Sorry, Wrong Channel!

A Crossover fanfic by A J

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, but the plot is all mine.

Just after Race Against Time:

The massive energy wave crashed over Bellwood like an avalanche, battering away all that was before ...

Prequel Chapter 4

They had been on the road less than an hour the next afternoon when one of Max' old Plumber friends called with a lead on Animo. 'There ya have it; last info we had on that nutjob after Rushmore."

"Thanks, Jim," Max said over the radio. "We'll let you know how things turn out on this end."

"Roger that, Max. Over and out." Retired Plumber and Bellwood Postmaster James Hawkins signed off.

"Right, next stop, Niagara Falls, kids." Max turned them north at the next interstate intersection, and set the cruise control. "Alright, Gwen, read us off those Poke'dex entries again. It'd be helpful to know what we can do when we find the good bad doctor …"

Wrong Channel!

"So how're we supposed to find our resident megalomaniacal mad scientist in a town of fifty-five thousand people?" Gwen asked as they drove past the 'Welcome to' sign.

"Uh, something tells me that won't be a problem, Gwen," Max and Ben both said, with their vantages of the rear window. Slapping gears and slamming pedals, Max put the RBII through a one-eighty spin and revved them back towards the wave of rodents advancing on the trio from the nearby Maxi-mart parking lot.

"Don't run them overrrr!" Gwen squealed, hiding her eyes behind her ears, and her laptop.

"Ew, Gwen's right, Grandpa. That'd just be …"

"Way ahead of ya, kids," was Max' verbal reply. At the last second, he cut to the left, slammed on the brakes, and flipped a switch next to the one for the windshield wipers on the camper's heavily modified dash. A thunderous blast of washer fluid came gushing out of hidden jets along the undercarriage on the passenger side, sending the wall of vermin tumbling back end-over-end.

"Hmm, a suspiciously over-equipped R V with a trio of do-gooders behind the wheel … the Tennysons must be in town," an annoyingly familiar voice crowed from above them.

"Animo," Max growled. He opened his side window, to look out, then up. "What's up, Doc? The pet department all out of pidgeys?"

"Why no, they weren't … until I arrived," the blue villain gloated from the back of the third largest bird the three Tennysons could remember seeing, ever.

"Holy Hecate," Gwen gasped. "That is one huge pidgeot."

"A what-eot?" Ben turned to look at her, aggravated.

"We've been going over this all afternoon, Ben. I told you, we – and everybody else, too – are Poke'mon." She turned her laptop around, and tapped the screen with her tail, to show the Poke'dex entry she now had displayed of a pidgeot.

"And this helps us how?" Ben whined, barely glancing at it.

"Because, Ultradoofus, flying types have three weaknesses; electricity, rock, and ice attacks will all slow them down," Gwen sassed, rolling her eyes.

"That's all I needed to hear," Ben smirked, nudging the Omnitrix with his nose. "This sounds like a perfect job for … Frankenbolt!" He hit the activation button, and the usual burst of green light overtook his form, leaving …

"What in the Andromeda Nebula ..?" Max breathed, as the flash faded, and he and Gwen both gaped at the green fox with electrodes on his shoulders.

"What? What'd it do to me now?!" Ben asked, frantically looking himself over.

"Er … eevee's are genetically unstable already …" Gwen started. "G-giving one the Omnitrix must be like dropping a bagful of assorted elemental stones on top of his head …"

"Alright, I'm just gonna keep saying what 'til you make sense … after this fight," Ben said, and jumped out through the retracted sunroof to zap Animo, while Gwen was still sputtering after him.

"Let it go, Gwen," Max chuckled, laying a calming paw on her ruff. "So, what can we do to help?"

"Well, Umbreon and Espeon're normally at opposites," she said, switching tabs on her laptop. "Since psychic types are weak to dark Poke'mon, but there're some cool combos we could use to beat Animo …" The Rustbucket rocked around them before Gwen could continue.

"We'll have to learn as we go, sweetie," Max rumbled, and Gwen yelped her affirmative as they jumped through the skylight as well.

A few seconds earlier …

Ben came through the skylight just as Animo had his pidgeot dive-bomb the RBII. Rolling out of the way, Ben let loose a charged bolt from the electrodes on his back to fend them off. The foes missed each other by millimeters, and Animo snarled at him.

"So, somebody's been teachingyou type-trumping, eh? Well, it won't do you any good, Benjamin! I've got a secret weapon of my own!"

"Anything you could have come up with since this happened is sure to come in second place to a jillion volts!" Ben yelled back, letting a charge build up on his shoulders while he dodged the next flyby attack. The pidgeot's wing buffet rocket the RV under Ben.

"Hey, Ben, you need any … HOLY JEHOSAPHAT!" Max blurted as his entrance was interrupted. He rolled off the roof of the RBII, only to find himself surrounded by the recovering rodent swarm he'd deluged on their arrival. "Oh, boy …" He got to his feet, intending to at least go down fighting. Before he had to though, the mass of mammalian menaces was washed back again by the very puddle they stood in. He winced sympathetically as they crumpled audibly against the distant storefront across the lot.

"My bad … didja wanna fight all those yourself?" a large blue turtle asked, stepping out from between a black Mustang and a flipped green Tauros nearby.

"Actually, no. Thanks," Max said, relaxing again. He looked up to where Ben and Gwen were trying to tag either the giant pidgeot or the raving rampardos riding its back. "Hmm, looks like they could use a hand too. Shall we?" he asked their good Samaritan."

"Absotively posilutely," the she-wartortle replied.

"What does it take to bring this guy down?" Ben grumbled, after Animo flipped his mount over midair to intercept the electric hero's next bolt on his own resistant rocky hide. The villain had already knocked Gwen off the RV and into a display of snow shovels, stunning her out of the immediate fight.

"Hows about a little type-trumping of our own?" their new helper asked, 'tump'ing onto the roof of the Rustbucket next to Ben. "Get him that way again, and I'll knock him down a few pegs for ya."

"Gotcha," he replied, charging up again. "Hey Animo! Betcha can't block this next one!" Ben leapt up into the air, opening himself up for probable retaliation if this went wrong, and let loose a titanic bolt of electricity, not going for accuracy so much as sheer intimidation.

Rampanimo, supremely overconfident after his lat few successful blocks, laughed and urged his mount back over, only to be washed from its back by the mystery participant's water gun move. The screams of Animo and the soaked, shocked pidgeot as they both fell echoed through the parking lot. Gwen startled awake when they crashed next to her.

"YES!" Ben and their benefactor both cheered, bapping forepaws in victory. "Ow, ow, ow …" the wartortle added, shaking her hand from the sparks Ben was still giving off.

"Now that we've got 'em down, how do we keep 'em that way until the authorities arrive?" Max added, pacing around Animo warily.

"I think we got that covered too. Right, Leafy?" the new girl said.

"Right, Watirma," a small voice said. A mass of vines shot out of the ground and entangled the dastardly duo.

"Whoa, a turtwig that knows entangle?" Gwen asked, climbing out of the pile of shovels.

"More like a new application of vine-whip," the wartortle countered. "Now that he's dealt with, I guess intro's are in order. I'm Irma, and this little guy is my old pet turtle Leafy. Well, turtwig, now."

"Then you know about ..?" Gwen started.

"Our new, improved, evolved reality, yeah," Irma sighed, climbing down with Ben, and picking Leafy up from where they had teletransported in next to the Tauros. "And you guys must be …"

"The famous Tennysons, scourge of evildoers everywhere," Ben said, puffing up his fuzzy green chest.

"Hello, anonymity, where ARE you?" Gwen yipped at him.

"Like Animo announcing us wasn't a neon sign over our heads?" Ben growled back, sparking. The Omnitrix chose just then to flash red and transform him back. "Ah, maannnn …" he sulked, glaring at his lavender-furred cousin.

"Hello, Irma," their graying grandfather said, rolling his eyes over their antics. "I'm Max, this's Ben, and Gwen. Thanks for the help, but if this rock-head's not behind what happened to everybody, we have to get going again." He motioned his grandkids towards the RBII.

"Good news for you guys then. I know where ya gotta go!" Irma said, and the three Tennysons whirled back her way in surprise.

"Oh?" Max asked warily.

"The Orrei region in Japan," Irma told him.

"Ja-Japan?" Gwen squeaked.

"Whoo-hoo! Sumo Slammers hometown!" Ben cheered, doing a small victory dance.

"How ..? Never mind, I'm sure you'll tell us more on the way. Everybody climb in, we've got a lot of road to cover," Max said.

"Actually, I can get us there a lot faster than driving," Irma retorted. She stretched to tap the Water Heart hanging around her neck.

"What'd be quicker than an Aurora-class interplanetary shuttle?" Ben blurted, knowing Grandpa Max would take advantage of their newly-refurbished Plumber's fleet workhorse to get them across the ocean in minutes. His cousin and grandfather both glared at him for his breach of secrecy.

Irma grinned wider. "Do you believe in magic?"

Wrong Channel!

(Author's note:) Here ends Ben 10's prequel for "Sorry, Wrong Channel!" As soon as the other participants are up-to-speed, we'll be seeing our favorite alien heroes in action again, so fear not faithful readers! Don't forget to leave a review on the way out, and we'll catch ya on the flipside. Thanks for reading, A J.