May 31, 2016

Rust Bucket; 1:17 pm

"Grandpa, please," Ben pleaded, "tell me you didn't."

"I know that these last few years have been… rough… to say the least. But between your heroing and Gwen going off to college..." Max never let his age stop him from doing what he loves, but at that moment it started to show. "Look, I don't even remember the last time the three of us were even in the same room together. Please, let this old man spoil his grandkids one last time."

Gwen was the first to speak up. "I have my orientation from the 26th next month. You just have to deal with me 'til then. After that, the rest of the trip is all yours Ben."

"Ok," Ben sighed, "I'll play nice Grandpa."

"Thank you, Ben." His playful demeanor returned in spades. "Now I think hotel security is getting a little peeved that we're blocking traffic so let's get a move on shall we." Max said from the driver's seat. Ben looked over at his cousin who gave him a tense smile.

"I'm going to change!" Ben yelled before storming off to the back of the RV.

"That went about as well as expected." Gwen slumped back into her seat instantly regretting her decision to come. But she looked over at her grandfather and saw how happy he was to be on the road with them again and that regret died down. If only a little. A month and a half; how bad could it be?

A few hours later, Max parked at their camping site and started setting up for the evening. He decided that going back to the same campgrounds from that first Summer would be the best way to start off their final trip. Ben had gone off on his own to try and clear his head when he stumbled upon a memorial. There stood a statue of Diamondhead with a plaque reading:

On May 30, 2008, the campgrounds had been attacked by a giant robot. In the midst of the havoc, a crystal-like man appeared and defeated machine saving the lives of many. It is unclear where he had come from, but sightings of the hero known as "Diamondhead" had appeared all over the country and had continued to save citizens everywhere. This statue is placed to commemorate the hero's first triumph and all future endeavors.

Ben was too busy reading the plaque to notice the ranger walked up beside him. "I'm the one who begged the governor to place this statue here. Wasn't easy convincing him that we should have a statue of a giant crystal man, but after a few years he finally budged." Ben looked over at the man and recognized that he was the ranger he saved from Vilgax's attack. "We never got to thank him for saving us all back then so I hoped that someday he'd come back and see this and know how much we appreciate what he did back then."

"He does," Ben began. "I'm sure of it." The ranger's face lit up and he gave the young man a warm smile. "You know, I was there during the attack. I was here with my grandpa and cousin and it was insane. We'd never seen anything like that before."

"A lot of crazy stuff happened after that." The ranger said. "Monsters and aliens started appearing all over the country. Most people would think it's all crazy talk, but us." He put his hand on Ben's shoulder. "We know what's really out there." The ranger lifted Ben's arm to reveal the Omnitrix. With a nod, the ranger left a shocked Ben alone with himself. Looking from the watch on his wrist to the symbol on the statue's chest, Ben thought about his life up to this point. All the places he's been, the people he's saved, and the lives he'd changed just for being at the right place at the right time.

"It's a pretty good depiction of you." Ben looked over to see his cousin had walked up behind him causing his mood to sour. Noticing this, Gwen started to tense up. "You were gone awhile and grandpa was getting worried you'd set the forest on fire again." She joked. Ben, not in the mood for talking walked past her and started heading back to camp. As a kid, Gwen reveled in making her cousin angry. Fighting and screaming she could handle any day, but silence. She had no clue what to do in these situations. So she did the only thing she knew how to. "Look, I'm sorry." She cried causing Ben to stop in his tracks. "I know you wanted to have this trip be just you and Grandpa, but you're stuck with me. Can we at least try and be civil? For Grandpa."

There was a long silence before he gave her an angry look and turned back towards camp. "Whatever, Dweeb." Even with the malice in his voice. Gwen found comfort in the name he used to tease her with when they were kids. As far as she saw it, it meant progress.