be stopped and suspended in the air when Layla used her telekinesis.

"Where do you think you're going?" she questioned playfully and tauntingly. She then saw that the monster from before was able to peek through the gates of the projector again. "The Null Void!"

"I got it," Max pressed a button and it closed, this time for good.

"By the way, that black belt you were wondering about, you got it years ago," Gwendolyn told her younger self, "and it's come in handy many times."

'Isn't that the truth?' her long-time friend and teammate thought, amused.

"Happy Birthday, grandpa!/uncle Max!/Max!" Ben 10,000, Gwendolyn, and the adult Layla all expressed their happiness in unison along with their younger counterparts.

"Thank you. Having you all here has made this the greatest eightieth birthday I could've asked for," he smiled.

"We wouldn't have missed this for the world, uncle Max," Future Layla grinned.

"Grandpa, I'm sorry I almost let myself miss this," the adult Ben apologized.

He patted his shoulder reassuringly, "Not to worry, Ben, I'm just glad to finally spend some time with you."

Then, the danger alert suddenly rang out and Ultimos appeared on a holographic screen, "Sorry, Ben, danger alert. The Nuevo Circus Freaks are in quadrant 92-J!"

It was as if this was a test for an addict fresh out of rehabilitation. If he refuses, he passes, if he gives into it, he fails. Which will he choose?

He looked at everyone in the room, then slung his arm around Max's shoulders, "Hey, can't you see it's my grandpa's birthday? You handle it." He blew into a party horn, as if to show everyone that he was serious about his decision.

Ultimos looked utterly flabbergasted, "Really? I mean- of course! Ultimos out!"

Layla looked up at her adult self, she looked a little fearful, "Circus Freaks?"

She smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, they're not much of anything anymore."

"The crisis was never Vilgax or Animo, was it?" Gwen asked her future self. "Your Ben just needed a major attitude adjustment."

"Yeah, I couldn't have grandpa celebrate his eightieth birthday without him." She got down to be eye-level with her, "Look, Gwen, I know your Ben can be a major dweeb," she nodded in agreement to that, "but enjoy him while you can." She then stood up and created another portal for them, "Now, come on, the portal's ready. And there's another birthday party you need to get to."

The three of them went over to the portal and were about to go through it, when Ben turned around to his future self, "Wait! You never told me the secrets of the watch! How I don't have to go Ben!"

"Trust me, you're gonna want to go Ben. Thanks for making me realize that. Oh, here, take this," he handed him a metal box.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Something I should've gotten grandpa twenty years ago," he answered.

"Guys, it's closing!" Gwendolyn warned them.

Gwen ran through the portal, "See ya!"

"And I guess we're gonna be ya!" Ben went through the portal.

Layla gave a look to her adult counterpart and gave her a salute. She returned the gesture with a smile and she went through the portal afterwards. It disappeared as soon as she went through it.

Max returned to the campsite with the firewood. He saw that his grandchildren were gone and called out to them, "Ben? Gwen?"

Patelliday came out of water with some fish at the same moment and noticed that his adoptive daughter was gone, "Layla? Where'd she go?"

The three children came out of the portal, which disappeared as soon as they came out. Gwen and Ben went to their grandfather, while Layla went to her adoptive father. She embraced him and he blinked in surprise at first, but returned it.

"Where did you go?" he asked.

She pulled away from him and gave a mischievous wink, "That's my secret, Papa."

He was a little taken back by what she called him, but smiled. He was happy that she now considered him to be a father to her.

"Guys, come on, grandpa Max is about to make a wish!" Gwen called out to them.

Layla saw that Ben was holding a cake with lighted candles. The box his future counterpart gave him was gone.

'So that's what he gave him,' she thought. "Coming!" she responded, she looked up at him, "Let's go."

They went over to the picnic table where the cake sat in front of Max. They sat down and everyone sang the "Happy Birthday" song to him. He blew out the candles and streamers of smoke were released into the air.

"What did you wish for?" Gwen asked.

"If I tell you, it won't come true," he replied playfully with a wink.

Layla gave a falsely hurt smile, "Oh, you can tell us, uncle Max."

He, just like Patelliday, was a little taken back by this, but smiled nonetheless. "No can do," he responded in the same manner.

Several hours later, the sun set and the sky was dark with the moon and stars lighting it up. Everyone was well fed and tired after a long day of celebrating.

"Well, Max," Patelliday patted him on the shoulder, "I think we better get going. I only had today off and the newbies we got won't train themselves."

He patted him on the shoulder as well, "Good see you two, thanks for coming."

"No problem." They shook hands and he went over to Layla, "Ready to go?"

She nodded and let out a yawn, "Yeah."

He gave a playful two-fingered salute to Max, which he returned, "We'll see you when we see you." He pressed a button on the arm of his Plumber suit and they disappeared in a flash of light.

I-I-o-I-I~*X*~I-I-o-I-I

(A/N: Well, I finally got this done. I can put the arc to rest. Again, I'm sorry I kept you guys waiting for this.

I published a new story called "Hunter to Hero" and I'm already three chapters into it. I updated it yesterday, but it's a "Star Wars" story, so I'm sure it's no longer on the front page anymore. So, if you want, go ahead and check it out.

I recently put up a new poll, so you can check it out and feel free to put in a vote. It won't be up for very long, so vote while you can before I take it down.

It might take me awhile to get to another story because I really don't know what I should do after this. I finally have enough time to do something and I'm not busy and yet I don't know what to do. Go figure.)