H E CAME FROM THE OUTER SPACE
Space. The final frontier. The final prove and that signaled that civilization was no longer level 2 and moved to the space phase, thus allowing other species to start interacting with it.
For a ten-year-old Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, space was that thing above his head filled with white dots and in which, according to science fiction movies, was the place where brain-eating monsters dwelled, eagerly waiting to invade the earth.
After obtaining the Omnitrix, his perspective changed slightly.
Space was that thing over his head, full of monsters living their lives. But like everywhere else, it had its share of idiots who wanted to cause mayhem, invade worlds and, as stereotypical as it sounds, eat brains. Only some of them, of course.
His understanding increased as he grew older, thanks to his beloved grandfather Maxwell Tennyson and all the alien friends he made.
At sixteen and a half years old, Ben had made a name for himself. He was that human boy who saved the earth and defeated Vilgax, the hero of the universe, the human who took on Diagon. Among many, many, perhaps too many, extra titles.
His exploits were narrated by many civilizations, his history was studied in the academy of Plumbers, the military or police force, depending on who you ask, that was in charge of watching over the peace of the known universe.
And best of all, he had a Tokusatsu-style program that was very popular with the alien kids. Which was played by a Lenopan, a species that can alter their physical appearance at will, although if Ben was honest, that guy didn't quite capture all of his genii, he did give him points for effort.
His life was perfect, he had a great family, made up of both humans and aliens, great friends who knew how to kick ass, the fame he gained as he grew up and thanks to Jimmy.
What more could a seventeen-year-old boy want?
He had a list.
What no one seemed to realize, except those who lived with him, was that his life resembled some kind of Saturday morning cartoon and this brought good things, as well as bad.
He had to put aside many of his friends just to avoid endangering them by being with him. There were days when he couldn't sleep soundly, knowing that some villain had escaped and with his home being public knowledge, the possibility of them going there was high. Not to mention that his love affairs didn't seem to last long, either because of Ben's own ego and immaturity, which ended up separating them, as was the case with Julie or because interest was lost and they broke up, as was the case with Ester. Or even worse cases, like Elena, he preferred not to delve into those thoughts.
His last girlfriend was Kai Green. A young archaeologist belonging to the Native American tribe called "The Navajo". She in turn was Ben's first love when he was ten years old. At sixteen, she had grown into a beautiful young woman and their reunion ignited that spark again. Accompanied by Ben's teenage hormones.
Of course, being the hardhead that he was, Ben fervently denied it, but there was clearly an attraction between them. They started dating shortly after Ester broke up with him. It wasn't out of spite, Ben was too dumb to think of something like that. And despite the friction between them, their relationship went relatively well.
Until one day ago.
Like all teenage couples, they were immature young people, Ben more so than Kai, but even he understood many things.
And among those things was having a son. Ken Tennyson. Their, possible, son from one of the many possible futures and who was also Kai's son. This they found out thanks to the fact that the boy wasn't exactly good at keeping his mouth shut. For a while, they both chose not to think about it and just move on, but things slowly became more and more awkward, it was the Trumpibulord in the room, and eventually, they had to talk about it.
The result was that they would both take some time. Kai wanted to explore the world, discover its secrets, and knowing she had such a destiny made her feel tied. Ben, despite not really being sure, had to agree, it was strange to know that he was destined to be with the girl who was his first love and who he had only been dating for a few months.
Add to this, they both had radically opposite jobs, they would spend a lot of time apart and be so young, it was best to simply step back and go back to being friends.
Life always threw him a curveball and he failed to stop it most of the time.
Which could serve as an explanation as to why at that moment he was observing an almost eternal emptiness of extravagant colors that seemed almost like a bad trip produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms.
The seventeen-year-old had his favorite outfit, a black T-shirt with green lines and a number ten, printed on the chest, along with light brown cargo pants and green casual sneakers with a white toe.
"How did I get here?" he questioned rather confused and scratching his tousled hair. He let out a groan of pain as he touched the lower back of his neck. It felt like he had some swelling there.
He tried to remember what he was doing before he woke up there but to no avail.
Was he suffering from short-term Amnesia? And, if the pain was a sign of something, it could only mean that he suffered a severe blow that knocked him unconscious and that at some point something happened that left him in that spot.
He observed his immediate surroundings, recognized it as the interior of the proto truck, a high-tech vehicle used by him and his partner, Rook Blonko, during various missions, either on earth or in space.
This gave him a hint, they were on a mission, or at least that was most likely the case.
His gaze went down to his left wrist, there rested a white digital watch with green lines and a black faceplate, the lines ran over it and took the shape of an hourglass. This was the Omnimatrix, or simply Omnitrix, the most advanced piece of technology in five galaxies, or possibly the universe, that gave him his powers. The ability to transform into millions of different aliens.
Ben brought his right hand up to the faceplate and activated it. A holographic dial came into view, showing the silhouettes of the faces of various alien creatures.
"Still has energy, that's good." He commented in relief. If he was in danger at all, he preferred to have the device at his disposal. It was almost like his lifeline.
A slight tremor shook the vehicle, but Ben managed to keep his balance, if he had fallen just because of that he would be really embarrassed, he wasn't someone born for hoverboard combat because of his lack of balance after all.
His eyes moved quickly to the front, trying to figure out what caused that tremor. He was in an eternal void, after all, he doubted it was a simple road bump.
He saw that in front of him reality deformed and a vortex appeared. On the other side of it, he could only see absolute blackness.
It was not a good omen and without wasting any time he jumped into the driver's seat and tried to maneuver. As usually happened, Lady Luck seemed to be laughing at his expense. No sooner had he pulled the handlebars back, which should have translated into the vehicle slowing its motion, then it separated from the dashboard releasing several sparks in the process. The look of horror on his face was absolute. That had to be some kind of bad joke.
Again he returned his gaze to the front, that black vortex was getting closer and closer and the ship seemed to be accelerating. It was time for plan B.
A green flash flooded the interior of the vehicle when Ben activated the Omnitrix and subsequently, the entire structure was covered by a black substance with green circuit-like lines, a circular colored device posed with a green hourglass symbol that was positioned fuselage and a solitary green circle appeared on the windshield. The entire structure was altered, transformed, reassembled, and improved a few hundred times until the entire craft went from a rectangular, polygonal design to a more aerodynamic, fighter-like design.
Two thrusters were present in the front area and activated instantly, trying to reverse, but to no avail.
The lone green circle frowned at the paucity of results, his attention then turned to the vortex, which was already mere inches from the vehicle to his horror.
The thrusters became even bigger and redoubled their efforts, but the result was the same, the ship was already entering darkness.
Fearful of what might happen. The circle closed and he waited for his inevitable end.
The seconds passed and the uncertainty was total, but it was gradually replaced by confusion and impatience. If that was his end, it was taking too long.
Once again, the solitary circle opened and as if it were an eye, it observed its surroundings, the colors were replaced by absolute blackness, a change that, although usually, it should not be good, was in this case.
In front of the vehicle rose with its natural beauty a blue planet, indicating the presence of water on seventy percent of its surface. Contrasting the blue was green and some brown, these were a clear sign of land and the shape they possessed was all too familiar to the green circle.
"The Earth." Said a male voice, much like Ben's, but with a cybernetic tone, this one emerged from the green circle, which was too focused on observing the planet to notice the satellite that was coming dangerously close towards him. "For a second I thought I was dead."
The ship was ready to move forward, return home, later have a Smoothie and never say out loud that he was afraid, when the impact occurred, followed by a loud explosion.
At this point, Ben was beginning to question the whole thing. Was it all a big joke orchestrated by a higher being, possibly Celestialsapien? He wasn't sure about that, but moments before he fell unconscious due to his transformation taking too much damage, he hurled a few expletives at the universe and its constant pastime of messing with him.
From the rubble emerged the proto truck in its normal form, its structure full of dents and with several parts missing.
For a few moments, it simply drifted, with no sign of life, until the planet's gravity field began to do its work and gradually the vehicle was pulled toward the surface. Very quickly, the vehicle transformed into a fireball that was hurtling at full speed towards the northern part of the planet, near the east coast of the United States.
In a dark room, illuminated only by a small tube television, four humanoid silhouettes were watching with great interest what was being shown on the screen.
A black and white film, possibly from the 1950s, was playing there. It told the story of an amateur astronomer and his fiancée who, while gazing at the stars, saw a flaming object crashing to earth, only to later discover that it was around the spaceship, but before he could get proof, a landslide covered it completely.
"This movie is bad." Said one of the silhouettes, her voice was feminine and high-pitched, also marked by a certain touch of self-centeredness.
"Shut up Cleo." Replied another, who like the first, was female, but with a harsher and more annoyed tone.
"Shuuu, here come the aliens!" scolded another voice, also female.
"AAAH!" a fourth voice exclaimed in terror at what she saw.
"Draculaura, they still don't show up..." the second voice pointed out, plus her tone had some disappointment behind it.
"I'm sorry." the voice belonging to the girl named Draculaura apologized. "You know I'm not very good at handling terror."
"Ironic." Commented the first voice identified as Cleo.
The film continued, narrating the events taking place in Sand Rock, Arizona, as the amateur astronomer did his best to uncover the mystery behind the crash. The mysterious disappearances occurring in the town and finally his encounter with the aliens. One-eyed, huge-bodied beings, being very similar to jellyfish.
After a plot twist where the space monsters proved to be benign, the astronomer prevented them from destroying themselves and their ship by convincing them to continue repairing their ship, while he took the kidnapped humans and distracted the sheriff and the mob of angry humans who wanted to finish them off.
At the end of the film, the astronomer and his fiancée look up into the night sky as the alien spacecraft leaves the earth.
"Are they gone forever?" was the fiancée's question.
"No, just for now." Replied the astronomer. "It wasn't the right time for us to meet. But there will be other nights, other stars for us to see. They will come back."
So the movie came to an end and one of the girls got up to go turn on the light in the room, revealing that the room looked more like a mad scientist's laboratory than a normal room.
There was furniture such as a dresser, a closet, and a bedside table, along with what appeared to be an operating table with several wires attached to it. Also in one corner was a fish tank with five glitter-covered rats inside, which had little 3D glasses.
"It could have been worse." Commented the second voice, this one belonged to a girl, human in appearance, but with marked differences, brown fur covered most of her body, along with two wolf ears that emerged above her brown hair, which was straightened and fell over her back, and lastly two prominent fangs that almost escaped from under her upper lips.
Apart from this, she was wearing an outfit that, for almost obvious reasons, fulfilled the function of pajamas, consisting of a purple long-sleeved T-shirt with a white chest, which was torn in the abdominal area, revealing the navel of the young woman, along with black sports pants and purple slippers with the design of yellow eyes and wolf ears.
"I'm glad it all worked out for those aliens." Draculaura was the one who spoke. The girl possessed pale skin with a slight pinkish tinge, her black hair with pink highlights was tied in a ponytail, over her forehead she had a pink mask for when she went to sleep. Her most noticeable feature was the two sharp fangs emerging from her pink lips and the small heart-shaped birthmark on her left cheekbone.
Like her companion, she was in her pajamas, a pink outfit almost entirely except for the white dots on her pants and the sleeves of her T-shirt, along with the white ruffles, and her feet had pink slippers with yellow eyes and little bat wings added.
"That movie was dumb, why did we rent it?" questioned Cleo, she was a young woman with wheat-colored skin, her hair had a black color with golden highlights and flowed over her back, unlike her friends, she really looked like a human, except for the bandages that were attached to her right arm and neck.
Her clothing also possessed these bandages, dyed in a light blue color to match the sweatpants and short-sleeved T-shirt, finally to complete her attire, she had light blue slippers with a snake-eye design and a forked tongue.
"Plus it's a monster movie! Shouldn't this be offensive to us?" she questioned once again, only to earn a flat look from Clawdeen.
The girl who had gone to turn on the light returned next to them and sat down on a cushion that functioned as her makeshift seat during the movie, making sure not to accidentally spill the snacks or drinks that were scattered on the floor.
She possessed a skin of a strange color, mint green, all over her body there were sutures as if each piece had been assembled to her, her hair was black and white, and her eyes possessed heterochromia, the right one being blue and the left one green. Finally, she had two bolts in her neck.
Her attire consisted of a white tank top with a lightning bolt printed on the chest area and black and white baggy pants, accompanied by slippers that, like her friends, had a monstrous but adorable face by design, along with some bolts on the sides.
"I liked it, it was very noble of the protagonist to want to come to a peaceful relationship with the aliens." Her statement earned a look from Cleo with an arched eyebrow and a low chuckle from Clawdeen. "We should try that with humans."
"Oh right, it's not like they run away every time they see us." Cleo's response was full of sarcasm and her words managed to make the girl shrink slightly in place. "Frankie, you still have a lot to learn."
"But according to my magazines..."
"I told you to stop reading that stuff, it doesn't work in real life." Clawdeen interrupted, the young woman after that popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth and ate it without many manners. "And besides, why do you read human magazines?"
"The boys that come out there are cute." She excused herself by quickly averting her gaze, all to avoid watching as Clawdeen and Cleo looked at her with flat expressions.
"I think Frankie is right, if we talked to humans maybe we could understand each other." Draculaura added her two cents to that conversation.
"Didn't they force you and Mr. Dracula to flee Transylvania?" questioned Clawdeen, managing to make the girl cringe and laugh nervously.
"Hehe, yeah, I didn't think eating tomatoes from that orchard would make them so angry."
Cleo and Clawdeen shared a momentary glance and then returned to their two friends. Did the two of them have no common sense or refused to see that humans and monsters didn't exactly live together in peace?
Opting to put that conversation aside, Clawdeen changed the subject.
"What now? It's almost one o'clock in the morning, shall we sleep or watch another movie?"
"Another normie movie? Uhg, I'll pass." Was Cleo's response. "How about a game? Truth or shudder?"
"I'll pass." Clawdeen replied, not wanting to fall for her friend's antics. "Come on girls, it's our last week of school before summer vacation, two whole weeks of no school, we have to do something cool today and start the summer off with excitement!"
Her three friends looked at her unsure about that idea, they didn't need to rush things, it was still a week away, they could do something calm that day, after all, they were celebrating.
Only recently the four of them had managed to win one of Fearlading's most important events, it was difficult and required a lot of effort, but in the end, they succeeded, their vacation was well deserved.
"I'd rather do something more relaxing." Frankie voiced her opinion, thrills were good, but relaxing was good too.
"How about going out to see the stars?" the suggestion from Draculaura caught the attention of her friends so she continued talking. "The sky is clear, maybe we can see a shooting star!"
"Or a ship with evil vampire-eating aliens, boooh!" Clawdeen said that, and causing her friend to momentarily shiver, only to have her friend then throw the cushion she was sitting on directly at her face, this didn't stop her from laughing at her friend's expense.
"That wasn't funny!" replied Draculaura clearly annoyed as she folded her arms.
"Sounds good. What do you think Cleo?" Frankie turned her attention to the last girl, who didn't seem to be too thrilled at the idea.
"Going out in your backyard with all those mosquitoes and vermin? Oh I love the idea!" Frankie frowned slightly, Cleo was being too sarcastic and she wasn't even trying to disguise it!
Clawdeen on the other hand put on a sly smile, she knew of a way to get Cleo to agree, to use her ego against her.
"You're just saying that because you're afraid of spiders, aren't you?" That simple phrase twitched Cleo, who pinned her gaze on Clawdeen. "Big Cleo De Nile scared of a little insect." Each word only increased the girl's frown and when her left eyebrow twitched, Clawdeen knew she had won.
"I'm not afraid of anything! Much less an insect! Let's go to the courtyard right now!" she stood up and without waiting for her friends, left the room.
Frankie and Draculaura looked at Clawdeen, who had a cocky smile on his face.
"It always works." After saying that, she picked up some snacks and hurried after her friend. "Quick, before she regrets it."
Without wasting any more time, Frankie and Draculaura imitated Clawdeen and the three of them left the room.
Once in the courtyard of the house and settled on folding chairs and next to a small plastic table where they put the snacks and drinks, the four girls watched the night sky. The immensity of the firmament gave them a spectacle of brilliant white dots, with occasional satellites moving across the sky.
It was a perfect summer night, with no clouds obstructing the view and a light breeze blowing, cooling the atmosphere.
"I admit, this isn't so bad." That was what Cleo said as she popped a potato chip into her mouth and took a bite.
"My dad sprayed the plants because of the aphids, you won't see a spider around here for quite a while." Frankie added, her friend couldn't have been more relieved to hear that.
"It's fortunate that today is a new moon, I'd hate to have that problem now." Clawdeen added then wolfed down more popcorn. "Do you girls think there's anything else out there?"
Frankie looked in her direction, she could see a gleam of illusion in her friend's golden orbs, as if she were imagining a thousand and one adventures in outer space.
The same illusion was shared by Draculaura, who looked with a dreamy expression toward the starry sky and spoke. "New worlds with monsters like us, can you imagine?"
"No one is like me, that's for sure." Cleo added proudly, then changed to a softer expression and like her friends, looked up at the firmament. "When I was a child, my mother told me stories, about beings that visited us every thirteen hundred years, my people called them "Those who come from above". If they weren't aliens, I don't know what they could be."
"There you have it ladies, we confirmed the existence of the little gray dwarfs." They all shared a laugh at Clawdeen's joke.
Finally, Frankie accompanied them. Her eyes watched the sky almost longingly, her mind traveled among those countless white dots, playing at joining them together trying to form some kind of figure. One of the knowledge she acquired from her parents, was astronomy, she had devoured books on the subject during her fourteenth day of existence, so coming up with the constellations was not difficult for her.
"Look over there, that constellation is Sagittarius." She said as she pointed towards the firmament, her friends followed the sign, only to be confused as they saw dots and white dots. Noticing this, Frankie explained further. "There, join the brightest stars together until they form a centaur, it's between Scorpius and Capricorn."
Once her friends' expressions were of total confusion, so, with some frustration, Frankie got up, stood in front of her friends, and raised her arms, creating a circle above her head enclosing the constellation.
"Oooh." All three exclaimed as if it was an amazing and unique discovery.
"What other constellation can you see?" asked Clawdeen curiously. "I know! My sign is Taurus, can you find the constellation?"
For a few seconds Frankie focused his attention on the firmament, looking for that constellation, it was a little more difficult as the station was not the right one to see it clearly, but he succeeded and once again he pointed it out.
"Now me! Now me!" Draculaura raised her hand excitedly at the sight of being able to see the constellation that represented her zodiac sign. "Aquarius!"
Finding that constellation was much easier, it was one of the most extensive after all and when she succeeded, she pointed it out, causing her friend to almost jumping with excitement.
"It's beautiful! You really are a genius Frankie!" the girl cringed at the compliment, she wasn't as smart as Draculaura made it sound.
"I have a question, what is the name of the constellation that is on fire and falling at full speed towards Earth?" the question from Cleo confused her friends, especially Frankie.
"You're talking about a comet." She clarified. "Wait, if it falls to Earth it's a meteorite. Why do you ask? Did you see one?"
Cleo nodded and pointed to an area of the night sky, where, to the surprise of her friends, a fire-covered object was hurtling at breakneck speeds toward the earth.
The next thing they could all see was the object impacting the nearby forest, causing a tremor that knocked over the drinks on the table and a subsequent mild shockwave that shook the treetops.
For a few moments, none of them moved, incredulous at what had just happened. It wasn't until Clawdeen stood up and headed for the fence separating the grounds of Frankie's house from the surrounding forest that her friends reacted.
"Where are you going?" questioned Draculaura in confusion.
"A meteorite just hit in the forest and none of them want to go take a look? This is what I wanted! A little adventure! We can go see a meteorite!" her words had a certain effect on her friends, who looked at each other and quickly followed her, not before Cleo picked up her phone, since they were going to that place, they might as well take some pictures.
Their walk was slightly uncomfortable, walking in slippers through a forest at half-past one in the morning was not as good an idea as it might sound at first and if it wasn't for Draculaura and Clawdeen possessing night vision, their walk would have been a lot bumpier than it was.
It took about thirty minutes to reach the impact site, the smell of earth and burnt trees flooded the atmosphere, which was uncomfortable for Clawdeen, since he had a much sharper sense of smell.
They arrived at a clearing formed by the impact of the object, they noticed that much of the area was destroyed, trees were down and the ground had been disturbed, creating a ditch. This was a sign that the object slid before coming to a stop.
Scattered around were many metal pieces, this momentarily caught everyone's attention. One-piece was close enough to Draculaura for her to bend down and pick it up, only to drop it almost instantly.
"Ouch..." the girl waved her hand, the piece of metal was burning, which caused her to burn her fingers.
"Why is there so much garbage here?" questioned Cleo, she was looking confused at the pieces of steel that were scattered around the area.
"Maybe it's a Satelite!" exclaimed the girl with the wolf ears. She was ready to move forward, her curiosity was pushing her and she was not willing to hold back, but she was stopped by Frankie.
"We have to go carefully, remember that the whole city is above the catacombs, the ground may be fragile." The warning had an effect on the girl, who looked down at the ground, searching for any sign of cracks and seeing nothing, moved forward, followed by her friends.
The four approached the crater and peered inside to investigate.
The metal pieces left an easy path to follow until they reached their source. It was something that none of them expected to see in that place.
"This has to be a joke." Those words emerged from Cleo's mouth, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared at the object that had fallen from the sky. She rubbed her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"Is that a ship?" questioned Draculaura, who unconsciously clung to Clawdeen's clothes as fear began to invade her, the possibility of the vampire-eating alien became real? She had no desire to find out.
A whistling sound was heard and they all took a step back, fearful of what might happen, but not curious enough not to stray too far, they all wanted to see what would happen.
The rear part of the ship opened, revealing the interior, only for seconds later, the hatch detaches and falls to the ground generating a metallic sound upon impact. The general condition of the vehicle was deplorable, its entire fuselage was damaged, the upper part was missing some pieces, even what appeared to be half of a destroyed wing was there. It was obvious that the fire and the pressure when crossing the atmosphere damaged the entire external structure leaving scorch marks everywhere, the impact against the planet only increased the damage the vehicle received.
Driven by curiosity, Clawdeen approached the edge of the crater, wanting to get a closer look at the thing.
"Clawdeen, be careful." Frankie's concerned voice reached her ears, but her friend simply stuck her thumb up and peeked out again.
She could see the inside of the vehicle, it was completely wrecked, loose wires sparking, parts broken or bent, and finally a black substance with green lines resting against the windshield that was broken. She tried to come up with something minimally resembling an alien, maybe one like the one they saw in that movie, with a large body and one eye, but all there was that black and green substance, which didn't seem to belong to anything living.
"Se-see the alien?" asked Draculaura fearfully, only for her friend to pull back from the edge and shake her head. This caused the girl to let out a sigh full of relief, she really did not wish to encounter a vampire flesh-loving alien.
"Well, that was disappointing."
"And what did you expect to see? A monster like the one in the movie?" questioned Cleo, her answer came in the form of a nod from her friend, which caused her to pat her face. "We better get out of here before this thing blows up or the army comes, or something."
"More like the Men in Black." Clawdeen clarified, which earned Frankie a confused look from her. "It's a movie. Girl we need to get you up to speed on pop culture."
"Sorry, I'm not done with the Harry Potter movies yet." She apologized slightly embarrassed.
"How about sounding a selfie with that thing, then go back to our lives and never mention this to anyone?" the suggestion the brown-haired girl made earned nods from her friends, this discovery was amazing and certainly set the bar high for things they would do during the summer vacation, but it wasn't something she could openly share.
Cleo took out her phone, this was a small hexagonal-shaped device, similar to a sarcophagus, and it had a touch screen. The girl entered her camera app and they all positioned themselves on the edge of the crater.
"Frankie, you're the tallest, you take the picture." Cleo asked.
"I have an even better idea." As if it was completely natural to her, she reached her right hand up to her left arm and pulled on one of the seams of it, part of the limb separated from her body, but she showed no sign of pain and what was more impressive, the hand still seemed to be moving. This handheld the phone while Frankie used the other hand to raise her arm even higher, allowing the camera to focus on them and the ship.
"Say fang!" exclaimed Draculaura with a smile.
"Fang!" said her friends.
The phone flash caused all of them to be mowed down for a few moments and because of this, Frankie took a false step backward, stepping on the edge of the crater, losing her balance in the process.
"Frankie!" Clawdeen reacted as quickly as she could, but being slightly disoriented by the flash caused her to stumble into Draculaura, who in turn grabbed for Cleo's shoulder.
From one second to the next, the four girls fell into the crater, the shallowness of the crater prevented really serious damage, even so, hitting against steel or earth caused some groans.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Frankie with some concern. She searched with her gaze for her friends, Clawdeen had fallen on her legs, it didn't take long for her to remove herself and allow Frankie to get up. Draculaura had fallen against a piece of metal and appeared to have a small scrape on her knee, but nothing more. Finally, Cleo was closer to the vehicle and did not look happy.
"Get your hand off me!" was Cleo's complaint, who had Frankie's left hand clamped on her shirt.
A sharp movement as it lifted off the ground was enough to send the limb flying in the direction of the interior of the ship, landing next to the strange black substance. The proximity to it caused a strange reaction, some sparks were emitted and struck against the black slime which caused the lines of green to light up slightly.
"You could have given it back to me instead of throwing it inside the ship." Frankie shot an annoyed look at her friend, who folded her arms and turned her back on her.
"This is a designer T-shirt, do you have any idea how expensive it is? I wasn't going to let it get ruined."
At her friend's excuse, Frankie rolled her eyes and just looked around for her missing limb, seeing it next to the strange substance she thought about going to get it right away, but stopped herself, was that black stuff glowing? This confused her, moments before it didn't, was it activated? Was it something dangerous? Or maybe something toxic?
Seeing that her friend was staring at the interior of the space vehicle, Clawdeen turned her attention to the interior. Everything was the same as before, it didn't seem to have changed at all, what was she looking at? She deduced that her friend was simply scared, anyone with any sense would be. So, in a show of bravery, she jumped inside and made her way to pick up her friend's limb.
Frankie wanted to stop her, but Clawdeen was already in front of the black substance. He saw her pick up his arm and then turn to her with an arrogant smile.
"It's all right, there is no alien, this thing maybe was just a satellite." At her friend's bravado, the black and white-haired girl rolled her eyes and was about to ask her to hand over her arm so she could leave, but she stopped, or, rather, she froze and fear came over her.
The black slime was moving, rising unevenly and gradually taking on a humanoid shape.
Draculaura, who until that moment had been trying to remove the dirt stains from her clothes, looked sideways at Clawdeen, only for her eyes to widen like saucers. In an almost identical state was Cleo, a shiver ran up her spine at what she was seeing.
Confused at these strange looks, Clawdeen asked. "What, do I have something on my clothes? Don't tell me some bug got on me." Concerned at that possibility, the girl examined her attire but saw nothing strange.
The hand that was attached to the arm Clawdeen picked up touched the girl's shoulder to get her attention and when she got it, she pointed back with her thumb.
Clawdeen's confusion couldn't have been greater, why would Frankie's arm be pointing to something behind her? The only thing behind there was that strange black and green slime and according to her sense of smell, that thing was molten metal.
This confusion also gave way to curiosity and she turned to see what they were all looking at. Her vision was obstructed by the green color and a strange silver dial with a black and green symbol that reminded her of an hourglass. That hadn't been there for a few seconds. She noticed that, apart from that, what was in front of her possessed a vaguely humanoid silhouette, a broad and clearly masculine chest was there and attached to it, two huge black arms with the inner part of that same green color.
Her eyes widened as she realized what it was, her fur bristled and her ears pricked up. She could feel her throat go dry and her primal instincts kicked in instantly. It couldn't be true, it had to be a bad joke, she really did hit her head and now she was unconscious, hallucinating as her friends screamed at each other not knowing what to do. With what little courage she had left and at a slow pace, she looked up, until her yellow orbs met a solitary circle of green, which served the function of an eye.
In front of her and her friends, there was an alien, his body was huge, easily surpassing Frankie, who had the not inconsiderable height of one meter eighty centimeters tall and arms that were almost the same width as Draculaura. His body had only two colors, metallic black and matte green, in addition, all over his body were lines that followed an obvious pattern, similar to circuits of a computer board, these followed the colors of the alien, only that, contrasting with the opposite color, where it was black the lines would be green and vice versa.
For a few seconds, no one said anything, the sound of wood burning nearby was all that could be.
The space creature just watched, its attention shifted from Clawdeen to Cleo, then to Draculaura, and finally to Frankie, and that's when it stopped, it watched her as if it recognized her.
"Aaaaaaaah!" Cleo screamed in terror, and she wasn't the only one, Draculaura did too.
The next thing the alien saw was how those four girls ran away from the place stumbling. The girl with the smallest stature had difficulty getting out of the pit they were in, but the brown-haired girl came back for her and helped her out, then fled with the others. They were lost from sight rather quickly.
Slightly confused at this, but understanding their reactions. After all, he was an alien, many people were still afraid of them, but they were working to stop being like that. He decided to get out of the vehicle, those girls were probably already far away from the place and if he was honest, it was for the best, he didn't have the energy to deal with excited fans to see him. Although they didn't seem to have recognized him.
He shrugged his shoulders and walked out. That wasn't important at the time.
His one eye scanned the surroundings, he was in a crater about two or three meters deep, he could easily get out, but getting the proto truck out would be another story, maybe if he merged once more with the vehicle he could do it, but for the moment reconnoitering the terrain was the best thing to do.
"I wonder what that Transylian will do on Earth."
With a push of his legs, he managed to leap high enough to get out of the crater.
His eye scanned the area, that particular transformation could not see the world in the same way as others. Everything was scanned almost constantly, creating a digitized image in his head, a computerized vision that allowed him almost total spatial awareness.
"I'm in a forest, that's good, I think." He said to himself, he took a step back when he saw that one of those trees possessed a really scary face. "Scary forest, got it." His gaze returned to his ship.
He almost preferred not to have done it, the vehicle was destroyed, but maybe the communicator in it was working and he could ask them to come and get them. That idea died almost instantly when several sparks flew from inside and started a small fire.
"Rook is going to kill me." He whispered in fear of what his partner would do to him when he found out what he did to his "baby".
Resigned, he opted to follow the next best course of action, find the nearest phone booth and make a call home, or to his cousin, to let the plumbers know he needed a ride.
Before leaving the site, he noticed a small glow inside the crater, slightly covered by the earth, and curiously went down to see what it was.
Picking it up, he realized it was some kind of cell phone, the sarcophagus shape was strange no doubt, but he was aware that many people customized them in different ways. Most likely that device had been dropped by one of those girls when they ran away, he was going to have to return it. Maybe after this, they could help him contact home, and he was willing to put up with his beloved slightly stalkerish Fans just to get back home, he could give them some autographs and take some pictures as compensation. It was a good plan. So again he left the crater, this time taking his phone with him and looked for any sign of those girls. The near-total darkness wasn't exactly helpful, even with his computer vision, the shadows were present, for some strange reason that escaped him.
He surveyed his surroundings, he wasn't sure which direction to go, maybe he should try his luck and see what happens.
"From tin Marin from do pingue... over there." Making use of the most efficient way to make a decision, the alien began to advance through the forest, unaware that, as usually happened, the universe was scheming behind the scenes to get him into new and very big trouble. "I wonder why that girl had wolf ears on top of her head? Is she doing cosplay? Maybe I'll ask her for a picture. " He said as his body was lost in the trees.
When he withdrew from the area, a white light settled over the crater, at the same time that the sound of the rotors of the propellers of a helicopter broke the calm of the night. The wind shook the treetops and managed to repel some of the smoke, which rose into the sky.
"Sir, I'm on the scene, it looks like a meteorite, and there is indication of fire, we need to bring fire equipment in case a fire starts." The policeman piloting the helicopter said this over the vehicle's built-in radio.
"Copy that, stay in the area, we will send some operatives to fence off the site."
The door to Frankie's home slammed loudly after the four girls entered the kitchen. They were all in a state of stress, the adrenaline pumping through their bodies gradually wearing off, but the exhaustion from fleeing the impact zone was obvious.
"Are you all okay?" despite gasping for breath, Frankie was very worried about her friends. Cleo looked at her out of the corner of her eye and nodded while breathing heavily, Clawdeen raised her thumb while leaning on her knees trying to calm her breathing, the adrenaline was gone and despite not being tired if she was shocked, finally, Draculaura fell to the ground on her knees, the fear she felt was a lot, as she had said, she didn't handle terror well.
They were all fine, that was a good thing. She would never have imagined that night would end that way, if it weren't for the fear she felt at the appearance of the alien, which curiously looked a bit like the aliens in the movie they watched, she would be excited.
"That thing didn't follow us, did it? " asked Cleo, she had turned her gaze to the door leading to the backyard, uncomfortable at the idea that now that creature was roaming the forest.
"I don't know, I was more focused on running for my life." Clawdeen replied, the tone she used showed that she was upset, though not towards Cleo. "Lala, are you okay?" with concern she approached her black and pink-haired friend, who was wiping away some tears.
"Yes." She replied, avoiding eye contact, but when Clawdeen rested a hand on her shoulder, he hugged her tightly, taking her by surprise and knocking her momentarily off-balance. "I thought that thing would do something to you!"
Gently and lovingly, she began to rub her friend's head. The girl was much older than her, but she was much more emotional and did not control her emotions well.
"Relax, I'm fine." Despite her calm demeanor, internally she was just like Cleo, the idea that this thing was now in the forest made her nervous. What if it was going to get them? What if it wanted to hurt them? Well, if he tried, she'd show him that no one messed with her friends.
"I think the best thing to do would be to call the police." Frankie suggested this, her friends didn't seem entirely convinced at the idea, but they couldn't think of anything better either. "Cleo, could you give me your ICoffin?"
"Wait, don't you have it?" asked the mummy. Frankie quickly denied it. They both looked toward Clawdeen, who also denied. "Don't tell me my ICoffin stayed in that crater." That thought alone horrified the girl, who pulled her hair. "It was new!"
"Well go get it, I'm sure that alien will kindly hand it over to you." Clawdeen replied, her annoyance at her friend's shouting was evident.
The girl with the black and gold hair kept silent. She could buy another ICoffin, so what was the point of losing that one?
For a few seconds, silence took place between them, they didn't know exactly what to do in that situation and they would have continued like that, but a sound reached Clawdeen's ears, the girl turned her attention to the door that led to the courtyard, she heard footsteps, something big was moving through the foliage of the forest.
Her reaction did not go unnoticed by her friends, Frankie and Cleo looked at her worriedly and the first one was quick to ask what was wrong.
"There's something walking out there." Clawdeen replied.
That answer made them all tense up and they instinctively ducked, the door leading to the backyard had glass in the upper half, if it was the alien who was out there, then he would be able to see them through it.
Frankie summoned all her courage and peered through the glass. She could see a green light moving through the trees, a humanoid figure approached the white wooden fence that bounded his home. The alien was there, standing there and observing his surroundings.
Stealthily, the girl crouched down again and looked at her friends, her expression full of concern and fear.
"It's out there." She said in a whisper. Cleo and Clawdeen's eyes widened and worry came over them, Draculaura clung even tighter to her auburn-haired friend and closed her eyes tightly.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, until a green light filtered through the glass of the door, this passed over the heads of all, as if it were a kind of scanner that sought to detect them.
Frankie, who was leaning against the door, motioned to her friends to be quiet. Cleo covered her mouth with both hands, praying to all the Egyptian gods that the thing would not enter the house.
Tortuous seconds filled with uncertainty passed slowly until the green light disappeared.
Overcome with fear and want to make sure the alien left the scene, Cleo and Frankie peered out once more. It was not the case. The space monster was there, it had approached the house and was now standing with its back to the door, holding Cleo's ICoffin in his hands. The owner of the device opened her eyes in surprise to see that he was checking it, rummaging through the apps until he entered the photo gallery. Seeing this was enough for fear to turn to anger and she screamed.
"Hey! Don't look my pictures!" Almost instantly after saying that, the girl realized that this was not a very good idea. The alien turned to the door and his lone eye met the girl's blue orbs, it was as if time had stopped for her. "Oh ho..." That was all she could say and at the same time, Clawdeen slapped her face at the stupidity her friend had just done.
"Great, now we're all going to die..." growled the wolf-eared girl. "Thanks Cleo, I'll haunt you in the afterlife."
"It was an accident!" she excused herself in fright.
"Accident!? You yelled at him not to look at your pictures! What could you possibly have in there?!"
"T-That's none of your business!"
"Girls." Frankie, who continued to stare at the alien tried to get the attention of her friends, but to no avail.
"Have you been sending pictures to Deuce?"
"No! What if I did! He's my boyfriend!"
"Girls..." again got no result.
"Who knew, Cleo De Nile is a per..."
"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
"Girls!"
"What!?" they both shouted.
"Come take a look at this." Frankie pointed outward then returned his gaze to the front.
"Are you crazy!? Why would I want to see the alien!?" questioned Cleo, moving as far away from the door as possible.
"He still has your phone." Clawdeen replied.
"Shut up!"
Choosing to ignore her friends, Frankie returned her gaze to the entity a few steps from the door. The alien was just standing there, staring back at her with that lone green eye. Maybe he wasn't someone evil and was just eager to return the ICoffin. But how could she be sure? As she thought about what to do, she tilted her head slightly to the left, and to her surprise, the alien mimicked her. This surprised her, was it trying to communicate with her? Fascinating.
Outside, the alien looked bored at that Transylian girl, he was starting to get impatient. Did she still not recognize him? She had been staring at him for about two minutes, how many Galvanic Mechamorphs with a dial attached to their chest did that girl know? Besides, even in the solar system of origin of that girl's species, he was known for having put an end to the reign of an Ecto Lord who wanted to revive an extinct race that was a very dangerous predator for the inhabitants of the place.
He continued observing her, the girl herself did not meet the beauty standards of the Anur system, unfortunately, he knew them very well and knew what happened to those who did not comply. This could explain what that alien was doing so far away from her home solar system. But if she was on earth, that meant she knew who he was, the whole universe knew about him and recognized him instantly, she was taking too long for his liking.
He opted for a more direct approach, after all, he just wanted to return the phone, call home and leave, and, perhaps, stop for a smoothie. His lonely eye scanned the house, it was quite normal, a human house made of wood, its design was simple, very reminiscent of a Swiss chalet, two stories, a roof covered by black tiles that fell in a gable. He noticed that at the top there were two windows, which would be a good way to enter.
Deciding on his course of action and before the astonished gaze of that girl, his body melted and he pounced on the device he had been carrying all that time.
That its total mass was several times greater than the size of the device did not impede merging with it and after covering it completely, green lines similar to circuits were illuminated, at the same time that this happened, the whole structure was reconfigured according to the mental orders he gave. Three small legs emerged from the rear part, raising it about ten centimeters from the ground, followed by this, the screen lit up revealing a green circle, which fulfilled the function of its eye and finally, slightly above the place where those mechanical legs emerged, the dial that was previously on its chest was positioned.
The next thing he did before the incredulous girl was to leap several times his height and attach himself to the wall of the house and without wasting any time he climbed up.
That unexpected action brought Frankie out of her stupor and with a worried look she turned to her friends, who were continuing to argue, while Draculaura seemed to have recovered.
"Girls. I think he's trying to get into the house." That single sentence was enough for her friends to shut up and look at her with wide eyes. "And I saw him merge into Cleo's ICoffin."
"What?" was all that could come from the lips of the phone's owner. "What!?"
"Wait, back up, what do you mean that thing is trying to get into the house?" questioned Clawdeen, her nerves beginning to surface almost as fast as Draculaura's, who wasted no time in hugging her once again, trying to find comfort in her strongest friend.
Her response came as the mechanical sound of the small legs now possessed by her friend's ICoffin was heard. The four young women turned their attention to the entrance of the kitchen. There they could see a small silhouette with bright green lines approaching them.
When the small entity managed to get close enough, a small extra leg emerged from one of the sides of the ICoffin and moved as if it were a salute. To the alien's misfortune, this was interpreted as a hostile action by Clawdeen, who, using skills that would make the best goal scorer jealous, gave it a powerful kick with the tip of her foot.
Almost as if he were a high caliber projectile, the small mechanical entity crossed the entire house and slammed against the front door, and then fell to the floor, letting out a cybernetic whine in the process.
Cleo looked at her friend with a mixture of appreciation, annoyance, awe, and disbelief. Did she really kick the alien-like it was a soccer ball?
"Why did you do that!?" exclaimed Frankie.
"I don't know! I got nervous! Why are you worried about that thing? What if it wants to eat us?!"
"He's still a person!"
"Don't start with your moralism!"
While they were arguing, the alien recovered and shook from side to side, slightly dazed by that impressive kick, the girl had a soccer talent he could tell.
After recovering and analyzing his surroundings, just to make sure that the blow did not affect him, he advanced once again, but this time, he opted to unmerge himself from the phone.
Rising above his full height once more and willing to try and talk to them, he approached the kitchen while raising his right hand and spoke. His voice was calm and kind, it was part of the nature of mechamorphs to be extremely kind for the most part.
"Hello! Can I use your phone to call my home?" his voice was enough to make the girls, except for Draculaura who continued to hide behind Clawdeen, turn to look at him.
Their expressions were perfect for a painting, or to create a meme and post it everywhere, of course, that wasn't his goal, so he just waited patiently for one to respond.
Seconds passed, and for some reason, he began to feel slightly uncomfortable being under the scrutiny of those three girls, or rather four, the shortest one had peeked her eyes over the shoulder of the girl with the wolf ears and now they were all looking at him.
Impatient, he decided it would be best to talk again, so he raised his left hand to where the phone was and pointed to it with his right hand.
"Can I call to my home with this?" he repeated his question, but again there was no answer.
Until the girl with the ears turned in a whisper toward the girl who had the attire with the light blue bandages.
"I think he's talking to you." This earned the bandage girl a startled look, only for the wolf-eared girl to push her forward, handing her over on a silver platter to the space monster.
Appalled by this, Cleo shot a look of real anger at Clawdeen, who motioned for her to go ahead and do something.
Frankie for his part kept watching the alien, the language he used was unfamiliar to him, but he was clearly trying to say something, so he decided to take a chance and spoke.
"You want to use the ICoffin?" she asked stuttering, the bolts on her neck lit up from the sparks they released as the young woman's nerves were growing. The alien cocked his head to one side, looked at the object in his hands, and then nodded.
"Frankie what are you doing!?" cried Cleo in a whisper.
"I think he wants to do something with ICoffin."
The alien looked at the girl in confusion, he was quite clear on what he wanted, why weren't they getting it?
A possible answer hit him like a block of concrete and he turned his attention to the dial on his chest, then pressed it for three seconds, fearing that his suspicions would be confirmed.
"Warning. Damage to the integrity of the Omnimatrix detected. Warning. Electromagnetic damage detected. Analysis and self-repair protocol has been initiated. All transformations have been blocked. Primary functions disabled. Secondary functions disabled. Life form blocking system has been activated. Species: Galvanic Mechamorph."
The AI integrated into the device gave its explanation, which caused the alien to bring both hands to his head in a clear sign of panic. That couldn't be happening to him.
"Transformations?" questioned a confused Clawdeen, her eyes widened as she realized what might be going on and at breakneck speed grabbed the first object in the vicinity that could act as a weapon, in this case, a frying pan. "You're not stealing my body!" she exclaimed pointing the kitchen tool at him.
"What?" questioned the alien in his language, his body turned towards the wolf-eared girl and his eye expanded a little, a sign that he was amazed.
"It's just like in that movie! He's going to kidnap us and steal our appearance!" cried Cleo in horror as she recoiled in fright.
"What!?" again questioned the alien.
"I don't want my appearance stolen!" shrieked Drauclaura as she hugged Clawdeen much tighter.
The alien for his part stood still, watching them with some concern. What kind of place had he ended up in? These girls were okay? They didn't consume anything strange. Right?
Hoping that the girl who tried to communicate with him would help him in this situation, he turned his eye towards Frankie, who was a little uncomfortable with her friends' reactions, had they already forgotten that the Aliens in that movie were not evil and just wanted to go home?
When she noticed that she was under the alien's gaze, she tensed, she did not wish to be robbed of her appearance, but she was not sure if this space monster could do that.
In a last attempt to communicate, the alien made use of the phone and after typing with some difficulty due to the size of his fingers, he turned the screen towards the girl, allowing her to see what he had written there.
She expected some kind of strange gibberish, just like his language, but no, perfectly written in English, a short message was in front of her eyes.
"I need to make a call."
She read that, then looked at the alien, who waited patiently for an answer. Hesitating what to say and not wanting that monster to turn hostile towards her, she answered him.
"Whe-Where do you want to call?" the young woman stammered as she spoke and her bolts released a few sparks due to nerves.
Once again, the alien began to write, and when he finished, he showed it to the girl.
She was expecting something outlandish, something out of this world, the name of some unknown planet lost in the far reaches of space, perhaps the mother ship to ask to be fetched. All those science fiction ideas died when she read the message.
"To Bellwood, Tennessee."
XXX
How are you all doing? The 2.0 version of my story is in process and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I did a lot better than the first time, I see it as more natural, interesting, and organic. What do you think?
I will be brief, quick explanations.
Bellwood, Ben's town, is not known where it is located, but rumor has it that it is in Montana or Tennessee, and since Ten, Tennyson and Tennessee are similar in the first letters I decided to go for that state. In reality, there are 4 towns named Bellwood in the United States. One is in Illinois, the other in Nebraska, the next one in Pennsylvania, and the last one in Virginia.
Apart from this I changed other things, like the encounter, the reactions, and added that first part of Ben questioning his life in a lysergic trip to clarify from the first minute as much as possible, giving some introspection never hurts to a character that is quite flat at times. Not to mention that I added more descriptions and appended chapters 1 and 2 of the previous story in this chapter. Taking away the fight scene because it really didn't make much sense, girls don't know how to fight and I doubt Ben would be very calm after something like that, it's a kick to his ego.
There are also other differences, such as Ben thinking he's still in his universe, and Frankie being a Transylian. There's also the fact that the truck is even more wrecked than before and that the police arrived much earlier on the scene, which means trouble in the long run.
That Ben believes he is still in his home is quite logical, it happened the same in the Crossover special of Generator Rex and Ben Ten Heroes United, only when he confirmed that Mr. Smoothie didn't exist there he confirmed he wasn't in his home reality, I'll use that here. Which will lead to more plot changes.
Now, the idea will remain faithful to the previous version, but with more changes, more dynamism, a better narrative. I upgraded the whole story, haha, get it? Upgrade, because it will be better. I really laughed at the joke.
As I told you in the note I left in the previous version, I will use the three timelines, Books, WebSodes/TV Specials, and the Diaries to these adding elements of Ever After to unleash large scale chaos with the help of Mr. Eon, in short, this timeline I am creating is much broader than it originally could be.
As I said, everything will remain faithful to the previous story, but I will change things, some encounters will be different, Ben as Upgrade will have more interactions with Frankie and the girls, they will know each other a little better, things that didn't happen in the previous version and some surprises that I have prepared.
In closing, please tell me you understood those references to the different alien movies, I don't want to feel old.
By the way, I told you, two days, I already had this written about two weeks ago and I didn't know what to do, that's why I disappeared for so long. And since I already have several chapters written, I'm sure I could finish the next one in... 7 days? I don't want to give a specific time frame. The rewrite is easier since I have the base, but at the same time I'm trying to improve everything and give it some more flavor and life, the first chapters will clarify everything, locations, cultural differences, and other things.
See you later.