Author's Note: Hey again! Hopefully you can see this chapter! Fanfic has been having a weird time recently, and new chapters are sometimes not showing up. Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do about it. So, for the foreseeable future, updates will be coming a lot slower on this site. However, I plan to keep to my regular schedule on AO3. More about that at the end of the chapter. If you're enjoying the story, be sure to follow so you don't miss those updates! Anyway, thanks again for reading, and enjoy!

Chapter 04

There was a sudden flash of green light, forcing Ben to blink and shield his eyes. When the flare died down, Ben dragged himself to his feet, trying to look around and regain his surroundings now that the smoke had dispersed. To his surprise, the entire clearing was better lit than he remembered, and not only that, but he had a much better vantage point. He felt… taller.

Looking around, he was met with a strange, low, roaring noise in his ears, as if there were water trapped between them. He tapped the side of his head with his palm, leaning it to the side, but found no success. It wouldn't make sense anyway. He hadn't gone swimming. The boy had hardly taken a shower since their trip began. He shook his head, and decided he would go back to camp. This was way too weird. Maybe Grandpa Max, ever the handyman, could help him get this strange thing off. As he was crawling out of the crater, he began to hear voices from further in the woods, causing him to freeze.

"This way!" One said. It was a woman's voice, low and raspy.

"The energy signature is getting stronger!" Came another, nearly identical, voice.

As Ben sat there, crouched against the wall of the crater, he began to smell something… burning. Worried that the smoke was returning, he glanced down to the watch- It wasn't there.

And his arm was on fire.

"AHHHHHH!" He shouted, in a voice that was not his own. It was deep, masculine, and otherworldly, like some kind of fun house filter. He shook his hand to get rid of the flames, but they didn't budge. However, they also didn't hurt. "WHAT THE HECK?"

"Did you hear that? It's this way! What is that?" Came the voices.

As Ben stumbled backwards, standing in the bottom of the pit, he examined his body. He was indeed much larger, taller, and more muscular… And he was also made completely out of magma chunks and living flame. He was some kind of burning golem, and there in the center of his chest, was a glowing green hourglass. The voices continued to grow closer, and Ben could hear their footsteps now. Swift, humanoid stomping followed by something larger, and more mechanical. Ben's heart should have been racing, but he realized, with a rush of anxiety, that he had no such thing anymore. He wanted to cry. His body was gone! He was some kind of fire monster!

As Ben stood there in shocked anguish, several forms broke the tree line. The first 5 were small, much smaller than Ben's new form, stocky, and humanoid. They could have been musclebound, small humans with body paint if it weren't for a few key differences. The clothing they wore seemed to be made of shimmering light, merging and mingling with their actual bodies as if it were sewn into them. Furthermore, each of them seemed to have a full sized, dark red gemstone embedded into their bodies. One had it buried deep in her shoulder, and one had a gem where her eyeball should have been.

Then, as Ben was still reeling from the arrival of the strange people, they were reinforced by a large line of mechanical monstrosities. These things were heads taller than Ben's new form, with a mix of black and orange metal, sleek and alien looking. They moved like robots, but the way that their bodies and heads moved gave them an eerie, breathing quality. The force stopped at the lip of the crater, examining Ben just as he examined them.

"What are you doing here, pyronite?" One of the small beings, an individual with a bushy afro and a yellow visor. Ben was confused, but eventually caught on that she was talking to him.

"That's not my name," he said with that alien voice. She squinted in confusion as well.

"What?"

"Ruby! The energy signature seems to be coming from that strange device in the pyronite's chest! Shall we extract it?" One of the red creatures said. This was the one with a gemstone for an eyeball. Ben noticed she was clutching some strange, electronic device in her hands. As he heard the words "device" and "extract", Ben started to get excited.

"Woah, no way," he said, "you guys know how to get this thing off of me?"

There was a beat, and then there was a small chorus of stifled laughter from the small people.

"Oh, sure," the leader said.

"We turn you into red goo," the one with the gemstone naval said, "and pluck it out of the mess."

Then, she giggled like a school kid, covering her face as if it were embarrassing.

"Drones. Extract the device."

Ben wasn't sure which of the being's had issued the command: their voices were nearly identical. However, he did note that as soon as it was given, the robots, which had remind stationary during the conversation, began to advance. Panicking, the boy took a step back, holding his hands out in front of him.

"Hey, wait a sec… Stay back!" He said nervously. Fear began to creep up inside of him. Normally, that would have meant sweaty hands and trembling legs. That would have been in his human body. The nervous system of this form apparently worked a bit differently. As the robots came closer, menacingly, Ben's fear rose, and so too did the temperature of the air around him.

The flames coming out between the plates of solid, magma-like armor that created Ben's body began to burn hotter and brighter, and as he held out his hands to stop the oncoming robots, there was a roaring sound, and his palms suddenly flared. Then, with hardly a second even passing, two globules of golden-white flame came shooting out of his hands, blasting in two random directions. One of the smashed into the side of the crater, kicking up a cloud of dust. The second fireball flew into the dust cloud, and there was a smashing sound. Moments later, one of the drones came crashing down in front of Ben in the crater, its leg slowly dissolving, the metal superheated and melting, before suddenly cooling rapidly, in a completely destroyed position.

"Woahhh…. Cool!" Ben said, looking down in wonder at his blazing hands "That was like some kinda… Heat blast!"

He had no time to rest on his accolades, however, as two more drones walked forward, clearing the rest of the cloud that Ben had created. One lunged forward with a menacing, claw-like hand, attempting to grapple the flaming creature, but Ben launched a reactionary blast of flame, crippling the end of the appendage so that when it would have reached him, instead, a melted stump simply slashed through the air in front of him. With a burning grin, Ben then shot off two more blasts, this time at the same drone's head. This was enough to send it reeling back, its face melted, before falling down onto its brother that had gone down first, taking both of them out.

However, as Ben was focused on the first drone, the second came up beside him, catching him unawares. With a huge, mechanical claw, it snatched up Ben. Then, using both claws, it began to squeeze him, slowly. He heard encouraging cheers from the little red women standing at the edge of the clearing, and he turned, taking note at the remaining 5 drones. He was aware of the crushing pain that was coming from the drone's claws, but he pushed it aside, and, thinking on his feet, Ben reached forward, pressing his bare hands against what he assumed was the head of the strange, alien mechanism. Then, with a shout of exertion, he began to channel molten, yellow fire into the drone from the top down. The lava spilled through the machines insides, melting them, and it dropped to a husk at the bottom of the crater. Ben pried off the now limp metal claws, and turned to the rest of the remaining force, his hands burning intensely.

"Who's next?" He taunted.

There was no hesitation. The remaining drones came charging forward. It took Ben just a short leap with his legs, which were now much longer, to get up and out of the pit, and as he did, he felt the steam and heat that released from his feet caused him to jump even higher. As he did, he twisted mid-air and sent a blast of flame ricocheting behind him, connecting with and damaging a couple of the drones. They were still hot on his tail. As they made it out of the crater, and began to get close to melee range once more, he took another running leap to the opposite side of the crater, firing off a barrage of heat blasts as he went. As he landed, he used one hand to shoot a scorching line of flame across the ground, keeping the gemstone-laden aliens at bay while he dealt with the immediate threat.

He had taken down one of the drones. Four remained, though two of them had legs that weren't fully functioning, and thus lagged behind the pack, and the leader seemed to have a malfunctioning claw, all due to Ben's barrage of projectiles. He grimaced as he stood his ground, watching the drones approach once more. He could feel his stamina draining, and realized, with a sudden twist of his stomach, that his fire powers were not infinite. He was starting to pant.

As he took a running start for another super jump, Ben had a crazy idea he had read in one of the stories in his comic book. As he took to the sky, narrowly avoiding the grasping claw of one of the drones, he blasted flames straight down in a concentrated burst. To his immense surprise, his plan worked, and for a few seconds, he was held in the air by the pressure exerted by the immense heat thrusters. He laughed, as, for the first time, he experienced the joy of flying.

Then, he began to lose his balance. He flailed his hands and feet, but he had lost the momentum, and came tumbling to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Ouch… I almost had that…" Ben said.

Then, he glanced up, as the four remaining drones began to swarm around him, on the ground. Too many! They were coming from every side. His fear began to rise again, and as the looming, apathetic faces of the drones leaned down to reach for him, he let out a final, terrified, primal cry of defiance. As he did, there was a huge burst of fire and light, and burning air went pulsing out in every direction, as he exploded into flame.

He melted the drones where they stood, down to their mechanical ankles.

Ben knelt on the ground, panting heavily, forced for a moment to catch his breath after the massive expenditure of power. He glanced forward, wincing, trying to catch a glimpse of the crimson women from behind his makeshift wall of flame. They stood there, eyes wide in surprise, staring at him. Before they got too bold, or Ben made any sort of move, there was a sound from the woods behind Ben.

"Ben? Are you out there?" A voice called.

Grandpa Max.

"Ben, this isn't funny! We're waiting on s'mores for you!"

Gwen.

Ben's heart soared. They were coming! Then, his heart plummeted once again. What would they think of him, now that he looked like this? What would he tell them? And what about-?

As he turned to check again on the lurking women, he realized that they had vanished, apparently dashing off into the trees. He blinked in surprise, and try as he might to look around the clearing for signs of an ambush, he found none. It seemed they had run off. His suspicion was confirmed as, many long moments later, there was some kind of melodical chime in the distance, and then a beam of light went shooting off into the sky.

As Ben watched the beam go streaking away, there was the sound of a branch cracking behind him, and as he turned to see what the commotion was, he was met with a shrill, girlish scream. To his relief, Ben saw Max and Gwen standing at the opposite edge of the clearing, taking in the burning carnage with looks of absolute horror. Gwen ducked behind Max, who held a double barrel shotgun in his hands, and was squinting with the look of a man on a mission.

"I'm only going to ask this once," Max said, cocking the shotgun. "Where's my grandson?"

Ben looked nervously at the gun, and then held up his hands placating, before remembering what had happened the last time, and aiming them in a safer direction.

"Wait! Grandpa… It's me!" He said.

Max blinked. Then, he brought the shotgun up to point it at the center of Ben's chest.

"You're sick," he said. "I'm not going to ask again."

"Wait wait wait! Hold on, I- I can explain!"

"Grandpa…" Gwen said, starting to come out from behind him, despite the defensive arm he held out.

"Stay back Gwen," Max said.

"I came out to pee and then there was this weird smoke so i followed it and there was this CRAZY crater and then I found this super weird watch that wouldn't come off and then I pressed it and I turned into this guy!"

The words came babbling out of the monster's flaming maw with all of the vigor of a child explaining something, and as he continued to talk, Max's grip on his weapon grew slack, and his jaw began to drop open. As Ben finished the tale, recounting his battle with the drones as well as the strange women who had vanished in a beam of light, the old man shook his head, looking around at the wrecked drones, burning dirt, and giant, glowing alien. His eyes looked sunken and harrowed.

"Can you… Can you change back?" He asked.

Ben looked down.

"I don't know…" He said. "I don't wanna be a fire monster forever."

"I didn't read about any fire monsters in the book." Gwen commented.

"He's not a monster, he's an alien." Max said instinctively. Then, as both of them looked to him suspiciously, he stammered and turned pink. "Uh, I mean, obviously, right? With the robots and mechanical doohickeys."

To Max's immense relief, there was a distraction from his outburst. Suddenly, the device in Ben's chest began to flash. Instead of its green color, or the blue that Ben had seen, the hourglass was flashing red, along with a low, droning sound, like it was losing power. Ben looked down at his chest in confusion, and there was a sudden flash of green light. Then, the clearing was suddenly a lot darker, and Gwen and Max blinked, temporarily blinded. As their eyes adjusted, Gwen pulled out a flashlight, and turned it on, causing Ben to throw up his arms to shield his eyes.

"Hey, watch it!" He said.

"Ben! You're you again!" Gwen said. "Not exactly an improvement, but what can you do?"

"Shut up," Ben said.

"I'm just glad you're O.K."

Max went over and took Ben into a hug, which caused the boy to blush hard, and attempt to shove away from him. Max didn't allow this until he had gotten a good hug in, and then when they separated, he held the boy at arms length, grabbing his wrist gently to inspect the strange device that was latched there. His eyes glittering in the night, he gave the watch an experimental tug, and raised his eyebrows.

"Hm," he said. "You're right… That's not going anywhere without a good set of tools. I've got some in the R.V… Come on. Let's get back to camp."

Ben nodded, the exhaustion slowly hitting him. As they began to walk away, Gwen asked:

"Are we still gonna make s'mores?"

Moon of Earth, Present Day

There was a bright chime and a flash of light, and the quintet of Rubies walked tentatively off of the warp pad that was installed in the main chamber of the gem moon base.

"The boss isn't gonna be happy," one of them, a burly gem with her stone inlaid in her shoulder, said. The others were silent, but they knew she was right.

AT LEAST YOU GOT ONE THING RIGHT TODAY.

The Rubies flinched as the voice of their new master resonated psionically in their heads, as it was wanton to do. They stood their ground as the usual host of drones came marching in, wheeling along a recovering body in a tube.

The one who called himself their master was actually only broken fragments of a person. A six foot long, burly torso, torn and destroyed on the bottom half, and held in a floating tube of stasis goo. His head was laden with tentacles, and while he only had one arm, it was large, burly, and green, with menacing claws, and thick, protruding veins. Bubbles rippled up from a breathing apparatus strapped to the being's face, and although his eyes were closed, the Rubies knew that he could sense them with his powers of the mind.

TYPICAL. WHY DID I TRUST A BAND OF GEMS TO DO THE JOB FOR ME? AND RUBIES NO LESS. AREN'T YOU THE LOWLIEST OF YOUR SPECIES?

None of them had the courage to correct him if he was wrong. He let their failure hang in the air for a moment before he continued.

LUCKILY FOR YOU, YOUR EFFORTS WERE NOT FRUITLESS. I SAW THE ENTIRE ENCOUNTER THROUGH YOUR EYES.

The gems glanced at each other uncomfortably. They were still growing used to the fact that this creature could, at a whim, tap into their minds, and use their senses for his own, due to the psychic bond he had forced them to share with him. His pervasive thoughts were ever present, and it was enough to cause some of the crew to feel a rising sense of hysteria. The psychic lecture went on.

SO… A HUMAN HAS GOTTEN THEIR HANDS ON MY PRIZE. SINCE YOUR KIND HAS A POOR TRACK RECORD FIGHTING HUMANS, I WILL PUT YOU TO USE FINDING SOME PEOPLE WHO CAN.

A drone came forward, it's hulking form leaning down in an oddly dainty manner to hand a small, metal square to the Rubies' leader. She held it, and it snapped open to reveal a spinning, 3-dimensional, holographic display of three beings. They wore spacer armor, and were armed to the lead Ruby squinted at the one in the center. Her face was obscured with a helmet, but her armor looked somewhat familiar.

"Bounty hunters?" One of the Rubies asked what they were all thinking.

There was no answer from the being in the pod. Clearly, this meant, the question had an answer so obvious that he could not be bothered to answer it. The Ruby with a gemstone eye cracked her knuckles.

"Where do we find them?" She asked.

I'VE PROGRAMMED YOUR SHIP WITH COORDINATES TO THE MEGACRUISER. IT'S A PLEASURE VESSEL OWNED BY AN ANDROID NAMED SLIX VIGMA. IF YOU'RE GIVEN ANY TROUBLE, SIMPLY TELL HIM THAT YOU ARE MY EMISSARIES. THAT WILL GRANT YOU PASSAGE.

"And what do we tell them when we find them?" The leader asked, referring to the bounty hunters.

There was a pause.

TELL THEM THAT VILGAX IS CALLING IN THEIR DEBTS.

Subnote: So, yeah, has been having a bit of trouble recently, where sometimes new chapters show up and sometimes they don't. It's really inconvenient! If you're a big big fan of the series, and you wanna be there right when the next chapter drops, I do recommend finding me on Archive of Our Own. It's really easy to find, just search Danger Watch and the whole series should come up. If Fanfic is your only site, I totally get it, but just know that the updates are still coming! Just a little bit slower because of technical restrictions.

Phew, anyway, that was a lot. Thanks for tuning in! See ya next time!