Prologue: The Tortoise and the Hare

0.o.0

2 years ago...

Nightfall.

In the city – close to the calm ocean – some districts were busy, lit up by the lights of houses and cars driving while others were quiet, its inhabitants sleeping peacefully under the black blanket.

The only beings within those parts fully awake were the stray cats and perhaps several troublemakers.

"This looks like a good spot."

Three adolescents, all rotten to the core, stood outside the back of the community center with mischievous grins and spray cans in their hands.

Rather than good students taking the evening to relax or study, they chose to do something fun, something wicked. They wanted to do something to upset people the next morning while they would be far away to watch their disappointment.

What better way than to put graffiti on the wall?

"Let's give this building a nice makeover, shall we?" one of them declared.

His friends nodded with malice and the caps clicked off the spray-cans. With no hesitation or conscience, they fired the paint.

"Whoa!"

One of them, a red-haired boy with earrings and a bad taste in hairstyle, nearly tripped over in the midst of his spray painting. He looked down at the source, which was hidden under a pile of newspaper in the shadows.

"What's this?"

"Probably some stinky old hobo," said his companion.

"Hey." He gave a kick. The newspapers shifted slightly. "Are you deaf or something? Get up so I can punch you."

He kicked harder and the newspapers scattered.

The redhead grinned, expecting a short, smelly guy in a torn-up coat and baggy trousers, an easy prey to batter up for making him trip.

The figure rose up from the shadows.

The redhead's jaw dropped and his eyes widened with fear as the figure towered over him.

Clank!

The spray can dropped to the ground. The sound and the stunned look upon his face caught the attention of his buddies.

"AARGHH!!"

The shrilled scream irritated his sensitive ears, or rather the gills on his side. Why did this punk have to wake him up so late at night? Was he really asking for it?

He couldn't be bothered. He was just too tired to shout out a threat to the redhead. He had a hard time trying to figure his whereabouts, only to find himself lost somewhere in New Jersey.

At least, it was better than being in New York. He never wanted to go back to the Big Apple.

It has been 2 years (or could be 3, he lost count) since he found a rip in the Null Void and escaped through the portal. His first thought was how great freedom tasted. It was priceless. It felt so good.

His second thought was to find and squish the one who did this. The one responsible for how many months he had been inside fighting monstrous aliens and most of all his transformation.

Ben Tennyson.

"MONSTER!"

Kevin Levin was indeed a monster, as hollered by the redhead. A behemoth with black hair and hacked-up body parts of other creatures put together.

Which was why he wanted to find the twerp and bash him up. However, he lost track of the kid and his grandfather and his annoying cousin months after his escape and ended up being lost in the first place. Kevin didn't even have a clue where he lived so he could drop by with the thought of smashing his house to pieces.

"AHHHHH!"

"RUN FOR IT!"

"MUMMY!!"

More screams filled the atmosphere and the gang fled away from the giant freak, scared out of their minds.

"What a bunch of wimps..." he growled.

Under the light of a streetlamp, a new face appeared round the corner of the alley. She looked no older than a thirteen year old tomboy past her curfew, wearing regular blue jacket with a bird logo, black top and brown shorts. A skater at heart she was no doubt because instead of shoes, she wore somewhat big black skates – loose for her feet. She wore protective gear on her elbows and knees, gloves and a helmet over her short hair.

She watched the frightened teenagers bolt past her – the redhead shoving her aside – and down the dark street, then looked into the alley for what scared them out of their wits.

The skater spotted the four-armed mutant and a silent gasp escaped her.

Kevin waited for her reaction. No doubt would she shriek in fear and run with her tail between her legs in the next five seconds.

Just like everyone else at first sight of his hideous form.

She did nothing of the sort. She stood still.

That somewhat irritated him.

"What are you looking at!?"

The girl didn't budge at the sound of his harsh and distorted voice. She showed neither terror nor any other emotion, not even her eyes behind a set of goggles.

He couldn't read her face. For all he knew, she could be examining the disembodied alien parts grafted to his body with interest or perhaps pitying the poor mutant to be in that sorry state.

He hated that. He hated the latter even more.

Kevin grounded his teeth and his fists balled up.

"Stop looking at me!"

BAM!

He threw a fist at a wall, bricks crumpling to pieces but that didn't frighten her. She stayed still.

"I said," he bellowed and charged. "STOP LOOKING DOWN AT ME!"

His fist flew and –

– missed as the girl soared above him.

His three eyes quickly fixed at the flying skater. She had somersaulted into the air in a split second - hands in pocket - before his assault had a chance to be laid at her. Gracefully, she landed safe onto aluminum fencing, the ledge between her wheels.

'How did she-!?'

It was impossible, his mind shouted. No one could jump that high, let alone a girl her size leap more than ten feet into the air. Perhaps the best Olympics athletic could do that but not some puny average-looking kid.

"...Once there was a hare."

"Huh?"

"Who mocked a slow-moving tortoise. Angry, he challenged the hare to a race."

It was a fable she spoke of.

"The hare accepted it, thinking he was the fastest animal around."

He didn't care about hearing a story from her, or anybody for that matter. He had heard it a hundred times and stories to him weren't even amusing. She was wasting his time telling that stupid tale.

Kevin's three eyes then noticed her skates.

They looked odd, unlike any two-wheeled skates he had ever seen. They were black with grey frames. Green neon light streamed at the sides and under the buckles, flashing frequently.

They also had a familiar out-of-this-world look.

"The hare soon left the tortoise far behind and confident of winning, he decided to take a nap."

He had a thought but simply cast it away as it was ridiculous. Those skates were just regular aggressive skates. Nothing more.

Still, that wouldn't stop him to have a closer look. And he certainly wanted to beat her up to a pulp.

"However, the tortoise overtook him and won the race."

She was unreachable, too high to pull her down and the fencing wouldn't be able to hold his weight if he tried to jump after her. But one punch at the fence should easily send her crumpling down.

"So how about it?"

Moonlight radiated over the orange-screened goggles as she gazed down at Kevin 11. The tension of his fists softened when he was asked this question.

"Wanna replicate that scenario?"

His eyebrow rose as he stared up at the skater with bewilderment.

"Let's race."

Author's Note: Ladies & gentlemen, my first Ben 10 AF fanfic. Please be tender on this as this is a prologue only. It's just a flashback to two years ago and then the rest of the chps takes place in the present of AF.

How this fic started was my question to how aggressive hot tempered Kevin 11 got to street-wise cool-tempered Kevin in AF. Made me think he met someone who softened him up in the past. Got nothing to do with romance but rather talking with a counselor. Yes, a bit weird using a 13-year-old girl as one but it's part of the fic. Also, thanks to get the answer to this question, I created my own OC that will appear in the first chp.

Anyhow this is a fic about getting the next Plumber Kid, whose power is somewhat similar to a certain alien on wheels. So yeah, I'm somewhat following to the main purpose of the show, recruiting allies.

I'd like to dedicate these first few pages to Blouper for her help and everything! And also I'll like to thank those who responded to my comments in the forums in helping me make this fic possible and encourage me to go through: FFFX, Blouper, and Poison's Ivy!

THANK YOU THREE! XD

I do hope you all enjoy this prologue, even if it's short and not yet the real action. And probably some errors I missed (if there are, please point them out, I'm bad at re-looking stuff ; ). Read and REVIEW!

P.S. No Ben/Gwen pairing, no Gwen/Kevin pairing or OC/Kevin pairing involved. I said earlier it got NOTHING to do with romance. Just packed with action and aggressive skate-racing.

P.S.S. I can't help but have this gut feeling you're thinking of Avril Lavigne's Ska8er Boi to this skater character, huh?