Chapter 5
"You guys mustn't be all that tough if you brought this many people to fight us." Ben smirked, staring cockily at the army before him, reaching for the Omnitrix. "Going her-WHOA!"
Before he could transform, a pair of bare arms grabbed him around the waist and yanked him off his feet and around a tree, just barely avoiding a barrage of green energy arrows.
"Are you nuts, insulting an entire army before you even suit up?" Benjamin cried exasperatedly, diving behind another tree as the first one fell before zigzagging behind a third and fourth. "They were bound to shoot you dead."
"Oh please, how tough can they be?" Ben asked impatiently, trying to squirm out of his grip. "Just put me down and I'll-"
"Get killed. They may travel in packs, but they are highly trained assassins. At least if I'm right." Benjamin interrupted, jumping out of the way of another falling tree. "Come on, I need a break here."
"One intermission coming up." Kim called, swinging past him through the tree branches. Spinning her body around in mid air, she swung back the way she came and struck the Ben Ten duo's assailant down hard, grabbing his staff as she did so, before charging in to face two other approaching ninjas.
Both brought their staffs down on her, only for her to use her own to block them. Not giving them a chance to respond, she twisted her staff back and forth, striking both opponents in the face, before dropping to the ground and striking both huntsmen in the back of the knees. Seeing neither of them were about to rise, Kim fiddled with the staff and smiled as she found the bow setting, firing energy arrows back at their creators.
"Ok, I admit it, she's awesome." Ben stated irritably, watching as Kim effortlessly took down three more men before dodging a retaliating barrage. "But now can I show them how a super hero does it?"
Benjamin looked down at him with a look large grin at that, already raising his wrist. Smiling cockily back, Ben did the same, raising the controls.
"It's hero time!" The two cried simultaneously, smacking the controls back down. Everyone's attention was caught as an enormous flash of green energy surrounded the boys, revealing two very different shapes when it faded.
"RATH!" Roared what looked like a cross between a tiger and a wrestler, raising the claws coming from the back of his hands menacingly.
"Whoa, what a cool alien. When do I get this one?" XLR8 asked, staring at the new form in excitement.
"Uuh.. umm, in about..." Rath mumbled, lowering his fists as he strained his brain in thought.
"Yo, tiger man, what do you think this is, a picnic?" Danny shouted, flying overhead and shooting ecto blasts at the masses. "Get your head out of the clouds and fight."
"Let me tell you something Danny Phantom!" Rath growled menacingly, shaking his fist in the air. However, before he could continue, another ten ninjas had surrounded him and XLR8.
"I don't know what you two are, but we will destroy all magical creatures." One of them shouted, his staff glowing as he charged in for the kill.
Rath just snarled at him, moving just enough to face him. The ninja thrust his staff straight at Rath's chest, but before it could hit, Rath threw his fist out and his claw cut clean through the staff, leaving the ninja bug-eyed as the end fell off, the wires sparking uselessly.
"Let me tell you something Huntsclan! If you wanna fight, I'll give you a fight. But you better be careful or that fight might be more than you can fight." Rath roared, throwing his face right into his opponent's personal space.
"You lost me." The ninja said nervously, visibly shaking as his eyes flickered from Rath's fierce face to his giant muscles and claws as the tiger man stared at him dumbly.
"I KNOW!" Rath shouted randomly. Faster than the terrified ninja could see, Rath pulled his fist back and suddenly it felt like a wrecking ball had collided with his face, sending him flying over the tree line. "And now you lost to me too!"
"He's so cool." XLR8 said admiringly as Rath leapt with the liquid grace of a tiger over and around three energy arrows before sending two more ninjas flying like ragdolls. "I can't wait to turn into him."
"Hey doofus! Stop gawking at yourself and give us a hand." Gwen yelled, creating a shield to block another wave of energy fire. Looking up, the sonic speeder was a little surprised at what was going on around him. Gwen and Max were hiding behind her shield, occasionally lowering it to cast a wind spell or shoot a laser, while Roxas and Kim were leaping back and forth, forever dodging and blocking attacks while lashing out perfectly with their own. Danny was still in the air, green energy balls of his own raining down on the Huntsclan. However, despite all of that, what his future self said proved true. These guys, though they hadn't made any hits, were easily avoiding Danny's shots and many of Kim and Roxas' blows only made it to the staffs the first time round. In fact, Rath was the only one doing more than destroying weapons on the initial attack. Deciding that hero worship could wait until he bagged some from the others, Xlr8 took off at full speed.
Wherever the black and white blur went, huntsmen went flying. Though all of them got back up, their weapons were far from their reach, leaving them easy prey for Rath, Kim and Roxas.
"Roxas, give me a boost." Kim called, flipping into the air. Kicking a huntsman away, Roxas positioned himself where she was due to land and held up his blades, crossed and flat side up. As Kim landed perfectly in the middle of them, he thrust them up as hard as he could, giving Kim's next jump enough momentum to sail over the horde and land into a flip before the leader. "Hope you don't mind if I drop in."
"Not at all. Now I can slay one of you myself." Huntsmaster retorted, lashing out with a fierce roundhouse kick. Kim leaned horizontally to the side, dodging the move before diving into an army roll to avoid an axe kick. Getting back to her feet, she set herself into an offensive stance, but immediately had to dodge again as a green energy blast was tossed from the crab-like claw at the top of his staff.
"Man, this guy's good." Kim admitted as she brought her staff up to block his, only to stumble back as her staff was cut straight through. "And strong too."
"I have trained my entire life to fight and slay even the most powerful dragons." Huntsmaster stated coldly, lashing out with a vertical arch. "I will not be defeated by one in human form."
"Hate to break it to you, but..." Kim started, leaping onto the claw and propelling behind him. The second she landed, she dropped into a sweep kick, forcing the man to the ground. "I'm not a dragon. I always am and always fight as a human."
"Well then, this will be an interesting fight." Huntsmaster replied confidently, dropping his damaged weapon and dropping into an offensive stance.
Getting bored with the routine, Danny dropped into the enemy's ranks.
"You guys look pretty sweaty under all those robes." He stated, his eyes glowing light blue as he raised his hands above his head. "How about I help you cool off?" A ring of blue energy exploded from his hands at that, smashing into every huntsman within ten feet of him in every direction.
Rath seemed to be having the time of his life. Thirteen Huntsmen lay haphazardly all around him, either unconscious or whimpering in pain.
"And down you go weakling." He growled, smirking as he backhanded another huntsman. The ninja scream as the force of the blow sent him careening into a boulder, blood running down his cheek where Rath's claw had met his skin. "There is no competition here."
Not one to be outdone, Roxas' Keyblades shined brightly with white magic as he charged at the group here was fighting. Right as they were about to manoeuvre out of his way, Roxas smirked, brought his Keyblades together straight out in front of him and jumped right at them. The white energy increased in intensity and covered his entire being and increasing his speed, causing him to blast right through the huntsmen like a white comet before they could even move. Skidding to a halt, the light dispersed, revealing Roxas' calm form as the huntsmen were blown in all directions, already unconscious.
"Looks like my new technique works just fine." Roxas grinned.
"Oh man, there's only two left." XLR8 muttered disappointedly, running in circles around them and causing a small tornado. "I haven't actually knocked out anyone. All well, I better make myself known with these two." Moving to the centre of his circle, XLR8 waited for the screaming ninjas to fall before jumping into the air and lashing out with an invisible barrage of punches and kicks. Finishing it off, he spun around and struck them with his tail, sending them crashing to the ground, from which they didn't get up. "Well that was boring. Maybe I can jump in and show these future guys my stuff against the leader of this bunch of the losers." With that, he turned to where the last fight was going down and took off faster than the blink of an eye.
...
The Huntsmaster's right hook was knocked cleanly away by Kim's forearm as she shot her knee at his gut. Flipping sideways, he avoided the blow and launched a kick at her hip only for it to be blocked by her raised thigh before she jumped off of her other leg and smashed her heel into his chin.
"Grr!" Huntsmaster glared as he restabilised himself, his eyes performing a critical analysis of her form. Her fighting style is flawless, as is her reaction time. Her body is built specifically for flexibility and yet she's still managing to place a significant amount of strength behind her blows. Hmm, it's a rare day I find a human opponent capable of standing up to me.
Keeping one eye on his opponent, he turned toward his men, hoping for some assistance and to see if the targets were dealt with yet, only to growl at the sight of all of them on the ground. Unbelievable! Thirty against six and they still lost. These forces are stronger than I anticipated. They must all be at least as strong as this young woman. I must pull back immediately and call in the elites if I want to bring these creatures down.
"Sorry my dear, but I've got to run." Huntsmaster stated calmly, back flipping away from Kim's kick and grabbing his damaged staff. Pressing a few buttons faster than Kim could see, he tossed it into the air before him and watched as it turned into what looked like a metal surfboard with the claw at the end glowing. Not wasting a second, he jumped on the board and took off into the sky. "Until we meet again in combat."
...
"I can't believe you let him go!" Ben shouted at an emotionless Kim, throwing his arms into the air as the others approached them. "You were fighting one lousy person and you still let him get away! The other twenty nine are all lying on the ground after the butt kicking we gave them and you couldn't stop one. What kind of hero are you?"
"Knock it off." Ben tensed in fear as the low, venomous voice came from behind him and turned worriedly around. There stood his older self, staring at him with a look he hadn't seen since Max had given it to him the day they met Kevin, only far angrier.
"Don't you EVER attack someone like that again." Benjamin demanded, fighting to keep himself from exploding. "Kim is an amazing hero. The most experienced of everyone here and a great fighter. And she does it without a super powered watch. Without the Omnitrix, there's no way I'D stand a chance against her. Sometimes the bad guy, particularly the enemy LEADER, manages to get away. It happens to everyone, that doesn't mean that the hero is inferior. Or should I bring up how many times Kevin, Hex, Charmcaster and Animo managed to get away, usually with something very important?" Benjamin sent one more fierce glare at Ben before stomping off, gathering the Huntsmen with the help of Danny and three clones. "Man, I can't BELIEVE how immature I was!"
Ben just stared at where Benjamin had been but a moment before, his eyes wide and watery. The look on Roxas' face when he approached didn't make him feel any better. The blonde just sighed and shook his head as he stepped next to Kim, checking a shallow wound on her forearm. He couldn't believe this. Here he was, trying to prove how great a hero he was to these future teammates, even as a ten year old, and all they saw in him was disappointment.
"It looks like even your older self doesn't like you." Gwen stated, a ticked off look on her face as she and a disappointed Max approached him, crossing her arms. "I actually watched her fight while you were too busy admiring your own handy work. If she had XLR8's speed or Four Arms' strength, she'd wipe the floor with you no matter what form you took. What you said to her was completely out of line and not something a hero would say."
"Gwen is right Ben." Max scolded, pointing towards the teen heroine. "I believe an apology is in order.
Nodding shamefully, Ben headed over to where Kim sat, talking to Roxas as he finished treating her wound.
"So Jake's never mentioned these guys being able to track magic?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope, and I've never had them coming after me either." Roxas replied, shaking his head. "So either the blast was extremely powerful or they have technology that they're going to lose."
"Umm..." Ben interrupted sadly, gaining both of their attention. Feeling more and more ashamed of himself by the minute, he couldn't look Kim in the eye, choosing instead to stare at the ground. "I'm sorry for what I said. I was out of line"
"No big." Kim responded calmly, shrugging her shoulders. "Normally I'd take offense, but you're lucky. Benjamin is my friend and has just as much respect for me as I have for him, so I'm willing to pretend that this never happened. Besides, future you already did all the yelling. The little killjoy, he took all the fun out of being in the argument."
"So... he and I are really different? Besides him getting along with Gwen?" Ben asked hesitantly, turning to look where Benjamin and Danny had finished rounding up the ninjas.
"Oh, you're going to mature." Roxas nodded. "For a start, the ego is going to disappear and you're going to actually respect the roles of the people around you."
"Roxas, don't be mean." Kim scolded, elbowing him in the ribs as Ben grew even more ashamed of himself.
"I'm just being honest." Roxas replied defensively, putting his hands up. Sighing, Kim turned back to the ten year old boy.
"Do you think he'll stay disappointed of me?" Ben asked, turning to where Benjamin had taken a seat, cell phone at his ear as he called the cops.
"Nah, he's you. He'll get over it eventually." Kim responded reassuringly. "Though it might help if you show everyone the respect they deserve all the time. That's something Benjamin has repeatedly commented on regretting and it's why he reacted the way he did five minutes ago."
"Well, I guess I could give that a try." Ben said, his eyes flickering towards Max and Gwen. "After all, I guess they have gotten me out of one or two problems before."
"Well," Kim said, slowly. "it's a start."
"Good thing he has five years to get it right." Roxas muttered, rolling his eyes.
...
"I never realised just how immature I really was." Benjamin stated, glaring heatedly at the pile of Huntsmen as he deactivated Gwen's cell phone. "How could I ever say that to someone like Kim? Without any powers to assist or protect her, if anything, she's the greatest hero of us all."
"You do realise that that you is just a kid, right?" Danny asked with a small grin. "Most ten year olds are pretty dumb and self-centred. I was, you were, even Gwen's got a bit of an attitude. But...most of us outgrow it as we get older. You're just getting the chance to see how far you've come."
"Maybe, but I never realised that I needed to come so far just to get to where I am now." Benjamin sighed. "You'd think having the Omnitrix and getting involved in the situations I did would teach me something."
"Nah, a ten year old would just get an ego boost." Danny responded, chuckling at the pouting look on Benjamin's face. "But even if you were an egocentric, selfish, idiot, there must have been something admirable in you too. Otherwise, you wouldn't gone as far as risking your life for other people and you wouldn't have turned into the respectable, caring person that you are today."
"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult." Benjamin stated, though an appreciative smile grew on his face a moment later. "So you really think I'm a perfectly decent person?"
"Well, not perfectly. I mean who in this world is perfect?" Danny grinned, punching him playfully in the arm. "But you're close enough."
"Oh, I'm so glad you approve of me." Benjamin said sarcastically before tackling Danny to the ground. Laughing merrily, the two wrestled on the ground forever flipping each other over, much to the amusement of the others present. It wasn't until the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance that they stopped, Danny pinning Benjamin to the ground and both panting heavily before Danny got off of him and helped him to his feet.
"We probably shouldn't still be here when the cops show up." Max stated, nodding towards the RV. "Let's head out of here."
The group were quick to jump into the RV, though Ben kept some distance from his older self and took off through the maze of trees faster than most could. By the time the cops showed up, the RV was long gone.