NOTE: The filler chapter before the season finale! I hope you all enjoy this! Also, if you haven't, please go read the "Tennyson Priestess Logs". I'd appreciate it.

Review and Enjoy!

Chapter 19: Before the Storm

"GONE!"

"W-What…" Ben's eyes snapped open at the loud booming voice. He rubbed his eyes, reaching for the covers.

Only to not find them there.

"What?" Ben looked down to see himself sitting on his bunk, dressed in his regular clothing. "Okay, I definitely remember putting on my pajamas last night," He said. The hero looked up from his clothing to look at the rest of the Rustbucket, but there was nothing there in front of him.

The Rustbucket had been completely destroyed, the roof was torn off, and everything was scattered about. Around the outside was a dark forest that he had never seen before. His heartbeat increased as panic started to build up inside of him, the boy hopped out of the bed and walked around the RV. "Grandpa? Yukiko? Gwen?" He called out for his family.

Working up some courage Ben stepped out of the RV. "Hey! Whoever's responsible better get out of here now!" He screamed.

There was no reply, only the cricketing from the grasshoppers around the forest. "Someone!? Anyone!? HELLO!?" Ben kept screaming. When there was no reply again, he rolled his eyes.

"Ah well, when that doesn't work…" He activated the Omnitrix and turned the dial. "I'll just reply on good 'ol Wildmutt!" Ben slapped down the dial, expecting the bright green flash.

But once again, nothing came. The watch just made no sound and sat uselessly on his wrist. "Uh? Wildmutt!" He slapped down on the dial again. Ben kept repeating the process of slapping the watch until he came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work. "Guess, I'll just walk-"

BOOM!

He jumped at the sudden explosion that was heard from within the forest. While most people would've run away from such a loud booming noise, this summer had engraved a certain lesson into Ben's instincts. "Explosions must mean trouble! And when there's trouble, Ben Tennyson answers the call!" The hero sprinted into the direction that the explosion had come from.

He arrived in a small clearing and saw someone he recognized lying on the ground.

"Grandpa!" Ben shouted and knelt down by his Grandfather. The old man stirred at the sound of his Grandson's voice and looked up.

"B-Ben? What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice was shaky.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing out in the middle of the woods, Grandpa? Where's Yukiko and Gwen?" Ben asked. His Grandfather got to his feet and grabbed Ben by his shoulders.

"Listen, Ben! You need to go, NOW!" Max exclaimed; fear written on his face.

Such an expression had taken Ben by surprise. "Grandpa? What's going on-"

BOOM!

Both flinched at the explosive sound that was extremely close by, making Max panic even more. "Just listen to me for once, Ben and GO!"

"WHY!? Why do I need to run!? Whatever it is, I'm sure I can kick its butt!" Ben argued.

"This is no time for an argument! You need to-" Max was interrupted by a large shadowy hand casting a shadow upon them. Max shoved his Grandson away as the hand slammed down on him, pinning him to the ground.

"FOUND YOU."

"GRANDPA!" Ben screamed.

"RUN, BEN!" Max screamed as the hand clutched his body and dragged him away into the dark forest.

"GRANDPA!" Ben cried and hurried to his feet. He ran into the forest to find his Grandpa, he tried to activate the watch, but it just wouldn't work. "Why won't you work!? Come on! WORK!" He kept slapping the dial.

"BEN!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to his left to see Gwen running towards him, relief washed through his face. "Gwen! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm so happy to see you! We got to find Grandpa; some shadow thing took him-"

"MOVE!" Gwen grabbed him by the hand, forcing him to follow her. He glared at her for the sudden action.

"What's your deal!?"

"You need to run, Ben! Like, NOW!" Gwen yelled at him.

"Grandpa said the same thing, but he didn't explain! What's going on!?" Ben demanded.

"Look, Ben, we can't help Grandpa, okay!"

"What?" Ben stopped, tearing his hand away from her. "What do you mean we have to leave Grandpa? What are you talking about!?" He shouted at her.

Gwen turned around, fear evident all over her face. "B-Ben, nothing we've faced this summer compares to this thing. We can't just force our way through it this time. We need to run!"

"Where's Yukiko?"

"W-What?"

"Where is Yukiko? She wouldn't want us to abandon, Grandpa! If you want to run then so be it, but I'm gonna find them!" With each declaration Ben got closer to her.

"Ben, you don't understand-LOOK OUT!" She shoved him out of the way, just as the shadowy hand from before grabbed her.

"YOU CANNOT RUN!"

"GWEN!" Ben tried to reach for her.

"B-Ben…run!" Gwen coughed out as the hand wretched back into the forest, enveloping Gwen into a den of shadows.

"GWEN!" Ben tried to use the Omnitrix again. "Come on! Work! Four Arms! Wildmutt! Heatblast! Gray Matter! ANYTHING!"

"AGIDYNE!"

Ben's head snapped up at the sound of Yukiko's voice. "Yukiko!" Ben got to his feet and sprinted into her direction. When he arrived in another clearing, Ben found Yukiko kneeling on the ground breathing heavily. "YUKIKO!"

The teenager turned on a dime and found another wind, she enveloped him in a hug, before pushing him back. "Ben! What are you doing here!?"

"I was looking for you guys! I found Grandpa and Gwen, but some shadowy hand took them away and this stupid watch refuses to work!" Ben explained rapidly.

Yukiko shook her head, fear also evident in her eyes. "Ben, it isn't safe for you here! You need to run away!"

"Why do you guys keep saying that!? What could possibly be happening!? WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Ben screamed. He was fed up with all the ambiguousness that was going on. His family was disappearing before his eyes, and nobody was explaining anything!

Yukiko's eyes were pleading for him to listen. "Ben, I wish I could explain what's going on, but there's just no time. He's coming!"

"WHO!? WHO IS COMING!?"

"ME."

Before either one could react, the shadowy hand came flying into the clearing and smashed into Yukiko, a gasp escaped her lips as she went flying into a tree. Yukiko's body hit the tree, a loud crack resounded throughout the whole forest, the heiress' body dropped to the ground, and didn't get back up.

There wasn't even a twitch. Yukiko's body didn't move at all.

Ben stood frozen in his spot as he stared at Yukiko's unmoving body. His mind flashed back to the disappearance of Gwen and Max, realizing what the implications must've meant for the two of them. He wasn't left time to continue thinking about the fate of his family, because something else had just entered the clearing.

Ben couldn't make out what the thing was, because it was nothing more than a large black shadow. But something inside of him was screaming that he had seen this thing before. That this wasn't their first meeting, and it wouldn't be their last.

"W-Who are you?"

"SOMEONE WHO HAS WAITED TOO LONG FOR THEIR PRIZE! I WILL WAIT NO LONGER! TRY TO HIDE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, BUT THERE IS NO ESCAPE!"

"I AM COMING!"

"AAHHHH!" Ben shot up with a scream. The boy's heart was almost beating out of his chest, he gripped his chest to calm down his heart. Taking some deep breaths, Ben gazed around his location, realizing that he was back inside of the RV. He looked down to his left and saw Gwen sleeping soundly as if nothing had happened. Ben then looked at the bottom bunk to see that Yukiko was also sleeping peacefully. Across from them was their Grandfather, and he was sleeping as well.

"A dream…it was just a dream…" Ben tried to relax. But he couldn't…no matter how much he tried he couldn't go back to sleep. The horrific nightmare of his family's deaths plagued his mind, but what bothered him more was the reason.

"That voice was just like the one I heard when I merged with Rojo. But what did he mean…he's coming? He's coming…" Ben didn't know why, but his attention was drawn to the Omnitrix on his wrist.

Above the Earth's atmosphere, stood a large brown ship that resembled some sort of blaster. It floated quietly, invisible to any sensors that the planet had to track unidentified objects. Within the ship's control room were multiple drones operating the vessel. In the middle of the room was a healing tank being operated by several humanoid drones.

Inside of it was a large green and black squid creature with sharp orange eyes. His body was being changed into something larger and fiercer than it previously was. He chuckled darkly as he observed several screens showcasing several of Ben's aliens rescuing people.

"Soon…my new body shall be complete." He lifted a hand, placing it on the glass chamber, his claws scratching against the glass. "And I shall crush the welp who dares to fool around with my prize! THE OMNITRIX SHALL BE MINE!"

Chapter End

NOTE: This is officially Vilgax's first of many appearances in this story! As I was writing this story it was always intended for me to not include any scenes with Vilgax. Not just because Yukiko wouldn't be in them, but because I just like the unawareness of him during season 1. He's like a shadow that slowly creeps up on the Tennysons until it's too late, and Ben is only made aware of him during his fight with Rojo. But he doesn't do much with that information, because of how short the meeting was, so he just stopped thinking about it. Until the nightmares started popping up, and Vilgax's sharp claws were slowly wrapping around the Tennysons.

I've been wanting to do a whole nightmare scenario with Vilgax and Ben. This chapter was originally going to be much darker, with Yukiko getting stabbed through the chest by the shadowy Vilgax and Ben seeing the warlord standing over the corpses of his family. I decided that was too dark and changed it to this.

I hope you all enjoyed!

Next Chapter - Secrets (Part 1)