Why Not Me? - Part 5

Disclaimers:
Ben 10 and its respective characters belong to Man of Action.

Author’s Notes:

Like Part Four, I had a hard time writing this. Action scenes break my brain (and quite possibly my reader’s).

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Part Five: I Predict A Riot

Kevin had suggested the female Tennyson reveal her powers in the upcoming match. This might interest Slix enough to personally visit her the way he did when they first arrived. If that ever happened, well, she was to take him hostage or blast his head off.

“Or whatever you feel like doing.” He shrugged when Gwen shot him a look of indignation.

Either way, they’d be able to take control of the ship.

“This plan is so not going to work!” Gwen groaned inwardly as the droids escorted her out of the cell. She was pushed roughly into a caged platform that slowly rose into the stadium.

“Esteemed guests, I have something very special planned for you tonight.” Slix’s oily voice boomed over the speakers. “Our former champion Technorg is disqualified from participating as punishment, having been bested by our new champion!”

Cheers erupted from the stands as Kevin entered, confident and arrogant as always. “But that’s now what makes tonight so special. We all know how hard our gladiators fight to stay alive so why not reward them a little bit?”

Following shortly after Kevin were the rest of the gladiators, wary about what Slix meant by reward.

“Here, we have a little treat for our gladiators: A juvenile human, known to be a delicacy to many races and as an exotic pet to others.”

A spotlight flashed over Gwen and the audience let out a collective “Ooh” of appreciation.

“The first gladiator to reach the human gets to keep this little prize. To do with whatever he wishes. Now doesn’t that sound appealing?”

At this, the shackles and restraints on the gladiators were removed.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Gwen yelled out in disgust.

“Oh but that’s not all. Following the rules of Last One Standing, the champion of the tournament gets to go back home.”

A shriek from an alien impaled by Kevin’s petrosapian hand signaled the start of the match. Instantly the gladiators turned on each other, any camaraderie they’ve shared forgotten, friendships and alliances dissolved for the prize of being able to go home.

Some of the fighters opted to briefly band together to take on Kevin, the biggest obstacle to their freedom.

The dark-haired boy seemed far more pleased than worried at his situation. “Come on! I can take you all on!” he roared, blocking the jab of a mastodon-like creature’s tusks before snapping the bone in half.

But as powerful as Kevin was, he would soon be overwhelmed by their numbers. They piled onto him, stabbing, slashing, trying to draw blood or maim him. Kevin did his best to retaliate but still the blows descended and he knew he couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Damn it, he growled, I’m not going to lose here!

Above the battle cries and sounds of clashing metal, he heard someone calling him. “Kevin! Kevin, are you alright? Answer me!”

“A little busy here!” He snarled from beneath the heap of bodies. He was too focused on keeping himself from getting skewered or bludgeoned by whatever weapon or limb the other gladiators possessed.

As were the rest of the warriors.

Only the audience was witness to the small girl escaping her cage when one of its walls just decided to melt off. Gasps swelled in the stands as the spectators watched in utter amazement as a cyclone formed in the arena with a mere wave of the human’s hand.

Another wave and the twister sucked in several gladiators to deposit them roughly into the stands.

The fighting aliens realized that Gwen herself could prove to be a threat and made a dash for the young girl. But they’d find themselves being pulled in by the ground or having it shoot up from beneath their feet.

When Kevin managed to get his bearings, he charged after the others. The look of fury on his face sent a shiver down Gwen’s spine. The female Tennyson didn’t understand why he was looking so angrily at her of all people. She was only trying to help him while sticking to the plan.

He’s probably mad that I had to help him. Typical guy machismo. She frowned.

Indeed it was partly wounded pride that made Kevin’s blood boil. He wasn’t strong enough to handle things by himself and had needed her help. But what truly flamed his temper was that Gwen using her powers was meant to just be a surprise.

That was it. Nothing big, nothing that could be seen as a liability or anything anyone could consider a threat.

She was now in so much danger because she had tried to help him.

He charged past the others but not without throwing a punch or two from behind. He scooped her into his furred arms, absently noting how light she was and how easily she fit against his massive chest.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He snarled, pyronite arm outreaching to blast a jet of flames at the approaching enemies.

“Sticking to the plan? Duh.” She rolled her eyes, “You said to show my stuff, so I did. And I saved your sorry butt in the process.”

“Making them realize you can kill them wasn’t part of the plan.” He snapped, leaping into the air to narrowly avoid a flurry of strikes.

“But I wasn’t going to kill them.” She reasoned.

“As if they would know. And I thought Ben was the dumb one.”

“I am not dumb!” Her own temper flared, Kevin had hit a nerve with that comment.

“And it looks like our champion has claimed the human!” Slix’s voice declared. “But who shall emerge victorious?”

“You just stay out of my way. I’ll take care of the rest.” Kevin instructed as he lowered Gwen on the other side of the ring.

“What? No way! You saw me out there! I can help you win this thing and then we could just get back home without needing to get to Slix.”

Kevin would hear none of it, “Just shut up and stay put!” he barked before charging at the oncoming opponents.

The young girl was not about to sit idly by, not when this opportunity presented itself. Using a combination of brute force and magical assistance, the two earthlings managed to whittle down the number of their opponents.

Until, at last, only three figures remained.

The earthquake Gwen summoned assured the gelatinous alien’s life as she leapt across the widening crevice to push the fallen gladiator to safety.

“Ugh, this goop is worse than Stinkfly’s.” Gwen gagged, wiping away as much of the alien’s viscous body as she could.

“You didn’t have to save him, you know.” Kevin gruffly muttered, landing behind her.

“I wouldn’t have to save him if you just eased up. He had surrendered.”

As the two bickered, guard droids rolled in to herd the fallen gladiators back to the holding bay, while others appeared to repair the ring.

“Whatever, hey Slix! I’ve won, now send me back home!” Kevin bellowed.

“Ah but that was simply the qualifying round.” The cloaked figure of Slix teleported into the arena. “The actual tournament starts now.”

The owner of the Megacruiser undid his cloak to reveal his true form as a sentient machine. “To get home, you must simply defeat me. Simple, isn’t it?”

“This is too easy. I can take you on in my sleep.” Kevin laughed.

“We shall see.” Slix would have smirked if he was capable of facial expression. Panels in his body lit up and the wall behind Kevin suddenly shot out at him.

“Kevin!” Gwen screamed, racing off after the older boy. A tri-pronged claw painfully clamped down on her arm and drew her against Slix’s cold body.

“I was never aware you humans were capable of such things. It’s a pleasant surprise, if I might add.”

“Oh so now you respect me?” Gwen snapped, struggling to free herself. If she only knew about Slix’s trick, she wouldn’t have cast so many spells before. She could barely stand as it is, let alone summon the energy to free herself.

“No, I just see potential to draw an ever bigger crowd with you. If I weren’t such an honest business man, I’d revoke you as the champion’s prize and have you as one of my new gladiators.”

Another panel glowed on Slix’s, and a wave of guard droids rolled in, each carrying a neural-staff.

“But since I am true to my word, I must dispose of the current champion in order to keep you.” Slix explained, tightening his hold on Gwen’s slender arm.

The young girl grit her teeth, refusing to cry out in pain.

“Those neural-staffs are only meant to stun,” Slix motioned with his other mechanical arm as the droids began to stab at Kevin, “But if enough of them are applied at once, they can completely shut down a creature’s bodily functions.

“For example: Breathing.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Gwen gasped, eyes wide in horror as she watched Kevin battle against the robot guards.

Gwen was not the only one exhausted, she could see Kevin’s speed dying down and his strikes weren’t as strong or accurate. The first of the rods caught him from behind, before another and another and another joined the fray.

Tears stung at the young girl’s eyes as she watched helplessly. This is all my fault, she realized, Slix is going to kill Kevin because of me.

“It’s quite a shame, really. He was such fun to watch. The audience said so in their review forms.” Slix cackled, or a machine’s equivalent of a cackle.

And at that, Gwen snapped.

With her palm facing Slix, the young girl summoned every last ounce of strength she could and cast a spell directly into the sentient machine’s body.

Several light years away from planet Earth, the enormous Megacruiser was at a standstill. It hovered silently, the engines barely humming, as if the entire vehicle had ceased all activity. From the outside, it looked like an innocent cargo transporter was merely undergoing maintenance.

This peaceful illusion was shattered when the hull of the ship exploded.