After 7 days of traveling we finally arrive at Yosemite National Park in California. Grandpa Max parks the Rustbucket at the campsite and the 4 of us exit the Rustbucket and stretch are legs after a long trip. 

Max: (Takes a whiff of the air and sighs) “ Smell that fresh air. Isn’t this great? Nothing around but the trees and animals.”

I chuckle to myself as Grandpa Max turns back around to find Ben playing his 3ds and Gwen with her nose buried in a book. 

Max: (Sighs) “ Alex, can you help me get the grill and food out?” 

“ Sure grandpa.” 

I walk up to the side of the Rustbucket and open the storage compartment, carefully take the grill out and set it up. I grab the charcoal and dump some into the grill. Grandpa Max walks over and lights the grill with his trusty old lighter.

Max: “ Can you go get the bags?” 

I nod and make my way into the RV, grab the bags off of the counter and head back to Grandpa. 

“ Here you go grandpa.” I plop the bags down next to him.  

Max: “ Thanks kiddo, now get ready for the best food you’ve ever tasted.”

I make my way over to the picnic table and sit with Ben and Gwen. 

Ben: “ How are we going to survive this summer with Grandpa Max cooking?”

Gwen: “ I’d rather die of starvation than eat his weird abominations.”

I chuckle as the 2 shudder at the thought of eating grandpa’s cooking. 

“ I might be able to convince him to let me cook sometimes.” 

Gwen: “ When did you learn how to cook?”

“ My mom’s been teaching me recently.”

Ben: “ She was probably preparing you for the summer with grandpa.” 

Max: “ It’s almost ready!”

The 3 of us look at each other in fright of his current disaster, it was grilled mealworms. 

Ben: “ Hey grandpa, I’m going for a walk in the forest.”

Max: “ Ok Ben, be back in time for supper.”

Ben walks off towards the forest while Gwen continues to read her book and I start secretly preparing food for me, Ben, and Gwen. 

Not long after Ben leaves I hear a loud crash. 

“ What was that?”

Max: “ Hmm, I’m not sure. It was probably some irresponsible campers.”

I look over at the forest and notice smoke. 

“ Grandpa! Forest fire!” 

Grandpa Max notices the smoke and his face shifts to one of worry.

Max: “ That’s the way Ben went.”

Gwen: “ Do you think he started the fire?” 

Max: “ No, he’s not that irresponsible.” 

The forest fire continues to grow and engulf more of the trees, it even starts to spread out of the forest. 

Max: “ Grab a fire extinguisher and start putting out the flames!” 

Grandpa Max, Gwen, and I each grab an extinguisher and run into the forest. As I make my way through, I put out every fire that I can to try and lessen the destruction, but the raging flames become too much and I find myself surrounded by a ring of fire. 

“ This isn’t working! There’s too much fire!” I back up from the flames and almost hit the flames behind me. 

I look up and notice a humanoid creature, it appeared to be made of rocks and it was engulfed in raging flames, on its chest was a round dial with a gray hourglass resting in the center of the dial.

“ W-what the hell are you!?” I try to back away but the flames block my escape. 

Ben: “ It’s me, Ben. I don’t know what happened, one second I was my normal self and the next I’m on fire!” 

“ B-Ben, how do I know it’s really you?”

Ben: “ My mother’s name is Sandra Tennyson and my father is Carl Tennyson, I have a grandfather named Max Tennyson and a cousin named Gwen Tennyson and…. I’m afraid of clowns.”

“ Holy shit, it’s really you. What happened?”

Ben: “ I found this strange watch and when I pressed a button I was suddenly on fire.” 

“ A watch? How did a watch do this to you?”

Ben: “ I have no idea, but this is pretty cool.” 

Ben creates a ball of fire in his hand and then disperses it. 

“ Can you get rid of the fire?” 

Ben: “ Maybe, let me try something.”

Ben holds out his arms and the flames start being absorbed into him, he’s eventually able to get rid of all the flames. 

Max: “ Alex! Ben! Where are you!?” 

“ Over here grandpa!”

Ben: “ What about this?” He gestures to his current flaming form. 

“ We have to explain what happened.”

Grandpa Max and Gwen come into view, but once they spot Ben’s fiery form, they begin to approach with caution.

Gwen: “ What is that?” 

Ben: “ Hey Gwen, it’s me Ben.”

Gwen’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and her mouth opens and closes like she wants to say something but just can’t spit it out. 

Max: “ What happened Ben?”

Ben explains how he was almost hit by a meteor and that the meteor wasn’t actually a meteor, it was some kind of metal orb and when he walked up to it, it opened and some strange watch latched onto his wrist. He then explains how he managed to bring up some type of image and when he hit it down, he transformed into his current form. 

Gwen: “ What was a watch doing in space?” 

Max: “ I believe that it’s a normal watch.”

Ben: “ What do you mean grandpa?”

Max: “ I’ll explain in the morning, it’s getting late.”

Ben: “ What am I supposed to do about this then?” He gestures to his flaming head. 

The dial on Ben’s chest begins to beep and flash red, in a flash of red light Ben returns to his human form. 

Ben: “ What happened?”

Max: “ I believe it timed out.” 

Ben, Gwen, and I look at Grandpa Max with confused looks, waiting for an explanation. 

Max: “ I know you all want me to explain, but it’ll have to wait until morning.”

Gwen, Ben, and I nod in agreement, but before we can even head into the Rustbucket, a loud explosion and screams of terror come from one of the campsites.