Ben 10: My Omnitrix Is A Bit Off Chapter 15 15: Megawhat?

The next morning, the town of Sparksville didn't look anything like it had the day before.

Evan stood beside Max near the edge of the street, his eyes slowly scanning the surroundings as he tried to process what he was seeing. Smoke drifted lazily into the air from multiple directions, the remains of buildings still smoldering as faint embers flickered among broken wood and shattered glass. Several cars were overturned or crushed, their fras bent and blackened, while power lines had been torn straight out of the ground, now reduced to charred, twisted poles with loose cables sparking erratically against the pavent.

"I don't rember the street looking like this last night," Evan murmured.

Ben stepped up beside him, looking just as confused as he stared at the destruction.

"Whoa… what happened?"

Max kept his eyes moving, taking in every detail with a more serious expression.

"I don't know," he said. "Looks like a tornado ca through overnight."

"Good," Ben said imdiately.

Both Max and Evan turned to look at him.

Ben froze for a split second as he realized what he had just said. "I an- uh, yeah. Good as in… not good. Like, uh, one of those freaky nature things. Right, Gwen?"

Gwen simply nodded.

Before the mont could stretch any further, the mayor approached them from down the street, stepping carefully around debris as he adjusted his suit.

"I believe I know who is responsible for these… juvenile acts."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"Juvenile acts?" he repeated, glancing briefly at his grandchildren, who suddenly looked a lot more alert. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that sounds like-"

"Oh, I'm not referring to these youngsters," the mayor interrupted calmly.

"You're not?" Ben, Gwen, and Max said at once.

Hearing this, Max shifted his gaze back at them. They imdiately put on their most innocent smiles.

"Well, if they didn't do it, then who did?" he asked instead.

As if on cue, a streak of yellow electricity suddenly zipped through the air.

Before anyone could react, the lightning-like creature appeared right in front of them and began darting around the group at high speed.

It buzzed past Gwen and stuck its black tongue out at her.

Gwen recoiled slightly. "Okay, that's just rude."

The creature zipped away again, flying over to Ben and yanking his shirt up over his head before he could react.

"Hey!"

Then it darted toward Evan, tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

Evan didn't flinch, only raising an eyebrow as the creature stuck its tongue out at him as well before zipping off into the distance.

Ben pulled his shirt back down. "What was that?"

"gawatt," the mayor explained.

"gawhat?" Ben asked again.

"Exactly. Normally kept safely contained inside of 'it.' That is, until last night." The mayor said.

Ben and Gwen exchanged a very brief, very guilty glance.

"So folks say it's a living ball of lightning," the mayor continued. "Others think it's static electricity gone wild. Hard to say for certain."

"Maybe it's an alien," Gwen suggested.

The mayor waved a hand dismissively. "Alien? Now that's just kooky talk."

As if to prove the point wrong imdiately, gawatt suddenly appeared again near a nearby vending machine. It hovered there for a mont, giggling to itself before shooting straight into the machine.

The vending machine began to shake violently.

Lights flickered across its surface as electricity surged through it.

"What's it doing?" Ben asked.

"It feeds on electricity," the mayor explained calmly. "The more it consus, the more powerful it becos."

The vending machine suddenly burst into action, launching soda cans outward at high speed.

The group barely had ti to react.

"Duck!"

They all dove for cover as cans shot past them like projectiles, smashing against nearby walls and scattering across the street.

"It's also got a dangerous sense of humor," the mayor added.

They scrambled behind a wrecked car, using it as cover while more cans clattered against the tal fra.

Max glanced back toward the mayor.

"You had that thing wrapped up in a giant rubber band ball this whole ti?" he asked. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"Not so long as people minded the signs," the mayor replied.

Ben and Gwen stiffened imdiately, feeling nervous.

Ben suddenly said. "Alright, we did it! We're guilty!"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "So much for denying everything."

Max let out a slow breath.

"We're going to talk about this later," he said firmly. "But right now, we've got a bigger problem."

He looked back at the mayor. "How do we stop this thing, Mr. Mayor?"

The mayor simply placed a toothpick in his mouth and shrugged.

"What do you an 'we?' You let it out. You catch it."

Before anyone could respond, a piece of flaming debris suddenly crashed down nearby, sending sparks flying across the street.

...

"Why are you looking at for? I didn't let it out," Evan said, crossing his arms as he walked alongside the Tennysons through the damaged streets.

Ben walked backward in front of him, trying to look convincing.

"C'mon, partner, we're a team," he said. "We're in this together, rember?"

Evan gave him a flat look.

He was seriously reconsidering why he had bothered stepping in earlier to convince Tetrax and Samus to leave the Omnitrix with him. At the ti it made sense, but right now, watching Ben grin like this in the middle of a crisis caused by him made him question that decision.

Gwen walked beside them, glancing around at the damaged buildings and sparking wires overhead.

"Should we try luring it out with sothing?" she suggested. "Like batteries or… I don't know, a generator?"

Above them, unnoticed, gawatt zipped along the power lines as a crackling ball of yellow electricity. It followed the group silently, its small, mischievous chuckle barely audible over the faint buzzing of damaged transforrs.

In an instant, it darted down from the lines and shot into a nearby streetlight, then out again, and before anyone realized what was happening, it zipped straight up Max's pant leg.

Max stiffened. A second later, he was yanked upward by his underwear.

"That's not funny!" Max exclaid as he was lifted slightly off the ground. "Just painful!"

gawatt struggled a little to keep him suspended, the weight clearly more than it expected, but it still cackled while trying.

Ben imdiately raised his wrist.

"Don't worry, Grandpa. I know just the hero for a troublemaker like this."

He reached for the Omnitrix. But before he could activate it, a golden flash erupted beside him.

"Feedback!"

The black-and-yellow alien appeared instantly, already raising his plug-like fingers toward gawatt. Electricity surged visibly through the air as Feedback pulled the energy straight out of the creature.

gawatt let out a sharp, panicked screech.

The grip on Max vanished as the creature dropped him and shot away down the street, flickering erratically as it tried to escape.

Feedback didn't hesitate and chased after it imdiately.

Ben blinked. "…Hey, that was my mont."

He quickly slamd down on the Omnitrix anyway.

Green light enveloped him as his body shifted, skin turning black and green while glowing lines spread across his form. His features smoothed out, rging into a sleek, liquid-tal shape as a single green eye ford at the center.

"Upgrade?"

Gwen looked at him. "Why go Upgrade?"

Upgrade narrowed his gaze toward her and said confidently. "It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "The watch didn't give you what you wanted, did it?"

"…Shut up."

Ahead of them, gawatt zipped through the air, trying to create distance, but every ti it attempted to disperse into pure electricity, Feedback imdiately absorbed part of it, forcing it back into a more solid state with a pained screech.

It was fast. But it couldn't fully escape him.

Seeing an opportunity, Upgrade rolled sothing massive down the street toward them.

The giant rubber band ball.

"Alright, twinkle toes," Upgrade called out. "Ti to go ho!"

The ball bounced unevenly as it rolled forward. For a mont, it looked like it might actually work. Then several of the rubber bands snapped.

The structure began to unravel.

Bands shot off in all directions like projectiles, snapping loudly as they whipped through the air. Gwen imdiately ducked behind a nearby car to avoid getting hit, while Feedback stepped back, narrowly avoiding one that snapped toward his head.

"Hey, doofus! Whose side are you on?!" Gwen shouted.

From the sidewalk, the mayor casually sat on a bench, watching the chaos unfold while munching on popcorn.

"Is it just ," he said, "or is there a lot of excitent today?"

With Feedback pushed back montarily, gawatt seized the chance.

It reappeared directly in front of Upgrade, hovering smugly as it made exaggerated faces and mocking gestures, clearly enjoying itself.

Upgrade glared. His eye began to glow. Without thinking, he fired a beam of green energy straight at it.

gawatt blinked in confusion and easily dodged to the side.

The beam continued forward, right toward Feedback.

"Why am I not surprised," he muttered as his antennae leaned forward, absorbing the blast effortlessly.

Upgrade straightened. "Whoa! That's new!"

He completely ignored the fact that he had just fired at his own teammate.

"Not so funny now, is it?!" gawatt just laughed again and zipped away.

Upgrade imdiately gave chase, his body flowing forward across the ground, but he couldn't keep up. The creature was simply too fast, darting between wires, lights, and broken electrical sources.

But the mont Feedback got even remotely close, gawatt would panic and retreat again, clearly wary of him.

The chase continued through the damaged streets, the two aliens working together, but never quite managing to corner it.

gawatt was careful. It stayed just far enough away from Feedback to avoid being drained, and too fast for them to properly trap.

At one point, Upgrade finally managed to get close enough and lunged forward, wrapping part of his liquid body around gawatt.

Only for a surge of electricity to explode outward.

Upgrade was blasted back instantly, skidding across the ground before reforming and sitting up with a groan.

"Note to self," he muttered, rubbing his head, "never grab electrical enemies when you're made of liquid tal."

Feedback landed nearby, watching him. "You just figured that out now?"

Upgrade ignored him. Up ahead, gawatt reappeared again, floating just out of reach, laughing as it circled them playfully.

Feedback narrowed his eyes slightly. He was the perfect counter.

But that didn't matter if he couldn't get close enough to actually grab it.

"How are we supposed to ground that electric devil?" Max asked, watching the chaos unfold as sparks continued to crackle across the street.

Gwen suddenly froze, her eyes widened. Then she snapped her fingers.

"Grandpa, you're a genius!" she said quickly before turning and running off down the street.

Max blinked, caught off guard.

"Well, thank you, Gwen," he called after her. "But why?"

He didn't get an answer.

Back on the street, the situation hadn't improved.

Upgrade was still trying to keep up with gawatt, but the small lightning creature was clearly enjoying itself at his expense. It zipped around him in tight circles, darted between his limbs, and occasionally flicked sparks at him just to be annoying.

Upgrade twisted his body to follow it, stretching and reshaping as he tried to predict its movents, but it was like trying to grab a bolt of lightning with bare hands.

anwhile, Feedback was also trying to catch it, but it kept keeping a good distance away from him.

Each ti gawatt ca close, he reached out to absorb it, but the creature always darted away at the last second, keeping just enough distance to stay safe while continuing to taunt them.

Feedback was getting irritated.

"That's it," Upgrade said, his patience finally running out. "I'm pulling the plug on this guy's break."

He bent down and grabbed a heavy sewer lid from the street, lifting it with both hands. The tal scraped loudly against the pavent as he adjusted his grip.

Then he looked up. "Hey, Sparky, catch!"

With a powerful throw, he launched the sewer lid spinning through the air like a giant disc. It cut through the space between them at high speed and struck gawatt directly in the center.

Then, gawatt split cleanly into two halves.

Both halves hovered in place for a second, flickering slightly as if unsure what had just happened.

The two halves began to stabilize. Then, instead of collapsing, they reford.

Into two separate gawatts.

Upgrade straightened. "…Huh?"

Both of gawatts turned to look at each other. Then they started laughing.

Upgrade stared. "Okay… so maybe that wasn't a great-"

Before he could finish, Feedback moved.

In a single smooth motion, he stepped forward and planted one foot directly onto Upgrade's head, using him as a springboard. The sudden weight pushed Upgrade slightly into the ground.

"Hey!"

Feedback launched himself upward.

His body arced through the air as his plug-like fingers extended toward one of the two gawatts.

The creature barely had ti to react. Feedback grabbed onto it.

Electricity surged violently for a brief mont as the connection was made.

The yellow glow of the gawatt dimd rapidly as its energy was pulled into Feedback's body. The creature let out a high-pitched screech as its form destabilized, shrinking and flickering uncontrollably.

Within seconds, it completely collapsed. The energy vanished, and the first gawatt was gone.

Feedback landed back on the ground, straightening as the absorbed energy crackled faintly along his body.

He turned his single golden eye toward the remaining gawatt.

The second one froze. Then it let out a panicked scream.

Without hesitation, it turned and shot away down the street as fast as it could, no longer laughing, no longer playing around.

A red flash burst behind him as Ben reappeared, the glow fading just as quickly as it ca. Feedback tilted his head slightly, glancing back over his shoulder at him, then reached up and tapped the Omnitrix dial without hesitation.

"Fasttrack."

The transformation hit instantly.

In a burst of golden light, his body shifted, and before anyone could say another word, his foot stomped on the ground, launched forward, tearing down the street after the fleeing gawatt.

The electric creature darted ahead, zigzagging between broken streetlights and snapped power lines, but Fasttrack closed the distance quickly, his footsteps barely touching the ground as he accelerated.

Behind Ben, the sound of an engine roared to life.

A large truck ca barreling down the road, its cargo rattling loudly in the back. Strapped onto it was the World's Largest Thermoter, swaying slightly with the speed.

Ben turned just in ti to see it stop in front of him.

"Whoa!"

The passenger door swung open as Gwen leaned out. "Get in, quick!"

Max was behind the wheel, Ben didn't waste ti. He grabbed the door and pulled himself inside in one smooth motion, slamming it shut behind him as the truck kept moving.

"Wait," Max said, glancing briefly at him. "Where's Evan?"

Ben pointed straight ahead. "He turned into Fasttrack and went after gawatt."

Max nodded once, eyes returning to the road.

"Good. Then let's make sure this ends properly."

Ben looked at him, confused. "Grandpa, what are you doing?"

Max's expression sharpened slightly as he pressed harder on the gas. "Giving this sparkler a science lesson it won't forget."

The truck surged forward.

Up ahead, Fasttrack finally caught up.

He leaned into his speed, then swung a punch straight at gawatt, connecting cleanly and sending the small lightning creature tumbling through the air. It bounced once across the dirt in a flicker of yellow energy before stabilizing itself again.

It hovered in place for a second. Then it realized sothing. This wasn't Feedback. And the fear it had before vanished.

A mischievous grin spread across its flickering form as it let out a sharp, crackling laugh.

Instead of running, it rushed back toward Fasttrack, darting around him in tight loops, trying to get close enough to ss with him again now that it knew he couldn't absorb it.

Fasttrack narrowed his eyes slightly as he tracked its movents, his body shifting with quick, precise steps.

"Yeah, I figured you'd try that."

The mont gawatt lunged in closer, Fasttrack's hand shot up, and his other hand slamd the Omnitrix dial on his chest.

A golden flash exploded outward.

The sudden brightness forced gawatt to recoil, its small hands raised as it instinctively shielded its eyes.

Out of the fading light, a familiar silhouette erged.

Feedback's plug-like fingers extended forward, grabbing gawatt directly. The mont contact was made, Feedback began draining.

Energy surged violently between them as gawatt let out a loud, panicked scream, its body rapidly destabilizing under the pull. The bright yellow glow dimd, shrinking and flickering uncontrollably as its power was stripped away.

Within seconds, there was nothing left. The final gawatt vanished completely.

Feedback straightened, faint traces of electricity crackling along his body as he turned toward the approaching truck.

The vehicle slowed, tires screeching slightly as Max brought it to a controlled stop a short distance away.

Feedback reached up and tapped the Omnitrix again. The transformation reversed in a brief flash, returning him to Evan.

As the glow faded, Evan lowered his arm and walked toward the truck.

The doors opened, and Max, Gwen, and Ben stepped out, all looking relieved now that the chaos had finally been dealt with.

Ben crossed his arms, trying to act casual despite everything.

"Okay," he said, glancing at Evan. "That was pretty cool."

Gwen smirked slightly. "Pretty cool? He basically carries you, doofus."

Ben shot her a look. "Hey, I helped."

Max just smiled, clearly satisfied as he looked between them and then back at the now-quiet street.

"Well," he said, "I'd say that's one crisis taken care of."