Ben Tennyson was no stranger to danger. He had faced countless alien foes, saved the world more times than he could count, and even traveled through time and space. But even for someone like Ben, life could be unpredictable. After defeating the evil Maltruant and saving the multiverse, Ben thought things would finally calm down. However, he was wrong. Walking through the bustling city of Bellwood, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He had seen strange things before, but this felt different. And then he heard the familiar sound of the Omnitrix beeping.
The Omnitrix is a powerful device that allows its wearer to transform into various alien forms, each with unique abilities and strengths. The device was created by an advanced alien race called the Galvans, with Azimuth being the lead scientist responsible for its creation. Azmuth designed the Omnitrix as a tool for peaceful exploration and communication with other species. He believed that by being able to understand and experience life as other beings, his people could learn to coexist with other species more harmoniously.
The Omnitrix resembles a digital wristwatch. Its faceplate is square and has a white, green, and black color scheme. The faceplate is black with two green stripes forming an outline for the hourglass of the Galvan tech logo. When the faceplate is slid back, the Omnitrix's core is revealed.
When Ben was 10 years old, he found the original prototype Omnitrix during summer vacation with his Grandpa Max and cousin Gwen. At the time, they didn't get along and often argued and bickered, which left their families estranged from each other. Ben's Aunt Natalie still didn't see him in a favorable light. She tried to hide it, but Ben wasn't as dense as many believed him to be. He was good at picking apart most emotions, especially those towards him, like Mr. Baumann's dislike or his Aunt and Uncle's feelings. He knew they didn't like him much, likely because he wasn't perfect like Gwen. He wasn't as well-mannered and was often compared to her whenever he visited their house. It was usually hidden behind heavy amounts of faux happiness to see him. His Uncle Frank was a bit better, and he could tell he honestly enjoyed him outside his table manners. On the other hand, Aunt Natalie barely acknowledged him, and when she did, it was usually to criticize or belittle him. It was never in an obvious manner, and she never outright said it to his face, but he could tell from how she said things to him that it was meant to belittle him without causing an argument within the family. He didn't think he could understand what she was doing, but he did. He first noticed the treatment from his Aunt when he was nine years old. At the time, he thought it was okay due to her being his Aunt and doing it in front of his parents. However, over the years, he was able to discern that it was pure malice toward him. He never brought it up to Uncle Frank or his parents because he didn't want to be a bother and cause a familial argument.
Despite his numerous victories, Ben always felt like he was living in the shadows of his cousin Gwen, his best friend Kevin, and even Rook, his former partner in the Plumbers. He felt like he was constantly compared to them, and no matter what he did, he never felt like he was good enough.
This feeling only intensified over the past few months. He had been on countless missions, faced off against some of the most formidable villains in the galaxy, and saved countless lives. But all of that had come at a cost. He was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
He tried to ignore the nagging feeling that something was wrong. He didn't want to burden his loved ones with his problems. But the more he tried to bottle up his emotions, the more he felt like he was drowning, it wasn't just his aunt but also people he knew like his parents that emotionally drained him constantly comparing him to Gwen due to how bad his grades our and how bad his manners were, he knew they were just trying to get him to improve but that wasn't what happened was that them constantly comparing him to Gwen made him feel inferior to her which lead to his hostility towards her until they were 13 or 14 when he was able to get over the inferiority complex towards her and thankfully his parents stopped comparing him to her or at least he thought until recently when Gwen went away to go to college and they started their old comparisons between them and it was worse than before, Being badgered about his grades had made him hate school, he had troubles focusing on the lessons and couldn't really keep up in terms of grades, he had a good memory and could easily pass a grade but he had problems focusing he was pretty sure he had some level of ADHD but he was never diagonised which is why he didn't do very good in school which is also the reason he often chose to roam Bellwood instead of go to school, he had to make up missed work but he didn't care he did better when he could work on it at his own pace he did it so much his teachers no longer cared if he came in or not so long as he turned his assignments in which thankfully improved his grades quite a bit so his parents once again but It didn't stop there cause of course he couldn't have a break, when he first became a plumber he was respected atleast minorly by most plumbers he met but after Rook became his partner he would catch several plumbers comparing the two it was never alright to his face but he could hear several of the lower and higher ranked plumbers complain about him and his fame and how they prefer seeing Rook over him cause unlike "that kid" Rook worked to be as good as he is and didn't get lucky to find the strongest weapon in the universe, this of course hurt his mental health even more, he did his best to hide his woes behind a mask of being nonchalant and carefree despite his inner turmoil, he didn't tell anyone because he didn't want to cause a fuss about it, they were simple opinions about him from people he didn't care about outside technically being colleagues.
Shaking his head from his inner thoughts Ben focused back on the beeping sound the Omnitrix was producing besides being a massive DNA bank and transformation device the wristwatch-looking device had many other features which included a communicator with a universal range he looked down and answered the incoming call, and allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he watched the holographic image of his Grandpa Max appeared projected from the faceplate of the device.
"Heyya Grandpa, is something wrong?" He questioned adopting his usual smile and carefree attitude, it was a mask to hide his inner turmoil and emotions and it seemed to be somewhat effective as the veteran Plumber Max Tennyson or to him and his cousin Gwen Grandpa Max, Ben had a lot to thank Max for it was his Grandpa's teachings that made him the hero he was today.
"Ben can you come down to HQ there is a situation brewing and you are needed," The man said with a serious tone before the green-hued hologram faded from sight, sighing Ben placed his hand onto the alien device prompting a different holographic display to pop up a simple rotating wheel on this wheel the headshots of several different aliens appeared, he allowed it to rotate until a suitable alien popped into his vision Terraspin was a large 7ft tall terrapin-like alien resembling a bipedal turtle who could "Fly" or more accurately hovered through the by rapidly spinning his flippers or fins or whatever they were called which allowed fast flight through the air.
He pulled his hand away registering to the Omnitrix he wanted to transform into the Geochelone Aerio, the faceplate of the wristwatch slid away to reveal the core pressing down on the core created a bright light that consumed its wearer and allowing the device to transform Ben into his chosen alien and with a sigh to calm himself he folded his head into his shell. His bottom two limbs morphed together while his arms extended upwards forming a Y shape before these 3 limbs began to spin around his shell like a turbine taking flight.
While he hid his emotional exhaustion from many he did a pretty good job hiding it away from his friends and family there was a group of creatures that he couldn't hide his inadequacies from and they all were always with him, literally from within the Omnitrix dozens of sentient creatures observed him thru a screen, the symbol that was currently on his chest acted as an ocular viewport into the primary device itself where deep down a group watched through a screen.
"Master isn't doing too well.'' A tall red-skinned humanoid bearing four arms, he wore a black tank top with a bright green stripe down the front. And long black pants wearing a green belt where another protruding Omnitrix symbol sat this was the tetramand sample within the Omnitrix aptly named Four Arms by the user of the device, he and many of the other aliens within the Omnitrix had been observing their master through the screen over the last few months, ever since Ben and Kevin tried to hack the Omnitrix a year prior the aliens have slowly begun to gain sentience aliens like Goop and Spidermonkey were able to escape in a panic as their piloted by basic instincts of their species not having fully developed minds at the time though thankfully Ben had recaptured them before they could cause any major harm, over the last few months they've been developing their own personalities and identities they managed to survive the destruction of the prototype Omnitrix and the deactivation of the first Ultimatrix and currently they resided inside a simulated world within the completed Omnitrix this simulated world resembles Bellwood as it was. Four Arms wasn't the only alien watching the screen currently projecting the terrain of Bellwood as Ben as Terraspin flew over the town.
"It's quite obvious my four-armed compatriot our master seems to be suffering from nervous prostration," A short reddish brown crab-like alien said, he had green eyes and a single thick green stripe flanked by two thinner black lines going along the top side of his head, around his "waist" was what appeared to be a green belt but was a breathing brace for Cerebrocrustaceans like him. The tetramand looked down at his much shorter friend with a blank look on his face, a different alien who had been talking to Terraspin before he was selected by Ben, the alien in question appeared to be a 5ft tall walking metal suit with a grill for a face the Omnitrix stuck squarely at the center of its "Chest" this was a Prypiatosian-B also known as "NRG".
"What the heck did you just say?" The Alien spoke in a thick Russian accent addressing the crab.
"What our crustacean companion is saying Master is suffering from Depression" The Galvan form, known as Grey Matter, spoke from atop the shoulder of the tetramand.
"Oh" came the reply from the mustachioed alien, the hyper-intelligent crab huffed annoyed "That's what I said" He spoke under his breath.
"Well, what're we supposed to it's not like we can help him" A different alien spoke up from atop a nearby building this was the freshly bloomed Swampfire he and the other resident firefighter Heatblast was playing a rather, heated, Game of dodgeball where the two would try and hit each other with fireballs, the Methanosian had a harder time hitting the Pyronite since said pyronite could fly! Taking advantage of the Methanosian's lack of attention to him and pelting him on the back with a rather large fireball that knocked him off the building.
"HEY! Cheap shot!" Swampfire exclaimed as he impacted the cement of the sidewalk below the burnt plant matter on his back regenerating from the figurative sucker punch from behind.
"The plant is correct we can't leave the Trix unless the boss rings us up and even then it's not like we can talk while he is in control of our DNA" The Russian-sounding alien spoke what everyone was thinking, not every alien in the Omnitrix was around watching the screen but a decent portion of them were present several of the more vocal ones were here such as Heatblast and Swampfire who were both a lot like their master cocky and loud while some of the quieter ones also were present like Armodrillo who could be best described as a gentle giant and rarely spoke unless he was told to and Upgrade the Galvanic Mechomorph only talked if spoken to or if it involved their master in someway.
"We could try and leave, it has been done before," the Mechomorph said the humanoid blob of green and black nanomachines spoke up they spoke in a cold and emotionless tone like all Mechomorphs, besides a certain red and black enemy of Ben, this brought the attention of the aliens present.
"You are referring to the release of several of our compatriots, correct?" Brainstorm questioned receiving a nod causing the brainiac to ponder on the idea.
"Yes, it's very likely if a similar incident were to occur it would be possible for several of us to escape the Omnitrix where we then could aid Master Benjamin in his mental battle But that implies that a similar feedback of energy would occur, remember Levin and Benjamin used a specific machine to cause said feedback energy" Brainstorm spoke rubbing his "chin" with the top half of his claw.
"What if we caused one ourselves?" the Galvan on Four Arms' shoulder spoke up causing everyone to look at him confused by the statement.
"And how do you suggest we do that?" The Pyronite questioned landing near the group "I hate to say this I agree with the walking bonfire" Swampfire said receiving an annoyed "Hey!" from the said bonfire.
"It's quite simple really if you think about it with a combined effort from Upgrade and someone like Feedback we could overload the system which would likely allow one or more of us to free ourselves from the device though it would be hazardous, to say the least," He explained.
"Uh yeah, that's putting it bluntly!" Came the snarky reply of the pyronite.
"Even if we did that, what's to say it would work as the hacking machine Levin and the boss used, what guarantees those who leave wouldn't just be a mindless alien like last time?" He wasn't present during the last incident but those who have relayed the tale to him so he had the basic gist of what happened.
"Well, that accidentally did grant us the sentience we now possess, so at the time we were freshly "Born" for the lack of a better term the basic instincts of our species piloted us possess so it is possible that since we already possess a level of sentience the Omnitrix will allow us to walk freely" Brainstorm spoke pondering out loud on the idea.
"That doesn't make it sound any easier than before," Heatblast said facepalming at the explanation.
"At least he said it in a way we all could understand," Swampfire joked causing those around him to laugh, In Heatblast and Four Arms' case, or simply chuckle in Gray Matter and Armodrillo's case, NRG, and Upgrade didn't react to the joke.
"We could always try asking them" the gentle giant of the group suggested, while the suggestion was intentionally vague most everyone knew who the Talpeadan was referring to.
"Nope. nuh uh, not happening" Four Arms shook his head while performing every possible "Nope" gesture he could with his hands. "I'm not gonna try arguing with them again last time they threaten to have me erased from the Omnitrix" The others showed similar sentiments the "They" they were referring to was the resident Celestialsapien also known as Alien X the currently strongest transformation unlocked though Brainstorm that there could be stronger forms yet unlocked.
"It was just a suggestion," the yellow alien meekly said, shrinking at the sudden loudness being directed at him which startled him.
"There's no need to be so hostile my red-skinned friend it wasnt a bad suggestion but compared to our first idea is more unlikely to succeed and if it comforts you we can ask the others to see if they'd want to try the plan" Brainstorm offered with the pyronite.
"Ugh fine I guess we can ask the others," Heatblast said crossing his arms over his chest, satisfied with his victory the crab scuttled off to ask around.
"Hey, something is going on the screen" NRG pointed out. His armored body was barely held up by a bus bench he had chosen to sit on.
He was correct on the screen the aliens still present could see Ben land just outside the storefront of Plumbers HQ timing out and reverting back to his human appearance before entering through the secret passage taking his time to compose himself so he could keep up his veil of happiness that has been increasingly hard to keep up over the past couple weeks, His critics like Will Harangue, Pakmar, and Mr. Baumann were annoying but their words have been cutting deep recently it but in reality, they were kinda right in specific ways didn't matter what he did he always ended up causing some kind of destruction to be it as simple as he accidentally becoming an alien bit too large for the space he was in and causing some level of destruction or other times when it wasn't his fault like being thrown into a building by the baddie he was fighting or one of his attacks being diverted into a structure nearby it didn't what it was but he was always being blamed for the damages caused which gave the formerly human Will Harangue more ammo against the teenage hero and while he had been spewing his hate against him for nearly 2 years now on his TV show which disheartened the Omnitrix wielder knowing that said show could survive this long showed he had enough supporters against the hero despite all he has done.
Ben shook as the elevator dinged, signifying he reached his stop, exited the elevator, and approached the main console where the squinty-eyed Max Tennyson stood observing the screen.
"Heyya Grandpa whatcha lookin' at?" Ben asked approaching the center console.
"Oh there you are Ben we've gotten reports of seismic activities from an abandoned train depot far out near Lost Soledad and here check this out" He taps away at a keypad on the Dashboard summoning up a photo of a tall and bulky figure with a small orange head.
"Vulkanus" Ben muttered at the sight of one of his most persistent and idiotic foes, not the most stupid he had faced but he was up there, given that he could likely retire with how much Taydenite he managed to get off of Kevin but he insisted in committing crime after crime and being forced to pay off his own fines.
"Not just him but there have been unconfirmed sightings of Dr. Animo we want you to go in and confirm his presence and stop Volkanus regardless of whether Dr. Animo is involved or not" Max explained turning to his Grandson.
"You got it Grandpa" Ben nodded at the information given he gave a wave as he turned to leave, it wasn't the first time he had been called in just to leave so it didn't bother him much anymore, Ben stopped and turned back to Max.
"By the way Grandpa Max where is Rook?" Ben questioned, curious about his teammate the Revonnahgander usually met him at HQ's front door, but he wasn't today.
"Don't worry he is dealing with a low-priority emergency in UnderTown he'll meet up with you as soon as he can" Nodding at the explanation Ben left the building as quickly as he could, Volkanus and Dr. Animo could cause a lot of trouble for the hero on their own and them possibly working together was surely a recipe for disaster.
Once outside again he dialed up the Omnitrix and this time got Fasttrack "Hey it's been a while since I've been this guy" Ben commented on the speedster's first appearance in a while.
Ben took off arriving just outside the abandoned train depot within a minute's time, the feline-like alien peaked through a broken window and could see a horde of Vulkanus' signature pickaxe-wielding lackeys and a large ray gun kinda machine where on a raised platform he could see the bulky orange alien and yellow-skinned male he immediately recognized.
Ben tapped the symbol on his chest "Calling in Grandpa, I can confirm the presence of Animo, he seems to be working on some kind of ray i cannot tell what its purpose is"
"Understood move and discern its purpose and apprehend the duo also I'm sure you can handle the two of them by yourself Ben but Rook is on his way to provide backup in case of an unseen third party is involved" He heard his Grandpa's voice come in from the other side of the device. "Alright on it!" he exclaimed rushing into the building and pummeling a few of the pickaxe aliens to garner the attention of the main duo.
"Who dar… Oh, come on!" Came the annoyed response of the leader of their leader "Tennyson!? How did you find us we were being extra cautious this time!?" Demanded the annoyed Volkanus once he realized who had intruded.
"Hey come on Volky it's been 5 months since we last spoke and that's how you greet an old friend?" the teen joked.
"Don't call me that!" He yelled in response annoyed by the nickname "You are always a pain in my side no matter what!" Volkanus yelled slamming a giant metal fist into the railing around the machine Dr. Animo was now hurriedly working on.
"I could say the same to you big guy anyways what's this machine for anyways looks like some kind of ray gun," He questioned looking towards the strange device.
"Why should we tell you?" Animo questioned from the dashboard pressing a few more buttons.
"Huh, usually you guys tend to belt out your plans to anyone" Ben jokingly questioned.
"Well, not this time Tennyson! This time you will find out what our glorious machine can do when it's tested on your meddling behind!" Animo laughed pressing a larger red button causing the machine to whirl to life and began to power up.
"Not gonna happen! I'm going to beat your behinds before that can happen!" he boasted rushing forwards to stop the laser, the machine was 50ft tall and looked like it had been cobbled together with rusted machinery from the 50 year old building with the ray being made from a satellite as the head of the weapon.
"Heh your Taydenite reserves finally run dry or did Dr. Animo insist on using the cheapest materials possible?" Ben quipped dodging past a group of Volkanus' henchmen and bashing them out of the way, of course, while slower generally than XLR8 or at least he thought so he never really knew which of the two speedsters was faster maybe after this he could test that out.
Seeing his men, or whatever these aliens were, Volkanus vaulted over the railing of the machine crashing down and crumbling the decades-old concrete below his suit's weight.
"You've been a thorn in my side long enough I'm gonna beat you into paste myself!" He roared his threat pressing a button on his belt causing his right hand to morph into a spiked mace before charging Ben.
Ben laughed in response to the threat "Oh I hadn't heard that one before, no wait I did way too issue generic and overused threats Volkanus" Fasttrack joked as he effortlessly evaded the larger male's wild swings laughing and egging on the attacks. Fasttrack dashed past his larger foe dodging a second strike.
Suddenly the Omnitrix blinked and Fasttrack reverted to Ben "Oh Come on It hasn't even been 10 minutes!" He briefly was distracted by the Omnitrix allowing Volkanus to strike Ben in the side causing a huge spike of pain to splinter up his body and sending him careening into a pile of crates smashing them into pieces and leaving Ben much more scuffed up than before now he was bruised, beaten and covered in decades-old soot and sand.
"Oww, Cheap shot Volkanus" Ben was slow to rise from the rubble that his impact caused but before he could dial up a new alien to beat the Detrovite into the ground he saw the dish that was the projector of the unknown device pointed at him shining a bright orange light as the laser fired at him and all he could do was scream.
Rook was in the Proto-TRUK about a few minutes away when in the distance he heard Ben's scream of panic which quickly changed to one of unseen pain as the building suddenly began to flash with Green and Orange lights.
"Rook to HQ I'm a few minutes from the abandoned Depot and I can hear the screams of pain that sound like they're coming from Ben Tennyson" Rook spoke into his badge as he gave his report and flooring the vehicle hoping he could make it to save his partner from whatever what was happening.
"Roger that Rook move in and assist we will send in a backup squad in case of unforeseen backup on Volkanus' part," Max worriedly said, Rook's mind briefly wandered to how he could "Roger" This but shrugging off the brief confusion of the human term, placing his badge down Rook shoved the driver's door open and pulling his Proto-Tool from its shoulder mounting and running towards the brightly flashing building.
KABOOM!!!! The surrounding area rocked with force as the building exploded from the sudden expansion of energy sending debris flying and cratering the earth below it, Rook was thrown back into the still-open door of his vehicle which slammed shut due to the air pressure.
The Vehicle turned and tumbled through the air as it was sent flying from the explosion it's tough hull saved it from being ripped apart due to the force but it was still pushed dozens of yards away forcing the Revonnahgander to grip onto the inside of the cabin as best as he could or risk serious injury from bumping his head into the twisting and twirling hull of the disguised truck.
It was a minute or two before the machine stopped tumbling through the air and crashed into the side of a small hillside with enough force to crumble the truck like a tin can it was due to his quick thinking that Rook was able to keep a firm hold on his Proto-Tool and switching it to blade mode and using the extended energy blade to carve his way out of the crumbled mess that was once his personal transport.
Once out Rook coughed hard, yep he definitely bruised several ribs though he can't rule out having a broken couple.
"Rook! Rook! Come in Rook!" He heard the Magister's voice coming from his communicator.
"Yes, Rook Blonko here reporting in" He coughed badly into the badge.
"Rook! What has happened the whole of Bellwood shook from that explosion, what happened!?" Max yelled frightened by the turn of events.
"I do not know Magister Tennyson i was unable to enter the building so I was unable to witness what caused the explosion" Rook spoke clutching his side as he informed his Magister of the events.
"Where is Ben can you see him!?" Max said desperately his voice laced with fear, the energy readings he was looking at were astronomically high he was sure Ben could be heavily injured if he was at the center of that explosion unless he was in one of his alien forms like Cannonbolt or Humungousaur who could take explosions.
As Rook finally managed to fully free himself from the remains of the Proto-TRUK he noticed motion from the cloud of dust and debris kicked up then noticed a green glow from inside, wait no he saw several glowing lights and was confused.
"Report, I can see several green lights in the dust cloud kicked up by the explosion" Rook spoke into his badge once more unsure of what was happening now, could it have been a botched portal experiment that caused an explosion but managed to bring whatever these lights were here?
Max was equally confused by this new information Could it be Ben? As Echo Echo or Ditto? Maybe it was a new alien form he unlocked that was covered in bioluminescent lights?
From within the settling dust cloud, one of the lights began to approach Rook, in case the source of the unknown light was hostile Rook shifted the Proto-Tool into its blaster configuration and leveled it as best he could with a bruised soldier.
"What's with all the damn smoke all of the sudden!?" a familiar voice as what appeared to be a Galilean stepped out of the smoke far enough to be recognized his eyes were screwed shut to protect himself from the sudden cloud of smoke.
"Ben?" Rook lowered his weapon, and the sudden new voice brought Gravattack to his senses and made him look at Rook with wide panicked eyes and in his shock could only say two words.
"...Oh crap"