17 Return of an old foe

The two girls looked at Ben.

"You know this guy?" Zatanna asked him.

"Yeah, he's an old friend," He responded.

Before Ben could say more, Paradox interrupted him.

"Sorry to interrupt but there are urgent matters for you to attend to back in your universe," he said wearing a serious expression.

Ben hasn't seen his friend with that expression since the last major galactic war about a decade ago.

"What's going on?" He said, switching to a serious tone.

"Aggregor is back and managed to absorb a Celestialsapien infant," he stated bluntly.

Knowing what that means, Ben instantly disappeared to go back to his universe, leaving Paradox with Zatanna and Blackfire.

"Um, what's going on?" Zatanna asked Paradox.

"Not much. Just that Benjamin has to save his universe, and possibly the omniverse from being destroyed by a crazy man," the scientist looking man replied as he took out a pocket watch.

"What's with the watch?" Blackfire asked, not even paying much attention to that crazy statement.

Paradox waited a few seconds before a portal opened next to him. From the portal, stepped out a two meter tall humanoid figure that looked like space itself and had a sort of spartan helmet on it. Paradox closed his pocket watch and replied to Blackfire.

"To count down his arrival," he said, "This is Gladiator and he's a Celestialsapien. He's one of the most powerful races in existence in all of the omniverse and he's here to protect this universe from cosmic waves."

"Wait wait, before you tell us more," Zatanna held up her hands, "where did Ben go and what do you mean by cosmic waves?"

"Benjamin went back to his universe and is currently fighting someone who absorbed the power from a baby of his race," he nodded towards the unmoving giant, "and that means that that man is one of the most powerful beings with evil intentions. Many Celestialsapiens are spread throughout the omniverse to protect several universes from being collateral damage from Benjamin's battle."

Leaving the girls dumbfounded, he turned to Gladiator.

"Well don't let us keep you."

The starry being barely nodded before disappearing to focus it's several minds over this entire universe.

"Now all we do is wait," Paradox smiled.

------------------------

After Ben disappeared from Tamaran, he instantly reappeared in a conference room in Plumbers space HQ. Seeing no one, he walked out into the main hallway and saw pink flashes coming from the main operations room.

He ran towards it, recognizing the flashes as Gwen's magic. As he grew closer, he heard a lot of metallic crashes. He got to the opened door and saw his cousin, Gwen, blasting mana at a bunch of red and silver robots and a red, metallic man ripping others apart. That was Kevin.

Ben recognized these robots as the minions of Aggregor and realized that he had to get serious if he did really absorb a celestialsapien. Thinking of Alien X, he waved his hand across the room, causing all the robots to disintegrate.

Kevin and Gwen caught their breath before turning to look at Ben.

"What's with the hair dye and tanning, man?" Kevin lightly chuckled when he saw his friend with black and red hair and golden skin.

Realizing that he was still in his tamaranean form, Ben tapped the omnitrix symbol on his chest, turning back to his regular look. He was wearing his signature t-shirt and some black cargo pants.

"A new transformation," he replied, relieved knowing that at least these two were safe.

After Kevin reverted back to normal, he was tall with long black hair. He was well muscled and he had the power to absorb most matter, including energy. Next to him stood Ben's cousin, Gwen. She was slightly shorter than Ben and had bright orange hair. She could manipulate mana in all kinds of ways, and didn't hurt that she was an Anodite. Both had rings on their left ring fingers.

She ran to Ben and hugged him.

"Where the hell did you go?" she asked him with an angry look.

"I accidentally went to a different universe and just wanted to explore it a bit before coming back," he replied.

Gwen let go of him and returned to Kevin's side.

"At least you're back now," she said.

"Yeah," Kevin spoke, "Aggregor hasn't done anything yet except for sending his goons after us. I think he's still trying to get a hang of his new power before he goes batshit crazy~ ow!"

He slightly flinched as Gwen elbowed his ribs.

"Where is everyone?" Ben asked after a slight chuckle.

"Rook initiated Code Uni and had everyone go home. We can't handle this threat without you so even before we tried to contact you, Paradox appeared and told us he'd get you. I guess he did," Gwen said.

"Yeah," Ben said as he got lost in thought.

"Hey," Kevin snapped in front of his face, shaking him out of it.

"Thanks. I'm going to do some prep work. You guys go somewhere safe," he said.

"What? No," Gwen exclaimed as if offended, "We fought him as a team last time and we'll do it again now."

"Gwen, Kevin, I love you guys but we're talking celestial level here. Only I can deal with this," Ben tried to convince them.

Before Gwen could say more, Kevin interrupted her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Honey, he's right. Plus, we have to assure that little Donna is safe."

Ben nodded to Kevin and spoke to the now calmed Gwen.

"That's right. Tell her that Uncle Ben's gonna save the world, again."

"Fine," Gwen sighed.

Even though she knew that her daughter would be fine with her great grandmother, once she was mentioned, she couldn't help but worry for her even more.

"Awesome, I'll see you guys after the fight," Ben raised a hand.

"Hey, don't just transp-" Kevin managed to say before he and Gwen were transported to their home in Bellwood where their daughter was and Gwen's grandmother Verdona and her grandfather Max.

"I hate when he does that," Kevin grumbled before something ran into his legs.

Looking down, he saw his daughter, Donna.

"Daddy," the small redheaded girl said, her bright pink eyes sparkling.

"Hey there princess," he said as he picked her up and carried her with one arm.

"Ah, you're back," said Max as he walked out from the kitchen and into the living room, his mechanical arm shining.

"Hi Grandpa," Gwen hugged him.

"Is that Gwen and Kevin?" a female voice rang out.

"Yes dear," Max replied.

The sound of an oven closing was heard before Verdona walked out.

"Why hello dears," she smiled and wrapped an arm around Max, "Is Ben back?"

"Yes Grandma," Gwen said.

"Uncle Ben is here?" Donna asked with excited eyes.

"Yes, but he can't visit right now," Kevin said, causing her to pout, "because he's saving the world."

Little Donna raised her hands in the air and yelled.

"Yay, Uncle's awesome," she yelled.

"I still don't see why she loves him so much," Gwen sighed.

"Chili fries!!" the young girl said.

"...what?" Gwen asked.

"Uncle gives me smoothies and chili fries when he visits, oops. I wasn't supposed to say that," Donna said.

"I'm gonna kill him," Gwen fumed.

"Hey, uh, sweetie," Kevin said, "You're forehead vein is twitching."

That earned him a glare.

----------------------------

Ben was currently discussing protection measures with the Celestialsapiens in the Forge of Creation when he got a sudden call from Gwen.

"Hey, I'm in the mid-"

"You give Donna fries and smoothies?!" Gwen yelled through the speaker, "you know we're trying to keep her healthy you do-," Ben hung up and shut his phone off.

Turning back to the blank stares of the beings in front of him, he coughed before resuming.

"So, Aggregor hasn't made a move yet but we know that the main fight will happen in this universe. I want you all to spread throughout the omniverse and protect it from the effects of the fight," he said.

The aliens all nodded before they started to disappear.

"Gladiator," Ben called to the second strongest one, "I want you to protect this one," he said as he opened a rift to Tamaran where Paradox was.

Gladiator nodded and stepped through, the rift closing after.

"Ok then," Ben said to himself, "Let's save the omniverse."

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