The Elemental Enerithian (Ben 10)

If All Else Fails

The gang was in the forest camping with Grandpa Max, who was grilling squid. "I only had enough charge for one ray blast, but I knew I was faster than the Plutonean..." Grandpa Max tells Ben a story while Aria meditates, and Kevin brings a crate over to Gwen. "Having fun?" The redhead asks. "Pros of camp-outs? Fresh air, barbecue burgers. Cons of camp-outs? Your grandpa Max's old Plumber stories we've heard 10 times before." Kevin tells her before walking to grandpa Max. "You said you were gonna tell a story about my dad." Kevin reminds the man and tries to grab a squid, but grandpa Max slaps his hand with the spatula. "Ow!" He yelps, rubbing his hand. "You know, a story's a lot like barbecue squid-- can't rush either one." Grandpa Max says, flipping the squid. "Squid? I-I thought those were hamburgers." Kevin says. Ben leans closer to look at the squid. "That would explain the tentacles." He says, and the ground shakes. "Whoa!" Gwen says, grabbing the cups to stop them from falling.

 "Feel that? Earthquake." Gwen says. "Hmm." Aria hums, furrowing her brows. "Zap!" Grandpa Max puts the top bun on the squid. "One shot to down three of them." He continues his story, and Kevin takes the burger from him. "Now all I had to worry about was the bomb. But times was running out." He goes on. "This is a regular burger, right?" Kevin asks, and Ben lifts the top bun. "I see eyes and a beak in there. Is that okay?" Ben asks. Grandpa Max suddenly looks up and sighs. "I thought you liked weird food." Kevin says. Aria stops meditating and looks over at the man, worried and going over with Gwen. Grandpa Max yells and stumbles back, knocking the grill down before fainting. "Grandpa?" Ben calls. "Grandpa!" He shouts. Ben and Kevin help him stand. "Are you sure you're okay?" Gwen asks her grandpa. "I'm fine, thanks. Just got a little dizzy for a second." Grandpa Max replies. "Well, let's eat." He says. "I can't you dumped my burger." Kevin tells the older man. "And the whole grill." Aria points out.

 "That was the last of my ground squid too." Grandpa Max says, looking at the grill and burgers. "I've got some hamburger meat in the freezer. I guess we could eat that." He tells them. "Well, you know, you're out of the squid, what can we do?" Kevin says, hiding the fact he really wanted the hamburgers and going to get them. Grandpa Max flips the grill back upright, and the teens walk away. Grandpa Max turns the dial on the grill and looks up. "Drone seeds loacted and activated. Commanding control sequence, activated. Commencing command code self-test." He stands up in a trance and throws the grill again. "Wasn't hungry anyway." Kevin says from the doorway of the RV with the burgers in hand. "Grandpa!" Ben calls as they run back to him.

 "Whoa! What?" Max answers, confused. "It happened again." Gwen says. "We should get you looked at." Ben says. "There's no need, I'm fine. Look." Grandpa Max tries reassuring them, but they don't look convinced. "Tell you what? Let's get some sleep, and if I'm still acting goofy in the morning, we'll see someone about it then." He tells them. "Okay." Aria sighs. "Good night, kids." Max bids them a good night as they walk to the sleeping bags and scratches the back of his neck. It was late at night, and everyone was asleep except for Grandpa Max, who sat up and now had purple plant tendrils on his face.

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The next day, Kevin woke up and looked to his side only to find Grandpa Max missing with no sign of him anywhere. "Uh, hey, Tennyson, Gwen, Ari. Wakey, wakey." Kevin wakes up the remaining three. "Where's the Rust Bucket?" Ben asks, noticing the RV missing. "And where's Gramps?" Aria asks, sitting up. "Yeah, that's why I didn't let you sleep in." Kevin replies. "Gwen, Ari, trying getting a fix on him." Ben tells the girls. Aria and Gwen's eyes glow. "Got him." Gwen replies. "He's headed west." Aria adds. "Then so are we." Ben says. The Tennysons run to Kevin's car, and the boy follows. "No dinner last night. No breakfast this morning. What are we on a diet?" Kevin complains and gets in the car.