(In New York City, the Tennysons were checking into a hotel as Gwen was looking over the brochure that detailed all of the attractions in the hotel.)
Gwen: "Wow, this hotel has everything! Indoor pool, full day spa."
Jen: "All-you-can-eat buffet."
(Jen added in as Ben looked bored.)
Max: "No don't get too excited, you two. It's only for one night."
(Max said before turning to the door.)
(Ben then glanced over and gasped as he saw what was in front of him: a sneak preview of the newest Sumo Slammers game which was being guarded by a bouncer.)
Ben: "No way! A new Sumo Slammer video game is in there!"
(he shouted as he ran over, only to have his path blocked by the bouncer.)
the bouncer: "Pass?"
(he asked.)
(Ben felt at his pockets only to find nothing.)
Ben: "I must have left it inside."
(he lied.)
Ben: "I'm one of the game pros testing out the new system."
the bouncer: "VIPs only."
(Ben glanced disappointedly as he walked over to his family as Jen sighed.)
Jen: "I know what you're thinking, bro. No sneaking back in there. I am not missing out on that buffet because you got us kicked out."
Ben: "I won't."
(Ben said as his family walked to their room while hauling their luggage.)
(Ben then got a sly look and activated his Omnitrix, ducked into a corner and transformed into Ghostfreak before floating to the bouncer.)
Ghostfreak: "But he will."
(he said as he floated into the room and glanced at the video game with a sly smile (if he had a mouth.)
Ghostfreak: "The ultimate sneak peek for the ghost with the most freak."
(He turned on the game and started playing it.)
(Jen, Gwen and Max were at the elevator about to head up to their room as they noticed someone missing.)
Max: "Ben?"
(Max said as Jen sighed.)
Jen: "Oh no."
(Jen sighed as she shook her head.)
Jen: "I think I have a good idea where he is."
Ben: "Yes! New high score!"
(Ben cheered after he transformed back and scored 500,000 points before he felt something on his shoulder and turned around to see the bouncer with an angry look on his face.)
the bouncer: "What do you have to say for yourself, kid?"
(he asked.)
Ben: "Uh, game over?"
(Ben said.)
(The bouncer angrily tossed the last of the Tennyson's luggage at their feet.)
the bouncer: "And never come back!"
(he shouted as he went back inside.)
(Jen's eye twitched angrily as she went to her brother.)
Jen: "I told you specifically not to go in there, bro."
Ben: "Well, if you want to get technical about it."
(Ben said as Gwen agreed with her cousin.)
Gwen: "I never even got the chance to take a shower! A real shower for the first time all summer!"
(she shouted.)
Gwen: "Plus, they had a spa. A spa! Nice going, doofus!"
(Ben then sighed and walked away towards the Rust Bucket as they all entered and had a very stern talking to him.)
Max: "How am I supposed to trust you if you keep misusing the Omnitrix?"
(Max asked.)
Ben: "Excuse me, Jen and I have used them 100 times for good at this point. Why can't we use it just once for us?"
(Ben asked.)
Jen: "It's not how many times we use them, bro. It's how we use them."
(Jen said.)
Jen: "We're superheroes. We're not supposed to use our powers for personal gain."
Ben: "It was no big deal."
(Ben sighed.)
Max: "To you."
(Max stated.)
Max: "And that's all you care about. Now what you have done cannot and will not go unpunished. From now on, no Sumo Slammer's stuff for two weeks. No comics, no trading cards, no-"
Ben: "Fair!"
(Ben interrupted.)
Max: "Neither is getting us kicked out of a four-star hotel I already paid for!"
(Max said.)
Ben: "Fine! Take it out of my allowance!"
(Ben said.)
Gwen: "You don't get an allowance."
(Gwen said.)
Ben, Jen and Max: "Stay out of this!"
(Ben, Jen and Max shouted.)
(Gwen then slumped down in her seat, sorry for butting in.)
Ben: "This is my vacation too. You can't always tell me what to do."
(Ben said as he narrowed his eyes at his grandfather.)
Ben: "You're not my dad."
(Jen then gasped and put a hand to her mouth before looking up at his grandfather.)
(Max then stumbled back as he witnessed his grandson compare him to his own son.)
Max: "Well if I was I..."
(he stopped short, unable to think up a comeback.)
Max: "I'm going to go back to the hotel to see if I can get at least some of my money back. I'll be back in a few minutes."
(Ben then angrily walked to his room as he glared at his family.)
Ben: "Don't hurry!"
(he then slammed the door with an angry glance.)
(The girls looked to their grandfather as Gwen sighed.)
Gwen: "He'll be fine."
(Max then headed back to the hotel as Jen sighed before counting down.)
Jen: "3, 2, 1."
(she then gestured with her fingers as Ben started shouting and throwing things from behind the door.)
Ben: "Not fair! Not fair! Totally unfair."
(Ben shouted.)
Gwen: "Glad to see your handling things so well."
(Gwen said as Ben opened his door and walked over to his sister and cousin before scoffing and walking out of the door.)
Jen: "Ben, where are you going!?"
(Jen shouted as Ben glanced back to her.)
Ben: "Where does it look like? Out."
(Ben said to her as he continued walking away.)
Gwen: "Get back here!"
(Gwen shouted.)
Ben: "Sorry, I don't speak dweeb."
(Ben said as he walked away with the girls following him.)
Jen: "Grandpa's going to kill you! And then us!"
(Jen realized as she and Gwen ran towards him.)
(Ben then walked into the Total Zone Arcade as the girls stopped in front of the door.)
Gwen: "Next summer, I'm going to sleepaway camp."
(Gwen said.)
Jen: "Good luck. I hear they're notorious for having serial killers."
(Jen said as they walked inside.)
(Ben then glanced at the games and glanced around in wonder before stopping at a baseball game and set up to play, only to get a Game Over almost as soon as he started.)
Ben: "Game over!? But I just started!"
(he then turned to a passing teenager.)
Ben: "This thing ate my tokens!'
teenager: "Read the sign, kid. It says 'Play at your own risk.'"
(he said before walking away.)
Ben: "This place is a ripoff, you know that?"
(Ben shouted as a kid behind him smiled.)
???: "You're right. The games here stink."
(he said as Ben looked at him.)
(He was a thin and scrawny boy with shoulder-length black hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes with black-discolored marks around them and wore a torn black T-shirt, black studded arm bands, brown cargo pants, black knee-length shoes, and a padlock necklace.)
Ben: "Yeah, but not as bad as his breath."
(Ben joked.)
Ben: "Major case of sewer mouth."
(The boy then laughed at that as he looked to Ben.)
???: "You're funny. You owe me one."
(He then placed his hand against one of the games.)
(Then, much to Ben's shock, it sparked as soon as his hand made contact and all of the tokens the machine gathered came spitting out of it as Ben looked in wonder at his trick (little did he know his sister and cousin walked over.)
Jen: "We can't take those!"
(Jen shouted.)
Gwen: "They're not ours!"
(Gwen agreed.)
Ben: "They are now."
(Ben said before looking to the kid.)
Ben: "I'm Ben."
Kevin: "Kevin."
(he said.)
Ben: "Wanna play some air hockey?"
(Ben asked as Kevin looked over and spotted two older kids look to him and he got a nervous look on his face.)
Kevin: "Naw. Gotta bail."
(he said before walking away.)
Jen: "He's total trouble, bro."
(Jen said.)
Ben: "He seemed okay to me."
(Ben said as the two older kids shoved past them and walked towards Kevin.)
(A third kid blocked Kevin's path as the other two kids surrounded him.)
the leader: "Long time no see, Levin."
(the leader said.)
the leader: "Where you going, freak. Home to recharge your batteries? Or to go crying to your big sister?"
(The two lackeys then grabbed Kevin's arms as Ben stepped behind them with a glare at the bullies.)
Ben: "Need some help?"
(Ben asked.)
bald kid: "He's going to need a lot more than you, kid."
(the bald kid said before pushing him back towards his sister and cousin.)
bald kid: "Now beat it!"
Ben: "I've got skills too."
(Ben said before running for cover and activating the Omnitrix.)
Jen: "Ben, don't!"
(Jen shouted, but it was too late.)
(Ben slammed down the core in a flash of green light.)
(His hands then lost two fingers and morphed into black scissor-like claws before his entire structure started to take on a more velociraptor-like state and his skin grew blue with black-armor like plating with pink on the center as well as her feet morphing into a ball-like structure and his eyes turned fully green and he grew a long blue and black striped tail and his head into a more triangular shape before his face was covered with a black visor with green lighting as he struck a pose, finishing his transformation into XLR8.)
Kevin: "So, how's the hangout?"
(Kevin asked.)
Kevin: "Still trashed like I left it for you?"
the leader: "Yeah and you're gonna
pay."
(the leader of the bullies said.)
the leader: "You can't take us all alone, freak."
XLR8: "But I can!"
(XLR8 shouted as the bullies looked to him and laughed.)
the bully: "Little early for Halloween, dude, isn't it?"
(the bully with the blue mohawk asked.)
(That was a big mistake.)
(XLR8 zipped off and ran around their leader at high speeds, creating a blue and black cyclone that lifted him off of his feet and sending him screaming in the air before stopping, causing him to fall.)
(XLR8 then whacked him with his tail and sent him sprawling against the wall.)
(He then ran off again.)
the bully: "Where'd he go?"
(the bully with the blue mohawk asked as he suddenly disappeared followed by the African American bully.)
(They reappeared sprawled against their leader on the wall.)
(The remaining bully with the green hair tried to run away in fear, but was stopped by XLR8, who stopped by him and lifted up his visor, revealing his face.)
XLR8: "Trick or treat."
(The bully then ran off screaming as XLR8 waved to Kevin before running off as well, leaving behind a smiling Kevin and an unapproving Jen and Gwen.)
Gwen: "I so don't trust this kid."
(Gwen said.)
Jen: "That makes two of us, cuz."
(Jen scoffed.)
Jen: "I can't believe you went alien, bro."
(Jen said with her arms crossed as the Tennysons stood outside the arcade.)
Ben: "He helped me, so I helped him."
(Ben said.)
Ben: "You wouldn't get it. And neither would Grandpa. That's the problem."
Jen: "Excuse me!?"
(Jen shouted.)
Jen: "I do know what it's like. I've helped you plenty of times after you helped me. I helped you with the chores after you took the blame when I lost Mom's wedding ring! I helped you with your homework after you helped me with getting over my stage fright in the fourth grade talent show! I snuck you that Gold Sumo Slammer's Card after you helped me defeat Animo! We're twins! That's what we do!"
Gwen: "...You were the one who lost your mother's wedding ring?"
(Gwen asked in disbelief.)
Jen: "Long story."
(Jen said, putting a hand on her cousin's shoulder.)
Kevin: "Did you see what that speed guy did to those losers?"
(Kevin asked as he walked over to them.)
Ben: "Yeah."
(Ben said.)
Ben: "Dude's name is XLR8. In fact, we're pretty tight."
Kevin: "Cool. Hey, want a tour of New York?"
Gwen: "You keep Grandpa wait any longer, he's going to pop another gasket!"
(Gwen said.)
Gwen: "We gotta go."
Jen: "As in now, Ben."
(Jen said.)
Ben: "Don't you two mean you have to go?"
(Ben asked as Kevin smirked.)
(Gwen gave up and turned away from him.)
Gwen: "You're on your own."
Ben: "Good, that's the way I want it!"
(She walked away as Jen stayed behind confronting her younger twin brother.)
Jen: "I can't let you do this, bro."
Ben: "You mean you can't stop me from doing this."
(Ben said as he and Kevin walked away as Jen was left shouting to him.)
Jen: "Get back here, Ben! If you don't come back here, Grandpa's going to kill you! ...and then me!"
(she then got a worried look on her face as she gulped.)
Jen: "Oh man, I've got to stop him or I'm going to be an only child!"
(She then worriedly ran off before she took out her phone and dialed her grandfather's number as she worriedly called him.)
answering machine: "Hi, this is Maxwell Tennyson."
(the answering machine said as Jen groaned.)
answering machine: "I'm sorry to say I'm not available at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep and I'll be sure to call you back as soon as possible. *beep*"
Jen: "Grandpa Max, this is Jen!"
(Jen shouted.)
Jen: "Ben ran off! Call me!"
Ben: "So how'd you get your power?"
(Ben asked Kevin as they walked down the street.)
Kevin: "I was born with it."
(Kevin said.)
Kevin: "I'm like an energy spire. Motors, air conditioners, lights, batteries, whatever. Soak it up and dish it out when I have to... or want to."
Ben: "Cool."
Kevin: "Come on. I'll show you I live."
[To Be Continued...]