It was the dead of night, and the girls were out by the lake.
Well, strictly speaking, only Ben was actually swimming; Gwen was just sitting securely on the shoreline, watching her.
“Cannonball!”
Ben launched herself into the air, hitting the water with a massive splash.
Popping back up, she cheered, “Oh yeah!
A perfect ten out of ten!”
Watching her cousin amuse herself, Gwen couldn’t help but deadpanned, “More like a perfect ten out of ten mega-dweeb.”
You might wonder why Blake hadn’t joined them.
To put it simply, there wasn’t anything particularly fun for him to do out here, nor was there anything to see.
Right now, Ben was splashing around the water wearing a pair of loose swim trunks and a tight, athletic swim top.
She was shouting and having a grand old time.
Blake had caught a glimpse of her outfit earlier, but it hadn’t elicited much of a reaction from him.
After all, her lower half was dressed in boy’s clothes, she usually wore boy’s clothes, and his lifelong memory of the franchise firmly dictated that Ben Tennyson was male.
He barely registered any difference.
Perhaps that perception would change down the road, but certainly not tonight.
Right now, Ben was still just a loud, brash, rough-around-the-edges tomboy.
“Ben?”
Gwen’s eyes scanned the lake, growing a bit worried when her cousin failed to resurface after a prolonged dive.
The very next second, a massive silhouette completely draped in dripping lake weeds erupted from the water, sending a terrified Gwen scrambling backward in retreat.
Looking closer, however, Gwen noticed the monster’s eyes looked suspiciously like Four Arms’.
She immediately pieced it together.
“Ben!”
Realizing she had scared her cousin half to death, Ben burst out laughing, dropping the weeds.
“You should have seen the look on your face!
It was absolutely priceless!”
Fuming with irritation, Gwen stood up, brushing the dirt off her pants.
She spun on her heel and marched away.
“Just wait until I tell Grandpa.
You are so grounded.”
Ben didn’t believe for a second that Gwen would actually snitch.
She chuckled, shouting after her, “I can’t believe she bought that!
A giant lake monster?
Man, you are such a pushover!”
The words had barely left her mouth when a colossal, genuinely terrifying silhouette rose from the dark water directly behind her.
Before Ben could even register the danger, a massive appendage slammed down, throwing her violently back into the lake.
Finding herself entirely outmatched, Ben swam for her life.
The creature didn’t pursue her as she scrambled onto the shore and sprinted all the way back to the safety of the Rust Bucket.
She threw the door open, panting heavily as she addressed the cabin.
“I…
I just got…
attacked by a sea monster!
A seriously massive lake monster!”
Unsurprisingly, nobody bought her story.
Her dramatic entrance only succeeded in waking Blake up from a sound sleep.
Gwen promptly tossed a pillow directly at Ben’s face.
“Oh, please.
Give it a rest, Ben.
Stop pulling these stupid pranks.”
“But I’m telling the truth!
It was real!”
Grandpa Max, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, finally cut in.
“Alright, that’s enough fighting.
Everyone, get some sleep.
Remember, we have to wake up early tomorrow to catch a boat out onto the lake for our fishing trip.”
Right as he finished speaking, the Omnitrix on Ben’s wrist suddenly started beeping, losing its charge completely.
Caught off guard by the sudden drain, her knees buckled, and she nearly tumbled backward out of the RV door.
Fortunately, Blake reached out, his hand firmly gripping her wrist to steady her.
“Come on inside and get some rest.”
As Blake pulled her back into the vehicle, Ben’s mind was still racing with images of the creature.
She looked down, her shoulders slumping in disappointment.
“You don’t believe me either, do you?
But it was really there!
A giant lake monster!”
Blake had wanted to explain the situation to her, but he was simply too exhausted to formulate a coherent thought.
Swaying slightly on his feet, he trudged back toward the couch.
“I believe you, Ben.
Let’s just get some sleep for now.
I’ll go check it out with you tomorrow.”
Hearing his words, Ben swallowed her remaining arguments.
She quietly changed into her pajamas and climbed into her bunk to sleep.
The following morning, the group walked down toward the docks.
Ben kept insisting, “I’m serious, Grandpa!
Its eyes were literally glowing!”
Aside from Blake, no one was taking her claims seriously.
Grandpa Max offered a reassuring pat on her shoulder.
“I’m sure it was just a exceptionally large fish, Ben.”
As they walked past the bait shop, Ben spotted a bucket overflowing with squirming nightcrawlers.
Grabbing a massive handful of the worms, she thrust them directly into Gwen’s face.
“Care for some breakfast?”
Gwen leaped backward, pointing an accusing finger at the squirming mass.
“Ben, that is absolutely repulsive!
Why on earth did they prepare a giant bucket of worms anyway?”
Grandpa Max offered a succinct answer: “Bait.”
Hearing that, Gwen planted her feet firmly on the dock.
“You know what?
I think I’m going to pass on the whole fishing experience.
I’d much rather stay on the shore and work on my tan.”
After granting her permission, Grandpa Max turned his attention to a noticeably drowsy Blake.
“Blake, how about you?
Are you joining us?”
Still half-asleep, Blake was prepared to shake his head and stay on the shore to rest, but his eyes locked onto Ben, who was giving him a desperate, pleading look that practically screamed, *Please come with me!*
He knew that if there was no one on that boat to keep her company, she would die of absolute boredom.
“Count me in,” Blake sighed.
Finding himself with no other choice, Blake climbed aboard the “pirate ship.”
Once the boat set sail, Blake leaned back against his seat to catch up on his sleep, while Grandpa Max struck up a conversation with the captain.
“So, Captain, how’s the fishing looking today?” Max asked.
“Better than you can possibly imagine,” Captain Shaw replied, steering the wheel.
He glanced over his shoulder.
“Though it looks like your granddaughter is using her own breakfast as bait.”
Hearing the captain’s comment, Max walked over and patted Ben’s back affectionately.
“Are you doing alright, Ben?”
Ben snapped out of her daze, looking up at her grandfather.
“I’m fine, Grandpa.
I’m just keeping an eye out for the lake monster.”
Right at that moment, her eyes caught a massive shape breaching the water in the distance.
She leaped up, pointing toward the bow.
“There it is!
It’s here!”
Her sudden shout startled Blake out of his nap.
He bolted upright, narrowing his eyes at the horizon.
As it turned out, the “monster” was nothing more than a tangled heap of floating garbage.
A thoroughly embarrassed Ben mumbled a quick apology.
Seeing that she was completely obsessed with the creature, Grandpa Max sighed.
“Ben, we came out here to catch fish, not to hunt down mythical monsters.”
“Its name is the Kraken,” Captain Shaw interjected.
He pulled a weathered photograph from his jacket and handed it to Ben.
“I’ve been hunting that beast for years.
The people in town all think I’m a lunatic.
But folks have been spotting it in this lake for hundreds of years.
Some say it’s just a myth, but I know better.
I can take you right to its feeding grounds, but you’d better have the spine for it.”
Ben’s eyes practically turned into twin stars as she looked at her grandfather.
Seeing her unbridled excitement, Max had no choice but to agree.
A bit later, out of the captain’s earshot, Max quietly warned Ben that Shaw seemed a bit unhinged, but Ben wasn’t listening to a word of it.
However, their expedition hit a literal wall.
The waters leading to the Kraken’s territory had been completely cordoned off by the Friends of Fish Association.
A patrol boat intercepted them, issuing a stern warning to turn back.
Left with no other choice, Captain Shaw steered the boat around.
Ben glared at the patrol boat, thoroughly displeased.
“Hey!
What about the lake monster?”
Hearing her, one of the enforcement officers burst out laughing.
“Haha!
A lake monster?
Kid, I’m a certified marine biologist.
If anyone tells you they’ve seen a monster in this lake, they are completely pulling your leg.”
With that parting remark, the patrol boat sped off, leaving a pouting Ben staring after them.
But on their return trip, the captain’s sonar suddenly went haywire.
The Kraken had caught their scent and was closing in fast.
“It found us!” Captain Shaw bellowed.
A massive, jagged horn broke the surface of the water, tearing directly toward the docks.
The sheer displacement of water caused the captain’s boat to rock violently from side to side.
Grandpa Max immediately grabbed Ben to keep her from being thrown overboard.
Blake, possessing a much better sense of balance, managed to keep his footing without any trouble.
Within seconds, the Kraken breached, completely obliterating the wooden dock with a single snap of its jaws, sending terrified tourists plunging into the water.
Seeing the chaos, Grandpa Max quickly distracted the captain, then looked down at Ben.
“We need to get those people out of the water.”
Without a word, Ben dove straight over the railing.
She pulled up the interface, cycling the dial to Ripjaws – the perfect form for breathing and moving freely underwater.
(Ripjaws, let’s do this!)
She slammed her hand down onto the faceplate, but the mechanical variance kicked in, ruining her selection.
Finding herself transformed into XLR8 instead, Ben groaned.
“Hey!
I wanted Ripjaws, not the speed demon!
Stupid watch!”
Blake didn’t hesitate either.
Ducking out of the captain’s line of sight, he dove into the water from the opposite side of the boat.
With a precise tap, he successfully transformed into Ripjaws and swam to the rescue, quickly hauling the drowning tourists back onto the shore.
Unfortunately, during the frantic rescue, a few panicked swimmers mistook his terrifying appearance for the Kraken’s offspring, delivering several sharp elbows to his face before they realized he was helping.
“Hey!
I’m trying to save your life here!” Blake grunted underwater.
Meanwhile, Ben was dealing with the Kraken itself.
Utilizing XLR8’s extreme velocity, she ran in tight circles across the surface of the lake, generating a massive aquatic vortex that successfully disoriented and drove the sea beast back into the depths.
After a few brief words of gratitude from the survivors, Ben noticed the flashing red light on her chest.
Her transformation time was running dangerously low.
She immediately turned and sprinted across the water toward the captain’s boat.
(Almost there…
I can make it!)
Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out.
The momentum carried her forward, but mid-stride her transformation expired, causing her to skip across the surface of the water like a flat pebble before plunging into the lake near the hull.
As she bobbed in the water, she suddenly felt something wrap firmly around her ankle.
Terrified that the Kraken had returned, she opened her mouth to scream, but a large webbed hand quickly muffled her.
“Don’t panic, it’s just me.”
“Blake?”
Recognizing Blake’s Ripjaws form, Ben let out a massive sigh of relief.
She relaxed, allowing him to lift and push her safely up onto the boat’s deck.
Once she was secure, Blake swam back toward a secluded stretch of the shoreline to wait out his own countdown.
That evening, a damp Ben sat huddled in a thick blanket inside the Rust Bucket, shivering slightly.
“See?
I told you so!
There really is a lake monster.
Captain Shaw and I were right all along!”
Grandpa Max, however, still harbored deep reservations about the man.
He looked at Ben sternly.
“Just because the creature he’s hunting happens to be real doesn’t mean that man is mentally stable, Ben.
I want you to stay far away from him.
He’s nothing but trouble.”
Ben crossed her arms, stubborn as always.
“You’re just being stubborn because you don’t want to admit you were wrong.”
Watching the exchange from the sidelines, Blake felt a strange, lingering sense of unease.
Given Ben’s current physical age, she fell right into the bracket between a young girl and a developing teenager.
A young girl running off to sneak onto an eccentric older man’s boat?
The premise triggered a vivid memory of a specific thriller movie Blake had watched in his previous life, causing a cold shiver to run down his spine.
Realizing his intervention might be necessary, Blake stood up and sat down on the bench right next to Ben.
“Ben, I actually agree with your grandpa.
There is definitely something off about that captain.
If you’re absolutely set on going out there again, let me come with you.”
“What’s wrong with the cap-”
Ben spun her head around, fully prepared to defend Captain Shaw, but the words died in her throat.
Blake was sitting incredibly close to her, his dark eyes looking down at her with an expression of pure, protective indulgence.
She found herself utterly unable to argue.
Seeing her suddenly fall silent, Blake assumed she was just tuning him out and would inevitably sneak off to meet the captain anyway, just like in the original timeline.
He let out a soft sigh of resignation and prepared to stand back up.
However, seeing Blake look so disappointed (though he was really just tired), Ben panicked.
She quickly reached out, grabbing his sleeve and mumbling under her breath, “Fine…
he is a little weird…
But!
But…”
She swallowed hard, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“But you have to promise to come with me!”
The moment the words left her mouth, a fierce crimson blush consumed her entire face.
It was impossible to tell whether she was turning red from a budding cold or from pure embarrassment.
The entire cabin fell into a dead, stunned silence.
Grandpa Max was completely flabbergasted, his internal monologue screaming: *(Are you kidding me?
I just spent twenty minutes lecturing my own granddaughter to absolutely no avail, but all it takes is one sentence from this boy to change her mind?!)*
Blake was equally caught off guard.
According to the original plot, Ben was supposed to stubbornly ignore all advice, steal away in the dead of night, and sneak onto Shaw’s boat.
How on earth did the timeline pivot to this?
“Uh…
alright?” Blake managed to nod.
Realizing he couldn’t break Ben’s resolve, and seeing that Blake had agreed to supervise her, Grandpa Max gave in.
He walked over and placed a heavy, meaningful hand on Blake’s shoulder.
“I’m leaving my granddaughter in your hands, Blake.
Keep her safe out there.
She’s still incredibly naive, and there are a lot of things about the world she doesn’t understand yet.
Don’t let anyone take advantage of her.”
“???
Uh…
sure…
I understand…”
Blake blinked, finding the phrasing of the old man’s speech incredibly bizarre.
But he quickly dismissed the thought, chalking it up to normal guardian anxieties.
After all, he still viewed Ben as a guy.
“Grandpa!
What are you even saying?!” Ben bolted upright, her face burning hotter as she glared at her grandfather in pure outrage.
“I am not that easy to fool!”
Sitting a few feet away, Gwen had been observing the subtle shift in dynamic between the two.
She let out a long, theatrical sigh, reached over, and pulled her flustered cousin into the adjacent corner, lowering her voice to a sharp whisper.
“Hey, mega-dweeb.
Have you seriously not noticed that he doesn’t even view you as a girl?”