NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Interface
Tears of joy streamed down Carl Nesmith's paralyzed face — the only movement his body could still manage. In his frozen state, this twisted ecstasy was all he had left.
'Checkmate! I win!'
But soon… he would have nothing left.
"BEN! YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO! PYROMANIAC!" Gwen, Ben's orange-haired cousin, suddenly rushed forward and dropped into a low stance, her leg whipping out in a precise sweep that caught Ben completely off-guard. He went down and before he could recover, she had him pinned with a textbook karate hold.
Ben lay there in the dirt, too stunned to fight back, his mind still reeling from everything that had happened. However, one thing became evident: he needed to improve his peripheral vision. This was especially important considering he had already been caught off guard twice in his human form since acquiring the Omnitrix.
Currently, the watch was in time-out, its usual green now replaced by red.
"GRANDPA! I FOUND BEN!" Gwen's shout snapped Ben back to reality.
Nemesis… accomplished nothing. Every last one of his actions dissolved into meaninglessness, like black smoke in the night air. His eyes went blank, devoid of light.
"This wasn't me!" Ben struggled.
"Really? Another forest just happens to burn the day after you torched the first one, and you just happen to be here?" She twisted her hold tighter.
Ben gritted his teeth. "Don't forget, Gwen. I can transform into 10 fucking aliens with plenty of ways to make your life miserable."
"But not right now… can you?" She applied more pressure.
"You b—" His threat ended in a scream of pain.
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Several hours later — The next day
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'Since its creation, my Rust Bucket has never suffered serious damage, and now the first time is because of some angry celebrity?!' Max Tennyson exhaled in frustration.
The Rust Bucket had suffered damage from an explosion beneath it.
The good news was that it wasn't a normal vehicle — if it had been, it would have been reduced to pieces beyond repair. Even if Gwen and Max had been inside, their fate would have been uncertain, the explosion's lethality depending on various factors.
The bad news was that they couldn't simply call a random engineer to fully repair what was essentially a beyond-tank-class secret vehicle.
As a result, they found themselves temporarily stranded in a nearby hotel.
Inside the windowless Rust Bucket, Max packed everything of value and importance into a box. Though he couldn't take everything, he made sure to secure what they couldn't afford to lose. As he exited the vehicle with the cardboard box, each step cracked the glass fragments on the ground, creating soft tinkling noises.
He paused, surprised, as several hidden frogs and birds darted out of the vehicle through a broken window, startled by his presence.
'Cleaning will take time… Odd, frogs are usually attracted to water sources, but they weren't in the open toilet.' He shook his head — it wasn't important.
Max's brow furrowed as he considered their situation.
'We're stuck here, and I don't like it one bit. The sooner we reach Mt. Rushmore, the sooner we're protected and I can fix everything. To think a minor villain, as Ben called him, would go so far as to try to kill him immediately and set up bombs. It's fortunate for Nemesis that Ben and Gwen were in the forest; if not…'
He trailed off, jaw clenching.
It was supposed to be a family break! WHY—
Taking a deep breath, Max resumed his walk toward the hotel.
'I've called the genius duo for repairs.' He ran a hand through his gray hair. 'It's a shame the only remaining vehicles at the base are ridiculously small.'
A regular engineer would handle the window replacements and door repairs, making his presence normal once the Rust Bucket became habitable again. Though less armored than a tank, the RV packed far more firepower — leaving it unoccupied would be careless. But with authorities investigating the nearby forest, Max had to avoid drawing attention.
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Ben lay on his hotel bed, scrolling through wiki articles on his phone to expand his knowledge for Brainstorm.
What he didn't know was that knowledge was pointless without understanding… though since Brainstorm easily understood any concepts, this wasn't really an issue. Still, knowing this would help him be more efficient — if he could grasp basics while human, Brainstorm could understand concepts in maybe 3 seconds instead of 20 or 30, which mattered when each transformation had a 30-minute limit and cooldown.
For example, with efficient learning (3s / concept), Ben could fully learn 100 concepts in 5 minutes. However, with his current method (25s / concept), he couldn't even complete 100 concepts in one transformation — he'd need nearly 42 minutes total. In this case, the time savings of 36.67 minutes were clearly significant.
His reading was interrupted as Gwen echoed for the umpteenth time, pacing the room.
"Everything is your fault! Alien freak! The vacation hasn't even begun, and we're already stuck in an unsanitary hotel."
Ben sighed, setting his phone down. "It's more that jerk's fault."
He reflected on the incident. The detonator had been real but ordinary — no continuous signal, just a simple press. If Gwen and his grandfather hadn't been present when he saw the state of the Rust Bucket, Ben might have—
He shook his head, pushing away the thought. But next time, he promised himself he wouldn't be indecisive. Nemesis was clearly mentally unstable, targeting him and attempting to kill strangers (Gwen and Max) just to hurt him — getting rid of him wasn't unjustified in his view. 'I still feel no mental resistance to killing… but can I actually do the act…?'
After explaining that Carl targeted him because of the saga, they'd called emergency services anonymously to collect Nemesis.
Surprisingly, Gwen didn't show much shock, despite being a fangirl as a kid (he remembered because it was maybe the only thing they liked in common). 'Maybe it's like toys or games. Things go out of fashion… but not Sumo Slammers of course.'
He sat up on his bed, looking at Gwen. "So… what's your take on all this?"
Gwen arched an eyebrow. "All what?"
"You know… everything." He gestured his hand vaguely. "The way you cope with everything without freaking out and asking too much question. You're weirdly calm about… well, everything." He pressed on, figuring if they were stuck together all summer, they might as well try to understand each other better.
"Uh-huh." Gwen froze, caught off guard by the seemingly innocent question. "W-well, I don't really believe you, but Grandpa seems to, and he's not losing it… yet. I'll believe it when I see it, I guess."
She hesitated, mentally kicking herself. 'Crap, I totally forgot to ask the obvious.'
Trying to keep her voice casual, she added, "Speaking of seeing things, why don't you show me one of these alien transformations? You know, if it's real and all."
Max had readily believed Ben due to his unexpected knowledge about aliens and the Plumbers. The intricate details of the Omniversal war seemed far too complex and sophisticated to be just an elaborate prank.
However, Gwen, who wasn't supposed to know anything about this, had to display some skepticism. After all, why should she simply believe her cousin's extraordinary claims without proof?
"Sure, why not?" Ben shrugged, standing up. He pressed a button, and the dial of the Omnitrix rose. As he turned it, a slight frown crossed his face at one of the displayed figures, but he paused before continuing to the next.
'Let's choose him. The AI did say this transformation wasn't useless… which might actually be the case in the end. Time to discover another part of myself!'
With determination in his eyes, he slammed the dial. The room instantly flooded with brilliant green light.
For some reason, the bird watching them through the windows didn't blink at the light.
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Transformation sequence — Duration: 0.00 seconds
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Suddenly, Ben's form began to shrink, stopping at just under a meter tall. Brownish-orange fur sprouted all over his body, while his two front teeth grew larger, protruding from his mouth. A green and black jumpsuit materialized, covering most of his body except for his arms and face. Green gloves appeared on his hands.
The transformation concluded with the growth of an oversized blond mustache, completing his new appearance.
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"I must say, this mustache gives me a sense of limitless possibility," Mole-Stache stroked it thoughtfully. He looked up at Gwen with a polite smile. "What do you think, dear cousin?"
Gwen blinked. "This is more impressive than I expected. What can you do?"
'I've never seen this alien before… It must be new or from the Ben 10 Omniverse series where Gwen Prime is less present. And his speech is different.'
"Allow me to demonstrate, I can do…" One side of the mustache grew exponentially, its tip morphing into a hand-like shape. Mole-Stache moved his mustached appendage toward Gwen and lightly flicked her forehead. "That! I dare say you might be a tad envious of such magnificent facial hair?"
Gwen touched her forehead, exasperated. "Not really… Anyway, Ben, I don't really understand your whole story about the so-called Omniversal war."
"I do apologize, but I'm not fond of repeating myself, Gwen." Ben absently stroked his mustache. 'Especially since, on second thought, your presence seems rather unnecessary. Perhaps I should have a word with Grandpa about returning you to your parents when the opportunity arises. Though, what reason could we give without raising suspicion?'
"Then explain why you chose freedom over control," Gwen pressed. "As you phrased it, there isn't really a good or bad choice."
"Indeed, I phrased it as such, but in all honesty, I believe I made the least unfavorable choice. It's not ideal, but it's far from terrible. Having one's life dictated by another is rather unpleasant, wouldn't you agree?"
"So, you have second thoughts?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "And if I remember correctly, we're currently free, just like Nemesis, who you call a filler villain…" She trailed off, but Ben understood her implication.
Ben paused, his expression growing serious. "I won't say I'm brave enough not to have doubts, especially when Nemesis tried to kill us without hesitation. He could have killed me if I'd chosen the wrong alien. And he only had access to three episodes out of hundreds in the saga to prepare himself."
He paced the room frantically, his speech pattern shifting as his stress levels seemingly rose. "So yeah, I have second thoughts. Of course I have second thoughts! Who the hell wouldn't have second thoughts in this situation?! But this freedom, this crazy, terrifying freedom that Nemesis had access to, that Vilgax has access to, it's what allows me to use my aliens effectively. It's what allows everyone to actually do something!
It's the same freedom that allows our planet — no, scratch that, our universe — wait, no, our multiverse — no, our GODDAMN OMNIVERSE to reach new possibilities, by making new choices.
But if we go for control? If we choose to play it safe? We're doomed. Doomed to stagnate, doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over again!"
He then paused, then looked up, smiling at Gwen. "I'd much prefer a life lived fully than one not lived at all. I trust you can appreciate my perspective on the matter, my dear cousin."
Gwen seemed lost in deep consideration. "I see… I believe in what you said."
Ben slowly calmed himself as he remembered something. He took a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing.
He slammed his gloved hand at the Omnitrix dial attached to his belt. A green light engulfed the room as he transformed back to his human form, the device now attached to his left wrist.
'The AI told me to keep pressing the button.'
Soon, a menu screen appeared in his perception, despite not being physically present. His green eyes widened as he waved his arm forward, only to touch nothing.
Using the Omnitrix dial as a makeshift touchpad, he navigated through the options until he found a setting to project the screen. With a tap, a green holographic display materialized, projected onto the worn, grayish wall of the room.
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Menu
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▷ Omniversal Index
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▷ Notification
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▷ Display
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▽ Transformation
• Max transformation time [locked]: 30 minutes.
• Time reduction after another transformation [locked]: -30%.
• [More]
□ Note: The host needs to unlock the energy management tweak or manage to figure out themselves.
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▷ Firewall (537'493 notifications on hold)
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▷ Scan
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▷ OS migration
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▷ OS and data, backup and rollback (Beware: if the Omnitrix is hacked, the host should not assume that they will be able to use this setting.)
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▷ Translator
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▷ Residual Anti-Consciousness Protocol
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▷ Tweaks (On/Off) (Most will unlock additional options)
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"...Is your watch some kind of laptop, Ben?" Gwen blinked in surprise as she stared at the menu, which bore a striking resemblance to those found on modern devices.
It was logical that the Omnitrix would have a menu system, but seeing it laid out in such a familiar format was somehow… underwhelming. Like a teen who had always suspected a holiday character wasn't real, only to have a parent methodically explain away every last trace of mystery and magic that had once surrounded it… Yeah, it happened to Gwen.
Ben turned his head, "It seems that way, but I wonder what these notifications are about—"
An automated message suddenly appeared on the screen:
[An external access attempt was made on 3 June 2024 at 18:40 | EARTH UTC-5]
[The source is unknown, but only those familiar with the Omnitrix's internal workings should be able to make such an attempt, as all external connections are disabled by default (except those related to the Omniversal war).]
[What would you like to do? (Accept/Deny/Always Accept/Forever Deny)]
[Default action after 30 seconds: Deny.]
[Warning: Only accept from trusted sources. Note that the party attempting access should be able to leave a message, but none is present.]
Ben quickly pressed the Deny option, then checked the logs.
'Who's trying to access my Omnitrix?' His hands trembled as his throat tightened. The data displayed was nearly incomprehensible for him, but the source was clearly coming from beyond Earth… nothing he could do about that for now.