My body was beginning to heal, bruises fading, scabs falling off, bandages becoming less apparent over myself as I was wrapping up my recovery from my battle with Vilgax. Though that didn't mean I wouldn't get any new ones.
Like the one to my side that Gwen just gave me.
Recoiling from the kick, I had hoped that keeping my core flexed would have spared me of pain but it only lessened a well trained kick.
"Keep your arms up." The girl informed me, having finally taken up my request to receive some martial arts training.
I thought I was keeping them up, but my own reflexes must have pulled it down in a subconscious attempt to block the kick. Max had found a nice spot for us to spend the day camping, less trees and soft dirt covered in a thick layer of grass. After my experience from being jumped by bounty hunters, fighting against Vilgax, Tetrax's words of warning, and even a trained Plumber with a set of training and tools easily overwhelmed me.
If I had to fight, I had to know how to fight. I couldn't always rely on surprise attacks or clever tricks to pair with my use of the omnitrix. And who had various belts in different martial arts? Well, my cousin….Ben's cousin, who was showing me just how quickly someone who knew what they were doing could take me down on even ground.
Without apologizing, I retook the stance Gwen showed me earlier. The hardest part of this was trying to forge new reflexes and muscle memory that would allow me to instantly respond. My own reflexes, my own instincts, seemed to have me do something completely different.
Gwen came back at me with a new attack pattern, and just after the first two strikes my mind was flaring up, demanding it choose its own method to respond instead of what I've been trying to train my body to do.
That argument between new training and natural response slowed me down to the point that Gwen easily pinned me back down on the grass. Something I was also realizing, is that I used to be able to take advantage of being taller, having more leverage, and slipping through my opponent's grip.
I no longer had those advantages, and the ones Ben would have are too foreign for me to make quick use of. I didn't want to say humiliating, because Gwen was taking the time to teach me and this knowledge could easily save my life.
Still, the fact that no matter how much I tried I couldn't beat a ten year old girl was not helping my motivation.
"Gah!" I wheezed as my own weight threw out some of the air from my chest, Gwen grabbing my arms and twisting them behind me.
"Hah!" Kevin laughed at my misfortune from his spot near Max, who was setting up a set of lightbulbs on the wooden picnic table. "Did you really beat that squid face? You sure don't look like you could."
I gave no retort, only getting up once Gwen was off me to try again.
"Maybe we can take a break?" Gwen offered with a proud smile on her face, not even a sweat on her brow.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
She only gave me a wider grin, finding something to hold over me that she was better at. I wouldn't hold it against her, she had a lot of great skills and it's nice for her to actually see how there were some things she was better at.
"Ok." Max took a step away from the table, Kevin cracking his fingers in anticipation. "We're all set up. Remember, just try to make them light up."
Kevin had a mad smile on his face, ready to demonstrate his own set of gifts. "Oh they'll light up alright."
He let loose with a volley of arcs, snapping out into the glass bulbs and making them burst into sparks.
"You see that?!" Kevin called back over to us, more pointedly towards Gwen. "I'd like to see you try and use your magic to do that!
Then, he turned his attention back at me while 'blowing' the tip of his finger gun. "I bet you don't even have that much skill with your aliens."
The omnitrix let out a beep before transforming me immediately into Ten Ten. I snapped one of my pistols out from the holster on my side, shooting one of the highest branches off the nearest tree. Multiple laser arrays snaked out from around my shoulders, two smaller arms popping out from my armor with their own blasters as I held an arsenal at my fingertips.
I pelted the large branch repeatedly mid air while walking towards it, each of my shots landing and shaving off another part of it until it was whittled down to a sliver of wood.
Once my handiwork was done, I changed back to human to catch the 'toothpick' in my hand before picking out the remains from our lunch from my teeth, enjoying seeing Kevin's astounded shock.
Hey, I had to keep the kid humble. Also, if he ever believed he could take me on he might try to take the omnitrix.
And I knew how that would go for him, something I would avoid at all costs.
Gwen rolled her eyes at me as she waltzed over. "Show off."
"That was fine work Ben." Max complimented my skill, which honestly was mostly the alien's enhancing my own natural marksman skills. "Though that does remind me, we should train your other aliens if you're going to be fighting with them."
"Yeah." I agreed, as tedious as it sounded to not just train my human skills but also the skills of every other body I used. Hopefully some would transfer to one another. "Even if it's just the basics, it's going to help a bunch."
"Hey!" Kevin didn't appreciate the praise and focus taken off of him. "I thought we were training my powers?!"
"We are." Max assured him, pointing back to the lightbulbs. "But you burnt through all the supplies I had. We're trying to work on your control first before anything else. Ben, do you think you have any parts of those drones you could spare?"
"We're trying to work on his control, right?" I asked, realizing that I may have just solved one of my issues in my critical project. "I think I know something that could help us both."
Ever since waking up in this body, I had faced a lot of hardships. The ones in my mind, the ones of being in Ben's shoes, the foreknowledge of threats to come, going head to head against monstrous villains and dangerous aliens, all of it paled in comparison to what I was doing now.
Trying not to swear in front of children while trying to work on a project that was not going my way.
As Gray Matter, I grumbled under my breath as I continued to redo with the wires routing into the primary circuit control unit. So far my attempts to make some kind of scanner to understand my situation had been fruitless.
These sensors, no matter how much Upgrade and Gray Matter worked on them, would not tell me what I needed to know!
"Gah!" A zap nipped at my digits, making me internally swear vengeance against them before glaring towards my assistant. "Kevin, hold still!"
"I've been holding still forever!" The boy, acting as a conduit for several systems was sitting down and several wires carefully placed along his body. "Hurry it up will you? You said you would make me a power glove!"
"And I will!" I yelled back in my miniscule, unthreatening form. "Once I get this thing working!"
Gwen, currently studying about the various charms, glanced away from her own studies and down towards me. "And what, exactly, have you been spending the last week working on?"
I couldn't tell them all of it, or even some of it. To reveal my origins without any shed of proof would have them doubt my honesty, even if I do bring some later. I need them to somehow have an idea first, somehow worm the thought into their subconscious that I may not be the same person they knew before.
Sure, I acted differently but they treated me as if I had a change of heart, not of soul or mind. Which I didn't know, but once I did know I could share it with them.
I had been dishonest with them for too long, and as much as I hoped they would believe me if I told them that wasn't who I appear to be it was highly improbable. It was like the omnitrix, I did tell them in the beginning that I could turn into aliens and how I got it but they didn't believe it until I used it right in front of them.
I needed proof, and it was unlikely to get when even the most advanced battle machines couldn't figure out the difference between an active frontal lobe and a seizure!
"Rah!" I kicked at the useless optic, regretting it immediately without enhanced durability or even appropriate footwear. "Confound you machine spirits and your ineptitude to complete a function! No wonder Vilgax couldn't get anything done with your discount brand quality!"
"Uh, Ben?" Max's concern spoke up from the front of the RV. "Why don't you put that away for now and take a break?"
As if given the excuse I so desperately wanted I hopped off the jumbled heap of scrap before returning to human. "You can take those off now Kevin."
"Finally!" He ripped them off without care for the sensitive instruments they were connected to. At this point I didn't care either, I was very tempted to do more damage to it then he would on accident.
Restraining myself from throwing it all away, I disassembled basic parts and packed them back into the box where I was storing them. My mood had plummeted, my aggravation so high that not even the idea of music sounded appealing. I just returned to the main passenger seat, buckled myself in and focused onto the rainy road.
It wasn't helping. If I was driving maybe I could relax myself but between not having a license and being too short to reach the petals I wasn't going to drive anything anytime soon. That thought only brought another weight to my agitation.
I needed something simple, something I could do to vent a whole lot of stress in a short amount of time-
"BRAKE!" I shouted as my arms braced against the RV, a small blur coming into view of the headlights.
The Rust Bucket's wheels screeched as the ABS kicked in along the harsh conditions of the road, a small boy coming into the lights of the vehicle with terror across his quaking frame.
I was a deer in the headlights, same as him, as we could only witness the RV barely come to a halt before hitting a child. I don't know what saved the boy, my call or Max's reflexes. Either way the kid wasn't hurt, from us at least.
Oh, wait a second.
A sudden excitement in the rather dire situation rushed me out the door, finding the pudgy boy shaking in the chilling storm. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, not his own but a uniform, a camp uniform.
Sometimes I wasn't able to identify the episodes as they were happening right in front of me, because it didn't have the filter of a cartoon to separate the fiction from reality. But right then, spotting that little camp tree on his sleeve on top of the pale complexion he had, led me to spot this one right away.
Yeah, this would be a good opportunity.
The walls of the endless cavern were coated in otherworldly vines that pulsed in synchronization. All of them sharing the same nutrients, leading them to the central organ that gave command to the rest of it. I followed it, my alien footsteps burning and leaving a trail of fiery embers behind me. Each step I took, the more I burned with anger, hatred, apparent in my flaming eye sockets.
I knew that letting these emotions could cloud my judgment, but I refused to let them control me. This was going to happen one way or another, and I wanted to make sure everything was torched. Heatblast could use my emotion the best, fuel it into his powers as I intended to make use of in full might.
The cave opened up into the heart of it all, a great throbbing culmination of a fungus feeding off of the land, the planet, and the people around it. Its massive maw opened up as I approached, its razor jaws widening enough to feed on a bus. It disgusted me.
I was already having a bad day. I was going to take care of this quickly, but then I realized something. Those people that were here, the camp leaders, the volunteers, chaperones, and dozens of kids. I hoped they just got out and ran to the nearest town as Max theorized.
Then I checked, then I asked around, and no one had heard from them.
My fingers coiled into a fist as the very air around me began to ignite, the creature recoiling at swelling heat my body was producing.
I had one sliver of hope left that would have been offered in one chance of mercy, until in my searching for the center of the fungi I came across them, half digested with moss and vines spreading through their bodies.
Just because I got a new alien from this encounter did not mean I had any gratitude towards that thing.
Taking a few steps closer, I watched as the creature uselessly spasmed in place, its tethers to the rest of its extended form shriveling as the water within began to boil. What I stared at, was a disease that would be culled from the Earth. Besides the storming vengeance in me demanding its justice, there was a part of me that was filled with guilt.
Not for what I was about to do, but for my thoughts when I realized what the camp had gone through. I didn't think about the people who were scared, suffering, or outright killed from an organism's gluttony. All I wanted was something to punch to relieve some tension, a bad guy to take out and take satisfaction in my work.
It was because of that, my malevolence was greater than ever. It was one thing to hold disdain against something that killed ruthlessly, it was another when realizing I dismissed the desperation of others who needed help.
Even if I soon realized my error, it was too late. I acted immediately not to save, but to satisfy my own desires.
I was no hero, I wasn't some action star or a protagonist in a fictional story. I was just a man who kept failing over and over.
But right now? Right now I am the executioner of this abomination.
Releasing my inner turmoil, letting it burn through my alien body and everything around me. I didn't stop, I didn't care about the pitiful screams of the grotesque monster before me, I only screamed out as the swelling pressure that was in my soul burned brighter than the fires around me.
Rain had fallen earlier that day, but now there was only ash slowly dancing towards the molten ground. Dozens of acres of trees, various activities, all set in a lush landscape of green to allow children a chance to enjoy a nice summer vacation.
It was all gone now, a raging pit of lava sitting in the scorched crater had taken it all away as if it never existed. No woods, no campsites, no bunks or ziplines. There was only the blackened rock cooling as the gray particles gathered on its surface.
I sat in the back of the RV, staring out the back window towards it as Max was pulling away from it. Emotionally exhausted and feeling defeated, I was grateful that Max accepted my quick summary of events and let me stir in self disappointment.
"Hey." Gwen sat on the cushion next to me, but I didn't take my eyes away from the scene left behind. "Ben?"
I couldn't face her, or anyone right now. Especially those three kids we left with the police in town. They wouldn't know it yet but, they were the only survivors. "Yeah?"
"You were just making sure none of the spores blossomed, right? Burning them and their roots?"
That's right, the spores. I can't say that was on my mind when I let go of any restraint. "Would that make you feel better if I said yes?"
She didn't say anything for a minute, and I feared that because of this one slip up I would have to rebuild the trust she had with me all over again. Just as I had given up hope, that I scared her away, she asked "Would it make you feel better?"
No, not really. But her effort was appreciated so I spared her as good of a smile as I could.
"Dude." Kevin muttered as he decided that he had to also join us to not feel left out. "You made a volcano."
I expected him to say more, add something in or maybe ask me to do it again. No, nothing, his silence concerned me so much that I turned around to see him still gazing at the distant red glow. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but the fact that he wasn't asking for anything made me believe either he was working out a way to get it himself or he was too afraid to ask.
Great. Way to go me. Have a meltdown in front of the kid you're supposed to be setting an example to.
Through the hallways of Pittsburgh's museum, I tried to keep my mind away from what had transpired yesterday. I even took a break from messing with the drones just to relax a little and get my head back on straight. It was hard to do, given how I still didn't know what was going on with my head.
Hopefully Ghostfreak wouldn't mind me taking a little time to unwind so that I could get back to work refreshed on figuring out our whole situation.
Staring at every random thing, from history to art, I couldn't help but recall the many rivers and bridges we passed by to get towards the heart of the city. It was on the opposite side of the country, but it reminded me of Portland.
All those bridges, the cityscape, my fiance and I passed through it on our way to a small little town at the beach.
That's where I proposed to her.
I tried to chase the crushing longing for her back into the corners of my mind. They were frequent, and I promised that I would do my best to find a way to get back to her. That's what this was, me loosely following behind Gwen and Max through the informational plaques as a way to rejuvenate my brain to handle the daunting task of exploring technology and sciences that were only ever in science fiction.
Wait, Gwen and Max….dang it where did Kevin go?
My intent to relax was gone as I went searching for the boy. I shortly back tracked, seeing if he was just lingering behind before running ahead, annoying a few of the adults I passed by. I questioned whether or not he ran away until I saw him outside messing with his radio.
Holding it up towards the sky?
"Watcha doin?" I asked the boy as I tried not to loom over him too much.
Kevin kept pressing a few of the buttons on it, messing with it but not happy with his results.
"Kevin?" I questioned him again, trying not to sound overbearing or even critical of him. I was going for an 'honestly curious' pitch to not have him retort with a lie or hide what he was doing.
Because while I was cautious of Kevin, I doubt there was anything bad he could do with that dinky little-
A craft flew over us, a metallic apparition that held a close resemblance to a massive dragon fly without wings soared over the city skyline with no attempts at being subtle.
"Alright!" Kevin ran right after it, myself right on his heels as we sprinted to the source. Ok, what was this? What episode was this leading into if at all?
Oh who am I kidding. Alien spaceship flying right into the heart of a city? It was definitely an episode. Maybe I would be able to predict these easier if the show was more apparent with where these took place.
Upon my arrival there was already a crowd gathered around the landed vessel sitting in the middle of the street. Kevin and I were able to take advantage of our small bodies and push ourselves towards the front.
As the doors were opening to the craft, another thought suddenly occurred to me. I would likely be battling out in the open with plenty of bystanders. Hopefully they would run if things got nasty, but I was hoping not to use the omnitrix much in the public's eye.
Too late for fully hiding my aliens after what happened in D.C. No way was the government not already aware of my existence given how much I battled Animo out in the open so close to the central core of the United State's government.
I resisted breaking the front of the line of the people, settling for peeking around a particularly lanky fellow and seeing a massive man in battle armor and big teeth jut out of his lipless mouth stepping towards the humans to address them.
"Bring me to your bicenthium alloy." He announced, confusing me and the rest because we had no idea what he was after.
Better ask Gwen or….dang it I need to get better and updating those two whenever something happens.
I pressed a small button I recently added to Gwen's gift to me, one that was an immediate beacon of 'something's going down' to Max and Gwen. They should be able to follow it if they weren't already alerted about an alien waltzing in the streets.
Waltz isn't the right word, wrecking is now that he decided he didn't like the silence.
Just as the crowd was pushing me away, I took advantage of the confusion and transformed with all their bodies hiding me.
My height increased, crystals growing out of my skin and encompassing every cell in my body, until I was no longer Ben but instead Diamondhead.
Heh, that kind of rhymed.
"A Petrosapien?" The goliath of an alien immediately spotted me standing off against him. "I thought they were extinct."
"This is your official warning." I held up my fists, taking a battle ready stance that I had been working on for…only a week. Hopefully he couldn't tell I was really an amateur. "Leave this planet immediately."
"Hichotta!" A gurgling voice of none other than Six Six screamed out as it soared overhead, a barrage of missiles coming for me, but not all of them looked like they were for me.
Ramming my crystaline arm into the ground, I pushed into the Earth and sprouted a circular glimmering wall around our battlezone, letting the ballistics that were flying towards people detonate against the barrier.
That didn't stop the big one from tackling me, throwing his body weight onto myself and pinning me to the ground. Gwen knew how to do a pin, this guy didn't. I latched around his stomach, pushing off the ground with one leg to flip us over until I was on top, sending wailing blows into my enemy.
Something latched onto my shoulder, taking me to the sky and prying my body off the alien.
I reached up with my one arm, forcing it to grow and extend just enough to latch onto his jetpack and begin crushing it under my stone grip.
It sparked, smoked, crackling with energy until I dug so far deep I managed to get a hold of the core of it and rip the whole thing off his armor.
We immediately fell, a massive fist meeting my face before I could land. Technically I felt it, but as Diamondhead I rarely felt pain, only inconvenience.
"RAAAHH!" The big one charged me as I pulled myself out of the asphalt, and my response was to let him come, waiting until he was right over me before kicking my leg out to sweep his ankles.
As soon as the giant toppled, I encased him in thick layers of green crystals to keep him from being able to move anything but his own face.
Then a blast hit me from the side, harmlessly ricocheting off my shimmering body. Six Six charged me, letting off a rapid fire volley of blasts from various weapons.
I charged right back at him, shifting my arm into a blade and firing shards at him with the other. He drew a laser sword (cool) with one hand slashing away at my projectiles as we drew near one another.
We clashed blades, but mine was bigger and had much more power behind it. I smacked his weapon to the side, leaving a thick chunk of rock on it to keep him from using it again before delivering a straight with my left to his helmet.
Then I stepped in while my fist glided past his head, snapping my elbow right into the cracks in the armor that I left.
He went down, hard.
I retracted the crystal in my right hand back into a fist, ready to restrain and-
Three streaks of blue fell from the sky, materializing into three flashy individuals in gold and white threads. It was when I saw them that I finally recognized the episode. The brain in the jar with a holographic face and his lower squid-like body in yellow spandex. The gender swapped Four Arms, probably with some amazonian personality. Finally, the gray Superman rip off, whose kryptonite was chocolate.
Six Six was engulfed in a hue of energy, pulled over to where his partner was just starting to break free.
"By the provisions set forth in the galactic code of conduct, I order you to surrender." The leader of the alien superheroes demanded over them. "Will you yield?"
This was, wrapped up rather fast. Too fast, because didn't this also happen in-
Something fell out of Six Six's armor, a flash of violent blinding light assaulting everyone's vision. The two had disappeared from view, the visiting heroes unaware of where they had gone.
As Six Six quickly ran into the cockpit of the ship, hitting the autopilot and making the ship engage in an emergency departure.
"So, that was the wielder of the omnitrix?" The larger one grunted as he approached the cockpit. "That guy took down Vilgax? I don't buy it."
His only reply was a few quick gargles from the bounty hunter, who had reached for the controls of the weapons systems. Only for them to disappear, pulled into the console as if they were absorbed.
Which they were, because I was the one who did it.
Before either of them could realize what was happening, my technical blob of a head popped out from the main terminal, blasting a vibrant beam from my mono eye and slamming it into their chests.
They flew back into the cargo bag, where I reshaped the walls and the tools hanging on them into electrifying restraints, zapping each of them until I no longer detected them to be conscious.
With control over the ship, I had it land back down onto the ground where the 'superheroes' were standing at the ready. Retreating from the walls as I opened up the back door, I grabbed the two criminals by the back of their collars while dragging them out into the open.
"They're all yours." I tossed their limp forms towards the three, seeing that Max and Gwen were standing off to the side and….I lost Kevin again.
"Excellent work!" The leader strutted forward, examining the fallen before looking up to my 'face'. "I am Ultimos, the Specimen Prime-"
Wait, was he an experiment and not an alien? Or just titled from some 'master race' ideology?
"-and these are my comrades, Tini and Synaptak. We are, The Galactic Enforcers!"
Did they have to strike a pose when they announced themselves? Very marketable, so maybe they got funding through their personas. Or, it was just another gimmick in this universe that couldn't decide if it wanted to be more like a cartoon or not.
"Upgrade." I greeted them as if I was hiding my identity from them. Six Six already knew, and who knows how much his incoherent babbling has been spreading to the universe from when he turned me in for money. I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep my mouth shut a little longer, just to be on the safe side.
"We saw some of your moves!" Tini had easily picked up the bodies with just one arm, throwing them over her shoulder. "That was a good fight!"
"While they were that of a novice, you did defeat two dangerous criminals." The floating brain commented, as with a press of a button the two apprehended aliens were beamed back up to the sky.
"As expected for one with the omnitrix!" Ultimos extended a hand towards me, his eagerness unknowingly deflating my attempt at keeping a secret.
Shaking his hand, I became curious as I focused on his form, how it compared to mine, and how it might feel to try and use his body in a fight.
Before I knew it, the omnitrix suddenly activated, responding to my thoughts.
Everyone shielded themselves from the light, until they saw my new form.
I had gray skin, a standard humanoid muscular form but eerily similar to the person standing in front of me. Staring down at my ungloved hands, I was shocked to see that I was in a uniform. It was white and black, but it was incredibly close in general design to the superhero I believed Ultimo to be based on. I was a monochrome Superman, without the big S or good hair.
"So it is true." Ultimos took no offense to my transformation. "You can become any of us."
"Even a Tetramand?" Tini asked with a little too much enthusiasm for my liking.
"I'm still learning." I spoke in, holy crap this was totally Superman Animated Series voice! "To be honest I had no idea I could turn into you, but I suspect it was because we were making contact while I thought about it. Sorry but I think I just scanned your DNA without permission."
"None taken." Ultimos was very kind and understanding, smiling fondly at my form. "I would be honored for the Vanquisher of Vilgax finding value in my abilities."
Vanquisher of Vilgax? Was that a running title that was being passed around in the galaxy?
Though, if we're on the subject. I glanced up towards where Synaptak was currently floating. Telekinesis would be a very versatile power to have.
He seemed to know exactly what I was thinking, and in response a displeased scowl came across his facial hologram.
This new information didn't seem to stop Tini from rushing forward and shaking my hand though. Playing along, I transformed into one of my first aliens, Fourarms.
"Woah!" The alien amazonian whistled as her gaze became, uncomfortably observant of my muscles as she decided to grab one of my arms to run her fingers over my bicep. "You're not just an average Tetramand, you're a cut from the finest if I say so myself."
At this point Synaptak's distaste for this conversation forced his hand, er, tentacle to intervene. "The criminals have already been arrested. We should return to the ship and leave this, underdeveloped, planet and its people."
"Agreed." Ultimos struck a pose. "Let us continue our conversation at the bridge!"
While I was happy to leave the public's view, I don't think that's what he meant.
Nevertheless, before I could protest I was shortly energized before finding myself peering through reality bending all around me. It flowed endlessly, the rushing of roaring rapids competing to overcome one another in an endless dance. I felt myself barely dip into its expanse, a sudden stillness coming over it all as the storm pulled in on itself.
I had disturbed its carefully balanced chaos.
It was aware of me.
Dread iced over my core as the eye of eternity casted its gaze upon my frame.
Then I was ok, a child and human but ok, standing in the midst of the Galactic Enforcers as they were over the computer system frantically typing away.
"Uh, hello?"
They spun around towards me, as if they were not already aware of my presence.
"We have an intruder!" Ultimos suddenly announced, action calling him as he and Tini both dashed at me.
"Woah hey!" I held my hands up, the omnitrix on my wrist snapping Synaptak to hold back his companions.
"He is no intruder!" Synaptak announced, less hostile but remaining as cautious and on edge as the other two. "That is Upgrade having taken human form."
Woops, should probably clarify that. "My name is, Ben Tennyson. I just go by the codename name of whatever alien I transform into."
They calmed down soon, some poorly hidden worry still masked over their faces. Ultimos recovered the quickest, speaking up for the others and asking what was on their mind.
"Ben, do you know what happened just now?"
"I turned back to human." I patted myself, reconfirming what I already knew. Thinking back on what occurred, I spoke aloud as I walked through the memories. "Well, we were just talking, I was Fourarms, and we were getting teleported up to the ship."
"And?" Tini impatiently asked, all of them staring at me as if I held the answer to their own troubles.
I, can't really remember what happened. No, I do remember but it wasn't something I could put into words. I was on Earth, I was being teleported and then….I wasn't sure what that was, but I couldn't deny its reality.
It was reality, that much I was certain of, infinitely more so compared to waking up in an action cartoon.
"Then I was here." I finished, because I wasn't sure if they would believe or even understand any words that I could come up with to share a fraction of what occurred.
I don't know why or how it happened, all I know is that it did.
"Ben Tennyson." Ultimos had a tone of unsurety as he glanced back to the alien equipment. "For some reason that we cannot determine, our teleportation equipment experienced an error."
"What kind of error?" I pressed.
Synaptak pulled up all the data they could muster on it, written in an alien code I couldn't read. "We cannot know for certain, only that once you had shifted states of being, you were lost. We feared you were atomized, as we could no longer detect you for the past ten minutes."
Ten minutes, that felt irrelevant to my predicament but I understood why they were freaked out now.
"Well you look just fine now!" Tini resumed her earlier glee, waving a hand over my head to inspect my miniscule stature. "Even if the rest of you is missing."
I really hated announcing this next part out loud,every part of me screaming it's a lie . "This is actually what my body is supposed to look like."
"Impossible." Synaptak floated towards me, circling my body as he too was closely examining it. "Perhaps your wild attack patterns and rather unimpressive discipline befit a human, your actions and logic do not fit that of a child."
It would be comforting to hear him say that if he wasn't so passive aggressive about it. Having enough of his clear bias towards me, I went for his ego. "So what, are you saying I'm like you?"
He paused, hovering in place as his digital eyes narrowed at me. "We are nothing alike."
Deciding to push my luck I held up the omnitrix. "Prove it, see if we really are too different that being the same species wouldn't make people second guess which of us they're talking to."
I might be going too far, but there wasn't any harm in it and I wanted to get some positive outcome from dealing with this pickled brain.
Sure enough, the one who was supposed to have the most powerful brain on the team easily fell to my taunt. He placed a tentacle on the omnitrix, letting it sit there as the dial began flashing yellow.
In an abrupt change, I expected to be rather similar to the alien that I had just scanned. Instead, when I glanced down at a few of the eight limbs that I possessed they were coated in plated armor, almost as if they were telescopic robotic limbs with three fingered pincers at the end. There was, some noticeable resemblance to the four mechanical limbs to none other than Doctor Octopus.
But I had eight, and when I floated over to the window to examine my reflection, whatever brain I had was encased in a steel cage, subtle glowing lines under the plate that roughly resembled circuits or the wrinkles of a brain. Much more protective than whatever Synaptak's dome was made of.
Finally, there was my false face, two beady almond shaped lenses with a soft warning glow behind them and a mouth grill, or speaker.
"This isn't quite as I expected." I uttered, noting a deeper monotone voice coming from the speaker on my suit.
"Hmmm." Ultimos scratched at his chin, comparing my persona to that of his companion. "It seems that your more warrior like traits have carried over towards your new form."
Warrior traits?
"Brains and brawn!" Tini stepped forward, tugging at one of my arms to see the small amber sensor tucked between my three claws. "You even have a weak appearing human disguise to trick your enemies."
Tugging myself free, I considered their words, the words of Phil, of Tetrax, and even that of Vilgax. They all doubted my humanity, maturity and age. Yes they had a very good reason not to believe I was a child. Yet, the question still lingered.
Why did they not believe I was human?
Things had gone rather smoothly despite the many questions and random conversation topics. I almost expected there to be an onboard prison break or something similar because I expected the universe to demand plot or action but it was generous enough to let me leave without incident.
Vulkanus was properly restrained in a separate part of the brig than Six Six, who was oddly quiet as he kept hiding the cracks in his helmet.
Though eventually, I had to get back to Earth as Max and Gwen managed to get in communication with the ship. Through magic, or maybe some alien tech Max might be hiding in the Rust Bucket, or maybe somehow Kevin was willing to share his own little radio and they modified it to send a signal rather than just receive.
Either way, their worry was justified and I returned as quickly as I could.
Without the teleporter this time.
Floating down with my new Ultimos form that I had yet to name properly, I enjoyed the new graceful means of flight, one that Stinkfly couldn't replicate. Ghostfreak flew by similar means but, well I can't say that I was comfortable using that one at the moment.
I tried to bargain for Six Six's ship to be in my possession, but there were more issues with that between intergalactic law and having nowhere to stash it.
Anyways, I softly touched my feet back down onto Earth's welcoming fields of green within the campsite that the familiar RV was parked at. I didn't see anyone outside, so switching back to human I entered the mobile camper and was hit with a foul odor that nearly had me running the opposite direction.
"Hey there Ben." Max greeted me with his usual cheery demeanor. "Dinner is almost done."
"Great." I feigned enthusiasm as I took a seat across from Gwen who had practically claimed the whole kitchen table as her own desk for research. Magical trinkets and notes neatly organized around her and her laptop.
"So." Gwen, without looking up from her work began. "How did it go with the supers?"
"It was, ok." I admitted, dialing the omnitrix to show the shadow of one of my new forms. I was tempted to call it Brainiac or maybe Doc Oc, but comics existed here and so did those nostalgic villains. I was going to have to actually think of new names for these guys. "They let me scan them to get new aliens."
"Woah what?" Gwen put her screen down. "Since when could you get new aliens?! That's so unfair!"
"Oh, guess I forgot to mention Wildvine."
"When did you even start getting new guys?!"
Lowering my arm as I saw Max begin reaching for the plates, I got up and started helping Gwen clear her stuff from the table. "Just recently, at Camp Opinicon."
I felt the mood stiffen at the mention of it, Max halting his work to turn off the stove as Gwen made no comment and just continued to put her stuff away.
The older man's comfort came onto my shoulder before I could think anything worse. "You did your best Ben. Try not to be too hard on yourself about it."
I nodded, trying not to think about what happened as we began bracing ourselves for another Max meal.
Hold on.
"Where's Kevin?"
At the mention of his name the boy came back inside, seemingly unhappy before throwing himself to sit down in the empty seat. I took my place next to Gwen as she scooted further into the bench seat, Max sitting next to the boy as we tried to guess what was on it.
To distract myself, and the other two kids, I thought back on a more lighthearted topic. "Hey Gwen, weren't you planning your birthday party?"
"Oh no." Gwen put down her silverware, already in my face. "Just because you've been a decent person lately does not mean you get to have the birthday this year! It's my turn!"
"Um, what?" I was a little taken aback because how could I steal her birthday?
"Yeah." Even Kevin joined in. "What's wrong with your head? Got too much pixie dust in it?"
"Come on." Gwen rolled her eyes, taking a quick bite while her heated emotions helped mute the flavor. "You telling me you don't remember having to share the same birthday for ten years?"
Oh, I had completely forgotten that detail. Ben and Gwen shared the same birthday. My lack of a quick response suddenly garnered some unwanted attention.
"Ben." Max put down his fork, eyeing one of the recovering bruises peeking out from my hairline. "Do you remember ever sharing a birthday with Gwen?"
"I-" Do I lie? If I do, how could I possibly guess which of the hundreds of days Ben was born on? I don't even know if the show bothered to even say which day is Ben and Gwen's birthday.
I'm not sure why I stopped trying to hide it, maybe it had to do with too many people not considering me as a human. I knew this could raise more suspicion than just switching the topic but, I was so tired of being seen as someone, something I'm not.
"-no…no I don't remember."
I almost blurted it out right then, my birthday and not Ben's. So desperate to be seen as me, to look myself in the mirror and see myself and not a kid's life that I stole, that my life was edging at the tip of my tongue.
But I bit it, because I still had no idea what happened. I had no evidence to even prove I wasn't Ben, and telling them would just make them question and doubt with none of us being satisfied with a lack of an answer.
For my own sanity I had to know if I was actually me, trapped in another person's body….or if I was Ben but with the memories of someone that might not even exist.
My own existence was in question, and it frustrated me to no end that I didn't have a single answer.
I debated whether or not to allow SI-Ben to have Galactic Enforcer transformations, but the winning reason why I did it was because I can't say I've come across any fan content for the idea. I won't feature them too often, and I certainly won't have Ultimos be anywhere near as strong as Superman. Probably a step above Diamondhead but a step below Fourarms.
Anyways, there's a few plot points and character conflicts that I'm starting to expand on here. I have quite a few plans for this season and its overarching thread. If anyone has any episodes they want to see from season 2, or maybe some ideas for the story in general they would like to see or believe would happen please let me know.
No content from Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, Omniverse, or reboot will be used. That includes aliens, abilities, plot points, lore, and just about anything not seen in the OG show.
Chronosign: If you're down you could reach out over PM's and I could toss some of my plans for the story at you and you could pitch some changes or ideas to be integrated in. Sometimes it just helps me a lot to have someone to talk to in order to figure out the further details of the story.
As for the Echo-Echo idea, I don't think that would work with Ditto. A big plot point in the aliens introduction is that all the copies had to be together and merge before Ben could change back.
It also might have been an error of the Ultimatrix to allow that to happen.
RockMega: Thank you very much!
Trux-Killer: I'm not using any aliens outside the OG show, so no Alien X.
jc-montanorock: no way would I ever get to Omniverse or Ultimate Alien with this story. The only thing closest I've thought about with Alien Force is maybe doing a couple transition chapter at the end of this story to fill the gap between OG and Alien Force. Until then, Alien Force and the shows afterwards do not exist including abilities or backgrounds.
Some1call4MR-E: You mentioned a lot but I'll just refer to a couple things. Yes, I have plans for the secret of the omnitrix movie so we will be doing that and meeting Azmuth.
I do plan on making Charmcaster a reoccurring character and be integral to certain plots. Though I'm not sure about a full redemption.
I absolutely despise Kai Green's character, and it should make a good amount of readers happy to know that SI-Ben will have zero interest in her even if they were the same age.
Part of the reason why I can't commit to making Alien Force plans is that by the time we get there this story will have covered a ton. Alien Force would double the time and effort, and because I would end up branching so far from canon I can't say it would get much attention because of it.
Still, I predict this story will reach past 200,000 words so hopefully that will be enough to satisfy some readers.