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Ben Tennyson stalked off into the forest. He had enough of his stupid cousin and his grandpa wasn't helping.
He was so glad school had ended and he could enjoy his summer vacation. He was really looking forward to a camping roadtrip with Grandpa Max but he just had to bring Gwen. He never liked when his parents compared his grades, his manners and even his interests to how well behaved his perfect cousin was. Every time they saw each other, he sent verbal jabs in her direction and she had an insult on the ready. She's totally the worst.
“Aw man, this is going to be the worst vacation ever.” he says to himself, “I might as well have gone to summer school.” Across the night sky, a shooting star streams across the blackness. Nice to see some action out in the woods.“Woah, a shooting star!” He marvels aloud, then it quickly changes direction aiming for where he is!
He gasps and runs away from the meteor while screaming. The impact sends him and a few pieces of earth forward. From the ground, he looks at the path of crumbled trees and dirt caused by the crash. Ben got up and moved closer to the edge so he could see the smoking object in its crater. “Looks like a satellite or something.” He observes.
Just as the glow on it faded, the ground under his feet crumbles, sending him down the crater. He’s closer to the object now. It's all round and metal looking, with a sort of swirl pattern on the bottom. The top opens up, revealing a strange device. “A watch…” He remarks, as the hourglass dial thingy glows bright green. “What's a watch doing in outer space?” He wonders. Ben reaches into the space capsule to pick it up but as his hand nears, the device moves too fluidly for solid metal.
The watch latches on fast to his wrist, prompting Ben to panic. “Argh, get off me! Get off, get off, get off!” He yells. He tries to shake it off but it won't come off. He climbs out of the crater and calls out to his grandfather. His patience runs out and he figures no one’s coming. He must be too far from the campsite if they couldn't hear him so he’ll have to remove the watch himself. He grabs a stick and sticks it (heh) under the device to pry it off. It snaps fast enough so that isn't going to work. As he groans, Ben sits down and starts messing with the buttons. The middle section of the watch raises up. “Wow!” He comments. The white hourglass shape shifts into a green diamond, revealing a strange silhouette.
“Cool!” Ben is amazed and wonders what would happen if he pressed down. He tries immediately and the bright green light floods his vision. He feels something bizarre, like a bunch of rocks growing from his wrist and traveling everywhere on his body. There's an elongation, he thinks, and he’s getting warmer too. Once he can see again, his hands are glowing bright with flames.
He screams, it's not high pitched, he swears… which might not be a lie. “I’m on fire! I’m on fire!” he yells, though a different voice says those words while he runs around. Taking a second to look at himself Ben realises something. “Hey, I’m on fire, and I’m okay.” He sees the flames at the edge of his vision. He’s much warmer than usual, but it's actually very comfortable, like a nice hot tub, minus the water. “Check it out, I’m totally hot!” He chuckles at his own joke. His new voice is deeper, like an adult’s if only rougher.
Ben looks around at the trees. Say, if the fire on his body is still going, could he move it? Some comic superheroes always throw fireballs. Time to find out if he could too. “Oh yeah, uh huh. Here goes.” He points at a tree while thinking of a flaming ball, and PSHOO! He shoots a branch of a tree with a satisfying crack. “That's what I’m talking about.” He says.
What else could he do with these abilities? He started small, can he go bigger? He puts his hands together and forms a bigger fireball. “I can hit…” Ben twirls around and chucks the fireball in a blast of heat towards multiple trees. He immediately regrets doing so as a large section of the forest bursts into flames. “Wait, stop!” He exclaims. “Uh oh…” he wanders into the burning section, trying to figure out how he could put the fire out. He tries to stamp out some of the flames, but his new hot foot isn't doing him any favors. In fact, he might be making it worse. “Aw man, I am going to get so busted for this.” He worries.
He keeps trying to stamp the flames out as some trees start falling. “This would be so cool, if it weren't so not cool.” Ben says. How is this body supposed to undo a forest fire if all it does is make fire? Maybe if he's lucky, there's going to be rain real soon. Yeah right, like the universe is that nice. He doesn't notice the spraying noise until some cold foam hits the back of his head. “Gugh!” He whips around and sees his cousin looking up at him for a change. Oh she's totally going to tell on him. Gwen screams at him and she looks kind of upset. Figures, Ben does look like a tall fire monster right now. “Look, I know I look weird but, there's no reason to be scared.” He tries to reassure her but she swings the fire extinguisher she was holding and knocks him back full force.
She sprays him again as he tries to get up and the flames on his head go out. “Hey!” Ben coughs up some foam from the fire extinguisher that got in his mouth. The flames come back to his head as he looks at his cousin. “I don't know what you are, but you’ll stay down there if you know what's good for you.” She warns. Ben looks at her shoes, it would be so funny if a small flame distracted her. He aims his hand a little lower and sparks appear on her velcro. “Ow!” Gwen recoils, Ben can't help but giggle.
His cousin puts the fire out with her extinguisher as he gets up. “I warned you.” Gwen raises the extinguisher over her head. “Don't even think about it, freak.” He mocks her. Gwen’s expression changes as she realizes who's in front of her. “Ben? Is that you?” she questions. “What happened?” Ben tries to explain how it all went down. “Well, when I was walking, this meteor fell from the sky and almost mushed me. Except it wasn't a meteor or a satellite but this cool watch thing that jumped up onto my wrist, and when I tried to get it off I suddenly was on fire, only it didn't hurt when I was accidentally starting this mega forest fire!” He explains with barely any modifications. “Gwen, are you alri- What in blazes?” Grandpa Max arrives. “Hey grandpa, guess who?” Gwen initiates. “It's me, grandpa!” He waves to his grandfather with his fiery body. “Ben? What happened to you?” Grandpa also asks. Ben tries to repeat what he said to Gwen but she interrupts him. “Um, excuse me? Major forest fire burning out of control. Remember?” She reminds them.
“What do we do?” Ben asks. Grandpa thinks for a second before he proposes a solution. “Back fire,” he starts, “Start a new fire and let it burn into the old fire. They'll snuff each other out. Think you can do it, Ben?” he asks. “Shooting flames, I can definitely do.” Ben responds. He runs through the fire and heads to another section of the forest. He aims at a row of trees near the first fire and a steady blast of flames sets the wood ablaze.
Eventually, all that's left of the incident are a bunch of smoking trees and scorched ground. Ben follows his family members back to their campsite after it's all over so he can properly explain what happened.
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“And you say that this watch, jumped up and clamped onto your wrist?” Grandpa questions as Gwen tossed a marshmallow to Ben. “This time, it wasn't my fault.” He knows about his troublemaker reputation, but he hopes Grandpa Max believes him as a marshmallow burns quickly. “I swear.” He says through the sticky sugar. “I believe you, Ben.” Grandpa alleviates his worries. “Think he's going to stay a monster forever?” Gwen asks. “He’s not a monster, he’s an alien.” Grandpa responds quickly. The kids stare at him, prompting him to justify himself. “I-I mean, look at him. What else could he be.” Ben laments at his situation after his cousin’s comment. “I don't want to be Fire Guy forever. How am I supposed to play Little League this fall if I charcoal the ball every time I catch a pop fly?” Or eat burnt food everyday, read the ashes of his comics, play his melted video games, hug his parents? “Don't worry, Ben. We’ll figure this thing out.” Grandpa Max tries to reassure him as an annoying beeping starts to resonate. It sounds nearby and as he sits up, a flash of red light fills Ben’s vision.
His family opens their eyes to see a human Benjamin Tennyson. “ Ah hah, I’m me again!” He remarks. “Aw too bad. I liked you better when you were a briquette.” Gwen quips, holding a marshmallow. “Ugh, still can't get this thing off.” Ben comments as he tries to pull the watch, now red, off of his wrist. “Better not fool around with it anymore until we know exactly what we're dealing with. I’ll go check out that crash site. You guys stay here until I get back.” Grandpa Max tells his grandkids.
Ben looks down at his wrist. It was green when he first saw it and turned him into the fire alien. He wonders if that's all it can do. He gets away from Gwen to try and see if he can get something to happen again.