2021

**2021** is the twelfth episode of Ben 10: Battle of the Omnitricies. This episode was written by Benzarro85 on September 22, 2022.

## Plot

The episode begins in a flashback to November 8, 2014. A 10-year-old boy was celebrating his birthday as he had turned into his double digits for the first time. Within opening his presents, he is stumbled upon what appeared to be a fancy looking watch, but was later noted to be the Omnitrix. His mother, while unemployed, had to look after both him and his sister, while his grandmother was a busy woman, always working in offices and having to drink coffee to maintain her energy.

The boy was very excited to be receiving something he had been dying to get his hands on for the past two and a half years, his excitement bursting through the roof. The boy put it on his wrist as he eventually felt his DNA intertwining with other DNA material inside the Omnitrix.

But he didn't exactly remain happy for long. A few years down the line, his great grandfather passed away, and it sent him into a spiralling depression. Unable to refrain from thinking of the stained image in his head, he'd arrive to his secondary school feeling nothing but complicated emotions. He never made any friends that day, he'd just give them small talk. He'd remember a few familiar faces, but he refused to tell them about his problems, with those problems escalating into something much worse.

Cut to around four years later. Lyon, now 16, was hanging around with a friend he made during Year 8. She was a calm, mature and sweet girl, with her ocean eyes, and her brunette hair. She, much like Lyon, was an artist; she liked to draw in her spare time. They'd laugh and joke around, joking about their past which only made Lyon feel worse about himself, painting an image which made it seem like Lyon didn't seem to care about his own wellbeing at all.

"Lyon?" she'd ask. "Are you sure you're alright? You joke about your past more than usual."

He'd cock his head upwards to face her with his hair covering his left eye. He refused to answer, but judging by the way he returned to look at the ground, he was not okay. The bells rang either way, as they parted ways as they head off to their own classes. Within an hour of sitting down, writing paragraphs about William Shakespeare, Lyon headed to learn Chemistry, which he absolutely hated. Angel, the girl who asked Lyon the question, made her way towards the Art Block to do her lesson.

Much like their last lesson, the bells ring out an irritating sound as they'd exit the buildings they had went inside. It was their lunch break, a much longer break than what they had before. Lyon would continue to dawdle towards the previous area he stood in with Angel, as she arrived a little earlier. She cocked her hed upwards, as she gave him a smile.

"Hey..." She spoke. "I was doodling in art since I had some spare time."

Lyon looked over at her notebook after she opened to the page with a newly sketched image of a famous Australian YouTuber with blonde hair. Impressed, Lyon nodded slowly, noticing the interesting artistic techniques she used.

"It looks really good." Lyon replied, taking his backpack off his shoulders to grab out his notebook. "I haven't exactly drawn anything new yet."

Angel skimmed through her notebook and stopped at a detailed drawing of a man with pale white skin and slicked brunette hair, with tattoos and golden markings on his body and lower forearms. Angel really liked this character, though judging by her face, it was more of a lustful expression. Disgusted, Lyon looked into his own notebook and skimmed through his old drawings of different characters from different shows both him and Angel used to watch as kids.

"Hey, remember a few years back when you had worked on a series of your own by animating the both of us as superheroes?" Lyon asked, bringing back a memory Angel had slightly forgotten.

She looked over. "Kinda... it was around 2018 or later... or even earlier when I did it. I lost all the footage somewhere, and there's no way I'm wasting my time reanimating it... not when we have exams soon."

Lyon laughed nervously, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "Haha... yeah. Exams... what fun."

"I know it's not something either one of us are interested in, but we have to do them if we want to go to the college of our choosing." Angel replied.

Lyon turned around as he put his notebook in his bag, before getting introduced to another character who was a little unpredictable in terms of personality. Lyon looked up as he saw him entering with his noisy voice, talking to some other friends as Angel walked closer to Lyon, whispering.

"You still hate him, don't you?"

Lyon nodded. "Ever since he broke up with me for something so petty. I can't forgive him."

"But you did, though. You told me, that you told him that everything was fine, and how you said that everything was okay." Angel sighed. "Unless you haven't been telling me the full story, like you haven't always been."

Lyon turned over and raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Remember that one time you told me about the whole situation back during the first few weeks of Year 7, and how you were meant to change schools due to some random altercation?"

Lyon nodded. "Yeah?"

Angel added. "I feel like you haven't told me everything. I remember you told me vaguely, that your grandmother asked if you wanted to go there, since you were still under the care of the social workers due to what happened five years ago."

Lyon laughed nervously. "Angel, please. Let's not bring this up now."

"It may not seem like it, Lyon. But... I do worry about you. There are numerous things you are always openly discussing. And I always think to myself that... you're always a little too open with your problems. And that... you latch them to other people."

Lyon looked down. "I guess you're right. I have been constantly talking about my problems, and I need to stop. It's been years since what happened between me and my-"

The conversation gets interrupted by the boy who stepped in abruptly. "Hey. Uh. Sorry. Can I just... ask if any of you are interested in playing Fortnite tonight?"

Lyon and Angel looked at each other, then back at him. "I've got homework I need to finish off." Angel said, shaking her head.

"And I... will be busy with my other stuff elsewhere." Lyon added. "I'm helping my sister with something going on with her friendship group."

The teen mocked Lyon with his sister's issues which had something to do with toxic friendships and such. Lyon looked down as soon as he ran off, after finding some of his other friends. Lyon then looked over to Angel, who looked back.

"Just think... once a villain strikes from nowhere, we can take them down, you in for it?"

Lyon nodded. "Sure."

The time skips to the end of the day: Angel and Lyon were walking to the bus stop, as they were discussing their favourite subjects, and how they hoped that they would be able to pass their exams with ease. After reaching the bus stop, with the sun already setting due to it being late spring, Angel looks over to check when the bus would arrive.

"We've got a few minutes." Angel announced. "Five minutes to be exact."