Chapter Text
There are many ways to tell a story. In one universe Ben Tennyson discovered the Omnitrix, created by the Galvanic genius Azmuth, when he was 10 years old while camping with his grandfather and cousin. He would use this powerful device to become one of the greatest heroes the world had ever known.
This is not that universe.
In this universe Azmuth’s genius was matched only by his depravity. With these..new priorities, his creation was intended for a far different purpose. But things rarely go to plan, and the more things change…the more they stay the same.
Ben grumbled to himself, idly kicking a small branch out of his path as he trudged through the woods, his summer had barely begun and it was already ruined. First he’d been hung by his underwear from a tree by JT and Cash while trying to help out another victim of theirs, then it turned out his trip with his grandpa now included his nerdy cousin. Coming to a stop Ben stared at the night sky dejectedly, wishing something good could come from this trip. His moping was interrupted by the sight of something bright racing across the starry sky.
“Oh cool a shooting star!” his mood lifted slightly as he watched it blaze overhead.
His wonder turned to confusion and then panic as the “star” seemed to turn mid flight and began falling right towards him! With a (totally manly) scream, Ben threw himself to the side as the star impacted the ground nearby. Chunks of earth and clouds of dust were kicked into the air as he covered his head with his arms. As the dust settled Ben slowly returned to his feet, eyes immediately being drawn to the newly formed crater beside him. Edging closer to the rim of the crater, he peered down towards its centre, getting a good look at just what had fallen.
There at the site of impact sat a gleaming metal sphere, as Ben leant forwards to get a better look the sphere slid open with one sharp motion. Caught off guard Ben attempted to step back, only for the edge of the crater to cave under his weight, sending him tumbling down. As he came to a stop next to the now open pod, Ben grabbed onto its side to help pull himself up.
Now able to see clearly he could only stare in confusion at what appeared to be a strange watch sat inside, its faceplate decorated with a purple heart shaped icon. Before he could decide what to do next the watch seemed to come alive, leaping forwards it quickly attached itself to his left wrist as he tried to scramble away.
“AH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” he screamed, clawing at the device in a futile effort to remove it.
No matter how he pulled or twisted the watch stubbornly refused to budge. One attempt to remove the device caused him to press down on the faceplate, the device then popped it up like a switch with its heart icon being replaced by a silhouette. Panic giving way to curiosity, Ben took a better look at the new image. It appeared to be a humanoid shape with flames around its head, Ben had to admit it looked pretty cool. Brushing his hand against the faceplate it rotated slightly, shifting the image to another silhouette. Giving the dial a larger twist caused a series of other images to pass over the screen before it returned to the flaming figure. Upon this discovery Ben started to weigh his options.
Option one, he leaves the device alone and gets his grandpa to help. Or option two, he pushes the dial back in and sees what happens. Given that Gwen would certainly pick option one, Ben decided to go with option two. Smiling in anticipation Ben pressed down on the screen, as the dial slid back into place a bright purple flash filled the area. As his vision cleared Ben stared expectantly down at the watch, only to find it had returned to its heart icon with no other visible changes.
“Nothing? Ugh this is the lamest thing that’s happened today” sighing in disappointment he turned to make his way back to camp, only to walk into something warm and red instead.
Yelping and holding his nose Ben glared at what he hit and quickly became confused. In front of him appeared to be someone's stomach, if that person had red rocks for skin with glowing ‘lava’ lines running through it. Slowly looking up his eyes passed over a generous chest before coming to stop at a pair of glowing eyes staring back at him.
“Hey there~” the figure greeted cheerfully.
“AAAAHHHH!” Ben replied fearfully.
The figure jumped back in surprise, looking around as if attempting to locate something.
“What is it? What’s wrong” she asked, as Ben stared in disbelief.
“What’s wro-YOU’RE ON FIRE!” Ben screamed, gesturing to her (literally) smoking figure.
“Oh!” she giggled slightly, realising just what had him spooked. “Don’t worry about me, this is totally normal” she assured
“Is it though?” Ben thought. Now that his panic had passed he gave the creature in front of him a real look.
“What are you? Why are you here?” he asked, dozens of questions flooding his head as his curiosity came back full force.
Giggling once more she leant forward, resting her hands on her thighs while pushing her chest upwards. “Can’t you guess~?” she asked playfully.
She watched as his brought his hand to his chin in thought, his eyes seemingly lingering on her chest. “Heh heh, he can’t look away~” she mentally cheered.
Despite her belief Ben’s focus was not on her figure, but on the collar around her neck. Now that he could see it clearly it had the same heart icon as the watch.
“Fire body…fancy logo…Oh I know!” he announced excitedly.
“That’s right I’m-” she began.
“A superhero!” Ben exclaimed, eyes shining in awe.
“That’s right a super-Wait what?” she fumbled, not expecting the conversation to go this way.
“I-I’m not a-” she tried to correct him, only for Ben to interrupt again.
“This is so cool!” he said, his enthusiasm catching her attention as she noticed how intently he was looking at her.
“I mean I’m not just a superhero. I’m a superhero from outer space” she pivoted, enjoying how his eyes lit up at her declaration.
“Man, I can't believe this. This is the best thing to happen to me…ever!” moving around, he got a full look at her. Mentally noting her hips and rear were noticeably large and smiling.
Hey, he’s a 10 year old kid. Butts are the height of comedy.
The alien once again misinterpreted his interest as she stuck a pose that highlighted her figure “Keep that up and you’ll me me blush”
Stepping back Ben tilted his head in thought “Hey can you, like, shoot fire? Like a fireball or something?”
Seeing an opportunity to show off for her ‘master’, she raised her hands to the sky forming a large fireball before launching it up. At its peak it burst into a shower of sparks, raining back down.
“Oh cool!” Ben cheered, before realising some sparks had caught the trees, setting them alight “Not cool!”
“Eh-heh. Whoops” the alien said sheepishly.
Meanwhile back at the Rustbucket, Max Tennyson stared out at the woods wondering about his grandson.
“He’s been gone for a while. I hope he isn’t getting into any trouble” he said, earning a scoff from Gwen.
“He’s probably going to do something dumb. Like start a forest fire or something” she snarked.
“Now Gwen that’s not very nice” he admonished.
Gwen, rolling her eyes, turned to reply only to freeze as something behind him caught her attention. Concerned Max turned as well and also froze at the sight of a thick plume of smoke the distance, an orange glow faintly visible.
He and Gwen shared a look “To be fair we don’t KNOW that this is Ben’s fault” he said flatly, before opening his emergency kit and pulling out two small fire extinguishers.
“We’ll split up and cover more ground.” he said, handing a startled Gwen one of the extinguishers before setting off into the trees.
“Wait, this seems really irresponsible! Grandpa?” upon noticing the man was already gone she sighed and started making her way into the forest too “Next year I’m going to summer school”
After a few minutes of searching, and putting out small blazes in her path, Gwen called out for her cousin.
“Ben! Ben, where are you? Come on doofus answer me!....please” she finished, her tone growing more desperate everytime.
Just as she was about to give up she caught the faint sound of voices. One voice in particular was quite annoying.
“Ben!” she called out in relief, pushing through some foliage as she neared the source of his voice “Ben I’m so glad you’re…”
Her greeting died out as she finally spotted her cousin desperately trying to stamp out a small fire, and the flaming woman standing closely (maybe too close) beside him.
As the trio took notice of each other the clearing was silent save for the crackle of flames. The awkward standoff was broken when the flaming woman raised her hand cheerfully.
“Hey th-ACK!” Her greeting was cut off as Gwen hit her point blank with a spray from the extinguisher.
As the woman spluttered, and her flames slowly flared back into life, Gwen pulled Ben behind her as she kept the extinguisher aimed at the apparent threat.
“Gwen stop, she's a good guy!” Ben protested, forcing her hands down.
“What are you talking about Ben? The forest is on fire and she’s a fire monster, she almost killed you!” Gwen shot back in disbelief.
Ignoring the woman’s offended gasp of “Rude” Ben placed himself between his cousin and the alien ‘hero’.
“She’s not a monster, she’s a superhero!” he explained, as Gwen stared blankly at him.
“What?” she asked flatly.
“Yeah she’s…” he trailed off as if he’d just realised something important “I..I didn’t actually ask your name” he finished sheepishly.
Blinking in surprise, the alien had her own revelation “I-I don’t..have one”
“Wait, you don’t have a code name?” Ben asked in surprise.
“What about her actual name?” Gwen snarked, earning an insulted look from Ben.
“Superheroes don’t tell people their real names dweeb, that’s hero 101” he announced confidently.
“Is this really the time to be talking about this?” Gwen yelled back, gesturing to the still raging fire around them.
As if to save her from this insanity, Grandpa Max burst into the clearing “Gwen, Ben! Thank god you’re al-” he trailed off as he finally noticed the flaming beauty standing behind his grandson.
Before anyone could speak Max held up a hand to silence them. “Explain later, right now we need to stop this fire. You” he said pointing at the alien “I need you to set a second fire ahead of this blaze, it’ll starve it out”
After following Max’s instructions and putting an end to the fire, the quartet found themselves sitting awkwardly around a campfire. Well awkward for half of them anyway.
“Ooh Ben it tastes sooo good~” the fire woman moaned, earning an annoyed glare from Gwen and a pained look from Max.
“You’ve never had marshmallows before?” Ben asked holding out another one for her to eat. He’d offered to help after her attempts to pick one up resulted in it melting in her hands.
“Nope!” she confirms cheerfully, munching away on another of the treats.
Clearing his throat Max brought everyone’s attention back to him.
“So Ben you’re saying you saw a shooting star, that wasn’t really a star, but actually a metal probe with a ‘space watch’ inside of it. After somehow turning it on you pressed a button and…summoned her?” Max asked as Ben nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah isn’t it cool!” he said, lifting his arm to show off the device.
“Right…and uh what do we call you..miss?” Max continued, not missing how she was practically leaning into Ben.
“Oh I don’t have a name” she admitted in an entirely too carefree manner.
“Actually I think I’ve got a code name for you” Ben chimed in.
“You have?” they all asked.
“Yup, your hero-name should be ‘Heart’s Fire’. Pretty good right?” he said proudly.
While Gwen and Max were rather nonplussed, the newly dubbed Heart's Fire clapped her hands together.
“Oh I like that! Really highlights my ‘burning passion’ right?” she replied, with particular emphasis on the latter half of the sentence.
While Ben smiled at her enthusiastic acceptance of his hero-name it was clear that her, not so subtle, statement went right over his head. Though judging from the strangled gasp from beside him it was clear it had not gone over Gwen’s. As the awkward display unfolded in front of him Max was torn in three directions. The first was guilt, he recognised the device and knew exactly what it had been designed for. Indeed he was partly responsible for its creation after a few poorly chosen words spoken in his wild youth. The second was concern over his grandson’s well being on the face of the alien’s…affection. And finally a small shameful part of himself (that sounded a lot like his younger self) proudly cheered ‘That’s my boy!’ at Ben’s unintentional use of the ‘Tennyson Charm’ ™.
“This is karma for my misspent youth isn’t it” Max thought ruefully, as Ben continued obliviously chatting away with the ‘superhero’.
The scene was abruptly brought to an end by a series of beeps coming from Heart’s Fire’s collar and Ben’s watch, both blinking red.
“Aw, already?” Heart’s Fire pouted as she vanished in a bright red flash.
Looking at the watch, which was now a dull red, Ben tried to activate the dial only for nothing to happen. “Guess it needs to recharge. Hope it comes back soon” he said sadly.
“Not too soon” Gwen muttered under her breath, warily eyeing the device.
Shaking away his thoughts, Max announced he would go investigate the crash site. But not before giving Ben a stern warning NOT to play with the watch while he was gone. It took all of a minute for Ben to ignore that order after Max left.
“Grandpa said not to play with it doofus” Gwen snapped, causing Ben to stick his tongue out childishly.
“Come on, aren’t you curious as to what else it can do? I saw nine other icons when I first used it, who knows what other heroes are in here?” He excitedly wonders.
“That’s what worries me” Gwen admitted quietly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can’t tell if you being THIS oblivious is a good thing or not” she replied, much to his annoyance.
Deciding to ignore her for now, Ben went back to messing with the dial. As if to spite Gwen the device let out a chime as it shifted back to its original purple. Smiling Ben activated the dial and began scrolling through the icons, stopping at what appeared to be a bulky quadrupedal figure.
“All right, let's see what we’ve got!” With that warning he slammed his hand down, flooding the campsite with a purple flash.
The new figure was very different from Heart's Fire, she was far more muscular and most of her body was covered in thick orange fur. She wore a pair of black and white shorts with a matching sports top cropped to show off her abs. On her left shoulder was a black pauldron bearing the watch’s heart icon.
Gwen stared despairing at how little the top left to the imagination while Ben was gushing over how ‘cool’ her claws were.
“Whoa Gwen check it out, these things look like they could cut right through steel!” he chattered excitedly. The woman sniffed curiously at him before nudging his hand with her head.
As Ben reflexively ruffled her hair the way one would a dog, her fur/hair(?) shifted away from her face allowing Gwen to see her eyes clearly and…
“I think-I think she’d blind” she said, blinking in surprise.
“Wait really?” Ben asked, taking notice of her blank white eyes. The woman growled as if asking a question as Gwen scoffed.
“So she’s blind and acts like a dog, what can she actually do?”
The woman growled once more before speaking, though apparently with great effort. “Grr, no dog.”
As Gwen stepped back in surprise Ben snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it!”
As the pair turned their heads in his direction Ben planted his hands on his hips “I’ve got your hero-name. You should be ‘Wild-Gal’ it totally fits”
While ‘Wild-Gal’ muttered “He-ro?” in confusion, Gwen threw her hands in the air “That’s even worse than Heart’s Fire!” she complained.
Wild-Gal seemingly disagreed, happily nuzzling against Ben while repeating her new name. While Ben laughed from how ticklish her fur felt, Gwen noticed the woman was holding Ben a little too tightly for her liking. Deciding to put a stop to this Gwen made to give her a hard shove. Suddenly Wild-Gal tensed up, hidden ‘gills’ on her neck opening up as she seemed to ‘sense Gwen’s approach.
With a snarl she scooped up a surprised Ben before leaping up into a nearby tree, leaving Gwen to trip onto the floor. “How-?” Gwen began before Ben let out a small ‘oh’.
“Gwen, I think she had Bat-vision!”
“It’s called echolocation doofus”
Letting out a playful yip, Wild-Gal began leaping from tree to tree, all the while carrying a cheering Ben. “Come on, let's see you really let loose” Ben said, earning a wild grin from the beast woman.
As the pair went off into the woods Gwen watched them go with a noticeable eye twitch. “I’m telling grandpa you ran off into the woods with a wild woman!” she yelled after him.
-Earlier-
Above the planet, a damaged ship drifted lazily through orbit. This is the Chimeran Hammer, personal ship of the feared warlord Vilgax. Despite the warlord being reduced to half the man he used to be it did little to take away from his intimidating aura. His already foul mood worsened as the latest reports came in. First he discovers that lecherous old fool Azmuth repurposed the greatest weapon in the universe into a glorified ‘booty call’. Then just as he was about to claim the Chaquetrix his ship takes a lucky hit, leaving him confined to this blasted healing chamber. And finally the latest reports show one of the filthy primitives on the planet below had discovered HIS prize. Shuddering, he made a note to have it cleaned thoroughly after he retrieved it.
Unable to act himself he turns his attention to one of his ‘Attack Robots’, 40 feet of chimeran might, and sure to succeed in this task. “Go. retrieve my prize.” he orders as the warmachine obediently sets off to the surface.
As it makes planetfall, the robot swiftly makes its way to the pods crash site. Upon arrival it visually confirms the device is no longer present, its energy signature already fading. Taking a moment to destroy the pod and deny and clues for the locals, it activated the two smaller ‘mechadroids’ built into its shoulders. As the smaller bots take flight the large robot moves off in the opposite direction, one way or another it will find its master’s prize.
-Present-
“Yahoo!” Ben cheers, feeling the rush of wind as Wild-Gal holds him to her chest with one arm as she uses the other to swing from branch to branch.
Hearing the young master cheer brought a smile to her own fanged face, sure she didn’t get what this ‘superhero’ thing was but he got so excited when he said it so she’d go along with it. The fun however came to an abrupt end as a lance of red energy obliterated the branch she had just been on. Snarling in surprise she focused on her echolocation, quickly picking up on two flying objects making their way towards them at high speeds.
Realising her master was in danger she quickly dropped to the ground, moving to place Ben behind a tree before leaping back up to the branches, snarling in anticipation for the coming fight. She didn’t have to wait long as the two burst through the canopy, weapons glowing hot.
With a savage warcry she pounced on the first drone, slamming it down with all her might as she used it as a stepping stone to reach its partner. As the first drone hit the ground with a loud crunch she eagerly tore into the other, her claws easily carving through its armour as if it were paper. While she dealt the final blow to her target she heard Ben cry out in alarm, using her senses she realised the first drone was still active. Sparking from the impact, it still managed to raise its weapon in his direction. As she threw herself off its ruined partner she realised she wouldn’t reach it in time, until another figure entered the scene. Ben and Wild-Gal were surprised to see Gwen dash into the fray, shovel swing down in a deadly arc and burying itself in the drones ‘head’. With one last twitch the drone fell silent, lights dimming as its weapon fell limp.
“Wow Gwen that, that was actually pretty awesome” Ben admitted, still processing what he’d seen “Hey wait how did you know you’d need a shovel to fight these guys?” he asked.
“I didn’t” she said, glaring at Wild-Gal who snorted in amusement. Girl had spirit, she’d give her that.
Any reply was lost however as her pauldron began to blink red, earning a sad whine from the beast woman. Ben made his way over equally disheartened. “Ah man again?”
Feeling Gwen’s eyes on her, Wild-Gal suddenly had a cheeky thought. Leaning forward she gently licked the side of Ben’s face eliciting a surprised squeak from him and an outraged yelp from Gwen.
“See soon” she said, with a cheeky smile before vanishing in a flash of red.
As Gwen began yelling over her actions, with Ben arguing it was just an animal thing, the pair were soon interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Turning slowly the two saw exactly what they were afraid of. Grandpa Max stood at the treeline. After a moment of silence Gwen pointed at Ben and loudly yelled “He did it”.
Elsewhere the Attack Robot registered that both the drones had been destroyed. It ran the new data through its logic systems and devised a new plan. Hunting the target leaves it vulnerable to ambush, therefore it must somehow bring the target TO itself on its terms. Scanning the area it quickly picked up several primitive radio signals and life signs, with the bait acquired it set off to put its plan into motion.
Back at the Rustbucket, Ben sat apologetically as Grandpa Max chastised him.
“I give you one simple instruction and you go ahead and break it anyway. What if activating the watch is what drew those robots to you? What if the…hero…ended up being a danger on its own?”
“Well if the robots are after me anyway then I’ll need to watch to be safe. Besides, Wild-Gal was super friendly” Ben argued, crossing his arms defiantly.
“A bit too friendly if you ask me” Gwen snarked.
“Besides now I know how the watch actually works” Ben insists, holding up the device “When its purple you just press down on it to activate the dial, then you twist it to select the hero (missing the wince from Max at the term hero) and press it down to summon them” he finished proudly.
“Well yes that uh, that’s very impressive Ben. But maybe we shouldn’t use the watch anymore than necessary” Max tried to suggest. As if the Universe was mocking him the radio blared into life with an emergency broadcast.
“Mayday, Mayday! Somebody help us! We’re under attack by some kind of, I know you‘re not going to believe me, but robot!”
As Max looked despairingly at the radio Ben leapt to his feet. “That robot’s probably with the ones that came after me. All those people are in trouble because of me!” he realised sadly, staring at the watch.
Before he could offer any words of comfort, Ben looked him determinedly in the eye “We need to help them”
Taken aback by the intensity in his voice, Max realised he was right. They couldn’t leave those people to their fate, and so with a nod Max led them out the R.V and towards the main campgrounds.
After a frantic jog the trio arrived at a scene of carnage, R.Vs were set ablaze and the campers fled in panic from the towering figure in the centre. As Ben began activating the watch Gwen let out a shaky laugh.
“I think I’ll need a bigger shovel”
“Who needs a shovel when you’ve got superpowers? It’s hero time!” Ben replied as he slammed the dial down, flooding the camp site with a purple flash.
As the light died down they got their first glimpse at the new alien. Her skin was made from green crystals and her eyes were a bright gold. Her well developed figure was covered by a black and white, skintight leotard with the watch’s icon over her left breast. As Gwen grimaced and Max blushed, Ben was instead dazzled by how tough she seemed.
Taking a second the orient herself the crystal woman quickly spotted Ben and the device on his wrist. Giving him a deep bow, and an eyeful to several campers still nearby, she offered Ben a sweet smile.
“It is an honour to meet you master~. What ‘service’ do you require of me?” She asked, earning a few moans from nearby male campers (Max included).
In typical fashion, Ben missed any and all subtext and took the question at face value “Alright are you ready to show off what you’ve got?” he asked, earning a facepalm from his cousin.
“Certainly master, I will not disappoint” the alien ‘hero’ replied, a thrill racing through her at his apparent forwardness.
Frowning, Ben shook his hand dismissively “Hey you don’t need to call me ‘master’. The name’s Ben, were a superhero team after all”
“Of course I….superhero?” she asked, blinking in confusion.
“Yeah I figured it out” Ben continued “So are you ready to take that guy down?” he asked, gesturing towards the rampaging robot that had, only now taken notice of them.
Not expecting such a request but ready to defend her mas-her partner anyway. She stepped forward, her hands shifting into vicious looking blades “Don’t worry, I’ll clear out this trash in no time”
“Alright get him Crystal Knight!” Ben cheered, she blinked at the name but nodded in acceptance. He had picked it for her after all.
As Gwen bemoaned another ‘lame’ choice, Crystal Knight took off towards the robot with surprising speed. As she engaged the enemy Max directed the two of them to help him get the other campers to safety. With her ‘partner’ safely out of the way, Crystal Knight set about her duty with a vicious zeal. Her attacks were relentless, though few hits landed as the (equally deceptive swift) robot scuttled backwards, devastating lasers lashing out from its optics. After a few close calls the warmachine realised its foe's skin was too resistant to its energy weapons, with any shot that landed being deflected off. Realising it needed a new strategy it began scanning for the Chaquetrix wielder, and upon locating him opened fire to distract the Petrosapien.
It had the desired effect as she gasped before abandoning her attack, placing her hands on the ground and sending a ‘wave’ of crystal towards Ben. The sudden shaking got his attention just in time to see the crystal rise up in a wall in front of him, tanking the shot without so much as a scratch. Shaken but running on adrenaline and excitement over the superpowered brawl, Ben offered a grateful thumbs up to the alien ‘hero’. As she went to return the gesture she found herself snatched up by the robots claws, grunting as she felt it attempt to crush her she let out a defiant yell as spikes erupted from her body, shredding its hands.
Seeing how this plan had backfired, the robot instead used its ruined hands to throw her into the R.V beside her ‘partner’. As she tore herself free of the mangled vehicle she spotted the young mas-partner and his cousin approaching in concern.
“Are you ok?” He asked, her face feeling flushed at his obvious concern for her.
“I can keep fighting, although maybe after the battle you could help me ‘check’ for any injuries” she said, causing Gwen to glower at her.
“How about you focus on the giant robot before you worry about your ‘check up’” she snarks.
Put out at the interruption, Crystal Knight did have to agree her partner wasn’t safe yet. “I don’t believe it’ll let me get close again”
Ben suddenly let out a small ‘oh’ as a plan formed in his head. “Maybe you don’t have to”
Seeing he had their attention Ben continued “Okay so in Sumo Slammers, Ishiyama can deflect enemies attacks back at them with his sword, and that thing’s lasers bounce off you right? So all we need to do is get it to fire a big enough attack for you to reflect it back and take it out!” he finished as Gwen stared at him in shock.
“That…is actually a pretty good plan” she admitted.
Crystal Knight nodded in agreement. She didn’t know what a ‘sumo slammers’ was but the plan was pretty sound “Amazing Ben, I knew you’d be a good mas-partner” she praised.
As Ben grinned at the ego boost and Gwen rolled her eyes once more, Crystal Knight shifted her right arm into a large shield while her left formed into a multi-spiked stump. Raising her left arm she fired a series of crystal daggers at the robot, doing little damage at this range but drawing its attention. With limited options available to it the robot began to charge up its laser, pouring as much power as it could into the attack in a last effort to complete its mission.
As it fired, Crystal Knight smirked victoriously “Got you” raising her right arm she grunted as the attack forced her back, her heels digging into the dirt.
As the attack was wildly reflected into the ground around them, Crystal Knight shifted her shield, causing the beam to turn slowly up before twisting her wrist in one quick motion and sending the beam straight back at the robot, cutting it clean in two. As the attack cut out and the two halves of the robot fell to the floor with a loud ‘boom’, Crystal Knight took the opportunity to look back at Ben. Seeing him practically shaking on the spot from the display she once more felt herself flush. Her joy was cut short as the icon on her chest began to flash red, drawing a sigh from her. Giving a smile towards Ben she bowed low once more.
“Until next time, partner~”
As Max and Gwen moved to stand beside him, Ben gave a quick glance at the watch. After such a crummy start to the summer he finally had found something that turned things around. Smiling, he lifted his arm into the sky.
“This is going to be the best summer ever!”
The following morning, Max and Gwen were tidying up the campsite while noting that Ben was nowhere in sight. Once again Max felt his concern over Ben’s wellbeing, he knew damn well what that watch was meant for after all, and yet despite everything Ben had taken it and used it to SAVE innocent lives. Humming in thought Max felt a smile form on his face despite himself, he was proud of Ben for how he had chosen to use the Chaquetrix. Perhaps things wouldn’t be so bad after all. His musings were interrupted by a sudden rush of wind and Ben appeared, riding piggy back style on a new alien, a Kineceleran. Wearing a form fitting bodysuit that highlighted her muscular thighs and toned rear, the watch’s logo sat between her modest chest. As her visor slid open she flashed an eager grin at Ben, one that he happily returned. Taking a moment to smooth his hair back into a semblance of order, Ben hopped off cheerfully introducing her to the two of them.
“Hey guys this is XLR8! Check out what she can do!” At his gesture the speedster set about clearing away to camp in seconds. Pausing after completion to pose proudly in front of Ben, he quickly began to compliment her on her amazing speed.
“I hate to admit it but XLR8 is probably the best name you’ve come up with so far” Gwen said as she made her way over.
“Damn straight” the alien cheered.
As Max watched the three of them banter he began to relax. Maybe everything really would work out after all.
“Hey Ben my legs are a bit stiff from all that running, think you could help me ‘stretch’ them out” XLR8 asked, turning to give Ben a clear view of her from the rear. Her tail swaying side to side.
Ben, chalking this up to alien girls being even weirder than Earth girls, shrugged “Yeah I guess I-OW Gwen what’s your problem?” he cried out as his cousin yanked him back by his ear.
“My problem is a certain dweeb with no sense of self preservation!” she snapped back.
As the three devolved into bickering Max let a heavy sigh escape him. Oh who was he kidding, this trip was going to be the death of him.
-Non Canon Omake-
As Gwen watched 'Heart's Fire' fawn over her oblivious cousin she felt what little patience she had left snap. Rising to her feet she stormed over and yanked Ben up from his seat, sending the unaware alien tumblng off the log.
"Back off hussy he's only ten years old!" she yelled, holding a confused Ben protectively beside her.
Glaring up at the red head. Heart's Fire shot back her feet before pulling Ben towards herself "Well I'm only ten MINUTES old"
Ben was pulled back once more "That doesn't count!"
And away again "Says who?!"
As Ben was helplessly pulled back and forth, Max let a breath out from his nose as he pinched between his eyes "I wonder if it's too late to take Verdona up on her offer"