Author's Note; Happy Birthday to E-10, special thanks to WinterWitch and Antipathy, and an extra special thanks to Rick for a major inspiration.

I'm very glad I took a hiatus when I did. A lot of the Reboot episodes helped shape some designs and names for future events. And yes, the song / band naming thing was inspired by Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I'll put a full list of names at the end of the chapter, so you can avoid spoilers.


Kevin's only advantage was the wind, and Daft Punk was just like any other plastic bag. Ben smirked as he sped up to Kevin and tackled him. "Gotcha!"

"No you don't," Kevin taunted. Suddenly, from out of his eye, a smaller version of his Upgrade appeared. "Bye bye!" The thing joked, as it jumped out of body and down to a construction sight below. The body in Ben's arms dissolved into steam.

"Oh, come on!" Ben yelled, taking off after Kevin again. He landed himself near the construction site, and stepped into the abandoned area. He felt uneasy; every time he fought Kevin in one of these, something would change. And usually for the worst.

And once again, he was right.

Something clipped the back of Ben's head, making him stumble. He whirled around only to see nothing. Something else hit his face, making him bite his tongue, but Ben knew immediately what to do. He sprayed water on the ground, and suddenly, a familiar alien began spinning out and running into a wall.

Kevin's XLR8 was heavily-armored. He had blade like wheels and wears a green conoid helmet. Green scaly armor covered his entire body. He had dark green fins on his back, similar to the dorsal fins of a fish. His elbows and legs were sharply pointed, even more so than his original, and he had 4 claw-like fingers on each of his hands.

"Ow," Kevin groaned, rubbing at his face.

"So, what do you call this one? Speed Demon?"

"I call him Rush, actually." Kevin corrected him.

Ben chuckled derisively. "Oh geez, that's lame! At least I was clever with my name."

"Hey, it's a reference to the band, stupid!"

"Never heard of 'em."

Kevin grinned. "And you've definitely never heard of Black Ice!" Kevin's body suddenly transformed in front of him. His body was covered in durable dark purple crystals. Two crystal shards grew from out his back and a sharp point on his head. His shoulders sported spikes and his four-fingered hands became clawed. Ben had to admit, Diamondhead was a lot of things, but he'd never thought of him as scary.

He wore a sleeveless black bodysuit, with a jagged V-shaped portion on his upper torso colored light purple. Six rib-shaped crystal formations surrounded his waist. Crystal formations covered his knees like knee pads.

Kevin threw some rough punches at Ben, crystal spikes growing from his fists. Ben blocked each of them with his shell like arms, and struck back with a blast of water. Each blast at close range would have stripped the bark off a tree, but they only inconvenienced Kevin.

"Really, dude? That's the best you can do?" He laughed, throwing another punch. Ben propelled himself away, just as he heard that all too familiar beeping sound.

"Oh, come on, not now!" Ben yelled as he once again became human. He began fiddling with the watch the second he was human. "Come on! I need some help here, Omnitrix!"

"I don't get it," Kevin commented. "Why even go after me? I'm a hero."

"If that's what you wanna call yourself," Ben snapped. "Kevin, you seriously need help. Like, immediately. That's why I'm gonna have to take you in."

Kevin laughed. "So, what? You think you can even take me?"

"I absolutely can." Ben scowled. "It'll b when everyone else gets here."

"Yeah, 5 v 1. But for now..." Kevin grinned as his hand lit up. Black rocks began to surround his body, and his head was ignited a glorious red color; it hurt, to be honest, but Kevin was reveling in the moment anyway. Red flames spread around his skin, underneath the rocks, transforming him into a much more threatening looking Heatblast, that, admittedly, looked a whole lot cooler.

"I call this one Hot Shot," Kevin laughed, his voice low.

"...ok, it was cool until you told me his name," Ben said exasperatedly. "It's just dumb!"

"It's better than the dude who named an alien Ghostfreak!" Kevin frowned, obviously offended. "Besides...guess who doesn't have a time limit between transformations?" Ben's blood ran cold as Kevin suddenly began firing a barrage of fireballs at him. Ben ran, hoping the fire wouldn't get him, and for the watch to recharge in time. He was a sitting duck until then.

"What's wrong, Tennyson?" Kevin jeered, running after him. "Too scared to fight?"

"I swear, just give me a few minutes, and I'll show you!" Ben nervously yelled back.

"And where would be the fun in that?" Kevin laughed. He began shooting red fireballs from his mouth, each narrowly missing Ben. He gasped; this wasn't something Heatblast could normally do. Maybe Echo Echo, but not Heatblast. Ben knew there was always something up with his aliens, but for them to be stronger, even more skilled? That was a kick right to his pride.

The sting didn't last, though; the thought of Kevin being stronger left him as the Omnitrix glowed green. Ben grinned as he slapped down the faceplate, and white material covered his arm, then spread over his entire body. His ears formed into headphone pieces and cords began sticking out as they plugged into his back.

Ben quickly u-turned and began charging back at Kevin. Ben quickly split up, forming a line of clones. Kevin stopped and laughed. "This trick again, huh? Upset that I used it against you?"

"My style," one of the clones quipped. "Can't be copied!" Another one finished.

The clones all began to run around Kevin, unnerving him. He knew the scream was coming, so why weren't they doing it? Was this a joke? Kevin began throwing around fireballs, trying to hit the clones but they just kept reappearing and going and going-

And Kevin got angry. He slowly began to shed rocks, and gain more barnacle like plating...and just as they were about to scream, Kevin began releasing a wave of salt water. It was a tsunami of fury; salt water forced itself into the clones' mouths, causing them to choke and splutter, right before dissolving.

...except for one.

Ben coughed. "Not cool, dude," his voice rasped. "No fair changing your forms between-" Ben paused, as he looked at his hand. A portion of his hand was gone, or, maybe was peeled by Kevin's blast, who knew, because Ben was looking at Echo Echo's "muscles".

"W-what the?"

"What's the matter, Tennyson? Can't handle a little scratch?" From out his forearms, Kevin continued to expel high pressurized water at him. It would've been a fatal hit, but Ben managed to get out of the way. He clutched his hand, horrified at Kevin's power. His wound felt strange, like it was asleep, but at the same time had an electric, awake feeling to it. He felt like he was running through syrup, his brain failing to catch up with his body.

"Oh, what? Still upset about your little scratch? This'll do something for you!" Kev put his all into his next shot; water shot at Ben from every pore on his body, making it unavoidable. As the water leapt to Ben, the Omnitrix began beeping and changed from it's regular green to a more vibrant, emerald green. Water coated the resulting flash, sweeping Ben into a nearby wall. He coughed and rubbed his eyes and found himself as Spidermonkey. A very wet one, too. (But one with both his hands, thank God.)

"Hey, that's my shtick! You're gonna pay for that, Tennyson!" Kevin fired another blast of water.

Ben slowly stood up, but snapped out of it as he leapt to avoid another attack. "Did you really say that?" he quipped, shaking off his fur. "Jeez, and I thought I was bad at jokes!" Kevin screamed angrily and fired a few more shots. Ben nimbly dodged the blasts and webbed Kevin's feet to the ground.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Kevin fired water at the webbing, and it dissolved like it was nothing. Kevin's head shot up, but Ben had already disappeared.

In reality, Ben was hiding behind one of the steel frames in the back of the construction site, praying he wouldn't be noticed.

"Come on out, itsy bitsy Spider! I wanna see how long it takes you to drown!"

Ben took a deep breath and tried to think. Kevin was at a huge disadvantage. He couldn't really do anything to the beams, unless he wanted to hurt himself again. Ben felt confident he could gain a quick upper hand...that is, until the watch started beeping. He gasped, as he heard Kevin move a little closer. "Gotta act fast!"

Kevin's form again changed, as Ben began blindly firing shots of webs at the thing. It was fast, even for all eight of Spidermonkey's eyes. Ben retreated back into a pipe, and the thing followed suit, only to be ensnared by a thick web. A now human Ben could now make out what he was fighting.

"That's one freaky parrot," Ben muttered.

Kevin struggled to get out, his lanky limbs unable to really move. His claws dangled just a few mere inches above Ben's face. "WHAT THE SQUAWK IS WRONG WITH YOU, TENNYSON?"

"That should hold you until the others get here," Ben sighed. He tiredly rubbed the back of his neck.

Kevin attempted to angle his head more into the pipe, only to be kicked in the eye by Ben's size 6 shoes. He squawked in pain, his wings flapping rapidly...and then something clunked on the ground. Both boys stopped to stare at it.

"Uh, what was that?" Ben asked.

"Beats me," Kevin shrugged. "But if I had to guess, a lead pipe."

"...uh oh."

Turns out Spidermonkey's webs had held a ton of the site together, and now it was all falling apart. Steel whined and crunched above them, slipping out of skeleton frame and descending rapidly. Kevin made another quick slash to grab Ben.

"This isn't over!" He yelled, flailing his arms. A maroon energy whip sprung out of his arm and nearly cut Ben, before the rubble took him out. Ben leapt out of the way just in time, landing far away from the pile of cement and rocks. He wasn't sure if Kevin was crushed, like last time. He looked down at the Omnitrix; still red. Ben sighed and sat back a little, no longer hearing any sounds of steel falling around him or anything else that indicated danger. It was going to be a long while until someone came for him, so he might as well wait until the watch recha-

An alien hand burst through the rubble. Ben screamed as the hand struggled to grab him, not realizing he was all the way in the back of the tube. Ben covered his mouth, trying to breathe as quietly as possible so Kevin wouldn't find him. He saw it in a few movies, and it usually worked.

...usually.

"Beeeeeeennn," Kevin drawled out, half of his body uncovered. "Come out and plaaaaaay."

Ben forcefully slapped the Omnitrix a few times, only to hear that horrifying "out of power" sound. Shouldn't the watch be doing something? It never failed him in a time like this!

Kevin inched closer and closer. Ben closed his eyes and screamed-

A gunshot. Kevin roared in pain as he quickly reared back.

"Ruby!" Ben cried out happily, his voice drowned out by Kevin's screams of anguish.

"Hey, jurassic jerk!" Ruby cocked her weapon again. "Leave him alone!"

Kevin shot his head forward and roared at Ruby, as his hands started to pulsate with star energy. He ran past Ben and out of the tunnel, searching for familiar red and finding it.

Kevin shot a fiery laser at the huntress, and Ruby just managed to dodge in time. The blast hit the steel girder she had been perched on, melting it inside a huge explosion.

Ruby grunted as she lifted her weapon up and started slashing Aerosmith indiscriminately. Kevin blocked the blade with his massive wings as he charged up a massive blast of star energy underneath his "shield".

Ruby shot him in the head for good measure, but that didn't seem to do much good.

Kevin grunted and just said "fuck it". Dropping the energy blast, he created a massive flash bang. Ruby shielded her eyes, mentally bracing herself for some cheap trick from Kevin...

And, nothing.

Ruby looked up and blinked. "What?"

Ben poked his head out of the mess Kevin made. "...is he gone?"

"Yeah... yeah, I think so." Ruby walked over to Ben and kept Crescent Rose in its scythe form. "Where'd he even go?"

"Don't know," Ben said, brushing off himself. "And that's what worries me."

"Oh my gosh," Ruby looked around the place. "You two certainly...destroyed the place."

"Believe me, his aliens are a lot worse than mine," Ben said, standing up. "Look what he did to my shirt!"

"Ben, you have like ten of the same shirt. Why does it even matter?"

"Whatever. Just help me look for him," Ben said. "I wounded him pretty badly, so he couldn't have gotten far."

"Hey, Ben?" Ruby called out. "Might wanna check this out."

Ben turned his head, and saw Ruby gesture to a trail of yellow. It smelt metallic and awful, which meant it was 100% blood. "Follow the yellow brick road, I guess," Ruby joked weakly. They followed it into the more constructed part of the site- from the look of the buildings, it was going to be some massive apartment complex. It was well shaded and had some more walls put up than what Ben had fought in just moments before.

He's hiding in here, Ben thought, looking down at his red faceplate. He's most likely gonna ambush me...but I guess he won't account for Ruby.

"Hey, check it out!" Ruby tugged on Ben's arm. The path of yellow blood had briefly turned red, and then an odd pink color. Actually, it didn't really look like blood. It was too viscous to be ordinary blood. Ben couldn't put his finger on it.

"Ok, so what the hell did he turn into?" Ruby asked.

"I'm actually scared to answer that," Ben replied. "But we have to get the hell out of-" He couldn't finish his sentence. Suddenly, Ben and Ruby were ensnared by blood red and black tentacles, each drenched in that pink substance- it was ectoplasm! Ben looked up to see Kevin's horrific Ghostfreak. His body was gray-purple and he had black nails. Tentacles stuck out of his chest, with black lines all over everything. He had a blood red upside-down head with single red eye. Ben felt like he was staring into the face of the Grim Reaper. Spikes stuck out of shoulders, and he had spider like legs, sharp ones too.

"Did you really think it was that easy to get away from me, Tennyson?" Kevin taunted. His voice was like hell personified.

"L-let me go!" Ben yelled, as Kevin brought him closer.

Kevin laughed. "Or what? I thought you wanted to help me, hero! Too scared to do something? Are you gonna run back to your grandpa and flee the state, you little baby?"

"AT LEAST HE HAS SOMEONE TO RUN BACK TO!"

Ben froze. His head turned back to Ruby, whose bared teeth and deadly glare showed just how pissed off she was. But a moment later, regret took over. It was the wrong thing to say. Ruby knew this, if the hands around her mouth indicated anything. Kevin's face noticeably screwed up, like he was trying not to cry.

Ruby's eyes flickered to Ben. He didn't say anything. He didn't have to. The damage was done.

And Kevin just threw them across the room, smashing them into a wall. Ruby got up, and whipped out her scythe. Kevin merely floated there, staring at them with an unreadable expression.

"Well? Come on, fight me!" Ruby yelled defiantly.

"Black Sabbath," Kevin said ominously. "Personification of the void."

Kevin's form turned pure black, like a living 3D shadow. His single red eye ran down to his chest...and he just ran towards them. He phased through whatever steel poles were coming at him, but something wasn't right; when he passed through them, the part he touched vanished. It's almost like he was-

"Oh, hell no!" Ruby yelled, grabbing Ben's arm and running off. His Ghostfreak couldn't phase through materials, or even turn invisible...but the fact it could turn his body into a living void? Probably the worst thing Ruby had ever heard.

Ruby zipped through the metal maze, making sharp turns, but did it even matter? Kevin could both pass through anything and then disintegrate it into total oblivion. Silver lining? He wasn't that fast; if he really was, he could've caught up to her right now and just disintegrated her.

Ben finally got his bearings and yelled, in the angriest tone Ruby had ever heard from him, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"IT JUST SLIPPED OUT!"

"YOU DON'T JUST SAY THAT!"

Ben and Ruby ran outside, right into the open. Which was stupid, because Kevin could see where they were! He had them in his vision, all he had to do was speed up a little bit more, and-

Suddenly, Kevin felt pain. Horrible, burning pain.

Kevin screeched as he began to flail around wildly. Smoke emitted from his black body as he shriveled up. The sunlight was a blight on him, turning his alien body cancerous and tiny. Ben and Ruby could only watch in horror, bile rising in their throats as they slowly backed away. All they could feel was shock and pity, even though Kevin had tried to kill them both just moments before.

"You don't get it! Either of you!" Kevin rasped, as he reverted back to his human form. "You don't even know what I'm going through! I can remember every awful thing that's happened to me. Every time I remember how it used to be, I feel sick." Kevin weakly got up. "Do you know what it's like, going from having a peaceful existence to sheer horror? It's the worst feeling imaginable. For these past few weeks, every time I fall asleep, I dream that everything is the way it used to be or that whatever happened was just some sick joke. And every time I wake up, it's like I'm being slammed against a brick wall every fucking time."

"Kevin..." Ruby sounded sympathetic, as she reached out her hand to help him up.

"SHUT UP!" Kevin yelled, his fists clenched.

"Kevin, we're trying to help you!" Ben snapped. "You think pretending to be a darker version of me is honestly gonna help you mentally?"

"Oh, so you want me to be original? FINE! I'll give you original!" Kevin shouted back.

Kevin curled up in a ball, his skin glowing with red lightning. Suddenly, it appeared as if he were turning inside out, leaving behind a pink ball of muscle. The pink ball suddenly gained slits that opened up into reveal glowing red eyes, and four monstrous hands and four long tentacles popped out of him. Ben's jaw dropped. "WHAT IS THAT?" he yelled, stepping back.

"This guy? I call him..." Kevin paused for dramatic effect. Lighting started to spark from his hands as he flew manically at the two. "STING!"

Ruby began firing at Sting, but it was pointless. Kevin's body had surrounded itself in electricity, and the bullets seemed to just pass through him. Ruby knew that it was going to be even more pointless to hash and slash him, especially when he was basically a giant sentient jellyfish. She grabbed Ben's arm and began to make a run for it. Maybe they could stall for time, until the adults got here...but how were they going to counter something they'd never fought before?

"I got an idea! You're gonna have to trust me on this one!" Ben reached for his Omnitrix, making Kevin laugh.

"Come on, Benny! You're an open book here! I know all your stupid tricks!"

"You may know all of them..." Ben smiled, turning the dial. He slapped down at a newer icon, and grinned as his body began to bloat and become surrounded by yellow plates. "But I don't think you've been introduced to CANNONBOLT!"

Kevin stared at his foe's much pudgier form and broke out into a fit of giggles. "Y'know, I haven't but I don't think he can help you here!" Kevin sent a crackle of lightning at the two. "What's he even do?"

Ben curled into a ball as the lightning. The attack shook his body but was ultimately ineffective. Ruby scurried behind him and shot him in Kevin's direction. "LEMME SHOW YOU!" Kevin gasped as Cannonbolt rammed into him and sent him flying. The two barreled through more of the wreckage, Kevin trying to fly away with Ben in hot pursuit.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ruby chased after them and disappeared in a flash of red.

(Anna, who had been munching on a chocolate chip cookie and drinking orange juice from a tall glass, looked up at Verdona. "You think we should help the kids anytime soon?"

Verdona set down her teacup, lips pursed in thought. Eventually she said, "Nah, we need to make our dramatic entrance. I'm sure the kids are fine. Besides, you need to get your blood sugar back up, those big attacks of yours take too much out of you."

"I know, but they get the job done faster without making me dangerously hypoglycemic. Prolonged fighting makes it much worse," Anna said as she reached for another cookie. She was still pale and her hands were trembling slightly, but it was much better than when Anna had been unconscious earlier. She had flown from the camp at speeds that would make a fighter pilot jealous, only to go into two back to back battles with barely any rest in between? Verdona was surprised Anna hadn't dropped into a coma by now.

She patted Anna's arm and smiled reassuringly. "Just get your strength back, dear. It'll all be over soon enough.")

Ben slammed Kevin into the rubble, causing dust to fly all over the place. Ben grunted, his body completely covered. He uncurled his body and quickly searched the area. Kevin was gone. Did he flee, or was it a ruse for him to lower his guard?

Suddenly tentacles wrapped Ben tightly, preventing him from moving a muscle. They were tight, like they were ready to suffocate him.

"Neat trick," Kevin's voice teased, tightening its grip. "Mind if I try it out?"

Lightning suddenly ran through Cannonbolt's body. Ben screamed in pain as Kevin leered at him. Ben grabbed his tentacles through the pain and threw Kevin off him. He then re-entered his ball form and bounced off the ground and slammed into him again, then off of him, onto a conveniently placed pipe, and into the air-

And right back down onto Kevin's thin form.

Kevin dropped like lead onto the ground. Ben slammed right onto him again, just for good luck, and uncurled his body. Kevin groaned as he reverted back to human, barely moving. He was still breathing though.

"Guess I went a little bit too rough on you," Ben sighed, walking over to pick Kevin up. "Let's just get you to the others."

Suddenly Kevin's hand shot out, latching onto the Omnitrix. Ben gasped as Kevin started to drain the Omnitrix again, taking in the newer samples. Ben fell over, the overwhelming burst of energy weakening him and making blood flow out of his nose. Kevin grinned as he started to take on Cannonbolt's bulkier form, spikes growing on his shell…

"BEN!" Ruby yelled. Kevin cursed under his breath; he'd forgotten about Ruby.

"Maybe Tennyson's hiding some more aliens in this thing!" Kevin thought out loud, as he absorbed the watch once more. Vines suddenly ran up his arm, before it completely covered his body. His form became more animalistic, as claws grew from his hands and two more heads grew from his body, both snapping and snarling like rabid dogs.

Ruby paused in her tracks the second she saw the Cereberus alien, snarling and drooling over Ben. The beast began circling Ruby, trying to intimidate her. Ruby's eyes followed the monster, waiting for the right moment...and then spun around and pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose. Kevin dodged the shot, and Ruby transformed into a swirl of rose petals, slamming her blade into one of Kevin's front legs and cleaving it right off. Acid leaked from the wound, corroding the ground. Ruby grinned, as she leapt up to a higher vantage point, ready to snipe. She peered through the rifle's scope...and watched in absolute shock as the beast regenerated the leg like it was nothing.

The Cereberus roared angrily as vines shot out of its back, creating a massive web of cellulose. Some of the vines managed to ensnare the still unconscious Ben, blood streaking down his face.

"Gotta cut him out of there!" Ruby said to herself, jumping back into the fray. She quickly reloaded her weapon, dropping her empty cartridge and quickly shoving in a new one, this one with a flame symbol on it. Ruby jumped up high and blasted off at a higher speed than ever before, coming at the vines like a rocket; she converted the scythe to a sickle-shape and spun her way through the mass, cutting up and down, left and right, leaving bullets, rose petals, and burning body parts flying into the air.

Ruby landed on the ground, right near where Ben was being held up.

"Ruby!" Ben gasped, barely conscious.

"Save your strength!" Ruby told him, cutting down the vines with her scythe. "We need to get out of-"

"RUBY! Behind you!" Vines suddenly forced their way around Ruby, covering her from head to toe, her eyes barely visible. She dropped her weapon as she was carried away, hearing the scythe clatter loudly. She could still hear Ben screaming her name, but it was more muffled now. She squirmed to no avail, scared of what would happen to her…

...but then colorful paper literally sliced through her bindings, freeing her within seconds. Ruby landed in Verdona's arms.

"You ok, kiddo?" Verdona asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah." Ruby stuttered. "But what ab-" A stream of paper shot past them, raining down upon the vines and slicing them into shreds. A platform of paper lifted a confused Ben and Anna from out of the battlefield.

"That was awesome!" Ben gushed, his eyes wide and bright.

"Am I still weird to you now?" Anna smirked.

"...yeah, kinda."

"Why you gotta hurt me like this."

Kevin breathed heavily as he slumped over, his back to the wall. His left wrist was numb with pain, and it felt like something would burst out at any second. He clutched it, trying to ease the pain to no avail. Verdona slowly approached him, Anna dropping in beside her once Ben and Ruby were safely out of the way.

"Kevin," Verdona said soothingly, "we're honestly trying to help you."

"We were once in a position like you, kid," Anna sympathized. "We know why you're doing this."

"And what's that?" Kevin scoffed.

Anna took a deep breath. "It's the horror of losing control, isn't it?"

Kevin's facial expression twisted a bit. Anna knew she hit the nail dead on. "You're using your powers to the fullest right now. Even if it can make you happy-or at least a little less depressed-you'll still end up back in that pit, and you know it. In the end, it either won't make you happy at all, or, worse, they will, for a moment. But it won't make the horror go away. We know this, and we want to help you."

"I've seen what stuff like this can do to kids like you," Verdona sighed, "And believe me, not a day goes by where I wish I said more to help them…"

Kevin frowned. Maybe they were right. These past weeks had been a blur...and judging by the pain in his wrist, some medical attention sounded nice right now. Kevin weakly stood up…

And was suddenly protected by an unexpected blast of lasers. Verdona and Anna threw up shields made of their respective elements for a quick second...and then it was over. They dropped their shields to quickly examine the area. Kevin was gone, not a trace of him left behind.

Verdona sighed sadly. She didn't know if she would ever see Kevin again, but if she did...she knew it would either be at his lowest or in a body bag.

Back at the RV, Ben had calmed down. Ruby was making sure her weapon was in order (comforting it like it was a hurt animal) and Anna was writing something down in her journal. Verdona was talking into a high tech walkie talkie, no doubt reporting in. Max was out doing some shopping after his earlier session was...interrupted by all that.

"I really got my ass handed to me back there," Ben sighed despondently.

"Seriously, what's Kevin's deal?" Ruby asked, exhaustion evident in the droop of her shoulders. "Why's he so demented?"

"Kevin's a child of abuse with an unstable mind, thanks to his powerset," Anna explained. "Not to mention, it looks like Kevin's taking on attributes from his stepfather. It's basically the cycle of abuse, we just need to get Kevin to break it."

"That's a lot to take in…" Ben frowned.

"And sadly, it's common." Anna put her hand on Ben's shoulder. "Sometimes, a kid like you can't do anything, no matter how much you try to help."

"But you're an adult!" Ruby protested. "Can't you do anything?"

Anna smiled sadly. "Sometimes, yes. Most of the time...no."

Ben laid his head on the table, prompting Ruby to pat his head to comfort him.

"Anyways," Anna got up out of her seat, "I should get going. That poor camp is probably falling apart without me. I'll file a report of the case as soon as I get back to my laptop."

Verdona nodded. "Say hi to Taiyang for me. And tell him to send his recipe for those strawberry cookies, they are absolutely the best."

"She's right," Ruby said, nodding her head in agreement. "She is absolutely right."

"I will, I will." Anna chuckled to herself. "See ya, magistrata." And with that, she jumped on a majestic paper crane and flew away into the clouds.

"...still think she's a little weird." Ben said quietly.

Kevin rubbed his pained wrist as a robot carefully scanned it. "So? What is it?"

"It's nothing more than a slight irritation from using your powers," Psyphon said, overlooking the results on his tablet. "Your overuse was justified, however. Tennyson was a much more formidable foe than the master intended."

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Kevin asked. "I really haven't seen Vilgax since he pitched his whole 'get the Omnitrix in much more deserving hands' plan to me."

"What do you need to know that for?" Psyphon questioned.

"I'm just saying," Kevin reasoned. "Not much of a boss if he doesn't even care to show or to our meetings, or even pay me! I risked my life out there today!"

"Your payment is medical observations and a place to hide from the law," Psyphon's tone was acidic, and his face twisted in a way that made Kevin realize he needed to tread with more caution. "Is that enough of an explanation?"

"Fine." Kevin frowned, ducking his head.

"You did well today, Kevin," Psyphon said placatingly. "The master appreciates your efforts."

"...thanks."

"Now, get some rest," Psyphon shooed him away. "Humans are recommended an eight hour sleep cycle. Your training for your new forms begins at dawn."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Good night." As soon as Kevin was out of the medical bay, Psyphon flicked his tablet back to Kevin's X-ray scans and zoomed in on his wrist.

"Interesting," Psyphon said, his face twisting into a sinister smile.

Kevin laid on his mattress and stared up at the empty ceiling. Back at his mom's place, Kevin had littered his ceiling with band posters and other stuff he thought would look great. On good nights, he would fall asleep listening to his personal playlist. It would help him clear his head and reach his personal form of "inner peace", a place away from Harvey. Right now, he needed that music. His head was overflowing with questions about everything that had happened today.

Am I being too brutal? Were they telling the truth? Wh-

Suddenly, his left wrist burned again. Kevin sat up in his bed, howling in pain. He clutched his wrist, breathing heavily. If this was some side effect of his power, he thought it was a bullshit drawback. It was too much! It was like someone was flaying his wrist from the inside out!

AND THEN SOMETHING POPPED OUT OF HIS SKIN.

Kevin nervously looked down at his wrist and nearly gagged at what he saw: an Omnitrix. A literal Omnitrix, born from his own flesh. Kevin screamed again as the pain flared to life again.

"How fascinating," a voice in the doorway said. Kevin's eyes diverted to Psyphon, wearing surgical material. "I underestimated how quickly it would grow."

"W-what do you…"

"And didn't I tell you to fall asleep?" Psyphon casually accosted the boy, fixing his surgical mask. "Oh, no matter. I can work on you like this as well."

And Kevin just screamed-


Hot Shot, Radiohead, Black Ice, Rush, Brass Monkey, Kevin Eat World, Aerosmith, Daft Punk, Black Sabbath and Dead Sea...and Sting.