95. Ben's 10'000 Story

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(Lex POV)

Before I could answer Ashley's question, I was interrupted by the sound of a car horn. A very familiar sound.

Turning at the noise, I saw a good old RV, which drove up to us and stopped next to us. A moment later, a well-known person got off the bus, perhaps aged 20 years.

- Grandpa Max? & Ashley asked in shock, looking at the 80-year-old Max Tennyson of this world.

- Lex, Ashley, good to see you again. Looks like Gwendolyn managed to summon you after all. - Max said with a big smile, who clearly knew us and was aware of his granddaughter's plan.

- You look great for an 80 year old man. - I couldn't help but smile and said truthfully.

Max did indeed look very good, for someone who turned 81 today. He lost some weight, more wrinkles appeared on his face, as well as a gray beard that does not age him, but quite the contrary, Max looks very stylish and brutal. Although, he never gave up his favorite Hawaiian shirt.

- Ha ha ha ha, thank you, thank you. I am doing my best. This is my kitchen. I have always said that these delicacies are very healthy. - Chuckling happily, said Max 10'000, if I can call him that, of course.

- So that means we know you too? - Ashley asked awkwardly, unable to get used to grandfather's different appearance.

- Of course, we met a couple of times. Plus, I've heard plenty of stories about your adventures together from Ben and Gwen. - With a huge smile, said Max.

- How are you doing? - I wondered, though.

- Good, very good. Although, you certainly understand that I can not say much. - coming closer to us, said Max.

- Yes I know. All these Laws of Time and so on. But still, I'm curious to know how is grandma? - I could not help myself, and decided to find out if my grandfather had a chance to wait for his beloved.

Hearing my question, Max 10'000 nothing said, but showed a huge smile, for all thirty-two teeth. This gesture told me everything I wanted to know, so I just said: - Well, that's good.

- Okay, get on the bus. I'll take you to Ben and the others. - Max said, beckoning us into his precious bus.

Going after him, instead of the usual spectacle, we saw a high-tech interior, not at all familiar to our bus.

- Wow, that looks so cool. - Impressed by the view, with a smile, said Ashley.

- Yes, I did a little modernization here. - I said proudly.

- I've been persuading my grandfather to allow me to carry out the same modernization for five years now. But he still refuses and says that he loves the bus the way it is. - Unable to bear it, I still complained.

- Ha ha ha, yes, it looks like me. But, unfortunately, I just had no choice. The former RV was destroyed in the Limax War in 2017. I collected everything that survived, and the rest had to be replaced. Well, at least the look remains the same. - with nostalgia in his voice, Max said, getting behind the wheel.

- So those nasty slugs are back, right? Apparently, they really like the meat of our old people. - I said.

- The way it is. Okay, I already talked a lot, so let's fly. - Max said, after which he started the bus and pressed the button on the dashboard. On this action, the wheels of the bus curled up and we gently flew into the air.

- He also flies! - Ashley yelled with delight as we rose over the rooftops and flew, apparently, to Fort DNA.

Ignoring her cry, I decided to find out some more information: - Grandfather, do you know why Gwendolyn called me too?

- What did she manage to tell you? - Max asked first.

- That Ben has an identity crisis and is too mired in his work, while refusing to accept any help. - I answered instantly.

- Sounds a little harsh, but it's true. I, Gwendolyn, Ben's parents, Verdona, Azmuth and other friends tried to help him and get him out of this state. But, unfortunately, nothing helped. As a result, every day it gets worse and Ben ignores their ordinary life, more and more immersed in the work of the hero. He even broke up with his girlfriend, Kai, whom he dated for over 5 years. - Max said sadly.

- It's strange that you didn't make it. For me, and, I think, for almost any other versions of Ben Tennyson, you have always been a support. - I said honestly.

- That's very good to hear, Lex. I'm glad that even other versions of me manage to support their beloved grandchildren. - Max said with a smile, involuntarily stroking my hair.

- But… - I said, sensing the understatement in his words.

- But, our relationship with Ben is very complicated. Especially now. - frowned, Max said.

- You quarreled. Yes? - Ashley said.

- Right. He said the wrong thing, and then I did the same. I think in the current state of Ben, there is a share of my fault. In the last few years, I haven't given him the support you're talking about, Lex. And I really regret it. I tried to fix everything, but nothing worked for me. Therefore… - Grandfather 10,000 said sadly.

- So, Gwendolyn decided to call for help 10-year-old Ben to help bring her older version of herself to life. - Ashley finished, understanding the whole point of the matter.

- Right. - Max nodded his head.

- This is all understandable and even correct. But why am I here? - I asked again.

- Actually, you may not know it, but our Ben has always considered you a role model. - Max said looking at me.

- Truth? - I involuntarily asked, remembering our first meeting with 10-year-old Ben.

- Haha, yes. I know you didn't get off to a great start, but as he got older, Ben suppressed his pride and admitted that he really admires you and how you wield the Omnitrix. This was especially evident after that battle with the Aggregor, when you literally saved the Universe, while having a minimum of strength. - Grandpa said honestly.

Hearing his words. Ashley looked at me in shock. Yes, when I told Gwen and Ashley about my little adventure, I left out some points. So they don't know how bad the situation was. At least they didn't know until now.

- That's nice to hear, of course, but what's the point? - I asked, ignoring Ashley's gaze.

- So after seeing how you're doing, Ben wants to be more like you. He learned to fight well, began to try to understand the Omnitrix, and even began to listen to Azmuth' advice. But, after all, you met again, after the Battle with the Aggregor, and each time, you got better and better, and Ben could not catch up with you. I'm afraid he's developed a bit of an inferiority complex towards you. No matter how hard Ben tried, he still never got close to you. Over time, it accumulated more and more, in addition, other problems appeared. All this led to its current state. - Max said, looking seriously into my eyes.

- Here's how? This turns out to be my fault. - I said, frowning, and then added: - Does this mean that I ruined many versions of Ben Tennyson by my appearance?

- No, of course not. Not many, but just one. Our Ben. And as you probably already guessed, this is the version of Ben that you influenced the most and who couldn't handle it. The other Bens did it, but not our. - Max said softly.

To be honest, I certainly did not expect this. I knew that my existence would affect several worlds, but I did not think that because of me, one of the Bens would have such a drama. Bad feeling.

- Grandfather, I'm sorry that this happened… - I began, deciding to ask for forgiveness, but I was interrupted my grandfather's stern voice.

- Do not dare. Don't you dare apologize. It's not your fault. Yes, you made an impact, but mostly it was a positive one. You have no idea how many Bens have gotten better just by your existence.

- But, how… - I tried to say, but I was interrupted again.

- Yes, our Ben turned out differently and he is in bad shape, but it's not your fault. This is Ben's own problem. Besides, there is another reason why Ben is in such a state. - Max said sternly.

- And what happened? - Ashley asked softly.

- It happened 8 years ago. That day, Ben faced a truly dire situation for the first time. In the past, Ben has always considered his job as a superhero to be a game, an exciting adventure. Of course, as he got older, he became more serious, but he always liked being a hero and took it a little lightly. Until that time.

On that day, another alien invasion happened. They were Fulmini. It wasn't the first time they had tried to take over Earth and Ben had stopped them before, but this time, the Fulmini's decided to act smarter and with more brutality.

They took hostage 100 people, ordinary people, men, women and children. Using hostages, they put pressure on Ben and ordered him not to interfere. In order to save the people, Ben of course did not resist, but at this time, Gwen, Rook and I made their way into the Fulmini main ship and staged a diversion that distracted all the aliens enough for Ben to act. Having defeated all the Fulmini and found the place where they held the hostages, only corpses were waiting for Ben instead of people who were thirsty for salvation. - Max said seriously.

- Oh God! - Ashley exclaimed in horror.

- Did the Fulmini kill everyone? - I asked, frowning.

- Yes. But, it happened right after the kidnapping. The Fulmini's decided that it made no sense to support so many people and spend resources on them. In their opinion, the mere fact of their kidnapping was enough to deter Ben. And in the place where the corpses remained, they set a trap that was supposed to kill Ben if their original plans failed. Luckily, Ben survived. True, at the last moment. But, those mountains of corpses of ordinary people, he will never be able to forget. - Grandfather said gloomily.

- And of course, Ben blames himself for everything. - I said.

- Right. And although Ben could not save them in any way, since by the time we learned about the invasion, everyone was already dead, Ben is sure that it is his fault, since he allowed the invasion itself. - Max said sadly.

- And what, in the end? - Ashley asked.

- Of course, for Ben it was a serious blow. He first encountered how the world is sometimes cruel and unfair. Before, despite the gravity of the situation, he managed to save everyone. And that time, his rose-colored glasses broke and he saw the world in a different light. We tried to support him as best we could, but he began to change. He became more violent and evil. You have no idea what he did to Vilgax in their next battle. He, literally, was left with only giblets.

- And then? - Ashley asked.

- And then, Ben tried to fix what had happened. Used all of his most powerful heroes to change reality, rewrite time, and so on. But, nothing happened. The Celestialsapiens wouldn't let him do it. Because of this, he became even more angry and fell into the depths of despair. He even destroyed his new Omnitrix, as he believed that he no longer needed it. But, fortunately, he eventually got help. - Grandpa said.

- And who? - I asked.

- You, of course. - Max said with a smile, looking at me, and then added: - You met him again when our Ben was 23 years old. I don't know what you said to him, but he went back to being the same. He was able to survive the tragedy and moved on. It wasn't easy, but Ben did it. He returned to his role as a superhero, began to save people again and began to respect you even more, trying to become better.

- And then something happened again? - I guessed.

- Yes. It happened just a year ago. At that time, he was investigating the abduction of aliens from all over the galaxy, and, in the end, this led him to one gang of slavers. Nothing so tragic, at that time, did not happen, he saved everyone. But the sight of the slaves touched Ben's old wounds. He began to blame himself for not saving them sooner and that they had to endure terrible things. Luckily, he handled it a lot better than last time, but he ended up working hard to prevent such stories from happening. And so, we come to the current situation.

- So, to summarize: After meeting me, Ben tried to become better, but never achieved satisfactory results. As a result, over time, he developed an inferiority complex, which was superimposed by a terrible tragedy that actually broke him. I'm from the future helped him to get back in line, but after a while, he was reminded of the cruelty of the world, his inferiority complex also jumped up again, and Ben decided to devote himself to saving as many people as possible and preventing terrible tragedies, while at the same time, hoping to become as good a hero as I am.

- It's exactly like that. Frankly, Ben was just unlucky. I haven't heard anything like this happen to other versions of Ben. But, unfortunately, there is no one to blame. Shit happens. - Max said.

After hearing the whole story, I finally understood where this universe split off from the main one. The result of this tragedy, founded a new universe in which this life-beaten Ben lives. According to Grandpa, my subsequent influence has brought this universe back more or less back to normal, and it even looks a lot like the first Ben 10,000 universe I knew. And now, I need to make sure that everything stays that way.

- So you called me to perform the same miracle as in the past? - I asked.

- Yes, although Gwendoline hoped that the presence of 10-year-old Ben would help our Ben, she decided to take a chance and call you. Although, we weren't sure if it would be possible to summon you. - Max said.

- OK I understood. I will help. - I said readily. I sincerely feel sorry for the local Ben.

- Thank you very much. - Grandfather said, brushing tears from his eyes.

- No need. I still need to finish what I started. - I said with a smile, feeling Ashley, who fell silent, squeeze my shoulder in support.