Good day, Ultras! Welcome to the next chapter of The Ultra 10 Chronicles! I didn't post on Monday as I hadn't quite finished writing this chapter, so I decided to post it on my alternative posting day of Thursday. So here it is!

There is only one trigger warning in this chapter, an instance of choice language. It is in the paragraph which reads, "We just ran into Alex..." Other than that, there shouldn't be anything needing a trigger warning.

Soundtrack for this chapter is "It's All in Your Hands," the theme song for an old Animorphs TV show. I wasn't able to find who the artist was, but you can still listen to it on youtube by going to youtube dot com/watch?v=lHpuFckK4Hw. I think that it captured the search for Neb, Newg and Alex pretty well, as well as the tense feeling of kinda-trust that the team is putting in Kevin.

Enjoy the chapter!

The Ultra 10 Chronicles: Volume 2: A Hero Earth Needs

Chapter 63: Is My Frenemy

Riverview Academy parking lot, 9:56 pm

Ben landed in the parking lot as JetRay and immediately detransformed back into his human form. It had rained almost all day, though it had ended just over an hour ago. Still, there were giant puddles everywhere, and everything was still soaked, making the entire night shimmer in the moonlight. It would have looked serene if there weren't three psychopaths, possibly more, running around in it, looking for a way to kill him. Knowing that, it all looked somewhat spooky.

Ben looked around, seeing no one. All the world was silent and still. He could see the mist of his breath lazily billow up into the sky.

"Any eyes on him?" Ben whispered into his comm link.

"I haven't seen him yet," Julie spoke back.

"Nothing from my viewpoint either," Cooper added.

"Same here," Gwen spoke up.

"Maybe he's not coming after-all," Ben concluded. "I did manage to piss him off when I told him about the meeting…"

"How did you?" Ellie started to ask.

"He has a knack for pissing people off," Cooper interrupted her. "It's why he makes a good hero. He can piss off the bad guys, no matter how calm or relaxed they are when he finds them."

"You're about to piss me off," Ben quipped. "Keep at it, and you might someday be as good at pissing off the bad guys as me."

"Not in a hundred years," Cooper replied.

"Shut up, guys," Gwen whispered. "I just picked up on someone's mana!"

"I still haven't picked up anything on the scanners," Maddi replied. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's pretty powerful too. Like someone that isn't able to control their emotions," she answered.

"Like Ben?" Sam snarked.

"Not like Ben," Gwen answered. "It's different." Ben looked around, scanning the darkness that glistened in the moonlight. Out of the darkness, a figure emerged, walking towards where Ben was standing.

"You can tell your friends to come on out," Kevin said as he got closer to Ben. "I spotted the two guys, and the three girls." He pointed towards the clump of trees.

"Two of the girls are over there, the other is up in the tree over there," He pointed to the spots as he spoke. "And one of the guys are over there between the school and the wall, and the other is inside the blue car behind me." His nonchalantness made it obvious that he had no difficulty spotting them, all they while the hadn't even sensed him.

"You can't blame us for being careful," Ben explained. "Last time we met you, we were on different teams." Kevin shrugged.

"It's smart," he replied. "To see if I'm a threat by using you as bait. You just forgot one thing…"

"What's that?" Ben asked as the rest of his team approached.

"Everyday in the Void was a fight for dominance. So I learned very quickly how to scope out an area without giving myself away," he explained. "I was here when your team showed up."

"By the looks of it, you found more than just my team," Ben said, noticing that he was wearing different, and thankfully cleaner, clothes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kevin said, zipping up the winter coat to hide the shirt that Ben had left for him.

"Sure, you don't," Ben responded. "I guess that I'd better introduce you to the team." He turned around to introduce the three girls approaching from behind him.

"This is Doc, Steel Girl and Lucky Girl," Ben introduced each of them. "Behind you are Iron-Clad and Morph." Kevin nodded at each of them in turn.

"So you said that you knew something about our little problem?" Cooper asked, getting right to the point. Kevin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know a little bit," he responded. "They are trying to keep a low profile, they don't want to fight you until it's on their own terms."

"That's obvious," Gwen replied. "They haven't really been spoiling for a fight yet."

"It's the reason that they're hiding that should interest you," Kevin retorted. "It means that they're not ready to fight yet. That they don't think that they can win if they fought you right now."

"He has a good point," Julie said. "But how do we find someone that is hard to find, who doesn't want to be found?"

"Alex is the key," Kevin said. "I don't know much about him, other than he seemed to be pretty impulsive."

"Not the Alex we fought," Ellie butt in. "He was manipulative and patient, not impulsive."

"The Void can change you pretty drastically," Kevin retorted. "Take a look at me."

"That's still up for debate," Cooper answered.

"But it's a possibility," Ben answered. "But we'll need more than just expecting him to act differently than he used to…"

"That's where your ability to piss him off comes in," Kevin said. "Yeah, I heard most of the conversation…"

"But we're trying to find him," Ellie asked. "So how do you expect that to work?"

"Not Ben, but his double," Kevin said. "If he's truly Ben's double, then Alex is going to go nuts working with him. It'll just remind him of how much he hates Ben. Which will make him even more rash and impulsive. And that won't be hard to find."

"So your plan is to just 'wait and see what happens?' That's it?" Cooper asked skeptically. "I knew that you were full of it."

"You should still patrol the city," Kevin interjected. "Just not as a hero. Just in street clothes, you know? Blend in with other people until you've found them."

"I'm with Morph," Sam said. "You don't have anything for us."

"Guys, hold up," Ben stopped them. "We've got nothing to go on to find our doubles other than what Kevin's suggested. It's not much, but let's give it a try, alright?"

"How are you so sure that we can trust Kevin?" Julie asked. "For all we know, he hates us, and he's trying to help Alex and your doubles by giving them the time that they need." That question focused all eyes on Ben, even Kevin's.

"I-I'm not," Ben stuttered. "I want to take Alex down as quickly as all of you do. We don't really have a plan to take them down yet, and until we have a better one, I say that we do what Kevin has suggested." Ben glanced over at Kevin. "But he comes with us. If Alex or our doubles decides to attack us, it will be his neck on the line as well."

"I can agree to that," Gwen said.

"Me too," voiced Ellie. Cooper sighed a halfway annoyed, halfway defeated sigh.

"Fine, but Sam and I take Kevin together," he said. "And at the first hint of funny business, we're taking you down." He looked directly into Kevin's eyes. "You got that?"

"Fine," Kevin huffed. "But I'm telling you guys straight, you know."

"Yeah, well we'd just like to make sure it actually stays that way," Sam spoke up.

"Then let's split up and start patrolling the city," Ellie said. "First person to see something suspicious, they alert the team." With that, they split up to go their separate ways. All except for Julie and Ben.

"Ben?" Julie asked him when he was walking away. "What makes you so sure that you can trust Kevin?"

"I already said-" Ben tried to explain.

"I don't mean in front of the team," Julie cut him off. "You insisted that the team see what he has to say, and you insisted that we do what he said. He was even wearing your clothes you got after what happened with your house… You must have given them to him."

"How did you?" Ben began to question before deciding that it wasn't worth questioning.

"I notice things," Julie replied. "And I've noticed that you're giving him a lot more trust than Cooper or Sam. Why?" Ben looked at his shoes for a moment before he answered.

"He told me how his powers work, and I saw how they affected him before he was sent to the Null Void," Ben replied. "I know what it feels like to be afraid of your own power, of what you can do…"

"So does Cooper, Gwen or the rest of us," Julie responded. "But that fear can lead you to do something you regret, just as easily as it can lead you to do something good…"

"It's not just his strength that he's afraid of," Ben said. "He's afraid of going insane from the power. That is why he has stayed away from anything with an electric charge. I seen it in him, he's terrified of my Omnitrix, he's just trying not to show it."

"So? That's a good thing if it keeps him from being another villain we have to fight," Julie said. "But it still doesn't make him a Boy Scout. And it still doesn't explain why you seem to want to act as though he were one."

"I know what it's like to watch someone loose their sanity," Ben said. "It's terrible knowing that there's nothing that you can do to stop it. I can't imagine what it's like to know that that can happen to you if you're not careful enough." Ben took a deep breath before continuing.

"If there's a will to be better in him, then perhaps there's a will to be better in my dad," Ben breathed out. "And perhaps there's a chance that if I can help him, I can help others." Julie was silent for a moment.

"Just… don't let your desire to see the best in him blind you to what he's capable of," she said. "We've seen what he's like hyped on power. And if blows come to blows, we need you to help take him down."

"If that happens," Ben replied. "Then I guess that I'll have to do what is the best for all of us, not just for him."

"Or yourself," Julie added. "Being a hero's tough, isn't it?" Ben chuckled.

"Yeah, understatement of the year," he said. "What about you? Why did you have faith in him? How did you know?"

"I still don't," Julie replied quickly. "But I try to see the best in people. If Kevin's really trying to be better, then who am I to stop him?"

"Yeah," Ben replied. "I just hope that it doesn't explode in our faces. See you around." With that, Ben began jogging back into the evening, looking for a dark alley where he could shed his suit to begin patrolling.

Several hours later, Bellwood docks

Gwen shivered as she hugged her coat tighter around herself. She hated this part of town. Even before her fight with Hex, this part of town always creeped her out. If it wasn't the fog, it was the stillness of the water or the fact that no one in their right minds would ever come down here, especially alone. You know, like how she was down here alone. And at night. In her coat pocket, her cell phone buzzed.

"Hello," she answered, sounding a lot more crabby than she had intended.

"Just checking in on you," Maddi said from the other side of the line. "Anything yet?"

"Well, I'm cold, I'm tired, and there's been absolutely no one out here other than me," Gwen answered. "Spooky, yeah, but nothing out of place."

"Jeez," Maddisen replied. "Sorry that it has been so crappy…"

"I'm sorry," Gwen half-heartedly responded. "I'm just wanting to be in bed right now."

"Well I don't blame you," Maddi said. "It's definitely getting late. I'm going to call Julie and see what the others have said, but I'm thinking of calling it a night."

"Thanks," Gwen responded. "Let me know." With that, the call ended. Maddi dialed up Julie's phone number and waited for her to pick up.

"What's up?" Julie asked. She too was trying to be cheery, but it wasn't too good of a disguise.

"Both Gwen and Ben haven't seen anything yet," Maddi reported. "Nothing suspicious, and certainly nothing that looked like their doubles or an explosion or anything."

"Thanks," Julie replied. "I'll let Cooper and Sam know. I think that we're going to call it off for tonight, and pick it up tomorrow."

Minutes later

Cooper ended his call and turned to talk to Sam and Kevin.

"Sounds like the rest of the team have been about as lucky as us in spotting anything so far," he said. "So we're going to start patrolling again first thing tomorrow."

"Yay," Sam replied sarcastically. "Another late night and early morning back-to-back. Question is, what do we do with Kevin?"

"I've got someplace I'm staying," Kevin defended himself.

"Not the concern we've got," Sam responded. "We said that we were keeping eyes on you. If we just let you go, you could tell Alex exactly what's going on with us."

"Come on, guys," Kevin tried. "What do I have to say to convince you that I'm actually not wanting to have anything to do with Alex?"

"You can spend the night on the Guardian," Cooper answered.

"You don't trust me, so you want to invite me to stay at your base?" Kevin asked. "Isn't that a bit contradictory?"

"We're not so worried about you trashing our base," Cooper corrected. "Because good luck getting off without one of us to fly you off."

"You can't be serious," Kevin replied. "You are just going to keep me in it like some kind of a prisoner?"

"It's the only place that we know that you won't be able to contact Alex," Sam said. "Think of it as another test of your sincerity. If you're legit, then you've got nothing to worry about."

"Except that the entire ship is coursing with electricity," Kevin shot back. "Did you think of that? I'm kind of trying to stay away from electricity."

"Then just don't touch anything you shouldn't be," Cooper replied. "We'll come get you in the morning to continue looking for Alex and the doubles."

"I don't have much choice in this, do I?" Kevin asked.

"Not really," Sam replied. Kevin sighed annoyedly.

"Fine, let's go!" Cooper took out his suit of NanoMech out of his pocket and opened it up, allowing the suit to encompass him. Sam did the same, and in a moment, they were both in their suits.

"This is seriously demeaning," Kevin complained from Cooper's back as the three of them took off into the sky, headed towards the Guardian.

"Just be quiet and it'll be over in a minute," Cooper shot back. "I'm not enjoying this any more than you."

"I think the two of you look cute," Sam remarked sarcastically. "You know, like a koala bear and its cub."

"You'd better stay away from me if you don't want this koala bear going full grizzly on you!" Kevin shouted.

"That makes two of us," Cooper remarked. "And I'm gonna let him have his way with you!"

"Just a joke, guys," Sam replied. "You could take it easy."

"Easy for you to say," Kevin replied. "You're not clinging onto someone's back for your life!"

"Whatever, guys," Sam responded. "Let's just focus on getting to the ship."

The next morning, around 10 am

Ben walked around town. It was getting colder and colder as winter progressed, but Bellwood wasn't cold enough to snow more than once or twice a year. Still, the wind had a way of biting into the bone. And today was one of those windy, cold days.

"Any luck finding Alex or our doubles?" Ben asked into his comm link.

"You know that we're trying to use our cells, right?" Julie asked. "Looks more normal than you talking into your wrist."

"I'm alone for the moment," Ben replied. "Didn't want to take it out and freeze my fingers off."

"Well no one's said anything of seeing him yet," Julie answered, letting the matter go.

"What about the PLUMMERs?" Ben asked. "Have they seen any sign of him?"

"No," Julie replied. "But come to think of it, they've been pretty quiet yesterday and today. I haven't gotten even one alert from them for anything."

"Maybe they've gone radio silent," Ben said. "Like they're trying not to give them any warning."

"You think that they're looking for him too?" Julie asked.

"Probably," Ben replied. "Never did tell up what happened at their base the other day. Just said some generic security breech. It could have been one of the doubles."

"If that's the case, I'm surprised that they haven't come looking for you," Julie said.

"They could be monitoring us, or simply just overwhelmed with everything. Or they could have figured out that it wasn't me."

"Whatever the case is," Julie sighed. "It seems like they are silent for now."

"Well, if we find Alex, we could turn him over to them, that might help them want to work with us again," Ben remarked.

"Alright, well I'm gonna check in on the others," Julie said. "Talk to you later." With that, she hung up. Ben continued walking around, looking for anything that looked out of the normal. It was only a few minutes later that his comm link signaled him.

"We just ran into Alex on Samuel Boulevard," Cooper's voice came in. "He's giving us hell!"

"Be right there!" Ben shouted as he ran across the street, looking for an alley he had passed by only a few minutes ago. Once he ducked inside, he opened up his suit, allowing the NanoMech to unfold over his body. As soon as he was suited up, he activated the Omnitrix, scrolling through the aliens until he found the one he wanted. He slammed down the dial, exploding in a flash of green light.

"Accelerate!" Ben shouted as he sped off as the dinosaur-like alien. Only a few seconds later, he was racing down Samuel Boulevard, looking for Cooper, Sam, Kevin or any sign of a fight. It wasn't long before he spotted it. A large African Elephant that was rampaging. It had to be Alex.

Ben launched himself into the air, using his strong Kinecelerian legs to gain some air. Immediately, Ben slapped his Omnitrix badge on his chest, exploding again in the emerald light.

"UpChuck!" Ben shouted as he came down as the small, portly alien. Before he had even landed, Ben had opened his mouth, using his several tongues to grab ahold of a car door and a mailbox. As he landed, he swallowed both objects, turning them to plasma in his stomach.

In front of him, Cooper tried to dodge the elephant's tusk, but wasn't quite fast enough, being smacked across the street and into the building on the other side. Sam was getting up off of the pavement, rolling to avoid getting crushed under the elephant's feet.

"Take this!" Ben shouted as he fired several shots of plasma at the elephant, the shots burning their way into the beast's thick hide. The animal trumpeted in pain as it leveled eyes at Ben. Then, with another trumpet, it charged towards him, making the ground thunder as it charged.

"Oh crap," Ben muttered as he turned around and began running as fast as this alien would go.

"Bombarda!" He heard off to the side of him. The elephant shouted in surprise as it was thrown off of its feet to the side. It landed with a loud thud into a car. Ben spun around to see Gwen standing only a few feet away from her still-activated portal. "Looks like I came just in time!"

"A moment sooner wouldn't have been too bad either," Ben replied sarcastically. "This form isn't made for running away from a crazed elephant." The portal closed behind Gwen as the two faced the elephant, who was rapidly shrinking back into Alex's human form, before he began growing into a different animal.

"I'd better fuel up," Ben remarked as he opened his mouth and began eating several pieces of nearby rubble. Across the street, Cooper climbed out of the hole he'd been punched through and stood up, looking for their attacker.

"I'll kill all of you!" Alex shouted, now mostly in his bengal tiger form. In a blur of orange and black, he lunged at Sam, pinning him to the ground. With a swipe of his claws, he raked Sam's suit, tearing deep gouges into it. The NanoMech suit began trying to repair the damages, but Alex continued to rip into it.

"Pyro!" Gwen shouted, shouting flames at Alex.

"Extinguo!" Another voice shouted, resulting in the flames dying before they could reach the tiger. Seeing them sputter out, Ben shot several belches of plasma at Alex, knocking him off of Sam. Cooper had by now gotten back into the fight, using his wrist cannons to fire at Alex as well.

A second Lucky Girl leaped into the picture, her hands blazing with raw mana. She fired several shots at Ben, who fired another plasma belch at the first one, causing it to explode. The second one he tried to dodge, but ended up getting hit by it, sending him flying back several feet.

"Ben!" Gwen shouted when she saw him go flying back.

"Focus on me," Newg shouted as she fired several mana shots at her. Gwen manifested a wall, deflecting the shots, though not before several cracks began to spiderweb across her shield. With each one that spread, Gwen could feel similar pinches of pain spread through her head.

Gwen quickly glanced to see Cooper now engaged with Alex. Cooper was using his jetpack to outmaneuver him and try to get a shot off, only for Alex to dodge surprisingly fast, and try to land a clawed paw on him. Sam had rolled away, but he was slow and vulnerable while his suit was trying to repair itself enough to get him back into the fight.

Ben stood up, feeling like he'd just been sucker punched in the gut. Seeing a streetlight nearby, Ben used his tongues to swallow it, converting it into plasma in his stomach. He took aim at Newg and opened his mouth to fire when he was struck by something, sending him flying back again.

"Ugh, what hit me?" Ben asked in UpChuck's low voice.

"You are going to fight me," a reptilian voice hissed. "And I am going to be the one who kills you!"

"Accelerate?" Ben asked looking around. "Really going to play that card?"

"Anything you can do, I can do as well," Neb hissed.

"Which means that we're evenly matched," Ben shot back, still looking around for the nearly-invisible alien. "And I've got friends."

"I'm not afraid to kill," Neb answered. "Which means that I'm not afraid to go all out!" Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw a streak of blue and black, immediately before he was punched in the jaw. The force sent him flying back again, and he lost control of his lips for a moment, sending a blast of plasma into a nearby building.

"You want to go fast?" Ben questioned as he recovered. "Then let's see how fast you can fight!" Ben slapped the badge on his chest, exploding in a green flash. "JetRay!"

Sam stood up, his suit a lot slower and heavier than it usually was. Alex's claws had damaged the structure of the suit, but it hadn't hurt him too badly. He was bleeding, sure, but it was just small cuts across his chest. He saw Cooper flying chaotically and firing blasts at Alex, and Alex dodging and swiping back at him. He was about to jump in and start firing at Alex when he heard an explosion behind him.

Glancing up, he saw one of the skyscrapers crumbling on one of their upper floors. The rubble started falling from the sky, down towards the street, specifically onto a car that was still running, though the occupants had run for safety. If it crushed the still-running car, who knew what the motor could lead to. Straining against his heavy machine, Sam ran towards where the bits of concrete would land. Activating his wrist cannon, he fired rapidly at the falling debris, exploding at least one of the larger chunks.

Sam body-slammed into the car, using his suit as a battering ram to protect him. The weight and momentum of his suit budged the car, but not enough. Sam glanced up to see the chunk of concrete just above him. He lifted his arms up and brace for impact.

The impact was deafening from where he was. The metal and glass from both the bits of building and the car to his side crunched loudly, and Sam felt his suit straining against the weight. He was pushing his suit to the limits, and he felt it. Inside his helmet, his suit was blaring alarms at him before the visor cracked, distorting his vision. All energy was diverted to his arms, straining against the weight of the concrete.

A second impact from some of the rubble further strained him, and Sam grit his teeth as he struggled to avoid being crushed. His communicator crackled, trying to send a message through to him, but for whatever reason, it was struggling.

"Over here!" Sam shouted as he felt his suit's power failing. He clenched his eyes shut as he strained to hold the concrete.

"Ugh!" Sam heard someone grunt as he felt a significant portion of weight be lifted off of him. Enough for him to heft some of the concrete slab up, giving him room to breath. He heard a thud as whatever bit of rubble that had been lifted off crashed into the pavement somewhere else. Another grunt, and his savior along with Sam, lifted up the main chunk of concrete off of him.

"Hurry," the other guy shouted. "Get out of there!" Sam didn't wait for a moment as he let go of the concrete and rolled out, squeezing between the partially-crushed car, and the concrete slab. The filthy guy grunted as he struggled to hold up the concrete. An instant after he saw Sam emerge from the rubble, he dropped the concrete, again crushing the car slightly, though Sam's quick actions had saved the hood from being crushed. Sam glanced at the guy who'd saved him, covered head to toe in concrete dust.

"I sure am glad you came back," Sam greeted Kevin in an out-of-breath sigh.

"I'm glad that I heard you shout," Kevin sighed back. He was also out of breath.

"But how did you lift that up?" Sam gasped out. "I was struggling in my suit."

"Energy isn't the only thing I can absorb," Kevin replied. "I can absorb matter as well. Like that concrete you were under." Sam looked again at Kevin, now noticing that he wasn't covered in concrete dust, but in an actual layer of concrete.

"Why didn't you say so?" Sam asked, still struggling to regain his breath. His muscles were aching and on fire, and he was feeling like he was about to pass out. But he was trying to stay awake.

"Enough with the questions," Kevin replied. "You need to stay out of the fight for a while. Q and A after we finish this fight, alright?" Sam nodded, just about collapsing to the ground as he sat down to catch his breath. He was far enough from the action to not be in too much danger. Kevin cracked his knuckles and cracked his neck.

"I guess that we'll have to see what happens after the fight," Kevin muttered to himself as he charged towards Newg, who was still having a magical duel with Gwen. Off to the side, Ellie had joined Cooper in harassing and shooting at Alex. And Ben was a blur as he was dueling Neb.

A/N:

That's where I'm cutting it this week! What did you think of the fight breaking out? There's going to be some flashbacks and altering perspectives this coming chapter, but as it sits, what were your thoughts? And Kevin revealing his absorbing power? Any idea on how this fight is going to turn out? Any other comments, questions or critiques? You know that I love 'em, so leave 'em down below! And don't forget to leave a follow and a favorite! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!

Review Responses:

Kingpizzathe3: Thanks for the chapter.

The Guardian is a good name.

Thanks! I'm glad that you liked the name! I was trying out several different names in my head, but "The Guardian" stuck because it is a reflection of TU's goal, like how "The Spirit Breaker" reflected Vilgax's goal. Thanks for the review!

Ushindi: It's great chapter anyway. It's going to take awhile for Kevin and Team Ultra to get along.

Thanks, I'm glad that you thought it was a great chapter! Yeah, Kevin's going to take a bit of time to be adopted into the team, not to mention that he doesn't want much to do with Ben, especially the Omnitrix.

Darth Dresden: Heh-heh-heh, another cool chapter, though as you said it was a bit short. Liked Ben's willingness to help Levin, show's his growth as a character. And the team's suspicion is justified too.

Just one request man, if you give the team a little offspring ship from the Spirit Breaker, just don't make it like the Rustbucket 3 or whatever it was in the show, man a Boeing shaped spaceship, that was just weird. But the Guardian name's cool too.
Anyways, keep going, and keep yaself motivated laddie, 'cause we keep waitin' for your chronicles.

Haha, thanks, dude! Glad that it's keeping you on the edge of your seat! As seen in this chapter, he has gained at least one more guy in the team rootin' for him.

And yeah, the team is going to have a smaller shuttle that they use for boarding The Guardian, flying around, stuff like that. But, like you requested, it's not going to be a basic plane called the Rustbucket III. Mostly because, the Rustbucket still belongs to Max, and the team doesn't have much to do with it. But the shuttle is definately going to be alien in design.

Thanks for the motivation, I need it from time to time, more often then I care to admit! (Laughing emoji here) Thanks for the review, and for reading!