Rust Bucket

Inside was what you would expect a Grandpa's RV to look like. The floor was those old '90s carpets with dust spilling out as soon as you step on them. Old cabinets that creak when you touch them, sofas that haven't had their springs changed in years and you could even see random old TVs in the back of the RV. It was a wonder to think that there was alien tech here.

Speaking of old sofas, there was something else occupying them, or rather someone. "Who are you staring at dweeb?" said the ginger-haired girl. Dweeb..., I couldn't even be bothered to quip back at her for saying such a lame thing. 

Ignoring her, I took a seat next to the sofa opposite where she was sitting. "What? Can't think of a comeback with that small brain of yours?" she said as she smirked. 

"I'm just trying not to get infected with the idiot virus. Some symptoms include having ginger hair, a blue shirt, and white pants." I spoke back. That was very immature but I didn't care. This little shit deserved it.

"Ay, settle down, settle down Ben. That was not a nice thing to say." said Grandpa Max as he started driving. "So it's fine for her to say something to me. Doesn't really make any sense." I said to him. "You were staring at me like a weirdo, of course, I had to say something." Gwen said.

"BOTH of you need to settle down. For once in your life stop bickering and enjoy the fact that we can spend time together as a family." Grandpa Max said. " *Sigh* Something tells me, it's gonna be a long summer." He said.

15 mins later

Everyone was occupied by doing something. Grandpa Max was obviously busy driving while Gwen was busy reading a book. What was I doing you ask? Nothing. Seriously, Ben before I replaced him forgot to charge the Gameboy and it was busy charging. There was nothing I could do with my phone and the CDs were nothing but rock music and the sumo slammer game track. Seriously. Ben had zero taste in music.

I wanted to talk with Gwen but it was clear she didn't want to talk to me. Maybe I could take a nap in the meanwhile but now thinking about it, I did come off very mean didn't I? Ben normally uses words like doofus, dweeb, or geek. Even if she started it, it was because Ben always started problems most of the time so it makes sense for her to be normally aggressive with me. Shit, now I'm starting to realize that maybe Ben was always the problem.

Finally deciding to say something, I looked at her before I called her name " Gwen." She looked up from her book reading. "What?" She said. I took a deep breath " Look, I wanted to say that I am sorry for what I said to you 15 mins ago and I didn't mean what I said." 

....................................................................

.......................................................................

......................................................................

"What?" she responded. " Is this a joke?" she said again. " No, I actually meant what I said and I hope you can forgive me." I replied back. She looked shocked as if she had seen a ghost. Was Ben really that much of a dickhead when Ben was younger?

She scrutinized my face, looking to see if I was lying. After another prolonged silence, she responded. "I forgive you but I swear if this is a prank-" "It's not, I promise." I said before she could finish.

"Huh, ok. I never thought those words would ever come out of your mouth. Like ever." Gwen replied. "I guess I just had a change of heart, but don't act as if you aren't annoying to me." I said. 

"Only if you annoy me, which you do a lot." She smirked. "Aren't you annoying me right now though?" I raised my eyebrow.

.....................

.....................

"Shut up." She said. "Looks like I'm right" I quipped back. "For once in your life." She replied. She was starting to warm up to me. "Heh, I guess you're right. But let's start over from the beginning like we never knew each other. I'm tired of us always arguing over and over again. Let's start off with introductions. My name is Ben, I'm 10 and I like Comics and Grapes." I said to her.

"Ok then. My name is Gwen, I'm also 10 and I like chess and reading." she said, still somewhat suspicious of me. "You like chess? Do you have a chess board because we can play a game?" I said. I didn't play chess too often but I was 500 elo so I was not too bad at it. "What? Did I just hear you say you want to play chess? Are you hearing this Grandpa?" She replied, probably confused as hell.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this too. It's a miracle that both of you know that game" Grandpa Max said laughing. "You say that like I won't beat you in a game Gwen." She narrowed her eyes at me. " Oh, it's on now." She said pulling a chessboard from her book bag. 

Looks like I won't be so bored anymore.

---

Camp Bellwood

Gwen was scarily good at the game for a 10-year-old. At first, I was destroying her, by baiting her to attack one of my pieces and taking her important pieces as the price. After winning 8 times in a row, I wish my phone wasn't charging as the look of defeat on her face when I beat her each and every time was priceless. After a break, she started to learn, adapt, and get better. She started not falling for the bait and taking my pieces, to my surprise. I still won a couple of times more until I started to struggle against her, then she won once. I won again after that, but then she won the next round. We arrived at the camp but we still kept playing on the bench as we ate the marshmallows Grandpa Max gave us.

He wanted us to roast them on a campfire but Gwen was too stubborn to lose and said she wanted to keep playing. He didn't mind too much as he loved that we were having fun.

By the way, was she some kind of fucking genius? In only an hour and a half of playing, we were practically equals now even though I played longer than she was alive. It made sense since she learned how to use the Omnitrix's aliens in literal seconds. That was some total bullshit. Wait, I played chess for so long that I forgot about the Omnitrix. 

Now I have to answer the question that was always in the back of my mind, Should I get the Omnitrix? If I get it, then I would have to be a hero, I would have to be Ben 10. I would have a target on my back as Vilgax would want the Omnitrix and my head. Could I even defend against him when need be? Was I brave enough to do it? I was interrupted by my deep thought when I felt someone tap my shoulder.

"Hey, Ben, What are you doing? Play your move." Gwen said. "Huh?" "Staring at the sky like that won't do anything to it. You look dumb." She said.

"Your shirt looks dumb" I replied. "My shirt??? My shirt is way better than your ugly shirt, yours is just white and black. You look like a zebra." She said back to me. "You have a cat on your shirt. You don't automatically become cute if you wear that, you know?" I deadpanned before I started walking toward the forest. "Grandpa, I'm taking a walk to the forest, I'll be back." I said.

"Okay, Don't walk too far and I trust you to be back in an hour tops." He said, eating some marshmallows of his own. 

I started walking towards the forest hearing Gwen shout " What is wrong with the cat???" before I entered the forest.

---

Forest

Walking in a dark forest was a very scary experience I didn't get why Ben would even stroll around here. It felt like a serial killer would come out of nowhere to come to kill me but obviously, none came.

With me being by myself, I could now freely think. What happened to my previous world? What happened to my parents, friends, siblings? How did they react to me being dead? They were probably bawling their eyes out now. I clenched my fist in anger. Why? Why bring me? What did I ever do to deserve being taken away from MY world, MY parent, MY life? I never did ANYTHING BAD! I never smoked, drank, had sex, did drugs, or anything as bad. I was just a normal kid.

An asteroid could be seen coming into the atmosphere, flying down at an insane speed in the exact direction of Ben's way.

I felt like crying, like curling into a ball and crying all day. But I had to be strong, I had to be stronger. No one would pity me, No one would save me. I have to hold all of the burdens onto ME. I had to be BEN.

The asteroid started to come very close to him only away by a few thousand feet.

I ran back and dove into the ground as the asteroid hit where I originally was, creating a crater with the asteroid being a metal ball.

After it crashed, I came closer and closer to the ball until it opened up to reveal...

Omnitrix in the capsule

Omnitrix out of the capsule

The Omnitrix. It had a greenish glow to it with green buttons and a white tube protruding out of it. While looking like the OG Omnitrix from afar, if you are closer you can see that instead of a metal device, it looked like a parasite, always moving and swishing around like a liquid.

When I came closer to it, it jumped at me, attaching to my wrist, fusing my very DNA.

I now realize I have to hold all of Ben's, no MY burdens now since I took his body. I may not be a good guy, I may not be brave, and I may be an asshole at times, but...

I raised my fist in the air, showing off the Omnitrix on my wrist.

 

 

I looked so fucking cool.

 

Authors Note:

Shout out to thatboy_studio as his art is used for some of the pictures in this chapter and the Fanfic's Image. Check out his art as he has a lot of amazing Ben 10 art.

Also, shout out to ZinKo for the idea of the Bionic Omnitrix and I got this idea from him. Basically, the Omnitrix is now living technology that forms a symbiotic bond with the user's DNA. It now can only get "hacked" through a change in Ben's body(I.E. sickness, hunger, virus, and more) and can affect the Omnitrix and its transformations as well.

How was the chapter? Was it good or was it boring? Was it too short or long? Were there any mistakes? Don't be afraid to comment about it and I appreciate any and all criticism.

P.S.: We will go back to the regular chapter-a-day schedule tomorrow.