Dr. Animo, again. Why can't this guy just give it a rest?

"With my Cribers I will take over the-"

"Yeah yeah, we've heard it a million times Animo and you know how it's going to end." Today, they were battling off the coast of... whatever ocean is closest to Bellwood. He had never been good at geometry. Or is that geography?

"Stop him my creations!" Ben was currently Kick'in Hawk and attempting to stop Animo's army of half crab half tiger hybrids. They were pretty fierce with their pinching claws and mouthful of teeth. Too bad they could only walk sideways. It was nothing Ben 10 couldn't handle... and Rook.

"Give up Animo! We have you cornered," declared Rook. The villain was indeed cornered. He makes this too easy thought Ben. All I have to do is get through his horde and take the mind controlling device off his head. Every time. Dr. Animo smiled deviously.

"Not this time Ben 10!" Ben honestly wished he could have said he saw that giant lobster coming; but he couldn't.

"Ben, watch out!" Rook called too late. Soon Ben was flying through the air because of a punch delivered by the monstrosity. The Omnitrix disengaged, causing him to revert back to his normal form and the water rushed up to meet him.

"Please Omnitrix, give me someone who can fly!" As he slapped the watch, Ben briefly noticed that it seemed to be dented. Was it damaged during the fight? He couldn't think about it too much because he was surrounded by a familiar green glow. Ben hit the water and all became dark.

/

Rook watched his partner being thrown into the ocean.

"Ben!" He yelled. He was worried until he saw that the Omnitrix had activated, but he had no time to dwell on it because the monster kept advancing. Let's finish this. Rook pulled out his proto-tool and started blasting.

/

Ben wasn't quite sure what happened. Obviously the watch hadn't worked. He knew this because most of his aliens could have survived the fall without blacking out. "Stupid thing" he muttered. Though it wasn't its usual stubbornness that was to blame; the Omnitrix had been dented. It's nothing Blukic and Driba can't fix, right? Looking away from his left wrist, he noticed that he was lying on a beach. The sand was starting to itch his chest, so he attempted to sit in an upright position. It proved difficult so he just rolled over. "Well this is new," he said aloud to himself. What he saw belonged to Ripjaws, but just his lower half. His clothes were missing as they so often do when he transforms. That train of thought immediately made him think of Rath and how normal Appoplexians wore pants, but ben quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.

Ben experimented with this new hybrid body. The black and yellow-green tail wouldn't part like it would for Ripjaws, which was problematic. How was he going to go find Rook? The Omnitrix was busted so it wouldn't act as a radio to contact his partner. Ben poked it just to make sure that it wouldn't give him a form he could work with. The watch made a vague error sound. Ben slammed his fist against the surf in frustration. It was then that he detected other people on the beach.

There were only two females in bikinis; one short with blond hair and the other was tall with curly brown hair. He would have never discovered that they were behind him if it wasn't for their giggling. They may have been a distance away, but they were still within decent camera shot.

Normally Ben liked publicity, but not today. Not like this. I don't want my enemies learning that the Omnitrix is out of commission, now would we? He scooted himself into the water and swam away.

/

Rook eventually defeated Animo; no surprise there. What was surprising was that Ben had never shown back up. Rook was beginning to assume the worst.

"Magister Tennyson," He approached Ben's grandfather who had come was some other plumbers to collect Animo. "Ben was thrown during the fight and I haven't seen him since!"

"Don't worry," Max replied with a soothing voice. "I'm sure he's fine, Ben couldn't have gotten too far." At this moment, Max's phone decided to ring. "Hello?"

"Grandpa, it's me: Gwen. Have you seen this yet?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Care to elaborate Gwen?" Rook couldn't help but listen in even though he wasn't a nosy being. A hunch told him the call had something to do with his friend. He was right.

"Is something going on with Ben? I'm seeing some strange photos on the internet, even more so than usual."

/

Ben needed to get back to Rook and Plumber HQ. How far could I have gotten? Will anyone come looking for me? Another problem with not being fully Ripjaws was that he didn't have the ability to breathe underwater. This caused him to leap out of the water often like a dolphin. If he wasn't lost it would have been quite fun.

Then he heard a humming noise and sunk into the water until only his eyes were visible. It was a Plumber boat with his grandfather and Rook on it. Straightaway Ben raised an arm and waved at them. Soon they pulled up next to him and Ben lifted himself onto the side of the boat.

"I'm so glad you found me! I thought I'd be stuck like this forever!" He gestured at Ripjaws tail and he knew his rescuers were trying to keep from laughing.

"How in the world did you manage that?" Rook asked.

"I suppose it's because the Omnitrix got dented and didn't work properly," Ben folded his arms and pouted.

It was only a 20 minute ride to a dock where Gwen, Kevin and a few other Plumbers were waiting. Of course Gwen didn't feel like she needed to hold back her laughter.

"Oh Ben, you're such a dweeb." Though she smiled while telling him. Ben still couldn't stand up or walk so Rook carried him bridal-style to the Proto-TRUK. On the way to the Plumber HQ, Ben asked Rook how they had found him.

"It wasn't too hard actually. Gwen came over and showed us some pictures that were wandering around the internet. They were of you and we were able to locate where they were taken."

Ben wondered how long it would take him to live down the fact that he was a mermaid for a day.