Episode 5: A Middle Aged Rumble
Chapter 2: Skirmish at Camelot
After Ben and Gwen discovered the so called 'walking stick' from the man they bumped onto ten minutes ago, they immediately returned to the Rust Bucket to show it to Maxwell for him to analyze what it was. To say the least, the old man was quite curious on what a Plumber technology would be doing in a place like this. All the gizmos on it were indeed alien or top secret tech, but there was no purpose to it… was there?
"Hmm…" after Max finished analyzing what the stick was, he quickly turned his attention to his grandkids.
"So do you know what it is grandpa?" Ben asked out of curiosity's sake. The old man nodded and quickly began to explain, "It's a cosmetic poll" he gestured to the metal stick, "It was used back during the Plumbers were still in business. It was meant to triangulate the positions of a radar system, which makes it easy to track down hidden objects or aliens that had gone into hiding"
"A what?"
"It means, that thing… makes it easier for them to find whatever they were looking for" Gwen clarified for Ben's small intellect.
"Oh…… I knew that"
Gwen shook her head in depression but quickly turned back to face Max, "So what's a Plumber tech doing all the way here? Could a member of the Plumbers be staying here?"
"I don't think so" Max answered putting his hand on his chin, "This is an older model of our cosmetic polls. We haven't used one of these since the seventies and I doubt you can find one lying around in any Plumber bases around here. But just in case… I'll give Oswald a call and see if he knows anything about this. You kids stay out of trouble while I try to figure out what's going on" the two kids simply looked at each other and shrugged. As long as it wasn't their problem, they could care less about it.
(Conveniently hidden trailer)
The Forever King was not a patient man in times of waiting, that much his minion knows. Whenever someone told him to wait for a specific amount of time, he would wait that long, but when the deadline passes he hates extending it. "What is the delay on the triangulation on the sword?" Driscoll demanded from his knights. The one who had to answer shook nervously as he replied, "Umm… it appears that one of our agents seemed to have uh…… misplaced one of the cosmetic polls my lord. But do not worry!" he said hastily, "We are currently replacing it as we speak. We should have it done in another minute or so"
"I grow tire of waiting" the master of the Forever Knights replied in a manner so cold that winter would look like summer in Antarctica. "My patience has its limits" the minion shook behind his face mask, quivering in fear as he turned back towards the consoles… but luckily, it seemed that the last cosmetic polls had finally bee put in. "It's ready sire!" the second minion reported which eased the Forever King's rage.
"Triangulating the location of the sword now!" said the third minion. There were a couple of beeps happening on the computer console until it finally located the object that they were looking for. "We found it! The object is buried right beneath the royal palace my lord!"
"Send an excavation team there immediately" Driscoll gritted impatiently, "I want no more delays as it is" and with that last order, the team immediately got into their respective seats and began ordering the agents on the field on what to do. But as the knights busied themselves with their tasks, another shadowy figure in a medieval knight's armor with two katanas strapped on its back appeared from the darkness. "Ah… my champion…" Driscoll cooled down knowing full well on who the other figure was. "It appears the Tennysons are here and they do not seem to notice our progress so far. But if they should interfere, I want you to destroy, no matter what the cost… understood?"
The Forever Knight ninja bowed down silently to its master and quickly vanished from sight. It seems like Ben, Gwen and Max were going to have some unexpected company this evening.
(Fairground palace)
Right after the Tennysons found out that the stick was no threat, Ben and Gwen quickly went to the palace to see what it was like. Actually it was just Gwen's idea. Ben would've joined another eating contest in a heartbeat, but after hearing that he had to make an appearance in the palace so that he could enter for tomorrow's buffet party, he was given no other choice but to accompany his cousin. The kid would do absolutely anything for real food.
Once they entered through the large gate with a big sign with the word Camelot on it they were immediately greeted by a man wearing a fake mustache in some sort of bishop costume. "Hello there, are you two here for the party celebration?" he asked in gentleman's manner.
Gwen nodded back excitingly, "Yes actually. We were wondering if we could have a tour around the palace. I just wanted to see the architecture of the place" she replied, "If you don't mind, we'll be on our way" but before she could take another step forward, the bishop man stopped her. "Uh hey!"
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to pass" he said sternly, "I'm sorry, but the palace is currently being renovated for tomorrow's ball and only guests with invitation are allowed" Gwen lowered her head down in disappointment. She really wanted to see the palace more than any other sights in the fairground but it looks like she will have to wait for the party to be over before she could enter.
Usually by now, Ben would be smirking in sight of Gwen's disappointment, but for some reason… his heart just needed to do something about this. It was like he had his own subconscious appearing on his shoulder in the shape of an angel and demon. The two of them were bickering about doing the right thing or just being selfish. They tried wrestling it out, but then the angel subconscious got an idea. When he pushed the evil subconscious away, he activated his Omnitrix and went 'caveman' on that other guy.
Seeing that this was now a one sided battle against the dude with horns on the boy's shoulder, Ben quickly shook away the thoughts and complied with his good subconscious. "Ah hey…" he called out to the fake mustached guy, "I got here two tickets for the buffet party. Does that count as something?"
The man slowly analyzed the ticket for a moment before nodding, "Ahhh… yes… these are invitations to the party. Are you two here for the appearance?" Ben slowly nodded back and gestured to Gwen to just play along, "Very well then… as Steward of Camelot, allow me to welcome you to the royal palace. The place closes at six so please be out by then. The party starts tomorrow at three o'clock in the evening so… please… don't be late. Oh and please dress in something formal for the dance"
"Dance?" Ben questioned with a brow raised, "What dance?"
"Why the party dance of course" the 'steward' replied chuckling, "A party is not complete without a dance"
"Oh uh… I don't really dance"
"Then you'll have to learn soon otherwise you and your partner here will be the laughing stock of the century" she gestured to Gwen who seemed to have taken noticed. "Whoa hold up!" the red head shot back, "Why do I have to dance with him!?"
"Well your numbers are in row with your tickets so I'm afraid you're stuck with each other" he smirked at them playfully, "Well tally-ho you two. Have fun at the party!" and with that he walked off, leaving the two of them behind without another word said.
"This is so not how I want to spend my time at the party" Ben grumbled.
"Well at least that we can agree on" Gwen replied folding her arms together. "Just staying next to you is already more than I could bear"
"Well… at least it will all be worth it when it's chow time" once Ben spoke that sentence out to himself, Gwen's eyes widened out in surprise. She could hear something feint in his voice… like a sigh of relief or something close to that. Was he saying that it was ok to dance? She wouldn't know… and probably never will know. After the two of them signed their name on the register and retrieved their 'official' invitation tickets to the party, they immediately began their tour of the palace. "Thanks Ben…" Gwen thanked him after they were clear of the crowd.
"Oh don't mention it" Ben replied with a proud smirk up his lips. "I didn't want to waste the ticket anyway. So what's so special about this old dump anyway?"
"This 'dump' as you call it is supposedly the remaking of the royal palace" she explained, "Didn't you know that this very castle was actually built by a studio filmmaker five years ago. They built this palace for a movie which made a hit"
"Yeah… probably when I was still in diapers" Ben muttered silently to himself.
But when they finally entered the throne room which was also supposedly the party room, Gwen's eyes widened in amazement by the structural size of the place.
The throne room was huge! That word alone says all. The roof was three stories up, and the dancing ground was wider than four of Ben houses put together. There were six pillars on two sides of the room with giant glass windows in between them that overlooked the entire festival. On the pillars themselves hung several banners showing the old coat of arms of the kingdom. Near the walls of the room, there were hundreds of long stretched chairs and tables which provided adequate room for the buffet. Ben could already imagine what the plates would look like. If he remembered correctly about his own medieval history, he would remember that no one in the past had much of a manner. So that means he could eat like a pig and no one would even bother him.
"Wow…" was all Gwen could say as she unconsciously danced around the place, "This place is amazing! I can't imagine how this place would be during the party! Oh and there'll probably be fireworks outside the window!"
But of course, Ben was not impressed with the finer things in life. He was a simple guy with simple needs. Food, games, entertainment and a bed to sleep on. He didn't need all of that fancy who-haas since it just messes with his style. "Yeah, what else is new?" the boy said boringly as he strolled towards the window. "This place is probably made out of cardboard boxes and junk" he knocked on the stone wall a few times and noticed that they were actually real. But even though they were able to make a castle out here in the present time he still wondered if it could hold a siege of him going Fourarms.
"Can't you appreciate a little culture Ben?" Gwen said annoyingly at him, "This place took six weeks to build and probably a million dollars worth of stone around you. The least you could do is admire its texture. A lot of people put a lot of effort in making this"
"Yeah… that's what you said about the play back at the theater" he remarked sarcastically at her. But just when he was about to walk back out of that place, he suddenly slammed against another man on his stomach. "Oh… man… now that…… hurts" as he got back up on his feet he suddenly noticed that the man had dropped some sticks on the floor, "Uh hey, you drop…… this?" but when Ben's eyes refocused, he noted that these sticks were the same as the one he found a few hours ago. When he looked at the man's face he was shocked to see an iron mask plastered on there. "Uh oh…"
The hooded figure that he accidentally bumped onto was a Forever Knight agent who was planting cosmetic polls around the palace vicinity. When he noted who he had bumped onto, the knight quickly grabbed some kind of sword with electric lining and began swinging it at him. But before the blade made contact, Ben somersaulted away from it like a professional athlete. "Whoa!" he yelled out as his feet touched the ground, "I didn't even know I could do that!"
But before he could even recap on how he was able to have such an increased agility, the knight-agent removed his hood and revealed his Forever Knight armor attire which consisted of a light weighted chain mail and a shield on his back. Just once glance could tell that this guy was not one of those usual grunts you would smash around everyday.
"I guess that answers where the old Plumber tech was coming from" Ben smirked before turning towards his Omnitrix, "Well, knight in shining armor… meet… Benvicktor!" with a press of a button, the boy's size tripled up to height and grew out some kind of batteries on his back. "Oh yeah… let's see what gravity I can get with you!" with a wave of his giant arms he was able to create electricity powerful enough to supply a TV with six hours of power.
But the knight was not alone. When the ruckus occurred, five other agents appeared out of the room entrance and drew out their weapons as well. One was carrying a double blade, another two were carrying swords similar to the first guy, another was carrying a battleaxe and the last one had a warhammer the size of a Max's head.
"O…k… six against three. I guess we could call it a fair fight" and with that last remark, the knights quickly charged in and attack Ben using their weapons as their main assortments. Once Ben (Benvicktor) got a taste of their skills he could tell that these guys were probably high ranking officers in the Forever Knights organization. Usually he would've been able to pound the grunts with a blink of an eye, but now it looks like these guys were the veterans.
After blocking a couple of their attacks, the boy quickly grabbed one of the plates that were going to be used for the party and smacked it right at them. "Oh yeah! You just got served the hard way!" but his gloating only got cut off when the guy with the warhammer slammed his weapon right back at his face. "Ok… I'm gonna feel that in the morning"
As Gwen saw this she knew right away that Ben would need some help. Even though he doesn't want it, the boy must get some assistance once in awhile. "Terdius Jatuis!" instantly, four toy swords (or at least they think they were toys) that were hanging on the wall instantly came out, and nailed one of the knights up on the floor. "Let's see you try getting out of that!"
But as the knights continued to pound the boy to a corner in his Transylian form (Transylian is copied from the word Transylvania which is famous for many monster movies) Ben decided to put his incredible strength to good use. With a wave of his fist he slammed two of the knights down and a kick of his feet sent another one of them leaving through the window. Not only were his physical attacks giving out powerful and almost lethal blows, but the static shock that came after the hit would paralyze the opponent making them immobile for at least ten minutes or so.
"Alright peons… time to whoop you guys into shape!" when one of the knights charged at him, Ben gave him a punch so strong that his face mask dented right onto his nose. I wonder if anyone would recognize him once he removes his mask.
After sending the guy with the battleaxe out the window and hanging the one with the warhammer on one of the torch post, the boy turned his attention to the last remaining one which was originally the first knight that tried to kill him. "Well well well… it looks like it's just you and me… buddy" you can actually see the guy trembling under his armor as Ben approached him cracking his knuckles.
The knight knew before he fought that he never stood a chance against the power of the Omnitrix alone. So instead of fighting, he dropped his weapon and turn tails. But Ben wasn't going to let him go that easy. Sure he may not be fast in that form, but his electromagnetic power has its uses to people who wear iron as a fashion trend. The moment he let out a wave of his magnetic powers, the knight quickly flung back onto Ben's incredibly large torso. "Say good-knight" but before the boy had the chance to pound the guy, Gwen quickly yelled out to stop him.
"Ben, wait!" she raised her voice a little. "We still need to find out what they're doing. I'm calling grandpa and tell him what's going on" but as she pulled out her communicon, she noticed that there was a strange static sound coming from the little gizmo. "Grandpa? Grandpa, are you there?" she called but all she got in return was some static voices.
"Gw…n? W… ar… you?" grandpa Max was trying to get a frequency but there didn't seem to be a good connection, "Yo…r signal is…… weak……… (static) I'll… getting… bet… quency"
Gwen sighed out as the signal got cut off, "Well it looks like the signal is out. I guess we'll have to do the interrogation ourselves"
"Oh… do we get to play good cop bad cop?" Ben joked with a couple of laughs at the end. But then knight that was stuck on his chest began wiggling himself free making the boy a little uncomfortable. "I'll never talk!" he shouted, "There's nothing you can do to make me betray the Forever King!"
"Oh really?" Ben cooed, "Well… like grandpa used to say. To get smarter… you got to crack a few egg heads" he cracked his knuckles a few times and placed his palm on the guy's head. He wasn't really gonna crack him, but after watching a couple of cartoons and movies he knows pretty well on how bad guys react to threats.
"AH! Ok I'll talk!" the knight finally panicked out of fear, "We… we… we were supposed to look for an object called Excalibur" he began, "It was supposedly buried here underneath the palace!"
"Excalibur?" Ben questioned, "You mean that sword in the Camelot story and all?"
"The king calls it the sword of the sky" the knight explained, "We don't know anything more than that. All we know that it's buried underneath here… beneath this very castle"
"So that must be why you guys were planting those stick things all around the fair" Gwen analyzed, "You needed that to find what you were looking for!"
"An excellent deduction Ms. Tennyson" when the new voice arose, Ben and Gwen quickly turn their heads towards the main entrance where they were greeted by the sight of the Forever King and his loyal champion, the Forever Knight Ninja. "To be able to defeat some of my most trusted lieutenants and interrogate one of them in such a short notice is something to be commended"
"Driscoll…" Ben hissed as he threw the knight away from his torso. "I see the head honcho finally shows himself again. Ready for another beating?"
"I am flattered that you remember me Benjamin Tennyson" the ex-Plumber officer grinned under his helmet, "But I'm afraid I cannot allow you to stop me. I have spent too much time and effort locating the Excalibur and I will not be hindered by a little boy and his family"
"Hey! Who're you calling little!?" Ben replied holding his fists up, "Why don't we get it on just like we used to back at Mt. Rushmore!? I'll clean your clog so bad that you won't even have the time to see it shine!" but just as he approach the Forever King, twelve other knights appeared from behind carrying a variety of weapons with them.
"You do not stand a chance against me this time… Tennyson" Driscoll hissed back annoyingly at him, "As we speak, an entire regiment of my army marches upon this fair. You may be powerful… but not even the Omnitrix can handle an entire legion…"
"Well why don't we find out later when I kick your butt?" but just when Ben was about to launch his attack the Omnitrix symbol on his shoulder began to beep red and soon later… he was back in his human form. "Oh great… who's side are you on anyway!!" he yelled at his watch. But as the boy turned his attention back at the knights he knew right away that the tide had turned against him. That fight against those other knights must've taken a lot out of him.
So instead of fighting the knights in his regular state, Ben grabbed Gwen by the arm and hastily head towards one of the open windows. "Ow! Ben what are you!"
"Do you have a spell that could make us fly?!" he asked in a hasty paste.
"Well yeah but its good enough for one person only"
But Ben didn't care. It was either a painful drop or getting sliced and diced by the Forever Knights. "Good enough for me! Now jump!" without any warning whatsoever, Ben again grabbed Gwen's wrists and jumped off the ledge knowing full well that they were fifteen stories up high. The knights wanted to follow them but they didn't exactly have jet packs strapped to their backs now, did they?
"There's no need to follow them" Driscoll ordered, "The boy will return. Let us continue with the excavation! We must retrieve the sword at all cost" he then turned to his loyal red ninja companion, "If the Tennyson boy does show up… take the regiment and deal with him" the ninja knight bowed silently and left the scene to begin the preparations.
"Hey! What's going on in there!?" came another voice from the entrance. The knights knew that it was probably the local guards. So without waiting for another minute, they vanished from the area like the shadow themselves.
(Time skip 15 minutes later) (Rust Bucket)
After Maxwell received that feint transmission from Gwen, he became worried that something bad might've happened to them. He began checking through every possible frequency his satellite dish had but nothing seemed to work. Just when he was about to go exploring the place himself, the door to the RV opened up revealing his two grandkids soaked like they had just jumped into a cold pool.
"Ben? Gwen?" he said slightly relieved and confused at the same time, "What happened to you two?"
"Don't even ask…" the girl replied wiping the water out of her face.
After the kids finished getting into their more comfortable clothes and drying up after ducking unconditionally into the nearby lake they immediately explained the whole situation to their grandpa to see if he had any intel on the object the Forever Knights were doing. But unfortunately the old man didn't seem to have a single clue to what Driscoll wants around here.
"So Driscoll is the one behind these attacks" he lectured while trying to decipher the enemy's plans. "I guess that explains about the old cosmetic polls. An old fashion Plumber always has a few things left over his storage room"
"So what's this Excalibur anyway?" Gwen questioned, "Is it the same sword back in the stories?"
The old Plumber shook in head in response, "I don't know. Driscoll was in the Plumber business a long time before I ever joined up, so he probably knows a lot more historical technologies than I do. This is probably the first time I heard of anything called Excalibur. I'll check up with the other Plumbers"
"But they said that the sword was buried underneath the palace" Ben added wiping his hair with a towel. "Maybe we should go back there and beat them to it"
"No…" Max stated, "Going back there now would only drag unnecessary attention. I doubt Driscoll would be stupid enough to stay there after causing such a ruckus" he then moved on to his computer rack to see what else he could do, "He'll probably wait until tomorrow before going back to the palace. But in the mean time, I'll try and hack in to their scanning devices. If those cosmetic polls still have the same frequency as before then I think I'll be able to……… got it!" the screen on the computer quickly popped up revealing the schematics of the entire fairground.
"Is this?" Gwen noted.
"That's right. It looks like Driscoll had planted cosmetic polls all around the fairground to find this Excalibur… but there seems to be some kind of electronic interference coming near the palace area. If my hunch is correct, that must be what the Forever Knights are looking for. But it's… deep… really deep underground"
"Could it also be why our communicons aren't working?"
"That's probably it" Max answered back, "But the magnitude is so high that it can only interfere with super sonic frequencies. Cell phones and smaller electronical devices shouldn't have any problems. But if Driscoll wants this Excalibur so bad… then we'll have to do everything we can to stop him"
"Then we should go ahead while that Forever King guy gets his hands on it" Ben pumped up his fist together, "I could just go Ghostfreak and get the sword before anyone of them"
"I don't think that is such a good idea" Max replied, "According to these readings: Whatever is under that castle is creating a large heat source. If you go there, there's a good chance that you'll turn to Ghostfried before you even find Excalibur. We'll wait until Driscoll makes a move"
"But he said that he has an army coming here" Gwen reminded them of the coming troops that were soon to arrive. At first they thought it was just some kind of bluff, but they've never seen the Forever Knights bluff about anything before so they had to take precaution. "If we wait then, do you think we'll stand a chance against them?"
"I already called Oswald and the other Plumbers to meet me at the fairgrounds" Max explained, "But unfortunately it's gonna take them awhile to get here. The only thing we can do now will be to wait for Driscoll to make a move. But we're going to need some big backup if he's bringing his friends to fight"
"So what do we do by then?" Gwen asked.
"I'll go place some motion sensors around the castle" he answered back holding a couple of devices on his hands, "If Driscoll makes a move on the palace, we'll get to him faster like a stink on a skunk"
"And that's when I move in and take him down!" Ben remarked, punching his fists together. But unfortunately Max had other ideas, "Sorry but no fighting Ben. (what!?) We still need to find out what Excalibur is… and I doubt Driscoll would come all the way here just for a sword"
"The only thing we could do now is wait for backup" Gwen added before following Max outside to help him plant some of those motion detectors.
Right after the discussion had ended, Ben immediately got into thinking mode. Maxwell was right though. Going up against the Forever Knights now would only be a suicidal mission and if what the Forever King said is true than this fairground would only become a battlefield and no one would want all these tourists harmed during the firework festival. Also, Ben believed that he wouldn't stand a real chance against such a massive army alone. If he was going to fight against the Forever Knights at their full strength, he was going to need some help. And no… he wasn't talking about his family. He needed someone big, strong, tough and ready to take on any odds that could appear at any time.
"Hmm…" the boy let out a smirk before turning his attention to the phone booth not far from the fairground entrance. "Backup eh? I think I might just have the right guys for the job"