Chapter Text
I’m getting way too old for this, Ben 10,000 thinks as he punches a lackey of Eon's right before turning into another alien. Ultimate Arctiguana freezes every ninja that comes near him, freezes the cement on which they stand, and jumps up and onto the nearest wall. He climbs a few feet up the building, glancing up at the sky that was only minutes ago shining brightly but now getting cloudier by the second.
As the alt-universe Ben's start to take aim with their unrecognizable but dangerous-looking weapons, Ben 10,000 turns into Ultimate Big Chill and fazes through the building's wall. His feet touch the ground inside and he changes back into human form, quickly taking in his surroundings.
The place is dusty and abandoned. An old office with papers strewn everywhere and chairs thrown back onto the floor. The darkness is breached by dim lights coming in from the windows, located only on the left side of the room. Dust bunnies float in the air like pixies in the thick stream of light. The plant beside his right foot is thin and wilted, drooping onto the floor from its pot.
“Where is everyone?” Ben mumbles as he begins his walk towards the door on the other side of the room. He turns the light on, but they flicker on and off, only giving him a brief flash every few seconds. It's enough for him to see the jacket resting on one chair, and the empty shoe in one corner. There's dust on everything.
They all left in a hurry.
Not only that, but where the heck was he? Why weren't his calls going through to Plumber Headquarters? Why weren't his calls going through to Rex?
Ben walks out into the hallway. The lights are on and blinking, as well. It's like something out of a cheesy horror movie. The hallway is narrow and green, the ground carpeted, all the plants on each side drooping one way or the other. Dust perks up at each step he takes.
With a flash, XLR8 runs quickly through each room and out, but finds no one and nothing of use. He's at the end of the hall, where both the staircase and elevator are, when he feels a breath on his neck and moves out of the way of a fist going right for his head. He grabs the attacker from behind and smashes his face into the wall, moving onto his friend who reveals himself from the void. Ben punches him, but it has no effect, so he turns into Swampfire and throws him through the stairway door and down its first flight.
He fights his way back outside, jumping out of a window and using his own arms as a rope. He reaches the ground and turns back into human form again, breathing harshly and looking back at the building behind him. He taps his communicator again, but to no alas.
He gets an idea, and his heart starts racing even more. He hates it, but it would explain all this. He taps his wrist, taps it again, a blue screen presents itself in front of him and he sees all his recorded history. He goes through the checklist in his head as quickly as he can. Yes, Swampfire, yes XLR8, yes Big Chill…
He scrolls down more and there, there it is.
He sighs and curses. Yup, that's dimension travel. And of course I didn't set the watch to that! Of course it was an error!
He glares at the little red exclamation mark next to the record. Someone brought him through here without him knowing, and if it wasn't Professor Paradox, then there's only one person it could be.
Ben 10,000 growls. Oh, Rex will get a load out of this. Or is it Kai, here? It could go either way, really. Heck, Ben's even seen dimensions where he’s ended up with Ester. There were dimensions where he and Kai had gotten divorced and he'd end up with Rex. Times where he wasn't with anyone. It's a guessing game to see if the Kenny in one universe is his and Kai's or his and Rex's. Sometimes Ken was biologically Rex's, sometimes Rex was his stepdad. Sometimes Kenny was adopted. His son had many different appearances, but his name would always be Ken.
After Paradox tweaked the Ultimatrix, he'd given Ben 10,000— this one, at least— the ability to travel through dimensions. It was how he'd discovered all the other 10,000s lives, and how he'd met Rex again. He didn't have a Kenny in his universe, and wasn't sure whether he and Rex wanted one, but only time would tell.
Well, he could figure that out when he got back home.
But the universal travel function isn't working now, and he has a feeling that something big is about to happen.
---
Nineteen year old Ben feels the vein on his head straining as he, once again, stops himself from saying a joke. That's what 16 is for, he continues to remind himself.
16 is currently in Stinkfly mode, and though Ben is not wearing his own Omnitrix, he is aching to slap his wrist and yell out Shocksquatch and fight. He wants to scream some puns. He hates being on the sidelines like this. But what was he to do?
Rex had a style of swinging a sword that reminded Ben of Diamondhead. Flashes of pink and white signaled the destruction of multiple Ben's. Stinkfly's goo would hit a helmet and blind an opponent, giving Rex the advantage in swiping him down. Ben had no idea where Eon's servants were going, but if they were just healing and coming back, training and getting stronger, then this style of fighting would do no good.
As for Ben, he didn't need to hold his sword to fight. Ascalon flew around the forest, hitting anyone in its way with an energy blast, leaving Ben to just..silently stand there..in the middle of a battlefield...doing nothing.
“Are you just gonna stand there?” Stinkfly exclaims from the air, shooting at another servant. The kid couldn't see what he was doing because he didn't know what to look for.
Ben gulps, the vein straining again. “Yah.” He clears his throat, “Yeah.”
Holy crap, he wants to fight. Holy crap, he wants to say a joke every time his sword hits someone. Holy crap, he wants to be himself again, take out these irritating eye contacts, and fight alongside his boyfriend.
And there.
The sword was in his hand with just a thought. The force of the blast that blew from Ascalon was so sudden and so powerful from disuse that Rex barely had time to fly out of the way. The brightness of the blueish white that came from the sword's hilt was blinding. The effort moves him backwards. Ben's hood and cap flies off his head and his heels dig into the wet patch of dirt under him. He can't stop himself from letting out a long cheer.
When it's all over, Ben is standing there with his arms stretched forward, sword pointed where trees used to be. Where many alt-universe Ben's used to be. They can see the sunset from here now, orange and just beyond the horizon, surrounded by a peach pink glow. Ben's currently blue eyes are wide and his shoulders lift and fall with his chest. He's exhilarated, and so are the ten year old Ben's and Rex looking at him.
“Babe,” Rex lands on the ground a few feet from him, lips in a tight smile and brows knitted. “You ok? You need to talk about something?”
Ben can only shake his head, still astonished. He forgot what it felt like. He hasn't used the sword in years, and never like this. Couldn't trust its power, really. After the fight with Sir George, he hasn't felt the need for it.
But he's older than he was then. Different. And without the Omnitrix, he didn't have any other choice. And yet...he felt like he could get used to it. He breathes out, “Just a little pent up…“
“Can I open my eyes now?”
“Shh!”
Ben, Rex, and a recently turned-human 16 turn to their left.
Peeking from behind a tree are two, no, three small children around 16's age. No, not around. Are. They are 16's age because they are 16, or slightly different versions of him. Well, two of them are. The two bouncy-haired brunets hide behind the tree again, a second too late, while a third smaller alien kid that looks suspiciously like Argit stands in the open with his eyes closed tightly.
Argit yelps as a hand reaches out and pulls him behind the tree. The three on the opposite side of them stare in stunned silence, unmoving, except for Ben Prime's twitching eye.
Finally, Rex speaks up, “We're gonna need more groceries.”