Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or any of its characters. However, I do own all those who is not a cast of Ben 10, so don't touch them. If you want to use them, my contact info is on my profile. Contact me and we'll see.
Ben sighed as he looked outside. It had been raining hard, making the day looked like nighttime. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were still there, ever thick with no silver lining whatsover. He turned his view to the girl sitting in front of him, typing silently on her laptop. Even she looked bored. Ben swiveled on his seat, turning to his grandfather. "Are we there yet?"
"No, Ben, we're not," Max replied calmly, "and we won't get there until nightfall. I told you that thirty-six times already."
"Some doofuses just can't understand, grandpa." Gwen quipped, not once stopped typing.
Ben turned to his cousin, but he was too bored to even think of a retort. "...Oh, shut up." he finally said as he threw his head onto his hands and laid them on the table.
Gwen glanced up from over her laptop screen, frowning slightly, then returned to her mindless typing.
"Mm-mm-mmm." Ben mumbled from his heap of hands.
"Hmm?" Gwen wasn't really paying attention.
Ben raised his face, "I wish something happens."
"Like what?"
"I dunno...Flying saucer? Near roadkill? Whatever..."
Gwen glanced up from her screen again, this time raising an eyebrow.
Ben grinned at her expression, or at least, the half he could see. He was about to comment when suddenly...
Max had one second to react. He slammed the brakes, sending the RV screeching through wet asphalt.
"Aaah!" Ben and Gwen were thrown onto the RV's aisle, and then onto each other.
The RV skidded, trying to stop, but the wet road was not helping. Max turned the wheel in an attempt to reduce the RV's momentum. The mobile home turned several times before stopping horizontally, blocking both lanes of traffic.
BEN 10: Light Isn't Always Good
Chapter 1: Smitten
Max grunted as he shook his head. He turned to his grandchildren. "Ben, Gwen, are you alright?"
Ben was laying on his back, with one of his feet was on the seat he was just sitting on, while Gwen was laying face down, on top of him, forming a cross. "Oooh...what happened?" Ben asked.
"Mmm..." Gwen slowly woke up.
Max returned his view to the road, which was both to his left and right. "There was something..."
A sharp blow was suddenly heard, indicating that someone, or something, had landed on the roof. Another blow quickly followed suit.
Max quickly jumped from his driver's seat and ran to his grandchildren. "Come on, we have to get out of here!"
Gwen clambered onto all fours and hastily crawled off Ben, while he rolled to the side and quickly followed suit. The family stormed out of the RV and instinctly turned to look at the roof.
Two shadowy figures were fighting each other with lightning-fast moves. The slippery condition and the darkness created by the rain had little effect to their movements. Even though one was much larger than the other, they seemed to be equal, until the big shadow struck the smaller one's chest in mid-air. A familiar sound of deactivated machinery cut through the darkness.
"T-That sound...!" Ben realized. "That sounded like the Omnitrix!"
"What?!" Gwen exclaimed.
The smaller figure landed on the road on his back, seemingly fainted. The bigger one walked calmly towards it. He then raised a fist.
A flash of green light preceded a blur of white and yellow. The bigger shadow only managed a glimpse of it before it hit him. He staggered back a few feet. He looked up to see a strange creature in white with black linings, with yellow bulges on his hands and shoulders. "Why did you stop me?" he asked in a coarse voice.
Ben, as Cannonbolt, raised a pointed finger at him. "I can't let you kill him just like that!"
The shadow stood straight. "This is not your battle. You have no idea what you're dealing with."
Ben took a stance to roll. "I still can't allow you to..."
"Oooh..." a small voice came from the smaller shadow.
The bigger shadow hmphed. "Well, I have the advantage now. I'll finish this later." he said as he jumped away.
As if the whole rain was because of the fight, as soon as he was gone, the clouds cleared. The afternoon sun finally shone through, and the first rays fell onto the small shadow figure.
"Oooh...I'm...I'm alive?" The owner of the voice was a girl.
Ben looked down in surprise. He watched as the girl resumed a sitting position. She didn't look much older than himself or Gwen. Maybe a year or two, tops. She sat there for a while, holding her head. Then, in a swift motion, she combed her long black hair with her fingers. The ray of sun falling on her made her look even more angelic.
Ben was transfixed. "Uh, hi..."
The girl turned to him. She looked at his Cannonbolt form for two seconds, wide eyed, before screaming and fainted again.
"Ben's got a girlfriend, Ben's got a girlfriend..." Gwen sung as she jumped around her cousin.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Ben fumed. "I don't even know her name."
"Yeah, but you should've seen the look on your face when you first saw her. You were smitten." Gwen grinned widely.
"I am NOT smitten!" Ben exclaimed.
"Oooh..."
"Quiet, you two." Max hissed at them. "Our guest is waking up."
The girl opened her eyes slowly. The first face she saw was the kind face of an old man. "W-Where am I?"
"You're in my RV, the Rust Bucket." Max replied softly with a smile. "I'm Max Tennyson, and these are my grandchildren, Ben and Gwen."
The girl resumed a sitting position. "I'm...Hikari."
"Who were you fighting with?" Max asked.
"Yeah! You were awesome, being able to fend off someone that big!" Ben exclaimed as he jumped next to her.
Gwen just snickered at him.
Hikari turned to see him, then noticed his left arm. Her eyes widened. "T-That's the Omnitrix!"
The Tennysons immediately tensed. Everyone they had met so far who knew anything about the Omnitrix had wanted it, for one reason or the other. None of them had been particularly nice. With the exception of Hoverboard, of course.
"You...know about this?" Ben asked carefully.
Hikari looked up to him, her eyes watering. "My hero!" she exclaimed as she grabbed him into her hug.
Ben was still blushing when the four of them gathered on the RV's kitchen table. Max was sitting on a chair on the aisle, while Gwen was sitting next to Ben, near the window.
"I'm sorry if I caused you discomfort." Hikari spoke slowly, looking down. Apparently, she was also blushing.
"Ah, that's alright..." Ben replied dreamily.
"What I want to know is," Gwen said with a strange tone, "what did you mean by Ben being your 'hero'?" she strained to say the last word.
Hikari sighed. She looked up to see the Tennyson's faces, ending on Ben's. "I came from a planet not far from this solar system."
That sentence alone made the three Tennysons gasp. "You're an alien?" Max asked.
"You sure don't look like one." Ben said, but immediately looked away, blushing.
Hikari smiled at him. "Yes, your people and mine share the same physiology. Apparently, evolution favors our worlds in similar ways. However," her face grew dark, "luck doesn't."
Hikari sighed as she began to tell the story of her people. The people of Lumenigra were a generally peaceful race, much like Earth. Then, a terrible enemy came. It was an alien from a world of shape-shifters. They easily infiltrated Lumenigran society and destroy it from the inside out by promoting distrust and wreaking chaos.
Finally, after two great wars, the aliens revealed themselves. Having reduced their enemies into a manageable number, they changed their tactic into full frontal assault. Being weak and vastly outnumbered, the Lumenigrans desperately seek help from their neighboring planets, which is when they heard about the Omnitrix.
"I don't know what you know about the Omnitrix," Hikari sighed, "but what we heard was that it was developed as a token of a peace treaty. People from different worlds donate their DNA as a sign of their inclusion in the treaty."
"Whoa..." Ben raised his left arm to look at the alien device. "I didn't know that."
"Still," Gwen frowned, "what does that have to do with Ben being your 'hero'?"
Hikari sighed as she looked up to Ben. "The Omnitrix was being lent to our people. Even though it was originally for peace, the situation demanded that it was to be used for war. The worlds joined in the treaty agreed, although not all initially. It was on a ship bound to our world when the transport was attacked."
"And it fell into that forest for me to find. The rest was history." Ben finished.
"I was sent here to find out what happened to it, " Hikari continued, "and when I saw it on you, I...kinda...overreacted." she blushed.
"Oh, I don't mind at all." Ben smiled at her, blushing slightly.
Gwen fumed at her gawking cousin. She then turned to Hikari. Her frown deepened as she saw her also looking dreamily at Ben. Although, she had to admit, Hikari was a pretty girl. Her dark hair contrasted with her pale skin and sky blue eyes, only to seem to blend back with her black jump suit. And then Gwen's eyes fell on her chest. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at a small emblem. The face was slightly cracked.
Hikari seemed forced to look down. "Oh, this is a N-Field Generator. This allows me increased abilities. Strength, speed, it even allows me to breathe in, and withstand the harshness of, space."
"Wow," Max hummed, "That's quite the technology. Why can't you just use that to fight against the aliens?"
"They may depend on infiltration to start their invasion," Hikari gritted her teeth, "but they aren't weaklings. We can't win even with the N-Field at full power. And now it's broken..." she finished with a sigh.
"Well, I have the advantage now." Ben recalled the bigger shadow's words. "Don't worry, Hikari. We'll find a way to help your people."
Hikari smiled at him, then closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but the only way is to put the Omnitrix on my planet and use it to drive the aliens away. And...I don't think I'm allowed to borrow you for any amount of time." she turned to Max.
But before Max had a chance to answer, Gwen stood up, slamming the table. "No way! There's no way you're taking my cousin in an interplanetary quest to some forsaken planet!"
"Gwen!" Ben exclaimed. He couldn't believe his cousin could act like that. A few moments before she was teasing him, and now she was overly protective of him?
Hikari looked up to her. "I know," she said calmly, "which is why I'll need your help to contact my people."
"What would that accomplish?" Max asked as he glared at Gwen.
Gwen felt her grandfather's glare and fell back to sit, folding her arms.
"If I can give word that I've found the Omnitrix, it will spread like wildfire, giving my people hope as well as a reason for the aliens to pack it and leave."
"But you won't be able to actually take the Omnitrix there." Gwen pointed out.
"Yeah. It's kinda stuck on me." Ben added.
Hikari nodded. "Yes, I heard the Omnitrix would do that. Anyway, as I said, it will provide hope, as well as a deterrent."
Max hummed. "I guess it might work. Where do you say your planet was?"
"Um, from here, it would be around there." Hikari looked the window and pointed to a star in the evening sky. "About a few hundred thousand light-years."
"Wow," Ben raised both eyebrows, "you're far from home."
Hikari shrugged a bit.
"Don't you feel lonely?"
"Sometimes," Hikari admitted, "but not anymore." She returned her eyes at Ben.
Gwen huffed as she looked away. She didn't need to see Ben's face to guess its color.
"Hmm," Max hummed. "I only know one place around here that might be able to send a message that far. It'll take us the best of the night to get there. I'd better get started." he said as he raised to stand. "Make yourself at home, Hikari. Gwen, can you whip up something for her to eat? She must be starving after that fight."
"Actually, Mr. Tennyson." Hikari said before Gwen had a chance to protest, "I'm fine. My people have a slower digestive system. We can withstand hunger much longer than Earthlings."
"Well, at least have a cookie." Max smiled. "And call me Max."
Hikari was about to say something, but was cut short by an open jar of cookies in front of her. She turned to see Ben smiling. She sighed. "Alright,...Max." she said as she took a cookie and bit off a piece.
Gwen just huffed.
A shadowy figure watched silently from atop a cliff as Max's RV started to move. He grunted as he squatted, then leaped. Jumping from trees to trees, he continued to follow them.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's notes: Hi! Here I am again with an epic adventure for you! This is my first Ben10 fic, so bear with me, m'kay? Alright, what do we have here? An alien girl fighting someone much bigger than herself. The seem to be equal until that Generator on her chest was destroyed (uh-hum, please keep your eyes firmly on the device and don't wonder...downwards. She's twelve, you sick bast...Wait, if I even suggested it, does that make me one myself?) She was then rescued by the Tennysons and later revealed that the Omnitrix was originally in transport for her people. I made that up, obviously, along with the fact that it was originally built as a peace treaty device. But all that do have significance later. A little trivia, N-Field is a nod to my real world name, which begins with the letter N :) Does that count as self-insertion?
Also, what with Gwen's apparent hatred for Hikari? If you noticed, she only started this 'act' after Hikari hugged Ben. Gasp! Could she be...jealous?! Nah...although...could she...? All this have significance later. Don't yammer me with all 'But they're cousins!' stuff. Not yet, anyway. You'll just have to wait and read :) And now, review, please. All comments are welcomed, although any flames would probably be redirected at Heatblast's direction. He could use a meal :D
I'll also need your input on whether I should continue with this or not...
PS: Max has little to say in this episode...I'll have to have him talk more later...It's hard to divide a scene between four people...(sigh)
PPS: In the summary I said the pairings are complicated. Well, it's kinda square-shaped. It's BenxOC1xOC2xGwenxBen (OC as in Original Character). It's a long while until you know what I mean, though. Again, please don't yammer me with 'But they're cousins!' stuff yet. It's all going to get clearer without getting too...offensive. I hope. One more thing, neither Ben or Gwen is adopted in this story. They are true first cousins. It'll be significant later. Thought I needed to clear that up.