Omni-Magic Summer EP 21: The Town of Shadows Part 1
I don't own anything except my OCs. Some of the characters in this chapter are OC's that belongs to BozzerKazooers on Deviantart. So, all credit goes to him.
The Rainboom bus was driving on a lovely country road, heading towards their next gig as the Rainbooms and Ben were all chilling. "MAN! This is going to be awesome!" "I know right? We never had a gig this far before!" Pinkie comments as Rainbow glees. Applejack drove the bus as she spoke out. "Now, hang on there y'all! We won't play at the annual 'Apple family music hoedown' until tomorrow. So, let's save some energy, okay?" "The others agree as Fluttershy looks up cute animal pics on her phone as Twilight reads while Rarity checks her makeup it soon becomes stormy as the rain starts to pour as they drive around a cliff side.
But a certain 10-year-old, along for the ride, is arguing on his phone as Sunset feels her eye twitch in annoyance as it was shared with the others. "Someone should tell Ben that." She grits out. "Change it!" "No way! You change yours!" Gwen argues back on speakerphone. "It's your turn, Gwen!" Ben frowns as the girl responds. "Sorry! But I already picked the cake, color-coordinated the balloons, and sent the invitations! To which, I have one for you." "Who plans their birthday party, 6 months in advance, other than Twilight or Pinkie?" "Hey!" Twilight frowns out. "I only plan my birthday one month in advance."
"The one who gets to celebrate it on her actual birthday?" Sunset had enough as she spoke out. "Enough! Ben, what is going on here?! You've been arguing with your cousin since the last stop!" Ben got a guilty look as he apologized. "Sorry, Sunset. Gwen and I share the same birthday, but the problem is we have different ideas about celebrating them. And some friends and family can only attend one of our parties! So, we're trying to convince one another to change their party date." "Sounds more like arguing than convincing." Sunset points out.
"She's right!" Ben glanced at the phone to hear Max speaking. "You 2 have shared the same birthday for 10 years! And if you don't stop arguing, neither of you will make it to 11!" In response to Max's statement, Gwen hangs up the phone, but Ben knows this isn't over as he sighs. "Well, that happened." "Finally! You 2 were bickering more than 2 badgers over a scrap of apple pie." Applejack glances back with a frown.
But as the cowgirl was distracted, she did not see 3 young girls crossing the road as the headlights shined on them and one of them cried out. "They're coming! Help!" Applejack glanced forward and gasped, slamming the brakes as the others cried out. "APPLEJACK!" The cowgirl got worried as the bus was closing in!
Intro:
A galaxy is shown with some planets, and outer space music is heard.
Just for a flash of green light to occur, and shows the Omnitrix symbol with Ben's silhouette in the middle as the song picks up.
"It started when an alien device did what it did."
The 1st clip is Ben discovering the Omnitrix as it latches onto his arm as he panics.
He then presses down on the dial, transforming him into Heatblast as he cries out.
"And stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid."
"Now he's got superpowers; he's no ordinary kid. He's Ben 10! (Ben 10!)"
The logo flashes a bit before showing off aliens:
Grey Matter, Overflow, Shock Rock, Heatblast, Wildmutt, Chamalien and Jetray.
"So if you see him, you might be in for a big surprise."
"He'll turn into an alien before your very eyes!"
The boy is then shown transforming into Wildmutt as six more aliens appear and zoom in:
Upgrade, Shock Rock, Fasttrack, Four Arms, Heatblast and Chamalien.
" He's slimy, freaky, fast, and strong; he's every shape and size."
"He's Ben 10! (Ben 10!)"
Just then, a flash-animated Ben runs towards the screen, flips, and morphs into Wildmutt.
He scratches at the screen as a black and green '1'. Appear next to him.
2: Four Arms is next as he grins, raises his arms, and flexes.
3: Grey Matter leaps at the screen, only to splat comically.
4: Fasttrack scraps his claws on the ground to stop running as he grins with a wink.
"Armed with powers, he's on the case!"
"Fighting off evil from Earth or space!"
5: Upgrade wiggles his legs around as he raises his arms.
6: Shock Rock generates lots of electricity and blasts a huge blue beam across the screen.
7: Overflow flies upward on his water blasts.
8: Jetray grins as his eyes and tails glow while he flies in a loop and takes off.
"He'll never stop 'till he makes them pay!"
"Cause he's the baddest kid ever to save the day!"
9: Chamalien appears camouflaged around the number as he leaps off and lands on all 4's with a grin as he flashes his barbed tail as he turns visible.
10: Heatblast chucks a fireball at the screen as Ben lands on the ground with his fist, cracking it as he grins.
"Ben 10! (Ben 10! B-B-B-Ben! Ben 10! B-B-B-Ben!)"
Wildmutt is then shown leaping from some trees as he looks fierce.
Shock Rock poses as he finishes transforming.
Sunset and the Rainbooms are shown powering up into their magic forms.
Heatblast chucks a fireball.
Ben is then shown slapping down on the Omnitrix.
The Mane 6, Spike, the royal sisters, the royal crystal family, Discord, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie and reformed Changelings, and Ben in griffon form stood together as they glared at someone as the Omnitrix boy smirked with crossed arms.
Twilight is shown fighting a giant bird monster as she uses her magic to slam it down on the ground.
Four Arms cries out as he finishes transforming.
Fasttrack is shown running on top of the water.
The opening finishes up as the aliens all get sucked into the Omnitrix. Ben shows it while green rays come from it as the title appears next to him.
Ben 10: Omni-Magic Summer.
The bus kept speeding as the 3 kids quickly leaped to one side as Applejack steered the bus in another direction, but the 3 girls bounced on the road and went down the hill, quickly grabbing onto a branch as they held on for life. "Help!" One girl cries out as the bus stops and Ben gets out, ready to go hero! "Jetray to the rescue!" But when Ben slaps on the Omnitrix, he instead turns into Cannonbolt as he groans out. "Oh, man! Can't this thing ever get it right?" Nonetheless, he curled up and went after the teens, just as they lost their grip and screamed as they fell!
Luckily, Cannonbolt went after and managed to grab them both! "Gotcha!" He quickly curled up and brought the kids inside as he bounced on the ground, knocked a tree over, and rolled to a stop. He flops on his back as the girls slowly shake their heads as their visions come to. "Are you okay?" Cannonbolt asks as the humans freak at the sight of the alien, they faint in response. "Uh... I'll take that as a no."
Ben somehow got back to the bus with the teens in tow. They lie the girls down on some seats as the others observe them. "How are they, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asks. "Hmm... Just a few scraps and brushes, but other than that, they're okay." Fluttershy states. One of the girls had long curly blue, violet, and purple hair and lilac skin. She wore an aquamarine striped tank top, white pants, and close-toed sandals the same color as her shirt. The second girl had green skin, and raspberry hair that was shaved around the sides. She wore a white sleeveless sports hoodie, black shorts, and purplish pink running shoes. The last girl has tanned skin, orange short hair tied to a small low tail, white freckles on the cheeks, a red shirt with sleeves rolled up, blue overalls, and brown hiking shoes.
Applejack observes them. "But they're all out cold, from the looks of things." Pinkie Pie speaks out. "Their names are Peach Blossom, Bluebelle, and Atalanta." "Whoa! How do you know that?" Ben asks as the party girl responds. "Just a hunch!" "And they also have wallets on them, darlings." Rarity points out as she digs through their pants pockets and shows the items in question that show their School IDs. "According to these, they go to Hollow Shades High. That's the town we're going to pass through after these woods." Fluttershy explains
"Whoa! Check out Atalanta's arm." Sunset points at some scratch and bite marks as Ben pokes at them in disgust as Twilight analyzes. "Those are some nasty scars!" "It looks like she was in a scuffle with a wild animal. They must have been hiking through the woods and ended up lost." "Come on, Y'all! We'll take them to town with us and drop them off with the police. They'll help these 2 reunite with their folks, no problem." Applejack states as she starts the bus up and drives off.
The bus managed to make it out of the woods, arriving at the town of Hollow Shades. But as the bus drove through town, Ben, along with some of the Rainbooms can't help but noticed that it was quiet... Too quiet. The bus stops at a diner and they got out. "Hello?' Twilight calls out, but got no response. They noticed a couple of people, quickly shutting windows and doors and locking them as Rainbow scratched the back of her head in confusion. "Not very friendly in this town, are they?" "Oh! What if they're playing a big game of hide and seek?!" Pinkie smiles as Ben frowns. "Why do you think everything is a game, Pinkie?" "Because games are fun!" She squeals with a smile.
They then went into the diner to hopefully get some answers or find someone. As Fluttershy and Rarity stayed behind the bus to watch the 3 teens, the rest looks around see the diner was empty. "Looks abandoned..." Ben comments as Applejack gazes around and adjusts her hat. "Yep! Definitionally abandoned." Pinkie then noticed a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, feeling the steam off it. "The food's still warm... Looks like they took off in quite a hurry." Rainbow checks the cash register and saw it was full of money. "All the cash is still here... No sight of any looting, whatsoever."
Twilight rubs his chin with her finger. "Wherever these people went, they all left at once." "Wonder why? People don't just abandoned diners for no good reason." Sunset states, only for another lighting strike to cause a blackout. As the girls switched on the flashlights on there cellphones, they heard a noise and glanced around. Only to spot Ben, digging into the spaghetti as he slurps up noodles and chews on the meatballs. Noticing the frowns and questioning looks of the others, he states. "What? I'm hungry!"
"Anyway... Looks like that last bolt took out the power to this place. Let's see if we can find the circuit breaker and see if we can get the lights back one. And hopefully figure out what is going on." Twilight states, only to be startled by a noise from the kitchen! "what was that?!" Sunset asked as they shine the lights on the doors. Only for a shadow puppet of a dog to appear as Ben made the gestures with one hand while holding his phone light up with the other. Pinkie giggles as she joins in with a bunny shadow puppet while Applejack and Rainbow facepalms at the 2, goofing around.
They slowly crept into the kitchen, shining there flashlight phones all around as they tried to find the source of the noise. They can't help but feel creeped out by the darkness, just as Applejack and Ben spotted a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness of a closet! They screams in surprise as Applejack fell down in response. But as Ben adjust the light, they all saw the eyes belonged to a lone, scared dog.
The dog is bigger than Spike, but small enough to be carried. It has blueish eyes, green fur with a light blue underbelly and black spots all over, and a brown collar with a dog tag that has a 4-leaf clover symbol on it. The dog whimpers as it crawls out as the gangs sighs in relief, while Ben smirks at a frowning , embarrassed Applejack. "It's a puppy. The poor, little, fella must be so scared." Twilight states as she knees down and pets the dog, seeing that's it's friendly. "Doesn't look like a stray. it's got a collar on him." Sunset notices the collar as Twilight checks the tag. "The tag said 'Lucky Shot'. Must be the little guy's name." Rainbow comments. "Let's bring him back to Fluttershy, so she can understand him. Maybe Lucky can tell us what's going on here in Hollow Shades?" Ben suggests.
The group were back in the bus as Fluttershy was leaning towards Lucky as the dog barks and yips while the teen used her Geode to understand him. "Oh my! Really?' Fluttershy as Lucky barks and whines. "That's awful!" "What did he said?" Rainbow asked as Fluttershy explains. "He said that over the last few nights, there's been strange disappearances around town. Some teens from Hollow Shades High has been vanishing without a trance. Last night, most of his owner's friends vanished and they've been looking for them. Until they heard a strange sound and saw something scary as they split up, trying to get away! He ended up in the diner and that's where we found him."
"Oh, the poor dear! We better find his owner then!" Rarity insists as Ben spoke out. 'But what about the 'mysterious disappearances'? Shouldn't we look into that?" "Ben makes a point. Which is why we're going to Lucky's owner, so they can give us some answers." "Sunset states as Twilight looks at Lucky's dog tag and smiles as she spots something. "And lucky for us, his owner's address is on his dog tag." "All righty! Let's get going, pronto!" Applejack states as she starts up the bus and drove off, following the directions that Twilight and Sunset provides.
After driving for a bit, they manged to arrived the house of Lucky Shot's owner. They went up to the door as Sunset knocks on it. Only after a waiting for a bit, there was no answers as she tries the doorbell. "Hello? Anyone home?" They then heard some locks unlocking as the door slightly opens, just for a teen girl to peek through the crack. "Hello?" "Hi! Is this your dog?" Sunset shows Lucky as the girl gasped and closed the door, hearing more locks undone. The door swung open as the girl quickly exclaims. "Get inside, quick!" She grabs Lucky and drags him as the others followed as well, in confusion.
Once they were inside, the group made there way to the living room as Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow sets the 3 younger girls down on the furniture. "Oh, lucky! I was so scared and worried!" Lucky's owner exclaims in relief after locking the door again as she holds and cuddles with her pet. The teen girl has cream colored skin, brown eyes with light blue eye shadow and has blue, librarian glasses. She has long brown hair in a low ponytail with a yellow/sea green streak. Her hair has curl bangs that frames the top of her head. She is wearing a white T-shirt with blue sleeves and collar with a picture of a red rose on front. She has blue jeans stuffed into brown heeled-boots with black straps with buckles. For accessories, she is wearing gold wrist bands, a necklace with small gold bells and matching earrings.
"We're glad you are reunited with your pet. But, can you explain to us what's happening your town, miss..." Twilight as the girl stood up and explains. "Belle Harmony. My name's Belle Harmony. It all started a few nights ago. Things were normal in Hollow Shades, until there were reports of some students from my high school have vanished. There parents has no idea and they can't seem to trace there phones as well. The police searched all over, but they couldn't find them! Then the next couple of nights, more and more teens have disappeared, including all of my friends! Now, everyone is too scared to be out at night."
The others were scared at the story as they glanced at each other. Sunset then thought of something. "It's clear on what we have to do." "Get on the bus and drive away from this town as fast as possible?" Fluttershy asked as she hides behind Ben as the 10-year-old glanced at her with a raised brow. "No! We're going to find those missing teens and solved this mystery." "Aw, yeah! Mystery of the missing teens! Now that sounds like an awesome adventure!" Rainbow grins as she cracks her knuckles. "Yeah... I reckon just leave these here folks in a state of panic." Applejack comments as she adjusts her hat.
"Okay! It's settled: Most of us will go into town and try talking to the locals for clues and such. Fluttershy, Ben, you two stay here with Belle and those 3 girls." Twilight said as Ben blinks in surprise. "Wait! You're benching me?!" Sunset knees down as she explains to the boy. "We need someone brave to keep an eye on Fluttershy, cause, well..." She gestures to said girl as she yips at spotting a shadow that looks creepy, only to reveal it's from a tree outside as she sighs. "Good point..." Ben said, now understanding. Sunset nods she and most of the Rainbooms left the house as Belle locks up behind them.
After a bit of waiting, while Belle went to feed Lucky, Ben fiddles with his phone, only to groan out. "Great! No signal! I can't call Gwen back to finally settle it!" "You're not still over that birthday thing? Can't you 2 share it?" Fluttershy spoke in a dismayed tone as Ben spoke back. "You don't what it's like having to share a birthday with a relative, every single year!" Ben spoke out as he frowned at no signal as the girl responded with crossed arms. "I work with animals, every day, Ben. Including those that are born on the same day." "Whatever." Ben rolls his eyes.
Just then, the 3 young girls groaned as they woke up and sat up. "Wha... What happened?" The girl asked as Fluttershy came up and spoke to them. "Oh, you're both awake. I thought you 3 won't wake up after we almost accidentally hit you with our bus. But don't worry, we brought you back to town, so there's no reason to worry." But as the 3 cleared there heads, they noticed as they yip and hide under blankets, shivering.
Fluttershy is confused and worried at how they are acting as does Ben, Lucky, and Belle. "You brought us back to town, at night?! Then that means those things are out there!" Bluebelle exclaims as Peach told the others. "We weren't trying to find our way back to town! We were trying to leave it before nightfall! They must be here, now! All around us, outside!" "What's here? What are you 3 talking about?" Fluttershy asked as she tries to comfort the young girls.
"AAAHHHHHH!" A familiar scream is heard as Ben exclaims. "That sounded like Rarity!" But as he tried to go out the door, he was yanked back by his jacket by Atalanta, who held him to a wall. "Don't go out there! They will hunt you down!" But the kid was not worried as he brushed warnings and her hands off as he showed the Omnitrix. "Chill! I have animal instinct."
Wildmutt was dashing through the streets as he tried to use his ears and nose to find his friends. He bashes through a wooden fence and leaps over some trash cans and sees he has landed in the Town Square. The dog alien starts trying to pick up a scent, wondering where the others are as he sniffs the place. Just then, his nose caught something as he followed the scent. He arrives at a intersection with 4 streets.
The alien dog grumbles as he gazes around, until he spots Rarity, only to find her entangled by several, dark tendrils that seems to be dragging into a dark alleyway. "Ben! Help!" The girl cries out as the vines cover her mouth and yanks her away. Wildmutt roars as he runs after the diva teen. The alien finds himself in alleyway. Wildmutt tries to sense Rarity, but can't find any trace of her, for some reason. But just then, some strange creatures, covered in darkness and shadows and glowing eyes appeared as the alien slid to a stop.
The alien is not sure what to make of them, despite his senses and echolocation making out the strange shapes of the creatures, he has no clue on what distinguishing features it has. The beings holler as they charge at him, but Wildmutt leaps over and roars as he charges at them, only to hit a wall instead as the alien is confused! He could have sworn he was about to tackle one! Wildmutt shook his head as he snarled, leaping towards some creatures as he swung and knocked them away. He bit one on the leg and swung it into some others.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP FLASH Ben glanced at himself to see he was back to being human as he cried out. "Oh, man!" Ben sees the creatures swiftly recovered and decides to just make a run for it, dodging creatures as he ran out of the alley!
But as the boy kept running and rolling under the strikes from the claws, one hand from the shadow of a mailbox reached out and grabbed the kid by his ankle! "AHHH!" Ben recovers and tries to pull his leg free, only to cry out as the creatures draw closer. Their eyes glow as the kid struggles to reach for the Omnitrix. "Come on... GOING HERO!" He cried out as the creatures were upon him! Only for rays of green light to be briefly seen as the pile starts rumbling.
BOOM In an amazing burst of flame and heat, Heatblast blew the beings off and burned them into dust and ash as he hollered out with his fists thrown apart. "OHHHH, YEAAHHHHHH!" Heatblast grinned as he unleashed flame streams that took out the rest of the monsters. Soon, the streets were practically smoking as burnt marks were scattered. "Burn, baby, burn!" Only for the watch to quickly change him back as Ben glanced at it. "Guess that fireworks display drained the watch." He then retreats back to the house
After Ben manged to reach Belle's house. He quickly slams and locks the door behind him, panting as he saw Fluttershy, Belle, Peach, Bluebelle, and Atalanta with the Element of Kindness, cuddling Lucky Shot. "You are never going to believe what I saw! I saw-" "Monsters!" "Monsters made out of shadows!" "And they have taken over the town!" Belle adds to Fluttershy and Peach's statements. Ben blinks in surprise that they figured it out so quickly. "Right... They got Rarity and the others!" "Oh, no!" Fluttershy gasped out.
"Those things must have been the ones who snatched our friends, these last few nights! That's what we're trying to tell you when your bus almost ran us over!" Atalanta states as Fluttershy cries out. "We need to do something!" "I'm not leaving my friends behind!" Ben cries out as he storms out of the house as the others follow.
"So, what do these things want with us? Why kidnap Sunset and the others?" Fluttershy answers Ben as she puts some thought into the question. "Well... I have watched a few monster movies with Rainbow Dash before. Mostly because she forced me to. So, it's possible they..." But just then, they heard growling and snarling as the 4 looked around and spotted several shadow creatures forming from the shadows. The 7 were shocked and scared as the monsters drew closer with hunger in their eyes. "They want us! For dinner!" Ben hollers as they quickly ran back into the house and locked the door.
They then star barricading the ground floor doors with stuff and the windows as well, feeling the monsters were pounding at the front door, trying to get in! Lucky whimpers and hides under a mat, shivering in fear as the kids aren't sure how long they can hold the monster back.
Just then, the banging stopped as they backed away and took a sigh of relief after a few seconds. "Good... They stopped." Ben mumbles as Fluttershy wipes some sweat off her forehead. "Thank goodness, we can take a breath." "I don't think so..." Bluebelle states as she explains. "We saw some of those monsters in action before and some of them are smarter than they look. Which means they figured they can't get to us through there."
Belle points out with a worried look. "Which means they'll wait for us to come out or find another way in!" Ben frowns as he pulls Fluttershy to the side as he exclaims "That's it! I'm going Fasttrack! I'm gonna zip out of this house and comb through the entire town to find the others and save them!" "Are you sure?" Fluttershy as Ben firmly nods.
Atalanta, having watched Ben's determination, glanced at her scared friends as she frowns as she realized Ben was right! "Ben's right, girls! We're not just sit around, hiding in our house and under blankets, like scared mice! Our friends and family are out there and we're going to rescue them! Besides, we formed the Hollow Shades Music Club for a reason: To one day make something of ourselves!" "...Make something of myself." Ben adds with a surprised tone, at the same time as Atalanta finished as all eyes were on the kid. "Yeah... How did you know Attie was going to say that?" Peach Blossom asked as Belle noticed Ben just stared with a dazed look. "Hey, kid? Are you all right? Hello? Hello..."
But as the boy just stood, the world around him shifted and changed all around him as he found himself in a park, by some trees and bushes and a large rock. Just as the 10-year-old looked around, he heard footsteps and glanced behind as an 8-year-old girl just stopped running. "Hurry up, you 2! I've seen snails move faster than you!" Ben smiles in recognition of the little girl.
The girl has short white hair and purple eyes. She has a purple dress with a black collar and black leggings with purple slip-on shoes with straps. She has a strange purple gem on her black turtleneck collar and wears a dark purple jacket with long sleeves that hides her hands and has pink hearts on the shoulders. She lastly has a black headband with 2 little horns on it.
Just then, a younger Ben and Gwen managed to catch up with the girl. Little Ben now wears black overalls with a white shirt underneath with a white '5' on the pants, reflecting his present self's T-shirt. He also has green shoes and no beanie cap and necklace. Little Gwen is wearing blue and white overalls with sleeves and a black cat on it while lacking her earrings and her hair is shorter than her present-day self and has blue flats with straps and white socks.
"No fair, Hope! You got a head start, plus you're bigger than us!" Little Ben complains as he pants. Little Gwen, on the other hand, has a worried look as she spoke to her friend. "Hope... I don't think you should have done that!" But the girl, Hope, climbs up on the rock and rolls her eyes as she took out a wallet. "'I don't think you should have done that!' Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, Gwenny. That jerk deserved to have his wallet stole, after the way he treated us!"
"Yeah... But Gwen makes a point, Hope. We should have just told our parents, they might help." Little Ben points out as he stood next to Hope as the white-haired girl scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Oh, sure! That would work: Using parents for a shield like a baby. Listen, I'm not going to be a scared little kid, forever! Like you..." She playful pushed Ben off the rock as Gwen managed to catch him as the 2 look up at the older girl. "Someday, Hope Spellman will make something of herself!"
The 2 little cousins frowns as they sat against the rock as Ben spoke back. "I'm won't be a scared little kid, forever! But I'm not going to make something of myself by doing bad things, Hope." "I hate to admit it, but Ben is right, Hope! Our parents always told us that stealing is wrong..." Little Gwen adds in as they glanced at their friend.
But to their shock, Hope was gone! "Hope? Hope!" "Hope! Where did you go?!" Little Ben cries out as the 2 heard a noise and both saw a strange shadow around the corner of a tree, leaving as the 2 chased after it. "Hope! Come back!" Little Gwen calls out, only for the 5-year-olds to find nothing as they lost sight of their friend. "HOPE! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Little Ben hollers at the top of his small lung as Little Gwen has a sad look. "Hope..."
Present-day Ben watched the scene before as he mumbled. "Hope... Hope!" Only for a pair of snapping fingers to bring him back to reality as he shook his head to clear, blinking his eyes open as he noticed the others, just staring at him in confusion. "Wha?" Ben mumbled as he recovered. "You okay? You just blanked out there for a minute. It was kinda creepy." Attie asked as Ben noticed and asked. "I did?" "Yeah! You just stood there, mumbling someone named Hope, over and over, Like you're in a trance or something." Peach explains.
"Ben? Who's Hope?" Fluttershy asked as Ben explained to the others. "Hope Spellman... A childhood friend that Gwen and I used to know when we were little. One day, she disappeared when we were playing in the park!" "Oh, my!' Fluttershy gasped as Belle asked. "Are you sure about that?" "I remember it, all too well... One second, Hope was right there with us. Then, Gwen and I turned our backs for a minute, and she was gone! We chased after a shadow of... Something. But when we round a corner, it vanished! Her parents had the police search all over Bellwood for her, but they couldn't find any trace of her. We never did find Hope... Never found out what happened to her."
The others can't help but feel bad for the boy, losing a childhood friend to a mysterious abductor when he least expected it. But Ben shook his head as he frowns. "Can't think of the past, now! Right now, I've got present day friends to help! I'm going out..." The boy marches away.
Ben is about to transform, but Fluttershy stops him as she pleads. "Let me come along, too! I know it's scary, but I can't leave my friends in trouble!" "Fluttershy, you and your friends may share some things, just like I share something with Gwen. But none of us share this!" Ben holds up the Omnitrix, showing that's the best guy for the job. Fluttershy realizes that he is right as she speaks to the boy. "Just be careful." The kid nods as he runs and dials the watch as Fluttershy watches with worry.
Fasttrack speeds through the dark streets of Hollow Shades, trying to find any trace of the others. He slides to a stop, gazing down an ominous looking street as he spots several glowing eyes in the shadows. "This doesn't look good..." he mumbles as he then takes off. He kept running all over town, even on top of rooftops, hoping to find any trace of his friends, but so far, nothing. "Twilight? Rainbow?" Fasttrack asked as he stops, looking around. Only to noticed some shadows heading towards him as he quickly dashed away.
He slides to a stop as he wonders where he is, only to noticed some shadow tendrils lunging at him. He dodged and starts slicing at them with his claws and arm blades. "Keep your tentacles to yourself!" The alien speedster hissed as he took off, only to came to a stop as he noticed the shadows of 2 beings were coming closer from a corner. Narrowing his eyes, Fasttrack decides to ambush them, slowly creeping along the wall as he waits for the right moment to pounce.
"GOT YA!" He screams as he charges out and tackles a tall figure in a black robe, timing out as he glares down. "All right! Where is Twilight and the others?! Where are the missing students?!" The 10-year-old demands as the figure recovers. But as the moonlight is revealed from the clouds, the light shows the person that Ben had just tackled. But the kid blink in shock to realized the person he slammed into was not a person, but a living skeleton! The bone man blinks in response as Ben realized he was alive. "AHHHHHH!" "GAAHHHHH!" "DAHHHHHHH!" The kid starts screaming in shock as the skeleton screams back as well, followed by a pink with black spots dog that was near the 2. The 3 kept screaming as there yells echoed through the seeming empty town on the dark night.
To be continued...