I do not own the Ben Ten franchise. I really do love Azmuth and Ben. I think they're hilarious when put together.

The Wielder and the Creator

There were few things Ben Tennyson, wielder of the greatest weapon in the universe, was afraid of. Peacocks was one of his top fears (and he really couldn't explain why) along with losing. Most of the time, he couldn't afford to lose, which was why he was so afraid of losing. But one thing that made him tremble in his sneakers was a ticked-off Azmuth.

The brunette flinched at the very thought and tightened his grip on the controls. He was currently cruising through space on course for Galvan Prime. At least he could take comfort in the fact that he wasn't going to face a ticked-off Azmuth right away. He would have to deliver the news first.

He wasn't even sure how he was going to do that.

Soon he reached the boundaries of Galvan Prime and Azmuth's face (in all its holographic glory) fizzled into view. "Lower life form, you are about to trespass into Galvan Prime territory. Either state your business or turn around now."

Please don't be a recorded message, Ben begged silently. He really couldn't deal with any attacks from Mechamorph guards right now.

"It's me!" he cried into the ship's microphone. He could hear his voice echo through the black space. "Ben Tennyson!"

He was relieved to see the holographic projection arch an eyebrow. "The wielder of the Omnitrix," he added lamely.

"I know who you are." Ben relaxed at the mild amusement in the First Thinker's tone. At least he was in a good mood. For now, anyway. "You may pass through."

"Thanks," Ben said. "You know, you really ought to give me your number so I can call ahead."

The holograph hastily fizzled out and Ben grinned. He navigated the ship into the planet's atmosphere and landed it carefully into the designated parking space (because heaven help him if he accidentally destroyed anything on Galvan Prime). The sixteen-year-old tumbled out of the spaceship and glanced around uncertainly. A few Galvans walked past, raising their hands in greeting. Ben waved back and debated on whether or not he should ask one of them for directions. He would either get a smart-aleck answer or be given a complex answer.

Either way, he would probably still end up lost.

"Down here, Tennyson."

Surprised, Ben glanced down at his mentor. "Hey, Azmuth. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"You always do," Azmuth responded. "Can't even bother to call ahead."

"If you give me your number, I could do that," Ben stressed.

"And have you call me every time the Omnitrix malfunctions? I think not."

"Er...funny you should mention that." Ben swallowed nervously and played with the alien device strapped around his wrist.

Azmuth closed his eyes. "What did you do this time?"

"I..."Ben fumbled for the words to explain what had happened and found that he couldn't. "I...got gum stuck in it."

The Galvan stared at the boy in disbelief. "You must be joking."

"I'm not," Ben muttered, worried that he would now have to face the wrath of Azmuth, the smartest being in three galaxies (arguably five).

"Oh, stop looking like I'm going to bite your head off. You've done worse things than this," Azmuth finally said, relieving the boy of his anxiety and motioning him towards the large skyscraper a few yards away.

Out of habit, Ben bent down and lifted Azmuth into his hands so that the little guy wouldn't have to hurry to match his steps. The teenager strode purposefully for the building and Azmuth glanced at him in amusement. He debated on whether he should remind the kid he could simply teleport them in and decided that Ben would probably be embarrassed enough upon explaining the story to him.

"So, invent anything cool lately?" Ben asked as he walked, careful to avoid stepping on the Galvans that scurried past.

"Not to your standards, I'm afraid. I've only been adding improvements to Galvan Prime as of late," Azmuth answered.

"That sounds like work." Ben wrinkled his nose. "Don't you ever invent stuff just for fun?"

"What do you think this was?" Azmuth tapped the green and white watch strapped securely to Ben's wrist. "A school project?"

"Good point." Ben paused in front of the metal doors and blinked when they did not open. "Is it a revolving door or something?"

"More like a pass-code door." Azmuth's lips twitched at the red flush that crept up Ben's face. The Galvan leaned to the control board and typed in the password. The doors slid open and Ben hustled through. He stared in awe at the Galvans scurrying about, carrying around various pieces of tech or just working at one of the multiple computer consoles.

"Elevator, straight ahead," Azmuth directed. Ben snapped his gaze towards the transport tube at the front of the room and quickly entered it. They zoomed upwards, all the way to the top of the building. Ben tumbled out of the green tube and into Azmuth's lab, a place he had visited many times. A series of metal shelves lined the right wall, filled with supplies and tools and different elements. A massive computer console was at the back of the room, lights flashing and the console beeping.

Ben brought Azmuth over to one of the metal lab tables and set the Galvan down. Azmuth removed Ben's Omnitrix with ease and snapped the face off-revealing a wad of gum stuck in the core. "I'm not so sure I want to know how you managed this."

"Well, I was chewing some gum, minding my own business when some guy shoves me from behind," Ben explained. "The gum landed on my watch and I turned around to give the guy a piece of my mind when I realized he was trying to get away with a lady's purse. I fought him as me (which was a piece of cake), gave the lady her purse and discovered that the gum was no longer on my watch. When I tried to transform to fly home, I got an error warning. Somehow, the gum had gotten inside." Ben grinned sheepishly. "You're not mad, are you?"

"You've seen me mad, Tennyson," Azmuth reminded idly as he carefully went about removing the wad of gum from the most important part of the Omnitrix. "I've grown too used to your silly and idiotic actions to get mad over every one of them."

Ben could not help but grin. As of late the relationship he held with the Galvan had improved dramatically. It was mostly thanks to his willingness to sacrifice himself so that he could free the Ultimate alien forms that were trapped in his watch. That had been enough to gain Azmuth's trust back after the whole hacking-the-watch incident.

"You know, Kevin Levin is scared of you," Ben remarked.

"Apparently, not scared enough." Azmuth shot the boy a knowing look. Ben flushed, having forgotten that Azmuth knew it was Kevin who had helped try to hack into the Ultimatrix.

"That was a while ago," Ben complained. "And I said I was sorry. A bazillion times. I'm really hugely terrifically sorry. There, a bazillion and one times."

Azmuth glanced up briefly to see the goofy grin on the teen's face. He simply shook his head and returned his attention to the problem at hand. He managed to remove the gum and hastily dropped it onto the surface of the table, wiping his hands on his clothes. "There. A problem so simple Blukic and Driba could have fixed it."

"I love those guys, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to have them tinker with the Omnitrix," Ben admitted.

"Ah. Smart boy. If only you acted like that more often."

"I'm plenty smart!"

"Mmm-hmm. How are your school grades?"

"I'm street smart," Ben amended.

Azmuth smirked. "Let's see how far those get you." He handed the watch to Ben, who snapped it back on his wrist. "Now scram. I'm a busy man with a lot to do and you wasted enough of my time."

"Fine, fine. Are you gonna give me your number or-?"

"Out."

Ben threw his arms in the air. "Okay! Geez." He approached the transport tube and hesitated by the entrance. "You know, my seventeenth birthday is coming up soon-"

"So help me, Tennyson-"

"I'm gone!" Ben yelped and jumped into the tube. Azmuth let out a sigh and jumped off the metal table. He had barely taken two steps when Ben zoomed back up, a pathetic expression on his face. He held out his right arm and whimpered, "I put it on the wrong wrist."

Azmuth stared at the boy for a long moment before speaking. "You, Ben Tennyson, are a real piece of work," he informed fondly.

But really, if he kept this up, he would drive Azmuth to an early grave-of that the Galvan was sure.