Well, I think it's about time to wrap up this arc. It's been about three chapters, after all. Of course, there will probably be more arcs like this in the future.

I think I'll also feature Silkie in this chapter, because why not?

Chapter 5: Home Invasion

Blackfire sighed. It looked like Starfire and Ben were working together. Things were more complicated now.

For some strange reason, there was a van that could travel across water approaching them. Since when could a van travel across water, anyway?

"There wouldn't happen to be mines that I could deploy in the water, now would there?" asked Blackfire. That would be a good way to stop them from reaching the tower.

"Don't ask us! You threatened to send us to the Null Void...or whatever it's called." stated Cyborg.

"Trust me, you do not want to go there. Even Raven would be freaked out by that place." noted the alien.

"Even Raven?" asked Beast Boy.

"Yes. Even Raven." said Blackfire.

"I want my mother..." spoke the boy.

"Your mother isn't here to save you!" exclaimed the rebellious former princess.

"I wish she was..." said Beast Boy.

"Let's just focus on Ben and his little friend!" shouted Kevin. He was looking eager to having his revenge...even though he was no longer mutated by the Omnitrix.

"If you say so." said Blackfire.

Still, she wondered who it was in that van. Was it the Teen Titans West? The Teen Titans South? She wasn't sure.

Meanwhile, Ben and Starfire were still fighting Cyborg's robots.

"Why haven't you turned into an alien yet?" asked Ben.

Starfire scratched her head.

"I guess I've gotten so used to fighting as a Tamaranean that I hadn't thought about using the Omnitrix..." noted Starfire.

Ben shrugged. That made sense. He hadn't been born with the Omnitrix either...unlike Kevin who had his powers ever since he was an infant.

Maybe she would save it in case Ben's Omnitrix timed out. He couldn't stay as an alien forever...and when he did transform back into a human, he'd be vulnerable.

Unfortunately, he didn't know martial arts like Robin did. He would have a much easier time fighting crime if he did, now would he?

Eventually, Cyborg's robots stopped appearing. Apparently they had managed to get them all.

However, Starfire knew that they still had a long way to go before they reached the control room.

Since the coast was clear, they decided to keep moving.

However, they ended up running into Beast Boy's obstacles.

Fortunately, it seemed that these obstacles were more annoying than threatening. Beast Boy happened to have a fondness for practical jokes.

Starfire covered her nose as a stink bomb went off.

"It's times like this when I'm glad I can transform into an alien without a sense of smell." thought Ben.

She then got a pie to the face.

"This pie tastes pretty good, actually." noted Starfire, licking the crumbs off her cheeks.

Ben gave Starfire a handkerchief to wipe off her face.

If Beast Boy wasn't in danger of being sent to a place that apparently came out of his nightmares, he'd probably be laughing right about now.

Suddenly, Ben stepped on a whoopee cushion.

"Did I just cut the cheese?" asked Ben. He heard the sound of someone farting.

"If you're going to cut the cheese, can you make me a cheese sandwich?" inquired Starfire.

"You're being a bit literal-minded..." stated the boy.

"Sorry! I tend to have trouble understanding idioms..." noted the alien girl. It was part of getting used to the English language, she guessed.

"It's OK." said Ben.

Fortunately, Beast Boy's obstacles weren't a real hassle.

However, they now had to deal with Robin's obstacles.

"Smoke bomb!" shouted Ben.

Starfire jumped out of the way.

At that very moment, Ben's Omnitrix timed out.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Ben.

He turned back into a human.

Personally he had been hoping that he could at least reach Kevin and his partner before the Omnitrix ran out...but unfortunately, no such luck. Why was the tower so big, anyway?

Shortly afterwards, a batarang was flung right at his head.

"Wah!" shouted the boy.

Fortunately, Starfire tackled him out of the way.

"Thanks." said Ben. He wondered if the Batcave happened to have security measures like that. They didn't want the Joker breaking into there, now would they? He could fill the entire cavern with joker venom. And it would be a very bizarre death for Batman to die of laughter.

Once again, his Omnitrix was acting strangely.

"Something is going on here..." spoke the boy.

Starfire wondered what was going on. Her Omnitrix wasn't acting strangely at all.

Speaking of which, she decided to try using her Omnitrix. It might be difficult trying to scale the tower without shapeshifting into a different extraterrestrial.

She tried to find an alien that would best suit the situation. There were several possibilities, but some of the aliens would probably be a worse choice than others.

Eventually, Starfire chose an alien that was rather...sludgy. It seemed as good of a choice as any.

That particular alien happened to be familiar to Ben. His own cousin-in-law happened to be one. She had once stuck a "Kick me" sign on his back.

"You turned into a Lenopan? I actually went to a Lenopan wedding once..." said Ben. Unfortunately, a few of the Lenopans attempted to crash the wedding, but he had taken care of it.

Now the plumbers and Lenopans were at peace. He was so proud of himself...as usual.

"Are you going to name it or should I?" inquired Starfire. She wasn't sure what she should call that particular alien.

"How about...Mudskipper?" suggested the boy. It seemed as good of a nickname as any.

Starfire nodded. That seemed reasonable...though she had never skipped across a mud puddle. She simply flew over them.

Oh wait, she was being literal-minded again.

Fortunately for Starfire, Robin's Batarangs simply went through her. Perhaps it was no small surprise that Lenopans used to be a big threat to the plumbers. Blunt force did nothing.

Eventually, they managed to get past Robin's defenses.

However, they noticed that there were some mandalas on the floor. Something told Starfire that Raven had designed them.

If they stepped on them, they would most likely summon Raven's shadow apparitions. Ben found it ironic that one of Jump City's greatest superheroes happened to weaponize darkness.

They took care not to do so. It would be best to avoid fights if they could help it.

Finally, they reached Starfire's security measures...but she already knew how to get past them. She had played a role in designing them after all.

Suddenly, Ben noticed something strange.

"Is that...a giant silkworm?" asked Ben. He didn't know that silkworms could grow to be that big. Of course, he hadn't spent much time studying them.

Fortunately, he didn't seem to be hostile. He just seemed to be looking at them curiously.

Starfire's eyes widened in surprise.

"Silkie? Is that you?" inquired Starfire.

Silkie nodded. It was him.

Although, how many giant silkworms were there in the Teen Titans Tower?

Starfire picked up Silkie off the ground.

Fortunately, it seemed that Silkie had avoided being captured...unlike the other Teen Titans. Blackfire had simply not paid attention to him.

Silkie looked at her in with confusion. Why was there a sludge monster inside the tower? Did Beast Boy track mud all over the carpet so much that it came to life?

"Hmm?" asked Starfire.

Oh, that was right. Silkie didn't know about her new Omntrix. She hadn't shown it to him yet.

Fortunately, Lenopans were capable of shapeshifting. They had used that ability to infiltrate plumber bases in the past...before they made peace with them, of course.

She shapeshifted into her normal form, so that Silkie could recognize her.

Silkie licked her in the face.

"Is that...your pet?" asked Ben. He certainly seemed rather affectionate around her.

Starfire nodded. Technically, he also happened to be Beast Boy's pet, but he typically hung out in Starfire's room. He happened to enjoy the taste of Tamaranean food...though he didn't mind eating the tofu that Beast Boy consumed either.

"He looks cute..." noted the boy. However, something told him that his cousin would disagree. At least he and Starfire had similar tastes.

"Do you know where my sister is?" asked Starfire.

Silkie nodded. She was right up ahead.

He explained everything to Starfire. Despite him being a silkworm, Starfire seemed to be able to understand him pretty well.

"Wait...there's a boy with her? What does he look like?" inquired the girl.

Silkie continued explaining everything to Starfire. He didn't know Kevin, but he got the feeling that he was a BAD kid.

"He could shoot electricity out of his fingertips? That's...worrying." said the alien princess. Fortunately, being a Lenopan made you rather resistant to electricity. Dirt didn't exactly conduct it too well.

Ben's eyes widened in shock.

"It can't be...I trapped him in the Null Void!" exclaimed Ben. How could he have possibly escaped? Did he bribe a guard or something?

"You know him?" asked Starfire.

Ben nodded. The two of them had a very bad history together. The irony was that they used to be friends...until Kevin decided to do something insane, which was crashing two trains together.

"He's a REALLY mean boy...I don't think he listened to his mother growing up." stated Ben.

Oh wait, his mother had thrown him out. Sometimes he felt bad for Kevin, even if he was one of his most dangerous foes.

"I guess we should be careful then." said the Tamaranean.

Eventually, the two of them reached the control room.

As soon as they entered the room, Blackfire clapped her hands.

"It looks like you two managed to make it here...I have to admit, I'm rather impressed." said Blackfire. Still, she couldn't expect anything less from a duo that could both wield the Omnitrix.

"You're not sending my friends to the Null Void!" exclaimed Starfire. Not while she had anything to say about it.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me." retorted Starfire's older sister.

Kevin transformed his left arm into a sonic cannon.

"Is that Cyborg's arm cannon?" asked Starfire. Where did he get that? Did he break into Cyborg's room?

"This isn't good...he must have absorbed the powers of your teammates!" exclaimed Ben.

"He can do that?" inquired the alien girl.

Ben nodded. He had done that before with his Omnitrix...which had some unfortunate results for him.

"When will he stop taking things that don't belong to him?" asked Starfire. He had no respect for other people's property.

"It's like asking how many licks it takes to get to the center of the Tootsie Pop, the world may never know." remarked Ben.

"I'd like a Tootsie Pop right about now..." stated Beast Boy. He was in danger of being sent to the Null Void.

Kevin opened fire on Ben and Starfire, who quickly leapt out of the way.

"You know, I find it ironic that you've transformed into a being made out of sludge. I always thought your name was mud." remarked Blackfire.

Starfire launched sludge at Blackfire.

However, she sidestepped and activated the Nemetrix.

"Let's just see now...what would be best to deal with you in your current form...this looks promising!" exclaimed the black-haired alien.

As it turned out, Blackfire had chosen to transform into a Cascan...which was equipped with water cannons.

"This isn't good..." thought Starfire. Apparently, Blackfire had decided to take advantage of the fact that she had transformed into a mud alien by transforming into a living water fountain.

Blackfire fired a burst of water at Starfire.

"Aah!" exclaimed the Tamaranean. Unfortunately, she couldn't simply switch into a different alien...transforning into Voltage to combat Blackfire's Cascan form would be very useful.

"A lot of these aliens work for the intergalactic fire department...I can't imagine why." remarked Ben.

Fortunately for him, at that very moment, Ben's Omnitrix recharged.

"Phew." thought Ben.

This was a very good time.

Ben transformed into Wildvine.

He proceeded to lunge at Blackfire with his vines.

She attempted to counter by firing water at him.

However, this wasn't particularly effective against a plant creature.

"C'mon!" thought Blackfire.

Wildvine then proceeded to wrap Blackfire up with vines, causing her to collapse on the ground.

"That's one down!" exclaimed Ben.

However, Kevin approached him...in the form of a green rhinoceros.

"Huh? Oh, that's right...Kevin absorbed the powers of Beast Boy." noted the boy.

The rhinoceros started biting into him.

"Aah!" exclaimed Ben. If he had studied at school a bit more, he would know that rhinos happened to be herbivores...which didn't work in your favor when you were a Florauna.

Unfortunately, he was having a hard time holding off an animal of such a size, even if Kevin's duplicated abilities weren't as powerful as the original.

However, at that very moment, Starfire's Omnitrix timed out.

She flew towards Kevin and tipped him over.

"Hey!" exclaimed Kevin.

Fortunately, Wildvine was capable of regeneration, so the bite marks on him quickly healed up.

Starfire then punched Kevin in the face. Kevin wondered how somebody as cute as Starfire could be so strong.

Although, her sister appeared to be super strong as well. He felt more muscular after absorbing some of Blackfire's power.

In retaliation, he attempted to use Raven's abilities, transforming back to his normal Osmosian self.

However, Wildvine grabbed his arms and knocked him to the ground.

"You little dweeb..." muttered Kevin.

Suddenly, Ben heard the sound of Blackfire's Nemetrix timing out.

"Huh?" asked Ben.

Blackfire then proceeded to use the energy beams from her eyes to incinerate the vines holding her.

"Uh-oh..." thought the boy.

She then proceeded to fire blackbolts at him.

Ben frantically leapt out of the way. He wasn't looking forward to Blackfire making a salad out of him.

However, at that very moment, his Omnitrix timed out.

"This isn't going to end well." thought Ben.

Kevin seized his opportunity.

"You're mine!" shouted Kevin, grabbing Ben by the shirt.

However, at that very moment, Max's van crashed into the window.

"Do you mind? Windows don't come cheap..." complained Robin.

"Our apologies." apologized Max.

Gwen pressed a button and the force field surrounding the Titans was deactivated.

Blackfire clenched her fist. Things weren't going according to plan anymore.

However, Kevin didn't seem to be too phased.

"No matter! I'll still get my revenge on this little dork!" exclaimed Kevin.

"No!" shouted Gwen.

His hand began to glow with electricity.

However, before Kevin could zap Ben, the electricity began to affect the Omnitrix.

Suddenly, Ben transformed into a familiar alien.

As it turned out, he was now a Tamaranean.

"Wait...did you just transform into my race?" asked Starfire.

"I was wondering why it was acting strangely." noted Ben. Strangely enough, he greatly resembled his human self, only with orange skin, red hair, and green eyes, much like Starfire.

"So, you've got a new alien form, do you? It doesn't m-"

Using his newfound strength, Ben pushed Kevin away.

"Aah!" shouted Kevin.

"Can you help with me this? I figured you're more experienced than I am..." stated Ben.

Fortunately, Starfire was happy to explain.

"A Tamaranean's power is tied to their emotions...flying requires happiness. Starbolts require fury. And super strength requires confidence." said Starfire.

Incidentally, Raven's powers worked the same way. However, they were more difficult to control. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy for Starfire.

"I don't think Ben's in a short supply of confidence." snarked Gwen.

"Very funny, Gwen..." stated Ben. Although...perhaps he could use that confidence to his advantage.

Kevin attempted to punch Ben, but he grabbed his arms and knocked him into Blackfire.

"I wonder if Tamaraneans are as strong as Fourarms..." noted Ben. Although, Fourarms might be better for hand-to-hand combat...four arms were definitely better than two.

Blackfire then proceeded to fire a beam at him.

However, Ben countered by firing a beam of his own.

"I guess it works in my favor that you tick me off, doesn't it?" asked Ben.

Eventually, Ben won the beam struggle.

Gwen grabbed onto the Null Void Projector.

"Goodbye and good riddance!" exclaimed Gwen, activating the Null Void Projector.

"You haven't seen the last of us!" shouted Kevin and Blackfire as they were sent to the Null Void.

"Thanks for saving us." said Robin, shaking his hand. They hadn't been looking forward to being sent to an alternate dimension. A nightmarish one.

"It feels ironic saving a bunch of superheroes...but I'm glad I could help." spoke Gwen.

"You think you'll see your sister again?" asked Ben.

"Probably." noted Starfire. Still, she had fought her and won before. She could probably do it again.

For now, it looked like the day was saved.

"By the way, I happen to have gotten some circus tickets. You want to go to the circus?" asked Beast Boy, holding five of them in his hand.

"Sure, why not." answered Cyborg. He could use a good laugh after being captured by one of his sworn enemies and being zapped by another.

"I could do that." noted Robin.

"What's so funny about the circus?" asked Raven.

"C'mon, Raven! Where's your sense of humor?" inquired the boy.

Raven sighed.

"Fine..." said the girl with silver skin.

I hope you're enjoying this fanfic so far. I don't think we'll be seeing Blackfire and Kevin again for a while, regardless of them swearing revenge. You probably saw that one coming.

I think I'll make a chapter focusing on Raven next. Though Starfire might have the Omnitrix I figured I would give the other Teen Titans some screen time as well. There were some episodes in the Ben 10 series that focused on Gwen, after all.

And I'll also be featuring another Ben 10 villain. You can probably guess which one.