(Sorry about the time it took to get this out... I was watching Red vs Blue and just chilling for a little. But, I made the chapter longer to make up for it.
Also, I'm looking for a new name for Benwolf/Blitzewolfer, please give your suggestions.
I am thinking 'Lycanroar', playing on the werewolf/lycan aspect and the Roaring power.)
After the mini interrogation about Ben's new abilities, Max got in the drivers seat and began driving away from the city.
The girls were pretty disappointed about having to leave so soon, as they were kind of hoping to go out with Ben and have fun. So, they were currently pouting while laying their heads on the table.
Ben was sitting opposite to them, a smile on his face as he spoke to them. "C'mon you two, although I find your pouting cute, you would look cuter with smiles."
Hearing him, Gwen and Keira's eyes widened as they blushed. They were embarrassed, but they enjoyed being complemented and smiled at him cutely.
Max was focusing on the road, but he was still listening to his Grandkids. He glanced at the rear view mirror for a moment and saw the blushing girls. '...He's already a lady killer...' With that thought, he looked back at the road and chuckled.
Now that the girls have cheered up, Ben felt more relaxed as he laughed at their cute embarrassment. He decided to start talking to them about casual stuff, making for a pleasant experience when compared to the bullshit they've had to deal with lately.
The girls seemed to appreciate the normal experience, as they animatedly talked about some things that they were looking forward to.
Like, how Keira was hoping that her mom was doing well and had got a place to live in Bellwood. She was extremely excited to live there and be able to see Ben and Gwen, even when summer break is over.
Gwen on the other hand, talked about how she was looking forward to her birthday. Well, her and Ben's birthday, which would be a first, because Ben had never been interested in birthdays before. But now that he was 'fixed' and she had developed other feelings for him, she was excited to spend a birthday with him.
Arriving at the topic our their birthdays, Gwen dragged Ben and Keira into writing invitations, much to their chagrin.
...
A few hours later and Keira was laid out over the table as if she had died. "No... more... envelopes...!"
"Don't be so dramatic, it wasn't that much work." Gwen huffed at Keira's exaggerating. She started collecting all the invitations and stacked them neatly, snarkily commenting. "Besides, we're done now anyways, so you don't have to worry about pushing your brain any further."
Keira gave Gwen the stinkeye and pinched her lightly. "Watch it or I'll burn all those invitations and you'll have to rewrite them."
Ben watched with an amused smile as they playfully bickered, before turning his attention to the Omnitrix. He fused with Greymatter, gaining a gray tint to his hair and yellowish tint in his irises, while his pupils became rectangular.
He started analysing the Omnitrix with both his own eyes and his Analyse skill, deconstructing it in his mind, picturing a 3D model and focused in on the scanner, while also constructing the programming beside it.
Why was he doing this? Well, because the current scanning method was a piece of shit! Having to place the damn faceplate against the target for ten seconds, it is just an annoyance that means he has to either request for his target to let him do his thing or take it by force, which can be... Annoying.
So, he is going to fix it with a few upgrades, which he had already completed the blueprint for in his mind.
Cancelling his fusion, he switched over to Upgrade and quickly started making the changes. These changes being; making the scanner capable of passively unlocking any Aliens nearby that are already recorded in the Omnitrix and react to certain stimuli to unlock a correlating alien. In the possibility that an Aliens DNA isn't already recorded, then he will still have to touch them with the faceplate, but only for a second.
When he was done, he undid the fusion and felt quite happy that he had the assistance of his aliens, or he would have to spend way, way longer to mess around with this stuff.
Looking out the window, he noticed that it was raining and had started to turn dark, mostly due to the thick layer of storm clouds above.
Upon seeing the pouring rain and thinking about where they were in the timeline, he came to the conclusion that they should be going to the 'Opinicon Camp'. This would make for the perfect opportunity to test the upgrades to the Omnitrix's scanner.
Hypothetically, it was due to all the plant life that the Florauna DNA was unlocked, but it took too long and Ben would prefer to just deal with the coming nonsense, then get back on the road, so the upgrade will save some time.
...
A little more than an hour later, Max stopped the RV suddenly, causing the three kids to jerk around.
Gwen looked over to Max. "Grandpa, what was that about? I almost hit my head off the table..."
Max got up and ran out of the Rustbucket in a rush, which was confusing to the kids, so the kids went over to the front to see what was going on. A few metres in front of the RV, there was a 'pudgy' kid lying face down on the road and Max was running over to him.
Picking the kid up, Max hurried back into the RV with the kid and put him down before going to get a towel for him.
Ben and the girls made their way over, Gwen commenting that the kids name was 'Gilbert' when she saw a name tag, and that he must be from 'Camp Opinicon'.
Rather than wait for Max to bring the towel over, Ben fused with Heatblast and put his hand out toward the kid while radiating heat, saving time and laundry as he warmed and dried unconscious kid.
When Max saw Ben doing this, he stopped in place. 'Right... I didn't think of that...' He put the towel back and walked over to the kids.
Noticing that Gilbert's arm had a purple rash of some sorts, Keira pointed at it and exclaimed. "Eww... What's that junk on his arm? It's gross."
"It's likely some kind of fungus." Gwen replied back to Keira, also kind of grossed out by it.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, Max looked a little concerned about the kid. "I saw the sign for the camp a ways back. They should have a nurse there, we'll have turn back around and get him checked." With that said, he returned to the driver's seat and did a U-turn.
Meanwhile, Ben and the girls just sat down at the table to chat. While he was talking with them, the Omnitrix activated and spoke in his mind, just another addition he made. 'After analysis of the abnormal fungus, with the additional heat stimulation, the Florauna DNA and Methanosian DNA samples have been unlocked.' After giving him yhe report, the Omnitrix simply went back into standby.
Smiling slightly, Ben laughed in amusement on the inside. 'Heh. Though I didn't expect it, I won't complain about having Swampfire as well. And, I know my upgrades are working, so that's nice."
...
Soon arriving at the camp, the first and most obvious thing to notice, was that it had been abandoned.
For some reason, Max decided it was smarter to investigate, than it was to immediately get out of there. Ben didn't see any reason to point the idiocy of this out however, as he was confident in dealing with the nonsense to come.
So, like they were guided by fate, Ben and the girls followed Max out of the RV and into the rain, before running into the cabin in front of them and out of the rain.
When they got inside, they saw that it was a dining hall and that it had only recently been evacuated, which was pointed out by Max as he held his hand over a plate of warm spaghetti.
There was a sudden crackle of thunder and the lights went out. In response, Gwen and Keira released, what had to be the fakest "Eek", that Ben had ever heard as they grabbed onto his arms.
'What kind of cliche bullcrap...' Thanks to his Night Vision, Ben could perfectly see the smiles on their faces, making him sigh at their antics.
Moments later, Ben had a torch pointing at him, courtesy of Max, who had pulled two of them from God knows where...
Max looked at Ben's situation and began talking as if he saw nothing. "The power has probably gone out. I only have two torches, so you three will need to share." He handed the torch to Keira, as she was closest. He then turned and muttered with some amusement. "Though, I don't think that should be a problem..."
The girls didn't hear him, but Ben did. 'Is he enjoying this?' His eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the fact that Max was finding his situation funny, not to mention... 'Is he forgetting that one of these girls is his legitimate granddaughter and that we are supposed to be cousins!? Wouldn't most people be a little more concerned by this behaviour!??"
Taking a deep breath, Ben shook his head and let out a quiet sigh, letting the girls pull him along.
It was barely a minute before they ended up in the kitchen, where Gwen was either grossed out by the mess or freaked out by the horror movie like situation.
Making their way to the back, Keira moved the light around the room in search of anything and when she was passing over the walk in freezer, four circles of light became visible. Like, when a cartoon has some is hiding in the dark, with light reflecting off their eyes...
The 'creepy' scene, despite everything that had happened, actually managed to frighten Gwen a bit. "Eep..." Releasing a quiet squeal, she tightened her grasp on his arm.
Given a second to look more closely, it was clear the origin of the circles of light was in fact, two small children, a boy and a girl. The two kids opened the freezer door and slowly came out. ""Is it safe to come out.""
Max saw the two little ones and walked over. "Are you two okay?
"For-" The boy started. "-now." And the girl finished.
Ignore the way they talked, Max got straight to business. "Can you tell me what happened here? Where did everyone go?
Shrugging shyly, the boy started to answer. "We heard something outside, but-" and the girl continued. "-we were too scared to come out." They then introduced himself. "I'm Andy." Followed by the girl. "And I'm Mandie." Before both saying. ""We're twin.""
Suddenly, there was another burst of thunder, scaring the twins and making them hurry over to Max for safety.
"Where's the camp nurse?" He asked them, not forgetting about the unconscious kid in the RV.
"Gone... With all the others." They told him together while shaking.
Max saw a land-line and picked it up, hoping for it to be working, but inevitably sighing as he pulled out his phone and found that he didn't have any signal either. "The storm has taken out the landlines and there is no signal either... Let's get back to the Rustbucket."
The kids nodded in response. Well, except for Ben, who just looked unbothered and perhaps even bored.
Taking the lead, Max took the kids back to the RV. Ben got his arms released by the girls as they stepped outside, having to run over to the RV in hopes of staying as dry as possible, due to the fact that it was now pouring down.
Ben wasn't all that bothered by the rain though, so he casually walked over with his hands in his pockets. Arriving at the door, he saw that Max had given the twins a towel to share and was giving the another to the girls.
Taking just a step inside, Ben leaned in and quietly spoke to his family. "Hey, I'm going to take a look around, okay?" The reason he was telling them was mostly for the girls sake, as he knew they would feel down if he just left.
Gwen looked at him first and worriedly spoke. "But Ben... It's pouring down out there, you'll get sick." If she was to be honest, she was just making up an excuse for him to not go.
Ben grinned at her reassuringly. "C'mon, I've never been sick in my life, you know that. I'll be fine."
Looking at him with some concern, Max rubbed at the back of his neck. "Still... I don't think that such a good idea Ben, we don't know-" He was interrupted however.
"Don't worry so much." Ben said with a cheery tone. "I'm just going to go for a quick... 'run' and I'll be right back. If it gets too dangerous, I'll come right back."
Max and the girls understood that by 'run', he was referring to XLR8, but it didn't reassure them all that much. Ben didn't wait for any sort of approval however, as he waved to them and stepped back out of the RV.
Seeing him leave, the three of them were about to go after him, but they stopped as they saw a flash of red light, followed by the sound of something zooming away.
All they could do was sigh and the girls sat down with pouts on their faces.
On Ben's side of things, it took mere seconds for him to blits around the forest and find a barely started construction project that seemed to have opened up an underground cave.
Running into the cave, he started going straight down and found a giant pink plant monster. He didn't waste time communicating with the plant monster as he changed into Swampfire and began producing a bunch of toxic fumes, which started to kill the monster, only for Ben to produce a spark from his hand, igniting the gas and blowing up the monster. Along with part of the forest...
Because he was in a cave system, the whole place came crashing down on his head and squished him. Fortunately, he was a plant right now, so being buried in dirt was of no consequence as he simply dug himself out like a sprouting and reformed once on the surface.
[...]
"..."
'...'
[Mycelium has been killed - 500xp has been gained]
Seeing that he just blew up the forest, Ben and Gabriel could only stare at the destruction as rain started pouring in the hole he'd created. After a moment, he awkwardly muttered. "I'm... just gonna go..."
'Yeah... that's probably for the best...' Gabriel replied, a bit of judgement in her tone.
Turning around, Ben changed back into XLR8 and ran back to the RV. The others undoubtedly heard the explosion, so he was probably going be in some kind of trouble, but he wasn't too worried.
When he was close to the RV, he detransformed and walked the rest of the way, opened the door and went inside, where he was quickly wrapped up in a hug by Gwen and Keira. "Ben! You're okay!"
Max hurried over with concern. "Ben! We heard an explosion, what happened!?"
Ben looked at Max, before looking away in embarrassment and gesturing to the Omnitrix as he whispered. "I kinda found a giant plant monster and got a couple new aliens, which I didn't realised the power of... So I accidentally caused the explosion... Sorry."
Max looked outside and saw faint amounts of smoke in the distance, but the rain prevented an all out forest fire, so there was nothing to worry about. Sighing, he rubbed his face tiredly. "Well, it would have been better if the matter was handled a little more delicately, but at least you are safe."
Nodding to his likely mentally tired Grandpa, Ben looked over to the other three kids that had been picked up. "Right. Anyways, it would probably be best to head into town, so that you can get those three to a police station or something."
"That was the plan. I was just waiting for you to return. Now, why don't you three get sat down and we'll be on our way." Rubbing at his face once more, Max turned around and made his way over to the driver's seat.
The girls had been hugging Ben the entire time and didn't seem willing to let go yet, so Ben sighed and picked the two of them up before carrying them to the table. Awkwardly sitting down with the two of them, they shuffled around a bit to get more comfortable and snuggled into him.
Because he was still soaked, he fused with Heatblast and raised his temperature a bit so that he would dry quicker, while also warming up the girls.
When Max was ready, he started up the engine and began driving.
It wasn't long, but while making their way to town, the unconscious kid became conscious and freaked out, but he was quickly calmed when the twins told him they had left the camp.
When they had got into town, Max went straight to a hospital. It was unknown whether the kids would be sick after their experience, so this was the best option.
While there, he explained to the receptionist, that he had found them alone at the camp and that they would need to have their parents contacted.
After he had explained, the receptions called for the police as this was their job. Max and kids still had to stick around, but that was just to talk to the police and then they were free to be on their way.
So, seen as it was still quite dark, they just went to the Rustbucket, parked somewhere they were allowed to and got some sleep.
...
Because they were up late, the group didn't get up until 9AM. As a change of pace, Ben made crepes for breakfast and when they were done eating, he took the girls out shopping as a way to make up for yesterday's fright.
Ben took his time shopping with the girls, wanting to give them more time to be normal girls, rather than having to deal with the nonsense that comes with being part of Ben's life.
Though... Considering who they're related to, it is quite likely that they would experience some crazy shit at some point in their lives regardless. Especially with the amount of whackjobs that are in the universe.
It's kind of weird that all the crazies and crackpots only came out of the woodworks when Ben got the Omnitrix... Like, did they all get an email or something? Canon? Plot? In the real worlds, how the fuck does that work?
While he was walking with the girls, this was what Ben was thinking about. The girls notice that he was in his own little world and became curious, so Gwen enquired. "What are you thinking about?"
"Hm?" Hearing her question, Ben looked at her with some confusion. "Well, you know, with all the magic, monsters and aliens that exist, it's strange that everything is only becoming apparent since I got the Omnitrix... I mean, fair enough for the Aliens, they came looking for the Omnitrix, but what about magic? That weirdo at the museum didn't even try to be secretive and there was that Phil guy, he was releasing aliens just for a quick buck! You'd think with all this happening around America, there would be a lot of talk about it..."
"Now that you mention it..." Keira held her chin with her thumb and forefinger, thinking about her time in New York. "I made a fair amount mess when I was on the streets, yet no one really did anything about it..."
Gwen just looked on with bewilderment as she walked. "Weird..."
With combined confusion, the trio continued their shopping trip, but couldn't get their minds off the topic for the rest of the day.
Due to having their minds too occupied, the ended up returning to the Rustbucket early and cuddle up together while watching some movies.
The moment the kids got back from what was clearly a date, Max got behind the wheel and got them on the move.
When it got late, Ben and the girls went to sleep, while Max drove a little bit further, before going to sleep as well.
---
The next day, Ben woke up early, got himself out of Gwen and Keira's grasp, before going outside and doing a few reps of his training.
For the first time ever, he decided to try doing the mission as an Alien, but it didn't work... Neither did human-fusions... He was disappointed, but now he knows.
When he had finished his workout, Ben went back to the RV, where the other three had woke up and were watching with slack jaws.
Wiping some sweat from his brow, Ben grinned at them. "Hey! How long you been there?"
Gwen looked at him in shock. "Since ten minutes ago..."
"How many reps did you do...?" Knowing what one round of his training involved and the fact that he usually doesn't sweat from it, Keira felt almost unnerved by the fact that he was sweating now.
Ben tilted his head. "Four, why?"
Max looked at Ben with concern. "Ben, are you okay?"
Looking at his Grandpa, Ben was confused. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You just did 400 push ups, sit ups, squats and ran 40 kilometres... You should really sit down and rest..." Putting his hands on Ben's shoulder, Max looked at him uneasily. "Working this hard isn't good for your health."
Shaking his head disinterestedly, Ben just patted Max's arm and stepped back. "I'm fine. I'm not even tired or sore, and if I was, I would use my Mana to heal myself. So don't worry!" With that said, he made his way inside and got started on breakfast, leaving his concerned family outside.
...
When the food was done, Ben set the food down and called the other three in eat.
Hearing that their breakfast was ready, regardless of how worried they were for his health, they couldn't help salivating at the foot and hurrying over to the table.
Eating their food, they gained dreamy expressions and began stuffing their faces, Max being only slightly more patient.
Ben wasn't as bothered about the food and ate at a normal pace, occasionally giving the other three an odd look over their behaviour.
Unfortunately, breakfast was disrupted midway, when an alarm began blaring and a screen came out of one of the cupboards overhead, showing a weird looking mask.
Max looked the screen and froze in shock. "The Mask of Ah Puch... After all these years..."
The moment Max said those words, Ben felt the aura around his Grandfather change and become obsessive, leading him to roll his eyes. 'I swear to fucking God, if he starts acting the same way as he does in Canon, I am going to be pissed!'
Seeing Max like this, the kids looked at him, confused by his behaviour. Keira tilted her head to one side and asked. "Hey Gramps, mind clueing us in?"
Staring at the screen intently and spoke seriously. "The Mask of Ah Puch is the to one of the most powerful weapons in the world, the Sword of Ek Chuah! It's said that it is capable of leveling an entire city with just one swing!"
Ben put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand, looking at Max with boredom. "So? What's so important about it? I mean, i can destroy cities just as easily, this sword doesn't seem too great."
Upon hearing Ben's seeming disregard of the weapon, Max snapped at him. "Benjamin! This isn't a joke!"
Frowning, Ben lowered his hand and lightly glared at him. "Since when did I say I was joking? I just have no interest in your little obsession."
"Benja-!" Max started to speak with an angry tone, but was cut off.
Ben used the Force to shut Max's mouth and full on glared at him. "Don't even try. I can literally feel your obsession and it's disgusting. It is even surpassing our importance to you right now and so long as you continue acting like this, I won't have any part in whatever you're planning, nor will I let you drag these two into it."
Releasing his grasp on Max, Ben stood up and went to the back of the RV, where he sat down and began meditating. Gwen and Keira were left looking between the two males with discomfort, not knowing how things took such a turn.
Clenching his fists, Max got up and went to the driver's seat, starting the engine but not going anywhere. Ben's words had cleared his mind a bit. This wasn't the first time he had been called "obsessed" about the mask and he couldn't deny that he, for a moment, could only think about getting the mask and sword, consequences be damned... Sighing, he laid his head on the steering wheel. 'What am I doing...'
Turning the engine off, Max got up and made his way over to Ben, sitting down beside him and rubbing his face, he apologised. "Ben... I'm sorry for acting this way, but that mask is important to me... I've spent so many years looking the Sword of Ek Chuah, I'd given up awhile ago, but with it being so close now, it all came rushing back..."
Continuing to sit with his eyes closed, Ben listened to Max explain himself and when he was done, he grunted. "You do realise, the sword has been left without maintenance for thousands of years, right? It probably won't even be usable anymore, not to mention the defences that will be protecting it..." He opened his eyes and looked directly into Max's. "What was your plan exactly? Rush in, steal the mask from whoever has it, then charge into the unknown head first? That's a good way to get yourself and the girls killed."
Looking down in shame, Max sighed. "I know, I know... I was too caught up in wanting to find the sword and wasn't thinking..." Lifting his head, he looked at Ben with sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry and your right, you three are more important than that sword..."
Sensing the truth in Max's words, Ben sighed. "Fine... So long as you keep a level head, I'll help you get the sword, but you shouldn't expect much from it."
Max nodded gratefully and went back to the driver's seat, getting them on the road and driving with a heavy foot.
The girls saw that the matter seemed to have been resolved and went over to Ben, with Gwen tapping his shoulder and anxiously asking. "Are you two okay?"
Smiling at them reassuringly, Ben stroked their heads. "Yes, we're fine."
They looked at him, still worried about how he had been with Max. Keira bit her lower lip from the worry. "Are you really? You aren't just saying it, right?"
He pulled them both into a hug and spoke in a hushed tone. "So long as you two are safe, I will be fine. That's all that matters."
Being hugged, Gwen and Keira blushed happily and hugged him back, feeling comforted by his care for them.
What they didn't take note of, was that Ben specified his care for them and not Max. Max never held as much importance to Ben, as he wasn't regularly in their lives before and with his recent behaviour, he was getting on Ben's nerves. With all the shit Max pulls in Canon, like keeping his knowledge secret and more often than not, being oblivious to the danger around them, it is a surprise that the Canon Ben didn't have a fall out with him.
If it wasn't for Ben manipulating Max, it is likely that he would still be keeping the Plumbers a secret, and who knows what other secrets he is keeping. Right now, Ben had very little trust towards Max. 'How can I trust someone with so many secrets...'
Of course, he knows that this line of thought was hypocritical, considering how many secrets he was keeping, but his secrets aren't endangering the people around him for no reason. Fair enough, the Covenant have caused quite a mess because of him, but that was more because of the Omnitrix, along with the fact that the universe was different to Canon and that was something he couldn't change, so there was no reason to reveal his secrets...
But, right now, the girls were feeling uncomfortable with the situation, so Ben would maintain a friendly face towards Max to put them at ease.
...
After a few hours of driving, they had arrive in Texas, outside of an office building near an oil drilling rig.
Seeing that they'd arrived at their destination, Ben got up and went over to Max. "So, the mask is in there?" He saw Max nod, so he transformed into Ghostfreak and continued with a faint, whispery voice. "I'll be right back..."
Ben then turned invisible and drifted through the roof of the RV and then through the walls of the office building. In the building, he found a big safe, but it was no obstacle, as he phased through the metal and grabbed the mask inside, before he then returned back to the RV.
The moment he got back inside the RV, Ben turned back into a human with the mask in hand. He eyed the mask for a moment and felt magic from it, which he assumed was to show the way to the sword.
Putting the mask infront of his face, he triggered part of the enchantment and so rays of light came out of the eyes, projecting a hologram of a temple. Though that was just the visual effect and it actually implanted the coordinates in the mind of the wearer.
Shrugging, he tossed the mask over to Max and nonchalantly told him. "Just wear the mask and you'll know where to go..."
Making his way over to the seats, Ben sat down and closed his eyes in thought. 'If the mask has Magic in it and could last all this time without breaking... Then how come the sword broke the moment it was pulled out of its resting place...? Logic would dictate that the sword was magical in nature as well, so why?'
While he sat and thought about what could be the answer, he began replaying the Canon scene in his mind over and over again, thanks to his Eidetic Memory. Soon, he began focus on the sword itself and he realises something about it.
What he noticed, was that while the blade crumbled to dust... The hilt didn't! This gave him the realisation that the hilt was the real treasure, not the blade! This revelation was quite intriguing to him, but he lost interest soon enough.
The sword was supposedly only capable of destroying city's with a swing, so it didn't hold much interest to him when he considered how powerful he will become with time.
But, while he wasn't interested in the sword, there was still a chance for something enjoyable to happen, which is why he decided to check for a mission.
[Mission:
Buffed - You want a challenge? If you accept this mission, then Ah Puch will be buffed. But, your Wrath skill will be deactivated.
Rewards - One time use Perfect Resurrection Stone! Books on Necromancy and Dark Magic, 100,000SP, 10AP.
Failure - -200,000SP]
Seeing the rewards, Ben froze in shock. They made sense considering who he would be fighting, but they were pretty outrageous.
The prospect of having something to perfectly revive someone was just too great to pass up, so he immediately accepted the mission.
With so much joy over the prospective rewards, he felt the need to expell some excitement, so he began talking with Gabriel. For the last few days, he hadn't interacted with her as much, mostly because nothing interesting happened, so this made up for it.
...
Despite the distance to the temple, it didn't take as long as one might expect to get there. Why? Because Max drives like a man possessed when he feels like it... He even brought out the thrusters for crying out loud.
Eventually, they did have to stop and walk through a bit of jungle due to the obstruction, but it wasn't much of a bother and they were soon infront of a temple.
Staring at the temple, Keira cocked her head to the side. "Uhh, so, like, how do we get in now that we're here???"
"If I had to guess, it would be the same way we got here..." Ben replied and pointed to the mask on Max's hip. "Look through the mask."
Taking Ben's word, Max grabbed the mask and put it in front of his face. This revealed something only he could see, as he moved to a wall and pressed on one of the bricks, causing the entire wall to open up.
"See?" Grinning at Keira, Ben began making his way inside and was quickly followed by the others.
As they went, Ben walked ahead and his eyes shone in the darkness, as he saw the traps and warned the others beforehand, while they were trailing behind him with Max carrying a torch.
The further in they went into the temple, a fear grew within Ben and his heart was pounding faster every second. It got to the point that he felt he HAD to say something to the other three.
For the first time since his reincarnation, Ben spoke while trembling and stuttering. "*Gulp* G-guys..." He stopped in place.
Now that he had stopped moving and was speaking to them, it was possible for them to see his trembling figure, the fear in his voice evident to them. "Ben...?" Seeing him like this, the three of them were worried for him. "Are you oka-"
Before they could continue, Ben turned around and looked at them gravely as he spoke again. "Listen! I have a really bad feeling right now and my gut is telling me to run, and I trust my instincts. So, no matter what happens, the moment I say 'run', you better listen!!"
The three of them were taken aback by his behaviour, and knowing how strong he is and how he readily charged into battle against an army, they felt like they had no other option but to listen. This prompted Gwen to speak up. "Maybe we should just leave..."
Keira agreed, and surprisingly, so did Max. He might not know what could frighten his Grandson like this and it might be strange to believe a ten year olds instincts, but Ben was no ordinary kid and Max trusts his instincts given his capabilities.
As much as Ben wants to agree and turn around, the mission be damned, he could feel that it was no longer an option. "... We can't... There is something in the temple and I can feel it stalking us... If we try to leave, I have no doubt that it'll attack us..."
Hearing this, the others gulped and began looking around nervously.
Taking a few deep breaths, Ben steeled himself and looked at them with determination. "If we were to split up, there is no saying who the creature would go after, so we will need to stay in a group... For now, we have no choice but to keep moving... When the creature reveals itself, I will transform and start fighting it. I should be able to take it, or at least escape, so I want you three to run away as fast as you can. Understood?"
Max looked at him worriedly. "Ben! I can't leav-"
Cutting Max off, Ben glared at him. "UNDERSTOOD!?"
Stepping back in fright, Max was put under the effect of Intimidation and couldn't find the words to refuse, so he mechanically nodded.
Letting out a sigh, Ben looked back towards where they were going, unable to bring himself to look at the girls, who were already crying.
Restarting their journey, a sad smile appeared on his face as he spoke to Gabriel. 'Hey, Gabriel... I'm not feeling too confident right now, so if I die... again.... It was nice knowing you...'
Gabriel replied harshly in response to his negativity. "SHUT UP!"
Startles by her shout, Ben chuckled to himself inside. 'Not how I thought our possible last talk would go...'
"Shut up you stupid bastard!" She shouted at him again, sadness in her tone. "Stop talking like you're going to die! You can't die yet! You have barely been alive, you have to fight and win, there's no other choice!-" Gabriel continued to pretty much scream at him.
Understanding that he wasn't going to get one last fun exchange, Ben blocked her out completely, so she couldn't even see what's happening, and continued forward with his body feeling heavier, a sorrowful air around him as he prepared himself for death.
Max and the girls treaded behind him. Max saw Ben's figure ahead and could feel his heart in his throat, guilt roiling inside him as he blamed himself for this. He could see the weight on Ben's shoulders and recognised that he was preparing himself to die, making him feel like a failure as Ben's Grandfather.
The girls were walking on either side of Max, as he had to practically drag them along. They were crying silently and looking at the ground, forcing themselves to make as little noise as possible, just in case they ran the risk of attracting the creature to them.
They couldn't even look at Ben... Usually, Ben is so confident and while they were scared whenever he went to fight, his confidence reassured them, but seeing how scared he was just now, they couldn't get rid of the thought that he would actually die this time...
As the four of them walked, each step felt heavier than the last, but they soon arrive at pedestal with an indentation in it and a door behind it.
Without looking, Ben force pulled the mask to himself, straight from Max's hip and then placed it in the pedastal, causing the door to slowly open...
They all watched with bated breaths as the door opened. The inside was dimly lit by something at the top of a pyramid and if you look closely, you can see a sword with the blade stabbed into it, the very reason they were there...
At the bottom of the Pyramid, there was large bipedal being with gray, rocky looking skin and a face resembling the mask. Or rather, the mask was made in the image of this being... Ah Puch! He seemed to be waiting until one of them entered the room, like a gladiator awaiting his next challenger.
Ben walked forward and stopped just before the door, taking a nervous breath and gathering Mana, before turning to the other three and giving a smile of false confidence. Unwilling to look at them, he had his eyes closed and with an upbeat tone, he told them. "Run!"
With that said, he looked forward and took the final step into the room, even as he heard the shouts of his family. Ben used the mana he had gathered and erected a dark red barrier behind him, blocking the entrance and separating them from each other.
The moment he stepped into the room, Ah Puch let out a monstrous screech and jumped at Ben.
Quickly reacting, Ben thrust his hands forward and made a Mana barrier in hopes of blocking the monster. However, the barrier did nothing, as Ah Puch crashed through it as if it was glass.
With little time to react, Ben instinctively turned into his best chance to avoid the attack, XLR8. He sped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the hulking body of Ah Puch.
When Ah Puch hit the ground where Ben previously was, a crater was formed and the entire temple seemed to shake.
Nervously sweating, Ben focused on the crater and waited.
Seemingly angered that his prey had avoided him, Ah Puch roared loudly and jumped out out of the crater, before angrily glaring at his prey. Now realising that his prey wasn't as weak as he thought, he decided to take this seriously.
To Ben's shock, the monster in front of him crouched down and put its clawed hands on the ground before charging at him with incredible speed. Seeing the speed Ah Puch was going, Ben's eyes widened and he ran away as fast as he could.
As he ran, Ben looked behind him and saw Ah Puch only just lagging behind him, with the gap barely widening as he ran. 'Shit! If he is this fast, I won't be able to keep up as any other Alien... I don't even know how strong he is! Damnit!'
Looking forward, he grit his teeth and abruptly stopped, simultaneously turning into Diamondhead and bracing himself for impact while making spikes all over his body.
Ah Puch continued his charge and went head first into Ben's body. Ben did this in hopes of causing at least a little damage, but he barely left a few scratches on Ah Puch, while he himself was sent flying and embedded into the wall, though completely undamaged. 'Too tough to pierce, but too weak to hurt me like this...'
With a small push, he freed himself from the wall and glared at the seemingly invulnerable enemy.
Once more angered by his opponents survival, Ah Puch ran at his pray again. This time, he was on two legs and significantly slower.
Taking advantage of his enemies slower movement, Ben waited a moment for him to get close enough and then began running at him as well. With his first step, Ben made some crystal come out of the ground in front of where Ah Puch's foot was going to be and made him trip.
Ben quickly turned into Fourarms and used Ah Puch's forward momentum to his advantage, delivering an uppercut straight to his face. The force of the uppercut sent his foe shooting up, into the ceiling.
Not missing a beat, Ben jumped up and rammed his body into Ah Puch, then quickly grabbing his leg and throwing him into the ground, creating a cloud of dust. Positioning himself upside-down, Ben kicked off the ceiling, with his fist reared as he went to punch Ah Puch.
Punching through the dust, Ben felt his fist make contact, but not in the way he was hoping... When he punched, Ah Puch caught his fist, but was just slightly weaker and was shaking a little bit. 'And he is too strong for most my aliens...'
Using the dust to his advantage, Ah Puch lashed out with his other hand and hit Ben, clawing his eyes and making his blood scatter into the air.
Thanks to his Pain Tolerance, Ben wasn't thrown off by the attack, but he could no longer see anything on the left side. Growling angrily, Ben started throwing rapid punches at Ah Puch, hitting him in the chest and causing tremors with each hit.
His punches seemed to cause pain, but Ah Puch's durability didn't allow for major damage and so, they serve mainly as a way to anger him. Roaring loudly, the monster used both of its legs and kicked Ben in the stomach, launching him off the ceiling.
Ben fell to the ground and got up while covering his destroyed eyes with one hand. He would use a recovery, but it makes more sense to wait for more dire conditions. Through his remaining eyes, he saw Ah Puch get up and immediately charge at him.
Seeing the approach, Ben stopped covering his eyes and swung for Ah Puch, but he missed, as Ah Puch used his incredible agility to change directions and avoid the punch. Ben righted himself and looked around for his enemy, but could only see blurs.
Continously looking around, he punched out, but missed every time. All Ben saw was blurs as he tried to track him, but failed and was soon hit in the back. He was thrown forward by the hit, only for his direction to be changed part way, as he was hit again.
As he was hit again and again, Ben was ragdolled around the room and he could feel it taking a toll. Doing the only thing he could think of, he turned into Ghostfreak and stopped mid-air, before going invisible as a way to catch his breath.
Unfortunately, Ah Puch was the Mayan God of Death for a reason... Ben's invisibility was absolutely useless, as Ah Puch stared directly at him and jumped at him.
In shock, Ben backed up, but realised he could go intangible. It was only a moment later that he found out that his intangibility was also useless, as Ah Puch seemed to smile insidiously and swipe his claws at Ben.
A faint glow covered Ah Puch's claws and as they made contact, Ben felt an unbearable pain spread across his entire being, something beyond the physical realm and directed towards his soul. The claws cut into his ghostly body, but Ah Puch didn't follow through with the attack wholeheartedly, causing Ben to shoot into a wall.
Hitting the wall, Ben felt shock throughout his body and he fell down to the ground, detransforming back to a human, where he had four horrendous gashes on his side and two more over his left eye.
Coughing in pain, Ben didn't have the time to think about why his wounds remained after detransforming, as he looked at his foe and saw Ah Puch crouched down, looking at him and seeming to find pleasure in his suffering. Coughing some more, Ben grinned distainfully. 'Cocky bastard... Don't blame me for your stupidity.'
His grin turned vicious as he used a Recovery and instantly had his wounds disappear. He immediately followed this by turning into XLR8 and fusing with Fourarms, bulking up a bit, which might affect his speed slightly, but not enough to put him at a disadvantage. "My turn!"
The thing about his fusion function, while he might only get 10% of the power as a human, he gets 50% when he is in the form of another alien. So~ It was payback time!
Without hesitation, he ran at Ah Puch and struck him directly in the face, launching him through the air. Before Ah Puch could hit anything, Ben gave him a taste of his own medicine and hit him again, sending him in another direction, before repeating it a dozen times over...
He was fairly sure that his attacks weren't hurting Ah Puch that much, but he didn't care much either. Was he being petty? Most definitely... But! If he was going to die today, he wants to at least go down while giving his enemy the middle finger.
Just as he'd expected and kind of wanted, Ah Puch became furious at being played with like he had just done and turned mid-air, kicking Ben across the room.
Skidding to a halt, Ben quickly moved to the side and avoided a dive from the monster. Said monster impacted the ground and quickly turned, before diving at Ben again, only to be dodged again. Again and again, dive and dodge, rinse and repeat.
Every time Ben dodged a dive, he got more accustomed with the speed and saw a pattern. So, when he saw his best opportunity, he dodged another dive, but as he did, he added some spin to his movement and swung his tail, bashing Ah Puch in the side of his head.
While Ah Puch, was sent flying by his attack, Ben detransformed, before turning into Fourarms and fusing with Diamondhead, his red skin turned crystalline and rigid.
Jumping at the flying Ah Puch, Ben reached him just as he crashed into the wall and drove his fist into the ugly bastards face.
Roaring intensely, Ben started repeatedly punch him again and formed spikes on his fists. His extreme strength and toughness was actually causing some obvious damage to the Mayan diety.
Ah Puch screeched in pain and with as much strength as he could muster, he kicked Ben off himself. Ben wasn't knocked very far, but it was just far enough to give him some freedom, which he used to start running circles around Ben.
As he ran around Ben, Ah Puch repeatedly hit and clawed at Ben, causing some small, but negligible wounds. This is where his dodging came in handy, because Ah Puch still had very similar timing.
So, counting in his head, Ben clenched his fist tightly. '5... 4... 3... 2... 1... NOW!!!' Swinging his arm out to the side, he placed it directly in the path of Ah Puch and closelined him.
Knocking Ah Puch off balance, Ben grabbed him and put him into a full Nelson headlock with his top two arms, while he used his lower arms to continously punch him.
Of course, Ah Puch wasn't happy to just let this go on, as he struggled against Ben. He tried to get out of the headlock with all his might, but Ben returned the sentiment and refused to let go. When he realised that he couldn't get out of the headlock, Ah Puch used his legs and kicked off the ground, backwards and smashing Ben into the wall.
Because of the unexpectedly smart move, Ben lost his grip slightly and Ah Puch managed to free one of his arms, which he immediately used to deliver repeated elbow strikes to Ben's ribs, while he switched to a gearlock chokehold. The first few strikes did very little, but they just kept coming and hit the same spot every time, causing damage to accumulate and his body began cracking.
During all this, Ben had still been punching him with his lower arms, but because of the damage he was taking now, Ben had no other choice but to redirect the use one of his lower arms, as he tried to grab Ah Puch's free arm.
Ah Puch took notice of his restraining attemp and stopped elbowing him, instead, opting to grab onto the upper arm Ben had choking him Using all the strength he could muster to pull Ben's arm up to his mouth, Ah Puch bit into the arm and ripped a chunk out of it.
Feeling a shock run through his body when the chunck of his arm was removed, Ben growled and grabbed Ah Puch's head with his other upper arm, he turned over and began slamming him into the wall repeatedly, before slamming into the ground face first.
Ben then kneeled on his foes back, grabbing hold of one of his arms and beginning to twist it, creating an audible *Pop* as the arm was dislocated. Screaming in pain, Ah Puch turned his head and opened his mouth wide, making it easy for his tongue to shoot out and ark around, stabbing into Ben's eye. His left eye...
"Goddammit!!!" Shouting angrily, Ben grasped the tongue with one hand, while pushing down on Ah Puch's head. He pulled the tongue out of his eye and then, because the tongue can clearly extend, he started wrapping it around his wrist until it could extend no further. Then, with a vicious smile, he yanked his arm away and ripped the tongue out.
Slamming Ah Puch's head into the ground once more, he stood up and then threw him into the pyramid. Standing up straight and covering his eye, Ben maintained his smile and detransformed.
In his human form, Ben looked psychotic as he held his left eye with blood pouring down his face and a smile on his face, his right arm hanging limply with her chunck missing. To add to this, Ben began laughing insanely. "Hahahahaha! If I'm going to die, I might as well take you with me!!!"
Using another Recovery, Ben healed himself, before turning into Heatblast and added to his firepower by fusing with Swampfire. His body was a weird mix of rock, fire and vines. He used the vines to dig into the ground and braced himself, pointing his hands at the figure kneeling on the ground and holding it's mouth.
Ben crazily cackled and shouted. "BURN!! HAHAHAA!!!" From his hands, two massive beams of fire shot out of his palms, hitting Ah Puch.
Within the beams, Ah Puch was screaming in pain, pain which turned to anger, as he unsteadily stood up and began pushing his way forward, through the fire and towards Ben. Trudging through the fire was painful and difficult from the force pushing against him, but he was slowly making his way forward.
Ben smiled manically and waited for the fool to get half way towards him, before upping the power even more, making the flames turn blue as the surrounding rock began melting and Ah Puch was launched back into the pyramid.
Blasting him with all his power like this was extremely draining, so the attack only lasted a few seconds, but that was enough to do damage to Ah Puch. Because of his lavish use of energy, Ben was panting tiredly, but his mind was now calmer. "I don't think it did, but damn... I really hope that did it..." Having no energy left, Ben was forced to turn back to human, showing him a defect that he was previously unaware of.
The Omnitrix wasn't timed out or anything, but he had been forced out of his fusion by excessive energy loss. This defect could be deadly in the future, just as it proved to be now.
From the smoking pyramid, Ah Puch leaped out at Ben, who was still feeling the fatigue from his energy usage. Ben was alarmed at the sudden attack, but his previous attack had done quite a bit of damage, causing Ah Puch to be unrecognisable from before and severely weakened.
Ah Puch still had the strength to kill him in his current state though, so Ben threw himself to the right. He barely avoided a fatal attack, but it came at a price... His left arm.
Hissing from having his arm cut off, Ben was enraged and pulled a lightsaber from his inventory, throwing it at Ah Puch's legs, before looking at his severed arm and force pulling it towards himself, placing it in its rightful place and using a Recovery, reattaching his arm and recovering all his energy.
Technically, he didn't have to hold the severed arm in place and could have just grown a new one with the Recovery, but his left arm is the one with the Omnitrix on its wrist and he wasn't sure how getting it back would work, and he definitely doesn't feel like finding out now.
Despite having just used a Recovery, it was pretty much put to waste, as Ah Puch, who was now missing a leg, had launched at Ben and stabbed him through his gut and out his back. Ah Puch remove his arm from Ben's stomach and began angrily hitting Ben's legs and arms, crushing them into paste. A few stray hits hitting him in the head
Only when he was sure that Ben wouldn't be getting back up, did Ah Puch stop hitting him and roared in victory.
This time, Ben was closer to death than he has been the whole fight, the only thing keeping him from slipping into the abyss, was his Mana, which he was protecting his heart and brain with.
With a foggy mind, he used his fading Will to use another Recovery, healing him physically and mentally, making him sharply inhale as he turned into Diamondhead, confident that it would keep him the safest in his moment of shock.
Ah Puch saw Ben recover and transform, making him furious and start attacking him viciously, even headbutting him despite the self damage it caused.
Ben just lay on his back and panted panickedly from his brush with death, completely ignoring the raging God of Death.
After a minute or so, Ben regained his composure and looked at Ah Puch with hatred. Seeing his head coming towards him again, Ben's hand shot forward and grabbed his head. "You BASTARD!!!" Flipping them over, Ben began slamming Ah Puch's head against the floor and sharpened his other hand into a blade, before he started stabbing the bastard repeatedly and saying. "Die!Die!Die!Die!Die!Die!Die!Die!Die!..."
Hit hate had completely taken over, so even when Ah Puch was long dead, Ben kept stabbing him. Eventually, Ben unconsciously detransformed after awhile, but even then, he kept stabbing his hand into the dead body.
He had never felt so much hatred for one being before... This being, Ah Puch... He had caused Ben to feel dread and despair. He made him accept death, even though his life had barely begun.
This made his mind go blank, as his eyes were bloodshot and practically glowing bright red, all while he roared like a wild beast, sounding nothing like anything even resembling a human.
And, as if led by an unknown, feral force, Ben unconsciously leaned down with his mouth wide open, teeth bared and his saliva dripping from his mouth, as he bit into the exposed, mushed up flesh of the dead idol and only after swallowing several mouthfuls did he come back to his senses.
With shocked realisation of what he was doing, he threw himself away from the body and started to hyperventilate. His concerns being less about what he'd done, and more about why he'd done it.
He'd lost his senses and turned into a complete animal-No! He was worse than that! An animal does what it need to do to survive... What he'd done was more like monster. If it had of been a matter of survival, he would have thought about it in depth before doing it, but here, he had just done it with no thought whatsoever and that frightens him more than anything.
Fortunately, he was very adaptable, so slowly, but surely, he came to terms with it on the surface, while it haunted him a bit in the back of his mind.
Kneeling on his knees, he got a bottle of what out of his inventory and poured it over his and inside his mouth to remove the traces of blood from himself. He then briefly fused with Heatblast and dried himself, before returning to normal.
Standing up, he looked around for his lightsaber and force pulled it to his hand, putting it in his inventory. He looked back to the corpse and felt cold inside.
Thinking about getting the DNA of the Omnitrix, he looked at said device and found that it was already covered in blood, so he took a quick look and saw an icon of something similar to Ah Puch. Seeing that he already had the DNA, Ben no longer bothered looking at body and just jumped over to the sword at the top of the Pyramid.
Ben grabbed the sword, pulled it out of the stone and began walking, without even bothering to look at the crumbling blade as he put the remaining hilt in his inventory.
Due to the sword being removed, the temple started to shake and fall apart, but Ben paid it no mind as he slowly and casually made his way out. His Mana barrier had disappeared awhile ago, so he didn't have to remove it as he left the room and trudged his way through the halls.
During his walk, he occasionally had to use the Force to stop a part of the ceiling from falling on him, but other than that, it was thankfully uneventful.
When he was nearing the exit, he made his upper clothes disappear. He can't do much about being soaked in his own blood, but his clothes had clear signs of his battle and the injuries he sustained during it. Like the missing sleeve from when his arm was severed and the gaping hole through his shirt from being pierced through.
He had already worried the girls enough with this bullshit and didn't want to give them any insight as to what he actually suffered back there.
Arriving at the exit, Ben didn't even have the energy to life his hand to shield his eyes from the light of the sun, which he notice had moved a fair bit from the position it was at when he first entered the temple. The other thing he notices, was the sorrowful and emotionally agonising screams of Gwen and Keira.
Looking over with a blank gaze, he saw that they were sobbing into Max's chest and hitting him feebly, as he was holding them tightly in order stop them from running into the temple, while he did his best to not break down himself.
Seeing their current state, despite his own condition, Ben mustered up the best smile he could, which wasn't very good, and went over to them. With a hoarse voice, he called out. "You three...!"
Hearing Ben's voice, the three of them snapped their heads in his direction. When they saw it was really him, the girls broke free from Max's arms and dived at Ben, who caught the two girls with the Force and made them faint.
The moment the girls with asleep, Ben lost his smile and blankly stared at Max, speaking with a broken voice. "I need some time to myself, can we just get to the RV..."
Max stared at Ben, the corners of his eyes were wet with relieved tears. He nodded to Ben, leading to Ben turning around and beginning to walk away, and while he could see that see that Ben needed some time, he couldn't help asking. "Ben... What happened in there...?"
Ben's steps stopped for a moment and his breath halted as he thought of what he'd done. If he hadn't washed his face, the creatures blood would still be covering with his own. A moment later, he took a breath and spoke. "Nothing happen..."
He then began walking again, leaving Max behind and quickly making his way through the jungle with the girls, quickly getting back to the Rustbucket and going inside.
When he was in the RV, he put the girls down and went to have a shower. As he showered, he took a look at his gains.
[Mission Complete - One time use Perfect Resurrection Stone! Books on Necromancy and Dark Magic, 100,000SP and 10AP Received]
[New Title - Idol Slayer: Whenever you face of against a worshipped being, you become 2x stronger.]
[Intimidation increased to Lv-5]
[Danger Sense increased to Lv-4]
[Pain Tolerance increased to Lv-9.]
[Unique Skill Acquired: Gluttony - By eating a strong opponent you can gain stat points. This skill only works when an opponent has a 70% chance of killing you.]
[Ah Puch has been killed - You have gained 200,000xp]
Seeing his new stats, Ben sighed and dropped his head as the hot water fell down on him. 'I need to sleep...' With that in his mind, he cleaned himself faster and then went to lie down.
(This probably had my best battle so far.)
[Status -
Name - Ben
Lv - 50 (45,850/80,000)
Title - Wielder of the Omnitrix, Anti-Hero, Idol Slayer
State - Healthy MP - 9633
STR - 3510
END - 3511
AGI - 3510
CHA - 3512
INT - 185
LUK - 666
AP - 86 SP - 1,416,850
Primary Skills: CQC Lv-5, Marksmanship Lv-5, Intimidation Lv-5, Danger Sense Lv-4, Sneak Lv-4, Mana Manipulation Lv-2
Secondary Skills: Drawing Lv-3, Math Lv-4, Science Lv-4, Writing Lv-3, Maneuvering Lv-5, Driving Lv-4, Engineering Lv-5, Cooking Lv-4, Pain Tolerance Lv-9, Bioengineering Lv-5, Programming Lv-5, Torture Lv-2, Acting Lv-3
Unique Skill: Wrath, Love and Lust, Gluttony, Complete Language Comprehension, Eidetic Memory, Analyse, Night Vision, The Force]
(1 Recoveries Stored)