June 1, 2010
The bell rang, signaling the end of another mind-numbing day at Bellwood Junior High. A 5'5" young man with black hair and dark blue eyes came out of the main entrance of Bellwood Junior High.
He was dressed in a striped black-and-blue short-sleeved shirt, with black cargo pants and a backpack on his shoulder.
Judging by his body, one could say he was an athlete because, despite his shirt, his muscles were well-defined and strong. He was now walking toward the school parking lot while looking at his phone.
"Analyze local news feeds," he muttered. "Keyword: unidentified objects."
> LOCAL NEWS SCANNED. NO DATA FOUND. BUT YOU SKIPPED LUNCH AGAIN.
"Nagging chatbot," he muttered.
Yes, he was Rio, our protagonist.
Another boy, standing around 5'3", with short, spiky brown hair and green eyes, wearing a striped black-and-white short-sleeved shirt with green cargo pants, came up behind the first boy.
From behind, he lowered himself, seemingly preparing to pounce on the handsome boy. As he lunged—
Rio sidestepped and grabbed Ben's wrist, yanking him into a headlock.
"Not today, Ben."
"Ugh, how do you always know?!"
"Spider-sense," Rio grinned, releasing him.
Ben rubbed his neck as he walked with Rio to the parking lot. "Remind me why we do this again?"
"Because," Rio said, flicking Ben's forehead, "When someone kicks down your door, I want you to at least try punching back."
Ben rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Save the motivational crap for Gwen."
Rio and Ben both sped toward an old RV, The Rust Bucket—a "vintage" RV that looked like a relic from the '70s. But don't be fooled by its appearance; it was filled with alien technology.
This RV belongs to a former plumber of space, a hero of the galaxy, and a great man. The man's name was Max Tennyson—he was the grandfather of Rio and Ben.
This summer, he had prepared a summer trip so that his grandchildren could get some rest and have fun before starting high school.
Max hoped that they would all have fun and be carefree on this trip.
But for him, this was not destined to come true, as fate had long decided that this summer would be the start of unusual events in the lives of the Tennysons.
Rio knew it all too well but was not bothered. On the contrary, he was excited, as this was the trip that was going to make him a hero.
...
When both boys approached the RV, an elderly man in his 60s got off, wearing a red Hawaiian shirt with a beer belly. As soon as he saw both boys, he smiled warmly and greeted them.
That, of course, was Grandpa Max. "Come on, both of you, let's go; I want to reach the camp before evening," he said with a smile.
Ben groaned. "Why do we have to rush? It's just a stupid summer trip."
Rio ruffled his hair. "Because, little brother, adventure waits for no one."
Inside the RV stood a girl around 5'5", with green eyes and long red hair styled loosely and falling to her shoulders. She wore a light-blue long-sleeved shirt with a black cat emblem on the front, dark-blue capri pants, and white sneakers.
Seeing her, Ben pointed and shouted, "GRANDPA! What's she doing here?"
"Take it easy, Doofus. This wasn't my idea," Gwen said, looking at Rio. "Someone convinced my parents that camping this summer would be a good experience."
This made Ben look at Rio. "Bro, please tell me you didn't bring her here," he said, wrinkling his nose as if he had seen something disgusting.
"Hahaha, I thought it would be fun if we siblings were together," Rio said with a face that seemed to say, "What? I didn't do anything wrong!"
Rio knew all too well, from all the years with them, how these two got along—they were like fire and ice. But he had no choice; after all, for the future, they both needed to be on the trip.
And it would later be known that whenever they needed each other, they would always be together. It was a unique relationship that only siblings could have. And now, Rio was going to be a part of it.
"Ugh, I can't believe it. I've been waiting all this time to go on a trip, and now we're stuck with Miss Perfect," Ben complained, throwing himself onto the couch in front of Gwen.
"Hey, I also had plans for my summer, okay? And I even had this AI of Rio remind me what to do every day so I don't repeat myself," Gwen said, pointing at the computer. "But now I'm stuck with smelly, hairy, muscle-headed ape cousins for months."
"Also, Rio," Gwen moved the laptop toward him, showing a map, "your glitchy AI keeps rerouting us to a taco truck."
"Hey, it's still learning!" Rio pulled out his phone.
>TACOS ARE 87% MORE LIKELY TO IMPROVE MORALE.
Ben laughed. "Haha, your robot's a genius."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "It's a menace."
Grandpa Max started the engine, shaking his head. "Something tells me this summer will be quite hot. But anyway, BUCKLE UP, KIDS."
Now, the journey begins.
***
Over the years I tried recalling every detail I could remember and noted it down, surprisingly as I tried recalling, many things that I thought I had forgotten in the long span of time in the void kept appearing in my mind about Ben 10 but not about other anime or things.
Well it could be my reincarnation bonus to better survive, but still anything's good then nothing.
It had been ten years since I moved in with my grandfather and started primary school with Gwen and Ben.
At first, I progressed at a normal pace, but something felt... off. Schoolwork was too easy. Maybe it was the alien DNA in me, or maybe a perk of transmigration. Either way, I excelled without even trying.
And Gwen? I suspected she was holding back. She was studious enough to skip grades if she wanted, but she stayed—maybe for the same reason I did.
Leaving Ben behind wasn't an option.
So we stayed—normal kids in a normal school.
At least, as normal as we could be.
During the ten years I tried various methods to try and see if I got any system or cheat, but all my efforts were for nothing as in the end nothing happened.
Leaving the external aid's wishes, I looked towards the future.
Since I knew that in the future, a whole galaxy awaited to be explored, I decided to prepare myself as much as possible.
At first, I just started training by watching some videos online, slowly building my body. My "training" was pathetic—jogging at dawn, copying martial arts forms from YouTube videos in Grandpa's backyard.
Around half a year later, as my interactions with Ben and Gwen increased, I somehow dragged Ben into it. Although he slacked off, we still made considerable progress.
"Ugh, Rio, it's summer break! Why are we doing push-ups at seven in the morning?"
"Because someday, you'll fight something scarier than your math homework."
Ben just blinked. "Dude, math IS scary."
Gwen sometimes joined us too, though she pretended it was just out of boredom. "I don't have anything to do, so I might as well watch you two idiots flail around."
Soon, Grandpa Max noticed. Of course, he did. Seeing us train, he offered to have us join a local karate club.
"You kids are serious about this, huh?" he said, tossing us a flyer for the local karate dojo. "There's a good karate dojo in town. If you're gonna train, might as well do it right."
Gwen surprised me by agreeing instantly. "I'm in."
I asked, "Why?!" black lines appearing on my forehead.
"Because," she said sweetly, "if I'm stuck with you two idiots, I might as well learn how to knock you out properly. And," she paused, showing a bright smile, "watching you suffer is my favorite hobby."
As for Ben, of course, he complained.
"I already train with Rio! Do I have to waste my weekends too?"
"Ben," I said, throwing an arm around his shoulders, "you really wanna be the guy who gets wrecked by the first alien that looks at you funny?"
Ben blinked. "...What?"
I just laughed.
But after some convincing, Ben reluctantly joined, showing up at the dojo the next week. And over the years, the three of us got stronger.
Although it was a hassle, Ben wasn't ready for what was coming. After all, I didn't want to see a fourteen-year-old boy fighting space villains like he was playing some game.
And anyway, if I was taking the Omnitrix, he had to be prepared to survive without it. Gwen would have her magic, while Ben could only have his body.
The following years were spent just like that—mostly, we just lived relaxed, going from school to home to karate club and back to school again. I also got to feel what it was like to be a big brother managing his younger siblings.
...
Before the starting year of our junior high school, I began learning how to code and even started making an AI, but it didn't go well. My first AI prototype was… bad.
The AI was barely functional—just a voice that answered simple questions, like a glitchy Siri.
> Query: What is your purpose?
I leaned back in my chair. "To keep us alive when everything goes to hell."
I didn't trust it enough to give it full autonomy—I wanted no Skynet scenarios here.
By the time we entered junior high, I had linked it to my phone, integrating it with a small server setup. Now, it lives in my phone.
Although the computer Grandpa gifted me was made of alien technology, my skills were not up to the task.
> SYSTEM ONLINE. INPUT COMMAND.
"Analyze local news for extraterrestrial activity," I muttered.
> NO DATA FOUND. ALSO, YOU LOOK TIRED.
I sighed. This was my ChatGPT with attitude. Half the time, it was more sarcastic than helpful. Debugging it felt like raising a rebellious teenager in digital form.
Still, it was a start.
Maybe when I obtained the Omnitrix, I could upgrade the AI with some alien tech.
...
There was this one time when the AI detected meteor or space activity through the antenna system I had connected it to.
> UNIDENTIFIED SIGNALS FROM SPACE FOUND NEAR MEXICO.
I frowned, rereading the message. That was new. The AI had been monitoring local and global reports, cross-referencing public databases with satellite readings I managed to tap into. This was the first time it flagged something as "unidentified."
But there was no news coverage. No government reports on the internet. And of course, I couldn't go there personally, so we would have to wait until the summer trip to see if we could go there.
...
Now, at fourteen, it was the last year of our junior high and also the time before we would go on the summer trip.
I wasn't a kid anymore. The baby fat was gone, replaced by lean muscle from years of training. Ben had shot up too, though he was still shorter than me, his messy brown hair as unruly as ever.
Gwen, taller than both of us, rolled her eyes whenever we flexed in the mirror.
"You're both ridiculous."
"Says the girl who secretly knows more kata than the sensei," I teased.
She huffed, throwing pillows at us. "Don't you run that mouth of yours!"
We brothers would just run off laughing.
Summer was here.
And everything was about to change.
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Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
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