When she received a text and a journal article from her grandfather, Gwen wanted to believe it was a joke. No, seriously, it had to be one. Then she knew only Ben could be capable of doing something so ridiculous, and even then, her grandfather wasn't one to make up something like this.
She and Kevin had rushed back to Bellwood, clearly suspecting an ambush or some sort of trap. It'd be too easy to get rid of the Forever Knights this way, but if it was true…
Once the elevator went down, they walked until they reached his usual workplace. Before they could make a comment, they were faced with Ben, googly-eyed on his chair, with… a crown and a scepter?
"Ben, hey. Grandpa told us what happened, what is this all about?" asked Gwen. "Are they really-"
"Making me their king?" he cut, getting up. "Yes, they are."
"How is that even possible?! The Forever Knights hate you, the aliens, Plumbers… anything relating to us."
"Greetings, Gwendolyn." said Rook. "As much as I agree with you on the absurdity of this case, it seems they have done their research. Your family tree has previous ties to the Forever Knights and perhaps even some of the previous Forever Kings, and it seems Ben fit the bill."
"So, you're gonna speak royalty and go medieval on the bad guys, Tennyson?" snarked Kevin. "'s not all bad, you could get us some cool stuff with this king thing."
"I'm not Argit, Kevin." said Ben. "And that's not even the end of it. I have to attend some coronation ceremony this afternoon to 'make my debut' or else they'll riot. This is worse than getting engaged to some war-making princess."
Kevin received a glare from both Tennyson cousins and an amused smile from Rook upon remembering the Looma incident. Looks like Ben wouldn't get out of this one through fists.
"So what do we do? Can we even look for another heir?" suggested Ben.
"Maybe we can try, but if they had to pick you, I think they already looked over all possibilities. Plus, you know more about leadership than anyone else in the family."
"Excuse me, what about you? You got things more in order than I do. School, Plumber work, training, bedroom cleaning…"
"I still have to take care of all of that, you know. But I do think I'd make a good queen, even if the Forever Knights are a bunch of chauvinists."
"So I don't have any other choice?" asked Ben, still nervous.
"Looks like it." said Kevin. "But hey, that means you won't have to wait in lines anymore, your army will give you anything you want."
"Kevin, I already don't wait in lines. I'm a world-known hero, remember?" reminded Ben. "And the Forever Knights are a whole lot less in number than they were before we fought the Esoterica, I have enough people to fit into a concert hall, not enough for a kingdom if you ask me."
"And we will have to stand guard if anything bad happens while you're being crowned." said Rook. "Why aren't you wearing the crown they gave you, by the way?"
"Do you see me walking around with that thing? Reiny got a cool tattoo on the hand, I am not wearing that in public."
"You'll have to get used to it and to the royal robe if you don't want to spark a rebellion, 'your majesty'." mocked Gwen to both other boys' amusement.
"Oh, give me a break…"
She thought she'd wear this kind of dress again at a wedding, not her cousin's 'rise to power'. Though she had to admit, even if this wasn't perfect, it was really cute seeing Kevin in a suit again (even if Rook had to help him).
Max and a few other Plumbers came along to stand guard. Along with a few Knights helping. This had to take the cake in the list of Ben's crazy and convoluted situations, if one ignored the times he lost the Omnitrix or where the universe was at stake.
She knew they weren't all that welcome. They would only tolerate Ben being here, not the Osmosian, not the Anodite, not the Revonnahgander, not the Piscciss Volann, not the Galvans, and certainly not the human Magister that had two children with said Anodite's grandmother.
Driscoll was either laughing or twitching inside his grave, knowing his soldiers were now forced to work with Ben of all people. The one who defeated the Forever Knights over and over, the one who turned into the kind of things they'd constantly want to fend off… was their leader now.
In retrospective, Ben was as fit for that role as Sir Georges did. They both got something from Azmuth and used it to protect the Earth. Ben just was less of an extreme xenophobic guy than someone over a thousand years old. They didn't know what it could mean for later, but it certainly spelled trouble if Ben didn't find a way to keep the Knights grounded.
"They still got a heck of a buffet though." said Kevin.
"Do they have wine in those barrels? I'm still too young to drink that and so is Ben. And so are you, Kevin." she said.
"Yeah, I don't really feel like drinking any of that stuff, could be poisoned. I'm more worried your cousin gets his ego on after this show's over."
"You know Ben's not like that. Sure, he's egocentric and irresponsible but for stuff like this, he'd know he shouldn't make a fool of himself acting that way."
"Hmm, yeah. Not too sure about not looking like a fool, but you're right. Sorry, too used to these guys' messed up brand of a savior complex."
"It's fine." she snorted. "Looks like it won't be too crowded."
It was relatively hilarious how very few people were attending, Ben having taken down most of the previous factions while others most certainly rejected him as their king. He would better hope this ceremony didn't end in an alien sacrifice.
"It's about to begin."
Surely enough, her cousin was neatly dressed. Surely enough, he wasn't in any way comfortable with what was going on. Surely enough, he didn't look like he knew what he was doing. And surely enough…
What was that noise?
"The ceremony will now begin." said a man in ceremonial robe. "We, brothers, welcome today our new monarch, our new king and leader, the Forever King of the Forever Knights. It is without doubt…"
Though it should've been interesting to hear what nice things could this guy say about her cousin, Gwen looked at the benches instead. She could see the wooden structures were shaking from underneath the ground, something was afoot.
She prepared her mana, knowing trouble was coming in Ben's direction yet again.
"And it is with honor that he will-" the man was interrupted as a dirty grey creature jumped on his robe, making him shriek.
From the ground sprouted enormous sharp-teethed rats of the size of a boar, tearing through wood and concrete and attacking the guests. The Knights stepped out of their chairs, some bringing their energy guns and swords out in self-defense.
"Guess that's our cue!" said Ben, circling through his aliens with a sigh of relief. "Alright, you're up, Humungousaur!"
He slammed the dial and, to his delight, he managed to turn into the dinosaur alien.
"Yes! About time I- Ouch!" he shouted, noticing the mutated fiends were gnawing on his tail. "Not cool, you guys!" he said, flailing his tail around.
"Ben! Using one of your biggest aliens against such a small threat makes you an easy target!" said Rook, shooting using his Proto-Tool. "Pick something smaller or faster, it will be more useful!"
Humungousaur punched away the creatures as he turned to his partner. "Good idea!" He pressed on the symbol on his chest, turning into Rath instead. "Let me tell you something, Omnitrix! Rath knows bigger isn't better in this-"
For once, the tiger alien cut interrupted himself in his tirade, his anger being replaced with a distracted look.
"Ben?" asked Gwen, shooting a blast. "What are you doing?! We need your help! Unless… Oh no…"
"...food… Rath wants meat… Rath wants some rats!" said the feline, hauling himself at the huge ones with his claws.
Nobody knew if he was going to eat it or not, he at least seemed to care about scraping and knocking the fiends down more than biting them. Not that they were really focused on what he was doing.
"Who sent these things?" asked Kevin, shooting Taydenite darts. "Think Animo could've been behind this?"
"Who else?" asked Gwen. "Wasn't he captured last time?"
"You know the bad guys, Gwen. He probably escaped again."
"And right you are, Tennysons!" said an old man voice.
A hole was dug out from inside the ground and Animo, wearing his mind control helmet, was out on what looked like a giant prairie dog, smiling smugly as he and his creature surfaced.
"What do you want, Animo?!" roared Rath, dropping the mouse he almost swallowed. "Rath is busy with his ceremony, he doesn't need bad guys on his special day!"
"I was told by a fellow scientist, Chadwick I believe was his name, had sent me an invitation card as I was breaking out of my cell for my morning anti-Tennyson jog." said Animo. "Of course, I couldn't decline such an invitation, so I decided to bring a gift with me: how would you like a recreation of the bubonic plague?"
"Let me tell you something, Animo! Rath doesn't want to hear about history when he's about to turn you into mush! Rargh!"
The tiger alien launched itself at him, only for Animo to throw a pot of a sticky liquid at him oil at him, the smell of oil filling his nostrils.
"Blargh! What's this thing?!" said the alien, shaking his head as Animo ran off with his beast.
"Ben! Stop fooling around and get rid of those things! We'll catch Animo later, focus!"
"Yeah! Yeah! I got it Grandpa!" said Rath, spitting as he brought his palm to the Omnitrix once again. In a flash of green, he had become Eye Guy. "Ugh, guess this will do!"
"What was that thing even for?" asked Kevin, shaping his hand into a hammer as he whacked over another rat.
"It was the anointing oil." said the priest hiding between the Osmosian and Anodite. "We were supposed to proceed with it after our king swore allegiance."
Eye Guy looked around the place, knowing he had to bait the animals. An idea hit him as he smelled the stench of the oil over himself. Focusing, he produced goo out of his eyes, covering his skin in green.
His idea seemingly worked, as the smell seemed to distract the rats. The fiends stopped attacking to look at the Opticoid, making hungry squeaks as some even started drooling.
"Ben is going to get them at him all at once." understood Rook. "That sounds like a good idea, but he will have to react fast if he doesn't want to be eaten himself."
"Good thing we're here to make sure he's not cheese once we're done." said Kevin.
But before the group could get closer to aid him, the Knights had formed in front of Ben, blocking them from joining him.
"What are you doing? That's your new king right there, was this all just a setup?" asked Gwen, ready to blast them away.
"Isn't it obvious?" said one Knight. "The king is showing off his sense of sacrifice for us all."
"...what?" was the word that several Plumbers had uttered in response.
"Any new Forever King must show his devotion to his people by a singular action in battle, we must not meddle with his plans." said another Knight. "He's truly an example, taking on those pests all on his own."
"Such selflessness…"
"He's really quite fit to be our king…"
While Eye Guy didn't know what was happening and why the Forever Knights were all around him all of a sudden, muttering words of admiration, he couldn't really pay attention to them all that much. He readied himself, and as soon as the swarm of rats was launching itself at him, he released a giant energy wave.
Impressed exclamations escaped the Forever Knights as they observed the menace their king was taking on being fried in front of them. He had used himself as bait for those creatures to protect the people on his side before tricking his enemies into jumping at their own deaths.
It wasn't all that impressive compared to what Ben usually did, but it managed to get the job done. Cheers could be heard as Eye Guy fell on his back, exhausted from the effort as he saw the creatures either run away or fall down, the electricity from his eyes knocking the biggest ones out.
Before he knew it, the armored soldiers grabbed him and held him up in triumph, cheering on his victory and acclaiming their teenage ruler. He gave them a confused glance with all his eyes before another flash of green returned him to his human form.
"Uh, what's going on?" he asked. "Not that I mind the attention, but the bad guy is running away."
"My liege, your combat today has proven your dedication to our cause and your worth to us." said a Knight, bowing down. "The rite was interrupted today, but with your permission, we can-"
"Yeah, uh, I think we can skip that next time. Animo is getting away, I have to catch up to him now!"
"As you wish, My Lord!" said all the Knights in unison.
Ben wished he had been put down first before they ran in the mad scientist's direction. This was like having a very dedicated medieval-looking fanclub, except he wasn't even sure what to do with them this time.
Behind, the Plumbers gathered around the animals, preparing energy cages to get them away from the scene.
"He could've had a more graceful exit." snorted Kevin.
"I think the throne they got for him is under the rubbles now, that's one less thing to feed his ego with." said Gwen. "Now it looks like we have to clean up after him again…"
"Seriously? Rook, a little help?" Kevin grimaced as he saw the Revonnahgander run after the Knights, following his partner in spite of the soldiers not regarding him in the best of ways. "Ugh, thanks a lot, dude..."
"While I don't want to ruin the mood, this could be serious." said Max. "Chadwick is free as we speak, he's probably plotting to get rid of Ben and overthrow him if he sent Animo instead of his own men to do his dirty job."
"So I guess we're being upgraded to royal bodyguards now." joked Kevin. "Okay, what should we do?"
"We have to wait until they act out again so we know where Chadwick is hiding." suggested Gwen. "In the meantime, we'll have to help Ben deal with his own Forever Knights." she paused. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about Ben getting this much legal power over people?"
The understanding nods of her boyfriend, grandfather and fellow coworkers put her at ease in her doubts, she wasn't the only one to think this could only spell trouble for Ben.