Chapter 21: Hunted: Part 1

I Don't Own Ben 10 or Any of the Respective Characters, The Rights Belong to Man of Action Studios and Cartoon Network

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter 21!

* Here we have another adaptation of an episode from the original series, that being Hunted. This rendition of Hunted will be a two-parter. I am also making this version of Hunted different from the original. I know that I say that for just about every adaptation of an original episode, but I just feel the need to say this. I don't really know why this is the case.

* With all of that said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Ben

Monday, April 23rd, 2018

Bellwood

Gwen and Brad. Brad and Gwen. Brad, Brad, Brad.

I couldn't get it off of my mind. My panic attack, if that's what my experience had been, had passed, but seeing the two of them together was still the only thing I could think of. I couldn't make sense out of the whole thing. If there was one thing that I could take away from this, it was that I couldn't be angry with or direct my displeasure toward Gwen the next time I would see her.

That wouldn't be right. After all, it isn't her fault that seeing her with Brad caused me to have a panic attack. As I said before, my panic attack had since passed and once it had, I didn't see any point of sticking around the theatre any longer. My night out was over. I pushed myself up off the ground and got into my car, before starting for home. The drive was pretty uneventful, at least at first.

About five minutes into my drive home, I began to see odd-looking lights in my rear view mirror. I thought that maybe I was just seeing things, so I intentionally made a right turn and then another one after that. Well, the lights followed both of my turns which began to make me nervous. I had a feeling that I was being followed. So, I decided to put that thought to the test. I continued driving until I reached a nearby department store, where I pulled into the parking lot.

There I shut off the engine, pulled my key out of the ignition and got out of the car. The lights were gone now, but that didn't mean my theory had been incorrect. I decided that I'd walk around the exterior of the store. if I didn't see anything out of the ordinary after two laps around, I'd just chalk it up to me seeing things and I'd continue back toward home again. After five minutes or so, I was on my second lap around the building and nothing had happened yet.

Maybe I really was just seeing things, I thought. Well, in that case, I guess I should head back to the car and—

Right at that point, I began to hear a buzzing sound coming from behind me. I turned ever-so-slightly and then dove out of the way just in time as a blur of purple and black mass zoomed past where I had just been standing. I quickly got to my feet again to look at the object that had nearly splattered me. It was a humanoid wearing a suit of armor, which was colored black and purple.

The body alternated between black and a deep purple in some places, while the "visor" on the helmet, if you could call it that, was all black with four purple lines forming an x across the reflective material. He was currently hovering above the ground courtesy of rocket boosters built into the bottom of both his boots. Before I could do or say anything in reaction to him, he zoomed toward me again. I once again got out of the way, but just barely this time.

"Easy there, Iron Man!" I exclaimed in an annoyed tone. "Why don't we try to talk things out before we jump right into attacking each other?"

He didn't listen to me. Once again, he whizzed toward me, forcing me to maneuver around him still. At this point, I was sick of the current dance routine we were doing.

"Alright, chrome dome! Two can play at that game! I can fly, too!"

I dialed up the alien watch as I continued to avoid the figure. I turned the ring until I came to the alien form that I called "Stinkfly", then pressed down on it. I green flash occurred as usual and a few seconds later, I had transformed.

"Let's see you ya got, sparky!"

Once again the figure zoomed toward me and this time, I charged him, too. Right before we reached each other, I turned myself around and slashed across his chest with Stinkfly's pointed tail. To my surprise, he let out a staticky yell of pain.

What is this thing? Is he an actual person? Could it be some sort of sentient robot? Huh, a sentient robot. Wouldn't that be cool?

Now that I had him dazed (at the very least), I flew us into the back wall of the department store, forcing him partway through the brick exterior. I had Stinkfly's underbelly hovering just above the figure, while my legs were on either side of him, so that he'd have to push his way out if he recovered.

"Alright, how about we try this again?" I asked. "If you have a problem with me, can't we at least try and work it out before we resort to attacking each other?"

He just stared up at me or at least, that's what he appeared to be doing. Then in quick motion, he managed to dig one of his arms out of the bricks and pointed it at my underbelly, before blasting me with some sort of energy beam. I was immediately blown backwards, allowing him to recover fully. He propelled himself out from the brick wall and began zipping around again, as he began firing energy blasts from his hands at me.

I was nimble as Stinkfly though, so I was able to weave around his blasts and avoid getting hit. This time I wasn't going to bother trying to swipe him with my tail, I'd just hit him head on at full speed. So, I began to fly upward as he continued trying to blast me. I zoomed into the night sky for a few seconds before I turned around, maintaining my current speed before it increased as I descended toward my assailant.

I hit him headfirst, slamming him down into the asphalt below us. This time I wasn't going to allow him to gain the upper hand by using his repulsor rays, if that's what they were. Once he was down on the ground and dazed from my strike, I flew back up and blasted his hands and feet with Stinkfly's goop, sticking him in place on the ground. I finally brought myself back down in front of him, tired of whatever this was.

"Who or what are you?" I exclaimed in an impatient tone. "Who sent you?!"

The figure looked up at me, but said nothing. Before I could do or say anything in response, I heard some kind of whizzing noise to my left. I turned in that direction to a bronze, claw-shaped object flying toward me. Before I even had time to react, it rammed into me and sent me flying back into the brick wall behind me. I caved into the wall and the claw pinned me, restricting my movement.

As I struggled to free myself, I saw another figure approaching me. This one was bronze just like the claw, so that told me where it had come from. He had four, pointy-ended legs that all connected to a wide central platform that narrowed out into his upper body. All I could make out of his face was that he appeared to be wearing a helmet just like the other guy, this one with a slit toward the top where the visor would be and a hexagonal shaped top. Instead of immediately coming for me, he stopped next to the purple and black figure, where he began to use his free hand to begin cutting his friend out of the goop I had stuck him down with. I noticed that there was a stump on his other arm where the hand would be.

Did he… fire this claw from his arm?

I finally managed to pry the claw away from me and pulled myself out of the wall. I threw the claw back at the bronze figure, hoping to accomplish anything. Much to my dismay however, he simply whirled around and caught it from the air. He then attached it to the stump on his other arm, confirming my theory. The other purple and black figure got back up and the two of them began to approach me. Actually, the bronze one kinda looked like a crab, if that made any sense. He was armored like a crab, had legs like a crab…

"Huh, Iron Man and the Crab." I mumbled out loud, half to myself, half talking to them. "Now, is that Crab as in Crabbe and Goyle?"

Both of them continue to approach and much to my surprise, Crab actually spoke.

"You will come with us. Either peacefully or against your own volition. It's up to you."

"I don't even know what you guys want from me! I'm going nowhere with you!"

"Against your own volition, it is."

The two figures began to surround me on both sides and I had to figure out a plan, fast. I watched them closely as I waited for either one of them to make a move. Finally, the purple one sent an energy blast into the back of my head, which successfully staggered me. Crab then fired an energy blast of his own at me, coming from his claw, but I was prepared now. I easily dodged out of the way, causing it to hit the purple one instead.

That thing can fire energy blasts?!

The purple figure actually spoke now, but he began chirping in some kind of foreign language that I had never heard before. From his tone of voice, I would have to guess that he was annoyed.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you went to stand where I would be firing! Don't be mad at me that you got hit because of your own stupid decision!"

Well, Crab clearly understands him.

I wasted no time with the opportunity I had been given. I blasted Crab with a bunch of Stinkfly's goop, adhering all four of his legs to the ground. Then I barreled into the purple one and knocked him to the ground.

I have to get out of here while the both of them are busy getting their bearings. This was clearly a trap and I'm not sure that I'm in the right state of mind to properly handle this.

I began moving as fast as I could back toward my car, anticipating that the alien watch would time out soon. Before I could make it very far, however, a big, bulky mass of a humanoid figure crashed down in front of me from out of nowhere. He was big, like BIG! Maybe think of Arnold Schwarzenegger at his peak physique in the late seventies and early eighties.

Then add onto that physical mass just a little bit and you basically had whatever this guy was. He was covered from head to toe in black and gray armor, which could have been some sort of metallic alloy for all I knew. The only distinguishable feature he had was a single green triangle in the center of his faceplate.

"Hey, come on man, this isn't cool!" I exclaimed. "Don't you know that three's a crowd?"

He looked down at me as if he were regarding me, but didn't say anything, at least not to me.

"SixSix, Crab, I told you not to engage the target until I was ready."

The bronze figure called Crab finally pulled himself out of Stinkfly's goop as he seemed to let out a metallic hiss at the new figure.

"We don't take orders from you, Shard!" he exclaimed. "You want something done, then we'll do it our way!"

Shard? Is that this one's name?

"You will listen to me. I am our employer's protégé and—"

"And we answer directly to the big man, not you. You can go kick rocks or play along with our rules. The choice is yours."

The one called "Shard" didn't seem amused my Crab's insubordination.

"I've been with our employer longer than either of you have been alive! I have the authority here and you will do as I say!"

Is he stalling? Why does it sound like he's trying to stall?

"Well, quit wasting time so we can get this over with!"

Shard just stood there without saying anything. After a few seconds, he forced a sigh.

"Tag and bag him."

And just like that, I now had three figures surrounding me.

"Come on, guys. Do we really have to do this?"

None of them answered me.

Well, guess we're doing this.

I leaped into the air and spun up my wings again, then barreling into Crab as I pelted SixSix with goop. I was about to attack Shard next when he caught me by surprise, by catching me by the throat once I got within range of him.

"Insolent child." He growled at me, before throwing me across the area to where his two buddies were at.

SixSix had recovered from the blasts of goop I had sent his way and Crab looked just as eager to get a couple hits in on me. He fired a few energy blasts at me, but ended up missing each one. Meanwhile I grabbed him and soared up into the air with him, before turning us and throwing him into SixSix.

I have to wrap this up and soon. I can't be out here for much longer.

I anticipated that Shard would try to assist his colleagues somehow, but no, he was just standing there, seemingly observing us. Crab and SixSix recovered faster than I thought they would. I flew toward them to try and knock them down again, anything to get me out of this. But I was caught by surprise once I reached them. Crab managed to get both of his arms around my midsection and held me in place against his front.

"What're ya gonna do now, my friend? We have you right where we want you!"

"I don't know." I replied as I came up with an idea. "Thought maybe I'd try this!"

I quickly flipped myself upwards in his arms and rammed the pointed end of my tail into the top of his armored helmet. Much to my surprise, he let go of me as I heard the sound of electric sparks and his agonized cries. He fell over and after some more screams of agony, he didn't move anymore. I looked at SixSix next.

If it was as easy as hitting Crab in the right spot, I wonder if it'll be the same with him?

SixSix may have understood what I was thinking, as he blasted off and began souring away from me.

"Oh, no you don't!"

I spun up my own wings and got after him. Even though his rocket boosters should have made him faster than me, I was able to catch up to him and when I did, I grabbed onto his back.

"Gotcha! Hey, for what it's worth, I don't think you were actually retreating. I think you just wanted to get some distance from me to get your next attack in."

He let out another series of foreign clicks and warbles.

"Yep, still don't understand you. Sorry."

My plan here was to completely look over his back and see if I could find anything of use. And it didn't take long for me to notice something. There was a small-sized backpack-like structure on his back.

"This looks important."

I jammed my hand through the structure, causing sparks to fly and I was able to feel wires on the other side. Without even thinking, I pulled the wires out and let go of SixSix to fly on my own volition. SixSix's rocket boosters intensified and he started to fly off course, while I heard him most likely cursing in an alien language. He continued flying erratically before he finally slammed headfirst into a nearby billboard. He fell to the ground and just like Crab, didn't move anymore.

Okay, I took care of those two. Now to take care of that other guy – Shard – so I can get home.

I flew back to where the confrontation had started, only to find him gone. I dropped down to the ground from out of the sky.

"Uh, where'd he go?"

Before I could think of anything to do in response, I felt myself getting grabbed from the top of my head, before I then felt myself soaring through the air. I had no idea what was going on right now, but I had an inkling that Shard had gotten the drop on me. I was dragged through the air for maybe ten or fifteen seconds until I felt us touchdown onto solid ground again. I then was tossed across the area and collided with a wall, just as the watch began to time out. I stared up at Shard, now realizing that we were on a rooftop. I finally timed out and now being back in human form, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little nervous for my own wellbeing.

"Um, hi?" I asked in a tone that reflected my nervousness.

"Greetings yourself. Do you have any idea the size of the intergalactic struggle that you've found yourself at the middle of?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Those other two hunters you fought with tonight? They were my colleagues. And we all work for a figure who has spent a lot of time and resources hunting a very powerful, multi-use tool."

"And what tool is that?"

"The device on your wrist. The Omnitrix."

"Wait, that's what it's called? The Omnitrix?"

He nodded.

"Wow, that's kinda lame. I always called it an alien watch."

"And from your perspective, you'd be right. But the Omnitrix is also much more than that. Your intentions with it, while noble, were not what it was meant to be used for."

"Oh, yeah? What was it meant to be used for, then?"

He put up his hand.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, kid. For the moment, you are on a need to know basis."

I forced a sigh on annoyance.

I'm apparently in the middle of an intergalactic power struggle and he can't clue me into the bigger picture?

"Fine. And you said that those other two are your colleagues? So, whose side are you on here?"

"You're still alive, aren't you?"

"You're a good guy?!"

"Please, if I really was going to kill you and take the Omnitrix for my employer, I would have done so by now."

"Alright, then. So, what are you going to do after explaining all this to me?"

"I'm going to help get SixSix and Crab off of your back."

"But they're already off my back!"

"No, they're not. Crab is almost entirely robotic. Had over ninety-five percent of his body replaced with mechanical parts after a catastrophic accident. He's been in debt to our employer ever since. Even though you did scramble the circuits in his brain, he'll reboot and repair himself after a certain amount of time."

"And what's SixSix's deal?"

"You don't want to know."

"But aren't you loyal to your employer? Why would you screw over him and your colleagues just to help me?"

"I never liked the kind of being that my employer is. If he is allowed to obtain the Omnitrix, he will reverse engineer the technology to create an army of Omnitrix wielders and with them, he'd rule the universe with an iron fist. I can't allow that to happen."

"Okay, you're wanting to help get these bounty hunters off my back and you want to keep your employer from getting their hands on the Omnitrix. Eww, I still don't like the sound of that name. When do we do all this?"

"Well, we would have to catch them off guard. I'll pretend to lure you into a trap or that I've captured you and we'll both strike at the same time. I'll figure it out."

"And again, when do we do this?"

"Ideally? Tonight."

"Sorry, that doesn't work for me."

"You are in danger of being captured by two very dangerous bounty hunters. Any time is going to have to work for you right now."

"Yeah, but I have school tomorrow and I can't be out later than ten o'clock tonight. Which it is getting dangerously closer to the longer we stand here chatting."

"School? What's that?"

You seriously don't know what school is?

"Where you come from, do they have apprenticeships or a place where you can be taught a trade, or something like that?"

"Yes."

"Well, on Earth, that's kinda what school is. You go and are taught skills that you can use later in life, say in a potential career field."

"I see. Well, if you can't put the time to it tonight, then we'll have to decide on another time."

"It would have to be sooner rather than later. I'm busy wrapping up my school year and I don't have a lot of time otherwise."

"Tomorrow night then, perhaps?"

"That could probably work. But any confrontation we have would have to be in a private location. I don't want any public casualties."

"I understand. How about this: while we were scouting your city earlier today, we caught sight of a decently-sized construction area that doesn't seem to have any work being done on it right now. I could meet with SixSix and Crab after we're done here—"

"—And we spring our trap on them once we have the opportunity?"

"Bingo."

"I think it could work. And I know the construction site your talking about. It won't be hard for me to get there."

"Then I think that draws our conversation to a close."

"There's nothing else that you need to inform me about."

"If there is, it can wait. Now it would be best for you to vacate this area before my colleagues regain consciousness."

"Understood."

He left the area after that and it was up to me to find a way off the roof without using the… Omnitrix. Yeah, that's going to take some getting used to. Anyway, after about a minute of searching, I found a ladder that led back down to the ground. I then looped back around the other side of the building, back to my car and from there, I was home free.

The Following Day – Tuesday, April 24th, 2018

Madison High School

Last night, I just barely got home before my cut off time. Much to my surprise though, Mom wasn't upset. She only advised me not to cut it so close in the future. There was something on my mind, though. It lowkey kind of annoyed me that I didn't get Shard's name before departing last night. I didn't know if that was his first, last name or if it was even his real name. And if I was to be working with him for the moment, I felt like I should know his name. But that had past now and there was no sense in worrying about it.

When lunch came around today, I opted to eat inside instead of eating outside like I had yesterday. I was thinking a lot about everything I had been told last night. The alien watch was actually a device called the Omnitrix, I was in the middle of an intergalactic struggle because of it and some big brute had sent his men to capture me? And as well, still at the back of my mind, was what I had seen at the movie theatres last night.

I was trying to distract myself from that by focusing on last night's other event, school work and other finals stuff. And luckily, it was working. Up until now, at least. As I sat there eating and thinking, I saw Gwen walking up to me, weaving around a small crowd of students. As soon as I saw her, my mind flashed back to seeing her walking out of the theatre with Brad last night.

Oh, boy. What does she want?

I looked down and went back to eating as she approached.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Hey." I replied without looking up. "How was your trip to the movies last night?"

"It was good, actually. Really good. Thank you for asking."

"Uh-huh."

She didn't say anything after that and I didn't really have anything to say anyway, so I stayed quiet, too. After a few more seconds, she spoke again.

"Um, Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Is everything okay? Is there something going on with you?"

"Nope. Everything's fine. Peachy even."

"The way your acting doesn't reflect that."

"Maybe you're not as good at reading me as you think you are."

"I doubt that."

"Mmm."

"Would you please just look at me while I'm talking to you?"

I looked up at her.

"Fine, I'm looking at you! What is so important that you need this from me?"

She looked offended in response to my outburst.

"Nothing! God, Ben. What's wrong with you? Why are you acting so hostile?"

"I'm not, Gwen! I'm just fine! Now will you please—"

Our interaction was already in a unsteady spot, but it was about to get worse. From out of nowhere, Brad walked up to us from behind Gwen.

"Is this dickhead giving you trouble, baby?" he asked without even regarding me.

Gwen didn't take kindly to that.

"This dickhead is my cousin! And you don't get to about him like that!"

"Yeah, I have a name, as well! It's Ben and—"

He waved his hand as I was in midsentence.

"Yeah, whatever, Bob. I'm not talking to you."

He turned to look at Gwen.

"Am I not enough for you, hot legs? You need to talking to other boys to get your—"

"Brad, he's my cousin. My cousin."

"These are weird times."

It took her a couple of seconds to react, but when Gwen finally did react, she slapped him across the face.

"You jerk!" she exclaimed.

From the little that I currently knew about Brad, I kinda expected him to fire back at her. But to my surprise, he did nothing of the sort. There was just silence between the three of us now. Eventually after an uncomfortable period of silence, he finally turned to look at me.

"Hey, Bill—"

It's Ben. Not Bob, not Bill. BEN.

"—you don't have baseball practice after school today, right? So, you wouldn't mind donating your apple, would you?"

He then reached across the table and plucked the green apple that had been sitting on my lunch tray before I could say anything. I grabbed the rest of my lunch tray and stood up from the table, no longer feeling welcome at my own table.

"Cool boyfriend, Gwen." I replied with sarcasm. "Take care."

"Wait!" she called out but I tuned her out.

No time to think about Brad right now. I don't want to think about them, anyway. All that matters right now is to meet up with Shard tonight so that we can finish this.

Author's Note:

* And that's it for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed.

* So, for the last story, I had someone on here comment that they kind of wanted to see a love triangle kinda thing going on between Ben, Brad, and Gwen. At the time, I didn't like the idea too much, but at this time, I'm going to keep him in the story for a bit instead of having Gwen just drop him immediately. Hopefully, you guys like what I'll have cooked up in the next few chapters.

* One last thing before I duck out of here, I want to say that I may have come up with a schedule for this story that I could adhere to. Basically, I would plan to put out two chapters a month, which would add up to twenty four chapters a year, if I can stick to it.

* Also, on the topic of chapters, I want to say that I had a huge event planned for the 100th chapter of this story, which was going come right after one of the story's biggest story arcs. However, due to me having to tinker with the story's roadmap a little bit, said event may occur in the 101st or 102nd chapter. There's no telling as to how it will go as of right now.

* Anyway, I think that's going to do it for me. Have a fantastic day and bye.

Review Responses

cherrypie900 (Chapter 20): Woah, Ben having a full on panic attack on seeing Brad and Gwen was NOT something I expected. Dont really remember how it was in the original though. It made me a bit sad for him, but this just further cements the fact that he does have "Feelings" for her. We dont really get to see much of what Gwen feels, but its totally fine since this is mostly Ben's POV. I know you may not look fondly back at the original, and yes there were definitely some gaps in character progression. I feel that this version has really improved the overall plot line that you are going for. Cheers!

Thanks, Cherry. Yes, Ben did not have a panic attack in response to seeing Gwen with Brad in the original. If you're curious, here's how that scene played out originally:

'I saw Gwen come out of the movie theater, but she wasn't alone. I saw her with Brad Miller, one of the most popular jocks in school. That hurt. Seeing that felt like having a band-aid ripped off me. And seeing her with Brad wasn't the worst part. She saw me. And we made eye contact with each other.

Just then, a group of people passed in front of me and I saw a chance to disappear, and so I took it. I quickly side stepped into the men's restroom. I stood there, still holding the bouquet of roses, as well as my face being flushed.

I looked down at the bouquet and tossed it into the trash bin to my left. I stood there for several more minutes until I thought that the coast was clear. I stepped back out into the concessions area. They were gone. I let out a sad sigh.

"Well, time to go home." I said to myself in a sad tone.

I walked out of the theater and back to my car without a second thought.'

Okay, there you have it. He didn't have a panic attack, but he was definitely hurt by it. I think it was more of knee jerk reaction, him seeing the both of them there. He definitely does have feelings for Gwen. However, it'll take time for him to actually accept that. We will see glimpses into Gwen's P.O.V. to see how she's feeling about this. But you are right, this is mostly Ben's P.O.V., as he's the main narrator. No, I tend not to look back on the original story too fondly, but I do appreciate your kind words. Thanks for the review, as always.

Snake 89 (Chapter 20): Is Ben going to just hook up with another girl just to get his mind off of Gwen? Like some people do when they either just recently gone through a break up or heart break?

Thanks, Snake. Um, Ben hooking up with another girl isn't part of the plan for the story. Usually I wouldn't give a spoiler like this, but I want to be honest about this specific aspect of the story. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: Ben teams up with Shard that night to take on Kraab and SixSix and gains new information after the dust settles.