Chapter Seven: The Heart of a Shadow

Before I begin, I will do a little summary on our heroes.

Rex Salazar (Age 15) – he used to live with his parents, a pair of scientists working on "The Nanite Project", and his older brother Cèzár, a young scientist and researcher. Rex is completely Hispanic, being of both Latin and Mexican heritage. One day, there was an accident in the lab, leaving the Salazar siblings in critical condition. The two were saved when a batch of Nanites were implanted into Rex. Then one day there was an explosion, which scattered all of the Nanites across the globe. Rex survived, but had deliberate amnesia. At age ten he befriended a group of EVOs: Tuck, Squydd, and Cricket. Unfortunately, he eventually began to work for a crime lord named Quarry. Rex managed to obtain his freedom from quarry… at the price of his friends. Sometime later, he was discovered as a monster EVO by Providence, an organization with the task of countering the EVO threat. During his time in Providence he has made friends (Dr. Holiday, Bobo, Noah, and Agent Six), encountered Prof. Gabriel Rylander (a member of the Nanite Project who is now supposedly deceased), reunited with his brother (who was discovered to have been in a spaceship since the explosion), and so many other things. He is capable of curing other EVOs. Ironic, seeing as he himself is an EVO. But he is different from other EVOs. His Nanites are different from all the others (they were from a separate batch). It may be that unlike Rex's Nanites, never had their programming completed.

Benjamin Kirby Tennyson (Age 16) – during a summer vacation back when he was 10, he stumbled upon a mysterious device called the Omnitrix. Ever since then he has been using it to become a hero. He has dealt with the Forever Knights and Vilgax (a powerful alien who was after the Omnitrix). Along the way, he has made friends (such as Cooper Daniels and Kai Green) and foes. He has also learned that his grandfather, Max Tennyson, was once a member of the Plumbers, an intergalactic police organization. Near the end of his summer he finally decided to remove the Omnitrix, in hopes that he can start being a normal kid. Five years later, desperate for answers about his grandfather's disappearance, he puts it back on. He discovers a threat known as the DNAliens. After finally setting peace with them, Ben dealt with Vilgax for one final encounter (which involved the destruction of the Omnitrix). Now he wields the Ultimatrix. He has recently dealt with a new threat, a villain named Aggregor (who met his downfall at the Forge of Creation). He currently uses the Ultimatrix to protect the Earth, and the rest of the universe alongside his cousin Gwen, and his friend Kevin E. Levin. He is currently learning from the Ultimatrix and vice versa. He now has Cooper to help him along with his best friend and cousin.

Zak Saturday (Age 14) – the son of Secret Scientists, Solomon (Doc) Saturday, And Drew Blackwell. Ever since he was 10, he has had the ability to control Cryptids around him. He has 3 Cryptids that he has sibling relationships with: Fiskerton, Komodo, and Zon. At age 11 he discovers that he has an uncle (Doyle Blackwell) and a twin sister (Zoey "Wheeler" (This is only for this Fanfic; She came from a story by Krysti-Annabel Cullens)). He has been helping his family in their search for the great Cryptid, Kur. Along the way, he made two friends; a girl named Wadi, and a boy named Ulraj. In Antarctica, the family, minus Zoey, discovers that Zak himself is Kur. Then at age 13, he lead an army against one made by V. V. Argost (Argost did so using the power of Zak Monday, Zak's antimatter counterpart). Then Zak tricked Argost into taking his powers as well. The convulsion between matter and antimatter caused Argost to implode, defeating him. But it was at the cost of Zak's life. Zak is considered officially dead for three minutes. Then every Cryptid in the world vanished. Zak eventually stood up for the challenge that soon came and became Kur again.

Now… ON WITH THE STORY!

Zoey tried and tried, but it was just no use; none of them would wake up.

?: Do not attempt to wake them up.

At first Zoey thought of Marluxia, but then she saw someone else enter the room; a man with a labcoat and goggles… holding a pocket watch.

?: Zoey Wheeler-Saturday, I presume? I am Professor Paradox.

Back at the "location," the three boys began to maneuver the halls of this unknown domain, when all of a sudden, they were encountered by who YOU (the reader) know as Saïx.

Saïx: Hello there.

Ben: (suspicious) Who… are you?

Saïx: I am Saïx; I am the one responsible for the darkness now on this young man's heart.

Rex: Wait a sec- REWIND. Heart? You mean where in someone's heart!

Saïx: Correct. (Points them toward the door behind him; it was made of stained glass. They could see that the sky was sunless.) As you can see this heart is about to lose the last of its light before it turns completely black; a heart devoid of any light. And there is nothing any of you can do about it.

Ben: Oh really? (The three walk past him)

Zak: Watch us. (They walk out the door.)

The three arrive at some sort of entrance courtyard. The ground that they were standing on was a brick pathway; it was a gray-brown color. The grass was black, dead. They turn around to see the building they just left. It was a mansion-like structure, dull brown, with several parts missing. The only other thing around them was the purple sky. They saw something ahead of them. What Ben saw was a person who looked exactly like Zak, except this person had his hair color in reverse.

Zak knew that there was something wrong with Zak Monday. He was emitting a jet-black aura of pure darkness. His pupils became white, making his black (now INK-black) irises frightening and deathlike. His Fang was in pieces nearby. Zak literally tried to feel him out; the energy that was "Anti-Kur" was faint, vanishing, being removed from existence…

Zak: (somewhat scared) Zak Monday?

The Antimatter boy simply took one look at them, and attacked.

Meanwhile, Paradox explains the existence of Zak Monday to Zoey.

Zoey: So, wait a sec, are you saying that this Zak Monday is Zak's shadow?

Paradox: Correct. (He looks at the two unconscious people, Rex and Ben.) And I know who those two are as well. (He explains the events of both Generator Rex and Ben 10).

Authors note: Neat chapter, huh? But wait! There's more to come. ;-)