NOTE: Welcome back to another chapter, sorry I don't have anything planned for Christmas. The only Christmas episode Ben 10 has is not in Season 1 and I didn't want to write anything Christmas related.
Also, check out the side story "Tennyson Priestess Logs" that I've posted for more things with Yukiko and her family/friends. I'll be updating that along with this one. I'd appreciate it if you gave it a read.
In case I don't have the next chapter posted before New Year's...
Happy New Years!
Review and Enjoy!
Chapter 17: Small Persona
"Six stories of twists and turns!"
"Hurtling down a two-hundred-foot plunge!"
"At speeds of over 25 mph!"
"Then splash down at a churning three hundred-thousand-gallon wave pool!"
"Riptide Rapids! That's what you guys are talking about, right?" Yukiko asked, dressed in a frilly white bikini.
Her cousins turned to her, with wide enthusiastic grins, and also wearing swimsuits. Ben was dressed in blue swim trunks and Gwen was wearing a light purple one-piece swimsuit. "Heck yeah! Only the coolest of slides known to man!" Ben exclaimed.
Gwen took a hold of Yukiko's hand. "Come on, let's go before the line gets too long!" She said, dragging Yukiko along.
"G-Gwen, don't run or you'll slip!" Yukiko warned as she was being dragged along. Ben followed behind the two of them, but he was stopped by an employee's hand.
"You're too short," He said, simply.
"What are you talking about!?" Ben shouted, baffled.
Yukiko and Gwen turned around to see Ben unable to follow them. The Tennysons' all turned their eyes to the cardboard cut-out of the narwhal, and saw that Ben didn't meet the minimum height requirement.
The heiress had just realized something at that moment. Ben really was short, probably around Nanako's height overall. Gwen was only a few inches taller than him and she herself was way taller than him. "No wonder I can pick him so easily," She giggled a bit at the thought. Yukiko did feel bad for Ben, he was really looking forward to going down this slide.
"B-But, I'm almost-"
"Next!" The guy didn't give a damn about what Ben had to say next. Gwen walked over to Ben and patted his head, mocking him.
"Sorry, but I heard the baby banana boats are fun for the smaller kids," Gwen teased as she walked over to the line.
Yukiko walked over and gave Ben a comforting hug. "Don't worry, Ben! You'll hit a growth spurt eventually," She tried to reassure him.
Ben watched as both of his female(And taller) cousins walked away. "Yeah, but by that time it'll be too late," He sneered. Ben turned around and walked away behind the fake mast.
If Yukiko or Gwen had been paying attention to the boy after he had walked away, they would've noticed the bright flash and sparks of green energy. "I've never been on a water slide before," Yukiko said.
"Really?" Gwen asked.
"Yes, Inaba doesn't really have many things like this. Not a lot of room for water slides or attractions besides the seasonal festivals at the shrines or the school festivals," Yukiko answered.
Gwen patted Yukiko's arm in pity. "I don't mean to be rude, but Inaba sounds pretty boring."
"Oh no, it's no big deal. I think after last year, Inaba can appreciate some peace and quiet," Yukiko said, mindlessly.
"Last year? What happened last year?" Gwen asked. Though the girl knew what had plagued Yukiko's home the prior year, she was hoping for the teen to drop some hints.
Sadly, Yukiko had caught on to what she had said. "O-Oh, look! It's our turn, let's go, Gwen!" Yukiko ushered the younger girl forward. Just as Gwen sat down to take her turn, Gray Matter suddenly appeared next to her.
"Hey! Race ya to the bottom!" He grinned and jumped down the slide.
"Ben!" Both girls gasped, glaring at the little troublemaker. Gwen hurried down the slide to chase after him. Yukiko didn't bother to wait too long either and hurried down the slide to follow her cousins.
Yukiko felt a rush of amazement as she slid down the insanely long tube, seeing what her cousins found so enjoyable about the slide in the first place. However, that didn't last for long as she came flying out of the tube, splashing down next to her cousins.
Gray Matter sank underneath the surface of the water due to Yukiko's arrival. He tried to swim back up, but a feminine hand grabbed him before he could do anything. Seconds later, they were back above the surface level.
"Benjamin, how many times do we have to go over this?" Yukiko glared at him.
"Go over what?" He pretended not to know.
"About you going alien just to get on a ride. Grandpa has told you not to do this," Gwen told him.
"Well, I'm not going to tell Grandpa about this. In a few minutes I'll be back to normal, besides it's not like I broke any rules," Gray Matter said.
"You weren't supposed to go on that ride, Ben. You didn't meet the requirements. You could've been hurt," Yukiko reminded him.
"Well, I'm perfectly fine now. So, can you let me go?" He asked, rolling his eyes. He gasped when Yukiko flicked him across the pool water.
"Then, as punishment you can swim back on your own," Yukiko turned around to get out of the pool.
Gwen gave him an annoyed look. "See ya back at our spot, dweeb." She followed after Yukiko. If the two of them had been paying more attention, they would've noticed a weird guy floating underneath the water behind Gray Matter.
The Galvin gasped when a male hand scooped him up out of the water, he turned around to see a guy with dark brown hair and glasses. "Here you are, my little ticket to fame," He grinned.
Gray Matter turned and screamed at the top of his lungs. "YUKIKO! GWEN! GUYS!" The two looked over to see the guy holding Gray Matter.
Yukiko felt every instinct in her body scream all together. "Give him back!" She hissed. A dark red aura started to blaze around her body as her overprotectiveness started to come out again.
The guy was smart enough to feel the dangerous aura that was coming out of the teen's body and ran for it with Gray Matter still in his grasp.
"Don't let him get away!" Gwen yelled as she and Yukiko chased after the guy. They watched as he shoved Gray Matter into a cooler and took off.
The heiress wished she could use her spell to stop the guy, but they were in a crowded area with multiple people. Suddenly, shooting out waves of fire would cause a mass panic and make it easier for them to lose Gray Matter.
The two saw the kidnapper sprint past their Grandfather, Yukiko started shouting. "He's got Gray Matter! Stop him!"
Their Grandfather dropped the ice cream cones he was holding and joined his Granddaughters in chasing after the kidnapper who had Gray Matter. They had to stop when he ran into a large crowd of people and Max started breathing heavily.
"I…gotta remember that I'm not as young as I used to be. Go!" He said to them. Both girls nodded their heads and continued chasing the kidnapper. When they finally got through the exit to the water park, the guy was already driving away from the park.
"Screw it. Agi!" Yukiko crushed her tarot card with her bare hands, commanding Amaterasu to send a small fireball at the car. The ball of flame wasn't quick enough, and the guy managed to take the turn before the ball could hit.
Yukiko fell to her knees and placed her hands over her mouth. "...No…" She whispered, tragically. Gwen was also feeling despair as she had just watched her cousin get kidnapped, not knowing what could possibly happen to him.
Max caught up to his Granddaughters and saw the depressing state they were in. "Don't worry! We'll find him…somehow…" He tried to reassure them.
Yukiko crawled to her feet, a dangerous aura emitting from her body. "No, we will find him, and I'll burn that kidnapping bastard to a crisp," She growled.
The Rustbucket zoomed down the street in a hurry. Inside of the RV the Tennyson girls had changed back into their regular clothing. "Okay, so if he's Gray Matter now, he'll just turn back into Ben then go Four Arms or something and escape," Gwen said, optimistically.
Yukiko, who was standing up front, shook her head. "Gwen, Ben had already turned alien when we first arrived at the slide. He should've turned back to normal before that child kidnapper got his hands on him," The heiress' fingers clawed into the seats.
"Which means that there's something going on with the watch," Max said.
Gwen nodded her head, but she still tried to think of something positive. "Well, how much trouble could Ben get into as Gray Matter? That form makes him a genius!"
Inside the suburban house, Gray Matter smacked his face against a glass cylinder repeatedly, in hopes of escaping. The little guy kept doing it, thinking that at some point he'll be able to escape.
All the while, the kidnapper(Howell Wainwright) was watching him with an enthusiastic grin.
"I need to distract myself," Yukiko realized. The heiress realized that walking back and forth inside of the RV wasn't going to do anything to into the bathroom, Yukiko sat down on the closed toilet seat and took out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for.
NARUKAMI YU
Allowing a smile to grace her lips the heiress opened up the emails that the two had been sending each other since the summer had started. She started re-reading their old messages.
Yu-kun: How is it? Being out of Inaba for the first time?
Yukiko: It's…different. I'm not too sure if that's a good thing or bad.
Yu-kun: What about it is different?
Yukiko: Everything is so much bigger. Even after everything we did last year, my world was so much smaller than I thought it was. And it's not like being out in a different city, I'm all the way on the other side of the world. Away from all of our friends and family…away from you.
Yu-kun: I understand, it hurts leaving Inaba. Even knowing that I'll definitely be back eventually, I didn't want to say goodbye.
Yukiko: It wasn't a goodbye, Yu-kun. It was a 'see you later'.
Yu-kun: I know, but that didn't make it any easier. I know it wasn't easy for you, both times.
Yukiko: Yeah, Chie-chan and Rise-chan were crying a lot. Kanji-kun was trying his best not to cry, Yosuke and Naoto-kun were being strong for everyone else. Nanako-chan was clinging on tightly, she didn't want to see both her big sister and brother leave.
Yu-kun: Nanako-chan is a strong girl. She'll be fine after a while. Uncle will make sure she'll be fine until we return.
Yukiko: I know.
Yu-kun: So, your newly discovered family? What do you think of them?
Yukiko: They're nice people. Grandfather is kind and is very open to accommodating the things that I need. Gwen is kind of stuck up, but she's very intelligent and has a good heart and Ben is very immature and a tad bit selfish, but he's a good kid. They're different from what I was expecting.
Yu-kun: Good, I'm happy that-
There was a loud knock on the bathroom door, taking Yukiko away from the past messages. She got off of the toilet seat and opened the door. "Gwen, what's happening?"
The girl shoved a map into Yukiko's face. "Hurry up! Ben contacted us a few seconds ago, we got a lead on where he may be!" Gwen exclaimed.
Yukiko pushed the map out of her face, her expression turned serious. "Then let's hurry and find him!"
"We'll take this side and you take that one, Grandpa," Yukiko commanded them. Nodding their heads, they hurried to find which house he was located in.
Yukiko searched the sides of a house, trying to peek through the windows. "Ben? Can you hear me?"
"Woof!"
The heiress gasped in surprise from the barking that she got in response. "Ben!? Did you somehow get stuck as Wildmutt!?" She raced towards the backyard to see where the barking had come from. However, what she saw was just a regular dog barking at her. Yukiko scrunched her face at the dog, glaring at it.
"How dare you trick me! Bad dog!" She scolded it. The canine stopped barking, tilting its head confusingly at her. It turned around and started kicking up dirt into her face as a punishment for disrupting it.
"Ptah! EW!" Yukiko tried to wipe the dirt off of her face, stumbling away from the fence. Since she couldn't see where she was going the heiress, Gwen, and Max all bumped into each other. The three Tennysons fell to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Hopefully Ben's having a better time than we are," Yukiko groaned, mentally.
"The faster I get out of this crazy house the better!" Gray Matter climbed up the pipe. He had been running from Howell all day, the crazy alien enthusiast was persistent as hell.
Howell watched as Gray Matter climbed up the pipe, he took out a box of matches and grinned. "I'll smoke you out if I have to!" He lit up the match and used the smoke to block out the oxygen inside of the tube. Gray Matter coughed and watched as his only escape was blocked by a cloud of smoke. The galvin fell down the pipe and was caught in a fishing net.
"Hopefully, the others are having a better time than I am…" Gray Matter groaned, mentally.
The Rustbucket continued searching through neighborhoods until Yukiko and Gwen spotted the green car that Howell had escaped in earlier.
"Grandpa! His car!" Gwen pointed out.
"On it!" He accelerated the Rustbucket.
Yukiko felt relieved that they had finally found the house Ben was located in. The Rustbucket stopped in front of the house, and they hurried out of the RV and approached the house's door.
"You wanna ring the doorbell?" Gwen asked.
"I'll knock hard!" Max kicked the door down. The three were expecting to find Howell and Gray Matter inside of the house, but instead all they found was a grumpy old lady in a wheelchair with her growling dog.
"Brutus! Sick em!" The old lady yelled.
"Oh no…" Yukiko gulped.
The dog jumped at them, tackling Max to the ground. The old man held the dog back from tearing his face off. Yukiko used Amaterasu to pry the dog off of her Grandfather. As that was happening, Gwen looked across the street to see a weird group of knights exiting Howell's house. In their hands was some sort of energy cage holding Gray Matter and Howell was also being led into the car.
"It's him! The guy who's got Ben!" Gwen yelled, pointing at the car. Yukiko turned her attention to the speeding vehicle as their Grandfather managed to hold the dog. "They're getting away!"
"Down boy!" Max pushed the top of the dog's head, calming it down.
"Oh, that really does work!" Yukiko gasped.
"Nice trick, Grandpa," Gwen complimented.
Max placed the sleeping dog onto the grass. "Come on! We need to find out where they went!" They nodded their heads and sprinted to Howell's house.
"Huh, the old lady and the creep have the same taste in cars. Go figure," Max said after peeking into the garage. Yukiko looked down at the grass and saw a flip phone lying on the ground. She picked it up and turned it on. She turned it on and saw a picture of the captured Gray Matter.
"He looks so sad," Yukiko muttered. Her anger towards the child kidnapper flared greatly. She handed the phone to Gwen, so as to not crush it with her own fury.
Gwen's own anger started to rise as she looked at the sad look on Ben. "Nobody does that to my cousin. Only I can torment Ben!" She growled. Max took the phone from her hands and looked into the call history.
"If we can get a reverse trace on that number, we should be able to get an address," Max explained to them.
Gwen smirked, impressed. "Grandpa, there's a sneaky side to you that I'm totally starting to appreciate."
Yukiko however was no longer in the mood for it. "Can you hurry it up, Grandpa. The faster you trace that number the faster I can burn each and every one of those creeps to ashes," She marched back to the RV.
"Is she alright?" Gwen asked.
"No, and neither will I be until we have Ben back," Max followed after Yukiko.
Gwen hurried after them, not wanting to be left behind.
"This isn't a house, it's a fortress," Gwen said.
In front of them was a large white fortress with multiple guards in knight armor stationed around it. The three of them were hiding behind a bush so they wouldn't be seen.
"Are they having a masquerade party or something?" Gwen asked.
Max looked at both of his granddaughters before answering. "They call themselves the Organization. A well-financed secret society dedicated to collecting alien technology," He explained, much to their shock.
"H-How do you know this?" Yukiko asked, curious.
"I-I-well, when you've been around as long as I have you pick up a few things," Max lied. Yukiko's suspicions only grew as she stared at her Grandfather. But there wasn't any time for that.
They need to save Ben.
"Ready?" Max asked.
"Of course."
"Not really. But-"
"Come on, Gwen," Yukiko took a hold of her hand as the four of them walked across a large branch in the tree they were hiding in. Yukiko released Gwen's hand and the three jumped across, grabbing onto the stone wall's edge. They climbed over and came face to face with one of the guards.
"Hi there," Max greeted, casually.
The guard lifted his staff to attack them, but Yukiko already had Amaterasu at the ready. "Agilao." The man was sent flying by the medium sized ball of fire. The man tried to get back up, but Yukiko didn't give him the chance.
"Agidyne."
Before the guard even knew it, his armor had been completely burnt off of his body. Leaving the man on the floor in nothing but his underwear and unconscious. Gwen picked up the guy's staff off of the ground and grinned.
"Nice. This will work," She said.
Gray Matter watched as Howell freed him from almost getting turned into a science experiment. The alien enthusiast fought off the scientists as Gray Matter ran away to not get captured again.
When the Galvin exited the room, he turned down the hallway and ran straight into Gwen's leg. The girl dropped the staff she had stolen and grabbed her leg in pain.
"Ow!" She winced.
"Ben!" Yukiko wasted no time in scooping the Galvin up off the floor. She hugged him into her chest as she sighed in relief.
Gray Matter couldn't breathe as he was trapped between Yukiko's chest, it wasn't until Gwen had forced her to let go that he was given a chance to breathe.
"Oh…sorry…" Yukiko apologized. The heiress felt Max's hand on her shoulder as she held Ben in her hands.
"Let's save the family reunion for the road!" He exclaimed.
"Right!" They replied and began running through the hallway.
To hide away from the many guards that were searching the fortress, the family of four hid inside of one of the rooms. The room was illuminated by the lights on the floor, revealing multiple cases of alien artifacts that had been collected.
"Look at all of this alien tech," Gray Matter said.
Yukiko couldn't believe what she was seeing, and the girl fought monsters inside of a TV for Christ's sake! "Yeah, my life really just keeps getting weirder."
They walked through the room, exploring all of the cases that were inside of it. "Oh man, these guys have no clue what they've got here!" Gray Matter exclaimed.
"Or maybe they do," Gwen countered as they walked past some weird cyborg hand.
"We've got to destroy everything," Gray Matter said.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened up, revealing multiple knights and the leader of the place. "Spread out and find them!" He ordered. Two of the guards behind him walked forward with Howell in their grasp.
Max picked up Gwen and Yukiko was still holding Gray Matter. The Tennysons hid behind a display case, watching the knights search for them.
"What do we do?" Yukiko asked. While she wasn't going to object to fighting, there were too many for her to take on without worrying about her family's safety.
An idea popped into Gray Matter's head. "This! Gwen, grab that pulse HyperCore! Grandpa, grab the millennium capacitor!" His words confused his family greatly. The Galvin sighed at their reactions. "It's not Ben talking, it's Gray Matter! Do it!" He ordered them.
"What about me?" Yukiko asked.
PEW!
Suddenly, a bolt of red energy almost hit her had she not moved her head. They saw a knight standing in front of them with his spear pointed at them. "They're over here!"
"Torch em!" Gray Matter replied to her as he got to work.
"With pleasure! Maragion!" Yukiko fired multiple balls of fire at the approaching knights. Her aim stayed true as some were taken down from the heat. Max grabbed a staff of the floor, while Gwen still had hers from earlier. The two joined in on the firing to hold back the knights.
"Get out of here!" Gray Matter ordered them.
"What about you?" Gwen turned around to him.
"If I can get inside of that power grid, I can hook the HyperCore and capacitor up to it. This is where small comes in handy," Gray Matter explained as he pointed at one of the artifacts. "Now, go! I'll meet you outside!"
"You better, Ben!" Yukiko grunted as she dodged another laser. "Maragion!" More fireballs spewed out of Amaterasu, knocking the knights back.
"Let's go, you two!" Max ordered. The three sprinted out of the room as the knights tried to give chase.
As Gray Matter finished putting explosives together, the Omnitrix finally decided to start beeping, and he finally turned back to normal. "Oh man. Just when I didn't want you to work!" He said to the watch.
On the floor, Howell was ditched by the knights. He glanced up at Ben, whose arm was stuck inside of the power core. "Huh? Where did you come from?"
"I'll tell you later, but right now can you give me a hand?" Ben asked, trying to pull his hand out. Howell nodded his head and helped pull Ben's hand out of the core.
"Thanks, look, a friend told me we gotta get out of here!" Ben lied and sprinted out of the room. Howell wasted no time in following him.
"Ben!" Yukiko shouted as she saw him(Finally turned back to normal) and Howell running out of the collapsing fortress. The five of them watched as the fortress imploded, leaving nothing there but a giant blank spot on the ground.
"Well, we can now add a fortress to the list of things we've destroyed this summer," Yukiko said, mentally.
Howell turned to the Tennysons. "Anyone see where that little alien went?"
"Nope," Ben lied.
"Not a clue," Gwen lied.
"What little alien?" Yukiko also feigned ignorance.
Taking their answers as honest ones, Howell gripped his fist. "Well, I am done with anything alien!" Howell declared and walked off.
The Rustbucket drove down the road, the family now able to relax with Ben back with them. The boy himself was leaning back in his seat, grinning. "It is good to be big again!"
"Pfft, big!? Get real, shorty," Gwen laughed.
"Don't make me go Four Arms on you!" Ben yelled at her. Suddenly, the Omnitrix started sparking with red electricity. "I-I didn't do anything!"
"Uh? Grandpa, do you know anyone that knows how to fix transforming alien watches?" Yukiko asked, worried. All four of the Tennysons stared at the Omnitrix with worried glances, hoping that the watch wouldn't do anything crazy for a while.
Unknown to the Tennysons, they had once again made another enemy due to their interference.
Chapter End
NOTE: The Forever Knights have now been introduced.
This episode was kinda hard, because of Yukiko being unable to directly interfere with what was happening with Ben. So, I hope you enjoyed what I was able to do with this chapter. I really can't wait to get to Season 2, because that's when things really start getting moving.
Season 1 is almost over. We have one more episode(Clancy) before we get to Secrets and Yukiko meets Vilgax and secrets come to light.
Next Chapter - Side Effects