Special thanks to Winter Witch, Antipathy, EnderTinman, E-10 and Carth. And a happy birthday to Razz!
The Rustbucket was parked in a heavily wooded area, with a cozy little campsite already setup. The scent of campfires wafted from all sides, along with a hint of wild flowers. Max and Verdona decided to take a long, romantic hike while the sun was still high in the sky.
"Hope you kids don't me stepping out for a bit," Max said, putting on some hiking shoes.
"Oh, no big deal." Ben beamed at them from the picnic table. "It's your special day, you can do what you want."
"Yeah! We'll be right here, waiting for you!" Ruby added brightly, plopping herself down onto the bench.
"Alright! Don't go anywhere then." Verdona winked at them as she shut the door. Ben and Ruby relaxed in their seats as they watched the pair walk away, fingers intertwined. Max and Verdona were soon out of sight.
The kids shot out of their seats and screamed in panic.
"Completely forgot it was Grandpa's birthday today!" Ben babbled, awkwardly running around the picnic table.
"You're his grandson," Ruby snapped at him, "you should absolutely know when your relatives birthdays are!"
"Ok, so when's your uncle's birthday?"
Ruby paused for a few seconds to think.
"Shut up!" She tried to punch Ben in the arm, but he had already walked away.
Ben rolled his eyes before surveying the area. Nodding once, he brought up the Omnitrix and fiddled with the dial. "Know any good cake shops nearby?"
Ruby thought for a moment. "There should be one in town. Although, I doubt they'll serve an alien velociraptor."
Ben snickered as the dial popped up. Just then the wind picked up, leaves and twigs shooting through the air like they were being pulled toward the north. Two sets of eyes turned to a glowing blue portal that burst into existence when they weren't looking.
"Oooookay?" Ruby rubbed her eyes. "This is a new one."
A golden tentacle shot out of the portal, blindly trashing the area. Ben and Ruby jumped away just as the tentacle crushed the picnic table. "I am absolutely lost," Ben stated.
The tentacle suddenly latched onto Ruby's ankle, dangling her off the ground while she shrieked. Ben blinked and she was thrown into the portal, the tentacle weaving around for him.
"RUBY!" Ben yelled as he dodged the appendage, slapping down the watch as he threw himself into the portal. Ben emerged on the other side as Heatblast, and looked around for the tentacle...only to stare, wide eyed and confused. Seconds ago he was in a forested area, covered in lush foliage. He now stood in a giant futuristic city, with strange, blinking buildings and aliens walking around like it was no big deal. A giant statue loomed behind him, almost as large as the buildings that surrounded it. Ben scratched his head, lost for words but taking it rather well, all things considered.
Just in time too, a large shadow was blotting out the sun.
"Ben!"
He turned to see a giant octopus monster with at least 10 long tendrils. Ben fired a barrage of fire balls at the monster, to no avail. The octopus, unfazed, started slamming down a crystalline tentacle. Ben dodged a few more attacks before he channeled his flames through the ground, creating a small platform for him to fly around on, confusing the beast even more.
With a tentacle wrapped around her waist, Ruby sliced at it with Crescent Rose, easily freeing herself. She fell ten feet and rolled to the ground, popping up like a gymnast. The severed tentacle, however, was oddly plant like in nature. A green root sprouted out of the wound and reattached to the place where it was severed.
Ben and Ruby regrouped and hid behind the statue. The tentacles started thrashing everywhere it could reach, and that's when Ben and Ruby got a closer look; it seemed to have a tentacle for some of Ben's aliens; Diamondhead, Upgrade, Heatblast, and a bunch of other aliens Ben had never seen before. A strange yellow and black tentacle with a pincer like hand suddenly began to attract all metal based tech to itself, and forced it into the Upgrade tendril. The tendril then upgraded itself into a giant chainsaw and started swinging at Ben and Ruby. The children ducked as it quickly bisected the statue, the top half falling and crushing the road beneath it.
Ben chuckled nervously. "Hope that was no one important."
"Oh, it was probably some nobody...named…" Ruby eyed the giant plaque on the base, and her eyes widened in shock. "...nevermind! They were important alright! Check it out!"
Ben carefully eyed the plaque, and his jaw dropped. "Ben Ten...Thousand?" he read aloud. "Hero of Heroes?! No freaking-"
"HUUUUUUUUUMUNGOUSAUR!"
The ground shook, buildings swaying in the aftershock. Ben and Ruby turned to see a giant Godzilla like monster suddenly punch the octopus in the face. The godzilla monster was a large, dinosaur humanoid. He had light and dark brown skin, with brown and yellow plating around his body, with a maced tail that extended up his back and into his spine. He had thick, pronounced plating, and extra spikes on his octopus retaliated by attacking the monster with the chainsaw arm, but the humanoid caught it between his hands and SHATTERED it. Ben and Ruby's jaws dropped in amazement, as Ben noticed something about the monster-
There was an Omnitrix symbol on its chest!
"OH MY GOD, THAT'S ME!" Ben cheered, excitedly jumping up and down.
"Yeah, the lame alien name checks out," Ruby muttered to herself.
Humumgousaur knocked the beast to the ground and stomped on its head like it was a bug. The ground shook with each stomp, but the people below seemed relatively unfazed. Ben and Ruby watched in absolute glee as Humungousaur suddenly turned a vibrant green and shrunk down. Ben and Ruby ran over to see a strange crab like alien taking observations of the alien. It had pincers for hands and six legs. It lacked a mouth, but its eyes brimmed with intelligence.
The crab turned around to see the young Ben and Ruby, who awkwardly waved back. The crab's shell popped open, revealing his pink and gray brain. Ben and Ruby gagged as the crab stared intensely at the both of them.
"What's he doing?" Ben questioned.
"I think it's reading our minds. Or something like that."
The crab nodded, before he reverted back to human. What stood in his place was an older version of Ben, with his hair slicked back, a full beard, and a very muscular build. He wore a black striped white shirt with short sleeves, black fingerless gloves, green cargo pants, and black boots. "So, the squid dragged you here, huh?" His voice was deep yet gentle. "Sorry about that. Guess that was the Clockwork arm."
Ben reverted back to human too, and was awestruck just staring at his future self. "Are you…"
Ben 10k chuckled to himself. "That's right, Ben, I'm you. But even more awesome." He shook Ben's hand with an iron grip. "Ben Ten Thousand, at your service."
"Holy fuck, you got BIG!" Ruby blurted out, in spite of herself.
Ben 10k scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, hit a big growth spurt in high school." He then grimaced. "But somehow still the shortest kid in your squadron."
Ben's eyes lit up at hearing that last word. "I get my own personal squadron?"
"Possibly." Ben 10k then quickly scanned the area, as if looking for someone. The area was clear, but something told the older Ben not to trust this place. "This isn't the place to discuss this though. I know where we can talk."
In a flash of green light, Ben 10k turned into XLR8 and picked up the two, zooming across the city within seconds. The wind hit their faces like daggers; Ben 10k had certainly gotten faster since he was a kid.
"That octopus I just fought," Ben 10k explained, "was a recent experiment of Animo. It was causing trouble in the Washington district, so I decided to take care of it."
"Animo?" Ruby repeated, her voice nearly lost to the wind. "He's still around?"
"Thought he would've croaked by now," Ben added. "The dude looks like he's one step away from death in our time."
Ben 10k chuckled. "I thought the same thing. He's been causing trouble ever since he escaped a few years back. I'm still not really sure if he's just gonna hide in the shadows or show his ugly mug again."
"So, what was up with that octopus having all those alien powers?" Ruby asked. "Some of them didn't even look like they came from the watch."
Ben 10k shook his head. "Still can't figure that out myself, to be honest. I tend to keep a close eye on my belongings, ever since…" Ben 10k then stumbled over his words and came to a complete stop. "Oh, whoops, that could be spoilers."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Could?"
"That's another story." And with that, Ben 10k returned to racing down the street. Ben and Ruby looked at each other and shrugged.
"The future is weird," Ben declared.
"Pffft, wait till you see who becomes president!"
After a few more minutes of speeding through the country, Ben 10k came to a halt and set the two down. Ben and Ruby looked around; they were in a silvery and black living room with high tech computers built into the walls and floors. Someone had taken the time to make the area more homey- the concave center had pillows and throw rugs and blankets nesting inside; an enormous yet ultra thin television made up one wall; and the ceiling had multi-colored, blinking LED lights that reminded the children of fairy lights.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Ben 10k said proudly as he reverted back to his human form. "Roomy, isn't it?
Something then caught Ruby's eye. She tugged Ben's arm and pointed to the window. The children raced over to the nearest window and held their hands against the glass, jaws dropping as they took in the perfect view of Mount Rushmore.
"No way," Ben said, his voice in disbelief. "You're right near the Rushmore base?"
"Yep." Ben 10k smiled. "Ever since Max and Verdona retired to Mars, I've been the acting Magister of Rushmore for a few years now. Have to keep tabs on the place, after all."
Ben flashed a wide grin. "Oh, I am so loving my future."
"Your possible future," Ben 10k corrected him.
"Why do you keep saying that? Isn't everything set in stone right now?"
Ben 10k scratched his chin. "How can I explain this… Do you remember that episode of Sumo Slammers, Elder Ishyama?"
Ruby nodded. "Oh! That was the episode where Ishyama's partner from the future brings the Ishyama of the present to their timeline because the future Ishyama was losing his way, and straying from his sworn code."
"Personal favorite of mine," Ben added. "Especially when past Ishiyama and future Ishiyama teamed up to fight Kenko, who'd been revived by the witch Wuya. She looked weird in that episode."
Ruby snorted. "Well, yeah, if your spirit had forcibly possessed some robot, you'd look weird too."
"Yeah..." Ben 10k walked over to his computer and started to type. "But do you remember the episode from the third iteration, Mega Sumo? Specifically the episode Elder Ishiyama Returns?"
"Yeah, just came out a few months ago," Ben replied. "They brought in a different Ishiyama, one that remembered the events of Elder Ishyama. They also brought up alternate timelines and stuff like that."
"So, what you're getting at is…" Ruby said slowly, "this could be an alternate timeline?"
Ben 10k nodded. "I honestly don't remember any of this happening. Meeting my younger self and his friend, the octopus fight, nothing. Which can only mean that this is an alternate version of your future."
Just then, an alarm went off. A notification popped up on a big computer screen, and Ben 10k quickly glanced over it.
"Intruders near Rushmore," Ben 10k explained. "DNA appears to be...irregular."
Ben paused. "Wait. Sensors can just tell what DNA someone has in the future?"
Ruby punched him in the arm again. "How is that somehow the most unrealistic thing?"
"Suit up!" Ben 10k directed the two. "I have a feeling these are more of Animo's tougher lackies."
Ben smirked as he activated the Omnitrix, scrolling to Cannonbolt's icon. "Time to rock and roll!" Ben quipped as he slapped it down, only to disappointingly become Upgrade. His circuit board face shrank in disappointment. "Upgrade? Aw man…"
Ben 10k suddenly tossed him and Ruby a cube each. "Hey buddy, keep in mind; you can have a lot more fun with future stuff." Ben pressed a button and it unfolded into a hoverboard.
"Woah!" Ben admired the board. It was a simple yet awesome design, made of neon green hard light and with the transparency of thick glass. "Where'd you get this?"
"An old friend gave it to me. Thought I could use it for a bit," Ben 10k explained.
Ruby eagerly pressed hers. It unfolded into an even more threatening hover board that resembled the Green Goblin's. She hopped on and flew out the window at top speed. "I AM THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!"
Ben's pride was hurt yet again. "Ok, how come she gets the cooler stuff?"
"Says the kid with an alien watch." Ben 10k folded his arms. Suddenly, in a bright flash of green, Ben 10k instantly transformed into a hulking skeletal looking moth alien. (That entire sentence was a lot to take in.) He had a pale blue body with cyan patches on his arms, shoulders, legs, the back of his wings, and the back of his neck that resembled ice chunks. His face had blue cheeks and under jaw, a mouth that flashed his bluish white teeth, and large green eyes with dark green spots. His fingers and toes were pointed like sharp icicles. Ben 10k then soared out the window, with Ben following suit. He melded with the hoverboard, morphing it into a much larger hoverboard with Upgrade's circuit board design.
Ruby grinned as she rejoined the two of them. "Compensating for something?" Ruby teased, with a very cocky attitude. Ben 10k nearly choked on his breath when he heard that.
Ben's head poked out of the hoverboard, his "face" having changed from a circle to a question mark. "What's that mean?"
Ruby shrugged. "I dunno. My dad always says it to my uncle when he pulls out his weapon."
Ben 10k coughed. "You'll get it when you're older."
The three landed on the ground near the base. Ben 10k quickly surveyed the area, searching for their targets. "That's weird. The scanner said they were right here-"
Suddenly, a spiked Cannonbolt-like gopher burst up from out of the ground to ambush Ben 10k. Said superhero simply phased through them. Thin ice grew from where the mutant had passed through, but it wasn't enough to really slow him down. From out of the hole, two more mutants crawled out; one looked like a hybrid between an Appoplexian and a cow, and the other looked like a hybrid between a sheep and a Loban.
Ben blinked. "This is different."
"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHING, BEN 10K!" Madcow roared, his veins nearly popping out of his neck. "CHAMPION OF THE ECTONURITE AND FULMINI WAR! MADCOW IS GONNA MAKE YOU WEEP FOR MERCY!"
"I am…" Ruby paused for dramatic effect. "...so confused."
"That's the future for ya," Ben 10k quipped as he turned intangible. He then phased through Madcow multiple times, freeze-drying him while the mutant struggled to stop him.
Ruby quickly shifted her weapon to its sniper mode and began to shoot fiery dust bullets at Wolfensheep. It ended up being ineffective; Wolfensheep's wool suddenly hardened like steel, forming porcupine like spikes. The bullets simply bounced off of him, landing on the ground. Ruby grimaced as the thing leapt at her.
Meanwhile, Ben maneuvered the hoverboard around, dodging as Roadhawg repeatedly tried to jump up and attack him. The Cannonbolt mutant managed to get one good hit in; the blow knocked Ben off the board and to the ground with a loud splat. Ben reformed just as Roadhawg was about to steam roll him. Ben's singular eye narrowed and shot out an optic blast, hitting the rodent right in the chest and knocking him through a few trees.
Meanwhile, Ruby was busy trying to cut through Wolfensheep, but his defense was nigh unbreakable. The beast slowly crept in on her. Her magazine was almost empty, much to her chagrin. "Stupid need to refill weaponry!" she cursed under her breath.
Ruby suddenly brightened; maybe she could use this to her advantage. She transformed into a burst of rose petals and zoomed around the stupid mutt, creating a rose tornado. The beast stumbled around, trying to read Ruby's movements.
"GOTCHA!" Ruby suddenly used her speed to ram Wolfensheep into a tree, sticking him in there; the exact second he released his metal quills to free himself, Ruby sliced him in the gut. The beast howled in pain, as Ruby began to slowly cut his chest open.
Meanwhile, Ben 10k continued to freeze Madcow with his ice breath, eventually freezing him into a block of ice. He smiled..but to his shock, the ice started to melt. Madcow burst from the ice, skin turning into burning rocks.
Ben 10k sighed. "Of course he would add Pyronite DNA. Lemme guess, cause you're 'burning with rage'?" Madcow started attacking wildly, using his flaming claws and brute force to out space Ben 10k, obviously his best strategy. But the hero simply just turned himself intangible and yawned. Eventually, Mad Cow began to tire himself out and wheezed heavily.
"You done?" Ben 10k sucker punched Madcow in the gut with an icy fist, and then watched him fall to the ground, frostbite covered the wound. The team regrouped back up in the center.
"Now that's a cool alien," Ben said in a very punny tone. Ben 10k scowled and whispered "haven't heard that one before" under his breath.
Ruby put her bloody hand on Ben's shoulder. "Dude, just no."
Ben 10k knelt down and examined the frozen beast. "Starting to notice a lot of familiar faces in these guys. Still don't know how he's getting my samples..."
"Maybe he built his own Omnitrix?" Ruby hypothesized. "I mean, it's the future, right? There's obviously some connections with alien races, maybe he-"
"Don't be ridiculous." Ben 10k brushed off the thought. "There's only one or two guys who were bright enough to try that. And believe me, one idiot nearly killed himself." Ben 10k went back to doing basic forensics on the beast.
Ben and Ruby shared a concerned glance.
Back in the lab, Ben 10k had a few windows open on one of his computers, revealing some intensely scribbled schematics for Rushmore, as well as many security cameras currently recording whatever was going on. The thawed out body of Madcow laid on a makeshift surgical table.
"After the Ectonurite-Fulmini wars, we tightened up security to keep every kinda threat out," Ben 10k explained. "...and also cause I kinda destroyed their faces."
"President Rushmore is rolling in his grave," Ruby commented in a very ominous tone.
Ben 10k chuckled a bit, before returning his attention to the screen. "It's still strange Animo hasn't shown his ugly mug. I figured he would've gloated about surpassing the limits of biology or something."
"Maybe we can get this guy to talk?" Ben lightly prodded Madcow's head.
"Honestly was thinking the same thing." Ben 10k morphed into a much more matured and threatening Ghostfreak. His body was a lot more slender, and he had a few more visible eyes. Ben and Ruby got chills just looking at him. Ben 10k cracked his clawed fingers and forced his way into Madcow's body. Madcow struggled for a few seconds, before he suddenly sat up, his eyes turning green.
"What's up?" Ruby quizzed.
"It's weird," Ben 10k rasped. "These guys don't even have a semblance of a brain. I can't trace anything, or even examine memories. It's like an empty shell. Question is, how're they able to carry out basic functions, and even more complex ones?"
"Maybe he did surpass biological evolution…" Ben shivered as Ben 10k left the body. Madcow's body fell over with a dull thud.
"I have a feeling if he's able to do this...there could be a lot more to come." Ben 10k glowered.
Madcow's body suddenly sat up again, like a marionette on a string, and flashed a smile the Cheshire Cat would envy. "There is plenty to come, my shapeshifting adversary!" the mutant jeered in Animo's obnoxious tone. Without a second breath, Ben 10k shifted into a larger, matured Eatle, and slammed Madcow against the wall.
"What's wrong, Doc?" Ben 10k quipped. "Too scared to show your face? Afraid I'll kick your ass like old times?
"That's exactly the point!" Animo hissed, "my body is not immortal, Tennyson. But my army is!"
Suddenly, the sun was blotted out, casting unnatural shade all over the mountain. Ben 10k peered out the window and nearly choked on his breath; an entire winged army of Animo's creations was headed for his base. And worst of all, Ben 10k knew every name and part of each alien.
"You son of a bitch!" Ben 10k pressed Animo deeper into the wall.
"Animo got busy," Ruby said quaveringly.
Animo laughed maniacally. "Indeed I did! My pets were primed to perfection, all thanks to the many samples I've acquired over these long years."
"How'd you even get them?" Ben 10k demanded angrily.
Animo just chuckled. "Some old wounds from your past, Ben. You could've healed them, but you gave up in the end."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Animo's smirk grew in size. "Your old friend Kevin, of course! His corpse was so helpful for my cause!"
Ben 10k's face froze in horror.
"You see, I found that freak during his 'self imposed' exile or whatever," Animo went on, his glasses glinting maniacally, "and then I simply harvested his body for his watch. He didn't even seem to fight back! I just cut open his wrist, stole that knock off Omnitrix, and began my work. Of course, it was around that time I realized I could have fun with this. So, I did what any logical scientist would do...turned myself into a hive mind! I can be everywhere and nowhere, all at once! So I must thank you, Tennyson. This is truly my greatest accomplishment."
The room went silent, everyone staring at Ben 10k.
And then the hero bit Madcow's head off in anger. Ben and Ruby's eyes widened in shock as he hurled the corpse aside, slamming into a wall. Ben 10k took a deep breath and walked to the window, reverting back to his human form. Ben and Ruby noticeably backed away, horribly disturbed.
"Now what?" Ben asked, a slight tremble in his voice.
"I think we should leave this to your older self," Ruby said quietly.
"Yeah…" Ben nodded. "Yeah, I don't think older me wants the distraction."
Ben 10k looked fixedly at the mutant army. "I'm gonna be honest with you two," he began, startling the children. "I've made mistakes. Some have cost me a lot. A few keep me up at night. But my biggest one? How I just...gave up on Kevin. He deserved better. It was just sickening to put up with him, time after time, year after year...I kept giving him chances, and he just turned them away, every time. So, I just gave up. If he wasn't going to fix his own problems or even seek help, what was the point?"
Ben 10k suddenly transformed into a much more monstrous Astrodactyl. "...don't make the same mistakes I did. And hold down the fort." Ben 10K left without another word, flying towards the army and blasting holes through mutants with his star bolts.
A moment passed, then two, and then: "Is it really so bad if I gave up on Kevin?" Ben wondered out loud. "I mean, if he just kept throwing every chance I gave him back in my face-!"
"He ends up dead, Ben." Ruby said solemnly.
"But is that really my fault? Why should I get blamed for Kevin never owning up to his mistakes?" Ben defended himself.
"Believe me, kid." An older woman's voice came from the doorway. "If I had a second chance, I'd go back and help him too." Ben and Ruby turned around to see a slender woman in a white cloak. The woman took down her hood, revealing-
"Mom?" Ruby's voice was quiet and hopeful. The woman smiled softly.
"Dad says I'm becoming more and more like her everyday," the older Ruby said. She brushed some of her long red and black hair past her ear. Half of it was tied back by a simple black hair clip, but the rest of her hair gently framed her pale, heart-shaped face. Her eyes were bright and silvery, her long black eyelashes drawing more attention to their beauty.
Ben blinked. "So, wait, you're future Ruby?"
"Well," Ruby 10k drawled, "technically I'm present Ruby, but same diff, I guess."
"Why did...why did you really give up on Kevin?" Ben asked, his voice small.
The older Ruby sadly shook her head and put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "When we were all younger, we tried reaching out to Kevin for years. And he kept slapping our hands away. He just... He didn't want to change for the longest time, and if he ever wanted to, well, we were too tired to care at that point."
"You can just give up on people that easily?" Ruby spat out. "I thought you two were supposed to be heroes! Save whoever regardless of how they act!"
"We started reaching out to him when we were ten. We stopped when we were fifteen," Ruby 10k said flatly. "Most people would give up after year one. We may be heroes, but we're still human."
"Then what was the breaking point?" Ben asked, dreading the answer.
"Oh, you know," Ruby 10k said, with a forced, flippant tone. "He intentionally helped a Nazi-esque alien race infiltrate Earth so they could destroy it."
Ben's mouth slowly opened in horror. "Space Nazis exist?!"
"Well, yeah. Racism isn't solely a human thing, nor are 'ethnic cleansings' or genocide. Humans can be bastards, but so can aliens."
"...oh." Ben's brow furrowed. "In that case, I'm legitimately surprised you didn't give up on Kevin sooner."
"Well, that happened later in his life, right?" Ruby pointed out. "And this is an alternate timeline, there's still hope for our Kevin!" She looked to her older self hopefully.
Ruby 10k hesitated. "...maybe. Parallel worlds are a fickle thing. There's the slightest chance that we'll go through the same pain, the same memories...the same scars...but I've always remembered one thing: There's always hope for all, regardless of where they came from."
"I'm so fucking wise in the future," Ruby whispered, completely awestruck.
Ruby 10k snickered and patted her younger self on the head. "I forgot how cute I was back then. Hold down the fort, okay?" She then jumped out the window and turned into a stream of rose petals, rocketing her way through mutants and bisecting them with ease. In a blink of an eye ten creatures fell to the ground, more sure to follow.
Ben's jaw hung wide open. "Holy shit."
"I'm so cool in the future, oh my god," Ruby gushed.
Suddenly the tower started to shake, as Grimm hybrids started pouring in from the bottom. Ruby whipped out the Crescent Rose and Ben slapped down the Omnitrix and turned into Echo Echo.
"Make sure none of them get in here!" Ben warned. "I really don't feel like trashing this place."
Meanwhile, Ben 10k and future Ruby were both making short work of the airborne army. Ruby 10k sliced each mutant with relative ease, having targeted all weak points on the aliens within seconds. A much larger mutant swung a plant like fist at her, but she dodged in time by latching onto its arm. She then ran up the length and slashed at the monster's head one, two, three times… and then the monster's head exploded into pure gore. Ruby grinned wildly as she fell, right before latching onto another mutant and forcibly using it as her 'ride' to obliterate more aliens.
Ben 10k, meanwhile, swapped with ease from alien to alien; a slime alien forced its way through a few chests, before changing to a threatening squid-like alien. His tendrils stretched out and snapped a few necks and thrashed a few more bodies around, before he launched himself up in the air. He then shifted to a planetoid-like alien that floated in the air.
"Ruby! Heads up!"
Future Ruby jumped off a few more mutants before landing on Ben's head. Ben then intensified the gravity around him, causing the mutants bones to just snap into dust from the sudden weight.
"What took you so long?" Ben 10k asked impatiently.
"Sorry!" Ruby 10k blushed. "That dragon Grimm was more of a challenge than I thought it would be."
"You literally took down one in a few seconds less than a month ago!" Ben 10k shot back.
"...ok, you ever step on a spider, and more baby spiders-"
"NOPE NOPE NOPE, don't wanna hear that," Ben 10k hurriedly slammed the army to the ground, flattening them. "Sweetie, angel, love of my life, I adore you but please, I REALLY don't want to hear that."
"Do the kids know about us being married, by the way?" Ruby 10k asked curiously.
"Why would I need to tell them that?"
"Good point. Mind if I go down for a closer look?" Ruby 10k asked. Gravattack slowly descended to the ground and Ruby hopped off, her red and black skirt settling down. She examined some of the monsters, before noticing something shiny in one of the open wounds.
"Hello, what do we have here?"
"I recognize that," Ben 10k said, reverting back to human form. He pulled the scrap piece out of the wound and eyed it carefully. It was a tiny insectoid-like microchip that squirmed uselessly in Ben 10k's hand. It was slightly crushed but still usable.
"Validus' work," Ben 10k declared. "Must be how he's doing the hive mind thing."
"Ok, so that explains that," Ruby 10k nodded. "So, what now?"
"...I think I've got an idea."
Meanwhile, Ben and Ruby were struggling to defend the base. Everytime they managed to kill one of Animo's monsters, more just seemed to flood in.
"How adorable," one of Animo's monsters quipped as Ruby decapitated it.
"You two think you have a chance of surviving this, don't you?" Another one laughed as Ben sonic screeched it out the window.
"I am beyond the both of you," a larger monster jeered as Ruby sliced its legs open and Ben forced it out of the room with a scream.
"You are just mere ants in th-" a slimy monster began to taunt them, but it froze halfway through its sentence. So did a lot of the other mutants, actually...and then they all began to explode and short circuit.
Ben looked at that scene, flabbergasted. "Uh, what just happened?"
Ruby's nose suddenly picked something up; it smelled like the air was burning. She looked around the room, thinking they probably started some sort of electrical fire. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something that was large, lilac...and also radiating energy from it.
It was as large as the dinosaur monster from earlier, maybe even larger; he had four sharp energy spikes protruding from both of his shoulders. His body was reinforced with gray rock armor that covered its head, chest, shoulders, some of the forearm, and everything from the thighs down. Moss, or something like moss, grew around his the rocky parts of his body. The main feature of his body, however, was this strange lilac energy, which had a somewhat green tint to it.
"What is that?" Ben gasped as he reverted back to human.
"I have no idea," Ruby gushed as they watched through the windows, "but holy hell does it look awesome!"
The alien slammed its hands together, concentrating intensely. The air around him slowly heated up as clouds gathered right above him. Ruby 10k reappeared next to the kids in a flash of red.
"You two might wanna get back for this one," she gasped, pulling them away from the window. "Shock Rock's one of Ben's 'S' class aliens."
"When do I get access to THAT?" Ben gleefully smiled.
"Not for a while, but I wish you got it earlier," Ruby 10k admitted.
Ben looked back at his future self; in his hands was a small, concentrated ball of energy. It didn't look like much, but something about it unnerved Ben. There was some ominous energies radiating from the thing…
Suddenly, Shock Rock crushed the thing between his hands, catching Ben off guard. The energy flowed through his body, before it unleashed a massive nuke; bright light erupted from him, and Ben had to close his eyes before the light seared them blind. But he could still hear, and it was like being in the eye of a hurricane, the destructive winds closing in around him, ripping the air right out of his lungs and making him feel so very tiny and afraid.
But soon the feeling passed, and the light faded slowly.
Ben rubbed his eyes. When he opened them back up, the land around Shock Rock was completely destroyed, cracks in the earth widening into miniature canyons and entire boulders reduced to pebbles. Ash rained down from the sky where the mutant army once flew.
"What did he do?" Ruby whispered in awe.
"He used Shock Rock's energy conversion abilities to match the energy of the nanochips, fully weaponize it into a nuke, and then destroy all matches within the radius of the state," Ruby 10k explained calmly. "It's overkill, but I think it worked."
Shock Rock stood in the middle of the destruction, barely moving an inch. His energy seemed to have dulled in color from the attack. His breaths were heavy and spaced out unevenly...but he still had some power left in him. He slapped down the Omnitrix on his chest and shrank down to the size of a normal adult. Ben couldn't see what he'd turned into, but it was green and had a strange red and yellow colored head.
He lifted his fist above his head and slammed it back down to the Earth; it immediately started to shake before a forest burst out of the ground, lush foliage overtaking the attack site within seconds.
"Whoa," Ben breathed.
"Whoa is right," Ruby 10k nodded, walking over to him. "You're actually kinda scary in the future."
"What do you mean?"
"You have 1,900,003 samples of alien DNA currently residing on your wrist," Ruby 10k explained. "And you currently have access to 10,000 of them. That's not even a full percent. You are always growing, always unlocking new aliens to use and each time, you're getting stronger and stronger."
"So, what you're saying is…"
"Ben is the strongest thing in this universe," Ruby 10k admitted. "And by far, the scariest."
Ben and Ruby slowly took that in.
"Anyways, you guys want cookies?" Ruby 10k asked cheerfully.
"...Yeah, why not?" Ben shrugged. "What flavor you got?"
Ben 10k overlooked the land once more. Animo's presence was gone, and yet he still felt the now immortal doctor had a few more tricks up his sleeve. He always did before. But how he obtained it? Disgusting. Kevin was a problem child, but he absolutely did not deserve that fate. No one did.
"Everything ok?" Ben 10k turned to see his younger self, looking at him with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just...processing." Ben 10k sighed.
"I'm sorry about what happened to Kevin."
"It's not your fault, kid," Ben 10k admitted. "It's mine."
"...so, still mine."
"Alternate timeline, kid," Ben 10k reminded him gently. "That means you still have a chance to correct my mistakes."
"Huh?"
Ben 10k knelt down and put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Don't be like me. Don't even think of giving up on Kevin, ok? That kid needs all the help he can get and we were stupid to push him away after a while. I just…" Ben 10k just looked so crestfallen that Ben had to say something.
"...I'll do it," he declared quietly.. "I'll get him away from his 'help' too."
Ben 10k perked up. "What did you say?" he asked, confused.
"His 'help.' He's in leagues with someone, I think. Helped him get away in San Francisco."
"...San Francisco? I never visited there with Grandpa…" Ben 10k said to himself, before smiling brightly. "Maybe, just maybe, there's still a bright future for Kevin Levin."
"Well, in an alternate timeline," Ben joked lightly.
"That's enough for me, kid," Ben 10k laughed. "Also, don't steal my jokes. Anyway, we should get you two back to your timeline. I have a feeling a certain someone's gonna get mad if we don't."
Ben raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"
"As he would say, 'spoilers'," Ben 10k said in a faux British accent. Both Bens walked back into the main area, where Ruby was holding a freshly baked birthday cake.
"I'm surprised we whipped this up so quickly," Ruby said with a smile. "I bet Grandpa Max is gonna love this!"
"If I recall, when Ben went to get the cake in our timeline, he tripped literal inches before the campground and fell face first onto it," Ruby 10k chuckled.
"Well, glad I don't have to deal with that!" Ben snickered.
Ben 10k gave his wife a look of utmost betrayal. "W-why would you tell them that?"
"Well, how about I tell them about that popcorn fes-"
"Yeah, you kids should go now." Ben immediately transformed into a round semi-humanoid alien made of yellow armor. It had a translucent window on its chest which displayed its innards of various clockwork gears. His head was round and short, with a semi-circular rewind tool on top.
The tool winded up like a timer and suddenly spun back around. A small glowing circle appeared around Ben and Ruby. Ben waved goodbye while Ruby beamed, and they stepped through the portal right before it closed.
Ben 10k reverted and shook his head. "I swear I'll divorce if you do that again."
"Shut up, Tennyson," Ruby said with a teasing smirk. "You can't keep saying that, especially once the kid is born."
"...COME AGAIN?"
