ArchNemesis part 2

"After that, he kind of disappeared for a while," Ben Prime continued, leaning back on the hood of the car they were hiding behind, "then he came back, teaming up with my evil alien tween, Albedo, who had the Ultimatrix."

Ben X furrowed his brows. "Albedo?"

"Yeah. He's basically my evil clone. Long story." Ben waved it off as if it were nothing. "Anyway, they kidnapped Kevin and Gwen and lured me into a trap. I had no choice but to give Vilgax the Omnitrix to save them."

Ben X stared at him, mouth slightly agape. "You gave him the Omnitrix?"

Ben Prime nodded, his expression darkening. "Yeah... and then, of course, Vilgax betrayed Albedo. But with Grandpa Max's help, we escaped. By then, Vilgax had the Omnitrix, and I—" Ben hesitated, his voice dropping, "—I felt like a complete failure. I lost. I handed him the Omnitrix."

Ben X could see the pain flicker across Ben's face.

"But," Ben Prime continued, straightening up and forcing a grin, "Azmuth and everyone else managed to cheer me up. They made me realize I didn't need the Omnitrix to save the day. So, we teleported to Vilgax's ship using Gwen's magic."

Ben X blinked. "Wait, you teleported into his ship?"

"Yeah. Vilgax was surprised, too," Ben Prime said with a sly smile. "I asked him to give me the Omnitrix back."

"And?" Ben X asked, his voice tinged with hope.

"He obviously refused," Ben Prime said flatly, his smile fading. "So I activated the self-destruct function on the Omnitrix."

Ben X's eyes widened. "Wait—you activated the self-destruct function?!"

"Yup," Ben Prime said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "If he wouldn't give it back, I was going to destroy it."

"But... wouldn't that destroy the universe?" Ben X asked incredulously.

"It wouldn't," Ben Prime reassured him. "To destroy the universe, the Omnitrix needs days to charge. I only gave it 30 seconds."

"So, Vilgax gave you the Omnitrix back?" Ben X asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"No," Ben Prime said, his voice heavy. "He didn't. I had to let it blow. The Omnitrix was destroyed."

Ben X stared at him in disbelief. "So... what did you do then?"

"Well, Albedo was nearby, and he had the Ultimatrix," Ben Prime said, a mischievous grin creeping back onto his face.

"And he just... gave it to you?" Ben X asked, suspicious.

"Not exactly," Ben Prime admitted. "He refused at first, but I threatened to activate the self-destruct function on the Ultimatrix. He... uh, gave it up pretty quick after that."

Ben X blinked, then thought to himself, This guy is really something. Threatening to blow stuff up if people don't hand it over...

Ben Prime must've caught his expression because he quickly added, "Don't worry, Albedo stole it from Azmuth. And Azmuth wanted me to have it, so it all worked out."

Ben X just nodded, though he wasn't entirely convinced. FYI, it didn't make sense, he thought.

"Anyway," Ben Prime continued, "we crashed Vilgax's ship into the ocean. I transformed into Ultimate Swampfire, defeated Vilgax, and left him on his shrinking ship. Then we escaped and saved the day."

"Wait—'shrinking ship'?" Ben X asked.

"Yeah. Long story." Ben shrugged. "Oh, and Kevin? He turned back to normal after the Omnitrix self-destructed. Turns out the Omnitrix was what kept him stuck in his mutated form. Once it was gone, he was fine again."

"That's... convenient," Ben X said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I thought Vilgax was gone for good this time," Ben Prime continued, ignoring the comment. "Spoiler alert: nope. Some cultists found him and thought he was Dagon."

Ben X tilted his head. "Wait—who's Dagon?"

Ben Prime leaned forward, his expression growing serious. "Dagon is a cross-dimensional, shape-shifting being made of pure energy. Basically, a god to the Esoterica cult. He was defeated and sealed by Sir George using the Sword of Ascalon."

"Who's Sir George?"

"He was a Roman soldier cursed with immortality," Ben explained. "Azmuth found him on Earth and gave him the Sword of Ascalon to defeat Dagon. He's also the founder of the Forever Knights—you know, the guys who hate all aliens."

Ben X raised his eyebrows. "Okay, that's... a lot."

"It gets crazier," Ben Prime said, waving him off. "The cult thought Vilgax was Dagon because they look alike. They wanted to find Dagon's heart, which was pierced by the Sword of Ascalon and hidden in Sir George's invisible fortress. The fortress teleported randomly, and only Sir George could find it."

"So... what happened?" Ben X asked, leaning in.

"Well, the cult followed George, and we followed them. We found the fortress and the sword still piercing Dagon's heart. But Vilgax got there first. He tried to break Dagon's seal. We fought him, and he got sucked into the seal."

"Nice," Ben X said.

"Yeah, but then Dagon's power started leaking out," Ben Prime continued. "Vilgax returned, powered up by Dagon, and started causing chaos. He damaged the seal even more, and it turned almost everyone on Earth into Esoterica—except me, Gwen, Kevin, and Sir George. Then Dagon took over Gwen's mind to fully break the seal and release himself."

Ben X's jaw dropped. "What did you do?"

"We fought Dagon. Sir George was killed. Vilgax betrayed Dagon and absorbed all his power into himself. Then I used the Sword of Ascalon to fight Vilgax, who was now basically Dagon 2.0."

Ben X was speechless.

"Eventually, I stabbed Vilgax and absorbed all of Dagon's power into the sword," Ben Prime continued. "Vilgax tried to manipulate me, and for a second, I almost fell for it. But Gwen, Kevin, and Grandpa Max snapped me out of it. I used Dagon's power to turn everyone back to normal and gave the sword back to Azmuth."

Ben X let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "And Azmuth gave you the new Omnitrix?"

Ben Prime smiled and pointed to his wrist. "Yep."

"Wow," Ben X said, admiration clear in his voice. "That's... amazing. You're a real hero."

Ben Prime gave him a confident grin. "Yep. And don't worry about Vilgax. Plumbers captured him, but he escaped. He'll come back, but I'll beat him again. Squid-face never learns."

Looking at Ben Prime's confident expression, Ben X thought to himself, I want to be like him—a true hero.