Ghostfreak (Please Read On)

Harry left after dinner.

Ben had originally planned to help Aunt May wash the dishes, but Peter pulled him into his room.

"What is it?"

"I never expected to see Harry again today. I haven't seen him in a long time," Peter said happily. He stretched lazily. From that afternoon until now, he had played games to his heart's content.

"I've almost finished making my suit. I wanted to ask if you wanted one too," Peter said. "Maybe you don't plan to become a Super Hero like me, but I'm sure you'd want to try swinging between New York's skyscrapers. It has to be awesome!"

Ben had wanted to refuse, but after hearing Peter say that, trying it out did not seem so bad.

Who could refuse the chance to swing through the city on Silk like Spider-Man?

"Alright, then make me one." Ben picked up a sheet of drafting paper. "This one. Remember to change the colors. I need to add some personal flair."

Ben chose the Advanced Suit. Aside from its classic red-and-blue color scheme, it looked as though it was covered in a layer of bones.

"Alright, give me your watch," Peter said with a nod, reaching for Ben's Little Broken Watch.

Ben immediately jolted and yanked his hand back. "What are you doing?"

"I'm turning it into a Web Shooter. I don't have any spare watches left to modify," Peter said matter-of-factly.

The Web Shooter in his hand had been modified from a discarded watch, and it looked rather cheap.

"No need. I'll handle the Web Shooter myself." Ben shook his hand and prepared to return to his room. "By the way—"

"What?"

"I don't think Liz is right for you." Ben pointed at the blonde girl on Peter's computer screen.

Ben did not even know where to begin criticizing his little brother's taste.

Liz was indeed fairly pretty, but she was far too snobbish and arrogant. She would never fall for "unremarkable Peter."

Then again, at least this Peter had normal taste. He was not so hopeless as to fall for "Black Pig Juliet."

Peter shut the computer with a dark expression and shoved Ben out of the room.

"Anyway, I'm planning to go out for a stroll tonight. I was going to invite you, but unfortunately, you haven't even started making your suit yet. So don't blame me."

Click.

Peter closed the door.

Ben had not expected Peter to become so sharp-tongued before even putting on his suit. It seemed Spider-Man's Superpowers had given him quite a bit of confidence.

There was nothing bad about that. Peter had always been too insecure, and Ben was quite happy to see this change in him.

Night fell.

Ben, lying in bed with his eyes closed, heard a faint sound from the room next door.

Then a dark figure crawled along the wall.

Filled with excitement and anticipation, Peter glanced into Ben's room. Seeing that Ben seemed to be asleep in bed, he sighed in slight disappointment.

He had been planning to show off his suit in front of Ben!

"Fine. There'll be another chance."

"On the first day of becoming the Super Hero Spider-Man, I guarantee tonight will be interesting!" Peter clenched his fist to cheer himself on, then leaped forward, pressed the Web Shooter button with two fingers, and shot away!

Not long after he left, Ben opened his eyes beneath the covers. He walked to the window, watched Peter swing away, then looked down at his watch.

He planned to follow Peter in secret.

On one hand, he was somewhat worried about Peter's safety. On the other, he wanted to verify something.

"After transforming into XLR8 last time, my strength seemed to improve a little, but I didn't inherit Spider-Sense."

He recalled the details of his last fight with Tony. When Tony had ambushed him, Spider-Sense had not reacted. Still, the Spider Gene had enhanced his strength, giving him the ability to pierce the Arc Reactor's outer casing.

"Spider-Sense is unreliable to begin with. That coincidence proves nothing."

If he truly wanted to test it, he would need to transform first, then walk past Peter and see whether the two of them sensed each other.

He already had an idea.

"If I'm going to tail him, XLR8 or Stinkfly would be best."

He pressed the button on the Little Broken Watch. The dial popped up, and within the triangular pattern that crossed into a square appeared a twisted, elongated silhouette.

"Ghostfreak?"

Ben froze. His hand, already hovering above the watch, did not know whether to press down.

Ghostfreak's species was the Ectonurite, a ghostlike life-form. Though they were called life-forms and possessed DNA, Ghostfreak did not even have the Energy of the Universe of living creatures. It could be said that they were dead life-forms.

Even more frighteningly, Ghostfreak's DNA in the Little Broken Watch came from Z'Skayr. He had willingly given his DNA to Azmuth, but had actually hidden his consciousness within it.

In the original story, he later escaped the Omnitrix's control and became a vicious villain for a time.

That was precisely why Ben felt a trace of resistance toward transforming into Ghostfreak.

"But even if I leave it alone, Ghostfreak might still disrupt the Omnitrix and come out to cause trouble." Thinking of how Ghostfreak had even controlled the Little Broken Watch to a certain extent in the cartoon, Ben felt somewhat worried. "This is a good chance to see what exactly is going on with him."

With that thought, Ben pressed the dial anyway.

The next moment, his hands transformed into sharp scythe-like claws, and his body completely changed shape.

He looked like a floating ghost wrapped in white cloth. He had no feet, while his body was covered in cracks—his single eye crawled terrifyingly through those torn gaps.

"So this is Ghostfreak—"

His voice had become terrifying and sinister.

"This feels pretty good. I'm still myself." Ben lowered his head to look at his hands. He could feel that he had complete control over this body, which meant that, at least for now, he did not need to worry about Z'Skayr's consciousness coming out to cause trouble.

Not only that, he felt as if he were connected to the core of an endless energy source, able to draw power from the night without end. No matter what, he would never feel tired.

The darker it was, the stronger an Ectonurite became!

"I can lift a truck weighing dozens of tons, at the very least!"

The powerful strength flowing through his body made Ben feel incredible!

So much so that he even wanted to immediately tear off that irritating layer of skin and reveal Ghostfreak's true form!

But he knew that would not be wise.

Besides, he had not completely let down his guard. There were no chains restraining Ghostfreak's body, and no one could guarantee that everything would remain safe and sound.

"Let's find Peter first."

He turned intangible and passed straight through the wall, then drifted in the direction Peter had gone, quickly catching up to him.

At their closest, the distance between them was not even three meters.

Yet the two of them did not sense each other as they had before.

"It looks like transforming into an alien clearly diluted the Spider Gene."

After figuring that out, Ben no longer wanted to stay near Peter.

For the entire night, Peter went around picking fights with petty thugs while spouting nonsense that made Ben's head ache. Following behind him, Ben felt like his brain was about to explode. He had never seen anyone whose mouth could run on like that.

"I had no idea this kid could talk so much."

Ben covered his head and fled into the darkness as though escaping.

Peter could play around slowly by himself. Ben was going to enjoy a night of his own.