Kapitel 2: And Then There Were 10

On Planet Earth, at 3:00 PM…

A 10 year-old boy with brown hair and forest green eyes was in his grandfather's RV, relaxing in one of the seats of the built-in table and with his back to the window, having both arms crossed behind his head.

He wore a gray hoodie with green stripes, a black-striped and short sleeved black shirt with a central white stripe, military green cargo pants with extra pockets at the side and white sneakers with their own set of black stripes.

This was our unlikely hero, Benjamin Kirby "Ben" Tennyson. A boy with plenty of knowledge of the future even way beyond regular mortal understanding.

Despite his exterior cool demeanor, internally the boy couldn't be more excited for what was to come that day. Years of planning all building up to what might already be transpiring much farther away from the sky above him.

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And just as the boy was expecting…deep within outer space…in the solar system space, a battle was going on in the asteroid belt of Saturn.

There, one could identify what appeared to be a small gray ship, with twin fins and green spheres on its edges, being blasted with red lasers.

Those same red lasers came from a much larger ship that looked like a larger version of the Spartan Laser weapon from Halo and with red spheres, however this was the ship known as the Chimerian Hammer, feared throughout the universe due to its infamous captain.

Despite all that infamy, the smaller green ship still fought bravely and flew to the side, firing two green lasers back at it once it found an opening, causing some damage to the hull of the pursuing ship.

Inside the Chimerian Hammer, two humanoid robots were at the controls, immediately calculating the amount of damage they just received. They were orange with a black faceplate with four orange dots and spikes on the shoulders.

"Hull damage 20%, but the system's still operational." One of the robots reported.

The captain of the ship was a light green squid-like alien with a red armored suit and gauntlets, bearing tentacles for a beard and piercing red eyes that brought instant dread to his enemies.

This was the alien warlord known as Vilgax.

"I have come too far to be denied!" The most feared conqueror of all stated menacingly as the ships exited the asteroid belt and the smaller ship evaded the Chimerian Hammer's lasers. "The Omnitrix shall be mine and there is not a being in the galaxy that would dare stand in my way!"

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Meanwhile, at the same time in class, a girl with short orangish red hair held by a blue hair clip and green eyes, wearing a blue raglan shirt with a cat logo on her chest, white capris and a pair of white shoes with dark blue stripes, impatiently tapped her foot on the ground.

Having already finished her notes of the last class, she stared up at the clock with a nervous twitch in her head as she kicked her foot up and down, looking like she was about to burst from the class at any moment.

'Come on, clock. Grandpa is probably waiting for me at any moment now.' She thought to herself as she glared. 'Wasn't what I had planned, but I still need this vacation.'

"Okay, class." The teacher said. "I hope you have a good summer and I hope to see you again soon."

That was when the bell rang and everyone shot up out of their seats, especially Gwen who grabbed her backpack and practically bolted for the door as she rolled her fist in celebration. 'Woo-hoo!'

Gwen walked outside and took a breath of fresh air and exhaled invitingly. "Ah. So good."

Soon enough, two girls walked out of the school and stood side by side with her.

The first had raven-black hair that reached her ears and curved upward, brown eyes and she wore a tan frilly dress and black shoes. She was also starting to develop breasts on her chest.

The second was a young girl a few months younger than her with short blonde hair tied in pigtails and had chocolate brown eyes. She was dressed in a safari-colored shirt and pants with shoes with different shades of green.

Gwen smiled at them both as if being good acquaintances.

"So..." The older girl said. "What are you doing this summer, Gwen?"

"My parents made me change plans and now I'm going on a road trip around the country with my grandpa." Gwen said with a sigh, having already worked her way around her previously established schedule to better use her time during summer vacation.

"No way! That's awesome!" The black-haired girl said. "I'm going to see if I can get a job before school starts again. Not much you can't do when you come from a family as wealthy as mine."

"Of course, Simone..." The younger girl said with a smile followed by a roll of her eyes. "Your dad's Carl Nesmith. That's got to have some perks. But don't forget you are still just a kid."

"Yeah, yeah. At least I'm not a snob about it." Simone chuckled as she and Gwen looked at her. "What about you, Casey?"

"I'm going to sign up for an animal care project in the city. We go on trips to places like Africa and Asia to study exotic species of animals. It's going to be awesome."

"Of course it is, wild girl." Simone smiled as the three girls sighed.

"Well, gotta run." Casey said. "My mom wants me home early to get the chores done."

"Same here, I'm going to help my dad with some of his work back at the tower." Simone said with a bragging tone.

"Bye, Simone, bye Casey." Gwen waved as her two friends left.

As she watched them leave, she saw a flash of yellow hair out of the corner of her eye and got hugged from behind. "Guess who!"

Gwen immediately recognized her voice and manner of speaking. "Uh, hi there Lucy."

"Hehe, Sike!" The other girl said while laughing and snorting. "What gave me away?"

As Gwen turned to face the one who had hugged her out of the blue, she saw a long haired blonde girl with blue eyes. The girl wore a black sleeved dress with a red collar, a star on the chest area, white socks that go over her knees and red shoes. Wearing her hair in a ponytail with a red hairband and also had two freckles on either side of her face.

"Who else could it be?" Gwen told her with a shrug. "You've always loved to prank me."

Lucy simply gave her a wide smile in response. "So, ready for our summer vacation?"

"Yeah, as ready as I could possibly be." Gwen sighed before showing signs of surprise. "Wait, what do you mean by 'our'?"

"Hehe, didn't your parents tell you?" Lucy asked before cheering. "We will be having a lot of fun together!"

"Nobody told me anything!" Gwen exclaimed, a bit annoyed at first before eventually calming down. "But I guess it can't be helped. At least he won't be going—"

She was interrupted by a honking and yellowish-grey RV, called the Rust Bucket, that had pulled up to the corner. The driver was a man in his late 50's with white hair and a red Hawaiian shirt with blue pants and brown boots.

He was her grandfather, Maxwell "Max" Tennyson, who immediately greeted them both with a friendly smile. "Come on, kids. We're burning daylight! I want to get to the campsite by nightfall!"

"Grandpa Max!" They both said in surprise as they ran up to the car and entered the Rust Bucket, hugging their grandfather.

"You have no idea how much I have been looking forward to this." Gwen began explaining, cutting herself off just when she turned to see a boy casually sitting by the window seat. "Oh no!"

Ben just smiled at the sight of his cousins while maintaining his nonchalant posture. "Hey there Gwendolyn, little Lucy, how are you two doing? It's so great to see you!"

"What are YOU doing here?! What is HE doing here?!" Gwen asked in a shout at both Ben and her grandfather.

"Take it easy, princess." Ben sighed. "This wasn't my first idea too. But I was convinced that going camping for the summer would be a good experience for me."

"Grandpa, please. Tell me you didn't!" Begged Gwen.

"I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us for the summer." Max said. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all." Lucy smiled at him and gave him a nice hug, one that he quickly reciprocated. "Hey, Ben. Long time no see, huh?"

"Indeed it has." Ben said while patting Lucy's head before continuing. "Well, I may have to go with the grumpiest cousin ever, but at least I also get to spend it with the most cheerful cousin ever to balance it out."

"How can you possibly like him?" Gwen asked as Ben sighed and shook his head.

"Because he's awesome!" Lucy said. "And cool to be around."

"So, how has your school year been going?" Gwen finally calmed down a little before Lucy decided to ask Ben more about the past few years they hadn't seen each other as frequently as they used to.

"Actually, I'm doing fine." He said with a chuckle. "You know, same old, same old."

"Yeah, same here." Lucy said rather joyfully, but before they could continue talking their attention was immediately drawn to another one of Gwen's rants.

"I can't believe it." Their ginger haired cousin groaned. "Right when I was about to look forward to this trip, the King of arrogance had to come along for the ride. No offense, Lucy, but you must be a bit too gullible to fall for his shtick."

"None taken." Lucy casually replied.

"C'mon Gwen." Ben said with a calm expression. "This is no way to treat a cousin that has been missing you too."

"Hey! I had my own summer vacation planned out, you know!" Gwen remarked, pulling out a schedule. "I had color-coated each activity so I'd never do the same thing two days in a row. Now, I'm stuck going camping with my haughty cousin for three months."

"Haughty? Don't be a drama queen." Ben mocked her previous statement before trying to raise a white flag. "By the way, that schedule of yours looks cool. I'm always a fan of organizing and maximizing my time. But you know what they say, the first plan never survives first contact."

"Jerk." Gwen dismissed his compliment and just turned her back on him.

"Something tells me it's going to be a long summer." Max said as they went onto the highway.

"Gwen, could we talk, cousin to cousin?" Lucy said, pulling her into the restroom. "Look, Gwen. I know you don't like him, but he's not as bad as you think he is. It's been so long since we had a good time together, he had always been busy with his studies and all. Perhaps we can learn lots of things with him."

Gwen sighed before admitting. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just that he really knows how to annoy me with just the minimal effort."

"I can see that, hehe. Just talk to him, he can be reasonable and avoid doing whatever it is that grinds your gears." Lucy said as they walked out of the bathroom. "Hey, guys. Can I please have the top bunk?"

"Sure." Ben and Max said simultaneously.

"See, Gwen?" That was when she thought more about it. "Am I going to fall out every time the RV makes a sharp turn?"

"Yes." Ben and Max replied with a friendly smile.

Lucy then chuckled with a face of embarrassment. "Okay, bad example. But that's on me."

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That night at the campsite, the kids all sat at the picnic table preparing for dinner as Ben strummed his guitar with a smile as he sang to himself.

"You've learned to play that instrument really well." Lucy complimented while Ben nodded. "You are so talented. I just know that you're going to be a star when you grow up."

Gwen just rolled her eyes, not wanting to agree with her cousin but still trying her best to not sour the mood again.

Soon enough, Max came out carrying a bowl. "Chow time!"

Gwen immediately smiled and walked towards him. "Alright. I'm starving."

As Max placed the bowl down, the three recoiled in disgust as the bowl was squirming with worms that were still alive. Gwen almost threw up in her mouth a little bit.

'Geez grandpa, I know you might temporarily share some Lepidopterran DNA once you get hit with Animo's mutant ray, but this is a little too much too early.' Ben thought to himself while waiting to tell his cousins what he had brought for their trip.

"Okay. I give up. What is that?" Lucy asked, still not sure if that meal was supposed to be normal to humans.

"Marinated mealworms." Max said in a proud manner. "Hard to find them fresh in the States. You know, they're considered a delicacy in some countries."

"And totally gross in others." Gwen stated while Lucy chuckled. Just then one of the worms squirmed out of the bowl and slithered away, prompting Gwen to gulp hard. "Okay, I'm sure they might be a delicacy in some place like France or Japan, but let's face it. They'll eat anything in those places."

"If these don't sound good, I've got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge." Max said genuinely interested in helping out.

"Eh..." Lucy pondered. "Couldn't we just have a burger or something?"

"Nonsense!" Max stated with an amused smile. "This summer's gonna be an adventure for your taste buds. I'll grab the tongue."

Gwen and Lucy looked at each other.

"Okay. I was looking forward to this trip. I personally don't mind the food." Lucy stated, not wanting to be left out.

"I do! I've got some rice cakes and hard candy." Gwen said, as if it was a completely regular meal. "What have you got, Lucy?"

"A bag of beef jerky and a bottle of cola." Lucy replied. "And you, Ben?"

He gave them a smile, displaying rather theatrically a medium sized insulated bag. "Some Sloppy Joes, Meatloaf, Tacos and Burritos, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, fresh fruit, Homemade Bread and Muffins. Back on the RV I've also got multiple snacks and drinks stored away."

"Wow! You were expecting this?" Gwen asked.

Before he had the chance to reply, Lucy tackled him with a bear hug. "Of course he did! He's just that awesome!"

"Let's just say my father had some good advice from his time with grandpa." Ben shrugged with a smug grin while quickly glaring at the sky, almost as if looking for something interesting to be happening up there.

As they quickly went on to enjoy a more proper meal, Ben took his time to speak with Max and gently brought up the matter of his delicacies dishes with a faint glow of red on his emerald eyes.

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Back in space, the battle was still going on at full capacity as the Chimerian Hammer blasted lasers at the smaller ship, eventually hitting the back of it, destroying the engine.

"Their propulsion systems have been destroyed!" The pilot robot reported to Vilgax.

"Prepare to board!" Vilgax ordered. "I want the Omnitrix, now!"

However, in a last desperate effort of defense, the smaller ship fired a green laser from the top fin and it blasted the upper area of the Chimerian Hammer, which caused a huge explosion that destroyed the pilot and severely injured Vilgax.

Although that lucky shot didn't come without its own consequences, the Chimerian Hammer had simultaneously fired one last laser, which completely destroyed the ship's structure and there was nothing left but the front.

The green ship however sent out space capsules just before it was destroyed and it separated to send out a pod that was hurtling down to Earth to find its destination.

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Back down at the campsite, Ben was playing on his portable gaming system with his cousin Lucy while Gwen was on her own laptop.

Just then Max came up to them holding a bag of marshmallows as they continued on their activities. "Who wants to roast marshmallows?"

"Just a second Grandpa, me and Lucy are about to advance to the next level." Ben told him while Lucy kept pressing the buttons on her controller.

"Okay. How about we also tell scary stories while eating them?" Max tried to find another thing that he could use to connect with his grandchildren.

"Scarier than having to spend your summer with your weirdo cousin?" Gwen asked in a mocking tone, unable to resist herself. "Not you Lucy."

"Gwen! That was so uncalled for!" Lucy scolded as Ben just dismissed her with a chuckle.

Gwen glared at him and turned back to her laptop.

"I'm also busy looking up cures for extreme geekiness!" Gwen mocked. "Nothing yet, Ben, but let's not give up hope!"

"I thought you liked my geekiness." He remarked before cheering for defeating the boss in his portable video game.

"Come on, you three. We're all in this together. Either you can mope around all summer or we can have some fun!" Max encouraged them.

"I vote for fun!" Ben said high fiving Lucy.

"Me too!" Lucy joined in.

"I vote for moping." Gwen frowned and returned to her laptop.

After completing the level, Ben turned off his video game. "I'm going to take a quick walk, Grandpa. After that we can have some tasty marshmallows." He said as he got up and walked into the woods. "And I hope you have some spooky stories to match the ones I've learned back in college."

"Do you want company?" Asked Lucy, blushing a little.

"Maybe next time, little Lucy." He told her with a charming smile. "Could you please store my video game back in my bag?"

"Sure thing." She smiled and did what he asked her.

"You behave as if you were his puppy." Gwen said with a grunt.

"I think you're starting to grow on each other." Max said in a hopeful manner.

"Yeah, like a tumor." Gwen stated without stopping her Internet search. "Sorry Grandpa, it's just not gonna happen."

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MC's POV

Meanwhile, as I left the group behind on the Rust Bucket, I quickly made my way through the nearby forest. Clearing considerable space in a short amount of time thanks to my improved physical performance boosted by my mana, eventually reaching some high level where I got a good view of the area where my special package might eventually land.

"Oh, man! This is it!" I told himself while trying my best to not jinx myself.

After scouting for a while throughout the woods, I decided to keep my sights up only to eventually spot a shooting star with a pink streak soaring across the sky.

"Whoa! A shooting star!" I said, not really afraid to risk exposing myself to a possible time traveler observant after diverging so much from the canon continuity.

But just for the sake of it, I also cupped my hands and made a wish. Fear almost dawned on me until I witnessed the 'shooting star' change directions and started heading straight for my position.

'Either it mistook me for Grandpa or an actual variant of me just hit it with quite the impact.' I thought in the brink moment I had left to dodge out of its way.

Although, before I could get far enough, I was thrown by the force of the impact and had to actually put some effort into flipping in the air and landing in the dirt.

'Argh, if only I could just test my magical shields against it without risking exposing myself.' I remarked mentally before dusting my clothes off. 'But I suppose I should just be thankful that it wasn't a literal impact equivalent of a JDAM.'

The comet that landed created a huge crater in the ground, walking to the edge of the crater and looking at it, I found exactly what I've been dreaming ever since I woke up in this new life.

"Wow…It's not a shooting star at all." I said slightly bored, already tired of my own act. "It looks like a satellite… or something."

The 'satellite' was actually the space pod from earlier as it then cooled off from the heat of entry.

Then, the ground that I was standing on 'suddenly' gave way and I came sliding down and found myself facing the pod.

No longer needing to act up and look nervous as the space pod opened to reveal a watch. It was green on the faceplate and black-framed with gray supports and had a green button on it.

'Hello there!' I mentally said as if meeting an old friend of mine, almost shedding an actual tear from how special that moment really was to me. 'You almost made me worried a few minutes ago. Thought you would not come for me this time.'

Getting a mischievous grin on my face, I stuck my hand in and the green watch unhatched itself, jumped up and clamped right onto my left arm.

Shaking my arm just to check that the watch wouldn't get off that easily, I even tried to test its hold over me by pulling and pulling, but it just wouldn't budge.

"Excellent! Keikaku intensifies!" I smiled in victory before immediately starting fiddling with the Omnitrix, until the faceplate popped up. "Great progress so far!"

The X-shaped faceplate then folded to form a diamond shape and the silhouette of a flame-headed creature with thick hands appeared inside of it.

"Awesome!" I said actually excited before pressing down the faceplate and a flash of green light suddenly came out of the watch.

The Omnitrix sank down into my arm and from where it sinked, brown-orange rocks erupted from my skin and worked their way down my body until they reached my eyes. Then, cracks appeared in the outline of my now rocky skin and the watch symbol appeared on his chest. My head erupted into flames with a face outline inside.

"I'm on fire baby!" I realized with a smirk, not completely believing my time had actually come. "Check it out! I'm totally hot! But my voice is totally cool!"

After getting a proper hold of my emotions and finally stopped gushing about how nostalgic it was to be in that exact position, I cooled my mind and began looking for the most obvious changes to me.

"Other than being light like a candle, which sucks for stealth, especially during nighttime, I can still see with colors." Clapping my hands and snapping my fingers with care close to my head I presumed. "My hearing seems normal." Sniffing the air around for a brief moment. "Perhaps a small impairment to smelling scents. Perhaps for the best, I would rather not have to smell sulfur every time I turned into a Pyronite."

I stared at my glowing hot hands and began to ponder. "Pyrokinesis and heat generation… that's a given. Uuu… not gonna lie, fire daggers aaaand swords are pretty awesome!"

Picking a falling leaf and igniting its tip quickly before gesturing with my hand and absorbing the small flame. "Fire and heat absorption as well as immunity… that's a check."

By puffing my rocky chest and blowing the heated air, I was capable of imitating a fire breathing dragon. "Fire Breath, and very possibly the ability to spew fire balls…that's another check."

Flexing my molten rock-like arms and legs, I deducted. "I believe overall enhanced strength, durability, jumping, acrobatics, agility and reflexes come along as well." After considering what I recalled from the cartoon series I concluded. "But I guess most of my alien forms will have these perks with some minor fluctuation. Gotta set up some equipment to help me better power scale each transformation."

Continuing to walk through the forest, having to simultaneously control the temperature of my feet and immediately absorb any ember I might be leaving behind on the grass, all without forgetting the place where I got the Omnitrix, until I reached the closest lake. "Let's see…"

By slowly entering the body of water I eventually noticed that my physiological flames were kept to minimal temperature, which still was enough to make the water touching me boil. "Underwater Survivability? That's a major yes! I hope the same can be said once I get ice attacks." Recalled one episode in particular and remarked. "Need to study its interaction with 'cold virus' and understand to what extent my own natural biology is fused with my transformations."

Walking back to dry land, I noticed my body temperature immediately spiking again to 'regular levels' for a Pyronite.

"Alright, what else?" I asked myself once again, failing to suppress my inner kid. "I should probably avoid testing flight or terrakinesis during a summer night in the middle of a forest that hasn't experienced enough rain. But if Gwen was able to pull it off…" I stopped for a moment and demonstrated the same level of pyrotechnic projection skill needed to write my own name up in the air. "Yup, that's really neat."

Making my way back to the empty pod that brought the watch. "Wait, wasn't this species' home planet basically a functioning sun? Perhaps that means It doesn't really need oxygen to sustain itself. Yeah, now I really want to test one of my long lasting theories."

Positioning myself with enough open space before me, I pulled off a dashing forward, which prompted my body to turn into a wispy cloud of smoke and embers, until I rematerialized a few meters ahead of my previous position. "Oh yeah! Smoke Dash confirmed! Wait until I have the chance to test out my Orbital Drop! Or perhaps going Supernova while doing my best: I am Atomic impression! Come to think about it, I should postpone it until mastering my control over these powers, I would rather not accidentally incinerate Earth to a crisp."

Then, all of a sudden, the watch's symbol on my chest started beeping red and then, after a few seconds, released a bright red flash of light and then, when it faded, I stood there, back to my normal self and with my clothes completely unfazed.

"Gotta prioritize the Master Control. A couple of research hours into my tiny little Galvan (Grey Matter) form should suffice." I sighed while hiding my new watch under my hoodie's sleeve. "Should've at least tested how my mana would've interfered with my transformation." I lit up his right hand with a green orb of energy that I soon after extinguished. "Perhaps It would have compensated for this Omnitrix's lacking feature of providing me with the species' instincts. Might've made manipulating fire much easier for me and safer for my environment. But then again, if I did that while it was still dark it would've looked like the sun was already rising and immediately exposing me before I was ready."

Seeing not much else to do until the Omnitrix recharged, I decided to return to camp and have my marshmallow and horror story time with my grandpa and cousins.

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Back in the camp…

"Hmm..." Max wondered, having not heard anything out of the ordinary besides the absence of one of his grandchildren. "Ben has been gone awhile. But I guess he can't get into too much trouble out here."

"Unless he ends up bear's food." Gwen said as Max and Lucy turned and glared at her.

"Hey, I can dream, can't I?" She just shrugged before someone caught her by surprise.

"Keep dreaming dear Gwendolyn." Ben told her with a chuckle, ignoring her startled jump and immediately approached Max about those Marshmallows.

Later on the new bearer of the Omnitrix had the opportunity to continue playing with his guitar and tell a couple of tales he recalled from his previous life and bonded with them for a couple of more hours.

Fortunately, thanks to the boy's hoodie, no one noticed the Omnitrix still hanging tight around his left wrist under his sleeve.

From then on, Ben Tennyson would count it as another part of his body. Declaring adamantly to himself that Vilgax better prepare himself for what's coming his way if he dares try to take it from him.

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Concurrently, up in space on board the Chimerian Hammer, one of the pilot robots was reporting to Vilgax, who was now placed inside of a tank.

"Errrrr…What do you mean it's not there?!" Vilgax asked angrily, still recovering from his near death experience. "This battle nearly cost me my life and you say the Omnitrix is no longer on board the transport?!"

Vilgax, the warlord conqueror, rose up from inside of the tank and treated his minions to a truly grisly site.

His entire body was now visibly mutilated from the explosion from earlier, with his entire left side being basically destroyed with the bones and internal organs sticking out. His right arm and leg were tattered and he was strapped to a breathing apparatus to keep himself alive while his body regenerated.

"Sensors indicate a probe was jettisoned from the ship just before boarding. It landed on the planet below there." The robot pilot reported.

Vilgax growled in response and turned to one of his robot scouts. "Bring it to me."

The robot complied in silence before leaving the room.

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MC'S POV

Back at the campsite, I had successfully used my magical aura to make everyone sleepy, after half an hour of urging them to all go to sleep earlier so they could better enjoy the next morning.

Now…after distancing myself enough from the Rust Bucket, I was finally free to do as I pleased.

"Eenie." I dialed past a ghost alien, past an insectoid alien, until I finally selected my next alien transformation.

The watch sank into my wrist and my blood vessels expanded rapidly before spreading across my entire body, which eventually reached my eyes, prompting me to clutch them shut and when I shot them open again they were now fully golden. A second pair of arms shot out just below my primary pair and I felt my muscle mass grow exponentially in less than a second.

My feet morphed themselves to only have two toes and my skin turned into a thick rough tone of red with a few black crests on my face, almost as if they were skin markings like tattoos, and I also grew a second pair of eyes beneath my original set. The Omnitrix preserved my previous set of clothes and replaced them with a white and black one-piece bodysuit that suited my new form just better.

Shooting a pose, I understood this species was known as Tetramand, or for the less initiated, Four Arms.

"Are you ready to rumble?!" I shouted with my deep voice, noticing how now I stood over twelve feet high.

Flexing my two sets of arms stole a proud laugh from me. "Instant bodybuilder! Don't you dare call me a Fake Natty! Ha! I can definitely pack quite the punch in this form, definitely much more than I could while even being enhanced by my mana." I then turned to my newest pair of arms. "Let's see…"

I moved around and began testing my control over this new form.

"Like I assumed, enhanced strength, durability, agility, speed, reflexes, jumping and also acrobatics..." Noticing I hadn't even broken a sweat, I added. "Alongside enhanced stamina were all given by this point."

I followed that assessment by performing multiple fighting movements, balancing my strength, speed and precision while doing so.

"This is undoubtedly the form that better improves my wrestling capabilities." I concluded after easily crunching tree branches and a few rocks with just my hand grip. "Strong bite and sharp teeth. And probably strong and durable fingers to climb most types of surfaces." I continued to inspect my anatomy. Stretching my limbs and feeling the mass behind them being ridiculously high. "Better avoid performing sonic claps while around regular people. Real world physics of this feat are much scarier than what the cartoon for kids made it appear to be. Same thing for generating earthquakes and performing my super jumps."

My skin was really tough, perhaps not invulnerable against the higher tears of power out in the universe, but I doubt anything short of an actual nuke should be enough to actually pose an immediate challenge to me. That or some actual mythological God or something similar hiding somewhere in this weird version of planet earth.

'Now… for the question some trolls have always raised on the internet.' I thought before staring down at my pants. Unlike the kid friendly cartoon, this time my spandex tight pants actually display an impressive bulge in between my crotch, which left me wondering if the watch really made each species comparable to my biological age.

But before any adult content could actually happen, it seemed that my ten minutes were up and my watch's symbol on my shoulder finally started beeping red and then, after a couple of seconds, it released a bright flash of light of red color, when it faded there I stood back to my human form.

However, instead of cursing the time limit, I found it sort of funny before suddenly thinking about a solution I had come up with for quite a while then.

Channeling my anodite powers into the watch, I soon heard the core of the watch pop up, signaling it was ready for use once again.

Just as expected, for a device capable of accumulating enough energy to blow up the universe, that act alone had considerably drained me for a brief moment, which made me momentarily disoriented. I also felt my breathing grow heavier and my heartbeat noticeably accelerate probably so it could compensate for the lack of mana I was distributing around my body.

Fortunately, this sudden drought of mana forced my body to quickly adapt and generate larger amounts of life energy. I immediately understood right then that this might be the safe, yet still unpleasant, route I've been seeking to improve my Anodite powers.

And since there has been no signs of Vilgax's robots, I was more than ready to go through all of my initial ten.

Eventually, once I managed to muster enough strength for a smile before carefully selecting the next transformation, I pressed the dial once again and was greeted with a reinvigorating feeling that could very well make me addictive in no time.

My watch immediately sank into my wrist as my skin hardened and turned into a green exoskeleton, with my hands becoming black with three clawed fingers. My head morphed, growing four golden insectoid eyes that blinked vertically and my face was covered by a black attire that resembled a mask.

My body continued to reshape, becoming insectoid-like, as six green large insect-like legs grew out of my sides, two green silk wings grew from his back and my abdomen grew down into a large black stinger. The watch's symbol appeared on my forehead as I flipped my wings that now appeared to be razor sharp and immediately felt a powerful gust of wind.

This species was known as Lepidopterran, or just Stinkfly if you will.

In this form I was capable of flying (duh) at incredible speeds, albeit not fast enough to act like Rudolph, the red-nosed deer, and deliver gifts throughout the earth's surface in less than a single night. Or perhaps in less than ten minutes if you take the original time limit into consideration.

Man, that episode was just an absolute mess.

Plus, I felt that I was capable of carrying heavy beings such as Vilgax, although that might just be while still in mid flight, otherwise regular grapples in the ground would have no chance to pin me down. That and strong wind will take me out of the sky very quickly, although I'm not sure if it will have to be on the scale of a tornado or not.

Spitting a slime-like substance that could ensnare my targets or serve as an improvised grappling rope on top of either being flammable or fire suppressive, depending if I spat them through my eyes or my mouth. Such a versatile tool, I'm sure it will prove its use from time to time.

I also had in this form, sharp claws, feet and an ultra sensitive receptor stinger that could easily pierce steel and work as some sort of insect antenna. Allowing me to crawl and climb on the occasion that flying wasn't an option at the time, just as if I was spider-man.

Which sure, wasn't the same thing as an insect, but still, you get the idea.

What else…let's see…oh, movable eyes that grants me a 360° field of vision. Not to mention that my actual vision reminded me of a dragonfly's, processing all my surroundings as if everything was moving at slow motion. Even my brain felt dedicated to better process all that influx of information fast enough to be applied while under massive speeds of flight.

"Hmmm…My standards for tasty food have fallen drastically. And I must really stink for anyone that wasn't of the same species, to the point that it might even be toxic to plants." I said with my high pitched voice. "But I at least have gained some sort of 'pseudo-spider-sense' alongside my expanded field of view."

How did the original Ben never notice it? Again, spiders aren't insect, but a spider-sense variant is still dope as fuck!

Next…Incredibly enough, enhanced strength, although to a much lesser degree than my Pyronite (Heatblast) or Tetramand (Four Arms) form, but still easily capable of overpowering a regular human.

Enhanced durability due to my really thick exoskeleton, which resisted being tackled through a building by none other than Vilgax without being squashed like a bug, while still not hindering my great agility, dexterity and reflexes. Should just stay clear of non physical attacks such as electric and cold just in case.

Hearing the time limit red beep of the Omnitrix in time to land without a problem, I eventually morphed back to my human form.

"Next." I said excitedly, not at all worried about the energy drainage I was about to put myself through again and again, this time I approached the same body of water from before before pressing the dial.

Next time you see, the watch sank into my wrist again and my arms were immediately covered in grayish-blue scales that traveled up my arms, turning my fingers into claws.

I then grew one angler from my forehead that emitted a bright phosphorescent-light, just as my eyes did as well. Growing gills from my neck as my teeth quickly grew and sharpened themselves, once the scales finished covering my body, my hair then turned into a green dorsal fin running down my back.

My clothes were once again switched, this time I was dressed into a green loincloth-like bathing suit that was only on my bottom half. The watch's symbol this time was on my upper left torso.

This species was known as Piscciss Volann, or Ripjaws.

In this form I could breathe underwater (duh), literally form a actual tail by merging my legs in real time, vastly improving my speed and agility underwater. Though my limits were still left to be properly measured, I hoped it would be another case where original Ben merely scratched the surface of its true potential.

What other instant land adaptation could this form achieve that I wasn't aware of? Perhaps shifting between gills and lungs? Meh, that's perhaps just too wishful thinking from my part.

In any case, closing in on the underwear adaptability I already had, which included actual night vision enabling me to see perfectly in the dark recesses of the deep, spotting minuscule objects on the seafloor, and what appeared to be a water sonar that allows me to pinpoint objects through my enhanced acute hearing.

And in order to make a home under the waves and plumb the deepest depths of the ocean floor from its home planet, this species' body would have to be quite sturdy and somewhat invulnerable to survive the tremendous physical underwater pressures. The densely packed muscles were a bonus to that demand. Then again, the limit of this adaptability would have to be explored for better understanding.

Interestingly, my favorite trait was being able to expand his mouth, which always struck me as one of the best intimidation tools I had alongside my steel-bending jaws. And if I recall correctly, both my teeth and claws were capable of easily piercing steel as well. The hunger I'm feeling at the moment makes me wonder how powerful is my stomach actually is.

"I might not have supernatural abilities like hydrokinesis or marine telepathy, at least not until I get the time and rest to properly test out my transformations with my own mana, but by swimming fast enough, I presume I could easily generate water vortexes, and most underwater predators would find I'm not that easily bullied." I felt my throat a little dry just a few seconds after transforming and decided to finally take a dip into the lake from before. "This form would definitely be one of my MVPs if not for the Omnitrix glitching out and not providing it with a breathing device just as it will give for the cerebrocrustacean species, or Brain Storm."

After quickly testing out the assessments I've previously made in the short amount of time I still had left, eventually the symbol on my upper left torso warned that my time was up and I quickly returned to solid ground, turning back to my human form and dried clothes. "Next."

The Omnitrix sunk into my arm and this time my skin turned into a metallic texture of black and green lines of energy scrawled their way across my body, giving it the appearance of a computer's screen with circuitry patterns within. Both my clothes and hair vanished from my body and my eyes merged into one that quickly morphed into a green light circle.

This species was known as Galvanic Mechamorph, or just Upgrade. As a matter of fact, my body was now made up of billions of small cell-like creatures called nanites.

No, don't let me get started with all the fan theories about becoming a better, or should I say an upgraded, version of Generator Rex! Unfortunately, due to the prototype Omnitrix not being able to perfectly turn its organic wielder into a Galvanic Mechamorph, at least for the moment even basic weapon mimicry was out of my range.

Having said that, this form still has great perks such as Technokinesis which includes electrical and mechanical technology possession, enhancement, repairment and even dismantling. Although, having spent enough time with Cooper and having put some thought into replicating his Technopathy, if there's any transformation that would benefit from such a power it has to be this one with actual inbuilt hacking ability.

Wobbling my way around the forest in my semi-liquid body, shifting between slithering and stretching like an amorphous slime, I reached the obvious conclusion that this must be the worst place to properly evaluate everything I was capable of.

Yeah, good that my optic Plasma Laser and energy constructs were capable of cutting through trees without igniting the whole forest and I could generate enough light comparable to one of those brightest flashlights that seemed to immediately turn night into daytime, however neither were that much of a big deal, that and turning off all my green circuitry lines in order to be somewhat stealthy.

Where's my camouflaging system? Don't tell me it is also locked behind a full transformation wall? By Azmuth!

…

Shit, almost forgot about that fucker taking his life's vacation on Xenon.

In any event, being this far from a big city and this deep into the woods, the darkness of the night aided me to test out my senses. Although my vision was naturally digitized, with just a bit of focus, I managed to access different types of vision, such as infrared and night vision, on top of the same old regular vision, with sufficient resolution that put 4K to shame. Not only that, I could also voluntarily spawn multiple light green circles and expand my field of vision.

In contrast, hearing wasn't all that special besides granting me the ability to turn radio waves into sound and pick up from some stations. Perhaps I might one day learn how to reverse it and get to transmit distress signals.

From my understanding, this transformation's electrokinesis was still subpar when compared to the likes of Nosedeenian (Megawatts), but at least this transformation can also travel through electrical currents.

Minor tissue regeneration and body alteration to better adjust my size, stretch and shape my limbs as if I was made out of rubber. Nonetheless, despite being capable of surviving in space, my overall endurance was less than optimal for combat.

"This form will have near infinite uses for my future projects. Hell, even now, if any sentient beings that are mechanical in nature happen to come around, it can be sort of upgraded and evolved by this transformation into a semi-ultimate form." I remarked, noticing just now that my regular voice had just been affected with a metallic voice filter. "Oh, how I wish I had either Ship or Malware to make use of right now."

Once again turning back into my human form, I took my time to just look around for a while to see if I still had enough time to continue, noticing that my mana had indeed started to refill faster and less tiresomely than before, I smiled and said. "Annnd…Next."

This time, I immediately felt my body shrinking down to resemble a four-inch-tall gray-skinned frog-like alien with large green eyes that contained rectangular pupils each. Now I'm wearing a black jumpsuit with a white stripe going down it, just like the t-shirt I've been wearing before, and with the watch's symbol located on my back.

This species was known as Galvan, or also Grey Matter.

Despite its body being much more frail than my human form, it still provided me with an innate enhanced agility and flexibility, with sufficient strength capable of performing some considerable long jumps. Well, at least for its size.

Despite my overall slippery body, my hands and feet were sticky enough that I found myself easily crawling over perpendicular surfaces and even hanging upside down from any tree branch, not to mention excellent maneuverability in tight spaces. My teeth were sharp, but not to the level of making short work of either wood or stone, much less steel.

What I was actually surprised to confirm once I took a dip into the lake, was that I could actually manifest what appeared to be gills and breathe underwater, not only that but also had a freaking prehensile tongue that I also never knew original Ben was capable of.

But what made this form become one of my most important transformations, even including future species that I knew would eventually be unlocked, was its ludicrously enhanced intelligence, which in turn also developed into a neat accelerated calculation stat that reminded me of a mixture between bullet time and detective mode.

Fortunately, my previous consideration had proven itself right, just like my Mana also served to boost my thought process and memory, in this state I felt capable of remembering even the more trivial aspects of the original cartoon series I watched as a kid. Not only that, I even got a pretty good idea of solutions for even previously glancing past some really complicated math equations that I wasn't even trying to solve in my head at that time.

The catch though, was that I needed the proper will myself to research the vast library of memories in order to properly use my super intelligence on it.

I began chuckling with all the ideas that my mind was presenting me the more I explored it in a fraction of a second. But stopped myself soon after since I was on a tight schedule until Vilgax minions showed up and proceeded to switch to my next transformation.

My ghost alien form was a ghost-like alien with a gaseous appearance and claw like hands. I now had a purple glowing eye and gray skin with black lines running all over me, with the watch symbol peeking out of my skin on my lower left chest.

This species was known as Ectonurite, otherwise known as Ghostfreak, or if we are being specific it could also be Zs'Skayr.

It did whatever a ghost did with his haunting physique. Sustained hovering and float since it had no legs to stand or walk around. Density shifting made me capable of mimicking amorphous wisps of smoke, ol' reliable invisibility and OP as fuck intangibility that I can share around just to make it a complete pack.

If I recall correctly, I could also pull out some poltergeist stunts such as electronic disruption and basic telepathy. Though since I lack the proper testing equipment and subjects I'm not entirely sure if it is something I can do voluntarily.

Taking my time to check this transformation's protective and removable skin, which somehow worked to prevent sunlight from harming me, led me to find out I had instant regeneration against every attempt I made to hurt myself with my razor sharp claws. Other than that, my movable eye had innate night vision and what I believe is some sort of x-ray ghost sight, my creepy tentacles actually packed some punch against thick trees and blocks of stones, and the aforementioned sharp claws were a nice complement.

Besides, like what was also expected of any ghost, this form supposedly gave me longevity to aging, outer space survivability and…immunity to life-force absorption, which by the way…I was finding no trace of my Mana while in this form, that really spooked me for a second until I recalled that one time where this nerf came really in clutch against a life energy absorbing opponent.

That and I also confirmed body possession in this base form once I succeeded in possessing a wild animal in the forest, which piqued my curiosity enough to make me test out if I could consume souls. Suffice to say that I had a few corpses to dispose of after that.

Yeah, no kidding, this transformation really made you ruthless. Or perhaps it was just me trying to cope with that freaky experience.

"Maybe if I somehow manage to unlock its true form, I will also have telekinesis and umbrakinesis." I remarked to myself with my chilling voice that sounded like a mixture between a whisper and a gasp. "Or perhaps I will just try and salvage what I can before the inevitable happens and I lose this form. Should I strive to get something like Danny Phantom's powers? Food for thought for now."

Once the time out announced itself and I was about to pick another transformation, a nearby sound of something massive crashing caught my attention.

"I guess it's finally hero time!" I said mid dash while preparing to recharge my Omnitrix once again.

————————————————————————

An orange pod launched out of the Chimerian Hammer while it orbited planet Earth and crashed down in the forest where the pod containing the Omnitrix landed.

It then separated its segments, sprouting three legs with no feet, two arms that sprouted claws with no hands, and its head popped out of the top with glowing red eyes.

It then scanned around and noticed the pod that the watch was stored in, destroying it with a laser once it confirmed it had been emptied. After that, two discs that turned into spider-like drones popped out of its shoulders and went scouting for the Omnitrix.

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MC'S POV

Soon enough, on my way towards the site of drones landing, I got my watch's core to pop up and the image of my aliens for selection appeared once again. By then twisting the dial continuously to show a silhouette of an insectoid alien, then a humanoid reptile alien, and then a canine alien in that order, I made my choice and pressed it with enough care so as not to activate the random selection.

The watch sank into my wrist, causing my veins to pulse and expand rapidly, until they reached my eye that was quickly turning orange, which I then clenched shut. When I tried to open them again, the two of them were gone.

Afterwards, orange fur sprouted all over my body, my teeth turned to sharp and pronounced fangs, I also grew three gill-like slits on each side of my collar.

Once I stretched my three-fingered paw out and it sprouted black claws, I bashed it hard against the ground. The watch's symbol was now resting on my shoulder pad and I let out a roar as the transformation finally ended.

Right after that I went swinging through the trees while recalling everything my Vulpimancer transformation could do, other than embarrass me by once being called Wildmutt.

Enhanced smelling and hearing were both a given, proven by how the absence of sight didn't hinder me at all while traversing the forest. I also noticed that it was much faster and had better reflexes than my Tretamand form.

Could switch between quadrupedalism and bipedalism whenever I pleased. Had deadly sharp teeth and claws that should be more than a match for steel. A set of prehensile feet that did wonders for my parkour on tree branch to tree branch. I might be quite light, otherwise it was surprising how the branches were still able to support my weight while swinging around in this form.

…even quill projection

I knew that the drones sent by the giant robot were searching after me and my Omnitrix. So it didn't surprise me when one of them found me and immediately aimed its laser towards my direction, especially since I had sensed its presence from a mile away and easily jumped out of the way, making it blast the tree branch I had been swinging on instead.

Coming up with a battle plan was easy, just by continuing to swing from branch to branch I kept avoiding its laser blasts as they all hit the environment instead and produced a distraction to momentarily blind its sensors.

For a brief moment the robot was left searching around blindly, unable to find the slightest trace of my location, before giving up and deciding to just float away to search in another area.

However, I had better plans. While still grasping onto a higher tree I had just climbed up, I got the drop on the robot... literally. With a sudden leap from my hidden spot, I landed hard on the robot, biting its mechanical arms off before it had a chance to properly respond.

The still operational robot understood quickly the futility of attacking me and tried instead to shake me off in order to fly away, but I held on tightly, tearing the head part off before clawing away at its inner circuitry and immediately jumped off once my first opponent was completely neutralized.

After safely landing on the ground below, I stood up on all four limbs and focused on the small fire on the cliffside produced by the first robot's crashing. Before the second robot that had failed to sneak on me had the chance to attack, I ferociously pounced on it in order to immediately scratch and bite at weak spots in its circuitry I've already identified from the previous foe.

Having the last robot neutralized before me in a better state of preservation than the first one, I just made sure it wouldn't turn on again before turning back to my human form.

"Alright, got some nice alien tech scraps for later." I said while feeling the trembling from the big robot moving farther away in the distance and proceeded to immediately recharge the Omnitrix. "A Petrosapien should be good enough for the job."

My watch sank into my wrist for what felt like a millionth time that night, after I selected my transformation, and from there soon began being encased in green crystal, which quickly covered both my arms, legs, torso and head as it eventually closed around my eyes until they both became fully golden.

I also felt four spike-like diamonds, the lower pair being smaller than the upper pair, growing out of my sturdy back, with my clothes this time morphing into a bodysuit, black from the waist up and from my shin downwards, white on my legs. With the watch's symbol resting on my upper left torso as the transformation finally ended.

"Cool." I said as my right arm quickly grew crystal spikes exactly as I had just mentally visualized, before making it into a detachable piece that quickly shaped itself into a long sword. "Scratch that, this is dope as fuck!"

After that I pushed the bonds of my control and morphed my body to resemble a late medieval knight, with a bullfrog helmet, larger pauldrons and even a detachable plate that I shaped to resemble a heater shield. Wasn't that much of a fan of Minecraft, but even I got to give it to them that Diamond armor was indeed quite impressive.

Better aspect of it all, I could quickly switch out and in from that loadout form, even quicker if I just shedded it all out instead of absorbing the extra crystal into my body.

I really wished to have this Petrosapien (diamondhead) form performing the same level of shapeshifting feats as the Segmentasapien (Bloxx) were capable of, just with the added durability I currently had. From my recollection I already had regeneration if my near indestructible body was ever shattered, but to which extent it approached the crystalsapien's resurrection feat I didn't know.

Cherry on top, I had energy refraction/redirection which was what the original Ben used to defeat the big robot boss. But also, I had an edge in combat with this energy absorption, outer space survivability and immunity to time ray decay.

Crystallokinesis in itself allowed me to manifest crystalline constructs from my body, like shooting sharp projectiles from out of me at impressive speeds, and even forming massive crystal-like structures from out of the ground itself.

And with just the same amount of speed, proven by how I just succeeded in pulling out a move I immediately called Crystal Launch, which consisted of almost instantaneously raising a pillar of crystal that allowed me to jump much further than I could've accomplished without it.

Since that was all too easy, I was just left with what to do next so as not to lose momentum.

I mean, the crystal rope that original Ben once produced connected to a literal crystal anchor could suffice to just rope swing my way around like the good old web head, but I wasn't that much into it since it really felt conceptually silly with bulky old me.

Fortunately, back on that previous idea of shedding all the extra layers I've raised through armor and shields, another extension of my body alteration power, I instinctively found out that the same thing could be done with the regular parts one would've thought to be essential to my transformation.

Put into simpler words, I released all the unnecessary weight and became a much slender version of a Petrosapien. Which now granted me sufficient mobility that matched more appropriately my initial plan to parkour my way around the forest with the occasional Crystal Launch and Crystal Hooks.

Surprisingly enough, I was fast enough in reaching the giant robot so as not to embarrass myself by not selecting the Vulpimancer (Wildmutt) form once again. And as the towering droid eventually came into my view, still looking for its primary target, my green crystal longsword sliced through the lower segment of one of its metallic legs as if it was made of hot butter.

Instinctively and effortlessly dodging away from the robot's lasers left and right, as I regained my bulkier shape so as to raise my defenses up, until it eventually blasted a tree which would've fallen right on top of me hadn't I mentally commanded that a huge crystal spike grew out of my back and sliced the tree in two, prompting the halves to fall on either side of my position.

Much to my surprise, however, the robot was quick enough to grab me. But as it immediately attempted to rip me apart with its other arm, I mentally commanded my trapped arm into a spiked ball of sharp shards, destroying the robot's left hand completely.

Before the robot had the chance to blast me away with the laser on its wrist, just as I recalled it doing against the original Ben, I wrapped myself into a ball before bursted a rain of countless crystal shard projectiles and freed myself safely from the robot's other arm.

Safely landing on the ground beneath with a loud thud, I immediately formed both my arms into mirror shields as the robot was about to fire a beam from its chest piece, a place I never knew beforehand that it was able to weaponize.

And as it eventually fired its most concentrated beam, I held out both my arms and absorbed the entirety of the power thrown at me, forming extra spikes on my feet so to give me better grip and not be easily blown away by the force behind the blast, my crystal body acted like a energy battery for a brief moment as I felt supercharged.

"What comes around goes around, isn't that right?" I said before finally releasing the laser back onto the robot, blasting it in half and resulting in an explosion that would easily make sure I wouldn't have to worry about it getting up from that.

Sensing the difference between having all that blinding energy inside me left me wondering about another thing I've been meaning to test out but hadn't had enough juice up until now to try it.

Suddenly, a surge of energy began manifesting from within my crystal body, and I noticed that my color became less of a pale blue and more of a verdant green. That was my mana, finally bleeding in on one of my transformations.

Does that mean I no longer need the Jesus of this species? I mean Chromastone/Crystalsapien. Hmm… not sure if the Guardian of Petropia is even a thing in this universe.

Just then I noticed that it wouldn't take long before sunrise and decided to leave it at that for now.

"Man, I will have to leave those future problems for future me. Now, onto the spoils of war." I said while tapping at the Omnitrix's symbol, turning back to my human form and immediately proceeding to recharge the Omnitrix again. "And last, but definitely not least, my precious Kineceleran form. Long story short, this super fast velociraptor dude was my favorite amongst the original ten. And that's coming from a guy who never fully appreciated speedsters such as the Flash to begin with."

————————————————————————

Back up in space, where drones were still making incessant repairs to the Chimerian Hammer, Vilgax just received the information regarding his scout robot's destruction.

"Failure!? Unbelievable!" Vilgax shouted, analyzing the short footage his minions were capable of proving him about his nemesis before they were all destroyed. "The being who is keeping the Omnitrix from me will soon hang from my trophy wall!"

————————————————————————

Back at the campsite, Max, Gwen and Lucy were just about to wake up. Nearby, outside of the Rust Bucket, a dust cloud came speeding up and an alien sped to a screeching halt.

It was a blue-skinned velociraptor-like alien with black skin on his arms and legs, a long prehensile tail with blue and black stripes, each of its arms ended with three fingered hands with scissor-like claws and instead of feet, boasting blue wheel-like spheres at the end of each legs.

A blue and black mask lifted from the creature's face, revealing its green eyes with black markings. It wore a jumpsuit-like version of what resembled the regular clothes worn by Ben with a distinct symbol resting on its chest.

As the symbol began beeping and flashing red, the slender alien who just appeared in a flash of speed immediately disappeared in a flash of red light, in its place remained Ben Tennyson.

The boy looked around before running towards the Rust Bucket at a regular pace and as he went inside, he said. "Good morning guys! The sun is already up!"

Max was the first to respond to Ben's words. "Good morning Ben." After readjusting his sight and noticing that his grandson was already up and changed out of his pajamas he added with a smile. "I see that you are already ready for the day."

Lucy jumped out of bed and replied just as joyfully. "Me too! Me too!"

Gwen simply grumped and covered her head with her pillow, not knowing why she felt so tired. But her tired head lost to her hungry stomach. Only after smelling something good she asked. "Hey Ben, what is this smell?"

Ben chuckled. "Nothing special, just my super fluffy omelet and pancakes." He gestured for her to see the breakfast table he had prepared for them just outside the RV. "Got some coffee and some orange juice as well."

Gwen almost cried of satisfaction. "You know Ben, I'm starting to think I've misjudged you."

His expression became serious. "Wait, you think I've made this for you?"

Gwen narrowed her eyes in shock, her bad mood quickly coming back after just being denied food.

But before she had the chance to complain, Ben interrupted her with a chuckle and his arms raised. "Heh! Just messing with you! Of course you can eat it! There's more than enough for us four."

Lucy joined him by laughing too. "Hehehe, Sike! Oh man oh man, Ben you got her good this time!" She turned to Gwen. "You should've seen the face you made when you realized you were being pranked."

"Gotta admit Gwen, he did got you there." Chuckled Grandpa Max as he got prepared for having a breakfast different from what he had been planning for that morning. "But if you don't want omelets and pancakes, I still have some sheep tongue from yesterday."

"Ah… no, thanks." Said Gwen as she began getting herself ready for breakfast. But after noticing that Ben and Lucy were still laughing, she sighed. "This is gonna be a very long summer."

"Hopefully the best summer of our lives!" Ben said while picking up some fruits to add to their table.

Despite her frustration, Gwen still couldn't resist giving a small hint of a smile before starting her day on vacation.

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(11/02/2021)

(22/10/2023)

*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking. I tried getting done with the origin episode while hinting about some possible plot threads that I plan to work upon.

Sorry if you expected more of it. 😅 Also sorry if you expect less theory crafting and power exposition of each transformation.

Any ideas for powers, adventure arcs and girls are more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.

If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait until I fix it as soon as possible. But for that I need your feedback.

Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.

Bye.

**Answering here some questions my first version of this story caused on some readers:

The MC had stored the robot scraps from his fight in some hidden base I've yet to properly describe. Besides, he was XRL8 and could basically cross the country in less than a day.

Why not just unlock the Master Control? Multiple reasons, narrative convenience being one of them. You see, after I introduced it I would have no reason to go back and explain how the MC could use his mana to recharge the Omnitrix.