~💚~
We were following Ben as he was following a criminal as Upgrade. "There he is!" I said with a smile. "You sure?" Max asked me. "Totally," Gwen said, agreeing with me. Then we saw a black and green motorcycle and I knew it was Ben. "Look, I'm telling you, that motorcycle, it was driving itself," The criminal tried to tell the cops. "Where's Ben? Max asked us. "Long chase, hot day.... I'm thinking..." I said as I gestured to the nearby ice cream truck.
~💚~
We opened the truck and he was shaking like a leaf, holding an ice cream for dear life. "You OK?" Max asked his grandson. Ben only sneezed in response. "I'll take that as a no," We went back to the Rust Bucket to take care of Ben. He was laying down and had a thermometer in his mouth. It started beeping, indicating Ben's temperature. Max took it and read it.
~💚~
"Well, 101. Sorry, Ben, it's official. You have a summer cold," Max said. "Maybe from now on you'll think twice.... before having snack time inside an ice cream truck," Gwen said. I looked at her, "Like we wouldn't have done the same thing," I said as I bent down to feel Ben's forehead. Ben was about to sneeze but it went away. Then he took Gwen's new blouse and wiped his nose.
~💚~
"Hey! That's my new blouse!" Gwen said, disgusted. Ben sneezed and said, "Maybe from now on you'll think twice... about leaving your new clothes just lying around," Ben said, throwing Gwen's words back at her. "That's disgusting Ben. Here, use a tissue," I said as I handed him a tissue. "Cold tablets, decongestant... cough suppressant, hospital mask," Gwen said, listing all of her supplies. "I don't need all that junk," Ben said, dismissively.
~💚~
"They're not for you, dweeb. They're for Paige and I. Once a bug like that gets out, there's no stopping it," Gwen said as she handed me a mask and I put it in my pocket. "Why don't you just lock me away in some closet somewhere until I'm better?" Ben asked. "Can we grandpa? Pretty please?" Gwen asked. I jabbed her in the side with my elbow, not wanting to hear about locking Ben anywhere.
~💚~
"All Ben needs is a dose... of my famous San Ju Yen Pien cold remedy. Let's go. Chinatown's just down the block," Max said. We came out of the drugstore with everything Max needed to make the cold remedy. "You know, it's hard to find fresh potaikadon root anymore. It's all freeze-dried nowadays," Max explained. Ben started coughing, "Can I get a milkshake or something? My throat is killing me," Ben said as he held his throat.
~💚~
"My poor baby," I thought as I watched Ben be miserable because he was sick. "Don't worry. The stinkweed honey in the San Ju Yen Pien... coats your entire esophageal area," Max said. Ben opened the container and smelled it. He whipped back at the smell so it must smell pretty terrible. "And that's a good thing?" Ben questioned his grandfather. "So, where exactly did you learn how to make this stuff, grandpa?" Gwen asked.
~💚~
"I picked it up from a monk in Guangdong, China," Max said. Gwen and I gave him a questioning look. "Yhey have plumbing in China, too, you know," "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank all of you... for your support of my downtown redevelopment program. It's truly a truly a dream come true," A woman standing on a stage said. The crowd seemed very uninterested in what she was saying.
~💚~
All of the sudden, there were wasps everywhere. Max held me to protect me because I'm allergic. "Better make that a nightmare, Councilwoman," I saw a man standing on a mass of bugs. "Wasps!" Gwen said, frightened. Max continued to hold me, shielding me from the bugs. "You're not tearing down our apartment building. We won't let you," The man continued. "You're the nut job who who wouldn't leave!" The woman realized.
~💚~
"Nice to know we've made an impression,' The man said. Then I saw some bugs pick the woman up. "What are you doing?" She asked, frightened. "Just bringing you home for dinner. You're the main course," The stranger said. "This looks like a job for..." Ben said as he activated the Omnitrix. He was now Wildmutt and from the looks of things, there was a problem. "Has Ben gone rabid or what?" Gwen asked, unsure what was going on.
~💚~
"Ben's cold must be affecting Wildmutt's sense of smell. With his schnoz clogged, he can't tell where he's going," Max explained. "OK, furball. Paige and I are driving," Gwen said as we got on Wildmutt's back. "Go left!" Gwen told him. "No, your other left!" I said. Suddenly, Gwen and I ended up stuck under boxes of fireworks. We tried to move them but it wasn't working. Then a lantern fell, started a banner on fire and the fire was coming toward us.
~💚~
"Help!" We shouted. Suddenly, we were covered with dumplings. "Thanks, grandpa," Gwen said as I nodded. "Just hope you girls don't mind smelling like chicken dumplings," Max said. We watched as Ben had a garbage can on his face and crashed into something. "Oh, man. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse," Ben said as we were all back in the RV. "Here, this will help," Max said as he handed Ben a jar.
~💚~
Ben took the jar, sniffed it and said, "Yuck!" "Don't worry, it smells worse than it tastes. Or is that the other way around?" Max said, confused. "It's not just you I'm worried about. Seems like your bug has spread to all your aliens as well. No telling how it'll affect them," He continued, considered. Ben drank some of the contents of the jar and said, "That was so grim." "Don't worry, after ten or so doses... you'll start to get used to it," Max said. "I don't know what's worse, the cold or the cure," Ben said, miserably.
~💚~
"Got it. Bug guy said something about knocking down his apartment building. Well, the only apartment downtown left for demolition... is at 8610 Chester Street,' Gwen said as I sat down and looked at the information on her laptop. "What grandpa doesn't know won't hurt me," I heard Ben say. We pulled up to the condemned building. "Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live here," Gwen said. "Me neither, it looks like it could fall apart any second," I said as I looked at it.
~💚~
"Let's all stay together," Max said. We walked into the building and the floor was creaking under our feet. "Hey, want to freak Gwen out, princess?" Ben asked me and I nodded. He transformed into Four Arms and put his fingers above his head. "Mega bug!" I heard Gwen scream. "Real funny," She said, sarcastically when she realized it was Ben."I thought so," He said. "Help!" We heard someone scream.
~💚~
"That came from right above us," Max said. "I'm on it," Ben said as he picked me up, then Gwen and Max. I had to plug my nose because Ben's hives smelled so bad. "It's your hives. The cold must have turned them into pus-filled pockets of..." Max said. "Pure putridness," Gwen said. "I can't help it, I'm sick," Ben said. "You're tellin' me," Gwen said. I looked at her and gave her a dirty look, that kept her quiet.
~💚~
Then we crashed through the floor. "Stop. Black widows," The councilwoman said. "There's got to be some way to help her," Gwen said, desperately. Suddenly, Ben sneezed and the spiders went away. "Thanks," The councilwoman said. "Don't mention it," "You are trespassing," I heard a voice say. We turned around and it was the bug guy from before. Suddenly a swarm of bugs hit Ben and he fell. "We will rule mankind," The bug guy continued.
~💚~
"Grandpa, look out!" Gwen warned her grandfather as a swarm of bugs were about to strike. Max moved and they crashed through the floor. Suddenly, I felt something under my feet. "Termites!" I yelled and the floor gave away. Gwen held her hand out and helped me up. "You want to be king? Get ready to be crowned!" Ben said as he charged at the man. "Ants in my pants!" He said as ants surrounded him.
~💚~
Ben tried to get them off but he ended up destroying the building instead. "You're destroying our home!" The villain said. "No!" He shouted desperately. "The whole place is coming down!" Gwen said. "We have to get out of here!" The councilwoman said. "No time." Ben fell down as the Omnitrix started to time out. "It's a good thing I can't feel my head," He said. "No, no, no!" Bug guy said as he saw that the bugs were dead. "You will all be sorry. We will exterminate the entire city," The villain said as more bugs came.
~💚~
"This has been a really weird day," The councilwoman said. "Welcome to our world," "At least my hives are gone," Ben said. "Where'd that smelly four-armed guy go? I wanted to thank him." "I'll let him know," Ben said with a smile. "Can you find your way back home?" Max asked the woman who nodded. "So, where do you think bug-brain crawled off to?" Ben asked. "Only one way to exterminate a whole city," Max said.
~💚~
We were in the Rust Bucket and Ben was shaking uncontrollably. "Turn on the heat, grandpa, it's freezing in here," He said. "It's already on, Ben. But you're shaking like an earthquake," Max said to his grandson. I came up to Ben and put a blanket around him. He smiled at me, "Thank you, princess." I smiled, "Of course, Benji," I said as I kissed his head. "Paige, get him another dose of my San Ju Yen Pien," Max said to me. "No, no, no... I mean I just finished it off. All gone. I'm sure it's going to start working any minute now," Ben said.
~💚~
"Wow! Listen to this. Ants can lift ten times their own body weight. Grasshoppers can leap 100 times their length. And cockroaches can hold their breath for over an hour," Gwen said as she explained the research she found. "We don't need their resumes... we need to know how to squash them," Ben said. "Gwen's saying that insects are pretty tough little suckers, Benji. Short of another ice age or a tanker of pesticide... looks like holding a bug barbecue is our best option," I said.
~💚~
"And I know just the chef," I heard Ben say. We arrived at the power plant, ready for action. All of the sudden, an alarm started going off. "This can't be good," I thought, very afraid. "What's happening? Is that bad?" Ben asked. "No. I'm sure anytime an alarm goes off inside a nuclear plant... it's good news," Gwen said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Core temperature rising. Approaching critical," We heard.
~💚~
"He must be fooling around with the reactor's controls. Let's go," Max said. We hurried to stop the villain. "Core temperature critical. Meltdown imminent." "All the controls are smashed. We'll have to shut it down manually," Max said. "How do we that?" Ben asked, confused. "Just outside the reactor core there's an emergency override system," Max said. "Let me guess. You learned about nuclear reactors from a monk in China," I said.
~💚~
Then I saw a bug and Gwen pulled me away. Suddenly, bug guy appeared, "Come for a front row seat?" He asked. "If this place goes nuclear... you're going to wind up blowing along with the rest of us," Ben said. "We don't think so. When the reactor goes supercritical... we'll be snug as bugs in a rug," The villain said. "Of course! Scientists think cockroaches are the only things that would survive the blast," I explained. Gwen smiled, "Ben, you have a very smart girlfriend," He smiled, "That's why we're perfect for each other. So, the guy's going to wear a bug suit... to protect himself from the meltdown?" Ben said, not sure what to think.
~💚~
Ben activated the Omnitrix and was now Heatblast. But, something was very wrong. "Wait. Something's weird about you," Gwen said. "We don't have time for you to dis me. You guys shut down the reactor. I'll take care of bugsy," Ben said. We ran to do as Ben said. "Remember the old expression, Mean as a hornet?" Max asked. I turned my head to see a bunch of hornets following us, I ran faster. "Meltdown in five minutes." We heard. Gwen grabbed a hose and Max turned on the water. The hornets where taken care of, I breathed a sigh of relief.
~💚~
We reached the reactor and got to work. "Core temperature critical. Meltdown in one minute." "This is definitely not good," I thought. Gwen and I grabbed brooms to keep the bugs at bay but it was getting harder to do. "Grandpa, Paige and I can't hold these bugs off much longer," She said as we watched Max work. "Meltdown in 30 seconds." Suddenly, we saw ice covering some of the bugs.
~💚~
Gwen and I looked up to see Ben coming. "Did somebody call for a hero?" He asked. "I don't get it. Since when are you an automatic ice cube maker?" Gwen asked and I nodded. "I guess for some aliens... getting a cold isn't just an expression," Ben explained. "I can't override. All the manual controls have overheated," Max said. "Ben, look out!" I shouted. He shot a huge amount of ice and the bugs were frozen. "Core meltdown in ten..." "Stand clear, I've got an idea," Ben said.
~💚~
"Nine, eight... seven, six... five, four... three, two... Core temperature falling. Returning to below critical limits." As Ben cooled the reactor down with his new ice powers. "All right!" Gwen and I said. "Way to go, Ben," Max chimed in. "Thanks. Now, can we please get some hot chocolate or something?" Ben asked as he sneezed. "Bad guy's on ice, the reactor's chillin'... and I think that steam knocked out the last of my cold," Ben said, relieved.
~💚~
"Don't you just love it when everything works out?" Max asked. "Sorry, Mr. Roach. This is going to hurt you... a lot more than it's going to hurt me," Gwen said. "Company, lots of company!" She said as bugs came pouring in waves into the Rust Bucket. "We didn't appreciate that cold shoulder you gave us in the power plant," Bug guy said. Max went to punch him but ended up crashing into the front of the RV instead. "I thought you turned Mr. Bug into a snow cone," Gwen said as she grabbed a fire extinguisher. "He must've thawed out. Oh, man. We're on our own. Any ideas how to get rid of them, princess?" "Not unless you've got a six-foot candy bar to tempt them with, Benji," I said. "Nope, but I have the next best thing," Ben said. "Come and get it!" Ben said as he held up the jar of Max's cold remedy. "What's happening? Stop!" "Fetch!" Ben said as he threw the jar out of the window. "Good. That guy was really starting to bug me," Gwen said as Max threw him out of the Rust Bucket. "I'm calling the police. I'll be right back," Max said. Suddenly, Gwen sneezed. "Oh, no." "Hey, what do you know. Everything really did work out after all. Now, princess, can I have a kiss?" Ben asked. I smiled, "Of course, Benji," I said as I kissed him softly.
Hello Everyone! This chapter is dedicated to fleimkepa14, who has supported me since I started this book. Thank you so much❤