I do not own the Ben Ten franchise.
Takes place after the first part of Frogs of War.
Always There When I Need You
Resting his forehead against the glass window of the space pod, Ben stared at his Omnitrix. The symbol continuously flashed and no amount of poking or prodding would stop it. Steam from the broken pipe filled the small space, causing sweat to drip down his back and his shirt to stick to his skin. He'd been stuck like this for two hours, trying in vain to think of something.
"Come on, Tennyson. Think!" Ben rubbed at his wrists, still sore from being restrained in the golden manacles. "Earth is counting on me. I have to get out of this."
Fear clenched at his chest as he dwelled on his impossible situation. With no Omnitrix, he was virtually helpless. He couldn't bear to consider the fact that he might actually lose this fight. But what could he do?
A bright flash of blue light caught his peripheral vision. Blinking in surprise, Ben tried to crane his head to see what the source was, but from his vantage point all he could see was the dark, starry expanse of space. A magnetic field took a firm hold of his space pod and started to drag it backwards.
Please don't be Vilgax, please don't be Vilgax…
He was jostled from side to side as the space pod moved. There was a loud clank as it finally landed back on something solid. With hesitant movement Ben shoved against the hatch, which popped open with a slow hiss. Climbing out, wobbling unsteadily on his feet, he stared around at the sparsely-filled loading dock.
"You can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you Tennyson?" a very familiar voice asked, crackling across the intercom.
The smile that erupted across Ben's face was bright enough to become another star in the cosmos. "Azmuth!"
He was engulfed by another beam of blue light and transported to a lab. Metal tables, various scientific instruments and a computer console dominated the high-tech space. It was a smaller version of Azmuth's lab on Galvan Prime, but it was still leagues ahead of anything Earth laboratories had.
The Galvan himself was standing near the console. He wore a white spacesuit, the helmet removed now that he was no longer out in the atmosphere of space. Setting his tablet aside, Azmuth regarded the boy with a slightly amused glint in his eyes.
"I go off to do some field work for a couple of weeks and Earth dissolves into chaos."
"I was wondering what took you so long," quipped Ben. His stomach gave a loud rumble and he grimaced, clutching at it. "Geez, how much time have I spent in that thing?"
"A few weeks," replied Azmuth. "It's been keeping you in a mild form of stasis so that you'd be able to survive. Your body is beginning to readjust." He pointed to one of the lab tables, which held a pile of odd-coloured fruit. "That should provide you with the nutrients you have been deprived of."
Ben squinted at the black-speckled berries. "Are they going to kill me?"
"Don't start with me."
Grinning, he grabbed a handful and popped them into his mouth. They were extremely sour and he struggled to swallow them. "Thanks," he rasped.
"You're welcome. It seems I've missed quite a bit."
"You're not kidding." Sinking down, Ben sat cross-legged on the floor, exhaustion suddenly descending upon him. "The Incurseans totally blindsided us."
"I don't know much of what's been occurring." He had not bothered, for the second he received the insistent distress signal from his damaged Omnitrix, he realized his wielder was somehow stuck in the depths of space and ordered a ship to be prepared immediately. "What started it all?"
Ben wrinkled his nose. "Well, I guess it stems back to the mind control juice Dr. Psychobos invented."
Azmuth's brow arched. "That lunatic is involved in this?"
"Unfortunately. See, a while ago, Rook and I were visiting Revonnah. Attea and Dr. Psychobos were there and they escaped with what Psychobos calls Ogia Concentrate. It can manipulate the mindset of whoever ingests it or hears it."
"Hears it?"
"Yeah. Psychobos created this machine to create sound frequencies or something. Now there's a whole populace of Way Bigs—"
"To'kustars."
"Yeah, them. There's a bunch of them that are mutated and feral on Earth. The Incurseans are using them as an extra intimidation tactic."
Azmuth processed this, fingers tapping idly against his tablet screen. All the stress and despair Ben had been feeling suddenly evaporated and his muscles eased. While he had been panicking and silently freaking out over this dire situation, Azmuth was dealing with it calmly and rationally. His presence meant everything to Ben in that moment, and immense gratitude and affection welled within him.
"I suppose these To'kustars are an added incentive for you to stay away from Earth," the Galvan said at last.
Ben nodded. "Milleous said if he discovered I was anywhere near that system, he'd use them to destroy everything I care about. We almost had him, but Attea showed up and unleashed the feral aliens on us. I was ordered to leave and Grandpa Max insisted I had to go."
"Of course he did," said Azmuth with no surprise. "If you had stayed, they would have killed you. At least out here he knows you're alive."
"That's exactly what he said." Tilting his head slightly to the side, Ben grinned and added, "He also probably figured you'd show up sooner or later."
A ghost of a smile on his lips, Azmuth said, "I apologize for it being later. I had work to do."
"Of course you did." Ben smirked and carted his fingers through his hair. "You've no idea how happy I am to see you."
Not nearly as happy as I am to see that you're safe.
"You said you got Milleous. How did you manage that?"
"Well, when the Incurseans attacked, Grandpa knew I'd be their first target. He ordered me to stay at the HQ, but I didn't listen. I stowed away on Rook's ship and we charged into the side of Milleous' flagship in a 'blaze of glory'." Ben made air quotation marks around the phrase. "I transformed into Bloxx and protected us from the resulting explosion. That's how we got to Milleous."
Azmuth felt his heart jerk in his chest. "You performed such a risky strategy with an Omnitrix that was malfunctioning?"
Ben smiled sheepishly. "Well, to be fair, it's not the first time."
"You're a menace on my blood pressure," muttered Azmuth. He hopped nimbly onto Ben's wrist and started maintenance on his invention. "What did you do this time?"
"Er…I sort of fiddled with it and accidentally unlocked the randomizer function. Ouch!"
As Ben rubbed the spot on his head where Azmuth had struck him, the Galvan scowled and continued to override the codes on the Omnitrix. "I've told you a thousand times to leave the Omnitrix alone. It's not a toy."
"It's not my fault," complained Ben. "Why would you put a randomizer function on this thing?"
"I thought it would be useful as a tool to experience the forms of various aliens without having to manually sort through them."
Ben blinked at this logic. "Oh. Well, it's not exactly benefiting me for what I'm using it for."
"Clearly," drawled Azmuth. He paused upon noticing some peculiar data and he frowned sharply. "Who programmed an instant recharge?"
"I tried to get Blukic and Driba to help me fix what I did. They did that instead and shortened out my transformation time. Also not very helpful."
"You let those two near my Omnitrix again and I'll kill you."
Ben let out a snort. "They're the only Galvans around and you're hardly available twenty-four/seven."
"If you used my Omnitrix correctly you wouldn't have so many problems." Finishing his repairs, Azmuth snapped the dial back into place. "Unlock Incursean DNA."
"Voice pattern recognized—Creator Azmuth. Incursean DNA has been unlocked."
"Incursean DNA?" echoed Ben with a frown. "What's that going to do?"
"Not much, by itself. But if you use Command 1010, you will be allowed to be in the Incursean form permanently until you repeat the code and reverse it. When you're ready, simply say 'Command 1010, Tennyson Benjamin, Incursean life-form lock engage." Azmuth crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the teen. "You no longer have to worry about the randomizer once you disengage the life-form lock."
Ben grinned slowly in understanding. "I may not be able to go back to Earth as Ben Tennyson, but I think this will do the trick."
"I'm afraid I have no information for you as to what exactly has been going on down there. If you infiltrate General Attea's ranks, you should learn where your friends are and what's been happening."
"It'll also help me devise a plan on how to take down the Incursean fleet and the To'kustars." Ben flexed his fingers anticipatorily and smiled. "Thank you, Azmuth. I would have been stuck in that space pod forever if you hadn't come get me."
"Not forever, but certainly an inordinate amount of time. Do you need any other assistance?"
"No, you've done more than enough. I can take it from here."
The determined edge in his voice caused Azmuth to smile. "I know. Don't be reckless."
"I'll try, but Bullfrag makes no promises."
"Bullfrag," echoed Azmuth incredulously. "That's the stupidest name you've come up with yet."
"You have no creative appreciation," huffed Ben.
"You can argue with me later. Right now, Earth needs you. Don't keep them waiting." Azmuth removed his teleportation remote from his spacesuit pocket. "You'll need to be careful."
"I will, I will." Ben stood up and stretched out his limbs. "I'll tell you how it all goes."
"Give me the short version."
"Eh. We'll see." Ben paused and then added sincerely, "Thanks for always being here when I need you."
"You are welcome, but please, try not to need me quite so much. I do have a life."
"Not much of one," snickered the teen. "Oh, and we're definitely arguing later."
"I look forward to it," drawled Azmuth.
With a press of a button he sent his battle-ready wielder to a remote forest on Earth, close to Bellwood but far enough away where he wouldn't come under detection.
When Ben was gone, Azmuth let out a long breath and rubbed his forehead wearily. "That boy's going to drive me to an early grave yet."
