Disclaimer: I do not own the Ben 10 franchise or any of its characters or concepts. No profit is being made from this story.
It had been a little over a month since Ben Tennyson had restored the free will of Earth's population, giving up the power of Dagon in the process. The experience seemed to have finally allowed him to temper his ego and since then he had been making a real effort to be a better boyfriend to Julie.
"I'm impressed Ben" said Julie as the two of them were driving home in Ben's car from their date at the cinema. "Not only did you agree to go and see a romantic comedy with me, but you actually stayed awake all the way through."
"You went to see the new Sumo Slammers movie with me. It's only fair" Ben replied. He yawned. "But I'm going to need some coffee when I get home."
Julie giggled fondly. "What, not a smoothie?"
"Not this time for once."
They arrived at her house and Ben parked smoothly. As they got out of the car, they were greeted by Ship who bounded over to Julie excitedly, his tail wagging so fast Ben thought it might fall off.
"Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship!" the little blob squeaked.
Julie crouched down, picked up her pet and hugged him. "Hi Ship. I'm happy to see you again too."
"Ship! Ship!" he replied, enjoying the attention as she fussed him. After a moment of this she put him down and turned back to Ben.
"Would you like to come inside Ben? I could make you that coffee" she offered.
He grinned. "Would I ever?"
But just then his phone rang. Ben sighed unhappily but answered. "Hello."
Gwen's voice came over the phone, "Ben! Kevin and I are at the quarry! We're under attack, we need help!"
"I'm on my way" Ben replied. He hung up and looked at his girlfriend apologetically. "Julie I…"
"I understand" she said reassuringly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "They need you. Go and help them."
He nodded. "Okay. I'll see you soon."
"Bye Ben. And be careful."
"I always am."
With that he got back into his car and drove off. Julie watched him go with a worried frown.
"Ship, Ship" he said gently as he rubbed his head against her leg. She smiled and patted him.
"Thanks Ship. And you're right. They'll be okay. Now, how about playing catch?"
"Ship! Ship!"
Julie was completely unaware that at that very moment she and Ship were being observed by unfriendly eyes.
"Well, well. Isn't this interesting" Sunder the Retriever mused to himself as looked down from his hover-board up in the sky. The alien bounty hunter had heard about the Galvanic Mechomorph symbiote and how valuable it was. He had not been aware who the owner of the symbiote was.
I remember her he thought. That girl was one of the ones that got in my way when I was trying to retrieve the Omnitrix. So, she's Ben Tennyson's girlfriend. That means I can get some payback and a payday at the same time. I'll wait a little while until Tennyson is far enough away and then I'll make my move.
He grinned fiercely. Look out little girl. Here comes Sunder the Retriever!
Julie and Ship were happily playing in her backyard. She would throw a ball and Ship would transform into various items to catch it, including a baseball glove, a pair of cooking tongs and a butterfly net. Each time he caught the ball he would engulf it, much like how Baz-L had done on Monawk, hop over to her and cough it up.
"Good Ship. Good boy" she said as he returned the ball again. She reached down and patted his head.
"Ship, Ship" he replied cheerfully. But then he suddenly tensed up. He looked up at the sky and began growling.
"What's wrong Ship?" She looked up and gasped in alarm as she saw a familiar hulking, grey-skinned figure riding a hover-board and brandishing a red energy axe hurtling out of the sky towards them. "Sunder!"
Ship transformed into a blaster cannon, pointed himself up at Sunder and opened fire. Sunder expertly manoeuvred around to dodge the stream of green bolts and drew a small but powerful energy pistol. He took aim and fired a blue-white beam. It hit Ship directly and he instantly reverted back to his usual form.
"Ship" he said dazedly.
"Ship!" Julie cried. She tried to run over to him but before she could do so, Sunder swooped in and snatched the little blob up. With an evil laugh the bounty hunter dropped the stunned Ship into his hover-board's holding compartment and flew away.
Julie didn't hesitate. She picked up the bag containing her tennis racket, slung it over her shoulder and then dashed over to her scooter, put on her helmet and sped off in pursuit.
Hold on Ship she thought.
She followed Sunder to Bellwood city park. Realizing that he was slowing down and descending, she also decreased her speed and stayed back just far enough that he wouldn't notice her. Finally, he came to a halt and simply hovered in mid-air just above the ground. She parked her scooter and watched him carefully.
Sunder took out a small remote control and pressed a button. Instantly a spaceship shimmered into visibility in front of him. He grinned broadly as he reached into his hover-board and took out a clear cylinder in which Ship was imprisoned.
"You're going to make me a lot of money" he said.
There was no time to call Ben. Julie gunned her scooter's engine and shot forwards. Before Sunder could react, she had snatched Ship out of his grasp and was zooming away. Snarling angrily, he ignited the hover-board's jets and flew after them.
Julie glanced in her rear-view mirror and saw Sunder shoot out a net. She swerved to the side just in time to avoid it. Sunder responded by drawing his axe and unleashing a volley of energy beams that blasted holes in the ground as she weaved from side to side, narrowly evading each one.
By now Ship had recovered and was pounding his flippers against the cylinder. "Ship! Ship!"
She wished that she could say something to reassure him, but she needed to keep all of her focus on dodging Sunder's blasts. The loud booms of near-misses filled her ears, almost drowning out Ship's frightened squeals.
Deciding to change tactics Sunder flew up higher and fired again, this time aiming not at Julie herself but instead at a tree. It toppled and fell right in front of her, blocking her path. She braked hard, bringing her scooter to a halt before she crashed into it.
Sunder followed up by swinging his axe right at her head! Julie ducked under the blade and jumped off of her scooter. Still holding Ship's container, she backed away.
"Ship! Ship!" he cried frantically.
"I won't let him take you away" she said firmly. She put Ship down and pulled out her tennis racket. It wasn't much of a weapon against the alien bounty hunter but it would have to do.
Sunder laughed. "Ha! You're not worthy of my axe." He put the weapon behind his back and took out a metal disc with five red lights. Sneering, he threw it at her.
Julie swung her racket and hit the disc, sending it flying back the way it had come. Sunder barely had time to widen his eyes in disbelief before his own weapon slammed into his chest and exploded, releasing a pinkish goo that immobilised him, gluing his arms to his sides. He lost his balance and toppled over. Now he was also stuck to the ground. He struggled but couldn't get enough leverage to break free.
Julie picked up the cylinder holding Ship and found a release button. She pressed it and the cylinder opened. Ship immediately jumped into her arms and she hugged him in relief.
"Julie" he chirruped happily.
"Are you okay Ship?"
"Ship. Ship."
"I'm so glad."
After a moment Ship hopped down to the ground and transformed into a cannon. He took aim at the struggling Sunder who instantly went VERY still.
Julie put her hands on her hips and glared at the bounty hunter. "Let's make a deal. You leave now and never come after Ship or me again."
"Or what?" he replied with a snarl.
Her glare became a teasing smile as she held up her phone. "Or I'll call my boyfriend and tell him everything that just happened. Do you really want people to know that a regular human girl beat you?"
Sunder couldn't keep a look of dismay off his face. If word of this got out then his reputation would be torn to shreds! He'd be the laughing stock of the entire galaxy!
He scowled and nodded. "All right. You have my word I'll leave you and your pet alone."
"And I won't tell anybody about this. It'll be our little secret" she said with a grin.
Ship de-transformed and hopped up and down eagerly. "Ship! Ship!"
"Ship says he promises too."
Sunder fumed with rage.
Soon afterwards Julie was sitting on the settee in her living room calmly reading a book with Ship curled up next to her. She put her book down as she heard the doorbell ring and went over to the front door. On the other side was Ben.
"Hi Ben. Is everything okay?"
"Sure. Just a little run-in with some leftover Forever Knights. Nothing we couldn't handle" Ben replied. "How about you? I heard there was some kind of disturbance at the park."
"I'm fine. Ship and I have just been here playing" she said. "We may have gotten a little carried away. Ship's all tired out now."
Sorry Ben, but I did make a promise she thought. I'll make it up to you.
"My parents aren't back for a few more hours" she said casually. "Would you like to hang out and play video games?"
His eyes lit up. "Sure!"
Julie smiled brightly as they went over to the settee and sat down together.