Chereads / A New Life As Ben 10 / Chapter 3 - Ch 3 The Lake

Chapter 3 - Ch 3 The Lake

It was 8AM when they arrived at DC.

Max decided that they should walk around so that they could 'take in the sights', so he parked the Rustbucket and they got out.

They visited a few popular tourist spots.

They went to the Lincoln memorial, Washington monument, the museum and a few other places.

Ben thought going to the museum was kind of funny, when you consider what happened to it in the series.

They had walked around for more than 8 hours before they were done, taking them to past 4PM. Fortunately, they had stopped at a cafe for something to eat.

Now that the three of them had visited everywhere they wanted to see, they went to a supermarket for restock groceries.

Ben was wandering around with a cart, picking out thing they needed.

Max had given him a budget to stick to as well, so he took that into account when deciding.

Max and Gwen were off doing their in the store, so he was on his own right now.

He was in the middle of deciding what he would be making, but was interrupted by a sudden eruption of noise on the other side of the store.

Clattering, banging, shouting, screaming, "clean up aisle 3"... Etc.

He quickly started running over and turned into Ghostfreak, as he had already guessed what was going on.

Animo had shown up with his frog.

Ben, as Ghostfreak, immediately turned invisible and watched Animo, who was spouting some nonsense about how he is the greatest scientific mind blah blah blah...

Max and Gwen were on the receiving end of his nonsense.

Ben couldn't be bothered with the guy, so he just went up to him and possessed him. Now in control of the crazy bastard, he took off the mutating helmet and made the giant frog return to a normal one. Then he proceeded to beat himself(Animo) up, while also draining some of Animo's life force, that way he shouldn't be dealing with him again.

Due to being invisible, for the spectators, namely Max and Gwen, it just looked like Animo had gone full on co-coo and started beating himself up.

After he was confident that Animo wouldn't be getting up, Ben stopped the possession and appeared before his family, who now realized what had happened.

Ben - "This is was dumb..."

With that, he turned and picked up the helmet for researching, then left to continue his shopping.

Max and Gwen were just standing there slack jawed at the anticlimactic ending.

Soon enough, the police arrived and took Animo away. Fortunately, the shoppers were allowed to continue with their business.

10 minutes later and Ben was done shopping, Max paid and they all left together.

Max had also bought the basic necessities. Toilet paper and that sort of stuff.

Gwen also bought something for herself, which Ben noticed after they got back and she went into the bathroom for 5 minutes before coming back out.

Ben - "So, Gwen, what's with the lip gloss?"

Gwen - "Nothing. I just liked it is all."

He smiled at her and gave her an honest compliment.

Ben - "It looks good on you."

Gwen didn't say anything and just walked past him, but he could see the corners of her lips arch into a small smile.

After that, Ben got to work preparing their food.

He had decided to make a simple beef and potato stew, with garlic bread.

- A few hours later -

The food was done and he just had to serve it.

Gwen was already waiting with anticipation, as she had long since smelt the delicious fragrance.

Max was also waiting, just not quite as eagerly as Gwen.

Ben set the food down on the table in front of them and sat down himself.

Ben - "Enjoy!"

Gwen was the first to dig in, and when she started, she didn't stop.

Ben and Max looked at her in disbelief. If they didn't know any better, they would think that she hadn't eaten in days.

Ben - "Guess you like it then?"

Gwen - "Mhm!"

She didn't even stop eating to answer.

Seeing her reaction to the food, Max also decided to give it a try.

Max - "Mmm. This is really good, Ben!"

Ben - "Thanks."

Ben also started to eat and was slightly surprised by how good it was.

They all finished within 20 minutes, mostly because they had seconds.

Gwen - "That was amazing~"

Max - "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Ben - "Well, I have watched my mom cook, so I got some of it from there."

Gwen - "You got that good just from watching Aunt Sandra!?"

Ben - "I also used Greymatter to come up with the recipe."

... There was silence at those words.

Max - "*Sigh* I don't even know whether that is irresponsible or not..."

Ben - "At least I'm not using it to do something stupid, like cheat at carnival games..."

Max - "Fair enough."

Ben - "So, what do you say Grandpa, can I cook from now on?"

Max stared at him for a moment.

Max - "Fine, but only if you're sure."

After receiving a nod, Max gave the go ahead and then they all relaxed for a while.

It was when he got the 'ok' that Ben got two system alerts.

[2 Missions complete -

Mission 1 - 250xp, 100SP and 1AP received.

Mission 2 - Lv-3 Cooking skill and 100SP received.]

[You have received 300SP for defeating Animo.]

Ben - 'Hey, Gabriel, why did I only just receive the rewards for the first mission?'

Gabriel - "When accept more than one mission at a time, unless you accept the rewards manually, they won't be received until all other missions are complete/failed or at the end of the day."

Ben - 'Is there a way to make it so I receive the rewards as soon as the mission is complete?'

Gabriel - "I can set it up that way now if you want?"

Ben - 'That would be great, thanks.'

After that, Ben looked at his new status.

When he was done with that, he meditated for a couple hours and then went to sleep.

----------

The next morning, Ben got up at 6AM again and made breakfast for everyone.

Currently, they were in Ohio, near a large lake.

Max had been driving here yesterday when Ben was cooking, then after eating and a little when they were sleeping.

After finishing breakfast, Max went to rest some more as he was still tired. Gwen went to go get cleaned up and Ben went for a dip in the lake.

After about 10 minutes, Gwen came out side and saw him.

Gwen - "Kyaa! What are you doing!?"

She stood there 'covering' her eyes while her face was bright red.

The reason for this? Ben was naked...

Ben wasn't extremely muscular, but it was still defined. That, coupled with him being a bit taller than average and his ever increasing CHA stat, was too much for her maiden heart.

Ben saw this a moment to tease her though.

Ben - "What's the problem? It's not like anyone is here."

Gwen - "I'm here!!"

Ben - "So? Our parents used to bathe us together anyways... Why don't you jump in as well?"

Her embarrassment was hilarious to him.

Gwen - "No way! Hurry and put some clothes on, weirdo!"

She then ran back inside of the Rustbucket while blushing.

Gabriel then chimed in.

Gabriel - "Was that really necessary?"

Ben - 'Nope! But it is fun."

Gabriel - "Perv..."

Ben - 'Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, if this is the lake I think it is, there should be a mission for me.'

He then checked his missions.

[Mission -

The Kraken - Even monsters deserve kindness, save the Krakens eggs and beat the poachers.

Rewards - 300xp, 500SP and Complete language comprehension skill.

Failure - -2500SP

Assist - Go soon!]

Ben accepted the request without a second thought, not concerned about failure.

He was quite surprised by the part that told him to go soon, so he asked Gabriel.

Ben - 'What is this assist about?'

Gabriel - "The assist means that there is some urgency to the mission."

Ben - 'I guess that is handy... I suppose this means that not everything will go in order of canon...'

Gabriel - "A solid assumption, but most things should go along with it."

Ben quickly used the Omnitrix and got some swimming trunks, then ran to the Rustbucket to tell Max about the Kraken.

Ben - "Grandpa Max! There is this huge creature in the lake and some guy are trying to steal her eggs."

Max - "Calm down, Ben. I am sure everything is fine-"

*Roar!*

Before Max could finish, a loud roar was heard and the sound of something hitting water came from the lake.

Max - "Or maybe not..."

This type of behaviour from Max in the series never made sense. He of all people knew what was out there, yet he still denied it and even ignored Ben when he told him about it. Sure, Ben messed around sometimes, but he knew not to lie or joke about something serious like a lake monster attacking him(although he did mess with Gwen) or when he dreams about Davy Jo-Vilgax appearing in his dreams to threaten him.

Max stared at him, he wanted to say 'no', but he himself wanted to help.

Max - "Fine, but be careful. I will also-"

Gwen - "Ahem!"

Max - "We will try to do something to help as well."

Ben - "Okay. You guys be careful as well."

His eyes lingered on Gwen, which she noticed and felt happy that he cared for her, but sad at her vulnerability.

Ben left and turned into Ripjaws before diving into the lake.

Having jumped into the water, Ben went straight to the centre of the lake.

When he arrived at the centre, he stopped and looked around the surface of the lake, but couldn't judge where to go.

With no other options, he decided to dive down to the bottom.

Fortunately, the Piscciss Volann species was adapted to be able to see in low light environments, otherwise he would be going in blind.

As he descended further into the depths of the lake, he was constantly searching for signs of disturbances.

To his luck, he didn't have to search for long.

To the north, he could see a large amphibious dinosaur like creature, the Kraken, and she was chasing after a mech suit, which was carrying two of her eggs.

As soon as he saw this, Ben started swimming over with the speed of a torpedo.

In a matter of seconds, he arrived at the side of the mech suit and bit one of the arms off, letting the egg fall.

With Ben's arrival, the pilot of the mech started to panic and the Kraken became nervous about the already bad situation.

When the egg was freed, Ben quickly caught it to prevent any harm to it.

The Kraken didn't see things the that way however and started attacking him, allowing the mech to escape.

Ben wanted to chase after him, but he had the egg in his hand and was dodging blows from the enraged mother.

With limited choices, he decided to dive back down to the lake floor.

When Ben started diving, so did the Kraken.

Once he reached the bottom, he carefully placed the egg in the sand and backed away from it.

The Kraken saw this and rushed forwards to inspect her egg, after finding it to be unharmed, she looked at Ben with caution.

Ben held his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

Ben - "Calm down! I'm trying to help!"

He had no idea if she could actually understand him, but he tried talking to her anyways.

It seemed to work as she seemingly narrowed her eyes and slightly nodded.

Seeing that communication was somewhat possible, he sighed in relief.

Ben - "I'm going to get your other egg now, okay?"

Seeing her nod once more, he didn't waste time and swam towards the surface.

- With Max and Gwen -

After Ben just swam off, Max took Gwen and went to 'borrow' a boat with a motor to follow after Ben.

As they made their way to the centre of the lake, they heard something breaking out of the water towards the west and looked at what it was. They saw a mech being pulled by a wire, it was missing an arm and carrying a large egg in the remaining one.

Max quickly cut the motor so as not to draw attention.

Gwen - "Do you think that's one of the guys Ben was talking about."

Max - "Most likely. Let's quietly follow."

Max then started the motor up again but kept the speed low to make as little noise as possible.

A couple minutes later and Max had to stop the motor again, this was because they had arrived next to the docks and saw the mech being pulled out of the water.

Gwen - "What should we do now?"

Max - "Hmm, let's wait for Ben to catch up."

Gwen - "You don't think he got hurt do you?"

At the mention of Ben, she started to feel worried. The fact that the mech got away, but was missing an arm, shows that Ben could have already intercepted it.

Her worries were quickly put to rest though.

Ben - "Nope, I'm just fine."

The two looked over the side of the boat and sighed in relief when they saw Ben.

Gwen - "Where were you?"

Ben carefully climbed into the boat and then tapped the Omnitrix, turning back into a human.

Ben - "Sorry, had to calm down an angry mother."

Both Max and Gwen looked at him questioningly.

Max - "What have you been up to exactly?"

Ben then briefly explaining what had happened to them.

Ben - "So, now we just have to get her egg back for her."

Now that they were all caught up, Max was thinking about how to go about thing and Gwen was just looking at them.

Max - "Okay, let's try to sneak in and get her egg."

Ben - "Okay. Gwen, you should make sure to stay close to Grandpa, okay?"

When she heard this, she nodded with a bit of a sad expression and looked down.

Ben of course noticed this and patted her on the head.

She was startled a little and looked up to face him with slightly narrowed eyes.

Gwen - "What are you doing?"

Although she questioned him, she didn't stop him from doing it.

Ben - "Giving you head pats."

He stated it like it was the most obvious thing there was, making her look at him with a deadpan expression.

Gwen - "..."

Ben - "I'm sure things will change. I'm not sure when, but I am sure that they will. Okay?"

She stared at him for a moment and then nodded with a "Mm" while letting him continue.

Ben - "Good."

With that, Ben stopped patting her head. She was disappointed by him stopping, but pretended not to care.

While they had their exchange, Max had taken them over to a ladder to get onto the docks and had tied the boat up to stop it from drifting.

Max - "Okay, we're here."

When he spoke, gone was the voice of their kind and jovial Grandpa, replacing it was a seriousness that comes from the experience of a soldier.

Max - "I want both of you to stay close to me and listen to what I say. Got it?"

They both nodded in confirmation, but Gwen also had a question.

Gwen - "Why doesn't Ben just change into that speedy alien and get the egg."

Ben - "The watch has a timer, and while I haven't used it all up, it could still use a bit of a recharge. Plus, it is better safe than sorry."

Max - "Ben is right. We don't know what could happen so we should go together just in case."

With this said, they started making their way up the ladder.

After climbing the ladder, the three of them were right outside of a warehouse.

Max motioned for them to stop and then spoke.

Max - "Alright, we will be sneaking in. I will go first and Ben will bring up the rear. Be careful of where you step and warn me if you see something. Got it?"

They nodded and then all of them made their way inside.

Thankfully, it was still early in the morning, cloudy and there was a thick fog, so sneaking around wasn't too hard.

Before going inside, Max opened the door slightly and then peaked inside, when he saw that it was all clear, he signalled for them to follow.

They all quickly got inside and Ben closed the door as quietly as possible.

Then the three of them started moving while keeping their bodies low to the floor and tucked into the wall.

Along the way, they were stepping extremely lightly, trying to make as little noise as possible.

[Sneak skill acquired]

With the sudden notification, Ben stopped in place for a moment, this drew Gwen's attention.

She started talking in a quiet voice.

Gwen - "Ben, what's wrong?"

With a shake of his head, he snapped out of it and began to focus.

Ben - "Just thought I heard something, but I don't hear it anymore. Just keep going."

Gwen listened to him and went back to following Max, and Ben started talking to Gabriel.

Ben - 'Gabriel, how come I'm getting these skills so easily, but I can't get Mana Manipulation down?'

Gabriel - "That is because different skills have different learning difficulties, Mana Manipulation having one of the highest."

Ben - 'How so?'

Gabriel - "That would be because the skill has a wide coverage and the higher the skill level, the greater the effects. You can gain a greater control over your mental state, sense the Mana in the surroundings, increase you MP naturally and even nurture your mind when the skill is high enough. These are thing that all magic users can do, but unlike them, you aren't limited by an inborn aptitude."

Ben's jaw almost dropped, but he managed to control himself.

Ben - 'I could increase my stats by manipulating my Mana?'

Gabriel - "Well of course. You can raise your physical stats by working out, so why wouldn't you be able to raise mental ones? You can raise you INT stat just by studying."

Ben - 'I didn't even think about this before... I feel like an idiot.'

[Sneak Increased to Lv-2]

During their conversation, he had still been sneaking around with the other two. Before reincarnating, sneaking around was never really his thing, but he still knew a few thing that helped him move around quietly and lower his presence, hence the rapid increase in level.

The conversation wasn't that long, so they hadn't walked around much, only down an empty hallway and around a corner.

They came across a doorway after turning the corner. Max stopped before the door and looked inside, finding what seems to be an armoury.

Seeing that there was no one inside, Max decided to go in and the other two followed.

Max - "This must be where they store their weapons."

When they entered, Ben and Gwen saw 5 racks filled with gun.

Gwen - "Whoa!"

Max - "Not so loud, Gwen."

Gwen, realized how loud she was and quickly covered her mouth.

Ben was looking around at the weapons and wondering if he could use them for something.

But then, Gabriel gave him a better option.

Gabriel - "You could always sell them to the store."

Ben's eyes brightened at the prospect, and so he decided to talk to Max about how to deal with them.

Ben - "Grandpa, do you want me to get rid of these?"

Max looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Max - "How exactly?"

Ben held his left arm up and pointed at the Omnitrix.

Ben - "I'll just turn into an alien."

Max thought about it for a moment and then nodded, giving Ben the go ahead.

Ben then went through the Omnitrix and was about to turn into Big Chill, but then suddenly changed his mind when he thought about a recent anomaly he found in one of his aliens. He turned the dial once more and pushed it down.

There was a red flash and then Ben was replaced with Upgrade.

Max and Gwen were surprised, but for different reasons.

Max, because of the 'Unique' form. He wasn't surprised by Ben turning into a Galvanic Mechamorph, he had seen a few before, what surprised him was the red design that was mixed with the green.

Gwen was just confused why he turned into the same alien that was used to make their phones.

Gwen - "Why'd you turn into that one? I thought it upgraded things?"

Ben - "Yes, among a few other things."

These other things were the 'anomalies' that he had found. His 'Upgrade' was similar to Malware from Omniverse and was capable of absorbing, upgrading, copying and even combining the things he touches.

He didn't understand why his Upgrade was so different and seemingly, neither did Gabriel, so he is just assuming that God is having a bit of fun. Even if that is the case, he has benefited from it, so whatever.

After Ben answered Gwen, he stretched his arms out and covered all of the guns, making it appear as if he was absorbing them.

He of course wasn't and was instead storing them in his inventory to decide what he will do with them later.

Ben finished taking the last of the guns and then turned back.

Max was quite shocked to see a Galvanic Mechamorph do this, but he just took it as being something unique to the watch and ignored it.

Max - "Well then, now that that's taken care of, we should get moving and look for that egg."

They then started their search once more.

After emptying the armoury, the three of them started to search for the egg once more.

They came across a few other rooms in their search, some were empty and others had crates, most of them sealed, but a few weren't and they were containing illegal substances that Max kept the kids away from.

Gwen didn't really understand what was in the crates, but Ben knew exactly what it was. (I don't know if a 10 year old would understand?)

Ben - "Grandpa, should I get rid of those as well?"

Max was slightly surprised that Ben seemed to understand what the crates contained, but still thought about whether to agree or not, before shaking his head.

Max - "No. It's okay, Ben. Let's just hurry and get the egg, then leave."

Gwen was still confused about what they were talking about, so she asked.

Gwen - "What is that stuff anyways?"

This put Max into an awkward position, as he didn't know how to answer. Luckily, Ben came to the rescue.

Ben - "Who knows. But, if it belongs to these guys, it can't be good. Right?"

Gwen - "Hmm... I guess so."

Max sighed while giving Ben a thankful look, and then they continued on their way.

When they left the room, Ben started to have a vague, bad feeling. Throughout their search, they haven't run into a single guard.

As they were walking, that vague feeling started to grow.

Finally, they turned a corner and saw a hallway filled with crates.

It was at this moment that his instincts started blaring like a siren in the silence.

[Danger Sense Increased to Lv-2]

[Subskill unlocked -

Presence Sense - Allows you to sense the presence of others. The range and strength is determined by the level of Danger Sense.] (Just think haki)

As soon as Danger Sense leveled up, it was like a dam had burst, as a sudden rush of information hit him.

And, as a result of this information, he knew that there were people hiding behind some of the crates. He didn't know how many or even what weapons they had, just that they were there.

This cause his breathing the hitch and cold sweat to form on his back, they were walking right towards them.

He grabbed Gwen and dived behind the nearest crate for cover, while also warning Max.

Ben - "TAKE COVER!!!"

Max immediately did as he was told and dived between two crates when he heard Ben, and he was glad that he did, because the enemy opened fire right as he got behind a crate.

The assault continued for a minute and didn't seem like it would be stopping.

Gwen was trembling and on the verge of tears, she wasn't hurt, but Ben was worried that the longer this went on, the higher the chance she would be.

Following this train of thought, he decided to transform and so he activated the Omnitrix to choose his alien.

However, right as he did, another enemy appeared from the same direction they came from and was holding a grenade launcher.

Ben - 'Fuck!'

Without checking what alien was selected, Ben quickly pushed down on the dial, creating the usual red flash.

When the flash appeared before him, the enemy pulled the trigger and fired at the two children.

*Boom!"

Max - "BEN! GWEN!"

Max was frantic thinking that his Grandkids might be dead. The only reason he didn't run out is that he saw the flash from the Omnitrix.

He still wanted to run to them, but the gun fire still hadn't stopped.

Smoke was surrounding the explosion point, covering Ben, who was now pissed.

Ben - 'What fucking retard uses a grenade launcher indoors!?'

He had fortunately turned into Fourarms, who has an extremely tough body and was able to take the explosion head on.

(I'm pretty sure Grenade launchers focus more on the explosion rather than shrapnel and that the explosions aren't as powerful as a normal grenade. Could be wrong.)

He had covered Gwen with his own body, so she was fine except for her ears ringing and the fear of almost dying.

After making sure that Gwen wasn't injured, he turned to the dumbass with the launcher and with a low growl, he bolted out of the smoke and planted his fist into the guys gut, sending him flying through the wall behind him.

Then without taking a pause, he grabbed a nearby crate and threw it down the hallway, smashing into a couple of the ones shooting at them. Only some of them were affected and had to jump out of the way, while others weren't in the crates path.

Ben then ran down the hallway while the enemies that were still standing shot at him. He put his arms into a cross guard to shield his face, because even if they don't penetrate his skin, they could damage his eyes.

It didn't take much for him to arrive infront of them thanks to his powerful legs.

As soon as he arrived, he grabbed two guys by the head and smacked them together, knocking them out and causing serious damage to their brains.

He then threw them at another guy, sending him into a wall. Looking at one of the lucky guys who avoided the crate and was about to get up, he kicked him in the face, knocking him out and sending him rolling.

While he did that, another crate survivor did manage to stand and shot him with a hand gun. In response, Ben put his right lower hand in the line of fire, letting the bullets hit it as he took a few step towards the shooter while using Intimidation on him.

The shooter was staring at him with terror and when he arrived directly infront of him and towered over the smaller man, who's attempts to shoot him were reduced to mere clicks, he headbutted him and knocked him out.

That man was the last of the enemies capable of fighting back, so he turned to the door that they were so adamantly protecting and walked towards it, stepping on the body of one the crate victims.

Max was watching this happen while hugging Gwen as she cried into his chest. He was initially worried that Ben might have lost control again and would kill them, but seeing that he didn't, he sighed in relief.

Ben got to the door and could feel two presences, the first was directly in the path of the door and the other, which was weaker, was off to the side. He determined the weaker presence to be the egg.

With his objective for being there so close, he stopped wasting time. He thrust his hands into the door frame, ripping it off.

As soon as he did that, the enemy, the big boss, started shooting at him.

Ben just ignored the gunfire and walked forward, still holding the door.

He got closer and closer until he was right in front of the boss. He looked down on him as he looked at him in terror.

The boss looked like he was about to say something, but Ben didn't give him the chance, he swung the door at him and sent him ragdolling across the room.

[240xp for 8 Grunts and 50xp for 1 Leader received]

(I know he didn't get xp for Animo, but Animo is just pathetic.)

With the final enemy dealt with, Ben turned to the egg that was in a big glass container filled with water, he picked it up and left towards Max.

Gwen seemed to have fainted in Max's arms.

Ben - "I think we should leave now."

Max nodded in confirmation and they left towards the boat that they arrived in. Max was carrying Gwen, and Ben was carrying the egg while still transformed.

They quickly made their way to the boat and when they got there, Ben helped Max get down the ladder with Gwen, then tapped the Omnitrix and transformed in Ripjaws.

Ben - "I'm going to return the egg now. I'll meet you back at the Rustbucket."

Max - "Okay, Ben. Be careful."

With that said, Max started the motor and made his way back to where they came from. Ben just directly jumped into the lake.

Ben immediately made his way to where he left the Kraken, but when he got there, she was missing, so he went and looked for her.

After a couple minutes, he was getting worried. He didn't know when the Omnitrix would time out and he couldn't find her.

Luckily, the next moment, he saw a cave that should be her nest, given the size of it.

He quickly swam towards it and felt a large presence inside, which he could confirm to be the Kraken by the big blue eyes that started to come out of the darkness.

When he saw her coming towards him, he held the egg out towards her to show that he had come to return it and then waited for her to take it.

She first inspected the egg, making sure that it was safe and then, using the tentacles at her mouth, she gently took the egg and cradled it.

[Mission Complete - 300xp, 500SP and Complete Language Comprehension received]

Complete Language Comprehension (CLC) - You can understand every language, even animal. It will also convey your words to the target perfectly.]

Ben was surprised by the effect of the skill, but was very pleased with it.

He decided to give it a go.

Ben - "You know, it was hard finding you all the way over here."

The Kraken looked at him and seemed surprised, she understood what he said perfectly, unlike before when she only vaguely knew what he was saying.

Kraken - "Thank you for returning my child. How can I now understand?"

Now he knew just how good the skill was.

Ben - "You're welcome. The reason you can understand me is-"

It was at this moment that the Omnitrix started beeping.

Ben - "Uh oh..."

He immediately started to rush to the surface, but he wasn't fast enough.

The Omnitrix timed out and he returned to being human.

The Kraken was surprised when the one who helped her suddenly rushed off mid sentence and then shocked when he changed into a human child.

She watch as he tried swimming to the surface while covering his mouth.

She didn't understand what was going on, but she decided to help him.

While drowning, Ben felt something wrap around him and then he start rising rapidly.

A moment later, he broke out of the water and started coughing while gasping for air.

It took him a while to catch his breath and when he did, he just stared at the sky for a moment.

Ben - 'Almost went to see God again...'

He then expressed his gratitude to his saviour.

Ben - "That was close... Thanks."

He didn't get a response and so looked towards the Kraken. She was just staring at him and he could tell she was confused.

He pointed to the Omnitrix and explained.

Ben - "This thing let's me turn into different species and works as a translator."

Looking the watch, she kind of understood and nodded in response.

Ben - "It also let's me collect DNA from other lifeforms so that I can turn into them as well... Hmm, can I scan you?"

She thought about it and didn't think he would hurt her, so she agreed with a nod.

With her approval, he smiled, but then realized that he doesn't know how to actually scan her.

Gabriel - "You have to pop the hatch and then press the dial onto her body for 10 second."

Ben - 'That's a pain in the ass... Note to self, upgrade the scanner later.'

He then did exactly as Gabriel said and 10 seconds later the Omnitrix sounded out, telling him that the DNA had been saved.

Ben - "All done, thanks. Would you mind taking me to dry land?"

She nodded and swiftly took him there.

A couple minutes later and he was standing on solid ground, looking at the Kraken.

Ben - "Thanks for the help."

Kraken - "You are welcome. I will be going back to nest now, thank you once more."

She then turned around and dived into the lake, leaving Ben alone.

Ben - 'I guess I should make my way to the Rustbucket.'

Starting his walk, he checked his gains from all of this.

[Status -

Name - Ben

Lv - 5 (340/350)

Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix

State - Healthy MP - 480

STR - 14

END - 14

AGI - 14

CHA - 14

INT - 24

LUK - 666

AP - 13 SP - 999,800

Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-3, Writing Lv-3, Running Lv-5, CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-3, Intimidation Lv-2, Danger Sense Lv-2, Cooking Lv-3, Sneak Lv-2

Unique Skill: Wrath, Complete Language Comprehension]