Chapter 11: The more things change part 1

Naruto sighed as he sucked down on the smoothie. It had been three weeks since Naruto had been brought to Earth, and he was bored out of his mind. It made Naruto realized that civilian life was boring and that he was glad he had a ninja career.

After a week, Naruto could leave the base unsupervised, though the boy could tell that Naruto he was being followed. Apparently, they weren't that lenient. Most of the time, he was with Ben, Kevin, or Gwen, but a few days ago the last two had left town. Gwen had gone to college, and Kevin had taken up a job at a car repair shop nearby. Though Ben seemed to be taking the leaving of his teammates well, Naruto could tell that he did miss them.

Anyway, Naruto mainly stayed in the barracks at the plumber base. Before moving in, Naruto was given a budget and permission to purchase clothes for when he went out. Though, sticking to the base did give Naruto a bit of cabin fever. Thankfully, he had made good use of the base's gym and weapons room. He had shocked several of the plumbers with his workout. What they considered a hard workout, he considered a warm up! Plus, he had gotten some attention from one of the female officers…Molly if he remembered correctly. Now that he thought about it, he seemed to be getting a lot of attention from other girls, many of them Ben's fangirls who thought he would be able to tell them something about him. Though, others were interested, and many of them were very pretty. Where was this luck back on Gaia? He was also considered a great shot when he was in the gun range.

Naruto had also met both the families of both Tennyson kids. They seemed nice, though Gwen's parents seemed a little apprehensive around him. When they did, they were all glad that Grandma Verdona hadn't been around, otherwise things might have gotten crazy if she wanted to see if Naruto had the Anodite spark.

Naruto sighed as he stood up from the table and threw away his smoothie cup.

'I know Merlin said that it would be a while before he came back to earth, but this is boring as hell,' Naruto thought as he walked through the town. Naruto walked past an electronics store with a few TV's in the window. One of the showing a familiar older man on a new show, talking about the destruction in the forest near Bellwood and how Ben 10 had been the cause of it, having lost control of the watch.

Naruto scowled at the sight of the man. Ben had told him about Will Harangue and how he practically dogged Ben and looking or any chance he had to discredit him or make him look like the bad guy. Ben didn't really know what the guy's beef with him was, but Ben stopped caring as not a lot of people listened to the man's rants. His parents even got a laugh out of some of the wild theories and conspiracies that he made up on the spot. Naruto remembered the times when he was a kid, something went wrong, and someone would make up stories about something he did to make him look bad. The person afterwards was usually pranked, but

Naruto walked past the store.

"Maybe I should try that arcade on the other side of town," Naruto thought aloud, "I still have some extra money to burn in my allowance for the next two weeks. Racking up another high score sounds pretty fun. I just wish that something interesting would happen."

Ask and you shall receive.

Suddenly, a large explosion sounded. Naruto looked shocked as he ran towards the source of the explosion.

'When will I learn not to say things like that!?'

A few minutes earlier…

Ben was looking at his grandfather in shock.

"A partner?" Ben asked, "I don't need a partner."

Max said, "Ben, I know you're good on your own, but you have always been the best when you've had a team by your side. Look at what you, me, and Gwen accomplished when you were ten, and what you, Kevin, and Gwen managed to do."

Ben said, "I know where you are coming from Grandpa, but with the likes of Vilgax and Aggregor locked up, we don't have to worry about anything. Besides, I don't think I can manage babysitting a rookie."

Max said, "Oh, he's not just a rookie Ben. He graduated the top of his class and was recommended personally by the head."

Ben blinked and said, "That good huh?"

Max said, "High marks all around, and a lot of his teachers tell us that he's good. Just give him a chance."

Suddenly, an alarm went off. The two plumbers ran to a nearby computer.

"What happened?" Ben asked.

A guy sitting at the computer said, "There was a reported explosion. From what our satellites and scanners tell us it wasn't demolition, and there is an energy signature, indicating that there is a powerful explosive charge…not of Earth origin."

Ben said, "I'll check it out. We can talk about this later, grandpa."

The boy took off before Ben could stop him.

Meanwhile at the explosion area…

Ben had arrived on scene first. The sixteen-year-old was shocked at the sight of the explosion. It looked like a huge chunk of the building had been blown away, and there was a massive crater in the ground.

"Whoa," Ben said, "I haven't seen this kind of destruction since, I first ran into Vilgax. What the heck did this?"

It was at that moment that Ben noticed that there was an abundance of toilets scattered around the area.

Ben rubbed his chin and took out his phone. Selecting a certain function that had a list of alien addresses, mainly stores and depots. He double checked the address and found it. Pakmar's Toilet Emporium.

"Toilet Emporium?" Ben asked aloud, "Why would anyone need that?"

A strange voice from nowhere said, "Different aliens have different needs."

Ben jumped slightly at the sound. Suddenly, out of an earth toilet, a tiny alien popped out. He was incredibly short, green-skinned, and warts on his face. He wore a black suit with silver armor, with silver goggles on his orange eyes, which were on the sides of his head like a bird.

"I hope you intend to shower after that," Ben said, slightly disgusted at the sight of the alien popping out of the john.

The tiny alien said, "Don't worry, Pakmar intends to shower before getting insurance money from bank."

Ben blinked and asked, "Was this part of an insurance scam?"

Pakmar scoffed and said, "No. Scam band and Pakmar has wife and 487 mouths to feed! Pakmar not endanger that. Pakmar just spring for extra insurance to cover large explosions last month…now Pakmar glad he did."

Ben nodded, but he would have to make sure about it later. He then blinked and asked, "Wait…this was your emporium? What happened?"

The tiny alien said, "Pakmar heard of it, but not believe it. There is a group of criminals working in town, shaking down businesses for taydenite for big protection racket. Sadly, Pakmar didn't have any taydenite to pay, and threatened to call plumbers. Unfortunately, they smash phone and leave big bomb in store. Thankfully, material from Pakmar's provider is very durable."

Ben rubbed his chin in thought, and asked, "How come I've never heard of it? Someone should have reported this by now?"

Pakmar answered, "Men come in store before Pakmar open, and nobody in big hurry to buy toilet. Possibly not as profitable a business venture as Pakmar thought. Besides, lots of other businesses get credits turned into taydenite. Pakmar not been in business long enough."

Ben nodded and pulled out his phone saying, "Can you tell me what these guys looked like?"

Pakmar nodded and said, "Pakmar not know what species. One big chicken man, another worm bug in tank, and a woman with robot body and purple face."

Ben said, "Thanks. Any idea what kind of explosive they used?"

Pakmar said, "Not sure. Pakmar not good when it comes to weapons. Is that all? I don't want to wait all day at bank."

Ben said, "That's enough. You got any contact information you can give in case we need to contact you?"

Pakmar reached into a compartment on his suit and pulled out a card. It had Pakmar's business name and a few numbers.

With that, Pakmar proceeded to leave.

Ben rubbed his chin and said, "Okay, we got three aliens going crazy with bombs and wanting Taydenite. Now think Ben, what is the one place in Bellwood that is the biggest alien money maker? The one place that wouldn't want the plumbers to know above all else?"

As Ben was trying to figure out where this strange trio was going to go, he was unaware there was someone was nearby.

The alien watching was humanoid in shape, with smooth green skin, an underbite with jagged teeth pointing up, and what looked like small gills on his jaw. He wore a mainly black suit with a gray clawed gloves, belt, and black gray soled shoes. He had bone claws on his shoes, with small ribs on the back of his shoes, and his back. A full ribcage covering his chest, a tailbone on his right shoulder, and a horned skull on his left shoulder.

Near him was another alien. This one looked like a cross between a dog and a dinosaur, was dark blue with a spiked red collar around its neck. It's red eyes showing some intelligence in them. Threw re also a pair of red devices on its ears.

The green alien reached to his belt, pulling out a familiar hexagon, teeth decorated object. He pressed the front of it, causing a silhouette of something to appear. He moved to place I ton the dog's collar.

"Hey, Ben!"

The alien looked up to see Naruto approaching the area. The green alien cocked an eyebrow.

"Hmm," he said, "It appears that we will be able to test both of our little upgrades after all."

The alien turned to his dog and the gills opened and no sound came out. At least, not to anyone else's ears. The sound was heard by the alien dog. The devices in its ears beeped slightly and then flashed bright red. The animal growled and hunched down, snarling as it began to change.

Its body began to growl and expand, muscles and bones growing thicker and stronger. It's skin' became more armor like with three large claws forming on each paw. The natural armor shifted as it retracted to its lower limbs and paws, the exposed skin hardened, becoming like chainmail. Its tail grew longer gaining a thick spike on the end and the spikey hair on its back sharpened. The most shocking incident came when the dog's head split in three, each segment transforming into its own head making a total of three. Each head breathed as sharp teeth broke through the skin of their new maws.

When the glow was gon, the dog had grown to the size of a rhinoceros and was snarling angrily.

The alien said, "Attack the whiskered boy…Tennyson is mine."

The alien then pressed the device to his chest. The device flashed brightly as his body began to twist and morph. His body grew larger and his body grew a thick shell around his body. His legs and arms becoming thick and spiderlike as he fell to all fours. Two more limbs burst from his sides, for a total of six legs. His head morphed into a rhino-like shape with a big mouth, a green tongue slipped out as it snarled. A red collar formed on its neck with the device forming on it. The shell was primarily black with the spikes coming out of it's arms white as bone, with a black underbelly with a red line. Its eyes were feral for a moment before they regained intelligence.

The newly formed crab monster hissed as it charged forward, rushing out of the rubble right after the dog turned monster.

"What is going on?" Naruto asked.

Ben said, "Apparently…what the!?"

Their conversation was interrupted when Naruto was tackled by a rhino-sized dog with three heads, and then he was charged at by a monster-sized crab with a rhino head.

"Okay, this day is starting off crazy!" Ben said as he messed with the omnitrix and slammed his hand down on the button as he found the humongousaur logo. However, instead of growing larger, his flesh turned to molten rock and was lit aflame as he took the form of Heatblast.

"What the…I thought Azmuth fixed that system?" he asked, only to get charged at, and knocked back by the large crab-like creature.

Heatblast drove his hand into the ground.

"That's it," Heatblast said, "I hope mom know some good recipes for crab!"

The pyronite launched a massive blast of flame right at the large alien. The flame-powered alien smirked a she saw this, but his expression turned to shock as soon as he saw that the alien was completely unharmed by the blaze.

"Well…this is a problem," he said as he saw the alien seem to smirk at him before charging with a roar.

Naruto grappled with the large three-headed got with a loud grunt of pain, his strength enabling him to keep the creature from biting him. Naruto roared as he hauled the large hound in the air and threw it with incredible strength.

The dog let out a pained sound as it struck the ground but rolled over quickly. Naruto charged at the dog only for it to snarl and let out a loud bark before charging again. Naruto dodged to the right swinging a brutal punch hard enough to knock the dog's head to the side, breaking one of its teeth.

Naruto would have continued to punch only he had to jump back to avoid the creature's tail as it tried to stab him. Naruto grabbed the tail and then pulled hard. The creature was then hauled into the air and then slammed into the ground with enough force to crack the earth.

'Okay…really wishing that I had my weapons right about now,' Naruto thought.

Naruot was then cut off when a moth full of teeth sank into his leg. Naruto was then shaken around like a chew toy before being thrown through the air. The boy slammed down on the ground.

Naruto rolled over on his side, his leg healing from the bite wounds.

"Oh, you are so dead!" Naruto said, "I liked those pants."

Meanwhile, Heatblast was having an incredible amount of difficulty. No matter what he threw at the creature it didn't even flinch. He had hit it with the strongest and hottest temperatures that he could.

Trying a different tactic, he ducked down to avoid the creature's jaw and formed a fire blade on his arm and stabbed upwards, aiming to pierce the area between the plates of its shell. However, the crab knew of his plans and rolled over onto its side and lashing out with a leg, cracking the pyronite across the chest.

As Heatblast tried to stand up, the crab rocked itself and rolled over onto it's stomach. It then charged at the alien, only for Ben to slam both fists onto the ground and sent a wave of heat through the ground, the earth shifting into molten rock that the crab creature fell into.

Heatblast stepped back and saw that it wasn't affecting the creature. Ben then pressed the omnitrix symbol on his chest, but nothing happened. He tried again and saw that he was now trapped in an alien form that was completely ineffective against his opponent.

Heatlbast said, "Hey, Naru…I think I might need a bit of help here."

Naruto wrestled with the dog and said, "Yeah…that makes two of us."

Heatblast pulled a large chunk of super-heated rock from the ground and then threw it as hard as he could, the projectile slamming into the dog's side, making it howl in pain. At that moment the crab monster shot out of the lava pool and spat out a blast of water, that slammed into Heatblast, putting out the flames on his body.

Naruto responded by throwing the creature high into the air. Naruto then formed a series of clones who shot up after the dog. The topmost clone grabbed it by the tail and threw it down hard into the ground. The clones then dogpiled into the hound. The original grabbed one of his clones by the legs and ran backwards. As he pulled, he revealed the clones we reacting as a human rope, with the end gripping the dog's tail.

Naruto then pulled and twisted, causing the clone rope to whip around and then launch eh three-headed monster strait at the crab who was scant inches from attacking Heatblast.

Both stumbled, only for the clones to attack again, unleashing blows that didn't' even crack the cab creatures hide.

At this point, Heatblast got his fire back and slammed his hand int eh pool of magma making it erupt like a miniature volcano, the liquid didn't hurt the crab, but it greatly injured the hound. It also popped a few of the clones Naruto made.

Naruto took the moment to focus his chakra into a spiral ball. However, as time went its shape began to change.

A remaining clone charged towards the hound, two rasengan forming in his hands and slammed them both into the hound's side. The large dog was sent flying backwards with two brutal grind marks on its side. The large dog was sent crashing into the side of the crater.

Naruto then stood up in his hand was a rasengan, but was cone shaped and had electricity, and it seemed to be giving off a hum like a generator.

"Ben, get it to look up!"

Heatblast nodded and slammed his fist on the ground and using his limited geokinetic abilities launched a pillar of flaming earth right up into the creature's jaw, knocking it up into the air with a loud crack and the creature screaming in pain.

Naruto then rushed towards where the alien was falling and jumped upwards unleashing the knew technique. The cone extended, shooting forward like a spear. The attack struck the crab monster's armor and pierced it, running through completely, the beast howled in agony.

The crab monster landed with a loud crash. It lifted its front most left leg to keep pressure off it.

The crab beast hissed at the two young warriors. However, before it could, the creature's collar tag began to glow. It released a sound that only it could hear. It recognized it as a warning sign. The alien hissed at Naruto and Ben, levelling a glare that could have cracked the skin of a petrosapien. It released a roar as the large hound woke up from the crater it had formed.

The two beasts leapt back and unleashed a blast of watery foam and energy from their respective mouths that struck the ground right in front of the two. The foam blasted back Heatblast who was put out again, and Naruto was thrown onto his back.

The two creatures then launched out towards the forest, the crab limping from his raised leg and the dog limping from his injuries.

Naruto and Ben both stood up and Naruto said, "Did we just get out butts handed to us by an oversized seafood platter and man's best friend."

Heatblast transformed back into Ben and said, "Yeah…but bigger versions of them. What were those things? That oversized crab cake was completely immune to fire and could put out my flames as Heatblast. It was weird."

Naruto said, "Yeah…wait…why didn't you just change back?"

Ben answered, "I tried to, but it wouldn't allow me to."

Ben held the omnitrix up and asked, "Omnitrix, I was unable to transform in mid battle. What happened?"

The omnitrix beeped and responded, "There was a signal released by the creature that prevented transformation sequence. This caused a feedback loop that prevented the transformation away from pyronite form designated Heatblast and forced transformation into pyronite designated Heatblast."

Naruto whistled and said, "That thing speaks…and there is something that can mess with the omnitrix?"

Ben answered, "Not the first time this happened. The watch has been messed with before and caused transformations, but nothing like this."

Naruto asked, "You know anyone that can do that?"

Ben answered, "I can think of a few. Whatever those things were, they're gone now. Now, if I may ask, what was that cone thing, it looked like your rasengan."

Naruto answered, "Remember when I said the Rasengan wasn't complete, well the complete version is adding an elemental affinity, an element that chakra goes towards, in my case, wind, water, and lightning. That was based off one of my old teacher's moves, the chidori. I'm glad it worked, but I still have a few bugs to work out."

To illustrate his point, Naruto held out a hand, revealing his hand was showing an already healing electrical burn.

Naruto said, "So…what do we do now?"

Ben said, "First, I'm calling grandpa…he needs to know what is going on. Plus, there is something that I need to check up on after this."

Naruto said, "You mind if I come with you? I'm bored out of my mind…plus you might need the extra muscle."

As much as Ben didn't want to, he had to admit that if he was attacked by that thing again, it would be a problem if he was forced to stay in a single form again, as being able to transform mid-fight had always been something that had saved his life.

Ben said, "Okay, you can come with me, but be careful."

Ben pulled out his phone and dialed his grandfather's number. As he waited for the old man to pick up, he glanced to where the creatures stood and where they ran.

"Figures…I'm on my own again, and things start getting crazy,' Ben said as he heard his grandfather answer the phone.

Meanwhile…

The large crab monster was limping as fast as it could, getting a good distance away. It stopped and then transformed back into the green alien, no sporting a large stab wound in his shoulder. He grunted in pain as he whistled for the dog to change back. Grimacing as he saw reached for a hidden pouch on his belt. He pulled out bandages which wrapped around his wound. It would be enough for now, but he needed to get to his ship fast.

Now smaller, the dog limped after its master. The two continued to walk until they began to walk on air with a metallic sound, indicating that they had walked onto a ramp. The two vanished, but they weren't invisible only cloaked.

The duo had entered their ship. The alien walked through the corridors of his ship, walking past cages with small and large alien animals each snarling roaring as he passed by. He also passed several trophies featuring skulls, both human and inhuman, a pair of silvery eyes placed in a jar, a gun like the kind Naruto used, a black curved stinger-like objects, and several others.

The alien made his way to the medical bay, sitting down on a table, while the dog laid down nearby.

Several arms with needles and mechanical parts moved dwon, an eye-like device scanned him before the needles went to work, removing his temporary patch and fixing up his shoulder. Similar ones rose from the ground near the dog, and began examining the hound's side.

The alien then pulled a communicator out and said, "Call…Albedo."

The communicator flashed with light before a holographic image appeared before him. The image was of a human boy with a startling resemblance to Ben. The difference was that his hair was white and what was green on him was red.

"Ah, Khyber," Albedo said, "I'm glad you called."

His smile fell as he saw the Khyber's injury.

"What happened?" Albedo said, "Did Tennyson manage to outwit my device?"

The now named Khyber answered, "No…your device worked fine. The signal it emits forces Tennyson into the prey of the form I take, and the signal for the biofeedback error works as well. However, there is someone new here. A new prey that has my attention."

Albedo raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"

The hunter grunted as he felt the needles working on his injured flesh, and answered, "The boy seemed human, but he could create clones of himself, and use energy. He unleashed an attack so powerful, it ran through the Pyrosian Beetle's armor."

Albedo rubbed his chin and said, "How interesting. I hope this hasn't cause dyou to rethink our plan, Kyber."

Khyber's red eyes narrowed and said, "No…that boy will pay for what he did to me. Make no mistake. I still want part of this vendetta of yours."

Albedo smiled and said, "Good…good. Thank you for this information Khyber."

The communicator shut off and Khyber simpley sat back and let the machines do their work.

With Albedo…

The Galvan turned human sighed as he leaned back in his seat. The only reason he didn't wind up in that plumber prison was because of an unexpected intrusion. A Cerebrocustacean by the name of Psychobos had grabbed him from the transport. Apparently, he enjoyed the idea of a Galvan being stuck in a weak-minded human. Unfortunately for him, he was too arrogant and believed that Albedo's intelligence had diminished. The mad Galvan had used some tech he scrounged to build a special device. He openly defied Psychobos, and when the mad crustacean tried to discipline him, via electric shocks, he attached the device to the machine Psychobos used to enhance his electrokinesis. The result was a willing slave, new resources, and a new ally.

"I take it that something hasn't gone according to plan?" a mechanical sounding voice said.

Albedo turned in his chair to see another new face. It was a Galvanic mechamorph, except he was red instead of green, and had a four-pointed yellow star symbol on his neck just below his eye.

"Unfortunately, Malware," Albedo said, "It seems that Ben has gained a new ally in his fight for Earth. Do not worry, though. It just means we have to be more creative this time around."

Malware said, "Do not forget our deal. In exchange for allowing you access to the omnitrix blueprints I provided you…"

Albedo said, "I know…I know, you get control over the remaining Galvanic Mechamorphs. Just be patient, my mechanical friend."

Malware roared, "Patient!"

The red mechamorph grabbed Albedo by the front of his shirt and lifted him off the ground saying, "I have been patient for over half of a decade! If you do not follow through with this plan of yours, I will make life for you very unpleasant."

The mechanical alien dropped Albedo on his back and proceeded to walk away to another part of the lab.

Albedo brushed himself off and said, "Once I get my new ultimatrix fully functional, your mechanical posterior is going straight to the scrap heap."

With that, Albedo turned and proceeded to start messing with his computer, smiling as the files and images of seven more individuals began popping up.

"Now…I just need to gather the rest of the players."

Cut! Okay, that was a bit harder than I thought it was. With this we get into omniverse, and things are a bit different.

First off, I'm surprised that nobody figured out that the guy who was working last episode was Albedo. I thought for sure someone would figure that out. Anyway, Albedo is now a main villain, replacing Dr. Psychobos as I felt he was dumb. Albedo is easily one of the better villains in the series, matching and overpowering Ben on several occasions.

Next is the Nemetrix, yes, I know that the Nemetrix had bad effects on people and was best used on animals. Now, thanks to Albedo's tinkering, the Nemetrix can be used by Khyber, but he can only stay transformed for a certain amount of time before the biofeedback begins to affect him. It can still be attached to Zed who can stay transformed for as long as necessary. However, I didn't want Zed to be completely left out of the action, so I gave her the ability to evolve into Ultimate Zed, who I based off a Cerberus.

As for the transformation thing, I got the idea of that from Omniverse Phil, who could affect the watch by being in its presence, making Ben change into electric aliens. In this case, it forces Ben to transform into the Nemtrix's alien prey, in this case, Crabdozer and Heatblast. And I hope you like bad guy upgrades because I got a few more ideas for some of Ben's stronger enemies.