Bored is the only word that could describe how Ben Tennyson currently feels.
Even in alien form as XLR8, scouring the woods looking for ANYTHING remotely interesting to do, he still. Feels. Bored.
And Ben Tennyson hates feeling bored.
"YAAAAAWNNN…" XLR8 complains. "Even being an alien is boring today. And that never gets boring!"
Maybe getting yelled at by his parents for disappearing for a few minutes would be exciting? Probably not.
A beeping sound indicates the Omnitrix about to time out. XLR8 shrugs and lets it turn him back to human- he can just transform again and go home when the watch recharges.
For now…
Ben sits on a log and stares out into space.
Boring.
Boring trees, boring sky, boring river, boring suspicious crater…
"Wait, what is that?" Ben asks.
He gets up and makes his way over to the crater where what looks like a spaceship lies partially submerged in mud.
"Cool!" Finally, something interesting. He realistically should wait until the watch recharges, but…
He just can't help himself with how boring today's been! He slides down the crater and walks up to the spaceship- the door isn't submerged at all, so he opens it and enters the craft.
Ben takes in the sights of the high-tech interior while making his way to the main controls.
"Does this thing have any alien movies?" He wonders out loud.
He presses a button that looks like the start button, and a message appears on a screen.
"SCANNING…SCANNING…SCANNING…HUMAN SOUL DETECTED."
Wait, human soul? What?
"LOCKING ALL DOORS…"
Oh.
"BEGINNING RETRIEVAL PROCESS…"
Ben is flung to the back of the ship as the spacecraft suddenly takes off! Within seconds, Ben is already out of Earth and headed to who-knows-where.
"Okay, this one's on me." Ben says. "Should've waited for the watch to recharge…"
"ERROR- FUEL LEVELS INSUFFICIENT."
And it looks like whoever sent this should've let it recharge, too!
"Uh, what does that mean?" Ben asks, although he can barely move his mouth due to the speed this thing is going at. "You're not gonna crash, right?"
"ERROR- EMERGENCY LANDING PROTOCOL INACCESSIBLE. CRASHING INTO OUTLANDS…"
What?!
"You gotta be kidding me!" Ben shouts as he can feel the spacecraft rapidly descend.
He really hopes this doesn't kill him, dying would suck a lot.
"Ow…" Ben groans. He forces himself up and looks around.
He's…in space. Without a spacesuit. But he can breathe just fine?
And the crashed spaceship is nowhere to be seen…
Well, at least he's alive. He supposes if he gets lucky, he can find Azmuth or Tetrax or something and get back home that way.
And then proceed to be a lot more careful around old looking space stuff, even if he's had a boring day.
Ben does feel…off, a little, but he can't describe why.
And he doesn't really have time to question it- he needs to get out of here!
So he decides to walk forward, hoping to find someone that can help him out, and a few steps in…
"Howdy!"
"AH!" Ben leaps back as a floating star with a face appears out of literally nowhere!
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, buddy! I'm Twinkly! Twinkly the Star!" Twinkly introduces himself.
"Uh…hi." This isn't the weirdest thing Ben's dealt with, but it's still weird. "I'm Ben. Ben the Human?"
Twinkly giggles. "Funny person you are! So what brings you to the outpost, fellow traveler?"
"So, funny story- I didn't mean to come here?" Ben chuckles awkwardly.
"So you're lost, huh…" Twinkly says. "Well, it's a good thing I'm here for you! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! Guess little old me will have to do. Let's get started, shall we?"
To Ben's confusion, a little orange heart appears in front of him. That's never happened before.
"See that heart?" Twinkly asks. "That's your SOUL. The very culmination of your being! Your soul is an important part of you, and needs LOVE to sustain itself."
Ben doesn't say anything. Nothing about this seems suspicious so far…
Twinkly summons ten little white stars. "Out here, LOVE is shared through…little white…'happiness shards'. Go on! Catch as many as you can!"
Yeah, no. Ben steps out of the way when the 'happiness shards' come flying at him.
Twinkly's eye twitches. "What the- are you braindead or something?! RUN. INTO. THE BULLETS! I- I mean, happiness shards!"
Twinkly summons more stars, and Ben just steps out of the way again.
"Dude, you need to have a less obvious trick to get someone like me, no offense."
Twinkly blinks. "So you know what's going on here, huh? Golly, you must have no idea who you're messing with…"
Ben smirks as he activates the Omnitrix. "I could say the same thing to you, pal!"
Before Ben gets to go hero, though, a fireball smacks Twinkly away.
"Aw, man." Ben really wanted to fight, too.
A goat-like alien wearing a space-themed robe walks up to Ben.
"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…" She says. "Have no fear, little one. I am Toriel, overseer of the Outlands. I come by everyday to check for those who have been stranded here. Follow me, child, there is much I intend to teach you."
Ben can tell just by how she looks and speaks that this alien means no harm to him, so he decides to go along with this. If she IS secretly evil just like the star, then he's confident he can beat her anyways.
"Alright. I have a name, though, and it's not 'child'. It's Ben."
"Well then, it is nice to meet you, Ben." Toriel says.
She walks ahead, and Ben, after noticing the orange heart disappeared, follows her…until he sees another floating star. But this one has no face…
Curiosity gets the better of him and he interacts with the star.
"The industrious Outlands lie ahead, filling you with determination…" A…completely unfamiliar voice speaks.
Ben looks around, trying to see where the voice could've come from, but it honestly sounds like it's coming from…everywhere.
And that's when it hits him.
This is why he's feeling off. There's a voice in his head!
"Great. I'm going crazy…" Ben groans.
He walks through the entrance to the Outlands to catch up with Toriel.