Well, again, sorry for the wait. From now on, I am no longer going to wait on Rygel-n to help me out. She moved out of town, and getting a hold of her right now is like pulling teeth. For anyone who forgot,
Kal, Tessa, Devlin, and Gwyn were whisked away from Earth by a tornado where they met Ana, the Assassin, and Azumuth the Galvan. The two say that there is a way to stop Kevin, but they needed to be trained, and they needed time.
CHAPTER SIX: FAILURE
The three of them turned to look at him, but Azumuth just chuckled and jumped down from the rock, "Ben was the wielder of the Omnitrix for quite some time, and thus, the Omnitrix sampled some of his DNA, it also created the form, 'Tena'." He paused, without looking at any of them, "When I found Ben without the Omnitrix, he was 'Ben'. Not 'Tena'. Thus I was sure of my hypothesis that 'Tena Sonne' was just a 'form' created by the Omnitrix. I managed to salvage Ben's body, now if only I could get it to work…"
"You could do it right? By placing the Omnitrix back on Ben's body?" Kal asked, looking worried,
"Its not that simple. The Omnitrix has default sets of ten aliens at a time, through Data Scan, it can acquire more, but it cannot draw more from the Codon Stream itself."
He beckoned for Kal to come over, and the boy knelt down in front of the aging Galvin. Azumuth started twisting the dial of the Omnitrix, and it made that loud 'alarm clock beeping' noise. Azumuth shook his head as he scrolled through,
…Four Arms…
…XLR8...
…Buzzshock…
…Swampfire…
…Goop…
…Ghostfreak…
…Cannonbolt…
…Jetray…
…Spider Monkey…
…And one other that Kal had never seen before on any of the newscasts.
"See?" Azumuth replied, closing the Omnitrix before Kal could take a look at it, "No Tena. Tena's DNA must be lost somewhere in the Codon Stream. It will take time and practice to find it. Also, Ben's body has been dead for over twenty years. I have it in a special isolated chamber that has stopped completely any form of decomposition, but he was dead several days before I found him. In order to bring him back, we need a few 'ingredients' to get the body back to a stable position to hold a form. For example, the giant hole in Ben's chest would only cause him to die again, and also, the reason for him not turning back into Ben is also a mystery. It will take time, and that is time the Earth does not have. We need you, Kal, to save as many people's lives as possible until we can bring Ben back to life."
Kal nodded slowly, "Ok…"
Devlin clenched his hands into a tight fist and gritted his teeth, "Count me in as well." He looked over at Tessa and Kalvin, "Don't get me wrong. I'm not doing this for 'Tena'. This is so that I can become strong enough to rescue Kenny." He turned away from them, "Impostor or not, Ben's my Dad…the only one who's ever cared for me."
"Where are you going?" Tessa asked,
Devlin looked over his shoulder at her, "To find my sister." He then took off into the jungle.
"Will they get lost?" Tessa whispered,
"Probably." Azumuth shrugged, "But its none of my concern. I'll just have Elmira bring them back."
"Elmira?" Tessa asked.
The air next to Ana stirred, and then solidified, showing a green-skinned alien with two large bug-like eyes. It stood on all fours, but was nearly as tall as Ana herself, it had long slender, feline-like legs, ending with small hands and feet - designed for speed,. Its face was almost human-like, but there was no nose or mouth to be seen, and the cheeks puffed out with what looked like blue-green fox-like fur. Out of the head sprouted two long, tube-like ears, that ended with two more tuffs of fur. The same fur rustled around its feet, hands, and rear-end, where seven long snake-like tails extended. Each tail ended with a different colour fur-tuff. Red, blue, yellow, black, white, green, and brown.
"Tennysons, meet Elmira, a Canlucrome." Ana introduced,
"Hi." Kal said. Tessa was amazed at Kal's boldness…but then again, it was that boldness that usually got him beat up by the bullies at school.
"Pleased to meet you." Elmira said in a velvet voice. It was so smooth and gently, it reminded them of water.
Tessa jumped, she was not expecting it to talk…or be able to speak English that fluently. "Y-Your beautiful."
Elmira looked over at Tessa, and suddenly, Tessa felt all warm inside, like she was sitting snuggly by an open fire. It took a few seconds to realize that one of Elmira's tails, the one with the red fur on the end, was glowing.
"Don't be afraid," Ana laughed, "It means she likes you."
Tessa slowly nodded.
Ana looked away, "Well, whatever happens. Today has held enough difficulties. Elmira, find Gwyn and Devlin. Its time to turn in and recover."
~*~
Gwyn kicked a rock as hard as she could, cursing at the pain that engulfed her foot as it flew into the jungle.
"Calm down." Devlin snapped, folding his arms,
She glared at him, "Calm down? I just found out yesterday that my father is actually my mother, and that its not really who I thought it was? And your telling me to calm down."
Devlin concealed a smirk, "We don't know the whole story yet."
"Well I've heard enough." She plopped down to the ground and folded her arms defiantly, "I mean, there is a psychopathic killer running loose on Earth and they expect us to just sit here and train?"
Tessa nodded and rubbed her freezing arms, "And what about Mommy and Daddy? They are still back on Earth."
Kal looked away. He was sitting by himself on the outskirts of the small clearing, just fiddling with the Omnitrix. It was a nostalgic feeling, having something so powerful around his wrist, something that was the only thing that could save Earth from Kevin's wrath. It was something his child brain could not understand.
"And then there is still the fact about Ana." Devlin frowned, "I mean, there is no way a world famous Assassin is going to help us for free. To her, Earth must just be an insignificant speck. She must want something out of this?"
"You think it's the Omnitrix?" Kal asked,
"Or the Ultramatrix." Tessa agreed.
"Whatever." Gwyn snapped, jumping to her feet, "Whatever it is. I'm out."
"What?" The three others gasped, turning towards her.
"You heard me. I'm not putting up with this bull. I'm going home." She replied.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ana said, materializing out of nowhere.
Gwyn jumped. She whirled towards Gwyn with a startled look, which soon turned to a look of pure poison, "Yeah, you heard me. You can't expect me to just 'sit' here and wait for some kids to grow up and become powerful enough to stop Kevin. I'm going back to Earth to fight."
"Even after you found out the truth?" Ana asked,
"How do I know that's the truth? How do I know you're not just making up some bogus story to get what you want?" Gwyn was nearly shouting, tears were forming in her bright eyes, "And even if it was true, sitting around is not going to help anything. Send me home. NOW!"
Ana shook her head, "That would not help anything."
"I don't care. Devlin, lets go." She snapped,
Devlin looked down at the ground, "I'm sorry sis…but I'm gunna stay."
"Suit yourself." She snapped, "But I'm going. Take me home so I can help Aunt Gwendolyn and Owen fight."
Ana shrugged, "If that's what you want, ELMIRA!"
The Canlucrome appeared out of nowhere again, "You called?"
"Take Gwyneth home." She sighed.
"Yes." Elmira nodded. She disappeared, and the tornado formed around Gwyn yet again.
Devlin watched with a heavy heart as his adoptive sister disappeared.
Ana shook her head, "Lets hope she lives long enough for you to meet again." She turned to the children, "Well now, I hope you all rested well, because its time to start training. Tessa, Devlin, come with me." She then turned to look at Kal, "Kalvin, Azumuth will see you now on the platform above the Codon Volcano."
~*~
Gwyn suddenly regretted her decision as soon as she appeared again on Earth. It was like walking from a tropical paradise, straight into Hell. There was death and disaster everywhere. What little amount of Plumbers that could assemble were helping the survivors, though from her first look, she could see that there was not very many of either.
What did she hope to accomplish on her own? There was no way she could defeat Kevin. Her anger just spoke for her. She sighed as Elmira materialized next to her.
"Are you sure about this?" Her velvety voice cooed,
"Yes." She lied, "Get out of my face."
The Canlucrome sighed and finished as quickly as she appeared, leaving Gwyn alone in the ruins. She took in a deep breath and headed straight for the nearest Plumbers headquarters.
"I'm a little too old to run this operation anymore." Max stated, "So, I'll be handing the Plumbers over to you Owen."
Gwyn barely even recognized them as she walked into the room. Owen looked so warn down, his clothing was in rags, and his arm was so heavily bandaged that she could barely see any skin on it. Gwendolyn looked even worse. She was sitting back in a chair with her eyes closed, a bandaged covering half her face.
Owen did not look happy about his new rank, or even his new enrollment into the Plumbers.
"We need you Owen." Max sighed, "No one…alive…knows Kevin like you do, or at least knows the new Kevin."
Owen lowered his eyes, "Unfortunately."
"Gwyn!" Gwendolyn gasped, she slowly raised herself from the chair, holding her stomach where Kevin had blasted her. The twenty people in the room all looked over at her.
She suddenly felt like the center of attention. Her face went red as she walked up to them, "Hope I'm not intruding?"
Owen smiled as he looked over at her, and Gwendolyn threw her arms around her.
Max sighed in relief, "Where on the Galaxy have you been?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She rolled her eyes, "So, what's going on?"
She joined them at the table.
"I'm guessing Kevin's plans to destroy this city worked as planned, but he doesn't seem to be done. He's turning his attention to the rest of the state." Owen pointed, letting the ninety-year-old man sit back down next to his granddaughter, and great-granddaughter.
"He's not just destroying," Owen stated, moving his finger over to the surrounding cities, "He's conquering. All of these towns are already under control. Other cities in the area are already offering Kevin full control, hoping that if he knows that they are willing to submit to him, he wont kill them, and destroy their town."
"Its only been a day, and Kevin already has control over the entire area. It wont belong until other states are submitting." Tini said, scratching her head,
A Specimen Prime came running into the room, he stopped at the table, panting.
"Ultimos…" Tini whispered,
"Bad news. The President has called a nation-wide alert. All Heads of State must report to the White House to 'discus further actions'." Ultimos gasped,
"Shit." Owen growled, "Already? But its already been a day."
"If that happens, what if they agree to go to war? Kevin would kill them all." Tini gasped,
"That's foolish!" Gwyn snapped, "Wasn't the United States army one of the best in the world?"
"That was over ten years ago." Ultimos snapped, "Nowadays, everyone just relied on Ben 10,000 and the Plumbers. The military has completely died."
"Well, isn't the Plumbers good enough to at least delay Kevin's reign?"
"QUIET!" Owen snapped, "Everyone just SHUT UP!" He rubbed the stubble on his chin, "None of that matters if we can avoid it. We should be concentrating on what to do next."
Cooper, via a giant Hologram screen in the background grunted, "Well, Helen, Manny, Alan, and I are all in Washington now. But none of us have any significant ranking in the Plumbers, so there is not much we can do."
"And I completely detest the thought about that traitor becoming our leader." Alan snapped from behind Cooper, "I mean, he could be secretly in league with Kevin."
Owen gave Alan a dark glare. The hatred between the two of them burned darkly. Owen refused to look away as he rubbed his arm, "Trust me, that's not a problem right now. That Kevin is not going to listen to reason. But I promise you, I WILL get the old Kevin back."
He turned back to everyone else, "I guess I'll have to go to Washington."
"But we need you here!" Tini gasped,
"Who will lead us?" Ultimos whimpered,
"We need guidance." Tetrax explained.
Gwyn sighed and stood up, "I'll go."
"Gwyn!" Gwendolyn gasped,
"I'm Ben 10,000's…" She could not say it, suddenly she felt sick to her stomach, she looked over at Owen with a completely different understanding and sighed as she looked back at everyone else, "I'm that bastards daughter, so people will feel reassured if I'm there. Plus, people will have questions about where he is, and at least I can come up with an excuse."
"If its you, they might believe you." Cooper whispered,
"Its worth a shot." Ultimos nodded.
"Be careful." Owen whispered,
"Naturally." She shrugged.
He nodded, "We'll hold Kevin off in the meanwhile."
He took a deep breath, "Gwyn…are my children all right?"
Gwyn smiled, "They're better off then we are. Why not ask that old friend of yours?"
Owen looked at her with worry, but forced himself to believe her. He was not going to question and let that mess with his judgment when so much rested on the line.
The doors burst open, and a Plumber feel into the room. It was a Mechamorph, and he looked pretty banged up. One of the other people in the room ran over to help the poor alien.
"A…a city is being attacked…Kevin is destroying it. So many…dead…" It coughed,
"Where? What one?" The woman gasped,
Owen ran over and knelt down in front of it, "Where is he?"
"B-Bellwood."
The name hit Owen like a tone of bricks. He had not been in Bellwood for long, and the only time he was really there was with Tena…after her death, he was still a fugitive, and would not dare going back.
Now, all these years later, it was either let Bellwood be destroyed, or go back and face his demons. He took a deep breath and turned to the other Plumbers, "You heard him! Move out! We've got to save as many people as we can in Bellwood."
Gwendolyn stood up and walked over to Owen's side.
"You should stay here." He snapped,
"As if. This entire time I've been healing myself with my Mana. There is no way I'm going to sit back and let my hometown be destroyed."
Owen sighed, "Alright. We'll take my car."
"I don't think so. We're flying." She quickly grabbed his hand and leapt up into the air, before taking off as fast as she could fly towards Bellwood.
~*~
So many memories plagued Kevin's mind as he saw his old town. He had not been back here since he fled with Tena. He was never given a chance to go back, and honestly, he would not want to. The memories that came back to him were not his own, they were someone else's, someone long forgotten even to him. Memories of lazy days, sitting back in a school cafeteria, drinking soda, and making fun of…
Of who?
Right…that bastard who killed Tena. Wait? Was that right? He could no longer remember. It was all lost in the haze that was constantly clouding his mind. The feeling of those forgotten and twisted memories enraged him even further. He just wanted them gone.
Maybe, if the town was no longer there, these fragments of who he used to be would disappear as well.
He just started shooting. He did not care who, or what he was shooting at. He used all the power he could muster to destroy everything he could. He started with the school. That was the first thing he wanted gone. Most of his memories were of that place. What he did there, he could no longer remember, all he knew was that everything used to revolve around it. He HATED it! It had to go.
Without warning, he blasted it away, along with the entire block. He just wanted it all gone. He looked at the Mr. Smoothie, and blasted that away as well, including the parking lot and the entire street it was on. The Bellwood sign he could vaguely remember passing, everything…he just wanted it to go away so bad it burned.
"Kevin!"
He knew who it was before he looked at them. He just turned around and looked over at them with a vulgar smile.
"Your really starting to annoy me."
"Stop this Kevin!" Owen yelled, the look the Ex-Necrofriggian gave him made Kevin smile. It looked so lost. Kevin laughed.
"I thought I told you that the last time was your last chance." He snapped,
"I guess I just don't learn." Owen sighed,
"No. You don't. But you see," Kevin smirked, folding his arms as he floated above their heads. "If I let you live this time, it'll send a bad message about me to the world. I definitely don't want to be known for mercy."
Gwendolyn stood firm next to Owen, holding her ground, along with Tini, Ultimos, Tetrax, Synaptak, and several other Plumbers.
Kevin smiled, "This shall be fun."
~*~
Max closed his eyes and felt himself drifting off. He was now alone in the Conference Room, everyone else went to try and save Bellwood, the town that started it all.
He felt so tired and used up, like the world was fading around him, moving too fast for him to keep up.
But, he felt happy, relieved that the weight of carrying the Plumbers all those years was finally gone. He felt lighter then he had ever felt before.
He smiled as he drifted off into never land.
~*~
Owen collapsed on the ground in a pool of his own blood. All around him he saw his dead teammates who were slain by Kevin's hand. Gwyn lay unconscious in Kevin's arms. He laughed and whispered something into her ear, before kissing her lusciously on the lips, and dropping her at his feet. She grunted as she hit the ground, and relief washed over Owen as he saw her chest move up and down.
Kevin looked over and saw Owen raise his head, those familiar green eyes still looking at him. Kevin had a sudden urge to rip out those eyes and hang them from his wall. He walked over to the man and bent down in front of him, clasping his bloody chin tightly in his hand, "I may not take mercy, but I am willing to take prisoners. Oh how your going to wish you weren't so hard to kill."
Owen's head was spinning from too much from blood loss for him to even fully understand what Kevin was saying. He closed his eyes and let the calming grip of the unconscious abyss take him.
~*~
A maid walked into the Conference Room to start her daily clean, when she saw the old man sitting there in the chair, looking so content that he must be sleeping. She walked over to him.
"Mr. Tennyson? Mr. Tennyson you should not be sleeping here." She shook him gently, but he did not awake. "Mr. Tennyson?"
He fell forward into her arms and she gasped. She dropped him and screamed, jumping up from the floor, and bolting from the room, screaming, "Call a doctor! I think he's dead!"
~*~
Owen opened his eyes, his entire boy erupted in pain and he groaned against his will. He leaned his head back against the cold, hard stone wall behind him and tried to feel his limps through the pain. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a prison cell, sitting on the ground, with his arms shackled to the walls above him, and his feet shackled to the floor.
He looked over and saw Kevin, standing there before him with a dark smile, "Don't like the commendations? Be sure to tell that to the secretary if you get out." He laughed, and strode out the room, bolding it shut from the outside of the door.
Owen took a few deep breaths against the pain, and screamed.
Canlucrome is a mix of: Canes Lapis and Monocrome, or, a play on the word, Multi-Coloured Wolf.
So yeah… Morbid aren't I? I'm really sorry it took so long, I wont wait for her any longer.