Trade-Off
I don't own Digimon or Ben 10
Darkstar was hiding out at a warehouse full of props and he was sitting on a throne like chair as he read through a large and heavy book, he flipped through the pages slowly before he stopped and placed his finger on the page and moved it down and stopped and his eyes widened slightly. He closed the book and he walked towards a small pedestal and he placed the book on it and rested his hand on it for a second. He then heard someone approaching and Ben smashed through the door with his Diamondhead arm turned into a mace and he held a fireball in his Swampfire hand. "Knock knock! Darkstar, just the guy I was looking for," he said.
"And now that you've found me?" Darkstar asked him.
"I'm going to put you out of my misery once and for all. You're going back to the Null Void where you belong!" Ben answered as he charged towards Darkstar who rolled out of the way as Ben smashed the throne prop. "Hold still! You've got this beat down coming!" he told Darkstar as he fired Diamondhead shards and Darkstar rolled out of the way.
"I had forgotten how tedious you could be," he said before he fired black energy at Ben sending him into a wall and he grunted as Darkstar walked towards him.
"Pretty careless to let me track you down," Ben told him.
"Hardly careless. Otherwise I would not leave a trail so obvious that even a simpleton like you could follow it. I wanted you to find me Ben, both our lives depend on it," he replied.
"If this is one of your tricks!" Ben warned him.
"I assure you that this is no trick, if I release you will you at least hear me out?" Darkstar asked him.
"You've got one minute," Ben told him and Darkstar let him go.
"My question is a simple, do you like being trapped in your current hideous form?" he asked Ben.
"About as much as you like being a butt ugly energy sucking vampire, no offence," he answered.
"None taken, for that is precisely my point," Darkstar told him. "What would you say if I told you that there was a way for both of us to become normal again?" he asked Ben.
"How?" he asked.
"I'll show you," Darkstar said walking off and Ben followed him to the book and Darkstar opened it and pointed to what looked like a golden wishbone. "This is the Dominus Librium. An ancient tool of extraordinary power and decidedly alien in origin," Darkstar said.
"Looks like an oversized wishbone," Ben said looking at the image.
"According to legend, the Librium was actually a power conduit, capable of transferring extraordinary energies from one vessel to another," Darkstar explained.
"Thanks for the history lesson," Ben said walking off.
"But it's history no longer, after great expense and effort I have tracked the artefact to a small island recently risen in the south pacific," Darkstar told him.
"Losing interest," Ben said.
"But you shouldn't. I believe this can turn us both back to normal," Darkstar said and Ben's eyes widened and he looked at him.
"Not that I don't trust you. Which I don't, but why are you telling me all of this?" he asked.
"Because I cannot reach the artefact alone, I require your unique set of skills to retrieve the Librium and I am willing to trade the cure for your help," Darkstar answered walking up to Ben.
"Selfish motive. But at least that makes sense," Ben said.
"So what say you, are you willing to put aside our differences in order to be cured?" Darkstar asked him and Ben looked at his reflection.
"I'm gonna regret this, but I'm in," he told Darkstar.
"Excellent. And your friends Motomiya, Levin and your cousin?" he asked him.
"They'll just have to go without me for a while," Ben answered. The next morning Daisuke, Gwen and Kevin were outside Daisuke's house and Daisuke tapped the Omnitrix.
"Anything?" Kevin asked her.
"Ben's badge isn't responding," she answered.
"Try again," Gwen said. "He should be here,"
"Look, I'm not his babysitter, if Ben wants to ignore us then that's his choice," Daisuke said.
"Fine. But he's gonna miss out on all the fun, the Forever Knights aren't going to kick their butts themselves," Kevin said.
"Right," Daisuke said as she was enveloped in a gold flash of light and she turned into Stinkfly and she flew off and Kevin and Gwen followed in Kevin's car. Meanwhile Ben and Darkstar were inside a jet flying towards the island in the South Pacific and two legs emerged from the bottom and the engines cut out and the jet skidded across the sand and came to a stop in the jungle and both jumped out and walked off where Ben saw several statues of faces.
"So where are we? Easter Island?" he asked.
"Actually Rapa Nui is several hundred miles from here this island has been submerged for centuries but a recent underwater upheaval brought it to the surface," Darkstar answered.
"So it's like Groundhog Island. Ugly suckers aren't they?" Ben asked looking at a statue.
"Who are we to throw stones?" Darkstar asked him.
"Fair point," Ben answered. "Let's find what we came for and get out," he said but Darkstar stopped him.
"Watch your step, those who built this temple did not take kindly to trespassers," he warned him.
"Thanks for the warning, but I think I can..." Ben said before he stepped on a stone which sunk into the ground. "Uh oh," he said as the nearby statues came to life and emerged from the ground. "This can't possibly be good!" he shouted as one statue behind them slammed its arm down but Darkstar jumped out of the way and he jumped into the air and bounced off another statue, Ben's Diamondhead arm turned into an axe and he swung it and cut the statues arm off. "We're being outnumbered!" he shouted.
"Inside! The statues are too big to follow," Darkstar shouted and both ran towards the entrance to the temple, Ben's Diamondhead arm turned into a hammer and he hit it against the statues legs making them collapse and he hit the last one and it stumbled backwards but Darkstar tackled him out of the way and the statue crashed into the ground. Both then walked up to a large statue to see the Librium on an altar between two arms. "Impressive isn't it?" he asked Ben as he sent a black beam of energy towards the artefact but nothing happened.
"I can see why you need my help," Ben said as he held his Wildvine arm out and it shot towards the artefact and wrapped around it and pulled it back towards him and Darkstar. "That was easy," he said before the temple began to shake.
"You were saying?" Darkstar asked him.
"This thing must have been holding this place up," Ben said as debris started to fall from the roof of the temple nearly crushing both of them. "Hold on!" he shouted as he grabbed Darkstar and flapped his Stinkfly wings and flew out of the temple and he flew past the remaining statues as water began to flood the island and geysers of water started to appear behind Ben and Darkstar as they made it back to the jet and they climbed inside it and Darkstar fired up the engines and the jet flew into the air just as the island began to submerge below the waves again. And soon the jet had landed in a secluded area of Bellwood and it was now night time.
"No one will bother us here, it's time to put the artefact to use," Darkstar said.
"You sure you know what you're doing with that thing?" Ben asked him.
"Absolutely. It's designed to balance our powers, it allows me to absorb enough energy from you to make your normal again while the influx of your energies restores me to normal as well effectively shutting both our powers down for good," Darkstar explained.
"So how does this work?" Ben asked.
"Simply grab hold of the other end of the Librium," Darkstar answered and Ben grabbed the other end of the Librium which began to glow gold. "And now the magic happens," Darkstar said as both he and Ben began to glow golden. "Can't you feel it? The Librium is transferring your excess energy into me,"
"It hurts!" Ben said in pain.
"Nothing worth having is gained without effort," Darkstar told him in pain as well as Ben's Diamondhead arm began to chip and crack as did his Chromastone arm and his wings started to fall apart.
"Wait! Stop!" he shouted before there was a bright flash of light and Ben groaned as he opened his eyes and he walked towards Darkstar. "What part of wait, no, stop didn't you understand?" he asked grabbing Darkstar's collar before he looked at his hands to see they were back to normal as was the rest of his body. "My face. I'm human again," he said.
"As I promised," Darkstar told him.
"No mana, no going Anodite no nothing. I'm cured," Ben said happily as Darkstar removed his helmet.
"Now neither of us can use energy, we're free to get on with our lives," he said dropping his helmet revealing his appearance was back to normal. "And I owe it all to you," he said walked over to Ben holding his hand out and Ben took it and they shook.
"You're welcome," he said before Michael punched him in the face knocking him down and Ben held his right eye as he saw him pick up the Librium.
"Our association is concluded, it would be best for us to not cross paths again," he told Ben before walking off and Ben smiled.
"Still no word from Ben?" Gwen asked Daisuke as they along with Kevin sat in Daisuke's room.
"No nothing. I'm getting worried," she answered.
"About me?" Daisuke, Kevin and Gwen turned to the doorway to see Ben with a black eye. "I'm touched," he said walking up to them.
"Ben, where have you been? What's with the black eye is that supposed to make you look tougher?" Kevin asked him as Daisuke held Ben's hand and she gasped.
"I can feel your skin, you're not wearing your ID mask," she said and Ben smiled.
"Nope. I'm back to human," he told her.
"How'd you do it? Daisuke's been looking for a cure for months," Kevin said.
"And I'm no closer then when I started," Daisuke said and Ben smiled.
"What can I saw, I wished upon a star last night and woke up this morning my gorgeous self," he explained and he held his hands out. "No powers no nothing," he said.
"Really?" Gwen asked him.
"Hey I'm better, what else matters?" Ben asked.
"And the black eye you're sporting?" Daisuke asked him.
"I was so excited when I woke up I ran into an open door," Ben answered.
"Small price to pay," Kevin said.
"Yeah whatever, now don't we have some Plumber business to attend to?" Ben asked.
"Don't we always," Kevin answered walking out of the room and Daisuke and Gwen followed. "We'll fill you in on the way," soon Kevin's car pulled up to a warehouse.
"So the Forever Knights are at it again?" Ben asked.
"Yeah we got to the robbery too late," Daisuke answered him.
"Not that we're pointing fingers or anything," Gwen said.
"Alright sorry, I should have been there, now let's go," Ben said as he took out his blaster and the others ran into the warehouse where they saw the Forever Knights loading up some crates into a truck.
"They're nearly done. If we're going to stop them, we need to do it now," Gwen said and Daisuke was enveloped in a gold flash of light and she turned into Arctiguana and she jumped towards the Forever Knights and breathed a cloud of ice at them encasing some of them in ice, Kevin ran up and his arms turned into a mace and hammer and he swung them knocking some knights down, Gwen ran up with a shield of mana in front of her and she threw mana discs at some of the knights and Ben fired his blaster knocking some more of the knights down.
"I a cold reception," Arctiguana said as she froze some more knights.
"Run away!" one knight shouted running to the truck and three more knights ran to the back of it but Arctiguana froze the truck encasing it in a huge block of ice and she turned back to Daisuke.
"Nice work," Ben said.
"Don't you mean ice work?" Kevin asked making Daisuke roll her eyes.
"Nice work Ben, even without your powers, you're still a pretty good part of the team," she told Ben who smiled at her and the team walked off but Gwen looked at Ben cautiously. A few minutes later she was outside the warehouse Darkstar was inside and her eyes were glowing.
"Michael's mana led me to him like a beacon. He is inside, I can feel it," she said before she jumped over the fence using platforms of mana and she opened the door ad her hands glowed with mana as she saw Michael with his back to her as he looked in a mirror.
"Lovely Gwen, I've been expecting you," he told her.
"I am just sure you have. Ben's aura stinks of you. Tell me what you did to him, and maybe I will go easy on you," Gwen told him.
"Why tell you when I can show you," he said turning around and the Dominus Librium was on his chest. "Ben has the Dominus Librium to thank for his current condition. It absorbed his powers and transferred it to me; of course I can no longer absorb energy by myself. But the Librium does it for me just fine," he said as the Librium fired a beam of light towards Gwen who held up a shield of mana but it cracked and was absorbed and Gwen made another shield which was absorbed and she made another one which was slowly cracking and being absorbed. "Finally sweet Gwen. Finally all your power is going to be mine," Michael told her. Meanwhile Ben, Kevin and Daisuke were in Ben's living room and Daisuke was trying to call Gwen.
"Still nothing?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah. My calls are going to voicemail and her Plumber's badge is turned off so we can't find her that way," she answered as Ben looked at the ground.
"This is all my fault," he said.
"Ben, what're you talking about?" Daisuke asked him.
"She's gone to do something stupid," Ben answered and Kevin and Daisuke looked at him. "Stop staring at me like that, you're freaking me out,"
"So talk," Kevin told him.
"Alright. I made a deal with Michael Morningstar and Gwen must have found about it somehow and now she's gone off to find him," Ben explained.
"You did what!?" Daisuke shouted shocked. "How could you make a deal with Darkstar off all people?" she asked and Ben looked down at the ground.
"It doesn't matter, we need to find Gwen," Kevin said.
"I know where she's gone," Ben told them and they all ran into Daisuke's car and drove off. Meanwhile Gwen used her mana to pick up a prop and she threw it at Michael who ducked under it and she threw mana discs at him but they were absorbed by the Librium and she then sent a mana beam at him but again it was absorbed by the Librium and Michael fired a beam from the Librium and it hit Gwen and started to drain her off her power as she was dragged towards him.
"No!" Gwen shouted.
"I knew you'd come looking for me lovely Gwen, your cousin is too stupid to let something slip," Michael told her.
"Hey! I resent that!" Ben shouted running up to him and Gwen as did Kevin and Daisuke.
"You may look human again but deep down you are still the ugly energy sucking freak underneath," Daisuke told him.
"Sticks and stones little girl," Michael told her.
"I don't have any, but you're gonna have to settle for this," Daisuke said as she turned into her Cryonite form and fired an ice beam at Michael who made a shield of energy and blocked the attack.
"Thank you for your power lovely Gwen, it tastes delicious," he told Gwen as Kevin ran towards Michael but he was blasted away by an energy blasted. "And while we're at it Daisuke, perhaps I take yours as well," he said as the other part of the Librium fired a beam at Daisuke and hit her and it began to drain her of her powers as well and she fell to her knees and was dragged towards Michael. "That's it children, give me everything. Give me all your power!" he shouted as his eyes glowed golden.
"No. No!" Gwen shouted as her skin turned grey and zombie like.
"What can I do? Without my powers I'm nothing," Ben said before he ran up to Daisuke but Darkstar made a shield in front of her. "Hold on Dai, I'm coming,"
"I wouldn't advise that Ben, the balance of energy through the Dominus Librium is delicate. If you interrupt the flow in any way the consequences will be dire," Michael warned him but Ben jumped over the shield.
"I don't care. Nothing matters to me as long as Dai is safe," Ben told him.
"Stop you'll ruin everything!" Michael shouted at Ben.
"Like you said. Our association is hereby concluded," Ben told him as he jumped in front of Daisuke and he was pulled towards Darkstar and he grabbed both ends of the Librium and it glowed brightly, Ben then snapped both ends off.
"NO!" Michael shouted as everyone was thrown back in a massive explosion of light and the windows of the warehouse were shattered. Daisuke groaned as she turned back to normal and she sat up and held her head, she then heard Ben groan and she ran over to him.
"Ben are you..." she said before she gasped.
"What? What is...?" Ben asked before placing his hands on his face and he saw he was mutated again. "Oh, I figured that might have happened," he said.
"I am so sorry Ben," Daisuke said hugging him and he hugged her back.
"I did what I had to do. And I would do it again in a heartbeat," he told her and Daisuke smiled and kissed him on the cheek making him smile.
"No! Look what you've done to me!" Michael shouted now back to his horrendous form. "You will pay for this Tennyson!" he promised Ben as he grabbed his helmet and he ran off as Gwen and Kevin walked up to Ben and Daisuke.
"Should we go after him?" Gwen asked.
"No. He won't be a threat to anyone for a long time," Ben said.
"Whoa, Ben what happened to you?" Kevin asked him.
"Call it karma Levin. Now come on, to Mr Smoothy the first round is on me," Ben said walked off and Daisuke smiled and ran after him and she held his hand and they were followed by Kevin and Gwen.
The end of the chapter
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