Chapter 2: And then there were 10
Ben POV
The pod opened up and something inside it glowed a bright green, and I got curious to what it could be.
I leaned in and saw it, "A watch? What's a watch doing in outer space?"
I'm not even joking, a wrist watch was in the pod. It had a wide black band with white accents and a gray faceplate that seemed to have a green hourglass with a black background.
'Okay now I know I've seen this somewhere before,' I thought as I reached out to the watch.
The watch suddenly seemed to open up as if it were alive and jumped onto my wrist. If getting killed by space debris wasn't enough, now I got something grabbing onto me like an alien facehugger. I just had to panic.
"Ah! Get off me! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!"
I tried everything to get the watch off my wrist. I pulled it, pushed and even tried to put a stick between my wrist and the watch.
SNAP
"Oh man," I said, very disappointed. Just looking at the watch that's now stuck on my left wrist. "I knew I should have brought that multi-tool."
The watch just glowed almost like a glow in the dark watch now. The light seems to taunt me with the fact.
I finally managed to calm down as I looked at the device. Curiosity winning over my logic I tried fiddling with it. Turning the faceplate did nothing so I moved on to check the rest of it.
POP
I was surprised with the faceplate lifting up after I pushed the only button on it. The hourglass inverted into a diamond shape and showed a silhouette.
"Cool!" was the only thing I could say. But somewhere in the back of my mind, in a voice very similar to my own, I heard the name of the device: the Omnitrix.
Pushing down on the faceplate, I could feel something. The best way I could describe it is saying there was a shift.
Starting from the watch, I could feel my body change. Rather than hurting or feeling uncomfortable it felt natural. It was like I was alway born this way.
My skin changed to rocks. My blood changed to magma and could be seen between the cracks and crevasses of my body. My own body heat was hot enough to start a fire on my head.
"Holy cow!" I yelled looking at myself. My head spinning with every scientific theory I could think of that could cause me to turn into what I am now. None of them worked.
'You are accepting being a literal walking ball of fire too easily,' I thought to myself as I realized that I wasn't as shocked about being a possible forest fire as I am with how this was even possible.
"No freaking way. I didn't think this was real," I said as I started to play with the fire I was making.
If anyone heard of Ben 10, you know what is going on.
'And here I thought my name was just a coincidence.'
Looking around, I tried shooting small focused shots of fire to knock the branches off the trees. I really should have thought that through.
Crackle Crackle
'Ah man, don't tell me,' I thought as I heard the sound of wood starting to burn.
Snap Pop Hiss Roar
"Oh this is so not good."
Max POV
I exited the RV and saw Gwen still on her computer, probably doing homework. "Hm, Ben has been gone for quite a while. Hopefully he hasn't run into any trouble around here."
"Unless he wound up as bear food," Gwen said, causing me to look at her unamused. "Hey, I can dream can't I?"
Hearing her say that just made me think of how different she is from her cousin. He would mess with her but he genuinely cares for his cousin. Probably something he got from his mother.
I still remember the day Ben was born. He didn't cry, rather he laughed once we saw him. Heck he was full of so much energy that we got worried he would hurt himself.
Growing up he was a real go-getter. Trying new things, learning different skills; everyone thought he would follow in my footsteps and be an astronaut or a fighter pilot. I honestly hope he doesn't, cause if he does end up like me then I'd be worried about the kind of things he'd have to face.
'Don't think of that. You're retired now, and that's all in the past,' I thought to myself.
"Hey, what's that?" Gwen asked, pointing towards the forest. And unknowingly bringing me out of my thoughts.
Turning around I see smoke rising to the air. "Looks like the start of a forest fire. We call for the park rangers. Probably some darn fool camper out there messing around with something he shouldn't."
It then hits both me and Gwen who it could be. "Ben."
I grab two fire extinguishers and give one to Gwen. We then ran off to look for him.
'I hope you're alright kiddo,' was all I could think of at the moment.
Ben POV
'Oh man. What do I do now?' I asked myself, thinking of every possible way to extinguish the fire around me. A good amount of those options aren't available or not possible in my current form.
As I try to think as I'm stomping on some flames to no success something bumps into me. I turned around to see my cousin's surprised then terrified face.
"Wait, I know this looks bad. But-" I didn't get to finish thanks to Gwen wacking me with the fire extinguishers.
I then get sprayed with the wet chemical mixture of the extinguishers causing me to nearly choke on it. It only turned Off the fire on my head for a little while though.
"I don't know what you are, but you'll stay down there if you know what's good for you," she said as she threatened to spray me again.
Annoyed she didn't let me speak, and feeling a little malicious, I caused her shoe to catch on fire.
Seeing her freak out got me to smile a little. But she clearly didn't find it amusing.
"Okay, you asked for it," she said as she got ready to hit me again.
"Don't even think about it ya freak," I said, causing her to pause mid swing.
"Ben? Is that you."
I sighed as I answered, "Yeah, it's kinda a long story."
We hear grandpa Max running towards us. I was both glad and relieved to see him as was Gwen, our young minds just glad to have an adult with us. But I felt unease coming from grandpa at the sight of me.
After a moment of brainstorming he helped me figure out a way to put out the fire before it got worse.
Max POV
There is nothing on earth that can surprise me, or get me to worry. But seeing an alien with my granddaughter was something I didn't want to see. But that was nothing compared to the surprise I got when I realized that my grandson was that very same alien.
After putting out the fire we went back to camp and Ben told me what happened. I know he was adventurous and smart for his age, but sometimes he sure can be rather reckless with his actions.
But now I'm worried. That watch he told me about wasn't some ordinary watch. It was an advanced piece of alien tech called the omnitrix. Most thought it was a myth, but I guess he proved it was real.
I decided to head for the crash site to get more clues about who sent the omnitrix to earth before I ended up saying more than I have to. Ben already seems suspicious of what I know.
'Hope they don't realize I haven't Told them everything.'
Gwen POV
I decided to keep an eye on Ben while grandpa was away. He was writing in his notebook at first stuck in his own little world. Now he is messing with that dumb watch he has.
Seeing him change from that fire guy back to himself in the flash of a red light was unbelievable. I read that DNA can't simply be changed overnight, so it was just impossible to see the change happen in less than a second.
I was annoyed with having to go with Ben and grandpa to spend the summer when I already had plans. Now I'm just mad at Ben for being so nonchalant about this whole mess.
"What do you think you're doing?!" I scream at Ben. I hope he gets the message and stops messing with the watch. I was wrong. "Grandpa told you not to mess with that thing while he was gone."
"Oh come on. You can't honestly say you're not curious about what this thing can do?" he asks me, not bothered by my sudden shout in the least.
"Truthfully… no, not in the least," I answered with little thought.
"Are you sure we're related?"
The watch made a weird sound, I looked and saw how The faceplate rose with the hourglass shape on it inverting into a diamond and showing the silhouette of the creature he was a while ago.
I try to warn him not to do anything only for him to have a look of utter focus as he twisted the dial and then pressed on it.
FLASH
In a moment, a bright light flared and now he looked like some kind of large dog.
'This is going to be a long summer,' I thought as I looked at the new alien creature.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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