Damn it!
Ben should have been more alert and prepared than this. He could have prevented another mysterious kidnapping before it actually happened! After his conversation with the shop owner, he apparently learned that another child had been kidnapped last night while he was asleep.
And now Ben was feeling immensely guilty about not taking proper responsibility for this matter. Even though Ben knew that it wasn't his fault that this had happened, he couldn't help but blame himself. If he had been more alert and had started patrolling the town earlier, maybe none of this would have happened in the first place. Maybe he could have been there when the kidnapping happened and stopped it before another innocent child disappeared.
"No more games."
Ben said to himself as he realized that people's lives were at stake, and he couldn't afford to fool around like the child that he was. Being an orphan himself had forced Ben to mature faster than other kids his age. It didn't help that Ben was also a genius with a photographic memory, meaning that he could remember almost everything he had seen or learned.
When Ben got his Omnitrix, he understood the true meaning of responsibility. He had to run away from the orphanage in order to protect everyone he cared about, and from there on out, he fought against aliens and other threats like Vilgax. He had done all of this at the bitter age of ten.
And despite being just eleven and turning twelve the next year, Ben had come a long way from being just a child. There were even moments where he was more mature than most of the adults in the room. He had been forced to deal with situations that most children his age would never have to experience, and because of that, he had learned that being a hero wasn't simply about having powerful transformations. It also meant taking responsibility when innocent people were in danger.
Ben then rotated the dial of his Monotrix. Soon, he transformed into Gengar. Just after the golden flash died down and his transformation was complete, he immediately went into Shadow mode and traveled through the shadows without anyone noticing him.
He was going to investigate the crime scene, which was near the docks area. If there was anything unusual about this kidnapping, Ben wanted to find it before the police packed everything away and left.
It did not take him that much time to arrive at the docks. Gengar looked around and saw that the place was incredibly crowded with both police and civilians who were inspecting the crime scene. There were several officers moving around the area while groups of worried civilians stood nearby, whispering to one another and trying to figure out what had happened.
From what he could hear, a man and his wife were living in this two-story building, and last night their daughter had been kidnapped without anyone noticing. The parents had been inside the same house, yet somehow their daughter had disappeared without them seeing the person responsible.
Even Sheriff Jack and his officers were there investigating, and people were constantly yelling at them, especially the sheriff. Because Sheriff Jack refused to believe that this killer was some sort of supernatural entity responsible for kidnapping people, he still firmly believed that it was a human serial killer and not some Skinwalker.
"Sheriff, you have to believe us! No killer can just vanish a child in the middle of the night!"
"Shut up already! I told you before, and I will tell you again that there is no such thing as a Skinwalker or other such supernatural things!"
Jack said in an extremely aggravated tone as he had been arguing with these people for the past few hours since he had arrived here. The kidnapping had happened late at night, somewhere around 2:00 AM. Apparently, the parents heard some form of weird noise coming from their daughter's room, and when they went to check it out, they found her missing with the window open.
Which meant the killer most likely entered through the window.
But the problem with that theory was that there was no sign or any other mark to actually identify whether the killer had even forcibly opened the window or not. From what they could gather, the window could only be opened from the inside, and there was clearly no sign of the window being damaged or forced open by any means.
Which meant someone had actually opened it from the inside.
So, did that mean the killer was actually inside the room all along?
Or maybe the little girl had simply let the killer in just like that?
There were multiple theories going through Jack's head about what could have happened. The first was that the killer had somehow manipulated the child into opening the window. The girl's age was around twelve or so, which meant it would be possible to manipulate her into opening the window if the killer managed to gain her trust.
But the parents had said that the girl was pretty smart for her age and simply wouldn't trust strangers like that.
Which basically contradicted this theory entirely.
The next and possibly the most reasonable theory was that the girl had, for some reason, decided to keep her window open. That would have allowed the killer to enter the house through the window without needing to force it open. This was very much possible because it could all have been a mistake made by that little girl, which now cost her life.
Ben listened carefully to everything being said while remaining hidden in his Gengar form. He didn't interrupt anyone and simply observed the crime scene, trying to understand exactly what had happened before the girl disappeared. The more he listened, however, the more questions started forming in his mind.
There was still something that didn't make sense about the entire situation.
Today Ben is going to take this matter extremely seriously and going on a patrol tonight to catch this serial killer, 'skinwalker' or whatever.
Later this night...
Ben was out on patrol tonight, and right now he was in one of his newer transformations. This new form was more akin to that of a dog or a wolf, with soft white fur and a blue, sickle-like blade on the side of its head. This form was called Absol.
Absol, aside from being an incredibly powerful transformation with great combat capabilities, also allowed Ben to sense danger and disasters before they occurred. This meant that if a natural disaster was about to happen, such as a landslide or something similar, Absol would absolutely know about it beforehand. It was one of the more useful abilities Ben had discovered while testing his newer transformations, especially for something like patrolling an entire town.
Ben was now jumping from building to building at extreme speeds, trying to cover the entire town as quickly as possible. He wasn't about to let this killer go. After everything that had happened recently, Ben wanted to make sure he was ready if another attack happened tonight.
"Hmm, everything seems peaceful right now. I wonder if this killer is going to attack tonight."
Ben muttered to himself as he looked around. Everything seemed calm, and all the people were locked inside their homes, afraid of the killer. The town had gone eerily silent because of this, as there wasn't a single soul on the streets of the town. Even from the rooftops, Ben couldn't see anyone wandering around outside.
As Ben continued jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he suddenly noticed a shadowy figure moving across an alleyway below him.
"Is it the killer!?"
Ben was incredibly surprised, and he was hoping that this was actually the killer he had been searching for. If Ben hurried up and caught the killer right now, then he could end this mystery once and for all and hand this killer over to Sheriff Jack. After all the time he had spent investigating, finding the person responsible would be the perfect way to finally put an end to the mystery.
Ben immediately started chasing the shadowy figure from the rooftop. He quickly realized that the person was pretty quick, but to his surprise, it was incredibly easy for him to catch up. For a killer with such a terrifying reputation, Ben had at least expected a much longer and more intense chase than this.
"Hold it right there!"
Ben, still in his Absol form, jumped in front of the killer and told him to stop. However, what happened next was something even he didn't expect.
"AHhhhh! The killer is actually a monster dog!!"
The 'killer' Ben thought he had found suddenly started crying and accusing Ben of being a monster dog killer that had been going around terrorizing the entire town.
What the?
Soon, Ben de-transformed with a flash of golden light and used his Monotrix as a flashlight to see the 'killer's' face. Instead of finding a fully grown adult killer with probably some kind of scary, scarred face, he just found a boy around his age cowering in fear of him.
The boy, who was completely covered in fear, had covered his eyes when the flash of golden light happened. When he finally opened them again, he saw that the monster dog was gone. In its place was a kid around his age with brown hair and golden eyes looking directly at him.
"W-what the- Where did the monster dog go!?"
Before the kid could scream anymore, Ben immediately interrupted him.
"Forget about that! What are you doing here in the middle of the night!?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing here? I am trying to catch that serial killer, of course! Or whatever that monster dog thing is...."
"Catch the killer- What the hell are you talking about!? So, you're not the killer!?"
"Of course I am not the killer, and stop deflecting the question! Where did that monster dog go!?"
"Uh... ummm... you seeee... ummm... there is no monster dog around here as far as I can see.."
Ben tried his best at lying. He truly did. It just so happened that he wasn't a very good liar, and the awkward way he was trying to explain the situation probably wasn't helping him very much.
"Stop lying! I know what I saw! Now where- wait a minute..."
The kid stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly realized something. His expression changed as he pointed his finger directly at Ben and shouted.
"You ARE the Skinwalker!"
"What!? NO! I am not the Skinwalker! In fact, I am trying to find that Skinwalker!"
"Oh yeah!? How am I supposed to believe that!?"
Ben just growled at this kid and said,
"If I were the Skinwalker, would you think I would let you live for this long?"
The kid paused for a second and actually thought about it. He realized that Ben was right. If he really was the killer, there was no way he would have allowed him to have this entire conversation in the first place. He probably would have attacked him immediately instead of standing around and answering his questions.
"Now I think about it, you are right... hehehe.."
Ben just sighed at this idiot. He couldn't believe he had to explain something that obvious to him. However, the kid soon became wary again and asked,
"Still doesn't explain what that monster dog thing was?"
Seeing the kid become cautious of him again, Ben sighed once again. He briefly wondered if he could simply transform into Mewtwo or Mew and erase his memory, but Ben immediately questioned the ethics of such an action.
In his opinion, doing something like that would be violating his personal space and taking away his freedom. From a completely ethical standpoint, Ben was against telepathic abuse. He didn't believe that simply having the power to manipulate someone's mind meant that he should casually use it whenever something became inconvenient for him.
Besides, the kid hadn't actually done anything wrong. He was simply trying to find the same killer Ben was looking for, and unfortunately for him, he had mistaken Ben's Absol transformation for the Skinwalker. So, for now, Ben would just have to figure out another way to explain what had happened without revealing too much
"You know what... lets just walk you home for now..."
"Hey at least answer my question!"
"No! its too Dangerous and you are going home right now!"
"But i want to help catch the killer!"
"Agrrr!"
Hearing this kid whine and complain is really giving him a headache. He decided that it is for the best if he does not argue with this kid anymore and just drags him by his collar to his home.
"hey! let me go you skinwalker!"
"I am not a skin walker!"
"Yeah sure Thats what a skinwalker would say!"
While both of them are arguing They did not realize a mysterious shadowy figure is standing on the rooftop watching both of them go. The figure's white eyes where logged on the two boys especially Ben, Before a fog of black substance covered the figure and the mysterious shadowy figure disappeared from there as if he wasn't even there in the first place.
_______ x _________
Ok another chapter complete and guys please leave reviews of what you guys think so far. This is my first time writing horror mystery so i am trying my best here please give me reviews and comments so i can keep track of my over all progress as a writer. If I am doing something wrong or not or what Could I do better in the future!
Until next time bye bye!