23rd Times a Charm?

Spill the *Boiling* Tea

Everyone exchanged worried looks, then looked at the only responsible adult on the scene. Well, to be concise, the "second most responsible."

"Hey...Ben. How about we take a walk? The others can figure out our plan." 10k escorted 23 nowhere precisely.

The duo walked for about a few minutes before 23 showed signs of life. He fixed his collar, adjusted his tie, and then cleared his throat to grab the 30-year-old's attention.

"What is it, Bennie? I mean- Ben?"

"I wanna know."

"Yeah, buddy. I know you do. It's just..."

"I don't know how I reacted back then...in the future...This is confusing. Point is...I'm prepared to hear the worst. I'm ready. Bring it."

10k gave out a long sigh before bending down to reach the young teen's level of eye contact. He kept his hand on the boy's shoulder and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a fizzing sound heard from the boy's Omnitrix.

"Your Omnitrix...It's glowing...brown! Again!" 

"Again?! What in tarnation are you talking about?! What-gah!" the teen clenched his arm that held the Omnitrix. "It...burns!"

"Ben!" 10k ran towards the kid in an attempt to remove the Omnitrix from its wearer. He hesitated, but had no choice but to try. "I don't know if this is Ben X's doing, but right now, I have to get this thing off of you!"

"Ngh! No! Don't...do it! Don't let him win!"

The 30-year-old hero ignored 23's plea to not remove the device from his wrist and managed to trigger a failsafe that switches off all the Omnitrix's functionalities. The Omnitrix had by then sparked, which then caused it to glow red, emitting a huge release of energy waves. 10k landed on his feet, which could not be said the same for the wielder of the malfunctioned Omnitrix. The debris and dust blocked 10k's view of 23, however 10k became slightly relieved to hear a familiar voice.

"Bens! We heard an explosion! Is everyone- oof!"

Prime landed on 10k, who grabbed him by his hoodie and put him on his feet. "No, everyone is not fine! 23's Omnitrix let out an energy wave that caused this "explosion"."

"Is it the self-destruct sequence?"

"Doubt it. This Ben's Omnitrix glowed brown, then red. Yours- uh- ours glowed orange." 10k corrected. "Right now, our first priority is- Ben!"

10k and Prime ran towards the teen, who had landed face-flat on the floor, covered in concrete dust and pieces of bricks.

"Um...Ben...? You...okay?" Prime reached his arm out to the teen. The eighteen-year-old nearly shrieked when the boy's hand grabbed his arm. 

"Mph..." Was all he could hear with the kid's voice muffled. "Pphu! Achoo!"

23 raised his head shakily as he let go of Prime's hand, spitting out the dust from his mouth and letting out a sneeze. He sniffled and weakly smiled at Prime. "S'fine, dude..."

"Well...that explosion proved otherwise. And so did that camera crew."

"Hm?" 

"Over there." Prime pointed at the flock of cameramen, journalists, fans, etc.

"Ben 23! Just answer some of our ques-"

"Ben 23! Is it true that you're back from the dead?"

"Ben 23!"