All that Glitters
I don't own Digimon or Ben 10
"You can't go it alone. By now, you're probably running into some of the other Plumber's kids. But you need to find more, you need to put together a team," the holo-viewer from Max said as Daisuke listened to it over and over again while Ben, Veemon and Kevin watched her while sipping on smoothies.
"Should we be worried about her?" Ben asked Kevin.
"She has been watching that thing for hours," Kevin said agreeing with him when she saw Gwen looking at him. "Problem?" he asked her.
"Why haven't you asked me out?" she asked him.
"What?!" he asked her.
"You heard me. We spend all of our time together, and you obviously like me," Gwen told him and Kevin scoffed. "You do, I see you mooning at me when you think I'm not looking,"
"Mooning?" Kevin asked her.
"And I like you, most of the time," Gwen told him. "So I'm asking you again,"
"See? That's the problem. You're asking me, a guy does the asking," Kevin told her.
"Okay. When?" she asked.
"Don't push me," he told her.
"Don't push me," Gwen mimicked and Veemon and Ben snickered as Gwen walked off.
"Hey Dai," Kevin said but Daisuke was still watching the message. "You know, my dog used to gnaw at the same spot of his butt over and over. The vet made us put a cone around his neck," he told her.
"Easy does it. I'm not the one you're mad at," she replied turning the holo-viewer off.
"Cut me a break here. You want to go fight some aliens or something?" Kevin asked her.
"Or something. Hand me your Plumber badge," she said and Kevin handed his badge to her and a holographic map appeared. "Each of these blips shows the location of another badge,"
"Yeah and?" Ben asked her.
"And where there is a Plumber's Badge we'll find a Plumber. Or at least a Plumber's kid," Daisuke answered as she turned off the map. "Come on, I'm driving," she said.
"What!? Can you even drive?" Kevin asked her and Daisuke pulled out her license and held her hand out and Kevin sighed handing her the keys. "Don't scratch the paint," he told her and Daisuke nodded. "You coming?" Kevin asked Gwen who sighed and entered the car and it drove off down the highway.
"Plumber, plumber, plumber, plumber, plumber. You ever notice the more times you say something the more it loses its meaning. Like asking someone out, the more chances that come along it means less and less meaning until you don't have the chance anymore at all," Gwen told Kevin who was sitting in the passenger seat this time.
"Oh for crying out loud!" he said.
"Are you two having a fight?" Veemon asked them as the car drove along. Further down the road a girl was walking dazed and confused along the side of the road when she walked out into the road and a car narrowly avoided her but a semi-truck appeared and the driver turned the wheel sending the truck swerving out of the way and it smashed into pillar supporting the upper road. Daisuke stopped the car and everyone climbed out to see the bridge collapsing and Kevin along with Veemon ran down to help the driver of the truck, part of the road crumbled and a car was heading to the edge.
"Gwen! Ben!" Daisuke shouted and both nodded as the car fell but Ben made a ramp and the car safely landed to the ground. The bridge continued to crumble and the people in the cars exited and tried to get off the bridge before it kept crumbled, Gwen made a slide of magenta energy and the people slid down it. Daisuke was then enveloped in a golden light and she turned into Humungousaur and she jumped down and ran under the crumbling bridge and she grew in size as her dinosaur features became prominent and she held the bridge up.
"Get everyone off. Hurry. I can't hold this together for much longer," she told the others as Kevin ripped off the roof of the trucks cabin and Veemon pulled the driver out to safety, Gwen then saw the girl walking out into the street again and a car was driving towards her.
"The girl!" she shouted.
"Dai!" Ben shouted.
"Hands are full!" she replied as the car was about to hit the girl but a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes covered in a golden aura flew down and he grabbed the girl saving her everyone looked at the boy shocked as the last person slid down the slide.
"Everyone's okay," she told Humungousaur who let the bridge fall on the truck which had caught fire and the fire was snuffed out.
"I have to get out of here. I was running and I…" The girl said before she sighed in exhaustion.
"It's okay Trina, you're safe now. These guys saved you," the boy told her.
"You're friends the one who saved you. He's just being modest," Ben said.
"Whoever you guys are. Whatever you are thanks." The boy said and Daisuke noticed a Plumber's badge on his belt buckle. "Something weird has been happening to the girls at our school lately," the boy said.
"Happy to help. You've got a Plumber's badge," Ben said.
"Yeah my dad gave it to me. You guys know about the Plumbers?" the boy asked them.
"At this point we might as well be them," Kevin said pulling out his Plumber's badge.
"I'm Ben. This is Kevin, my cousin Gwen, Veemon and his partner Daisuke," Ben introduced.
"Wait. Daisuke as in Daisuke Motomiya. Whoa I am a huge fan of yours, but I heard you disappeared," the boy said shaking Daisuke's hand. "I'm Mike Morningstar," he introduced as he shook everyone's hand but when he shook Gwen's sparks flew. "That's never happened before," he said.
'Maybe it's because we both have powers," Gwen said.
"That's a theory," Michael told her.
"Anyway, now that we've all met," Kevin said.
"I need to make sure that Trina gets home safe. But after that why don't we all meet up at my place and we'll talk," Michael said.
"Sure," Ben said.
"Sounds good," Gwen said.
"Can't wait," Kevin said disinterested and Michael walked over to Trina and flew off and no one managed to see a distinct star pattern on Trina's arm as she and Michael flew away. Soon everyone was at Michael's house.
"My mother and her new husband live in the main house. They leave me alone, let me do what I want," Michael said.
"Cool," Ben said.
"After you," Michael said to Gwen who walked in followed by Ben but when Daisuke went to walk in Michael slammed the door in her face.
"Hey!" she shouted opening the door and holding her nose. "Nice," she grumbled.
"What is all this stuff?" Ben asked looking at all the technology.
"My dad's old Plumber gear. I brought it over from his old headquarters. I can take you there later if you like." He answered.
"We'd all like to see it," Ben said.
"It would make my day," Daisuke mumbled.
"Come on. Let me show you something," Michael told Gwen as he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a large screen. "I'm patched into the central Plumber's monitoring network, it's connected to everything. Global and interplanetary internet, earthbound law enforcement frequencies. And also the Badge communicator channel,"
"Communicator channel?" Daisuke asked.
"You did know the badges were communicators didn't you?" he asked her.
"So you keep an eye on things with this stuff and then use your powers to help out. You're like your neighbourhoods very own superhero," Gwen said.
"Never thought of it that way. But I guess so," Michael replied.
"You know what I'm thinking?" Ben asked.
"I know what I'm thinking," Daisuke mumbled and Kevin nodded.
"You should join our team," Ben told Michael.
"Whoa! Shouldn't we get to know this guy some more?" Kevin asked.
"What's to know? He's got the powers, the gear," Ben said.
"He leaves a glowing trail wherever he goes," Veemon said.
"And it's what Grandpa Max told us to do," Ben said. "My grandpa Max was a Plumber, he was looking into this big alien conspiracy that's going on against Earth. We're trying to find him so we can stop it. Want to help?" he asked Michael who looked at Gwen.
"I'd love to," he said as the lights cut out before they came back on again.
"Forgot to pay the electric bill?" Kevin asked him.
"The electricity has been a little unreliable lately. No worries my backup generator kicked in," Michael said.
"This isn't a brownout, look at the power usage at the local substation. The energy drain is enormous," Ben said.
"Really?" Michael asked him.
'You did say strange things were happening over town. I think this qualifies," Daisuke told him.
"If you want to check it out. We'll help you," Gwen told him.
"Thanks. We should," he replied and Gwen looked at her arm to see the same star symbol that was on Trina was on her arm and she gasped silently. A few minutes later everyone was outside the substation.
"Stay sharp. We've got company," Ben told everyone as they walked through the gate and they heard a buzzing sound.
"Sounds like that humming you hear in old monster movies," Michael said.
"Anytime you hear a sound and someone references monster movies, it's a good idea to walk away," Kevin said.
"Good rule of thumb," Ben told him as everyone saw a girl absorbing the electricity from a generator when she roared at the group, she then ran over to a console and ripped it up and she threw it at the group but Gwen made a shield and the console bounced off it. Then the girl and three others advanced towards the group.
"The girls here are kinda weird," Ben said.
"They're wearing uniforms from my school. But I don't recognise any of them," Michael said, one girl ripped a pole out of the ground and Michael fired energy bolts at the girls.
"Energy bolts. Nice," Ben said.
"Try not to hurt them, maybe we can reverse whatever this is," Michael said.
"Try not to hurt them!?" Daisuke asked as the girl with the pole attacked her and she rolled away and she slammed the dial on the Omnitrix down and she transformed into a silicon based alien which was made of crystal, her body was overall purple with several icy blue lines and spots on her body. Her hands and face were magenta, and she had six magenta shards on her back and two on her chest and one on her head which resembled a horn, he face had one green eye and a mouth "Chromastone!" she shouted, she then punched the girl away and knocked her out, Kevin absorbed some metal and a girl ripped a cable out of a box which arched with electricity.
"Oh man," Kevin groaned, Ben pulled out his blaster and fired it at the girl sending her back but she jumped back up and she ran at Ben with the cable but Chromastone jumped in front of her and was unaffected by the electricity.
"That won't work. I'm a conductor," she told the girl before redirecting the electricity at the girl knocking her out, Michael fired energy bolts at the girls but he missed and Gwen made a hand of magenta energy and grabbed the girls and lifted them into the air before the hand turned black and shattered and Michael flew down and grabbed her before she fell down.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"I don't know. I felt weak for a moment," Gwen answered holding her head. "But I feel better now," she told him.
"Here. Take my hand, use my energy," he told Gwen as he held her hand and both glowed golden and Gwen fired two discs at the girls sending them flying and Michael fired an energy bolt at some pipes making them crash down in front of the girls allowing them to run off.
"Nice going! They're getting away!" Chromastone shouted.
"Sorry," Michael replied.
"It doesn't matter. We stopped them from doing whatever they were doing," Ben said as Kevin, Veemon and Chromastone who turned back into Daisuke shared a look. "We'll get better as we work together more," Ben said.
"What happened to Gwen though? She looked ready to faint," Kevin said.
"I can't thank you enough for helping me," Gwen told Michael.
"You could if you had dinner with me," he told her.
"Oh now?" Gwen asked him.
"I'm hungry now. What about you?" he asked back.
"I was gonna suggest the same thing," Gwen said.
"Okay. What is going on, you've been ignoring me since we got here, you were lousy in the fight and now you are acting goofy," Kevin said to Gwen.
"Why are you pretending to care?" she asked walking off with Michael. "Later," she said.
"You're just going to stand there!?" Kevin asked Ben.
"No I was going to sit in the car," Ben answered walking off.
"I don't trust this guy Ben. And I don't think you should have made him one of the team," Daisuke told him following him.
"She's right you know," Kevin said.
"Admit it Kevin, you're just jealous because Gwen likes him," Ben said and Kevin frowned before he smiled.
"Its fine," he said walking off and the others followed him. A few minutes later at Michael's house Kevin absorbed the metal of the door handle and punched his finger into the keyhole.
"You changed your mind about him going off with Gwen so we can break into his house!?" Ben asked him.
"Yup," Kevin answered.
"Well stop!" Ben told him.
"He's not right Ben, if you won't check him out we will," Daisuke told him and Veemon nodded.
"Step away from the door," Ben told them.
"Are you really going to fight us over a new guy? Let's not forget who has the Omnitrix," Daisuke told him as Kevin opened the door.
"And they said I learned nothing in the Null Void," he said.
"Is Mike home? He hasn't called me back since you and that new girl showed up," Trina said walking up to them.
"Trina right? Yeah Mike isn't home right now," Daisuke told her.
"We're just picking up some stuff for him," Kevin lied.
"Then you know where he is, can you take me?" Trina asked.
"No! He's busy," Ben told her.
"I need to see him, why won't he see me?" Trina asked.
"Where did you get hose marks on your arm?" Veemon asked her and Trina shrugged.
"I saw those same marks on that girl who tried to fry me," Daisuke told the others.
"I just want to see Mike!" Trina said.
"Yeah. We got that," Kevin told her.
"Call me crazy. But is it possible that Morningstar is behind all this?" Daisuke asked.
"You're crazy," Ben told her.
"Excuse us," Kevin said as he pulled Ben away and Daisuke and Veemon followed. "It didn't hit me until now, but Gwen's been wearing her sleeves lower than usual. She was hiding something," he said.
"You think Gwen's got marks on her arms too?" Ben asked him.
"I never saw them. But it makes sense," Kevin said.
"Come to think of it Trina was all weak and wobbly when we first saw her on the highway," Daisuke said and Kevin nodded. "Gwen was the same at the power plant. She must have caught the same bug that is doing this,"
"Yeah. And that bugs name is Mike Morningstar," Veemon said. Meanwhile with Mike and Gwen both were in a building on the side of a lake.
"I'm really glad we met Gwen," Mike told her.
"Me too," she replied.
"I knew there was something special about you the first time I met you," Mike told you.
"I felt it too," Gwen said.
"And now all those other girls mean nothing to me," he said as he placed his hands on Gwen who moaned as Michael started to absorb her energy. "Your energy is nothing like I ever felt before, when it flows into me, I feel invincible, from the moment I touched you Gwen I knew I found the only girl I would ever need," he told her as his eyes glowed.
"Fact is you've been against Morningstar since the moment we met him!" Ben shouted at Kevin as both sat in the backseat of the car as Daisuke drove.
"Yeah but at first it was because he was some arrogant, bragging rich kid!" Kevin replied.
"Who Gwen likes more than you," Ben said.
"Yeah some of that! But now Gwen is in trouble and you are too stuck on your grandpa's orders to see it," Kevin said.
"If Mike is turning those girls into zombies why isn't Trina one?" Ben asked.
"I don't know! Maybe it's like a vampire thing, it takes some time before they go full zombie," Kevin said.
"Are you listening to yourself!? Mike has been helping us ever since we got here! Why did he fight them with us?" Ben asked.
"But he didn't! He said don't hurt them and then he blasted the piping letting them get away," Daisuke told him. "And if you two boys don't stop arguing I will turn this car around!" she shouted making the two boys go silent and she grinned and she pulled out Kevin's badge and a map appeared and she drove off. They soon arrived at the building where Mike and Gwen were inside off.
"The highway Trina showed up on is that way," Kevin said pointing down the road. "She didn't wander there by accident. She was trying to escape Morningstar,"
"Let's leave the crazy theories until we check on Gwen," Ben said walking into the building followed by the others where they saw Gwen turning into a zombie with Morningstar's face and hands turning gold.
"GWEN!" Kevin shouted as Mike dropped Gwen and he fired energy bolts at Ben and Daisuke and sent them flying. "Get away from her!" Kevin told him as he absorbed the stone floor and he was hit by an energy bolt and sent flying.
"V-HEADBUTT!" Veemon shouted jumping at Mike but he was swatted away, Daisuke was enveloped in a golden light and she transformed into Feedback who fired electricity at Mike but it didn't faze him and he fired an energy bolt at her sending her flying into Ben and she turned back into Daisuke who groaned.
"Gwen's mine now," Michael told her.
"Hey!" Kevin shouted tackling him to the ground and he punched but Michael moved his head and he kicked Kevin off and plowed his head into the ground and Kevin ran back and swung his fist but missed and Michael punched him several times and then fired a massive energy bolt at Kevin and ripped the stone off his body and sent him flying.
"You're out of your league. Why use your powers to help people, when you can use them to take whatever you want?" Michael asked as the zombie girls walked up to him. "All I wanted was power and you brought me Gwen. I guess I should thank you, I know the perfect thing," he said pointing his hands at the roof and as he fired an energy bolt at the roof Gwen grabbed his arms. "What are you doing!?" he asked as his golden skin and hair started to crack.
"Coming to my senses," she told him as she started to return to normal.
"Stop this!" Michael shouted before he screamed and was thrown back and his skin and hair turned grey.
"Kevin!" Gwen shouted running towards him and he smiled at her as he sat up.
"Girls. Come here to me, give me your power. Help me….feed me…." Michael told the other girls who walked towards him but instead of giving him their power they took their back from him and they turned to normal and Michael was now wrinkly and weak. Kevin walked up to him and grabbed his Plumber badge.
"You don't deserve this," he said absorbing the metal and he crushed the badge. Soon the team were in Kevin's car and drove away from the building.
"I'm sorry I took Morningstar's side over yours," Ben apologized to Daisuke and Kevin. "And more importantly that I wasn't watching your back," he apologized to Gwen.
"It wasn't your fault. I guess he had some kind of control over me," she said.
"It was my fault. I was in such a hurry to build our team I ignored the danger," Ben said.
"Well from now on you know to be cautious when meeting the Plumber's kids and anyone else we meet," Daisuke who was driving the car told him and Ben nodded. "So Kevin, you going to ask Gwen out anytime soon?" she asked Kevin who blushed and sputtered while Gwen also blushed and Ben and Veemon chuckled.
The end of the chapter
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