Chapter Text
“So…” The word punctured the silence that had been humming onboard the bridge of their little ship, “Did you get your final grades for the year yet?” He hammered his fingers against the dashboard of the ship, careful not to press a wrong button.
Kai hummed in response.
“Yeah, actually, I checked this morning. A’s all around.” She said with a smile, “You?”
“I mean.” Ben chuckled a little, “I’m not failing. Most of this first year is general stuff… Honestly, I can’t believe I talked myself into trying for a degree after how disastrous high school was.”
“So you keep saying. And yet, you finished high school. You got through year one of college.” Kai replied, “Honestly, I’m glad you decided to go for it.”
Yeah, even if it did make his brain hurt a little, but with the University of Friedkin offering a new hybrid degree in communications with an emphasis in alien relations, Gwendolyn had suggested Ben try it out.
‘Could be good for your work in diplomacy. Way less property damage if you can reason before you jump right into fighting.’ Gwendolyn had pointed out.
Azmuth knew it was a miracle he’d gotten through it with as few universe ending catastrophes as possible.
“...I hope Rook’s proud of himself.” Ben mused, “Weaseling out of diplomacy duty because Shar is getting some big promotion.”
“I know, right? Such a jerk.” Kai said with a small snort, “Anyways, we’re approaching the Teklian territories. You have that Tennyson charm ready? They’re probably going to speak with Mr. Savior of the Universe.”
“You know I always have my charm.” Ben decided to prove his point by posturing his hands under his chin in a dramatic pose as he wriggled his eyebrows at her. She took one look at his expression and rolled her eyes.
“Meh. Could use work.”
“Could use work?” Ben scoffed in response, “I’ll have you know I–” Ben was cut off by the ship suddenly rocking. Not even a half second later, every single alarm on the ship seemed to go off. Ben dropped his pose, spinning quickly towards his controls just as Kai let out a string of curses in multiple languages.
“What the heck?” Ben said in dismay.
“All systems are under attack by some sort of foreign entity.” She reported, “Engines are down. Communications offline.”
“Diverting to emergency energy.” Ben said in return, “Life support is fluctuating. We’ve lost our main power. What the heck is going on?”
“You think it’s the Teklians?” Kai said quickly.
Ben glanced up from his controls and watched with wide eyes as reality seemed to warp before them, and the light-speed jump seemed to shift, almost glitching as stars and images blurred before them.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say no.” Ben declared.
“Well, whatever this is, be ready to transform.” She rose quickly, abandoning her post at the ship’s helm just as the alarms suddenly cut off and the lights shifted to the emergency ones. She quickly grabbed her sword from where she had it resting, strapping it to her side.
The ship shuddered again, and a loud bang rocked from the hallway. Ben rose from his own seat, shifting with only a thought into Four Arms. He cracked his knuckles in preparation while he moved to stand in front of Kai. Kai in turn, drew out Excalibur.
There was another loud bang.
Then another.
And suddenly the ship’s shaking halted.
Everything went dead quiet.
“...What the heck.” Kai muttered under her breath.
They both stood ready, tense as an unsettling quiet settled over the bridge of the ship.
The ship lurched, and Four Arms and Kai both were sent flying back. Kai quickly pulled herself up, Ben recovering just as fast. He turned, glancing back at the window that was meant to be peering into space and froze.
“...Um, Kai?”
“...What?”
“Look.” Kai paused, glancing over her shoulder.
Outside of their ship was an alien looking forest.
“...We didn’t crash, did we?” Ben said in uncertainty. Kai lowered her weapon to move for the controls. Her eyes furrowed, baffled.
“What?” Ben asked.
“The ship can’t get a lock on our location. It’s like we aren’t even in the same plane of existence anymore.”
“But there’s a forest. Can’t it scan the geological area and map it out, even if it doesn’t recognize this territory of space?”
“It’s showing all errors. Doesn’t seem to even think there is a forest out there.” Kai replied. Ben shifted back to human, coming up beside her to look at the scans.
“Think it’s busted? Whatever that event was might’ve messed with the sensors.” Ben suggested.
“Check.” She ordered. Ben nodded, shifting into Graymatter and hopping onto the panel to look at the controls better. He scowled.
“...I don’t see anything wrong.” He said quickly, “By all means, this ship should still be in the sky. It’s reading everything correctly… Yet it insists we are in the middle of nowhere and that there is no forest.” Ben shifted from Graymatter to Big Chill, flying upwards and hovering over the ship to stare at the woodland expanse. He moved to touch a tree, finding solid bark. Everything smelled, looked, and felt like a forest.
Then suddenly, the tree was evaporating under his touch, and the world was shifting again, and everything was ice, as the trees gave away to a mountainside. Ben spun around at the horrifying sound of the ship lurching. He yelled in alarm as he realized it was now balancing on the edge of a cliffside, and beginning to tumble down.. With Kai still inside.
“Kai!” He gasped, and he flew back towards the ship as it began to tumble. The engines suddenly ignited before sputtering and abruptly dying. Ben barreled right into Kai, wrapping arms around her and shifting all at once into Cannonbolt. Ben was sent bouncing through the interior of the ship…If any part of the bridge was operable before, Cannonbolt saw to it that it wouldn’t be any longer as he was pin-ponged around whilst the ship tumbled down.
It landed with a crunch, and the lights went out.
Everything was quiet for several moments before Ben carefully let Kai go and turned back into a human again.
“What. The. Heck.” Kai breathed out, “Have you ever…”
“No. Not unless we’re dimension jumping, but even then, the ship would’ve picked up on the environment outside.” Ben replied. Kai seemed to take a moment to collect herself.
“Right. We need to start on Emergency protocols. I’ll get the survival kit and emergency supplies. You see if you can get this ship to send a distress signal back to Plumber HQ.” Kai ordered. Ben hummed in agreement, turning quickly into Jury Rigg. He let instincts take over and leapt for the controls. He fixed absentmindedly, before shifting back to human and activating the ship’s comms.
“This is Ben Tennyson, my partner and I have been caught by some sort of anomaly. Our last location was just inside the Teklian territories at 19900, 67010, 234021, 213429 LY. Requesting emergency search and rescue, please respond.” There was an unsettling static in return. He tried again.
“This is Ben Tennyson, last location 19900, 67010, 234021, 213429 LY. Requesting emergency search and rescue, please respond.” More static. Ben huffed in frustration and reached for his Omnitrix, only for someone to catch his watch wrist.
“Hello, Ben.” Ben’s body went rigid at the introduction of a voice he’d not heard in over two years.
“Eon.” He growled and he wrestled his wrist free of the dark time walker’s grip.
Eon glanced lazily over Ben’s shoulder at the static comms system.
“I doubt there’s signal here.” Eon advised, “This place is an anomaly in reality. A place that is everywhere, and nowhere all at the same time. It took a long while for me to claw my way out of this wretched place. Even more time to orchestrate the affairs needed to lure you to your own self-destruction.” Ben growled, thinking quickly of Clockwork… Only for nothing to happen.
Eon chuckled, shaking his head in disappointment as he stepped closer, making Ben step back so he was bumping into the ship’s controls.
“I’ve frozen it. The environment here is inconsistent. Completely irregular. I do wonder how long you and your friend could survive in a place like this. Hmm?”
“What do you want?” Ben growled.
“Same thing I’ve wanted since the start.” Eon declared, “Here, I plan to finally break and take control over Ben Prime, and shift the course of this Multiverse's time stream once and for all. Here, I’ve trapped you in the very place you stranded me.”
“I never…”
“But you did.” Eon said, his tone snapping into a dangerous tone as he grasped Ben’s hoodie, shoving him further back into the controls, “If you’d stayed still all that time ago. Stay still and let me take you and let Albedo remove your Omnitrix, I would’ve already achieved my goal of rewriting the Multiverse and its many timelines. But somehow, you meddled with reality. Whatever that explosion that you caused was… It’s changed things.”
Ben felt his breathing hiccup at the mention of Albedo and the explosion from nearly two and a half years ago.
“The Mr. Smoothie explosion… stranded you here?” Ben said slowly, “But that was years ago… I didn’t even realize you were there when the dimensional displacing field generator went up. And I was stranded too! For six months!”
“Hmm. Interesting.” Eon mused, before he released his grip on Ben and turned sharply away, “Which means Albedo may yet be alive. It would be most beneficial to me to recover the wayward Galvan.”
“He’s gone. The Omnitrix protected me but he had nothing.” Ben countered.
“Perhaps. But that one was always stubborn.” Eon decided, before glancing up out the snow-covered window and smirking, “That was the only thing you two really have in common. He may or may not have survived. But I’m far more excited to see if you survive this.” And with a wink, Eon was gone. The outside of the ship started to shift again, and Ben’s eyes widened as snow seemed to melt into molten lava.
“Kai! We need to move! Now!” Ben yelled, and he sprinted for the emergency bay as said lava began to consume the bridge.
She seemed alarmed when he reached her, grabbed her by the arm, and was pulling her away as the lava lurched the ship sideways. He threw open the escape hatch, and smelting hot air instantly slammed into the duo as they leapt together, aiming for the solid rock just beyond their sinking ship. They landed, but didn’t stop running until they reached more elevated ground a safer distance away from the sweltering heat.
They all but collapsed, panting and looking back as their ship sank out of view, forever lost.
“Go Alien X.” Kai said quickly, “Get us out of here.”
Ben’s heart raced as the reality they were being presented with settled in. He processed it quickly, before taking a steadying breath and squaring his shoulders.
“I can’t.” He informed her, “We’re stranded.”