Ben X Chapter 48
Rescue Arc
Stadium
The past month of Julie Yamamoto's life was a blur. It passed in a series of events both rapid and indescribable. If she had her wits about her she probably could recall them in a more accurate manner. However, following their defeat in Pandemonium, Eon's subsequent ascension to godhood, and the disappearance of her boyfriend Ben 10, Julie was understandably distraught. As such her focus was not on what was happening around her, only attempting escape and thoughts of what ill fate had befallen Ben.
So if you had asked her to recollect how she had ended up imprisoned in a stadium locker room, held captive by a zombified clown and his crew of misfit criminals while the world outside succumbed to Eon's whims, she would not be able to tell you. What she did know is that she had been chained to the walls and floor along with her co-captive, one Kai Green, for what felt like weeks. Julie was not overly familiar with Zombozo before her imprisonment, but she had come to know him as a terror in her time in captivity. Their warden would visit them every now and again, draining them of their positive emotions, an experience which left her feeling nearly hopeless. She suspected that he only did it enough to sap their will and quash any thoughts of escape or resistance.
But other than his occasional visit, Julie and Kai were mostly left alone to rot in the makeshift prison cell. Their limbs chained to the linoleum tile walls and only the barest of meals given to them. Of course neither of them had their equipment on them. Both Ship and Excalibur were confiscated from them, leaving them powerless to escape. With no way out on their own, they had nothing else to do but talk. And they did talk. First about escape, then about their past, their likes and dislikes, Julie's athletic pursuits and Kai's archeological research. They learned they had more in common than they had thought. But they pointedly ignored one topic of contention. Until one day…
"Kai, do you hate me?" Julie asked out of the blue. Kai looked up in sudden surprise at Julie. She opened her mouth in immediate protest, but paused as she reflected on the question. She looked back down sadly.
"I think at first I may have." She finally admitted. "I was probably just a jealous bitch because of you and Ben. But I don't hate you now." She added with a hopeful smile. "I'm sorry, for how I treated you." She apologized.
"It's okay." A brief pause hung between them, the awkward tension heavy in the air.
"So, how are things going with Ben?" She asked specifically avoiding the past tense, avoiding the acknowledgement that he may be gone.
"Good I think. I never really stopped being attracted to him. He had that boyish charm to him ya know. But the problem was he was so immature at times. We really had our ups and downs as teenagers. But I think now that we've both grown up we're both on the same level." Julie said. Kai smiled sadly but genuinely.
"That's good, I'm happy for you both." She admitted. Another pause hung in the air, but only briefly.
"What about you and Charmcaster?" Julie asked slyly and Kai sputtered before looking at her in shock while Julie regarded her with a knowing smirk.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Kai said avoiding the other woman's gaze.
"Oh come on, I've seen the way she looks at you, and the way you look at her." Julie nodded her head in Kai's direction. The young woman blushed at the observance.
"I… I don't know. I won't deny I feel like something's there. But I don't want her to just be a rebound you know? I don't want to hurt her. It sounds like she's had enough of that in her life already." Kai finally admitted, acknowledging her attraction to the sorceress for the first time. Julie considered Kai's words for a moment before she spoke up.
"I think, if you're scared of hurting her, you'll never allow yourself to experience what you can with her. Me and Ben used to fight a lot, but we came back stronger. I'm sure you and Charmcaster will have fights, especially given both your personalities. But so long as you care for one another, you'll find a way to love each other." Julie said sagely. Kai looked at her with mouth agape.
"When did you get so wise about relationships?" She finally asked jokingly. At this Julie's face fell as she looked down at her restraints.
"I've just had a lot of time to think about it." She said quietly, and their conversation finally died down.
Ben 10 and Ben 23 infiltrated Bellwood Arena easily. There were few guards on the outside and sneaking in was child's play for the two experienced Omnitrix users. The real problem now would be finding their way around the large complex in search of who they came to rescue. Although Bellwood Arena had been here all of Ben's life, he had never taken much interest in the home of the Bellwood Tigers, much preferring soccer to basketball. As such he was unfamiliar with the layout of the stadium, and much less now seeing as Zombozo and his crew took residence. They paused inside one of the shadowed hallways. The stadium was unusually dark, debris and detritus scattered about the floor, empty beer bottles and cigarette butts, but also strangely, deflated baloons, streamers and confetti. It gave Ben the creeps just looking at it. He put the thought out of his mind for now and turned to Ben 23.
"We're probably going to have to split up and search for the girls. But be careful, if Zombozo is here then the Circus Freaks probably are as well." Ben warned his younger counterpart who considered his words.
"Or… hear me out." Ben 23 said with a raised hand. Ben nodded his head, gesturing him to continue. "You search for the girls, and I use Clone Guy to keep the henchmen busy." He said proudly.
"Clone guy?" Ben asked, eyebrow raised. Ben 23 smiled and palmed his Omnitrix, transforming into a smaller pudgy alien still with the same smile.
"Ah, Ditto. Yeah that's a good idea." Ben agreed, beginning to search through his own Omnitrix.
"Who are you going to go with?" Ditto 23 asked peering over at his counterpart's watch.
Ben smiled as he found an alien that would work. He pressed the Omnitrix dial and when it flashed his form was replaced by a slender alien, slightly smaller than Ditto. It was pink skinned with faint lines segmenting his body. He had three pairs of thin stick like arms and a set of legs that held him up. The snake like body ended in an elongated snout like a sea horse, with set of bulbous blue eyes and a pair of fleshy antenna that extended from his head. "I call him Wyrmhole." Ben spoke in a high pitched voice.
"Nice! A teleporting alien huh?" Ditto 23 said immediately picking up on the pun.
"You go cause a distraction, I'll see if I can find Kai and Julie." With that the antenna on Wyrmhole's head zapped the air and a swirling blue portal appeared in front of him. He crawled through the portal with his multiple limbs until he was fully submerged, then it disappeared in a blink.
Ben 23 set off as well, racing down the corridors of the stadium, ducking behind concession stands and strange carnival booths set up in the hallways. Although Ben 23 did not share his counterpart's fear of clowns, even he was unsettled by the sights and atmosphere of the corridors. Colorful confetti, baloons, and streamers littered the floors, muted by the dark shadows. All of the normal promotions and advertisements were replaced by Zombozo's menacing grin, wide toothed and predatory in a way that instilled fear and despair. Ben 23 did his best to fend off the feeling of eyes watching him and made his way to the central arena, where he figured he would have the best chance of finding people. He was not wrong.
As soon as he came to the stadium proper his eyes beheld a terrible sight. The stadium floor was lined with multiple cages, each with a dozen haggard souls entrapped within. Even more were confined to the arena seats and balconies. Those in the center of the arena seemed the worst off, with tired defeated expressions, while those in the stands appeared more composed yet still fearful. Ben 23 observed the situation, trying to piece together what exactly was happening. He saw Thumbskull walking amongst the stands, opening the cages and injecting the prisoners with some kind of drug that seemed to make them more sedate. Next he saw Frightwig gathering some of the newly injected prisoners in her hair and moving them to the center arena, the old prisoners herded away by Acidbreath. It looked like some sick factory line, but for what purpose Ben 23 could not guess. Suddenly the jumbotron hanging from the ceiling seemed to come to life. Strange machinery grafted onto it hissed with steam as the screens blinked on, displaying hypnotic patterns juxtaposed with Zombozo's smiling face. Ben 23 watched as the new prisoners seemed to have their willpower drained from them, leaving them compliant and defeated as they wore rictus grins on their faces.
"Man, I have no idea what's going on here but it looks bad. If only there was a way I could free all these people… Oh wait!" Ditto split himself in two, an exact replica appearing next to him. The two aliens high fived before they got to work. The pair of aliens stealthed around the arena, each taking one side. They were easily able to hide between the rows of seats and stairs given the stadium's dark interior. Ditto 23 hid behind a seat just as Thumbskull passed by, reaching up to liberate a key from his belt. "Yoink." He whispered to himself with a mischevious smile. He waited for Thumbskull to meander out of sight before daring to go up to one of the cages. Ditto peered inside, in the dim light he could make out at least a dozen people, dressed in barely more than rags with thin sickly appearances. He reached up, inserting the key into the key hole of the steel cages. The prisoners inside appeared startled and fearful of his presence even as they eyed the open door enviously. "Well come on, are you gonna sit there all day or are you gonna go?" He asked and the question seemed to snap the prisoners to attention as they all scrambled to escape.
Ben 23 hoped he could sneakily free as many people as possible, but the clamor and commotion from the fleeing prisoners drew the attention of Thumbskull. "Hey! What the heck?!" His eyes swapped from the escaping prisoners down to the diminutive blueish alien who freed them. "It's Tennyson!" He screamed out, his face snarling in rage. Thumbskull charged at Ditto rushing through the rows of seats and tossing them out of his way. "Oh boy, that ain't good." Ditto said as he turned to run from Thumbskull. He led the oversized oddity in between the cages, using his small size to outmaneuver the larger opponent. But Thumbskull managed to wrap his enormous hands around the smaller alien.
"Gotcha!" He shouted triumphantly.
"Or do you?" Ditto asked sarcastically. Thumbskull's eyebrow raised in dull questioning before Ditto split apart again, this time depositing a clone directly below himself. The newly formed clone stomped on Thumbskull's foot, causing him to drop Ditto in pain. The two clones laughed as Thumbskull was left clutching his foot. The pair of clones outran him again, freeing more prisoners before they felt a slithering appendage wrap around their bodies. They were yanked from the ground as Frightwig held them aloft with her tentacles. "Woah, hey lady easy with the coils, we're fragile ya know?" Ditto 23 said as he struggled to escape. Frightwig grimaced at him in anger.
"I don't know how you got in here, but you're not leaving!" She said menacingly.
"That's what you think." One of the clones said gesturing behind her with his head. Confused, Frightwig turned around just in time to have a juggling pin thrown straight at her face. She collapsed to the ground as another clone cheered at his bullseye. With Frightwig disoriented, her coils loosened and the remaining clones escaped to wreak more havoc. Acidbreath stepped back into the arena and saw the chaos that the cloned aliens were causing and immediately ran to help his fellow circus freaks. From that point on the interior of the stadium became a scene of bedlam, as the Ditto clones outsmarted and outwit the circus freaks at every turn. Each time they would catch one clone, he would split off another to distract or escape, leaving them with too many to handle. If it wasn't for the captives that he tried to rescue, Ben 23 would be having the time of his life, laughing at the antics of himself and the hapless villains who tried to stop them.
Elsewhere throughout the stadium, an odd occurrence was taking place. Small portals would appear throughout the air. Each time a nimble pink alien would slither through the holes in space, using glowing blue foot holds to crawl along the very air itself. What Wyrmhole lacked in size and power, he made up for in versatility and mobility. Ben was systematically scouring the different sections of the stadium. He would pop in to different rooms and hallways, sticking his head out from the glowing blue portal. When he didn't find anything a twitch of his antennae would open a new portal and he would crawl from one to the next, like burrowing through the earth. Ben was not overly familiar with Bellwood Stadium, so he had to go part by part. A few times he poked his head into the central arena, where he saw Ben 23 keeping the circus freaks busy. He seemed to have the situation under control for the moment, and he needed to rescue Kai and Julie. So he left the fighting behind for the time being and continued his search.
It was not long before he stumbled upon some answers. In one of the balcony boxes he found a familiar face, but not exactly who he was looking for. Tied down with chains and kept inside a small cage sat a familiar galvanic mechamorph. Ship perked up as he saw Ben's alien form peak through the hole in space. It called out to Ben, drawing his attention to the darkened window it sat in front of. "Ship! Glad to see you buddy. Have you seen Julie or Kai?" He asked the little alien in a high pitched voice. Ship hung its head sadly and beeped in a dejected tone of voice. Ben was still getting used to interpreting Ship's one word replies, but even he could tell from Ship's defeated posture that he had no clue as to his owner's whereabouts. Ben frowned before crawling forward and freeing Ship of his restraints, for which the little alien was grateful. Then Ben noticed the object next to him. Beside Ship, also sat a familiar sword, neither tied down or restrained. Ben guessed it was too difficult to move without Kai's command. Ben thought over the situation briefly before turning back to Ship. "Stay here buddy. I'm gonna go find them. I'll be back I promise." Ben said before turning to leave through another portal, leaving Ship to stand by worriedly.
Deep within the stadium turned prison freakshow, Julie and Kai could both hear the commotion going on outside. Chained to the wall as they were though, they could not fully comprehend the situation at hand. This left them to worry silently about what events could possibly elicit such screams and crashes. The two women were apprehensive, hoping that the noises they were hearing could mean a rescue, but after so long in captivity they were afraid to get their hopes up. Until a strange sight appeared before them. Up above them, floating in the air a swirling blue portal appeared which immediately gathered their attention. But even stranger was what popped out of said portal. A thin pink alien head protruded from the disc, upside down and swiveling from left to right. Before they could speak up the alien spotted them and its eyes appeared to widen in delight. "Julie! Kai!"
"Ben?! Is that really you?" Julie spoke up first. They watched as the diminutive alien descended to the ground, scuttling down the air like a gecko would a wall. Once on the ground, the little alien rushed to them, examining them and their restraints critically, whilst Julie did the same. She came to the conclusion that this must be Ben. She could tell from his body language, from the way his eyes desperately took in their labored condition, from the concern that leaked from his multiple hands grasping at their chains. Even in a body completely and utterly foreign to her, Julie could tell that this was Ben, her Ben, and he had come to rescued them, just like she knew he would.
But there was no time for sweet reunions or long embraces. Their focus now was on getting out. Kai, seemed to have her wits about her. "Ben." She called his attention. "The keys are over there." She gestured with a nod to the far wall where a key ring sat hanging from a hook. Ben nodded and rushed to the wall, grabbing the keys and returning to undo their restraints. Both the girls rubbed their wrists and ankles with relief as they were finally released from the chains that held them in bondage for so long. "Are you guys okay?" Ben finally asked them, concern still tinting his alien voice. "We're much better now that you're here." Kai said gratefully, and for the first time she seemed to truly appreciate Ben's heroics. But there was no time for such reflections. Ben only nodded in response. "I'm gonna get you both out of here, but we have some business to take care of first." He said and the two women watched him turn away.
They watched as Ben began to open a larger portal in front of him. His antennae glowed blue as they summoned the portal and they saw his hands glow as well as he seemed to physically pry the rift open with effort. The wormhole expanded larger and larger, and they began to see images through the distorted space. At last a full ring formed in front of them and Julie gasped with shock and relief. She nearly rushed full on through the portal as she could see Ship gleefully call out to her from his own cage. She used the same key on his restraints and the pair embraced tearfully. Kai smiled at their reunion, even as she reached through the portal herself to grab Excalibur. The sword seemed to hum at her touch in response and Kai had to admit it felt good to hold the blade in her hands again. With that done Ben let go of the portal which disappeared in a blink, leaving him more tired looking than before.
"Come on, we need to grab Ben 23 and get out of here now." He said.
"Who?" Kai asked looking between Ben and Julie, but the other woman seemed just as confused as her.
"There's no time to explain, just follow me." Ben said before racing off through the hallway to the main arena. The women followed behind, Julie donning Ship's sleek armor form and Kai strapping her sword to her back. The trio raced through the corridor and exited out onto the arena floor, only to stop in shock and confusion. The scene in front of them was a confusing mass of colors, shadow, steel, and circus accoutrements. But that was before Ben 23 got there. Now the stadium was even more chaotic, with broken structures, partially smashed cages, melted steel and plaster, and people cooped up in too cramped cages like sardines. But the most upsetting thing of all was the image of multiple small blue and white aliens coralled together by rope, Frightwig's hair, and whatever other restraints the Ditto's could fit in. The circus freak trio turned at the group's arrival and grinned sinisterly at them. Acidbreath drooled liquid corrosion from an open maw, Frightwig approached with her hair waving wildly, and Thumbskull cracked his knuckles threateningly. "This is not good." Ben said surveying the situation.
"It's about to get even better." Said a haunting voice from garbled speakers. All of those present within the darkened arena turned their eyes upwards. They watched as the Jumbotron which hung from the ceiling began to descend slowly but surely. The images on the screens turned to static and multicolored swirling patterns. The hissing of steam and whirring of machines filled the air, accompanied by eerie circus music floating through the speakers. The center of the Jumbotron opened up to reveal a large metal orb with glowing teal windows. Multiple cables extended from the orb, one of which connected to the back of a bloated, necrotic, zombified clown. Zombozo descended from the machine, the cables holding aloft his grotesque corpse. He smiled with wide rotten teeth in a nightmarish fashion as he hung over their heads. As he descended towards them, his circus freaks encircled them, leaving them with no escape.
As Zombozo leered over them he suddenly swung his arms forward. His accordion like limbs extended forward in an inhuman fashion, before wrapping around Ben's smaller alien form. Kai and Julie immediately turned to attempt to help but were cowed by Acidbreath and Thumskull inserting themselves between. "Well well well, if it isn't our friend Ben 10." Zombozo said drawing Wyrmhole's struggling form to him. "I see you brought a friend to help you. Lord Eon warned me I might be seeing more of you Omnitrix users." His manic smile then fell from his face as he sneered at Ben, and from this distance the alien user could smell the stench of rot off his breath. "You two have seriously disrupted my little operation here, and you know how much I hate that." Ben could feel the hands wrapping around his body squeeze tightly in malice at the statement. "So now, what should we do to you and your little companions?" He mused. "I could just turn you over to Lord Eon but that doesn't sound too fun. How about we hypnotize the lot of you and force you to fight one another to the death? That sounds so much more amusing don't you think? Hahahaha!" He laughed and the circus freaks laughed with him, the sound echoing in a haunting manner in the near empty stadium.
"You're forgetting one thing Zombozo." Ben said, cutting through their guffaws. Zombozo's eye nearly popped from his skull as he scrutinized Ben. "I already know your weakness. Which makes beating you a piece of cake." Ben said before he transformed in a flash. Zombozo's hands were forcibly pushed off of Ben as he assumed a larger alien form. Those gathered watched Ben transform from a thin serpent like alien to a yellow green alien wearing what appeared to be a caged helmet on his head. Toepick wasted no time in opening his face plate, ensuring that his allies were behind him and out of sight. Horrid green gas began to spill from the open hole as Ben stared straight at Zombozo. But Ben was surprised, as instead of Zombozo's normal reaction of cowering fear at Toepick's face, he began to laugh. His laugh became louder and louder, his chest heaving with every breath. Thoroughly confused, Toepick's cage went shut as he stared at Zombozo who continued to laugh.
"That trick's not gonna work on me anymore Tennyson. Lord Eon has showed me far worse things than that." Zombozo hovered up into the air, the cables feeding into him lighting up his suit with teal energy and supporting him. "I've seen fully past the veil between life and death, I've seen into universes and dimensions darker than you can imagine. I've been reborn!" Zombozo began to laugh uncontrollably once more. And Ben was so thrown by this new Zombozo, that he momentarily was at a loss as to how to fight him. Thankfully, one person in their group was not fazed.
"Hey Zombo or whatever." All of the faces on the ground turned up to see a single solitary Ditto hanging onto one of the cables. "Why don't you eat this!" Zombozo's eyes widened as he watched the smaller alien jump down directly on top of him. With a striking kick he was taken completely off guard and his head popped clean off. There were screams of shock, concern, and disgust as Zombozo's head bounced along the ground like a basketball. His body which once hung in the air, immediately dropped down, a lifeless puppet with the strings cut off, bringing Ditto down with it. For a moment there was only stunned silence, as Ben looked to his younger self. Ben 23 looked back just as shaken up. "I swear I didn't know that was going to happen." He said holding his hands up in defense.
But the group was all stunned again as they heard another groan. Their heads swiveled to the one head not connected to a body. They watched as Zombozo's disembodied head used a sickly large tongue to prop himself up. "My body! Get me back to my body!" The head shouted. Sensing an opportunity, Kai immediately swung her sword at Frightwig, severing the tentacles she held the other Dittos with. She cried out in shock and suddenly all hell broke loose. Zombozo's head hopped pathetically back towards his body as Thumbskull ran over to him. Frightwig was torn between helping her boss or keeping their prisoners. But the mass of Ditto aliens overcame her and the group of heroes quickly made their escape from the circus of madness.
The quartet of escapees ran for the exits, their path marked by the glowing signs which would lead to salvation. As they ran, both of the Ben's transformations timed out. They left the stadium and found themselves in an empty deserted parking lot. Night had fallen by the time they escaped and the group was able to find ample patches of darkness in which to hide and catch their breath. Julie scarcely relished her freedom before she threw herself at Ben, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips to his. Ben, shocked but grateful to see her alive returned the gesture. They parted after a minute and Julie looked up into his eyes. Even in the darkened shadows, they stood out like beacons to her.
"I knew you would come for us." She whispered to him and Ben smiled back down at her.
He broke away from her embrace and looked into her eyes. Then he turned his head to the side where he saw Kai watching them. There was an uncomfortable silence as they stared at each other. Things had progressed too quickly after their last fight, Ben hadn't had time to apologize, and selfishly part of him insisted he didn't need to. But he had no idea of what tortures she endured while he was out gathering his new team. He felt the need to say something, to tell her that although he no longer loved her, he still cared for her, and that he would never let something like this happen again. But he didn't get the chance to as his younger counterpart cleared his throat, grabbing Kai's attention.
"Hey there, Ben Tennyson of Dimension 23, I'm kind of a big deal back home." He said with a smooth charming voice. Kai's face immediately screwed up in disgust.
"Ew, no. I already dated one Tennyson, no way am I making that mistake again. Also what are you like thirteen?" She said.
"Sixteen, actually." Ben 23 said, ego deflating.
"Whatever." Kai rolled her eyes.
"Alright." Ben spoke up breaking the tension before it could go further. "We need to make our way to the rendezvous point. Let's gather up any escapees we can and then meet with the others." Ben said.
"There's more than just you two?" Julie asked while Kai also seemed surprised.
"Oh you've got no idea sister." Ben 23 said cheekily, leaving the two women to exchange confused glances.
A/N: I know it's been a while since last upload. I wanted to bring up my buffer of chapters again but the next one after this is looking like it might become a two-parter so I'll just post this cuz I know you're all waiting. I really wanted Kai and Julie to have a moment together and while I'm not 100% satisfied with how it came out I'm okay with it. Also I have a better idea of where I'm gonna take the ending for this story. Suffice to say it will hopefully be the epic sendoff that I always envisioned, with lots of returning characters. Also sorry to the readers on Fanfic, I could have sworn I've been simultaneously updating this story here and on AO3 but I seem to have fallen behind somewhere. Although honestly I've considered switching exclusively to AO3 as I've gotten way too many spam messages looking for comissions, which again I'm not interested in.