Okay, so, the alien hero gig was working out pretty well so far. Ben recently saved a family from a burning building, which was awesome, but he couldn't be thanked for the rescue! Not even with golden Sumo Slammer cards! And then when he captured ski-mask wearing baddies from stealing bank money, still no recognition! Sure his watch had timed out and no one figured out it was him, but it was still totally bogus! The cops just laughed at him! What the actual hell?!

"Dude, you know stuff like this happens in comic books all the time," Ruby told him as she zipped up her hoodie. It was a thin red thing, with a black zipper and a cowl-like hood that hid her face when she wanted it to. It had black rose detailing on the back and arms, and the jacket was paired with: a black tank top with red rose stitching all over the front; black shorts with distressed detailing; red tights that faded to black near the feet; and black combat boots with red laces. Honestly it made her look like a total goth, but considering Ben just normally threw on whatever (in this case olive green cargo pants and a white t-shirt with a single black horizontal stripe down the center, along with black on the short sleeves) he wasn't going to complain.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

Ruby rolled her eyes, but he didn't take it personally. She wasn't Gwen, after all. "I mean, it's normal for heroes to not get recognition in the comic books. No one knows you're a shapeshifting hero, and if you don't want bad guys after you you'll have to keep it that way. It's superhero-ing 101."

"...true," Ben conceded. Suddenly, he was very glad that it was Ruby and not Gwen joining him this summer. Gwen was smart, but she was also condescending and shrill. Ruby was also smart, but she at least talked in layman's terms and didn't make him feel like too much of an idiot for not knowing something. Not to mention, they had a lot of the same interests and mischievous behaviors. Plus, her voice just sounded nicer to listen to.

A few minutes later found them in the local Mega Mart, which was basically every super sized grocery store ever created in one convenient location. Grandpa Max was muttering about no one ever stocking fresh octopus, and Ruby queasily asked, "Uh, Max? No offense, but could we have a normal dinner? You know, one that doesn't involve stir-fried tentacles?"

Grandpa Max laughed heartily. "Nonsense! Now where do you suppose they keep the sheep's bladder?"

"I'm gonna hang out with Ben now, bye," Ruby said a rush, running as fast as she could away from Max. She was actually pretty fast for a kid her age, almost like a red-black blur. She stuck up the front of her foot and glided on over to Ben, using her heelys.

"Do you seriously use that stuff?" Ben questioned.

"Well, yeah! I think they're pretty neat." Ruby smiled.

The two children found themselves in the cereal aisle, with Ben happily crowing over one particular box. "Sumo Slammer cards, heck yeah!" He turned to Ruby, ecstatic. "What are the chances I'll find a golden card in one of these?"

"Honestly? Slim to none," Ruby told him, shrugging his shoulders. "You don't have a smart alien that'll help you figure out which box has the golden card. Not to mention, it's not like you can open all these boxes to find it."

Ben frowned. "Ugh, I hate it when you use logic." He put the box away sullenly.

Ruby bit her lip. "Isn't there a bunch of Sumo Slammer packages out front? You'd have better luck there. My sister once pulled out one from those."

"True," Ben said slowly, brow furrowed. "I never seem to have the best luck with that stuff."

"Dude, always weigh the packs. That's how you know you'll get lucky."

"Where'd you hear that tidbit?"

"Friends from school."

"I really need to meet your friends if they're this knowledgeable in the topic."

And then the wall nearby exploded, revealing an elderly man on a giant mutant frog. Ben nearly snickered at the sight, but then the giant frog almost ate a guy.

"Uh, we got a grab-and-dash in Electronics," A security officer spluttered into his walkie talkie, "Male, five-foot-six, riding on a giant frog or a toad. Trust me, you can't miss him...and beware the frog."

The man smiled as he hopped off the frog, and made his way down the aisles. Ben and Ruby stared him, wide eyed. The old scrawny guy had pale green skin, yellowish eyes, and shoulder-length white hair. He wore red goggles and this stranger teched out strainer on his head, along with a long green lab coat and and black, fingerless gloves. If he had a brain dome, Ben would've thought he was the human version of Mojo Jojo.

"Don't be a hero, kid. Just run along and play." The man badgered. The mutant frog behind him stared the two down, it's throat inflating menacingly.

"I wanna say I'm surprised, but I'm really not," Ruby said. And then she spotted the nearby motor scooters. "Go hero, I'll distract it!" she ordered, already putting on a helmet. It was all Ben could do to not stare after her as she motored over to where the mutant frog was. Seriously, what was with this girl? How could she stay so calm when it came to aliens?!

Ben scrolled through the watch, reaching the icon of the monkey looking alien. "Best time to use him, I guess." He slapped down the watch, as green light enveloped his body. When it cleared, he had four arms, four pairs of green eyes, two legs, three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot, blue fur over a dark blue center, and a tail with two stripes near the tip. The watch was located on his chest.

"What did I call this guy? Spidermonkey or something?" Ben questioned himself, as the frog suddenly charged at him. Ben yipped, as he suddenly leapt from the floor to the ceiling.

"Seriously, what do they put in the pet food around here?" Ben griped as he prepared for the attack. The frog continued to charge at some random store goer, but Ben aimed his tail at him and shot a web out of it, which stuck onto the guy and pulled him out of the way. "Check it out! Hands free!" Spidermonkey continued to walk on the ceiling, pulling customers out of the frog's way via his web.

"Gotta lead that thing somewhere remote! But where to?" He thought out loud. Suddenly, the loud screech of a hamster was heard. (Ben didn't even know hamsters could screech, to be honest.)

He turned his head to the source, and saw Ruby leading the ravenous giant hamster on a truly epic chase throughout the store. The hamster was knocking down aisles and shelves, which gave Ben ample opportunity to capture the frog there. He shot a flurry of webs out from the tip of his tail, dodging and weaving attacks from the frogs mouth. "Ew…" He quipped as the slimy thing narrowly hit his chest.

However, Ben wasn't able to do some serious damage to the frog. His plan was use the web to stick the stupid thing to the floor, but the frog's giant tongue clotheslined him at the last second and he went careening down the tiled floors, crashing into a cashier stand which stopped his descent.

"Ow…" Spidermonkey muttered as he turned back into Ben.

Luckily no one noticed his change, especially since Animo and his freaks were gone, and Ruby had taken out the hamster by… squishing it under a bunch of heavy shelves? And there was blood and guts everywhere, ew, ew, ewwwwww-

"Nah man, hero-ing is its own reward," Ruby said dismissively. Ben tore his gaze away from the corpse and looked to Ruby and the store manager. He had missed the exchange, but he could guess that she refused any prizes for saving the oversized store. Which sucked because what was the point in being a superhero if you didn't get free shit out of it?

But then Ruby palmed him the golden Sumo Slammer card and quietly shushed him, pointing to Max's back. And Ben beamed at her as he pocketed the laminated paper, suddenly deciding that Ruby Rose, while a stickler for rules, wasn't so bad after all.

Ben learned a lot about Animo while chasing his parrot. Five years ago, Dr. Animo was a promising researcher in veterinary science. But it turned out he was doing all these twisted genetic experiments where he was mutating animals, and when he didn't win some big prize called the "Verities Award", he flipped out.

"I saw his mutate that hamster first hand," Ruby mentioned. "Said something like, 'Arise to your full potential, my pets!'"

"So, why rob the store?" Ben asked, "you'd think a guy like that would rob somewhere more...cooler?"

"He needed batteries."

"...are you serious?"

"Yeah, that's not a joke. Dude needed batteries."

"...wow, what kind of budget does his field have that he needs to steal batteries?"

Max growled, as he watched the parrot fly off. "We've lost him. He could be going anywhere in Washington D.C."

So, in all of Washington DC, which place had the most use for Animo? Was it A) a zoo, B) an animal shelter, or C) a natural history museum?

If you thought A or B, you were wrong. C was apparently a lot more valuable to a Animo, for one reason alone. Ben carefully studied a giant feather outside of the museum, and looked to the doors.

"Something tells me we're on the right track." Max commented. And yes, they were. Animo was setting up shop next to...

"A dinosaur?" Ruby asked, looking up at the skeleton of the T-rex. "What makes you even think that thing is real?"

Animo huffed as he turned around. "You are very persistent. I hate persistent. See, I only needed a few components to push my work into phase 2: The re-animation of dormant cells."

"...uh, does this guy come with subtitles?" Ben quipped.

Animo rolled his eyes behind his ruby colored glasses. One reason I could never become a teacher. "Breathing life back into that which has been long since lifeless." He explained. "Like a zombie."

"...so, you robbed a store to reanimate a fake dinosaur?" Ben asked smuggly.

Animo got red in the face with anger, but began to laugh madly. "You know," he said between chuckles, "I should be thanking you, boy."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Me? What do you have to thank me for?"

"For being my inspiration! You see," Animo began, "just a few days ago, I was ready to give up on my plans. I had no real driving force to ever complete my plans. At best, I'd just...harass him anonymously. But there's no pride in that. Just about when I was going to throw in the towel, I saw a news report on TV...about an alien."

Ben turned white. "Oh no."

"That crystal headed alien...made me elated! The proof of extraterrestrials! The possibilities for splicing! This experiment could be a stepping stone for my future!Now! Behold the genius that is Dr. Animo!" He said as he aimed his transmodulator (which Ruby said made him look like the member of the moose lodge or something) at a display of a mammoth, which surprisingly came to life. Animo fled the scene, as the mammoth began to angrily glare at the heroes.

"Uh, now would be a great time to go Hero?" Ruby asked.

"Don't need to tell me twice! You guys get Animo," Ben said, activating the watch. "I'll take Snuffleupagus here!" He twisted the faceplate to the icon of a beetle like alien, and smacked it down; his lower mandible suddenly increased in size, and his body became this strange humanoid-insect alien with some shark-like characteristics mixed in. He had a long horn that forked at the top, resembling that of a Japanese rhinoceros beetle. He was a quadrupedal guy too, with a tough shell protecting his back. The watch rested on his underbelly.

"Let's wrestle," Ben smiled, as he suddenly charged at the mammoth. Ben thrusted his horn into the mammoth, before ramming it across the room, and eventually slamming it to the ground. Ruby and Max took this distraction to follow Animo.

Of course, Animo wasn't a complete idiot (at least for now); he knew the boy would handle the mammoth, but who was going to handle a giant mutant parakeet?

Ruby, actually! She grabbed a nearby spear from a display and started to beat on the stupid bird until it was eventually knocked out.

"Looks like your practicing is really paying off," Max smiled.

"Hey, Ben can't steal all the action." Ruby joked.

Speaking of Ben, the mammoth was actually putting a good fight. Especially since it managed to flip Eatle over on its shell.

"Aw, man! Stupid shell...should've gone for that weird mollusk guy!" Ben thought to himself. The mammoth sent him flying down into a T-Rex with a whack of its mighty trunk.

"Oh, YOU are going down, peanuts!" Ben then started to consume the remains of the T-Rex display, which made him grow significantly larger than he was before. The mammoth breathed heavily, before the two clashed again, with the mammoths tusks readying to flip Ben over. However, Ben had a trick up his horn.

You may think, oh, is he gonna somehow overpower the mammoth? Nope. Just use a laser beam.

Yeah, Eatle could shoot out a laser from his horn, in order to remove some waste from his body...and also to catch people off guard. The mammoth was destroyed in the blast, leaving nothing behind.

"...huh, kinda forgot about that!" Ben said to himself, feeling proud...before the mighty roar of the Tyrannosaurus rex caught him off guard. In came Animo, riding the back of a T-Rex. And it looked horrifying, because Ben could see some of its flesh and bones peeking through a sore on its back.

"I'd love to stay and examine that watch of yours, but I need to claim the award I so richly deserve!" Animo laughed.

Ben thought that he could just ram into Animo and just stop him right then and there, but then he saw the parakeet fly by, with a blur of red in its talons…

"RUBY!" Ben yelled, chasing after the bird.

"It's what she deserves for killing my precious pet!" Animo declared, before stomping away on his T-Rex.

"Well, it tried to kill me first!" Ruby yelled.

Ben then faced a quick dilemma; who should he shoot with his horn laser, Animo or the parrot? Well, with Animo, it would surely destroy the king of the dinosaurs, but then again, Ruby would still get taken by the parrot. But, if he shot the parrot, then Ruby would get hurt and Animo would get away and surely kill that guy that won the award over him. But what if he shot them both at the same time? It seemed rather infeasible given his horn could fire one at a time, but still, it was an op-

BEEP. Ben suddenly found himself back in his human form, watching both opportunities disappear before his eyes away, but mainly focused on Ruby. His stomach ached as he felt guilt wash over his body; had he been faster, maybe he could've saved her...but his thoughts were suddenly washed away when the Rustbucket pulled up next to him.

"Come on," Max declared, "we got a bird to catch!"

Ruby didn't like being a damsel in distress. But, yet, here she was, dangling off the top of the Washington Monument, by an oversized parakeet. "I hate reality sometimes."

Thankfully, Ben and Max had gotten her location from her phone. She just hoped Ben had the right alien for the job.

And thankfully, he had. "Pterodactyl!" Ruby happily gasped, as Ben appeared, in a form she really hadn't seen. The form did indeed have a pterodactyl like appearance, having a beak-like mouth. His wings were wide, and he had green eyes, brown skin,

a sharp tail and brown wings, with something that looked like a jetpack on its back. It reminded Ruby of that one boss from Metroid, the one her sister always beat for her.

"No!" The form squawked. "Astrodactyl!"

The mutant bird squawked back at Ben, before flying away with Ruby. "Watch the nails there, Polly!"

Ruby gasped as she watched the ground beneath her quickly pass by, while Ben pursuited the beast. Ben was obviously having fun with the form, quickly maneuvering around the bird. The bird was obviously being overwhelmed by Ben's quick movement, so, to get Ben off its tail...it dropped Ruby.

Ruby screamed as she plummeted to the ground, her short life flashing in seconds her eyes...before she was quickly caught by Astrodactyl. "Consider this a thank you for the Sumo Slammer card." Ben smiled, his voice very parrot like. Ruby was amused by it, his voice was oddly cute, whattttt….

"Thanks." Ruby nervously smiled. "...Now, can you let me down? I'm trying not to have a heart attack tonight."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Astrodactyl said, as he began to drift downward. "I'll stop Big Bird and then take care of Freakamo. Piece of cake, right?"

"Well, given dinosaur facts…" Ruby said as Ben set her on the ground, "I think the T-Rex would win given the smaller, frailer form of the pterodactyl. You know, cause the T-rex has a large jaw, size…"

Ben looked at her, insulted.

"What? It's facts." Ruby shrugged unapologetically.

"Oh? Really then!" Ben squawked, before flying off. He opened his mouth wide, and fired a flurry of strange, green wisps that flew at the bird, exploding upon contact. The bird fell to the ground, with a big SPLAT! "CAN PTERODACTYL'S DO THAT?"

Ruby blinked. "...yeah I think you win the match up."

Ben cheered wildly, his voice reaching a screeching crescendo. Ruby slapped her hands over her ears and winced.

"DUDE! STOP!"

"Sorry," Ben said in a much quieter tone, as he flew off to find Animo at his rival's lab, attacking and destroying the place on the T-Rex. It reminded Ben of Jurassic Park 2, but he was sure that this would make a better movie than that shitshow.

Not to mention, he got there in the nick of time! The winner of that award found himself about to kibble for the T-Rex...and just as he was about to fall into his mouth, in came Ben, snatching the guy out of harms way.

"Are you ok?" Ben asked, as he set the guy down. All he did was scream, and run out of the place. "...I'll take that as a yes." Ben turned around to see Animo, still destroying the place with his T-Rex.

"Alright, let's see who wins this match up!" Ben squawked as he fired a powerful beam of star energy from his mouth; it pierced the side of the dinosaur, and left a large hole in its side…and down it fell, losing its reanimated form rather quickly. Animo let out a rather over dramatic "NOOOO" as it fell to the ground, with a mighty crash.

Ben flew on over to see Animo's transmodifier in pieces, as well as the award he wanted. Animo was struggling to get free from under the rubble, and glared daggers at Astrodactyl.

"You'll pay for this, boy! I swear it on my life!" Animo was having a total hissy fit at the moment. It made Ben a little bit scared to see a grown man in such a state.

"Jeez," Ben frowned. "Looks like someone needs to cool their jets. Well, I'll leave you to your tantrum." Ben picked up the remains of the transmodifier. "I'm sure my grandpa will get better use out of this strainer than you. Later!" Ben flew off, leaving Animo both annoyed...and interested in what he could do with that strange device on the boy's arm.