Chapter 23: Injured

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

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty Three of the reboot!

* Firstly, I apologize for a much later post time for this chapter this week. I ended up catching a summer cold early this week and I couldn't put aside as much time as I would have normally. I hope everyone understands.

* I don't really have anything to say in regards to this chapter, so let's get right into it!

Earth Prime

Ten Years Ago – December, 2008

The Tennyson House

Ben

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Ben and Gwen! Happy birthday to you!" A chorus of our family members sang happy birthday to Gwen and I.

Gwen and I both blew out the candles on each one of our cakes. After the candles had been blow out, my father patted me on my shoulder.

"So how does it feel to be seven years old, buddy?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"It feels the same, I guess." I replied. "It doesn't really make me feel special."

Gwen crossed her arms.

"I don't really know why we need to have our birthdays at the same birthday party." she chimed in. "I'm older than you, Ben."

I smirked.

Leave it to the brat to state that, I thought.

"Oh, shut up, you know it all. You're only older than me by a couple of minutes!"

I felt someone tap the back of my head and not so gently.

"Ben, don't say that about your cousin!" my mom spoke in a disapproving tone.

I turned to look at my mom.

"Mom, I was just teasing her!"

"Don't worry, Aunt Sandra. I know how to put up with Ben."

"Yeah, right. What are you gonna—" I began to speak when all of a sudden; Gwen grabbed my earlobe, twisted a little and pulled.

"Ow, Ow! Gwen, let go! Ow!"

I expected Gwen's mom and dad to do something, but they just laughed, along with my parents and our other relatives.

"Gwen, let go of me! Let go! Gwen! Gwen!"

Present Day – Monday, June 4th, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

"Gwen." I spoke in a low, hoarse voice as I began to wake up.

I looked around, finding myself lying in a dumpster. The last thing that I remembered was feeling as though I was falling and apparantly, I really had fallen from the roof. Lucky for me, I had landed in a dumpster I lifted up my right hand and gripped the edge of the dumpster in an effort to pull myself up.

I winced in pain, as a massive jolt of pain shot through my left shoulder. And then it all came back to me. Leon shot me in the shoulder and I lost consciousness. I tried to sit up, but I failed and fell back into the dumpster. I looked up to see a teenage boy looking down at me, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed.

"Help—" I tried speaking, but that was all I could say before I passed out again.

Seven Years Ago – 2009

The Tennyson House

Gwen and I sat cross-legged, side by side in my basement, playing Super Mario Bros. on the old Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

"God, Ben. Why can't you ever defeat Bowser? You fail every time, Doofus!" Gwen exclaimed.

I shrugged.

"I guess it's my horrible timing." I replied. "And plus, I don't work well under pressure."

"So, the time limit on the game?"

"I guess. I also have terrible focus. The firesticks usually take me back down to Small Mario. Or if I even manage to get to Bowser, he either hits me with a fireball or he just squashes me."

I tried to run underneath Bowser, but he jumped and landed on me.

"See, Gwen? Just like that."

In response, she cracked up laughing. I looked at her with an annoyed expression.

"What?" I asked after a second or two.

"You know that happens to you every time, right?"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Dweeb. It does not happen to me every time."

Gwen just chuckled.

"Whatever, Doofus. You still suck at Mario, though. Don't sweat it."

I looked around just to double check that my parents weren't down here with us. Once I had done that, I looked back at Gwen.

"Oh, yeah? Well, at least I'm not going to grow up to be a tomboy!" I hissed at her.

"You don't even know what that means." She replied as she chuckled again.

"Yeah, I do! I know that it means a girl with short hair like a boy's."

In response, she cracked up laughing once more.

"You couldn't be more wrong, could you?"

I looked down at the floor, my feelings hurt. And of course, Gwen didn't notice.

"Just take your turn." I said in a low, irritated voice.

Of course, Gwen didn't notice that, either.

Present Day – Monday, June 4th, 2018

Downtown Bellwood

Once I regained consciousness once again, I sat straight up, gasping for air. I had been lying in what looked like the small living room of an apartment. Before I could get a look at anything else, someone spoke to me.

"Are you alright?!" a female voice asked. "Can you hear me?!"

I just continued to sit there, still trying to catch my breath.

"Who are you?" I frantically asked as I looked at the person in question. "Where am I?"

The girl, who looked to be a few years older than me, looked to be of Asian descent, had medium length black hair. She also had somewhat brown eyes, maybe hazel colored.

"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is who you are. And also how you got into the dumpster outside my building."

"I was shot."

"Yeah, I got that part. The bullet went clean through, by the way. How did you wind up in the dumpster?"

"I fell from the roof."

"What were you doing on the roof?"

It was at this time that I realized I no longer had my mask on. So, I ignored her question.

"That's irrelevant. Why did you remove my mask? Don't you respect a secret identity?"

"The kid downstairs reported you to me. What were you doing on the roof?"

"Why couldn't you just leave the mask on?"

"Sorry that I disrespected your whole secret identity thing. Now please tell me what you were doing on the roof!"

I let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Fine, I was taken hostage by a psychopath."

I noticed the expression on her face ease up a little bit after I said that.

"Thank you for cooperating with me. But why were you captured by a psychopath?"

"I was trailing him and I underestimated him."

"Why were you trailing him?"

I remained silent in response. In retrospect, I don't know why I decided to stay silent. This girl pretty much already knows that I'm not exactly your normal person. When I refused to answer her question, she spoke once more.

"You're that vigilante type that the news keeps covering, aren't you?"

I once again chose not to answer.

"Well, if you are that vigilante person, then your outfit kind of sucks!"

"It's a work in progress."

The girl grinned in response.

"So, you admit to it? You're one of those vigilantes?"

I let out a sigh.

"Yes."

"Can you tell me which one?"

Which one? What does she mean? Are there other people like me in Bellwood, besides Albedo?

As I thought about that while I stayed silent, she spoke again.

"Come on, dude. Who am I going to tell? You can talk to me."

I sighed once again.

"Alien Guy. I'm the one that they call 'Alien Guy'."

She nodded and spoke again.

"What about your name? Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm not telling you my name. You seeing my face is bad enough."

"I disinfected and bandaged your shoulder, as well as resuscitated you. And I can't get you to the hospital as a John Doe."

I looked back at her with confusion.

"What's a 'John Doe'?"

"It's a placeholder name that hospitals use when they don't know the identity of a male patient. They use the same kind of placeholder name for females, too, only Jane Doe, instead of John."

I nodded, expressing that I understood what she said.

"So, what do you say? Can we get you to a hospital?"

"No way, not going to happen. I'm not going to any hospital. I'm risking your safety by being here enough as it is."

"But you were shot! You need to go to a hospital!"

"I can't go to a hospital. Alien Guy is a wanted man."

"So, I'm harboring a fugitive? Great. Just great."

"Is it okay if I stay here? I don't think it's safe for me to go back outside."

"Do I have a choice?"

"It's either I stay here or I go back to where I had been staying before. The only problem is, I don't think I can make it there in my current state."

She just looked at me for a few seconds, before eventually sighing.

"I won't kick you out. Honestly, it might be better for you to stay here for a while. That way, I can keep an eye on you."

It then dawned on me that I didn't even know this girl's name.

"So, uh, what should I call you?" I asked.

"My name is Julie. Julie Yamamoto. Speaking of names, you never gave me yours."

I said nothing in response. When I stayed silent, Julie spoke once more.

"Please, you can trust me. Who would I tell about you?"

I finally gave a reluctant sigh, but caved in.

"Ben. My name is Ben. Um, if I may ask, how did you know to patch me up?"

"I'm in medical school."

"Why makes you have an interest in that kind of stuff?"

"My father, Brian, was a Fireman. He most likely died on September 11th, 2001. His body was never found."

As she explained this, I saw a look of sadness on her face. She cleared her throat and spoke again.

"But not everything is bad. People like you, whether or not what the news say is true, are trying to do what they can to help other people. As for me, it was tradition for the men in my family to be take up the occupations of Firemen. I'm no fireman, but I want to try and be a doctor to at least try and follow in my father's footsteps."

That made sense in an odd little way.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I replied once she finished.

"Thank you for your condolences, I appreciate it."

"No problem."

"Anyway, I should let you get some rest. You can have the couch out here in the living room. It's the least I can offer you."

I gave her my thanks as I put my shirt back on over my bandaged shoulder.

"Well, my bedroom is just down the hall. If you need anything during the night, please let me know."

I nodded at her.

"I will. Thank you, Julie. And good night."

"Good night."

I laid down on the couch and surprisingly, fell asleep in no time.

Epilogue

The Tennyson House

Gwen

It had been several hours and I had heard nothing from Alien Guy. Then again, I'm not even sure if he could contact me. But I figured he'd find a way too, at least. Or so I had thought. I stood up from the couch, my worry now having been replaced by frustration.

If Alien Guy isn't going to be quick to help me, I thought. Then maybe it's time for me to take matters into my own hands.

Author's Note:

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

* What did you guys think of this one when compared to the original version of Chapter Twenty Three? Did anything stand out to anyone? How did I do with my introduction of Julie this time around? 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 thought of this chapter.

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

Director's Commentary

* Well, here we are again. So, just like for the last chapter, I only have one thing to talk about in this installment of Director's Commentary and it's nothing significant. Without further ado, lets get started. All that needed to be done was to changed some of the dialogue between Ben and Julie. Most of the dialogue in their original conversation was out of place and was also just kind of cringy. So, I cut some things and removed all of the dialogue lines that didn't fit in this new version. With that said, it's time to wrap this up. Thanks for reading.

Review Responses

Hamzah haha (Chapter 22): I had really hoped you would omit this scene from the revised version cause this is just really weird .. it has been established that throughout the story that Ben 10 or alien guy fights crime using his transformations .. it is his second nature to do so... so it seems highly uncanny and unnecessary kind of blunder to do at this point... although... so far the story had been way better than the original... I just hope there is no OP villains and consecutive ben blunders scenarios in this version( not anymore atleast)..

Thanks, Hamzah haha. Well, I'm sorry that you have complaints with this chapter. While I respect the fact that you have complaints, I hope that you respect the fact that I felt the need to keep this in the story. While you may disagree, I think the new version of the last chapter is much better than the original was. You use Ben using his transformations to fight crime as a reason as to why what happened to him last chapter is a highly uncanny and unnecessary blunder and I respect that.

However, I want to just take a second and explain my reasoning for doing this. Yes, Ben does use his transformations to fight crime, so maybe it was out of character for him to just jump Leon out of nowhere while still in his human form. I'll take the blame for that one, I never considered that, as odd as it may sound. Next, take into account Ben's age. He may be seventeen and very close to being an adult, but in my eyes, he's still very much a kid in some ways.

Kids that age (from my experience, at least) make all kinds of dumb decisions. One key dumb decision of Ben's was to throw his entire life away to protect his family from his enemies, even though there was probably another way. Anyway, Ben has never been in a hostage situation before and he panicked. He made a stupid decision in not trying to flee or in the very least, using the Omnitrix to subdue Leon, and it cost him.

I hope this part of the explanation makes some kind of sense and that I'm not just making a half-assed explanation or something. And another thing, in this chapter, Ben is introduced to Julie, who saved his life. I couldn't figure out another way to introduce her into the story. I mean, I feel like that it would just be weird for them to randomly meet on the street or something. Plus, I'm pressed for time with every chapter and I can only dedicate so much time to each one.

Sometimes, I just don't have much time to make major changes to the original story and this time, I don't think I would have been able to come up with an adequate replacement for that scene even if I wanted to. Anyway, I hope that I've made some kind of point and that I haven't irritated you further. Please understand that I am trying to better with this story and that I'm just doing what I think is best. Sorry for the long rant-thing. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: As Ben recovers, Julie introduces him to someone who could help him with his hero work in the future. Later, Albedo offers to help in fixing the situation with Leon Jones.