And Then There Were 10 .

BOOM !

BOOM !

Colossal explosions was sprinkled across a light grey horseshoe like-shaped vessel that sped across the dark vacuum of space in its chase for the smaller blue ship.

PEW !

PEW !

Highly dense beams of energy was returned in retaliation.

"Ship hull damage at 20% , our weapons systems still operational " spoke a monotone voice from the crouched bipedal black and neon orange droid like creature as they turned away from the monitor to face their master.

"I have come too far to be denied ," replied in deep, dark raspy voice of one Vilgax The Conqueror.

With what one young (and quite frankly insane) boy will describe as hentai face as his massive horseshoe shaped ship zoomed forward in the dark abyss of space .

" The Omnitrix shall be soon be mine and no being in the galaxy will dare stand in my way ! "

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

I felt a disturbance in the universe.

' Why do I feel like someone just challenged Murphy', I thought curiously.

Right now everyone but me in class was just anxiously waiting for the bell to ring so that we can get on with summer vacation despite the teacher's pitch for summer school.

...

Pfft, like anyone would want even more school.

Right now I am thinking of how I would go about on getting the Omnitrix.

And ... what to if I don't get it.

Look, Me and Gwen are chill with each other unlike canon but she gets freaking magic ( mana manipulation, alien heritage or super advanced science. It's still magic for all the f*cks given) later on, she doesn't need the watch like I do.

I ... know that this isn't like some world segregated by superpowers ala MHA or something. Grandpa was known as the greatest Plumber to have ever lived. He beat Vilgax himself. It won't be easy. It might all be forenought. But ... it IS possible.

... It doesn't matter. I either do or don't.

Besides , it'll make things easier do things without worrying about failing.

RIIIINNNNG

"Finally!" I shouted as I quickly rushed out of my seat towards the exit.

"Enjoy your summer vacation everyone," The teacher shouted out from the classroom but I was already too far away to hear and had more important things to think about to care .

"Come on Cash, its Summer, please just give me a break. " A random classmate I honestly couldn't recall even if you held a gun to my head

" That's why we're only asking for your lunch money " A certainly much more familiar ( and annoying) classmate replied.

"Now fork over the cash so can get out of here ! " Demanded Cash.

Sigh.

A hero's work is never done.

Heh.

Oh well.

" Yo !"

" Who's the wanna-be hero-" Cash's reply is immediately cut off when sees me and backs away.

"Back. Off." was my only response.

"*Huff * whatever Tennyson," Cash says as he skulks away, tail in-between his legs .

"Thanks , your my hero ," Whats-his-face speaks afterwards .

"Don't mention it ah .... "

Crap , this is going be awkward.

HOINK !

HOINK !

Before I can fumble in trying to even just guess his name, The Rustbucket zooms into the drive way .

"Come On Ben! We're burning daylight, I wanna go to the campsite before nightfall." Grandpa Max exclaims .

"Coming !", I replied back and with any delay run into the Rustbucket. It had nothing to do with the potentially awkward moment. Nothing at all.

Nope.

As I entered , The sight of a familiar red in the long sleeved blue shirt and white pants looking over a laptop was a relief.

' Whew , everything is going accordingly.'

"Whilst I don't mind seeing you , Whatcha' you doing here ?" I questioned, feigning surprise and confusion instead of what I really felt.

"Just that my parents thought it'd be good for me to travel the with you and Grandpa Max this summer instead spending time at the mall with my friends." She answered ( a little salty at the end).

I quickly glanced at Grandpa from the corner of my eyes , he just shrugged it off then looked back at Gwen before speaking again.

"Well we'll try to have the best summer we can. "

While Gwen looked very doubtful of my statement, I had a feeling that things were about to get interesting.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

PEW !

PEW !

PEW !

Vilgax's Ship fired crippling blast after blast on the much smaller ocean blue with bright emerald green highlights ship until the rear end at been blown off.

"Sir , Their repulsion system has been destroyed," Vilgax's servant announced.

"Prepare to board , I want the Omnitrix NOW !" Vilgax impatiently demanded .

Before anything could be done however, the smaller vessel had the final laugh in taking a final strike on the bridge of the larger ship.

PEW !

BOOOOOM !

The explosion occurred in the command room but not before returning fire that reaped the ship apart with it only being able to launch a single seemingly insignificant pod .

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"Don't worry, I'll go and look for the firewood," I said to Gwen as walked into the woods . I could barely see her nod as she chewed on on the McDonald's paddy I had give given her from my summer vacation food stash.

Grandpa Max, I love you and all.

But I . Am . Not . Eating . Grub. Worms .... Or Sheep's Tongue.

As I was walking around picking up twigs and scattered logs , I kept an eye out at the night sky for any falling debris or "shooting star" , searching fruitlessly until ....

There !!!

Just as I noticed the falling star in the sky, somehow -

('Alien tracking tech maybe' I would later on think ) -

It changed direction instantly falling dangerously towards me.

It was very alarming .

It moved faster.

Very very alarming !

Running away from the flaming ball of death like some B-list action flick , I jumped away from the crash and expertly performed a roll which made me face the direction of (hopefully) the Omnitrix pod .

After waiting for the dust and rumble to settle , I got up from my crouched stance to slowly approach what was supposedly my destiny.

' This is it.'

I looked down at the crater to see a segmented gunmetal grey sphere slowly open up with a radioactive green glow.

' This is it.'

It revealed the Omnitrix in all its extraterrestrial glory.

I took a moment to bathe in the lime green glow that it showered over me as it awaited.

Seeing it in real life made all memories of it on TV and toys made in its image pale in comparison.

The Omnitrix still looked like a very big metal and plastic wristwatch, just more segmented and gauntlet like. With pitch, almost vantam , black and grey still in color, with a grey-black dial in the middle-watch face with its glowing with its mathematically symmetric emerald green hourglass proudly on display.

As soon as I stretched my hand out it opened up and launched itself onto my wrist, quickly sealing itself on my skin.

I barely managed to repress my body's natural reaction this and flinch back from it as it did that. It helped that all I could do was stare in awe at the device on wrist .

I was soon broken out of my reverie from loud beep and green glow.

Bringing the omnitrix closer to my face , I immediately pressed the impossibly smooth side buttons on in it to bring out the alien selection screen .

It showed a certain fiery alien's silhouette on the watch face.

Yeaaaahh no.

Oh don't get me wrong, Heatblast is one of my favourite aliens but using him in a forest full of flammable wood, well ...

I keep turning just to make sure that I have the original 10 before making my choice.

Four arms !

I gently pushed the faceplate and let the watch work its alien magic.

SHOOOOOM !

I honestly couldn't describe the transformation even if I wanted to.

It was instantaneous , literally because of it being faster than light and over in flash , while also happening to me in slow motion as I somehow saw the shifting of my bones and growth of muscles , the bursting of extra limbs such as extra arms, eyes , red fur and the loss of others such as my nose, ears and more than half my fingers and toes .

As the far to short to far to long change finished its course I let loose a roar of triumph that echoed through the forest.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"ROOOOOOAAAAAARRR !"

Max and Gwen instantly jumped up in alarm.

"What the heck was that ?! " Max shouted in shock.

" I don't know and I don't care , Ben was there looking for firewood ," Gwen quickly stood up and rushed to the direction of thunderous sound, with Max quickly following .

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

I laughed and laughed and laughed.

It may have seemed weird but this is a huge weight off my shoulders. Now with the omnitrix in my hand and Azmuth automatically on my side with , maybe even watching until I meet , with all my knowledge , Nothing can stop me.

Grasping the trunk of a random tree with one pair of arms , plucking it from the ground as easily as if it was a blade of grass , I aimed then chucked it into the sky with all my might.

It flew so far that , I swear to you, a twinkle of light appeared.

Shaking myself to rid my head of the strange sight, I turned stretching both hands wide then clapping them as hard as I could .

BOOM !

The burst of pure force from my hands as shockwaves moved out would have push me back on my ass if not for me taking up a stance earlier.

An entire swath trees , grass and dirt of were wiped away by the shockwave.

"This .. is....sooo...AWESOME! " I exclaimed in jubilation just to turn around to the visage of Gwen as she stares at me blankly.

.....

.....

.....

" AAAAAAAAAAAA ! "

"Whoa , calm down- " I am cut of by a foot to my face from a jump kick done by Gwen.

....

Rude.

While it did absolutely nothing to me in anyway, it is the principle of the matter.

I ( gently) grasp her heel with one of my arms and respond as she hangs upside down .

"Look Little Red Riding Hood ..."

Look I didn't have any other nicknames for Gwen that weren't insulting.

"Wait .... Ben, is that you, what happened? ," Gwen asks in bewilderment as I put her down .

"Some kind of pod from space crashed down from space and gave me a magic wristwatch that changes my form, " I honestly replied.

She continued staring.

"Gwen, are you alri - What the hell ?!? ," and Grandpa shows up.

' What's a Tetraman doing here ?' Max wondered.

" Hey, Guess who..." Was Gwen reply.

" Yo...", I said as I raised a peace sign.

" ...Ben? "

' Oh , Have I got a story for them '

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

" *Wheeze*... What do you mean...*Wheeze*... you can't find ?!?" Vilgax, or what was left of him screamed with rage .

After the blast, the ship hull , bridge and Vilgax himself were under repair.

Vilgax most of all .

His healing pod rose to reveal his disabled corpse of a body in from a clear beach coloured liquid.

"This Battle nearly cost me my life... * Wheeze *... And you mean to tell me that the Omnitrix is no longer on board the transport ?! "

"Sensors indicate that a probe was jettisoned before boarding, landing on the planet below " The drone instantly replied .

"* Huff * GO ! * Wheeze * Bring it to me !" Commanded Vilgax.

A Gigantic figure in the shadows moved to follow its commands .

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"So ... this watch just... jumped and latched onto your wrist," Grandpa Max stated.

"Yup," I instantly replied.

"How did you change back anyway ? , " Asked Gwen.

When all was said and explained , I copied Alien Force and just jumped back to my human form while tapping the Omnitrix faceplate.

Instant Time Out.

" I just hit it again, " I answered honestly.

....

" What was that monster anyway? "

"Not a monster, an alien," Grandpa Max automatically reacted.

To save him the awkward deflection when Gwen started to stare at him , I commented.

" Yeah, the thing came out from space , definitely aliens ."

" Yeah , yeah .That..." He awkwardly muttered.

"Better not fool with it until I came back from checking the crash." He announced before leaving.

I turned and gave Gwen a look.

She simply sighed.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

A round orange-red object crashed and shifted three legged clawed automaton . When it found the Omnitrix crash site and that it was empty blasted it apart.

Scanning around it searched for the Omnitrix. When it could not do find anything of use it launched bots from its large shoulders to do one thing.

Search for the Omnitrix and destroy anything that stands in it's way .

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

" Look Gwen with this thing I could help people , really help people ,like just understanding how it changes me into a completely different SPECIES could help me cure all disease or all the extra mass and energy solve all problems with pollution, waste or power for all people. With this I can ... save everyone ," I gave voice to what I always thought the Omnitrix could really do in the right hands . Hopefully mine will do .

" Wow, Ben ... I never knew," Gwen expressed her awe .

Ok hero worship approaching. Quick say something to ruin it.

" I can also change into cool aliens and be a superhero, " I claimed as I gave out an obviously forced laugh.

Gwen just gave me a small smile.

I turned back to the watch as I changed the dial into the alien with 2 in most potential and could deal with any drone Vilgax sends after me.

SHOOOM!

Upgrade.

I now had a jet black exterior with green stripes that resemble circuitry all over with a paper white torso . The green circle on his head is his eye was now my eye , face and mouth.

An alien with who can understand, adapt to, manipulate, control and even ( permanently if chosen ) advance ANY technology against technological drones .

Please.

It felt weird not to be is not completely solid, both liquid and gelatinous. Upgrade's body is made up of billions of small cell like nanites, all connected . I know reshape myself , myaybe to let projectiles or blows pass through him by creating a hole in his body at will. Food for thought.

I can now use his internal nanotechnology to merge with and possess any technology, even extending to non-electrical machinery and even sentient beings that are mechanical in nature or

can reconfigure technology to suit for any situation, transform it with seemingly no limit.

All this knowledge instantly processed. Like a computer.

Hmmm.

What about making technology ?

" What alien are you -" Gwen was cut off by the rabid fire of the soon to be scrap metal drones.

As was as if I had been doing it all my life, my ( closest approximation of an to one ) arm turns into a large plasma cannon that I start rapidly firing hitting all my targets with perfect precision.

All in a couple of microseconds .

Huh , a supercomputer processor for a brain sure does wonders .

While Gwen is still trying to get her bearings from the rabid shift in events , I leisurely walk over to the leftover pieces and well 'upgraded' them into something useful .

A robot assistant could be very helpful.

I , somehow , combine the pieces, reprogram and repurpose them until .....

C.L.E.R.I.C. = Central Logistics for Extrahuman Response and Information Collection is born.

Afterwards, I transform back , Gwen cautiously following behind telling one thing.

" Tell me everything. "

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

After informing Grandpa after his return and learning of the bigger robot location and purposes we found it and, well, hacked it with Upgrade becoming an extension of CLERIC .

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

" Failure, Unbelievable. "

" Whoever's keeping the Omnitrix away from will soon be on my trophy wall."