Okay, now to get this back on the field! Sorry for the long wait, having to deal with IRL stuff and needed to get stuff for this chapter done since it is a big one given the threat ahead. I would like to thank my helpers from Discord and DeviantART like Brave-King-Shishio, KevFilms2x2, Zigwolf and everyone else who helped out, including my new helper Jayden. I don't own Ben 10, I just own my own concepts. Please enjoy!
Star Bursts
(Near Revonnah. August 13th, 05:40 Earth Time)
The Lovely Duck was back in space at this time, Xalia working on diagnostics as Julie gives Ship a few pets on the head. Rook cleaned the Proto-Tool, the clinking of his beads with each movement the only other sound in the room as both looked at the computer room.
Inside, Ben was giving an update to Max with Rad, a solemn look on his face with Pax's vest folded on a table near him. "And that's what happened…"
"That is… a lot to take in. I'll make sure Pax's companions get the news and he is given a proper ceremony in Undertown. Any intel on Attea?" Max asked, his tone sympathetic but understandably solemn as well. His face showed he was upset that a civilian had lost his life in this battle against the Toads.
"They got a Gegarian vessel like me…" Rad said with a frown. "Likely where Psychobos got da tech he's usin'. It'd be hard ta get stuff like dat in dis region."
"That is concerning, I'll get our guys to look into it," Max said as the two nod, with Max stroking his chin in thought. "But now I'm curious what Attea is doing now that she's lost that Amber Ogia concentrates…"
(Deeper in Space, 6:10)
A good distance away, near a cosmic cloud cluster surrounded by large Wyvern like beasts, all perching on floating meteors. They gave different shines in their crown as a large green and white To'kustar overlooked everything, his horn styled like a three-pointed prong as he was on the back of the beast. He had a scanner in hand before nodding, tapping it along before it flew off, unaware that there was something hidden in the nearby closer of meteorites.
In the Gigerian craft, Attea stomped towards Psychobos' lab where Azmuth was suspended in a sphere. "Hey Psycho-boy, what have you got planned?"
"Calm down, P-p-Princess. I am currently in the works of a special device with the Merlinsapien's aid. It should give an edge against our opposition, and I use the term loosely," Psychobos explained as he showed a towering device. It had a crystal glass case to it and a series of syringes pointed down inside of it.
Apex walked up with one of the agents as he looked at the device. He grunts as he says, "got da meat shield for ya test, boss."
"Perfect! Now. I need you to get a beacon out so we can f-f-follow a cosmic cloud cluster I was able to pinpoint. We need to collect samples from it for the test I have," Psychobos handed him a grapefruit-sized item and was shoved into a near-by pod as it was led out to the shipping bay.
"Way to take credit for others' hard work, Psychobos," Coregon bluntly cracked, launching the pod for him as the Incursean soldier looked outside, the beacon placed into a missile launcher.
"Alright, I am sending out the beacon now," the Incursean called back as he fired it out, it going deep into the abyss before it exploded on impact with something. "That… is not a good sign…" He murmured as a large eye appeared in the darkness.
Back on the ship, Attea was tapping her finger impatiently on the throne before activating her mic, "Hey soldier! Where's dat bea-"
"OH MY FROG, IT'S GONNA EAT ME! PRINCESS, OPEN A HATCH! ACTIVATE A TELEPORTER! SOMETHING, ANYTHING!"
Everyone stared in shock as they looked out the window as the pod was trying to get away, only to get swatted by something faintly bioluminating in the darkness, causing the ship to explode silently in space.
Psychobos slowly pressed a button, eyes wide. "Get to the storm, now!" He kept pressing the button as if to stimulate the ship to go faster, Coregon already using the thrusters to get away from the large set of eyes as it narrowed and started to swim forward.
Attea growled in frustration before slamming on a button, "Coregon! Go near a planet! The gravity should suck that thing in!" The ship fired forward, doing an u-turn towards some near-by moons to get away from the large, now annoyed, creature as it gave off a rumbling, silent roar that shook the empty space around it.
(Back on the Lovely Duck)
The ship had a very large shift, making everyone yell out in surprise as the ship began to shake and rumble. "Uh… what was that…?" Ben inquired, looking around in confusion. "You guys okay?"
"Yeah, just a bit frazzled… Pixy, what was dat?" Rad looked up towards the top of the ship as Xalia's computer glowed a bit to show the computer screen.
"There appears to be a strong concentration of star plasma in the vicinity. I do not believe this is a supernova," Xalia explained as Rook began to type on a computer for a visual when—
"Bralla Dah, that's a Kaijira!" Rook exclaimed in shock as they saw the large, neon-blue draconic beast with what looks like translucent skin and large eyes looking towards them, silts shrinking before giving off a quiet rumble, making the space shift.
"Xalia, get us as far away from that thing as possible! Heart Drive, full power!" Rad commanded quickly, getting into the driver's seat as Xalia quickly rocketed forward, the large creature starting to swim after them.
Ben grabbed onto a nearby railing in surprise as he looked towards Rad, an annoyed look on his face. "I thought you were Rad 'Danger Trouble Profit' Dudesman!"
"Yes, those are my middle names. And do any of them imply I have a death wish?! You were nearly eaten by one of those things, remember?!" Rad asked, as they looked confused. "... Da Novan Blight? Dat's its baby form!"
…
"Wait, THAT is a Novan Blight?!" Julie exclaimed, eyes going wide in horror at that. "But it didn't look like that thing!"
"Because I doubt Khyber could have gotten a fully grown one. Likely took the DNA off of a dying To'kustar… which means we're in the Cosmic Storm territory. Only reason why they'd be here is if they are lookin' to infect some To'kustars with their young." Rad said as he started typing, "Pyx, get in contact with Magister Col'Sal. He should be in the area."
"Doing so now, Rad," Xalia complied as the image of the green tinted To'kustar came onto the screen, looking confused as he got in contact.
"Rad? Rad Dudesman? What are you doing in To'kustar space?" He asked, his tone soft but firm.
"How is he talking in space…?" Julie whispered to the others, confused as SKurd looked up at her.
"To'kustars' language can be spoken in a vacuum. We are just hearing the translator," Skurd explained as Julie gave a look of understanding.
"There is a Kaijira in the area, someone ticked it off, we need to get through your space," Rad explained as Col'Sal went wide eyed at this.
"The Incurseans must be after the cosmic storms… they likely want to weaponize the beast. Ben Tennyson, is it? Do you need to take this? I can try to get the Rodactyle Squad to fly the storm to a different part of the sector as to get them out of the range." Col'Sal explained as Ben nodded, looking towards Skurd.
"Skurd, get a playlist of my aliens that can go into space set up. We're gonna try and get that overgrown gecko out of the range," Ben was about to walk away when Julie grabbed his arm.
"Ben, it's too dangerous! We just need to get out of here," Julie explained but Ben placed a hand on her cheek, stroking a stray worried tear away from her eye as he pressed their foreheads together.
"I know it's dangerous, Jules. But that thing could hurt a lot of people, especially if its gonna be rampaging. I'll teleport to where you guys get too. I should have enough range with Telebug or even fly there with Jetray. Just have your signals on, okay?" Ben reassured with a smile as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek of reassurance.
"Okay… just be careful Ben, please," Julie pleaded as Ben nodded, pressing down on the Omnitrix as he turned into Big Chill.
"See you guys later," Big Chill phased through the ship before flying forward, looking around. 'Okay… gotta think…'
'Well, that'd be a first wouldn't it?' Skurd asked, making Big Chill look at him in shock. 'What? Did you forget you have a few aliens like Ampfibian that can use telepathy? It's not just mind reading, it's a mental link.'
'...I actually did forget Ampfibian could do that… okay, guess that makes this easier,' Big chill gave a nod as he flew forward. 'Just don't pry too deep into my brain, snotwad.'
'Oh yes, because I wish to see what scandalous things you think about with Julie or the other girls your hormonal teenage brain thinks about.' That earned an icy flick from the ice alien, making him grunt.
'Wait… there's an idea!' Big chill thought of as he slammed down, growing out into Ghostfreak. "Ghostfreak can possess things, and he's super charged out here in space!" He saw the giant creature flying around… and saw Attea's ship. "Ah great, she's here…" He then flew faster, using some boost from Skurd using Jetray's wings to expand his speed.
'Oh no… they look like they're trying to put the beast to crash onto a nearby planet! That amount of mass would smash it!' Skurd thought in a panic as Ghostfreak grabbed his chest flap of flesh.
"I'll get his attention…" He then opened it up, a shadowy blast of energy flying out and hitting the giant kaiju… as it slowly looked at him.
'I can safely say you DIDN'T think that through!' Skurd thought in a panic as Ghostfreak flew over, using his telekinesis to pull on one of the spikes on the back of it… it wasn't enough to do much, but the shadow empowerment caused enough that it to make it roar out, sending a shockwave through space. It then swam over towards him, eyes narrowing.
The ghostly alien slammed down, turning into Frankenstrike as he landed on one of the near-by meteorites. He concentrated his nodes on his back before creating an EMP-burst of purple lightning, getting another blast at it as it grunts. Then he saw the back starting to shine before photon nodes flew out of it's back. He slammed his hands together, creating a large pulse of purple lightning under him to fly up.
Another flash of green came out as he became Jetray, the red manta flying around the different blasts before firing his neuroblasts out, trying to paralyze it with the shocks. He grits his teeth under his lips, thankful for the Aerophibian's ability to not suffocate in space. The creature roared, the noise not coming out but the rumbling filling the air. It swiped its tail forward, creating a shockwave forward from the force. Jetray got knocked off before slamming down, as he became NRG, who fired his hands behind him like a cannon.
The energy being in the protective armor glared upward as he says, "Eat this, gecko!" He then fired forward, firing out a giant blast of superheated plasma. The creature aimed its tail up and fired a blast of star power at him, the two radiation blasts mixing between before dispersing, knocking NRG back a bit but Skurd used a energy whip from Astrodactyl's DNA to grab a small meteorite and helped give him some leverage.
NRG's armor started to radiate with heat, turning red in his frustration as his hands clenched shut. "Okay, gotta change to something else!" He then slammed to the next alien in the playlist; Gravattack, the planetoid alien floating around faster thanks to adjusting his gravity pull. The giant glared as it fired blasts of photon energy from the spikes on its back, Gravvattack using a burst of power from NRG that Skurd gave him to move him out of hte way.
Gravattack then did a spin around as a sphere before raising his arms up, hands glowing faintly as some meteorites floating around stopped moving before being pulled down, sending towards the Kaijira. It roared out at the impacts, explosions coming off of it. It then aimed it's tail upward, the tip shining before firing a cosmic blast.
"LOOK OUT!" Skurd exclaimed in his head as he created a shield of star energy via Astrodactyl's star pulse, which caused them to be flown backwards from the impact.
'Okay, lets try something else with a bit more raw power…' He then turned into Overkill, the energy coming out of his palms. "Okay… lets try this again…" He made feedback tendrils go onto the end of it as he flew forward, the electrical energy flowing around his fists as the Kaijiria got stuck into it, the energy cufflinks going into the large beast as he started punching into it, sending pulses into it.
"Okay, I think you got it's attention… but why are we ON it?!" Skurd asked in his head as Overkill looked at him as he paused the attack.
'Trying to get some direct damage… but I don't think I'm making a dent with it's thick scales,' Overkill replied as he slammed another hit for emphasis but then the two felt a strange pulse go through him as he yelled out in pain, being sent flying off with the photon energy being put in, slamming him into a near-by meteor.
"I think you just angered it," a voice said as Overkill looked up and saw Col'sal looking down at him, picking him up carefully. "We need to herd it away, not just fighting it," Col'Sal said with a frown.
"Okay… but I think I got something that can help at least get it's attention then, you keep getting the others away," Overkill jumped forward, slamming on his chest as Wyburn took the place of the red hued alien, flying up and firing a mana blast down at it's photon blasts, making them explode again before flying away. The giant growled as it swam after him, moving faster with the photon energy.
'Ben, I know you are usually all about the guns blazing approach, but I feel you are being rather reckless, even for yourself,' Skurd inquired, looking up at him. 'Is this something to do with what just happened?'
"Not now, Skrud," Wyburn turned around and fired another blast of mana energy towards it, hitting it with the blast before it roared out, firing more photon energy as Wyburn growled, looking down at him as Skurd slid up, adding Antigravetesla's electromagnetism to the energy before firing it down, creating a giant blast of energy that knocked both back from the force of energy.
"Ben Tennyson, you need to calm down!" Col'Sal called out as some of the storm was able to move past, Wyburn getting up with a growl as he looked at the To'kustar.
"I got this… don't worry…" He grunted out as he turned into Chromastone, flying forward as he glared ahead. "Okay, lets see you try that light show on me now…" His eye glowed as he looked at Skurd, "Mind giving me a charge?"
"I am not sure about this… but alright…' Skurd commented as he concentrated, using Amphibian's electricity to charge up Chromastone more before firing out a blast of rainbow power, the creature grunting as he fired another blast forward, Chromastone taking the hit with his palms out, absorbing the pulse.
"Okay… that's a bit of a jolt…" His eye shines bright before firing back, making it roar again, being knocked back into a few asteroids. "Alright! Got some work now!" But before he can move forward, Skurd noticed the Omnitrix dial glowing on Chromastone's chest. Chromastone started to smack the Omnitrix to see if it would stop, making it shine a bit more.
"Uh, Ben? I think something is up with the Omnitrix…!" Skurd exclaimed as Chromastone looked even more confused.
"What's going on?" He asked as he tapped on it, confused before the two heard a set of voices in their head, the young hero and slimebiote cringing at the dual voices yelling…
ENOUGH!
A large flash of green came out in space as Alien X stood in Chromastone's spot, but he was in his usual still form, a monolith frozen in place. Ben notices this and grunts as he saw himself in front of the glaring faces of Bellicus and Serena.
"What the-Hey! We're in the middle of something! How did you do that?" Ben asked, confused and annoyed at the same time as Bellicus gave a scoffing sound.
"Oh please. An Ectonurite was able to take control of this device, as did the Necrofriggian. Even that Amperi was able to possess that other Omnitrix knock off," the voice of aggression grunted out.
"Did you think we couldn't have overpowered the device if we wanted too? We had just not done so out of respect for your wishes in the past, but this is something beyond even you," Serena scolded, her voice firmer than usual.
"Well, at least it's good timing. We can use Alien X to make this thing poof away with a flick of the wrist, right?" Ben asked before he saw the two go flat looked. "What?"
"We aren't going to do anything until we have a proper discussion," Serena scowled as Bellicus gave a nod.
"Quite, this is a massive misuse of your powers, especially in this circumstance. We had agreed to be more involved with your, 'heroics,' but this is not going to the right spot of history as it were." Ben looked at the two faces in shock, a look of annoyance growing on his face.
"What are you two going on about? There's a giant space dragon flying around, apparently about to infect a bunch of Way Bigs, and Attea got it rampaging! I'm supposed to just let it do that?" Ben asked, Skurd staying quiet as to focus on the giant creature as it got itself situated.
"That, 'giant space dragon,' as you put it, is an important part of the galactic ecosystem! It's not like the Dagon, this creature is of this dimension. Created by the Great Powers itself to keep cosmic-level beings on his plane in check," Bellicus grunted out; if he had teeth, they'd be gritted right now.
"Your planet has these sorts of Apex predators as well. Not to this level, mind you, but this is something of a similar nature for the greater galaxy," Serena explained as Ben groaned, knowing where this was going.
—
Elsewhere, a few miles away, Rad was trying to check on what is going on with Ben as he saw him on the radar. "Oi, what's Ben doing? He's just sitting there like a hatchlin' now."
"Can we get a visual?" Julie asked, looking up at Xalia's avatar face as she made a thinking look. "Xalia!"
"I am trying to get into some signals, they are weak due to some of the forceful attacks that were going on over there," Xalia explained as she angles that ship in a way to get a visual, one of the outer cameras going for a zoom…
"With all that was going on, I would not be surprised if it was Ben using many of his, as he calls them, 'Powerhouse load out,' to try and face it?" Rook asked as they saw the visual of Alien X just floating there, the Kaijira getting it's bearings back. "What is Ben doing?!"
"Alien X is frozen again?! We need to go back, now! If Bellicus and Serena are just going to be debating at this time, Ben is gonna be killed!" Julie said in a panic as Rad gave a scoff sound, making her glare. "What, you got something to say?"
"Kaijira are dangerous, but they wouldn't be able to kill a Celestialsapien. But we do need to get him before he's stuck. Xalia, send a probe out to grab him," Xalia gave an affirmative sound before sending a drone out to try and grab at him.
"Okay, I am going closer now… it appears Alien X's facial features are heavily focused, but the creature is getting ready to retaliate," Xalia commented as she tried to use a tractor beam on Alien X, moving the stationary alien forward. Then an alarm in the ship acts up.
"What is that?" Julie asked, looking at Rook and Rad who were looking nervous before Rad took the wheel and drove the ship upward. "Whoa! What's happening?!"
"Pixy, try and move Tennyson out of the range of that Kaijira's attack! We got a 20 second window to get out of the range of the shockwave! At least try and get Ben out of the direct line of fire!" Rad ordered, going right for the cosmic storm. "I'm taking us through a shortcut!"
"Magister Col'Sal! Tell your kin to make room for us!" Rook asked, pressing a button on his badge. "We need to get everyone out of range! There is going to be a level 9 Cosmic event about to start!"
"A Kaijira's roar… yeah, I kinda suspected it," Col'Sal answered as he appeared by the ship with his beast. "I'll help lead you through! Keep up!" He then kicked the dragon-like beast's side and it took off, Rad following close behind with the Lovely Duck.
Julie looked out the window, hand on the glass as she whispers, "Come on Ben…" as she looked on in worry.
—
Ben floated in the mind scape in frustration as he said, "Okay, so what exactly do you want me to do? Just let this giant To'kustar eating kaiju just wreck some planets because Attea ticked it off?"
"No, we do not harm it. We relocated it to another To'kustar based area in the Milky Way. That way it can recover," Serena remarked as Bellicus grunted a bit.
"Mayhaps we could send it near the Incursean space? Let them deal with it?" Ben asked as Bellicus gave a deeper scowl at that.
"That is just as bad as this current juncture, Ben Tennyson."
"Oh you did NOT just full name me!"
"Oh I will, 'full name you', Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! Especially in this circumstance where you are using your powers to attack an animal instead of trying to scare it off. You drew it away, but you kept insisting on combating it instead of trying to draw it away!" Bellicus roared out in frustration, his image actually sparking in annoyance.
"Why do you two suddenly care so much!? Before our deal, you two were just arguing for who knows how long about little things that happened literally eons ago!" Ben finally shouted in frustration, the three giving each other a look.
"It's because of that deal that we now have a bit more nuanced thoughts about this. We are the first Celestialsapien to truly understand existence, even for fleeting moments," Serena explained, her tone soft but still firm. "We never understood the true fragility of existence until our agreement was set."
"One domino knocking down the other, one life meaning to another. That is something you taught us. So we need to make sure you learn the lesson that you had to learn with the loss of that one life, that one failure, so you can truly grow again," Bellicus explained as Serena gave a nod.
Ben was silent, clenching his fist as Skurd was about to say something when Serena interrupted the slimebiote, flying her head to look at Ben's direction. "We are not truly angry with you, Ben. We are concerned for your wellbeing. We are one being, we are Alien X together. So that means we need to work together."
"But after what happened on Revonnah, you are acting irregular, you are acting rash, you are acting similarly to when the Osmosian was corrupted in the Forge of Creation. You are allowing your emotions to harden your heart, making you susceptible to doing things that are very much out of character. I am aware of the power of anger and fury, but you usually put any rage into something righteous. We need to do that now," Bellicus surmised as Ben just gave a frustrated sigh.
"Okay, okay…! Yes, I'm upset, are you happy now?! I am mad I screwed up and I wanted to fight something that can take it! I need to let off steam too, I'm only human!"
"Yes… you are," Serena sympathetically replied with a nod. "So…shall we send the creature away? Take you somewhere to clear your mind?"
"...okay, seconded," Ben sighed, waving his hand with a groan as Bellicus gave a affirmative nod.
"Alright then, motion carried! The beast will go towards the Carina arm of the galaxy, that is a good distance away from here," Bellicus said as all three shined as Alien X's eyes outwardly opened and raised his hand, making the Kajiria vanish… just as it had fired a giant energy blast, making the god-like being do a double take.
"Oh, NOW you are listening! I was trying to tell you that while you were having your debate, it was firing a cosmic ray!" Skurd exclaimed in annoyance.
"HOW DID YOU TWO NOT NOTICE THAT?!" Ben screamed in shock, as the beam hit them dead on. He grit his eyes shut but was sent flying backwards; surviving the hit, but was sent way off course.
"I had thought Serena was keeping an eye on the creature! I was trying to find the creature in a new location!" Bellicus protested as they crashed through a meteorite, reducing it to rubble from the impact.
"I was trying to keep you two from butting heads! I had thought Ben was the most combat experienced, so I presumed he was paying attention!" Serena asserted, as they bashed through a few more.
"Hey, you two are omniscient beings! I thought that came with being all seeing and all knowing, since you two seem so darn smart!"
"We never said we were omniscient!" the other two shouted back as Skurd only had a flat look of annoyance as this went on.
'It is official; you three have truly started to share brain cells! congratulations!' Skurd shouted into their mind as he added, 'Maybe deliberate a place to land?! The Omnitrix's energy is about to run out! And I would rather not have us smash a planet like we did those asteroids with Celestialsapien durability going at the rate of an extinction level event!'
"Ah, right! Uh… Find us the nearest inhabited planet to regroup!' Ben said to the other two, as they quickly gave a nod as the three exclaimed at once; "MOTION CARRIED!" As they suddenly morphed into a silver sphere and shot forward…
Unaware that to the Lucky duck, it appeared that Alien X got knocked into the cosmos. "BEN!" Julie and Rook exclaimed in shock as Rad tried to trace the signal, but it was moving too fast away.
"Ah Hen Quwaker! He's going faster than the speed of light to who knows where!" Rad said as he punched his seat with a series of angry squawks, quacks and trills. "UGH!"
"We must calm down. We can head back to Earth quickly and have a search party to find Ben?" Xalia suggested, as the other three looked conflicted at that.
"...Earth does need our defending… Ben would want us to make sure the planet is safe. And as Xalia said, he has the Omnitrix. We should be able to have someone track him… hopefully," Rook rationalized, looking at the worried Julie as she looked out the window and just pressed her forehead against the glass. Ship rested against her foot in comfort as Xalia had a robotic hand come out and placed it on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.
However, back on Coregon…the group were watching this with shock, seeing the Kaijira just vanish out of sight in a sparkle of dust after it fired its energy attack and saw Alien X get knocked away.
Attea watched this with a shocked look, seeing the alien that she first saw Ben in just get… taken out in one hit. She started to grin as she said, "Looks like your golden boy got snuffed out like a candle in a rainstorm, froggy."
"Hmph, only a small set back, I am sure," Azmuth retorted with a scowl as he glared at them. "You are not likely to win with this mindset."
"That is where you are wrong, First thinker, and I use that te-te-term loosely," Psychobos chuckled as he pressed a button, revealing the lab as the large containment unit, as the cosmic cloud was suddenly struck by many needles, releasing shocks to make it turn into it's true To'kustar form. It was then dosed with the chemical, as well as DNA altering red electrical power as it gave a roar in pain. Coregon materialized his face in the lab, grinning darkly.
"Don't worry, this should keep it contained long enough for our next plan. I calculate it may take Ben about 756 hours given where my signal readers got from his Omnitrix. But with our combined forces on top of your Incursean army… and this new little treat… we are going to have more than enough."
As the Grigerian said this, the glass had a dark gray hand slam against the glass as the obscured face of a large curved set of horns are seen, blood red eyes shining with ominous aura. A deep, resonating roar filling the empty space.
End of Chapter 14
Oooof, this took a LOOOOT Longer than I wanted to do when it comes to writing this. I am sorry for the long wait everyone, but I hope it was worth it. I really liked writing this series so I wanted to make sure we got back into it with a big bang. I hope I can get the next chapter out sooner, so please Read, Review and Suggest away!