What Ben Is Made Of Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Ben 10 parody: Tier 1

Chapter 1  https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-ben-is-made-30122947 

Chapter 2 Grandma Verdona Explains It All

Max was still missing and presumed dead. The official report was he sacrificed himself taking down a Highbreed base. Since there was no body, the Tennyson cousins wanted to believe he was still alive. Ben had tried to find him with his magic, but with no luck, ironic with the charm of luck on his side.

Kevin told him if he did survive he would be in the Null Void, and that wasn’t a place easy to track. “If Max is there, he’ll survive and find a way back, have faith.” Ben hugged him.

“Thank you, Kevin.” The main problem was the Highbreed, they were up to something and were adamant on claiming this planet. Cooper was keeping an eye out, scanning for any strange weather or unusual activity, while preparing for war.

Manny, Helen, and Pierce were traveling, chasing down leads, looking for other Plumber's kids. Alan was keeping watch of his area but was on call if they needed help. Ben was also wearing himself out, Gwen thought it was because of their grandpa, and while that was part of it, he was also struggling with his dreams.

Kevin had enough and decided they needed some downtime. Gwen had the perfect place in mind, Grandpa Max’s secret fishing spot. Ben was watching Kevin, having a water war with Gwen as one of her aliens Brainstorm.

The raven-haired teen was unintentionally making things harder for Ben, one thing in particular. His swim trunks weren’t overly erotic or sexy, but the guy’s muscles were wet and glistening in the sun. Not to mention the way Kevin’s wet swimsuit clung to him in all the right ways.

Ben sighed. He didn’t know what to think or what to say. How could he tell Kevin he liked him in that special way, wanted to have sex with him, but also wanted to fool around with Cooper, Alan, Manny, even Pierce. A part of him didn’t see a problem with it as his dreams showed he wanted to be with Kevin and them at the same time. He was torn. ‘What is wrong with me?’

“I thought this place might cheer Ben up, Grandpa Max brought us here every summer.”

“Ben seems to have a lot on his mind.” Kevin crossed his arms. “Hey Ben, are you swimming or what?”

“Y-yeah,” Ben jumped in and dove deep underwater hoping the cold water would soothe the heat in his loins. While Ben was underwater Gwen reverted back to human form.

“Come on Gwen spill it, you have to know what’s going on with him,” Kevin asked her.

“I don’t know a lot, Ben’s mentioned some dreams that were bothering him. I thought he was having nightmares about Grandpa, so I told him they were just dreams.”

“Dreams…?” Kevin blushed, something crossing his mind. “Hey, I thought you said this was a private fishing spot.”

“It is...” she looked at Kevin, who was looking away.

“Then who is that?” a mysterious robbed figure was moving around and seemed to be leaving something by a tree.

“Hey!” Gwen called out. The figure stood up. Gwen ran at the mystery person. Kevin absorbed the nearby rock and charged at them as well. The figure simply laughed and disappeared behind the tree.

Ben came up and saw them by a nearby tree. “What’s going on guys?” there was withered flowers at the base of the tree.

“What do you make of this?” Gwen pointed at a mark in the tree. “Max + Verdona forever”

“Let’s ask them.” Ben picked up one of the flowers and tried to track them using his mana, but something wasn’t working. “I thought I had that move down.”

Looks like they had a case, and the trio was on stakeout duty. “Why am I in the back seat again?” Gwen huffed.

“My car, my rules, Benji gets shotgun.” Said boy was staring out the window in a daze.

“Everything okay Ben?” she asked.

“Yeah...” Gwen and Kevin shared a look.

“You hungry, we could grab a bite to eat?” She asked again.

“Yeah...” he spoke in the same robotic response.

“You worried about the Highbreed?”

“Yeah...” Gwen was ready to pull her hair out, she kept asking Ben questions and just getting the same weak yeah.

“Want me to strip naked and give you a lap dance?” Kevin asked.

“Yea...wait what?” Ben blushed.

“Kevin!” Gwen gasped.

“What? Snapped him out of it, I was only half-joking.”

Gwen narrowed her eyes at him. “Doesn’t that mean you were half-serious?” Kevin chuckled and looked away.

“I’m uhh gonna get some air.” Ben left the car, and Kevin groaned, banging his head against the steering wheel.

“Kevin, if you like Ben why don’t you ask him out?”

“What?” Kevin gasped.

“I’m not blind or dumb, I can see how you look at him.”

“He’s my friend.”

“And the pet name?”

“So what?” he crossed his arms. “It’s just a nickname!”

“Fine, play dumb, but don’t come crying to me when someone else comes along and sweeps Ben off his feet.”

Kevin was about to say something when their mystery person showed back up. They got out of the car, Gwen transformed into Jetray and flew at the mystery figure. Jetray was able to fire energy beams through her eyes and tail.

“Who are you?” Kevin asked.

“How do you know Max Tennyson?”

“Go away!” the woman said, a pink light blasted the two away. Her hood rolled back revealing an elderly woman with white hair and blue eyes. Jetray was back on her, but she floated up and began a chase between them. The mystery woman was flying over the water with Gwen hot on her heels. “Oohh a chase, I haven’t had a good chase in ages.”

Gwen sped up and managed to cut the woman off, only for her to effortlessly change course. “Try this,” she aimed her tail at her and fired an energy blast. The attack caused a huge dust cloud to form but the mystery woman was unharmed. “Who are you?”

The woman’s laughed and floated about until she bumped into Kevin. He grabbed her. “Now talk!”

“I don’t think so,” she summoned energy tentacles which grabbed Kevin and tossed him aside, her eyes glowed and Jetray’s energy was caught in a bubble, that grew and grew. Gwen tried to break the bubble with some eye beams, only for...BOOM!

“Gwen!” Kevin turned his arms into blades and charged at the woman. She blocked him with pink energy. With a twirl of her hand, she created a swirl of energy that caught Kevin and Gwen and took them for a spin before slamming them down into the lake.

The two groaned, as Kevin lost his armor and Gwen reverted back to human form. “This planet would be a whole lot tolerable without imps like you getting in my way.” her hands glowed.

“Yeah...show us what you got!” Kevin didn’t back down.

The woman launched the pink energy at the two...boom!

When the smoke cleared the older woman gasped as the two were protected by a barrier of energy. “Leave them alone!” Ben was in full Lucky Boy attire, his eyes glowing a brilliant green. “Do that again.”

“Gladly!” Ben launched a barrage of mana bolts only for them to be negated.

“Incredible!” the woman’s eyes widened.

“Try this,” Ben forged the mana and made it into a whip. “Hiyah!”

The woman blocked Ben’s whip with her energy and dispelled it. “I can’t believe it!”

“Haa!” Ben’s charm of Aquakinesis glowed and he was able to make the water form chains to bind the woman.

“Are you guys okay?” he received a nod from the two. “Who do you think you are littering my Grandpa’s cove with those weird flowers.”

“Flowers she makes out of energy.” Ben’s eyes widen.

“No way!” The water chains dissolve and the woman floats down to the ground.

“Did you say Max was your grandfather?” Ben nodded. “Kiddo!” she hugged him.

“Hey, he’s my grandpa too.” Gwen pointed out.

She raised a brow at her. “Really, and can you manipulate mana like your brother?”

“Cousin...and no...”

“A shame,” she looked back at Ben and looked him over. “My my, you’ve even managed to do vessel creation and mana forging.” She smiled at him. “Benjamin, I’m Verdona, we have much to discuss.” In a flash of light, she was gone.

“I think we just met our grandmother!” Gwen said in a stupor.

Ben wanted some answers and the only place to get it was home. His mom was out shopping, she had read an article in a magazine and now she was off to restock the house with tofu, all-natural veggies, and who knows what else. “Dad, can we talk?”

He brought his father to his room and showed him everything, his mana, his spellbook, the charms, his rock creatures. “So you did inherit the spark.” he wasn’t even shocked.

“Dad...you knew?” He had asked his father to sit down and everything.

“Kinda, what you call magic, well it's complicated. We...are part alien, your grandmother is an alien called an anodite.”

“What…?” he had to sit. “Dad...can you use magic too?”

“Not exactly, I was always good at sensing things, but no.”

“Does mom know?”

“She knows, she doesn’t care, she loves our family.”

“I don’t believe this, I’m an alien...how come you’ve never told me?”

“Well your mother and I talked about it, and we thought if you didn’t have the spark you could live a normal life, and if you did have it, you are a good kid, we trusted you to make good choices.” He crossed his arms. “I was afraid this day might come, but you never showed any sign of having powers. I was never...happy with dad’s plumber life, his secrets, putting the job often before the family, but I wanted you to make your own choices.”

“Okay, I’m overloading on questions but first,” Ben looked out his window. “Guys come inside, I know you're out there.” Gwen and Kevin had been listening in.

“Gwendolyn good to see you.”

“Hey, Uncle Carl.”

“Uhh Hello, sir...Kevin Levin...” Kevin greeted.

Carl stared at him hard, making Kevin very nervous. “Who’s this Ben, your boyfriend?” he asked making the two blush.

“Dad!” Ben gasped but not really denying it. “Kevin and I are just...” he didn’t know what they were. “Never mind, I met Grandma Verdona today, and I feel like she wants something from me but I don’t know what?”

“Let’s ask her, your friends aren’t the only ones who like eavesdropping, isn’t that right Mom?”

“Oh Carl, you could always tell when I was watching.” Verdona appeared in the room. “I had hoped you had the spark, but nope.” she snapped her fingers and the group was teleported downstairs, just as Ben’s mother arrived.

She gasped and dropped her groceries, eggs and other breakables becoming a mess on the floor. “Verdona what a surprise!” Sandra smiled.

Verdona’s eyes glowed and all the wrecked groceries were fixed in an instant, not only that with a wave of her hands everything was put away. “Wow, you are always such a help around the house.”

“It is nice seeing you too Sandra dear, but first I’d like to talk about Ben.”

“I’ll make some tea, how about some sweets for the occasion.” Everyone sat in the living room surrounding a plate of cookies and some warm tea.

“It’s good seeing you mom, it has been quite a while,” Carl said, pouring her some tea.

“In human years maybe,” she took a sip. “Ben, I am an anodite and so are you.”

“What’s an anodite?” Ben asked.

“We are a race of beings made up of pure energy. We are free spirits with fantastical powers, we often don’t interfere in the affairs of other worlds. There have been those who have a connection to the spark, able to do what you call magic. I believe you have the charms of the man who had visited our homeworld many many years ago.”

“Bezel? You met Bezel?”

“Not personally no, but I knew of him, a nice man had a wonderful sense of humor.” She chuckled. “He learned a lot from us, and sought to do good in the universe with his gifts.”

“Sounds a lot like Ben.” Gwen pointed out.

“It wasn’t that long ago I met a wonderful man myself, a man with such a spark he should have been an anodite.”

“And ditched him!” Kevin said and got elbowed by Gwen.

“It wasn’t like that, once the kids were grown and out of the house, I went to reconnect with my anodite roots. While Max ventured forth, saving the universe with the plumbers.”

“You knew?” Carl gasped. “Dad thought you didn’t know.”

“He didn’t want me to worry, sweet man.” she sipped her tea. “It’s why he didn’t drag you boys into it, being a plumber was his choice.” Carl sighed. “Max was so full of life and spirit, we still loved each other, but I continued to grow restless. Max understood how anodite love was and we had a lot of good years together.”

“What do you mean anodite love?”

“Hmm, it's hard to explain in human terms but I’ll try. You see anodites are drawn to one’s spark, their soul, their mana. While mana exists in all things, every person’s mana is unique, the way it moves and flows, the intensity. You can tell a lot about a person by how they’ve shaped their own mana.” she sat her cup down. “We anodites connect through the spark, our instincts are never wrong, people grow and change and so with it their mana, but being with someone we have a connection to is never wrong, and the time we spend with each of our mates no matter how long or short is treasured.”

“Mates...as in plural...” Gwen gasped. “But that...I mean...” Verdona’s eyes glowed and Gwen got tape put on her mouth.

“It is hard for humans to understand, but Max did. He shared his love equally as an anodite would. He was such a charming man, it was nearly impossible not to fall for him.” She drifted off, thinking about things that neither her son or grandchildren wanted to know about. Ben and Gwen remembered a female alien who knew Max and they did seem...close…now they knew why.

Verdona had heard of Max’s fate and had come back to Earth to remember the good times. “I had no idea there was a budding anodite.” Ben was shaken.

“Is this why I’ve been having those dreams and why I feel the way I do!” Ben’s mana flared.

“Easy kiddo, I’m sorry, I should have been around to help explain things to you. Your powers may have been developing but you haven’t connected with your roots.” she stood up and took Ben’s hands. “Come with me to Anodyne, I can help train you to teach you and help you understand who you are.”

“Leave...but I can’t leave...there is trouble on Earth, we’ve been fighting aliens and bad guys trying to keep Earth safe.” This revelation came as a shock to his parents. Sandra wasn’t happy with the secret-keeping, but she knew Ben was a good boy, and he was helping people. “Mom...Dad...what should I do?”

“Well I don’t know, it wasn’t something I had the opportunity to experience.”

“Ben we always wanted what’s best for you. It didn’t matter if you were human or alien, to us you will always be our son. We want you to be happy.”

“We won’t stand in your way Ben,” Carl said, and the two hugged him. Kevin was quiet and Verdona finally removed the tape off Gwen’s mouth.

“Then its settled, come on sweetie.”

Ben ran off, heading to his room quickly followed by Kevin. “Let me...” Gwen followed after them.

-x-

Ben looked around his room, his collection of hero stuff, posters and trinkets about magic. Ship had returned, the little scamp, and cuddled up to Ben. “What are you thinking?” Kevin asked.

“I’m thinking...this isn’t how I thought my day was gonna go.”

“Something has been on your mind for a while, and I think Verdona just gave you a piece to the puzzle.”

“It's kinda cool you learned about your powers, Grandma could teach you to do all the stuff she can do. The anodites even taught Bezel that’s pretty awesome.” Gwen said trying to be positive.

“I’d be gone for a long time.”

“Maybe forever...” Kevin said, not happy about this in the slightest.

“I’ve always felt different like I was an outsider in school. I just told myself hey that’s high school for ya.” Ben looked at Kevin and thought about his dreams. “Maybe its best if I go, so I can figure things out.” Kevin’s hand tightened up into a fist.

“We’ll miss you if you go,” Gwen said.

“Really?” Ben smiled. “What about the mission?”

“We have been recruiting more and more plumber kids. We’d still have a pretty powerful team.”

“Oh...”

“Ben when I was thinking about giving up the Omnitrix, trying to decide if I wanted to have a normal life or not, you told me it was my choice. That’s all I’m saying.” she patted his shoulder. Gwen was looking at the positives of this, Ben becoming a cosmic mana master, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“Gwen, can you give us a minute?” Kevin asked her.

“Uhh sure, be supportive!” Gwen whispered the last part to him.

“I don’t want you to go, it might seem selfish of me, but I want you around.”

“Kevin...” Ben was surprised.

“If you decide to go, I may never see you again. There is something I need you to know.” he looked so serious. “During my time in the null void, you were the one I always thought about. Thinking of you helped me from falling too far, I wanted to be better, and working with you has been the best part of my life.”

Ben was surprised to hear this. “I don’t want to lose you, Ben I...” he gulped. “I’m in love with you.”

“Kevin!” Ben gasped feeling his heart skip a beat.

“I’m not telling you this to make you stay, I need you to know. If you decide to go, I’ll wait for you.

“You shouldn’t wait for me Kevin, you shouldn’t love me, I...I’m messed up. Now I know why I am, but it's still messed up. I’ve been having these dreams and...Kevin!” Kevin grabbed him by the shoulders.

“I don’t care, I’m messed up too. Benji, I love you!” Ben’s eyes got wet with tears.

“Kevin, I love you too.” they came together, lips pressing in a slopping but beautiful kiss.

“Ship ship ship!” the kiss broke as Ship had been caught between them.

“Sorry Ship,” they pulled back blushing. Kevin brushed away Ben’s tears. “Thank you, Kevin,” Ben kissed his cheek and hugged him.

-x-

Verdona was playing music from Max’s favorite band. “Sorry Junior, there was nothing I could teach you, you didn’t have the power.”

“Mom you taught me plenty, you and dad both.”

“You know what I mean, I even came back when the grandkids were born, but nothing doing. It seems I was wrong though.”

“Mom, if I had a complaint, I wish you had been around more for Ken, Gwen, and Ben growing up. Even if they didn’t have the spark you were family.”

“Maybe your right, I can make it up to Ben when he comes to anodyne!” she said.

Ben came down and not with good news, for her. “I’m sorry Grandma, but I’ve decided to stay on Earth with my friends.”

With a snap of the fingers, the music stopped. “But kiddo, you don’t even know what you are. I could feel it in your mana you’ve been struggling for some time.”

“I know, but I think I can figure it out on my own.” Verdona dropped her disguise and revealed her true form. Mature anodites are pure energy able to draw from the mana around them.

“You are just too young to make up your own mind, I’ll destroy your body and free the anodite inside. It’ll be fun, and you’ll be able to think much clearer.” Ben’s eyes widened.

“Mom!” Carl shouted.

“Grandma he said no!” Gwen got in front of him as did Kevin.

“Another dance then?” Anodites loved to party, even a rumble or brawl was a party to them. She blasted them outside through the wall. Ship growled at her and shot energy beams at her. “How cute!” She trapped him in a box of mana.

She fired another blast at the trio only for Ben to shield them with mana. Ben created a bow and arrow out of mana and opened fire, Verdona caught it with her flowing hair of mana and broke the arrow. “Ben stay back!”

“Hit the road, Kevin.” Kevin looked confused then realized he could absorb the rock from the road to armor up. He ripped the road up and through the blocks at Verdona.

Gwen turned into Spidermonkey. Ben blocked Verdona with mana, only to have it peeled apart. Gwen pulled him back with some webbing. Ben freed Ship, who turned into a plumber gun it had seen in the attic.

“Nice!” Kevin used him and blasted Verdona back. Ben and Gwen were pushing her back with hand to hand combat.

“She’s weakening!” Ben hit her with fire and lightning and got her to the ground, where Spidermonkey was able to web her up. Kevin picked up a huge rock.

“Uhh guys, I don’t think I can crush your grandma.”

“It's fine, we are teaching her to mind her mana.” Gwen laughed.

Verdona chuckled. “Good one Gwen.”

“Was not.” Verdona broke free of the webs and floated into the air. Mana began to get pulled from everything around them and Verdona absorbed it.

“I’m really having fun now!” She smashed Kevin into the ground. “I should get out more often.” She took Spidermonkey’s webs and tied Gwen up with them. “Don’t worry sweetie, once this is over I’ll teach you to make a new body any kind you like.” Ben turned invisible and avoided her grasp. “Clever boy!”

Ben had the tree in their yard grab Verdona. “Nope, Lucky Boy!” he hit her with water and twisted it to become a grand tsunami. Verdona escaped and the two clashed with mana, but Ben was losing fast, Verdona was simply more experienced, able to send Ben’s mana back at him only stronger.

His charms were helping him keep up but it was clear who was gonna win this fight. “Grandma Versona listen to me!” She stopped. “I like my life here, I like fighting monsters, and spending time with my friends.”

“Anodites help many worlds, once you’ve mastered your powers you can do anything you want, 60 or 70 years or so.” she floated over to him. “You’ll be around people who understand you, and help guide you through your changes.”

“Yes I’ve been confused and struggling but that’s because I didn’t have anyone here who could explain these things to me.” Verdona had a hurt expression on her face at that. “You should understand you loved Grandpa Max.”

“I was just a kid having some fun, trust me, grown-up parties are way better.”

“Grandma Verdona, you can’t fool me, you miss it, you miss your family, you miss Max.”

“He was special, he had a spark all his own, an adventurer, trouble maker, he was a lot like your special friend Kevin.” Ben blushed. “He means a lot to you doesn’t he, you’ve been dreaming about him yes?”

“I have...and others...” he twiddled his fingers. “Its been really confusing.”

“My you are lucky aren’t you, let me tell you a secret. When anodites dream, it can be so intense it feels real. That’s because it is, when your spark connects to someone else, you’ll often share dreams.”

“Wait, so my dreams with Kevin, he’s been...you’ve been...” Kevin blushed.

“I may have had a couple dozen dreams of us together and with other guys.” Verdona laughed.

“You’ve certainly found someone special Ben. I think he’ll be able to help you sort things out.” Verdona could teach him all new kinds of powers, which would be great, but he still wanted to stay. “You’ve developed well without formal training, I think I’ve forgotten what it means to be with family.”

She snapped her fingers and everything was put back to normal. “Gwen, good job sticking up for your cousin, you are a sweet girl.”

“Thanks, Grandma.” The two hug.

“Kevin, I’m leaving Ben with you, I hope you understand if you hurt him...well...you wouldn’t want to make an energy being angry, would you?”

“No ma’am!” he gulped.

“Be sure to have some fun kiddo, I’ll be dropping in more and reconnect with my family.” she flew off.

“Ben, aren’t you gonna introduce us to your ruffian friend?” Carl asked.

“Mom Dad, this is Kevin, we just started dating I guess.” the two blushed and Gwen gasped.

“I knew it!”

“Ohh you are the Kevin Levin Ben talked about, he really is quite handsome,” Sandra said.

“Mom!” Ben facepalmed. Sandra was already inviting Kevin to dinner. It was the start of something new, they had a lot to talk about and work through. Ben was sure they would find away.

To be continued