The town was old and rusty; there were no people, save the three friends walking down to worn houses. The air was hot and there was barely a breeze to cool them down and the rustling of a branch ball swayed past them genteelly.

"This place reeks of trap!" Kevin Levin said and sniffed the air again "And rot, charming!"

"It was abandoned during a famine and a drought," Gwen Tennyson "The people here could survive without leaving and the town was left, nobody came back and constructors don't know what to do with the land."

"Nice history lesson Gwen, just remember what we're looking for…." Ben Tennyson's face was focused and ready, hand twitching in case he needed to activate the omnitrix, the call they had received had told them that the caller knew who was stealing special alien equipment from around the galaxy; plumbers were put on high alert in all major weapon factories and asked to take extra precautions on who the equipment was sold to. They hadn't found anything and this was the only lead they had, the voice on the phone had been changed though, to remain untraceable, but they had said to meet them here, in this abandoned town, Gwen had insisted to stay home for a while and wait for some backup, but Ben had his mind already set on it and there was no turning back.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Kevin asked and nudged a metal barrel but leapt back as some bugs scurried out.

"Stop fooling around," Gwen said "I guess anything out of the ordinary."

They began their search and looked around the destroyed town; mostly all they found were bugs, rust and lots of rot. There was no sign of any alien equipment or life anywhere at all, they searched inside the houses, they were all empty and covered with damp spots and infested with bugs. Still, there was nothing.

"This is stupid!" Kevin complained "There's nothing here and I'm getting hungry, lets just go,"

"We haven't searched everywhere yet! Maybe we should search the outskirts," Ben pushed them but Gwen shook her head.

"There's no point Ben, I've even used my manna and I can sense no alien life form near here," she said.

"But maybe it wasn't an alien who called, maybe a regular guy, a human maybe?" Ben suggested.

"I doubt it Ben, nobody would come out here on purpose and come across strange stuff as well as knowing our number, it may have been some prank," Gwen continued.

"That's it Gwen! Who would know our numbers?" Ben cried out.

"I don't know Ben, but you're being stupid, come on!"

"You go, I'll stay here then if you're to afraid to help!"

"You are impossible!"

"Humph!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment and Gwen grabbed hold of Kevin's arm "Fine, come on Kevin, we're leaving!" And she dragged him away.

"Good luck kid," Kevin called out before he was pushed into the car.

Ben then watched as the car drove away, the smooth humming growing fainter and fainter until the only the rustling of sticks being blown was sounded in the air. And Ben was left alone, only the company of the insects with him. Maybe he was wrong, maybe there was nothing here, but if there wasn't, why would that person call him, was Gwen right? Was the caller really just a pranker? But why did he mention aliens in particular? Ben refused to believe his cousin and began his search again, looking in the outskirts and double checking the buildings. But again, nothing.

"Maybe Gwen was right after all," Ben said to himself and sighed. He held out his omnitrix and turned the dial to jetray, one of his fastest aliens, he could get at least quarter of the way home before the watch timed out.

Suddenly there was a loud humming sound and Ben raised his head to see a spaceship hovering above him, it was black and a giant red plasma ball was attached beneath the bridge, it landed straight in front of him with a steady landing and hiss. Then the hissing sound came again and a ramp lowered down from the door of the ship, steam and smoke poured out of the pipes and landing gear and from the shadows of the ship, a figure came, two red eyes glowing in the darkness and as the huge body came into the fading light, Ben gasped as he recognised who the foe was.

"So we meet again Ben Tennyson!" Vilgax smiled evilly.