Goodbye for good
Ben, Ship and Rook had entered through the gates to the Olde Bellwood Days Festival and were now trying to find the one in charge of the event "I am confused Ben, you say that you do not like great amounts of attention and yet you are making a public appearance at a place that will surely attract many people" Rook asked
"normally I wouldn't do this but when I found out that it was for charity how could I not accept" Ben replied
"that is a very thoughtful gesture"
"yeah"
"Ben Tennyson!" Ben and Rook looked and saw a woman wearing a blue suit while holding a clipboard Natalie Alvarez deputy director of Bellwood parks and recreation and the event organiser for this little shindig" she said as they shook hands "I'm so glad you and your sidekick could join us today"
"sidekick?" Rook questioned
"I wanted to get Kangaroo Commando here for this years festival but the kids were all like "Ben 10 Ben 10 we want Ben 10"
"well if it's what the kids want who am I to deny them" Ben said with a casually
"now follow me we've got a tight schedule"
"so what exactly am I going to be doing? Signing autographs?"
"no actually you'll be..."
Ben now found himself sitting on a large platform above a large tank of water "'Dunk Ben 10' huh? Eh I've-" *ding* *splash* Ben emerged from the water to see that Ship had turned into a pitching machine with a basket full of balls
"it's for charity" Rook replied
"ship" Ben then flew up and sat back on the platform
"this is going to be a long-" *ding* *splash*.
Once Rook and Ship had run out of balls Rook told Ben that he'd look after Ship and the two left to explore the festival while other people took turns dunking Ben, asking him to turn into different aliens every time. As soon as they were out of sight however Rook used Ben's teleporter, which Ben had given to him to hold, to get Ester thinking she'd like to have a try at dunking her boyfriend, seeing as how he had found it so enjoyable. When he had brought her back she immediately rushed to the area and saw her boyfriend now as Four Arms taunting ball throwers "oop too high, nope a little to the left, awe rats so-" *ding* *splash* he then gave the kid a thumbs up from underwater and turned back to normal before flying up and sitting back on the platform
"turn into super cool alien" a young girl said as she walked up holding 4 balls
"so you want a super alien huh?" Ben then activated his Omnitrix and turned into Clockwork "tell me what you think of this guy" he then pressed down on his Omnitrix symbol and turned into "Super Clockwork!" all of the kids were now in awe having never seen Super Clockwork before "so is this guy super enough for ya dudette?!" the girl nodded eagerly and began throwing balls and on the last one she hit the target and Super Clockwork fell into the water. Once the platform was back up Super Clockwork leapt up spun in the air and landed back on the platform on his feet before striking his pose "SUPER!" all of the kids cheered at this and continued throwing balls wanting to dunk Super Clockwork.
"Well I see you're enthusiastic about this" Ester said as she walked up to the take
"hey it's mah number 1 dudette, how's it hanging?" he asked *ding* *splash* Super Clockwork gave the thrower a solid thumbs up, before using his extendable arms to pull himself out
"I'm doing good, Rook brought me here to see if I wanted to dunk you"
"are you g-" *ding* *splash* he gave the thrower a solid thumbs up before he turned back into Clockwork and then back to normal he then flew out and sat back on the platform "are you going to try and dunk me?"
"why would I do that to my boyfriend?"
"it's-" *ding* *splash* Ben turned to the thrower and gave a taunting yawn before flying out and getting back on the platform "it's fun"
"nah I think I'll just wonder around until you're done"
"okay then have-" *ding* *splash* Ben got an annoyed look on his face and just gave her the motion to go, she left laughing while Ben flew out of the water and back onto the platform.
Ester was now casually walking around the festival looking at all of the stalls, she even tried a few of the games out but it just didn't seem as fun without Ben as she turned a corner her eyes widened slightly as she saw a familiar looking creature running down one of the rows of stalls "oh not that thing again" she said she then shot her arm forward and punched Khyber's dog (which was now in the form of a Buglizard) right between the eyes. The force from the punch sent Buglizard skidding back on its feet, when it stopped it shook it's head to clear it, it's main objective was to find Ben but it ignored that order and chose to go after Ester instead. Ester then extend both her arms towards the creature twisting them together as they did, her hands and fingers grabbed onto the Buglizard's front legs and began untwisting her arms causing Buglizard to rapidly spin around, Ester then turned around while swinging her untwisting arms in an arc above her and made the creature crash hard into the ground. The Buglizard lay on the ground now too dizzy to get up, looking up a bit Ester saw a surprised Rook walking up to her
"my word Ester, Ben told me he was teaching you how to use your abilities better but I didn't think he'd taught you that good" Rook said
"yeah I'm a lot stronger than I was before thanks to Ben, and also thanks to him I found out that I can stretch more than just my limbs she said and both her neck and torso stretched an extra meter each before she snapped them back to their normal length
"that is both impressive and disturbing"
Ester giggled before she extended her left leg a good 30 meters up in the air before retracting it at 5 times the speed it had gone up and stomped hard on the Buglizard's head knocking it out cold, it then reverted back to Khyber's dog.
"it is odd I have actually looked up this species of animal and it shouldn't have the ability to turn into different predatory aliens at all" Rook said, Ship then leapt off his shoulder and began pointing to the odd device on its collar. Rook went to grab it but a smoke bomb went off right in his face blinding him and Ester, Ship however could see someone rush in and grabbed the weird dog, changing into its armoured form it began to give chase. Rook and Ester exited the cloud of smoke coughing and spluttering "Ester *cough* are you *cough* okay?" he asked
"yeah I'm *cough* okay" she replied, when the smoke cleared they saw Ship and Khyber's dog were gone
"oh no Ben is going to kill me for loosing Ship" Rook said
"hey are you guys okay?!" a soaked Ben asked as he came up to them, Rook gulped
"yeah we're fine Benny" Ester said and she kissed him on the cheek
"so what happened?" he asked.
As Rook was half way explaining a beeping went off "someone is breaking into my truck!" Rook said
"it might be Khyber lets go!" Ben said and the three of them ran to the parking lot.
When they arrived they saw the back doors to the truck open a bit looking in they saw someone who looked like an odd looking Galvanic Mechamorph, swinging the door open Rook aimed his Proto-tool at the intruder "halt! Exit my vehicle now" Rook stated
the intruder leapt out of the back of the Proto-truck to reveal that he was Malware, Malware then turned and looked at Ben "my, my Ben Tennyson, how long has it been since we last saw each other? 4, 5 years?" he said, Ester and Rook looked at Ben and were surprised to see a look of fear on his face "and I see that you didn't escape out last encounter unscathed"
"how? How are you alive? Gwen blew you to kingdom come!"
"come now Ben Tennyson you didn't think a child could have gotten rid of me that easily do you?" Ben gulped but tightened his fists "here's a warning for you, you know what I'm capable of so unless you want to end up fully mechanical you won't try to follow me" Ben responded by giving Malware a right hook to the face sending him tumbling out of the parking lot. Malware got up and saw Ben walking up to him
"if you think I am the same kid I was 5 years ago then you are sorely mistaken"
"you think I'm scared of you just because you got in one good hit"
"no this is why you should be scared of me" and in a flash Ben turned into his Anodite form Malware had a flashback of when Gwen had done the same thing, after her attack it had taken him over a year to both pull himself back together and recover from her attack due to how damaged he was "so are you scared of me now?"
Malware responded by trying to blast Ben but he merely karate chopped it into the air "nice try but it's not going to work" Ben said before he fired a ball of Mana at Malware making a large hole in his abdomen. "Guys go find Ship and assist him if needed, this is going to get real dangerous" Ben said
"but Ben-"
"do as I say Ester!" Ben said firmly, shocking both Ester and Rook due to it being the first time he had ever raised his voice to her, Ester and Rook quickly left to find Ship leaving Ben to face Malware alone.
Ben watched as the hole in Malware's body slowly closed up until it was completely gone "you're making a huge mistake challenging me child" Malware said, Ben then disappeared and reappeared in front of him before he blasted another hole through his chest followed by a mana powered uppercut which also made an explosion upon impact. Not knowing a fraction as many spells as Gwen did Ben was stuck with the basics which for him was good enough, he also knew that time was not on his side and right now he had less than 3 minutes to get the job done. As Malware stumbled back Ben flew forward with mana surrounding his hands and he delivered a barrage of punches on Malware with each impact making a mini-explosions, he could sense that Malware was taking sever damage with every blow however his time was wearing thin.
With one final punch Ben knocked Malware down to the ground where he struggled to get back up, Ben leapt back a fair distance and aimed his now glowing hand at the downed villain "this is for everyone you've ever hurt and for turning me into a freak" and he fired a huge beam of mana at Malware who unfortunately was able to counter Ben's attack at the last second with a beam from his cannon arm
"are you getting the same sense of déjà vu as I'm getting?" Malware asked
"yeah only this time I'm going to win!" Ben replied and in union both beams doubled in size. As Ben's attack started to force Malware's back there was a flash of light and Ben was back to normal, seeing his opportunity Malware increased his attack to the max and his beam of energy tore through the street before exploding at the end of it.
Malware scanned down the path of destruction but he couldn't see a shred left of Ben, he started chuckling slowly at first but then erupted in an uproarish laugh, all of this time he wasted planning on getting revenge on Ben when he could have just attacked him when he as the most vulnerable. Up above however Ben gave a sigh of relief "phew that was close, he's gotten a lot stronger over the years as well, but even so that still doesn't mean he's unstoppable" he then floated down while activating his Omnitrix and landed selecting the right alien he pressed down on it. As Malware continued laughing he felt a tap on his back, stopping he turned around only to be sucker punched by a large green fist which sent him skidding along the ground. When he got back up he was punched in the stomach and then the face by Diamondhead, due to his body mass he wasn't as quick as some other aliens he had but the fact that Malware couldn't absorb diamond was a major advantage he had in this fight. Diamondhead continued delivering one powerful blow after another at Malware, the villain in question had tried blasting him with his laser but all beams just reflected off of Diamondhead.
Diamondhead decided now was time to end this he began encasing Malware in diamond like he had done before but unfortunately the Omnitrix timed out as he got just half way "oh man so not cool" he said as the diamond around Malware's lower half began to crack "well looks like I'm doing this the old fashioned way" he said and he punched Malware in the face just as he broke free.
While Ben may still be incredibly strong as a human now, Malware's strength was still slightly greater than his now "you waisted too much time toying with me child, a mistake that shall cost you your life" Malware said aiming his cannon at Ben
"you're right, I shouldn't have toyed around with you, making you suffer for what you did, I should have killed you within the first seconds of our fight" Ben said
"yes you should have"
"before you kill me I want to know something"
"and what would that be?"
"for four years I didn't have the Omnitrix in my arm, why didn't you attack me then when I was the most vulnerable?"
"...are you serious?"
"yes I didn't have the Omnitrix in my arm for 4 years" Malware gave a roar of rage and punched the ground hard.
As he did this he saw the Omnitrix recharged activating it he selected an alien "sucker!" he said and he pressed down on it, in a flash standing in Ben's place was "Frostbite? I was going for Four Arms but this guys even better"
"a Tundraian?!"
"huh so that's what this guys species is called, well you're about to see how this guy lives up to his name" Frostbite then shot forward and gave Malware a single punch causing Malware's whole front to be covered by ice.
Frostbite kept attacking Malware with ice punches slowly encasing him in ice with every hit, soon Malware was completely encased in a block of solid ice "now that you're trapped time to drain you of all of your energy" Frostbite put both hands on the block of ice and it began to glow light blue as the surrounding ice drained Malware of every scrap of energy he had and channelled it into Frostbite. Frostbite watched with slight joy as Malware slowly became petrified as the ice kept draining him of his energy, soon the glowing stopped and he could see a clearly petrified Malware within the ice. "now to make sure you won't come back ever again" he then grabbed the block of ice and hurled it high up into the air, he then raised his hands above his head and released a combination of both his energy and Malware's energy in the form of a huge energy blast that evaporated the steel-like ice and fully disintegrated Malware's remains. A beeping was heard and in a flash he turned back to normal, even though Malware had been beaten for good now he still didn't feel satisfied three of the beings that had made him a monster were now dead maybe he'd have to cross crab sticks off his list before he felt better on the subject. Suddenly he got a horrible feeling in his stomach as he remembered that he had yelled at Ester for the first time ever and it made him sick, he had to find her and apologise profusely, activating the rockets in his feet he flew off to find her as fast as he could.
Earlier
Ester and Rook had found Ship fighting against Khyber in hand to hand while his dog was starting to get back up, now recovered from Ester's previous attack. Khyber blocked two hits from Ship and kicked it in the abdomen causing Ship to skid back on it's feet "I must say I am quite impressed, I've fought a few Galvanic Mechamorph's in my time but none of them have been as skilled at fighting as you are" Khyber stated now slightly winded
"ship" Ship simply replied before laser guns and rocket launchers emerged from its body
"and yet you haven't absorbed any kind of weapons" he said before he was hit hard in the back and sent flying towards Ship who unleashed a barrage of lasers and mini rockets at the hunter which all exploded on impact and created a large black cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared they could see a bloody and wounded Khyber struggling to get up
"stay down, you have lost this fight" Rook stated, ignoring the order Khyber continued trying to get up, once Khyber was back on his feet he turned and saw Rook and Ester ready to fight, he assumed that they were the ones that had hit him from behind.
"Well it seems that the odds are becoming a bit unsporting" Khyber said as a smirk came to his bleeding face "lets even them shall we" he then whistled through his gills and his dog turned into a Tyrannopede
"oh crud" both Rook and Ester said and they dove to the side as it tried to eat them.
Thinking logically Rook quickly thought of how to work the fight out "Ester you and Ship take on the Tyrannopede, because you two have more abilities than I do, while I take on Khyber" Rook said as Khyber ran at him with his dagger ready to slice him which he managed to dodge by falling back and then gave him a leg sweep knocking Khyber off his feet, but Khyber quickly responded by landing on his right arm (wincing as he did) and then kicked Rook in the chest before they both got up and ran at each other.
While Rook fought against Khyber, Ester and Ship were fighting against the Tyrannopede, Ester extended both of her arms and wrapped them around its jaw, sealing it's jaw shut, she then flipped back and while she was in mid air she retracted her arms, propelling herself up and kicked it under the jaw. The force from the hit forced its head back to the point where it's neck almost snapped, she then unwrapped one arm and used it to grab it's tail before pulling hard "lets see if I can make you touch your tail" she said as she kept retracting her arms forcing the tail and head closer together. Ship followed up the assault by ramming hard into the Tyrannopede's stomach. As the beast was stunned by Ship's blow Ship turned its hands into cannons and began rapidly firing lasers into its abdomen while Ester did her best to restrain it, as the beast thrashed about Ship's lasers finally broke through its thick hide and blood started to come out. Ship's hands merged together to make large cannon which began to glow brightly on the inside, just before it fired Ester let go of the Tyrannopede and jumped off of it as Ship fired.
The beam tore through the beast and came out the other side leaving a large bloody hole in its abdomen. As Ester landed gently on her feet beside Ship the Tyrannopede fell down and landed face first on the ground and let out a loud growl as it tried to get up "hey Ship" Ester started getting its attention "turn into a giant fist on my hand" she said as she stuck out her right arm Ship then did what she said and turned into a fist 3 times the size of an exercise ball "oh yeah that'll do" she said she then swung the arm back causing it to extend behind her while it twisted around 'this'll be one punch he'll never forget' she thought to herself before she began running towards the Tyrannopede while her arm still twisted and stretched back. Once she was close enough she retracted her arm, untwisting it in the process, and she punched it right in the torso above the bloody hole and kept extending her untwisting arm with the force of the blow rapidly increasing, the beasts ribs were shattered as it was forced out of the fair and crashing straight into an abandoned building which collapsed on top of it.
Ester then retracted her arm and as soon as it was back to normal length a very dizzy Ship turned back to normal and fell to the ground while Ester held her arm in pain "man I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow" she said having never stretched her arm that much before. She then picked up the limp dizzy Ship and went to find Rook and Khyber, she didn't have to look hard however seeing as how the two of them were standing behind her with looks of shock on their faces "that is honestly something I would have expected from Ben" Rook said Khyber was about to reply when he was kicked hard in the side of the head and sent crashing through two stalls before falling unconscious.
"Did I hear my name?" Ben asked landing on his feet
"I take it you took care of the intruder?" Rook asked
"yeah, he's gone for good now" 'hopefully'
"if I may ask who was that? it seemed as though you knew him"
"short answer he's a psychopathic monster and the one who did this to me" he said, gesturing to his cybernetic attachments, which also explained his look of fear earlier.
"Are you okay Ben?" Ester asked
"yeah I'm fine, by the way I saw what you and Ship did to Khyber's dog that was some great team work you guys did, and I saw all of that training really payed off"
"it sure did" she replied
"i'm also terribly sorry for ye-" he was cut off as Ester kissed him on the lips
"its okay i know that you were just worried about me"
"yeah, i would have never forgiven myself if one of my enemies hurt you" the two then hugged tighter before letting go "well guys I hate to leave but I made a commitment today and I'm seeing it through" and he began heading back to the dunk tank while Rook went to retrieve the unconscious Khyber, leaving Ester and Ship alone
"come on little guy lets continue exploring the fair" Ester said while still holding Ship.
Later
As workmen cleared away the rubble of the collapsed building one of the workers uncovered a weird creature that looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a dog "what the heck?" the man asked before he was given a massive shock and fell to the ground unconscious to reveal Dr. Psychobos holding a small remote. As he scuttled up to the Khyber's dog to retrieve the Nemetrix it began to whimper in pain "my, my so you're s-still alive, you're more d-durable than I th-thought" it gave some more whimpers "alright fine" he said as he uncovered the rest of it and picked it up before pressing a button on the remote making the two disappear.