Ben X Chapter 20

The Return Home Arc

Stranded

A trio of shooting stars blaze through the sky of an arid wasteland planet. In the far off distance a yellow flash of light can be seen. The streaks of light fall through the sky, plummeting through the air towards the ground. As they approach it becomes apparent that the objects are not meteors or space debris, but in fact are egg shaped maroon colored pods. The trio of pods heat up on re-entry through the planet's atmosphere. The metal alloy it is constructed of resists the forces but the pods still shake and tremble on their journey. The trio of pods soon begin to split apart, spreading over a wide area.

One such pod falls to the surface of the planet where it lands with a crash and bounces back into the air. It skips across the ground for several hundred feet. It's impact carving gouges into the loose grey soil of the planet with each bounce. Finally it skids to a stop, smoke and ozone still wafting off the heated surface of the pod. A few minutes pass as the pod stays absolutely still. Then a mechanical hiss is heard and a curved door lifts up allowing the interior to be seen.

Gwen steps out of the pod, hand clutched to her head as she regains her bearings. Followed shortly after her is Rook who appears far more accustomed to the rough landing they had just endured. The pair look around at the barren and strange landscape they find themselves in. Whatever this planet is, it is full of many hills and mountains in the distance. The ground beneath them is a greyish purple color and is filled with many rocks and interspersed with small pale green bushes and vegetation. Very few signs of animal life are around. The sky above them is a pale teal color and dark clouds float overhead. Overall, the planet appears mostly devoid of life.

"So… this place seems… nice." Gwen commented.

"The escape pods are programmed to seek out the nearest habitable planet. It does not say how habitable that planet is supposed to be." Rook replied.

"Great. Well hopefully we won't be stuck here too long. First things first we have to find the others." She stated.

"Agreed. Unfortunately, I believe that electro-magnetic pulse from earlier has damaged my plumber's badge. I cannot track down any of our comrades." Rook explained.

"Lucky for you then, I can track people by their mana." Gwen said smugly. She floated up and assumed a meditative position with her legs crossed and hands folded in her lap. Gwen closed her eyes and focused her powers. A light pink aura began to glow around her as she concentrated. A few minutes later, she ceased her trance and returned to the ground. She walked over to Rook.

"I found Kevin, he's about 7 miles that way." Gwen pointed off into the distance. "And it looks like Ben's with Julie. They're about 10 miles in that direction." She pointed in not quite the opposite direction.

"Oof. That will not be a good combination." Rook observed.

"Yeeaaahh. Who knows, maybe they'll make up." Gwen suggested optimistically. Rook simply stared at her blankly. "Ok maybe at least Julie won't kill him before we get to them." Gwen said revising her outlook.

"Either way, I suggest we find Kevin first as he appears to be closer." Rook suggested.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to hoof it though. I can't teleport all of us together." Gwen said as she began to walk off in the direction of Kevin.

"Hoof it? Forgive me but neither of us have hooves?" Rook said as he followed after her.

"Ugh Rook, you've lived on Earth for what? Five years? You've gotta get with the lingo." Gwen complained half-heartedly as the pair of them walked off into the desert.

Elsewhere, Kevin emerged from his pod by unceremoniously kicking the stuck door off it's hinges. The bent piece of metal landed several dozen feet from the pod. The osmosian emerged, Ship bouncing dutifully behind him, having recovered from the EMP. Kevin paused and looked around. He wasn't sure what planet he was on but it appeared to at least have some life sustaining capabilities judging on the atmosphere and sparse plants around him. He observed his surroundings and found that his pod had crashed at the bottom of a deep valley, with high stone walls towering above him.

Kevin sighed to himself as he realized his predicament. His friends were spread who knows how far across a mystery planet. He pulled out his plumber badge but found that it wasn't working. He turned back to find the little galvanic mechamorph looking up at him innocently. "Well I guess it's a good thing that I at least got stuck with a ticket out of here." Kevin said with a smile.

"Ship?" The little alien chirped curiously.

"Well, go ahead and do your thing little guy." Kevin encouraged. But the little alien only tilted its head.

"Ship." It called out again. Kevin frowned.

"Yeah you know! Turn into that giant flying ship form of yours!" Kevin said waving his arms around to mime the large vessel. But Ship only jumped and shook his head, turning away from Kevin and bouncing closer to the wall of the valley. Kevin dropped his arms in dismay.

"Great you must still be damaged from that EMP huh?" Kevin said with a small amount of sympathy and even more exasperation.

"Ship!" The little machine chirped happily. Kevin sighed again as he followed behind the little droid.

"Great, guess I'm doing this the old fashioned way." He complained approaching the sheer wall of stone. He put a hand to it, absorbing the grey stone onto his body. Kevin began to climb, his hands forcing holds into the cliff wall. A second later he felt a blob hit his back. He twisted his head to find Ship had perched himself on his shoulders. "Pfft. Freeloader." He muttered to himself as he continued to climb.

After about ten minutes of climbing, Kevin finally crested the top of the valley. He pulled himself up onto the surface and felt Ship hop off of him. He looked around and saw that he actually was at the peak of a large hill. From his vantage point he could see around him for miles in nearly every direction. He squinted his eyes and saw tell tale signs of smoke and crash sites. One was further off to his left while the other was to his right. The one on the right appeared to be closer to him, but still a long ways off. Kevin sighed again as he set off. This was going to be a long day.

Julie awoke slowly, the first thing she noticed was a throbbing pain in her head. The next thing she noticed was an insistent voice on the edge of her awareness calling her name. She felt warm hands gripping tight on her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see Ben looking worriedly down at her. When she opened her eyes she noticed instantly his face looked relieved. She sat up and looked around herself. The memories suddenly came back to her. The distress call, the rescue mission, the reveal of Vilgax's ship, infiltrating the ship to free her friends, the fight and ensuing explosion. The sight of the ship shrinking as the escape pod rocketed further and further away.

"How are you feeling?" Ben asked with genuine concern. Julie stood unsteadily, but Ben's hands were there to support her should she fall.

"I'm fine, just a bit of a headache." Julie responded. Ben frowned at this.

"We should make sure it isn't a concussion." He said.

"I'm fine." Julie asserted as she moved past Ben and exited the pod. Once on solid ground, she observed their strange surroundings with dismay. This place looked even worse than Hazard. She turned back to Ben. "So… what's the plan?" She asked. Ben stepped out of the pod after her.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news." Ben started.

"Is the bad news that we're stranded on some alien planet?" Julie asked sarcasticly. Ben ignored her quip and spoke again.

"The bad news is that whatever that energy surge was it damaged the Omnitrix." Ben said. Julie looked at the alien device. It didn't appear to be damaged or broken. "I've no longer got master control, which means it's gonna be a lot harder picking out the exact aliens I want." Ben finished explaining. Julie frowned again.

"So what's the good news?" She asked hopefully.

"The good news is that the Omnitrix can track the other's plumber badges. They're several miles away but if we get moving soon we can reach them before nightfall." Ben said. Julie sighed.

"Well, lead the way I guess." She said, frustrated with the situation.

Ben frowned before turning his attention back to the Omnitrix. He pressed the buttons on the stubborn device which popped up the control dial. He spent a few minutes searching through the database with growing consternation. "Alright, here goes nothing." He said before pressing down on the dial. Julie watched as his body shifted in an instant to a large mostly green alien with a head full of flames. "Aw man, I really did not miss this." Swampfire complained.

"Swampfire?" Julie asked curiously.

"I was going for XLR8." Ben said with resignation. He sighed heavily. "Come on, we better get moving." He waved her forward and began trudging his way towards the others. Julie followed behind, arms crossed across her chest.

The pair walked across the grayish desert in mutual silence. The only sounds were those of their footsteps and the wind blowing across the empty landscape. The soil crunched below their feet. Julie noted that as they passed by the sparse moss and vegetation across the desert, she would see little insect like creatures scatter about. She looked up to see Swampfire stoically leading the way across the planet. The sky above them was dark and grey, a good match for the barren landscape that surrounded them. Julie wrapped her arms around herself feeling chilly. She watched Swampfire march across the desert in front of her. Ben was silent and all she could seem to focus on was the alien's wide and silent back.

Her mind drifted to the last few days since she had reunited with Ben. Initially her entire reason for coming on the trip was because she was worried about him. But after meeting him again in person years later it seemed as though he was doing just fine. Which begged the question of why she felt so strongly about seeing him again. She refused to believe that she was letting her sentimentality get the better of her. Sure Ben had matured quite well in the time since she last saw him, becoming more rugged and handsome, but she wasn't going to let that blind her. He still was acting like the same old jerk he was before he left. Although, she thought to herself, it did take him less time to apologize for his behavior. Julie could feel her head ache. She wasn't sure if it was the crash landing or her confused thoughts about Ben making her head throb. Regardless, she tried to put the thoughts out of her mind.

Julie paused as she walked. She looked over to her right. She could have sworn she heard some rustling movement but there didn't seem to be anything there. Ben paused as he noticed that Julie was no longer following him.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just thought I heard something." Julie said.

Suddenly a monstrous form leaped from the sand below. It charged straight at Julie who could only stare helplessly in fright as the creature ran for her. But Ben's reflexes were much quicker than hers and he managed to land a punch on the beast, flinging it backwards. The creature was stunned for a moment allowing the duo to get a good look at it. The beast was roughly the size of a large hound. It was quadrepedal, with brown scaly skin and a long segmented tail. It had four orange eyes arranged around a large circular mouth with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth. Sprouting from the center of the mouth was a long whip like tongue with a sharp barbed point. The creature growled and hissed at them.

"Julie stay back!" Ben warned as he set his hands aflame. He sprayed gouts of fire at the creature, obscuring it from view. A second later the alien leapt from the flames, completely unscathed. "Great, it's fire proof." Swampfire said in a deadpan. The alien creature charged at Ben and chomped down on his leg. The serrated teeth tore easily into his plant like flesh, ripping the lower half of his limb from his body. Ben fell over onto his side. The creature took the opportunity to assault Swampfire again, tearing into his flesh with sharp teeth and claws. Ben's anguished screams tore through the once still air.

"Ben!" Julie cried out in alarm. She looked around her and grabbed a pile of sharp stones. She took aim and hurled them at the monster. The rocks smacked into the creature's head with a loud thud, distracting it from it's meal.

The beast shook it's head and turned towards Julie, sizing her up. Julie backed up in fear. The beast abandoned Ben's form and began chasing after the young woman. Julie ran away in fear but the monster was right on her tail. It lashed it's tongue at her retreating from. Julie dodged as best she could but the beast finally landed a hit on her back. Julie could feel the sharp end of it's tongue embed itself in between her shoulder blades. A second later she could feel a burning hot sensation spread across her back as the creature injected it's venom into her. Julie kicked back, knocking the alien away before she felt her body begin to go stiff. She fell roughly to the dirt, her arms and legs refusing to move. She began to panic as the alien creature stalked towards her. "Ben! Help me!" She cried out in alarm.

Several feet away from her, Swampfire's form had returned to normal just as the Omnitrix timed out. Ben picked himself up from the ground, still sore from the beast having tore into him. But the moment he heard Julie's panicked yell, all other thoughts dropped from his mind. He looked up to see Julie lying prone and immobile as the beast stalked forward. "Come on Omnitrix, just give me something I can use!" Ben yelled as he activated the Omnitrix again. He felt himself grow much larger, his bones and muscles growing strong and powerful. A second later the towering form of Humungosaur stood in his place. The alien dinosaur charged forward, a war cry spilling from his throat.

The alien predator paused as it felt the enormous footfalls of Humungosaur. It had no time to react as it was kicked square in the face. The beast was sent flying back and collided with a large boulder. It regained its bearings and hissed loudly at Ben. The predator charged again, it's barbed tongue lashing wildly at Ben. But Humungosaur's form was much too large for the venom to have much of an effect. Instead Ben began to pummel the creature with his fists, even as the beast clawed and bit into his scaly hide. Humungosaur ripped the creature from it's grip on him before tossing him to the ground. Before it could recover he stomped powerfully on it's midsection. The beast let out a wail of pain before Ben gripped it by the tail. He whipped the beast around and slammed him onto the ground several times. Finally Ben spun around in a circle, still holding the creature by the tail. He let loose of the creature like a shot put and sent it soaring through the air far away. He watched as the creature impacted the ground several dozen yards away. The creature trembled before it righted itself and scuttered off in the opposite direction.

Ben heaved a sigh of relief before turning back to Julie. He rushed over and stooped delicately above her. Julie was already beginning to recover, the venom seeming to only have a short duration. She gingerly got to her feet, using Humongosaur's large frame to prop herself up.

"Are you okay?" Humongosaur asked with concern.

"I – I think so… My feeling's coming back to me." Julie said as she experimentally flexed her limbs.

"What were you thinking?!" Humungosaur yelled at her angrily. Julie looked up at the behemoth alien. His face was screwed in an ugly expression of anger. His chest heaved with rapid upset breaths. He towered over her and any other person might have been afraid, but Julie was not just any person.

"I had to get that thing off of you before it tore you to shreds. It worked out fine didn't it?" Julie said turning her back on him.

"You nearly got killed!" Ben retorted back.

"So did you!" Julie shot back angrily.

"I can't believe this. Julie I'm the hero here, I signed up for these risks." Ben pointed out.

"And you think I didn't when I signed up to go look for you? I knew this would be dangerous." Julie said.

"I knew I never should have given you that cube. If you hadn't known, you would still be safe back on Earth." Humungosaur said stomping away. Julie fumed at him, her eyes seeing red.

"If you hadn't been so dead set on fighting Vilgax we wouldn't be stranded on this stupid planet in the first place!" She yelled at him.

"What?!" Humungosaur said shoving his face in hers.

"If you had just let us help you fight him, we could have defeated Vilgax together! It was five against one! But you just had to be the big hero and do everything by yourself, like usual." She screamed.

"Why don't any of you understand? I'm supposed to be the greatest hero in the universe!" Humungosaur said waving his arms. "If I can't even defeat Vilgax by myself than what good am I?! Besides what were you supposed to do? You don't have any experience fighting someone as bad as him!" Humungosaur screamed.

"I could have done something!" Julie frothed angrily. "I'm not as helpless as you seem to think I am! And I would appreciate it if you didn't tell your partners to babysit me!" She shot back bringing up her previous conversation with Rook. But Humungosaur only scoffed.

"In the last 72 hours you've nearly been killed twice already!" He observed. "If it weren't for me you'd be a goner." He said.

Julie growled and clutched at her hair with her hands. "Aaaah you're – you're – you're INSUFFERABLE!" She screamed. "Why do you care about me so much anyway!" She shouted.

"BECAUSE I STILL LOVE YOU!" Ben screamed.

Julie's face went white with shock. She looked up at Humungosaur, searching his expression. His face went from one of anger to desperation.

"I've realized these past few years that I never stopped." He said in a much softer voice. The omnitrix began to beep, signalling the end of his transformation. As Ben returned to human form Julie could recognize the emotions on his face much more clearly. She saw a panic in his eyes, a hurt and desperation that she had never seen before. He looked to be on the verge of hysteria as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Julie was shocked. She never could have imagined this was what Ben was feeling.

"If something were to happen to you… If you got hurt, or worse… I would never be able to live with myself." Ben said head hung low and eyes downcast. Julie's anger deflated almost instantly.

"Oh, Ben…" She said coming closer and placing a hand on his cheek. Ben raised his eyes to meet Julie's. They stared into each other for a moment before Ben leaned his head forward. Julie had no time to react as she suddenly felt Ben's lips on hers. She was instantly transported back to her youth as she reveled in the familiar sensation. Her eyes closed and she leaned into the kiss. She remembered all of the secret kisses they would steal from each other after missions and between classes. She remembered all of the fun they had just hanging out at Mr. Smoothie's and joking around with each other. She didn't realize how much she had missed this feeling. But then, sadly, she remembered how Ben had cruelly broken up with her over the phone. Her eyes squinted and she pulled away, leaving Ben to look after her longingly.

"God, Ben…" Julie sighed. "I shouldn't have… I mean…" Julie stumbled over her words. She looked back and saw Ben was crestfallen.

"I shouldn't have done that." He said with resignation.

"No it's not that… That was fine but… Look, my feelings for you are all jumbled up right now, and this really isn't the place to solve them." Julie explained. "Maybe, once we get back to Earth… we can… figure this out. Ok?" She asked. Ben gave a small smile

"Okay." He replied. Julie smiled back at him. "I'm sorry for what I said." Ben admitted a moment later. Julie looked down, a frown on her face.

"No, you were right. I would have just gotten in the way." Julie admitted holding her arm self-consciously. "It's just, the rest of you guys are so amazing. I guess I just wanted to live up to you all." She said.

"No, I was too harsh on you." Ben replied. "From what the others have told me you've gotten really amazing." He admitted. "You were right, I need to trust my friends more." He said rubbing his head sheepishly. Julie looked at Ben and noted he no longer seemed to be on the verge of a break down. She smiled and let out a wry laugh.

"I guess we both could use some improvement huh?" Julie said.

"Yeah, heh." He replied. The pair spent a few more seconds in companionable silence before a loud noise and gust of wind blew down from above.

"SHIP!" Came the deep robotic voice of Ship's fighter voice as he hovered above them.

"Hey you two! Need a lift?" Kevin's voice called out from the speakers.

"Ship!" Julie yelled excitedly as she ran up to him while he landed. She embraced him on the bow of his large form and the oversized machine purred at the contact.

"What took you guys so long?" Ben asked sarcastically as they climbed aboard.

"Well, when I got stuck with Ship he must have still been suffering from that EMP cuz he couldn't transform, so I had to walk all the way to Gwen and Rook. But Gwen managed to fix him somehow." Kevin explained as he helped them in.

"Ship!" The machine cried indignantly. Julie began laughing.

"Ship didn't transform for you cuz he didn't like you. You called him a mutt." She said giggling.

"Are you… Aww man… Ugh whatever." Kevin muttered as his temper flared then quickly cooled. The group laughed aloud as Rook piloted Ship off planet and back to the Rust Bucket.

A/N: So we finally reach a point where we get to some Ben and Julie shipping. But it's not gonna be so easy for either of them. It would be unrealistic to have them get back together so easily. There's a lot more trials and tribulations I have planned. We may also skip another update for next week because if my math works out correctly that would be Christmas. So see you guys after then.