The next destination on the Tennyson adventure tour was a Navajo village in the heart of Arizona. Max had been visibly excited ever since they crossed into the state, owing to the fact that a longtime friend of his lived there. Ben, Gwen, and Evan had all suspected almost immediately that this mysterious "old friend" was somehow connected to the Plumbers. When asked if there was any truth to those suspicions, Max simply smirked smugly, adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, and continued driving without answering a single question.
Naturally, that only made everyone more suspicious.
When they finally arrived at the village, they were greeted by an elderly Native American man named Wes Green. The old man welcomed them warmly and quickly fell into conversation with Max like no time had passed at all since their last meeting.
Before long, Wes began showing them around the village, explaining the history and traditions of his people while leading them through various stalls and displays.
"Navajo legend says the web of the dream catcher protects the dreamer by holding the nightmares in the center," Wes explained as he gently touched one of the dreamcatchers hanging from a nearby stall. The feathers swayed softly in the breeze. "While the good dreams travel down the feathers and bless the person sleeping."
"Sounds more useful than Ben's alarm clock," Gwen remarked.
"I don't need an alarm clock," Ben replied.
"You slept through three alarms yesterday." Gwen shot back.
"I was resting my eyes." He said, rubbing his eyes.
"You were snoring." She responded.
The group continued walking through the marketplace while Wes explained various pieces of Navajo culture. At another stall, he showed them a medicine wheel and explained some of its symbolic meanings, while Max listened attentively.
Meanwhile, the younger generation had naturally begun wandering off on their own.
Orfevre and Gold Ship immediately started dragging Evan from stall to stall with all the subtlety of a pair of kidnappers.
Their mission was simple. Convince Evan to spend money on them.
"Big bro, look at this!"
"Big bro, buy me this!"
"Big bro, I need this."
Gold Ship continuously shows off Navajo souvenirs one after another, wanting him to buy them for her.
"No you don't." Evan said, seeing her holding up a slingshot.
"Okay, but I still want it." She said, placing it back.
Then Gold Ship proudly held up a brightly painted wooden mask and placed it over her face. "Look! I'm mysterious now!"
"You look like a potato with eyebrows." Evan said.
"A mysterious potato." She added.
Meanwhile, Orfevre glanced toward a display shelf before staring at something in Evan's hands.
"...Why did you buy a bear trap?" She asks.
Evan glanced down at the heavy metal bear trap he had just purchased.
"Dream Journey likes stuff like this." Evan replied.
"I can actually see that happening..." She murmurs, also realizing her elder sister has weird hobbies.
Hmm, now that she thinks about it, her entire family is weird. Deciding not to think too much about it anymore. Orfevre also went to get a souvenir for herself.
From nearby, Gwen watched the entire exchange with poorly concealed jealousy.
Evan wasn't buying her random gifts. Not that she wanted random gifts. That wasn't the point. She absolutely wanted random gifts from him.
Shaking the thought away, Gwen looked toward Ben. Her cousin was openly yawning while staring at the sky. Annoyed, she punched him in the arm.
"Ouch! What was that for?" He shouted, rubbing his arm.
"Speaking of sleeping." Gwen said, turning toward her cousin.
Ben groaned. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."
"You literally slept through breakfast yesterday." Gwen said, reminding him.
"It was an accident." Ben didn't even try to deny it and just casually waved it off.
Gwen rolled her eyes. Ben followed after Max and Wes with all the enthusiasm of someone walking toward a homework assignment.
"I'm just saying," Ben complained, "I know Mr. Green is Grandpa's old friend and all, but could this trip get any more-"
His sentence stopped abruptly, along with the entire rest of his body stopped too. His brain practically slammed into a brick wall.
Several men stood in the middle of the street beating drums and shaking rattles while chanting in the Navajo language. At the center of the performance was a girl around their age performing a ceremonial dance.
Ben just stared with his gaze never leaving her.
"...cooler," he finally finished, as a huge grin spread across his face.
Gwen immediately followed his gaze.
"That's my granddaughter, Kai," Wes informed them proudly.
"Oh wow," Max said with a smile. "Last time I saw her, she could barely walk. Now look at her."
"What exactly is she doing?" Orfevre asked curiously, while spinning a pair of clacker balls.
At that moment, Evan walked over, carrying Gold Ship by the back of her collar. Gold Ship's legs continued running despite not touching the ground.
Apparently she had attempted to join the performance.
"Release me!" she demanded.
"No." Evan replied simply.
"I'm being oppressed." Gold Ship shouted.
"She's performing a ceremonial Navajo dance," Wes explained. "It is a ritual meant to summon rain and bless the land with prosperity."
"Is there any scientific proof of that?" Gwen asked.
"It's more a matter of faith than science," Wes replied with an amused smile.
"You know," Ben said, still watching the performance, "I've always wanted to see one of these."
Everyone immediately turned toward him with raised eyebrows.
"Since when?" Gwen asked.
"Forever." Ben replied.
"You're lying." Orfevre didn't believe him.
"No. It rocks!" Ben said.
"I know you're lying," Evan added. "But I can't prove it,"
Orfevre nodded. "Same."
Gold Ship nodded. "Definitely lying."
Ben crossed his arms in annoyance. "None of you know me at all."
The others remained unconvinced.
A few moments later, the dance came to an end. The audience applauded as Kai finished her performance and bowed politely.
As she began walking toward them, Ben suddenly started fixing his hair. Then his shirt. Then his posture. Then his hair again.
Gwen watched the entire process unfold. And Secondhand embarrassment was a real thing as she had to take a few steps away to distance herself from him.
Naturally, Kai walked right past Ben without acknowledging his existence and headed straight for her grandfather.
Ben didn't seem discouraged in the slightest. If anything, his smile somehow got bigger.
Kai spoke with Wes briefly before her attention drifted toward the rest of the group.
Her attention first landed on Gold Ship, who was still wearing the wooden mask. The smaller girl immediately struck what she clearly thought was a cool pose.
Unfortunately she tripped halfway through it.
Gold Ship quickly stood back up. "...I meant to do that."
Then Kai noticed Orfevre casually spinning a pair of clacker balls around with enough force to make everyone nearby nervous. The metal spheres whipped around so quickly that they created a constant stream of loud clacking sounds.
Kai was honestly impressed she hadn't hit herself yet.
Ben was attempting to look cool and failing. Gwen continues to wonder what is going on inside her stupid cousin's head.
Then her gaze landed on Evan. Unlike the others, he stood quietly off to the side carrying several shopping bags while wearing that old explorer-like outfit of his.
The worn trench coat, the belts, the goggles hanging around his neck, the knee-length boots, and even the faint scar crossing his right eyebrow made him look older and far more experienced than someone his age should.
Honestly, if she didn't know better, Kai might have assumed he worked alongside Max and Wes rather than being one of the grandchildren.
For a brief moment, she found herself staring before realizing it and quickly looking away.
Then a clap of thunder suddenly drew Gwen's attention upward. Black storm clouds rolled over the village so fast it almost looked like the sky itself had changed its mind, and by the time the people below noticed, the entire horizon had already been swallowed in darkness.
"I think your rain dance might have worked a little too well," Gwen commented while pointing up at the sky, which was now almost completely covered in heavy thunderclouds.
Kai stared upward, genuinely stunned. "That's never happened before..."
She did not get much time to think about it.
Within seconds, the rain came down in a violent sheet, soaking everyone almost instantly. Lightning struck nearby with a blinding flash, except it was not normal lightning at all. It was purple, and every time it hit the ground it exploded outward instead of grounding harmlessly into the dirt.
A few tourists screamed and stumbled back just before one blast shattered the earth beside them.
"I don't think this is normal!" Gold Ship shouted over the thunder as she quickly ducked under her brother's coat for cover.
"What gave it away?" Gwen snapped back while shielding her face from the rain.
"Everybody, move! Take cover in the Rust Bucket!" Max ordered, already herding the kids toward the RV.
The storm got worse almost immediately. Wind whipped through the village, rattling the stalls and slamming rain against every surface while people scattered in a panic. Even the banners and decorations around the area started snapping wildly in the gale.
Ben, however, was still standing in the middle of the street, completely frozen in place as he stared at Kai like none of the chaos around him even existed.
One especially loud bolt of lightning finally snapped him out of it.
The strike crashed into the ground beside him, forcing him to jump back with a yelp. When he turned toward the impact site, he found himself staring at a massive shadowy beast standing three times his size. Purple eyes glowed through the darkness, fixed right on him in a way that made Ben feel a shiver running down his spine.
"Uh..." Ben swallowed hard and took a very small step backward. "Anybody wanna ask that thing for an umbrella?"
The beast just stood there for a moment, looming over him while rain poured off its body. It looked like it was deciding whether Ben was worth eating, crushing, or ignoring.
Thankfully, it seemed to pick the last option.
Without warning, the beast turned and fled into the storm just as Max and Wes finally remembered that Ben was still standing out in the open like a target.
"Ben!" Max shouted.
But before anyone could relax, a deep rumbling rolled through the street.
The sound grew louder and louder until even the storm seemed to pause around it. Then, from the far end of the street, a massive tidal wave came surging around the corner, smashing through the rain like a wall of dirty water.
Wes's eyes widened in horror.
"Flash flood!" he shouted. "Everyone, get to higher ground!"
The Tennysons and the Greens scattered in a hurry. Max and Wes scrambled up to the rooftops of the buildings on one side of the street, while Ben hauled himself onto the roof of the building across from them.
Without even slowing down, he grabbed Gold Ship and Orfevre by the backs of their collars and casually tossed both sisters onto a nearby rooftop.
"Ack!"
"Hey!"
The two yelled and landed safely anyway.
"Could've warned us first!" Orfevre shouted back, poking her head down.
"You landed, didn't you?" Evan replied.
Gold Ship added quickly, even giving him a thumbs-up. "Ten out of ten. Very efficient."
Gwen was the first to climb the ladder leading up to the Rust Bucket's roof, with Kai right behind her, both of them trying to beat the rising water.
Unfortunately, Kai only made it halfway up before the flood slammed into the side of the RV and ripped her right off the ladder. She let out a startled scream as the current dragged her away, and without moving away, Evan let himself get hit by the wave too.
The next second, both he and Kai disappeared into the rushing water.
"Help!" Kai screamed, struggling desperately to keep her head above the surface.
A second later, Evan surfaced beside her, one arm wrapped around her waist while the other kept them both from being dragged under. He pulled her up higher so she could breathe before she swallowed too much water.
"Going Ripjaws!" Ben shouted as he activated the Omnitrix and twisted the dial toward the alien he wanted.
But when he slammed the faceplate down, nothing happened. Instead of a transformation, the Omnitrix crackled with ugly purple static.
"Aw, man! The lightning must've shorted it out!" Ben groaned. "Guess I'm doing this by myself..."
Without wasting another second, Ben took off running across the rooftops after the flood, trying to stay ahead of Kai's path through the street below. Then he spotted a metal barrel floating amid the debris, bouncing along the current. Ben leaped without hesitation and somehow managed to land on top of it, gripping the edges tightly as the barrel rocked violently under him.
From below, Evan was moving with the current while keeping Kai secure.
"Hold on," he said simply.
Kai immediately wrapped both arms around him tighter.
He swung his left hand out and drove his fingers into the side of the building, digging in hard enough to stop the current from pulling them away. The flood pushed and shoved against them, but Evan held firm.
Kai widened her eyes. The water was strong enough to rip vehicles off the street. Yet Evan was somehow holding himself in place with one hand.
Because of this distraction, her grip started slipping. Evan quickly grabbed her with his other hand and pulled her closer.
"Wrap your arms around my neck." He said.
Kai obeyed immediately, wrapping both arms around his neck. Now that she was secure, he reached up again with his free hand and began climbing the wall, fingers digging into the stone while the water roared beneath them.
"How strong is your grip strength?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Hey! Wait!" Ben shouted from ahead, suddenly realizing the current was carrying him away from Evan and Kai.
Evan: "?"
Kai: "!"
Both of them just stared as Ben was currently floating down the street on top of a rusty metal barrel.
Ben had clearly been trying to help, but right now, he was getting swept straight down on a metal barrel while Evan still had a grip on the building, and Kai still looked a bit worried, seeing Evan stop climbing and just clinging onto the side of the building.
Still, seeing Ben rapidly disappearing downstream, Evan let out a tired sigh and started climbing again, dragging Kai up with him. A moment later, he pulled himself onto the rooftop and immediately took off after Ben. Kai clung tightly to his back as he ran across the roofs, leaping from one building to the next without slowing down.
She saw the rooftops blurred beneath them. As Evan sprinted across one building. Leaped onto another, vaulted over an air-conditioning unit. Then jumped across an entire alleyway.
Kai could only stare in disbelief. She had never seen anyone move like this. Evan was actually catching up to Ben on foot. While carrying her.
Something should not have even been possible, even for athletes.
Evan kept moving, using a low rooftop edge as a launch point, then landing on a metal overhang, running along it, and springing off again toward the barrel Ben was riding. Before Ben could react, Evan grabbed him with one hand and pulled him free, then used the momentum to leap upward, planting his fingers and boots against the side of a building for a quick wall-run before vaulting both of them back toward the rooftops.
The barrel slammed hard into a brick wall and split in half, which really should not have happened because it was metal, but nobody had time to question it.
Ben and Kai both let out relieved breaths as Evan climbed the side of the building before finally pulling everyone onto a rooftop.
"Thank you," Kai said, looking up at him gratefully.
Evan barely acknowledged it. Instead, he looked straight at Ben with a confused expression. "Did you slip and fall back into the water or something? I clearly saw you climb up onto a roof."
Ben rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, looking at Kai. "Uh... I saw you were in danger and wanted to help."
He then looked away, embarrassed.
He had jumped into danger trying to save the damsel in distress, and somehow ended up being the one who needed rescuing.
Evan blinked in confusion. "I was in danger?"
Both Evan and Kai got confused, and Ben immediately found the clouds very interesting. His gaze then wandered to the rooftops, then the flood, and then the buildings.
Literally anything except making eye contact.
While Evan remains confused, Kai shifts her gaze toward the boy currently carrying her, her cheeks slightly turned red.
Now that everyone was safe, the kids had little else to do but wait for the flood to die down.
No one noticed the bipedal beast that had arrived with the purple lightning climbing its way to the radio tower on the cliff above the village. A flash of lightning lit up the night for a split second, and in that instant the creature ripped the satellite dish free from the tower and vanished into the storm just as quickly as it had come.
AN: There is a BIO now, you guys can go and check it out if you want