Chapter 1 : Where Am I ?

The Forever Knights' armored van screeched around a corner, careening down the street of Bellwood. In hot pursuit was a green muscle car, engine roaring.

"I can't believe those bozos got their hands on a Galvanic Phase Disruptor!" yelled Kevin Levin from behind the wheel.

In the passenger seat, Ben Tennyson wound up the watch-like Omnitrix on his wrist. "Well, we're going to take it back. It's hero time!"

Ben slammed down the Omnitrix core and in a flash of green light, transformed into a hulking orange creature. "Humungousaur! This should be a fun battle of brawn."

With surprising agility for its size, Humungousaur leapt from the car and bounded down the street after the van. It drew back a massive fist and punched, crunching into the back doors. The van's rear cargo area crumpled inward.

The Forever Knights tumbled out in a heap, dazed. One still clutched the phase disruptor device. Humungousaur snatched it away and tossed it to Kevin. "Catch!"

But before Kevin could grab it, a remaining knight swung a electrified baton. It struck Kevin's arm, sending the disruptor clattering to the ground. The knight frantically stabbed buttons and the disruptor hummed with building energy.

"Wait, you dolt!!" Kevin shouted a warning, but it was too late.

Ben blinked his eyes open slowly. He was lying on a hard surface, clouds of dust settling around him. As he pushed himself upright, he realized with a jolt that he was back in his normal human form.

"What the...? Kevin? Hello?" His voice echoed hollowly.

Ben looked around in bewilderment. He appeared to be in some kind of strange, shadowy realm. The sky overhead was pitched black, yet a dim reddish light permeated the eerie landscape of craggy rocks and ominous silhouettes.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" Ben called again.

A low growl answered him. Something huge slithered out from between two boulders. Ben's jaw dropped as the creature unfurled its massive, serpentine body. At least twelve feet long, it was covered in wicked spines and scars. Curved fangs as long as Ben's forearm protruded from its jaw.

"Wh-what are you?" Ben stammered, backpedaling.

The monster reared back and bellowed, charging at Ben with startling speed. He didn't have time to think - only to react. Slapping the Omnitrix dial, he morphed into a hulking black and green form.

"Feedback!" His body now composed of living electrical energy, he absorbed the creature's lunge. Its jaws clamped down, but couldn't pierce Feedback's electromagnetic force field.

With a heave, Feedback threw the monster back. It smashed into the rocks, dazed but already recovering with frightening vitality. That's when Ben saw them - more beasts emerging from every crevice and shadow. Slavering jaws, gnashing teeth, pitiless eyes. An entire army was closing in.

The Omnitrix began beeping insistently with a proximity warning. Ben turned his hand and a hologram popped up showing a threat advisory.

"Arks?" He read the label incredulously. "A highly evolved, sentient race that dominates this dimension through psionic power and brutal force."

The hologram displayed more information, but Ben was already converting back to his human form.

"Yeah, I've seen enough. I need to get out of here!"

He started running as the Ark horde descended...

The disruptor discharged in a blinding flash. When Kevin's vision cleared, Ben and the knight were nowhere to be seen. The device lay quiescent on the pavement, smoking faintly.

"Oh man..." Kevin rubbed his forehead anxiously. "Where did you go, Ben?