"Come on… come on…" – Ben constantly thought to himself as his eyes kept frantically darting to the clock hanging over the door. It was 2:56 PM on May 23rd, the last day of school, and the lesson was the last thing on every student's mind. Words that left her mouth did not enter a single mind in the class, even the ones that did usually pay attention to the lesson couldn't focus on what she was saying. And even if they didn't listen, what would Mrs. Seagal do? Fail them on the last day of school? They all knew she wouldn't do that to her students.
Ben was getting a little too excited, not being able to stop his leg from fidgeting. He needed something to distract himself. Making sure Mrs. Seagal wasn't looking at him, he tore the centerfold out of his notebook and started folding it. He folded the left corner and right corner so that they'd meet each other, then folded over them once again. After that, he folded the whole thing down the middle, running his hand across the bottom of it to flatten the curve out really good, and then made two more folds to make for the wings and voila – the finest simple paper airplane you can make under classroom conditions.
He looked at Mrs. Seagal again, and taking his chance while she was turned to the blackboard, he launched the plane. Unfortunately for him, he had designed the plane too well, and instead of landing somewhere else and maybe causing a distraction, the plane made direct contact with Mrs. Seagal's hair.
"Crap." – thought Ben and hid his face behind a book as she quickly turned around to see the culprit. Since he was hiding behind the book, he had no idea if she was suspecting him or not.
Tick. Tack. Two more minutes to go. "Come on…"
"Well, it seems like our school year has finally come to a close." – Mrs. Seagal told the class. "I wish everyone a very pleasant summer, and I just wanna remind you all that I will be teaching summer school this year and it's not too late to sign up."
"Yeah, right. Like that's ever going to happen." – Ben thought to himself as he stared down the clock's hand that told seconds. It wasn't exactly in sync with the school system, but Ben had it figured out – the bells always rang on the 22nd second. 19… 20… 21…
ZRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
"YES! Outta here! Here's to the next three months!" – Ben thought as the bell rang throughout the entire school, marking the collective relief of about 600 children as well as over 50 faculty members. Everyone got up and quickly got to the exit, barely containing their excitement, ignoring Mrs Seagal's parting words. And along with them with them went Ben, at least, at first, until…
"Benjamin."
Crap.
"Could I have a word with you before you go?" – Mrs. Seagal asked him.
Ben groaned and turned back. Being singled out like that couldn't possibly mean anything good. It wasn't as if she was gonna congratulate Ben on the progress he had been making – in fact, Mr. Seagal had berated him several times over his deteriorating grades, and if she had caught onto the paper plane thing… This was bad. And Ben was so close to getting out, too…
"So…" – Mrs. Seagal said in a tone stricter than usual.
"So…" – Ben awkwardly repeated. She didn't say anything else, letting the tension sit in. Whatever she had in store for him, couldn't she just be out with it and get the suspense over with? Every second Ben was still in here was the clock running down on the time of his freedom, which he had intended to savor.
Ben noticed the paper plane on the desk. The one that he had just thrown at her not two minutes ago. Was that what this was about?
"I want to ask you a question, Ben. Are you satisfied with your performance this year?" – Mrs. Seagal asked him in a strict, but not harsh tone. Though here and now, 2 minutes after summer break had officially begun, she might as well had verbally degraded him.
"Uhhhhhhhhh…" – Ben froze. He stretched the "uh" for as long as he could to drown out the super tense silence, but had to stop eventually, or else it'd get ridiculous. But now an even worse silence fell between him and his teacher that seemed to stretch on to forever. He couldn't look her in the eyes, so his eyes darted all over the room from the paper plane to Mrs. Seagal's blue sweater to the blackboard to the plane again…
"Okay, let me answer this one for you. I'm not." – she said disapprovingly.
"C'mon, Mrs. S." – Ben found it in him to defend himself. "I mean, it can't be that bad, could it?"
"You mean, can it." – Mrs. Seagal corrected him.
"Huh?" – Ben asked, wondering if his teacher had just told him to can it.
"You said "it can't be that bad, could it?" while you should have said "can it" there at the end. You're supposed to keep the tense of your sentence consistent. And you'd have known that if you had paid attention in class more, which is exactly what I'm talking about."
"That was just a slip of the tongue!" – Ben protested immediately.
"Maybe. But I know for a fact that you have consistently and systematically disregarding your homework duties. Last week, you told me you had it finished but lost your notebook. The April presentation you gave on Dustylegs Jefferson was copied one to one from the one Jonesy Briggs gave last year in the grade above you. Don't think I didn't notice that. And that essay you handed in November…" – Mrs. Seagal sighed.
Ben knew this one was coming, so he prepared for the worst.
"You were supposed to turn in a 500 word essay, but you claimed you misheard me and thought I had said 50. A 50 word essay, Ben."
Yeah, that wasn't one of Ben's best ideas.
"Things like that pile up, and… I'm just gonna say it, Ben. Your grades are not good enough for you to pass the subject."
"WHAT? You're failing me? But you said that you never failed anyone in the 10 years that you've been teaching!" – Ben yelled.
"I didn't want that to be the case, Ben. If only you had at least tried to pay attention in class I would have been lenient about it and… embellished a couple of your notes to give you a passing grade, but instead, I get this." – Mrs. Seagal said with disappointment in her tone as she held up the paper plane.
Ben knew it was gonna come to this. But, at least with this one, he could make one desperate attempt…
"But that wasn't mine!" – Ben immediately lied. "I didn't throw it!"
"Ben, please." – Mrs. Seagal said disapprovingly.
"What? I didn't!" – Ben doubled down on the bold lie. For all Mrs. Seagal knew, it could have been any one of her students.
"Look at the paper." – the teacher told him as she handed him the paper plane. Ben looked at it. Did he accidentally leave some writing or something behind that gave him away? No, it seemed clean from every angle. Ben even unfolded it to look at the whole paper.
"I don't get it. What am I supposed to be seeing?" – Ben gave up.
"You're the only one of my students that brought a checkered math notebook to English class!" – Mrs. Seagal sternly pointed out.
…
"Oh."
"So yes, Ben, as much as I hate to say it, I am failing you." – Mrs. Seagal sighed.
"Oh, come on! How can I fail in English? I literally speak the language!" – Ben protested further.
"I'm disappointed just as you are." – the teacher responded, which seemed to be standard teacher vocabulary that every faculty member was obligated to memorize.
"Oh, no." – Ben said to himself. "This is bad. This is really really really bad." He knew exactly what would happen next. He'd be forced to be held back a year. Held back! All of his friends would move on without him, he'd waste yet another year of his life on 5th grade, as if Cash and J.T. needed something else to mock him about, and his parents… his parents would KILL him.
"I suppose it doesn't really matter if I said that I wasn't aiming for you specifically, huh?" – Ben asked. Not that he was trying to weasel out of punishment, he wanted at least that much to be known.
"No, I guess not." – Mrs. Seagal shook her head sadly, though, with a compassionate look on her face. "But before you succumb to despair, there is one solution." – Mrs. Seagal told him.
"Really?" – Ben's face lightened up. "PLEASE!" – he yelled. "I'll do anything!"
"Anything?" – his teacher testingly repeated.
"ANYTHING!" – Ben yelled.
"Well, Ben, you're not gonna like it, but the summer school does have an accredited English class…" – Mrs. Seagal said, and paused, waiting for his reaction.
Cogs started turning in Ben's head.
"But that means…" – Ben muttered. "I'll have to go to SUMMER SCHOOL?!" – he yelled in shock.
"You said you'd do anything." – Mrs. Seagal reminded him.
"Anything but THAT! I was going on a road trip with my Grandpa! We were gonna tour the country! He's probably outside the school waiting for me right now!"
"Well, you're just gonna have to tell your grandpa that the road trip is cancelled. Or maybe, rescheduled to next year." – the teacher told Ben, not without compassion in her voice. "Unless you want to retake the fifth grade?"
"Oh, man…" – Ben hung his head.
"Of course, I will be telling your parents about this whole thing, too. Maybe they can make sure that the same thing doesn't happen next year." – Mrs. Seagal said as she reached for her phone. In fact, she already had Sandra Tennyson in her contacts.
"Wait!" – Ben interrupted her. "Whatever you do, please don't tell my parents! I'll tell them myself, today, first thing as soon as I get home!" – he assured her.
"Oh, really? You are?" – Mrs. Seagal raised her eyebrows. "You're not trying to weasel out of having to tell them, are you?"
"No, no. I just… well, I think they'll take it better from me." – Ben told her.
"Well, okay. But if you're not here on time tomorrow, Ben, I will be telling them myself." – Mrs. Seagal assured him. "Alright, you're free to go. See you tomorrow at 9, Ben."
Ben couldn't believe it. This was supposed to be his freedom… but he was sentenced to three more months of it. And he'd immediately have to do it all over again immediately afterwards as the next school year started. This was shaping up to be the worst summer of all time.
"Here's to the next three months…" – Ben said in frustration.
He walked down the hallway, 15 minutes later than everyone else, and that ended up being enough time for almost the entire school to clear out. The ones that didn't go straight home were still out in the school's yard, hanging out and talking to their friends, enjoying their freedom. Everyone, but Ben.
He left the building, and his eyes darted around the sunny play area outside. None of those other kids having fun would have to endure three more months of school. Bug before he had a chance to wallow in his sadness some more, a very familiar sight immediately grabbed his attention. Cash and J.T. were ganging up on that kid again. The chubby kid with the glasses, Jamie. He wasn't in his class, but Ben knew him by name.
"Normally we'd take your money AND beat you up." – Cash slammed his fist and his palm together. "But since it's the last day of school, we're gonna give you a break." – Cash said as he moved closer to make the kid feel intimidated and uncomfortable. "Now fork over the cash, so we can get out of here!"
That was it. Ben had had enough of this stupid school, and these stupid subjects, and especially these two idiots ganging up on innocent kids. He was often their target as well, but that never made him as mad as when it happened to others. And in order to seize at least a shadow of freedom on what was supposed to be the summer holidays, Ben decided that he was gonna do something about at least one of the things that he had a problem with.
"Leave him alone!" – he bravely called over to them.
"Get lost, shrimp!" – J.T. warned him.
"I said, back off!" – Ben repeated firmly, not backing down.
"Oh." – Cash said amusedly. "Looks like we've got ourselves a hero!" Of course, he was enjoying all of this. He always did.
Cash and J.T. lost interest in the other kid and moved over to Tennyson. "Suppose we don't wanna back off!" – Cash teased him.
"What are you gonna do about it, Tennyson?" – J.T. piped in from the side.
For a second, the three of them stared each other down, none of them willing to back out. Ben was determined to do this. Cash had a smug and obnoxiously confident smirk on his face. J.T. looked around warily in case any of the staff was watching.
Almost immediately, it was all over. Both Ben and Jamie were hanging by their underwear off the branches of the tree that they had just been fighting under.
"Thanks a lot." – Jamie angrily told him.
"I was just trying to help!" – Ben tried to defend himself.
"Word of advice, next time you wanna play hero, make sure you can back it up." – Jamie noted.
"Why didn't you run? Then it'd just be me up here." – Ben told him.
"When I run, they always catch me. And then they beat me harder." – Jamie admitted.
"Yeah, those two are really bad." – Ben shook his head.
Just then, a camping van that Ben had both eagerly and anxiously awaited pulled up in front of them.
"C'mon, Ben, let's go!" – Grandpa Max shouted from the window. "We're burning daylight! I wanna make it to the campsite till nightfall!"
That was somewhat of an emotional whiplash. Grandpa still lived in the reality where him and Ben were going on that trip. This was going to be hard. But first, he had to get down.
"Uh, Grandpa? Little help here?" – Ben asked.
"Oh, boy." – Max commented as he got out of the RV. "How did this happen?" – he asked as grabbed and lifted Ben off the branch. He did the same thing with Jamie.
"Th-thanks." – Jamie said as he ran home.
"Well, Ben?" – Max turned to his grandson.
"Never mind that, there's something I need to tell you." – Ben told him quietly, his voice almost breaking.
"What's that, Ben? You know, my hearing's not what it used to be." – Max told him, bending down with one ear to hear Ben's mumbling better.
"I can't come on the road trip anymore!" – Ben yelled. He looked up to see Max's reaction. He was taken somewhat aback.
"Did something happen? This is kind-of last minute."
"I'm, uh… I signed up for summer school." – Ben admitted, omitting the part where he was forced to do it because he failed a subject and was risking getting held back a year.
"But you've been talking about the trip for months, Ben! Why did you suddenly change your mind?"
"Well, I, uh… I guess I decided that I needed to take studying more seriously." – Ben lied through his teeth.
"Did I hear that right?" – a voice came from inside the van. Ben immediately knew who it belonged to, but no, it couldn't be…
"Is the doofus actually taking summer school because he wants to study? Grandpa, be careful, there might be pigs flying around!" – Gwen Tennyson stepped down the RV's stairs and came outside.
"What, you're scared I'm gonna become smarter than you?" – Ben teased her, though he had no intention of ever doing that.
"Ohohohohoho that's rich coming from you, Ben!" – Gwen laughed wholeheartedly.
"Gwen." – Max said firmly.
"What?"
"If Ben really wants to study, we should encourage him." – Max told her.
"Yeah, okay." – Gwen timidly backed down.
"What is she even doing here, anyway?" – Ben asked Grandpa Max. "Don't tell me you were gonna take her with us!"
"Well…" – Grandpa Max awkwardly said.
"Wait, so we're going without Ben? This summer just got so much better!" – Gwen happily said. Ben seethed with jealousy, but tried to hide it. At least the trip wasn't going to be as good as he thought it was gonna be if it had to be with Gwen. He was still missing out, but not as much.
"You want us to drop you off home, Ben? It'd be like a mini-trip to remember, at least."
"Thanks, Grandpa, but I've got my bike. I'll get home myself. You guys should go to camp, you said it yourself that you're burning daylight." – Ben told Grandpa.
"Okay, Ben. I was really hoping we'd be going together, but if you're serious about this… well, then I'm proud of ya. See you later." – Grandpa Max said as he hugged Ben and got back into the RV.
"Well… later, dweeb, I guess." – Gwen told him as she followed Max.
And Ben just stood there as the ideal summer vacation, the last vision of freedom that he would get for this next year, drove away from him. He didn't want to lie to Grandpa, but he couldn't bring himself to admit to his failures in front of his hero. And good thing Gwen didn't know about it either. Of course, it'd be more ammo for things Gwen would rub in his face when she'd feel like annoying him.
With a woeful sigh, Ben got to his bike and rode it back to his house. The bright summer heat was contrasting with how down he was feeling. As soon as he got to his house on McDuffie Drive, he quietly snuck inside. It's not that he wanted to hide it from his parents, he knew that sooner or later they'd find out eventually, but he wanted to make as little noise as possible. He wanted to delay the dreaded encounter that was right in front of him as much as possible. Although, he needn't have worried – the house turned out to be empty. But instead of a relief coming over him, this meant that the shameful encounter was still hours away, and he'd be feeling guilty about it the whole time.
He also realized that there was nothing left for dinner, either, as his parents expected him to be going with Grandpa straight after school. Still, he felt awkward and guilty, standing in his own house, and moved as quietly as he could because making any sort of noise at all felt like he'd bring attention to himself, even in an empty house. That was the feeling of shame.
He decided he didn't want to stick around to wait for his parents. As soon as they found out, he'd probably be grounded for life, so might as well try to enjoy the last free evening he was going to get this summer. He ran into his room and got his Sumo Slammers disc, then ran back out and got onto the bike.
Ding, dong.
"Uhh, excuse me. Is this Jamie Quinten's house?" – Ben asked unsurely.
"Yeah. Are you a friend of his?" – Jamie's mom asked him in a pleasant tone.
"Uh… yeah." – Ben told her, even though that wasn't completely accurate.
"Well, come in, come in. He'll be right with you."
Ben stepped into the house and felt awkward. This was a stranger's house after all, and Jamie might not even be happy to see him after how the last time went.
"Oh, it's you." – Jamie said as he came down the stairs. "I was wondering who it'd be."
"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. It's just…" – Ben started, but Jamie cut him off.
"Nah, don't worry about it. I'm used to those two."
"You and me both. You can get used to the punches but the smell of Cash's breath is worse than any fight." - Ben told him and they laughed. He felt better now.
"Do you wanna come to my room?" – Jamie invited him. He seemed to have forgiven Ben already, and was quite eager to hear his answer.
"Yeah, sure." – Ben happily followed.
As he stepped in, he was a bit overwhelmed. Jamie's room was filled with shelves of various superhero and anime action figures displayed neatly across several shelves. On even more shelves were various colorful manga tomes, collecting entire series like Soul Blaster, Decibel Destroyer, Lonely Watchman, and more that Ben had never even heard of. There were several stacks of Tiny'mon trading cards wrapped in rubber bands, and a bunch of them in their own protective sleeves. And finally, a big poster featuring the character from Planet Chasers: Starlight Excellent (the name of which Ben couldn't recall) was hanging above Jamie's bed.
Jamie didn't say anything, waiting for Ben to take it all in.
"Should I… ask about all the Planet Chasers stuff?" – Ben unsurely asked. They did seem to make up a large majority of his merchandise.
"Uhhh… No." – Jamie then answered.
"Alright, then." – Ben said.
In reality, all of this was awesome, and he wished his collection was this big.
"I like it, I just… don't have as many figurines." – he awkwardly said.
"You know, I once invited J.T. here, back before he became such a jerk. Big mistake." – Jamie told him. "He then told Cash, and they told the entire school. And to make things worse, they know my parents give me money so they always take it for themselves."
"Oh." – Ben said. "Yeah, that sucks. I… used to be really close with J.T. before he started hanging out with Cash." – he admitted. "He was actually cool back then."
"Yeah, well, you know. Turns out you really can't judge a book by its cover." – Jamie contemplated.
A silent pause fell between them.
"Hey, do you play Sumo Slammers?" – Ben asked to break the silence.
"Actually… no, that is the one game I always hear about but never actually tried." – Jamie admitted. "The show runs at the same time as Weird World so I just watch that instead and… I like 2d fighting games more than beat-em-ups, honestly." – Jamie sheepishly told him.
"Well, this might change your mind. Listen, my parents are gonna ground me for like, life, and I won't be able to play this anyway… So, do you want to keep it for a while, until the thing with my parents goes away?"
"You didn't… get in trouble for fighting at school, did you?" – Jamie asked, worried that he was at fault.
"Nah, it's something else." – Ben told him. He hesitated for a second to decide whether or not he should tell him. In the end, he decided to do it. At least he'd have someone to vent his frustrations to. "I'm… failing English and have to take summer school or else I'll be held back." – Ben finally said out loud. "I mean, what kind of person goes to summer school?!"
"Actually, I signed up for summer school myself." – Jamie told him.
"Oh." – Ben remarked, shock. "Voluntarily?" – he asked to clarify.
"Yeah, so, I guess we'll be going together, then." – he added.
"Yeah, okay." – Ben said. All his other friends were going away for the summer, so having at least one friendly face around would be nice.
"Well, don't just stand there, give me the game, let's play it! It has 2 player mode, right?"
"Yeah, of course. But I got dibs on being Ishiyama." – Ben said as he handed over the disc case.
And for the next couple hours, the two boys indulged themselves in playing Sumo Slammers together. Jamie fell in love with a new franchise, while Ben took great pleasure in pointing out every secret and every strategy he had discovered after having played the game for years. In turn, Jamie had discovered a number of secrets as well in the game's instruction manual that Ben had never bothered to read. Jamie's mom even came in and brought them cookies, which Ben had thought was a thing that only happens in the movies.
"Dude, get the golden card! Get the golden card!"
"I'm being swarmed by the robo-ninjas! You go get it!"
"I can't! Kenko keeps spamming that stomp move! Crap… crapcrapcrapcrapcrap…" – Ben repeated as his health points kept disappearing. "…aaand I'm dead."
"The fight isn't over yet!" – Jamie determinately exclaimed as he moved towards the ledge.
"Dude, what are you doing? They're gonna push you off!" – Ben warned him.
"Not off this ledge, they're not." – Jamie said and instead of trying to push the enemies away, directed his character off the ledge himself.
Ben clutched his hair in suspense, but as it turned out, there was a secret platform down there that wasn't visible from up above. And it had an extra life down there.
"How… how did you know?!" – Ben yelled.
"Dude. You REALLY should have read the manual on this thing." – Jamie pointed out as he used the extra life to bring Ben back. "Now go kick Kenko's butt!"
"Boys! Dinnertime!" – they both heard Jamie's mom call for them from downstairs. Jamie paused the game.
"Can't we finish this level first? We were about to get to a really cool cutscene!" – Ben protested.
"Sorry, but when mom calls for dinner, you gotta be there, no matter what." – Jamie told him. "Them's the rules." – he regretfully said.
Ben sighed. He knew he had to obey since he was a guest in this household, but he was just too caught up in the game.
"Hey, what time is it right now?" – Ben asked Jamie, as he had no idea where the clocks were in this house. Jamie looked into the living room to glance at the clock hanging on the wall.
"It's 7:22." – Jamie told him.
"I've been here for like... three hours?!" – Ben yelled.
"I guess. Do you gotta go home?" – Jamie asked him, somewhat worried. He never had friends over at his place and he wanted Ben to stay a little bit longer.
Ben considered it for a moment. Sandra and Carl were always liberal with him being out all day, especially in summer. Though, he was sure they wouldn't be as accepting of the news he had to break to them. But that just made him want to go home even less.
"Nah, I'm staying. Hey, it's half past 8, right? Sumo Slammers is running reruns right now. This way, you can know the story too while we play." – Ben suggested.
"Nope. My mom has another rule for that. She says I'm not allowed to watch cartoons or movies on TV when I'm eating. She says that it's bad for digestion."
"Seriously?" – Ben protested. "What the heck are we supposed to do at dinner, then?"
"Maybe… eat the dinner?" – Jamie sarcastically remarked with a smile.
"Whatever." – Ben rolled his eyes.
"Here you go, now eat before it cools down!" – Jamie's mom brought them their plates.
"Thank you, Mrs. Q." – Ben politely said as he looked at the food. Mashed potatoes and stake with some peas. Ben hated the peas, but the rest looked delicious.
As they ate, Jamie's mom was sitting on the couch and watching the TV.
"The situation in New York is getting direr. Every day, more and more EVOs keep surfacing all over the world, but it seems like the highest risk of EVO threats is Empire City itself." – the newsreporter spoke into the camera while behind her, a helicopter view of New York City could be seen. It then zoomed in on an actual shriveled-up monster with four pincer-like legs and a massive mouth that covered half of its body climbing the side of a building, with the police down on the ground shooting at it with their standard-issue pistols. "The question remains, what causes people to mutate into such horrible creatures? Is there a way to prevent it? And can the scientists figure out a cure for these tragic people? I'm Diane Farrah, and keep watching Channel 6 News to find out!"
"You think someone can help those people?" – Jamie asked Ben as they were eating.
"Hey, if something turns you into a cool monster like that, there's gotta be someone that gets awesome powers, too, right?" – Ben suggested.
"Yeah, maybe." – Jamie responded.
Ben wondered what that would feel like. To have the abilities to do things no human ever could. He'd be able to stand up to Cash and J.T.… and any other bully that preyed on the weak just because they felt like it.
Though, Ben snapped out of his thoughts when they both heard a familiar phrase on TV.
"IT'S SLAMMIN' TIME!" – the narrator dictated in a cool voice as the captions showed up on the screen and then exploded, which transitioned into gameplay. "Ishiyama, Kenko, Kappa, and 18 other favorites join to the ring in Sumo Slammers Smackdown. Battle 1v1 or 2v2 to protect the world from the forces of darkness…" – the ad read as it showed gameplay footage of various characters going at each other one on one with a clear 2d fighter format.
Ben and Jamie looked at each other in shock with mouths agape, and some peas rolled out of Ben's mouth – this was exactly what they had been talking about!
"…OUT IN STORES, RIGHT NOW!" – the ad finished as another one for the Rainbow Monkeys cartoon started playing.
"What time does the videogame store close?" – Ben asked him.
"At 8. We can still make it. Come on, I'm buying it." – Jamie said. Without another word, they scarfed down the rest of dinner, even the peas, and with Jamie's mom giving permission despite this being so sudden, the boys bolted out of the door.
"You got a ride, right?" – Ben asked him as he picked up his bike.
"Yeah." – Jamie nodded as he opened the garage door, revealing… Jamie's mom's car. Though, Jamie was probably referring to the scooter next to it.
"A scooter? Really?" – Ben asked, unimpressed.
"Not just any scooter." – Jamie confidently told him. "It's a Mandark Industries RX950." – he said as he hopped on, put on the helmet and protective pads and gripped the scooter's handlebar. Immediately, it dashed forward on its own and made it out to the middle of the street.
"You've got a motorized scooter?" – Ben asked, surprised.
"Yeah, come on!" – Jamie reminded him.
Ben thought that he'd have to wait on Jamie on the way, but realized that it ended up the other way round – his motorized scooter was so fast that it took all of Ben's strength just to barely keep up with him, and he definitely couldn't keep it up forever. Though, that wasn't necessary – the videogames store wasn't far.
"Hey, Jamie." – the clerk told him as they came in and offered put his fist forward. Jamie excitedly fist bumped him. "I'm closing up soon, so make it quick, okay, little dudes?" – he asked while reading a game journal and listening to rock music through his headphones, not really paying attention to the store.
"Yeah, sure." – Ben nodded.
They went to the corner that had the games for the GameDroid, Jamie's console.
"Where is it where is it where is it…" – Ben muttered repeatedly as he scrolled through various games from the Sumo Slammer collection. "AHA!" – he grabbed it. "Dude, we're lucky we got it. This was the last one."
But then, something snatched it out of his hand.
"Then you won't mind it if we get it, will you?" – the sneering, mocking voice that was all too familiar to Ben and Jamie said from behind them.
They turned around, and there they were. The two kids that they had disliked the most had filled the game store with their presence. Cash and J.T. were here.
"No fair! We're the ones that took it first! Give it back!" – Ben protested.
"J.T., quick, buy it!" – Cash told him as he handed the game to him while he grabbed Ben from behind and didn't let go.
"Hey! Let me go!" – Ben squirmed. "Jamie, help!" – he asked his friend, who was currently free.
"Try anything and you're dead, got it?" – Cash threatened him while still holding Ben.
And Jamie, even though he had the opportunity to intervene, hesitated, like a deer in the headlights. Even though everyone has a fight or flight instinct, Jamie had accepted long ago that his would always land on flight, and even then, he wasn't capable of running away. Just roll with the punches as they came.
"I got it!" – they heard J.T. shout from the front of the store as he ran out the door. Soon afterwards, Cash let Ben go, pushed him towards Jamie and ran away himself.
"Oh, come on! We almost had it!" – Ben yelled in frustration. "Why didn't you do anything? It would have been two on one!"
"I…" – Jamie choked on his words. "I don't know, I, just couldn't…"
"Come on, we can still catch them!" – Ben told him as he ran out the door. Jamie nervously followed, but he dreaded chasing after them.
As they ran outside, Ben saw that Cash had left him a parting gift by knocking over his bike. So, he leaned down and grabbed it, using all of his strength to get it up without tipping it over on the other side. He got one leg over the seat and started pedaling. Jamie strapped his helmet on and followed him.
Ben could see Cash and J.T. riding their own bikes further ahead, but every time they took a turn they disappeared from his view for a time. And riding a bike while chasing someone is wholly different than normal, since he had to keep track of both the road and his target – if he looked away for just one second he could miss a turn Cash and J.T. would take a turn and he'd lose them.
"GIVE US BACK THE GAME!" – Ben yelled at them.
"Haha, no way, dorkus! We're the ones that bought it!" – Cash sneered at him from up ahead.
"We took the disc first!"
"You snooze, you lose! But you're welcome to come get it!" – Cash teased him.
They rode through the streets of Bellwood suburbs on a hot summer evening as it was slowly transitioning into the night. Ben swerved slightly to avoid a crack in the road then gave it his 100%, and not even Jamie's electric scooter was enough to surpass him. No matter what, Ben would catch up to them. They may call him names, they may give him wedgies or trip his legs from behind or make weird noises in class when he was speaking, but this time, they went too far. They got between Ben and a Sumo Slammers game.
Jamie behind him, meanwhile, wasn't so sure. He always hated getting into physical confrontations because they always ended in pain. Though looking at Ben and his determination, despite him getting beaten nearly just as often as Jamie, motivated him. Just having someone stick up for him, even if unsuccessfully, made him believe he could do it too. He considered something for a moment, then came up with a plan.
"I have an idea!" – he shouted at Ben from behind, and Ben heard his scooter's motor take a turn. Suddenly, Jamie wasn't behind Ben anymore. Ben didn't know what he was planning, but he knew he still had to catch up to J.T. and grab the disc. Of course, him and Jamie were going to pay him back for the money. That much was only fair, even if they didn't deserve fairness.
Ahead of him, the road was curving, and Cash and J.T. would have to drop their speed to turn safely. Ben, however, didn't care about his own safety, and figured this was his one chance to close the gap. So, when it was his turn to… turn, he leaned to the side. Though, there was a parked car on the side of the road and he wouldn't be able to turn enough to avoid, so he did the opposite – he got his bike on the sidewalk and after a large bump that had him painfully jump up and down on his seat, he passed right through the gap in between the car and the sidewalk. More importantly, he was right on Cash and J.T.'s tail.
"How did he catch up to us?!" – J.T. yelled in surprise.
"Give me the disc!" – Ben yelled at them. Though, neither side was willing to give in, so the bike race sped on, until…
CRRKRASHHHH
Something crashed into J.T.'s bike from the side, which, in turn, snagged the rear wheel of Cash's bike and caused him to crash as well. It was, in fact, Jamie, coming in from behind a hedge – apparently, he had gone through a shortcut.
"Owww…." – the three of them groaned as Ben stopped the bike and helped Jamie up.
"You okay?" – he asked him.
"Yeah, the pads took most of the damage." – Jamie responded. In fact, the adrenaline had kicked in and his heart was beating like a drum, and he never felt better.
"LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!"
Ben and Jamie turned to Cash, who yelled at them after picking up something from the ground. That something, in fact, was the disc case for Sumo Slammers Smackdown, which had been crushed when J.T. fell from his bike. The plastic case was barely even held together, falling apart at the seams. He opened the case to check on the disc… which had snapped clean in two.
"Oh, you're gonna pay for this!" – Cash yelled at them, seething with rage. Ben and Jamie noticed he wasn't his usual cocky, sneering self – this time, he was really mad. Even J.T. was wary of what he was about to do – it was him that fell on it, after all.
Forgetting all notion of standing up for himself, Ben yelled…
"JAMIE, RUN!"
The cycle chase continued, though the other way around – it was Cash and J.T. now chasing Ben and Jamie as the evening dimmed and slowly started slipping into the night. By now, Ben was getting tired again, but the adrenaline rush kept him going. Jamie, however, didn't have the same problem. Lucky for him, his vehicle was motorized.
"KEEP MOVING!" – Ben heard Jamie yell ahead of him. It's not like Ben was gonna stop anytime soon, either. A fight is a fight, but an enraged Cash would probably run them over with his bicycle or something, and Ben didn't want to stick around to find out. As he thrusted his legs as quickly as he could, pedaling away along Wyatt Street until he reached the very outskirts of town.
Houses along each side of the road made themselves scarce as Ben and Jamie zoomed past them. After that, the last lampshade (which, by now, was lit) scrolled by as well, leaving the road illuminated only by the bike and scooter's road lights, as the sky was about to lose its last shades of light. Tall trees on either side were blocking most of the sky's view, and anyway, Ben wasn't looking up – he had to focus on the rocky road.
"You think we lost them?" – Ben yelled for Jamie to hear. Though, he didn't respond.
"Jamie?" – Ben repeated. He couldn't see Jamie ahead of him. Suddenly, the road ended, and just like Jamie ahead of him, Ben went off-track and downhill. He lost control of the bike, the handlebars swerved on their own and Ben fell forward, rolled over the ground, letting go of the bike entirely and rolling across the dirt several times, finally landing on something soft. Jamie.
"Hwhh-oww!" – Jamie grunted as Ben landed on him. "I'm okay!"
"Dude, what the heck happened?" – Ben asked him as he got up. He felt a burning pain on his bleeding knee, but it wasn't anything big.
"I saw something in the sky and lost track of the road, so before I knew it, I was rolling down." – Jamie told him.
"Why were you looking at the sky in the first place?" – Ben asked him. And as Jamie was about to respond, he shushed him, because he heard noises from up above.
"Where did those losers go?" – an angry Cash asked from up the hill, unaware of Ben and Jamie's whereabouts.
"Hey, Cash, you are going to pay me back for that game, right?" – J.T. asked him. "Cause it cost like 40 bucks. Come on. Let's go home." – he said. "Owww!" – they then heard J.T. groan in pain. Apparently, Cash had punched him.
"We're not leaving until we find their asses and beat them." – Cash told J.T.. Though, the footsteps that came afterwards seemed to be in the opposite direction.
"What do we do now?" – Jamie asked. "We were only supposed to be in and out, my mom's going to kill me!"
"We wait a little bit and sneak past another way, okay?" – Ben assured him. Then, something caught his attention. "What's that?" – he pointed to what seemed like a red comet flying through the starscape.
"That's what I saw before we fell down!" – Jamie pointed out. "And it looks like it's coming right at us!"
"Dude, I don't think that's a comet!" – Ben pointed out as the object started getting bigger and bigger. So big, in fact, that it wasn't even a part of the skyline anymore – it was falling down on Earth, right towards them. Well, almost. It landed out of sight right over some trees. They even felt the impact as the ground they were standing on shook somewhat.
"Whoa." – Ben and Jamie both said, in awe. They looked at each other to decide what to do.
Then, without saying anything else, Ben headed towards the meteorite. The sense of adventure and discovery took over him. It's not every day you see things falling from space.
"Ben, wait!" – Jamie hesitantly tried to stop him. To him, it seemed dangerous to approach unidentified space objects. Though, he wanted to be left alone in the woods at night even less, especially with Cash and J.T. prowling around, so despite his better judgement, he followed Ben.
"Whoa…" – Ben whispered as he saw a crater in front of him. This was the landing spot, and something was in the center. Something metal. Something strange, and alien, and actually interesting. Ben looked up at the night sky, starstruck. What were the odds that something like this would actually happen to him?
"Ben? I don't think that's a normal meteorite…" – Jamie told him. "Don't go near it!"
Though, Jamie's hesitance only nudged Ben to go further. Maybe he was trying to push Jamie to be more daring, maybe it was the boyish trait to show off, or maybe he was just too interested in what that meteorite was. He carefully descended the crater, despite the bruised knee, and approached what seemed to be a spherical pod. Suddenly, it opened up, and revealed…
"Pwing" – the object inside it beeped.
"A watch?" – Ben said to himself as he looked at it. It was thick – more like a cylindrical wristband than an actual watch. Though, what caught his attention was the dial, which was displaying a shape resembling an hourglass. It illuminated the surroundings and even Ben's face with bright electric green, calling him in like a lamp to a moth.
"What's a watch doing in outer space?" – Ben muttered.
"Huh?" – Jamie asked from above.
Overtaken with curiosity, barely even aware of his actions as if he was in a trance, Ben put his left hand forward to grab it…
But suddenly, it jumped and latched onto his arm on its own.
Welcome, everyone, to my new story, or, rather, universe.
I'm not going to post a lot of author's notes on these because I don't want to pad out the word count, so I'll mostly talk in this one.
First of all, this is an alternate universe that doesn't adhere to the show's canon. Obviously. And having Ben stay in summer school isn't the only change I'm going to make, either. In fact, most stuff is going to play out differently, and not just the road trip part.
Since Ben is staying in Bellwood for the summer obviously I needed a supporting cast besides his parents, and that's where Jamie came in. If you remember, he's from the show's first episode, where the scene played out exactly like it did in my fanfic. He'll be sticking around and Cash and J.T. won't be too far behind, either.
You also probably noticed a couple subtle and one really big reference to other CN shows. That's where the name of the universe comes in: Cartoon Network All-Stars. Ben 10 isn't going to be the only superhero around. If all goes according to plan, the other heroes, such as cough cough unconfirmed EVO boy will get their own fanfics.
Oh and also, this isn't canon to any of my other fics. Instead, it takes place in a parallel universe.
I'd really appreciate a review from everyone who reads this. Positive thoughts, criticisms, stuff you'd like to see - I'm open to anything.
The cover for the story is an edit of Young Ben's FusionFall art, edited by my friend RayO1. Check out his fanfic, Cartoon Network Universe: Earth One. I wrote a couple one-shots about it, too.
And if you want to see me write a version of Ben that's more in-line with the show's canon, look no further than my other fanfic, A Trip to Remember, which is a continuation of the show with Ben on his road trip - where he's joined by a certain Steven Universe. This is Shala, signing off.