A Hero's Life Reboot EP 24: It came from inside the box.
I don't own anything except my OCs.
In a small town in the peaceful, wooden state of Oregon, all is quiet and normal for the town as people are out and about for the day. In an antique store, an orange-haired man is reading at his counter as his son is playing a handheld game on the floor. After listening to the kid's game beeping and zapping sounds, the man spoke out. "Can't you see I'm trying to read my stories, Wilbur? Go play that thing somewhere else."
"Yes, Pa…" The boy groans as he heads to the back of the store and sits on a chair to keep playing. But while he was doing that, a strange box on a shelf in front shook, getting the kid's attention as he went over. As the boy investigates the strange object, wondering what it is, he is surprised when it floats and splits into 3, slowly matching the markings on it as the lid opens. But as the boy peeks inside, he screams out loud as his father is shocked while a monster's roar is heard throughout the store!
Intro:
The screen is black, only for a bolt of green lightning to make a flash of white light as upbeat music is heard.
Ben stands as he is smirking at the camera as a black with green bubbles background is behind the tween, making the boy raise both his arms and show off his new Omnitrix and then slap down with a grin, making a flash of light.
"BEN 10!"
"He's a kid and he wants to have fun!"
Upgrade with hands on hips appears as a close-up of his face shows up in the background as a bolt of lightning comes down.
Big Chill flies across and freezes as the same thing happens to Swampfire, leaping out of an explosion.
"But when you need a superhero, he gets the job done!"
"BEN 10!"
Shock Rock smashes his fists together, sending out waves of electricity that affect the 4th wall.
"With A device that he wears on his arm."
"He can change his shape and save the world from harm!"
Ben poses with his Omnitrix, just as headshots of Shock Rock, Water Hazard, Big Chill, and Crashhopper show up, one-by-one.
Rath was staring at Grey Matter, who hopped along a bunch of platforms with the watch symbol on it. The tiger alien was confused before it turned into rage as he held his head in anger.
"When trouble's taking place."
Ben was then running towards the screen.
"He gets right in its face!"
"BEN 10!"
Humungousaur, Slapback, Fasttrack and Gravattack's headshots show up as well!
A green circuit board background is shown as 5 aliens show up in a row. Ben was staring at the 4th wall as his right side was shown. The aliens are Shock Rock, Fasttrack, Rath, Swampfire, Gravattack, and 4 Slapbacks.
"When lives are on the line."
The same thing happens with his left side as more aliens appear. The aliens are now: Big Chill, Water Hazard, Grey Matter, Humungousaur, Crashhopper, and Upgrade.
"It's hero time!"
"BEN 10!"
It ends with Ben and Alex, standing side to side with crossed arms and smirks as well as Normie and Madison on Ben's side and Sam and Clover on Alex's side the title appears above.
The spies were enjoying a sunny morning in their P.J.s, watching their favorite shows on the T.V. with smiles. "Ohh! I hope Jeff picks Jasmine over Cindy! She is way hotter and has a sweet personality to match!" Clover squeals out. As the blonde is waiting in anticipation, the teens are startled and annoyed at the loud, blaring rock music being played. Sam glances back to see Ben and Normie, rocking out to the music player.
"BEN! NORMIE! Can't you 2 play that somewhere else or at least turn it down?! We're trying to listen to our show!" "Well, we want to listen to music! This track is hot!" The blonde kid responds to the redhead teen as they keep rocking and doing the air guitar. Clover, having enough, stomps over and ejects the CD, taking it as the boys notice. She then pushes a button on the counter and drops the CD in an incinerator. "There! Now it's hotter." "Aw, man…" Ben groans out in disappointment, but Normie is angry. "HEY!"
Both cousins got in each other's faces as they growled while baring their teeth as sparks flew. "That was my favorite CD, and you know it!" "Well, serves you right for the time you ruined my favorite hair dryer when you buried it!" She then pulls the kid's shirt over his head, spins him around, shoves him away as he struggles, and gets it back down. "I hate it when you do that! Come on, Ben! Let's go somewhere else where Teens aren't around to boss us!" He drags his friend away as Clover huffs with her head up and back turned.
The 2 kids went into the Garage as Ben talked to the upset blonde preteen. "Come on… Don't you think you little overboard for a CD? We can just get a replacement." "If it were your favorite CD, would you react the same?!" Ben put some thought about it if it was him and Gwen. Before he could respond, they both got a beeping phone alert as they checked to see the Forever Knights. "Guess it's Paranormal time." "At least Clover can't bother me when I'm out, monster hunting..." Normie mumbled as they both got into the Buggy and drove off as they followed the directions on the phone.
The boys met up with Maddie as they entered the Throne Room and saw a woman with brown hair and tanned skin in a white coat and pants playing a handheld game. "Who's that? A new person?" "Be careful, Squire Luna. She is not who she looks." The knight warns Madison but despite the knight trying to warn the blonde boy, the kid puts on a cocky grin and walks forward. "Hey! The name's Normie Ewing, Monster Hunter extraordinaire. Probably heard of me? I am the big guy in my group, so I'm practically the leader!"
Ben just facepalms at the display as Madison had an anime-like deadpan look. The woman merely snarls at him as her eyes silt and her forked tongue hangs out as she spits some goo at the kid's face, surprising the other 2. "Hey! It was just a question, lady!" Normie spoke as he wiped the gunk off. Sir Cyrus shows up as he speaks. "Don't take it too hard, Squire Ewing."
He took a remote and zapped the woman into an orange beast-like creature with tentacles for legs. The kid was stunned as the man explained. "Amber is a creature from the Omega Nebula, they can cloak themselves as humans. If not for their bad manners, they would be dead ringers." Maddie got a coy smile as Ben chuckled. "Dude... You sucked at picking up girls!" "First Clover, now her? Looks like today is not your day with older women, Norman." The blonde growls out with a steaming look at the purple-haired tween as she gets a mischievous look with a tongue sticking out at the blonde.
Sir Cyrus then gets their attention. "Now, for the reason why the knights have summoned you: We had just received reports of strange occurrences plaguing a town in Oregon." "What kind of strange occurrences?" Maddie asks as the man answers. "Spontaneous animation of inanimate objects, odd weather patterns, inexplicable mutations, that sort of stuff to start." "It could be the work of an alien, or a supervillain! Or an alien supervillain!" Ben exclaims as the man speaks out. "Possibly, but not likely. Good luck!" The kids were out and on their way.
On a dirt trail on the way to the town of the strange events, The Omni-Buggy drove through the dirt as rock music blasted out of the speakers. The boys were jamming to it as Maddie merely groaned while covering her ears. "Got to love the Buggy's sound system!" "Yeah! No Clover to trash our kicking songs! Crack up those tunes!" "You boys…" Maddie groans out as the guys are guys. They soon arrived at a Sawmill as a local officer noticed the vehicle approaching. As the boys kept bobbing their heads, Maddie had enough and shut the music off. "Guys! We're going to get in trouble with local grown-ups for disturbing the peace."
Just then, the office taps the side of the Buggy with his club as all eyes are on him. "Better hope not! Otherwise, you be spending the night at jail with the local riffraff! And you want to talk disturbing, we got some oddballs in these here parts. Anywho, I'm Sheriff Kribbs. And judging from this vehicle and the fact that you're all a little young, you must be the 'Junior Specialists' that are sent over." "That's us!" Ben replies.
The kids got out as Normie asked out. "So, what's the deal, sheriff? What strange things are going on?" "Well, it all started with Wilbur here. Seems the boy has developed some peculiarities." They glanced at the boy, wearing a scarf and cap to cover his head, except his eyes. Maddie approached the boy and asked out. "Can you tell us what happened, Wilbur?" Only for the sound of a goat beating to come out of his mouth as the trio were confused as his father explains, while taking off the cap. "He hasn't been able to speak a word in days."
Wilbur now has horns on his head as he reveals a goatee and pulls his pant legs up to reveal his legs are now goat legs as the kids were surprised. "Well, that explains the 'inexplicable mutations'. Poor dude, but don't worry! I've seen worst before." Ben comments as Maddie asks out. "Did he eat anything weird, lately?" "No… But of course, all he eats is them 'Cosmic Cookie Flakes'." "Cosmic what?"
Normie explains as the background changes to a cereal box while a chibi version of him explains. "It's a breakfast cereal, Mads. And while it doesn't contain any of the boring, typical all-natural stuff of your normal morning spread, it doesn't contain anything that gives people goat legs." "Plus, it doesn't explain what happened with the Wilsons." "The Wilsons?" Ben asked out as the kids glanced at the Sheriff. "I'll shoot you over and you can gander at them."
"No thanks! Give us the address and we can shoot ourselves over." Maddie replies as they gather in the Buggy. But the Sheriff leans in as the kids get a little worried. "I wouldn't advise it, missy. Especially with the dark forces lurking about." "Uh… Thanks for the 'friendly warning'." Ben replies as he shifts gears and the Omni-Buggy shoots away.
The kids arrived at the farmhouse of the Wilsons, only to find it trashed! "Whoa… Some storm they had." Ben spoke, just a voice caught their ears. "Twas no storm, younglings." They glanced over to see the Wilsons, sitting on dirt as the male was carving a wood stake with a knife, having their backs turned. "Then what happened?" Maddie asks as the woman responds. "All I remember is a loud shriek, thought it was a wild animal. Then the house got cold suddenly and then WHAM! It was demolished." "Can we have a look around?" "Whatever blows your hair back." The woman responds as the kids look at their front and are surprised to see the couple had the look of traumatizing fear in their eyes as they look emotionless, making them glance at each other in worriment.
The kids left as they looked around. Ben is now Raptor-Rang, hoping his keen eyesight and sense of smell can help. "Okay! Whatever force that turned Wilbur into a goat hybrid, also wrecked this house hard!" The girl then points out. "Well, I don't see a connection between the 2. Or this 'force'." As the kids spoke, Raptor-Rang spotted something weird on the ground, scratching his head in confusion, he called out. "Normie, Maddie! You might want to check this out!"
They came over to see some sort of spiral on the ground with arrows around it as a symbol as the alien points out. "An arrow… And there's another one! And another one!" "All connected to the spiral… Was it made by a tornado?" The girl asks the blonde. "No way! The pattern is too perfect and clean to be a cyclone's work. This is the work of the supernatural! Looks like a mini-crop circle." Normie comments as Raptor-Rang speaks out. "Maybe a scan can figure out this mystery."
The girl nodded and brought out her Disc and took a sample of some slime on the ground. Just then, a sudden breeze blew by as Raptor-Rang suddenly shivered out of control. "Hey! Who cranked down the heat?!" "Must be nippy out?" Madison states. Suddenly, a shriek is heard in the distance and the trio are surprised. "A shriek, just like the Wilsons said!" "It's coming from the Sawmill!" Raptor-Rang spoke out to Normie.
The Omni-Buggy arrives to see the Sawmill up and running as a crowd of people gathered. "What happened?" "It's the Sawmill! She just up and started, all on her own!" The Sheriff responds to Ben as they watch the saws keep cutting logs. Only for the crane to stop working as one of the blades shakes, making the trio gasp as the people panic and run away as a man cries out. "It's some sort of evil force!" "This can't be good…" Normie breaths out. The blade then breaks off and hovers in the air- heading towards the kids as Ben switches the Buggy in reverse and takes off. "Ben! What are you doing?! It's hero time!"
"That's the point, Maddie! Leading this thing away from the people and the town!" Ben responds to the girl as they turn the vehicle around and drive off with the saw on their tails. As the Buggy speeds through the woods, Ben glances back to see the Buzzsaw is still chasing them. "It's gaining on us!" "Not for long!" Ben exclaims to the purple-haired girl as he shifts gears and speeds up. Only to hit the brakes. "Why did you stop?!" Normie exclaims. "Because we're back at the beginning!"
The Omnitrix-welding youth is correct as they somehow were back at the Sawmill as Madison cries out. "What?! But the mill was behind us! How is this possible?!" "Anything is possible in this freakshow of a town, from the looks of things!" Ben comments as Normie glances to see the saw is still heading towards them! "Try the other road, now!" They took off as they drove down another road. "HANG ON!" Ben cries out as he makes a sharp left turn and goes tumbling down a hill, avoiding trees as Maddie screams.
Once they came to the bottom, they only found the Sawmill again! "It's no good! Every road keeps taking us back here!" Madison cries out. "Then we'll do it the hard way!" Ben exclaims as he drives through the Lumberyard as the blade keeps chasing them. Ben then spots a rock as he gets an idea. "Come on, we're right here!" Ben exclaims as he drives towards the rock and pulls on the E-brake at the last second, swerving away as the blade hits the rock, becoming stuck.
"That was close… And crazy! What were you thinking?!" "Crazy is my specialty!" Ben grins out as Maddie gets annoyed as Normie laughs. The kids got out as they examined the shaking blade. "Okay: We got a mutant 10-year-old, a ghostly tornado, and a killer flying sawblade! What's the connection? Because I don't see any at all!" "Yeah… It's like this place is crazy." Ben comments as a Forever Knight hologram appears out of nowhere. "Actually, it's chaotic, to be precise." "GAAAHHHH!" The kids screamed in shock as they gasped for breath.
"Don't do that!" Ben cries out. "Are you trying to scare us to death?!" Normie cries out. "Apologizes. But I do have the results of the scan you showed. The symbol is an ancient representative of Chaos. It comes from the Middle East in the year: 400 A.D." "But why is it here in Oregon?" "That's why we have field agents like you, Squire Luna: To investigate why strange anomalies are happening." "Let's see if the old Legendex knows something about this…" The blonde kid ponders out.
Ben brought out his phone and the holo screen as well as he typed in the keywords. "Okay… Middle East… Chaos… Searching… Hey! We've got a match!" Normie exclaims at the results. The kids gathered around as Normie read the selected legend. "'Legend of the Chaos Beast'. This sounds good. According to this, a magic man in the Middle East wanted peace for his people. So, he decides to create a magic spell to turn all the world's chaos into 1 beast. He then locked the beast inside a magic box, where it is supposed to stay imprisoned for all of eternity."
"Well, the beast must have been freed! It's the only explanation of what's going on in this insane town." Maddie spoke out as Ben declared. "We need to stop this thing before it can spread chaos, all over the globe! Then the Universe!" "You sure about that last thing?" "Give it time…" Ben replies to Maddie as the Knight waves off. "Then, we leave you to your quest on slaying the beast, young knights. And remember! We're always here for reinforcements." The disc flew away as Ben scoffed with crossed arms. "I rather be cleaning gunk off of Vilgax's feet than call the Forever Knights to save us."
Normie spoke out. "Okay… So, we know who our Monster/Villain is. But where can we find it? This case is getting my goat." Ben's eyes widened at the blonde's words as he pointed at him. "What was that last thing you said?" "Get my goat?" "Goat! That's it! Wilbur was becoming part goat, and the sheriff said this all started with him!" Maddie figures it out as she adds in. "You're right! Maybe he knows something about this?"
The Omni-Hunters arrived at Wilbur's home, after getting directions, and looked around the store. "So, Wilbur's father has an antique store? Kind of figure that since some horror stories start with antique shops." Normie points out as Ben cries out. "Anyone home?" Ben got tons of footsteps as they gazed around, only to be surprised at a shadow as they whirled back to see Wilbur, now a complete goat with his clothes on him as Ben exclaimed. "Whoa! Wilbur's gone full goat!" "Wilbur? Can you understand us? We can help you, but we need to find a special box. It's the only way to turn you human." The girl asks.
Wilbur bleats as he walks past Maddie and they decide to follow him. They make it to the back as the goat-boy points at the Chaos Box. "So… This is the Chaos Box, huh?" Ben ponders as he slowly reaches for it. "Ben! Wait!" Normie cries out as Ben glances back, only for the box to suddenly open as a light came out, causing Wilbur to flee in terror as the Hunters got sucked in with screams, closing the lid.
"Ben? Guys?" Madison spoke out as her eyes were seen in the darkness as Normie's eyes showed up. "I'm here! And I'm okay… No thanks to Ben here!" "Hey!" Said boy's eyes pop up as he narrows them. "It was an accident!" The boy fishes his phone out as he uses the flashlight to show the kids a square chamber, covered by strange markings and writing all over. "This is why I don't like the Paranormal, guys. 3 words: Creepy, freaky, and slimy." "Huh… Sounds like an ad for a Halloween toy." Ben comments to the girl as they look around. "Wonder what these weird drawings are?" "Who cares about the writing?! Where's the heat in this place? It's freezing!" Normie complains to the alien tween as he holds his arms and he shivers at the cold air.
As Ben looks around, he spots something. "Sheesh… Talk about a face only a mother can love. Check this out!" The kids glanced over at a picture of a monster. "Must be the Chaos Beast, itself..." Ben mumbles out. Suddenly, the room starts shaking as the walls start closing in! "The walls! They're going to turn us into pancakes!" Maddie cries out as Normie exclaims. "Yeah! And I'm more of a waffle guy, not pancakes!"
"I'm on it!" Ben exclaims as he activates the watch and rotates the dials a couple of times. "And for the record, pancakes rule!" FLASH "RAAAAHHHHHH!" Humungousaur bellows out as he squats over. The kids were feeling squished as Normie cried out. "Dude! turning into the huge dinosaur guy in a small space?! Really!?" "I don't see you coming up with something!" The alien dinosaur snaps back as he rams his shoulder into the side, unknowingly sending the box tumbling over with his super strength as it crashes on the floor.
In a flash of light, the trio were back outside and in normal size. "Sweet! We're back to normal!" "Knocking the box over and breaking must have freed us!" Normie pointed out to Humungousaur as the alien had an uncomfortable look and he got into a ball-like state as he was scraping the ceiling. "Yeah… But maybe I should have gone Shock Rock instead."
"Bigger problem, guys," Madison spoke as they looked at the remains of the box. "The box is broken! We don't have anything to trap the beast with it." Normie spoke out. "Okay! Ben and I will look for the beast, while you stay and fix the box!" They rush out as Madison glances at the pieces. "Okay… I once fixed a vase I broke at the White House before the Secret Service or Mrs. Quivers was able to find out. I can do this. I think?"
Snow is covering the town as the sky turns red as a couple of hours have passed. Normie runs on the roofs in his suit as Fasttrack super speeds all over, searching high and low as he keeps passing by the townsfolk that are turning into animals. "Find anything?" Fasttrack spoke out as Normie landed near him. "Nothing... And we're running out of time. This town is getting more chaotic by the minute! How are we going to find a Chaos Beast in a town?" Both boys crossed their arms as Fasttrack spoke out. "Too bad we can't trick the monster. That always works on TV."
The Blonde's eyes flashed open as he slapped his fist in his palm. "Of course! The magic man of legend made a spell that created the beast in the 1st place, right? Maybe that spell can bring it out!" Normie activates his wrist computer as he brings up the spell on the Legendex. "Good thing the suit can translate the writing. Wish me luck." The blonde stared at the translated text, studying it for a bit until he took a deep breath and spoke out the spell. "Abu nocto raela hai malu naktufilanka!"
Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing and most of the animals scattered. "I think it worked." Fasttrack comments as he glances back. But just then, a swirl of wind appears in front of the boy as they don't notice, only for a roar to catch their ears as they cry out in surprise at the Chaos Beast!
The beast has an upstanding slug-like appearance with a single red eye and antenna. The beast roars to the skies as its flam-like mouth shows its sharp teeth. "I think I like the drawing version better! Look out!" Fasttrack grabs Normie and speeds away as the beast lunges at them, missing as it stretches out several tendrils that miss the alien and grabs a car, crashing it into scrap. "Glad that wasn't our ride..." Normie mumbles out. The beast then turns itself into a water state as Fasttrack times out. "The beast changed state!"
"Really?! How!?" Normie cries out as he uses the Bungee Belt to get the boys to high ground. "He's chaotic, Normie! As in made of different things! He can turn into a solid, liquid, or gas! Like how some of my aliens can do that!" Just then, a torrent of water rises as the Beast's eye opens, narrowing at the boys as they quickly run. They jump off the roof as the beast attacks, making them land in the water as it disappears, making the Chaos Beast transform into a white cloud of smoke and look at Ben as the boy blinks. "Uh… Is it looking at me funny?"
Ben quickly turns and runs, only for the evil cloud to force itself into the boy's mouth. "Ben!" Normie cries out as his best friend cries out in agony. As the 11-year-old hero hunches over, he glances back at Normie with an angry, intense look and slaps down on the watch, turning into Rath as he roars, blowing the blonde away as he falls on his back.
Just as he recovered, he noticed his holo-computer was activated as he glanced at it. "The spell! I never finished the spell!" Normie cries out, only for him to scream as he rolls to avoid Rath's double hammer fist blow and backs away from his talon swipes. Just as he cuts a light pole in half, it falls over with a thud. Normie tried to use his stun laser on Rath, but the alien tiger was quicker, dodging blasts as he leaped around.
"GUYS!" Maddie cries as she runs up with the Chaos Box, now repaired and ready for use. "About time!" Normie then chants the rest of the spell, making Rath freak out as something moves around in him! As he holds his neck, he breathes out the Chaos Beast as it was sucked back into the box in a flash of light, sealing it for good as the effects were immediately, changing everything back to normal. "Ben! Buddy! You fine?" "Rath is okay… But Rath feels uncomfortable on that experience." "Not to mention lucky. Swallowing the Chaos Beast was a crazy thing to do!" Maddie points out. "Oh, yeah! Crazy is Rath's specialty!" The tiger alien grins out as both friends smile.
The kids were by the restored townspeople as they all looked at the now-normal town. "Glad this town is now normal and not a scene of utter chaos!" Ben comments as Maddie smiles out. "Yeah… This place is actually very peaceful and nice." "And because of that, this town is forever in your debt." The sheriff smiled as Wilbur spoke out. "Yeah… Thanks guys! For a minute back there, I thought I would be eating grass and tin cans for the rest of my life." "No problem! We kids need to look out for each other." Normie spoke back to the 10-year-old as Ben gave a fist bump to the orange-haired boy.
Just then, Sir Cyrus shows up in a car. "Well done, young hunters. Now, if you can hand over the box, we'll make sure it will be placed in a spot where it can't harm anyone." The purple-haired girl gave the cursed box over to the man and he then took off with it. "Well, guess it's time for us to go home as well!" Ben spoke as they summoned the Buggy as it drove up, making the kids get in as they waved bye while the townsfolk did the same as the Omni-Buggy drove off out of town.
Ben arrives as it is dinner time, just as Sam has set the table and placed the food. "Oh, hey! You're just in time for dinner. Were you off on another mission to save the world?" "Something like that… What's for dinner?" Ben grins as he sits down as Clover states. "We're having Hot dogs with fries and soda." As they were about to dig in, Alex spoke out. "So… how was your day, bro? Was it easy? Hard? In-between?" "It was totally chaotic!" Ben smirked as he knew what it meant.
Back in the town, the 2 teens and the man from Monte Carlo were investigating as a small green alien in a hoverchair was with them. "Check it out! Another clue." The girl teen points out she holds up a piece of Rath's fur as she gave it to the alien, who types it in along with a picture of a footprint left by Raptor-Rang, a picture of Humungousaur's footprint, and a piece of fur from Fasttrack. "Okay! Got the samples and start analyzing." The green alien said as his computer worked on scanning. "So... What are we dealing with, Billy?" Martin asked as the computer beeps as it finished.
"I managed to isolate the samples and found that they were DNA samples of different alien species. 3 of them are known as a Citrakayah, a Vaxasaurian, and lastly, an Appoplexian. But the last one is a real stump." "What does that mean, Billy?" The girl teen asked. "Well, I tried crossing that other footprint with every sentient being in the Alien Lifeform Database, but it hasn't got a match. So, I crossed it with Earth-based species and the only match it got was the Velociraptors. Which is impossible since they have been extinct for a long time." "Hmm... Very odd indeed." Martin ponders. "Indeed, Martin! Especially the other 3 aliens, somehow appearing on Earth and getting past our systems." Billy points out as the 3 realize there is more to this mystery then they thought.