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Ben is famous everywhere on Earth.
Him being swarmed by adoring fans isn’t just something special about Bellwood, but because Ben hadn’t been out of Bellwood in a very long time, no one realized how much trouble it was going to cause.
Kevin doesn’t like crowds. He tells Gwen that they make him nervous. He feels surrounded.
Ben thinks that it’s just a minor setback. He just needs to look inconspicuous.
He buys a sweatshirt.
Everything about Earth excites Rook. He takes a picture of everything. Ben calls it “full-on tourist mode.” When they reach a farm, Rook looks so happy Ben thinks he can almost feel his partner’s long-dead tail wagging.
It’s kind of cute, until Rook forgets himself and runs out of the car to get a closer look at a cow.
Not all humans on Earth are as used to aliens as Bellwood is.
“Do you still have that DNA mask?” Ben asks as Gwen tries to calm down a poor farmer who, until today, had believed Ben 10 was a media hoax.
“Can’t believe we didn’t think of that sooner,” Kevin replies, “A blue alien’s way more noticeable then you are.”
They find the mask under one of the seats. Kevin’s not sure how it got there.
In many ways, Ben thinks it’s like being ten again. The differences are just that he likes Gwen more, that Kevin’s not currently evil, there’s a dog, and there’s a blue alien pretending to be a Chinese human arguing over where they should go next. (“We’ve been to the largest rubber band ball! It was boring.” “I do not know if you are aware of this, but we do not have rubber band balls on my planet.”) Sure, he’s older now, and apparently more mature, but it’s not about that.
He’s never going to forget the summer when he was ten because it was fun.
It’s not even about the omnitrix. He got to hang out with Grandpa Max and fight with Gwen and he helped people.
Ben likes being a hero.
He’s not sure who he is if he’s not one.
In some ways, Gwendolyn thinks it’s like being ten again. Ben can be a brat but this time he knows when to stop, Kevin has the power to absorb anything only he knows when to use it, and instead of Grandpa Max cooking weird food and suggesting random traveling locations, it’s Rook. Also, she has a faster laptop and a dog.
When she was ten, she didn’t want to travel with Ben because he was her annoying doofus cousin and she didn’t want to eat anything Grandpa Max put on the table.
But then she had fun. Like, a lot of fun. There was no worrying about prep schools or studying to get a head start on her classmates, or taking any summer classes because they’d look impressive.
It was just Grandpa Max, Ben, and that stupid watch. Saving the world and driving in an RV.
She had so much fun.
Kevin does not think this is like being ten again.
He enjoys this far more.
Rook Blonko is an alien. What he knows about ten-year-old Ben 10 is what he’s heard.
He does not understand how Ben manages to get himself involved with so much trouble. How is it possible that there is some alien threat exactly where they end up going? He is very sure this is not a matter of luck.
But he has fun, too. He barely knows anything about Earth, despite what it seems. All he has had to go on are some classes in the Academy and the blogs he follows.
Everything he sees is a new experience, and he wants to see it all.
It’s hard to explain to the Tennysons and Kevin because they were born on Earth. He wonders, would Ben appreciate Revonnah as much as Rook appreciates Earth? Maybe it would be different for him. Rook comes from a species of proud people.
They do not fight. They do not travel. They farm. They pray.
They know that their home will provide for everything they need because they have the Amber Ogia and they have each other. And as long as the sun rises and the moon sets, they will have that.
Rook does not think Ben feels this way about Earth.
He does not realize that the only thing Ben believes in is his friends.
One of their goals for the trip is to try one of every kind of restaurant they see.
It’s partially for Rook, because they want him to find Earth food he’ll love, but it’s a contest as well.
Kevin can eat anything. It’s a fact. While Ben squirms and picks at his food, Kevin’ll be grinning and asking for seconds.
Gwen is somewhat determined to find a type of food he doesn’t like. Rook’s determined to find something healthy that Ben likes.
Ben’s upset that Gwen’s less of a picky eater then she used to be, because now he feels a little left out. On the plus side, Gwen still can’t handle spicy food, which means they’re both gulping down water faster than their waiter can refill their cups.
Rook finds a lot of food that he likes, but Ben still refuses to eat healthy. (“I’ve seen my future self plenty of times,” Ben insists, “And he’s plenty healthy. He’s even got a six pack!” “Must be another timeline,” Rook replies)
Eventually, Gwen finds something Kevin doesn’t like. It’s a very common food, and she thinks she could have done without this information. (sometimes, she thinks about the boy she first met. The one who wore ratty clothes because he had nothing else, the one she still knows nothing about. Devin Levin was not Kevin’s father. She does not know who is. It occurs to her that he might not either.)
The most common place they end up eating is chain restaurants. It’s the only place where they’re sure that Ben will actually eat his food, so really, they have no choice.
They end up going to a Mr. Smoothy’s almost every day.
Some things never change.