Ch.8: The Alliance
Inside Vilgax's ship, Vilgax's robotic lieutenant announced that he had launched two improved versions of their robot drones, to track down the Omnitrix. Vilgax, however, didn't seem to be confident that the drones would be able to take the Omnitrix, because he believed the current holder is someone who is knowledgeable and dangerous and can take on many opponents at once.
The dangerous wielder of the Omnitrix was slouching through the aisle of the gas station, along with Angel, when their stomachs made loud gurgling noises.
"Man, I'm starved," groaned Ben. "I haven't eaten anything all day."
"Ben, can we buy a box of cookies," asked Angel when she saw a tower of perfectly stacked cookie boxes on their right. They happily went over and Ben took one of the boxes for themselves, but as he took it, the tower collapsed onto Gwen. The redheaded girl shot up out of the cookie pile with a deep frown while Ben and Angel smiled innocently.
"Smooth move, you two," said Gwen sarcastically.
The kids walked out of the market a few minutes later and found Max hanging around the back of the Rust Bucket. Max spotted the phrase WASH ME on one of the windows and turned to Angel.
"That's nice artwork, Angel," Max complimented.
"Well, you know, it makes a statement," said Angel playfully.
Then all of a sudden, an armored truck that happened to be sitting across the street with nobody watching it was blasted from behind by a giant laser beam that blew its metallic doors of the hinges and set the vehicle aflame.
"No, that's a statement," said Gwen.
(Theme song:
It started with an alien device that did what it did,
It stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid,
Now he's got superpowers, he's no ordinary kid,
He's Ben 10!... (Ben 10! Ben 10!)
So if you see him, you might be for a big surprise,
He'll turn into an alien before your very eyes,
He's slimy, creepy, fast and strong; he's every shape and size,
He's Ben 10!... (Ben 10!)
Armed with the power, he's on the case,
Fighting off evil from Earth or space,
He'll never stop 'til he makes them pay,
'Cause he's the baddest kid to ever save the day,
He's Ben 10! (Ben 10! Ben 10! Ben 10!)
The dust settled and three figures appeared. They all appear to be dressed the same way and had masks on to hide their identities. They were also heavily armed. The leader of the gang turned to the Tennysons and possibly leered at them.
"What are you looking at," asked the leader rudely as they turned their lasers on the family.
"Kids, get back," said Max, pushing Ben and the girls behind the RV.
The biker leader shot a single blast from her laser at the old man, but Max managed to dive out of the way before the beam could hit and instead hit the gas station pillar behind him, destroying most of it. Unfortunately, Max had thrown himself in the wrong direction and had left himself exposed.
"I gotta get grandpa out of there," said Ben hurriedly and activated the Omnitrix. "Time for Diamondhead!" Ben slammed down the core when he found Diamondhead's silhouette and was engulfed in green light. However, when the light faded instead of Diamondhead, in Ben's place stood Shocksquatch.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
Back with the armored car, the leader's two lackeys came out with their arms loaded with bags of money when they felt a tremor on the ground coming from nearby. They turned their heads and spotted the Gimlinopithecus down the street raising one of his fists before he slammed it on the ground, sending an electrical charge at the bikers which knocks them of their feet. With the biker gang momentarily hindered, Shocksquatch turned to his family.
"Quick, get out of here," said Shocksquatch.
However, this distracted him and got blasted in the chest by one of the bikers, sending him flying backwards into another gas station pillar. The gang members fired another shot at Shocksquatch while the electric yeti was starting to stand, but the Gimplinopithecus quickly turned his shoulder and ducked out of the way. However, the blast melted through the gas pump that was standing directy behind Shocksquatch. With the heat of the blast igniting the fuel inside the pump, a massive explosion roared through the gas station that nearly knocked Angel and the Tennysons off their feet.
"Ben," screamed Angel in horror and tried to get to Shocksquatch, but Max held her back.
There was a long moment of silence as everyone stood their ground – the Tennysons took cover behind the RV and the biker gang formed a line with their laser weapons ready to shoot. Smoke started to climb towards the sky… and Shocksquatch jumped from the haze with his fists sparkling. The biker gang tried to shoot Shocksquatch out of the air, but their panic caused them to lose aim and completely missed every shot before the Gimlinopithecus landed between them and slammed his fists on the ground, sending a shock wave at the biker gang. The gang members were thrown in the opposite direction – the leader's helmet cracked when her face planted on the street while the lackeys were slammed into the armored truck. The followers started to slump down the metal plated vehicle until Shocksquatch jumped forward and lifted them up by the helmets. Shocksquatch held them suspended off the ground by a few feet until gravity pulled them down and dropped them on their butts. Now, Shocksquatch had a good look at them and gasped.
"You're… all women? Well, that sure makes things complicated," said Shocksquatch.
Though very chivalrous, it didn't stop the leader from coming up behind the Gimlinopithecus and blasting him in the back. Now that the helmet was gone, the leader was very much a woman like her flunkies that had taken a gothic style with multiple ear piercings and short hair she had died maroon. When Shocksquatch hit the street, the leader walked around and grinded smugly at the electric yeti.
"Well, isn't that sweet," said the leader sarcastically.
"What are you waiting for," complained Gwen. "Clobber her!"
"She's a girl! I can't hit a girl," Shocksquatch shouted back.
"If I learnt something from school, is that girls are always complaining about being treated as equals to boys. I guess that includes kicking their butts," said Angel.
"OK, forget I said anything," said Shocksquatch and turned to the leader. "I'm about to give you the shock of your life, eh."
Shocksquatch marched, with his body unleashing sparks of electricity, towards the maroon–haired woman, who actually looked scared now that she was coming face–to–face with the yeti monster. Just as Shocksquatch was about to shoot her with electricity, he saw two drones coming from the sky that shoot the armored truck filled with money and that eventually annoyed the woman.
"Hey, this is my heist," the leader snapped at the drones. She picked up her gun and turned to her crew. "Let's blast those things!"
"Uh–uh, no way," the first flunky rejected.
"You're on your own, Rojo," said the second before they both ran away.
"Traitors," yelled Rojo irritably.
She turned her attention to Shocksquatch, who was fighting the drones. She was about to blast him, but misses thanks to Max, who threw a tire at her.
"Ben, those things are after the watch," shouted Max.
"You really shouldn't have done that, old timer," sneered Rojo.
She bounced back to her feet, turned her laser cannon at Max, and shoots him. The elderly man managed to duck out of the way just in time, but Rojo's wild shoot sliced through what remained of the gas station's support beam and soon the entire thing started to collapse. Large chunks of debris landed on top of Max, half–burying him in front of Angel and Gwen.
"Grandpa," screamed Gwen and Angel looked in horror.
"No," shouted Shocksquatch once he realized what happened.
The drones continued to shoot at him, but miss and Shocksquatch unleashed a powerful wave of electricity that struck the drones, which caused to collide with each other and hit the ground. Shocksquatch turned his attention to Rojo and slammed his fist on the ground, sending electricity at her, which caused her to get knocked off her feet and flew straight for Shocksquatch, but the Gimlinopithecus punched her across the face and sent her flying as she landed hard next to the drones out cold. Shocksquatch stomped back to the gas station and pulled Max out of the debris.
"We've got to do something," said Angel, panicked.
"I'm calling 911," said Gwen, nearly fumbling with her cell phone.
"No time," said Shocksquatch. The Gimlinopithecus gently pulled his grandfather into one of his arms, cradling him against his furry chest, and picked up the two girls to pull them on his back and they hugged him across the neck. "Hospital's up the street!"
Shocksquatch leaped forward with all the muscles in his legs and crossed a great distance before landing and hoping again out of sight, forgetting that they left Rojo alone.
Once they were gone, Rojo recovered and started examining the destroyed drones. "Who are you freaks?" She pulled off the head of one of the drones and started examining its circuitry.
Suddenly, it's eye glowed red and stabbed its plug into her neck and started transferring data into her. Her skin suddenly turned a deep crimson red and the sleeves of her jacket and pants were ripped open by the sudden surge of growth in her muscles. Spikes grew from her elbows and fingers and her eyes turned red, the same color as the robots' visors. She also grew two sensors on her shoulders and two more eyes.
Then, two police cars pulled up and the cops came out, guns drawn. "Freeze!"
Rojo, now a cyborg drone, turned around to face them, leaving them confused. "Ha! I already did my time. It's time you guys paid!"
Suddenly, the sensors in her shoulder came up from their sockets and fired two laser beams at them, destroying the cars in the process.
She them smiled at her dirty work as she picked up the discarded bag of cash that her lackeys left behind and chuckled to herself. "This is gonna be a blast!"
At the hospital, the kids had checked Max into a room, now dressed in a hospital gown and lying on the bed, unconscious, his leg in a cast and resting on a sling.
"Your grandfather has suffered a severe concussion," reported the doctor. "He'll be out for several more hours. He also has several lacerations and a broken leg."
"He's gonna be okay, right," asked Ben, worried.
"For a man his age, he's remarkably strong. He'll be fine after some rest," said the doctor. "Now it says on his admittance form that he was knocked unconscious. Did someone bump into him?"
"Actually, he was hit by a bumper that flew through the air when the robot blew up the car," said Angel.
The doctor chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Vivid imaginations are good coping mechanisms in situations like these."
The doctor left the kids and Ben turned to his grandfather across the room, feeling gulty of what happened.
Back in Earth's orbit on the Chimera Wrath, the bioid reported to Vilgax exactly what happened on the surface.
"The drones were destroyed," said the bioid.
"Send out more," ordered Vilgax.
"We may not need to. The drones have somehow merged. I'm receiving a combined signal and that signal is on the move," explained the bioid.
"Hmm," pondered Vilgax. "Perhaps one head is better than two."
Back on the surface, Rojo was robbing a jewelry store, using her new tech to send the patrons out screaming in terror. She then used her laser to melt the glass holding the priceless rings so that she could steal them. Unfortunately, she didn't know her own strength and ended up crushing the rings to dust.
"What!? No! They're worthless now," shouted Rojo and turned to the owner of the store, and growled angrily. But before she could do anything, she got a massive headache and clutched her head in pain as she started to hear a voice in her head.
"Listen to me, whoever you are," said the voice.
"Where are you?..." Rojo asked the voice. "…Who are you? And how did you get in my head?"
"No questions! You're here to serve me," replied the voice.
"Guess again. I work for me and me alone," said Rojo.
Suddenly, she was forced to her knees and the next thing she knew, she found herself falling through a void that was happening inside her head.
"You now possess powers you could never imagine," said the voice calmly.
She then found herself face–to–face with a giant squid–faced alien that she had never seen before.
"But unless you find a way to use it, it'll be worthless," said the alien.
Her eyes widened in fear at the alien before her.
"Fulfill my demand and I'll teach you. Fail me and I will turn you to dust," continued the alien.
Rojo conceded to this, slightly in fear slightly in wonder at how to use her new powers. "So what do you want?"
"Only one thing. A piece of valuable technology missing from my possession. And luckily, you're already programmed to find it," explained the alien.
"Of course, master," said Rojo.
Back at the hospital, the kids were in Max's room as he rested.
"Ben, you heard the doctor. He'll be fine," said Gwen encouragingly.
"I'm worried about him," replied Ben as Angel put a hand o his shoulder.
"I'd more worried about how some girl kicked Shocksquatch's butt," said Gwen.
"Hey, heroes don't hit girls," said Ben.
"Good to know," said Gwen as she lightly jabbed her cousin.
Ben glared at her and jabbed her back.
"Hey! I thought you said–," started Gwen, but was interrupted.
"I'm not a hero now," said Ben.
Gwen then clutched her fist tightly and reeled it back, ready to punch him…until she saw how concerned he looked.
Ben then walked out of the door with Angel following him as Gwen looked back at Max.
"You okay, Ben," asked Angel, concerned.
"I don't think I am," replied Ben sadly and felt someone hugging him. He knew that it was none other than Angel and returned the hug. They stayed in each other's embrace for a minute or two until Ben broke out of it.
"Hey, maybe you can help him with one of your aliens," said Angel and Ben looked at her with curiosity.
"And which alien are you talking about," asked Ben.
"I don't know. Maybe Ghostfreak," suggested Angel.
"You know, Ghostfreak is an actual ghost and maybe I'll be able to talk to him," said Ben as he activated the Omnitrix.
Across the city on a cliff, Rojo shot her attention and looked down at the hospital. She used her visors to pinpoint Ben's location as she zoomed in to the windows and saw that he eagerly fiddled with the Omnitrix.
"There you are," said Rojo with a smirk.
Back in the hospital, Ben looked to see his grandfather lying unconscious in his bed as he sighted and angrily kicked over an innocent trash can.
"Ben, everything's gonna be okay," said Angel soothingly before looking out the window and gasping. "Look out!" She tackled Ben to the ground as Rojo bursted through the window and slowly walked towards them.
"Give me the Omnitrix," demanded Rojo.
"You want it? Come and get it," said Ben as he grabbed Angel's arm and pulled her along as they started running down the hall, avoiding her lasers as she chased them.
"You can't run forever," shouted Rojo as she blasted a cart that a nurse was carrying and knocking her back only to be saved by a doctor.
They almost ran by a stairwell, only for Ben notice it as he shouted after Angel. "Angel, this way!"
They opened the door and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Ben, that's the same woman from the gas station," said Angel.
"My name is Rojo," demanded the said woman as she spotted them from the top of the stairwell
"It's like she's merged with those–," stared Angel.
" – robot drones," concluded Ben for her.
"You can't run forever," said Rojo as she jumped down the middle after them, just missing them as they ran down out of the door on the bottom floor. She then fired her lasers them, just missing them.
"Now would be a really good time to go hero," said Angel and Ben nodded.
"First we need to hide," said Ben as they ran out of the front door of the hospital and hid behind two ambulances.
Rojo walked out of the door and scanned the area looking for the kids. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." She then spotted the cliff above and smirked to herself. She fired her lasers at the cliff, loosening several boulders causing an avalanche to tumble down at Ben and Angel. She smiled at her work as she walked away from the scene.
"We're gonna be crushed," Angel cried out.
"No, we're not," said Ben as he activated the Omnitrix. "Time for Kickin Hawk." Ben slammed down the core and got engulfed in green light. When the light faded, Angel saw that Ben had transformed, but into Heatblast instead of Kickin Hawk.
"Oh, great. I need muscle and I get an alien candle instead," groaned Heatblast and looked at Angel. "If scissors cuts paper, fire melts rock, right?"
"Don't ask me," shrugged Angel.
"Here goes nothing," said Heatblast and he fired his flamethrower at the boulders, which set them on fire, making them more dangerous. "Okay, definitely not what I had in mind. Angel, get out of here!"
"I'm not leaving you," said Angel.
"I'm not telling you this as your friend. I'm telling you this as a superhero. Now go," said Heatblast and Angel hesitated a little before listening to her crush and ran behind the ambulances.
Since melting the rocks didn't work. Heatblast changed tactics and melted the ambulances instead. He found out that metal was much easier to melt as he blasted each truck and melted them together until they formed a wall of solid, molded steel. Heatblast hopped over his reinforced wall just before the boulders hit the base of the Cliffside and slammed repeatedly against the melted trucks. Much to Heatblast's relief, the melted wall held strong and diverted the flaming rocks away from the hospital.
"Hospital's safe," said Heatblast in satisfaction.
"But there are people at the bottom of that canyon," said Angel as they saw the boulders rolling down the street towards the city.
"Just when I thought this hero stuff will be easy," groaned Heatblast as he ran after the boulders.
Rojo then came down from above and tackled Heatblast to the ground, putting her foot on his back.
"Give me the Omnitrix," she demanded.
"In your dreams, freak show," said Heatblast as he flared up his flames and sent her flying off of him, knocking her back before going down the canyon and landing beside the bridge. He fired his flamethrower at the bridge, destroying it and sending the boulders flying safely into the river underneath it.
He admired his handiwork when Rojo suddenly came flying in and grabbed him by the collar and threw him into a garbage truck. She then fired countless amounts of lasers from her turrets at Heatblast until he was engulfed in smoke.
Heatblast emerged from the rubble, appearing to be unharmed.
"You want me? I'm right here," said Heatblast, tauntingly.
Rojo snarled and charged at him, but he dodged her. She hit the ground and rolled up to the punctured oil tanker. She was about to approach him when she realized something: a spilled oil tanker, a trail of oil leading up to Heatblast, and a flaming alien. This was not going to end well.
Heatblast snapped his fingers and a single spark escaped his palm and set the fuel on fire, blowing the truck up and sending Rojo flying away.
"See ya," said Heatblast with a sarcastic salute.
Back at the hospital, Max was sent into another room with Ben, Angel and Gwen visiting him.
"When I was playing with the watch, I must've led her right to you," said Ben, a little down on himself.
"Since they moved me into a new room and you haven't gone alien since then, we're safe," said Max.
"For now," said Ben. "But tomorrow? It's getting too dangerous for you guys to be around me. If I didn't have this watch, none of this would be happening."
"Yeah, but since it won't come off, there's nothing we can about it," said Gwen.
"Maybe," muttered Ben. "Maybe not."
People in the city had gathered around the crater where Rojo had landed in wonder at where she had come from.
Much to their shock, she recovered and walked out of the crater, sending them screaming and running away. Before she could get anywhere, she suddenly got dizzy and was sent to her knees as Vilgax contacted her again.
"The Omnitrix. Where is it," asked Vilgax.
"I couldn't get it," explained Rojo. "And how nice, you didn't tell me I'd be fighting a superhero! I'm through."
Her vision of Vilgax suddenly ate her and sent her falling through a void.
"You will get me the Omnitrix and if you fail again, I'll put an end to your meaningless criminal life. If he wants to be a hero, then so be it. This time, make him come to you," said Vilgax.
That night at the hospital, Ben, Angel and Gwen were sleeping by Max's bedside as Ben laid a note on the bed and sighed.
"I'm doing this for you, grandpa," said Ben as he walked out of the door and left.
Angel woke to the sound of footsteps, only to find a note on the bed. She read it and felt tears forming in her eyes.
"Ben, why did you leave me," Angel thought and then she looked away from the note with determination. "I've gotta find him. He has always been there me, so now I've got to be there for him."
She put the note back on the bed and walked out of the door after Ben.
Ben sat on a park bench by himself as he sighed and saw a grandfather and grandson playing with a football in the clearing. Hi sighed, wishing that was his grandfather ad him.
"I'm glad we can spend the summer together, grandpa," said the boy and Ben sighed.
"BEN," a familiar voice shouted. Ben turned to his right and saw Angel running towards him, and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.
"Angel, what are you doing here," asked Ben, surprised.
Angel let him go and punched him slightly by the shoulder.
"Don't you ever leave me like that again! Do have any idea how I felt when I read that note," asked Angel with tears in her eyes.
"Angel, you know why I left. Ever since I've been wearing this watch–," said Ben, but was interrupted.
"Ever since you've got it, you saved a lot people and stopped lots bad guys," said Angel. "Don't you see, Ben? If you haven't gotten the Omnitrix–."
"If I didn't have it, grandpa wouldn't have gotten hurt," said Ben.
"Ben, there will always be a day when someone will get hurt. That's something even superheroes can't prevent," said Angel. "And you, Ben. You're the greatest superhero I've ever seen. You're my hero. You saved me from Dr. Animo's bird, you saved me from Kevin when he was about to harm me, you saved me from Sevenseven, you found me in the forest when I was left for dead. You saved my life more times than I can count. I care about you as much as you care about us and I don't want be without you."
Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. All this time he thought that by leaving he'll protect his grandpa, Angel and Gwen. But he didn't think how they would feel. Good thing Angel was there to open his eyes.
"You're right, Angel. I left without thinking how you'd feel," said Ben. "I just wanted you to be safe."
"I feel safe when I'm with you," said Angel, trying not to blush.
"I'm glad to have a friend like you," said Ben and gave Angel a hug, which she returned.
They broke out of it and then they heard a police report over a nearby radio.
"Reports say that the armored assailant has incredible firepower and has blown up several police barricades before arriving at the police academy training center just outside of Albuquerque," announced the broadcast.
"Is that who I think it is," asked Angel.
"Rojo," muttered Ben before standing up and walking towards the police academy.
"If you're going, then I'm coming with you," said Angel.
"You'll get hurt and I won't let that happen," said Ben.
"Please, Ben. I can help, trust me. Please," said Angel as she looked at Ben with pleading eyes.
"Fine, but make sure you stay hidden. I don't know what I'd do if you get hurt," said Ben and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Promise me that whatever happens, you'll stay safe."
"I promise, Benny," said Angel, dreamingly.
"How'd you call me," asked Ben and Angel paled.
"Ben! I called you Ben! I didn't call you Benny," said Angel quickly, trying to hide her blush.
"Whatever you say. Come on, it's Hero Time," said Ben as he activated the Omnitrix and slammed the core down, and a green light engulfed him. When the light faded, in Ben's place stood XLR8. He picked Angel up and held her in his arms and sped away.
At the entrance to the police academy, a destroyed squad car was tossed aside by Rojo as she looked up and fired her lasers from her turrets to absolutely decimate the academy as she glared before and blur of blue and black zoomed in, causing her to stumble, before the same blur kicked her in the back, causing her to fall on her knees. She looked up and saw XLR8 zooming to a stop in front of her.
"Looks like you started the party without me," said XLR8 tauntingly.
Rojo then grabbed XLR8 by the leg and slammed him against the ground before he whipped her with his tail. She then threw against a squad car as he slumped back in a daze.
"He'll get his Omnitrix. This is gonna be a blast," said Rojo as she walked towards him.
"He," asked XLR8 confused. He then jumped forward and kicked Rojo in rapid succession as he glared. "One good kick deserves another!" He then kicked her back before closing his visor.
Before they could continue, a tank suddenly rolled in and aimed its cannon down at the two of them.
"Ben, get out of there," shouted Angel from behind a nearby undamaged car. This turned out to be a good and a bad move, because Rojo saw her, distracting her from the tank, which gave XLR8 the opportunity to run backwards from the area and next to Angel as the tank fired it's cannon onto Rojo, resulting in a crater that was emanating tons of smoke as XLR8 and Angel looked on.
"Did it work," asked Angel.
The tank then rolled forward before it stopped and was lifted up by Rojo, completely unharmed from the blast.
"I'll take that as a 'no'," XLR8 deadpanned.
"Nice try, but speedy's all mine," said Rojo as the scared soldiers jumped out of the tank as she tossed it backwards.
XLR8 lowered his visor before zooming up to Rojo and nailing her with his tail. The Kineceleran followed up with a steady beat of quick jabs and kick to keep her off balance. Unfortunately for him, Rojo was a quick study and had already predicted XLR8's next series of attacks. So when he went to strike her with his tail again, she grabbed him by the tail and legs and blasted him with lasers from her turrets, sending XLR8 flying across the street and plopped on the front lawn of the police academy close to Angel.
The 8–year–old girl couldn't take it anymore and went up to XLR8 to check up on him, despite her promise not to stand in harm's way.
"Come on, Ben, you've got to wake up," said Angel pleadingly as she shook the Kineceleran.
"Ain't that cute," said Rojo as she slowly walked towards them.
XLR8 groaned weakly in response while pushing himself up by his elbows. He turned to Rojo as she walked towards them with her turrets brought out. Though he hated having to do it, XLR8 realized he was outmatched at this point and had no choice but to run. He shot up to his feet, picked Angel up, and zoomed down the street past Rojo while knocking her over. He zipped into a nearby alley that was a good distance away from Rojo, but was close enough to where they could see her.
And it was right at that moment the Omnitrix beeped and timed out, turning XLR8 back to Ben.
"Well, that's just great," groaned Ben.
"At least she won't be able to track us for a little while," said Angel optimistically.
"I'm not taking any chances," said Ben, grabbing Angel's hand and pulling her along. "C'mon."
Rojo spotted them running away and followed them.
Ben and Angel ran to the academy's obstacle course, running over the hurdles, as Rojo fired her lasers at them, resulting in a smokescreen before she ran after them. Little did she know that her targets had hidden behind one of the course's barriers as she ran forward.
"You know, this is the time when Gwen or Max come up with an idea to help," said Angel while holding onto Ben.
"I'm not putting you guys in danger anymore," said Ben as he held Angel protectively. "This is my problem, by responsibility, not yours."
"Yeah, but you're still my cru–," started Angel, but stopped herself from admitting that she's got a crush on him. "I mean, you're my best friend, and Gwen and Max are still your family."
Ben smiled at her before they heard the familiar hum of Rojo firing her lasers as they looked worried.
"In here," said Angel and they ran into the gym for shelter before the Omnitrix started beeping.
"Hey, what's up with thing," asked Ben as they came to a stop.
"Don't ask me," said Angel.
Ben started to turn the dial left and right in panic. "Come on, stop beeping!" He then pressed the hourglass with his finger and a chiming sound was heard from it.
"I don't know what that was, but at least it stopped beeping," said Angel in relief.
"Hello? Ben, are you there," asked a familiar voice from the Omnitrix. That was his Grandpa Max.
"Grandpa? How did you contacted me through the watch," asked Ben.
"Well, you're a heavy sleeper and a couple of nights ago, Gwen tried to call her parents, but ended up calling you on the watch," explained Max.
"Okay, I don't need full details. At least I know the watch can also be used as a cellphone," said Ben. "Anyway, can we talk later? Angel and I have got an indestructible alien robot thing that none my aliens can take out."
"Ben, if you can't destroy it from the outside, take her out from the inside," said Max and Ben got a look of realization.
"That's it! Thanks, grandpa," said Ben as he hung up.
"I guess you know what to do," said Angel with a smile.
Ben activated the now–recharged Omnitrix, triggering Rojo's sensors as she jumped up and fired several lasers onto the gym as Angel ducked for cover as Ben cycled through several aliens before finding the one he was looking for, and slammed down the core, transforming into Goop.
Rojo jumped into the gym through the hole in the roof she created. She turned her head, investigating as she looked for the kids as Angel looked to see Goop liquify his body on the ceiling. She knew that the only way for Goop to go inside Rojo was if her turrets were brought out.
"Hey, robot creep! Catch me if you can," shouted Angel as she got out from her hiding place and bringing Rojo's attention to herself. Luckily her plan worked when Rojo brought her turrets out, getting ready to shoot.
"Get your robotic butt away from her," screeched Goop as he jumped down on Rojo, and before she knew it, Goop went inside of her from the openings of the turrets.
Little did he know, that by going inside of her, he found himself in the same void Rojo was in, face–to–face with Vilgax in his mind.
"Listen to my every word. Be afraid," said Vilgax.
Goop shielded his arms in front of his eyes in fear as Vilgax confronted him.
"You cannot run from me. You cannot hide from me. I will find you. And when I do, I'll retrieve my Omnitrix and destroy you," said Vilgax as he opened his mouth in attempt to swallow Goop.
Back at the gym, Goop comes out from Rojo and lands near Angel, breathing heavily from what he had just experienced.
"Ben, are you okay," asked Angel concerned.
"To be honest, I'm not so sure," said Goop weakly.
"You're gonna pay for what you tried to do," sneered Rojo as she fired her lasers, only for them to go right through Goop, missing Angel.
Goop saw how close Angel was about to get shot by Rojo's lasers and glared at her.
"Leave Angel out of this," yelled Goop as he jumped at Rojo, covering her with his body and started to melt the metal parts of her, and after about a minute they were melted, turning Rojo back to normal.
"I'm…normal," whispered Rojo.
"More like abnormal," said Goop, crossing his arms.
"Look, I don't know what came over me. Come on, please, you've gotta help me," said Rojo as she looked over her shoulder and she noticed that among the useless machinery, her energy cannon from before had appeared she smirked. "I'm just a girl." She then kicked the cannon upwards in her hands.
"Guess what? So am I," shouted Angel as she hit Rojo with a baton, knocking her out.
"Nice hit," complimented Goop.
"Thanks," smiled Angel.
Suddenly, the gym started shaking violently as Goop picked Rojo up.
"Let's get out of here," said Goop as they ran out of the door as the gym finally caved in on itself as they all ran away. Goop then handed the unconscious Rojo to the cops as Angel smiled.
"She's all yours, officers," said Goop as he and Angel walked away.
The next day, Max was released from he hospital as he walked towards the Rust Bucket on crutches as he sniffed the cool fresh air.
"Ah, it's good to be back on the road," said Max with a smile.
"Ben, what happened back at the gym," asked Gwen.
"I don't know," said Ben. "It's like when I went Goop, I saw this alien."
Max opened the door of the RV as the kids walked up.
"We were both floating through space and he was talking to me. He looked kind of like he had this octopus on his head. He told me that I should be afraid."
Max looked a bit concerned as Ben said that as the kids looked at him.
"Grandpa, you look afraid," said Ben.
"I'm…fine," said Max. "And you'll be fine, too."
"Yeah, as long as we're together," added Angel.
"Sounds good to me," said Ben as he, Angel and Gwen walked inside the Rust Bucket.
Max then looked up to the sky with a glare as the camera zoomed out of the planet and into its orbit towards the Chimera Wrath as Vilgax examined what happened with a glare.
To be continued…
I'm back, everybody! The story is back on the road! I'm sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter. I was pretty busy and a few weeks ago my little sister got her arm broken by a bully at school so I had to take care of her while our parents were on a business trip for 2 weeks.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and I'll see you all next time. Until then, have a nice day.
R&R