RR Chapter 7

Ben Prime must defeat Time Breaker Ben once and for all, but first he needs to get his own watch back.

Scene 1
Ben Prime and Ben Delta both stand motionlessly watching Time Breaker Ben. Only a few moments ago the Time Breaker had almost succeeded in its mission, but now it seems to have failed. Confusion and terror runs through the veins of both Omnitrix-wielding Bens. Ben Delta is holding his throat, trying to steady his heavy breathing.

Ben Prime: “Are you okay?”

Ben Delta looks at Prime, unable to respond and hoping the answer would be obvious.

Ben Prime: “I thought he’d got you for a second there...”

He turns to the Time Breaker, trying to piece together what had just happened.

Ben Prime: “So why didn’t he?”

Scene 2
Timekiller stands atop a tall concrete building, overlooking the fight between the three Bens.

Paradox: “I knew you wouldn’t be far.”

Timekiller: “GAH! Crucible protect, you scared the life out of me!”

Timekiller sighs, before turning to meet his surprise guest.

Timekiller: “You know nothing about me. After all, this is the first time we’ve met is it not? It is good to finally say hello, Professor Paradox!”

Paradox: “The pleasure’s all yours. What are you doing here?”

Timekiller looks back over the fight below.

Timekiller: “At this point? Not much. Looks like my control over Universal Reboot isn’t strong enough. He doesn’t have the conviction to murder his counterparts. An unfortunate twist given how well he was doing, but an important one. For only my second Time Breaker he has done remarkably well. His successors shall not share his weakness.”

Paradox stands firmly and crosses his arms. His question had been left unanswered.

Timekiller: “You can sense it too, can’t you?”

Paradox: “I can.”

Timekiller: “Ahhaha! Would you believe me if I said that I did not intend to do that?”

Paradox: “It doesn’t matter if I believe you or not.”

Timekiller: “No. You’re right. What matters is that the Ben 10’000 you favour is no longer the assured future. That timeline has branched off. I may be a specialist in timeline sciences, but I honestly don’t know why that has happened. Care to explain?”

Paradox: “I don’t know either, that’s the worrying part. Though if I were to bet I’d say the Delta Dimension had something to do with it.”

Timekiller: “An interesting conjecture. I believe you may be right.”

Paradox: “You still haven’t answered my question.”

Timekiller: “Should it not be obvious why I am here? I’m field-testing one of my Time Breakers.”

Paradox: “And do you have any idea what kind of damage this is doing?”

Timekiller: “I assure you, I do not care. Not right now anyway. The Crucible is protected from such temporal anomalies as a Universal Reboot, so they can’t see what we’re doing here.”

Paradox: “You mean they haven’t exiled you yet?”

Timekiller: “From a linear, non-subjective point of view… No. Not yet. And if you value the timelines the way they are, you won’t tell them about me.”

Paradox: “And why not?”

Timekiller: “Because you just sent your friend to the Crucible at a key point in my timeline. Wouldn’t want to mess ‘’’that’’’ up, would we?”

The Professor’s eyes widen, as he realises he is being outplayed. Losing was not a position he liked to find himself in.

Paradox: “What do you want, Timekiller?”

Timekiller: “Ooh I like it when you call me that. Sends shivers down my spine. What I ‘’want’’ is to bring about change. Not to Ben’s timeline, no. Means to an end.”

Paradox: “And that end is a Time War?”

Timekiller: “Again, means to an end. See, what I intend to change is the Chronosapiens!”

Paradox: “Explain.”

Timekiller grabs his rugged cloak with his right hand and pulls it back, showing what was underneath to Paradox.

Timekiller: “Cerebrocrustacean technology. I’m sure you’ve heard about the accident on Providence?”

Paradox: “That was you?”

Timekiller: “Ahaha. It was. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was a different person back then. I guess this thing really has changed me. I was lucky that I didn’t lose anything else.”

Paradox: “And the other Chronosapiens hold it against you?”

Timekiller: “Exactly. I felt like an outcast when I went back to them. They didn’t even care about the moon.”

Paradox: “There are easier ways to change societal views than waging a war.”

Timekiller: “Maybe. But in that case I couldn’t be the one to instigate the change, and that pains me. Having to wait for someone else to make me acceptable. And in that sense, this way ‘’would’’ be much easier for me.”

Paradox: “The Chronosapien behind the last Time War wanted to bring about change too. And look how well that turned out.”

Timekiller: “Time loops can be broken, just as futures can be changed. And the past is just as malleable. Perhaps you should have paid Providence a visit, ‘’Professor’’, so then you can see that I’m not someone who would jump into a war without thoroughly planning out every eventuality.”

Paradox: “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”

Timekiller: “I’m afraid not.”

Paradox: “Then I’ll have to stop you myself.”

Timekiller: “I’m afraid that’s not possible either.”

Paradox: “Oh? And by what possible oversight of the rules of time travel am I not permitted to defeat you here?”

Timekiller: “You’re not strong enough.”

Scene 3
The door to the toilet at the back of Max’s Plumbing shuts without warning nor interaction, before opening again a few moments later. The small, elderly Galvan Azmuth steps out to join Rook, Gwen, Kevin, Sella, and Fistina in watching the three Bens outside. Rook is the first one to notice.

Rook: “Oh, First Thinker Azmuth, how nice of you to join us!”

Gwen: “Azmuth! Is the dimension hopper finished?”

Azmuth: “Well it ‘’was’’ coming along nicely. And then it wasn’t. What the hell is going on?”

Fistina: “Looked like time went backwards.”

Rook: “Other than that we don’t know either.”

Azmuth struts over to the window and climbs up to the windowsill. He scratches his chin at the sight of Time Breaker Ben.

Azmuth: “Well that is strange. Those patterns are definitely Chronosapien in design, but what are the Chronosapiens doing going around and making armour?”

Kevin: “It’s not armour. It’d be easier if it were.”

Fistina: “It’s evil, whatever it is.”

Azmuth: “I don’t disagree with that notion. It looks sick, to say nothing of the Ben wearing it. I can only dread to think what twisted mind manufactured it...”

Scene 4
Time Breaker Ben takes a seemingly hesitant, but actually emotionless, step towards the pair of Bens.

Ben Delta: “It’s not attacking us…”

Delta’s voice was rough.

Ben Prime: “I think he wants us to make the first move.”

Ben Delta: “No...”

He was still struggling for breath.

Ben Delta: “I don’t think he can kill us.”

Ben Prime: “So that reset… You broke through to him?”

Ben Delta: “I don’t know what else would’ve caused it.”

Time Breaker Ben steps forwards again. The thought cross Prime’s mind that No Watch Ben was trying not to attack them, but in reality the Time Breaker portion of him was trying to prevent his emotions from taking hold again.

Ben Prime: “Then maybe we can still save him!”

Prime’s eyes widen- a brilliant idea had struck.

Ben Prime: “But first, there’s something we oughta fix!”

Prime fiddles the dial of his Omnitrix.

Ben Delta: “What do you have in mind?”

Prime slams the faceplate down and is consumed by a green glow as his skin turns a deep black. His legs elongate as a large tail emerges from his coccyx.

XLR8: “I’ll be quick, you keep the Time Breaker busy!”

Ben Delta: “Uhhh… Okay?”

The Kineceleran rushes up to Time Breaker Ben and drop-kicks him, sending him flying, but XLR8 bounces off and lands on his feet before darting over to the door of Max’s Plumbing and heading inside. Delta turns to the Time Breaker and taps blindly at his Omnitrix, rolling the dice. He transforms into a buff green humanoid made of thick plant material, with a bright yellow head and fire-like growths running up his arms. He looks down at his black-and-yellow hands.

Swampfire: “Yeah this’ll do.”

He rubs his throat gently, his voice still hoarse but not longer due to the strangulation.

Swampfire: “Feels better too.”

Time Breaker Ben gets back up and advances on Swampfire. Delta Ben charges No Watch Ben and holds him aloft, much as he had done before with Chromastone. Time Breaker Ben kicks against Swampfire’s chest, but to little effect.

Swampfire: “You’re not getting out so easy this--”

Time Breaker Ben swings his leg much harder this time and catches his boot to Swampfire’s stomach, winding him. He drops Time Breaker Ben who proceeds to uppercut the Methanosian. Swampfire stumbles backwards. He quickly adapts to this form’s abilities and throws a handful of seeds around the villain’s feet, which quickly sprout into thick and powerful vines that ensnare Time Breaker Ben.

Swampfire: “There. Escape that one.”

XLR8 approaches his friends, that he had so gladly done away with not five minutes earlier. He looks down to see Azmuth, but before he could express his gratitude he is interrupted.

Rook: “Finally ready to admit that you need our help?”

XLR8: “Not really. I do want this thing off, though.”

He gestures towards the Omnitrix dial on his chest. He looks down to Azmuth and smiles.

XLR8: “You willing to help, Azmuth?”

Azmuth: “Glad to see you again as well. I thought you knew how to take the Omnitrix off yourself?”

XLR8: “I know how to take ‘’my’’ Omnitrix off. It’s been years since I’ve used the original watch I had when I was ten.”

Azmuth sighs.

Azmuth: “Ben, you never fail to find new ways to disappoint me.”

XLR8: “Great, so you’ll help me? I’m gonna need help getting the Trix off of the other me too, I only know how to take it off of myself. I assume it has some kind of security feature preventing me from just removing it from his wrist?”

Azmuth: “You give me more credit than you should.”

XLR8: “Well I still need your help getting this one off. Let’s go!”

XLR8 picks Azmuth up and darts back outside.

Kevin: “Always happy to help, Tennyson.”

XLR8 rushes into the middle of the street before sitting Azmuth down on the ground and tapping the Omnitrix dial to revert to his human form.

Ben Prime: “Delta! Over here!”

Swampfire turns away from his trapped enemy and saunters over to the pair.

Swampfire: “Alright, what’s the plan?”

Ben Prime reaches up and taps the Omnitrix dial on Swampfire’s chest, forcing him out of his alien transformation.

Ben Delta: “Hey!”

Ben Prime: “We’re swapping watches back. You know your watch better than I do, and I actually know all of the aliens in mine.”

Ben Delta: “That’s a lie. You didn’t even name ImmoBile until I used him.”

Ben holds his left wrist down to Azmuth.

Ben Prime: “Alright Azmuth, do your magic!”

Azmuth begins to fiddle with the dial of the Delta Omnitrix.

Azmuth: “Hmmm… This may be more difficult than I expected, I’ll need a second.”

Prime looks over at the vines holding the corrupted Ben. They begin to wither and die without Swampfire to sustain them.

Ben Prime: “We don’t have a second. Why is this difficult, you built it?”

Azmuth: “No I didn’t. A ‘’version’’ of me built it. Clearly the tropes of Galvan technology are different in his dimension, because this is absolutely sloppy craftsmanship. Beautiful, in a way, but sloppy nonetheless. You should be used to the concept of dimensions by now. Speaking of which, how did you get ahold of Ascalon and why did you throw it at me the other day?”

Time Breaker Ben begins to fight his way out of the weakened vegetation.

Ben Prime: “We don’t really have time to discuss that right now!”

Azmuth: “Well don’t count on me forgetting about it.”

The Omnitrix clicks, its strap snaps in two, and Azmuth pulls it away from Ben Prime’s wrist.

Azmuth: “Alright hurry up, I don’t know if this Omnitrix has an auto-attach feature or not and I don’t need to find out.”

Ben stands up rapidly, and grabs his younger counterpart’s wrist roughly. He begins fiddling with the faceplate weakly before sliding the Omnitrix off of Delta’s arm and placing it on his own. Azmuth tosses the more primitive Omnitrix into the air, and Ben Delta catches it with his left arm.

Ben Delta: “Alright!”

Ben Prime: “Yes! Back in action! Alright Azmuth, we need help coming up with a plan!”

Azmuth shrugs.

Azmuth: “Sorry. Can’t help.”

Prime’s expression immediately drops.

Ben Prime: “What do you mean you can’t help? You’re First Thinker Azmuth, surely you of all people can think of something?”

Azmuth: “Nope. Never seen this technology before. You know more about what he can do than me. Even if I could help, you said yourself that you need to do this on your own.”

Ben begins to manipulate the dial of his Omnitrix, defeated.

Ben Prime: “Fine, then at least keep out of our way. I don’t know what we’re about to do.”

Azmuth: “Easy enough.”

The Galvan waltzes out of the road to the sidewalk nearby. Ben makes his selection and the faceplate of his familiar and more advanced Omnitrix slides back before the core pops out. He raises his left arm before bringing it back down on the watch. A green glow transforms him instantly into an orange crab-like alien with four legs and a huge cranium.

Brainstorm: “Excellent! A reinforced invertebrate form of formidable intellect! Hopefully ‘’’Brainstorm’’’ can prove more effective than Grey Matter and Azmuth have been.”

Azmuth: “I can still hear you!”

Brainstorm: “And ‘’’I’m’’’ trying to ignore you. Now, where to begin?”

Time Breaker Ben finally tears his way out of the dying and wilting vines that had been holding him. He falls to the floor before climbing back to his feet.

Brainstorm: “My young associate, our corrupted counterpart appears to be growing restless. If you would be so kind as to inhibit him?”

Ben Delta: “Only if you’d be so kind as to start using shorter words.”

Brainstorm: “I’ll consider it.”

Four Arms walks over to Time Breaker Ben, who shambles his way towards the two aliens. The Tetramand picks him up with all four arms, effectively removing his ability to fight back.

Four Arms: “alright buddy. Hero time for me, time out for you!”

Brainstorm: “Hmm...”

Brainstorm spins in a circle, carefully studying his environment.

Brainstorm: “Nothing of use immediately springs to mind. Mayhaps the fire hydrant could be of use? Have we tried water? I would assume the Polymorphic attack would be sufficient to prove the futility of attempting to short-circuit the Time Breaker. I mean, I do call my Chronosapien sample ‘Clockwork’ so it stands to reason their technology shares similar characterist--”

Four Arms: “Enough with dialog my arms are getting tired!”

Brainstorm: “Perhaps a different angle would help? What do we know of the Time Breaker? Any attempt to destroy it resets time by an arbitrary amount. So it stands to reason that the easiest way to defeat the Time Breaker Technology and save No Watch Ben would be to turn it off.”

Four Arms: “No seriously he’s starting to get a lot more aggressive.”

Brainstorm: “-However: Brute force simply will not work. A subtler approach is required. Eureka!”

He turns to Four Arms, who is now struggling to contain the Time Breaker. Not because he was too weak, but because Time Breaker Ben was too persistent.

Brainstorm: “We must simply use our Mechamorphic identities to merge with the technology embedded in our counterpart and turn it off, thus preventing a reboot and saving Ben!”

Four Arms: “Mechamorphic?”

Brainstorm: “Upgrade.”

Four Arms: “That… that could work!”

Brainstorm: “Alright, be ready to let him go!”

Four Arms: “On your mark!”

The Cereberocrustacean taps his clumsy claw against the Omnitrix dial on his lower body. He morphs rapidly into a tall black-fluid humanoid with bright green patterns of alien circuitry covering him. He looks over to Delta Four Arms, with his eye squinted in such a way as to imply a smirk.

Four Arms: “Alright, have at him!”

Prime lunges towards the pair, before the Tetramand tosses the Chronosapien weapon at him. He catches it, absorbing into Time Breaker Ben and turning the armour the same black-and-green of Upgrade’s skin. With the sound of a dying whir, Upgrade deactivates the Time Breaker armour.

The upgraded Time Breaker takes a step forwards, reassuring its footing, before Upgrade jumps back out of the Chronosapien cyborg. Upgrade catches Time Breaker Ben as he falls backwards. He gently lowers No Watch Ben to the floor as the purple armour that had previously encapsulated him begins to disintegrate away. Prime’s Omnitrix flashes red, before timing out. No Watch Ben lays barely conscious in Ben Prime’s arms, and Prime laughs nervously as he looks over the harsh scars marking his counterpart’s bare chest and ravaged mouth.

Ben Prime: “Heheh. I did it. You’re safe.”

Ben Delta’s Omnitrix also times out, and he walks over to the side of the pair. No Watch Ben’s skin is a sickly grey. He pulls his own eyes open with great effort, and looks up at his saviours. His breathing is shallow, and his voice raspy. Both Prime and Delta smile softly. The day was won.

No Watch Ben: “Th-thank you… and… I’m sorry...”

Ben Prime: “Sorry for what?”

Ben Delta: “Well. He did almost kill me.”

Ben Prime: “Oh, yeah.”

The already faint smile on No Watch Ben’s face fades as his eyes fall half closed. Delta’s expression immediately drops when he realises what is happening, but Prime remains oblivious.

Ben Prime: “Hey. You alright there?”

Prime realises that No Watch Ben’s limbs had gone limp.

Ben Prime: “No no no stay with me. No you can’t die. We already won. You can’t die. This doesn’t happen I SAVED YOU!”

Tears began to well in Prime’s eyes. Delta didn’t know how to react to this. He’d only just met this new version of himself. He only knew that he was upset. Prime begins to cradle the body, hoping he could somehow convince his lost friend back to life. No Watch Ben’s already grey skin loses even more saturation, before crumbling slowly into dust on Prime’s lap. Prime clenches his teeth. He looks over his left shoulder.

Ben Prime: “This is your fault!”

Paradox: “Ben, I didn’t know this would happen either.”

Paradox had been watching over the Bens for a few moments now. His lab coat was dirty and his face was openly cut, though the wound quickly healed into non-existence.

Ben Prime: “You could have gone back and saved him! You could have stopped this from ever happening!”

Paradox: “Ben you’re being hysterical. You know I can’t do that.”

Ben Prime: “Why not? You went back to save me!”

Azmuth: “Ben, please, you’re being childish.”

Paradox: “Because your death was a paradox. The multiverse would have been damaged irreparably if I hadn’t acted.”

Ben Prime: “And how much damage would saving him do? He’s a no one! That’s why we were supposed to keep him safe! He’s the life I was supposed to have without this damn watch! Why is his death so much more important to you than his life?!”

Paradox: “His fate has been weaved across many timelines. To prevent his conversion at the hands of Timekiller would sow chaos in each of those realities. The repercussions could be--”

Ben Prime: “I don’t care! Just leave! Leave like you always do and pretend you’ve done all you could! I don’t care what your excuses are anymore!”

Azmuth: “And to think I trust you with the Omnitrix?”

Paradox is taken back by Ben’s insults. He walks over to a shocked Ben Delta, who has distanced himself from his counterparts outbursts.

Paradox: “Fine. If that is what you wish. You’ll forgive me in time, and I’ve got an eternity to wait.”

Professor Paradox and Ben Delta flash out of reality. Ben’s friends emerged from Max’s Plumbing, totally aware of what was happening.

Sella: “Ben why are being like this?”

Ben clenches his fists.

Ben: “Because I spend my life saving the universe, saving people like ‘’’you!’’’ And what thanks do I get? I can’t even save myself!”

His anger drops for a moment as he sees the sadness in Sella, for Ben was misplacing his anger onto her.

Gwen: “That’s enough Ben!”

Rook: “You need to calm down! We can discuss this like adults!”

Ben: “Oh of course it’s you two that try and talk me down. You two who’ve never lost a life, nevermind a friend! Maybe if Kevin or Sella spoke up I’d listen, I don’t even know Fistina’s story, but you two have no idea how much this hurts!”

Gwen: “And that makes it okay to hurt us instead?”

Rook: “Ben, by order of the Plumbers I command you to calm down!”

Ben: “Plumbers? To hell with the Plumbers! I don’t need them! I never did! To hell with all of this! I’m gonna figure out my place in this universe on my own. Maybe at some point I’ll come back and say how wrong I was to be like this. Maybe I’ll even apologise.”

Ben’s anger burns out, and briefly subsides.

Ben: “I’m sorry.”

He brings his Omnitrix to bear and turns away from his friends.

Gwen: “Ben!”

He slams down the dial, becoming large and dark red creature with spindly limbs and a strong tail. A blue wing-like membrane fills the space between his arms and torso, with a blue crest adoring his face.

Jetray: “I’ll see you again someday.”

The Aerophibian jumps into the sky at blistering speed and disappears out of sight nearly instantly.

Sella: “Where’d he go?”

Kevin: “To sulk, probably.”

Gwen turns to her boyfriend.

Gwen: “So you didn’t think to help out during any of that?”

Kevin shrugs.

Kevin: “Help how? He’s right, losing people hurts. A lot. Especially when you care about them. Let him get over it. He’s going to have to learn to move past that pain eventually. I should know, I spent a lot of time in his position in the Null Void.”

Gwen: “But we’ve never even met this ‘friend’ before, he couldn’t have been that close to him!”

Kevin steps forwards threateningly and points sternly at Gwen.

Kevin: “One: You don’t get to decide how close two other people are to each other. Two: You haven’t met half of my friends either. There are huge parts of his life you miss out on now, just as there are huge parts of mine you’ll never get to know about. They could have met for all of five seconds and been inseparable. Point is that Ben cared for him and now he’s dead. No hero lasts without losing someone. Be glad it was someone we didn’t know.”

Gwen: “Be glad it was someone we didn’t know? Kevin!”

Kevin: “What? If someone you cared about was dead right now you’d know what your cousin was going through and ‘’maybe’’ he wouldn’t have run off.”

Gwen goes silent, admitting defeat without a word.

Major Events

 * Ben Prime and Ben Delta get their own Omnitrixes back.
 * Time Breaker Ben is defeated.
 * Ben Delta is returned home.
 * Ben Prime runs away.

Minor Events

 * Professor Paradox and Timekiller meet, and fight, for the first time.

Characters

 * Ben Prime
 * Ben Delta
 * Professor Paradox
 * Rook Blonko
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Kevin Levin
 * Fistina
 * Sella
 * Azmuth

Villains

 * Time Breaker Ben (death)
 * Timekiller

(using Delta Omnitrix)

 * XLR8

(using Prime Omnitrix)

 * Brainstorm
 * Upgrade
 * Jetray

(using Prime Omnitrix)

 * Blossomed Swampfire

(using Delta Omnitrix)

 * Four Arms

Trivia

 * Brainstorm was included in this chapter for Brainstorm Fest.
 * Timekiller's Cereberocrustacean technology was a coincidence, and was written long before voting for this alien fest even began.