"Zombozo's circus was once viewed as a place of heartwarming laughs and fun, but just yesterday their show had been shut down early due to malfunctioning equipment that injured several star performers. When first responders arrived at the scene, they found there was much more behind the curtains. Several stores had reported robberies while they were closed for the events in town, and many of the missing jewelry, cash, and other personal belongings were stored alongside nearly a hundred thousand dollars worth of stolen goods. After tracing back the circus's long list of visited locations, each of them saw a major spike in thefts while the fun was in town. It wasn't so fun for any of the victims, and now in a twist of fate the perpetrators for these thefts have been left bruised and broken in their own act and will likely face an early retirement in prison if they manage to fully recover. The machine in question that put an end to the serial thefts is still under investigation as to what it's function is, and the creator and mastermind behind the crime only known as Zombozo is now missing. Police are still-"
I switched off the radio as the signal was beginning to fade, taking out my earbuds as I could feel the brakes of the Rust Bucket crawl us to a halt.
"Why don't you two use the bathroom and grab a snack while I fill up the tank?" Max recommended as he turned off the vehicle.
A snack sounded good, but I would prefer something closer to a small meal to satisfy myself until lunch. Maybe a hot dog? A Costco hot dog sounded really good right now.
As I went with Gwen in search of such delight, walking up and down aisles of goodies, I couldn't help but notice Gwen would keep to whatever lane I was on. If she was contemplating a box of something while I rounded the corner, she would put it down and follow me, restricting her options to whatever aisle I was in.
I wish I knew why she was doing this, I had guesses but there was little chance of her confessing why if she even knew.
Electing to end the chase, I just found a box of white cheddar Cheez-Its and called it good. "What are you hungry for?"
"Me?" Gwen pointed to herself, taken aback by the question. "Um, maybe some fruit bars?"
"You better grab some now then, Grandpa's almost done."
"Ok, yeah, sure, totally."
Gwen crept towards the end of the aisle, only needing to take a handful of steps to reach the product on the other side of the shelves. After an awkward round of seconds she finally left my sight. Come on Gwen it's literally on the other side it's not like I'm running off the moment I-
This world seemed very intent about not leaving me alone, as an explosion sounded outside near where the Rust Bucket was parked. Three individuals dressed in thick black leather with customized motorcycle helmets to conceal their identity while also mirroring it.
I might have just let the police come to handle it, if it wasn't so familiar and if the leader wasn't packing some serious sci-fi heat. No way law enforcement was equipped to handle it, and any doubts about getting involved vanished as I saw the weapon pointed towards Max's general direction.
Whirling around, checking to see if there were as many cameras back in a 2006 gas station as there were in my time, I saw none and only a mirror in the corner that no one was looking at.
Shoving my thumb onto the activation button of the omnitrix, the very device that anchored me to a life of non stop threats, I pleaded for it to give me something that I chose. Let me choose, if I don't have a choice about what life I get to live at least let me decide how I fight my battles.
In a flash of green, I found myself weightless, unbound to the physical world as I traveled untethered to sound, sight, touch, and even life.
"Ghost Freak." I uttered in a raspy whisper, invisible to all and especially my targets. They were selfish enough to take what wasn't theirs, but their self absorption led them to violence against the weak, the bystanders.
I may not be innocent of gruesome actions, but I never aimed my violent tendencies at those who were not harming others. It made me angry.
Flying straight to the one armed with a weapon beyond what this world should ever have at this time, they never noticed as I reached inside of it and began tearing every wire I could find. Next I considered my next tactic, assaulting with blunt force trauma?
No, a pull on my thoughts taught me that I couldn't just hurt them, I could control them. I can turn their violence towards each other.
Possessing the stockiest one, I waited until one of the members was scrambling for as much cash floating around and struck my heel into their side. I left them, leaving them dazed and confused as their new opponent got up in rage.
"What was that for?!" She screamed and threw a fist of her own. The leader took her attention away from the malfunctioning weapon, coming over to regain control of her subordinates.
"Fight about who gets what after! Right now we-"
Taking over the arm of the one who had just received the kick, I aimed the spiked knuckles and pummeled them alongside the woman's helmet to send cracks all along the visor. They were already so unstable, so reckless and quick to offense that it became a three way squabble. None of them were a team anymore, they were competing for who could leave with the most money.
My work was done, with only a couple of harmless blows they would squabble until the police caught up, and when I turned back over to see Gwen running out to Max I knew I had to somehow explain how I vanished again.
"GAHHH!" A guttural scream came out from behind me, my single eye traveling through the tears across my skin to widen at the sight of blood.
One of them had stabbed the leader, right in the side with a knife they must have had on them.
No, I didn't intend this, I barely left a couple of bruises and they went this far?
"I'm sick of you Joey! You keep pushing us into your crummy plans and we barely get anything out of it after risking our lives!"
"Ugh." The woman stumbled back, clutching the weapon in her side and fought the urge to yank it out as red began to run down her jacket. "The name's, Rojo. And anyone who crosses Rojo gets-"
"Let's see if they put it on your grave." The other reached into her pocket, and I flew out to stop it all before it got worse.
Reaching into their heads, by some force I didn't know I scrambled their thoughts until they slumped over until falling helplessly onto the road.
Sirens came around the corner, and once I spotted an ambulance alongside the fleet of police I rushed back to the Rust Bucket. My thoughts screamed at me to stay, to help out in anyway I could but the solid fact that I didn't know how to treat stab wounds nor did I know of a way for Ghost Freak to help I left.
I ran, and I hated it.
Once inside, I could hear Gwen and Max yelling out for me. If I delayed any longer their suspicion would be heavily warranted.
"How do I change back now?" I asked as I tugged at the dial in my chest. Ok, Vilgax could turn Ben back with a touch, future Ben pressed the button in the center to change Ben's form to another alien, there were really only two mechanisms on the omnitrix now to interact with. The outer rim, and the dial in the center.
As my pale claws hovered over it, I finally became aware that this was probably the first time I reflected back on my body as an alien. I was so far from human, a mind inside a foreign body. I wanted to be free, to be back in control of my own body in my own life.
"Please believe me." I rasped as I fiddled with the device, hoping the alien within could hear me. "I know better than anyone else how much this sucks."
In a flash, I was back.
My human feet thudded onto the floor I was just hovering over. Without a moment to lose I went over to the Rust Bucket's door and flung it open. "I'm in here! Is everything alright now?"
Max snapped over to me, sighing in relief to find that I was in the safety of the vehicle instead of charging headfirst into the danger. "There you are, good thinking getting to safety but please-"
I tuned him out as Gwen was right behind Max, shivering, quaking as she quickly stepped up into the Rust Bucket. Her chest kept rising and falling, eyes wide open and locked onto me as if to remind herself that I was here.
Something was very wrong here, and as someone who worked with kids before I could spot it a mile away.
As Max hopped back into the driver seat, eager to leave, I pulled out the gift Gwen gave me and placed an earbud near her while giving her something to tether her mind to. Something calm, something familiar, and what better way to get your spirits up than with some John Denver?
I was glad for the distraction too, because when I glanced back towards the crime scene I thought I saw them pull out a large black bag.
This was getting too out of hand, events becoming too sensitive to change with any slip causing devastating consequences. So far I had simply reacted in each moment, and then gone and tried to immerse myself in a semblance of normal. Not sure why I kept doing it, why I refused to participate in the madness this world produced despite being in the protagonist's shoes.
Did I feel they didn't fit me? Of course I did, this wasn't my life and I desperately wanted to wake up in my own bed.
Whether I like it or not, whether this really was real or not, I couldn't throw what I didn't accept to the side anymore.
That included the frog's tongue noodles.
"Don't we have any sauce we can add to these?" Gwen asked as she poked at her plate.
"Come on now, it'll just cover up the rich flavor." Max encouraged her to try it, slurping up his own dish.
What's done is done, whatever had happened to me happened and however I reacted before was the past. Rolling my wrist over to stare at the omnitrix, I had to come to terms with the powers held within because there was only more danger coming our way. Who knows how much practice Ben got with it turning into aliens anytime the urge hit him?
Me, I haven't even tried all ten options yet and none of them twice. The only good thing I had going for me is that I managed to turn back early on command, something I had to figure out how exactly I did. My natural aptitude for technology was going to help me master the omnitrix's functions way earlier than the show depicted would, giving me one edge on my sword.
The other edge of that sword was with the rare opportunity I had, knowing what was coming. I could prepare countermeasures. The one thing that was convenient about the show's layout was how separate many of the events were. Many episodes featured one time villains, one time dangers, and so long as I dealt with them swiftly they wouldn't return. Others though, the more threatening ones with potential to change history would become unpredictable after a first encounter with them.
I've always known I'm not Ben, and I can't expect that his enemies would react the same to me.
"You feeling ok Ben?" Max had set down his fork, eyeing me and my lukewarm meal. "You haven't even tried your meal yet."
"I'm fine." I had zoned out too long, and I tried to dive right back into the moment by scraping up a large mouthful of the greasy 'noodles' and tried to swallow them in one go.
It didn't work out well at all, and it only convinced Max that I really was sick when it all came back up instantly.
At least Max wouldn't be making that again anytime soon.
One thing that isn't shown as much in the show, was how much camping they really did. Stepping out into the authentic woodland air, I peered up through the dense forestry to see the rays of the sun bleeding through the gaps between the layers of leaves. It was so real, I could almost forget and just pretend it was me seeing this with my own eyes instead of through someone else's.
"Weren't we going to D.C. today?" Gwen asked as Max was setting up the tent.
"I thought we'd take it a little slower, ease up a little." Max finished up quickly through his well practiced maneuvers. "This has been an exciting trip so far, and a lot has happened."
Yeah, most people don't happen upon multiple crimes in a month let alone a year unless they live in a really bad part of town. That's not even including the aliens or monsters.
I definitely wasn't complaining though, it was always a bucket list item to camp out in West Virginia. I was about to lay down on a particularly soft looking spot of grass, then remembered my time in the outdoors in Virginia.
"Do we have any tick spray?" I asked, already trying to search through the supplies for it.
"Ticks?!" Gwen practically leapt back into the safety of the RV upon hearing the word. "Are they native here?"
"Very likely." Max gave me that look again, like he didn't know what to think of me having such practical knowledge on everyday stuff. "I have an all purpose bug spray that will do the trick."
He wasn't even subtle about it when I tucked my pant legs into my socks. Or maybe I wasn't being subtle about the fact that most kids didn't exactly think of that unless they're native.
Too many times I had thought about pretending to be an oblivious kid, to pretend to be Ben. No, I wasn't Ben and never would be. I was me. I wanted to be me again and no one else.
My head was getting cramped again, all those thoughts and feelings that I had tucked away were growing into a tumor that threatened to cut off my ability to function.
"I'm going to get a fire started." I said as I began to look around for any dry sticks. Harder to do in such a humid climate but I knew how to find them.
"Oh Ben!" Max yelled out, and I turned just in time to intercept a can of repellent just in time. That, right, nearly forgot. After a quick spray over myself I was ready to circle around the campsite.
There was always plenty of dried leaves to use as tinder, and a few twigs to get a flame going, but as for anything to burn for longer I would have to venture farther from the camp. Peeking over towards the other two, I expected one of them to declare they were going to join me or to stick close to camp. Instead they just let me wander around, farther and farther without so much as a word between the two of them.
I'm not surprised that I was naturally becoming more estranged from them, but it was nice around the beginning once they got adjusted to my general attitude.
If they were giving me solitude, I would accept it, so long as I could manage the mess that was becoming of my head. I wasn't oblivious, I was using every mental exercise I could think of to keep my sanity. Trouble was, I don't think any sane person could handle waking up in a life that wasn't their own.
Maybe that's what I was, insane. Still I chose to believe I wasn't and repeated some calming exercises.
One step was just stopping to examine every sense, the sight of the rows of green before me, the crisp old wood against my palms, the after taste of the water from the Rust Bucket's sink, the scent of something foul and rotten.
Geez that smell was absolutely putrid.
It only took an extra whiff to identify it was a culmination of the ingredients that Max had been working with earlier to supposedly cure my upset stomach. I don't see how anything with an odor like that could do any good.
So much for clearing my head, but still I tried in vain to continue with the last time.
Sound, footsteps slow but firm in their path. It couldn't be Max because he was preparing his poison, and Gwen would have a faster lighter pace and probably calling out for 'Ben'.
There was something else in these woods with us.
Now that I was much more aware of my surroundings, I could hear no birds no bugs, the woods were silent. My hand grazed the omnitrix, my only means of defense. Being so quick to rely on it was something I can't let become a habit, yet it would be a vital skill in life and death scenarios.
Was I just being paranoid again? This summer was packed with danger at every corner, and as far as I knew this wasn't one of the episodes.
Yet how many threats could Ben have faced outside of the cartoon?
A large snap of a branch sent a jolt through my legs, rushing me to camp as fast as I could. Each slam of my shoes along the ground sent a quake through my frame and my eardrums were overcome with every heartbeat growing louder inside of my chest.
I couldn't have gone that far, but it felt like it was taking infinitely longer to get back sprinting than it was strolling a short distance away.
"Gwen, get back!"
Max's shout only provoked me to push even harder, faster, stronger. Whatever I was worried about was real, giving me no hesitation as I burst out of the tree line and leapt into the fray.
I could make out the red of Max's shirt, Gwen right behind him as I threw myself ahead and soared up onto the table as my finger shot into the activation button.
Black, fuzzy, and BIG. The limbs were much thicker and longer than they should be. It was dancing along the definition of black bear but it was wrong. Still, I did exactly what I had done many times working on farms.
I roared.
"RAAAAAAHHHHH-!" Standing as tall as I could on the table, reaching up high with my palm resting on the extended dial of the omnitrix, I felt my throat ripping apart as I forced every molecule of air to scream out in a powerful statement.
You are in my territory, leave now!
"-AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Just as I could feel my lungs twisting in on themselves, whatever this creature of midnight wearing a tightly fit disguise of a bear groaned in a whimper before taking a step back. It was giving in, being cautious, I had to press forward still.
"GET!" Max backed me up, giving a short bark of a command as he easily proved to be the biggest of us despite me standing on the table.
It jumped back, startled before letting out a few huffs of defeat and wandered back to where it came from.
I could finally relax, catch my breath and lower my arms as the omnitrix was still ringing and ready to be activated. I canceled it, letting the dial fall back in without a transformation.
"Wow kids." Acting like we just saw a spectacle at Yellow Stone, Max gave out a chuckle of amusement. "It's not everyday we see a bear, and black bears are naturally timid. Good thinking Ben using its fear to-"
"Max." Turning back around with my voice shot, I stared down his deceiving gaze. "That wasn't a bear."
That winning smile that could put anyone at ease dropped a fraction. "What makes you think it wasn't a bear?"
"Ben's right Grandpa." Gwen pointed up towards the branches that had barely skimmed the creature's back, almost twice as tall as a normal black bear. "Black bears aren't that big, and its legs were too long. I was researching the local wildlife but that didn't match anything I've ever seen before."
The man was quiet, keeping any further excuses and theories to himself as he turned back to the meal prep laying half completed, with my foot still in it.
"Sorry." I hopped down, cleaning the bottom of my shoe in the grass.
"Why don't we sleep inside the Rust Bucket tonight?" He finally offered, giving a false sense of security for us. Yet it was probably one of the most well modified vehicles in disguise. "I'll even cook up my signature wild hog dogs."
Gwen and I hoped it was just a slip of a tongue.
Something I didn't know that I missed, were bunk beds. With a smaller body, I could easily fit in the smaller bedding, but that didn't mean sleep came easy. It was getting more and more difficult, every time I began to relax my mind drifted back to happier memories, memories of exploring the tunnels under the high school, memories of racing through the night along backroads, memories of playing a game with family….
Memories of sitting on the couch with her head on my shoulder.
I missed her so much, we were going to have a life together and just barely a week before our wedding I was taken away from the life I had worked so hard to build up. I had finally found someone to live for, and I might not see her again.
Ever.
I was only barely aware enough to control my breathing, grabbing the pillow and stifling any noises that escaped my mouth without permission. Why why why why why was the question that continually raced round and round my collapsing mind.
Until a whisper, a gentle nudge of reality gave enough pause to let me think again.
"Ben?" Gwen's voice, low and quiet, spoke from below. "Are you awake?"
Peeling my face away from the wet layer on the pillow, I rolled over to see the moonlight reflect against those young, innocent eyes. Once she saw me looking down towards her, she spoke up a little.
"Grandpa's not here."
What?
With a sudden urgency, I was able to put all of my troubles aside because there was something important happening right in front of me to take care of. Slowly I slid out from the blankets, dropping myself to the ground and rolling my feet along to still any noises I might cause. Sure enough the makeshift bed that Max was supposed to be using was empty.
Where did he go?
Without the man present and no one else asleep I spoke up a little more. "Did you see him leave?"
"No, but I thought I heard the door close a second ago and the bathroom is still open." Gwen sat up a little more, hardly appearing sleepy at all. Something was keeping her up and I doubted it was the same reason as myself.
"He better not be after that thing." I cursed, peeking through the closed blinds along the window.
"Is it an alien?" She said the last word like it was forbidden.
"I don't know." Maybe it was ok to lie to kids at times, but I couldn't think of any good reason to. "I doubt it though."
"Then, what was it?"
Who honestly knows, between all sorts of aliens, supernatural beasts, experimentations that mutated-
"It's mutated." I realized. We were near D.C. This wasn't some random event, this had to be one of the unseen results from one of the Ben 10 villains. Dr. Animo, that man seemed obsessed with his pursuit of genetic modification and no way did he not have countless experiments before developing the means to transform beasts in an instant.
"How?" Gwen asked, and I couldn't just reveal my knowledge without a proper filter.
"Could I borrow your laptop?" For Ben, she would probably deny him the request.
Yet for me she wordlessly reached down to her bag and pulled it out. I sat down next to her on her bed as she fully sat up, powering it up and typing in her password. I also couldn't help but notice she went into another setting for fingerprint password.
Did 2006 have this technology this readily available for an affordable price? My theory on Gwen being extremely well off was looking more and more accurate each day.
"Here, you should be able to use it now." She handed it off to me, and it only took one search of 'illegal genetic experiments near me' to get a link mentioning Doctor Aloysius James Animo. It was a little more challenging to find some photos that were close to what we saw. The internet wasn't laid out in a way I was overly familiar with, yet several restrictions and other censors weren't as present.
Then there it was, the bear.
"Geez." Gwen leaned further over me, pitying the creature locked in such a tight cage with all several surgical wounds along its skin. "This guy is cruel. I can't help but feel bad for it, even if it was scary."
Max went out there, what was he intending to do?
I tried searching for more recent news about him, to see if I somehow missed something that would have required intervention. Nothing so far, his attack might not happen until we're in D.C. Then again, we could very well be off schedule either staying in one place longer because there was no need to flee or leaving sooner because we didn't use up time fighting villains.
We could very well be off track, just passing by developing crises before they are apparent. It could be too late as well, how many threats to the planet were there in the show that only needed a single day? There was that big alien tick thing in Yellow Stone from what I recall, that was going to devour the entire planet.
Was there anything I could do to make sure we could be there in time to stop it? What about everything I couldn't think of from the top of my head?
"Are you ok Ben?" Gwen asked, making me pull my hands away from my worsening headache.
No, I really wasn't. But I did what was becoming natural at this point, I lied.
"I'm always ok."
Unsure if she believed me fully or not Gwen gave no arguments. Then in the silence of the night, barely louder than the whispering winds through the trees, I became on edge.
Footsteps, treading lightly but way too close for comfort.
Closing Gwen's laptop to erase any light, she caught on just as any child would when they feared being seen up too late on their games. I had barely managed to pull myself onto the top bunk, rolling into my blanket as the door clicked open.
My back was to the door when they came in, preventing me from confirming it was Max without giving myself away for being awake. If it was Max, I could easily excuse myself for just waking up upon his return.
If it wasn't, the intruder would be well aware I had witnessed them.
My fear kept me frozen, senses blaring with every disturbance as whoever it was made their way to the sink. They barely creaked the faucet on, and if they were focusing on it then I could dare risk to peek over to them if only to calm my worries of the unknown.
When I could make out Max's frame, I managed to let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.
Yet my worries didn't ease up, as I saw the item he was holding under the water. The green translucent crystal shard, with blood and fur being washed away from its gleaming surface.
The future was changing before my very eyes, and it was hunting me down.
No sleep that night, and it was becoming harder and harder to fight the yawns that threatened to escape my lips. Still, I was determined to be awake, to be present and alert for anything and everything. Staying up and on my feet helped, but I soon found that my mind was spacing out frequently from the present.
"Which one did you like Ben?" Max's words suddenly yanked me back to reality, and I had to scramble for an answer that fit.
"The Washington Monument?"
"Um, Ben?" Gwen tapped along my shoulder as if I was still asleep. "We haven't gone to that one yet."
Crap, I had to scramble for excuses and I had to make it good. "Well maybe not directly but it's hard to miss. Nice to have something to reference in knowing where you are without needing a map."
When I pointed towards the tower of stone, the others glanced over and saw the landmark sitting in the center of many of the attractions. All day today we've been in D.C. checking out several monuments, historical landmarks, and as good as a look we're going to get of the White House.
The weirdest thing about all of this, was that I had been here before.
This was the first destination on our road trip, in this world, that was a place I had witnessed in my own version of reality. Last time I had gotten a Minecraft D.C. shirt, but Minecraft doesn't even exist yet.
It was dizzying, because it was so familiar yet I was in a whole new body with people I really didn't know that well that were so familiar with me. It's like I just body swapped with some other tourists and my body with my family was somewhere walking around, just around the corner.
I knew that couldn't be the case even if they did exist, if I existed here, because we visited D.C. sometime in 2014. Yet logic wasn't working very well right now because I still had no idea how I ended up in this situation despite my best efforts.
Without an answer that my mind was desperately searching for to make sense of it all, I had to drown out the overflowing anxiety of things being so close to what I knew. Putting an earbud in, I just tuned into a local station. I didn't care what music it was playing as long as it wasn't rap.
Luckily, they had a rock one that was coming through clearly. I was discovering that a lot of songs that were popular during 2006 were actually a lot of songs I listened to regularly. It made it easier to pretend like everything was normal.
Just like all good things it didn't last, because just as I was mentally singing along to Breaking Benjamin it was interrupted by something else, something that could only exist in a cartoon.
I paused, giving my full attention to it which only earned Max and Gwen's.
"What is it?" Gwen questioned as Max started taking another look around, others who were casually around radios were now very invested towards what they had to say.
"Let's get back to the Rust Bucket." He decided before either of us could come to a conclusion. "We'll go somewhere for dinner, and I'll let you two pick out a spot."
"Really?!" Gwen, excited by the chance of eating a meal with normal ingredients was ready to leave. "In that case can we go somewhere with Mongolian barbecue? We could-Ben?"
I wasn't following, still rooted in place as I could make out just what emergency was being broadcasted. An assault on a Megamart, large beasts, theft, in the area riding an oversized aerial creature.
Dr. Animo was on the move, and I knew where he was going.
"Why don't we grab something from a food truck or a cart nearby?" I proposed, pointing over towards the many options around the Smithsonian museums. "Or we could get in two more places before they close then go to dinner."
"We can go to them tomorrow Ben." Max turned himself towards where he parked, trying to coax me into following. "They'll close soon anyways, and once they do everyone will be rushing to dinner."
"It's still a little early for dinner isn't it?" I couldn't argue for long without seeming suspicious, but I wasn't seeing a way to win so easily. "Are either of you hungry right now?"
"I mean-" Gwen came to my rescue unknowingly. "-there's still time to go to at least two more, and half our day tomorrow could be taken up by a single tour. And Ben's right, it is early for dinner."
Max, with a reluctant sigh he caved in before smiling fondly at the two of us. "Ok, let's stick around for a little while longer."
The battle was won, a fight I didn't expect to happen. Max wasn't just weary of my behavior, there was a battle of experienced alertness as I watched him keep an eye on everything that moved around us. I would be worried if he wasn't honestly, because there have been too many oddities around us all summer and they are slowly creeping out from the shadows.
Today though, that could be different.
This wasn't something I could just run off and fight on my own without a witness. No, Animo was a public menace, a villain through and through whose first act was to openly defy the laws of nature just to….well I can't remember the exact details but I know he attacks a museum here with a mammoth and a dinosaur to reanimate their corpses.
That man was a genius I'll admit, a mad genius. It's a shame he was so brutal in his methods ignoring safety, otherwise his research would have thrown humanity into a new age where creatures could be created and modified to accomplish any task all while under control.
Then there was death, reanimating cells that have been dead millions of years. Who knows how much you could recover from someone who had passed away in the last couple of decades? Humanity would raise up leaders and influential figures who changed the course of history before in hopes they would guide us again.
Yet if they were still under control of whoever resurrected them….on second thought every page of Animo's research should be burned.
A large firm hand suddenly yanked on my shoulder, my eyes snapping up to see a person I nearly ran into without thinking.
"Watch out Ben." Max warned me gently as he crouched back down to see my tired saggy eyes. "Ben, maybe we should call it a night. You look tired."
I was. I was so tired but I still had work to do. Thankfully Max had snapped me out of my jumbled thoughts as I double backed to a very important point. I couldn't keep this a secret forever, it was getting harder and harder and I knew all along that these two were supposed to be Ben's support right alongside him.
"Can we talk?" I asked, and judging by both Max's and Gwen's reactions they were waiting for this chance.
"Of course Ben." Max guided us over to a nice bench, right outside the museum that advertised an event happening tonight.
Once I sat down my feet reminded me how long I had been walking and how sore they were. The urge to just slump over and nap right there was so tempting, but I sat up straight, Gwen sitting right next to me and Max decided to crouch down again to be eye level with me. It was odd that I decided to do this in such a public area, tourists and locals walking by hardly six feet away.
Yet I was running out of time, and I knew that telling them before they found out was for the best, to keep what little trust they could have in me. As I tried to find somewhere to start, how to explain it all, I felt my gut swell up in my throat choking any words from coming out.
If I tell them, the illusion is over. I will never have that escape of having a normal life, a normal trip with people who viewed me as one of their own.
I had to remind myself it was going to happen, one way or another and the choice would be taken from me.
Swallowing the lump, wiping my sweaty palms, the patient and kind man before me waited until I was ready. I wasn't, but I was going to do it anyways.
"Do you remember what I said, after the first night we camped?"
Max thought hard, reflecting back on what I might have said that was so important. Odds were he dismissed it because it sounded like just some random thing a kid would say for fun. I tried to help his mind work it out, turning over my wrist to let the omnitrix be front and center in the conversation. Gwen noticed it, but she too didn't recall my confession.
"Sorry Ben, I can't say I do." Max gave up right before Gwen jumped in.
"Does it have to do with your watch?" She pointed right at the device that never told the time. "Are you feeling guilty about it?"
I'm guilty alright, but not for the omnitrix, but for stealing Ben from them.
"Ben." Max regarded me as if I took a candy bar. "Does that watch belong to you?"
Did it? It wasn't intended for me, and not even for Ben, but it's not like it actually belonged to anyone as far as I knew. Vilgax claimed ownership but no way was I handing it over to him.
"Back at the campsite, that night, a meteor fell." It was so unusual, to reflect back at the events through my own eyes but also the memory of the show blurred over it. "Except it wasn't a meteor, it was metal, round, and it opened up."
The two didn't give any indication they were believing me or thought I was lying, but so far they were just listening.
"This was inside of it." I held it a little higher up. "I haven't used it very many times but when I have, it's turned me into aliens."
Both of them believed in aliens, I knew it. Max from his days as a plumber and Gwen's traumatic exposure to them. I hardly wanted to go on, but now that I was confessing this burden I had to continue to speak up.
"When I've used it it was always to stop something, those alien who kidnapped you and Vera, the ATM robbers, Zombozo and his circus who robbed people of their possessions and their souls, and just recently I-"
"That's enough Ben." Lowering his head in defeat, Max took a moment to collect himself before worriedly looking back up to my youthful, anxious face. "If you're not ready to talk about it, I won't push you. But the longer you bottle this up-"
He didn't believe me. I almost laughed to myself because of course he wouldn't. Despite all that he's seen, all that he's faced, and everything that's happened so far to raise his suspicions as high as possible he still can't accept the fact that a child is telling him aliens are real.
No one believes me, no one trusts me for anything important, and maybe that's not because I'm ten years old. Perhaps that's just me, I seem untrustworthy and prone to lying no matter what I do.
Even in someone else's shoes I can't escape my own fate.
Standing up, not bothering to listen to what they had to say, I just wanted to move on and pretend this never happened. Pretend that I wasn't Ben, that I was me again on my trip in D.C.
Until a piercing cry echoed above, a large shadow passed over us until the walls of the museum were crashed into. With mighty arms Max yanked Gwen and I under him as chunks of rubble were thrown out, screams pouring out in waves all around us.
"Run!" Max ordered, and I complied.
"BEN!" I could hear Gwen scream out in panic as I took off, right towards the source of it all. Animo, you have just picked the worst time to do this. Pushing my small body past all of the adults fleeing, being knocked around like a pinball, I grew more and more agitated.
I was tired, upset, frustrated, so many things seemed to just be piling up on me and now I was presented with a lunatic who decided to use one of the most gifted minds for petty purposes.
And now all these people wouldn't MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!
My brain wasn't willing to let me think properly, so without a plan I only focused on the task in front of me. This body was too weak, I needed a bigger, stronger one to get in there.
With a shove I activated the omnitrix, venting my aggression and slamming down the dial the moment I saw the perfect alien to make a punching bag out of Animo's mutations. Within a flash of otherworldly green, I stood taller than anyone with piercing golden eyes.
They jolted back, seeing my form as others got bruises just from bumping into my diamond hard skin. Hold on.
"You displayed Four Arms!" I yelled out at the omnitrix dial on my chest, shaking my head as I realized I was yelling at an inanimate object. I really was tired.
Without further delay I sprinted ahead, following the path of destruction and feathers that passed through the museum holding priceless moments in Earth's history. I wished I could have seen this place before Animo wrecked it.
"Yes, yes!" I heard his mad voice just around the corner, and as soon as I made it I saw his sickly yellow skin with a cobbled together contraption wrapped around his torso and skull, giving back life to a long dead mammoth.
"ANIMO!" I bellowed out as I pointed my sharpened arm towards him. He turned around, intrigued by my form and not threatened in the slightest. Cocky jerk. "Stop this right now! No one's doubting your intelligence but your means are unethical!"
"Unethical?!" He stomped like a pouting child. Guess this wasn't the first time someone's told him that. "My research would have changed the world, allowing us to control life to form into its most optimal evolution! Instead, I will make humanity learn first hand what happens when you dismiss Doctor Aloysius James Animo!"
With a finger he pointed at me, uncaring what I might be, he just viewed me as another obstacle. The Mammoth charged at me, and I at it. We ran towards one another picking up speed until I leapt right towards its face.
It wasn't supposed to be alive, so I made sure to put an end to it by jabbing my bladed arm into its eye and pushed. Crystal shards jutted out from its insides, slicing through every muscle, tendon, organ, anything that was keeping it moving. Knowing nothing could survive after that I pulled my arm out, reconverting it to a normal hand instead of a deadly weapon.
Glaring ahead, I saw Animo wasted no time in seeing how his work fared against an unknown. He really shouldn't turn his back. Running ahead, following the trail of claw marks his enlarged cockatiel, it wasn't long before I saw Animo already working on converting a skeleton into a zombified dinosaur. A T-Rex, with ribs exposed and flesh barely holding itself together.
Where did all of the mass come? The more I saw Animo's work first hand the more disappointed I became in the wasted intelligence.
As soon as the creature took its first steps, I held out my arm and threw a javelin of green diamond right into its skull. It screeched out, Animo glancing back in shock at how quickly I dealt with his last pet.
"Perhaps you are a specimen worth studying." He contemplated as the fossil refused to die. "Yet perhaps, another day. Today I will have my revenge!"
How stereotypical, so much so I grew angry at how stupid the logic of this world could be and thrust my hands into the ground, erecting towers of crystal knives that cut into the dinosaur from all sides, pinning it until it finally gave out in shuddering spasms.
Animo flinched, taking me seriously and going for his bird.
"Oh no you don't!" I was about to shoot out a barrage of crystals until a trunk wrapped itself around me. Acting quick I grew out anchors from my feet to keep myself rooted in place so it wouldn't toss me aside.
These things didn't want to die twice, well I didn't want to kill them twice either but they were getting on my nerves.
"RAH!" I cut myself free, the chunks of flesh falling around me as the Mammoth cried out. Extending my anchors through the ground, two walls of glimmering green smashed into both sides of it, holding it in place with no room to wiggle free.
"Ben!" A panicked young voice yelled out, one I recognized instantly and pulled me from the stormy emotions clouding my judgement.
Then I saw her, Gwen running into the open with shaky hands and wide eyes snapping all around. Once she spotted me, she halted, quivering at the mess and my merciless persona. Maybe if it was a cartoon I could have quickly moved on, focusing on Animo before he could escape.
Yet here I was, face to face with a real ten year old girl on the verge of panic, terrified of what I had done.
Terrified of what I was, who I was.
The next thing I knew two claws wrapped around her arms, yanking her from the ground and into the sky as a hostage.
"AHHHHH!" Her screams, a child's screams, it was so horrible to hear in person.
"Gwen!" It was Max's voice that called out to her, ran to try and catch her, but I knew I would have to act.
"Come on." I growled as I fiddled with the dial along my chest, unsure exactly what I was doing but having a rough idea. "Give me someone useful."
In another flash, I felt myself change instantly. Posture lowered, vision doubled, and more limbs than I ever had before. "Stinkfly, that will do."
I zipped right up into the air, following after the madman and leaving Max to give chase on foot below. It would take a while for him to get to the Rust Bucket, and longer for him to weave through traffic and figure out where we would be.
It was all up to me now. Time to be a hero.
Without anything else in the sky, I was able to spot them immediately. Animo was riding on top, Gwen still in the clutches of the massive bird as they soared above D.C. Where on Earth were the soldiers, the helicopters? This is where the three branches of government resided so why was there no immediate deployment to keep them safe?
Pushing myself, I began to gain on them. Animo must have assumed that a walking jewel couldn't touch him from up here because they didn't seem to be rushing.
Making sure to stay out of sight, following right behind as I lowered down to where the tailfeathers hid me, I could barely make out choked sobs coming from Gwen. Oh Animo if only you knew how hard it was not to just fly up there and stab my tail into you.
Instead I settled for something else to stab, and as soon as I latched my hands under Gwen's arms I swung my sharpened appendage right into the bird's foot. It's pained squeal drowned out Gwen's further screaming as I dove down to get her back on her feet.
"Please don't hurt me!" She begged, further breaking my heart by how much this poor girl was going through. So far each time danger was present, she was a witness, never knowing how much she could actually accomplish. I had sheltered her as much as I could, and the consequences were a fearful heart.
Even if I knew what her cartoon counterpart was capable of, how could I look at a fearful child and expect them to face threats that most adults couldn't handle.
"It's ok." My warbled speech tried to sooth. "I'm putting you down, I'm not gonna hurt you."
Setting her gently along the grass, Gwen's legs gave out under her as she collapsed on her rear, still shaking, still terrified. Each time I saw her like this the less I wanted her to be involved, because I would never let a real ten year old girl get involved in anything this dangerous.
That's what she looked like to me, a real girl scared and alone. Why was Max so willing to let kids face aliens in the show? I would have to face this conflicting internal debate later as I glanced back to where I last saw the bird. I saw a brief glimpse of its tail before vanishing behind the city skyline.
I needed to catch up.
"A-are you an alien?" She asked, crawling away from me. Yeah, Stinkfly wasn't the most visually appealing alien, or appealing in many ways. He was probably my least favorite but he proved his usefulness so far.
"Yeah, not all of us are bad. Well, not a lot of good ones show up to Earth but don't immediately assume they're all bad. Just, be cautious." I was rambling and the bad guy was getting away! "Can you contact your family?"
At the mention of it she scrambled in her pocket, pulling out a basic phone at the time. Not even a flip phone just a chunk of plastic with buttons and a small display.
"Good, have them come pick you up." My wings fluttered into a blur as I lifted off in a single bound. It was only after I got airborne that it occurred to me that I just pretended to be some random alien and not her cousin.
I wasn't her cousin though, but I just confessed being able to turn into aliens. "I have no idea what I'm doing."
Tracking down Animo that's what. After sprinting through the air, if that's even the correct word, I followed the last direction I saw Animo moving. I eventually made out the flapping wings in the distance. The man was definitely hauling now that he realized he was still vulnerable in the air.
I tried flapping harder, only making myself go up higher. This was my first time flying and while I was doing a whole lot better than I would have expected to have wings for the first time ever there was still a learning curve to optimize my flight. Whatever I was doing was going to have to be enough, Animo turning mid air and letting my straight path cross his new one.
I was almost there, just a few yards away but Animo's alertness spotted me. Instead of fleeing he aimed his creature at me. A bird versus a bug, not good odds.
"Stay back, pest!" Animo had his monster rear up, forcing me to dodge its beak and avoid the wind it was kicking up. "I will not be denied what is rightfully mine!"
I was too focused to try and come up with a witty reply, so instead I threw out globs of mucus from my eyes (I didn't know how it worked but it did) to blind the beast. It recoiled, hovering in place and giving me a short opening.
Flying right over the jaws of death I beelined it for Animo, latching onto him and pulling him from his pet.
"Let go of me!" He demanded, grabbing at my eyes as I decided to obey his command.
"Aaaahhh!" His yell alerted the cockatiel, the creature using its one unobstructed eye to target him and dive to rescue its master. I followed right after them, right alongside the bird and throwing a punch towards its face to make it back off. Giving a scratch with my tail for one final warning, I sent out a trail of mucus from my mouth to slap against Animo's chest, and as revolting as it was I slurped it up while flapping my wings as hard as I could to not become a splat on the road below.
The sudden jerk of motion threw off his helmet, the device cracking along the pavement and releasing a pulse of some unknown energy.
"Nooooo!" Animo cried in defeat, seeing his life's work break so easily.
"Shut up!" I shook him, slowly letting us down nearby some statue that was-a titanic memorial? I didn't realize there was an official one let alone it was in D.C. Luckily it was a vacant area, and after stripping him of his technology I cocooned him in my spit.
Yeah, this is probably why I hated Stinkfly.
He squirmed, wiggled in place but he wasn't going anywhere. Good, crisis averted. Now to go back and check on Gwen, grab the helmet and-
The beeping on my forehead warned me my time was running out, and with panicked flight I flew as far from Animo, from anywhere out in the open as fast as I could. With one final beep I was turned back into Ben mid flight. My legs tripped over themselves trying to keep up with Stinkfly's speed but no way could I have done that even with my real body.
Turning over, I could feel the sore bruises along my body as I laid there in the grass still clutching Animo's device. It was an exhausting day in more ways than I had the energy to think. I don't know how much longer I could do this alone, and no way did I want Gwen involved. Max, I would have to actually prove I wasn't just making stuff up to cope with whatever he guessed I was going through.
It all sounded so exhausting, and right now the warm sun, the cool grass, the quiet breeze caressing my face, it was too tempting. I closed my eyes, and drowned out this world I found myself in.
SI-Ben is going to have a lot of explaining to do the moment he gets back to Max and Gwen. I'm sure some of you are wondering why he's delayed telling Max and Gwen about this if he knows they are dependable allies in the show.
Here's a couple of points that I've written in, and I'll lay them out in case you missed them.
1. Everytime he uses the omnitrix it's a reminder that he's not in his own world, but instead one of aliens and monsters. Saying it outloud to the others, or even each use of the omnitrix shatters his illusion of normalcy.
2. While he knows Max & Gwen are necessary allies to Ben in the show, he sees them as real people. A real child, and a real retired man, not some animated characters but living breathing people. Who in their right mind would invite a child to go toe to toe with Alien Warlords?
3. Max doesn't want to believe that children are being roped into the world of aliens, and will deny any such thing unless the evidence is right in front of Ben and Gwen. This makes it harder when SI-Ben manages to work up the courage to tell them about the omnitrix without demonstrating it does what he says it does.
4. SI-Ben is also avoiding using the omnitrix unless absolutely necessary because he's aware its activation can be tracked. While he could logically use it before they leave somewhere to show them, this is a very convenient excuse for him to use the omnitrix less as stated in point 1.
There's a few other reasons but these are the top four. A few of you are also waiting on the edge of your seats for the big reveal, and trust me, after what just happened SI-Ben has a lot of explaining to do.
RianZx: A small problem, huh, not sure how I would go about that one.
1234andynguyen: Perhaps when SI-Ben gets more comfortable using the omnitrix those two aliens would probably be the best to figure out what happened.
Muhammad Ibrahim Faisal: That episode isn't until much later, right now I'm focused on Season 1.
epic and evil man: There's a couple factors I have to consider when using an episode. One is how differently would SI-Ben react to it? If it's too close to canon then I don't think it's worth writing. Second is how plot integral is it? Like Kevin, while he could easily be missed, is one of Ben's most recurring villains and would be a waste not to use in some form. This also applies to episodes where the end of the world is at risk, such as the mushroom spore creature and the alien tick. Lastly, how immersive it would be. Episodes that might not be very important or relevant to other plots still serve as a memorable moment, and many readers would want to see it even if it could be solved quickly or avoided.
I can say for sure VIlgax cannot be avoided, and we already have a hint of Tetrax getting close to SI-Ben.
Shisui No Akatsuki: It already looks like there's a Ben Anodite story, and personally I have no interest in giving Ben more powers on top of the omnitrix. If he didn't have it that would be a different story that I would be intrigued in, but not necessarily write myself.
As for the farm episode, that ties into the Ghost Freak arc and I need to figure out what I'm going to do with him before I use his episodes.
Fire turtle: I can see how some people can get on edge when secrets are knowingly being kept. Personally, the fact that you feel that way makes me believe you're immersed in the story to where you have a lot of empathy for the main character's situation, which is a sign of good writing.
As for Dr. Animo, while he is the second episode in the show, I felt I needed to rearrange some of the episodes because their locations are all over the place. The Omnitrix lands in Yosemite, which is in California but then the next episode they're on the east coast? It doesn't fit very well, and so I'm going to alter the order enough to make some sense. I'll make sure I don't mix up the order of multi arc episodes though.
DarkMist: I will say I have thought about it quite a few times, but in the end any idea I think of doesn't really stand out to me that much. Do you have some Green Lantern crossover ideas yourself?
ZeroGuest: I can't thank you enough for your thorough review covering multiple topics that I worked hard to create in this story. It makes all my efforts feel worth it knowing someone can identify each one of them.
As for the alien I'm assuming you're talking about, Upgrade, he has so much potential and I love his powers to the point where if I had to pick a single alien to use for a day it would be that one. (I wouldn't risk it with Alien X)
Guest: I read through some of The Spider, and while it has a similar start I quickly found its focus is far off from what I'm trying to accomplish. My story is trying to bring up a topic that I have yet to see an Isekai do, which is the main character not accepting the fact that they're in a new world and constantly reflecting on their treasured bonds in their old life.
I appreciate the recommendation, but I personally do not like the common trope of the main character becoming OP and getting a harem.