Chapter 2: Keen Fascination

I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network

Earth-Prime

Friday, May 25th, 2018

The Tennyson House

Ben

I woke up the next morning to my alarm going off. I got out of bed and turned the alarm on my phone off. I let out a yawn as I stretched.

"Six a.m." I said to myself.

I walked across the room to the light switch and flicked it on, before moving to my dresser. Once there, I opened one of the drawers, took out a pair of basketball shorts and put them on. Next, I went over to my bookshelf and lifted up one of the books that sat there on its side. The book in question was Herman Melville's Moby Dick. I kept the key to the lab underneath that book.

I grabbed it and slipped it into my pocket. I walked over to my bedroom door, unlocked it and silently opened it. I didn't see Gwen sitting out on the living room couch, so she was most likely still asleep in her room. Not that her being out there would stop me from going downstairs. If she was out there, I'd just exit my room and walk past her, telling her that I was going downstairs as I went. I left my room and closed the door behind me.

I walked down the hall and through the living room, into the kitchen and into the hallway that led to the basement stairs. I walked down the stairs, flipping on the light switch as I reached the bottom step. I walked over to the door to the lab, took out my key and unlocked it. I walked into the room, turning on the light as I entered. I walked over to one of the tables that I kept in here, sat down at the chair and put my key down on the tabletop.

"Okay, let's get down to business." I whispered to myself.

On this table sat a decent microscope, along with a package of glass slides and a tube rack, just some standard lab equipment, really. There was also a package of Band-Aids that sat there, too. I pricked my thumb and allowed a drop of my blood to fall onto one of the glass slides. I placed the glass slide under the microscope and before looking at it, I dabbed my thumb with a tissue, before balling it up and tossing it into a nearby trashcan.

I then took one of the Band-Aids from the box and put it on my thumb. I tossed the trash from that into the nearby can, too. After that had been done, I looked through the microscope. Once I saw what I had expected to see, I let out a sigh of disappointment. I grabbed the tape recorder text to me, brought it up to face level, hit the recording button and began to speak into it.

"Friday, May twenty-fifth, six a.m. I once again have checked a sample of my blood that was just taken and it seems that the alien watch is still changing me. I don't know what it's doing, all I can notice is that some of my red blood cells are turning green. Some of the cells remain red, while others change. It's unpredictable. My only theory is that the watch may be changing my DNA, but realistically, I have no idea what's happening."

I put down the tape recorder and removed the glass slide. I used a tissue to wipe the blood off of it. I would thoroughly wash it later, but didn't have time for that right now. I walked over to the filing cabinet that I had down here. I opened it and grabbed all ten of the folders inside, the contents of which were very thin. I returned to the table where I had sat the tape recorder down and sat down again to continue the recording.

"I have made my own files detailing the abilities and any apparent weaknesses of my alien forms."

I opened up Diamondhead's file.

"Diamondhead. A being made of some sort of fast growing, possibly organic material, as he's capable of growing large amounts of said crystal in a short amount of time. In terms of physical capabilities, he is capable of firing high velocity diamond shards as projectiles, capable of burying themselves in concrete and even punching through steel plates. When in hand to hand combat, his hands can transform into blades and thick lances, both of which are capable of doing serious amounts of damage to anything in their way, and for defense he is able to slam his hands into the ground, rapidly forming a crystalline shield to protect himself. As far as can be ascertained, he's impervious to all forms of damage, including gunfire, however I would rather not find out what his limit is.

Unfortunately, there were no pictures of the aliens.

Well, I thought. Pictures would be hard to get.

I moved on to the next file, as I shut Diamondhead's folder.

"With Heatblast, his body is comprised of some sort of carbon material similar to that of coal or perhaps a volcanic rock like basalt, with what is most likely molten lava or an equivalent material underneath holding the body together. The excess heat is bled off through the head, causing it to be perpetually on fire. Similar to Diamondhead, Heatblast appears to be impervious to damage, though whether it's to the same extent, I'm unsure. He is capable of forming and throwing balls of fire from his hands, and can likely throw sustained fire from his hands similar to that of a flamethrower, though I've yet to test this and confirm my theory. He can also absorb large amounts of fire, though he appears to receive no increase to his own firepower, and this is likely to prevent an uncontrolled fire from spreading. Should he come into contact with a large body of water, he is temporarily vulnerable as his flames are put out, and his body becomes cold, at least the visible parts of his body."

I shut Heatblast's folder and opened up the next one.

"The next alien form is Fourarms. His appearance is that of a large bipedal humanoid with four arms, four eyes, and is completely red in coloration. Across his body are multiple spines of varying lengths, though I'm unsure as to what purpose they serve. He has enhanced strength, likely caused by dense muscle mass beneath the skin, and in combination with his four arms, he's capable of lifting several thousand pounds of weight, and can easily bring a speeding truck to a dead stop. His physical capabilities are frankly quite insane, and despite his massive size, is surprisingly fast, and can leap incredibly high, allowing him impressive mobility, though his large size does limit it, nonetheless. And now unfortunately, we move onto Ghostfreak."

I closed the file on Fourarms and opened Ghostfreak's file.

"Ghostfreak is capable of both invisibility as well as complete intangibility, making him completely immune to any and all forms of damage while in this phased state. Despite his thin frame and frail appearance, he can extend his fingers into razor sharp talons, and can be a dangerous combatant thanks to his defensive capabilities. While his abilities would normally make him quite useful, there is a reason he remains my least used alien form. While in the other forms, I am able to tell that I am still myself, but at the same time there's a feeling in the back of my mind that I am someone else as well. This feeling is greatly enhanced whenever I am Ghostfreak, to the point where it feels like I'm being watched inside my own head, and as a result I try to avoid using him as much as possible. The implications that he might be alive within the watch itself, waiting for an opportunity to escape is—"

As I was about to finish my sentence, I heard Gwen's voice from the top of the basement stairs.

"Ben, are you down there?"

"Shit!" I whispered to myself. "Recording done!"

I pressed the button on the recorder and it stopped recording. I then placed it on the table with the folders, telling myself that I'd put everything back later. I then left the room in a hurry, shutting off the lights as I went. I wasn't sure if I wanted Gwen to find out about my secret just yet. As I left the room, I tapped the button on the alien watch, returning it back to its camouflaged wristwatch mode. I exited the room and shut the door behind me, locking it once more.

"Yeah, I'm down here!" I finally called back as I slipped the key into my pocket.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked as she came down the stairs into the game room. "Were you talking to someone? I could have sworn I heard voices down here."

Without thinking, I said the first thing that popped up.

"Gwen, are you fully awake?" I asked. "Are you sure that you didn't just imagine hearing voices down here?"

She shrugged.

"I suppose it's possible. I am still a bit tired, after all." She said as she rubbed her eyes. "Anyway, what are you doing up so early?"

I shrugged as well.

"I don't know. I always get up at six a.m. Get an early start on the day!"

"I was planning on making eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Does that sound good to you?"

"I was just going to have cereal, but yeah! That sounds great!"

She chuckled a little bit in response.

"Okay, I'll go upstairs and start cooking, then. You can stay down here and do whatever. I'll call you when breakfast is ready."

She turned around and headed back up the basement stairs. Once she was gone, I let out a small sigh of relief.

"That was close." I whispered to myself. "How would I explain having a lab and files on all these alien forms that have been popping up in the last six months?"

I disregarded that question as I walked over to the couch and sat down. I turned on the T.V. and my Xbox. I grabbed my controller and turned that on, too. A few minutes later, I had picked up where I had left off yesterday with Halo: Combat Evolved. I loaded back in just as Master Chief walked into the valley with the first Forerunner structure, right before the part of the level with the Forerunner cave. I was playing away and everything around me was a blur. It seemed that in no time, an hour had passed.

One Hour Later

I had just finished the second level, Halo, and had moved onto level three, The Truth and Reconciliation. On that level, ashamed as I am to admit it, I died three times. Two of them weren't intentional and the third death was on purpose. The first time, a Grunt had stuck me with a Plasma Grenade. The second time, a Hunter killed me with a Fuel Rod Cannon.

And the third time, which again, was on purpose, I was sick of being shot at. So, I jumped off the floor of the ship that I was on and fell to my death. I had just started up on The Silent Cartographer, when Gwen called for me.

"Ben, breakfast is ready!"

"Okay, I'll be right up!" I called back.

I paused the game, got up from the couch and walked toward the basement stairs. I walked up the stairs, through the little hallway before the stairs and into the kitchen. The food smelled great! She had even made my eggs scrambled, just the way I liked them! I just looked with a bit of surprise.

"How did you know that I liked my eggs scrambled?" I eventually asked.

I saw a light shade of pink appear on her cheeks, before disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Um, lucky guess? Anyway, just sit down and eat!"

I sat down at the kitchen table and she sat across from me. We ate in silence for some time, until she spoke.

"So, what have you been doing with your life?"

"Just trying to survive school, doing what I can to make my way through life at this current stage. What about you?"

I began eating a bacon strip as she answered.

"Well, right now I am jobless. But sometimes I make money from freelance photography."

Photography? That's cool.

"Really?" I asked. "That's cool. What do you take pictures of?"

"Can I tell you later?"

Maybe it was just me, but she sounded nervous just now.

"Sure, I don't mind."

As I finished that bacon strip and moved on to finishing off my eggs, I noticed Gwen eyeing my hand. My alien watch hand. I was pretty sure that it was in wristwatch form, but I snuck a glance at my wrist, anyway. It was. Once I saw that it was still in that form, I went back to eating my eggs.

"That's a nice watch." She eventually spoke up.

"Thanks. It's waterproof."

"Where did you get it?"

"For my birthday, in December."

"I know when your birthday is, Doofus, it's my birthday, too! Happy belated seventeenth, by the way."

I smiled with a chuckle.

"Happy belated seventeenth to you, too, cousin."

Oh, yeah, that's right, I thought. Gwen and I have the same birthday.

"What did you do to your thumb?"

I looked back up at her.

"What?"

"Your right hand. There's a Band-Aid thumb. What happened to it?"

"Papercut." I lied.

"Ouch."

"Mmm-hmm."

There was no need to go any further than that in regard to my "papercut". I finished off the rest of my breakfast and stood up from the table with my plate. I walked over to the kitchen sink with it, washed it off and put it into the dishwasher, before walking back over to the table. I stopped behind Gwen and spoke.

"That was a really good breakfast, Gwen." I said as patted her on the back. You may be an even better cook than my mom! I'm going to go take a shower and then we'll do something."

"Okay, see you in a while!"

I left the kitchen and walked toward my bedroom. After getting a fresh pair of clothes, I left my bedroom and entered the bathroom. I turned on the light and shut the door, before putting my clothes down on the bathroom counter. I began thinking to myself as I turned on the water and started to undress.

This whole "superhero" gig is cooler than I thought it would be. Being a hero and being able to stop crimes and make other peoples' lives better really makes me feel like I'm worth something! That should be good, but new gangs have started moving into the city, getting into firefights on our very streets. My ex-girlfriend, Kai Green, won't even talk to me. When we had broken up, I told her that we could stay friends, but she told me that it would be better if we never spoke to each other again.

I got into the shower and let the hot water begin to soak me.

And besides that, I continued to think to myself. There haven't been any big villains in over two months, not since the terrorist known as Doctor Animo threatened to detonate a bomb in Downtown Bellwood, claiming that it would de-evolutionize every human within a fifty mile radius. So, with all of this in the past and nothing happening now, I think it's fair for me to think that the sky is going to fall or something.

Two Hours Later

I sat downstairs in the game room, playing Halo: Combat Evolved once again, as Gwen sat next to me, with a controller in her hand, playing along with me. Right at the start of Assault on the Control Room, she asked if she could join in. So, I gave her a controller and we started playing co-op at the start of that level. We were currently playing the level 343 Guilty Spark, when she eventually broke the silence.

"Do you want to know what I do for freelance photography?"

"Sure," I spoke as we fought through Flood-infested hallways. "what do you do?"

She sighed.

"I could tell you what I do," she spoke. "But I think it would be better if I show you."

"Show me? You brought your pictures here?"

She nodded.

"I'll be right back." She said, pausing our game as she got up from the couch.

"But, wait—" I began to speak, but it was no use.

She was already headed for the stairs, showing no signs of stopping. Seeing that I couldn't stop her, I just got up as I took out my phone to see if my parents had called or texted me today. They hadn't. With a sigh, I put my phone down on the couch and began to pace the room as I waited for her. After a minute or so, she came back, carrying three orange Nike shoe boxes.

"So, you take pictures of shoes?"

She snorted as she rolled her eyes.

"Be quiet, Doofus."

She walked over to the side of the couch and sat down, setting down all three boxes on the floor. I sat down across from her with my back up against the couch. She pushed one of the boxes over to me. When I didn't do anything, she spoke.

"Go ahead. Open it."

So, I did and I was surprised by what I saw inside the box.

Oh my lord, I thought as I picked up one of the photos. You didn't.

I flipped the picture over and saw that there was a date written on it. I flipped the picture back over and looked at it with surprise. It was a picture of Diamondhead. I looked up at Gwen, who was beaming with pride, along with a hint of pink on her cheeks.

"What?" I finally broke the silence.

"He's so cool, isn't he?" she asked.

I nodded. It was kind of the only thing I could do.

"Um, sure. But why Alien Guy, of all people?"

"Alien Guy isn't a person, he's an alien! A shapeshifter!"

"How do you know?"

Gwen took a picture out of one of the two boxes in front of her. She showed it to me, it being a picture of XLR8. XLR8 was an alien form shaped somewhat like a Velociraptor or other medium-sized dinosaur, whose ability was super speed.

"So, what? It's XLR8."

"Who?" she asked with a look of confusion on her face.

Shit, I thought. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

"It's just what I call him. I know about them, or him, Gwen. I have names for all of them. Or all of his forms." I spoke, giving the first excuse that came to mind. "The picture that you have in your hand? The form in the picture, he's called XLR8, because he can run really fast. Faster than any human, probably even faster than Usain Bolt."

She nodded.

"Makes sense. Oh, and I have a hunch that all of these forms are one and the same, because of the hourglass symbol that they all have."

It's a good observation, I thought. But what if the hourglass symbol was actually a group insignia?

It was a pointless question and before I could even ask, she pointed to the one in my hand.

"What about him?"

I laid down Diamondhead's picture right next to XLR8's picture.

"He's Diamondhead, because his 'skin' looks like it's made out of diamond."

She nodded.

"I can see where you're coming from, but that doesn't look much like diamond to me. What about 'Crystal-Skin'? 'Crystal-Head'?"

I gave a light chuckle, even though I didn't really find the situation to be funny.

"Shut up." I said in a playful tone. "He's Diamondhead."

She shrugged.

"I just want to come up with cool names, too. No need to get defensive on me."

"I'm just trying to carry a conversation, Gwen." I said, before I took a deep breath. "Next picture, please."

She dug through the box and brought out a picture of an alien I called "Stinkfly".

"Stinkfly. Because he can fly and that stuff he shoots from his 'eyes', if that's what they are, reeks."

To my surprise, Gwen rolled her eyes in response.

"Why does everything have to 'reek' with guys? Wait, hold on. How would you know that the stuff he shoots has a bad odor?"

Damn it, I thought. Maybe that's another thing that I shouldn't have said.

"Well, Bellwood isn't the biggest city around. I've seen a couple of them from time to time, although I clearly haven't seen them as much as you have."

"And you're not surprised that we haven't run into each other at all?"

I shook my head.

"No, I'm not, now that you bring it up. And even if we did run into each other, it's been seven years since we last saw each other. I don't think we would have recognized each other."

She sighed with defeat.

"I guess you have a point, though it's not a very good one."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. As the silence passed between us, she pulled out another photo, this one of an alien I called "Wildmutt". In the picture, he was chasing after a group of motorcyclists.

"Wildmutt." I said. "Because he looks wild and he looks like a mutt."

She nodded.

"Fair." She replied as she took out another photo.

This one was of Fourarms, stopping a bank robbery.

"Let me guess. Four-Eyes, right?"

I shook my head.

"Fourarms. I think that one's self-explanatory."

She just chuckled as she took out the next photo. This one was a picture of an alien I called "Greymatter", deactivating a security camera.

Okay, seeing as Greymatter is an insanely small alien, I don't know how she got that one.

"Greymatter. He's small, gray and he has to be smart to deactivate a security camera like that."

She shrugged.

"I guess I can see that."

We eventually went through all of them and that was that. Gwen seemed pretty pleased with herself, seeing as she had a hobby that she really enjoyed (one she could make money off of) and seeing as I didn't have a bad reaction—at least not visibly—probably helped with that. But I don't know. Something about this just didn't sit well with me. The whole "she was taking pictures of my alien forms and making money off of them" made me uncomfortable. I let out a sigh as I got up and Gwen obviously noticed this, as she looked up at me in turn.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, it's just—look—it's great that you have a hobby that you enjoy and I'm happy for you. But I'm just not as interested in Alien Guy as you are and I don't really know what to say about this. This was just kind of a surprise that I wasn't expecting."

"That's fair. I think I can see where you're coming from. Do you want to continue playing now?"

I shook my head.

"No, I think I'm going to go lie down for a while, actually."

"Well, what do you want me to do about our game, then?"

"Just turn off the console."

"But we'll be reverted back to our last checkpoint!"

"That's fine."

"Okay, then. Well, I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah."

I then left the basement. Once I got to my room, I shut the door behind me, but didn't bother with locking it. I laid down on the bed, on my back and rested my forearm against my forehead. I sighed.

So, Gwen's been taking pictures of my alter ego, I thought. On one hand, it's good that she has a hobby that she really enjoys. But on the other hand, I'm still new to the super hero game and as time goes on, I'll only make more enemies. When that happens, if she keeps photographing me, Gwen could end up in danger!

I let out another sigh as I cursed to myself.

God damn it, I thought. I really don't like this.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed!

* Before I get to anything else, I just want to cover something here: You may have noticed that Ben's descriptions for his aliens were much longer this time around, much more expansive than their original versions. That was not my doing, my beta reader, annihalator2015, wrote that. He proposed that I should make the descriptions longer and more in depth. However, I am not good with making expansive and in depth descriptions, nor did I have the time to deal with it, so he wrote those descriptions for me. If you liked them more than you did the original version, than you have him to thank, not me.

* How did I do compared to the original version? What do you think of the fact that this time around, Gwen has a "keen fascination" with Ben's vigilante alter ego, instead of outright being obsessed with him? Give me any comments or questions that you may have in either a review or a private message, please. I am very curious on what you all are thinking with the reboot so far.

* Anyway, that's going to do it for me. I'm going to go, so have a great day and bye.

Director's Commentary

* So, to start off this installment of Director's Commentary, I want to say that any random lines or lines of dialogue that didn't age well are going to get cut. So for example, one line from the original cut of this chapter that was cut, was after Ben and Gwen's conversation, after she goes upstairs to make breakfast. As he's left alone, Ben says: "That was way too close! A few more seconds, and I would have had to kiss my secret identity good-bye!"

* Why would he have to kiss his secret identity goodbye? Obviously he's going to want to keep his secret for a while, like, don't spring that revelation onto Gwen right after she came back into his life, but is there any real reason why she can't know eventually? It makes sense that Ben would want to keep his secret for a while, but in the long run, the previous line had to be cut. The line that took place of the cut line may not be perfect, but it makes a little more sense.

* Secondly, around the middle of the original chapter, there's a scene where Gwen is watching Ben play Halo. Not that it adds to the chapter or anything, but I decided to make it where so she asked to play after some time. I mean, they really should be playing together, seeing as she's staying at his house so that they can catch up.

* Anyway, onto the biggest change from the original cut. I had no idea what made me thought that this plot element was a good idea, but looking back now, making Gwen have a borderline unhealthy obsession with Ben's vigilante alter ego was a terrible decision to make, not to mention that it's really cringy when I go back to read it. So, a change was in order. Along with changing the chapter title from "Obsessed" to "Keen Fascination", in this version, Gwen is fascinated by Ben's alter ego.

* And instead of them having an argument, they leave off on generally good terms and the reason that Ben goes to be by himself, is because Gwen's hobby makes him a little uncomfortable. Will of that said, it's time to wrap this up. Thanks for reading.

Review Responses

Patjeeson (Chapter 1): I am interested and I get the feeling this time you are more experienced, I am interested to see where it is going since I think your objective is to make the story more realistic and engaging ,more natural ...Good chapter

Thanks, Pat. I am more experienced this time around, but the big question here is: Is that experience enough? I have great ideas planned for this reboot, but who knows if I can properly display them and will they end up being better versions of what came before? The objective is to make the story more realistic and engaging, to make it feel more natural, but I'm also focused on cutting out all of the bits that don't work or just don't hold up. Thanks for the review, as always.

Cesar D. Sizun (Chapter 1): Now isn't this looking promising? The OG Bride to Be was an interesting concept, and i felt there was something there; unfortunately though, it fell a little flat in execution. There's a fine line between homaging and, excuse the bluntness, downright copying something. It became really hard for me to complete it while thinking "this could have been a little more subtle." And this is not to be mean, I stopped writing my own stories because of the same issue. But even now, just with the first chapter the difference is palpable. I'll be waiting for the next part. Read ya.

Thanks, Cesar. Pardon my (maybe) harsh words, but I don't think Bride to Be was ever an OG, first volume or not. The original version of Volume One is my second least favorite thing that I've ever written. And again, to sound harsh or anything, but Volume One didn't fall a little flat, it fell very flat. I don't mind you mentioning the whole copying thing. I realize that and I'm going to try to do better in that aspect. And I sympathize with you about quitting your own stories.

I don't like to talk to it very often, but at the very end of 2019, I nearly quit writing for all of my stories on here. If it weren't for the fact that I have a beta reader, as well as a second person working on Bride to Be with me, I would have quit without hesitation. And had I done that, the last couple dozen chapters that were a joy for me to write for Bride to Be, wouldn't have existed. We all make mistakes man, and I'm still trying to learn from mine. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: The aforementioned Doctor Animo returns and sets a trap for Ben. Because of this, Ben makes a rash decision and as a result, faces great consequences.