milordo-z 2.0: Thanks for the comment. And yeah there will be more villians other than Vilgax. In fact, in this chapter Jack makes a new enemy that will last throughout the story.
warlord-xana : It's a good idea, I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up just yet.
ArmoredSoul: Whoa! Five reviews by the same guy! Thanks for the reviews. And as for your question about Jack meeting Ben, just wait and see ;p
Disclamer: I don't own Ben 10 or any of it's characters. I own the OC's though.High School; Woes and Foes
By: General Blaze
Chapter 5; Oh Kraab!!
Maraxus Prison
Maraxia System
4:30 PM Earth Local Time (ELT)
This wasn't the way things were supposed to work out. He was supposed to get the Omitrix from that damned child Ben Tennyson. He was supposed to get the one-million credits from Vilgax and upgrade his armor even further, making him more fearsome than that blasted SixSix. Instead, he was betrayed by that other bounty hunter, what was his name; Tetris? Tetrex? Tetrax? Yeah, that's it, Tetrax. Now, Kraab, one of the most feared bounty hunters in the universe, second only the SixSix, was now in a high security prison on a desert planet, lord knows how many light-years away from that backwater planet called Terra.
Kraab still wore his battle armor, making him resemble a humanoid fiddler crab. Normally, his suit would be able to smash out of here in a heartbeat, but the guards had deactivated its weapons systems and confiscated his titanium alloy katana, hiding it in a high security vault were they stored all the prisoner's weapons.
'Soon,' Kraab thought to himself. 'Soon, I'll reactivate my suit, grab my katana, and get the hell out of here.' Unbeknownst to the guards, Kraab designed his suit to only activate and deactivate under two conditions; when he wanted it to, or if he got killed. He was just waiting for the right moment to breakout, when the guards began seeing him as a very low threat. And right now was the perfect opportunity.
Two guards began to approach his cell, their intentions to take him to the mess hall. Kraab though, had no reason to go to get lunch. He was about to be free again. One of the guards, a Tetramand began unlocking the cell, the other one, a Pyronite, standing guard. Just as the Tetramand opened the door, Kraab swung into action. Activating the blaster cannon inside the large claw on his right hand, he fired at the Tetramand. The laser sliced through the four armed behemoth's torso, striking vital organs. The Tetramand fell to the ground, groaning and clutching at its chest trying to keep his blood from escaping its body. The Pyronite guard sprang into action, its natural body of flames heating the air several degrees high than normal. The being of flames shoot a column of fire from its hands, yelling, "We got a breakout in cell block Two-Oh-Zero! Send backup!"
Normally, some people would avoid combat with a Pyronite. Since they evolved on a star, their bodies were highly evolved heat generators, capable of shooting out flames at super nova temperatures. Kraab though, designed his suit to be able to coup with a Pyronite's intense heat. Flying through the flames, he grabbed the guard's neck with his claw, before saying, "Lights out, candle stick," Then snapped the Pyronite's neck, killing it instantly.
Now though, Kraab had a problem. By now the racket that the brief skirmish with the guards would have alerted all the guards in the entire prison. He needed to find his katana, steal a ship with hyperspace capabilities, and get back to Terra to extract some revenge on a ten-year old Terran boy named Ben Tennyson.
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Earth (Terra)
4:45 PM
St. Louis Mills
Jack wasn't sure what to do first. He was now in St. Louis' most popular mall, with a big wad of cash in his wallet. Best of all, Nicole was with him, ready to shop until she dropped. For some people, this could be a nightmare shopping with girls. Nicole though, wanted to make sure that Jack enjoyed this trip to the mall. "So," Nicole asked Jack, "were do you want to go first?"
Jack smiled. Nicole always put other people before her. "I don't know," He answered. "Maybe I'll visit BE Games first. Disc 3 just came out and I've been dying to get it. They finally put in flamethrowers, napalm grenades, and chain guns!"
"You and your video games…"
"What? Is it a crime to like them?"
"No," Nicole said," but you seem to put them first above anything else."
"Okay, I'll put Disc 3 off for later," Jack said. "But I'm determined that nothing will go wrong today!"
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The Maraxus Prison was now a smoldering pile of ash, dust and scrap metal. After Kraab had gotten his katana back, he found an old I09 "Boomer" Bomber inside the prison's hanger. Although old, it still had plenty of fire power to quickly knock out the AA Guns and reduce the prison into worthless scrap, along with the guards and prisoners inside of it. Now it was time to get the hell off this sand trap of a planet and extract some revenge on the wielder of the Omitrix. Exiting Maraxia's atmosphere, Kraab inputted the coordinates of planet Terra. It would take the better part of the day to get their, even with FTL travel speed. 'Oh well,' Kraab thought. 'It will be a small price to pay in comparison to the paycheck Vilgax will give me when I hand over that snot nosed brat to him. Then we'll see who the most feared bounty hunter in the universe is!'
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8:30 PM
Jack was now at Nicole's house, his hands filled with brand new clothes, gadgets, and do-dads he got at the mall. Normally he would have gone home, but Nicole had asked him if he would like to watch a movie at her house. How could he refuse to her request?
Right now, the duo was sitting in Nicole's old couch in the living room, watching King Kong while sharing a bowl of popcorn. Jack was thoroughly enjoying the movie, and not just because it was one of his favorites. He was sitting right next to the girl he liked so much. Also, Nicole had rested her head on his shoulder, and he had wrapped his arm over her shoulder. So you could imagine that he was enjoying every second of the movie. Oh, if he only knew what was about to happen to him.
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Kraab had left the I09 Bomber in the midst of a dense woodland. Surprisingly, he wasn't in New York City were Ben Tennyson was now, but in St. Louis, Missouri. You see, Kraab was heading over to the Big Apple, but as he passed over the Show Me State, he received an odd signal, the signal that the Omitrix made. But the one he was after was in New York, not St. Louis. Curious, he decided to check it out. Besides, he may get a bonus from Vilgax for this. Kraab latched himself in the branches of a large oak tree, the visors in his helmet scanning the house were the Omitrix signal was originating from. Indeed, two figures were sitting on a couch in front of a primitive human equivalent of a holo-screen. And one of them was wearing the Omitrix. "I've got you now," Kraab muttered, before opening his claw to reveal a gun with a claw in it. He aimed for the figure with the Omitrix, a teenaged human male by the looks of it, and fired.
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Jack wasn't sure what happened. All he knew was that there was a loud crash from the wall behind the, Nicole's voice screaming something, and the air in his lungs suddenly rushed out of his body as a strange claw grabbed his neck from behind. Then, he was pulled out of the couch as the claw began to retract to its originator. When the wild ride out of Nicole's house has over, Jack was suddenly twisted around to see his kidnapper. It looked like an odd combination between a crab, robot, and human. And Jack was stuck in its oversized claw on its right arm. Jack managed to gasp out, "Who are you?"
The crab robot thing chuckled, its laugh sounding like a hunter cornering its prey. "I?" It said, malice cutting through its voice, "I am Kraab! The most feared bounty hunter in the universe!" He brought the teenager closer to his face. "And you," Kraab continued, "Are my ticket to my biggest paycheck yet, once I grab the second Omitrix!"
"Omitrix?" Jack gasped. It was getting pretty hard to breath, as Jack thrashed his legs at the robot, trying to get the bounty hunter to let him go.
"Yes, the Omitrix!" Kraab roared. "That thing on your wrist is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe! It is the sole reason why the warlord know as Vilgax hired me; so he could have it in his arsenal!" He paused. "Although I am surprised that there is a second one, there was only supposed to be one."
'Another watch?' Jack thought. If what Kraab was saying was true, then if he, or this other… Omitrix holder, let the thing fall into this Vilgax's hands, then the universe could rapidly become a very dangerous place to be. Jack wiggled his left hand around, trying to reach the Omitrix. Finally, he reached it, and pushed down on the face plate. A Blue flash encased his body. When it disappeared, a red, four armed humanoid stood in Jack's place. Instantly, it broke free of Kraab's claw and fell back to the ground, landing on it's feet. "I'm not going anywhere!" It yelled at the surprised bounty hunter. "I'm staying on Earth and that's final! And tell this Vilgax that he'll have to pry the watch from my dead hands before I give it to him!"
"Then I'll kill you and give your dead body to him so he can pry it from you!" Kraab yelled back.
"Well then, you'll have to get through Knucklebuster first!" the ten foot alien yelled back. With that said and done, Knucklebuster sprang into action, cocking his two right hands for a vicious right hook. Kraab easily dodged it though, and Knucklebuster's fists slammed into the oak tree instead, bashing the top portion of the tree right off the trunk. "You'll have to do better than that!" Kraab yelled. "I've dealt with many Tetramands before, and I know all their moves!"
"Then let's see if you know this one!" Knucklebuster screamed before grabbing the bounty hunter by its arms and flinging it through Nicole's house. Kraab slammed through several walls before exiting the house and landing in the street. Before Kraab could react though, Knucklebuster jumped over the house and landed on top of the hunter. Grabbing Kraab's helmet, the Tetramand slammed his face into the pavement several times, shattering the face plate. However, Kraab slammed his claw in Knucklebuster's face, causing the four armed alien to stumble off him. When Kraab got back up, his true face was revealed. He really did look like a crab, his eye stocks observing the damage done. Kraab's two mandibles began twitching furiously, creating a series of rather creepy sounding clicks. "No!" He said angrily. "My face plate!" He looked at Knucklebuster. Knucklebuster couldn't really tell how Kraab's species used facial expressions, but he could tell that Kraab was enraged. "Well, you sure need it, sucker! Your face looks like it should belong at Red Lobster! Haha-Oof!"
Kraab had punched Knucklebuster while the Tetramand had been busy laughing. While Knucklebuster tried to get some air back in his lungs, the crab like alien had pulled a rather lethal looking katana out of a sheath on his back. "Now then," He said. "I wonder, what would happen if I kill the holder of the Omitrix, while he is still in an alien form." He never found out, as an old pickup truck had slammed into him, knocking the bounty hunter off his feet, and knocking him out. As Kraab moaned in pain, Nicole stepped out the truck, running over to Knucklebuster, who was engulfed in a red light and turned back into a human. "You okay?" She asked.
"I'll live," Jack said. He looked over at the unconscious bounty hunter. "What do you think we should do with crab-man here?"
"We'll take car of that," A voice behind them said. Jack and Nicole whipped around to see three aliens behind them. "Who are you?" Jack asked the lead alien, a large fish like alien with two small bubble-like tanks filled with water.
"I'm Sharkbite," the fish alien said. "I'm a lieutenant in the Galactic Enforcer's Quick Response Team." Sharkbite looked at the crab alien. "You two had just apprehended a very dangerous criminal who had destroyed one of our high security prisons on Maraxia." He looked at the two humans in front of him. "You two must be very talented to take down Kraab. Gore! Halberd!" He barked at the two aliens behind him. Gore, a creature in a black coat that resembled the grim reaper hovered to Kraab and handcuffed him. Halberd, an alien that resembled Accelerate all the way down to the armor on him, stood guard.
Halberd looked at Jack and Nicole, his yellow eyes looking at the humans questionably. "So," he said, "You two are the ones who brought down Kraab?"
Jack nodded enthusiastically. Halberd smiled, "Not bad…. for a human."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"
But Sharkbite, Halberd, and Gore didn't respond. Instead, they got back into their original formation, with an unconscious Kraab being supported by Gore and Halberd. Then, a ring of light surrounded them, and then they disappeared. For a few seconds, Jack and Nicole stood in the street, then, "I guess I should go home," Jack said.
"Okay," Nicole said, giving Jack a quick kiss on the check. Jack was lucky that it was dark out, because he was blushing like mad. "I'll see you in school tomorrow."
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"Sir," J9-T50 reported to the alien warlord. "Orders?"
Vilgax paused. Should he send in more robots? They could have more luck aganst the second Omitrix wielder. "Send in two squads of Drones," he barked. "And…send out a Crawler to support them.
"Yes, my lord."
Vilgax watched as J9-T50 left the room. Was it wise to send in one of his most powerful robots so early in the campaign? After all, he had been to busy focusing on the first holder. 'No,' Vilgax thought. 'I'm not going to risk sending in less than that. This second warrior seems to adapt faster than the first one. I'll continue keeping an eye on this original Omitrix. In the meantime, that second one will have to stay on the top of his game pretty soon…'
You know what to do people! R&R