I do not own Ben 10, or any of the characters that have already or will debut in the series.

Note: This project ignores the events of "Race Against Time"

Secondary note: For this project, benwolf is Howlrunner, benmummy is Underwraps, and benviktor is Boltneck.

Mike turned the fanboat around. This tour was over, and he couldn't be happier. This was the last tour of the day, and, as always, it had been full of annoying tourists. Tourists wanting their picture taken with the alligators in the shot. Tourists messing around with his boat. Stupid, annoying tourists. But, without the tourists, he'd have to get a normal job. Work in an office, wear a tie, all sorts of nonsense like that. Much worse than his old job.

"Hey, what's that? Is it some kind of gator?"

Mike turned, fully expecting to have to explain how much that log looked like a gator. Instead, he himself was caught off-guard by what he saw. It looked vaguely like a gator, in that it was covered in green-brown scales. However, the nose was too short, the legs too long, and there was no tail. But perhaps the biggest difference between it and the gators that populated the swamp was that the creature was running at them on two legs.

The creature turned to the boat, and Mike realized that one of the tourists had taken its picture. It roared, and then its chest came up and forward. It opened its mouth and vomited a spray of sludge all over the fanboat and its passengers. Mike wiped the sludge out of his eyes in time to see the monster slip into the water and swim away. This was bad. If the monster was what he thought it was, he would need help. And he knew just the former colleague to call.

Ben 10

Swampland Showdown

"It's a swamp."

Ben didn't look happy. Granted, he hadn't had the best of days yesterday. Volcanus, Sixsix and Krabb had attacked him, and they'd made a fool out of him. Gwen had needed to sneak into their ship and smuggle him out while the three of them had fought over who got to give Ben to Vilgax. So, it was a little understandable that he was grumpy. But, the situation still needed explaining, Max decided.

"It's not just any swamp, it's the Everglades. And we're here on Plumber business."

Ben perked up immediately at the mention of the Plumbers. Max had once been a Plumber, and still had a fair amount of technology from his time with them. Since the beginning of this summer, when Ben found the Omnitrix, he had been thrust into the alien-battling world of the Plumbers with Gwen and Max. Any Plumber business promised excitement.

"So, what is it? Some kind of alien monstrosity running loose through the swamp, killing gators?"

"There are no reports yet on whether or not it's killed anything, but, yes, there is an alien running loose in the Everglades. Mike will explain when we meet him."

Ben sat back, infinitely happier than he had been a minute ago. There was Plumber business afoot. Nothing was better than Plumber business.

Max pulled up to a run-down building on the edge of the swamp. A man a few years older than him was sitting on a chair in front of the building. He perked up when he saw Max get out of the Rust Bucket.

"Max, you old dog! Come here!"

"Mike! It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Gwen and Ben watched their grandfather hugging a total stranger. It wasn't the most surprising thing they'd seen; the idea that anything about Max could surprise them had long since faded from their minds. It was just weird. The guy looked so normal. Nothing to suggest that he used to be knee-deep in alien affairs.

"So, these must be those grandkids you told me about, eh? Let's hope they can take a bit of the old excitement."

"Hey, we've handled plenty of 'excitement' this summer, you old - ow!"

Ben jumped, grabbing his left foot while Gwen smiled sweetly. Behind Mike, Max shook his head. Back to business as usual with the kids. Once Mike finished introducing himself, he got immediately to the point.

"What are we looking at, Mike?"

"Well, I don't much know myself. Never seen anything like it. Got a picture, though. One of the tourists snapped it before the thing threw up on us and skedaddled."

"Wait, it throws up? That's its big attack? That's lame. I could take it, no problem."

"You? You're a little small for that, don't you think?"

It was then that Ben remembered. This guy had no idea that he had the Omnitrix. He didn't know that Ben had that kind of power. He only knew that Ben was a little scrawny for his age. Just perfect. Now I've got to be all stealthy when I try to go hero.

"Come on. I can show you where I found the thing."

Ben hunched down in the fanboat as Mike navigated the swamp. This was getting boring. Nothing but looking at rotting trees and sluggish lizards. When was this going to get exciting? He began contemplating throwing himself out and leaving his fate to the mercy of the gators when the boat began to slow, and then stop. Mike got out and began to walk through the sludgy water. Everyone got out and followed.

"It was about here. We could have gotten past it no problem, but some stupid tourist had to snap a picture. Riled it something fierce."

"So, where do you think it went?"

"South or south-east, one of the two. That's the only way it could have gotten out of this little area here. I say we head down this way and see if we can find its lair."

Mike turned to go get the boat. Before he could get there, the water in front of him exploded, and the alien sprang up. Ben's first impression was of the Swamp Beast out of that old monster movie he'd found in his parents' movie cabinet. It was the same color, same skin texture, even about the same shape. Only problem was, it was at least a foot taller than the creature in the movie.

He shook his head. This thing was going berserk in front of him, and all he could think about was old movies? He activated the Omnitrix, twisting the dial until he saw Ripjaws' silhouette in the green diamond. The aquatic alien would be right at home in this place. He pressed the dial in, there was a flash of green light – and Heat Blast resolved himself out of the light.

"Aw, come on! Can't we get this right once in a while?"

"No time to complain, Ben. Mike needs help."

Heat Blast nodded and charged in. Since Mike was so close to the swamp alien, he couldn't just start shooting fireballs. He had to split them up somehow. Channeling the heat into his hands, Heat Blast grabbed the other alien by the arms. It howled, letting go of Mike to take a swing at him.

Heat Blast was knocked flying by the other alien, crashing into a tree and sliding onto one of the few patches of ground in the area. Okay, it's stronger than I thought. But, it's not near anyone now, so . . .

"Time for a barbeque!"

With these words, he unleashed a stream of fire at the swamp alien, only to have it dive under the water. Undeterred, Heat Blast directed his flames into the water, boiling parts of the swamp instantaneously. As he was cooking the water in front of himself, Heat Blast didn't notice the alien coming up to his right. He did notice, however, when it spewed sludge all over him, dousing his firepower.

"Gross! He just puked on me!"

"Ben, look out!"

Heat Blast turned to Gwen as she shouted, and as such was caught unawares when the alien punched him in the head. He went sprawling into the swamp, sinking under the water and into the bliss of unconsciousness.

Ben woke up coughing. He was in Mike's boat, soaking wet, and back to being Ben again. He tried to sit up, but was sent back down by Max's hands on his shoulders.

"Stay down, Ben. You almost drowned back there."

"Couldn't," cough "tell."

Ben looked around the boat. Gwen was sitting in the front, hunched over. When she saw Ben starting to sit up, she leapt over to hug him. Before Ben could get past the surprise, she released him, hauled off, and slapped him across the face.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't you ever scare me like that again! Do you hear me?"

"Whoa, Gwen, it's starting to sound like you like me. I kind of like the change."

Before Gwen could fire off a retort, Mike came slogging over. He was carrying some sort of device that Ben couldn't recognize, although he was pretty sure it was some kind of Plumber tool. Mike put it into the boat, and then followed it.

"So, Max, when were you going to tell me about your secret weapon here?"

"Well, Mike, it's just-"

Mike held up a hand.

"No worries. I would have done the same thing in your position. I've actually been following your exploits over this summer. That's how I knew you'd be in the area."

"Wait, you knew this whole time that I had the Omnitrix, and you just treated me like a little-"

"Hold on there, son. If I acted like I knew, your grandfather here would get mighty suspicious of me calling him for help. By acting the fool, I got one more good look at this thing."

Everyone perked up when he said the last bit.

"So, Mike, what do you think it is that we're up against?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's an Arkillian. Only problem is, it's got to be some kind of mutation in the species. No Arkillian is that nasty, or that strong. Plus, normal Arkillians can't puke up swamp sludge."

"A mutant Arkillian? Could this be the fallout from Drooge's experiments? I remember he had a lab near here."

"Wait a minute. Who's Drooge, and what's an Arkillian?"

"I keep forgetting the kids weren't around for the good old days. Come on, I'll show you."

"There's nothing here."

Ben was looking at a patch of swampland, no different than any other patch they'd passed on their way here. Behind him, both Mike and Max chuckled.

"Well, of course there's nothing aboveground. Drooge hated swamps. Only set up in this area because he thought no one would look for him here."

Getting out of the boat, Mike walked over to a tree and fiddled around inside it. Getting a grip on something, he twisted his hand, and a portion of the swampland around the tree sunk into stairs. Max got out of the boat, followed by an amazed Ben and Gwen. Mike followed the group down after he got his hand out of the tree.

The area at the end of the stairs stank of the swamp; obviously, Drooge's protections against the environment had broken in the years since he'd been sent away. As Ben and Gwen looked around with wide-eyed wonder, Mike began to give them a little history.

"Now, Drooge was . . . well, we actually never found out what precisely Drooge was. We do know that he was a master geneticist, who wanted to make super-soldiers to conquer any environment. We're coming up on the base template now . . . ah, here he is."

The alien in the containment tank was easily eight feet tall. It was well-muscled, but still wiry. Its tail curled up in the bottom of the tank, measuring a good two feet longer than the rangy legs. Its triangular head was rested on its chest. One three-fingered hand was curled into a fist; the other was unclenched. All in all, something you didn't want to see walking around. Mike patted the tank.

"This is Xcz'nkt. Serial killer on Arcturus Major. Must have gotten hundreds before they actually caught him. Psychically lobotomized as punishment. Well, Drooge found this an otherwise perfect specimen, bought him, and put him in this tank, taking blood when he needed. See, with this blood, he could induce superior strength in his test subjects."

"Wow. Think I can get a sample?"

"Don't even think about it. The eagerness to kill was hardwired into his DNA. It's why the Arkillian mutant is so nasty. Drooge found this out after his first few test subjects. Tried marketing them as terror weapons after that. We caught him when he started testing on humans. Shipped him off to a prison planet. We thought we got all his pets, too. Let's see if we can find more about the one we're fighting in the computers."

Ben was sitting down, looking at the soupy mess that the lower levels of the lab had become. Max and Mike were going through the computer, trying to find any information on the mutant alien, while Gwen was poking around some of the equipment. This was getting boring again. He was about to complain when Gwen shrieked.

"Gwen!"

Ben got up and rushed towards the sound of the scream. He got there to find Gwen staring down the swamp alien. It looked furious. Ben knew he had to fight it into submission. Four Arms should be strong enough to fight it off. Ben activated the Omnitrix, there was a flash of light – and Ripjaws stood staring down the other alien.

"Oh, yeah. Now I get Ripjaws. Just freaking gre-"

The swamp alien bull-rushed him, knocking him backwards. Ripjaws caught a flash of Max and Mike running towards the swamp alien. He tried waving them off, but there was something wrong with his arms; they just weren't working right. He was still trying to get them to work when he hit the water. Untangling himself, he shot downwards, hoping to get momentum for a leaping attack. Before he could turn around, he heard a splash behind him; the other alien had followed him in.

Ripjaws reversed course and shot at the swamp alien. He hit it jaws first, biting down as hard as he could. The other alien shrieked, although the sound didn't carry as well underwater. It tried to land a hammer blow to Ripjaws' head, but his position on its body made that a hard thing; it was an awkward angle to swing at. Still shrieking, the swamp alien swam for the surface, dragging Ripjaws with it. He let go before the other alien pulled him out of the water, but followed it as soon as it made its target clear.

Max grabbed Gwen out of the way as the swamp alien swung a piledriver fist at her. Ripjaws grabbed it by the leg with his mouth, worrying it like a dog with a bone. The swamp alien smashed him on the head, stunning him long enough for it to get its leg out of his mouth. The alien let out a roar, and then puffed up its chest. Before Ripjaws could get out of the way, the swamp alien spewed sludge all over him.

"Aw, gross!"

"Not now, Ben! Stop that thing!"

Ripjaws stood up, wiping some of the stuff out of his eyes. The swamp alien was going berserk, smashing consoles and tearing out panels. Before he could charge in, the Omnitrix started beeping.

"No, not now! Come," flash "on!"

The alien turned at the flash, seeing Ben as a human. It roared and rushed him, grabbing him by the wrist. Ben heard a muted beeping come from his wrist, and knew precisely what it meant; the Omnitrix had acquired the psychotic monster's DNA, and had consequently reset itself. Now, if only he could get it to let go of his arm . . .

Gwen provided that distraction. Raising her hand, she called a hurricane to blast the swamp alien. Raising its arms to shield its face, it let go of Ben. Rolling out of the way, he spun the dial until he found an alien he liked, and then pressed the dial down.

Another green flash and Four Arms came charging into battle. He hit the swamp alien with both left arms at once. It rocked backwards, but didn't fall. Its return blow knocked Four Arms on his butt.

"So, you're strong too, huh? Knockdown brawl!"

With that, he began flailing wildly, hitting the swamp alien with as many blows as he could deliver. It was too busy to do anything other than defend, and that was when Max took his shot. Aiming carefully, he shot a lance of light into the creature's back. It roared again, and then collapsed.

Ben watched as the ship took off. Mike had called in the favor, and some aliens had taken the swamp alien with them. Hopefully, they were going to dump it on some uninhabited planet and leave it there, but he wasn't sure. Now, it was time to say goodbye.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, even if you are old."

"BEN!"

"No harm, little missie. He's honest, and there's nothing wrong with that. Now, take care of yourselves, and don't get into too much trouble, y'hear?"

They assured him that they did, but there could be no guarantees. They were Tennysons, after all.