Ben X Chapter 21
Return Home Arc
Homecoming
Vilgax sat alone in his derelict ship. From his command deck he surveyed the ruined systems of his once proud vessel. The core explosion had left him without power, adrift in the vastness of space. Ironically it was exactly the same situation he had pretended to be in to lure in that accursed Ben Tennyson. Sparks shot off occasionally from exposed wires. Crushed metal panels littered his command deck. The alarms had long since silenced and only a slow red flashing filled the space. Outside the view screen he could see pieces of his engines floating around his ship. He sat in silence, head leaned against his palm. He contemplated his defeat once again. He had been so close to taking the Omnitrix this time. He didn't realize however, that Ben had unlocked it's master control function. That would make matters… difficult.
As Vilgax was plotting his next move, his attention was drawn by a swirling portal that appeared before him. From out of the portal stepped the semi-visible silhouette of the enigmatic stranger calling himself No-One. Vilgax watched as the mysterious figure stepped closer to him. Although he could not see any visible features through the shifting field of invisibility, Vilgax could sense ill-intent.
"What did you think you were doing?!" No-One screamed in anger. "You were supposed to be going after the Hammer like I instructed!" He shouted irately.
"I saw an opportunity to take out Tennyson and I took it. That is all there is to it." Vilgax replied shortly.
"If you had wielded the Demiurge you could have been successful and this whole mess would have been avoided." No-One gestured around to the ruined remnants of Vilgax's ship. "Do you see your folly now?" He asked.
Vilgax frowned and stood to his full height. He towered over the translucent figure and stepped forwards. "As I said before, Vilgax is not a fool and I take orders from nobody." He growled threateningly. "Besides, I still am not fully convinced of the existence of this weapon of yours." Vilgax said turning back around to sit in his throne.
"That is unfortunate." No-One said.
"Why is that?" Vilgax responded.
"Because it means you have outlived your usefulness." No-One replied while raising his left hand. A bright light began to emanate from his palm. Vilgax's eyes widened as he looked into the light.
"What is that? No! Stop! AAAAAGGGGHH!" He screamed before his voice and body eventually faded, leaving No-One alone in the wreck of the ship.
Our group of heroes had returned to find the Rust Bucket thankfully intact despite it's proximity to the explosion which destroyed Vilgax's ship. Interestingly, said vessel seemed to have disappeared, leaving behind only scattered debris in the void of space. However, if someone wanted to make them think Vilgax and his ship were completely obliterated they had failed. Kevin had confirmed that while the core explosion was powerful enough to disable the Chimeran Hammer, it would not be powerful enough to vaporize it. Ben frowned in deep contemplation, clearly not content with this revelation. However despite their scans of the area, they could find no further evidence of Vilgax's whereabouts, and Ben was certain that the alien warlord had managed to escape somehow.
But despite their best efforts, they had no choice but to leave the wreckage behind and resume their journey to Earth. The remainder of their trip was only a few days travel. The miracle of faster than light travel which came standard on most intergalactic ships meant that their trip was much faster than by conventional means. But still, even though their trip was not long, cabin fever was starting to make the team restless. Ben was unusually quiet and reserved, his thoughts lingering mostly on the mystery surrounding this Demiurge Hammer and why all his greatest villains were coming out of the woodwork to find it. His uneasiness was noticed by his comrades, and Ben, in turn, noticed their apprehension. However, he assumed that they were simply tired from a long journey and eager to return home. He had no idea that each of them were also harboring the warnings from Professor Paradox. The Time Walker's message caused the group no small amount of unrest, especially knowing that they all had to keep it secret from Ben.
But thankfully, none of these worries surfaced out in the open during the journey home. And before the group knew it, they were quickly approaching Earth. Kevin piloted the Rust Bucket expertly through the upper atmosphere, navigating back towards the Bellwood plumber base. He set the ship down in the large hangar bay. Once the ship had been appropriately docked and all landing procedures were completed, the gangway finally lowered allowing the group to take their first steps back onto Earth. Ben looked around, the plumber base did not appear to have changed much from what he remembered. He began to descend the ramp when he noticed a familiar face and stopped dead in his tracks.
Standing at the bottom of the ramp was his Grandpa Max. Still sporting his traditional red Hawaiin shirt. He looked the same as ever and a bright grin alighted on his face when he spotted his grandson. Ben smiled brightly and they approached each other on the ramp before embracing in a tight hug. No words were spoken for a moment and the rest of the group smiled down at the display of affection.
"Grandpa…" Ben spoke quietly.
"It's so good to see you again Ben." Max spoke before withdrawing from the hug and looking Ben in the eyes. "You've gotten taller." He said with pride.
"Heh, yeah I guess so." Ben replied simply. He felt Gwen approaching from behind him and felt her place a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"Thanks for bringing him home Gwen." Max said gratefully.
"Told you we would find him." She replied as she made to move past the pair.
"Ben! Gwen!" Called a voice from across the way. The two looked up to see a blonde haired plumber approaching them quickly with a bright smile on his face. "It's good to see you both!" Cooper said, although his eyes were mostly focused on Gwen.
"Cooper! Hey, long time no see bud!" Ben called out from the ramp. He smiled as he noticed Cooper was making a beeline for Gwen however. Gwen smiled politely. Although she was pleased to see her old friend, she was mentally preparing herself to turn him down yet again. Cooper approached her, yet to both of their surprise they were intercepted by a fast blur of blonde and black.
"Cousin Gwen! How are you?!" Lucy said in an overly cheerful voice standing between the two.
"Oh! Cousin Lucy. What a surprise to see you." Gwen said startled.
"And I'm sure you remember Cooper." She said in that same overly cheerful tone as she gestured to the taller blonde who wore a confused expression on his face. "We've been assigned to the same unit. Anyway it was great seeing you again but we've got a lot of important Plumber work we need to get back to. Isn't that right Cooper?!" She said latching onto the technopath's forearm and pulling him away. "Uhhh, um." Cooper stammered as he was led away by the shorter woman. Once they were out of earshot Ben came up behind Gwen.
"Wow. Cooper and Lucy huh? Man I really must have been gone a long time." Ben commented.
"No, trust me. That wasn't like that when we left." Gwen said with a raised eyebrow. The others began to descend the ramp behind them. However they were all startled as another voice called out from across the hangar.
"Ben!" The voice called out. Ben looked up to see a blur of red running towards him. Kai Green sprinted towards Ben, a bright smile on her face. Ben felt himself grow nervous, unsure how she would react to him. But he was even more surprised when he felt her arms wrap him up in a tight hug. Even more than that, she grasped his face with both her hands and brought his lips to hers for a deep kiss. Ben was so shocked he could hardly react. However he did glance over to his right where his eyes briefly met Julie's own. However Julie turned away before he could read her expression. Finally Kai relinquished his lips and Ben stared at her with a nervous smile.
"Kai…" He started off unsure. Kai looked back at him blissfully, before her expression turned angry and ugly. She punched his shoulder hard.
"Ow! What was that for?!" He complained.
"That's for leaving me alone for three years without even bothering to tell me where you were going or what you were planning." She said sternly. Ben rubbed his sore shoulder and looked back at a snickering Kevin.
"What? I wanted to do the same thing when I saw you again, minus the kissing part." He agreed with the sentiment.
"Well, well, well. Isn't this just a happy little reunion. It's so sappy I could almost vomit." Said an unfamiliar voice. The group looked up, shocked to see Charmcaster standing smugly with her hands on her hips.
"Charmcaster?!" Gwen called out in shock. Gwen's eyes and hands began to glow as she adopted a battle stance. Behind her Kevin had already knelt down to absorb the steel of the ramp and Ben and Rook were both readying themselves for battle as well. Charmcaster's smug smile faltered as she watched the group of heroes. However before either side could say or do anything, Kai jumped in between them, hands spread wide.
"Woah woah! Everybody calm down! She's cool, I can vouch for her!" Kai shouted.
Ben quirked an eyebrow and moved his hand away from the Omnitrix dial. "I'm guessing this also didn't happen while I was gone." He said. Gwen frowned and dropped her magic but still glared at Charmcaster.
"No, now can someone explain when and how this happened? Why is she here?" Gwen asked angrily.
"I came looking for you Gwen. I wanted your help." Charmcaster said.
"My help? You're kidding right? Why should I even believe you?" Gwen replied incredulously. Charmcaster scowled back but her expression fell and she looked at Gwen with an emotion she couldn't place.
"Because Addwaitya has gone missing. And I'm worried he's going to do something really bad." Charmcaster explained. "And as much as I really, really, really hate to admit it. You're more powerful when it comes to magic. If we combined forces we could take him down." She pleaded.
"You didn't have any problem handling him on your own last time." Gwen shot back disbelievingly.
"Uggh, why are you always so stubborn? Last time he stayed in Ledgerdomain. Whereever he's gone to now, I can't follow him." Charmcaster pleaded.
"She's telling the truth Gwen." Kai interrupted. Everyone's heads turned to Kai as she spoke. "We think he's going after the Demiurge too." Kai explained. Ben threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Is there anyone not going after this stupid thing? Zombozo? Psyphon? The Vreedles?" He asked facetiously. He was mostly ignored though.
"Besides, she helped me get this." Kai said drawing the sword from her back. The rest of the group stared at her in confusion. But there was a flash of recognition in Ben's eyes as he strode forward.
"No way. Is that?" He began.
"Excalibur, the one and only." Kai said proudly as she brandished the weapon. Ben's eyes went wide as he looked it over.
"Okay, so she helped you get a legendary magic sword." Gwen said. "I'll admit it's impressive, but she could just be trying to ingratiate herself to us so we can let our guard down." Gwen countered.
"Gwen." Max spoke up. "I know this is hard for you to accept, but she did help us take down the remnants of the Forever Knights. We've trusted her so far and she hasn't turned on us. Plus she's already been deputized as a plumber cadet so we can keep an eye on her. Maybe you should just give her a chance?" He explained. However this statement only seemed to make Gwen madder.
"Grandpa are you serious?!" She complained. However, while Gwen went on her tirade, Ben looked over to the woman in question. He saw how Charmcaster's shoulders sagged with each word Gwen said. He noticed her frown deepen and saw a profound sadness in her eyes. He moved past Kai to approach the sorceress. He stood in front of her and Charmcaster finally took notice of the shape-shifting hero. She stared into his eyes with confusion while he searched her own.
"Gwen!" He finally called, interrupting her rant and causing everyone to look at the pair. They noticed how Ben seemed to be scrutinizing her and the intense gaze was beginning to make Charmcaster squirm.
"It's cool. We can trust her." He said turning back to Gwen with a disarming smile. The group collectively looked at Ben with expressions of great confusion. Including Charmcaster, who hadn't expected the hero to take her side so easily. After a moment Gwen sighed and relented.
"Alright, if you say so Ben." Gwen finally said.
"Great! Now that that's settled, what is that delicious smell? I'm starving!" Ben said nonchalantly as he followed his nose to the source of the delectable aroma.
"Uhh, well I have been preparing a pot of Gorloxian stew to celebrate your return Ben." Max said as they followed the young man through the corridors of the plumber base.
"Great! I could probably eat a whole pot. Is the kitchen still this way?" He asked as he strolled ahead. The group followed behind Ben as they reached the kitchen where the large pot of simmering stew sat atop the stove. Most of them watched in confusion and disgust as Ben ladled out a bowl of the orange sludge that had tentacles and large green pods of slime. He then took a hearty slurp of the stew, astonishing those present as he ate the soup with gusto. "MMM, man, Grandpa Max that was delicious!" Ben complimented.
"Ben's actually eating my cooking? And he likes it?" Max said with a soft whisper. "Oh, I think I need to sit down. Are you sure you got the right Ben back?" Max asked.
"Are you kidding? When I was on Hazard I wished I had listened to your lessons on cooking alien food! I had to cook all my meals from scratch! Lemme tell you trying to do process of elimination when it comes to what's good to eat is not fun." Ben explained nonchalantly. But nearby Max's eyes widened as he recognized the name.
"Hazard? Hazard?! Is that where you've been all this time?!" Max shouted angrily.
"Whoops…" He said quietly.
"Ben!" Max demanded. Ben put down his bowl and raised his hands in a placating gesture.
"Look I'm fine! Everything worked out okay." He said.
"What if you had gotten hurt?!" Max asked concerned.
"It's fine Grandpa. Azmuth knew where I was." Ben replied. That mention gave Max pause.
"You roped Azmuth into this as well?" Max asked.
"Of course, he's the one that gave me Master Control after all." He said. "Speaking of which, we should probably give him a call. Whatever energy surge Vilgax caused seems to have shorted out the Master Control." Ben explained. Max groaned in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"We'll have Blukic and Driba take a look at it." Max finally relented.
An hour later, Ben sat in the lab, his omnitrix arm up on a table where the diminuitive aliens were poking and prodding the incredibly complex device. The rest of the group sat around haphazardly through out the lab. Gwen and Rook were filling in Max on the many hurdles they had encountered on their journey, including the incident with Vilgax. Julie sat on the floor playing with Ship, pointedly trying to ignore the glares she was receiving from Kai. Charmcaster stood next to Kai, rolling her eyes at the other girl's animosity. Finally, the two Galvans spoke up.
"Alright, I think we may have figured it out." Driba said proudly. Ben shifted his attention down to the pair.
"The Omnitrix suffered an energy surge from the EMP blast, which caused it's circuits to overload which is why it isn't working properly." Blukic explained. Ben's expression went blank.
"Yeah, that's what I had said an hour ago when you guys started." Ben said deadpan.
"Well we had to confirm for ourselves. No offense but humans can be very unreliable." Driba commented. Ben rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, so can you guys restore the Master Control or what?" Ben asked.
"Oh most definitely!" Blukic said.
"We just need to reset the Omnitrix!" Driba concluded.
"Wait! Did you say reset?" Ben asked worriedly. But it was too late, the two Galvans had already begun pressing a sequence of buttons and turns of the dial. Before Ben could stop them they had already pressed down the dial. The Omnitrix blinked and beeped before glowing green.
"BENJAMIN KIRBY TENNYSON!" Screamed a high pitched feminine voice in anger. The voice drew the attention of all those gathered as they looked to Ben in confusion.
"Oh boy…" Ben could only say as he swiped a hand down his face.
"You had me shut off for… THREE MONTHS?!" The voice continued to scream, apparently emanating from the Omnitrix itself. "How dare you! I can't believe you would do something like that." The mysterious voice continued to shout.
"Uh, Ben…" Gwen said. "Who is that?" She asked pointedly.
"Who said that?" The mystery voice asked. "Wait hold on, let me get set up." Suddenly the face of the Omnitrix glowed and a hologram appeared on it's surface. The hologram revealed a female humanoid figure, standing about six inches tall. She turned around and gazed at the group with confusion and bewilderment before glancing around at her surroundings. The girl had white skin and long green hair that was done up in a pony tail. Streaks of black ran through the hair which was braided at some points. A pair of black goggles sat atop her head. Her out fit consisted of a pair of green boots, white pants with a green belt, a white under shirt with a green vest over the shirt. Her forearms were covered with long white gloves that exposed her fingers. Just below her collar on the front of her chest was the symbol of the omnitrix. Her irises were bright green, matching the color of her hair and her pupils were the shape of the Omntrix symbol as well. Everyone present stared at the holographic girl with great confusion. The girl turned around and pouted at Ben with her hands on her hips. "You didn't even tell them about me?!" She asked angrily.
"Trixie look it wasn't intentional! There was just a lot going on and…" Ben started to explain, speaking to his watch.
"Save it. Where are we anyway? Clearly not Hazard. Ooh are those other computers?! Finally!" the now named Trixie suddenly disappeared from Ben's wrist before reappering on the large screen in the lab. "Okay, let's see. Plumber Base, Bellwood, Earth! Fun! Ooh you guys have an extranet uplink, finally! It feels so good to stretch my legs!" Trixie said mimicking stretching her arms and legs and jumping around spritely from screen to screen.
"She has hacked into our database!" Rook said.
"No guys it's cool." Ben tried to calm the situation.
"Ben…" Gwen's voice drew his attention. He looked to see Gwen, Kai, and Julie staring at him with stern accusing glares, even Charmcaster looked at him with a deadpan expression. Ben gulped and felt sweat begin to bead on his forehead. "You've got about 10 seconds to explain yourself." Gwen finished. Ben waved frantically.
"No it's okay, it's not what you think. Everyone this is Trixie. She's the Omnitrix's AI." Ben explained as Trixie jumped back onto Ben's watch. She did a little bow.
"I'm so pleased to meet all of you. Ben has told me so much about all of you and I can't wait to work with you all. I hope my master has not given you too much trouble." Trixie said with a devious smirk.
"Master?!" Kai shouted accusingly.
"Gah, Trixie! What have I told you about calling me that! I thought we agreed it's just Ben!" Ben said frantically.
"Oh you don't like that? Sorry, I must have forgotten since you SHUT ME OFF FOR THREE MONTHS!" Trixie accused.
"Trixie I told you, there was a lot going on! We had to rebuild the ship, then we ran into Vilgax, then we got stranded on another planet…" Ben tried explaining to the little AI who was turned away with her arms folded across her chest. "Look what will it take for you to forgive me?" Ben asked. Trixie smirked devilishly again.
"Oh I think you know mister!" She said. "You owe me a body, like you promised!" Trixie said.
"Ben!" Gwen said drawing his attention. He now noticed even Julie was starting to look at him with some disgust. Ben groaned and ran his hand through his hair.
"Okay look, this is all a big misunderstanding. Trixie was installed by Azmuth when I first went to him to have him unlock the Master Control. He was afraid I would go crazy if I didn't have someone to talk to. When she was born Trixie was just a basic AI. Over time she developed a personality of her own. She chose her own name and came up with her own appearance. I didn't have a say in any of it. Eventually I promised to get her a body so she wouldn't have to be stuck on my wrist all the time. That's all it is. She's like a sister to me I swear." Ben finally explained.
"As much fun as it is to tease Ben, everything he just told you is true." Trixe corroborated. The group paused as they took in the information and examined the little AI.
"Oh I get it. So she's kinda like Eunice, right Ben?" Kevin asked knowingly. Ben's eyes went wide.
"I'm sorry, who's Eunice?" Julie asked pointedly.
"Yeah Ben, who is Eunice?" Kai echoed arms crossed.
"Woah woah hold on, Eunice is uhh… I mean it was when Julie and I were on a break uhh… We didn't even know each other for more than a day!" Ben tried desperately to explain but it seemed like every word that came out of his mouth only caused Julie and Kai to look at him with more enmity and disgust. But Trixie gasped in delight as she heard the information.
"Is Eunice another Omnitrix AI like me?" Trixie asked excitedly.
"Uh sort of?" Ben replied.
"Oh my gosh! Ben you didn't tell me I have a sister! Oh that is so cool, I can't wait to meet her!" Trixie said enthusiastically.
"Uh, uhm…" Ben stammered out nervously.
"Ugh, whatever." Julie scoffed and picked up Ship to take him elsewhere. Kai followed shortly behind her while Charmcaster sat in the corner cackling before following Kai out. Gwen simply shook her head while Rook and Max stood staring confused. Kevin was desperately trying not to laugh as he watched Ben's expressions, especially when he glared at him.
"Guys wait! Come on. This isn't fair!" Ben cried out as he was left alone in the lab. Blukic and Driba spent a few more minutes examining the Omnitrix and talking with Trixie before they left as well, assuring Ben that the Master Control had been restored. At last Ben was left alone in the lab with nothing but his thoughts and trying to think of what he would say to the women in his life.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you had girl troubles huh?" Trixie finally spoke.
"Gee ya think." Ben responded dryly. They sat in silence for a few more moments before Trixie spoke up again.
"Hey Ben?" She asked quietly and unsure. Ben raised an eye to her and saw she looked apprehensive and nervous. "Why exactly did you turn me off in the first place?" She asked. Ben's eyes drifted off into space and he remained silent. "What's more is I don't have any record of transformations during that period. The last transformation that was logged was Clockwork. And then three months later you logged Bugshido? What was going on?" Trixie asked concerned. Ben frowned sadly, his expression distant. He was silent for a good long while before finally he spoke in a defeated tone.
"You wouldn't understand Trixie." He said, leaving it at that. Trixie frowned but accepted his answer. She disappeared as Ben stood and walked off.
A/N: Sorry for the late update guys. I've been sick and the normal update schedules have all fallen on holidays. Also Trixie isn't going to be a super important part of the story. I just thought it would be fun to have a personification of the Omnitrix. Her appearance is partially inspired by the Human Omnitrix design by Clover Karin on DeviantArt.