It had been so long since I could properly dream, that I wasn't sure if I could anymore. Yet this night, as I felt my mind begin to wander as the warmth around my pillow began to lull my consciousness into the back of my thoughts, I saw something familiar.
In a small town in Nevada, one that I fondly grew up in, I had just turned ten years old. I was obsessed with Iron Man, and as embarrassing as it was looking back I even wore an Iron Man costume. In the dusty backyard where only tumbleweeds could grow, several of my friends who lived on the same street were scattered around trying to find proper cover.
Each of us was armed with a nerf gun, battling to claim victory in a harmless sport. Hardly any of us got tired in the sun, most of us already adapted to the desert heat that would scorch the skin of anything that stepped under the sun.
But there were sodas to drink, and given how rare it was for the sweet beverage to be in my home I promised to get my belly's fill. Heading inside the house where the adult members of my family were, I passed by the television that was left on one of the few channels we recently acquired when moving here two years ago.
Cartoon Network.
I got distracted fairly fast, seeing they were replaying an episode about Ghost Freak escaping the omnitrix. The animation was the same, the story as well but, something wasn't right.
Setting down my plastic blaster, I reached out with my hand towards one of the unopened cans sitting on the table. When I brought up my other hand to open it, I spotted something on my wrist.
I didn't remember putting on a toy omnitrix, but this one wasn't just a hunk of plastic on a velcro strap. It was perfect, no screws and no labels of any kind.
"Is that mine?" A voice questioned, a voice I knew because I had been using it for over a month now.
Turning to the source, I saw that the episode had changed, Ben wasn't paying attention to anything around him except for staring dead ahead towards the screen.
He was looking at me, my life, my memories, he saw it all down to the omnitrix on my wrist.
His animated form began solidifying, the longer I stared the more real he became, the more he looked like the face I knew in the mirror. Then, in a voice unfiltered he made his demand.
"I want it back."
My hands threw themselves forward as I found myself out in the open, laying on a newer sleeping bag on a small tarp laid over the grass, tall trees all around, and the smell of smoke nearby.
"Good morning Ben." The grandfather, Ben's grandpa Max said to me. "You woke up just in time for breakfast."
I didn't wake up with the sunrise? It's been a while since I slept that heavily.
"Today's our last day in Yellowstone." Max announced as I searched for Gwen and Kevin, who were both struggling to down the meal presented before them at the wooden table. "I know you wanted to stay here for as long as possible but there's a lot more to see this summer."
I couldn't agree more, but we couldn't leave yet, not until-
A sudden meteorite rocketed out of the sky, flying over us until crashing into a deeper region of the national park. An echoing crack followed, slamming against our ears but not before a unique ship flew overhead.
There, we might have shown up a few days early but we're still on time.
Once there was a mighty beast, one that was capable of consuming entire worlds as it wandered the cosmos, worshiped for its might and its certainty.
Was, being the key word.
Stretching as I walked over to the fridge, after having volunteered to cook lunch on the road as Max took us down towards our next destination, I glanced at the omnitrix's red dial and released a sigh of resignation.
Man I really missed the master control.
"Yo Ben." Kevin called out from the interior dining area. "Fry up some bacon why don't you? Or better yet how about some nachos!"
Nachos sounded good, if I had any appropriate cheese for it. "Sorry Kevin, we're just sticking with some sandwiches for now. It's too dangerous to actually cook anything while Max is driving."
"How come? Didn't you just kill some interplanetary world eater?" That…that was actually a fairly good point. Still, I couldn't go alien right now and I never tried cooking as one.
"Just be grateful doofus." Gwen uttered from the other side of the table, going over a list of spells she had noted that actually worked and was assembling her very own spell book. "But Ben, I am a little confused about what happened back there."
What happened back there? Did I do something off? Well, I didn't turn into the newly acquired alien to defeat the creature but they didn't know about how it went down in the show. It ended on a similar note, I went inside the organs it used to take in the air around it and broke it apart from within.
Kind of brutal, but the entire planet was at risk and that's how Ben handled it.
"I had a few questions myself." Max joined in the conversation from the driver's seat. "Like your choice of aliens."
"Or how you snuck into that thing while those nut jobs were giving us that presentation about it eating our planet." Gwen added, and it nearly made me falter as I was cutting up the pickles.
"Or how come you didn't just blast it from the outside?" Kevin finished the barrage, and I didn't look away from my work spreading out the ingredients onto the slices of bread.
The answer to that was I already knew what was going to happen, and since I didn't have Ghostfreak as an alien anymore or the master control I was limited on options. Not that they were aware of any of that, but I should at least figure out how to explain a couple of those things sooner rather than later.
"I turned into Gray Matter first to figure out if it was a threat or not and how to combat it if needed." I answered as I finished the first meal. "It fell from orbit, without even a scratch so it would have been extremely difficult to harm its exoskeleton. With my intelligence at the time it became clear that if it had a need to move from planet to planet then it was not compatible with any ecosystem and likely drained the planet of its nutrients before moving to the next. Since we were in Yellowstone I already had it on my mind how delicate the balance of life can be."
Which I ended up grabbing a few pieces of because that stuff was extremely durable.
"So I snuck over while those fanatics were already explaining what I deduced, and since there wasn't any light inside Wildmutt could navigate easily while locating its vitals." I was actually going for Diamondhead, but as Gray Matter it was extremely difficult to twist my arms behind myself and operate the omnitrix. I don't know if it was a missinput or the omnitrix was back to giving me the wrong alien every now and then.
Now that I was finished both in making their meals and my explanation, I sat down next to Kevin to allow Gwen to have more table space for her notes and placed down the plates with their food. Grabbing my sandwich, I took a bite before looking back up towards them to see if my blend of made up excuses and half truths convinced them. "Any more questions?"
"Uh, yeah." Kevin opened up his sandwich, eyeing the ingredients with caution. "What kind of meat is this?"
"It's from Grandpa's fridge." Gwen reminded him, now a little weary of her own plate. "Do you want to know?"
"Just pretend it's ham." I shared before taking another bite, briefly debating if I should put more mustard on or not. With my arm raised already I saw the omnitrix was already green again, ready for use should I need it.
This drive was probably one of the most difficult.
It wasn't due to boredom, danger, or anything that would annoy or inconvenience me. There wasn't some major project I had to work on, or another request from Kevin, things were more or less going alright. Just a quiet drive with no tension.
A drive through a road that I was all too familiar with.
Departing from Yellowstone, we began heading directly south towards our next destination down in Nevada. The road that would bring us there fastest, I-15. While I lived in many states throughout my life, Nevada and Utah were the ones I lived in the most. So far during our trip we had come across areas that were vaguely familiar or nearby where I used to live. So far DC was the only place we walked through that I had personally been to.
Now, we were visiting states that I had spent half my previous life in, going down roads that I had frequented on many occasions whether to visit family or to hop to the next city over.
Not even plugging myself into any music, I just watched as we passed next to Brigham, where my fiance had grown up, where we met. It was hardly any different than how I remembered it. I stared, hardly ever blinking just in case I managed to catch a glimpse of her.
Though I didn't know if there was a version of her here or not, or if she would even recognize me.
The conflict kept my eyes peeled in case there was something to answer the question, even as we continued on through Ogden, another city I was intimately familiar with. That's where we would go shopping most of the time, the mall, the Costco, the climbing gym I worked out at, it was right there and it almost gave me a headache because my memories dictated that I should be taller, an adult with a job and a life.
Living in this body, with these people, the line that was firmly in place to separate my old self from this universe felt like it had abruptly dropped and now I had trouble reminding myself that this was not my home world.
Down through Farmington, Bountiful, and coming up towards the central Salt Lake City area where I had an apartment, where I last went to sleep before waking up in a new pair of shoes.
"It's almost time to eat." Max announced, reminding me that he existed. "What do you kids think about stopping and getting a bite to eat before we continue on?"
"Yes!" Kevin leapt up towards the nearest window, trying to peek out and see what options were available. "Are there any good burger joints around?"
"Crown Burger." I blurted out as I looked over to where one of the restaurants would be. "There's also Apollo Burger, but almost every restaurant here has a burger option. Just depends on how fast we want to get them."
"Wait." Gwen looked away from her books. "Have you been here before Ben?"
Yes, I lived here and I know this place well. But I couldn't say that, so I just pretended not to hear her. "There's also some good buffets around, an asian one towards Millcreek with a good amount of options."
"Really?" Max murmured in thoughts that he kept to himself. "I don't remember a time your parents mentioned taking you here. If you know the place though, is there anywhere you would recommend?"
A nice, local sit down restaurant with good service, great food, and won't rip apart your wallet. It was so close to where I lived that you could walk to it if you wanted to. Once it came to mind, and the moment I imagined biting into their sandwiches I couldn't imagine eating anything else. "Stella Grill."
I couldn't help but space out the entire day, my mind trying to process these two different lives overlapping to a startling degree I never had to worry about before. I was silent, hardly able to really think or do anything as all my mental strength worked to keep me from breaking.
Normally I helped set up camp, made a fire, or helped out in cooking, but right now all I could do was look up at the stars while trying to keep my eyes away from Cedar City or the all too familiar campsite I was at. I was so focused on my previous experiences here I ended up recommending this place to set up camp, a nice desert campsite with some green along the smooth red stones and dust that littered the area.
I went to college here, I had family here….was my uncle still alive and running that trinket shop?
He died around this year didn't he? It was so far back I couldn't really remember. All I recall about him was that he was eccentric, kind, collected all sorts of fun things for himself and to sell at his shop while he expanded on his many hobbies. My father often said I reminded him of his brother.
Were there any versions of the people I knew here?
Before I knew it, Max had settled himself next to me on the rock that I chose to isolate myself on, looking up towards the same spot in the sky that I had been locked onto for the past hour or two.
"You seem lost in thought Ben." The older man mentioned with no judgment. "Does this have to do with your memories of Utah?"
I whirled my head over to him, bug eyed and fearful about how he figured it out. How long has he known?! No, he couldn't have known, but his pointed question was too obvious and I hadn't tried very hard at all to pretend to be Ben. "How did you know?"
"It's fairly obvious." He chuckled, astonishing me because how could someone make light about their grandson being taken over like this? "But, I can't say I know any time you were here. Must have been quite the trip for you to know so much about all these little spots."
Oh, he didn't know. All he knew is that Ben must have visited here before without his knowledge.
"Yeah." I calmed myself, the brief moment of panic passing as I glanced over to where Gwen and Kevin were at. Gwen was practicing some more of her spells lately, mastering the simple acts of activating each of the charms to grant her several different abilities while Kevin kept chasing after her.
She was flying around, using the staff to help balance her as she kept firing short snaps of electricity at Kevin to keep him from showing her his latest find. But the boy merely absorbed the blows, rejuvenating him in his chase much to Gwen's displeasure.
It was so odd, seeing these two using feats from a cartoon in an environment that I once believed could not exist in reality. Now I wasn't just facing two lives that shouldn't touch filtering over one another, but the fictional element of a cartoon also overlapping my conflicting views.
My mind was demanding something to ground my sense of realism. It just so happened to connect to my earlier thoughts.
"Hey." I softly spoke up, earning Max's attention. "Tomorrow before we head out, could we stop by a shop in town?"
I wanted, no, I needed to see if some part of my life really existed here, something that maybe I could find my place in when I can give Ben back his own life.
Night had come, and I eventually had to go to sleep again. Yet here I had a sinking feeling I wouldn't have any rest. Within my dreams, I found myself wandering through a home that looked vaguely familiar, one that I might have only seen once or twice but there was something partially nostalgic about it.
Walking through the living room space in the rather warm home, I glanced over the glass windowed walls allowing a peek outside into the neighborhood. Something carried my feet over towards the hall, bringing me to a wooden door where I knew something was in it.
No, someone.
It opened up on its own, inviting me into the messy room where I hesitantly stepped inside, searching over the various posters and plastic starships hanging from the ceiling for the owner. When I heard footsteps, I spun around to try and catch the person they belonged to.
Immediately I noticed I was in a different bedroom, one of many that I had grown up in. There were the bunk beds, the partially assembled pillow fort my brothers and I would make frequently, and a single window with a view that I had stared at many times before looking towards the mountains that loomed over Nevada's Red Rock canyon.
Someone else was staring out that window, a boy ten years old with scruffy brown hair, wearing a white sports t-shirt with black lines and military green cargo pants.
"Ben." I uttered, before realizing that I was back in my own body, one my mind was more familiar with.
He turned back, those green shaky eyes staring at me with confusion and uncertainty. "You, I know you."
"How much?" I asked, feeling a little weird because I never lived in this house when I was this tall. So taking a seat on the bottom bunk almost made me hit my head on the upper one.
"A lot." Ben answered, rubbing his hand around his left wrist like there was supposed to be something there. "I saw you growing up in a lot of places, and your family changing so many times. I saw you move out, get jobs and for some reason pay to go to school."
Yeah, really didn't like how much college costed but at least I managed to pay off my debts.
"I don't think I saw any part of your life." I touched more on the subject, opening up to our very first conversation that was going a whole lot better than I predicted after those ominous glimpses I had of Ben before. "I wish I could have talked to you sooner but I think Zs'Skayr was doing something to keep us from both being awake at the same time."
"You mean Ghostfreak?" Ben inquired before scowling with a clenched fist. "I hated him. Even on the show I never liked him."
The show, that means Ben knows. He knows the life he should have had, the adventures he would have gone on. "I promise you I'm going to figure out how to give your life back."
With a glimmer of hope shunting the anger in the child, Ben got up to his feet. "You mean that? I thought you don't have anywhere to go?"
"Maybe, maybe not." If I couldn't go back to my previous universe, there might be a chance that I could fit in this one if I had my own body. "You're the priority, not me."
"Ghostfreak said you could die though."
He really was aware of everything huh. Giving my best smile, I slid down from the bed to kneel down towards the kid. "Yeah, maybe. If it comes down to it I'll step aside so you can take over. Besides, I think it's best for everyone that Ben is the wielder of the omnitrix, not me."
Ben took a peek at my wrist, where the omnitrix was still anchored to me even in my dreams. While he hesitated there was an undeniable temptation for him to have such power. "You weren't that bad."
I could have been a whole lot better though.
"Thanks." I accepted his compliment. "I'll admit there were times I had fun turning into cool aliens with awesome powers. But that life was never meant to be mine, it was always yours."
All of a sudden, Ben turned away, leaning back towards the window and bracing his hands on the bottom of it. "I don't want it if it will kill you."
"Well I don't want to keep you locked in my head, because everyone else is waiting for you to come back even if they don't know it. You've got monsters to defeat, aliens to fight, and allies to make." Standing up to my full height, I glanced one more time around my old bedroom, the first one I could remember with a wave of nostalgia pouring over me. "I lived my life, it's practically over already, so yeah I'd die if that meant-"
"Don't say that!" Ben erupted at me, jabbing his finger into my stomach. "You kept Gwen and Grandpa alive! You saved my world even if it was in my body! You think you're looking out for them but if you die do you really think they'd be happy with it?"
"They'd never know it, and that's alright. Also, you would have done all those things-"
"WELL I DIDN'T! THE CARTOON DID BUT I DIDN'T, YOU DID! STOP BEING OK WITH DYING!"
Something inside me was tired, frustrated, and overall just done arguing. "At this rate if one of us has got to go then let it be me! Are you saying you'd rather die?!"
"No!" He placed his hands over his ears, the room around us beginning to quiver.
"Do you want your life back?!" I pressed, feeling my wrist becoming warmer.
"Yes!" He shouted back with the answer, solidifying my resolve.
"Then we both know what needs to happen here! I have to die so that you can live!"
That's when the dream broke, everything shattering into a blinding light that forced me to awaken.
In the wrong body, but that wasn't new.
"Pst." Gwen poked me from the bottom bunk, making me turn over to look down at the girl as the morning sun began to bleed in from the window. "You ok? You sounded like you were really upset in your dream."
Glancing up, I saw that Kevin was laying on the cot between the driver and passenger seat while Max was in the bed made from the rearranged kitchen area. Rubbing my eyes, I couldn't chase away the lingering voice of Ben screaming at me. Our first conversation, and it was a disaster.
"How about I make us breakfast?"
Just as Max agreed to, we took a detour in the morning to go into town to drop by a gift shop. Not any, the one my uncle and aunt set up.
The Wizz. An odd name for an odd store filled with the most random things. You never knew what you were going to find inside, but it did tend to have a selection of goodies from some clothing, to posters, to toys and various jewelry.
One time I got a pair of goggles from my aunt from this very store that saved my life in a sledding accident.
Going inside, hearing the jingle of the bell for the door, I was met with a choking sensation of nostalgia. Or maybe that was the incense currently burning in one corner.
"Woah, check out the hippie shop." Kevin muttered as we made our way further inside.
"It is, strange." Gwen commented, glancing over towards Max. "How come you wanted to stop by here before we went down to Vegas?"
"It was Ben's request." The man answered as he took a glance at some of the various organic blends of herbs that were supposed to be used for teas. I imagine he would find other uses for them.
Gwen just gave me an odd look before heading deeper into the store, while Kevin was busy looking through all the various toys that he never realized existed.
"Good morning." A voice, one that I had not heard in almost twenty years spoke out. My feet stopped, everything about me stopped as I stood in shock at a voice I thought I forgot.
But when I turned my head to confirm whether it was real or not, I was met with a face that I mostly saw through photos. There he was, my uncle, standing there with a face similar to my fathers but had a bushier, darker beard.
"You like stuff that lights up?" He asked, as if he already knew the kind of person I was as he pointed towards the bookshelf filled with bright things under a black light. I had already seen the various things that were kept there over the years anytime I visited, but right now I just wanted to get a good look at the man I never really got to know fully because he passed away before I was ten.
I dared to not even say his name.
"Come on Ted." Someone else did though, my aunt with less wrinkles and more cheer in her step came up to his side. "Look at the poor boy you're scaring him."
"Then the boy needs something to help him be brave." He spoke in a more jovial tone, getting out from behind the counter to walk over to the bizarre hat rack where various head wears were displayed. He grabbed the dragon one, that red dragon one I had seen in the store many times and held it out to me.
"Try this on, it'll make you as brave as all the dragon slayers."
I couldn't help but laugh about how ridiculous it was, how all of this was. What was I thinking? What was I doing? I didn't know anymore, I wasn't sure if anything was really real because seriously who wakes up in another person's body, thrown back in time, strapped with an alien watch seen on a tv and forced to face all sorts of horrors just to survive long enough to try and make things normal again.
HOW WAS ANY OF THIS NORMAL?!
"AAHH!" Gwen's shriek pulled me out of whatever deep corner of my mind I entered, and when I looked over I saw a pile of slime dumped over her head and running down onto the back of her neck.
Kevin was laughing in near hysterics as Gwen was desperately trying to brush it out only to make it worse. "Seriously Kevin?! What were you thinking?!"
"That it would be funny! And it was!" He just began laughing over her misery, and something in Gwen snapped.
"You jerk!" She growled out at him. "I keep putting up with you but you won't get it through your thick skull how to be a decent human being! You are as bad as how Ben used to be!"
How bad Ben used to be. I was aware that the two didn't get along but, did they really despise one another that much before the road trip? If Ben was listening right now, how would he feel knowing that his cousin didn't actually like his presence. "Was I really that bad?"
Gwen finally stopped furiously scraping at her hair while glaring daggers at Kevin, to take a moment and look at me with a hint of regret while Max and my uncle moved over towards the boy. "Um, sorry Ben but, yeah you used to be a real jerk too."
"And if I wasn't Ben, and the real Ben came back, would you hate him?"
"What?"
"Kevin." Max stood over the boy with his arms crossed. "Why did you do that?"
Now that authority had disproved of Kevin's actions, the boy found himself targeted by everyone around him. "It was just a joke!"
"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Max retorted before releasing a sigh. "Kevin, I know things must be difficult but-"
"No you don't know!" Kevin roared, tossing the empty slime cup towards Gwen's feet. "I didn't ask to go along with this crummy road trip. I didn't ask to be forced to be treated like a dangerous tool anytime something happens! I didn't ask to be brought back to this stupid planet where nobody gives me any of the respect I deserve!"
Then he stormed out the front door, slamming his fist against the glass upon his departure.
"I'll, pay for the slime." Max announced in an effort to begin resolving the chaos that was brought into the store.
"Here." My aunt came up to Gwen with a wet paper towel, leading her towards the single bathroom. "Let me help get some of that out."
This was a mistake, what little mental sanity I had was trying to break out from the weakened grip that was growing tired from holding it for too long. For over a month, every week, every day, every SECOND was another tooth sinking into me, threatening to tear me into pieces of who I was.
I couldn't handle this anymore, being here was too conflicting, pulling my self image into two different directions. I turned away from it all, towards the glass cabinet that never interested me before so that I could put my gaze at something that wasn't familiar to me.
I was let down, because sitting inside of it was a red amulet resting among the many treasures and trinkets. That amulet, had markings that I knew, ones that Gwen studied many times over.
Wasn't that supposed to be in Vegas?
Glass shards exploded out around us, throwing everything away from the front of the shop towards the back including us. I hit the ground hard, feeling a new bruise added to my growing collection.
"The keystone." A voice carrying the weight of arcane knowledge spoke, my mind finding a foundation in the present through recognizing the threat. Hex, the magician that I had fought before had now returned.
Keystone, he was after the keystone. His reminder of his goals made me quickly search around myself because I just saw it, there! My hand flew over it, uncaring if it was coated in shards and making sure to keep it close.
Only for a pale hand to grip around my wrist, hoisting me up as I refused to let go.
"Give me the keystone child, or the lives of those around you will-" I latched onto his arm with my other hand, swinging up my legs to snap across his face. I didn't have the strength to knock him out, only get myself free as I bolted over towards where Gwen was.
"Insolent brat!" The man roared as I ducked under a shelf that soared over me.
I slid on my knees, reaching her as she just picked herself up.
"Ben I-" I stopped her, grabbing her hand before quickly placing the keystone inside.
"Hide the magic artifacts." I told her, before Gwen gasped before pushing both of us out of the way of a barrage of pocket knives.
"This is your last chance." Hex floated towards us, holding out his awaiting hand. "Give, me, the keystone."
"No." I seethed out, pressing the activation button of the omnitrix to let the dial pop up. "This is your only chance to stop this, otherwise I am going to tear you apart."
An amused smirk came across his face as he let out a huff of humor. "Oh, and how do you plan on doing that?"
Before he even finished his sentence I slammed down the dial of the omnitrix, my frame stretching out and growing larger than a ten year old could be. As Wildvine with my plant-like body, I latched my arm around the magic user and threw him out of the shop.
I surveyed the damage, seeing the gift store battered and broken with my family, both previous and current in the chaos. I would not forgive this.
"Max, get everyone away!" I ordered before surging out into the street, now seeing that Hex wasn't alone.
"Stall him." Hex ordered this new opponent, who stood there in her sharp magenta coat, a raggedy bag on the side of her waist, long silver hair, and hot pink eyes that almost seemed to glow.
"Yes uncle." Reaching into her bag, her hand threw out a few rough marbles with sigils carved into them, the pebbles growing into larger beasts of stone that charged at me on all fours. My roots dug into the ground, bracing me as I lashed out with my arms to swipe against them.
One of them broke apart at my attack, the other wrapping around the creature and breaking it apart with ease.
"I'm giving you this one chance." I stared down the mid to late teenager, who did not carry the same hostility that Hex did. "Stop attacking , and walk away."
The hesitation she had, biting her lip as if my question was tearing her apart made me try and consider why she was even doing this. This was Charmcaster, a returning villain who at one point tried to take the omnitrix, betrays Gwen and then Hex but the details are fuzzy.
What was her goal? Power? For what use?
"Like I have a choice!" She decided, her hand moving to her bag again but I had already prepared for that. The roots of my body that I had planted at the beginning of our fight breaking out from under her. I grabbed the bag, snagging her wrists and ankles before tying them together and pulling her into a pit in the Earth carved out to serve as a temporary prison.
"Argh, hey!" She shouted as I pulled myself out, Charmcaster now no more than an angry head poking out from the sidewalk. "At least have the courtesy to put me in a trunk or something!"
It was, an unusual request but I can't say I was fully willing to comply, especially with Hex still around searching for the item I passed onto Gwen. I hope they were getting as far away as possible but part of me knew they wouldn't go too far while I was still around.
"Do you have any ears? Or are you just ignoring me?" Charmcaster's nagging reminded me that she was still here, and wouldn't let me forget it.
"Fine, you want out of the hole?" I swiped at the nearest trash can to empty its contents before stretching my other arm down to wrap around her waist, yanking her out before promptly sticking her in it. "There. You're out of the hole."
"This isn't any better!"
It was better because now I could hoist her along, keeping her nearby so she couldn't sneak off and do something behind my back. Stretching over the building, I searched the back of the larger parking area for the various small town shops to see if the Rust Bucket had moved or not.
It hadn't, but between the other vehicles it shouldn't grab Hex's immediate attention given he was actively looking around for any signs.
Then he paused, his eyes slowly shifting over to the RV.
"My staff." He uttered in surprise before holding out his awaiting hand.
The side window of the vehicle shattered as something shot out from it, with someone clutching it for dear life. Gwen screamed as she was yanked through the air, my body throwing itself into the fray at hearing her terror.
It was also accompanied by the scream that cried out in my other arm.
My free hand managed to clutch Gwen, the girl forced to let go of the staff as I tried to halt it with one of my roots. It barely dodged my landing, now back in its master's grip.
"So, it was you who has stolen my artifacts." The magician's eyes flared as he channeled his rejuvenated strength into a dangerous blast that nearly took my head. "I won't underestimate you again, give me the keystone along with the charms and your lives will be-"
I had deployed the same tactic as before, several of my roots had dug their way under the pavement and managed to create an ambush right under his threats. The green extensions of myself erupted around Hex, but this man was more experienced and stronger than his accomplice.
A harsh stinging beam shot out from his staff's mouth, burning my roots as he flew out of their reach.
"Uncle!" Charmcaster cried out from the rudimentary prison I held her in. "Help me!"
"Stupid girl." He stated, blasting out more deadly rays of magical energy towards us. "It's your own fault for getting yourself captured. Even an amateur could free themselves from-"
A handful of bricks I had thrown were hurtling towards his body. He had to dive through the swarm, one of them hitting his leg and getting a pained cry from the man. But they weren't all bricks, some of them were pods from my own back that detonated behind him, launching him back to the ground where Gwen unclipped something from her belt.
"Bethi mordo natta!" Holding out one of the charms, Gwen channeled a powerful stream of fire that snaked through the air, slamming into Hex's chest just as he was getting up. His body slammed against the back of the nearest building.
"Good work Gwen." I complimented as she smiled proudly in response. This was her first time using magic in a combative setting, and it worked. Now both of us closed in on the man who had to use the staff to brace himself.
"You-" Hex's hateful gaze burned towards us. "-insolent PESTS!"
A detonation erupted from his body, the force of it slamming into us and throwing our bodies back. My grip over Charmcaster's trashcan fell as my mind reeled from the impact, only when I began to regain some of my senses did I see several objects around us start to float upwards.
That included some of the charms around Gwen that had undone themselves from her belt.
"No!" My hand flew out, fingers stretching out to latch onto as many as I could see at the moment.
A flaring pain seared itself around my face, burning my eye as I tried to blink away the pain.
"You've proved too much of an obstacle to ignore." Hex kept himself out of reach as he floated closer towards me, holding his charging staff towards my body. "I will not allow a weed to prevent my global domination."
I readied myself, trying to use what little I could make sense of my surroundings to prepare for a much more difficult fight. I never gave Hex a chance last time to use this magic, but now I was about to see how he compared to others I had faced.
Until a bright beam slammed into his chest, throwing him away to crash into a dumpster.
"Back off." Max's firm and threatening tone warned as he exited the Rust Bucket with a large advanced energy rifle I had never seen before.
Hex did not heed the warning, instead blasting the dumpster back towards us. I leapt in front of them, gripping onto the box of hefty metal and swinging it back around to toss back. It exploded into flames before it could reach Hex, but was quickly followed up by another shot from Max.
Hex deflected the blast, sending it away with a wave of his arm. "Foolish mortals, I am more powerful than you could EVER imagine."
He was strong, way stronger than he seemed earlier.
"Ben!" Gwen had managed to recover, coming to my side as I handed off what charms I had retrieved. "He has the keystone!"
He does, combined with his staff that probably elevated his power to something Ben might have not had to deal with. This had to end, fast. With how strong, agile, and versatile he was now I couldn't think of many aliens that could pair well against that.
Except maybe for one, who had a variety of abilities.
"Get her secure." I pointed to where Charmcaster was knocked out, the trash can that previously held her dented and crumpled from the indiscriminate blast Hex sent our way earlier. "Gwen, try and find a spell that can disrupt his powers."
"And what are you going to do?" Max asked, as I held my hand up to the dial on my chest.
Believing I selected the right one, I pressed down, my body becoming denser, stronger, faster, the prime option. "I'm going ultimate."
Turning into Ultimos's species, I ascended into the air to meet Hex at eye level.
"Intriguing." Hex commented as he witnessed my change. "But futile, for I-"
The air snapped around me as I flew right towards him, sending a mighty blow against whatever shield he had conjured around himself at the last second. I knocked him further up into the air, and I raced after him to deliver another hit to his cracking shield.
"Kemo char!" He yelled, sending multiple rapid fire blasts at me.
I banked hard to the side, using my speed to dodge them while closing the distance between myself and him.
"Gallius disruptis" A chilling wind blew out towards me, frost building up around my skin but my body proved to be impervious to the attack. Inhaling the air, I filled my lungs deeply before sending it right back towards him.
He shielded himself, a sphere of ice building around the magical barrier the longer I released the icy breath. A dense flame surged out, one I pushed through in order to land another direct punch against the magician.
Hex was knocked back, twirling through the air before catching himself and wiping the blood away from his broken nose. The man reexamined me with newfound caution as I threw myself to him, my eyes burning with anger as I flew towards him with my fists out.
"Merchus-" He held up his staff, one of the charms on his person glowing along with the keystone as dense magic began sparking in his weapon. "-Verd-"
Twin beams shot out from my eyes, taking his hand that held the staff he wielded. It dropped, Hex crying out and gripping the stump of his forearm as I charged with a primed fist.
It was one thing to attack for the magical object, it was another to attack where I had cherished memories, memories that I held onto dearly this entire time. Not just that, the ones I was able to make with Max, Gwen, and Kevin.
Each person in that store had a place in my care, and he assaulted both aspects of my life.
He didn't even seem to care that his own niece was caught in the crossfire.
I hated Hex.
That hate was channeled into my tightening knuckles, aiming right for his skull painted face.
His body exploded into a red mist, but not of my own doing. My punch cracked the air around me, dissipating the magical dust in an instant. Hex was nowhere to be seen, vanished right before I could end the fight for good.
I didn't know where he was, I didn't know what his plan was, I didn't know what he would try next time. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he would look over this, he would enact his revenge and likely be stronger than before.
Yet, while my memories weren't exactly clear about what happened in the episode, there was someone here that for once probably had more knowledge about what was about to happen than myself.
And she was in our captivity.
Alright, I lied, I am splitting this up into two chapters. Part of the reason why is because I've been having a harder time getting into a writing mood. It's there, but it's all over the place and I had to really think about how I wanted this to go.
Things are about to get more dangerous, greater things are at stake, and now Ben is becoming more aware of what is happening without Ghostfreak around to keep him asleep. Now SI-Ben has discovered there are people he knew in this universe hinting towards aspects of his own life existing here.
What will he do about it? Is there really a way to give Ben back his body and for SI-Ben to regain some of his old life in this universe?
BTW, still haven't settled on a name for the Ultimos transformation. There are three different things that I'm juggling around for using as part of his name.
Something involving the words "Ultimate" "Prime" and perhaps "Star" as a reference to Superman. Or maybe utilizing some other callback to Superman since he's the clear inspiration to this alien.
REMINDER! I won't be using any content created outside of the original Ben 10 show. 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.
1234andynguyen: Even if there was a way, I don't like bringing people back to life when they clearly died. It makes their death less impactful.
Temory: Maybe, after all Ultra Ben is in line with Benwolf, Benmummy, etc. But I would prefer not to use those names. I'm thinking Star-man, or All-Star, or Ultra Prime, something along those lines.
Chronosign: I don't think those characters were ever written to have much more depth than being henchmen, so it would make sense they followed those tropes.
LongNightDragon: They're definitely not innocent, but it was easier for them to believe that crime was their only real way to live in comparison to tolerating the prejudice they would face.
Murderleo: Not sure if they would be willing to switch that far on the moral spectrum.
Some1call4MR-E: Yes, Hex was redeemed in omniverse (something we never really got to see how that happened) but in OG he was a pretty basic villain who craved power and world domination. I am going to treat him as such here.
From what I've learned Zs'skayr was already making plans to corrupt and take over the Earth before he was free from the omnitrix, and given he was a leader of a race who had taken over worlds before it's not surprising that his goal was more than just breaking free of the omnitrix.
That was the show, but I can't say that I'll do the same thing.
Shisui No Akatsuki: I do have some plans to switch up how the bodyswap episode went, ones that will set into motion large plot content, but we have to deal with this moment first.
TDL126: Luckily for you I was just wrapping up this chapter when you commented.