Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: 10 Reasons for a Crazy Summer

“FLIGHT 10 FROM TOKYO TO BELLWOOD HAS NOW LANDED! NOW ALLOWING PASSENGERS TO EXIT THE AIRCRAFT! ”

Within the large crowd of new arrivals, one stood out amongst the crowd. A young teenage girl with straight black hair and dark brown hair that is kept neat with a red hairband. She's wearing a black shirt with puffy sleeves, a short white skirt and white sandals. She was carrying a black purse with her as she exited the plane. This young girl was Yukiko Amagi, daughter/Heiress of the Famous Amagi Inn from the small town of Inaba.

Yukiko pulled out her phone and looked through her gallery on her phone to find what she was looking for. "An elderly man with a Hawaiian shirt? I wish mother and father were more specific with this. How am I supposed to find someone who fits that description?" Yukiko sighed.

"You're Yukiko Amagi, right?"

Huh?" Yukiko looked over to her right and saw a fairly overweight man who seemed to be in his late 50's, wearing a red Hawaiian shirt. Yukiko blinked at the coincidence of not even having to look far for who she was looking for. "Uh, yes! I am Yukiko Amagi! Are you Maxwell Tennyson?" Yukiko approached the elderly man.

"I am, but you can just call me, Max or Grandpa if you want of course," Max introduced himself. The two began walking towards the baggage claim, getting into small talk on the way.

"My father never really mentioned you until now. So, I was surprised that he'd be so willing to agree to something like this," Yukiko said.

Max rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling a bit nervously. "Ah, well, your father and I hadn't really left off on the best terms before he moved over to Japan. It was only recently that we managed to patch things up, though I won't bore you with the details," Max said.

Yukiko found it odd that he didn't want to explain everything to her, because her father and mother were the same way when she asked. She didn't press the issue, wouldn't feel right to start the summer off on any bad footing.

"How about you though, I heard about those bad strings of murder cases last year. I would hope that you and your friends are alright," Max brought up a different topic.

Yukiko was surprised that he would know of the murder mystery from last year, though considering that one of his sons(Her Father) lived in the town it would make sense that he would be concerned. "We're fine, though it was a bit troublesome. However, my friends and I were able to get through it all," Yukiko answered. Though he'd never know it, Yukiko and The Investigation Team were able to handle it all and stopped Adachi before Inaba could suffer worse.

Max raised an eyebrow at the way Yukiko answered his question, almost sounding like she had a personal involvement in it. Though, considering she lived there it shouldn't have been too surprising. "How are your friends? I'm sure this trip was an inconvenience to any of the Summer Plans you guys were cooking up," Max changed the subject once more.

Yukiko chuckled a bit, thinking back to her friends' reaction to her leaving for the Summer.

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" Chie Satonaka screeched.

"Jeez, can you not be so loud!?" Yosuke Hanamura complained.

"Shut it!" Chie had the nerve to kick him again.

"You're making a scene again! Just calm down!" Yosuke shouted back.

"Let's just calm down and let Yukiko-Senpai explain what's going on," Naoto Shirgane tried to stop the situation from escalating further. Her words had the desired effect as both teens sat back down in their seats. "Now, Yukiko-Senpai, can you explain everything again?"

Yukiko had to stop herself from giggling at Chie's reaction, knowing this was a bit more of a serious topic. "A couple days ago my parents announced to me that they had arranged to spend this Summer Vacation in America with some relatives on a Summer Road Trip," Yukiko explained.

"Then cancel it! We had so many things planned for this summer, now that we don't have to worry about dying the next day!" Chie exclaimed in panic.

"I'm sorry, Chie-Chan. This is something that both my parents had agreed upon, I did try to fight it, but they say this will be a great experience," Yukiko frowned.

"I'd say it's fine," Kanji Tatsumi shrugged.

"Kanji-Kun!?" Chie looked betrayed.

"I-I mean, it's not like she'll be gone for that long! It's just this summer!" Kanji tried to defend himself.

"You're only saying that, because Naoto-Kun is still here," Chie muttered.

"W-WHAT!?" Both teens blushed from the accusation.

"I think it'll be great as well! I've been to America before for a few special concerts, I'm sure you'll have fun there, Yukiko-Senpai!" Rise Kujikawa smiled, cutely.

"Thank you, Rise-Chan," Yukiko nodded her head.

"First partner and now you? Feels like we're being split apart, albeit temporarily," Yosuke chuckled. He felt an elbow in his sides, he glared at Chie who was signaling for him to shut up. "What!? What's the...oh...crap my bad, Yukiko-Chan," Yosuke apologized.

Yukiko noticed all of her friends giving her sad looks, she realized she must've looked depressed again at the mention of Yu. "I-It's fine, everyone! Like, Yosuke said! It's just a temporary leave, he'll be back someday," Yukiko still had yet to get over the departure of Yu Narukami, the young man who had left a huge mark on Inaba and the people in it.

"Don't worry, Yuki-Chan, Teddie is beary-sure that Sensei is thinking about us every day!" Teddie bounced to cheer her up.

"Yeah! We're like an inseparable family, no matter where we are!" Rise exclaimed. The others all voiced their agreement in the matter, cheering Yukiko up.

"Thank you, everyone. I'll try to be more positive going forward," Yukiko smiled.

Seeing her childhood friend's cheerful face and everyone else's more positive outlook on the situation, Chie sighed in defeat.

"Chie-Chan?" Yukiko and everyone else turned to her.

"Yukiko-Chan, just promise me you'll be safe over there and will have fun," Chie hugged Yukiko.

The heiress smiled and returned the hug. "I will Chie-Chan. I promise you."

"Good, because I'd have a difficult time perfecting my dragon's kick if you weren't there to watch over me!"

"Pfft! B-But, Chie-Chan...Dragons can't kick! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

As Yukiko retolled the tale to Max the two of them had grabbed the rest of Yukiko's bags from the baggage claim and were making their way to the Airport's exit.

"Your friends sound like a colorful group of people," Max chuckled.

Yukiko giggled as well. "I agree, I wouldn't trade my friends for the world. I hold them all close to my heart," Yukiko smiled blissfully.

Max smiled at Yukiko's bond with her friends, wishing his other grandkids were the same way. Maybe this trip could help them all grow closer together. He looked back in front of him to see a familiar sight come into frame.

"Um? What's that?" Yukiko pointed at the motorhome.

"That? Is the Rustbucket! Our home for this entire Summer Road Trip! Ain't she a beauty?" Max asked, smiling fondly at the RV.

"Uh...it certainly has a home-like feel to it," Yukiko was now a lot more nervous about this road trip than she was originally.

"GIVE IT BACK, DOOFUS!"

"NO WAY, GEEK!"

Yukiko jumped back from the two loud voices that were coming from the RV. She turned back to Max to see him shaking his head in disappointment. "Were those voices…?"

"Your younger cousins? Yes, I would hope that they would behave themselves while I went to find you. Guess, that was too much to ask," Max sighed. When he opened the door to the Rustbucket, Yukiko entered and got a good glimpse at her two younger cousins.

One of them was a short boy with brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a wide black line going down the middle on both sides, green cargo pants, and black and white tennis shoes. In his hands was a laptop that he was trying to keep from the girl.

The girl had orange hair and green eyes. She was wearing an elbow-length blue raglan shirt with a cat logo on her chest, white capris trousers, and a pair of white shoes with dark blue stripes. She was reaching for the laptop that the boy was keeping from her.

"Give it here, Ben! I'm not joking!"

"I just want to look something up! Be a little considerate for once, Gwen!"

"I would be if you weren't such a doofus!"

"BEN! GWEN! BEHAVE NOW!" Max's voice boomed inside the RV. His loud voice made all three jump in surprise. Gwen used the opportunity to snacth her laptop out of Ben's hands.

"Ben. Gwen. Meet your cousin from Japan, Yukiko Amagi," Max introduced her.

Yukiko bowed her head and introduced herself. "Hello, as Grandpa said, my name is Yukiko Amagi. It is a pleasure to spend this summer with you," Yukiko said, politely. Ben and Gwen were both taken by Yukiko's politeness.

"Great, another Gwen," Ben thought, disappointed.

"Seems I do have a cousin with manners. This will be nice," Gwen thought, pleasantly. The young girl walked over to Yukiko and copied the bow.

"Nice to meet you too, Yukiko-San. I've been doing some research about Japanese mannerism so as to not offend you in any way. I hope that we can get along this summer," Gwen introduced herself.

"Nerd," Ben scoffed, making Gwen glare at him.

Yukiko chuckled and waved off Gwen's worries. "D-Don't mind it, Gwen. We're in America after all and we're family. There's no need to use honorifics among us," Yukiko said.

"Alright, if that's ok with you," Gwen nodded. Gwen moved to the side so Ben could introduce himself. The boy walked up to her and did his best to copy the bow.

"Uh? Nice to meet you. The name's Ben Tennyson, the baddest kid around!" Ben smirked.

"Yeah, the kid who was hanging by his underwear a couple hours ago," Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Shut it!" Ben glared at her.

"Pfft! Srk!"

The three Tennysons looked over at the giggling Yukiko utterly confused. The heiress saw their gazes and couldn't control her laughter anymore. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I-I-I'm sorry, but you two just remind me of my friends! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What a weird sense of humor," The Tennysons sweat drop.

The Rustbucket zoomed down the road, the road trip finally getting started once they had gotten Yukiko's things situated inside of it. Grandpa Max sat in the driver's seat, humming away at the radio as he drove to their first destination. Yukiko sat at the table in the back with Ben and Gwen, wanting to get to know her younger cousins. However, it was easier said than done when the two were more focused on their devices than trying to conversate.

"Seems like there's some tension between them. Is this how Yu-Kun felt when he first came to Inaba?" Yukiko wondered. Yukiko wasn't sure if she should bring that up yet, so she opted for a different topic.

"So, do the two of you have any hobbies?" The heiress asked the younger duo. Gwen turned from her laptop, while Ben lazily brought his attention forth from his game.

"Well, I do take a lot of pride in my studies and do take gymnast and martial arts classes in my spare time," Gwen bragged, bringing forth a snort from Ben. Her eyebrow twitched at Ben for showing his rude side again.

Not wanting another fight between the two to break out, Yukiko responded quickly. "That's lovely to hear, Gwen. My childhood friend Chie-Chan also has a love for martial arts, though her grades aren't the best thing," Yukiko smiled at the thought of Chie always kicking the same tree over and over again.

"If I ever get to meet her, maybe I could learn something from her. Not academically of course," Gwen replied.

"I think having a student of sorts would go to her head too much. Srk! I-It'd be pretty funny!" Yukiko had to prevent another laughing fit from spawning in. Shaking her head, she looked over at Ben who had a bored expression on his face. "So, Ben, what about you?"

"Me? Mainly just play my favorite game Sumo Slammers," Ben answered and showed the game to Yukiko. The heiress nodded her head at the game, having never really played video games growing up, she didn't understand the appeal that much.

"I see, do you play any sports or join clubs? Hang out with friends?" Yukiko pressed forward. She noticed that Ben stiffened a bit before deciding to answer the question.

"Nah, not really a part of any clubs or stuff. I was going to play Little League this summer, but my parents told me about this summer trip." Ben said and immediately turned back to his game, and Gwen did the same with her laptop.

"Well, that could've gone worse. Hopefully, wherever Grandpa is taking spices things up a bit," Yukiko hoped.

"Camping...I'm getting flashbacks to painful memories," Yukiko didn't want to think back to that god awful camping trip from last year.

Grandpa Max had decided to surprise them with a camping trip in the wilderness as their first stop on the Road Trip. Something that Ben and Gwen weren't exactly enthusiastic about either, well Ben to a lesser extent. Seems the boy did want to do it, but he'd rather not have Gwen around.

Currently the three were sitting outside on a bench while Grandpa Max cooked them something to eat. "I wonder what he's making," Yukiko said.

"Hopefully something that makes this trip exciting," Ben complained. He and his female cousins perked up when Max exited the RV with three bowls in his arms. However, what made Yukiko's stomach drop was the squirming noise coming from the bowls.

"Okay, I give up. What is that?" Ben asked with a questionable look.

"Marinated mealworms. Hard to find them fresh in the states. Y'know, they're considered a delicacy in some countries," Max dropped some interesting facts on them.

"And totally gross in others," Gwen watched as one of the worms dropped out of the bowl.

"I have to agree, this doesn't really seem edible," Yukiko felt like the universe was laughing at her, she didn't exactly know why of course.

"If these don't sound good, I've got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge," Max suggested.

"Aww, couldn't we just have a burger or something?" Ben asked.

"Nonsense. This summer is gonna be an adventure for your tastebuds. I'll grab the tongue," Max went back into the RV to get the rest of his odd food choices.

Ben and Gwen quickly try to devise a plan to get out of eating Max's food for their entire summer trip. Yukiko was surprised, because it was the first showing of kindness the two have shown each other since she arrived. She was dragged out of her thoughts when the two were staring at her, hoping for her to chime in.

"Oh! I'm sure I can cook something for us if you want. My friends and chefs at the inn all enjoy my cooking!" Yukiko wholeheartedly believed that she was good at cooking, ignoring the times where she almost sent her friends to the hospital.

"Great! Maybe we really can make this work if someone from a rich family can cook for us!" Ben grinned.

"We shouldn't take advantage of her like that, Ben," Gwen scolded.

"Would you rather eat Grandpa's cooking?" Ben pointed at the mealworms.

"Yeah ok, Yukiko can cook for us," Gwen agreed. The kids weren't given any more time to plan as their grandfather exited the RV with the Sheep tongue.

It was now a bit later into the evening, Yukiko had decided to email Chie what was going on so far on their Road Trip, giving fair descriptions of her family members.

Chie-Chan: "This Ben sounds weirdly like Yosuke. But a bit brattier. Gwen reminds me of you though, Yukiko-Chan."

Yukiko: "I guess he does kinda give off a Yosuke-vibe, somewhat. Though, he isn't that bad. Gwen reminds me a bit of you, Chie-Chan."

Chie-Chan: "Heh, guess I am pretty smart, huh?"

Yukiko: "No, not that."

Chie-Chan: "Y-You don't have to be so blunt, Yukiko-Chan."

Yukiko: Sorry, Chie-Chan. Oh, it seems something is happening, I'll talk to you later."

Yukiko put her phone away and walked over to see Ben walking away from the camp, a scowl set on his face. "Ben, what's wrong?" Yukiko asked.

"Tch, nothing. Just taking a walk," Ben moved past her and continued his way into the woods.

"I, uh, think they're starting to grow on each other," Max said, though he himself sounded uncertain about it.

"I'm not too certain about that one, Grandpa," Yukiko sighed. When their Grandfather walked back towards the RV to get a fire started, Yukiko took this opportunity to talk with Gwen.

"So, do you know what that was all about?" She asked the younger girl.

"What? About Ben being a doofus? That's nothing new, you'll get used to it eventually," Gwen answered.

"It seemed like his feelings were hurt a bit," Yukiko said. She knows just how much words can affect people. From all of constant pressure she received about taking over the Inn, Yosuke's having to take the blame for Junes eating up the shopping district, Chie having to deal with people commenting on her looks, Kanji being judged for his hobbies, Naoto for being a girl in a male dominated workforce, and Rise being in a very popular industry. She didn't want her younger cousins saying the wrong things to each other.

"Ben? Feelings hurt? I didn't think he had feelings from the way he behaves," Gwen responded.

"Everyone has feelings, Gwen. Sometimes people just have their own way of masking them," Yukiko frowned at how easily Gwen disregarded Ben's feelings.

Not really liking how the conversation was going, Gwen decided to change the subject. "Let's talk about something else! You mentioned your childhood friend Chie-chan, right? What about your other friends?" Gwen asked.

Figuring this could be a conversation for another day, Yukiko agreed to change the subject. Before she could answer, Max called them over for smores. For the next few minutes Yukiko told stories to Grandpa Max and Gwen about her friends from Inaba, of course leaving out certain details.

"Hmm...your face turned red at the mention of this Yu Narukami? Is he your boyfriend!?" Gwen asked, excitedly. Yukiko blushed at Gwen's ability to figure it out so quickly.

"Now, Gwen, don't you think that's a bit personal to ask," Grandpa Max scolded softly.

"I-It's fine, she's not wrong. Yu-Kun is my boyfriend. The last time I messaged him was before I left to come here, he's a bit busy with moving around with his family at the moment. So, I haven't had the perfect chance to talk to him yet," Yukiko felt comfortable enough to explain.

"A long-distance relationship, that's really romantic!" Gwen sighed at the thought of having a boyfriend like Yu. Her own personal prince charming would be wonderful to have. Gwen looked over and saw smoke emerging from the woods. "What's that?"

Max got up from his seat. "Looks like the start of a forest fire. We better let the Ranger Station know, probably some darn fool camper messing around with something he shouldn't," He said, glaring at the growing fire. Yukiko however realized something was wrong with the situation.

"Wait, wasn't Ben taking a walk in that direction…" Yukiko trailed off. At that moment both Gwen and Max came to a horrifying realization that Ben somehow started the fire and that he was in the middle of said fire. Max reached into an emergency kit with two fire extinguishers, he handed one to Yukiko, since she was the eldest of the kids. The three raced off into the wilderness to find and save Ben.

"Oh, please don't let something bad happen on the first day!" Yukiko worried, mentally.

Yukiko would've found irony in the situation of her putting out a fire with water, especially since most of the spells she knows revolve around fire. However, there wasn't much time to ponder the situation as she was frantically searching for Ben, with Gwen close to her side.

"Don't be dead. Don't be a corpse. Don't be dead. Don't be a corpse," Yukiko mumbled frantically.

"Uh, Yukiko, that's not making me feel better," Gwen said, though it seemed Yukiko hadn't even heard her. So, caught up in her mumblings, Yukiko didn't even realize there was some weird fire creature in front of her until Gwen screamed and she was spraying it down with the fire extinguisher.

"What is that!? Is this a Shadow!? But, what is a Shadow doing outside of the TV World!? OH! That doesn't matter, all that matters is keeping Gwen safe!" Yukiko ushered Gwen to stand behind her, and pointed the fire extinguisher at the fire creature.

"I don't know who or what you are, but you better stay back or else!" Yukiko threatened, fiercely.

The fire creature instantly got scared from the dangerous aura that Yukiko was emitting. "L-Look! I know I must look weird, but there's no reason to be scared!" He tried to reach towards them, but Yukiko was quick to smack him away with the fire extinguisher.

"Back off, Shadow! Unless you want to become a smudge on the ground!" Yukiko threatened once more.

"H-Hey! I'm not the enemy!" He shouted, shocked by Yukiko's strength.

"Oh, yeah! Then prove it!" Gwen was also shocked by Yukiko's sudden strength, but that also went and filled her with confidence.

Glaring at Gwen, he launched a small flicker of fire at her feet, giggling when she jumped back. His giggling didn't last long as Yukiko once again smacked him down with the fire extinguisher. Then she quickly turned around to put out the fire on Gwen's foot.

"OW! I was just teaching the Freak Geek a lesson!" The Fire Creature cried out.

A look of realization came upon Gwen's face. "Ben?"

"BEN!?" Yukiko looked baffled by how Gwen could say that. She understood that the two didn't get along, but that was no reason to mistake him for a monster.

"Is that you? What happened?" Gwen walked up to him.

"Wait, Gwen! How are you sure this is Ben!?" Yukiko asked.

"He's the only one who'd ever call me a Freak Geek," She answered simply.

"Ok, that is weird. Maybe not the weirdest thing I've ever seen, but these two have one weird relationship," Yukiko sweat dropped.

Ben decided to quickly explain what happened to him. "Well this meteor fell from the sky and almost smudged me, except it wasn't a meteor or a satellite, but this cool watch thing that jumped 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!"

"Well...that's also not the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Still insanely weird though," Yukiko thought. Then, she realized that Gwen and Max were right to assume that Ben started a forest fire.

Soon Max appeared and was startled by Ben's new appearance, though Yukiko noticed that a look of familiarity quickly passed through Max's features before disappearing again.

"Hey, Grandpa, guess who?" Gwen said.

"Hey, Grandpa, it's me!" Ben waved as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"Ben? What happened to you?" He asked. Ben was going to explain his story once more, but Yukiko realized there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"While I would love to quickly figure out what exactly happened to Ben. We still have a forest fire to take care of," She reminded everyone.

"What do we do?" Ben asked.

"Backfire, start a new fire and let it burn into the new fire. They'll snuff each other out. Think you can do it?" Grandpa Max instructed Ben.

Ben smirked at the challenge given to him. "Shooting flames? I can definitely do!" Ben replied, cockily. He ran into the flames while the others rushed out. He began creating a new fire to take out the old ones, efficiently saving the forest from burning down.

Yukiko watched the scene unfold, wondering if she was able to use her Persona in the real world would she be able to do the same thing. "Well, guess this really will be one interesting summer." Yukiko had no idea how right she was.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:  Priestess Arcana Burns Once More

Yukiko and the Tennysons were currently sitting around a campfire, Ben re-telling the story of how he turned into a fire monster(?). Yukiko didn’t really know what to make of it. “ I mean Teddie is a shadow given a human body and a Persona, but this is a bit different from that ,” She thought.

“I swear this isn’t my fault this time!” Ben panicked. 

“True, you had no control over the watch jumping at you. Still, you should’ve come back to us immediately, Ben. That forest fire could’ve been prevented,” Yukiko told him. It was hard to tell, but Ben did look regretful at that part.

“I-I didn’t mean to,” Ben said.

“We know, Ben. Everything is gonna be fine,” Grandpa reassured him.

“Do you think he’ll stay a monster forever?” Gwen asked, concerned.

“I would hope not. We’d have to keep him in the bath for the entire trip,” Yukiko wanted to laugh at the thought of Ben sitting inside of a tub filled with water.

“No, he’s not a monster, he's an alien,” Max corrected them. His words gained him confused and questioning gazes from his grandkids(Well...you’d have to assume in Ben’s case.)

Seeing as he might’ve said something he shouldn’t, Max was quick to cover his own folly. “I-I m-mean just look at him! What else could he be!?” Yukiko looked suspicious at that, noting that their Grandfather was hiding something.

“Ugh! I don’t want to be a 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!?” Ben complained, scared of his new predicament.

“ That...that should really be the least of your worries, Ben ,” Yukiko sweatdropped. Suddenly a beeping noise started coming from the emblem on Ben’s chest, drawing all of their attention. In a bright flash of red light the fire guy was replaced with Ben.

“Ah ha! I’m me again!” Ben grinned, happily.

While Gwen complained about seeing her cousin’s snotty face again, Yukiko’s attention was drawn entirely to the watch on his wrist. “ So, that’s what he was talking about. It looks a bit tacky ,” Yukiko thought.

“Can you try taking it off, Ben?” She asked him. He did as requested, but the device refused to come off of his body. 

“Agh! It still won’t come off!” Ben complained. 

“Oh, so you’ve already tried to remove it,” She realized.

Seeing as his Grandson was back to normal, Max got up from his seat. “Better not fool around with it anymore until we know exactly what we’re dealing with. I’ll go check out that crash site, Yukiko you’re in charge.” Max walked off into the woods.

“Yes, Grandpa,” Yukiko nodded her head.

“ My little cousin found an alien watch from outer space, turned into some fire thing, and almost burnt down an entire forest. What other weird thing could happen tonight? ”

Yukiko exited the bathroom in the RV, stretching her limbs, a yawn escaping her throat. “Oh! I really must be tired after everything today, maybe I should take a quick nap. Just to regain some energy before Grandpa gets back,” Yukiko said to herself. She went to sit at the table to rest her head, and drifted off into her nap.

“Awa...k…”

“Mh...huh?”

“Ca...na…”

“This voice is...but why is she?”

“Yukiko.”

“Yes?”

“Yukiko.”

“Yes?”

“YUKIKO!”

“HUH!? WHAT!?” Yukiko jumped up, being rudely awakened from her slumber. She looked over and saw Gwen. Though something was off, Gwen looked somewhat concerned. “Gwen what’s wrong?”

“It’s Ben! Grandpa told him not to mess with that alien watch and he did! He turned into some big orange dog thing and ran into the woods!” Gwen told Yukiko.

“ I should’ve realized that leaving them unsupervised even for a couple of minutes would lead to something like this ,” Yukiko sighed. She grabbed her jacket and headed outside. “Stay here, Gwen! I’ll be back with Ben before Grandpa arrives!” Yukiko ran off into the direction Gwen pointed in. The orange haired girl could only hope that Ben didn’t get himself into any more trouble.

“Oh who am I kidding, it’s Ben,” She sighed.

Yukiko ran through the forest at a fast pace, which would surprise most people. Her outward appearance would give no indication that she could run for this long. “ Thank goodness for having to run through all those dungeons ,” Yukiko thought. Her sprinting slowed when she saw burn marks and broken trees around the area. “ This isn’t where the fire happened, so what could’ve...oh Ben! ” Her senses screamed at her that Ben had been involved in a fight. But, with what she couldn’t figure out.

PSSSH!

“WOAH!”

She turned in the direction of Ben’s voice, sprinting faster through the trees and bushes to get to him. When she was finally close enough, what she saw caused her heart to race faster, seeing that Ben was cornered by what seemed to be a dark orange drone-like robot. Its laser was trying to hit him, but the boy was agile enough to dodge each one of the beams. She knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep up forever, seeing as the next one almost hit him.

“ What do I do!? How do I even get it away from him or get him away from him!? If only I could use my… ”

Do you wish to use my power?

“Wha?”

Do you wish to protect those close to you once more?

“Yes, yes I do!”

Then call upon my name once more!

Yukiko saw it, in front of her was the tarot card of the Priestess Arcana spinning in front of her eyes once more in a brilliant glow of light that only she could see. Even without her fan, Yukiko swung her arm and crushed the card instantly. Opening her mouth and bellowing out the name of her Persona.

“PERSONA! AMATERASU!” Behind her a large female figure appeared. Her entire body was bright gold with metal decorations on both her arms, they were octagonal star shaped with a red gem in the middle of both. In her hand was a long sharp blade. Yukiko wanted to enjoy bathing in the warmth of her Persona once more, not believing that she’d ever feel it again. However, now wasn’t the time for that, Ben needed her help.

“ AGI !” Yukiko swatted another tarot card, breaking it. Her Persona followed the command instantly launching the fire blast at the drone. It exploded on contact, falling to the ground in a heap of burnt metal. With the threat gone, Yukiko released a sigh of relief dispelling her Persona. She gazed down at her hand, confused on how she could use her Persona outside of the TV World, however there wasn’t time for that.

“THAT WAS SO COOL!”

“Uh, what?” Yukiko blinked down at Ben. He was giddy with excitement and awe at what Yukiko had just done.

“You didn’t tell me you could summon a giant woman and shoot fire!”

“YOU COULD SEE HER!?”

Their walk back to the RV had been filled with Ben asking her constant questions about her Persona, asking if he could see it again. Yukiko did try to summon Amaterasu, but the tarot card didn’t appear in front of her again, confusing her even more. While in her own thoughts, Ben kept talking.

“Maybe we can be a SuperHero team!? Wouldn’t that be cool!?” He asked, hopeful. 

“O-Oh! Uh, yeah! That would be pretty cool I guess,” Yukiko hurried and answered the boy.

He was too caught up in his own excitement to care about her barely listening. “This is gonna be so cool! Best summer ever!”

“Uh huh.”

Both saw Grandpa Max standing in front of the Rustbucket with his arms folded, glaring at the both of them. Gwen had a semi-smug look on her face, it was pointed more at Ben rather than Yukiko.

“H-Hello, Grandpa,” Yukiko waved, nervously. 

“Inside now.”

“I was worried that you’d get popular with that thing on your wrist. That’s why I told you not to fool around with it until we know what the heck it is,” Grandpa Max scolded.

“Sorry, Grandpa,” Ben apologized.

“And I hoped that you would’ve kept a closer eye on him, Yukiko,” Max turned to the teen who was sitting next to Gwen.

“I’m sorry as well, Grandpa,” Yukiko bowed her head. Ben saw this and felt that he needed to take responsibility.

“Don’t be too harsh on her, Grandpa! Yukiko saved my butt with her superpowers!” Ben revealed. Causing the other two to bring their attention to her.

“ And of course he just goes and says it, ” She mentally sighed. “I-It’s something we can talk about later! Shouldn’t we focus more on Ben and his watch!” She tries to shift the attention away from her. 

“That’s right! I finally figured out how to make this work! All you do is press this button, then when the ring pops up, just twist it until you see the guy you want to be, slam it down, and BAMO! You’re one of ten super cool alien hero dudes!” Ben explains his new found abilities.

“ That kinda reminds me of Yu-kun and his mysterious ability to use more than one Persona, ” Yukiko thought back to her boyfriend.

“What about staying a super cool alien dude and not turning back into plain old pizza face,” Gwen jabbed.

“I kinda haven’t figured that out yet,” Ben looked away. Max saw this as an opportunity though.

“With a device as powerful as that watch clamped on you, my guess is that we better help you learn fast,” Max gave his approval for Ben to use the watch. The boy cheered in celebration, making Yukiko giggle at his cheerfulness.

“ Mayday! Mayday! Somebody help us! ” The radio in the RV suddenly cut on. “ We’re under attack by some sort of...I know you’re not gonna believe me, but robot! ” The guy was cut off by static.

“It sounds just like those things that attacked me! Must be looking for the watch, those people are in trouble because of me!” Ben exclaimed.

“It’s not your fault, Ben,” Yukiko says.

“No, I think I can help them!” Ben disagreed.

“What do you plan to do, Tennyson?” Gwen asked, confused. Ben turned around and smirked, holding up the watch. He and Gwen rushed out of the RV, Yukiko was gonna follow but was stopped by Max.

“We’ll talk about these superpowers of yours later, ok?” He said.

“Y-Yes, Grandpa,” She sighed. Seems she didn’t escape entirely.

Stopping just outside of the campsite being attacked, Ben activated the watch. He looked to his Grandpa and received a nod to transform. “Eenny, meenie, minnie, here goes!” Ben slammed down the dial. 

When the light died down Yukiko took note that Ben had turned into a bulky man made of  green crystallized material. 

“So, do you know what this one can do?” She asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s gonna be cool!” His deep voice couldn’t contain his eagerness to get into the action.

Yukiko gasped in horror at the sight of the giant robot destroying the campsite, people running in terror all around. She was really glad that they managed to stop the TV world from fusing with the real world or this would’ve become the reality for Inaba.

“Looks like Papa, robot isn’t happy,” Ben joked. “I’ll get gear heads attention, you guys get the campers to safety,” Ben showed a rare display of maturity. Yukiko was proud of her cousin for making such a decision. 

“Yukiko? Wanna help out?” He asked. Yukiko looked up at the terrorizing machine, she wasn’t sure if her fire would be good enough for the situation. There was also the fact that she didn’t want anyone to see her Persona if she could activate it again. “You got this, Ben! Go be a hero!” She encouraged him. 

“Heh, gotcha!” He ran off to fight the robot. Yukiko hurried after Max and Gwen to help evacuate the people.

Ben saw that the robot had grabbed a bystander and hurried over. “Hey! You want somebody to pick on? Try me!” He posed confidently. 

The machine stared at him for a few seconds before dropping the man, it shot a beam at him, sending the Diamond boy flying into destroyed RVs. Then launched another one, blowing them up. Ben quickly emerged from the wreckage, cutting his way through the metal after turning his arm into a blade. “Cool,” He observed.

He tried to run up on the robot with his blade arm, but it dodged and landed on top of him. “Oh no! Think I’m in trouble!”

Yukiko helped a little girl back to her feet and led her to her distressed mother. The two began running away from the battle. She looked over to see how Ben was doing, only to frown seeing him getting tossed around by the robot. It was launching more beams at him, Ben dodged some more of the strikes. Only for one of the beams to hit a tree, knocking it over. Both Yukiko and Ben gasped in shock when the tree was falling in the direction of where Gwen was. 

Yukiko saw that Ben wasn’t close enough to get to Gwen in time and that the girl was frozen in place. Fear began overriding her systems at the thought of Gwen getting killed. At that moment a familiar tarot card appeared in front of her once more and she wasted no time in breaking it.

“PERSONA! AMATERASU! AGILAO !” Yukiko cried out. Her Persona followed the command without question, launching the medium fire blast at the falling tree, obliterating it before it could make contact with Gwen. 

Gwen was shocked at what just happened, knowing that it wasn't Ben. She looked over to her right and saw the gold woman floating above Yukiko. “What is that?” She questioned.

“Her superpower! Told ya!” Ben replied as he scooped Gwen up into his arms and brought her over to Yukiko. The heiress dispelled her Persona and pulled Gwen into a hug. 

“Stay out of the way of danger, ok!?” Yukiko looked Gwen directly in the eyes.

“Y-Yes!” The girl replied immediately. Max eventually made his way over to make sure they were alright. 

Suddenly a metal arm grabbed Ben and lifted him up. It attempted to rip his arm off, but he quickly shattered its hand with his crystal spikes. Seeing as its original plan didn’t work, it blasted Ben into the restroom building, destroying it.

“BEN!” Yukiko screamed in concern.

The boy got up unharmed, transforming his arms in blades and rushed in. When the robot shot a beam at him, Ben blocked it with his blades. When he did the beam reflected off his crystals. The three humans had to duck to not get hit by it. Seeing what had just happened gave Ben an idea.

“Come on! Burn on in here!” He pointed at his chest.

“Get out of there! Run!” Max called out.

When the powerful beam was launched, Ben grabbed it with his hands, preventing it from going any further. “What goes around, comes around! Let’s see how you like you techno freak!” He reflected the beam around and destroyed its head. Defeating the robot. His family cheered for his victory.

“ALRIGHT! WAY TO GO BE-” They realized there were other people around and cut themselves off. “Uh...I mean, DIAMONDHEADED GUY!” Max corrected himself. 

“Oh yeah! Who’s bad?” Ben began gloating about his victory. Looking over he saw his family warning him about his time limit and bystanders being around. Ben widened his eyes at his folly and ran away.

“ Yup, another Yosuke ,” Yukiko sighed.

Chie-chan: “So, how was your first day on the road trip?”

Yukiko: “It was out of this world if I’m being honest.”

Chie-chan: “What? It was just camping, Yukiko-chan. I’m sure it was nothing that special, we would’ve had more fun together.”

Yukiko: “Hehe! Don’t think too much about it, Chie-chan! I know that you have a hard time with that!”

Chie-chan: “D-Don’t just say that like it’s normal!”

Yukiko: “Ah! I have to go now, Chie-chan. I’ll explain everything to you later. Tell everyone that I’m doing fine.”

Yukiko put her phone away just as a blue velociraptor looking alien zoomed into the campsite. She knew it was Ben based on the watch’s symbol on his chest. It beeped red and he turned back to normal. 

“I think this is gonna be the best summer ever!” Ben brushed off his shirt.

“I couldn’t agree more, Ben!” Yukiko patted him on the head.

“Absolutely,” Max agreed.

“It’ll definitely be interesting with you two,” Gwen said. “So, where did you go anyway?” She asked.

Ben started giggling to himself. “Just had to take care of a couple of things before our vacation really got rolling.”

“ I wonder what he could be talking about? Though considering it’s Ben, it could be something silly ,” Yukiko shook her head. She watched as her family entered the RV, her mind trailed back to her Persona. “ They’re gonna have some questions and I don’t know if I should tell them everything yet. But, maybe I will explain the full story to them one day. ” Yukiko nodded to herself and entered the RV. 

BUUUUMMMM

Feeling her phone buzz in her pocket, she opened it to see a name that she hadn’t expected to see so soon. Answering the phone, she smiled softly and allowed their conversation to ease all of her worries.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Cooking and Experiments

Beautiful dark brown eyes fluttered open softly, Yukiko found herself staring at the ceiling of an RV and briefly questioned her location. "Oh right, summer road trip in America."

Sleeping arrangements were decided after they left the airport. Grandpa Max would take the couch in the kitchen area while the kids used the bedroom in the back. Gwen decided that it would be best for Yukiko to take the bottom bunk, so she could have more space. Ben had complained until it was explained that teenage girls need more space for things, to which he had no choice but to give in.

Getting off of the bunk, Yukiko looked at the clock on the microwave and saw that it would be another hour before the sun would come up. She stepped across the floor lightly so as to not wake up her family, she quietly opened the door of the RV and stepped out. The Rustbucket had stopped at a rest stop for the night, it was peaceful and Yukiko appreciated it.

The chill summer breeze swept by her, her body shivered a bit. She was only dressed in her pink yukata and white socks, so it gave her enough protection from the chill. She walked over to a bench next to the Rustbucket and stared at her palm. "I was able to use my Persona outside of the TV World, but that wasn't possible before...or was it?" Yukiko questioned. There was never a need for the Investigation Team to use their Personas outside of the TV World. Any problem requiring them was only ever in the TV World, but with Ben having that alien watch attached to his wrist there might be more problems requiring her to fight.

"If that's the case, then I'll fight. I want to understand why my Persona called to me and I want to protect my new family as well. There is so much mystery surrounding my family too, I want to know the truth. Just like I've done before, I'll continue seeking out the truth," Yukiko pressed her hand to her chest.

CRASH!

Yukiko heard something that sounded like glass breaking, but when she looked around nothing seemed to have been wrong. Suddenly a bright light came forth from her hand and she looked down at it, within it was her tarot card glowing brightly like always. Yukiko closed her hand and the card went away. "What if I try…?" Yukiko willed for the card to come back and unlike her previous unsuccessful attempts it did. "You were waiting for me to strengthen my resolve again? Weren't you? I'm sorry for not figuring it out sooner, Amaterasu," Yukiko spoke softly.

Turning around, Yukiko saw that the sun was starting to rise, meaning that they'll continue their roadtrip. "I should hurry and get dressed, don't want to wait for others to use the bathroom," She giggled. Yukiko quietly made her way back into the RV, ready to start her day.

Ben groggily opened his eyes, the smell of food being cooked entering his nostrils. "H-Hu-wha? What's cooking?" Ben rubbed his eyes.

"Morning, Ben, Yukiko decided to cook breakfast for us this morning. Hurry up and get dressed," Grandpa Max explained to his grandson.

"Hurry up, doofus! We're aren't gonna wait all day!" Gwen snarked. Ben blew his tongue at her, grabbing his usual outfit the boy entered the bathroom and changed.

He sat down next to Max and gazed at Yukiko's back while she hummed at the kitchen counter. "So, what's she cooking?" He asked.

"It's a secret, Ben. I want to surprise you guys," Yukiko answered, her hands moving rhythmically as she dumped ingredients into the pan. A dark purple aura began to emanate from the pan that was sizzling.

"Maybe it's a Japanese dish! I've always wanted to try some!" Gwen exclaimed, hopeful.

"I don't think I have the right ingredients for anything too special, Gwen. Don't get your hopes up too high," Grandpa Max said.

"We can just stop at a grocery store and buy some!" Gwen replied. Yukiko turned her head at that, a smile gracing her lips.

"That would be wonderful! I can start making a grocery list right after we eat breakfast," Yukiko agreed with the idea.

"BOOOORRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!" Ben shouted, tilting his head to the side. His rude remark earned him a glare from Gwen.

"Is that a problem, doofus? You should be more excited to try out another culture's food, especially if it's about family!" Gwen said, upset.

"If it's gonna involve all that boring stuff like shopping then I'd rather not do it at all," Ben shrugged. "Better yet we can start trying out some of my other forms! Grandpa you said we would!" Ben's excited eyes turned to the old man. Gwen did the same, but it wasn't for the same thing as Ben.

Max rubbed his nervously as both his grandkids' eyes bore into him. Eventually he sighed and gave in. "I did promise Ben that we'd practice with his forms some more," Max said.

"UGH! YES!" Both exclaimed at the same time.

Gwen sulked in her seat. "Of course we're just gonna do what Ben wants." Ben stuck his tongue out at her and she responded the same.

"It's fine, Gwen. I don't mind helping Ben some more," Yukiko turned off the stove, and placed the food(?) onto three plates. "Besides, the food is done and ready to be eaten!" She smiled.

Ben sat up and clasped his hands together and rubbed them. "Ah yeah! Rich people cooking here I come!"

"Ben, don't call it that," He grandpa sighed.

"Yeah yeah," He waved off, his hunger never leaving his eyes. It wasn't until Yukiko placed the food on the table that the light left his eyes. Ben stared at the food(?) on the table, his bangs covering his eyes. He looked up and looked at Gwen, her face looking exactly as his.

"Oh! Yukiko, this is really good!" Grandpa Max complimented. He dug right into the food(?) with the utmost enthusiasm. Yukiko gasped excitedly from hearing this, nobody had ever complimented her food like this, it made her heart flutter with joy.

"Thank you, Grandpa! I'll be sure to keep cooking then!" Yukiko giggled. Her dark orbs shifted down to Ben and Gwen who were slowly moving their forks through the food. "Ben? Gwen? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Hurry up, kids! Yukiko took the time to make this breakfast, it's only right that you appreciate it," Max said, already having finished his plate. Both kids gulped and looked at Yukiko one last time. The teenager had an angelic smile on her face and they would feel guilty if they made said smile disappear.

Gulping once more the kids scooped up a bit of the food and nodded to each other. "Down the hatch, Mystery Food X…"

Ben and Gwen stumbled out of the Rustbucket, their faces a shade darker. Behind them Yukiko strolled out of the RV with a pep in her step, happy to see that everyone had eaten her cooking. Ben dropped to his knees and clutched the ground below him. "Why...why was I forsaken to taste Mystery Food X…?" Ben questioned.

Gwen knelt down next to him, grabbing him by his collar. "We have to make sure to keep her away from the kitchen! I'd rather eat Grandpa's exotic foods than her cooking ever again!" Gwen whispered fiercely.

"What happened to appreciating her efforts?" Ben smirked lightly. His smirk disappeared when a dark aura appeared around Gwen.

"I'd rather force myself to smell your 3 week old socks than ever let her near a kitchen again!" Gwen's cold glare bore directly into his soul. Ben never thought he could fear his cousin, but the genuine look of fear and anger in her eyes spoke volumes. It made him think back to when Yukiko was knocking him around with the fire extinguisher.

"Girls really are scary," Ben thought.

"What are you two talking about?" Yukiko loomed over them, confusion written on her face.

"GYAH! N-NOTHING!" Both of them jumped back scared that she could've heard them. Yukiko tilted her head at them, not understanding why they would've jumped like that.

"Alright, Ben! We're in an open field at the moment, so go ahead and transform," Max walked out of the Rustbucket.

Excitement soon overwritten any sense of fear the boy possessed earlier and turned on the alien watch. "Hmmm...this one!" Ben slammed down the core, engulfing the space in green light.

Yukiko took a notebook out of her purse and opened it, Ben had asked her to write down each name he'd name his forms. So far they have already listed…

Heatblast

Wildmutt(Still hasn't seen it.)

Diamondhead

XLR8

Ghostfreak(Took a picture of and sent to Chie immediately. Scaring her friend half to death.)

The green light died down and Ben had transformed into something that kinda resembles Kanji's Rokuten Maou in the muscles and color department. He was big, red, with four arms, and wore a jumpsuit resembling Ben's shirt. There were also the small four yellow eyes that he had.

"Four Arms!" Ben shouted as if it was instinct for him. His shout was only met with dead stares from his family members.

"Really? Four Arms?" Gwen raised an eyebrow at the name choice.

"Being a little too on the nose there, don't ya think?" Grandpa Max asked.

"Feels really...dumb," Yukiko said, bluntly.

Four Arms huffed in annoyance at their bellitment of his naming sense. "Hey! Who's the one with the alien watch!? ME! So, I get to choose the names!" Four Arms pointed at himself with all four limbs.

"Four Arms it is then," Yukiko scribbled the name down in the notebook. She closed it and walked over to Four Arms and touched his arm. "You have very tough skin, like compared to that of a crocodile, only tougher," Yukiko described.

"It's obvious to tell just from the appearance that this form is meant to be strong. Though if only we had something to test his strength with," Max said. Suddenly all three grandkids' gazes shifted over to the Rustbucket, before Max could prevent it, Four Arms had already made it to the RV.

Four Arms picked up the motorhome with relative ease as if it was just a simple toy in the palm of his hands. He began lifting it up and down as if he was lifting weights, the mere sight of it almost gave Max a heart attack.

"Ok! That's enough, Ben! You can put her down now!" Grandpa Max commanded.

"But, Grandpa, I haven't even tossed it yet," Four Arms complained.

"Tossed!?" Max squeaked in fear.

"PFFT! Grandpa's face looks like Chie-chan's from the other night! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko held her stomach as she broke into a laughing fit.

All three sweat dropped at Yukiko's laughing, still getting used to her fits of laughing. Four Arms slowly placed the Rustbucket down so as to not give his Grandfather a heart attack.

"H-How about we test durability now?" Max suggested.

"But, how are we supposed to do that? I'm sure any normal weapon isn't going to do anything to Ben right now," Gwen pointed out. Grandpa turned around to look at Yukiko, who was starting to come out of her laughing fit.

"Yukiko, do you think you could use your abilities to attack Ben?" Max asked. Her laughter ceased at that question.

"Attack Ben? Um...I'm not sure about that," Yukiko wasn't able to summon her Persona on her own until last night. When they were testing Ben's previous forms there was no durability test, since none of them could provide any form of force good enough. "But, it's different now. I can use my Persona now, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk about it," Yukiko hesitated.

Max noticed it and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it right now, but only use it to help Ben," Max told her.

"Yeah, I think I can do that," Yukiko walked over to Four Arms and took a deep breath. Reaching into her purse, Yukiko pulled out her fan, and twirled it between her fingers. The tarot card appeared in front of her, opening the object, she smashed the card to pieces.

"PERSONA! AMATERASU!" Her Persona appeared above her, glowing beautifully in the sun's light. Four Arms and Gwen stared at the translucent woman with a mixture of awe/excitement. Max stood on the side, wondering what they were staring at.

"Maybe it's something only kids can see...no there's definitely more than that," Max tried to figure out why he couldn't see her Persona.

"Alright, Ben! Get ready for it!" Yukiko announced.

"Bring it! Four Arms can take anything you dish out!" Four Arms didn't attempt to guard or anything.

"AGI!" Amaterasu shot the small ball of fire at Four Arms, Yukiko expected the alien boy to get knocked back, but he stood there as if the fire didn't even touch him. Max was confused, he saw the ball of fire get shot at Ben, but didn't see what shot it.

"Is that all you got?" Ben taunted.

"Hmph! AGILAO!" A more medium sized blast of fire knocked into Four Arms. He was pushed back a bit, but overall completely fine.

"You hit like a girl!" Four Arms continued to taunt, feeling overconfident.

"She is a girl, doofus," Gwen rolled her eyes.

A vein popped up on Yukiko's forehead, her dark aura returning once more. "Ok, Ben, let's see if you can handle this," Yukiko said. The temperature around them began to grow a little, sweat appeared on the Tennysons' foreheads. Max pulled Gwen back as the air around Yukiko grew tense.

Four Arms' confidence wavered a little, remembering his older cousin's anger could be a dangerous thing. However, he was too stubborn to try and apologize for his comment.

Yukiko broke the card with harsh force. "AGIDYNE!" Amaterasu launched a powerful blast of flames at Four Arms. Four Arms guarded with all four arms and was hit by the ball of flames. He was knocked back, not expecting that much force behind the blast.

He hit the ground and groaned as the watch's symbol began beeping, in a flash of red light Four Arms turned back into Ben. "Ugh...remind me not to piss her off," Ben mumbled.

"Oh, Ben! Are you ok!?" Yukiko's entire mood did a 180 and she ran over to her younger cousin. Grandpa Max and Gwen rushed over as well to check on the boy.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I told you Four Arms is tough!" Ben puffed his chest out. Yukiko giggled at him, finding his tough boy act adorable.

"You sure you're ok, Ben?" Max asked.

"Yeah, we don't need you being any dumber than you are now," Gwen smirked.

"Oh yeah!? Well we don't need you snoring so loudly at night!" Ben countered. Gwen backed away with an offended gasp.

"I don't snore, doofus! If anyone here snores it would be you!" Gwen poked her finger into his chest.

"No you!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

"No you!"

Max sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come on kids, let's get back on the road," He turned around back to the RV. Yukiko also sighed, knowing that the two of them will be at it for a while.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about explaining everything for now. I should just take my time, not like we'll have to deal with Super Villains for anything," Yukiko chuckled at the thought.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Persona B.C.

“ Well, I guess now’s a good a time as any I guess .”

Yukiko stood next to Gwen as they watched a building being engulfed in flames. Their Grandfather had gone off to keep a track on the robbers who had created the fire in the first place.

 Yukiko released a breath of concentration as she whipped out her fan. “Come forth, Amaterasu,” Yukiko’s Persona sprung into life above her. The golden woman is invisible to the people around her besides her younger cousin. 

Yukiko waved around her fan in a circular motion, Amaterasu copied her exactly with her long blade. The flames that were encapsulating the building began to elevate into the air, circling around above the building. Yukiko grit her teeth, sweat pouring down her face as she concentrated.

Gwen watched amazed at her cousin’s control of the flames. “You’re amazing, Yukiko!”

“Save...the praise...for later…” Yukiko grunted, trying to keep her focus. This was something she hadn’t done before, so she needed all the focus she could get around the loud crowd of bystanders.

“Hehe...sorry,” Gwen apologized. She placed her attention back on the building, watching the flames contour around it. Even with Yukiko getting some of the flames off of the building, there was still too much for her to control at once. “What’s Ben doing?” Gwen questions, impatiently.

“ Yes...what is he doing !?” Yukiko thought, irritably.

Suddenly a torrent of flames burst forth from the side of the building and impacted the ground. The flames dissipated to reveal Heatblast and two civilians he had saved. Seeing her transformed Cousin had gotten the last of the civilians out of harm's way, Yukiko released a sigh of relief. Her and Gwen waited for Ben to absorb the rest of the flames, however he didn’t and was more focused on asking the boy he saved about his Sumo Slammer cards.

“Grrr…” Letting her anger get the best of her, Yukiko tossed her fan at Heatblast. The metal handle smacked him across the head and twirled back into Yukiko’s hand like a boomerang.

“Ow! What was that for!?” Heatblast complained.

“Absorb...flames…NOW!” Yukiko glared coldy, scaring her younger cousin again.

“R-Right!” Heatblast raised his hands at the fire above the building and absorbed them into his body, allowing Yukiko to relax. They can let the fire department handle the burning building. 

Suddenly Max pulled up in the Rustbucket. “If you kids are done, we still have some jewelry thieves to stop!” Max told them.

“Yes, Grandpa!” The girls replied and hurried into the RV. Yukiko turned around to see Heatblast contemplating on asking the boy some more on the Sumo Slammer trading cards. “Heatblast!” Yukiko commanded.

“Yeah yeah! I’m coming!” He yelled in response.

The Rustbucket chased down the runaway vehicle down the street at a breakneck speed. Inside of the RV was a lot of smoke coming from Heatblast burning the front seat he was sitting on.

“Did you really have to sit down?” Yukiko coughed from the smoke.

“What? I get tired of standing too,” Heatblast responded. Suddenly he was attacked by the foam from a fire extinguisher in Gwen’s hands.

“Ten aliens in that stupid watch and you pick the one with the flaming butt,” Gwen said, annoyed.

“Jealous?” He teased, only for Gwen to spray his butt next. He was tempted to light his cousin’s foot on fire again, but decided not to when he remembered Yukiko’s glare from the first time. 

“Can we focus on the getaway criminals, please?” Yukiko asked, wanting her cousins to stop arguing.

Heatblast gave a cocky smirk in response. “Don’t worry, I got this!” He put half his boy out of the window and launched a fireball at the car. Hitting it dead on and knocking the wheels off of it. “Strike!” Heatblast celebrated.

The car skidded across the ground and crashed into the concrete wall of the building. The criminals grunted in pain from the crash, and thankfully were unharmed. They weren’t given time to escape, because Heatblast jumped out of the RV and ripped their door off.

“Unless you punks want a permanent sunburn, hands against the wall!” Heatblast emphasized his point by crushing the metal door in his hands. 

The robbers complied and got out of the car, just as they did the watch began to flash a red light. “You guys picked the wrong day to be…”

FLASH

“Bad...guys…” Ben’s light voice replaced Heatblast’s deep one. Hearing the kid’s voice the robbers turned and saw the 10 year old standing confidently in front of them. 

“Hey! It’s just a kid, get the jewels!” Thief(1) commanded Thief(2). At that moment Ben realized that he was no longer transformed as Thief(1) began approaching him, cracking his knuckles. Ben laughed nervously, and backed away. 

“Time sure flies when you’re having fun,” He chuckled. Just as Thief(1) was going to grab him a metal fan knocked into his head, sending him into the ground. The fan bounced off his head and hit Thief(2) in the cranium. Ben turned and saw Yukiko catch her fan in her hand.

“Get in now!” She commanded once more. Ben wasted no time in running away just as the police arrived on the scene. He paused in his steps, seeing this as his opportunity to gain some attention.

“Hey officer-Gah!” The collar of his shirt was grabbed by Yukiko and he was dragged back into the RV. “Yukiko, this isn’t fair! I captured these guys!” Ben complained.

“Who’s going to believe that a ten year old kid stopped jewelry thieves?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. Ben grumbled at her, realizing that she had a point.

 “Hmmm...this won’t do either, Grandpa,” Yukiko placed the can of fish scales back onto the shelf. Currently the Tennysons were inside of a Grocery store named “Mega Mart”, Yukiko didn’t bother questioning the name. Though, she did wonder if Junes considered branching out into different countries in the future. Some of the stores they’ve been to don’t really compare to it in her opinion.

Max sighed as he turned back to their cart. “I thought this store prides itself on a wide selection of items,” He complained.

“ Yeah, a wide selection of normal ingredients. Not whatever you two have planned ,” Gwen tried not to roll her eyes. “Grandpa, couldn’t we just have a normal dinner for once. You know, one that doesn’t involve stir fried tentacles or questionable dark matter,” Gwen mumbled that last part, not wanting to draw Yukiko’s irie.

“Nonsense, now where do you think they keep the Sheep’s Bladder?” He questioned. Max walked off with the cart, oblivious to the flash of green light that appeared behind them. The girls however saw and heard the flash, already knowing who it was.

“Ben!” Gwen said, annoyed. She walked over to where the flash came from. Yukiko sighed, hoping that Ben hadn’t done anything to get them in trouble. 

The girls walked into the cereal ile and gasped at the destruction in front of them. All of the boxes of cereal were tossed about and destroyed. Tiny holes were apparent in each box, as if something small had torn through them. And if Yukiko’s assumption was right, then she already knew what had happened.

“ How exactly did he cause this much damage in such a short amount of time? ” Yukiko wondered. Not even Teddie could do this much damage if left unsupervised in Junes. 

Gwen found one box of Sumo Slammer cereal moving squirming around on the shelf. “Aw man! Another red card!” A tiny voice came from the tilting box. Yukiko grabbed the box and reached into it, pulling Ben out of it. Looking down at the grey frog-looking alien in her hand that Ben had dubbed Gray Matter. She wasn’t exactly fond of this form, especially since Ben used it to tamper with her hair brush a few days ago. Replacing the brushes with razors that cut through her bangs.

“ That was a perfectly good hair brush too ,” Yukiko thought, squeezing her younger cousin as he squirmed in her grip.

“Gah! Yukiko! You’re gonna crush me!” Gray Matter cried.

“Tell me exactly what it is that you’re doing and I’ll consider it,” Yukiko stated, softening her grip just a bit.

“I was looking for the Gold Sumo Slammer Card! Duh!” Gray Matter stated as if it was obvious.

“You’re supposed to use your powers to help people, not use them to find some stupid trading card!” Gwen got into Gray Matter’s face to scold him. The intelligent frog alien rolled his eyes, which ended up with Yukiko squeezing him again for being rude.

“Did you even bother thinking about the consequences that will come from this?” Yukiko asked him.

“There won’t be any issue if you just let me find the Gold Sumo Slammer Card,” Gray Matter answered. Yukiko was going to explain to him just how dumb his reasoning was, until a store clerk appeared behind them. The heiress quickly hid her transformed cousin behind her back, smiling kindly at the clerk.

“And what exactly do you young ladies think you’re doing?” He asked, annoyed.

“I-It wasn’t us! It was our doofus cousin!” Gwen was quick to shift the blame onto Ben. Which to be fair was his fault.

“Well, someone is going to pay for all of this!” His eyes shifted to Yukiko, seeing as she appeared to be the eldest of the two. The teenager mentally groaned at having to somehow explain this to their Grandfather.

“So...uh, why exactly are we buying all of this cereal?” Grandpa Max asked.

“Well we would’ve only had to buy the one that I found the Gold Sumo Slammer Card in if Gwen didn’t but in with her big butt! And Yukiko with her uh...um...long legs!” Ben insulted and blamed both of them.

Yukiko gasped at Ben’s accusation of her legs. “Are my legs really that long!?” She cried in horror. 

“Don’t worry Yukiko, your long legs aren’t that bad,” Gwen tried to console her.

“You’re not making it any better!” Yukiko covered her face in mortification. Gwen winced at her failed attempt, and decided to turn her attention back to Ben.

“Don’t blame us, doofus! If you hadn’t trashed the whole store then we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Gwen placed the blame back.

“Ben, I can appreciate how much this card means to you, but don’t you think you’re getting a little too obsessed?” Max questioned.

“Maybe you’re right, Grandpa. I don’t deserve a Gold Sumo Slammer Card, I mean it’s not like I rescued a bunch of people from a burning building or anything!” Ben selfishly reminded them.

Gwen gave him a disappointed look. “Superhero guild? Pretty low, and it’s not like you were the only one there. Yukiko did just as much to help your sorry butt, right Yukiko?” They looked back at the Teenager, expecting her to answer. However, she still had a dark cloud above her head and a faint muttering of “Long Legs” and “Yu-kun” could be heard from her. Gwen sighed and went to try and get the heiress to calm down.

Ben shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with what he’s done so far. The family continued onward through the store, but something seemed to have caught Ben’s attention once more. “Sweet! Sumo Slammer Cards! A complete set!” Ben rushed over to the display. 

Max and Gwen watched with concern gazes, before Max suggested they check out the pet department. “Please tell me you aren’t looking for our breakfast,” Gwen pleaded to her Grandfather as they walked away.

Yukiko stood in place, deciding not to leave Ben to his own devices for too long. She walked up behind him and looked down at the cards. “I don’t get why you’re so obsessed with a card with a fictional Sumo Wrestler on it,” Yukiko said.

He turned to her, an offended look appeared on his face. “I thought you would understand Sumo Slammers since you’re Japanese and stuff,” Ben told her.

“Ok, Ben, just because I’m Japanese or well part Japanese doesn’t mean that I know anything about Sumo Wrestling,” Yukiko glared.

“Do you?”

“Yes, a good number of our guests at the Inn are fans of the sport, and so is my Father and Chie-chan. She would always put it on TV whenever she visited the Inn,” Yukiko reminisced about the past. Her trip down memory lane was interrupted by a large rumbling in the store. 

A TV almost fell on Ben until Yukiko pulled him out of the way and wrapped a protective arm around him. She jumped out of the way with him as the TV display in front of them exploded from the large crash through the wall. 

“Woah!” Ben gasped.

“Oh my…” Yukiko whispered.

The two of them saw a giant mutated green frog with horn stomp into the store. On top of the frog was a man with light green skin and weird equipment around his body. They watched as he jumped off his frog and began stealing items off of the shelves in the store. Glaring at the thief, Ben’s sense of justice built up his courage. He moved from their hiding spot before Yukiko could stop him.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!” Ben called him out. Immediately after making his presence known the frog shot its tongue at him. The hero barely dodged as the tongue knocked over the tower of boxes on top of him.

“Ben! Are you alright!” Yukiko rushed to his side immediately. Ben emerged from the boxes, relatively unharmed. That didn’t stop her from checking over for any wounds or bruising. 

“Don’t be a hero, kid. Just run along and play,” The weird man said. 

Ben glared back and looked at his watch, seeing it was still red. Instantly regretting transforming into Gray Matter minutes prior. “You’re so lucky that I can’t go hero…” Ben muttered.

Security showed up as soon as the man prepared to leave, but he hopped away further into the store on his frog. Ben looked at Yukiko and glared at her.

“Why didn’t you stop him!?” He yelled.

“Because I was more concerned about your safety than stopping the weird guy on a frog!” Yukiko replied back. There was also the fact that she wasn’t sure how the fight could’ve gone without Ben getting caught in the crossfire or if using her flames in the store would’ve been the smart idea.

“Tch! Let’s hurry up and stop him!” Ben rushed off after the weird man. Yukiko hurried right behind him.

When they arrived at the Pet area, they saw the man had mutated a parakeet and hamster, turning them into giant dangerous versions of themselves. Yukiko and Ben saw the Hamster attacking their family.

“Yukiko, we gotta-”

“Amaterasu! AGI!” The fireball shot from the Persona’s blade and impacted the hamster, knocking into the shelves. It got back up to its feet and glared at the two. “Ben, get back over to Grandpa,” Yukiko commanded.

“But-”

“NOW!” Yukiko didn’t want to deal with his attitude at the moment. It was his fault that he couldn’t transform at the moment, so he better sit back to where he can’t get hurt. Her dark eyes turned to the weird guy on the frog.

“Witness the genius of Dr. Animo! Now nothing can stop me from getting what I deserve! Mark my words! Today I will make history or should I say PREHistory!” Dr. Animo gloated at his achievements.

Gwen glared at Ben. “If you didn’t go cereal diving, one of those heroes could be saving us from becoming hamster chow!” 

The hamster screamed and charged at the Tennysons. They screamed just as the beast was rushing towards them.

“AGILAO!” The medium sized blast knocked the hamster down, leaving burn marks on the side of its body. It cried out in pain from the attack.

Dr. Animo’s eyes widened at the fire attack, wondering just where it came from. His eyes turned to the teenage girl who was glaring at him with the open fan in her hands.

“You interrupted our shopping trip and attacked my family. I do not care what it is you’re spouting about, but what I do care for is burning you to a crisp!” Yukiko threatened. Her blazing aura took form around her body.

Dr. Animo took no heed to her threat and gave more of his attention to what she had done. “Girly! How exactly did you create that fire!? To spawn in such powerful flames out of thin air is such a fascinating phenomenon!” Animo’s thirst for knowledge showed itself. 

“AGI!,” Was her only response as a blast of fire shot at him and his frog. Before the ball could reach them the frog’s tongue swatted the fireball away, much to Yukiko’s surprise.

“ I know that wasn’t a powerful fire blast, but it shouldn’t have been swatted away so easily ,” She glared. Yukiko got ready to launch another attack, but the hamster was quick to attack her, headbutting her in the sides, knocking her into the ground.

“YUKIKO!” The Tennysons cried out in concern. However, their concern was unwarranted as the girl got back to her feet immediately and glared at the hamster.

“ I could use one of my other spells to attack all of them at once, but that risks setting something in the store on fire. Gotta take out the hamster first .” Yukiko summoned her Persona once more. “Since you want to get burnt so badly, I’ll oblige you,” Yukiko closed her eyes and focused her energy.

The hamster wasted no time in charging at her, her family screamed for her to get out of the way. Suddenly her eyes snapped open just as the hamster was right in front of her. “AGILAO!” The fire blast impacted the hamster right in its face. It exploded and sent the hamster flying into rows of the shelves, knocking them over. It lay still on the ground injured from the burns.

“Hmph, just like fighting Shadows,” Yukiko giggled. She looked over to see her family running over to her.

“That was so cool, Yukiko! You gotta show me how you do that someday,” Gwen gushed.

“M-Maybe…” Yukiko didn’t want to think about shoving Gwen into a TV.

“Good job saving the day, sweetheart,” Max complimented. Ben huffed at not being able to save the day himself, though he gave her a small nod.

“Thank you, I-”

“STUPID GIRL!” Animo shouted in anger. He and his frog reminded them that they were still present in the store. “I will turn Washington D.C. into Washington B.C.!” He jumped onto the mutated parakeet and broke through the skylight of the grocery store. The frog jumped after to follow its master. 

The store clerk from earlier was seen running towards them with security, his eyes looking directly at Yukiko. “I don’t know how you did it, but you saved the store! Is there anything I could do to repay you, anything you want!” He exclaimed.

Ben’s eyes light up upon hearing this, he rushes towards Yukiko’s side and puffs his chest. “Well there is some-”

“No thanks, I’m just happy that I could protect my family and the people inside of the store,” Yukiko bowed, respectfully. Ben gaped at her, not believing that his one opportunity was tossed away.

“No wait! There’s this-HEY! GRANDPA!” Ben complained as his Grandfather picked him up and carried him out of the store.

“No time Ben, we have a giant Parrott to follow,” Max put him down and continued out of the store. Gwen mockingly laughed at him as she followed. The boy grumbled and shot a glare at Yukiko, before walking out of the store.

The teenage heiress flinched back from Ben’s glare. “D-Did I do something wrong?” She asked herself.

The Rustbucket chased after Dr. Animo, not allowing the insane doctor to leave their sights.

“Ah, just like the good old days, before I retired,” Max sighed at the nostalgia. Yukiko raised an eyebrow at that. 

“The good old days, Grandpa?” Yukiko asked.

“Yeah, what kind of Plumber were you, Grandpa?” Gwen asked as well.

“Ah...uh...A darn good one! Ben, what’s the matter!” Max quickly changed the subject. Yukiko found it suspicious that he once again changed the subject so quickly. “ There’s also the fact that he isn’t as shocked by these strange things as we are. There’s something mysterious about you, Grandpa ,” Yukiko deduced.

“I save multiple people from a burning building and I don’t get any recognition for it. Then, when there was an opportunity to get something out of saving the day, Yukiko just turned it down!” Ben complained. Yukiko lowered her eyes, feeling guilty over Ben being upset with her.

“Being a hero isn’t about others knowing you did something good. It’s about you knowing you did something good. Being a hero is it’s own reward,” Max explained, hoping the advice would work.

“What? Were you reading the greeting cards at Mega Mart?” Ben snarked.

“Well, yes…” Max answered.

“ It was still good advice though ,” Yukiko watched their interaction. Suddenly she heard Gwen gasp from the seat next to her.

“Bingo! Five years ago, Dr. Animo was a promising researcher in Veterinary Science, but it turned out he was doing all these twisted genetic experiments where he was mutating animals. And when he didn’t win some big prize called the Verities Award he flipped out,” Gwen explained. Then she turned to look at Ben. “Anything about this sound familiar, Ben?” She smirked. He didn’t answer her, shifting his attention back to the window.

“Gwen, don’t antagonize him so much,” Yukiko scolded lightly.

“He’s being a selfish jerk, he deserves it,” Gwen looked confused.

“I know, but being antagonistic to him back won’t help him learn,” Yukiko tried to explain. Gwen didn’t understand and just went back to her laptop.

Max saw Animo fly over buildings, getting out of their sight. “We’ve lost him. He could be going anywhere in Washington D.C.”

“Or Washington B.C.” Gwen said. 

“That’s it! I know where he’s going!” Ben realized.

“The Natural History Museum!” Ben walked up to the giant hole was created by Animo. He picked up one of the feathers left by the giant parakeet.

“ Definitely somewhere my friends would avoid. Well, maybe not Naoto-kun ,” Yukiko thought.

Max smiled down at his Grandson. “Seems like to me we’re on the right track, good thinking Ben,” Max complimented.

“Mhm! This was an excellent idea, Ben!” Yukiko tried to pat his head. He swerved out of the way before she could touch, making her frown a bit.

“Heh, guess even a doofus can surprise you once in a while,” Gwen teased.

“And you should know,” Ben countered as they entered the museum. The Tennysons walked around the museum before eventually finding Animo standing in front of a fake Mammoth exhibit.

“You are very persistent. I hate persistent,” Dr. Animo turned around to look at them.

“We know about your freakazoid experiments, Dr. Animo! It’s over!” Ben declared.

“Oh, but it has only just begun. See, I only just needed a few components to push my work into phase two. The reanimation of dormant cells,” He explained.

“Uh? Does this guy come with subtitles?” Ben was confused by Animo’s science words. Yukiko would have to agree with him, as smart as she is, this wasn’t her field of expertise. Naoto-kun or Yu-kun would have a much better chance of understanding.

Animo was undisturbed by Ben’s interruption. “Breathing life back into that which has been long since lifeless. Observe!” Animo turned the dial on his chest, activating the device on his head. The helmet let up, shooting out a red beam that hit the fake Mammoth. Suddenly, it was revived back into life and slowly marched towards the Tennysons.

“Behold the genius that is Dr. Animo!” Animo bragged before running away.

Yukiko got ready to activate her Persona, but Ben was quick to stop her. “You guys handle Animo, I’ll take care of Jumbo!” Ben slapped down the watch and transformed into Four Arms.

“Let’s Wrestle!” He shouted and attacked the Mammoth.

Seeing that Ben had the Mammoth covered, the three chased after the mad scientist. Until they came face to face with the parakeet he mutated earlier. Yukiko once again prepared to attack until Gwen grabbed a spear that was on display and smacked the bird twice in its face. Clearly wanting to prove that she could fight too. The bird cried out in pain and ran away.

Gwen turned to look at Yukiko. “You and Ben aren’t the only ones with skills,” She stated with confidence.

“ Ok, Gwen knows how to handle weapons at least. With some refinement I’m sure she could be almost as dangerous as Chie-chan...maybe ,” Yukiko thought as the chase towards Animo continued.

The trio found Animo standing in front of a T-Rex display. He smirked at them and activated his transmodulator. Yukiko watched in shock as the T-Rex was brought back to life and was glaring back at them.

“ I can now add fighting a T-Rex to the list of things I’d never thought I would do ,” Yukiko thought. 

“Amaterasu! AGILAO!” Yukiko sent the medium sized blast at the T-Rex. The Dinosaur swung its tail at the blast, blocking the blast. It then twirled around to attack the humans. Yukiko was quick to block the strike with Amaterasu, the force from the swing slowly pushing her back. Suddenly the Parakeet came swooping in and crashed directly into Yukiko. 

“KYA!” Yukiko screamed from the impact and flew right into the wall. The impact knocked her out cold.

“YUKIKO!” Max tried to run towards her, but the T-Rex swung its tail again, keeping him back. Animo smiled in joy at seeing the girl who had gotten in his way earlier get put in her place. He climbed on top of the T-Rex and laughed.

“I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to claim the award I so richly deserve,” Animo declared as the T-Rex stomped its way out of the museum. Gwen and Max watched helplessly as Animo got away. 

“KAAAAA!”

They turned around to see the Parakeet swooping back in and grabbing Gwen, she screamed in terror as she was kidnapped. Max cursed himself for allowing harm to come to both of his Granddaughters. He picked up Yukiko and called for Ben to hurry.

Four Arms rushed through the hole and jumped into the air to save Gwen. Four Arms grabbed onto the feather of the bird. “No, bye bye for you!” Sadly enough the watch began to time out and his grip was too strong, which ended up pulling off the feather from the bird. Allowing it to escape while he fell to the earth.

Four Arms crashed into the ground and turned back into Ben. “GWEN!” Ben screamed as the bird made off with his cousin. He looked to his right and saw the Rustbucket pull up next to him.

“Someone call for a taxi?” Max jokes as Ben gets into the RV. The motorhome speeds off towards Animo’s next location.

Ben looked back at Yukiko who was lying down on the couch with an ice bag on her head. “What happened to her?” He asked, concerned.

“The Parakeet got her by surprise while she was trying to stop Animo. Luckily she was bleeding from hitting her head on the wall,” Max explained. Ben looked guiltily at seeing his older cousin lying unconscious on the couch. Feeling bad for the way he treated her moments before confronting Animo.

“ I gotta apologize to her when she wakes up ,” Ben thought. He gave his attention back to the road as he tried to locate the Parakeet. “No sign of beak breath,” He said.

“There can’t be that many places for a parrett the size of an elephant to roost. Here look at what Dr. Animo left behind,” Max handed Ben a piece of paper.

“Dr. Kelly accepts the Varieties award. He’s gonna finally pick up his award! We gotta stop him!” Ben declared.

“E-Exactly…”

They looked back to see Yukiko sitting up on the couch, having finally woken up. Max gave her a look of worry. “You shouldn’t be moving around right now. Just lay back down-”

“No! I’ve taken worse hits than this,” Yukiko revealed, confusing both Tennyson males. “Dia,” Amaterasu placed a hand on Yukiko’s head, healing away the physical pain on her head. “That’s good for now,” She muttered. The heiress walked up to the front of the RV and stared at the road with determination. “We gotta save Gwen and stop Animo!”

Suddenly the phone next to the radio began ringing, Gwen’s contact popping up on the screen. “Gwen!” All of them shouted.

Arriving at the Washington Monument, they saw Gwen holding on for dear life at the top of it. Her phone slipping out of her hands and breaking on the ground. 

“No...Gwen will be next!” Max exclaimed after seeing the phone shatter on the ground.

Ben smirked as he saw the watch light up green. “Not if I can help it! It’s Hero Time!” Ben slapped down the dial and transformed into the alien he dubbed as Stinkfly. 

Yukiko wanted to heave in disgust at the smell that was emitted by the stink bug alien. Remembering when she almost set Ben on fire for transforming into it out of the blue the first time.

Stinkfly wasted no time in flying up towards the top of the monument and catching Gwen in his arms.

“Woah! Butterfly!” She incorrectly said his name.

“It’s Stinkfly! How many times do I gotta remind you!?” Stinkfly shouted, offended.

“Yeah, whatever! Anyways, thanks for the save!” Gwen didn’t care about the name at the moment. Looking behind them she saw the Parakeet flying towards them. “Incoming!” She gasped.

“AGIDYNE!”

A large blast of fire impacted the large bird, taking it out in an instant. It fell towards the ground in a heap of flames, screaming as it burned to death and rested on the ground. 

Max looked at his Granddaughter to see her looking down sadly at the deceased bird. Thinking that she must’ve regretted taking its life.

Yukiko however was thinking about her pet bird from when she was little, she let go of those thoughts as Stinkfly flew down with Gwen in his hands.

“Go! Stop Animo! We’ll be fine!” Max told Stinkfly.

“Speak for yourself,” Gwen muttered.

Stinkfly nodded his head and prepared to take off, however Yukiko quickly jumped on his back as he took off. “What the!? Yukiko!? What are you doing!?” Stinkfly asked.

“If you think I’m gonna let you go off on your own to fight Animo, then you’re out of your mind!” Yukiko replied.

“Then you better hold on tight!” Stinkfly said, increasing his speed.

“There he is!” Yukiko pointed down at the building.

“And he’s going to turn Kelly into Dino Treats!” Stinkfly flew down and sent a punch into the T-Rex face. It didn’t do much and he was smacked down immediately by the T-Rex’s tail. Yukiko had jumped off before Stinkfly got smacked away.

“AGIDYNE!” Amaterasu pointed her blade at the T-Rex, shooting out the large ball of flame at the Dinosaur. It struck home, knocking it back some. “Damn...my head hurts too much to focus,” Yukiko realized. Using an Agidyne on that Parakeet may not have been the smartest option. 

“Do not continue getting in my way, girly!” Animo shouted, angrily. The T-Rex swung its tail at her, Yukiko ducked under the tail swipe. However, the T-Rex raised the tail up to smash down into her. Before the attack could crush her, Stinkfly snatched her out of the way.

“Thanks, Ben,” Yukiko thanked.

“No problem!” Stinkfly turned his eyes back to look over to where he was. The Gold Sumo Slammers Card was crushed by the rubble of the building. He sighed at the sight of the lost treasure, but knew that there were more important things going on.

“What are you? You little pest!” Animo questioned Stinkfly.

Stinkfly placed Yukiko down next to Kelly, before answering Animo. “I’m Stinkfly! And I’m here to kick some tail!” Stinkfly flew back into the battle.

Animo shot the red beam from his transmodulator at Stinkfly, the bug dodged the attack and flew towards Animo. He shot his green goop at the T-Rex blinding it. Stinkfly used this chance to knock the award out of Animo’s hands. Animo watched helplessly as his prize shattered on the ground. 

“Yukiko! Now!” Stinkfly shouted.

“AGILAO!” Yukiko shouted. The medium sized ball impacted the T-Rex’s head. The green goop mixed with the heat of her flames combusted into a powerful explosion, knocking Animo off of the T-Rex. The Dinosaur fell to the ground defeated, its head burning in the flames.

Stinkfly swooped down and ripped the transmodulator off of Animo’s head, he threw it to the ground, sending out waves of energy that transformed the T-Rex back into a fossil. “No! No! No!” Animo cried in despair.

Stinkfly flew down next to Yukiko and held out his fist. The teenager blinked at what he was motioning for her to do before realizing.

“Fist bump!” She giggled as they connected fists.

“Let me go! I deserved that Award! I got it coming to me! I want it!” Animo shouted as he was taken to the police car. 

Ben and the others watched him be taken away by the RV. “For some reason that sounds kinda familiar,” Ben said. Yukiko rolled her eyes at her cousin, finding it a bit funny at the irony that was blind to him.

“I may not have gotten that Gold Sumo Slammer Card, but at least I snagged a trophy from Animo,” Ben showed off the Transmodulator dial to Gwen and Yukiko. “Plus I guess saving the city from Dr. Wako is its own reward,” He smiled.

“Don’t forget you saved me too. Thanks,” Gwen said. 

“Isn’t there also something you want to say to Yukiko, Ben?” Max reminded him. 

“Ah, right. I’m sorry for being a jerk to you, Yukiko. I was being selfish and you were just doing what you believed to be the right thing,” Ben apologized.

“Thank you, Ben. Even if other people don’t recognize what you do, we will always recognize the good you do,” Yukiko ruffled his hair.

“Thanks,” Ben smiled.

“Seems you are capable of recognizing your mistakes,” Gwen told him. 

“Yeah well, that’s what we heroes do best,” Ben leaned back in his seat.

Yukiko smiled fondly at them. “ Seems they might finally learn how to get along .”

 “Proving that they’re better than the dweebs,” Ben smirks, ruining the moment. Gwen jumped into his face immediately.

“You are such a major doofus!”

“I know you, but what am I?”

“ Nevermind ,” She sighed as they continued to bicker back and forth about who was the bigger doofus. “ Well, I wouldn’t want them any other way ,” She giggled.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

"CANNON BALL!"

Yukiko giggled as she watched Ben dive into the lake. She was thankful to be far away enough to not have any of the water get into her hair. It takes a lot of precious time to get her hair ready for the night. Gwen however, wasn't sharing the sentiment, she watched as the two argued back and forth about getting into the lake.

Ben turned to her, a pleading look on his face. "C'mon, Yukiko! What's the point of camping if you don't take a swim!"

A chill went up her spine, an odd sense of deja vu coursed through her brain. "This feels oddly familiar, though a lot less perverted," Yukiko remembered the horrible camping trip from last year. "Sorry, Ben, I'm not too in the mood for any swimming today," Yukiko apologized.

Gwen gained a smug look on her face. "See Ben, nobody wants to get into the crummy lake water with your disgusting germs," Gwen insulted him.

"I-I didn't say any of that…" Yukiko sweat dropped.

"Oh yeah? Well, too bad you got wet anyway," Ben smirked.

"What are you-EEEK!" Gwen squealed as Ben splashed a bunch of water at her. "Knock it off, midget!" Gwen glared and walked away.

"Snrk! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko couldn't help, but laugh at her, making the younger girl blush.

"Ugh! Now, I gotta take another shower!" Gwen complained as she sniffed the lake water that covered her. "And stop laughing!" Gwen yelled at Yukiko.

"S-Sorry!" Yukiko wiped away the tears in her eyes. Gwen huffed and re-entered the RV. Shaking her head, Yukiko turned around to look at Ben, only to see him struggling in the water.

"Guh! W-What's!? Gah! H-Happen-!? Ben cried out and was 'pulled' into the water.

Yukiko dashed towards the edge of the dock, hoping to see a sign of Ben. "BEN!? BEN, WHERE DID YOU GO!?" Her cries went unanswered, scaring her even more. Yukiko quickly rolled up her sleeves and prepared to jump into the lake to save her cousin. Just as she was about to jump in, something large and green rose from the lake.

"RAAAAHHHH!"

"AGILAO!"

The fireball knocked the green(?) creature back. It hadn't expected the sudden attack from the girl, though in hindsight it really should have expected it.

Yukiko stood tall, her face set into a harsh glare, Amaterasu floated above her. Yukiko brandished her fan, pointing it directly at the creature. "What did you do with my cousin, you monster!? Answer! Before I get violent!"

"You mean you weren't already?" The creature(?) questioned, before it tore the seaweed off. Revealing himself to be Ben transformed into Four Arms. "Chill, Yukiko! It's just me! Why would there be a monster in the lake of all things?" Four Arms laughed. His laughter stopped when he saw that Yukiko wasn't laughing and her harsh glare was still ever so present.

"So, you've decided to lie and transform into my cousin!"

"How did you even come to that conclusion!?"

"I won't fall for your tricks! Amaterasu!" The Persona moved to swipe Four Arms with her blade.

"Uh oh!" Four Arms ducked under the blade, backing away from his dangerous cousin. "H-Hey! Yukiko, it's me!" Four Arms tried to convince her.

"I've fallen for tricks like that before! I won't be tricked again!" Yukiko honestly believed that the alien in front of her wasn't Ben.

"What exactly have you gone through to think that!?" Four Arms shouted. His answer was his cousin gearing up for another attack at him, before she could the lake started to rumble.

Both of them watched in shock as a large creature with tentacles on its face rose from the lake water and glared down at the both of them. Before Four Arms could question it, a tentacle wrapped around him and sent him flying to the other side of the lake. Yukiko watched as the "Doppelganger" of Ben was sent flying. That was the least of her troubles when the monster slammed down on the docks, shattering the wood and sending her falling into the lake's reaches.

Seeing that the human was taken care of it turned back to where it had tossed Four Arms, seeing the red alien swimming back over. The creature used its tentacle to pull Four Arms under water. Four Arms gasped in shock from seeing the giant lake monster up close. Using his strength, he broke free and swam back up to the surface.

"Yukiko!" He looked around for her, but didn't see her anywhere. He ducked back down underwater and saw her floating under the lake, not moving. Four Arms swam over to her and quickly scooped her up bringing her back up to the surface.

"Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive!" Four Arms panicked as he set her down on the ground.

"Cough Cough!" Yukiko coughed and spat out the water that was in her lungs. Four Arms released a breath of relief at the sight of Yukiko breathing. Seeing that she would be fine, he rushed over to the Rustbucket to warn the others. When he opened the door he saw that they were already asleep.

"Guys! Yukiko and I were attacked by a giant lake monster!" Four Arms yelled. His concerns were met by a pillow to the face by Gwen.

"Would you quit playing around and just go to bed already! And tell Yukiko that your pranks aren't funny!" Gwen complained.

"I'm serious!" Four Arms replied.

Max groaned from being woken up by his Grandson. "C'mon Champ, jokes over. Tell Yukiko to come back in as well. We have an early day tomorrow for our fishing trip," Max told Ben. Just as he went back to sleep, the watch timed out, and Ben turned back to normal.

He scrambled to his feet and turned to Yukiko, who he saw was getting back up to her feet. "C'mon, Yukiko! You gotta tell them what we saw!" Ben begged.

The heiress rubbed her head and groggily looked at Ben. "Wha? Ben, I don't remember what you're talking about. My head does hurt though," Yukiko ruffled his hair and walked into the RV. "How did I get this wet?"

Ben stood there stunned, not believing that his only source of backup had somehow forgotten the lake monster attack.

"No! Really, it was humongous!" Ben tried to convince his family. The four of them were currently walking through the docks to prepare for their fishing trip. "It was big with these red glowing eyes! Yukiko, how do you not remember!?"

Yukiko looked down at him, racking her brain for an answer. "Well...I do remember something…"

"Yeah yeah!" Ben was hopeful.

"Oh! There was some weird green Four Arms doppelganger last night!"

"No...that was just me…"

"Look, Ben, I'm sure whatever you saw was just some big fish," Max said.

"Yeah, so give the mega fish story a rest, will ya, Captain Dweeb?" Gwen demanded, annoyed by her cousin's persistence. He had been claiming to have seen some lake monster all morning, she was losing patience fast.

Shaking his head at his family's doubts, Ben marched forward to the docks. He looked down into a bucket that was sitting on the edge, it was filled to the brim with live worms. An evil smile appeared on his lips as his gaze turned back to Gwen.

"EEEEKKKK!" Gwen screeched as Ben held a hand full of worms to her face.

"Breakfast-OW!" Ben dropped the worms and gripped the back of his head. He glared at Yukiko who had smacked him with her fan again.

"What was that for!?"

"For touching something disgusting and putting it in Gwen's face! You don't even know where those worms have been!" Yukiko scolded him. "Why are we using worms anyway?" Yukiko turned to her Grandfather.

"Bait," Was his answer.

Yukiko nodded her head, not too fond of the idea. "I do remember Yu-kun went fishing down at the stream in Inaba a lot. Maybe he used worms too," Yukiko said.

"Then why don't you smack him?" Ben glared.

"Because he's more mature than you are," Yukiko answered. Ben pouted at her while Gwen giggled at his misfortune.

Max shook his head, smiling at his Grandkids. "You kids ready to fish?" He asked.

"No thanks, that bucket of worms turned me off. I'll just stay here and catch some sun instead," Gwen denied, walking away from them.

"What sun?" Yukiko looked up at the cloudy sky, confused by Gwen's excuse. She concluded that the younger female just didn't want to be on a boat.

"What about you, Yukiko? You gonna chicken out with Gwen?" Ben asked.

"Hm, nope. I've been curious about how to fish from seeing all of the big fish that Yu-kun would catch," Yukiko answered him. Satisfied with her answer, the three faced the old man on the boat.

"Captain Shaw?" Max asked.

The old man turned his head to look at them. "Who wants to know?"

"I'm Max Tennyson and these are my Grandkids, Yukiko and Ben," Max introduced them. Both the teenager and kid waved their hands to Captain Shaw. "We chartered your boat today for a fishing trip," Max explained.

"Well what are you waiting for? An invitation? Hurry up and get aboard, I ain't got all day," Captain Shaw grumbled, rudely.

Ben rushed onto the boat, while Yukiko frowned at the old man's back. "Well, that was quite rude," She said.

"I'm sure he just wants to hurry onto the water, sweetheart," Max placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Still, it never hurts to be a bit nicer to guests," Yukiko said as they walked onto the boat. If she had ever spoken to any of her guests like that she'd get an earful from her mother.

The fishing boat steadily made its way through the lake. Yukiko leaned against the railing, her bored eyes watched the water ripple alongside the boat. "Maybe Gwen had the right idea. I could go for one of Chie-chan's jokes right about now," Yukiko sighed. Her attention turned over to look at Ben, who was leaning over the railing. She moved closer to him, fearing that he may have been seasick. "Ben, are you alright?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm just keeping an eye out for the lake monster. That thing ain't taking me by surprise this time!" Ben glared down at the water below.

"Ben, I'm not sure if-" She was caught off by Ben pointing down at a discarded shrub and cooler. He believed it to be the lake monster he saw last night. Seeing that he was incorrect he blushed slightly.

"Snrk! Pfft!" Yukiko attempted to cover her giggles. Her laughter made the boy blush even more. Max walked over, hearing the discussion going on between them.

"Ben, this is a fishing trip, not a monster hunt," Max informed his Grandson.

"It's called the Krakken," Captain Shaw's gruff voice took their attention.

"Woah! You know about it?" Ben asked.

"It's my business to know about it," He handed a photo to Ben. Yukiko looked over her cousin's head to look at the image.

"I've been on its tail for years. Folks say that my rudder's not right," Shaw continued to explain.

"A little too hard to tell, don't you think?" Yukiko asked. The photo wasn't the clearest thing, only a silhouette that resembled a head poking through the water was seen in the image.

"I wouldn't expect a sheltered child like you to fully understand," Shaw responded, offending the heiress.

"S-Sheltered!?" Yukiko stammered.

Shaw ignored her cries, continuing his story. "Sightings go back hundreds of years on this very lake. Some say it's a myth! Not me! I can take you to a spot where I first laid eyes upon the beast. That is if you've got the stomach for some real adventure?," Shaw gave an expectant look down at Ben. He could easily tell that he had grabbed the boy's attention.

Yukiko felt suspicious of the tale told by Shaw. There was a part of her that wanted to dismiss Shaw's story, like her Grandpa had been doing, but something in the back of her brain was telling her otherwise.

"I guess so," She heard her Grandpa's voice, bringing her out of her musing. Yukiko looked down and saw Ben's excited expression. The boy was absolutely pumped to go on a monster hunting adventure. A giggle escaped her lips, finding Ben's expression adorable.

"No signal," Yukiko frowned as she gazed down at her phone. She had wanted to contact Chie and update her on everything going on, but it seems that she couldn't get any signal out here on the lake. Sighing in dejection, she slid the phone back into her skirt pocket and gazed back at the lake. They had been searching for this lake monster for a while now and still haven't found it yet.

"Yukiko, come here!" Her Grandfather had called her over. The teenager walked over to her Grandfather and Ben, who he had knelt down to talk to. She also bent down to be at their level.

"Kids, I don't want you two to put too much belief into what Mr. Shaw says. I don't think he has both oars in the water, if you know what I mean," He informed them.

"But, Grandpa...this ship doesn't require any oars…" Yukiko said. Both male Tennysons sweat dropped at her cluelessness.

"Why, Grandpa? Just because he saw the Krakken too?" Ben walked away from his Grandfather upset.

"Don't worry, Grandpa, I'll talk to him," Yukiko followed Ben to the front of the boat. Max sighed, already figuring out why Ben was upset at him.

"Ben? Are you ok?" Yukiko stood next to the railing with him.

He grumbled, turning his head from her. "Is it too much for you guys to believe me? I've been telling all of you about this lake monster, but you just keep brushing it off. Heck! You were even there when it happened!" Ben glared at her.

"I'm sorry, Ben. But, I don't remember what you're talking about," Yukiko felt bad for disappointing him.

"Tch! Forget it, once we find it, you'll remember!" Ben walked away from her. Yukiko tried to remember the night prior, but her mind kept drawing up blanks.

Shaw continued to drive the boat until they came across a long line of yellow tape, preventing them from going forward.

"Do not enter!? What's going on!?" Shaw demanded.

"Looks official, maybe we should turn back?" Max suggested.

"Nonsense. This is my lake and I'll go wherever I-"

"Fishing boat! Stop right there!"

Everyone looked over to their left to see another boat pulling up beside them. There were people in blue jumpsuits riding on top of it. The boat pulled in closer and a man with brown hair and beard walked up to the edge.

"I am Jonah Melville, the founder of Friends of Fish," He announced to them.

"Friends of Fish? That sounds really cheesy," Yukiko said out loud. She blushed when she heard the guy laugh at her words.

"Perhaps so, young lady. What's your name?" Jonah asked.

"Yukiko Amagi," She answered, politely.

"Yukiko Amagi, huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful young lady," He smiled. The heiress didn't return his smile, finding it a little off putting. She backed up a bit towards her Grandfather.

"Enough of the chit chat! What's going on here!?" Shaw demanded.

"We've closed off this section of the lake for an environmental study. You'll have to turn your boat around," Jonah explained.

Shaw didn't like the sound of that, he leaned over the edge of his boat and glared. "Suppose you make me, fish hugger!" He threatened.

"Well, since I chartered the boat for the day, I believe I'm in charge," Max found a way out of the situation.

"Yes! The sooner we're away from here the better!" Yukiko agreed, wanting to be as far from Jonah as possible. Shaw growled in annoyance and reluctantly walked back over to the steering wheel.

"But, what about the Krakken!?" Ben asked.

Jonah started laughing at Ben. "The Krakken? Not that old fish story! Look, I'm a Marine biologist and anybody who tells you they've seen a monster in this lake is casting without a hook," He replied, mocking Shaw and Ben.

Yukiko wasn't sure if she should set the man on fire for making fun of her cousin or for giving her the creeps. It was honestly a mix of both.

Yukiko ran her fingers through Ben's hair, finding it messy, and barely combed. Trying to comfort the boy after he was mocked by those creepy F.O.F guys. "Don't listen to those guys, Ben. You don't need a hook to fish," She told him.

"I'm sure that's not what they meant," He sweatdropped.

Suddenly Shaw stopped the boat. "The sonar! It's found something!" He told them. The Tennyson Family looked behind them, seeing a fin peeking above the water.

"A Shark!?" Yukiko gasped.

"I don't think that's it. Look!" Ben pointed at the fin. Just as he did it went below the water and past their boat. The boat shook from the size of the creature, Max quickly took a hold of his Grandkids to keep them from falling.

"The Krakken…" Shaw gasped in amazement. "It's heading for the docks!" He shouted.

"GWEN!" They realized.

Back over at the docks Gwen sat on the edge and kicked her feet out. Enjoying the piece away from her crazy family. She saw the fin getting closer and sighed. "Why does that doofus think he can trick me?"

Turns out it wasn't a trick at all once the giant Krakken surfaced from the water and screeched. "RRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" It smashed down on the docks, knocking Gwen and a bunch of other people into the water.

"...That's not Ben…" Gwen said, scared.

Back over at the boat, Shaw was giddy with excitement. "I told ya! It's real! The Krakken is real!" He shouted.

Yukiko didn't care too much about Shaw's gloating, her focus centered more on the fact that Gwen was in danger. "Grandpa! We gotta help Gwen!" She yelled.

"Yeah, Ben, someone has got to rescue those people," He whispered to Ben. Nodding his head in understanding the boy jumped into the water.

"Heh, RipJaws to the rescue!" He slammed the core down to transform into RipJaws. However, when he resurfaced above the water to find out that he had turned into XLR8.

"Hey! I said RipJaws, not XLR8! Stupid watch!" XLR8 exclaimed. He looked over to see Gwen and the other civilians swimming away from the Krakken.

Before the Krakken could bite down on anyone a medium sized fireball smashed into its face, making it reel back. It looked around to find the source of the attack, missing XLR8 speed past it, scooping up Gwen into his arms.

Yukiko launched several more Agis at the Krakken, pelting it repeatedly in the face while XLR8 rescued more people from danger. The Krakken got fed up with getting hit with fire balls and used its tentacles to block the attacks. It lifted its arms and smacked down on the water, causing the boat to become unsteady. Yukiko was halted in her attempts of attacking, almost falling off of the boat. Max quickly caught her in time.

"I gotcha!" He exclaimed.

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Yukiko smiled. She then noticed that the beast had left them to chase after the F.O.F and XLR8 was also hot on their tails. "We gotta catch up to them!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Hold on, this boat can only go so fast!" Shaw yelled back as he chased after the monster.

As Yukiko watched her little cousin battle the monster, her head started to hurt. Memories from the night before resurfacing in her mind. "We really did encounter this thing last night. I guess I owe Ben an apology this time," Yukiko thought.

XLR8 found it weird how the Krakken was targeting the F.O.F, especially since they just seemed like some high and mighty fish nerds to him. He figured he could question it later, once the Krakken was dealt with.

He watched as it tried to take one of the crates on the boat and sped over to prevent it. Grabbing a hold of the monster's tentacle, he used his speed to pull back against it. His plan worked, seeing the creature back off from them. It tried to attack again, but XLR8 slid underneath it and sent speedy kicks to the bottom of its chin. It ducked back into the water, not wanting to continue getting hurt.

"Thanks for the hand and the feet," Jonah and his crew walked over.

"What's so important in those crates that you'd risk your life for it?" If there was anything he's learned so far from Yukiko it was to also be suspicious of weird people. And Jonah is classified as a weird guy.

"Uh...our l-lunch," Jonah lied.

"I may not be the smartest guy around, but even I know that's a load of crap," XLR8 thought. "You almost got munched for a few sandwiches?" XLR8 asked, skeptical.

Suddenly a tentacle burst from the water and stole one of the crates. XLR8 was gonna get after it until the watch started beeping. "Uh oh! Sorry, gotta run!" XLR8 took off from the boat.

He sprinted back towards Shaw's ship, but he timed out before he could reach it. Ben skipped across the water, before losing momentum and falling in. Yukiko winced from the sight of it, but it seemed that Ben was ok. She heard her Grandpa shouting for Shaw to bring the boat closer to grab Ben.

Shaw was trying to harpoon the Krakken when Max had called for him. "Next time you're in my sights, you won't be so lucky," Shaw growled.

"See! I told ya so! That was the thing that tried to munch us last night! Captain Shaw and I were right!" Ben exclaimed. A blanket was thrown over his shoulder as Yukiko tried to heat him up with a small Agi. The Tennyons gathered by the Rustbucket as many people began to evacuate the lake.

"Yes, Ben, I'm sorry that I forgot about it," Yukiko apologized.

"Next time you'll believe me immediately, right?" He asked.

"Sure! As long as it isn't a prank," She smiled dangerously, figuring out that Ben had pranked her moments prior to the Krakken attacking them last night.

"Y-Yes, Ma'am!" Ben nodded his head.

Max looked down at Ben with a frown on his face. "Just because he was right about the Krakken, doesn't mean I was wrong about him. I want you to stay away from the guy, he's trouble," Max said.

Ben glared at his Grandfather. "You're just being stubborn!"

"Should you really be the one saying that?" Yukiko questioned.

Gwen however wasn't afraid to vocalize that thought. "Yeah, don't you just hate people like that?" She asked, sarcastically.

"We'll leave this to the experts, Ben. Like those Friends of Fish guys," Max said.

"I still don't like them. They're weird," Yukiko responded.

"Yeah! Who better to snag a lake monster than the guy with the monster buster on his wrist!" Ben exclaimed.

"No...I wasn't agreeing with that…" Yukiko sweat dropped.

Max shook his head at Ben. "I'm afraid that this will have to be the one that got away," He said.

Yukiko felt that she could understand that, he just didn't want them to get hurt. With Gwen being so close to being eaten by the lake monster, it was obvious that he was just being careful. But, still...something felt off.

Suddenly Shaw appeared behind them, his mood even worse than before. "Those no good fish kissers!" He growled.

"Captain Shaw! What is it!?" Ben asked him. Shaw's sudden appearance made Yukiko dispel the flame in her hand quickly.

"The nerve of those punks! They shut down the entire lake! Nobody tells me where to sail and nobody keeps me from reeling in the catch of the century! Nobody!" He stormed away from them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yukiko walked towards Ben, seeing the boy fiddle with the watch. He turned around and glared at her.

"None of your business, duh," He replied rudely. She grabbed his wrist, keeping him from transforming, her glare still present.

"It is my business when you've decided to go against Grandpa's wishes. Now tell me, what are you doing, Ben?" Yukiko asked again.

Ben softened his glare, knowing that he couldn't out-glare her. "Fine, I was going to sneak on Shaw's boat. If he plans to go after those F.O.F guys and look for the Krakken, shouldn't we help?" Ben explained his reasons. "I'm gonna go, even if you tell Grandpa! You can't stop me!"

"I wasn't going to stop you."

"It's not fair! You can't just-Wait what?" Ben blinked as she released her grip on him.

Yukiko stopped glaring and rubbed his head. "We both saw that lake monster the night before and were attacked by it. And after what happened today, it wouldn't feel right to just leave it unattended. There's also those F.O.F guys, something about them feels off, and what kind of cousin would I be if I let you go off on your own?" Yukiko said.

Ben's face brightened up, happy to see Yukiko taking his side. "Alright! Then let's get to monster hunting!" Ben activated the watch and transformed.

"I'm sure this will be fine. What's the worst that could happen?" Yukiko shrugged.

"...Ok, that's the worst that could happen…" Yukiko and Ben floated in the lake water. Both of them dressed in scuba gear, though she was confused as to why Shaw had a scuba jumpsuit for women. "That's not what I should be focusing on right now. We gotta save Shaw!" Yukiko turned to her cousin, seeing him fiddle with the watch.

"Yeah, and it's Hero Time!" Ben slapped the core down. He transformed into Stinkfly, making Yukiko scrunch her face in disgust.

"Ugh, I still wish you had a different flying alien," Yukiko complained as she climbed onto his back.

"Hey! No dissing the Stinkfly!" Stinkfly shouted as they took off after the F.O.F guys.

They eventually caught up to the F.O.F guys, who quickly adapted to the sight of an overgrown bug with a girl on his back. "Man the harpoons!" Shaw commanded as they approached the boat.

"Give it up! You guys are totally busted!" Stinkfly shouted.

"Ah...Yes! You evil doers will be punished!" Yukiko chimed in. Stinkfly wanted to call her out for the lame battle cry, but he wasn't given time when the F.O.F guys began shooting at them.

"That's a harpoon!?" Yukiko cried out in disbelief. "What kind of harpoon shoots out lasers!?"

"A harpoon created by fruit-loops, that's what!" Stinkfly answered her. He shot goop at their enemies taking both guys out.

"Agi!" Yukiko launched a small fire blast at the 'harpoon' destroying it. Their worries weren't over yet as Jonah went into the cockpit to release explosive barrels into the water, attempting to blow them up.

"Careful, Ben!" Yukiko shouted as an explosion almost hit them. She was relatively fine from the close proximity of the heat, but Stinkfly wasn't as lucky.

"I know-Uh oh!" Stinkfly saw a tree coming down at them, he was forced to dive into the water to avoid getting himself and Yukiko hit by the falling tree.

When they resurfaced, Stinkfly attempted to flap his wings. "Crap, my wings are too wet to fly!" He realized.

Yukiko saw a bright light being aimed at them, realizing that Jonah was attempting to run them over. "That's not good either! Amaterasu! Agilao!" Yukiko crushed the tarot card to summon her Persona. The golden woman launched the medium sized fireball close to the ship, forcing Jonah to steer off course.

"Ben, we have to move!" Yukiko commanded him.

"How!? I can't fly!?" He asked.

"Then swim!" Yukiko started swimming away, with Stinkfly not too far behind her. It didn't take long for Jonah to get the boat back under control to chase after them again.

Gun fire began following after them, with Jonah's men brandishing guns to shoot after them. Yukiko cried out as one of the blasts grazed her arm, the wound drawing some blood.

"Yuki-"

"I'm fine, just figure out a way out of this!" Yukiko crushed another tarot card. "Agilao!" The fire ball smacked into the side of the boat, taking it off course once more. Stinkfly used that opportunity to spit some goop out of his mouth to latch onto a tree branch. He grabbed Yukiko and they took off to hide behind the trees.

As Stinkfly flapped his wings to dry them off, Yukiko watched as the F.O.F guys dumped Shaw into the lake, leaving him to die. The two hurried down to the water and grabbed Shaw before he could sink down even further.

"Almost there!" Stinkfly said as he saw the Rustbucket in the distance. Suddenly the watch began beeping, making Yukiko glare at the device.

"I'm going to burn that watch…" She muttered as Stinkfly flashed red and turned back into Ben.

"KYA!" Yukiko screamed as they fell, she grabbed onto Ben and held him close as they fell onto the detachable cover on the RV. The heiress heard Ben groan about hating the watch, his voice muffled from being pressed against her.

"I agree, that thing has the worst timing," She grumbled.

"And the Krakken's nest is full of eggs! That's why it's been attacking, Jonah must be stealing her eggs!" Ben informed his family and Shaw.

"And I think I know who Jonah is, I did a little checking on Friends of Fish and found out it's not listed on any environmental website," Gwen informed.

"Haha! I knew that name was too cheesy to be official!" Yukiko felt proud of being correct on Jonah being suspicious.

Gwen shook her head and Yukiko before continuing on. "Check this out, Jonah Melville isn't a friend of any kind of wildlife. He travels around the world and poaches any kind of rare animals, then crates them up and sells them to private collectors," Gwen explained.

"Rare animals!? What if they discover Teddie!?" Yukiko gasps in horror. Imagining Jonah trying to take Teddie away from Inaba.

While she was going through her own mini episode, Ben remembered something from earlier. "Crates them up? Oh man! I bet that crate the Krakken took off their boat had her eggs in it!" Ben realized.

"Looks like we were both a little too hard headed," Max apologized to Ben.

"We gotta stop them!" Ben pounded his fist into his palm.

"Agreed!" Yukiko jumped out of her seat, a strong blaze of fire present in her eyes. "I won't let them take away the Krakken's babies or Teddie!"

"Isn't Teddie a mascot?" Gwen questioned, remembering Yukiko telling her about her weird friends.

"They did mention something about going back to a Canary," Ben brought up.

"This doesn't change a thing, a mommy or not, that beast is still mine. Let's go! I have a spare boat down at the docks," Shaw told them.

When he walked out of the RV each one of the Tennysons smirked at each other, already forming a plan.

"It'll take a while until the Police can get here," Gwen informed them. The Tennyson family was already sitting inside of the boat while Shaw untied it. As soon as Shaw finished undoing the rope, they took off with his boat, leaving him at the docks. "What are you doing!? Get back here!"

"Sorry! We'll bring it back! I promise!" Yukiko apologized.

"You don't know what you're doing! A monster's a monster! And I know a monster when I see one!" Shaw yelled as they drove away. Shaw looked to his left and saw a row boat sitting next to the dock.

The Tennysons stopped underneath the dock and began sneaking up the ladder. Ben didn't join them on the sneaking aboard. "You guys see if you can find the eggs," He said.

"What about you?" Gwen asked.

"I'm gonna kick some Friends of Fish tail!" Ben activated the watch and slapped the core down. When the light disappeared he had transformed into RipJaws, almost immediately the Krakken burst from underneath the boat, knocking RipJaws into the water.

"Ben!" Yukiko cried out. She couldn't join him underneath the water, her fire wouldn't be effective at all. They watched as the monster attacked the F.O.F, trying to get her eggs back from them. RipJaws propelled himself from the lake and attacked Jonah, who was inside of some mechanized suit.

"You wanna mess with a monster? Try me on for size!" RipJaws knocked the egg carrier out of Jonah's hands, sending it down to the docks. When he jumped down, Jonah had followed suit and sent a punch into RipJaws' jaw. The egg carrier had broken, making both eggs roll to the edge of the dock.

"You're not getting in the way of my payday, Fish Face!" Jonah shouted.

"Agilao!" Yukiko shot the medium fire blast at Jonah, knocking him off of RipJaws. "Keep your creepy hands off my cousin!" She stalked forward.

"I don't think you know who you're dealing with, little girl!" Jonah tried to shoot a laser beam at her, but RipJaws jumped up and bit the machine's wrist. Breaking the laser pointer.

"Not today, jerk-wad!" RipJaws growled. Jonah growled and punched RipJaws once more, sending the fish alien into Yukiko, knocking them both down. He then looked over to see the Krakken picking up her eggs.

"No! My eggs!" Jonah had the converter belt move him towards the Krakken. RipJaws got to his feet and saw what was happening.

Using his superior agility and strength, he knocked the eggs into the water. "They aren't your eggs!" He shouted. RipJaws, the Krakken, and Jonah all fell into the water, chasing after the eggs.

"Ben!" Yukiko wanted to go help him, but she wouldn't be able to breathe down there.

"Yukiko!"

She turned around to see her Grandfather throw scuba gear her way. "Hurry up and go help Ben!"

She sent him a thankful smile and quickly put the gear on. "Thanks!" With the gear secured on her body, Yukiko dived into the lake.

"Rescuing babies? Very Heroic! But, not very smart!" Jonah taunted as he pounded the metal fists into RipJaws' face. The alien dropped the eggs and fell deeper into the water. Jonah smirked and took the eggs.

Yukiko entered the fray and saw Jonah with the eggs in his hands. "Will my fire even work down here? I have to try something or Jonah will get away!" Yukiko smashed the tarot card, pointing her fan at the poacher. "AGI!"

To her shock the fireball materialized for a brief moment, before dissipating into the water. "So, it can work. I'll just have to get closer," Yukiko smirked, she quickly grabbed onto RipJaws as he was swimming past her. "Get me close to him, Ben!"

"Gotcha!" RipJaws clamped a claw on Jonah, only to get smacked away. He rebounded quickly and forced open Jonah's hands, allowing the eggs to float in the water. He grabbed onto the eggs with his jaws, as Yukiko charged up her attack.

"This is close enough! AGILAO!" Jonah felt the heat inside of the metal suit as he was blasted back to the lake floor. Yukiko watched as RipJaws swam away with the eggs, only to get smacked away by the Krakken. Yukiko swam down to him, checking on him as the Krakken tried to escape with her babies. Only for Jonah to shoot some sonic blast that disrupted her senses. He smirked once more at his "Victory".

"AGILAO!" Another medium sized shot hit him in his back, making him drop the eggs. RipJaws scooped up the eggs and swam down towards the Krakken. Jonah was going to give chase once more until he felt something restricting his movements.

Yukiko had used Amaterasu to grab a hold of Jonah, he couldn't see her, but that didn't matter. She sent a harsh cold glare at him, a glare that actually made him reconsider his decisions.

"Time to pay for your crimes, Jonah. AGIDYNE!" The powerful fire blast propelled Jonah out of the lake depths, his suit was burnt and destroyed by the heat and force of the blast. Jonah crashed onto the docks and climbed out of his suit, groaning in pain. He looked up and saw Max standing over him, the old man sent a strong punch into Jonah's face, knocking the poacher unconscious.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Max quoted as he and Gwen left Jonah and his men to be arrested by the police. Yukiko soon came over to join them on the docks.

"Haha! I got one!"

They looked over to see Shaw rowing over to him. "I finally got me a Krakken! One of the eggs must've hatched!" Both Grandfather and Granddaughters sweatdropped at seeing RipJaws tangled up in a net. Yukiko had to stifle her laughter at the sight.

The watch timed out, causing Yukiko to finally burst into a full laughing fit. Max chuckled and pointed over at Ben. "I think your catch of the day isn't exactly as advertised," Max said.

Shaw looked back over to see Ben sitting in the net instead of RipJaws. "But, I could've sworn…"

Yukiko was still laughing, finding the entire thing hilarious. She had to tell Chie about this when she had the chance.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Girl Talks

After Leaving The Camp

Yukiko sat at the table inside of the RV, her attention focused on a book she had brought with her titled 100 Ghost Stories, Yu had recommended the book to her since she had a fascination for ghost stories. Yukiko giggled at the part she was at in her book, the moment where the girl pissed herself from pure fright. It reminded her of Chie and how she'd scare her when they were kids.

"Yukiko?"

The teenager glanced up from her book to see Gwen standing in front of her, nervously glancing around. The younger girl was fidgeting as if she was still working up some sort of courage. "What's wrong, Gwen?" Yukiko asked, putting down her book.

"Um...can we talk? If that's ok with you!" Gwen requested, timidly. Yukiko raised an eyebrow, from her little interactions with Gwen this didn't seem like a behavior she'd exhibit.

"Sure, I don't mind!" Yukiko smiled warmly. Gwen's shoulders relaxed a bit at the smile and the girl sat down at the table. However, she still took the opportunity of looking around the RV. Yukiko tilted her head in confusion. "Gwen, why are you looking around so much?" The heiress asked.

Her emerald orbs met her black ones. "Just making sure Ben isn't listening anywhere. Don't need him making fun of me or anything," Gwen explained.

"He's currently out with Grandpa at the moment, so it's just us," Yukiko reassured her. The heiress did find it odd that she was so worried about Ben listening in. Was he really that bad?

"Right, it's just that with that watch on his wrist now there's no telling. Anyway, I didn't want to talk just to discuss that dweeb. I wanted to tell you something," Gwen said.

"What is it?"

"Thank you."

"What?" Yukiko hadn't expected that at all. To be fair, she didn't know what to expect from the girl yet, they had just met after all.

Gwen didn't look bothered by Yukiko's response and continued to explain. "You saved me from that tree, and I didn't really thank you for it earlier. So, thank you," Gwen gave her thanks to Yukiko.

"It was no big deal, Gwen. We're family after all," Yukiko appreciated her words. Though, she did find some confusion afterwards. "Why exactly were you worried about Ben making fun of you? All you were gonna do was say thank you," Yukiko said.

Gwen scoffed at her words. Yukiko didn't know Ben as much as she did. "Because he's an immature doofus. Doesn't matter what it is that I do, he'll find some way to make fun of me about it, always has," Gwen glared at the table. Clearly reminding herself of all the times Ben had gotten on her nerves.

Yukiko didn't like how much the two were at each other's throats. There was clearly something that was bothering the two of them, she didn't know what. "Maybe, you two should talk about it. I'm sure he'd stop if you told him."

Gwen laughed a bit at that. "He won't listen, he doesn't really care about anyone other than himself," Gwen felt confident with her words. From all her interactions with Ben, the boy ever only did what he wanted. He had no respect for authority or even his own grades, maybe he'd actually have friends if he straightened himself out.

Yukiko frowned at Gwen's answer, not liking the tone she used either. She hadn't known the boy for long, but he didn't appear that way to her so far. Maybe he was immature, but he is currently 10 years old. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Gwen. Maybe, he'll surprise you during this summer vacation," Yukiko replied.

Gwen didn't respond, but Yukiko was fine with that. She didn't want to start an argument with the girl, she seemed smart for her own age. Though, a little bit lonely from how she tended to act around Ben. Gwen reminded her of herself for some reason.

"Gwen, maybe-"

"We're back!" Max entered the RV with several bags in hand.

"And I have snacks!" Ben followed after, munching on a bag of chips.

Yukiko had wanted to continue the conversation, but it seemed like that would have to be saved for another day.

After Washington B.C.

Yukiko was stirred awake by the sounds of feet shuffling. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Gwen walking out of the RV. Yukiko was going to go back to sleep, but she felt a sudden pull in her chest. As if it wanted her to follow after her younger cousin. The heiress quietly got to her feet, put on her slippers, and quietly made her way outside.

Yukiko glanced around the park that they had stopped at for the night and looked around for her cousin. She saw Gwen sitting on a bench with her laptop on her lap, the girl typing away at something. Yukiko stepped onto the grass, the soft green scrunched under the weight of her feet.

Gwen heard the noise and looked up from her computer. "Oh, Yukiko, did I wake you up?" Gwen asked, worried.

"It's fine, Gwen. I'm more worried about why you're up at this time of night," Yukiko sat down next to her cousin.

"Oh, I'm just working on an essay," Gwen answered.

"An essay? Are you taking online summer classes?" Yukiko didn't think Gwen would need to take any summer courses, the girl was pretty intelligent all on her own.

Gwen puffed out her chest, proud of what she was doing. "Of course! I usually take summer classes every summer, because I can't allow myself to fall behind. My mom always said that education is important," Gwen smirked.

"Hmm...I guess," Yukiko felt unsure about her answer.

"What about you, Yukiko? With how smart you are I'm sure you agree that education is important?" Gwen expected to hear Yukiko share her thoughts.

"Well, I do agree that education is important for excelling in life…"

Gwen beamed.

"But, it's not the most important thing in life."

Gwen's face fell. "What!? Why would you think that!?"

Yukiko looked down at Gwen's crestfallen face, she had expected to share a commodity with Yukiko. "Gwen, I believe the most important things in life come from the people around us. Laughing, crying, getting angry, or even just sitting down by a shrine to just talk to each other is a lot more important," Yukiko had a reminiscent smile on her face.

Gwen didn't understand what Yukiko was getting at, how would any of that lead to a successful life. "But, how can you be successful if you don't study or get into a good school? I was told that hanging around other people will just be a distraction from my studies," Gwen furrowed her brows. "Is Ben getting to you already?"

The heiress blinked at that question. "What? No, Ben isn't getting to me or anything like that, Gwen."

"Oh. Then, how did you spend your past summers if you didn't take any summer classes?" Gwen asked.

Yukiko hesitated a bit at Gwen's question. Most of her previous summers were spent helping out at the Inn and hanging out with Chie. However, this last summer was the best summer of her life(Minus the string of kidnappings and murders). Not only did she gain a boyfriend, but also so many different people that she will forever hold dear to her heart. "I spent my last summer with the most important people in my life. I had fun hanging out with them everyday and helping out at the Inn," Yukiko giggled.

Gwen pondered Yukiko's words, they were contrasting with the thoughts in her head. "I don't understand," Gwen frowned. Yukiko giggled and placed a comforting hand on Gwen's head.

"It's fine, Gwen. You don't need to understand right now, but just know that life doesn't revolve around studying," Yukiko got off the bench and straightened out her kimono. "Don't stay up too late, Gwen. I want you and Ben to try out some new dishes for Breakfast that I'll be making," Yukiko giggled.

Gwen flinched at the thought of any new type of food Yukiko was planning to cook. Maybe she could convince Grandpa to eat her plate...or she'll just force it down Ben's throat. Either one would be fine for her.

After The Krakken

"Do you have any siblings, Gwen?" Yukiko asked. She and Gwen stood near a game store while eating their own ice-cream cones. Max had given Yukiko some money for the kids to treat themselves. The girls chose to get some ice-cream while Ben ran inside of the game store to see if he could buy something.

"I do have an older brother named Ken," Gwen answered.

Yukiko paused in her eating. She looked down at Gwen with a blank expression, something that confused the younger one. "W-What's wrong?"

"PFFT-"

"Oh…"

"Y-Y-Your name is Gwen, his is Ben, and your brother is Ken...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko burst into a fit of laughter. Her laughing fit drew the attention of the passerby, much to Gwen's embarrassment.

"It-It isn't that funny…"Gwen blushed. She had long since recognized the fact that their names rhymed, which was something relatives would always tease them about. Ben nor Ken cared much about it, but it was something that bothered her.

"S-sorry, it's just funny how coincidental your names are. Makes me think that if Ben was born a girl he'd be named 'Jen'-PFFT!" Yukiko tried to prevent another laughing fit from spawning. "S-so, why isn't your brother with us?"

"Oh, Mother had him go on some college tours this summer. I was actually going to go to a very prestigious school this summer, but my Dad convinced mother otherwise," Gwen explained her brother's absence.
"Huh, wish I could've met him," Yukiko was excited to meet more of her family. Too bad he wouldn't be with them this summer.

"I'm sure you two would've gotten along. He wasn't really fond of the idea of being stuck on tours all summer," Gwen sighed. Her mind had gone back to her conversation with Yukiko a couple of days ago.

"I don't think anyone would, unless it was their own idea," Yukiko said.

"Hmm…" Gwen was conflicted if she would like the idea of repeated tours for all of summer. She would love to be on a tour to see a prestigious school, but for all of summer? She wasn't sure how she'd react.

The doors of the game store opened up and Ben walked out sighing. His hands shoved into his pockets, while he continued to sigh loudly the closer he got to them.

Gwen rolled her eyes, knowing that Ben wanted their attention. "Did you find your game, doofus?" She asked, irritation evident in her voice.

"Did you find your brain, geek?" Ben glared at her. They got into each other's faces, ready for an argument.

"Ok ok! No fighting," Yukiko broke them up before they could start fighting. "Did you find what you wanted, Ben?"

"Nope! Nothing that I haven't already played or have, a waste of a trip," He complained.

WEEEEEEEEEE

The Tennyson kids turned around to see two cars speeding down the street with multiple police cars chasing after them. Ben smirked and activated the watch. "Ok, maybe it wasn't a complete waste. It's Hero Time!" He turned into XLR8 and waited for Yukiko to get ready.

Yukiko shook her head and pulled out her fan, ready to follow her cousin. She turned back to Gwen. "Call Grandpa and keep back from the danger zone," Yukiko hopped onto his back and they were gone.

Gwen frowned as she dialed her Grandfather's number. She felt useless whenever her cousins went to fight crime, as if she was just in the way. Even her Grandpa kept doing more than her. "Wish I could be more helpful," Gwen sighed.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Retired Persona

"Which flavor to choose?" Yukiko hummed to herself. She scanned the case below to figure out which ice cream flavor she desired. Ben and Gwen stood on opposite sides of her, both wondering the same thing.

Gwen looked up from the ice cream choices to the cashier. "What do you have that's non-fat and less than 3% sugar?" She asked.

"Napkins," The old man rudely replied. Gwen bristled at the quick dismissal of her question. She felt Yukiko's comforting hand on her shoulder, which she appreciated.

The old man didn't flinch at Yukiko's glare and turned his attention to Ben. "What about you kid?"

Unlike his cousins, Ben was unaffected by the old man's attitude. Though, before he could answer they all heard a clunking noise from outside the shop. Outside were two guys trying to rob the ATM in front of the store.

"I'm about to go Rocky Road!" Ben smirked, activating the watch. The boy ran into the bathroom and transformed into Upgrade.

"We gotta work on his puns," Gwen shook her head.

"Yes we should. Now, stay here," Yukiko pulled out her fan. She rushed outside to see Ben merge with the truck. Looking towards the right she saw one of the men with a sickle & chain in his hands. On the ground behind him was their Grandfather.

"You attacked the wrong old man," Yukiko glared at the thief.

"And what are you gonna do about it, girly?" The thief began to swing the sickle and chain as he marched towards her.

Yukiko smirked devilishly and closed her fan. "This," She tossed it at him with extreme precision and speed, taking him off guard. The fan knocked him face and flew right back into her hand. Yukiko opened it back up and began fanning herself. "It truly is too hot in the summer."

The man growled at her, but before he could get back to his feet, Max kicked him in the face, knocking him out. "Good work, kids," He congratulated them.

"Oh yeah! I'm ready for anything!" Ben bragged as Gwen walked over to them.

"Thank you, Grandpa. Now, about this darn heat," Yukiko's attention went back to the ice cream that was going to cool them off.

"What's next?" Ben asked, ignoring Yukiko's mini dilemma.

"We're heading off to see your aunt Vera for the weekend," Max explained, knowing what Ben's reaction would be.

"Boring old aunt Vera!? Nooooo!" Ben complained as if the world was ending.

"Huh? Who?" Yukiko turned back around to face them after hearing a new name.

"When aunt Vera said she wanted to move away from it all, she really meant it," Gwen brought up. The Rustbucket drove through the desert area to reach aunt Vera's home. Inside of the RV Gwen took her turn washing the dishes. Yukiko sat next to Ben at the table.

The teen watched as Ben's downtrodden gaze turned to the window. "This summer was supposed to be about F.U.N-OW!" He felt a slap on the back of his head. He glared at Yukiko, who still had her hand raised. "What was that for!?"

"Ben, you know better than to curse!" Yukiko scolded, not knowing what he had meant.

"F.U.N stands for FUN, Yukiko!"

"Oh...sorry...hehe.."

Gwen giggled at seeing Ben get slapped. "Well I for one like seeing aunt Vera!" Gwen said, factly.

"Duh! That's because YOU act like you're 100 years old!" Ben shot back.

"I for one look forward to meeting her, I want to meet more of my family over here in America," Yukiko cut in.

Ben scoffed at her. "You're saying that now, but you'll be singing a different tune when you meet her."

"But, I'm not singing at all…"

The only one response she was given were two sighs from both her younger cousins, confusing her more.

"This is gonna be soooo boring! Their idea for excitement in this place is probably to watch the grass grow!" Ben kept complaining. Gwen glared at him, getting tired of Ben's non stop complaining. Yukiko was tuning him out by busying herself with her book.

Outside of the RV one of the old men was doing repairs on the roof. When he finished he did a backflip off of the roof inside of using the ladder to get down.

Ben had been looking outside of the window when it had happened. "Woah! Did you see that!?" He asked his family.

Gwen rolled her eyes and looked outside. She saw nothing, but old people being...well...old people. "See what? The heat must be frying that pea sized brain of yours," Gwen replied. He glared at her then turned to Yukiko in hopes that she'd listen to him.

"Yukiko, did you see it!?" He asked. When she didn't pay him any mind, he grabbed her arms and shook her. She was pulled roughly out of her reading and gave the boy her attention.

"Huh!? What is it!? Are we being attacked!?" She gasped, due to not paying any attention to everything around her.

"Yukiko, did you see that old guy outside?" He asked again.

"Sorry, Ben, I was too focused on reading. Though, this is a really nice neighborhood," She complimented the area.

Giving up, Ben slouched back into his seat and huffed.

Yukiko watched as Gwen squirted Ben with a water gun and giggled. She could've stopped it, but felt that the action was justified for Ben's behavior all morning. And for the simple fact that it was funny, but she wouldn't say that out loud.

She stepped up next to her Grandfather with a bit of apprehension. "Is there anything else I should know about aunt Vera, Grandpa?"

He smiled at her with mischief. "Just watch your cheeks, Vera's a pincher," He laughed.

Yukiko's face morphed into an expression of horror. "She's gonna touch me there!?" She thought.

"Max!"

"Vera!"

Yukiko was pulled out of her thoughts by the two old people hugging each other. She stayed in the back as Gwen and Ben approached her. Vera was happy to see family again and began pinching Ben's and Gwen's cheeks.

"Oh, that's what he meant…" Yukiko felt silly about her earlier thought.

"And you must be, Yukiko! Max told me all about you!"

"Huh, wha-" Yukiko didn't get to finish as two elderly hands pinched her cheeks and shook her face. "Ow…" She mumbled, rubbing her face. "It's great to finally meet you, aunt Vera," Yukiko bowed.

"Aw, there's no need for all the formalities! Come in, I can't wait to chew the fat with all of you!" She said and headed inside.

"Chew the fat?" Yukiko questioned the expression.

"She means to catch up," Max explained.

"Oh."

When they entered the house, Yukiko scanned the interior. Finding the home very welcoming, but there was an odd chill that ran through her. "What was that chill?" She wondered.

Ben on the other hand made his thoughts known. "Why do old people's houses always smell like somebody's cooking socks or something?" He asked.

"People cook socks? Maybe I could use that next time I cook a meal!" Yukiko figured that must've been an American thing old people did.

Gwen glared at Ben, knowing he just gave her a terrible idea. He shrugged, knowing that he'd explain his words to Yukiko later.

Yukiko pokes the jello on her plate, not knowing how she should go about eating it. Ben and Gwen were on the same boat as she was when it came to looking at their lunch. Max was once again unbothered by the weird looking food.

"Vera, this looks delicious. Now, what are these brown chunks in the mold?" He asked her.

"Pork chops and the white parts of cauliflower," She answered.

"What a weird food combination," Yukiko said, bluntly. The younger duo gave her blank stares at her judgement at other people's cooking.

Vera didn't look insulted in the slightest. "Weird as it may be, but experimenting is the best part of cooking," Vera smiled.

Yukiko gasped, dropping her spoon. "You think so too!? Cooking is so much fun when you follow your instincts and try new things. I tried explaining to my friends that following the recipe will never satisfy the stomach," Yukiko was jumpy with happiness.

"Exactly! I can show you some of my recipes that'll leave your stomach in a bundle!" Vera said.

"I would love that!" Yukiko responded with equal enthusiasm.

A weird shadow of death crept up Gwen's back and she knew right then that whatever was happening in front of her was a deal with the devil. "H-How about we change the subject!?" She interjected.

"Oh sure, we can talk later, Yukiko," Vera chuckled.

"Yes! I am looking forward to it!" Yukiko smiled brightly.

Gwen hastily jumped to her feet and walked over to the shelf next to the table. "Aunt Vera, is that a stuffed Red Bill North American Chickadee?" Gwen asked, curious.

Vera gasped in delight at Gwen's knowledge. "How perspective, Gwen. And did you know the song of the Red Bill North American Chickadee is actually…"

"A call indicating an alarm of excitement!" Both of them began mimicking the call of the weird bird.

"Pfft!" Yukiko had to cover her mouth to stop a laughing fit from bursting through. She didn't notice Ben sneakily placing his jello onto her plate.

"Man! I am totally stuffed!" He lied.

"Ben, would you like some candy?" Vera asked, with a bowl of chocolate in her hands.

"Now we're talking," Ben nodded his head to accept the treat. He grabbed one of the pieces of chocolate and ate it. He immediately spat it out, not liking the taste.

"Coffee!? As a candy!? Is this some kind of joke!?" Ben complained. He quickly rose from his seat and headed for the bathroom. "I gotta use the bathroom!"

Yukiko sighed, shaking her head at her cousin's constant rude behavior. She turned to Vera to apologize on his behalf. "I'm sorry for Ben's attitude, he doesn't know how to show proper respect sometimes."

"Oh, it's fine, boys his age just need to get all of their energy out," Vera waved off the concern. Vera reached off the shelf and grabbed a shell. "Here, Gwen, this is Valentiana. Can you hear the ocean?" She handed Gwen the shell.

Yukiko watched Gwen place it up to her ear to hear the hollow sounds. She tilted her head confused when Gwen's eyes went wide with surprise at the sounds coming out.

"...oser…"

"...Loser…hehe...HAHAHAHA!"

Even though he was invisible, Gwen could feel Ghostfreak behind her. When she could no longer feel his presence, she figured that Ben must've disappeared off somewhere

"What's wrong, Gwen?" Yukiko approached her while the old people conversed.

"I thought I could feel Ben somewhere," Gwen answered.

"Weird, she should be in the bathroom," Yukiko walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. When there wasn't an answer she knocked once more. "Ben?" Yukiko slowly turned the knob and entered the bathroom. She was greeted with an empty bathroom and came to only one conclusion.

"Why am I not surprised…"

"Grandpa!" Ben ran into the house screaming. He was immediately shushed by Max, who told Ben that Vera was sleeping. "Seriously? It's like only 6:30," Ben responded confused.

"Nevermind, listen, this whole place is creepier than I thought. First this old lady runs up a wall and then munches a fly. Then Marty, that weird next door neighbor is an ET or something with a face at the back of his head! And these long sticky arms and this body that ooze right through his cane and-"

"Ben."

He stopped talking when Yukiko's voice cut through his rambling. He recognized that tone of hers and it was a tone he didn't like. She didn't say anything else, but the look in her eyes spoke of the disappointment she was feeling.

"Ben, you snuck out. Aunt Vera was hurt," Gwen frowned at him. His snarkiness returned immediately after Gwen spoke.

"She's old, she'll forget," He responded, uncaringly. "Listen, I say I go Four Arms and we check out Marty's apartment!"

"So, after sneaking out of one old person's home, you want to break into another with a big red four armed alien?" Yukiko asked.

"Uh...when you word it like that you make it sound bad," Ben replied. She was trying really hard to not slap him, but Ben made it incredibly difficult.

"You know, Ben may be onto something. We old folks are strange, but we don't forget as much as you think," Max mocked Ben with a stereotypical old man voice. Yukiko giggled at her Grandfather's silliness.

"You know, ever since you had that watch you're like a magnet for the weird," Gwen told him.

Ben began pretending to be a magnet attracting to Gwen. "You're right!" He said as he kept getting closer to her. Yukiko was doing her best to not laugh, her irritation at Ben slowly diminishing. For some reason she just couldn't stay mad at him.

The Tennysons made their way to Marty's home after making sure that Vera was asleep. Max slowly opened the door to Marty's home. "Hello?"

They walked in when nobody answered, staying quiet so as to not alert anyone home. "Well, nothing seems out of the ordinary," Max said.

"Maybe except for the rug that was right here!" Ben pointed at the imprint on the floor where a rug used to sit.

"EEK!"

At the sound of Yukiko's scream they rushed over to the dining room to find her. However, there was no need to worry when they saw Yukiko rubbing her face against that of a fat fluffy cat.

"You're so adorable!" She giggled as the cat struggled to get out of her grasp.

"Alright, let's hurry up and get out of here," Max sighed and made his way to the exit. Yukiko followed after with the struggling cat still in her arms.

"And leave the cat here, Yukiko!"

"Awwwww…"

"Is there anything in here to make breakfast with?" Yukiko looked through the fridge with Ben. They had to cut the investigation due to not finding anything and it getting dark out, so Max had explained to them that they'd continue in the morning, much to Ben's irritation.

"Nope, nothing but prune juice," Ben shut the door closed. "Why does it seem like old people were always old?" He asked.

"Maybe they found the fountain of youth!" Yukiko playfully answered.

"Isn't that meant to make people young and not old?" Ben responded.

"Hmmm...maybe it had reversed effects?" She said.

Gwen ignored their conversation and turned to face Aunt Vera. "Morning, Aunt Vera. How did you sleep?"

"Just fine, how about you?" She answered, weirdly. She reached for Ben's face and began pinching roughly.

"F-Fine...Aunt Vera," Ben answered.

"I made you some coffee," Gwen approached with a tray of water and coffee. Gwen wasn't watching her grip and the tray fell out of her hand, shattering the glass and spilling the liquid on the floor.

"Gwen!" Yukiko rushed over to Gwen, making sure none of the glass had cut here after shattering on the floor.

Suddenly, Aunt Vera jumped into the air. Splitting her legs against the wall and table to avoid the water. "Clean it up! Clean it up right now!" She asked, terrified.

All three Tennyson kids eyed each other at the weird behavior from their aunt.

"That's not something you see everyday. Maybe, Ben was onto something again," Yukiko figured as Gwen cleaned up the mess.

Vera touched back onto the ground once Gwen cleaned up the liquids. She looked over at the open bedroom that Max had slept in. "Where did your Grandfather go?"

"He said he was going for an early walk," Yukiko answered.

"Well, behave yourselves. I'll be back soon," Vera left the house.

Ben waited for the door to shut close to bring up the matter from yesterday to his female cousins. "She's totally one of them!"

"One of what?" Gwen responded back with a question.

"Whatever's possessing these old people. Something or someone has gotten to Aunt Vera and who knows how many others!" Ben explained.

"Then, let's get out there and find out. And hopefully find Grandpa," Yukiko took charge. The younger two nodded their heads in agreement.

The three walked down an alleyway, on their way to their destination, Yukiko noticed just how deserted the neighborhood was. There was barely any sign of life around and it reminded her of the TV World in a creepy way.

"So, where are we heading, Sherlock?" Gwen asked as Ben stopped in his tracks.

"We need to get to that trap door by the dumpster," Ben informed them.

"Why a dumpster?" Yukiko cringed at the thought of even touching one.

"I don't know, but it seemed to be an accessway for them," Ben answered.

When the coast was clear they ran out of the alleyway and continued to make their way towards the dumpster. As they walked through the neighborhood, they passed two old ladies playing shuffleboard, but something about it creeped Yukiko out.

"HISSSS!" The old women glared at the trio, revealing their sharp teeth. They pulled back their sticks and slapped the pucks towards them.

"Yup, that'd be the creepy part. Maragi!" Yukiko shot small fire balls at the pucks, destroying them. She grimaced when it seemed that the 'old women' weren't deterred in their efforts and began launching more pucks at them at rapid fire speeds. "RUN!" She commanded Ben and Gwen. "MARAGI!" Yukiko destroyed a majority of the pucks flying their way.

She ran after her cousins who thankfully managed to find cover. When she reached them she found her cousins being attacked by their 'Grandpa'.

"You two, run!" Yukiko commanded and slicked the arms of her fake grandfather, causing it to scream in pain. "Nobody impersonates my family! Agilao!" The medium sized fireball hit the creature, sending it flying away. Yukiko grimaced when it seemed like the fire ball didn't do much to it.

"Yukiko, hurry!" She heard Ben's voice.

"Right!" Yukiko followed their lead.

Their efforts were once again halted by the fake old people lifting a car in an effort to kill them. "Oh, this is not good!" Ben exclaimed.

The 'old people' threw the car at the kids. Yukiko pushed them out of the way and summoned Amaterasu. The Persona sliced the car in half and the two halves fell onto the opposite sides of her. The Persona user smirked and pushed strains of hair out of her face.

"Woah…" Ben was amazed at how cool Yukiko looked. Gwen grabbed him by his arm and picked him up off the ground.

"We have to keep moving!" She told him.

"Y-Yeah!" He replied.

Yukiko saw that they were nearing the dumpsters that Ben was talking about earlier, the only issue was the 'old people' that were chasing them.

"Hurry, the trap door!" Ben pointed at the dumpster. Gwen nodded her head and attempted to push the dumpster out of the way as the 'old people' got closer.

"Ben! Now would be a good time to-" She was interrupted by a green flash of light. Standing in Ben's place was Wildmutt.

"Doggie!" Yukiko patted his head.

Wildmutt growled at her nickname for him, and threw her onto his back. He hurried over to the dumpster and tossed it at the 'old people'.

"Gwen, hurry and undo the lock!" Yukiko told her.

"Got it!" Gwen replied as she finished opening it. Seeing their way in was now open, Yukiko grabbed Gwen by her backpack and pulled her onto Wildmutt as the Alien Dog jumped in.

Yukiko wrapped an arm around Gwen as they held onto Wildmutt tightly as he landed onto the rocky underground surface.

"Does the expression, look before you leap mean anything to you!" Gwen yelled at him, dizzy from the fall.

"Now's not the time for an argument! Ben, hurry and go!" Yukiko saw that the 'old people' were fast approaching them.

Wildmutt sprinted down the cave, his speed made him too fast for the 'old people' to catch up to him. He stopped when the three came face to face with multiple tunnels in the cave.

"These tunnels must go under the whole complex!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Which means that whatever has been doing this has been mapping out where each of these elderly people live," Yukiko added. She and Gwen stepped off of Wildmutt to examine the cavern.

Just as they did Wildmutt sensed an enemy behind them. The fake Grandpa attacked them, but Wildmutt grabbed its arms and tossed it into the wall.

Yukiko glared at the fake. "Thought I got rid of you! Agilao!" Yukiko launched the fire ball. The fake seemed to have learned from their last encounter and dodged the attack, he charged at Yukiko. He sent a strong punch into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She was sent crashing into the cave walls.

"Yukiko!" Gwen shouted, concerned.

Wildmutt growled, fiercely at seeing her get hurt and charged at the fake. It may look like his Grandpa, but his Grandpa would never hurt them.

While the two duked it out, Gwen ran over to Yukiko. "Are you ok, Yukiko?" Gwen helped the teen to her feet.

"Y-Yeah, I've had worse hits than that. Wish I had my armor though," Yukiko winced at the bruising on her stomach.

"Armor?" Gwen questioned.

"RAAAGGGHHH!"

The girls looked back to see Wildmutt freeze in attacking the fake, giving it an opening to attack him. Hurrying over to Wildmutt, they jumped on his back and glared at the imposter.

"Remember Ben, that's not Grandpa!" Yukiko said.

"Yeah! It's an alien freak pretending to be him! And you know what we do to alien freaks who impersonate our family!?" Gwen asked him.

"WE KICK THEIR BUTTS!"

"RAWWWRR!" Wildmutt roared in agreement.

Wildmutt charged forward at full speed, headbutting the imposter into the cave wall. Yukiko summoned Amaterasu and glared coldly at the fake. "Burn in hell. AGIDYNE!" The massive fireball incinerated the fake completely, ending the fight in their victory.

Wildmutt began to spaz out wildly, his gills moving rapidly and he took off down one of the tunnels.

"Ben, what's wrong!?" Yukiko and Gwen clung tighter onto his back.

"Be careful, you don't come with seatbelts!" Gwen reminded her alien cousin.

At that moment the watch began to time out just as they were approaching a wall in the cave. "LOOK OUT!"

CRASH!

FLASH!

Ben turned back to normal just after he crashed through the rocky wall. Yukiko wasted no time in checking them both over for injuries.

Gwen glared at Ben once Yukiko had finished looking her over. "Hey Freakshow! What do we look like, crash test dummies!?" She exclaimed.

"That was really dangerous, Ben. I could've just blown the wall down with a powered up Agidyne," Yukiko told him. Ben nodded his head, but his attention was focused elsewhere.

"Listen! I don't know what it is, but I picked up some kind of scent in here," Ben explained his actions to them. The three walked towards the opening in the cave and saw something crazy.

Yukiko gasped at the sight of the large abundance of green eggs that surrounded a giant spaceship in the middle of the clearing. "And now I can add an alien harvest farm to the list of things I'd never thought I'd see," Yukiko said.

"It's like everyone in Retirement Village has been podded up," Gwen said, as they walked through the area.

"But, for what reason?" Yukiko poked one of the eggs. She flinched back when the person inside moved from her poking.

"Grandpa!"

Yukiko saw Ben tear open one of the eggs and their Grandfather fell out of it. She rushed over to help him to his feet.

Max groggily looked around. "Uhhh...I was out for a walk and then…I can't remember what happened next," He told them.

"Ben, let's get the rest of these people out," Yukiko told him.

"Yeah!" He ran over to another one, but suddenly an arm smacked him out of the way. Yukiko caught him and held the boy close as the aliens cornered them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," The fake Vera said.

"Well, you're not me!" Ben responded, glaring at the fake.

"Not yet, I'm not!" The fake Marty and the rest of the old people transformed into their true forms. They were now a very sickly green color with their organs visible. Each of them had multiple eyes located at different areas on their bodies.

"They're like Shadows!" Yukiko exclaimed. She remembered that Shadows would have those weird black forms with masks before they attacked. Transforming into any kind of creature they wanted.

"You kids can fill me in later!" Max said as they backed away from their attackers. Gwen backed into the ship, her hand brushed against it and opened up the entrance. She saw that there were even more eggs located inside.

"Look in here!" Gwen yelled.

"Their ship!" Max responded.

The aliens began to freak out over their secret being found out. "The ship! We can't let them out!"

"Get the pods on board! They've been marinating long enough!" The leader commanded.

"Marinating…" Yukiko gasped at the realization. "You plan to eat them!?" She shouted.

"They've got Aunt Vera!" Gwen discovered Vera's pod. Ben glared at the aliens and activated his watch.

"You guys really Burn me Up!" Ben slammed down the dial and transformed into Heatblast.

"We really gotta work on those," Yukiko pointed out. She turned her attention to the aliens and noticed that they began to back away from Ben. She noticed how they seemed to resist the flames that he was shooting at them. "No wonder my flames weren't working so easily! They can resist it!" She realized

"Doesn't matter, we'll just pound them down!" Heatblast pounded his fist into his hand.

The aliens began pooling together, meshing their bodies into something larger. "Whoever you two are, you just made a terrible mistake! Us Limax live for the heat! Why do you think we came from the desert!" The Limax pointed out.

"Ok, Shadows never fused together, so this is new," Yukiko grimaced. "If only Chie-chan was here with her ice attacks."

"I got this!" Heatblast charged forward.

"Ben, wait!" Yukiko called after him.

Heatblast tried to punch the Limax, however his punches only went through it. It grabbed Heatblast by his arm and slammed him into the ground repeatedly. Yukiko grimaced at her cousin getting beaten.

"AGIDYNE!" She shot a powerful fire blast at it's arm, managing to sever it. Heatblast fell to the ground, dazed. The Limax glared down at Yukiko and launched a tentacle at her.

She rolled out of the way and shot Agi's at it, each one not doing any damage. However, it was growing annoyed by the meddlesome attacks and shot some goop out of its body. The goop wrapped itself around her hands, stopping her from launching another attack. "GROSS!" Yukiko whined at the goop.

The Limax turned back to its ship and saw Gwen and Max taking pods out of the ship. It sent two more pods to deal with them. Gwen attacked one of them with her backpack, knocking all of its contents out. When the Limaxes saw the water gun on the floor they fled in terror. Gwen realized what their weakness was and shot them with her water gun, killing them.

"They hate water!" Gwen yelled out.

"Kinda already figured that one out," Yukiko finally managed to get the gunk off of her hands.

"Aunt Vera, when she was in the kitchen!" Gwen yelled.

"Or Marty when I was on the golf cart!" Heatblast realized. He looked up and saw the sewer pipe leaking above them. "YUKIKO!" Heatblast called out her name.

Yukiko glanced up at the multiple sewer pipes above them. She realized what his plan was and smirked. "MARAGI!" Yukiko and Heatblast both shot their flames at the pipes, breaking them and causing mass amounts of water to spray down on the Limax.

"See ya, Slime ball!" Heatblast laughed as he ran away from the melting Limax. The Limax screamed in pain as it melted into a pile of green goo and died.

Inside the ship, Max and Gwen managed to get the last couple of pods of the ship in time before it took off back into space. "Sorry, there's no drive thru service here!"

Yukiko watched as the ship took back off into space, leaving the Earth. "And hopefully, they never return." She turned back to Gwen and patted the girl on the head. "Good job, saving these people," She smiled.

"Yeah, let's just take a break from the hero stuff for a while...I'm tired," Gwen sat down on one of the eggs.

"We should hurry up and get these people back into their condos, before waking them up. So, they'll think they never left," Max said.

"But, how are we going to get all of these people back home?" Yukiko asked.

Heatblast smirked at their dilemma. "Give me a few minutes, I'll see if XLR8 can help out," He said.

"Don't be strangers," Aunt Vera hugged Max goodbye.

"We won't," Max responded and entered the RV.

"Bye, Aunt Vera," Gwen walked over.

"Bye, dear. Here take this for the road," Aunt Vera handed Gwen a case of her green jello. "Ben told me how much you liked my Gelatin mold. This one is lined with chunks of grouper and chip peas," Vera said.

Gwen glared at the boy behind her while he smirked in satisfaction. Yukiko just sighed at the boy's antics.

Vera turned her attention to Ben once Gwen walked away. "I'm sorry, Ben, if there wasn't enough excitement here for you. I hope you weren't bored to tears," Vera apologized.

"Actually, it turned out better than I thought," Ben said earnestly and hugged her. Yukiko smiled, happy that Ben was finally being nice to Aunt Vera. She watched as they broke the hug and Ben ran back into the RV.

"Yukiko."

The heiress turned back to her Aunt. "It was nice meeting you, Aunt Vera. Hopefully, we can visit again soon. I might even bring my parents along," Yukiko hugged her.

"That would be wonderful, dear," Vera responded and broke the hug. "Can you promise me something, dear?" Vera asked.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Can you make sure to keep Max and Ben out of trouble? Those two are trouble magnets and could use all the help they can get," Vera said.

Yukiko giggled at the promise. "I will, Aunt Vera, don't worry," Yukiko promised and ran to the RV.

"Good, and make sure to use those recipes I gave you to good use!" Vera waved goodbye as the Rustbucket drove off.

"Something tells me those four will have one interesting summer," She smiled.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Hunted Persona

"You ready?" Max asked Ben.

The 10 year old hero smirked and slammed down on the dial. Within a bright flash of green light Ben transformed into Diamondhead. "Oh yeah!"

Yukiko was sitting down next to Gwen watching as their Grandfather trained Ben in using his forms for her Grandfather told Ben that 'Might isn't always right', she couldn't help, but disagree. All of the Investigation Team's battles involved overpowering their foes with quick strong attacks. Of course they used tactics during the battles, but that all still involved strength. Especially for Kanji and Chie who specifically relied on beating down on their opponents.

They had stopped in the desert, and built an obstacle contraption for Ben to practice with. Their Grandfather decided to be the main one operating it.

"Show off," She heard Gwen scoff. The younger girl applied sunscreen to her skin.

"Focus, Ben! Think!" Max reminded him. Diamondhead was barely listening, too busy showing off and patting his own back.

"Don't worry, Grandpa!" Diamondhead waved off any concern.

"AGILAO!"

"Huh?"

A blast of fire knocked the crystallized hero off his feet, sending him flying into the ground. Diamondhead groggily got to his feet and glared at Yukiko, who was busying looking the other direction. "You think you're funny, huh?" Raising his hand towards her he shot multiple shards at the Priestess.

Yukiko smirked at the oncoming projectiles. "You'll have to do better than that, Ben. Maragi!" Multiple small blasts of fire destroyed each shard that was flying towards her. That didn't deter Diamondhead from launching more into her direction, using both of his arms to shoot the shards.

Seeing how clumped up all of the shards were, Yukiko released a big blast of flames to turn the shards to ashes. The ball pushed past the shards obliterating them, and flew directly into Diamondhead. The crystallized hero tried to block it, but was pushed back and was sent flying into the obstacle contraption. The embers from her attack caught onto the wood and set the entire thing on fire.

Max moved out of the way in time before the fire could get close to him. Diamondhead however was buried in the remains of their hard work.

Yukiko winced at the destruction she caused by getting carried away. "Oopsies...hehe…"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Yukiko apologized repeatedly to Ben.

They were currently driving through the desert once more after putting out the fire that Yukiko had caused in her scuffle with Ben.

"You don't have to keep apologizing to this doofus, Yukiko. He's perfectly fine," Gwen glared at Ben, who was pretending to be hurt.

"I don't know...Yukiko's attack really burned me!" Ben pretended to be hurt. He held his arm as if there was intense pain in that area.

The heiress gasped in freight, fearing the worst. "Nonononono! I didn't mean to break your arm! Let me heal you!" Yukiko reached for him.

Ben pulled back from her reach. "N-No! You...uh...might make it worse!" Ben lied.

"R-Really!? Is there anything I could do to make it up to you!?" Yukiko begged.

Ben had to hide the devious smirk on his face. "Weeeeeellllll...You could do my chores for a week and-"

"Ben!" Max interrupted.

"What!?" The boy questioned, still faking his innocence.

"Is it too much to ask for you to take things seriously? Had you not been goofing around then what happened earlier wouldn't have happened. That watch isn't a toy, you need to think more," Max scolded him.

Ben looked offended at his Grandpa's advice. "I know that! But, she was still the one who took it too seriously!"

"I'm sorry!" Yukiko squeaked out another apology.

"Seriously stop that," Gwen sweat dropped.

"And besides, you guys have already seen me in action. I'm the baddest Ben in town! I've kicked so much alien butt my feet hurt!" Ben's cocky attitude continued to make itself known. The boy propped his feet up on the table in front of Gwen.

The younger girl pushed his legs out of her way. "Okay, let's not keep pretending you've been doing any of that alone. Yukiko has been helping you since this vacation started, and you would've gotten your butt kicked without her," Gwen countered his arrogance.

Ben scoffed at her argument. "Tch, I could've handled all of that on my own just fine! I don't need her weirdo powers to kick butt!"

Yukiko gasped once more, drawing the kids' attention. "I'm weird!?" Yukiko couldn't believe that she was considered a weirdo.

"Yukiko, don't-" Gwen was cut off by the Rustbucket's engine breaking down.

"Uh oh, that's not good," Max groaned as he got up from the driver's seat.

"Huh, it looks like nobody's home," Ben said.

Max had managed to drive the Rustbucket into an abandoned town before it could fully break down.

"Not for a while," Gwen told them. "My Intellimap program says that this is Slaterville. Incorporated in 1857 after the discovery of Silver, went bust in the late 50s when the mine ran out," Gwen explained.

"Oh, Gwen! You're so smart!" Yukiko complimented her. The younger female blushed at the appraisal.

"Oh, I think I found the problem. Leaky fuel line," The kids turned to Max to see him pull out a pipe from the engine. One of Diamondhead's shards was protruding through it.

"Guess, I missed one...huh?" Yukiko chuckled nervously. Ben was also doing the same, realizing he was also at fault for it.

"I should be able to patch it up," Max said.

"S-Sorry, Grandpa," Both Yukiko and Ben apologized.

"Let me help fix it. Maybe Four Arms...no wait Upgrade-"

"I think you've done enough, Ben. I'll handle this," Max cut the boy off and returned to fixing the RV.

"Guess, I'll just check this place out," Ben began walking away from the group.

"We'll go with him," Yukiko said, knowing just how much trouble the boy could get into.

"Good idea, Sweetheart," Max thanked her.

"Yeah, we'll make sure the doofus doesn't blow everything up," Gwen said.

"I-I'm not sure how he'd managed to do that. None of his forms can create explosions," Yukiko looked down at Gwen.

The girl sighed and grabbed Yukiko's wrist. "Just come on…"

"So, Yukiko, I've been meaning to ask you something," Gwen began speaking as the two searched for Ben.

"Hm? What is it, Gwen?" Yukiko looked at her.

"What are those powers of yours? They aren't like Ben's or anything. So, what are they?" Gwen asked.

Yukiko was caught off guard by the question. She had figured that they had forgotten to ask about her Persona, but that was stupid of her. Of course they'd eventually start asking about it again. "Oh..uh...it's-"

FLASH

She was saved from answering the question when the sound of Ben transforming was heard behind them. Yukiko used that opportunity to her advantage. "Oh, look! That must've been Ben! Let's go get that trouble maker!" Yukiko began speed walking into the warehouse.

"She's hiding something, both her and Grandpa. I'm going to find out soon, but first we have a dweeb to deal with," Gwen thought as she followed after her elder cousin.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gwen paused in her steps when she saw Yukiko laughing up a storm and a disgruntled looking Ghostfreak floating in front of her.

"W-What's so funny!?" Ben asked, irritated.

"Your poor attempt at scaring me! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko kept laughing loudly.

"Ugh! I should've just targeted Gwen instead!" Ghostfreak huffed.

"Get over yourself, freak. You couldn't scare me if you tried," Gwen glared at the Ghost.

Their conversation was interrupted by the ground rumbling violently. Yukiko ceased her laughter at the mini earthquake happening around them. "An earthquake!? No...it's something else!" The heiress saw the ground in front of them breaking apart as something tunneled towards them.

Ghostfreak quickly grabbed both of his cousin's by the back of their shirts(Or dress in Yukiko's case) and pulled them away.

They watched in shock as a large golden armored crab burst from the ground. It locked onto them and began marching forward.

"But, he does!" Gwen replied as she hid behind Yukiko.

"No, problem! I'll handle this guy!" Ghostfreak said and flew towards their enemy.

"Ben, wait!" Yukiko tried to stop him.

"Oh man, you put the 'ug-' in ugly," Ghostfreak quipped.

The crab however wasn't amused by the joke. "Hand over the Omnitrix and I promise you won't suffer...much," The crab flexed it's robotic claw.

"Omnitrix? Is that what Ben's watch is called?" Yukiko questioned.

"Dream on claw-boy," Ghostfreak replied. The ghost then moved his eye to his back to talk to his female cousins. "What's he talking about?"

Gwen rolled her eyes at how stupid her cousin was. "Duh! Why else would some alien track you down!? It wants the watch, Einstein!" Gwen answered.

"You don't have to get all snotty about it, Miss Know-it-all," Ghostfreak shot back.

"This is no time for arguing, you two! Focus!" Yukiko pulled Gwen back as she moved to stand in front of Ghostfreak.

"Sorry, Mr. Krabs, my cousin and the watch aren't going anywhere!" Yukiko glared at him harshly. She pulled her fan out of her purse.

"That's not your call to make, meat-bag female," The crab responded.

"You have no idea who you're messing with," Ghostfreak threatened.

"I was just about to say the same thing," The crab threatened back.

"Oh yeah? Have you heard this one? Now you see me," Ghostfreak turned invisible. Leaving both of his cousins standing on their own. "Now you don't."

"Gwen, get to cover," Yukiko advised.

"On it," The younger one quickly ran away to hide.

The Crab ignored Yukiko and began scanning around to find Ghostfreak. The heiress huffed at being annoyed and readied her Persona. "Agi!" She launched the mini fire ball at the crab.

The ball of flame didn't even make a dent onto its armor. The crab turned its attention back to Yukiko. "You're not my target, so move," He opened up his claw and shot a beam of energy at her.

The heiress' reflexes kicked in and she ducked under the attack, and summoned her Persona once more. "Agilao!" Yukiko launched a stronger shot at him.

The crab swung his claw at the fireball and destroyed it. Before he could retaliate against the girl he sensed Ghostfreak looming behind him. The crab turned his head to face Ghostfreak's direction. "For as arrogant as you are, you are dimwitted!" He insulted the boy.

"Hey! Nobody calls him dimwitted but us!" Yukiko replied, offended.

"Yeah-I'm mean-HEY!" Ghostfreak shouted, even more offended.

The crab wasted no time in shooting some liquid at Ghostfreak's invisible form. Causing the hero to turn visible again. "Bwah!? What's happened!?"

"Your protoplasm is now solidified. Making it easier to do this!" The crab punched Ghostfreak hard. Sending the Ghost-boy into a bunch of crates.

"BEN! AGILAO!" Yukiko shot a much stronger agilao at the crab. It managed to push him back, but did nothing to deter him.

"I think I've had enough of you, missy!" He dashed towards her, catching the girl off guard. He slammed his large claw into her sides. Yukiko felt her ribs crack and coughed out blood. The girl sailed across the warehouse and crashed into the floor, groaning.

"YUKIKO!" Both Ghostfreak and Gwen cried out.

Ghostfreak charged at the crab to make him pay for hurting his cousin, but the crab's reflexes were too good and it sent the boy flying over to his female cousins.

Yukiko groaned as she climbed to her knees. "Diarama," Yukiko muttered and healed her injuries. "Really wish I had that armor," She groaned. She saw Gwen helping Ghostfreak up and hurried over to them.

"Ugh...who is this guy?" Ghostfreak asked.

"Remember when I was talking about wanting to see you get your butt kicked? Yeah, I'm regretting that now," Gwen apologized. They tensed up when the crab continued to walk closer to them.

"You guys are the superheroes, do something!" Gwen said.

Ghostfreak charged forward towards the crab. "You better keep your claws to yourself!" Ghostfreak threatened.

The crab responded by shooting an electric beam at Ghostfreak, knocking him back.

"AGIDYNE!" The large fireball impacted the crab, actually being strong enough to knock him back. Yukiko didn't waste any time in shooting another. "AGIDYNE!" The large ball of flames sent the crab into the wall. Disorienting the crab in a giant wall of flames.

"RUN!" Yukiko shouted at her cousins just as the Omnitrix began to time out. She grabbed Gwen's hand and ran over to Ben. She grabbed him as well and dashed towards the exit. All three of them missed the large figure flying near the ceiling.

Max wiped off the grease off his hands as he took a break from fixing the Rustbucket. At the sound of rushing footsteps he looked over to see his Grandkids running towards him, all three looking frazzled. "What happened?"

"Some jumbo sized crustation burst out of the ground and attacked Ben," Gwen answered with obvious snark.

"It said it wanted the Omnitrix. Which I can assume it's the name of Ben's watch," Yukiko followed up. At least they could stop calling it 'The Watch' now, she thought.

Ben smirked with his usual bravado. "Just let me go Four Arms and I'll turn him into a seafood special!"

"No time," Max spoke with sudden seriousness. Yukiko caught a look in her Grandfather's eyes, it was a quick look of panic before it disappeared. "Repairs are done, we're out of here."

"But, Grandpa-"

"Let's go, Ben. You and I could barely do anything to that thing. Let's not risk anything," Yukiko gently nudged the boy towards the RV. She recalled certain times where Yu had instructed the team to run from fights. They couldn't defeat every powerful shadow they had come across on the first go.

The boy begrudgingly agreed and entered the RV. No time was wasted as Max pulled off into the desert. It didn't do much to calm Gwen's nerves, the girl obviously rattled from seeing her family get tossed around so easily.

"No sign of crab guy yet," Gwen peeked through the window.

"Well he better not show up if he knows what's good for him-" Ben's arrogant remark was met with a loud crashing noise hitting the roof of the RV. The trio looked up to see a saw blade cutting through the roof.

"I think we just picked up a hitchhiker!" Gwen squeaked.

The roof was ripped open to reveal a humanoid looking creature in purple and black armor. It was screaming in a language that Yukiko couldn't even identify. "Agi!" She nailed the assailant in the face with a strong agi, the small fireball knocked the attacker's head back.

"It did nothing again!" Yukiko growled at her attacks, seeming to do little damage.

"Who is that!?" Gwen screamed.

"I don't know!" Ben backed away as the assassin tried to reach for him. Yukiko batted the arm away with her fan.

"Hands off!" She growled. The assassin responded back smacking her in the face, knocking her back down into her seat.

Max pressed down on the brake pedal, causing the assassin to fly off the roof of the RV. The old plumber ran over the assassin with a smirk on his face, until he realized that his tires were popped.

Everyone stepped out of the RV, trying to figure out what to do next. Max looked over to his right and noticed a mine shaft. "In there!" He pointed at their 'escape route'.

They all hurried into the mine shaft while the assassin got to his feet. Ben looked over his shoulder as they hid behind a corner. "Phew, the coast is clear," He jinxed as the ground began rumbling again. Kraab burst out of the ground ready for Round 2.

"The coast is not clear! Definitely not clear!" Yukiko yelled.

"Can you quit jinxing it!?" Gwen yelled at Ben.

"The Omnitrix! Give it to me!" Kraab demanded as he marched forward. Max tried to stop Kraab by throwing something at him, but the large claw crushed the object with ease.

The Tennysons began running away down the mine shaft as Kraab chased them. Ben glanced down at the Omnitrix hoping for it to turn green. The family turned a sharp corner, the turn too sudden for Kraab to adjust his own speed. The large robotic crab crashed into the cave walls.

Eventually the family exited the tunnels to see a large mining field, basically a dead end. "Now what?" Gwen asked.

"We take a ride," Max pointed to the carts.

"Looks dangerous, but it's our only shot!" Yukiko thought as they ran towards the mine cart. The kids hopped in as Max pushed the level to operate the cart, he turned it on just as Kraab appeared behind them.

"Grandpa, come on!" Yukiko shouted. The old man had enough spring in his steps to make the jump into the cart. The kids all grabbed him to help him inside.

"What a pathetic excuse for prey!" Kraab attempted to cut the line, but SixSix shot him before he could. The Assassin used his jetpack to fly towards their cart.

BOOM!

The cart rocked as SixSix shot it with his guns. Yukiko and her family ducked down, the heiress held onto Gwen as the girl clung for dear life. Yukiko poked her head up to see SixSix approaching them.

"Something's approaching fast!" Gwen panicked.

"We need a plan," Max said in response.

"I can't shoot him with my spells. We're too close to the wire for any fire attacks," Yukiko told them.

Ben was fiddling with the watch and smiled broadly when the dial popped up. "Oh yeah! Who needs a plan when you have the watch! I'll take care of this!" Ben slammed down the dial.

"No, Ben! That's just what it wants!" Max yelled, too late to stop his Grandson.

"What does he mean by that?" Yukiko questioned.

Ben transformed into Diamondhead and jumped out of the cart. He tackled SixSix mid air and they both fell into the casam.

"BEN!" Yukiko and Max shouted in concern.

Soon enough the two of them were rocketing back up thanks to SixSix's jetpack. The assassin took control of the fight and crashed Diamondhead into the rocky wall. Both of them hit the ground with a thud. The minecart flew over the two combatants, approaching another mining tunnel. "Ben, come on!" Max shouted.

"I'll catch up, first I'm going to put some dents into this walking soda machine!" Diamondhead glared at SixSix.

Yukiko growled at Ben's stubbornness to listen. "Like, hell!" The heiress jumped out of the cart and landed on her feet. The teenage girl sprinted towards her cousin to help him fight.

"Yukiko!" Max yelled her name, but it was too late to stop her.

Before Yukiko could get to her cousin Kraab appeared in front of her and grabbed her by her neck. "Hello, meat-bag!" He tossed her away effortlessly.

The girl tumbled on the ground from the toss, she glared at Kraab with anger. Diamondhead saw this and tried to help her, but he was occupied with SixSix. The assassin took out a laser blade to fight the crystallized hero.

Yukiko scrambled to her feet and pointed her fan at Kraab. "AGIDYNE!" Her attack raced at Kraab with intense prejudice. The metal crab opened his claw, shooting an electrical beam at her fireball.

The fireball couldn't hold up against the beam and dissipated, forcing Yukiko to dodge out of its way. Breathing heavily, she backed away from the approaching enemy. "What can I do here? None of my attacks are having any effect on their armor. If I had the time to really concentrate maybe I could…" She wasn't given time to finish her thoughts as Diamondhead was knocked into her.

"KYA!" Yukiko cried in pain as Diamondhead laid on top of her.

"S-Sorry, Yukiko!" Diamondhead apologized. He quickly got off of his cousin and glared at the approaching enemies. Looked down at Yukiko, she was breathing heavily and looked way too exhausted to continue. "Don't worry, Yukiko! I got this!" Diamondhead sharpened his arms and charged.

It was a two on one fight, with Diamondhead at a heavy disadvantage. No matter how strong the alien hero was, he didn't have the skills to keep up with the bounty hunters. He was stabbed by Six Sixes blade, and slammed into the ground by Kraab's claw. Kraab picked him up and tossed Diamondhead into the wall.

SixSix walked towards the downed Diamondhead, but he was stopped by Kraab. "Back off! That reward's mine," Kraab warned.

"Jurupa Vossta Kubata," SixSix replied.

"Well, you don't have to get personal!" Kraab responded, understanding SixSix. Suddenly a grenade rolled right between them, releasing smoke to blind their vision. Both fell to the ground, the bomb actually being more than a smoke bomb.

The third bounty hunter floated forward, he held the exhausted Yukiko under one of his arms. He flew his hoverboard over to Diamondhead, who was beginning to get to his feet and dragged him away.

When Yukiko came to, she found herself back in Slaterville. She slowly sat up on the ground, her mind slowly readjusting itself.

"GUH!"

The heiress was surprised to see Diamondhead flying over her and landing in a minecart. The girl jumped to her feet and grabbed her fan, glaring at the third bounty hunter. "Who are you!?" She asked, fiercely.

The bounty hunter ignored her, his attention still placed solely on Ben. "Your choice of warriors is based solely on brute strength, without regards to any strategy," He criticized Ben. "Do you ever pause to consider your actions at all?"

"No...no he does not," Yukiko answered out loud.

"Hey!" Diamondhead took offense to Yukiko not having his side. "I kick more than my share of alien butt!" Diamondhead responded to the bounty hunter.

"Such as your recent success in the mineshaft against the bounty hunters," He shot back.

"They caught us off guard, it wasn't fair!" Diamondhead defended himself. He attacked the bounty hunter with sharp arms. However, all of Diamondhead's attacks were countered and blocked.

"You were moments away from getting yourself and your family killed. And losing the Omnitrix," The bounty hunter responded.

Yukiko watched the battle, not attempting to intervene. It'd be futile for her to try with how exhausted she was and she didn't sense any dangerous aura coming from the man. His words also confused her, it was as if he was trying to teach Ben instead of killing him.

"Victory should've been swift and effortless," He finished as he pushed Diamondhead away. The diamond hero fell to the ground defeated. "The Omnitrix is not some play toy for your amusement. It's the most powerful weapon in the galaxy! The key to an epic battle between good and evil!"

"And it's strapped to the wrist of an immature 10 year old. Yeah, my life is beyond crazy at this point," Yukiko sighed.

"Then who's side are you on?" Diamondhead asked.

"You two are still alive, aren't you?" He responded.

"True, he could've killed me easily while I was out," Yukiko was thankful that this bounty hunter didn't want them dead.

"You're a good guy?" Diamondhead was shocked.

"My mission is to retrieve the Omnitrix at all cost, since it is attached to you. I will bring you back for its removal," The ex-bounty hunter explained.

"That's where I'm going to draw the line," Yukiko stepped up to the larger man. "You're not taking my cousin anywhere without killing me first," She glared.

"It's not your choice to make," He responded to her.

"It is when it's strapped to my body!" Diamondhead pushed Yukiko out the way and tackled him to the ground. He was tossed off by a grab to the face into some barrels.

"It's disturbing how little you know of this alien's strengths and weaknesses. You barely scratch the surface of its potential!" He exclaimed.

"And what makes you such an expert?" Diamondhead asked.

The ex-bounty hunter took off his helmet, revealing himself to the Petrosapien Tetrax.

"Y-Your, me!?" Diamondhead gasped.

Yukiko gasped as well. "Ben's long lost twin brother!?"

"Why are you always so far off!?" Diamondhead yelled at her.

"Wrong! Both of you! I am a noble warrior, you are an impulsive annoyance," Tetrax pointed out. The Omnitrix began to time out and Ben turned back to normal.

"We have wasted enough time!" Tetrax lifted Ben by his shirt. Yukiko tried to push Tetrax away from Ben.

"Put him down!" She yelled.

"There's no ti-" He stopped talking when the sounds of metallic footsteps were heard. Kraab appeared from behind a house ready to fight.

"Looking for this?" He held up Tetrax's hoverboard. "You're not getting off this planet with the Omnitrix and just to be sure…" Kraab turned around to see SixSix carrying both Max and Gwen as hostages.

"NO!" Yukiko cried out.

"See, we've decided to work together and split the reward and you in half," Kraab explained their evil plan.

Kraab fired off multiple blasts at the trio. Tetrax used his body to guard both Yukiko and Ben from the attacks. He grabbed her by the back of her dress and ran off with them to find cover.

When he dropped them inside of an abandoned house, Yukiko quickly wrapped her arms around Ben protectively.

"What are we waiting for!? We gotta save them!" Ben shouted.

"Don't be foolish! Keeping the Omnitrix secured is the only priority here!" Tetrax responded.

"And protecting our family is our only priority!" Yukiko got into the Petrosapien's face.

"I couldn't care less about who ordered you to get the watch! My family's lives matter more than your stupid mission!" Ben glared, resolve was clear as day.

"You two cannot save them! You're an irresponsible child and she's too exhausted to fight! The only option is for me to retrieve my hoverboard so that we may leave this planet," Tetrax said.

"But-"

"Stay here!" Tetrax left the two and ran back into the battle.

Yukiko looked at the dejected Ben in her arms. "Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we really going to sit here while our family is in danger?"

The boy looked down at the Omnitrix and saw it light up green. He turned to her and smirked. "Not a chance."

"That's the Ben I know," Yukiko reached into her purse and took out two soda cans.

"Why do you have those?" He asked.

"In case I got tired," She answered simply and chugged down both of the cans. When she finished Kraab got knocked over into their direction by Tetrax. "Let's move," She said as both of them got up to hide from him.

Kraab saw the flash of green light behind a flipped over table. As he walked towards it, Yukiko jumped over it with Amaterasu at the ready. "Agilao!" The medium fireball smashed into Kraab.

"When are you gonna learn your lesson, girly? Your attacks won't hurt me!" Kraab stalked towards her.

Yukiko smirked in her place when she saw something small and grey jump from the ceiling. "I know, but he will," She replied.

"Wha-" Kraab was cut off by Gray Matter jumping onto his head. "Get off me you tiny little-"

Gray Matter reached inside of Kraab's neck and began messing with his circuits. "There should be a nerve cluster in here somewhere," Gray Matter said. Once he found the right wires he pulled the right wires, Krabb began to hollar in pain.

"Wh-Why you little-"

"AGIDYNE!"

BOOM!

Gray Matter had jumped off of Krabb, just in time before Yukiko's attack nailed the crab dead center. The golden plated seafood platter was sent sailing into another house, where he laid defeated by the duo.

"And that was for calling me a 'meat-bag'," Yukiko huffed.

They looked over to see SixSix standing over Tetrax, having won their exchange in battle. The assassin noticed them and pointed his missiles at them, before he could launch them Max jumped on his back. "Kids, run!"

Max was tossed off SixSix's back in seconds, the assassin creating a saw blade to kill the old man.

"NO!" Gwen cried out.

"Agilao!" SixSix was stopped by Yukiko shooting him in the back with her flames. Sixsix grunted in his strange language.

Gray Matter jumped onto SixSix's back before the alien could do anymore damage. "I wonder what would happen if I did this!" Gray Matter pulled some wires out of SixSix's jetpack, causing it to malfunction.

The assassin was sent flying through the air and through the legs of a water tank until he crashed into the ground. The large water tank fell onto SixSix, stopping him completely.

"Only one way to beat the desert heat, don't you think?" Gray Matter turned to Tetrax.

"Pretty smart for a human," Tetrax complimented.

"But, he's not a human right now," Yukiko pointed out. Causing her entire family to sigh at her once more.

"Is she always like this?" Tetrax asked.

"You have no idea…" Gwen replied.

Tetrax took out a prison cube and trapped both Kraab and SixSix inside of it. He picked up the cube and turned to the Tennyson family.

"I'll return as soon as I am able," Textra said.

"What about this?" Ben held up the Omnitrix.

"It's in good hands then," The Petrosapien said.

"Aw! He warmed up to him!" Yukiko giggled.

"This may be of some use in the meantime," Tetrax handed Ben his hoverboard.

Ben smiled as if it was Christmas. "Oh man! Are you serious!?" Ben then tilted his head in confusion. "Hold on? You said you needed this to get off the planet."

"Selective disinformation," Tetrax answered.

"Uh?"

"He means that he lied, Ben," Yukiko answered.

"Oh."

Tetrax placed his helmet back on and teleported off the planet. With him gone Max walked back over to the RV, ready to get back on the road.

Gwen turned to Ben. "How come you get all the cool alien stuff?" She asked.

"Fits, my style!" Ben smirked.

"Oh! Like, that broken arm you lied to me about," Yukiko glared down at him.

Ben chuckled nervously. "Oh..uh...you realized that…?"

"Of course I did. I'm not an idiot," Yukiko said simply as she pulled on Ben's ear.

"OW! Yukiko-wait!" Ben cried as she pulled him into the RV. Gwen laughed as she followed after them into the RV.

The Rustbucket pulled off, ready to find their next adventure.

Gwen silently strolled out of the RV, doing her best not to wake up her family. She sat on the steps of the door and opened up her laptop. Gwen went into the search engine and typed in a word.

'INABA'

"What are you hiding, Yukiko?" Gwen clicked on a news outlet, however it was in Japanese. This wasn't too big of an issue for her. "Good thing I took those language courses," She wasn't perfect at reading it at first, but she could make out certain words.

'MURDER'

'KIDNAPPINGS'

'AMAGI INN'

'TATSUMI TEXTILES'

'SAKI KNISHI'

'MAYUMI YAMANO'

'TOHRU AD-'

"What are you doing out here?"

Gwen slammed her laptop shut and turned around to see Ben standing there, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing up?" She asked.

"I had to use the bathroom," He shrugged. "Anyway, what were you looking at?" He asked.

She eyed her laptop, then Ben. "I'll tell you later, let's just get to bed," Gwen walked past him and climbed onto their bunk. Ben shrugged his shoulders, closed the door, and went back to bed.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Questions

Most people would call Ben Tennyson an idiot, which isn't true. Lazy? Yes. But, he was no idiot, he just needed something that could catch his interests. Which was the reason why he was originally going to be participating in Little League this summer, but last decision making turned his summer into a road trip. A road trip that has changed his entire life on the first night. While he wasn't academically smart, the boy was observant when he wanted to be. So, when both of his female cousins have been awkwardly fidgeting around each other, he knew something was up.

The two were currently occupied on their own things, with Yukiko nervously watching the window and Gwen hiding her computer screen. He shrugged his shoulders and opened up the cabinets to pull out a big bag of chips.

Ben popped open a bag of chips and plopped down on the seat next to Yukiko. He propped his feet onto the table and began munching on his chips. The two girls made no movement to acknowledge his presence, but he didn't exactly care. He munched on the chips as the two continued to ignore him. He decided to chew louder.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

The two twitched lightly.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

Their twitching increased.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH-

Yukiko's hand ripped the bag of chips out of his hand instantly, she tossed it out the window and pointed her finger at it. "Agi." And the bag was turned into ash just as instantly as it left his hands.

Ben sat there surprised for a moment before pulling out another bag of chips and ripping it open. He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth, continuing to chew louder to annoy his cousins.

"Ben," Yukiko's voice was tense.

"Yeah?" He asked after swallowing his food.

"I will set your hoverboard on fire."

He understood the threat, knew she would follow up on it if he continued, and promptly set the bag of chips onto the table. Before anything more could happen their Grandfather walked into the RV with a package in his hands. "Yukiko, I got what you asked for," He lifted the package up.

Yukiko gasped and pushed Ben out of her way, knocking the boy onto the floor. She rushed over to her grandfather, grabbed the package, and ran into the bathroom. "Thanks, Grandpa!" She shut the door and locked it.

"You're...uh welcome?" He was slightly stunned by her sudden speed. Turning to his younger grandkids. "I'll be running a few more errands for a while. Gwen, keep Ben out of trouble," He told her.

"Understood, Grandpa," Gwen responded. When he left the RV, she turned her attention to Ben. "Do you just exist to annoy people?" She asked.

"Do you exist to be a geek?" He shot back. Sitting back down across from her, he glared at her. "Are you going to explain what's going on with you two?" Ben asked.

Her eyes went from her computer screen to him to the bathroom, then back to him. "There's something about Yukiko that is driving insane," She whispered to him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked, loudly.

"Keep your voice down!"

"Okay okay! Jeez…" Ben flinched back. "So, what's got you so paranoid?" He asked again.

Gwen turned her computer to him and showed him the news headline. Ben scratched his head in confusion. "Uh? Gwen? I don't read Japanese," He said.

"Ugh, useless."

"Shut up, dweeb! Just explain it to me!"

"Fine, do you remember a couple of days ago when we got attacked by those bounty hunters?" Gwen reminded him.

"Yeah, that's when we met Tetrax and I got my super cool hoverboard," He smirked, rubbing his gift in her face.

The orange haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I had asked Yukiko about her powers, but she just dodged the question."

Ben wasn't too surprised about that, he remembered asking Yukiko about her abilities when he first got the Omnitrix. She didn't answer his questions nor did she really answer Grandpa's. It was as if she was keeping everything to her chest and that the world would end if she told them.

"So, I decided to look up about her hometown Inaba. Turns out there was a long string of murder/disapperance cases there last year," Gwen revealed.

"Woah...what's that got to do with Yukiko?" Ben shrugged his shoulders.

Gwen resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. Of course the doofus wouldn't think too hard about it. "Because, doofus! She was one of the victims!" She flipped the screen back over to him. She had pressed the translate option, so that Ben would read the words on the screen.

AMAGI YUKIKO, THE HEIRESS OF THE AMAGI INN HAS GONE MISSING!

Green orbs grew wide after reading the headline. "Woah...that is big news," Ben replied. He didn't think too much of the issue at first, since Gwen had told him the incident had been concluded, but this was something else. "But, Yukiko never mentioned this to any of us."

Gwen nodded her head. "Yeah, I figured maybe it was a traumatic experience that she didn't want to speak about at first, but then other things started to seem off to me," Gwen said.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Yukiko had gone missing, but three days later she appeared back at her Inn as if nothing had happened. It was reported that she was exhausted for a couple of days, but she suffered no injuries nor showed any signs of PTSD. Then, next was that a young man named Kanji Tatsumi also went missing," Gwen explained.

"What's so important about that guy?"

"Because Yukiko mentioned that he was one of her friends. And the same thing that happened to her happened to him. There was one other disappearance reported, but the person's name was kept hidden for some reason," Gwen finished.

Ben leaned back into his seat, his arms behind his head. "Okay, that's cool information and all, but what exactly does this have to do with her powers. I mean, yeah they're weird, but what does it have to do with her disappearing?"

Gwen sighed and closed her computer. "I-I'm not too sure at the moment. But, there's just something about all of this that doesn't make sense. Like, there's a big piece of the puzzle missing that nobody is aware of," Gwen felt disappointed.

"Look, Gwen, if you care so much then just ask her or I'll ask her," Ben suggested.

"No! You'll just mess it up and say something stupid."

"Hey!"

"And she'd just dodge the question and attempt to keep even quieter about it," Gwen responded.

"Then we should just wait for her to tell us. I mean, how crazy could her secret be?" Ben laughed.

"This is completely crazy."

Yukiko sat on the toilet after tearing open the package that her Grandfather had picked up for her. It was the armor that Yu had bought for her before their final battle against Ameno-Sagiri. She had messaged Chie to grab it and mail it to her after their battle against the bounty hunters. The inspiring police officer had asked why Yukiko even needed it, to which she answered back with 'feeling a bit nostalgic'.

"Am I really going to constantly try to hide this under my clothes whenever we go out? That'd be way too suspicious, but I need this. These last few battles have gotten tougher and tougher for me. Is it the armor that I need or do I need to become stronger?"

Yukiko placed the armor back into the packaging, trying to wrap it back up the best she could. "Should I just tell them? What's the worst that could happen from explaining that year to them. Yu-kun told Dojima-san and Nanako-chan about it, but that was a special circumstance. They had been personally affected by the whole TV world, Adachi, and Namatame. Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa will never experience anything like that. It's fine to keep this secret…" She bawled her fists as her thoughts continued.

A memory flashed in her mind. A broken and bloody body was being held in her arms as she cried loudly. The Shadow's laughter was heard in the background, while her friends all fought to stay alive.

She flashed back into reality and splashed some water into her face.

"Nothing bad will happen to them...I'll protect them...I'll protect them."

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Persona Trap!

"This is dumb. Not even Yosuke levels of stupid," Yukiko said bluntly. She watched as Ben made disgusting faces through the window of the RV. Driving next to them was another car with a child doing the exact same thing to Ben.

"I'd warn you that your face might freeze like that, but in your case it would be an improvement," Gwen insulted. They watched as the child consumed a sandwich, then proceeded to open his mouth and show them the contents.

Yukiko's face scrunched up in disgust. "How bad would it be if I set that child on fire?" She asked.

Gwen scooted away from her older cousin. "T-That would be a crime."

"Only if they find a body."

"...You worry me sometimes."

FLASH

Their conversation was interrupted by Stinkfly sticking his face up to the window, terrifying the other boy and his father. Stinkfly fell to the ground laughing his ass off at his win.

"That was another misuse of your powers, Ben," Yukiko frowned, disappointed again.

The Stinkbug turned to her confused. "Come on! Didn't you find that funny!?"

"There is such a thing as taking a joke too far, ya know," Gwen responded to him. The young girl shook her head when Ben dismissed her words once more. She went to sit down on the seat, but right as she touched down on it Stinkfly shot his goop onto it. Gwen gasped at the disgusting slime on her butt, she glared down at Ben.

"Impossible! Funny is Funny-OW! Yu-Yuki-OW!" Stinkfly cried out in pain as Yukiko swatted him with her fan.

"Weird, no matter how many times I swat it, it just won't die."

"I'm not an actual bug! OW! Quit it!"

"And it just won't shut up," Yukiko smacked him again.

"Stop referring to me as 'it'!" Stinkfly yelled.

"Kids!" Max's voice interrupted Ben's punishment. The RV stopped abruptly, causing Stinkfly to slide face first into the dashboard. Yukiko did in fact laugh at that.

"Oh, good, you're all ready to go. Seems we've got trouble ahead," Max said. All four of them watched through the windshield as an oil truck and another truck had crashed into one another. The oil was leaking out of the tank, and the trucks were caught on fire.

"The door's stuck! He can't get out!" A random guy yelled.

Max turned to Ben. "If that propane he's on catches fire, that truck will become a rocket to the moon!" Max exclaimed, grimly.

Yukiko opened the door to the RV. "I'll put out the fire! Ben, you handle getting the men out of the trucks!"

"Got it!" Stinkfly replied as he flew out of the RV. Yukiko hid behind the RV and summoned Amaterasu. Remembering what she had done to quell the flames of the burning building, Yukiko used her abilities to pull the flames away from the trucks.

Once she was certain that she had gathered them all, she balled it all into the air above everyone else.

Stinkfly used his tail to rip the roof of the truck open and grabbed the driver. Once he placed the man onto the ground he turned his attention to the ball of flames. "If I was Heatblast I could just absorb them...wait! That gives me an idea!" Stinkfly proceeded to shoot his goop at the fire ball. Soon enough the fire had died down and transformed into a giant ball of goop.

"EW!" Yukiko shivered in disgust and tossed the ball into the distance. Never wanting to feel Stinkfly's gunk ever again.

"AH! That's the monster that ate that kid!" The child that Ben had been messing with exclaimed.

"Oh no…" All four Tennysons mentally groaned.

"Uh...would you look at the time!? Gotta fly!" Stinkfly took off into the air to escape any unnecessary trouble.

The Rustbucket continued its way down the road, everything finally getting back to normal for them. However, there were these weird signs that they kept driving by.

"You'll have a ball with it?" Gwen read one of the passing signs.

"Oh! Maybe it's some kind of giant hamster ball!" Yukiko guessed.

"That seems...illogical," Gwen responded.

"Oh come on, Grandpa! Can you at least tell us what 'IT' is?" Ben asked.

The old man gave his Grandson a wide smile. "Ah ah, no hints. I've been planning this stop all summer!" Max's excitement was contagious.

"Oh! Oh! Is it Disne-"

"Yukiko, you can't say that!" Gwen cried out.

"Can you calm down?" Ben turned to look at the excited Yukiko.

"I'm sorry! But, Grandpa has gotten me excited for this!" The heiress responded.

"Yeah and he was excited to see Aunt Vera too, but we all know how that turned out," Ben rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure nothing bad is gonna happen here," Yukiko said.

"And that's jinx number one," Gwen mumbled.

Max opened the side door to finally reveal the surprise to his Grandkids. "Now, all three of you close your eyes!" They did as told and stepped out of the RV. "Okay! Open them up!"

They did as told and craned their necks to read the sign above them. "Welcome to Sparksville!" Max exclaimed.

"Sparksville, like firecrackers?" Yukiko asked. She and the younger two gazed around the small town in front of them. It was bizarre to say the least, nothing she had ever seen before.

"Is this place great or what?" Max looked at his kids expecting them to be amazed. The only good reaction he got was out of Yukiko.

"This place looks amazing! Is that a giant fishbowl!? I wonder if we could get one for the Inn?" She mused.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Gwen told her. She was ignored due to Yukiko putting all of her focus on the bizarre town.

"See, Yukiko, has the right idea. What's more exciting than the world's largest fishbowl?" Max asked.

"Yukiko is a weirdo, so I'm not surprised she's amazed by it. Literally anything else is better than that," Ben rudely, responded.

"As the Mayor of Sparksville I welcome you as seekers of wonders," A middle aged man in a blue suit walked up to them. His monotone voice had caught their attention.

Max turned his attention to his Grandkids. "I know you guys are probably excited to see 'IT', so I'll go check us in," Max handed the tickets to Yukiko, then walked away.

Ben and Gwen shrugged at each other while Yukiko was shaking in excitement.

The first exhibit they walked to was called "THE JACK-A-LOPE". A very shabby looking shack with a ticket booth in front of it. Ben pressed the bell on the booth.

The Mayor walked forward, surprising them. "Ticket please."

"I thought you were the Mayor?" Ben asked as Yukiko handed over the tickets.

"He who wears the crown is burdened by many hats, son," The Mayor(?) answered.

"Like, Yu-kun and his Wild Card thing," Yukiko thought back to their fight with Margret. She walked ahead of her cousins as they made their way inside the shack.

"Mind the signs," He told them.

SNAP!

The first image shows Yukiko giggling at a fake camel while Ben pretended to sleep. Gwen was just confused by the fact that there was a fake camel there in the first place.

SNAP!

The next picture is of Gwen making a weird face, causing Yukiko and Ben to break into a laughing fit.

SNAP!

A sideways shot of Ben and Yukiko making more stupid faces, with half of Gwen's face being visible in the picture.

SNAP!

Yukiko had burned a hole in one of the fake picture cut outs, so she could be in the shot with her cousins. Both kids' faces were twisted in fear at how close the flames were to their heads.

SNAP!

They stood in a fake Planetarium next. Yukiko felt as if she could reach for the stars, but Ben had told her that was unrealistic. He was almost swatted for it.

SNAP!

They laughed at seeing a repair guy fixing one of the lights in the Planetarium, taking them out of the illusion of seeing the "Stars".

SNAP!

Yukiko was amazed by the gigantic stacks of cards, saying that she wanted to bring them to the Inn. Gwen once again had to convince her not to do that.

SNAP!

Ben sniffs a hot dog, ready to eat his lunch. Yukiko sips on some tea behind him while Gwen reaches for something out of frame.

SNAP!

Yukiko burst into a laughing fit from seeing Gwen spray Ben down with condiment bottles.

SNAP!

Yukiko was still laughing her ass off as Ben chased Gwen down with his hot dog. Throwing it at her in retaliation.

SNAP!

The Tennyson trio stood together with their arms folded. Yukiko and Gwen wore gag glasses, while Ben had on shades. The heiress was trying her best not to fall into another fit of laughter.

SNAP!

Ben and Gwen pretended to be fish as they stood in front of the giant fishbowl. Yukiko once again wanted to take it with her.

SNAP!

They rested at a bench, exhausted from the day's events. Yukiko fanned herself while Gwen drank a cup of soda. Ben rested his head on Yukiko's lap, so she tried to fan him too.

SNAP!

Yukiko couldn't contain her excitement as they finally were going to come face to face with 'IT'. Ben couldn't care less and Gwen looked interested in it.

They stood in front of a barn with the words "IT'S HERE" written on it.

"Through these doors lies the weirdest, wildest thing, ever to find its way to Sparksville," The Mayor guided them inside.

"Please tell me this isn't 'IT', because I can't stand 'IT' anymore," Ben complained.

Yukiko watched as multiple signs lit up around them, all referring to 'IT'. The words that the mayor told them before about minding the signs suddenly popped back up into her mind. She giggled seeing her cousins read off each other signs that appeared around them.

"This should be fun!" She exclaimed. Suddenly the lights cut on, and in front of them was one final sign. "THIS IS IT" it said. All three stood in anticipation for 'IT'. The sign lifted off the ground to reveal….!

A giant rubber band ball.

"This is 'IT'!?" Ben questioned.

"It's a big ball of rubber bands," Gwen said, disappointed.

"I wonder how they got all of them wrapped around each other?" Yukiko asked, not bothered in the slightest.

"And who knows what secrets lie within," The Mayor said, ammounosly.

"Uhhh, more rubber bands," Ben's smart mouth showed up again.

"Stay as long as you'd like. Just mind the signs," The mayor walked away from them.

Yukiko wished she could take some pictures of the ball. She was sure Nanako would love to see Sparksville, and so would her friends. "So, what do you two think?" She looked down at them.

"What do I think? I think these guys are full of IT! We've been had!" Ben exclaimed.

In a rare moment of weirdness, Gwen agreed with Ben on something. "It is pretty lame. I can't believe Grandpa was so excited about this place," She said. That was the moment Ben smirked and walked over to the giant ball.

Yukiko felt every danger sense in her body that whatever the boy had planned, wasn't going to be good. "Ben, do not transform!" Yukiko warned.

"I'm not gonna transform! I'm just gonna see what the back of this thing looks like," He responded as he walked behind it.

"What the back of it looks like? But, it's just one giant ball. It can't look any different behind than it does on the front-"

FLASH!

"And I somehow fell for that…" Yukiko wanted to smack herself. Her and Gwen stepped back as Four Arms lifted the rubber band ball off the ground.

"One good prank deserves another," Four Arms grinned.

"Ben! Put it down now!" Yukiko ordered.

"You know what, I agree. I think it's time to have some fun for once," Gwen smirked. She also believed that they were being pranked about the special rubber ball, so what's the harm in having some fun.

"Gwen!" Yukiko gasped in shock. Of all times for the two to agree with each other, it had to be now.

"So, what do you have planned?" Gwen ignored Yukiko.

"Oh I don't know...how about the world's biggest booger!" Four Arms replied. His answer caused Gwen to laugh.

Yukiko stood there in pure silence, it felt as if the world was suddenly turning upside down.

Four Arms began juggling the ball in his hands, his actions brought Gwen back to reality. "Careful, dweeb! You'll drop it!" Gwen yelled.

The heiress felt her soul return to her body. "Oh thank goodness, she's back to normal," Yukiko sighed.

"Not a chance!" Four Arms said, cocky.

"Put it down, Ben! Last warning!" Yukiko glared at him.

"Or what!? You're gonna set me on fire!?" Four Arms mocked as he held the rubber band ball with one hand. The ball began to tip over from being held at an unbalanced angle, Four Arms lost his grip and the ball fell.

It would've hit Gwen if Yukiko hadn't pulled the girl out of the way. The rubber band ball bounced through the roof and out of the barn.

"Oops.." Four Arms muttered. His female cousins glared at him for being careless once again. They ran out of the barn to see the ball bouncing all around the town, Four Arms caught it in his arms when it bounced into their direction. He lost his grip when the ball's momentum overpowered his strength, causing it to fly directly into the stack of cards. It finally came to a halt, ending the chaos.

Four Arms knelt down, knowing that this was all his fault. From behind him a fan and a hand came down to smack him against the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"For turning me into a criminal!" Gwen yelled at him. Suddenly she felt Yukiko's fan smack her in the head too. "OW! What did I do!?"

"You encouraged his behavior in the first place! You can't shove all the blame at him for this one!" Yukiko glared at her.

"Thank you!"

"Shut it!"

Four Arms wisely closed his mouth.

"B-But, I-" Gwen was cut off by Yukiko again.

"But, nothing! Ben is going to fix those cards and put the ball back, then we are going back to Grandpa! Am I understood!?"

"Yes, ma'am," Both replied as if they were toddlers in trouble. However, as poorly timed as ever the Omnitrix started beeping and Ben turned back to normal. Yukiko's glare was directed solely at him once more.

"Okay...guess we'll need a new plan…" He chuckled nervously. He put his hand on the ball, missing the red sparks that emanated from his watch.

"What are we going to tell Grandpa!?" Gwen panicked. They were currently walking towards their motel room.

"The truth, nothing good is gonna come out of lying to him," Yukiko answered. Her answer didn't make Gwen feel better at all.

"What!? No! Telling him will get us in trouble!" Ben disagreed.

"Then you shouldn't have decided to play with something you shouldn't have!" Yukiko countered. "I'm the eldest so, I'm making the decision."

"Well, it's two against one in voting! So, we won't tell Grandpa!" Ben and Gwen both felt that lying to Max was the necessary step.

They reached the entrance to their room before Yukiko could throw out a retort. "This conversation is not over," She whispered to them. She pushed the door(?) opened to see their sideways room.

"Hey! There you are! Isn't this place a riot!?" Max was standing on the wall...or floor or whatever the hell it was.

"This is a stupid design choice," Yukiko said, bluntly.

"N-No! Nothing is a riot! There was a riot!? We don't know anything!" Gwen frantically replied. The girl's nerves were slowly breaking at the guilt in her stomach.

Yukiko shook her head at Gwen's inability to lie. "Grandpa, there's something that we have to-" She was cut off by Ben tripping her, causing her to fall onto the bed.

"EEP!" Yukiko landed on the soft mattress.

"What they both mean, Grandpa. Is that we can't wait to check out the bathroom!" Ben forced a smile.

Yukiko grumbled, her voice muffled by her face still being pressed against the mattress.

Yukiko slept next to Gwen as the morning arrived. The heiress was unsuccessful in her attempt to tell their Grandfather the truth due to Ben(And strangely enough a guilt tripped Gwen) stopping her at every turn. Eventually she decided to do it in the morning, when the two weren't high on energy.

"What the heck happened here?" Max's voice woke them up. The three of them fell out of their stupidly placed beds.

"He knows everything! We gotta come clean!" Gwen continued to panic, the guilt eating away at her.

"Sometimes it's hard to tell that you're a kid. Never admit anything unless you absolutely have to!" Ben rolled his eyes.

"She's a kid that doesn't want to suffer any of the consequences of lying, Ben. I'm going to tell Grandpa, whether you like it or not," Yukiko left to get dressed.

"She thinks she's so good and stuff! We don't have to tell Grandpa anything!" Ben rolled his eyes.

"Benjamin! Gwendolyn! Yukiko! Get out here!" Both kids felt a rising sense of panic at hearing their full names. Yukiko however was still in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

"Gwendolyn? We're doomed!" Gwen almost cried.

The two walked outside to see Sparksville completely ruined. Ben gasped at the sight before them. "Woah! What happened?"

"I don't know, it looks as if a tornado tore through here overnight," Max said. "Where's your cousin?" He asked.

"S-She's still getting ready in the bathroom," Gwen answered.

"Good!" Ben's mouth drew confused gazes from the other two. He was quick to save himself. "Uh, I mean, yeah! It was just a freaky nature thing! Right, Gwen?" He looked at her expectantly.

Not trusting her own voice at the moment to not spill the truth, Gwen simply nodded her head in agreement.

"I think it's pretty clear who's responsible for these juvenile acts," The Mayor appeared behind them.

"Juvenile acts? If I didn't know better I would say that sounds like-"

"Oh! I'm not talking about these youngsters," He cut Max off.

"You're not!?" The three exclaimed, surprised. Which caused Max to glare at them both in suspicion.

"Yeah well, if they didn't do it. Who did?" Max questioned.

BZZZT!

Something small and yellow zipped past Max. It grabbed onto Gwen's legs, revealing itself. It was a small black and yellow creature, (+) and (-) symbol on its back. Yellow electricity was flowing out of its eyes and head. The thing began zipping around the Tennysons until it stopped on Gwen's shoulder. It blew a raspberry into Gwen's face, before pulling her shirt over her head.

It zipped behind Ben and tapped his shoulder. He looked over at it with a blank face, not bothered by the creature at all. "What was that?" He asked.

"Megawatt," The Mayor answered.

"Mega-what?" Ben questioned.

"Exactly, normally they're wrapped up tightly inside of 'IT'. That is until last night," He explained. The children realized this was their fault and if Yukiko was present then she'd probably just snitch on them right then and there.

"Some say it might be a ball of lightning that comes to life. Others think it's static run amuck. Tough to say," The mayor told them.

"Maybe it's an alien!" Gwen suggested.

"Alien!?" The mayor's stoic face showed emotion for once. "That's just plain kooky talk."

They saw the Megawatt place itself inside of the soda machine. "What's it doing?" Ben asked.

"It eats electricity. The more it gobbles, the more powerful it gets," He explained as the soda machine began spitting out soda cans at high velocity. "It also has a dangerous sense of humor." The four of them ran for cover to avoid getting pelted by the soda cans.

"You left that thing inside a rubber band ball all this time!? Isn't that kinda dangerous?" Max asked the Mayor.

"Not so long as people minded the signs!" He eyed Ben and Gwen. Both felt incredibly guilty at the moment and Ben knew that he had to come clean. He was just happy that Yukiko wasn't around to hear him admit it.

"Alright we did it! We're guilty!" Ben admitted.

"We could've just admitted this from the start!" Gwen yelled at Ben for just outright saying it after all that happened.

Max glared down at the two of them. "We're gonna talk about this later, you two. But, for now we need to get your cousin and stop this thing," Max said.

Yukiko finished brushing her hair and stepped out of the bathroom. Now, wearing a white dress with a dark brown vest over it, and brown boots on her feet. The young woman was ready to start her day. She looked around the empty room, wondering where her family was. "Probably outside lying to Grandpa. Lying is never a solution, it's better to be upfront with the people you care about…" As soon as she finished saying that, Yukiko realized how hypocritical it sounded. Especially since she's been lying to her family both American and Japanese about the events last year. The teenage girl released a sigh and walked towards the entrance.

"I am a massive hypocrite-" She was cut off by the sight of the destroyed town in front of her. "What happened out here!?" She ran outside, fearing for her family's safety.

"They went that way."

"What?" Yukiko looked over to see the Mayor sitting on a bench. "What do you mean? What happened here?"

"You and your little posy released the Megawatts from the 'IT'. Now, they're running amuck and your family is trying to clean up the problem. So, they went that way," He pointed in the other direction.

"T-Thank you! And sorry about the mess!" Yukiko sprinted down the street to help her family.

The Mayor leaned back in his seat and released a breath. "Sweet girl, too bad about that boy though."

What Yukiko expected to see once she caught up to her family was not the sight of her Grandfather being lifted off the ground by his underwear or Upgrade running around on a rubber band ball trying to hit a small yellow creature.

"My life keeps getting weirder," Yukiko sighed. She pulled out her fan and pointed it at the Megawatt who was laughing at her cousin. "AGI!"

The Megawatt was blown back by the fireball. It rebalanced itself and glared at the girl who shot at it.

"Yukiko!" Gwen exclaimed, happy to see her.

"You're finally finished with your make-up?" Upgrade teased.

"I don't wear make-up," Yukiko said.

"I-It was a joke…" Upgrade sighed.

The Megawatt growled at being ignored and zipped around Upgrade. The mechamorph tried his best to catch the little battery, but it was too fast for him. The Megawatt laughed and zapped Upgrade, sending him flying into the street.

"Ben!" Yukiko ran towards him, but was stopped by the Megawatt. It spat into her face and zipped away. "Ew! You little…! Agi!" Yukiko shot another Agi at the battery.

The Megawatt was prepared this time however, and dodged her attack. It fused itself into a water hydrant and blew it up. Yukiko was too slow to dodge the burst of water and it impacted her , drenching her completely. The young heiress was sprawled out on the ground.

Max and Gwen watched helplessly as Upgrade and Yukiko were beaten back. "How are we supposed to ground that eclectic devil?"

Gwen's face lit up in realization. "Grandpa! You're a genius!" Gwen ran off into a different direction.

"Well, thank you, Gwen. Why?" Max took the compliment.

Upgrade chased after the electric menace. "Hey, Sparky! Catch!" He tossed a manhole cover at the Megawatt. The attack was too quick for it to dodge and it was sliced in half...only to duplicate itself as a result.

"Oh crud…" Upgrade gulped. The Omnitrix beeped and he turned back into Ben. The Megawatts laughed at him, launching bolts of electricity at him.

Before they could do anymore a truck with a giant thermometer pulled up beside Ben and pulled him in.

"Grandpa! What are you doing!? And why is Yukiko suddenly weaning a large overcoat?" Ben asked. He saw Yukiko attempting to dry her hair off with her flames. When she heard his second question the heiress' face turned beat red.

"Ben, she's wearing a white dress and got drenched in water," Gwen explained to him. Proving to them that he does indeed have a brain, Ben's mouth made an "O" shape.

"And to answer your first question, Ben. We're gonna give these sparklers a lesson they won't forget!" Max stepped on the gas pedal. The Megawatts began flying after the Tennysons.

"Hey, Mega-Weirds! Come and get us!" Gwen activated the lift on the back of the truck, launching the thermometer at them. The Megawatts crashed directly into the thermometer, unable to conduct themselves through it.

"Good job, Gwen!" Yukiko patted her head as they stepped out of the truck.

"So, what happened to them?" Ben asked.

"We just used the biggest thermometer as a lightning rod. Who needs an alien superhero when you have good old fashioned brain power!," Gwen smirked at her own genius.

"Of course the ground is one big conductor," The Mayor burst Gwen's bubble immediately.

"What does that mean!?" Ben asked again.

"It means that the Megawatts can escape," Yukiko grimaced.

"They're just zipping around underground until they figure out some way back to the surface," Gwen gasped. Suddenly every telephone around them began to spark and shake erratically.

"They're in the underground phone lines!" Max realized.

Soon multiple Megawatts began pouring out of the telephones. The electric batteries have duplicated themselves by the dozen. The tiny batteries continued to wreak havoc upon Sparksville.

Ben threw a shit eating grin at Gwen, rubbing it in that this was her fault. "Ben Tennyson don't say a word!" Gwen glared.

"Hey! I'm just glad I wasn't the one who screwed up this time!" Ben smirked.

Yukiko hummed when Ben finished speaking. "Yes, but this entire situation is your fault, so take that smirk off your face," She popped his balloon.

"And you're the one walking around indecent, so take that smirk off your face," He retorted.

"D-Don't say that! It's not my fault that thing shot water at me!" Yukiko blushed in embarrassment.

The Megawatts all screeched at the same time, forcing everyone to cover their ears to prevent them from getting blown out. The large toothpicks from the top of a building shattered and fell towards everyone. "Everyone, move!" Max yelled. Everyone but the Mayor ran away from the toothpicks. The mayor just sat there uncaringly as the toothpicks embedded themselves into the ground.

Max glared at the Megawatts. "Those things' idea of good clean fun is gonna have us all pushing up daisies."

"But, I don't see any daisies around us?" Yukiko tilted her head confused. Gwen decided not to humor her this time and focus on Ben.

"How about you dial up some heroes, dweeb!"

"Don't you think I've been trying!" Ben tried to use the watch, but it was still in the Red. Their attention was taken by another boom by the Megawatts, who were all chanting something before zipping away from Sparksville.

"W-Where did they go?" Yukiko asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's good," Max answered.

BOOM!

A stronger explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. The Tennyson family watched as the machine used for the Planetary exhibit was being controlled by the Megawatts.

A waitress walked up behind them. "Well that's something you don't see everyday. They brought that planetarium exhibit to life!"

"Come on! We'll head it off in the-" Max gasped in horror at the sight of his RV completely trashed by the Megawatts.

"Oh no…" Yukiko covered her mouth in sadness at the RV's state.

"U AM LAME? Heh, that's weak!" Ben laughed.

"Don't even get me started on the grammar and the spelling," Gwen added.

I reckon they're headin' for the big Hydroelectric Dam to power up. After that they'll just wipe the next town and so on and so on. They think it's funny," The Mayor drew on.

Yukiko looked down and noticed Gwen was staring at something. "What's up, Gwen?" The heiress turned her attention to the same direction. "Oh...I already like this plan!" The heiress giggled at the sight of the giant fishbowl.

Ben joined his cousins on the plan. "It's time to beat those pranksters at their own game!"

Two humongous waves of fire poured down on the Planetary robot. It backed away and looked to see who had attacked it. It saw Yukiko and Heatblast standing side by side, the heiress hiding her smirked behind her open fan.

"This is your only warning! Knock off the funny business or we'll fry your twinkling butts!" Heatblast threatened.

"Either way, I'm going to enjoy melting each and everyone of you down to the last molecule!" Yukiko grinned, devilishly.

The Megawatts' response was punching the Dam once more, creating cracks strong enough to knock Heatblast and Yukiko off the wall. The heiress grabbed onto Heatblast quickly, his fiery body having no effect on her. The fire man created his own hoverboard of fire to skate on.

"I didn't know you could do this!" Yukiko gasped.

"I didn't either!" He shouted, enjoying his new ability.

The two landed on the ground safely thanks to Heatblast. They turned to the huge leak that the Megawatts had created. "Better seal that up fast!" Heatblast said. Once he stopped the water, he created another fire board for the two of them to ride on. Heatblast began surfing the air wildly.

"Be careful, Ben! You aren't used to this!"

"Don't worry I got-uh oh!" He gasped when the board disappeared. He crashed into a pillar while Yukiko rolled safely onto the ground.

The heiress readied herself as the robot approached them. "Agilao!" The robot punched the fireball, meeting its power output. The shockwave pushed Yukiko back some, but she continued to hold on.

Heatblast jumped above her and shot a wave of fire at the robot, it responded in kind with another punch. Its fist travelled through the flames and socked Heatblast right in his face. The charcoal boy crashed into the ground.

"Agilao!" An Agilao with a bit more force in it, smashed into the machine pushing it back to the edge of the Dam. Before it could retaliate it was attacked by a hose of water.

"Surprise, Mega-Wimps!" Gwen laughed. She ran away before it could crush her with its fist.

"What's the matter? Can't take a joke?" Heatblast taunted. Above his head was a large fireball of his creation, he tossed it directly into the machine, destroying it.

"You really got burned with that one!" Yukiko quipped.

"Hey! Come on! That was mine!" Heatblast complained.

The Megawatts zoomed towards the two in an attempt to kill them, but a smokescreen prevented them from hitting the two heroes.

"Hey! Missed us, doofus!" Heatblast insulted them. He and Yukiko stood next to a round tarp. He blew a kiss to taunt them. The Megawatts roared in fury and zipped at the two. Both Yukiko and Heatblast ran underneath the tarp, with the Megawatts following after.

"They did it! They took the bait!" Max pulled the tarp off and revealed the Megawatts were trapped inside of the giant fishbowl.

Heatblast released a breath of fire, sealing the top of the bowl to prevent them from escaping. The Megawatts cried out at the injustice of their entrapment until Yukiko slowly crept towards them.

"You little insects got too full of yourselves. So, you're going to be punished for a lifetime! I promised that I'd burn you molecule by molecule!" Her 'Scary Face' as dubbed by Ben had scared the shit out of the Megawatts. Each one backing away in fear of the Priestess.

Yukiko used Amaterasu to phase inside of the fishbowl. Since her Persona didn't really have a solid form, this was a possible thing to do. "Agidyne." And the insides of the bowl erupted into cries of pain and agony from the intense heat. Yukiko's sadistic smile hadn't left her face as she watched the Megawatts burn. She wasn't going to kill them, but she was going to make them pay for humiliating her.

The Tennysons watched the horrifying scene take place. A new found level of fear was born from watching Yukiko's sadistic display.

"You folks have done right by us," The Mayor thanked the Tennysons.

"I hope this adventure wasn't a big setback for Sparksville," Max said.

"Nothing that would keep us from getting back onto our feet. Though, I'm not too sure on keeping these little guys here. Seeing as how people don't mind the signs," The Mayor looked at Ben and Gwen.

Yukiko walked over to the glowing globe, a chilling smirk formed on her lips once more, scaring the Megawatts again. "I think I have an idea…"

Chie Satonaka covered her eyes from the giant glowing orb that could rival the sun's brightness. She entered the Amagi Inn and saw Yukiko's mother finish talking to some guests.

"Uh, Amagi-san, what's with the giant light bulb?" Chie asked.

"Oh, that! It was just a gift Yukiko had sent over to us! A light bulb that'll help illuminate the way for guests to find the Inn!" She giggled.

"Wow! Where the heck did Yukiko-chan even find something like this!?" She asked.

"No idea, she didn't really explain, but I'm sure my daughter is having fun! Have a nice day, Chie-chan!" Mrs. Amagi walked away with a giggle.

Chie looked down at the sign in front of the giant light bulb. "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY! DO NOT BREAK GLASS!"

"Better warn Yosuke to not let Teddie near here…"

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: Persona 11

Yukiko gazed around the hotel, shocked by how large the place was. It was much more spacious than the Amagi Inn, though she figured it was because of the hotel being in New York. For a country girl like herself, being in such a large city filled her with a strong need to explore it. She had already taken many pictures of the city on their way to the hotel and sent them to her friends and family. Yukiko was really looking forward to seeing everything this hotel had to offer. "Maybe, it'll give me some ideas to help improve the Inn?" She said aloud.

Gwen turned to Yukiko, a pamphlet in her hands. "I'm sure you can find many ideas here, Yukiko. This place has a pool and a full day spa!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Well, we already have a hot spring. I don't think the spa or pool would be necessary," Yukiko said.

"Don't you girls get used to it, this is only for one night," Max reminded them. His reminder did little to deter the girls' enthusiasm.

"One night for Gwen and I to explore this entire hotel!" Yukiko giggled.

"Yeah! There's so much to learn with so little time! We'll figure it out together!" Gwen returned the giggle.

Next to them was Ben, who was pretending to barf in disgust from the girls' peppiness. His green orbs scanned the lobby, hoping to find anything that could distract him from the two next to him. He jumped up in surprise at the sight of his prize. It was an arcade dedicated to Sumo Slammers. "Oh yeah! The new Sumo Slammers video game!" He ran towards his goal.

An extended arm prevented the boy from advancing further, he looked up at the security guard. "Pass?" He asked the child.

Ben smiled nervously. "Must've left it inside. I'm one of the game pros testing out the system," He lied.

"VIPs only," The guard replied. His words caused the boy to walk back to his family downtrodden.

Max looked down at his Grandson, already knowing the thoughts going through the boy's head. "I know what you're thinking, Ben. So, no sneaking back in there," He ordered.

"I won't!" Ben said. Feeling satisfied with the answer Max and Gwen walked away from Ben, trusting his word. Yukiko lagged behind to stare her little cousin in the eyes, making the boy sweat a bit. She knelt down to his level, making her stare a little more intense.

"I'm trusting you to behave yourself for this night, Ben. It would mean a lot to me if you could help me and Gwen explore as much of this hotel as possible. Wouldn't that be more fun?" Yukiko smiled.

Ben was honestly taken aback by Yukiko's request. He had expected her to threaten him with incineration and pain if he didn't behave himself, but she just wanted to spend time with him. The scensarity in her words almost made him reconsider his choice.

Almost.

"Sure, Yukiko. Like I told Grandpa, I won't do anything to get us in trouble. We'll explore this place from top to bottom! I'll even explore a bit more of the lobby for you! I promise!" He smirked.

Yukiko ruffled his hair with sisterly affection. "Good, see you in our room," Yukiko got up and walked away to follow after her Grandfather.

When she was out of sight, Ben turned his gaze back to the arcade, then down to the Omnitrix. "Well, as long as I'm in and out before anyone realizes, then I wouldn't be breaking any promises," Ben ran behind a corner and transformed into Ghostfreak.

"Yukiko, where's Ben?" Max asked as he stopped in front of the elevator.

"Oh, he wanted to look around the lobby a bit more for me. I told him we'll be waiting in our room for him before we can explore the entire hotel together!" Yukiko explained, a graceful smile on her lips.

"And you believed him?" Gwen questioned. She seriously wondered how many times Yukiko was just going to keep trusting to leave Ben on his own.

"And why wouldn't I? He made a promise not to get into trouble," Yukiko said. Before Gwen could reply back, the intercom of the hotel came to life.

"WOULD MAXWELL TENNYSON REPORT TO THE LOBBY? WOULD MAXWELL TENNYSON REPORT TO THE LOBBY?"

The old man sighed in disappointment, already knowing why his name came up. A frustrated glare formed on his elderly face. He and the girls made their way back to the lobby to find Ben being held by a security guard, and the manager standing right next to them.

The boy chuckled nervously as his family's disappointed faces were all pointed at him. "Hehe...my bad?"

Yukiko's bag was the last to be thrown out of the hotel by the security guard. The bald man glared at the Tennysons. "AND NEVER COME BACK!" He threatened before walking back into the hotel.

Immediately Ben was hounded on by Max and Gwen. "I told you not to sneak in there!"

"Well, if you want to get all technical about it," Ben replied cheekily. The way he responded as if he had done nothing wrong, pissed Gwen off more.

"I never even got a chance to take a shower! In a real shower for the first time all summer! Plus they had a spa! You even ruined it for Yukiko, doofus!" Gwen spat.

Ben glared back at her, not liking how he was getting yelled at for actions again. So, what if he was having some fun? He's the right to use his powers for himself! He waited for Yukiko to have a go at him, awaiting her threats to set him on fire. But, when he looked in her direction, the heiress was already making her way back to the Rustbucket, something small was clenched in her hands.

"How do you expect me to trust you if you keep misusing the watch!" Max scolded Ben. The family is now back inside of the RV. Ben and Gwen both pouting as Yukiko sat in her seat quietly, her eyes focused on the item in her hand.

"Excuse me! I used it a hundred times for good! Why can't I use it just once for me!?" Ben asked, upset.

"It's not how many times you use it, Ben! It's how you use it!" Max countered.

"It was no big deal…" Ben mumbled. His Grandfather had heard him, increasing the old man's anger.

"To you! And that's all you care about! So, no more Sumo Slammers stuff for two weeks, no comics, no trading cards, no-" Max's dealing of the punishment was interrupted by Ben.

"No fair!"

"Neither is getting booted from a Four Star hotel! I already paid for!"

"Fine! Take it out of my allowance!" Ben sat back down.

"You don't get an allowance," Gwen cut in.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Both of them yelled at her immediately.

"Ok, that's enough."

"Ben," Yukiko's dark orbs made contact with his green ones. The young man glared at her, figuring that this was the moment where she would threaten him too.

"You broke our promise," She said simply.

He blinked at her, confused by her words. "Why does that matter? It's just a promise," He scoffed.

The teenager's expression hardened. "Promises are nothing to scoff at, Ben. They're important, especially when making them with the people you're close to," She told him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well I was promised that I'd be having fun on this summer vacation, but look how all of that has been turning out!" He turned back to his Grandfather. "How am I supposed to be enjoying what I'm promised if he keeps telling me what to do!"

"You'll do as I say as long as you're under this roof!" Max yelled.

"Stop trying to act like you're my Dad! Because, you're not!" Ben shouted, with anger. His words brought forth shocked silence from everyone in the RV.

Max, who was obviously hurt from Ben's words, backed away from the 10 year old. "I-I'm going to see if I can get at least some of my money back. I'll be back in a few minutes-" He was cut off by Ben storming towards the back of the RV.

"Don't hurry!" He glared at his Grandfather and closed the curtain.

"H-He'll be fine," Gwen tried to tell Max. Seeing that her Grandfather was hurt by Ben's emotional outburst. When he left the RV, Ben could be heard in the back throwing a temper tantrum.

"Glad to see you're handling things so maturely," Gwen rolls her eyes.

The curtains opened to reveal Ben, who began making his way out of the RV. Yukiko was quick to grab him. "Where do you think you're going!?" She glared at him. She was doing her best to not yell at him, but Ben has proven to be too much of a brat lately.

"None of your business that's what!" He tore his arm away from her. The boy started running away from them.

"You're going to be so grounded!" Gwen chased after him.

"Ugh! Why couldn't they be more like Nanako-chan…" Yukiko grumbled.

The girls followed Ben into an arcade called "TOTAL ZONE". Gwen released a huff of annoyance of having to chase after her doofus cousin. "Next summer I'm going to sleep away camp," She said.

"But, how do you sleep away from camp?" Yukiko asked, confused.

"Just come on…" Gwen pulled Yukiko into the arcade.

The girls found Ben standing in front of an arcade game that was spewing out coins as if it ate something rotten. Right next to him was another boy who was about an inch taller than him. He wore a dark t-shirt with the sleeves torn and equally dark shorts. He had a necklace with a lock on it hanging around his neck and wavy black hair.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at the boy. She had to admit that she found him a bit cute to look at. He had a bad boy air around him that she just found a bit attractive. But, that's something she could focus on later, right now she needed to grab her doofus cousin before their Grandfather gets back.

"Ben! What are you doing!? We can't take those coins!" Yukiko scolded him, disappointed by how quickly he was ready to steal.

"Nobody's using them! So, it's free of charge!" Ben smirked. She gripped his wrist to stop him from taking the coins.

"Heroes don't steal, Ben," She hissed.

"It's not stealing, it's called getting rewarded," He hissed back. He tore his arm away from her again and walked over to the boy.

"Sorry, for those two. My name's Ben," He introduced himself.

"Kevin," Keven responded.

"Wanna play some air hockey?" Ben asked, finding Kevin to be cool as all hell.

Kevin was ready to agree until he saw three punks walking up behind Ben and his family. "Nah, I gotta bail."

"He's not somebody you should be hanging around, Ben," Yukiko warned.

"He seemed okay to me," Ben shrugged. He and Gwen were shoved aside by the punks who were chasing after Kevin.

Seeing Kevin about to get assaulted by the punks, Ben stepped up to the plate. Yukiko didn't stop him, agreeing that the rude jerks needed to be taught a lesson. Nobody pushes her cousins aside like that and gets away with it.

"Heh, he's gonna need a lot more than you," One of the punks knocked Ben into the ground. Gwen rushed down to the boy's side.

"Okay, they're dead," Yukiko stalked towards the punks menacingly. Her dangerous aura began leaking into the atmosphere.

"Yukiko, don't!" Gwen pulled the teenager back.

One of the punks laughed at them. "You better listen to your sister! I wouldn't want to hurt that pretty face of yours," He and his friends chuckled at the girls. They were so focused on Yukiko that nobody noticed the green flash from behind the arcade machines.

Kevin smirked from his position. "How's the hangout? Still trashed like I left it?" He taunted.

"Yeah, and you're gonna pay. You can't take us all alone, Freak!"

"But, I can!" XLR8 made his presence known.

"When did he even!? Ugh! I have to get better at keeping track of him!" Yukiko sighed. It was too late to stop Ben without burning the entire building down.

"It's a little too late for Halloween, isn't it?" One of the scrawny punks mocked XLR8.

The speed alien zoomed over to the leader and created a small tornado, levitating the punk into the air, dropping him, and slapping him into the wall with a tail whip. XLR8 then made quick work of the rest of the punks, knocking them each into the same wall as the leader.

XLR8 waved goodbye to Kevin and sped away from the arcade. The dark haired boy smiled, thinking about how cool it was to be saved by some weird alien.

"I cannot believe you went alien!" Gwen scolded Ben. The boy glared at her in annoyance. Everyone seemed to be scolding him a lot today.

"He helped me! So, I helped him! You guys wouldn't get it! And neither would Grandpa! That's the problem!" Ben yelled.

"Ben, that kid isn't the type of person you should be around. Just one look at him and I already can tell he's a bad influence," Yukiko disapproved.

Ben scoffed at her words. "Isn't one of your friends some kind of punk or whatever!? You have no right to judge me!"

Yukiko flinched back, surprised that Ben even knew that tidbit of information about Kanji. "How do you even know that? I never mentioned anything like that about Kanji-kun."

Gwen hurried to turn the conversation back onto the right track. "L-Look! That's not important right now! What's important is getting back to the Rust-"

"Did you see that!?" Kevin walked out of the arcade, cutting off Gwen. "Did you see what that speed guy did to those losers?" He asked Ben.

"Yeah, dude's name is XLR8. In fact, we're pretty tight," Ben kinda lied. Not exactly giving away his identity, but still…

"Cool! Hey, want a tour of New York?" Kevin offered.

Gwen shook her head. "You keep Grandpa waiting any longer and he's going to pop another gasket. We gotta go, like now, Ben!" Gwen warned Ben.

He waved off her threat with his own glare. "Don't you mean YOU have to go!?"

"You know what? Forget it, you're on your own," Gwen gave up and walked away.

Yukiko was shocked to see Gwen give up so easily, she watched as both went their separate ways. She questioned who she should follow.

Should she follow Gwen back to the Rustbucket and back to their Grandfather?

Or

Should she follow after Ben to make sure he didn't get into anything dangerous or illegal?

"Actually, this isn't that hard of a choice," She realized.

Yukiko followed after Ben and Kevin as stealthily as she could. Putting all of her detective skills from her time as the Investigation Team to use. She knew that her Grandfather wouldn't be happy that neither she nor Ben are back at the Rustbucket, but this was a necessary act. She had a feeling that Ben was going to get into something dangerous and she promised their Aunt Vera that she'd keep an eye on him. There was also the promise she made to herself to keep her family safe.

It had hurt her to see Ben casually disregard her words about promises and how easily he went against their promise earlier in the day. It also hurt her to hear him be so disrespectful to their Grandfather, when the man has been nothing but kind and loving towards them. The boy was stubborn, probably the most stubborn boy she had ever met in her life and she knew three very stubborn young men.

She had promised Ben that she'd always have his back and listen to him when there's something wrong. So, why was it so difficult for him to listen to other people when they just wanted to help him?

"Is it just because he's a 10 year old? Maybe, some of his attitude is due to his age, but the majority of that stubbornness has to come from somewhere else?" Yukiko thought as she followed the two down into an abandoned subway. Apparently it was Kevin's home, since he had no family to take care of him. She listened in on their conversation, feeling a bit of pity for Kevin. Nobody should be called a freak by their own family. Family is meant to love and support one another, not hate and spite one another.

She was dragged out of her thoughts by the boys hurrying out of the subway, Yukiko ducked down behind some trash cans to not be spotted by them. "Where are they going? Last thing I remember hearing was something about Sumo Slammers….oh no…" Yukiko hurried after the boys with extreme worry.

"Did they really just break into a warehouse!?" She gawked. Quiet as a mouth, Yukiko snuck behind some crates while the boys were too focused on all the various copies of the game. Her disappointment increased when she watched Ben take the game from Kevin without any form of guilt. As if the boy couldn't comprehend that his actions were that of a criminal, almost like the criminals they've been putting away into jail this summer.

Suddenly smoke grenades flew through the windows and helicopters could be heard flying over the warehouse. By the shocked look on Ben's face, Yukiko could guess that the situation finally dawned on him. Kevin and Ben made a break for the door, but before Ben could get there she pulled him back behind some crates while Kevin was absorbing energy from the machines.

"Y-Yukiko!?" Ben stammered, shocked by her appearance.

"Do you have any damn clue on how much trouble you're in right now!?" She cursed at him.

"Why are you even here!? You should be at the Rustbucket with Grandpa and Gwen!" Ben responded, angry.

"So should you!" Yukiko countered. Their argument was halted by Kevin running towards them

"Let's go!" He yelled at them.

Ben tried to hurry after Kevin, but Yukiko had pulled them both back down. "Are you two stupid!? The police have this place surrounded, you can't run out there!" She yelled at them.

"Ok, Miss Long Legs, do you have any bright ideas?" Kevin asked sarcastically.

"LONG LEGS!?" Yukiko mentally cried.

Ben's attention turned down to the Omnitrix. "I got one, but can you keep a secret?" He asked Kevin.

"Sure!" He replied. Ben activated the watch and dialed up Stinkfly, confusing Kevin and making Yukiko sigh again.

"W-What are you doing with your watch?" He asked before watching in pure shock at Ben transforming into a giant stink bug. "Ah! You reek!" Kevin reeled back from Stinkfly.

"Welcome to my world," Yukiko muttered.

"I know. Now, hurry on!" Stinkfly ordered both of them to hop on his back. They complied immediately and Stinkfly took off into the skies away from the warehouse. The helicopters gave chase immediately.

Kevin was enjoying the flight while Yukiko was panicking about becoming a criminal in a foriegn country.

"How did you do that?" Kevin asked Stinkfly.

"Talk later!" Stinkfly looked behind to see the helicopters giving chase. "Yukiko, shoot your fire at the helicopters!"

"I'm not going to shoot at the police!" She replied, furiously. She quickly summoned Amaterasu to block the bullets being shot at them by the police. "I will, however, make sure we don't get shot to death!"

Stinkfly used this to his advantage, flying around the Statue of Liberty to hide from the police. "I'm running out of time...we'll just have to lose them in the city!"

Stinkfly flew quickly as Amaterasu was continuously used to block every bullet aimed at them. The police were hopelessly confused as to why their bullets were being stopped midway by some invisible force.

Yukiko cringed when they flew past the Rustbucket, silently apologizing to their Grandfather for this mess that she should've prevented Ben from getting into. Stinkfly grew more frustrated as the police kept on their trail. His multi-eyes scanned traffic for a way to lose the police.

"There!" Yukiko pointed down at the bridge. Yukiko slid underneath the bug alien to join Kevin on the underside as Stinkfly flew underneath the small bridge. The Omnitrix timed out just as a tow truck drove underneath them. The teenager and kids hid in the vehicles, so the police wouldn't find them.

Kevin and Ben celebrated their success while Yukiko held onto her chest, nothing but fear of what could've happened replayed in her mind. The teenager's eyes shifted towards Ben, nothing but disappointment present in them.

The three hid in an alleyway to catch their breath. "Running from the police in New York City...Naoto-kun would be so disappointed," Yukiko sighed. She was going to pull out her phone to call their Grandfather when she overheard the boys' conversation.

"And not just that, it let's me turn into 10 different ali-Guh! H-Hey!?" Ben suddenly cried out as Yukiko yanked him towards her by his shirt.

She looked at Kevin. "Would you mind giving us a minute?" Her dangerous smile sent a shiver down the boy's spine.

"Y-Yeah, sure. I'll be over there," He walked further down the alley.

When she saw him turn the corner, her blazing eyes glared down at the boy in her grip. Ben was struggling to get out of her surprisingly strong grasp.

"C-Come on, Yukiko! Let go! What are you even-"

"Shut the hell up."

"W-What? Yukiko, what are you-?"

"For once in your short life, shut the hell up, Benjamin Tennyson!" She yelled at him. Any form of patience had finally left her system. Ben flinched back from her scorching tone, not used to her calling him by his full name.

"Do you understand the full consequences of what you just did!? Do you have any idea of what could've happened tonight if just one thing had gone wrong!? Do you even sit to think about the choices that you make or how it affects other people!? Especially the people close to you!?" She screamed at him.

Ben gawked at her, he had expected her to be upset with him just like how his Grandfather and Gwen were...but he didn't expect this. "W-Why does it even matter!? Everything turned out just fine!?" He tried to argue.

"You almost became a criminal tonight, Ben! Do you even understand that!? You ran from the police, because you decided that playing a stupid video game was more important than doing what was right!" Yukiko shot back.

The boy's face morphed from one of shock to one of fury. "And what do you know, huh!? I'm finally starting to have fun and get my reward, but here you are standing in my way again!"

"Have you learned NOTHING from this summer trip so far!? About responsibility and being a hero!? That watch on your wrist is meant for saving people! Not stealing or fueling your own petty greed!" Yukiko pushed her finger into his chest, knocking him back a bit.

"It's on my wrist, so it's my rules! I decide how it gets used! Not you and especially not Grandpa!" Ben got back into her face.

Yukiko should've stopped herself, she knew that. It would be better to stop the argument now and not say anything that they'd regret. But, this boy just knew how to press people's buttons.

"Maybe Tetrax was right about you! Maybe you don't deserve to use that watch! Because you can never see past yourself!"

Ben growled at her, his anger rising to dangerous levels. He was sick of it, all of the crap he had been getting all day from his family about his actions. Calling him selfish when he's saved so many lives with the Omnitrix, so far. People should be rewarding him and he should be rewarding himself too! "How about you just take yourself and your weirdo powers back to Japan! Because you shouldn't even be here! This trip was just supposed to be me and Grandpa anyway! Stop trying to act as if you're some Big Sister to me! I don't have one and I never will need one! JUST STAY OUT OF MY LIFE!"

SLAP!

Ben's head rocked to the right as a hand gave a hard strike to his face. The boy grabbed his face in pain and grew angrier. He turned his head back to Yukiko, ready to yell at her again. But, he didn't...no...more like he couldn't. All of the anger that he felt dissipated immediately at the sight before him.

Yukiko was crying. She was crying and it was his fault.

"Yukiko...I-" Ben reached for her, but she pulled away from him. She stepped away from him and ran away from the alleyway.

All Ben could do was stare at where Yukiko had run off to. He couldn't move from his spot, the only thought in his head was the image of Yukiko crying. He had never seen her cry before and he hated the sight of it. And he hated the realization that he was the one who made her cry.

"Hey, man, is everything alright?" Kevin came back into sight. He placed a hand on Ben's shoulder.

"Uh...yeah...I guess everything's alright," Ben replied weakly.

"Good! Because I totally have a plan to put that watch of yours to good use!" Kevin smirked.

"Of all the stunts Ben's pulled, this is the worst! When I find him-" Max was cut off by the phone ringing. Gwen picked it up and answered it.

"Hello? Yu-Yukiko? What's wrong!? Why are you crying!? Okay, yeah, I'll tell Grandpa," Gwen hung up the phone and turned to her Grandfather.

"Grandpa...we really need to find Ben. And I know where Yukiko is," Gwen said, worry etched into her voice.

Ben felt like a major dumbass at the moment. The signs were all in front of him from the moment he met Kevin. The guy was seriously messed up in the head if he thought that he was going to help him crash a train full of passengers just to get some money. His family was right, he had only been caring about himself this whole time. Being a hero meant knowing that you've done good and to always put others first. He really needed to apologize to his Grandfather and Yukiko.

If he survived the current situation that is.

Ben was currently riding on top of one of the trains. He successfully managed to stop Kevin from crashing the trains, but now he was in serious danger of getting killed on one of the trains after the watch timed out.

HONK HONK!

Ben looked over to see the Rustbucket driving next to the train. He made the jump for the top of the RV before he could turn into a red splotch on a road sign. The Rustbucket came to a stop in front of a restaurant. Allowing Ben to hop down from the top, and enter the RV. However, the air inside of it was a lot less welcoming than he remembered.

One look from his Grandfather told the boy to have a seat, and he knew that he was in for a well deserved lecture.

"Are you ever planning on listening to me!? None of this would've happened if you just obeyed me from the beginning! It's all about trust!" Max scolded him.

Ben knew he needed to apologize, but right now a mutated Kevin was of bigger concern. "Then trust me when I say that Kevin is misusing Heatblast's powers right now!"

"Grandpa, Ben's right, there's no telling what he could do," Gwen backed him up.

Max understood the importance of the situation. "Okay, so where is he?"

"I think I know, but first, where's Yukiko?" Ben asked. The mood suddenly dipped again when the curtains at the back opened up to reveal a red eyed Yukiko.

"Yukiko, I-" Ben was stopped again by her voice.

"Let's focus on stopping Kevin," She walked past them to sit in the driver's seat. The boy lowered his head in shame, he'll apologize later.

They would've gotten there immediately, however, if there wasn't so much traffic. Ben got out of his seat and activated the watch. "Going Stinkfly! I'll see you at the 39th Street Bridge!" He slammed down the core and turned into Four Arms. "Great! Now I turn into Four Arms!" He complained.

Yukiko did her very best to suppress a laughing fit. It was the hardest thing she's ever done in her life.

Yukiko gasped when she saw that Kevin had mutated into some weird version of Four Arms and was currently battling Ben. She rushed out of the RV to assist him in the fight.

"Agidyne!" The large fireball prevented Kevin from smashing his arms down onto Four Arms. The mutated human gasped from the attack and glared at Yukiko.

"So, you have some freaky powers too!? I wonder if I can take yours too!?" Kevin rushed at her.

"Try it, Freak," Her merciless words only infuriated the mutated boy more. "Agidyne!" Yukiko shot another one at Kevin. He punched the fire ball, dissipating it, and reaching for her.

Yukiko duck underneath his grab and rolled between his legs. She jumped into the air and prepared another strike. "Agidyne!" This time the blast was stronger than the last and had sent Kevin bouncing away towards the bridge. Four Arms sprinted past Yukiko and cocked his fists back.

Before Kevin could even process it, Four Arms released a barrage of powerful knockout punches into his face. The mutated boy bounced across the ground before flying straight into a pillar. The concrete collapsed on top of him, ending the fight. The Omnitrix timed out and Ben turned back to normal.

A weakened Kevin emerged from the rubble. "Okay okay! I give! I-I'm sorry! Please! Lighten up!" Kevin begged for mercy.

"I just did, by about 300 pounds," Ben quipped.

"I guess I went wild with power. I don't have anyone else like you to help me," Kevin said, downtrodden.

"We can still be partners, we'll just be kicking butts for good instead of for ourselves," Ben told Kevin.

Yukiko smiled when she heard those words. Happy to see that Ben was starting to learn and hopefully the lesson will stick with him this time.

"You could hang with us!" Ben offered.

"What's in it for me?" Kevin asked.

"For starters, people will like you," Ben extended his hand to Kevin. The mutated human reached for his hand to take, before smirking evilly. His other hand gripped onto the Omnitrix.

"BEN!" Yukiko and Max ran in to save him.

"Oh man, you are so dim!" Kevin smacked Max and Yukiko away. The elderly man used his body to cushion Yukiko's fall.

"Yukiko! Grandpa!" Ben cried out.

"Did mommy drop you on your head as a baby?" Kevin taunted. "Now give me that watch!"

"You're the one who's dimwitted! I told you I can't!" Ben shouted. Suddenly the watch turned from red to green and released a shockwave. Creating an explosion that sent all three flying away from each other. Ben flew back into Yukiko's arms and the girl held onto him tightly. While Kevin crashed into the main support beam for the bridge, causing it to collapse on top of him. He emerged from the rubble, but he was no longer mutated.

"NOOOO!" Kevin screamed and ran away from the scene.

Ben watched Kevin run away, disappointed in the guy he had once considered a friend to betray him in the end. He had really hoped that he could turn Kevin around.

"Uh? Yukiko?" Ben decided to speak now that they were on the road again. He needed to make things right. He messed up big time and he had to fix it.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I never should've said those things about you," Yukiko apologized.

"No, I should apologize first. You were right about me being selfish and that I was using the watch for my own selfish needs. And I shouldn't have said all of those harsh words to you. You didn't deserve any of that," Ben apologized.

"I'm sorry for everything, Grandpa," Ben apologized to Max next.

"I know you are. You're my Grandson and nothing will change that. But, my trust is something you'll have to earn back," Max said.

Yukiko nodded her head as they made their way back to the RV. She knew that their relationship was strained now, too many harsh words were said between them all for a simple apology to fix everything. The apology was just the start mending the wound for their family.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 12: Magical Detectives!

Naoto Shirogane didn't know if she truly preferred the quietness that Inaba has developed recently. Not that she wanted anything to go wrong necessarily, but it was one of those moments where she missed the loudness of her friends. The young detective stopped her walking in front of the Junes Food Court. Her deep blue eyes staring intently at the table the Investigation Team used to call their 'base'.

In her mind she could still picture all of them gathering around the table to discuss plans to solve the case or just to hang out and talk. A soft smile graced her lips from all of her reminiscing. "Enough reminiscing, there are more important things to focus on," Naoto's thoughts drifted back to a conversation from earlier in the day.

"Are you SURE this is real, Grandfather? Aliens being seen in multiple cities? Conspiracy theories like this appear all the time," Naoto said. The young detective held the phone in her ear as she wrote down some notes into her journal.

"Yes, I'm sure. The reports that have been popping up all around news channels recently have confirmed it," Her Grandfather responded.

"Should this really be something that we should be looking into? We don't even live in America," Naoto questioned.

"It'll be fine, and it's not like we'd be getting personally involved. And I figured that this assignment would keep you busy during this dull summer. You did say one of your friends went to America, right?" He asked.

"W-Well, yes, Yukiko-senpai is travelling through America at the moment, but I'm not sure why that interests you?" Naoto said, confused.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm sure you'll find your answers soon. Have fun," And with that her Grandfather hung up the phone. Leaving a confused Naoto sitting at her desk.

"I'll find my answers soon. What could he have meant by that?" Naoto wondered. The young detective was too focused on her own thoughts to notice the small person walking next to her. The little girl smiled brightly and held up a cartoonish magnifying glass with a British dog on it. She pressed the button on it, eliciting a programmed response.

"Stop! Or I'll pop a cap in ya!"

"Eeep!" Naoto jumped at the sudden noise next to her, cursing herself for letting her guard down so easily. Naoto quickly turned her direction to the creation of the voice, only to see a familiar face pouting at the trinket.

"Aw...it wasn't supposed to say that one…" Nanako Dojima whined. She was dressed in a brown and pink detective outfit with a blue and black cap on her head. The little girl noticed Naoto was now looking at her and quickly got into a stance.

"Nao-chan! It is I, the Magical Detective LoveLine!" Nanako struck a pose.

Naoto was bewildered by the scene, having not been with the group the first time this happened. "N-Nanako-chan-"

"LoveLine."

"W-What?"

"I am the Magical Detective LoveLine! Not Nanako!" She responded, quickly.

"Ok, LoveLine, what are you doing here?" Nanako asked.

Nanako stopped posing, and reached into her skirt pockets. She pulled out a small piece of paper with multiple names on it. She adopted her best serious face that she's seen her Dad use multiple times. "There have been reports around the neighborhood of kid's belongings going missing. So, I have taken it upon myself to discover who has been stealing my frien-I mean those citizens' toys!" Nanako explained.

"So, you're searching around Junes?"

"Junes is the best place to search!"

"Or maybe she really wanted to come to Junes," Naoto sweat dropped. "If whoever took the toys came to Junes, then they'd be found easily. The culprit is most likely somewhere else, LoveLive," Naoto deduced.

Nanako's big brown eyes blinked owlishly at Naoto. "Oh! That makes a lot of sense. Where do you think the culprit could be Nao-chan?" She asked.

"Were there any clues that were found at the scenes of the crime?" Naoto asked.

Nanako hummed in thought. "Well, Mai-chan did say that she found some dark red fur around her backyard," Nanako said.

"Red fur? I think I may know who the culprit is," Naoto smirked.

"Really!? Then let's get to solving this mystery!" Nanako pressed the button on the wand again.

"Stop or I'll pop a cap in ya!"

"Not again!"

The two young detectives arrived at the Inaba Shrine. Nanako blinked in confusion at their destination. "The shrine? What could a dastardly criminal do at such a peaceful place?" Nanako asked.

Naoto gave a small giggle at Nanako's use of the word 'dastardly'. "I don't think that's how I'd describe our culprit, LoveLine. Follow me," Naoto led Nanako around to the back of the shrine. Naoto held a finger towards her lips, signaling for Nanako to stay silent. The detective lifted up a small cover from the back of the shrine, within it was a small batch of fox cubs huddling together.

Nanako gasped lightly at the sight of the fox cubs, her brown eyes finding each of the toys littered around the cubs. "The toys," She whispered.

Naoto nodded her head and lowered the covering. "Their mother must've taken the toys to help build her home down here for her babies," Naoto explained.

Nanako shook her head. "We can't take the toys back, then. It would be wrong to disrupt her babies, right?" Nanako asked.

"That's correct, Nana-LoveLine."

"I'll have to tell everyone that they can't get their toys back," Nanako frowned. She gasped when she felt Naoto's hand patting her head.

"I'm sure they'll understand it, especially if it's you telling them, Nanako-chan," Naoto smiled.

"Yeah! You're really good at this detective stuff, Nao-chan!" Nanako praised her. Naoto blushed from the compliment.

"It-it was nothing, Nanako-chan. This case of ours was a nice distraction," Naoto said.

"Distraction? From what?" Nanako asked.

"I-It's nothing that you need to worry about, Nanako-chan," Naoto dismissed. The little girl wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"It's bothering you, Nao-chan, so that means that I do need to worry. Big Bro, always said to help the people you care for when they're distressed," Nanako huffed.

Naoto chuckled lightly, seeing Nanako use Yu's advice to help people. Naoto sat down on the shrine steps with Nanako sitting next to her. "Well, it's just that my Grandfather asked me to investigate something regarding something happening in America," She explained.

"In America? But, that's like SUPER far!" Nanako exclaimed.

"Yes, which is why it confused me. Apparently there have been reports of aliens popping up around America and he believes that it may be connected to us somehow," Naoto explained.

"Like, the TV thing last year?" Nanako interjected.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the TV world, and Grandfather wouldn't know anything about it," Naoto sighed.

"Why not just ask Big Sis? She's in America, right?"

"Yes...now that you mention it, Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai have been exchanging emails with each other since she left. I should've figured that there might be some clues between the two of them!" Naoto got up from the steps. "I have to get going, this was fun, Nanako-chan!"

"Good luck, Nao-chan! Tell Chie-chan I said hi!" Nanako waved goodbye.

"I will!" Naoto took off away from the shrine.

Nanako watched the older detective leave with a smile on her face, happy to have been of help. Her Big Bro and Dad would be so proud of her!

"You want to see my emails with Yukiko-chan?" Chie questioned.

"Yes! If that wouldn't be too much of a problem," Naoto requested. Chie shrugged and took her phone out of her pockets.

"Sure, just don't look at anything that you shouldn't," Chie opened up her email and gave the phone to Naoto.

"Thank you, Chie-senpai!" Naoto carefully took the phone. She scrolled through the emails, scanning through the messages until something caught her attention. It was an image of some sort of grey ghost with an hourglass symbol in between the slit on its chest. If Naoto was being honest, the thing really creeped her out. "It almost looks like a Shadow, but that's impossible. Shadows can't exist outside the TV world, so what even is this?"

"Uh, Chie-senpai, do you know what this is?" Naoto showed the picture of the ghost to Chie.

The karate girl flinched at the sight of the ghost. "I-I don't really know. Yukiko-chan sent it to me to scare me, but she never explained what it was. I just figured it was from some weird sight," Chie answered.

"I see…" Naoto didn't feel like dismissing it as such. Something in the back of her mind telling her to keep looking deeper. So, she continued scrolling through the messages until she arrived at another picture. This one consisted of a young boy who looked to be a bit older than Nanako, with brown hair and green eyes. He was caught in a fishing net and was glaring at the camera in irritation. However, what caught Naoto's attention the most was the bulky watch on the boy's wrist. The object had the same hourglass symbol as the ghost in the prior image.

"Chie-senpai, who is this boy?" She asked, showing the image.

"Him? Oh, that's Yukiko's little cousin Ben. Apparently he's like a mini Yosuke. Terrifying, I know," Chie giggled at her own little joke.

Naoto didn't laugh, she was too engrossed in the image of the boy's watch. "Why are those symbols the same? Are they connected? And if so, then Grandfather was right. Something weird is once again connected to Inaba."

"ACHOO!"

"Bless you! Are you alright, Ben?" Yukiko asked.

"Huh? Yeah, just felt like someone was talking about me or something," Ben shrugged.

"Who would waste their precious time thinking about a doofus like you?" Gwen asked, shocked.

"Shut it, dweeb!" Ben got directly into her face. Both kids growled at one another before breaking into another name calling argument.

Yukiko sighed, watching her cousins break into another argument. "At least things are starting to get back to normal."

Chapter End

Chapter Text

A Priestess Halloween

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Will you shut up!?"

Gwen slapped a hand over Ben's mouth, the girl growing annoyed with her cousin's stupidity again. The boy rolled his eyes and slapped her hand out of his face.

"I was practicing my screaming, dweeb!" Ben retorted.

"You don't need to practice right in my ear! If you want to scream like a doofus, then go outside!" Gwen pointed at the door.

"How am I supposed to get good if I'm not doing it to annoy you?" Ben asked, confused. Gwen felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. The girl turned around and sucked in some air.

"YUKIKO! BEN'S BEING ANNOYING!" Gwen yelled loudly. Ben paled in fear at Gwen's snitching, he heard a swooping in the air and was promptly smacked in the back of the head by a fan.

"OW!" Ben cried out.

The fan bounced off his head and landed perfectly back into a feminine hand. Yukiko Amagi opened up her fan and flapped it into her face. "Ben! What did I say about purposely antagonizing Gwen?" She scolded him.

"What? You're acting as if she didn't deserve it," He responded. He yelped lightly when she pinched his nose.

"Don't get smart with me, Ben. Grandpa told you to behave while we're at the festival," Yukiko continued to scold him. She released his nose as Gwen giggled at his little punishment.

"Cut me some slack! It's just a Halloween Festival, nothing for him to worry so much about," Ben waved her off.

"Which still doesn't make sense to me. Why is there a Halloween Festival during the summer?" Gwen questioned.

The three looked outside the window of the Rustbucket to survey the area outside. Their Grandfather had stopped in a small town called "Halloween Town". Apparently the town loved the Holiday so much, they celebrated it once every 2 months for a whole week. Max had thought it'd be a good time for them to have some family fun together, especially since Yukiko wouldn't be present for the actual Halloween.

"It's a tradition for them, Gwen. We shouldn't judge them so much," Yukiko answered.

"A lot of traditions are weird," Gwen shook her head. "Is Grandpa done yet?" She asked. Max had left to find them somewhere to stay.

"He said he'd be back soon, but maybe we should go look for him?" Yukiko suggested.

"It'd beat standing around in here," Ben was already walking out of the RV, before Yukiko even suggested it. The girls hurried after him, not wanting the boy to leave their sights for too long.

"This place is so vibrant!" Yukiko observed the town around them. The black and orange decorations of pumpkins and monsters caught her attention immediately. Around them were kids and adults alike dressed up as Frankenstein, witches, cats, wolves, and various other creatures. Yukiko thought back to when Yu had made them all dress up in Halloween costumes to brighten up their moods. She had to admit that he had a strange taste in outfits, but the Witch costume he had gotten for her was cute. She made sure to give him a special kiss just for that.

Gwen frowned as she looked around the street. "Still no sign of Grandpa anywhere," She sighed. The orange haired girl had tried calling him a few times, but for some reason he hadn't been answering.

"I'm sure we'll find him eventually," Yukiko patted Gwen's head, trying to calm her down.

"Yeah, how far could he go anyway? This place isn't that big," Ben added. He was certain that they've passed by the same costume store already before.

"Excuse me! Excuse me, Miss!"

"Huh?" Yukiko turned to her left to see a man, dressed in a purple suit walking towards them. He wore tanned colored glasses with two little girls flanking his side. Both girls had bleach white hair, and wore a pink and purple kimono each. Their clear teal eyes staring straight at the three of them. "Are you talking to me?" Yukiko asked.

"Why yes, Miss! I couldn't help but notice that you and your siblings looked lost!" He exclaimed, tilting his glasses.

"Oh, they aren't my siblings, we're cousins. And we are looking for our Grandfather, but we can't seem to find him," Yukiko explained.

The man's face morphed into a smirk, snapped his fingers two times and the girls inched a bit forwards towards Ben and Gwen. "Excellent! Then allow us to introduce ourselves! My name is Chris, and these two are Alice and Bella. We're guides here at old Halloween Town, helping any new visitors during our beloved Holiday," Chris extended his hand to Yukiko.

"Nice to meet you, Chris. My name is Yukiko and this is Ben and Gwen," Yukiko took the man's hand.

SHINK!

Yukiko flinched back from the sensation that surged within her body after grabbing Chris' hand. Ben and Gwen were immediately alarmed at Yukiko's reaction. Chris only stared at her confused.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Yukiko?" He asked.

"N-No, I just felt a bee fly by my ear, is all," Yukiko lied. Whatever it was that she had felt it was no bee.

"You ok, Yukiko?" Gwen asked.

"I'm just fine, Gwen," Yukiko replied.

"Hey! What did you do to her! Huh!?" Ben marched up to Chris, glaring at him.

Chris held his hands up in defense. "I didn't do anything, young man. Like, Miss Yukiko had said, it was just a bee."

"As if I'd believe some dumb lie like that!" Ben stepped forward again, but before the boy could do anything his arms were grabbed. "What the?" He saw that both Alice and Bella stood on both sides of him, holding him back by his arms.

"We suggest that you don't harm our leader," Bella said, emotionlessly.

"Unless you want you to feel pain," Alice added, equally as emotionless.

Ben struggled in their grip, surprised by how physically strong these girls were. "H-Hey! Let me go!" The boy struggled.

"Ben!" Yukiko and Gwen reached to help him, but as soon as they did the two girls released Ben from their grip. Both girls flanked back to Chris' side before they could blink.

"Are you okay, Ben?" Yukiko asked, concerned.

"Yeah, what the heck are they?" Ben asked.

Chris laughed nervously. "S-Sorry, about these two. They're a bit overprotective of me since I'm blind and all."

"Blind!?" The three were shocked by this news.

"But, if he's blind, how exactly did he know we were walking by?" Yukiko questioned the situation.

"Yes, these two are my own little guides to help me. Though, I don't want to bore you three on the details, we have a Grandpa to find!" Chris exclaimed enthusiastically.

Gwen was apprehensive about following Chris and the girls. "Should we follow them, Yukiko?"

"Well...we don't know our way around town, and they don't necessarily seem like bad people," Yukiko answered, though she herself wasn't very sure.

"I say we ditch them! We can find Grandpa on our own!" Ben scoffed.

"You're just upset that two little girls are stronger than you," Gwen snickered.

"Shut up, dweeb! If I used the Omnitrix, then it'd be a different story!"

"Yeah, because using the alien watch against two little girls is completely fair," Gwen rolled her eyes.

Ben would've retorted if Yukiko didn't intervene. "Ok ok! Let's just follow them, and if anything happens then we'll leave to find Grandpa on our own, alright?" The two nodded their heads at Yukiko's suggestion.

Chris felt the three Tennysons following him and smirked. There was a tint of purple light underneath his glasses.

"And this is Halloween Town's famous Haunted House! 'The Looming Nightmare'!" Chris presented the building to the Tennysons.

"Uh, that's great and all, but that doesn't exactly help us find our Grandpa," Gwen pointed out.

"Come on! There's nothing wrong with taking some time to have some fun!" Chris laughed, harmlessly. "Doesn't the idea of a haunted house excite you?"

"N-Not exactly…right guys?" Gwen turned to her cousins. However, she didn't get the answer she was hoping for.

"I wonder what kind of surprises they have inside! Maybe dead bodies littered across the ceiling?" Yukiko guessed, excitingly. Her words caused a shiver to travel down Gwen's spine.

"What's wrong, Gwen? Scared of a haunted house?" Ben teased.

A blush made its way to Gwen's face. "N-Not on your life, doofus! I'm just saying that we have more important matters to take care of!" She protested.

"It's fine, Gwen. We'll just spend a few minutes inside then we'll get right back to finding Grandpa," Yukiko tried to hide her own excitement, but failed miserably. The heiress really wanted to explore that haunted house.

Gwen released a reluctant sigh, not wanting to go inside of the spooky house. "Fine, but do we have to pay to go inside?" She asked Chris.

"Nope, it's free of charge! Just make sure to have some fun and follow the yellow lights," Chris instructed them. "We'll wait out here till you guys are finished," Chris added.

"Sounds good, thank you, Chris," Yukiko bowed her head and made her way to the entrance, with Ben and Gwen flanking her sides. The orange haired girl gave one more look back at Chris and the girls.

The blind man merely smiled in their direction while the little girls just stared at them blankly. Something about those girls creeped her out too much, they just didn't seem natural at all. She turned away from them and followed her family into the haunted house.

Chris rid himself of the smile and chuckled lightly. "You two know what to do…" He spoke as a pink mist escaped from his lips. The girls nodded their heads as the pink mist entered their eyes, changing their eye color from teal to crystal pink. The children slowly made their way into the haunted house with a sickly air around them.

"EEEKKKK!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gwen gripped Yukiko's arm tightly, afraid of the sudden jump scare from the fake monsters. The teenager was laughing her ass off, finding everything around her hilarious. To her this was like a fun house instead of a horror house, sadly there weren't any dead bodies on the ceiling.

"Why do you enjoy this stuff so much!?" Gwen cried.

"Because it's so ridiculous-snrk! Chie-chan would always cry whenever we watch horror movies!" Yukiko tried to stifle her laughter.

"I really feel bad for this Chie," Gwen mentally said. Gwen looked around, confused by something else. "Uh, Yukiko?"

"Yes, Gwen?"

"Where's Ben?"

Yukiko blinked repeatedly, processing the question. She looked around their area inside of the building to find the little troublemaker, but he was nowhere to be found. "But, he was right next to us! How could he just disappear so quickly or even quietly!?" Ben was not the most quiet of people, the boy couldn't go 5 minutes without making his own presence known.

Gwen growled in frustration. "Ohhhh! If this is another attempt to try and scare me, I swear I'm going to hurt him!" Gwen stomped her foot.

Yukiko attempted to have the benefit of the doubt. "I'm sure he just got lost, it is pretty dark in here," She said.

"How did he get lost in here!? There are little yellow lights on the floor guiding us in which direction to go! How could he not know to walk in a straight line!?" Gwen yelled. Gwen didn't want to add in the part about Yukiko's constant cackling being another signal of where they are, due to fearing her cousin's reaction.

"Gwen, calm down. I'm sure he couldn't have gotten too far. We'll just continue walking through this place until we find him!" Yukiko suggested.

The younger female didn't like that suggestion at all. "C-Couldn't we just leave him here, and hope some other family finds and adopts him?" Gwen hoped.

"No."

"Ohhh, I know I'm going to regret this…"

Unbeknownst to them there was a small creature following them, hiding within the shadows. Its pink slit eyes locked onto them as the two continued their way through the haunted house.

"So, where am I now?" Ben lazily gazed around the interior of the haunted house. He found the place completely boring compared to his cousins, none of the scares in here compared to the horrors of clowns. N-Not that he was afraid of clowns or anything! Just that they didn't compare!

He was in some sort of indoor maze on a separate floor from his female cousins. Ben wasn't paying attention as he was walking through the house, leading him to get separated from his family at some point.

"Welp, better find my way out. And I think I know just how," Ben lifted the Omnitrix and activated the watch. The green light from the activation illuminated the area around him, the boy was too focused on the watch to notice the silent creature above him. Its pink slit eyes locked onto him, it opened its mouth and allowed its saliva to drip down.

The liquid landed in front of Ben and melted the floor beneath him. Shocked by the sudden dripping of acid, Ben backed away from the new hole in the floor. He looked up to see the creature clinging to the ceiling. It was small and wore a purple kimono over its body. Long pink claws that clung onto the ceiling, and feral long white hair flowing down due to gravity. The creature dropped to the ground and landed in front of Ben.

"Uhhh...nice dog...or whatever you are?" Ben backed away slowly.

"HISSS!" It pounced at him without warning, Ben ducked down as the creature flew over him. Not wanting to get attacked again, Ben raced through the maze to escape. The creature bounced off the wall and hopped across the maze to follow the 10 year old.

He ducked under a swipe from a claw, as the creature tumbled in front of him. It kicked its feet off the floor and made another grab for him. Ben slammed down the dial of the Omnitrix in a panic, not looking at what he transformed into.

The creature blocked its eyes from the bright flash of green light. When it uncovered its eyes, it found Ben to be gone. Instead in the boy's place was a giant orange dog with no eyes and three gills on both sides of its head.

"WRAAAH!" Wildmutt roared at the creature in an attempt to intimidate it. The creature didn't allow Wildmutt's appearance to scare it, it just returned the growl with equal might.

The two beasts headbutted each other, Wildmutt gasped when the smaller beast managed to push him back. It brought its hands up under his larger arms and flipped him over. The dog alien crashed through the maze walls.

Wildmutt scrambled to his feet, shaking his head to regain his senses, he sensed the creature charging at him once more. He lifted up a paw and smashed it into the beast's side, bouncing the other beast through more of the maze. He jumped into the air and attempted to smash the creature with his large paws, but he wasn't prepared for the creature to uppercut him before he could attack. The orange dog crashed through the ceiling and into another part of the house.

The creature jumped through the hole to continue the fight.

"I'm sick of this!" Gwen complained. She and Yukiko were still nowhere close to finding their doofus cousin.

"Gwen, complaining about it won't make us find Ben faster," Yukiko attempted to stop Gwen's complaining.

"I don't care! I just want to get out of this stupid haunted house!" Gwen yelled.

Yukiko pulled Gwen into a comforting hug. "Alright, if it'll make you feel better we can go find the exit and I'll come back in to find Ben. Is that fine?" Yukiko suggested.

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Gwen answered. The two broke the hug and began walking back towards the exit.

"HISS!"

Suddenly Gwen found herself on the floor after being shoved away by Yukiko. The teenager was knocked back by something smaller, and Gwen was shocked by what she saw.

The creature had long white hair and wore a pink kimono, she snarled into Yukiko's face. Her sharp claws dug into Yukiko's arms, drawing blood. "Gah!" Yukiko cried out.

"Yukiko!" Gwen scrambled to her feet, and tried to help her cousin. The creature turned around and smacked Gwen away into the floor.

"Gwen!" Yukiko screamed, concerned. The heiress glared fiercely at the creature on top of her, willed the tarot card to life and bit down on it. "Amaterasu! Agi!" Her Persona came to life and spewed the fireball into the little gremlin's face. The creature flew back into the wall, grasping at the burns on its face.

Yukiko got up to her feet and ran over to Gwen. "Gwen! Are you alright!?" She helped the girl up to her feet.

"Y-Yeah...that thing just hits really hard," Gwen winced.

They heard another hiss and saw the creature standing on all fours, the saliva from its mouth dripping onto the floor, burning a hole into it.

"Stay behind me, Gwen," Yukiko instructed.

"R-Right," Gwen responded.

The gremlin rushed the heiress with malicious intent, it pulled back its fist to punch at Yukiko. The heiress summoned Amaterasu to retaliate. "Agi!" The creature smashed its fist into the fireball, creating a small explosion between them.

Before the smoke could clear, the creature emerged from the smoke ready to attack. It slashed at Yukiko, tearing three claw marks into her white dress. The heiress hissed in pain from the attack, slapping the creature with her fan.

The thing's head snapped into the left direction due to the slap, it pushed its hand into the wall and propelled itself forward.

"Agilao!" Yukiko summoned forth a stronger blast of fire. This time the creature was sent sailing back from the hit, the creature crying out from the burns inflicted across its body.

"What is that thing!?" Gwen asked, scared.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that it's about to become ashes!" Yukiko replied. Above the two the ceiling began to crack and crack until it eventually gave out.

CRASH!

Yukiko and Gwen coughed from the large cloud of dust that was created due to the ceiling giving out. When the dust cleared the two saw another gremlin in a purple kimono groaning as it laid on the ground in pain.

"Another one!? That's just great!" Gwen cursed their luck.

Suddenly Wildmutt crashed down on top of the gremlin roaring into its face.

"And that's our Ben!" Yukiko happily shouted.

"Well, that's at least better than nothing," Gwen said, relieved.

Before anything else could happen, everyone could hear footsteps and voices approaching their position. Without warning the purple gremlin kicked Wildmutt off of it, knocking the large dog into the wall. It scampered to its feet and hissed at the three of them, it rejoined its partner and the two leaped away into the shadows.

The Omnitrix beeped and Wildmutt turned back into Ben seconds later. The boy shook his head after turning back to normal.

"Ben!" Yukiko and Gwen rushed to his side immediately. "Are you okay, Ben?" Yukiko asked him.

"Ugh, yeah. That was weird though, what were those things?" Ben asked.

"I don't know, but something about them looked familiar," Yukiko answered. The family didn't continue their conversation as the local police arrived at their position.

The Tennysons stood outside of the haunted house, the building now closed down due to the battles that had taken place inside of it. Yukiko frowned at the sight of some kids looking downcast at not being able to go inside of the haunted house.

"Do you think it was the 'Phantom' again?"

"What?" Yukiko and her cousins turned to see some ladies speaking to each other.

"It could be, but I didn't think he'd show up again so early again. The festival had just started after all," One of the women said.

"Um, excuse me! What exactly are you two talking about?" Yukiko asked them.

"Oh, you don't know? Everyone here knows about the 'Phantom'," The elderly woman responded.

"We're new here, so we don't really know anything about this place," Gwen said.

"Oh, well then, the 'Phantom' is a spirit!"

"A spirit!?"

"Yup! He's been appearing during these festivals of ours for 10 years now. Every time he appears with his little minions something or someone gets hurt," The elderly woman explained.

Ben looked confused at that. "Then how come you don't stop having the Halloween festival?"

"Because we love our tradition! No 'Phantom' is going to prevent our town from enjoying our Halloween!" The women laughed and walked away.

The Tennysons stood there, figuring out what to do next. "What now, Yukiko?" Gwen asked.

"We should focus on finding Grandpa now. Those creatures were definitely related to this 'Phantom' guy, and if so then we need to find Grandpa now," Yukiko explained.

"You think they may have taken Grandpa?" Ben asked.

"Knowing our luck, that's probably what happened. But, it's not like we know where those things could've gone," Gwen said.

Yukiko shook her head, it was time to put her Investigation Team skills to use. "Those creatures looked familiar, don't you think?" She looked down at her cousins.

"They did? I don't remember any small creature trying to melt my face off," Ben replied.

"No, doofus! She means their clothes!" Gwen flicked his forehead. Ben glared at her and attempted to flick her back, but Yukiko held the two of them apart.

"Enough! Now, listen, their clothes were similar to that of Bella and Alice, Ben," Yukiko explained to him.

The boy's face lit up in realization. "So, what you're saying is…"

"Chris is the Phantom and that can also explain why he isn't here waiting for us," Yukiko finished.

"Knew there was something off about them! They just felt so weird to be around," Gwen exclaimed.

"Yeah, two little girls being unnaturally strong like that didn't seem right at all," Ben said.

"But, how are we supposed to track them down?" Gwen asked.

Ben just smirked and pointed down at the Omnitrix. "Just give me a few minutes and Wildmutt will sniff them out!"

Yukiko looked down at her hand, remembering her handshake with Chris. She wanted to understand why she got that weird feeling from him, hopefully she'll find her answers and her Grandfather.

The trio arrived at an old mansion. The building looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years, the atmosphere around it matched the celebration of the town's favorite holiday. Gwen was apprehensive about entering the spooky mansion.

"D-Do we have to enter it?" Gwen asked.

"Unless you don't want to find Grandpa, then be my guest," Ben said and walked towards the mansion.

"Come on, Gwen, it'll be fine," Yukiko followed after Ben. Gwen stood there for a few seconds, before sighing in reluctance and followed her family. On top of the mansion two glowing purple eyes could be seen watching the Tennysons enter the house.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Grand-" Ben's mouth was covered by Gwen.

"Are you out of your mind, doofus! Why are you just yelling like that!?" Gwen screeched into his ear. She suddenly yanked her hand back when Ben spat into it.

"Ew! You little brat!" Gwen wiped her hands off on the furniture.

"Quit being such a coward, nothing bad is going to happen," Ben rolled his eyes.

While the two of them argued behind her, Yukiko observed the interior of the living room. She found a picture frame sitting down on a table. She picked it up and examined it. In the photo were two adults, a man and woman, then two little girls in front of them. A picture of a happy family.

"Wait, these people are-"

"They're my family."

The Tennysons all turned towards the entrance way to the hallway. Standing there was Chris, but this time he didn't have his glasses.

"Chris!"

The man rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes glowing a bright purple. "I really didn't want you kids to get in my way. Had you just died willingly back in that haunted house then this wouldn't be an issue," Chris sighed.

"Where's our Grandpa!" Ben demanded.

"He's upstairs, asleep and unharmed. Well, for now that is," Chris answered.

"What do you mean 'for now'?" Gwen asked, worried.

"He'll become my sacrifice, so basically, I'm going to kill him," Chris shrugged, uncaringly.

"As if we'll let that happen!" Yukiko glared, pulling out her fan. Ben readied the Omnitrix, dialing up to transform.

"Alice! Bella!"

The two gremlins emerged from the shadows, claws extended to pierce through them. "Maragi!" Two fire shots exploded into the girls' faces, the gremlins cried out in pain.

Yukiko turned to Gwen. "Hurry and go find Grandpa! We'll take care of this!"

"Right!" Gwen raced up the steps.

Chris' emotionless face shifted into one of anger. "As if I'd let you!" He tried to fly through the ceiling.

"Agilao!"

He was hit dead center by the medium sized fireball, the phantom steadied himself and glared at Yukiko.

"Ben! Can you handle those two on your own?" Yukiko asked.

"Heh? Do you remember who you're asking? I'm Ben Tennyson, I got this covered! It's Hero Time!" Ben slammed down the core on the watch. "Ghostfreak!" He screamed out his name after transforming.

Ghostfreak grabbed onto the two gremlins, turning them intangible. "Time to show you freaks, how a real ghoul operates!" Ghostfreak pulled the girls through the floor.

Chris clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't know who that boy is or how he did that, but he'll be next after I kill you," Chris promised.

Yukiko steadied herself, Amaterasu floating behind her. "You can go ahead and try, Phantom," Yukiko glared.

"Don't call me that! Nobody gets to call me that, but her!" Chris yelled.

"Her?"

"Nothing will stop me! Nothing!" Chris' hands glowed bright purple with plasma. He shot a beam at Yukiko, prompting the heiress to roll with a dodge. She looked over to see that the Plasma had burnt through the couch behind her.

"Ok, so getting hit by that stuff is out of the question," Yukiko said to herself. She got back to her feet, ready to continue her battle.

Ghostfreak pulled the girls down and slammed down twins into the basement floor. The gremlins gasped in pain from the attack, Ghostfreak floated away from the two.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" He taunted.

The gremlins got on all fours and hissed at him in irritation. Bella charged at him, cocking her fist back for a punch. Ghostfreak dodged out of the way and laughed. "You missed!"

THWACK!

He crashed into the wall from Alice kicking him from behind, the Ghost boy didn't see her coming. Ghostfreak slid down the wall and groaned. "Okay...I should've seen that one coming," He groaned.

Bella attempted to punch him again, but her hand only went through his body. Her fist created a crack in the wall. She glared directly into Ghostfreak's one eye.

"What? You thought I was going to let you hit me again? I'm not that stupid!" Ghostfreak uppercutted Bella into the ceiling. Alice attempted to charge him, but he simply turned intangible and punched her into her sister.

The girls rebounded off the wall, they began circling him while hissing. Trying to figure out a way to get past his intangibility.

"You two ready to give up? I haven't even begun to warm up yet," Ghostfreak taunted them, increasing their frustration.

Alice and Bella eyed one another before nodding their heads. The two jumped back and spat into their own hands. The girls hissed from the burning of the acid spittle.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Ghostfreak asked, confused.

Pink mist began to seep from their eyes and onto their hands, suddenly a pink glow surrounded their hands. The girls stood on their feet, sinister smiles directed at Ghostfreak. Bella charged at the Ghost boy, cocking her fist back.

Ghostfreak rolled his eyes. "Seems you haven't learned your lesson-"

POW!

The Ghost alien crashed into the wall at a neck breaking speed. Alice grinned maliciously and sent her own punch into Ghostfreak's face, throwing him into the opposite side of the basement. The two cackled at the sight of the beaten up Ghostfreak.

"Ok...magic spit...didn't see that one coming," Ghostfreak groaned. He dodged an oncoming thrust from Bella, grabbing her wrist and tossed her aside into Alice. However, the purple gremlin slid underneath her sister. Alice punched Ghostfreak back into the wall.

"Gah!" Ghostfreak cried out. He phased through the wall before Alice could punch him again, the gremlin looked all over the room in hope of finding her target.

Suddenly the light in the room disappeared completely. That wasn't too much of an issue for her, as her eyesight was better than humans. Alice felt something behind her, acting quickly she sent a devastating punch at it.

"KYA!"

Alice gasped at the sight of her twin gasping on the floor. The purple gremlin was shocked by the development and missed the floating entity behind her. She felt a finger tap her shoulder and glared, but whatever she was going to do was halted by the sight in front of her.

In all of her life she had never seen something so horrifying and disgusting, whatever it was had completely shut her brain down due to an overwhelming sense of fright. Alice passed out on the floor and turned back to normal.

Bella tried to help her twin, not having seen whatever it was that her sister saw. But, a devastating right hook took out whatever sense of strength she had left. Both twins lay on the ground, defeated while Ghostfreak floated in the air.

"Happy Halloween! HEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Gwen raced up the steps as fast as she could, sounds of explosions and screams were heard below her. The young girl observed the top floor around her, seeing multiple rooms in front of her. "Which one would have Grandpa in it?" She opened a door in front of her, and to her disappointment her Grandfather wasn't inside of it. But, what grabbed her attention was how small the room was and the lone crib in the middle of it. The atmosphere sent a chill down her spine, making Gwen close the door quickly.

"Okay! Not this one!"

She continued to open door after door, hoping to find her Grandfather, but there was no sign of the old man each and every time. Eventually she came down to one last door, she opened it with as much hope as before.

"Grandpa!" Gwen gasped happily, finally finding her Grandfather. He was tied up on the bed, with his limbs stretched out to each corner of the bed. She rushed over to him and began shaking his body. "Grandpa, wake up!"

"Ggghhh...uh...what...Gwen?" Max asked, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Yes, it's me, Grandpa!" Gwen answered.

"What happened, I remember asking a guy for directions...and after that it was a blur…" Max started explaining.

"Don't talk, Grandpa! I'll get you out of here!" Gwen began untying the ropes.

"Where's Yukiko and Ben?"

"They're downstairs fighting the ones who did this to you, don't worry they'll be fine!"

"Agidyne!"

"RAH!"

Fireball met plasma in an explosion of heat, Yukiko stood her ground so as to not be pushed back by the wind created. She gasped when Chris flew through the smoke with a fist covered in plasma, she jumped back to dodge the punch.

"I won't let you get in my way!" Chris roared.

"Why is this so important to you!? Why attack my Grandfather!?" Yukiko demanded to know why.

"It doesn't concern you! All you need to do is die for me!" Chris refused to explain. He sent more blasts of Plasma at Yukiko.

The heiress dodged the blasts, not wanting to get melted by it. "It does concern me when you kidnap my Grandfather! Agidyne!" The large ball of flame smashed into Chris' face, sending him into the wall.

The shaking from his crash knocked over the picture sitting on the self, it fell to the ground and the frame shattered. Chris lifted up the photo, his face of misery wasn't missed by Yukiko.

"That picture, it's you and the twins right? Is that woman next to you your wife?" Yukiko asked.

"...yes...she was my wife," He answered.

"What happened?"

"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED!?" He dropped the photo frame onto the ground. His body glowing purple with fury. "This town happened! It took her away from me! On the day of Halloween they killed her! That's what happened!" He roared.

"That's why you attack the town every Halloween festival, as revenge for your wife," Yukiko said.

"Exactly! They deserve to suffer for it! I'll continue to make them suffer! Until they all know my pain!" Chris declared.

"Why did that involve my Grandfather?" She asked.

"No...that's enough talking! Don't try to stop me!" He blasted a strong wave of Plasma into her direction.

Yukiko summoned Amaterasu forth, and used her to block the blast, gritting her teeth from the burning sensation. She dropped to her knees, breathing heavily as Chris floated towards her, his fists glowing.

"You should've stayed away, Miss Yukiko. Then, I wouldn't have had to do this," He raised his fist, ready to end her.

"I could say the same thing," Yukiko said.

"Wha-"

"Agidyne...full charge."

Chris felt his body melting from the pain, as if he was inside an erupting volcano. He felt the flames wash over his entire body, then as quick as the pain came it was gone and he dropped to the ground.

"Shush! He's waking up!"

"You shush! You were the loud one!"

"Can't you two not argue right now!?"

"Kids! Calm down!"

Chris woke up to find the Tennyson family standing in front of him, all four of them arguing with each other. The man looked over to his side to see his girls tied up in rope with him. He tried to summon up some energy, but found that he couldn't.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you, that rope is coated in a special elixir that I had lying around the Rustbucket. You won't be making any moves for a while," Max said.

"I still wonder as to why you had that, Grandpa," Yukiko wondered.

"Oh-uh, don't worry about it, Yukiko! Anyway, I think our friend here owes us all an explanation," Max said. All four of them stared down at him expectantly, Chris sighed in reluctance.

"Fine, I know when I'm beaten. Decades ago my family and I settled down here to live a peaceful life."

"A peaceful life? Why would you need that?" Ben asked.

"Have you not wondered as to how the three of us could do this?" Chris questioned.

"Oh-uh.-we-uhh…" The Tennyson kids all stumbled under their words. They hadn't really thought about that part.

"To answer the question, my wife and I were born with these abilities. As to why, I can't tell you, because even we didn't know. Just one day we woke up and I could shoot plasma and she was able to transform her body into that of a wolf. Our daughters here inherited our abilities. As to why we had to move, it was due to us being discriminated against for our powers," Chris explained.

"That's awful, I'm sorry you had to go through that," Yukiko apologized. His abilities must've been that weird feeling she got earlier, maybe her Persona was trying to warn her? She shook her head, deciding to think about it later.

"Don't apologize, you had no part in that. To continue, we were all quite happy here, for the longest time there were no problems. Until, one day some kids were picking on the girls and they used their powers as self-defense. It caused an uproar throughout the town, especially the parts of the kids the girls had hurt."

"And it led to your wife's death?" Yukiko guessed.

Chris glared at the floorboards. "Yeah, those bastards wanted us dead, they wanted to kill us, but my wife sacrificed herself. Pleading for the villagers to leave us alone in exchange for her life…." Tears began falling from Chris' eyes.

"But, that doesn't explain why you wanted to use our Grandpa," Gwen reminded him.

"I was going to sacrifice him to bring back my wife! To use his life in exchange for her's!" Chris yelled.

"What!? Does something like that even work!?" Ben questioned.

"...I don't know...the ritual I found in the basement of this house explained it. It required the soul of someone who didn't belong within the town. But, there was no proof of it actually working. Still, I sacrificed so many people to try and get it to work!" Chris explained.

"So, you would've killed an innocent old man and have killed so many other people for something you weren't even sure was going to work," Yukiko glared at him, disgusted by this new information.

"I was desperate, okay! I just wanted her back!" He cried, the man curled up the best he could and continued to cry.

Ben was conflicted, on the one hand he wanted to be a hero and help the guy, but at the same time Chris had killed a lot of people and almost did the same to their Grandpa. "What do we do, Grandpa?"

"We do nothing," Max answered.

"What!?" His kids shouted.

"I made sure to record this conversation, so that we could report it to the police. As long as that elixir is constantly used, he won't be able to hurt anyone else. Once the police arrive, we'll hand him over," Max explained.

Yukiko nodded her head, to her the situation was kinda like Adachi. At the start they weren't bad people, but due to unlucky circumstances they made very horrible mistakes and must pay the price for them.

"Welp, that festival was a bust!" Ben leaned back in his seat. He and his family were currently driving away from the town in the RV. Not wanting to stay anywhere near it after all that had transpired.

"There's always actual Halloween, Ben," Max said from the driver's seat. He had parked the RV at a Gas Station to fill up.

"Yeah yeah, anyway what are Yukiko and Gwen doing back there? They kicked me out to be up here," Ben complained.

"I'm not sure, they said it was going to be a surprise," Max smirked.

"We're done!"

The curtains were pulled apart allowing Max and Ben to get a full look at Yukiko and Gwen. They were both shocked by the girls in front of them.

Yukiko was dressed in a black and red Witch dress. The blood red skirt was only a few inches above her knees and she wore short black heels on her feet. On her head was a cartoon-like witch hat and she had a crooked broom in her hands.

Gwen was dressed in a blue and black full body catsuit. She had a fake tail attached to her behind and cat ears on the top of her head. She had three fake whisker marks drawn onto her face and black circles painted around her eyes. Gwen blushed slightly from embarrassment.

"W-Why are we doing this again?" Gwen asked.

"Because it's fun!" Yukiko giggled. "What do you guys think?" Yukiko asked the males.

"I think you both look great," Max complimented his Granddaughters.

"HAHAHA! You both look stupid!" Ben laughed. Gwen growled at him, blushing red.

Yukiko tilted her head confused. "Why Ben, how could you say that? I got you an outfit too," Yukiko held up a wolf costume, making Ben pale at the implications.

"I-I-I don't think that's necessary," Ben said, nervously.

"Nope! I think the dweeb deserves his turn!" Gwen cackled.

Ben tried to get up and leave, but Max held him in place as his cousins pounced on him.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Special End

Chapter Text

Chapter 13: A Persona Alliance

Yukiko Amagi was a young woman of many talents and possessed the grace of an angel. Her mother would always compliment her ability to ease their guests' worries with her presence and her father would constantly compliment diligence to tend to the needs of others spectacularly. However, there are those who could see past the surface level of her features and see the true essence of her soul. A soul that was filled with the obnoxious laughter of a hyena.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed.

"It wasn't that funny," Gwen pouted. The younger female turned to glare at Ben who was walking next to her.

"I said I was sorry, geez!" Ben huffed. He just wanted a snack, not like he meant to cause an entire pyramid box of cookies to fall on Gwen. The trio were exiting the gas station and approached the Rustbucket. Their Grandfather was busy doing a bit of maintenance on the old RV, specifically washing off Ben's graffiti.

"Nice artwork, Ben," Max complimented.

"Aw, you know, it makes a statement," Ben shrugged. Yukiko giggled at the words Ben had marked on the window, the RV was due for a washing anyway.

BOOM!

The sudden explosion of a truck in front of them had caught them off guard. Yukiko pulled her cousins back behind her, the heiress pulled out her fan just in case of any attack that would come their way. She looked over to see where the beam had come from to see three people dressed as a hoodlum biker gang. Each one held large green rifles in their hands.

"What are you lookin' at?" The leader questioned the Tennysons. She pointed her blaster at them, prepared to kill any witnesses.

"Amatera-"

"Get down!" Max pushed his Grandkids aside, preventing the blast from the rifle from hitting any of them. The shot had hit one of the support beams that held up the roof above the gas station.

Yukiko felt her anger increase when the attacker had once more pointed her blaster at their Grandfather. "Like hell!" She seethed. She ignored the green flash behind her, knowing that it was Ben transforming.

The heiress revealed herself and pointed her fan at the criminals. "AGI!" The fireball hit thief(1), knocking the blaster out of her hand.

"W-What the!?" Thief(1) gasped at the weird fireball that came out of nowhere. She didn't have much time to contemplate it, since Four Arms landed in the middle of the scene. He smashed all four of his fists into the ground, creating a tremor that knocked the criminals off of their feet.

"GO!" Yukiko and Four Arms yelled at their family. The two noncombatants listened, rushing off to hide behind the RV.

Yukiko turned to see the driver of the truck step out of the wreckage. "Are you okay, Sir?" She asked him.

"Uh, y-yeah I think I-AHHH!" He took one good look at Four Arms and ran away screaming like a little girl.

"Am I really that ugly?" Four Arms asked Yukiko.

"Yes," Yukiko answered bluntly.

Four Arms looked offended. "You didn't actually have to-GUH!" He was prevented from finishing his sentence due to getting shot by an energy blast. He was knocked into another pillar of the gas station, right in front of Max and Gwen.

"BEN!" Yukiko gasped, she turned back to see the assailants pointing their rifles at her. "Amaterasu!" Yukiko called out her Persona to block all three shots aimed at her. The young woman was pushed back slightly by the attacks.

"What the? How the hell is she stopping us!?" The Leader questioned, confused by the invisible wall blocking their beams.

"RAH!" Four Arms got back onto his feet and roared. He once again smashed his feet into the ground, stopping the criminals from attacking Yukiko. They were knocked back by the shockwave, causing their helmets to shatter on impact with the ground.

"Thanks," Yukiko smiled at Four Arms.

"No problem," He nodded his head and picked up two of the thiefs. Yukiko watched as Four Arms took the helmets off of their faces, revealing the crooks to be women. "What? Y-You're all women? I don't want to hurt you," Four Arms said, apologetically. As brash and ungentlemanly Ben may be, his Mother didn't raise him to hit girls.(Bella and Alice didn't count in his book, he just classified them as monsters)

"Of all the times for chivalry," Yukiko groaned. While she was happy to see that her cousin wouldn't hit girls, now was not the time for it. "Be-KYA!" Yukiko cried out as she was kicked in the stomach.

The leader had regained her senses enough to retaliate back, grabbing the gun off the ground; she blasted Yukiko with it. The beam hit Yukiko in the stomach, sending the heiress flying into the RV.

"Yukiko!" Max and Gwen gasped.

Four Arms turned around to see Yukiko struggling to get back onto her feet. The leader pointed her rifle at him. "Isn't that sweet? The big red monster is a gentleman," She taunted before pulling the trigger. Four Arms tossed the other two women out of his hands before the blast knocked him into the truck. She removed her helmet to reveal her dark red mohawk, pale skin, and lips coated in black lipstick.

"Clobber her!" Gwen demanded as she helped Yukiko to her feet.

The heiress down to see the middle of her dress had been burnt off due to the blast, revealing a golden set of chestplate armor. "Thank goodness I decided to put the armor on today," She thought. She watched as the criminals surrounded Four Arms, her usually tough cousin laid there helplessly, too afraid to attack women. "Dammit, Ben. Nobody will blame you for attacking back," Yukiko grunted. She aimed her fan at them, ready to protect her cousin.

ZUUUUMMMMM!

Yukiko peered up at the sky after hearing the oncoming humming noise. Suddenly two drones descended onto the battle, shooting red laser beams at Four Arms. The Tetramand and crooks all jumped out of the way of the beams. The truck was blown to pieces and the money inside along with it.

"Those things, where have I seen them before?" Yukiko questioned.

The leader didn't take too kindly to her heist being ruined. "Hey! This is my heist!" Her partners however weren't too keen on continuing the failed heist. The leader scowled at her partners abandoning her, she lifted her rifle and walked towards the new intruders who were attacking Four Arms.

"Maragi!" Yukiko shot twin fireballs at the robots attacking Four Arms. The twin balls of flame knocked the robots away momentarily. The leader attempted to take the chance to shoot Four Arms, but Yukiko's fan smacked into her head. She fell to the ground in pain.

"Ben! Those drones must be after the watch!" Max informed him.

"That's right from the camp!" Yukiko recalled now. Back during the first night of this trip when Ben obtained the Omnitrix, he was almost killed by a larger version of those drones. That was also the moment where she reawakened Amaterasu.

The leader grunted as she climbed back to her feet. "Stupid little bitch!" She picked up her rifle and aimed it directly at Yukiko and Gwen.

"Gwen move!" Yukiko shoved Gwen out of the way as the beam raced towards her. She was ready to summon Amaterasu until a sharp pain erupted from her stomach. Apparently her armor had only stopped the earlier blast from killing her, but the knock back and her collision with solid concrete was enough to crack a few ribs.

Time seemed to have slowed down for Yukiko as she watched the yellow beam race towards her, the heiress closed her eyes and awaited for the inevitable pain. However, all she felt was a hard push from two strong hands. "Wha-"

"YUKIKO!" Max had shoved his Granddaughter away just as the blast reached them. It grazed his shoulder, creating a gash deep enough for blood to seep through. The yellow beam didn't stop and tore through part of the ceiling, causing some rubble to fall on top of the old man; knocking him unconscious.

Yukiko and Gwen watched in horror as their Grandfather was buried in rubble. "GRANDPA!"

"NO!" Four Arms screamed as he also watched Max get buried. Anger quickly overtook him and he turned back to the two drones. They tried to pierce through him, but he grabbed them before they could. "Nice try!" He smashed them both together and tossed both of them at the leader, knocking her out cold.

Four Arms sprinted over to his family, tearing the rubble off of his Grandfather as quickly as he could. They gasped in horror at all of the blood that was seeping out of his wound. Yukiko quickly summoned her Persona.

"Diarama!" She exclaimed doing her best to heal the wound, she had successfully managed to stop the bleeding momentarily. "We need to get him to a hospital!" Yukiko said, panicked.

Gwen reached for her phone. "I'll call 911-Ben!?" Gwen gasped as Four Arms grabbed all three of them.

"No time! The Hospital is up the street!" Four Arms yelled as he jumped down the street.

"Your Grandfather has suffered a severe concussion. He'll be out for several more hours. He also has several lacerations and a broken leg," The doctor informed them.

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Ben asked, his voice low enough to be a whisper.

"For a man his age, he's remarkably strong. He'll be fine after some rest. Now, it says on his admittance form that he was hit by a car bumper. Did someone back into him?" The doctor asked.

Yukiko didn't bother listening to Ben's response to the doctor's question. Her attention was too focused on her injured Grandfather as she held his hand. She had changed into a different dress that she kept folded inside of her bag(She wasn't risking another humiliating experience like with the Megawatts).

She clenched his hand as she stared at his injured leg. Her healing was only good enough to close wounds and numb the pain of injuries, she cursed herself for not being strong enough to fully heal him. Right now, she was just trying to keep herself together for Ben and Gwen.

"D-Don't blame yourself, Yukiko. None of this was your fau-" Gwen was cut off by Yukiko raising a hand.

"It's fine, Gwen. I'm not blaming myself...I just...I'm going to get some fresh air," Yukiko got up from her seat. "You two keep an eye on him, okay?" She left the room momentarily.

"Is she going to be fine?" Gwen asked.

"I hope so," Ben turned to look at their injured Grandfather, guilt also weighing heavily on him.

Yukiko sat on a bench outside of the hospital, the young heiress did her best to focus on the flower garden in front of her. Sadly enough, the flowers did little to distract her from the image of her Grandfather lying lifelessly-like on the ground. "Good job, Yukiko, you did such a good job of keeping your family safe!" She spat at herself. If she had just been taking things seriously and paid attention then her Grandfather wouldn't have almost died. The looks of horror on her cousins' faces were haunting alone, no matter what she had never wanted them to experience this type of pain. The pain of being unable to save the ones close to you, the pain of being the reason for them being hurt.

She could feel it, a memory that she had been trying to oppress in the deep reaches of her mind began to resurface. Yukiko tried her best to ignore, but no matter how much she tried it kept bringing itself back.

CRASH!

She gasped when her tarot card appeared in front of her, Yukiko grasped it between her fingers as the card shimmered brightly. "You want me to look at it, right, Amaterasu? Fine, I'll look at it."

"Senpai! Dodge!"

Yu Narukami dodged to the left as a blast of electricity blew right past him. The silver haired teen grunted when a desk almost smashed his head in. He watched as Kanji geared back up to strike him again.

"Persona! Yatsufusa! Agidyne!" The dog Persona unleashed a fiery wall between Kanji and Yu. He stepped back attempting to catch his breath.

"Senpai! Behind you!" Rise alerted him.

Yu was too late to turn around in time as Chie's foot implanted itself into his gut. Yu gasped in pain just as Chie was ready to send another devastating kick into his sternum. " Agidyne !" Yu quickly took advantage of Chie's weakness to fire. The martial artist winced in pain from the blast of heat. Yu was breathing heavily as he tried to fight off his friends, their fight against Namatame to save Nanako had taken a turn for the worse. The bastard had the audacity to mind control all of his friends minus Rise. Making the fight 10 times more difficult.

Yukiko watched from a distance as her boyfriend fought against his own team with the assistance of Rise. The young heiress wanted nothing more than to help him at the moment, but the red wheel above her head prevented her from doing so. She couldn't control her own body and neither could her friends. The child kidnapper had completely taken control of their bodies, they couldn't even attempt to talk to Yu to help him. All she could do was watch as he used everything he had to not get killed.

Kunino-Sagiri floated above the battle, observing the battle with his weird ass eyes. He turned his attention over to the screaming idol who was holding the little girl in her arms. The teenage girl was giving instructions to the silver boy the best she could, making it difficult to kill the sinner. He glanced down at the only one who wasn't currently attacking, which so happened to be Yukiko Amagi.

"Strike."

Yukiko felt her body move on its own. Her arm pointed her fan directly at Rise and Nanako as Amaterasu came to life right next to her. The young heiress gasped within her own mindscape at what the bastard was forcing her to do. Yukiko struggled, forcing every fiber of her being to resist against his power.

"Attack."

"N-No…"

"Attack."

"N-N-N…."

"ATTACK!"

"AGIDYNE!"

The super intense wave of fire danced across the white landscape as it raced towards the support member of the Investigation Team. Rise heard Yukiko's roar and turned to her right, her eyes grew wide at the deathly inferno that was coming towards her.

"SENPAI!" Rise screamed in fear, clutching Nanako closely to her chest.

Yu knocked Yosuke back with the hilt of his blade, he glanced over at Rise's direction. His grey orbs grew wide in fear at the sight of Nanako and Rise about to be roasted to death.

Yu raced towards them at a breakneck pace, ignoring the rest of the attacks that his friends were throwing at him. He jumped in front of the oncoming inferno and screamed. " IZANAGI -"

"NO!" Yukiko forced the card away as sweat poured down her face. The young heiress refused to think about the rest of that memory. She jumped to her feet, shaking her head to rid her mind of that memory. "I'm-I'm sorry, Amaterasu. I'm not ready to face that day again...not yet," Yukiko apologized to her Persona. She felt like she was running away like a coward.

"I-I should just get back to Ben and Gwen. I'm sure they need me right now," Yukiko sighed and headed directly back into the Hospital.

Unknowingly to her something was flying above the Hospital. A red skinned creature that looked to be a cybernetic human with four red bug like eyes and sharp metal claws descended down towards the Hospital. She scanned the windows of the Hospital and grinned when she spotted her target. "There you are."

CRASH!

Yukiko paused at the sound of the crashing noise as she was walking up the steps. Explosions soon followed after, alerting her that something wasn't right. "Ben! Gwen!" She yelled, worryingly. She bolted up the steps reaching the door to the floor her Grandfather was on. Until it was smacked open and hit her in the face.

"Yu-Yukiko!?" Ben stuttered.

"Ow! What was that about!?" She questioned.

"No time! We gotta run!" Ben took a hold of her wrist and continued their sprint down the stairs.

"Ben! That thing is the girl from the armored car robbery!" Gwen figured out.

"What? The one with the mohawk?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah! It's like she merged with those-"

"-Robot drones!" Ben finished Gwen's sentence.

"Merged with the robots? How is that possible?" Yukiko exclaimed, shocked. An explosion appeared above them, alerting them that Rojo(Yes, I'm using her name from this point forward) is quickly approaching. "Ok, ask questions later! Keep moving, you two!" Yukiko instructed.

Rojo jumped all the way down through the stairs, landing just after the Tennysons finally managed to exit the stairway. She turned around and shot laser blasts from her shoulders.

"Okay! Radical thought, now might be a good time to go hero!" Gwen said. As they exited the building, they entered the back parking lot filled with Ambulances. Yukiko stopped and turned around.

"You two get to cover, I'll hold her off!" She said. Deciding to listen, her younger cousins ran to hide between the Ambulances.

An explosion knocked the doors off of the exit and Rojo entered the scene. She slowly walked towards Yukiko, her shoulder blaster pointed directly at the teen. "Well, if it isn't the little girl from before. If you tell me where the Omnitrix is then I might just not damage your pretty face," Rojo taunted.

Yukiko glared at the villainess, her eyes burning with a desire for revenge. "You hurt my Grandfather and threatened my little cousin. That's two sins in a row, don't make a third one!" Yukiko spat.

"Aw, is the little princess mad? Don't throw a tantrum!" Her shoulder blaster fired a red beam at Yukiko. The heiress ducked under the blast and summoned Amaterasu.

"Agilao!" The fire spun through the air and crashed into Rojo. The cyborg skid across the concrete, grunting in pain from the fire blast.

"Stupid little-"

"Agilao!" Another fireball smashed down onto her body without a moment's hesitation. The searing flames began to melt through her body. Rojo screamed as her limbs felt like they were going to melt off, luckily enough for her the fire dissipated before any real damage could kill her. The cyborg climbed to her feet, completely pissed off.

"That's it you little bitch! I'm gonna tear you limb from limb before taking that Omnitrix!" Rojo used both shoulder blasters to fire at Yukiko.

"Amaterasu!" The Persona used her blade to reflect the laser beams, the energy beams explode against the rocky mountains around them.

"Don't get full of yourself!" Rojo charged at Yukiko, extending her sharp claws towards the girl's face. Before she could make contact another blast of fire nails her in the sides. The cyborg crashed into one of the Ambulances, she glared at the newcomer in the fight.

"I wanted Four Arms, not Heatblast!" Heatblast whined, lowering his hands. Gwen glared at him from behind her hiding spot.

"Quit complaining and help fight!" She yelled.

Rojo got to her feet and glared at Heatblast, infuriated at the new fire user. "I'm pretty sick and tired of fire already!" Rojo shot another wave of energy beams at the Tennysons, however her attack didn't hit them. Instead she shot the mountain above them.

"Ha! You missed!" Heatblast laughed.

"She wasn't aiming for us, Doofus!" Gwen pointed up at the oncoming avalanche. Rojo had shot the mountain, causing enough damage to force an avalanche upon them.

"Uh? Fire melts rock right?" He asked his cousins.

"No, Ben! Just melt the trucks enough to stop the rocks!" Yukiko instructed him. The fire boy nodded his head and did as instructed. The rocks crashed into the trucks, but due to them being hot and melted the rocks' momentum was stopped.

Yukiko turned her attention back to Rojo, but gasped when she noticed that the cyborg was no longer standing there. Yukiko growled in anger, knowing that her revenge would have to wait a little longer.

"Yukiko! There are still rocks falling towards the bottom of the canyon!" Gwen alerted her. The heiress and her cousins noticed that not all the rocks were stopped by Heatblast's move. They just bounced off the stopped rocks and changed direction.

"Aw man! Why can't anything ever be simple!" Heatblast raced towards the edge of the canyon. However, his rescue was stopped by Rojo crashing into him from above.

"I got you now-"

"AGIDYNE!" Rojo's pain-filled screams echoed loudly as she crashed into the ground. Yukiko sprinted forward, rage built into her eyes. "Ben, focus on the rescue! I'll handle her!"

"Got it!" Heatblast left to stop the avalanche.

Rojo winced and turned to Yukiko, launching another wave of lasers at her. The heiress used Amaterasu to block the blasts instead of reflecting them. The Persona raised its blade into the air and brought it down onto Rojo.

The cyborg didn't know what it was, but she could feel something dangerous coming towards her. She jumped back and flew into the air to dodge the sword's swipe. "What the hell are you!?" Rojo questioned.

Yukiko's icy hot glare bore into the cyborg's memory bank. "I'll explain it to your charred corpse. Agidyne!"

Rojo dodged the extra large fireball by the skin of her nose. She charged down at the heiress and fired off more blasts, forcing the heiress to dodge. Rojo used this chance to grab the heiress by the neck, lifting her into the air.

"Y-You-Ack!" Yukiko felt the claws constrict tightly around her neck. She began gasping for air as she watched Rojo smirk with glee.

"Don't worry, I'll send your little pissy party family to join-"

"LET HER GO!"

"Wha-"

Heatblast shot a giant torrent of fire into Rojo's back, forcing her to drop Yukiko. The heiress was lucky enough to fall into the stream of water below them and not the hard ground.

Rojo glared hatefully at the Omnitrix user below her. He lifted up one hand and made a 'come on' motion with it. "You want me, right? Then come on!" Heatblast pointed both of his hands to the ground and released a wave of fire. He shot off towards the city with Rojo hot on his tail.

Rojo repeatedly shot at him, destroying multiple construction vehicles in an effort to stop him. Heatblast changed direction and flipped over Rojo, forcing her to come to a complete stop in front of an oil truck. She gasped in shock when she realized she just got outplayed by a 10 year old.

"Oh no."

"Oh yeah! See ya!" Heatblast immediately launched a fireball at the truck, creating a powerful explosion that sent Rojo flying across the city.

After the battle the Tennyson trio sat inside of Max's hospital room. Yukiko dried herself off with a small Agi, thankful that she wasn't wearing a white dress this time. She stood to the side as she listened to Ben talk to their now awake Grandfather.

"When I was playing with the watch, I must've led her right to you," Ben explained.

"Since they moved me into a new room and you haven't gone alien since then, we're safe," Max said, his tired voice trying to reassure them.

"Yeah...just for this second, but what about tomorrow!? It's getting way too dangerous for you guys to be around me…" Ben said.

"Ben…" Yukiko muttered sadly. She was so focused on her own problems that she ignored just how much guilt he must've been feeling. "I'm a coward and pretty terrible sister figure too," Yukiko continued to beat herself up.

"If I just didn't have this watch, none of this would've happened," Ben finished.

"Yeah, but since it won't come off. There's nothing we can do," Gwen said, not wanting her usually energetic cousin to be upset.

"Maybe, maybe not," He said.

Ben placed a small note on his Grandfather's bed as the old man, Gwen, and Yukiko were asleep. "I'm doing this for you, Grandpa," Ben whispered before running off.

Yukiko opened one of her eyes as she heard Ben's footsteps get further away. She got off of her chair and opened the note that he left. She felt tears build up in her eyes, the boy was putting all of the weight and responsibility onto his own shoulders. He didn't want to endanger them, but he was putting himself in danger at the same time. "Of all the times for you to finally try and act responsible, you had to pick the worst way to do it," Yukiko placed the note back down and raced out of the room.

She knew exactly what this type of mindset could do to someone, she had seen just how much it almost crushed Yu during their time as the Investigation Team. She wasn't going to let Ben handle it alone, not now or ever.

"Wandering around a city looking for a 10 year old boy with an alien transforming watch is weirdly harder than I thought it would be," Yukiko stopped to rest her legs. The teenager had spent the whole evening trying to find her cousin, but she had no clue as to where he had run off to. "He could be anywhere…" Yukiko sighed.

Suddenly an explosion was heard going off a few blocks from where she was. "Huh? If that's not a coincidence then I don't know what is," Yukiko said to herself.

When she arrived at the police academy she found XLR8 and Rojo doing battle with one another. Yukiko was about to join in until a tank pulled into the scene. "A tank!?" She gasped.

It proved to be of no issue for XLR8 to out maneuver it, but she was shocked to see Rojo toss the tank aside like it was nothing. Yukiko stayed hidden until XLR8 began losing the fight against her. Her fear increased when she spotted Gwen getting out of the Ambulance that had just pulled up.

"Why can't that girl ever stay put!?" Yukiko sighed. "Agilao!" The fireball smacked Rojo aside before she could get her hands on Gwen.

"Yukiko!? Gwen!?" XLR8 quickly grabbed both of his cousins and pulled them both into an empty alleyway.

"What are you two doing here!?" XLR8 demanded to know.

"To stop you from handling everything on your own!" Yukiko answered.

"'It's better this way'. Sound familiar?" Gwen tossed the note back into Ben's face. Suddenly the Omnitrix began beeping, causing XLR8 to panic.

"So does that beeping!" He gasped before turning back to normal. "Aw, just great! Come on!" The trio began running away from Rojo.

"Maragi!" Yukiko shot multiple balls of fire at Rojo. The cyborg used her blasters to destroy each of the fireballs, when her sight was clear the trio were nowhere to be found.

The three were hiding behind some of the props in the sports area.

Gwen turned to Ben with a glare of her own. "Ben, you can't just run away from us!"

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do! This is my fight! My weird watch! Not yours!" Ben yelled at them both.

"And we're family, Ben! That means your problems are our problems! Yu-kun would always try to shoulder the responsibilities on his own and it almost broke him completely! Don't try to handle all of the responsibility on your own, we're here to help lighten that burder, Ben! You have to trust us!" Yukiko gave her speech.

Ben was completely floored by Yukiko's speech, he didn't know why but her words always managed to get to him.

"You're our weird cousin, Ben. That means we stick together," Gwen added her piece.

Once again the boy felt like an idiot, he kept trying to push people away in an effort to do things on his own. Maybe...maybe he should allow others to help lift his burdens.

Explosions increased behind them, alerting them that Rojo was still on their tail. Gwen spotted a way to escape. "In here!" She said, the three sprinted into the gym to hide from Rojo. Gwen's phone suddenly started to ring and she answered it. "It's for you," She handed the cellular device to Ben.

"Hey, Grandpa, can we talk later. I got an indestructible robot lady that none of my aliens or Yukiko can beat," Ben said.

"Ben, if you can't destroy it from the outside, take it down from the inside," Grandpa gave his advice.

Ben's eyes widened as an idea popped into his head. "That's it! Thanks!" Ben hung up the phone.

"So, is your head clear, Ben?" Yukiko giggled.

"Yeah, I think it's time we gave Robo-Lady an upgrade!" Ben activated the watch.

"But, we don't want to make her stronger," Yukiko tilted her head.

"No...Yukiko, that's not what he-" Before she could finish Rojo began blasting lasers through the roof of the gym.

"Run!" Yukiko yelled.

Ben ran behind a pillar and dialed up Upgrade, he slammed down the dial enveloping the room with a bright flash of green light. The liquid-like alien slipped up onto the ceiling just as Rojo finally broke in.

"Agidyne!" Rojo grunted from the heat of the attack, glaring directly at Yukiko.

"I'm getting sick and tired of dealing with your damn fire!" Rojo growled.

"Then how about an Upgrade?"

"Wha-"

Before she could even react, Upgrade jumped down from the ceiling and began merging with her. Yukiko and Gwen watched as Rojo attempted to fight Upgrade off of her, suddenly the two stopped moving. Yukiko slowly approached the two, concerned for her cousin. Suddenly Upgrade was flung off of the cyborg and was sent flying.

"Ben!" Yukiko shouted.

"Don't try that again!" Rojo yelled.

Yukiko twirled her fan and smashed the tarot card. "Agilao!" The fireball flew straight towards Rojo. The robot shot it down with her own laser and launched a few more at Yukiko.

The heiress rolled across the floor to dodge each shot and responded in kind. "Agilao!"

"Don't you have any other tricks!?" Rojo taunted as she blasted away the weaker fireball once more.

Yukiko smirked at the cyborg. "No, but he does," Yukiko pointed behind her.

Rojo turned around to see where Yukiko was pointing. "Wha-?"

POW!

Rojo went sailing through the air as a dumbbell smashed into her face. Upgrade had grabbed multiple dumbbells, fused with a treadmill, and began launching each one at the cyborg. Rojo was hit with another, before grabbing one with her hands. Using her increased strength, Rojo tossed it like a harpoon directly at Upgrade.

The mechamorph defused with the treadmill and slithered across the ground like a snake. Rojo attempted to shoot Upgrade dead, but the mechamorph dodged each one of her blasts.

"Stay still!" Rojo screamed.

"You first! AGIDYNE!" The massive wave of fire nailed Rojo in the face. The cyborg screamed in pain as she crashed into the floor. Upgrade grabbed a hold of her and smirked.

"This won't hurt a bit," He fused with her once more, undoing all of the cybernetic enhancements around her body.

"G-Get out of m-me!" Rojo grunted.

"Okay, I lied," Upgrade said as Rojo's body turned back to normal.

"I-I'm normal…" Rojo whispered.

"Abnormal is way more like it," Yukiko said.

Rojo approached Upgrade, no longer dangerous. "L-Look, I don't know what came over me, please you gotta help me!" She meant genuinely until her eyes saw the rifle from earlier sitting on the ground. "I-I'm just a girl," She said before kicking the rifle into her own hands, pointing it at Upgrade.

"And guess what!?"

Rojo looked over to see both Gwen and Yukiko sprinting towards her. "So are we!" Yukiko tossed her fan at the criminal, the air based weapon knocked the gun out of her hands before Gwen kicked her directly in the face. Rojo fell to the ground, down for the count.

"And that Gwen, is how we girls kick butt!" Yukiko and Gwen did a fist bump.

Upgrade picked up Rojo as they exited the destroyed gym. He handed her over to the police that had pulled up outside. "She's all yours!" He said.

"Have a good day officers!" Yukiko giggled.

The next morning Max was finally able to leave the Hospital, much to his Grandkids' relief. He still has to use crutches for a while, but it's better than a wheelchair.

"Ah, it's good to get out of here and get back on the road," Max said. As they walked back to the RV both Yukiko and Gwen turned to Ben.

"So, Ben, what happened back there in the gym? It's like you were possessed or something," Gwen asked.

"I-I don't know, it was like when I went Upgrade, I saw this alien. We were both floating through space and he was talking to me. He had this octopus head and he said 'I should be afraid'," Ben explained.

Yukiko noticed her Grandfather's hand tightening around the door handle as Ben described his merging with Rojo. Something felt weird, because what Ben said reminded her of something. A warning before the inevitable, the calm before the storm-

"Grandpa, you look afraid," Ben's words brought her out of her thoughts. She looked at her Grandfather's face, taking note of how quickly his face changed.

"I'm fine, and you'll be fine too. As long as we stick together," Max smiled.

Ben returned the smile. "Sounds good to me." The trio entered the RV, but the strange feeling in Yukiko's stomach didn't go away.

Something was coming and she didn't know what.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 14: A Persona's Last Laugh

"I should've just helped from the start," Yukiko watched as Ripjaws was surrounded by a ring of fire. Their family had stopped at a carnival pier to have some fun. However, a couple of thieves decided that now would be the perfect time to commit some illegal actions. Insisting that he could handle the situation on his own, Yukiko allowed Ben to do some solo butt-kicking.

"Amaterasu!" Yukiko summoned her Persona and manipulated the fire that was surrounding the fish-man. She carefully compacted the flames into a small tight ball, then smacked it away into the water.

"What the?" The crook was completely shocked by the sight. He was so focused on the weird phenomenon that he was completely caught off guard by Ripjaws' left hook. The punch was strong enough to send the crook flying into a can-stacking booth, knocking him unconscious.

Soon enough the Police arrived to apprehend the criminals. Yukiko carefully stayed in the back so that she wouldn't be noticed. She watched as an officer approached her cousin.

"I don't care what other people say, you Circus Freaks are okay by me," He thanked Ripjaws.

"Circus Freak? I'm not a Circus Freak. I'm a Superhero!," Ripjaws posed dramatically. The heiress giggled at Ben's need to be dramatic about his Superheroness.

Once he had jumped back into the water, she slipped away to wait for the Omnitrix to turn him back to normal.

"Zombozo's traveling Circus of Laughs?" Gwen read the sign as the RV drove past it. "Cool!" She exclaimed.

"I haven't been to a circus since I was a boy. Sounds like fun. What do you guys think?" Max asked his Grandkids.

"Oh! I've never been to a circus before. Inaba never really gets anything exciting like that," Yukiko responded.

Gwen turned to the older girl, an excited grin plastered on her face. "Yukiko, I know you're going to love it! The circus is such a fun attraction!" Gwen figured that with Yukiko's sense of humor, the heiress will have a blast.

"That's because you look the part, loser," Ben mocked Gwen. The boy was the only one who wasn't excited to see the circus, much to Yukiko's confusion.

"Ben," Max warned him.

The hero rolled his eyes. "The circus is kid stuff!"

"Hello? We're kids!" Gwen reminded him.

"Yukiko isn't!" Ben argued back.

"Yes, but I would still like to see it. I wonder if I could get a circus for the Inn?" Yukiko thought out loud.

"I really don't think you should…" Gwen was still shocked at the fact that Yukiko had sent the globe of Megawatts to her hometown. The heiress had assured them that even if the Megawatts managed to get free, they wouldn't be able to cause too much trouble. Nor would they even consider it if they didn't want to risk receiving another punishment from her.

Ben was deterred in the slightest. The boy gave out a fake yawn. "Besides, it's pretty late," He said.

"Ben, it's only 11:00 in the morning," Max reminded him. Ben grumbled in irritation at all of his attempts being thwarted.

"Fine, by me! Okay! Alright! If you guys want to go see some stupid circus, fine!" Ben gave up. He turned his attention to the window and glared at it.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to, Ben," Yukiko tried to compromise. She was held off by Gwen's hand.

"Don't let his negative attitude get in the way, Yukiko. We're going to have some fun!" Gwen huffed.

Suddenly, Yukiko wasn't so sure. It's not fun if everyone wasn't enjoying it together.

"Is this what a circus is like?" Yukiko asked. She observed some of the attractions as they walked through the front gate. There honestly wasn't as much as Gwen had been describing to her earlier, much to Ben's annoyance.

"S-see, it's nothing special. We should just go," Yukiko had noticed the small quiver in Ben's voice. There was something he was hiding from them, but she didn't know what.

"Step right up!"

"Hm?" Yukiko and her family looked over to see a man with a top hat and cane standing under a spotlight.

"Step right up to see a freak of nature! Who's strength knows no bounds! Thumbskull!" A large man with greenish skin and a freakin 'toenail on his forehead. Yukiko couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculously the man looked.

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She clutched her sides.

Everyone turned to look at the laughing heiress, confused as to why she was laughing so hard.

"Y-You look so stupid!" She pointed at Thumbskull.

The large freak glared and growled at her, while the Tennysons looked a bit embarrassed. "Yukiko! Cut it out!" Gwen whispered.

"R-Right right. Sorry," Yukiko regained her composure. If the circus was going to be filled with people like this, no wonder Gwen was so excited.

The announcer coughed into his hand to get the audience's attention back. "Y-Yes, well, next we have Frightwig!"

A red tendril with a black ball attached ripped the metal pipe out of Thumbskull's hands. The woman had 5 long tendrils of red hair. She was dressed in a black one piece that showed her shoulders, and black and yellow sleeves. "When this woman lets down her hair there's no telling what could happen!" She bent the metal like a pretzel with just her hair.

Yukiko didn't laugh this time, but she was definitely amazed. "Wow! She's definitely a weirdo!" Yukiko exclaimed. Her comment once again caused everyone to stare at her in bewilderment. Frightwig just glared at the heiress, irritated by the attention being taken from her.

She used her hair to place the pretzel pipe on the stand next to her. "Last but not least! The freak who's unique skill is as vile as his attitude! Acid Breath!" The disturbing looking man took off his mask. He opened his mouth to reveal his jagged teeth and released a toxic fume from his mouth. The gas had melted the pipe and the stand completely.

"Gross!" Gwen gagged.

"From this point forward I'm going to constantly remind Ben to brush his teeth," Yukiko said. The heiress was absolutely disgusted by Acid Breath and if she had her way, there would be a ring of fire keeping him away from her.

Looking down to do exactly that, Yukiko noticed that Ben was no longer next to her. "Again!?" She struggled to understand just how good Ben was at sneaking away from them.

Scanning everywhere around her she found the boy backing away from a tent. Walking over to him she placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump in fright. "Ben? What's wrong?"

He pushed her hand away and glared. "D-Don't do that!" He held his chest. The boy felt like his heart was going to pop out.

Not bothered by his words, the heiress pressed on. "Ben, you can explain to me what's wrong. This whole circus thing has been bothering you, it's okay to talk," Yukiko placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Ben looked her directly in the eyes and saw her sincerity. Had it been Gwen asking him right now, then he'd just blow off her question with his own bravado. There was always something about Yukiko that made him feel safe to talk with. "I-I just don't like the circus. It's not funny," He answered.

Yukiko could feel that he was still hiding something, but she didn't press on. It was a miracle that the boy had even answered her instead of blowing off her concern. "Alright, maybe I can convince Grandpa for us to just sit this one out," Yukiko suggested.

Ben was taken back by her suggestion. "R-Really? But, I thought you wanted to go see this?"

"If this circus is making you uncomfortable, then it wouldn't be right to force it on you. And it's not like I won't be able to see another circus again. We can let Grandpa and Gwen have this one," Yukiko gave him a warm smile.

Ben was seriously questioning why he was ever a jerk to Yukiko before, she was WAY nicer than Gwen. Before he could answer back the rest of their family approached them.

"Come on, you two. The show's about to start," Max said.

"Yeah, dweeb! Stop wasting time," Gwen added.

Ignoring his doofus cousin, Ben ran up to his Grandfather. "Grandpa! Can't Yukiko and I just sit this one out! I mean, it's just one circus!" Ben pleaded.

"It's making Ben uncomfortable, so maybe it would be best if he just sat this one out," Yukiko helped plead the case.

"What!? But, Yukiko, I thought we were going to enjoy the circus together!?" Gwen reminded her.

The heiress winced, remembering that she had promised to do this with Gwen. And she'd be a hypocrite to go back on a promise.

"No way, she promised me that we wouldn't have to see it!" Ben argued back.

"Why are you so scared!? It's just a circus!" Gwen yelled back.

"I'm not scared!" Ben shot back.

"Look!" Max's authoritative voice prevented their argument from continuing. "Ben, would it be fine for you to see one act at least. Then when it's done you and Yukiko can leave. Is that fair?" Max placed the deal on the table.

Ben crossed his arms and sighed. "Fine! I'll see the stupid show!" The boy marched past them and entered the tent. Max and Gwen soon followed after him.

Yukiko watched him leave with a frown on her face. Before she entered the tent she felt a weird tingle in her head.

CRASH!

Yukiko gasped when her tarot card appeared again. "Amaterasu? What's wrong?" The card vanished as soon as it appeared, but that only increased the sense of worry growing inside of her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages! The Circus of Laughter is proud to present! The Saulten of Smiles! The Crowned Prince of Chuckles! The Crim Tickler himself! The Star of our Circus! ZOMBOZO THE CLOWN!"

A tiny race car zoomed into the tent and exiting from the tiny mobile was the clown himself, Zombozo. The crowd laughed loudly at Zombozo's entrance, except Ben who only sat there with a baffled expression.

The car suddenly took off to get some distance from the clown. Zombozo was surprised but soon challenged the car with a grin. He pulled a red cape out of his glove and whipped it like a matador challenging a bull. When the car hit the cape it exploded into confetti. Everyone was laughing hysterically at the act.

"If you love clowns, then this is the place to be! You're gonna die laughing" Zombozo exclaimed. Behind him was a large machine with multiple circular cases on it. The machine began to glow as the laughter increased. "That's a Zombozo guarantee!"

Ben felt his own fear rise as he looked at the clown. The boy could no longer take it and got up from his seat. "I gotta go...get some popcorn!" Ben lied to get away from the clown's act.

"Maybe, I should've just let him skip out," Max said.

Gwen waved it off. "Welp, that just means more fun for us, right Yukiko?" Gwen turned to her female cousin. "Isn't this fun, Yukiko?"

"Hm? What?" The heiress turned to Gwen.

"I said, isn't this fun?"

"No, this isn't funny at all," Yukiko answered, truthfully. The heiress hadn't laughed once since Zombozo started his routine. "I'm going to go check on Ben," Yukiko left them to follow after the boy.

Gwen would've pondered it further, hell even had followed them. But, a sudden pull in her chest brought her attention back to Zombozo.

Ben crossed the entrance gate of the Circus entrance, breathing heavily from his running. But, the boy couldn't help it, he HAD to get away from all of that.

"Ben!"

He turned around to see Yukiko chasing after him. "Yukiko?" The heiress stopped next to him, breathing a bit hard herself.

"Ben, tell me what's wrong. You looked like you were staring death in the face," She stared him in the eyes.

"We-" He was cut off by the sound of glass shattering. The duo nodded their heads at each other and slowly made their way to the sounds of glass shattering. Hiding behind a car they saw the Circus Freaks breaking into a store.

"Woah, the Freaks are Felons!" Ben exclaimed.

"Never trust someone with breath that bad," Yukiko glared at the trio. They continued to watch as the Freaks broke into cars and an ATM. Yukiko looked down at Ben. "Ben, time for a show stopper."

"You read my mind," Ben dialed up Wildmutt and slammed down the dial. Yukiko covered her eyes as the light from the transformation died down. When it was finished, Wildmutt jumped on top of the car, growling at the Freaks.

Thumbskull backed away in fear. "D-Down doggy! Good boy!"

The Vulpimancer growled something as if trying to speak, it didn't take much for Yukiko to figure that her little cousin was trying for another pun. While Wildmutt had charged right in, Yukiko snuck around the cars for a better vantage point.

Frightwig attempted to grab Wildmutt, but a burst of flames knocked her hair away. The female Freak cried out as her hair was caught on fire. "OW! HOT!" She smacked her hair into the ground to put the flames out.

Wildmutt tore open their getaway car, with all of the stolen money and items.

"Hey, that's our stuff!" Thumbskull yelled.

"No, mutt is gonna steal my loot!" Acid Breath opened his mouth to release his toxic fumes.

"No, disturbing creep is gonna melt my cousin!" Yukiko growled. "Agi!" The fireball smashed the Acid Freak in the face, sending him flying back into the wall.

Frightwig growled at the familiar flames. "Where the hell is that fire coming from!?" She yelled. Suddenly another ball of flame came shooting at her, the female Freak used the balls on her fair to bash the fire away.

Wildmutt charged at Thumbskull, smacking the large lug into a wall. He roared at Frightwig, causing her to back away in fear.

Yukiko watched the scene, satisfied with herself. Everything seemed to be going perfectly- "Where did the bad breath one go?" She asked herself. The heiress had noticed that he had disappeared after she shot him in the face.

POP!

"Wha-"

POW!

Yukiko felt her body sail over the vehicles and smack directly into Wildmutt. The both of them tumbled on the ground from the sudden impact. Her head was ringing from the hit, gripping onto Wildmutt's arm, Yukiko looked at who had attacked her.

"I hear you like tricks."

"Zombozo?" Yukiko was surprised by his appearance. She could feel Wildmutt shaking at the sight of the clown, he bit the back of her dress to try and pull her back. "W-What are you?" Suddenly Frightwig's hair wrapped around her body, constricting her. "Gah!"

Too focused on his own fear, Wildmutt couldn't do anything to help her as he was pummeled by Zombozo. The orange dog flew right into the Cell Site, he whimpered in fear, and backed away.

Yukiko gasped, never having once seen her cousin behave like this before. And he only started behaving this way when Zombozo arrived.

"Don't forget about this one too, Boss," Frightwig held up Yukiko.

"Yeah, the girl with the motor mouth," Acid Breath said.

The clown grinned maliciously, staring at Yukiko. He placed a hand underneath her chin, lifting her head up. "Hm, she is quite the looker," He complimented.

"You perverted-" She was cut off by Zombozo's fist slamming into her face. The punch was too sudden for her to prepare for, knocking Yukiko out cold.

Wildmutt whimpered in horror at the sight of Yukiko's body going limp. Suddenly she was thrown towards him, her body rolling across the ground in front of her.

Zombozo turned to his Freaks. "Now, bring the curtain down on these side shows!" He commanded. The Freaks listened instantly using their unique abilities to bring the Cell Site down on the two heroes.

Wildmutt quickly used his body to cover Yukiko's, praying that the watch didn't time out as the tower collapsed on them both. Covering them in darkness.

Soon after, Ben crawled out of the destroyed tower, pulling Yukiko's body out of the wreckage. He laid her out on the ground and stared down at her. Guilt weighed heavily on his heart as he observed the bruise that was glowing on her face. He looked over to see the Freaks and Zombozo rushing back towards the circus and sighed. The next thing he knew, darkness covered his senses again.

When Yukiko awoke, she hissed in pain at the stinging on her cheek. "Dia," She whispered, allowing the bruise to heal. Picking herself up, Yukiko looked over to see Ben laying on the ground next to her.

"Ben," She called out to him, waking him up. He sat on his knees and stared at her in surprise.

"Yukiko! You're alright!"

"Of course I am," She smiled.

The guilt from earlier rose from his stomach. "Yu-Yukiko, I'm sorry. I-"

"Don't apologize, Ben. It's fine, let's go find Grandpa and Gwen. Those Circus Freaks need to be stopped," She slowly climbed to her feet and began marching back to where the circus was.

Ben watched her walk away, guilt still weighing heavily on his mind. If he hadn't frozen up like that, she wouldn't have gotten hurt. Shaking his head, he hurried after his elder cousin.

"Grandpa!" Yukiko and Ben ran over to the laughing old man.

"Heh, oh, kids. Heh, where did you two go?" He asked, lightly laughing. Much to Yukiko's confusion.

"Where did we go? Where did the circus go!?" Ben questioned.

Max kept chuckling as he looked around the area. "Heh, I don't know. I remember we were laughing, it was so funny. You would've liked it, Yukiko."

"No, I definitely didn't," Yukiko frowned.

Max started dozing off, feeling extremely tired. Yukiko walked closer to her Grandfather. "Grandpa, are you okay?" She asked.

"Heh, I just...feel kinda glum is all. Hehahaha…" He laughed lightly.

"Then, why are you smiling?" Ben asked.

"And where's Gwen!?" Yukiko asked, noticing that the other female wasn't present at the moment.

"W-With the circus...heh," Max answered.

"WHAT!?"

"Zombozo must've zonked out the entire town during the show. While his freaks robbed everyone blind," Ben said. The RV currently drove down the road, chasing after Zombozo.

"But, why would he need to kidnap Gwen?" Yukiko asked. The heiress was silently cursing herself for failing to keep her family safe again.

"I-I don't know. But, don't worry...we'll catch that clown," Max spoke, softly.

"Don't fall asleep, Grandpa," Yukiko reminded him.

Ben chuckled nervously. "Y-Yeah, who would be afraid of a silly old clown?"

"You," Yukiko answered, bluntly.

He jumped up, surprised by the fact that she had figured out his fear. "H-How did you-"

"Ben. You have never once backed away in fear like that before. In every battle we've been in so far during this trip, you've always fought with confidence. This was the first time you've shown that type of reaction," Yukiko explained.

Ben lowered his head, disappointed in himself. "I-I'm sorry, I must look like a loser, huh?"

"Ben, everyone has their own fear. When I was a boy, I was afraid of heights. But, enough was enough, so I climbed to the top of the water tower. Sometimes you gotta...you gotta...scare the fear out...of…" Max felt his vision go blurry. He couldn't stay awake any longer and passed out.

"GRANDPA!" Yukiko quickly took the wheel, doing her best to keep the RV from falling off the road. "This is not like driving a motor-bike!" Yukiko yelled. She struggled to keep the RV steady, seeing that they were about to fly off the road. "Ben! Stay strapped in!" She instructed.

"AMATERASU!" Yukiko roared. Her Persona flared to life and floated outside of the RV. "AGIDYNE!" The fire melted the road in front of them, creating a strong enough speed bump to slow down the RV.

The Rustbucket crashed into the rails of the highway, but thankfully it didn't fall off. The heiress felt all of the stress leave her body, and released a breath of relief.

Ben unbuckled his seatbelt and maneuvered around Yukiko. "Grandpa, are you okay?" He asked, shaking him.

"...So sad...so very very...sad…" He whispered.

"Grandpa, what happened inside the big top!? After we left?" Ben asked.

"Ben...Yukiko...I think that Zombozo robs people of more than just their possessions. I think he steals people's happiness…until there's nothing left..." Max answered.

"And he plans to do that to Gwen," Yukiko growled, pissed off. "Ben, let's go!"

"R-Right…" He answered.

The two snuck into the deserted circus area of Zombozo. The two watched as the Circus Freaks began stashing away all of the loot they had stolen earlier.

"Ben, you handle the Circus Freaks. I'll deal with Zombozo," Yukiko said.

"W-What!? But-"

"You're still unsure if you can fight him and I understand that. You'll have a much easier time dealing with these three. I know you can," She patted his head.

"Are you sure?" He asked, the scene from earlier replaying in his mind.

"I am," She answered. He nodded his head and began to dial through the watch. "And Ben…"

"Hm?"

"It's okay to be afraid."

"You're not afraid of anything," He responded.

She shook her head, thinking back to the summer that had forever changed her life. "A lot of things scare me, Ben. Those things sometimes keep me up at night to this day. That doesn't make me weak or you weak. You just have to push past those fears to protect what matters to you," Yukiko said.

"To protect…" He repeated, her words sticking into his mind.

"Yep, now go kick some butt," She pressed down the dial of the Omnitrix, illuminating the dark area in a green flash of light.

She watched as Upgrade slithered off to merge with a nearby baseball machine. Knowing that her cousin will be just fine, Yukiko glared at the main tent.

When she entered the tent, Yukiko was greeted by a wide array of trick mirrors. As she walked down the hallway, she could hear a dark laughter echoing around her.

"Heya, girlie! Nice to see you again!"

"Zombozo…" Yukiko growled.

"I didn't think I'd see you again, but it seems you just couldn't resist the circus!" He laughed.

Ignoring him, the heiress walked right into a mirror. "Ugh, stupid mirros," She winced. When she looked back into it, her reflection suddenly distorted into Zombozo.

"Come on, gorgeous! Show off that pretty little smile!" He suggested, sickly.

"How about you burn in hell?" Pointing her fan at the mirrors, Yukiko wasted no time at all. "Agidyne!" The room illuminated with a splash of red and orange, the flames melted everything around her in an instant. Yukiko stood amidst the flames as Zombozo's reflections all melted with the mirrors.

"Hey! That's not how the game is supposed to be played!" Zombozo yelled at her. Suddenly the world around her changed, and Yukiko found herself standing on a Spider-web.

"Aw, is the clown upset? Maybe, it's time for the closing act?" She pointed her fan down at the webs. "Agilao!"

Yukiko held down her dress as she fell down from the burning web, her feet touching solid ground. Looking around, Yukiko found herself standing inside of the big top. "No more illusions?"

"No point, when you'll just set everything on fire," Zombozo marched forward. The heiress scanned all over Zombozo's body, specifically the orbs that littered his suit. She could see the happiness from the townsfolk that he had mercilessly robbed.

But, what caught her attention the most was the sight of the figure on his top hat. She could see Gwen shriveled up and laughing as all of her happiness was being sucked away.

"Bastard…" She growled.

Zombozo raised his hand. "Ah ah ah. Don't-"

"Agidyne."

"GYAH!" He cried out as his body almost melted completely. The clown scrambled back from the enraged heiress, trying to regain his breath.

"Don't-"

"Agidyne."

"KYUA!" He flew back, skidding across the ground. He sat up, glaring fiercely at Yukiko, any sense of playfulness gone. "THAT'S IT! No more Mr. Nice Zombozo!" He snapped his fingers and the tent lit up.

Yukiko saw the machine from before attach a weird cord into Zombozo's back. Suddenly, she felt a pull on her dress and was lifted into the air. "Any clown worth their floppy shoes would want to make people laugh! tHeN sUcK oUt ThEiR eNeRgY lIkE a SpOnGe In A pOoL pArTy!" His distorted face yelled, spitting all over her face.

"You're a freak!" She grunted.

"I know!" He sent a devastating punch into her face, knocking Yukiko back onto the ground. "As long as I have this attached to me! I'm the strongest clown in the world, Princess!"

"Give her back…"

"Hm?"

"Give Gwen back! Before I turn you into melted wax on the floor!" Yukiko growled, getting back to her feet.

"If you want her so badly, then look over there!" Zombozo pointed over at the side of the room. A spotlight illuminated a small skinny body, slightly twitching on the floor.

Yukiko rushed over to Gwen. "GWEN!" Before she could reach, Zombozo appeared in front of her.

"Ah ah ah. The show isn't over yet!"

"Move or die," Yukiko threatened.

Zombozo just grinned sadistically as he held up a finger. "That girl's life force is still connected with my machine there. Try anything, and I'll make sure she's a shriveled corpse!" He laughed watching Yukiko's face morph into an expression of fear. Pulling back his fist, he slammed into Yukiko's face again. Then again and again and again and again and agai-

"Hm?" He turned around to see that he fist was being held back by something. He tried to pull his fist once more, but it just wouldn't budge. "What the-"

POW!

Zombozo was sent sailing back into his machine, the clown groaning in pain from the sudden attack. "What was that!? Who did that!?" He stared down at Yukiko's fallen body. The heiress hadn't moved at all.

"You've gotten carried away, Chuckles."

Zombozo jumped back, surprised from the sudden voice. The clown glared at the direction of the voice, but he couldn't see anything.

POW!

Zombozo's face was rocketed back by the punch, skidding across the ground.

"I always thought that clowns were the scariest things ever."

"Grr...How about you show yourself, freak!? This is my act!" Zombozo roared, angry. Suddenly a grey ghost-like figure materialized in front of him, confusing the clown.

"Losing my family is more terrifying than anything you'll ever be."

Zombozo charged at Ghostfreak, just for the Ecotonurite to disappear from his vision once more.

"You're going down, clown."

A Ghostly fist met the big blue nose, Zombozo was sent flying into his Psyclown machine. Due to Zombozo's body smashing into the glass cases, the machine broke and exploded. It released all of the happiness that was stolen from Zombozo. The clown stuttered out of the machine, glaring at Ghostfreak. "I'm warning you to back off, Freak!" He yelled, ironically.

"You want to see something really funny?" Ghostfreak asked. The ectonurite pulled back its skin, revealing his true form to the evil clown.

The clown's eyes grew wide in fear, as he stared into the horrific sight that no man should ever see. He ran away into a corner of the tent, petrified for his very own life. Ghostfreak floated down towards the terrified clown.

"Aw, don't tell me you're afraid of little ol' GHOSTFREAK!"

"P-Please! No more!" Zombozo begged.

"Boo."

Zombozo exploded. No literally, the clown exploded into confetti.

"Okay, that even freaked me out," Ghostfreak said, as the watch began to beep. Ben turned back to normal and ran over to his cousins.

"Yukiko!" He shook her awake, noticing all of the bruising on her face.

"B-Ben? What happened? Where's Zombozo?" She asked.

"Him? Uh, not really sure. Kicked his butt, though. Guess you can say I got the last laugh!" Ben smirked.

Yukiko looked over at the pile of confetti on the floor. "I still couldn't keep them safe...Ben had to be the one to save the day…" She felt a sense of pride knowing that Ben faced his fear of clowns, but she couldn't overcome the sense of failure that was building up inside of her. "Let's go grab Gwen," She said.

The Rustbucket drove away from Zombozo's hideout as the Police arrested the circus freaks.

"You feeling okay, Grandpa?" Ben asked.

"Happy as a lark. Pretty clever. You scaring away your fear like that," He winked at Ben.

"Thanks," He smirked.

"BOO!" Gwen suddenly jumped up, trying to scare him.

"Oh, hi Gwen. Trying out some new make-up?" Ben smirked, no longer afraid.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko fell out of her seat laughing at Gwen's mask.

Gwen grumbled at both Ben and Yukiko. "Ugh! You're no fun anymore!" She threw away the mask. "And stop laughing!" She yelled at Yukiko.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 15: Hugs

Yukiko sighed dejectedly as she chopped the onions in front of her, the heiress' hands absentmindedly dropped the slices into the pot next to her. The substance inside of the pot began to groan in pain, emitting a disturbing aura as some liquid was spat out of the pot.

Gwen shivered as she heard the noise coming from the pot, her stomach dreading the eventual lunch to come. She looked over to Ben to see the boy playing his video game, not even caring for the substance that'll have to enter his system. "Uh, Yukiko?"

The teen made no movement to show that she had heard Gwen, she just kept stirring the pot in front of her.

Gwen found it weird that Yukiko hadn't immediately responded to her, so she decided to try again. "Uh, Yukiko?"

The heiress perked up that time. "Oh...Gwen, don't worry. The food will be done in a bit," Yukiko answered.

"No, I prefer it if the food never finishes," She thought. "I was going to ask if everything was alright. You seem...uh…"

"Depressed," Ben cut-in. His eyes took a quick glance away from his game for a moment. Both he and Gwen noticed how Yukiko flinched after Ben spoke.

Yukiko turned off the stove and turned to her cousins. A fake smile was plastered all over her face, the heiress clapped her hands together. "I-I'm fine, you two. I've never felt better! Just give me a moment to fix your plates!" She quickly turned back around to place the food(?) on two separate plates. Yukiko quickly placed both plates in front of Ben and Gwen.

"Now, if you excuse me, I'll just go outside for a bit," Yukiko said.

"You're not gonna eat with us?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"N-Not today, I just need to get some fresh air. I'll be back," Yukiko exited the RV before the two could question her any further.

The two children glanced at each other before looking down at their plates. "Well, I'm not eating this," Ben said. He carefully lifted the plate and walked over to the trash can. He tossed the Mystery Food X inside of it and walked back over to his game system.

Gwen sighed at how carelessly he just threw away the food, but she couldn't exactly blame him. She was pretty sure Mystery Food X didn't classify as food.

The two had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

"What are we gonna do, Ben?" Gwen asked.

"Do what?" He asked back, confused.

The girl rolled her eyes at his cluelessness. "About Yukiko, doofus! You've seen how she's been the last couple of days. She's rarely smiled or laughed at anything since the whole Zombozo fight. She's way more quiet than usual!" Gwen explained.

Ben resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her, of course he had noticed Yukiko's behavior. He just didn't really know why she was acting all depressed. If anything she should be happy that they've been kicking butt. "What do you want us to do about it? Ask her about it?"

"We've already just tried that and obviously she'll just dodge the question. We need to do something to cheer her up," Gwen suggested.

"I could throw food at you. That should make her laugh," Ben smirked.

Gwen glared at the boy. She stepped on his foot, causing him to scream. She took that opportunity to shove the Mystery Food X on her plate into his mouth.

Ben dropped to the floor gagging on the disgusting substance that had entered his system and Gwen broke into a laughing fit of her own, clutching her stomach.

Ben spat the food(?) out of his mouth and glared at his dweebazoid cousin. "You think you're so funny, huh!?" He activated the Omnitrix and slammed down the dial.

Gwen's laughter ceased when a green slimy goo had smacked her right in the face. The multi-talented girl began screaming in pure disgust and tried to tear the slime off of her.

Stinkfly laughed hysterically at her as Gwen managed to pull the gunk off of her face. The girl's face was hot red with anger and embarrassment. "You are so dead, dweeb!" She pounced on the bug with full intention to hurt him. Stinkfly cried out in surprise at the sudden attack from Gwen.

The two continued to trash around the RV, completely forgetting their original objective.

Yukiko sat down on a bench in a park that they had parked nearby. She needed some time away from her cousins, while she loved them, they could be a bit too nosey. The heiress released a sigh as she reflected on everything that's happened to her since the summer had started. The craziness that somehow managed to match the insaneness of last year for her. Evil scientist, murder robots, aliens, evil clown, lake monster, a family of monsters, crazy cyborg lady, and a kid with mutant powers. "And to think it all started with an alien watch doing what it did, sticking itself to the wrist of a 10-year kid. And I thought Personas and a TV world would be the craziest things to happen to me," Yukiko laughed, humorlessly.

"I wonder how the others would react to all of this?" Yukiko asked herself. She hadn't revealed anything about how the summer had been going to any of her friends. The heiress had thought about it earlier on near the start, but decided against it. This wasn't her secret to tell and the point isn't for anyone other than the four of them to know about.

"Yukiko?"

The heiress perked up at the familiar voice of her Grandfather. She saw him standing there with a few bags in his hand. The old man walked over to her. "Grandpa? You're back already?" She asked.

"Yeah, it didn't take long to handle all of my errands this time. What are you doing out here?" He asked, noticing her distress.

Yukiko hesitated to speak, not sure if she should tell him the truth. But she could see his desire for help, much like how Yu would look at her when she needed advice. "I...I just don't think I'm strong enough to protect them."

"Protect them? You mean Ben and Gwen," He figured out.

Yukiko nodded her head. "Yeah, I just feel like I'm not strong enough. Every time we've gotten into a life-or-death battle, I couldn't always keep you guys safe. Rojo's group almost killed you, those bounty hunters almost killed us, and Zombozo would've won if Ben hadn't beaten him. I allowed Zombozo to get into my head and Gwen almost paid the price for it," Tears started building up in her eyes as she remembered Gwen's shriveled body. Since that night Yukiko had a few nightmares about it, about what if the watch timed out at the wrong moment. If Ben was left helpless at the hands of Zombozo while she was unconscious, the horrible things that could've happened to him and the rest of them.

Yukiko felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her smaller frame. She looked to see that her Grandfather was hugging her. "You're wrong, Yukiko, you are stronger than you think," He said.

"But, I can't protect-"

"Your presence has helped them both out more than you think. Gwen has started being more social than I could remember her being before this summer started, having you as a role model has begun to change her for the better. And Ben has begun to realize that there's more to life than just himself. To trust his own family and to keep them safe should be his biggest priority. The fact that he could even confide in you with his own fears is proof enough, Yukiko," Max spoke softly. He rubbed the center of her back as the heiress cried softly.

"You're helping these kids a lot more than I could, you've given them someone to turn to whenever they're uncertain about something. You're their big sister, Yukiko. You're strong and you always have been."

She nodded her head as she soaked in his words. The tears continued to fall down her face as the two sat there for a few more moments. Yukiko felt like she grew a bit closer to her Grandfather today.

The two walked back to the RV, Yukiko helping her Grandfather carry some of the bags that he brought.

A bright red flash from inside the RV caught their attention. Giving each other a quick glance, the two raced to the RV to see what happened. However, what they were met with completely went against whatever thoughts that had been going through their heads.

The inside of the Rustbucket was completely trashed with whatever was left of Mystery Food X and Stinkfly's goop splashed all over the interior. The pots and pans were discarded all over the place and the refrigerator's door was torn off.

Ben and Gwen were laying on the floor, completely covered in discarded food and green gunk. The two looked at the very pissed off look of their Grandfather before scrambling to their feet and pointing at each other.

"HE/SHE DID IT!"

Before Max could scold the two beyond belief, a soft giggling could be heard. Everyone turned to Yukiko who was trying to hold herself back. The heiress' face was bright red as she attempted to keep her laughter in, but she failed miserably.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko fell onto the RV's floor, cackling at the top of her lungs.

Everyone could only sweat drop as they stared at the hyena sounding teenager on the floor. But, small smiles graced their lips as they heard the familiar laughter of Yukiko.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Special Chapter: Happy Birthday!

Black orbs fluttered open to meet the bottom end of a top bunk. Yukiko released soft breaths as she awoke to the quiet sounds of the RV. A smile graced her lips as her tired body appreciated the silence inside of the Rustbucket, with the occasional chirping from birds outside. She took a deep breath through her nostrils and closed her eyes, wanting to get a few more minutes of sleep.

"Wait a minute."

Yukiko's eyes shot back open as the situation of her environment finally dawned on her. She laid in her lower bunk and listened to the silence within the RV. "It's too quiet. It's never this quiet in here," Yukiko said to herself.

Ever since joining her Tennyson side of the family on this Summer Road Trip there had never been a quiet night or morning inside of this RV(Especially with Ben and the Omnitrix). Whether it was Ben's snoring, Gwen's sleep talk, or Max's constant need to use the bathroom at night; there was never really any quiet.

The mornings would be swamped with everyone moving around to get ready for the day and filled with her younger cousins arguing.

Quickly moving off of the bunk to stand on her feet, Yukiko looked out of the windows to see if her family was nearby. The only thing she saw was the sun's morning light shining down on the green grass below. "Where could they be? Ah! Were they kidnapped!?" She gasped at the terrifying thought. However, she quickly dismissed it. "No, if there was an attack I definitely would've heard it or seen signs of a battle," She figured.

After gathering her outfit for the day, Yukiko made her way into the bathroom. She pulled back the shower curtains and gasped in horror. On the shower's wall was a big green ball of Stinkfly's goop. A piece of paper was stuck to the goop, and the heiress hesitantly reached for it. "Ew. Ew. Ew!" She shook the gunk off the paper and read it.

"Muahahaha! Yukiko Amagi, if you're reading this note then that means that your family has been kidnapped! I have trapped them within a special containment cage that is also a bomb! If you want to see your family again, then come to this address! [Insert random Address here]"

Dr. Buttrocks!

"AH! So, they were kidnapped!?" Yukiko gasped in fright. She looked over the address again to memorize it before setting the paper on fire, because there were still pieces of gunk on it. "Don't worry, everyone! I'll save you soon!" Yukiko declared, fiercely.

"...After I get dressed and clean off this wall," Yukiko pointed her hand at the green gunk and promptly launched a ball of flame at it. Not taking into consideration just how big of an explosion might be caused.

"GAH!"

"Are you okay, Grandpa?"

"Y-Yeah…I just have a bad feeling is all…"

"I'm sure Grandpa won't be too upset about the scorch marks," Yukiko hoped as she ran down the sidewalk. The bathroom wall had scorch marks littered all around it due to Yukiko's attempt at extermination. She was now dressed in a white blouse and black skirt that reached down to her ankles.

Her mind drifted to the thoughts of all the horrible things this Dr. Buttrocks- "Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She couldn't stop herself from laughing at the idiotic name, now that she had time to dwell on it. "Who names themself Dr. Buttrocks? Sounds like something Ben would've came up with to be funny," Yukiko sighed, giggling.

The Heiress made it to her destination, which was a one-story warehouse with all of its window blinds closed. Yukiko approached the warehouse and tried to turn the doorknob a few times, only to find out that it's locked. Weirdly enough Yukiko could hear some muffled noises inside of the warehouse, almost as if the voices were whispering an argument. She decided to ignore it since her family needed her help.

"Amaterasu! Agilao!" Yukiko pointed her fan at the door, allowing her Persona to blast the door open with the medium sized fireball.

"OH CRA-!"

"EEEKKK!"

BASH! CRASH! BAM!

"That sounded like…" Yukiko rushed inside of the building. "Ben!? Gwen!?" She yelled after hearing their screams. All she could see was total darkness and hear some groaning and a tired sigh.

Suddenly, the lights to the warehouse had cut on, allowing Yukiko to finally see what was inside of the warehouse. There wasn't any sort of technological cage designed as a bomb with her family inside. Nor was her family in any form of peril.

In front of her was a large banner with HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAYS, YUKIKO painted on it hanging from the ceiling. There were a few tables with party games lined up on top of them, and some streamers. Next to the tables was her Grandfather who was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"And it was going so smoothly too," He sighed.

"Uh, Grandpa, what's going on? Where's Ben and Gwen?" Yukiko asked, confused.

"Look over there," He pointed over to the side. The Heiress looked over to the side of the room to see the door that she had blown off lying on the ground, a scorch mark on it. However, that wasn't the weirdest part about the scene. Underneath the torn door were two pairs of familiar limbs twitching in pain, groans being heard from underneath.

"Oh no!" Yukiko rushed over to her cousins and pushed the door of them.

Ben and Gwen were on the floor, the two toppled on top of each other. Gwen pushed Ben off of her and released a tired sigh. The Omnitrix bearer was doing his best to not transform out of pure irritation.

"Ben! Gwen! What happened to you two!?"

"YOU HAPPENED!" They yelled at her with shark teeth. The two 10 year olds were on their feet in seconds angry.

"This wouldn't have happened if Ben hadn't locked the door like a doofus!" Gwen turned to yell at the boy. Pushing her finger into his chest.

"Me!? You never said we weren't supposed to lock it!" Ben defended himself.

"Why would you lock the door of a surprise party!? We want her inside the place, not outside!" Gwen yelled.

"Maybe if your instructions were clear enough, I would've known that!"

"It's common knowledge, you dimwit!"

Having had enough of the bickering and confused as hell, Yukiko intervened. She took her fan and bopped both of her cousins on the head with it.

"Ow!" They both gripped their heads in pain.

"Quit it, you two! Can someone please explain what all of this is about!?" Yukiko exclaimed, motioning towards the entire failed surprise party.

Max sighed again and walked towards his Grandkids. "This was supposed to be a surprise Birthday party for you," He answered.

"Birthday party? But, my birthday is in December," Yukiko pointed out.

"I know, but I've missed 17 years of your Birthdays. So, I wanted to do a little something for you. So, I had Ben and Gwen help me set this up over the past couple of days. I had Ben and Gwen write that note for you," Max explained.

"Wait, so that's why you three kept going off so suddenly?" Yukiko asked.

"Yup! And it all would've been a success if Ben didn't muck it up!" Gwen growled.

"Not my fault!" Ben retorted.

Max put his hands up. "It doesn't matter who's fault it is. What all three of us have been wanting to tell you, Yukiko is…"

Max brought his arms back from behind his back to showcase the cake they had bought for her Birthday. Gwen and Ben flanked his sides and stuck out their arms.

"Happy Late Birthday, Yukiko!" All three shouted together.

The Heiress' eyes widened as she stared at her family. Now that she was aware of what was happening she once again gazed around the warehouse. "They did all of this for me? I never mentioned my Birthday at all or even expressed any thoughts about wanting anything," Yukiko's heart was brimming with warmth at the gesture the three had put together.

"Thank you, all of you," A warm smile graced her lips.

Max nodded his head. "Now, that's settled. How about some cake before we play the games?" He suggested.

"Alright! I've been craving some cake!" Ben cheered. He reached for it, but Max pulled the cake away from him.

"No, Ben. Yukiko gets the first slice," He said. The 10 year old huffed in annoyance.

"Fine! I can wait a few seconds," He waved off. He watched as Max placed the cake onto the table with Yukiko and Gwen following after him. Ben smirked evilly and activated the Omnitrix, he scrolled through his roster, and slammed the dial down.

Gwen turned around at the sound of the flash, only to find Ben gone. A chill was sent up her spine as something invisible had quickly flown past her. The girl turned back to her Grandfather and older cousin to find Yukiko was about to take a piece of the cake for herself.

"Uh, Yukiko?"

"Hm? Gwen, what's the matt-"

SPLAT!

Before Yukiko could finish her sentence the cake had been slammed into her face by an invisible force. Everyone stood frozen at what had just transpired, completely baffled. Until a familiar laugh began to echo within the warehouse.

Ghostfreak turned tangible and was clutching his stomach as he laughed uncontrollably. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, man! That was hilarious!"

"BEN!" Gwen and Max yelled at him, angry.

"What!? It's just a prank?" He continued to laugh. His boisterous laughter continued until he felt something constrict around his ghostly body. "Uh? W-What?" He saw two golden arms wrap around him tightly, holding him in place.

All eyes turned to Yukiko, who was still standing still, pieces of cake littered across her face. Even with how ridiculous she looked there was a dangerous glint in her eyes that sent a shiver down Ghostfreak's spine.

"Seems someone has gotten a little bit ahead of himself? Time for some discipline!" A dark aura began radiating off of the heiress body. Gwen instinctively ran behind her Grandfather, hoping that she would be safe.

Ghostfreak began shaking in fear, trying to escape Amaterasu's hold. "W-Wait, why can't I phase out of this!?"

"Amaterasu counts as a spirit, Ben. You're trapped," Yukiko's giggle did little to ease the growing fear in his heart. The teenager was slowly making her way over to him, a sickening sweet smile plastered on her face.

"I-It was just a joke! Wasn't it funny!?" Ghostfreak panicked. He closed his one eye as Yukiko got closer to him, hoping whatever pain was coming would be quick.

SPLAT!

"What?" The ghost blinked in surprise as he felt cake frosting all over his face. The next thing he heard was Yukiko's hyena laughter as well as Gwen's and Max's laughter.

Yukiko was doubled over, clutching her own stomach. "Y-You're right, Ben! It was pretty funny! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She pointed at him, teasingly.

"Y-You should've seen the look on your face!" Gwen was wiping a tear from her eye.

"S-She got you good, Ben!" Max was chuckling at his Grandson's karma.

The watch began beeping and Ghostfreak turned back to Ben. The boy was unceremoniously dropped back onto the ground, cake frosting still on his face. He glared at his family embarrassed about getting his own joke thrown back at him. "Oh yeah? Well how about this!?" He slid over to the cake on the floor and tossed a handful at Gwen.

The ball of cake made contact with her face, knocking Gwen onto her butt. The younger female glared at him. "You little-I'm gonna get you for that!" She charged at him and tackled him into the rest of the spilled cake mess.

Yukiko walked over to the two. "Stop that! You're gonna get cake all over the pla-" She was cut off by the two pulling her down with them, shoving more cake frosting into her face. "Oh, you two are gonna get it now!" Soon enough the cake that was supposed to be eaten by the four of them had been turned into a miniature food fight between cousins.

Max shook his head, knowing he probably should've expected this. He turned around and pulled out another cake that he had bought just in case Ben somehow managed to ruin the first cake. He walked over to the three of them with the new strawberry cake in hand. "Kids!"

The three paused and turned to their Grandfather, their clothes now dirty and ruined with cake frosting and vanilla coverings. Suddenly, Yukiko was met with another piece of cake smashed into her face, and fell backwards.

Ben laughed loudly at the sight until a piece was smashed into his own face.

Gwen did the laughing this time until she also was sent falling back with cake to the face. The three Grandkids sat up, blinking owlishly at their Grandfather's smirking face.

"What? Did you kids think your old man wouldn't be able to keep up?" He grinned.

Ben was the first one to get his wits back together. "Alright! FAMILY FOOD FIGHT!" He took a chunk of cake off his face and tossed it at Max, hitting him in the face.

"I'm not gonna lose to you!" Gwen pressed her cake filled hands into Ben's face. She was unprepared for Yukiko to drop another chunk down her shirt. "Gya!"

"I'm not out of this yet!" Yukiko giggled, until Max had pelted her with some more cake balls into her back. She was knocked into Gwen and the two fell onto Ben.

Max was quickly attacked by all three of his Grandkids, with hands full of strawberry and chocolate cake.

For the rest of the day the warehouse was filled with the rambunctious laughter of the Tennyson family as they completely destroyed the inside of the warehouse.

Max pulled the cover over his Grandkids as the three slept soundly. After having to clean up the gigantic mess they had created from the party, the Tennysons had made their way back to the RV. None of his Grandkids had changed out of their cake covered clothes due to how exhausted they were from the food fight. All three had passed out on Yukiko's bunk, and immediately fell asleep.

The Grandfather smiled at the heartwarming sight of it. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a picture. The four of them had taken a photo at the end to remember the fun they all had today.

Ben had a huge grin on his face as he was standing in a pose, his hand thrusted forward making a peace sign, his face littered with strawberry frosting. Gwen was smiling just as wide as Ben, making a double peace sign with her hands. In between them both was Yukiko who had her hands on their heads, laughing joyously at the mess they had created. Behind all three of them was himself, having to stand in the back because of his height. He had an equally large smile as his Grandkids and held up his own peace sign to match.

Releasing a content breath, he looked out the window at the clear night sky. "17 years, huh? Soon she'll be 18 years old, I missed so much of her growing up. I'm sorry, son," Max whispered to himself, his mind replaying old events from the past.

Shaking his head, he put the picture away into a photo album and moved to get himself ready for bed. They had a witchcraft museum to explore tomorrow after all.

Special End

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Lucky Persona

Yukiko bit back her laughter as she watched Ben put his face behind an old tribal mask. Their Grandfather had taken them to a Witchcraft Museum, which she had to admit was filled with a lot of interesting objects and statues that she hadn't seen before. The Heiress thought to see if she could perhaps make something like these to hang around the Inn for Halloween.

She and Ben walked back over to the rest of the group after looking around the exhibit they were currently in. Yukiko noticed the tour guide pointing at a blue and gold book with a skull on it.

"Now behind this impenetrable glass is the only known existing copy of the Archamada Book of Spells," The old guide explained.

Gwen leaned over to get a closer look at the book, the young girl felt a tiny pull in her chest as she stared at the book. She was so enamored by the book that she began to list off the known facts about at the same time as the guide.

The guide glared at Gwen, not liking the idea of the girl doing her job. "Maybe you should work here, dear," The guide replied with snark. Gwen's face dropped at the guide's rude words.

Yukiko glared at the old woman and turned to Gwen. "Don't worry, Gwen. I'd rather have you explain these things to me than her anyway," Yukiko placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder.

"Thanks," Gwen smiled.

Ben leaned over to the two of them. "Yeah, don't let old mummy face get to you, she's probably older than that spell book. Pfft!" Ben made a mummified-face, making both of his female cousins laugh.

Suddenly, the building started shaking and everyone started floating towards the ceiling. Yukiko grasped the ends of her skirt to keep it from floating up, as they were all pressed up against the ceiling. "What's going on!?" She gasped.

"S-Something tells me this isn't on the tour," Max grunted.

Below them a red gas entered through the window and floated towards the Book of Spells. A man with grey skin and a red and black dress hood and pants materialized into the room. His face resembled that of a skull and he had a long grey staff in his hands.

"The Archamada Book of Spells, all of its power shall soon be mine!" He narrated to himself. Around his neck one of the charms started to glow. "Fah Cah Me Doof!" He chanted and the glass case shattered to pieces.

The Tennysons watched in shock at this new development. Ben reached for the watch. "Now might be a good time to go hero," He told them.

Just as he tried dialing an alien, the Magic Man turned around undid the spell he had casted on everyone.

"Ben!" Yukiko yelled as they all fell to the ground. She realized at the height and speed they were falling, nobody would be walking away without many broken bones. Amaterasu was useless for this sort of thing, which only meant Ben was their best bet.

The boy was fiddling with the watch, trying to get it to work. Suddenly, the watch flashed green, and Ben transformed into XLR8. The Kineceleran used his speed to fall faster to the ground, he zipped over to a tarp and tore it off the wall. XLR8 then tied it to placeholder as a net, which was able to catch everyone in time.

"Everyone out!" XLR8 yelled at tourists. The people didn't need to be told twice before bolting out of the door. Yukiko stood next to Ben, not wanting to leave the boy to fight alone.

"Ben, Yukiko, be careful! You don't know what tricks he's got up his sleeve," Max warned the two before he and Gwen ran out as well.

Nodding their heads, the Hero duo turned back to the Magic Man. "Dude, if you want a book try the library," XLR8 quipped.

"Or a bookstore, they also have a good array of books there," Yukiko added. Before whipping out her fan, ready to battle.

The charms around his neck started to glow again and he lifted his staff. He chanted out another spell and shot fire out of his staff. Before the flames could do anything, Yukiko summoned Amaterasu to corral them. The man could only gasp in shock as he stared at the golden form of Amaterasu.

"We're not gonna add another destroyed building to our list!" Yukiko protested as she put out the flames by crushing them into a ball.

"We've destroyed a lot of buildings," XLR8 thought back to all of their past battles. The two weren't given any more time to conversate as the man lifted his staff once more.

Red crystal shards shot out of it at high speeds, too fast for Yukiko to launch a spell of her own. XLR8 quickly took her into his arms and dashed across the museum. Yukiko pulled her head back and pointed her fan at him. "Agi!"

The small ball of flame descended towards the Magic Man. He jumped out of the way of the attack, allowing it to scorch the spot he was previously standing on. XLR8 quickly took the chance to drop Yukiko and make headway for the thieving Magician.

The Magician growled and lifted his staff, illuminating a flash of light that caught XLR8 off guard. The Kineceleran slid across the ground and went face first into a display case.

The man smirked until a ball of fire smacked his back, burning his skin. He glared at Yukiko who was twirling her fan, preparing to launch another fire blast. "What is your power?" He asked.

The Heiress blinked, confused. "My power?"

"Yes, that golden woman floating next to you. What is that?" He asked.

Yukiko flinched from shock. "He can see my Persona!?" She quickly got over her shock and glared at him. "That's none of your business!" She answered.

"Fine, begone from my sight," He lifted his staff to launch another spell.

"You first!" XLR8 crashed into his back and started spinning circles around the Magician. Yukiko had to once again hold down her skirt as XLR8 created a tornado with his insane speed.

Inside of the tornado of black and blue the transformed hero gave a beatdown on the Magician, causing one of his charms to fly off of his necklace. XLR8 slammed the tornado into the ground of the museum, destroying most of the display cases and creating a crater on the floor.

"Great, more property damage to add to our list," Yukiko sighed. She watched as her cousin picked the charm off of the floor as she walked over to him.

"Nice job, you two," Max congratulated his Grandkids.

XLR8 smirked at the praise. "Just doing what I need to do and keeping it lowkey!"

Yukiko folded her arms and tapped her foot. "Then explain the mess behind you, Benjamin."

He turned around to see the destroyed interior of the museum and chuckled nervously. "Okay, maybe I could work on that lowkey part."

"I should be stopping this. I really should," Yukiko frowned, upset. They watched as XLR8 soaked up the praise from the tourists as they all took pictures of him with their phones.

"It's fine to let him have just this one," Max waved it off.

"Yeah, until it easily gets to his head," Gwen muttered, darkly. She looked over to see the Magician being put inside of an ambulance.

"Who's your hero!?" XLR8 chanted, arrogantly.

"All I'm saying is that you didn't exactly stop that creep all by yourself today!" Gwen yelled at Ben.

The kid hero rolled his eyes. "How many times are you gonna bring that up? I swear you're being even more of a broken record than usual," Ben shot back.

"Until you stop acting as if you're the only hero here! I've helped out plenty this summer and never get a single bit of gratitude!" Gwen complained.

"Hey! Being a hero isn't about getting gratitude or attention," Ben repeated the lessons he learned from before.

"Who's your hero!? Huh, hello!" Gwen repeated Ben's shouts from before.

Yukiko, who was sitting up front with their Grandfather looked away from her book. "Gwen, we recognize the good you do," She gave a warm smile.

"We're related, so it doesn't count," Gwen replied with an eye roll.

"I think it matters plenty," Max joined in.

"I mean, you usually stand around and do nothing. That's not really something that heroes do, unlike me," Ben puffed himself up.

Gwen shook in anger at Ben's constant belittlement. "Hello, doofus! The only reason you're a hero is because of that watch! If I found it instead of you, then I'd be getting all of the attention! And all the cool souvenirs!" Gwen ranted.

"Look who's making it all about herself now. And you guys call me selfish," Ben scoffed.

"You are," Yukiko instantly shot him down. The Heiress then turned around to look at Gwen. "And Gwen, just because Ben has the Omnitrix doesn't mean you don't help as much."

"Easy for you to say! You have some sort of freaky ghost powers at your disposal! What do I have!? Nothing!" Gwen got up from her seat to walk towards the back of the RV. However, Ben stopped her just in time.

"Here, take it," He handed her the charm that he had grabbed earlier.

Gwen's expression softened at the gesture. "Really?"

"Yeah, I got tons of other stuff," Ben smiled. His cousin took the charm out of his hands and smiled at the object.

"That was sweet Ben," Yukiko gave him a thumbs up.

"Gwen, don't you have something you want to say to Ben?" Max said.

Gwen frowned and turned to Ben. "You know this doesn't change the fact that you're just plain lucky. But, thanks," She smiled appreciatively.

"You're welcome," Ben responded.

Yukiko hummed as she went back to her book. "Maybe, they'll start getting along better now."

"Nevermind," Yukiko sighed as she watched her two younger cousins argue over the last crawfish.

"I've been counting, you've had 11 crawfish to my 9," Gwen pointed out.

"Sounds like it's time to make it an even dozen!" Ben pushed his fork down to eat the last one. But Gwen's hand was swift enough to chop the fork out of his grasp.

"I don't think so," Gwen sang.

As the two were glaring at each other, Ben's fork flew into a waitress' foot, sending the empty glass on her tray flying. The glass swung on the chandelier before flying into the kitchen and breaking in front of one of the chefs. He jumped back startled and knocked a cart of shrimp into the dining hall. It tripped and the bowl of crawfish that was on it ended up flying directly into Ben.

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko fell into a laughing fit as Gwen ate the last crawfish.

"Okay, now I'm full," Gwen smirked.

Suddenly one of the crawfish went up Ben's nose, causing his whole family to laugh at his misfortune. It was then that Gwen looked down at the charm on her neck and saw that it was glowing.

Yukiko wiped a tear from her eye as she watched Ben try to get the shrimp out. "I-I have to take a picture of this!" She kept laughing as she took a picture on her phone of the struggling Ben.

"Hehe, you know in all my travels I've never actually seen a crawfish climb up someone's nostril until today," Max rubbed Ben's hair.

"I've seen Chie-chan finish an entire meat bowl in under 10 minutes. It was a very fascinating and horrifying sight," Yukiko told them.

"Yeah, well, glad I've made your day as interesting as that," Ben huffed.

"By the way, thanks again for the charm. I feel like I should get you something in return," Gwen said. She jogged up to a hotdog vender and asked for a hotdog.

"Help! Help, they stole my purse!" An old lady's voice could be heard.

The purse snatchers were stopped by Max's hand. "That's far enough," The old man warned.

The leader grew a cocky smirk. "Yeah? Who's gonna stop us? You, pops?" He mocked.

"Actually, him and his close personal friend Diamondhead," Ben muttered as he hid behind the hotdog cart.

The purse snatchers took out metal poles and approached Max. Yukiko whipped out her fan and marched in front of her Grandfather. "Back off and return the purse," She warned.

"Oh yeah? Like we're scared of a little girl-" One of them was cut-off by Yukiko's fan smacking him in the face. He flew back and landed on the ground with a thud. The object twirled through the air and landed back in Yukiko's hands.

"You should be scared of me," She held the fan in front of her face for intimidation. The guy got back up to his feet and growled at her. The three men approached them as Ben kept struggling to activate the watch.

One of the guys swung their pipes at Yukiko, but she backed out of its reach. Though, she wasn't watching her steps and bumped into Gwen. The younger girl was pushed back and fell into a street performer. The clown's unicycle flew into the air and smacked one of the snatchers in the chest.

Two of the clown's pins then landed on the leader's head, giving Max a good opening to restrain him.

The last guy tried to approach Yukiko, but before she could do anything the hotdog cart zoomed past her and nailed the guy. The Tennysons could only watch in pure bafflement at the chain of events that had just transpired.

"Um? W-What just happened?" Yukiko asked, confused. Gwen walked up next to her and held her glowing charm.

"Uh, cool," She muttered.

"This little girl is a hero, Officer," The old lady said.

"W-Who? Me? Just lucky I guess," Gwen replied, embarrassed. She then looked past the two people and saw a stand that was selling masks. Gwen smirked as an idea formed in her head.

Gwen took out the cat outfit that Yukiko had bought her when they were at Halloween Town. She quietly made her way into the bathroom and cracked the door. Once inside she put the outfit together and stood in front of the mirror.

She was now dressed in the full body black costume(Minus the tail) and wore a purple cat mask over her eyes. Gwen did a pose and pointed at the mirror. "Never fear, because Lucky Girl is here!"

"…"

"...No, that sounded lame…" She sighed. Gwen did a different pose. "Lucky Girl is here to end this parade you villains!" She tapped her foot lightly on the ground and hummed. "Hm, maybe. But it could use some work-"

"What are you doing?"

Gwen jumped back in fright and gripped the shower curtains. She placed a hand on her beating heart and glared at Yukiko. "What are you doing awake!?" She whispered.

Yukiko, dressed in her pink yukata, stepped into the bathroom. She gently closed the door before turning to look at Gwen. "I'm always up around this time. Gotte get a head start on breakfast," Yukiko explained.

Gwen repressed a shiver at the thought of Yukiko's cooking. "W-Well, you can go back to sleep. There's nothing for you to see here."

Yukiko's face morphed into a teasing smirk, and she stepped closer to Gwen.

"Y-Yukiko?"

The Heiress took Gwen's hands into hers and squealed quietly. "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to try on our costumes again!?"

Gwen blinked, slowly. "...What?"

"I thought you had expressed to me very clearly that you didn't like the costume, so I was a bit sad that you didn't want to wear it again. But, I can see that you were just too embarrassed to admit it to me," Yukiko rambled on.

"W-What…Yukiko, that's not it," Gwen cut her off.

"Hm? Why?" Yukiko asked.

"It's just…this charm is weird. All of those incidents with Ben at the restaurant and those purse snatchers happened because of this. So, I thought maybe, I can be some sort of hero. Like you," Gwen said, softly. A tint of red could be seen on her face.

Yukiko gasped and held her hands over her mouth. The teen could feel tears brimming her eyes and pure happiness erupt inside of her heart. "Is this what Yu-kun felt whenever Nanako-chan would praise him?" Yukiko felt as if her world had changed into one of sunshine and rainbows.

In reality, the Heiress was standing still with a look of pure bliss on her face while Gwen just watched her awkwardly. "Uh…Yukiko?"

Suddenly, the Heiress moved at blinding speeds and grabbed Gwen by her shoulders. "Gwendolyn Tennyson! I will do everything in my power to help you with this! Let me get my Witch costume!" Yukiko quietly rushed out of the bathroom to search for her witch costume.

Gwen just blinked once more and looked towards the camera. "What the heck just happened?"

When Ben awoke to his Grandfather's snoring and his cousins both missing. He could already imagine that the day was going to be a pain in the butt. That pain was elevated when the construction workers nearby were about to fall to their deaths.

"Time to watch a real hero at work," Ben said as he fiddled with the watch.

Suddenly, Gwen's charm glowed again. "Yeah! Us! Let's go, Yukiko!"

"Right!" Both girls sprinted into the RV while Ben transformed into Wildmutt. Max looked over to see another construction worker was stuck inside of his truck due to a steel beam falling on it. Max turned around to see both of his Granddaughters exit the RV and gawked at their appearance.

"Gwen? Yukiko?" He questioned.

"It's Lucky Girl, Grandpa!"

"And her lovely Priestess!" Yukiko and Gwen posed dramatically as they were dressed in their costumes. The two ran forward before the old man could say anything else.

"Stay calm!" Lucky Girl yelled. She looked around and saw a wooden board she could use to her advantage. She jumped on the board, sending the wooden planks on top of it to crash through the driver's seat of the wrecking ball vehicle. The plank activated the switch, causing the ball to fall onto the back of the truck and knock the steel beam off. The steel beam crashed into the activation button, turning on the elevator.

Which just so happened to crash directly into Wildmutt and propelled the Vulpimancer into the air.

"Oh no!" Both girls exclaimed after watching the chain of events.

Wildmutt smashed the elevator to pieces, sending multiple pieces of debris falling down towards his cousins.

"Gwe-Lucky Girl! Priestess! Move!"

"No need, Grandpa! Maragion!" Priestess declared. Her Persona came to life once more and launched multiple medium sized fireballs at the debris. The falling pieces were turned to ash within seconds.

Once again Lucky Girl's charm glowed and one of Priestess' fireballs went off course. The ball of flame soared right towards Wildmutt, who was hanging off of a line of rope. The Vulpimancer screamed as the fireball knocked him into the nearby cement truck.

"Sorry, Wildmutt!" Priestess ran over to him to make sure he was okay. While the workers who were still hanging off of the lift slid down the tube that Lucky Girl and Max had instructed them to.

The Vulpimancer growled at Priestess as he shook off all of the cement before it could dry. All the while the Priestess apologized repeatedly for accidentally hitting him. The two turned over to the news crew that was interviewing Lucky Girl.

"How did you pull off this amazing rescue?" The reporter asked.

"With style of course! Who's your hero!?" She waved at the camera after stealing Ben's line.

"Could that count as copyright, Ben?" Yukiko asked as she took off her own mask. When she didn't get a reply, she looked down to see Wildmutt walking away dejectedly. "Ben?" She watched him with concern. "Great, more drama…" She sighed.

"I cross referenced the Archamada Book of Spells with Dark Magical Charms and look, it's a part of a set called the charms of Bezel," Gwen informed them. "This charm is luck," She held up the charm around her neck.

"There are also charms for fire, air, levitation, and reincarnation," Gwen listed them off.

"Those are the charms that Magician had back at the museum," Yukiko noticed.

"Yeah, it must've fell off when XLR8 kicked his butt!" Ben exclaimed.

"That's why he wanted the book of spells. But it says all the charms of Bezel must be used for the spells to be at their full power," Gwen explained.

That filled Yukiko with a sense of worry. "And what are the chances of him finding us to get it back?" Yukiko wondered.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter as long as I have this charm. His loss is my gain," She smiled.

Max spoke up from the front seat of the RV. "I'm afraid it's more like 'was'. We need to turn that charm into the museum," He said.

"NO FAIR!" Ben and Gwen both yelled.

"Why do they choose to be in sync at the worst of moments?" Yukiko sighed.

"Not before I try it!" Ben lifted up the Lucky Girl mask.

"Or until I use it again!" Gwen took the mask from him. "The world needs Lucky Girl!"

"News flash! I'm supposed to be the main hero here!" Ben pointed at himself.

"Then what about me?" Yukiko asked.

"You're like my Sidekick. 'Ms. Long Legs'," He explained, shrugging his shoulders.

"LONG LEGS!?" Yukiko shouted in despair.

Gwen got up into his face. "She's not your sidekick! She's my sidekick!" Gwen argued.

"I've gone from big sister to sidekick…" Yukiko felt the cloud of despair floating above her.

"You think you're a hero now? All that stuff you did is all because of that charm!" Ben argued.

"It's not you either! It's the watch!" Gwen argued back.

"You're just jealous of me!" Ben yelled.

"Am not!"

"Am too! Times 10!"

Suddenly, an important news report was heard on the radio. "And in the news of the weird, reports are coming in that the city's famed 'Haunted History Mansion' has come alive. Trapping dozens of visitors inside."

That report snapped Yukiko out of her funk and stopped the kids' argument. "Grandpa!" All three shouted.

"On it!" He floored it towards the mansion.

The Rustbucket arrived at the Haunted Mansion and the kids stepped out first. With Ben activating the watch and Gwen dressed up in her Lucky Girl outfit.

"Back off! I'll handle this!" Lucky Girl sprinted past him.

"I'm the real hero here!" He chased after her.

Yukiko stepped out of the RV and sighed. "It's not a competition, you two!" She and Max followed the two inside of the mansion.

The Tennysons stopped inside of the mansion as people were running out in fear of their own lives. People on the second balcony were about to fall off. Lucky Girl pushed Ben out of the way to take charge.

"Everyone stay calm! Lucky Girl is in the haunted house!" She posed. Lucky Girl moved to run up the stairs.

Behind them stood Hex as he smiled at the sight of Lucky Girl. One of the charms around his neck glowed and the steps were flying at Yukiko, Ben, and Max. The three dodged out of the way and took cover behind the pillars.

Ben finally managed to activate the watch. "You don't need luck when you got skill." He slammed down the dial and transformed.

The building continued to break a part as Lucky Girl continued up the steps. Hex used his magic to single out Lucky Girl, but her charm kept her safe for the most part.

Max caught a woman who fell off the balcony, and Yukiko used Amaterasu to destroy any debris from falling on anyone. Four Arms stopped the balcony from endangering more people. "I got it!" He looked at Lucky Girl.

"But, who's got them!?" She questioned. Without warning the pillar she was standing on began to shake, prompting her to jump off, and grab the chandelier. She used it to reach the civilians. "Everybody, grab hold!" She commanded them. The people grabbed onto the chandelier with her. While Hex used his magic to send Four Arms flying through the wall.

The chandelier couldn't handle the extra weight and fell, but due to the charm's power, they stopped just before hitting the ground. The citizens used that chance to escape the haunted house.

The doors closed without warning, and Hex used his powers to trap Lucky Girl's hands. He used his powers to bring her to him. "Give me my charm!"

"Give me my cousin back, creep!" Yukiko shouted, running over to them. "Agilao!" She casted her spell.

Hex batted the fireball away and casted more red shards at Yukiko. The Heiress jumped back to dodge the shards, and casted Amaterasu to block the rest. He then used his abilities to send Yukiko flying into Four Arms.

Hex turned his attention away from her to see Lucky Girl running away. He followed after the girl at a leisurely pace, knowing that he'd get his prize.

Lucky Girl sprinted into an empty room. She accidently activated one of the secret passageways within the mansion, and walked through the hallway. Hex wasn't far behind her as he entered the secret passageway.

Lucky Girl stopped for a moment to catch her breath and pressed a hand against the wall. Her hand pressed against a loose stone block, setting the support structure of the basement off balance. Preventing Hex from catching her once again. However, that wasn't enough to stop him and the Magician casted a shield to protect himself.

Lucky Girl continued running as Hex's attempts to get her kept failing. She entered the graveyard outside and hid behind a tree.

The roots around her came to life, wrapping themself around her. The necklace was torn away from her by the roots. "No!" Gwen exclaimed.

Hex held his prize in his grasp as the roots continued to entrap Gwen.

"Gwen!" Yukiko yelled. They finally managed to catch up and found Gwen tangled up in multiple roots. Four Arms tore them off to free her.

"Thanks," Gwen said.

"Where is he?" Four Arms asked. They all turned to see Hex floating above the Graveyard, thunder booming in the sky. The Book of Spells floated in front of him as the Charms of Bezel glowled brightly.

"Time to turn this city into an old memory!" Hex said. "Raava-Pilatas-Galametra!" He started his chanting. Lightning began striking the city, and a tornado came to life. Before he could finish casting, Four Arms attacked him, smashing them both down towards the ground.

The three followed down the stairs. "Stay back!" Four Arms commanded as Hex stood on top of a building.

"You dare challenge me!" He growled at the Tennysons. Hex lifted his staff and red smoke blew out of it. The smoke went inside of the stone statues all across the graveyard. The statues attacked Four Arms, overwhelming him with their added super strength.

Yukiko ran towards Four Arms to help him. "Maragi!" Yukiko launched three fireballs at the stone warriors. All three blasts landed perfectly, giving Four Arms breathing room.

The lizard statue turned around and screeched at Yukiko. "Hands off, freak! You're dealing with me now!" Yukiko challenged them.

The lizard statue charged towards Yukiko, while the Gargoyle one flew towards Max and Gwen. The humanoid statue kept its attention on Four Arms, punching the Tetramand through multiple gravestones.

Yukiko hopped across the gravestones as the lizard chased after her. She stopped on the tip of a tall one and flipped over the lizard just as it tried to jump for her. The heiress pointed her fan at the lizard and smirked. "Agidyne!" The ball of flame made contact with the stone creature, blasting it to dust.

Yukiko landed on the ground gracefully and flapped her fan. "Oh, done already?" She taunted. Yukiko turned around to see Four Arms finish his battle with the warrior statue. The two then made their way over to see Hex struggling back to his feet.

Four Arms picked Hex up by his robes and lifted him up. "Time for the Magician to disappear!" He quipped and tossed Hex into an empty coffin. Max then pushed the lid over the coffin, trapping Hex inside.

Yukiko clapped her hands at their success. "That was easier than some of our previous fights!"

"Guess, that means we're getting better at this!" Four Arms agreed. The three turned to see Gwen holding all of the Charms of Bezel.

"I could fly, shoot bolts of electricity, and bring trees alive! I'd be unstoppable…or I guess I could just be me," Gwen tossed the charms onto a closed coffin. She picked up a shovel and smashed the charms to pieces, releasing their power to the earth.

Yukiko looked down at Gwen and ruffled the girl's hair. "That was really mature, Gwen," She praised.

"Thanks, I just made the choice I knew Ben wouldn't have made," Gwen shrugged.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Four Arms yelled, insulted. The only response was the laughter of his family.

The Rustbucket drove away as Hex was arrested by the police. "You know, you three make a pretty impressive team," Max complemented.

"Made. Now, that my powers are history. I'm gonna miss being a duo with you, Yukiko," Gwen sighed.

"What do you mean, Gwen? We'll always be a team. All of us, we're a family. Having powers or no powers will change that," Yukiko smiled.

"Thanks, Yukiko. And Ben?" Gwen turned to the boy who was reading a comic.

"What?"

"Now that everything is said and done will you please admit that I do a good job helping?" Gwen asked, sincerely.

The boy paused his reading and looked at Gwen. "Gwen, you did a good job. There? Happy?"

"Totally," Gwen smiled.

"Good! Because, I'm never saying it again!" Ben replied.

The younger girl held up a tape recorder. "You don't have to."

"Gwen, you did a good job."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko fell back onto the sofa, laughing. Ben cringed at the fact that he fell for that and pouted at the laughter of both his cousins.

"G-Gwen! Replay it!" Yukiko requested.

"No problem!"

"Gwen, you did a good job."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Both girls held onto each other laughing up a storm.

"Oh man…" Ben took two pillows and held them against his ears to block out their laughter.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: Small Persona

"Six stories of twists and turns!"

"Hurtling down a two-hundred-foot plunge!"

"At speeds of over 25 mph!"

"Then splash down at a churning three hundred-thousand-gallon wave pool!"

"Riptide Rapids! That's what you guys are talking about, right?" Yukiko asked, dressed in a frilly white bikini.

Her cousins turned to her, with wide enthusiastic grins, and also wearing swimsuits. Ben was dressed in blue swim trunks and Gwen was wearing a light purple one-piece swimsuit. "Heck yeah! Only the coolest of slides known to man!" Ben exclaimed.

Gwen took a hold of Yukiko's hand. "Come on, let's go before the line gets too long!" She said, dragging Yukiko along.

"G-Gwen, don't run or you'll slip!" Yukiko warned as she was being dragged along. Ben followed behind the two of them, but he was stopped by an employee's hand.

"You're too short," He said, simply.

"What are you talking about!?" Ben shouted, baffled.

Yukiko and Gwen turned around to see Ben unable to follow them. The Tennysons' all turned their eyes to the cardboard cut-out of the narwhal, and saw that Ben didn't meet the minimum height requirement.

The heiress had just realized something at that moment. Ben really was short, probably around Nanako's height overall. Gwen was only a few inches taller than him and she herself was way taller than him. "No wonder I can pick him so easily," She giggled a bit at the thought. Yukiko did feel bad for Ben, he was really looking forward to going down this slide.

"B-But, I'm almost-"

"Next!" The guy didn't give a damn about what Ben had to say next. Gwen walked over to Ben and patted his head, mocking him.

"Sorry, but I heard the baby banana boats are fun for the smaller kids," Gwen teased as she walked over to the line.

Yukiko walked over and gave Ben a comforting hug. "Don't worry, Ben! You'll hit a growth spurt eventually," She tried to reassure him.

Ben watched as both of his female(And taller) cousins walked away. "Yeah, but by that time it'll be too late," He sneered. Ben turned around and walked away behind the fake mast.

If Yukiko or Gwen had been paying attention to the boy after he had walked away, they would've noticed the bright flash and sparks of green energy. "I've never been on a water slide before," Yukiko said.

"Really?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, Inaba doesn't really have many things like this. Not a lot of room for water slides or attractions besides the seasonal festivals at the shrines or the school festivals," Yukiko answered.

Gwen patted Yukiko's arm in pity. "I don't mean to be rude, but Inaba sounds pretty boring."

"Oh no, it's no big deal. I think after last year, Inaba can appreciate some peace and quiet," Yukiko said, mindlessly.

"Last year? What happened last year?" Gwen asked. Though the girl knew what had plagued Yukiko's home the prior year, she was hoping for the teen to drop some hints.

Sadly, Yukiko had caught on to what she had said. "O-Oh, look! It's our turn, let's go, Gwen!" Yukiko ushered the younger girl forward. Just as Gwen sat down to take her turn, Gray Matter suddenly appeared next to her.

"Hey! Race ya to the bottom!" He grinned and jumped down the slide.

"Ben!" Both girls gasped, glaring at the little troublemaker. Gwen hurried down the slide to chase after him. Yukiko didn't bother to wait too long either and hurried down the slide to follow her cousins.

Yukiko felt a rush of amazement as she slid down the insanely long tube, seeing what her cousins found so enjoyable about the slide in the first place. However, that didn't last for long as she came flying out of the tube, splashing down next to her cousins.

Gray Matter sank underneath the surface of the water due to Yukiko's arrival. He tried to swim back up, but a feminine hand grabbed him before he could do anything. Seconds later, they were back above the surface level.

"Benjamin, how many times do we have to go over this?" Yukiko glared at him.

"Go over what?" He pretended not to know.

"About you going alien just to get on a ride. Grandpa has told you not to do this," Gwen told him.

"Well, I'm not going to tell Grandpa about this. In a few minutes I'll be back to normal, besides it's not like I broke any rules," Gray Matter said.

"You weren't supposed to go on that ride, Ben. You didn't meet the requirements. You could've been hurt," Yukiko reminded him.

"Well, I'm perfectly fine now. So, can you let me go?" He asked, rolling his eyes. He gasped when Yukiko flicked him across the pool water.

"Then, as punishment you can swim back on your own," Yukiko turned around to get out of the pool.

Gwen gave him an annoyed look. "See ya back at our spot, dweeb." She followed after Yukiko. If the two of them had been paying more attention, they would've noticed a weird guy floating underneath the water behind Gray Matter.

The Galvin gasped when a male hand scooped him up out of the water, he turned around to see a guy with dark brown hair and glasses. "Here you are, my little ticket to fame," He grinned.

Gray Matter turned and screamed at the top of his lungs. "YUKIKO! GWEN! GUYS!" The two looked over to see the guy holding Gray Matter.

Yukiko felt every instinct in her body scream all together. "Give him back!" She hissed. A dark red aura started to blaze around her body as her overprotectiveness started to come out again.

The guy was smart enough to feel the dangerous aura that was coming out of the teen's body and ran for it with Gray Matter still in his grasp.

"Don't let him get away!" Gwen yelled as she and Yukiko chased after the guy. They watched as he shoved Gray Matter into a cooler and took off.

The heiress wished she could use her spell to stop the guy, but they were in a crowded area with multiple people. Suddenly, shooting out waves of fire would cause a mass panic and make it easier for them to lose Gray Matter.

The two saw the kidnapper sprint past their Grandfather, Yukiko started shouting. "He's got Gray Matter! Stop him!"

Their Grandfather dropped the ice cream cones he was holding and joined his Granddaughters in chasing after the kidnapper who had Gray Matter. They had to stop when he ran into a large crowd of people and Max started breathing heavily.

"I…gotta remember that I'm not as young as I used to be. Go!" He said to them. Both girls nodded their heads and continued chasing the kidnapper. When they finally got through the exit to the water park, the guy was already driving away from the park.

"Screw it. Agi!" Yukiko crushed her tarot card with her bare hands, commanding Amaterasu to send a small fireball at the car. The ball of flame wasn't quick enough, and the guy managed to take the turn before the ball could hit.

Yukiko fell to her knees and placed her hands over her mouth. "...No…" She whispered, tragically. Gwen was also feeling despair as she had just watched her cousin get kidnapped, not knowing what could possibly happen to him.

Max caught up to his Granddaughters and saw the depressing state they were in. "Don't worry! We'll find him…somehow…" He tried to reassure them.

Yukiko crawled to her feet, a dangerous aura emitting from her body. "No, we will find him, and I'll burn that kidnapping bastard to a crisp," She growled.

The Rustbucket zoomed down the street in a hurry. Inside of the RV the Tennyson girls had changed back into their regular clothing. "Okay, so if he's Gray Matter now, he'll just turn back into Ben then go Four Arms or something and escape," Gwen said, optimistically.

Yukiko, who was standing up front, shook her head. "Gwen, Ben had already turned alien when we first arrived at the slide. He should've turned back to normal before that child kidnapper got his hands on him," The heiress' fingers clawed into the seats.

"Which means that there's something going on with the watch," Max said.

Gwen nodded her head, but she still tried to think of something positive. "Well, how much trouble could Ben get into as Gray Matter? That form makes him a genius!"

Inside the suburban house, Gray Matter smacked his face against a glass cylinder repeatedly, in hopes of escaping. The little guy kept doing it, thinking that at some point he'll be able to escape.

All the while, the kidnapper(Howell Wainwright) was watching him with an enthusiastic grin.

"I need to distract myself," Yukiko realized. The heiress realized that walking back and forth inside of the RV wasn't going to do anything to into the bathroom, Yukiko sat down on the closed toilet seat and took out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for.

NARUKAMI YU

Allowing a smile to grace her lips the heiress opened up the emails that the two had been sending each other since the summer had started. She started re-reading their old messages.

Yu-kun: How is it? Being out of Inaba for the first time?

Yukiko: It's…different. I'm not too sure if that's a good thing or bad.

Yu-kun: What about it is different?

Yukiko: Everything is so much bigger. Even after everything we did last year, my world was so much smaller than I thought it was. And it's not like being out in a different city, I'm all the way on the other side of the world. Away from all of our friends and family…away from you.

Yu-kun: I understand, it hurts leaving Inaba. Even knowing that I'll definitely be back eventually, I didn't want to say goodbye.

Yukiko: It wasn't a goodbye, Yu-kun. It was a 'see you later'.

Yu-kun: I know, but that didn't make it any easier. I know it wasn't easy for you, both times.

Yukiko: Yeah, Chie-chan and Rise-chan were crying a lot. Kanji-kun was trying his best not to cry, Yosuke and Naoto-kun were being strong for everyone else. Nanako-chan was clinging on tightly, she didn't want to see both her big sister and brother leave.

Yu-kun: Nanako-chan is a strong girl. She'll be fine after a while. Uncle will make sure she'll be fine until we return.

Yukiko: I know.

Yu-kun: So, your newly discovered family? What do you think of them?

Yukiko: They're nice people. Grandfather is kind and is very open to accommodating the things that I need. Gwen is kind of stuck up, but she's very intelligent and has a good heart and Ben is very immature and a tad bit selfish, but he's a good kid. They're different from what I was expecting.

Yu-kun: Good, I'm happy that-

There was a loud knock on the bathroom door, taking Yukiko away from the past messages. She got off of the toilet seat and opened the door. "Gwen, what's happening?"

The girl shoved a map into Yukiko's face. "Hurry up! Ben contacted us a few seconds ago, we got a lead on where he may be!" Gwen exclaimed.

Yukiko pushed the map out of her face, her expression turned serious. "Then let's hurry and find him!"

"We'll take this side and you take that one, Grandpa," Yukiko commanded them. Nodding their heads, they hurried to find which house he was located in.

Yukiko searched the sides of a house, trying to peek through the windows. "Ben? Can you hear me?"

"Woof!"

The heiress gasped in surprise from the barking that she got in response. "Ben!? Did you somehow get stuck as Wildmutt!?" She raced towards the backyard to see where the barking had come from. However, what she saw was just a regular dog barking at her. Yukiko scrunched her face at the dog, glaring at it.

"How dare you trick me! Bad dog!" She scolded it. The canine stopped barking, tilting its head confusingly at her. It turned around and started kicking up dirt into her face as a punishment for disrupting it.

"Ptah! EW!" Yukiko tried to wipe the dirt off of her face, stumbling away from the fence. Since she couldn't see where she was going the heiress, Gwen, and Max all bumped into each other. The three Tennysons fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Hopefully Ben's having a better time than we are," Yukiko groaned, mentally.

"The faster I get out of this crazy house the better!" Gray Matter climbed up the pipe. He had been running from Howell all day, the crazy alien enthusiast was persistent as hell.

Howell watched as Gray Matter climbed up the pipe, he took out a box of matches and grinned. "I'll smoke you out if I have to!" He lit up the match and used the smoke to block out the oxygen inside of the tube. Gray Matter coughed and watched as his only escape was blocked by a cloud of smoke. The galvin fell down the pipe and was caught in a fishing net.

"Hopefully, the others are having a better time than I am…" Gray Matter groaned, mentally.

The Rustbucket continued searching through neighborhoods until Yukiko and Gwen spotted the green car that Howell had escaped in earlier.

"Grandpa! His car!" Gwen pointed out.

"On it!" He accelerated the Rustbucket.

Yukiko felt relieved that they had finally found the house Ben was located in. The Rustbucket stopped in front of the house, and they hurried out of the RV and approached the house's door.

"You wanna ring the doorbell?" Gwen asked.

"I'll knock hard!" Max kicked the door down. The three were expecting to find Howell and Gray Matter inside of the house, but instead all they found was a grumpy old lady in a wheelchair with her growling dog.

"Brutus! Sick em!" The old lady yelled.

"Oh no…" Yukiko gulped.

The dog jumped at them, tackling Max to the ground. The old man held the dog back from tearing his face off. Yukiko used Amaterasu to pry the dog off of her Grandfather. As that was happening, Gwen looked across the street to see a weird group of knights exiting Howell's house. In their hands was some sort of energy cage holding Gray Matter and Howell was also being led into the car.

"It's him! The guy who's got Ben!" Gwen yelled, pointing at the car. Yukiko turned her attention to the speeding vehicle as their Grandfather managed to hold the dog. "They're getting away!"

"Down boy!" Max pushed the top of the dog's head, calming it down.

"Oh, that really does work!" Yukiko gasped.

"Nice trick, Grandpa," Gwen complimented.

Max placed the sleeping dog onto the grass. "Come on! We need to find out where they went!" They nodded their heads and sprinted to Howell's house.

"Huh, the old lady and the creep have the same taste in cars. Go figure," Max said after peeking into the garage. Yukiko looked down at the grass and saw a flip phone lying on the ground. She picked it up and turned it on. She turned it on and saw a picture of the captured Gray Matter.

"He looks so sad," Yukiko muttered. Her anger towards the child kidnapper flared greatly. She handed the phone to Gwen, so as to not crush it with her own fury.

Gwen's own anger started to rise as she looked at the sad look on Ben. "Nobody does that to my cousin. Only I can torment Ben!" She growled. Max took the phone from her hands and looked into the call history.

"If we can get a reverse trace on that number, we should be able to get an address," Max explained to them.

Gwen smirked, impressed. "Grandpa, there's a sneaky side to you that I'm totally starting to appreciate."

Yukiko however was no longer in the mood for it. "Can you hurry it up, Grandpa. The faster you trace that number the faster I can burn each and every one of those creeps to ashes," She marched back to the RV.

"Is she alright?" Gwen asked.

"No, and neither will I be until we have Ben back," Max followed after Yukiko.

Gwen hurried after them, not wanting to be left behind.

"This isn't a house, it's a fortress," Gwen said.

In front of them was a large white fortress with multiple guards in knight armor stationed around it. The three of them were hiding behind a bush so they wouldn't be seen.

"Are they having a masquerade party or something?" Gwen asked.

Max looked at both of his granddaughters before answering. "They call themselves the Organization. A well-financed secret society dedicated to collecting alien technology," He explained, much to their shock.

"H-How do you know this?" Yukiko asked, curious.

"I-I-well, when you've been around as long as I have you pick up a few things," Max lied. Yukiko's suspicions only grew as she stared at her Grandfather. But there wasn't any time for that.

They need to save Ben.

"Ready?" Max asked.

"Of course."

"Not really. But-"

"Come on, Gwen," Yukiko took a hold of her hand as the four of them walked across a large branch in the tree they were hiding in. Yukiko released Gwen's hand and the three jumped across, grabbing onto the stone wall's edge. They climbed over and came face to face with one of the guards.

"Hi there," Max greeted, casually.

The guard lifted his staff to attack them, but Yukiko already had Amaterasu at the ready. "Agilao." The man was sent flying by the medium sized ball of fire. The man tried to get back up, but Yukiko didn't give him the chance.

"Agidyne."

Before the guard even knew it, his armor had been completely burnt off of his body. Leaving the man on the floor in nothing but his underwear and unconscious. Gwen picked up the guy's staff off of the ground and grinned.

"Nice. This will work," She said.

Gray Matter watched as Howell freed him from almost getting turned into a science experiment. The alien enthusiast fought off the scientists as Gray Matter ran away to not get captured again.

When the Galvin exited the room, he turned down the hallway and ran straight into Gwen's leg. The girl dropped the staff she had stolen and grabbed her leg in pain.

"Ow!" She winced.

"Ben!" Yukiko wasted no time in scooping the Galvin up off the floor. She hugged him into her chest as she sighed in relief.

Gray Matter couldn't breathe as he was trapped between Yukiko's chest, it wasn't until Gwen had forced her to let go that he was given a chance to breathe.

"Oh…sorry…" Yukiko apologized. The heiress felt Max's hand on her shoulder as she held Ben in her hands.

"Let's save the family reunion for the road!" He exclaimed.

"Right!" They replied and began running through the hallway.

To hide away from the many guards that were searching the fortress, the family of four hid inside of one of the rooms. The room was illuminated by the lights on the floor, revealing multiple cases of alien artifacts that had been collected.

"Look at all of this alien tech," Gray Matter said.

Yukiko couldn't believe what she was seeing, and the girl fought monsters inside of a TV for Christ's sake! "Yeah, my life really just keeps getting weirder."

They walked through the room, exploring all of the cases that were inside of it. "Oh man, these guys have no clue what they've got here!" Gray Matter exclaimed.

"Or maybe they do," Gwen countered as they walked past some weird cyborg hand.

"We've got to destroy everything," Gray Matter said.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened up, revealing multiple knights and the leader of the place. "Spread out and find them!" He ordered. Two of the guards behind him walked forward with Howell in their grasp.

Max picked up Gwen and Yukiko was still holding Gray Matter. The Tennysons hid behind a display case, watching the knights search for them.

"What do we do?" Yukiko asked. While she wasn't going to object to fighting, there were too many for her to take on without worrying about her family's safety.

An idea popped into Gray Matter's head. "This! Gwen, grab that pulse HyperCore! Grandpa, grab the millennium capacitor!" His words confused his family greatly. The Galvin sighed at their reactions. "It's not Ben talking, it's Gray Matter! Do it!" He ordered them.

"What about me?" Yukiko asked.

PEW!

Suddenly, a bolt of red energy almost hit her had she not moved her head. They saw a knight standing in front of them with his spear pointed at them. "They're over here!"

"Torch em!" Gray Matter replied to her as he got to work.

"With pleasure! Maragion!" Yukiko fired multiple balls of fire at the approaching knights. Her aim stayed true as some were taken down from the heat. Max grabbed a staff of the floor, while Gwen still had hers from earlier. The two joined in on the firing to hold back the knights.

"Get out of here!" Gray Matter ordered them.

"What about you?" Gwen turned around to him.

"If I can get inside of that power grid, I can hook the HyperCore and capacitor up to it. This is where small comes in handy," Gray Matter explained as he pointed at one of the artifacts. "Now, go! I'll meet you outside!"

"You better, Ben!" Yukiko grunted as she dodged another laser. "Maragion!" More fireballs spewed out of Amaterasu, knocking the knights back.

"Let's go, you two!" Max ordered. The three sprinted out of the room as the knights tried to give chase.

As Gray Matter finished putting explosives together, the Omnitrix finally decided to start beeping, and he finally turned back to normal. "Oh man. Just when I didn't want you to work!" He said to the watch.

On the floor, Howell was ditched by the knights. He glanced up at Ben, whose arm was stuck inside of the power core. "Huh? Where did you come from?"

"I'll tell you later, but right now can you give me a hand?" Ben asked, trying to pull his hand out. Howell nodded his head and helped pull Ben's hand out of the core.

"Thanks, look, a friend told me we gotta get out of here!" Ben lied and sprinted out of the room. Howell wasted no time in following him.

"Ben!" Yukiko shouted as she saw him(Finally turned back to normal) and Howell running out of the collapsing fortress. The five of them watched as the fortress imploded, leaving nothing there but a giant blank spot on the ground.

"Well, we can now add a fortress to the list of things we've destroyed this summer," Yukiko said, mentally.

Howell turned to the Tennysons. "Anyone see where that little alien went?"

"Nope," Ben lied.

"Not a clue," Gwen lied.

"What little alien?" Yukiko also feigned ignorance.

Taking their answers as honest ones, Howell gripped his fist. "Well, I am done with anything alien!" Howell declared and walked off.

The Rustbucket drove down the road, the family now able to relax with Ben back with them. The boy himself was leaning back in his seat, grinning. "It is good to be big again!"

"Pfft, big!? Get real, shorty," Gwen laughed.

"Don't make me go Four Arms on you!" Ben yelled at her. Suddenly, the Omnitrix started sparking with red electricity. "I-I didn't do anything!"

"Uh? Grandpa, do you know anyone that knows how to fix transforming alien watches?" Yukiko asked, worried. All four of the Tennysons stared at the Omnitrix with worried glances, hoping that the watch wouldn't do anything crazy for a while.

Unknown to the Tennysons, they had once again made another enemy due to their interference.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Persona Effects

"Why can't we just go one day without someone stealing a car or robbing a place?" Yukiko complained.

"Because that would involve these criminals having brains," Gwen answered.

The Rustbucket zoomed down the street, chasing after a guy who robbed a local store and was riding in a stolen vehicle. Yukiko looked out the window, looking for someone. "Where did Ben go?"

"There he is!" Gwen exclaimed.

"You sure?" Max asked.

"Totally," Gwen smiled.

"Yeah, I don't know many black and green motorbikes that drive themselves, Grandpa," Yukiko giggled. She saw Upgrade speed past them after merging with a motorcycle, he was hot on the tails of the car thief in question.

"Just wish we could keep up with him better," Gwen sighed.

"Can't help the Rustbucket's size, Gwen," Max said.

"Maybe I should've brought my motorbike over with me," Yukiko said, considering the thought.

"You can drive?" Gwen asked, surprised.

"Yup! I'm legally allowed to drive…in Japan though. Not too sure about here," Yukiko answered.

"Save the chat for later, you two. We're catching up with them now!" Max pulled the Rustbucket over for them to see the thief getting apprehended by the police. The three exited the RV to look for Ben.

"He should've turned back to normal by now, where could he be?" Yukiko asked.

Gwen saw the ice cream truck sitting nearby and came to an accurate conclusion. "Long chase, hot day; I'm thinking," Gwen pointed over at the truck.

"Of course, he's in there…" Yukiko sighed.

"Let's go get him," Max and the girls walked over to the back of the truck and opened it. The three of them found Ben sitting between some frozen boxes, shivering from the cold, and holding a popsicle.

"You okay?" Max asked, concerned.

"ACHOO!" Ben sneezed. His eyes looked red, and snot dripped down his nose. Yukiko gasped in horror at the sight of her sick cousin.

"Don't worry, Ben! I'll heat you up! Agi-"

"NONONONONONONONONO!"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Max pulled the thermometer out of Ben's mouth. "Eh, 101, sorry Ben. It's official you have a summer cold."

"Phew, so he's not dying," Yukiko sighed in relief.

"Of course, he's not dying! Stop trying to set everything on fire!" Gwen scolded Yukiko.

"Sorry!"

Ben laid underneath some covers, grumbling to himself. He felt a sneeze coming on, so he grabbed the nearest thing he could to cover his nose. Which so happened to be one of Gwen's shirts.

"Hey, that's my new blouse!" Gwen cried, disgusted.

"ACHOO!" Ben sneezed, continuing to wipe his nose with it. Yukiko ripped the blouse out of his hands and threw it into the dirty clothes hamper.

"Ben, use some tissues," She handed him a box.

"I saw the tissue, but I figured that Gwen's shirt was softer. Turns out that it does work pretty well as a snot rag," He jokes. A box of cough suppressants smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!" Ben picked up the box and glared at Gwen.

"I don't need all of this," He said.

"Because this stuff isn't for you, dweeb. They're for us to protect ourselves from a germazoid like you!" Gwen said.

"How about you just lock me up in some closet somewhere until I'm better," Ben suggested. Yukiko shook her head at the suggestion.

"We aren't going to do that Ben-"

"I would," Gwen interjected.

"Shush, Gwen," Yukiko gave a soft glare.

Max got up from his seat. "All Ben needs is a dose of my famous San Ju Yen Pien cold remedy. Let's go, ChinaTown is just down the block."

"I'll also cook you something to help you feel better," Yukiko offered.

Ben just stared at her as if she was crazy, reached over to underneath the bunk and pulled out one of Yukiko's yukatas. He wasted no time in blowing his nose with it.

"WHY!?" Yukiko cried, disgusted. Gwen suppressed a laugh at seeing Yukiko get a taste of snot-covered clothes.

"Does any of this remind you of home, Yukiko?"

"Ben, I'm Japanese not Chinese."

The Tennyson family walked out of the drug store with the ingredients for Max's cold medicine. Around them was a festival with a dragon dance taking place.

Ben looked up at her, confused. "What's the difference?" He asked.

"A lot," Yukiko answered. She didn't really feel like explaining the differences between the two cultures.

"Is this really all you need, Grandpa?" Gwen asked.

"You know, it's hard to find fresh potaigadon these days. It's all freeze-dried nowadays," Max complained.

Ben coughed into his fist. "Can I get a milkshake or something? Ugh, my throat is killing me."

"Don't worry, the stinkweed honey and San Ju Yen Pien coat your entire esophageal area," Max handed Ben the container. The boy opened it up and took a whiff.

"UAGH! It smells like Yukiko's cooking!"

"What does that mean?" Yukiko asked, confused.

Gwen quickly moved the topic off of Yukiko's horrible cooking. "So where exactly did you learn how to make this stuff, Grandpa?"

"I picked it up from a monk in Guangdong, China," Max answered.

"You've been to China?" Yukiko asked.

"Of course, they have plumbing that needs fixing over there too, ya know," He replied. Gwen folded her arms, giving him a suspicious look.

The sound of a mic peaking brought their attention over to a podium stand. The Councilwoman Liang was giving a speech. "I would like to thank all of you for your support of my downtown redevelopment program. It's truly a dream come true." As she was giving her speech a swarm of wasps began to swarm into Chinatown. Liang looked up to see a man with blue skin, dressed in a torn brown coat and jeans, riding on top of a group of wasps.

"You better make that nightmare, Councilwoman," His raspy voice warned her. His eyes glowed green, commanding the wasps to attack.

The Tennysons watched as the wasps started coming towards them. "Wasps!" Gwen yelled.

Yukiko's pupils shrunk at the sight of the huge swarm, especially when they started buzzing around her and everyone else. "NO! NO NO! NO!" She panicked. Wrapping her arms around her face to block the wasps.

The blue guy continued to scare the Councilwoman. "You're not gonna tear down our apartment building, we won't let you!"

Her eyes widened when she realized who the guy was. "You're the nut job who won't leave!"

"Nice to know we've made an impression," He smiled like a creep. His eyes glowed again, and the wasps started to swarm around Liang.

"What are you doing!?" She cried as the bugs began to cover her entire body. They lifted her off the ground, bringing her closer to the bug-man.

"Just bringing you home for dinner. You're the main course!" He answered.

Ben wiped his nose and activated the Omnitrix. "This looks like a job for…a…a-" He slapped down the dial before he could sneeze. Transforming into Wildmutt, but there was something different about him. His orange fur looked too faint in color and his gills were covered in green mucus. The Vulpimancer sneezed and due to his senses being clogged with mucus, he couldn't see a thing.

Deciding just to wing it, the dog charged headfirst into a stall. He got back onto his feet, determined to get it right this time, and ran straight into a pole.

"Has Ben gone rabid?" Gwen asked, shocked.

"Ben's cold must be affecting Wildmutt's sense of smell. With his snooze clogged he can't tell where he's going!" Max explained.

"Okay, well, then Yukiko will just have to-" Gwen turned to her left only to see nobody standing there. "Uh? Where did Yukiko go?"

"Get away! Get away!"

The two turned around to see Yukiko still kneeling on the ground by the drug store. The heiress had her fan out and was using it to shield herself from the wasps. The teenager was too afraid to leave her spot.

Gwen sighed at the chance of it all. "Okay, fur-ball, I'm driving now!" Gwen rushed over to Wildmutt and jumped on his back. She gripped his quills and tried to command him on which way to go.

"AGH! Go left!" She yelled. Wildmutt turned in the wrong direction. "NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT!" The two wildly trekked across the town with Wildmutt being unable to see or listen to commands. Gwen gasped when she headed straight for a box filled with fireworks, Wildmutt did a hard turn, knocking her off. Gwen was stuck underneath one of the boxes.

One of the Chinese lamps fell to the ground and caught fire, sending the flames directly towards Gwen and the fireworks. The young girl struggled to get the box off of her and could only watch as the fire continued to get dangerously close. "HELP!"

Yukiko's eyes snapped open at the sound of Gwen's cry for help. The heiress looked over and saw the fire heading towards her cousin and the fireworks. Yukiko's overprotective instincts kicked in for a brief moment. "AMATERASU!" She smashed the tarot card before she even realized it.

The Persona grasped the flames, stopping them, however Yukiko was a second too late. One of the embers had managed to snag onto the tail of one of the fireworks. "GWEN!"

Before the explosives could go off, Max had sped over with a cart of chicken dumplings. He tripped it over, spewing the liquids from the dumplings over the fire and Gwen, saving her life. "Thanks Grandpa."

"Just hope you don't mind smelling like chicken dumplings," He said. The two looked over to see Wildmutt jumping around with a trash can on his face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Yukiko, it's fine! You can stop apologizing!" Gwen tried to reassure Yukiko.

"B-But you could've died! All because I was too afraid to do anything…" Yukiko sighed, disappointed in herself.

Ben was also grumbling, but more so about his cold. "Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse."

"Here, this will help," Max handed Ben some medicine.

Ben sniffed it and grimaced. "Ew! Yuck!"

"Don't worry, it smells worse than it tastes. Or is that the other way around?" He asked himself. "It's not just you I'm worried about; it seems like your bug has spread to all of your aliens. No telling how it will affect them."

Ben drank the medicine and felt his entire body shiver. "T-That was so grim…"

"Then there's Yukiko and her phobia of bugs," Gwen mentioned.

"I'm sorry!"

"Seriously, I thought I got you to stop doing that!?" Gwen yelled.

"I-It's just that I can't handle being around bugs. When I was younger the Inn suffered from an infestation once during the summer. The bugs were crawling all over my room, the bathrooms, the kitchens. I-It was horrible! I woke up to them crawling up my legs…" Yukiko shivered at the memory.

"If that happened to me, I'd be scared of bugs too," Gwen winced. Ben shrugged his shoulders, he didn't mind bugs but he felt bad for her.

"I don't know what's worse, my aliens sharing my cold or Yukiko's bug phobia," Ben said.

"Probably your issue," Yukiko responded.

"Got it! Bug-eye said something about knocking down his apartment building. Well, the only apartment downtown left for demolition is at 8610 Chester Street," Gwen explained after using her computer.

As she was explaining Ben tried to throw the medicine away, but Yukiko stopped him from doing so.

The Rustbucket pulled up to Clancy's broken down and abandoned apartment building. "Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here," Gwen said as she observed the place.

"Why would you think this is a nice place to visit?" Yukiko asked.

"I wasn't being serious, Yukiko," Gwen sighed.

"Come on, kids. Let's all stay together," Max instructed as the three entered the rundown apartment.

The place was severely damaged, and it was a wonder that it was still somehow standing up on its own. The Tennysons walked through the building carefully to avoid falling into any holes on the floor. When they had decided to split up to search around for the Councilwoman, Yukiko huddled closer to Max in case any bugs had decided to pop out.

The two of them found multiple torn up newspapers tacked onto the wall. "Bugs survive nuclear blasts…? Not even something like that could kill these things?" Yukiko shivered.

"It's okay, sweetheart. The bugs aren't gonna hurt ya," Max attempted to reassure her.

"That's what father said before he got stung by multiple bees," Yukiko shook her head. She didn't want to think about that memory.

The two turned around to see Gwen kneeling down in front of a bunch of styrofoam, there were bugs crawling all over it.

"EEP!" Yukiko squeaked and hid behind Max.

Gwen was also a bit disturbed. "Something tells me we're getting closer to him."

"Where's Ben?" Max asked.

"I feel like we ask that almost every day," Yukiko whispered. The three walked into a larger room to see a giant shadow with four eyes marching towards them.

"AH! Mega bug!" Gwen freaked out.

"EEEKKK!" Yukiko screamed, she grabbed Gwen and hid behind Max for safety.

The shadow walked forward until it revealed itself to just be Four Arms pulling a prank on them. The three relaxed, but were also annoyed with Four Arms.

"I should set you on fire!" Yukiko seethed.

"It was just a joke, scaredy pants," Four Arms chuckled. The Tetramand sounded congested.

"I'm wearing a dress, not pants."

"No, Yukiko that's not-" Gwen was interrupted by Liang's screams for help.

"That came from right above us!" Max exclaimed.

Four Arms broke through the wall. "I'm on it!" He grabbed his family, putting them underneath his arms.

Yukiko glanced up at Four Arms' armpits and turned pale. "GROSS!" She held nose to block out the horrid smell. Gwen had done the same, equally as disgusted. Four Arms smelled his own pits to see what the fuss was.

Max was also pinching his own nose. "It's your hives, the cold must've turned them into puss filled pockets of…"

"-Pure putridness," Gwen finished the sentence.

"I can't help it, I'm sick," Four Arms said.

"We know, Ben," Yukiko patted his arm. The Tetramand jumped through the floors to reach Clancy and Liang. Once they arrived, he placed them all onto the floor and saw that Liang was covered in black widows. Yukiko almost passed out from the sight of it.

Max tried to approach Liang, but she shook her head. "S-Stop…black widows."

"There's gotta be some way to help her," Gwen said.

"Set her on fire."

"One that doesn't involve death," Gwen shot the teenager a glare.

"ACHOO!" Four Arms sneezed, covering Liang in giant snot. His snot was able to knock all of the black widows off of her body.

"You know…maybe setting her on fire would've been the better option," Gwen's face showed disgust.

"Oops…" Four Arms winced.

"T-Thanks…" She was thankful, nonetheless.

"Don't mention it," Four Arms replied.

Max helped Liang to her feet just as their resident bug-man finally made his appearance. "You are trespassing."

"And you are a crime against humanity," Yukiko replied. She flinched when an army of red ants appeared by Clancy's command. The red ants formed a giant fist and punched Four Arms into the wall.

"We will rule mankind!" Clancy declared. The red ants turned their attention to Max, ready to attack him.

"Grandpa, look out!" Gwen yelled.

"Agi!" A wall of flames blocked the red ants from attacking the old man. The ants then set their sights on Yukiko, making the heiress reconsider her earlier action.

"N-Nice ants…" Yukiko backed away slowly.

Termites suddenly appeared underneath Gwen, eating away at the wood beneath her feet. "Termites!" She cried as the floor beneath her gave out. Gwen grabbed onto the floorboards before she could fall, thankfully Liang was close enough to help Gwen back up.

Four Arms got to his feet, glaring at Clancy. "You want to be king, get ready to be crowned!" He tried to attack the bug-man, but the red ants swarmed him.

The crawled up his legs, making Four Arms freak out. "A-Ants in my pants!" Four Arms started scratching all over his body, jumping around to try and shake off the ants.

Unfortunately, he ended up running right into Yukiko who was too busy freezing up at the sight of the red ants. The heiress fell to the ground, groaning in pain as Four Arms continued to crash into walls to shake off the ants.

"Ugh…what?" Yukiko looked down at her legs and saw multiple red ants touching her soft skin. "KYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screeched at the loudest possible octave. "GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!" Yukiko summoned Amaterasu, charging up the strongest wave of fire she could.

Clancy's eyes glowed and he could make out the outline of Amaterasu, allowing him to see the danger that was quickly approaching. "NO!" He summoned his bugs to cover his body to protect him.

Gwen, who was able to see what her cousin was doing, freaked out. "YUKIKO WAIT!"

"MARAGIDYNE!"

A massive wave of inferno flames encompassed the entire building. Destroying everything around it.

Four Arms lifted up a giant slab of concrete that he had used to protect his family and Liang. The Tetramand fell to the ground, exhausted, and turned back into Ben.

Max helped his granddaughters and Liang to their feet as Ben walked over to them. "It's a good thing I can't feel my head," Ben said.

From the dead embers of his insects, Clancy rose from them, unharmed. He glanced down at their ashy remains before glaring directly at Yukiko and Ben. "No no no! You will all be sorry! We will exterminate this entire city!" Clancy summoned a swarm of wasps to carry him away.

"T-This has been a really weird day," Liang said.

"Welcome to our world," Gwen responded.

"At least my hives are gone," Ben checked his armpits.

"Where did that smelly four-armed guy go?" Liang asked. "I wanted to thank him."

"We'll let him know," Yukiko smiled.

"Can you find your way back home?" Max asked. She nodded her head and left the destroyed site of the building.

"So, now that we survived Yukiko's nuclear explosion-"

"I'm sorry!"

"-Where do you think bug-brain went?" Ben asked. Max looked over to the nuclear power plant that was stationed in the city.

"Only one way to exterminate a whole city," He said.

"That is way too convenient," Yukiko sighed.

"Can you please give us a warning next time before you decide to incinerate everything around you?" Gwen glared at Yukiko.

"S-Sorry, I-I just couldn't stop myself. I hate bugs," Yukiko sighed.

"Like, how Ben hated clowns?"

"Pretty sure our hate for Zombozo still exists. He just doesn't fear them anymore," Yukiko corrected.

"Then you should do the same thing, Yukiko. Just light that creep and his bug party on fire, and before you know it you won't be afraid anymore," Gwen encouraged.

"M-Maybe…" Yukiko nodded her head.

Up front Ben was shaking like a leaf. "Can you turn up the heat, Grandpa? It's freezing in here."

"It's already on, Ben. But you're shaking like an earthquake. Yukiko, get him another dose of my San Ju Yen Pien," Max asked.

"N-No! I mean…I just finished it off!"

"No, Ben, it's right here," Yukiko walked up front with the jar in her hands. The hero glared at her for managing to find it after he hid it in a different spot. He reluctantly took it from her hands and drank a bit more of it.

"Wow, listen to this. Ants can lift more than 10 times their own body weight. Grasshoppers can leap 100 times their length and cockroaches can hold their breath for over an hour!" Gwen listed off multiple facts.

"I-I didn't need to hear any of that…" Yukiko said.

"Yeah, we don't need their resumes, we need to know how to squash them!" Ben exclaimed.

"Duh! I'm saying that insects are pretty tough little suckers," Gwen huffed.

"But didn't Yukiko torch every single one in that apartment?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, but that's because the ones he has have zero chances of surviving incineration or extreme cold," Gwen explained.

Ben smirked at that reveal of information. "Then we have the perfect chef for the job," Ben glanced down at the Omnitrix.

"Aw, Ben, you didn't have to say that about me," Yukiko giggled, assuming that Ben was referring to her.

The younger cousins still couldn't understand the way her brain works.

The four of them walked down the hallway of the powerplant, searching for Clancy. Suddenly, the alert system to the place started going off.

"What's happening? Is that bad?" Ben asked.

"No, I'm sure anytime an alarm goes off inside of a nuclear plant it's good news," Gwen said, sarcastically.

"Really!?" Yukiko gasped.

"Oh, for the love of-"

"CORE TEMPERATURE RISING! APPROACHING CRITICAL!"

"No time for chatter, kids. He must be fooling around with the reactor's controls. Let's go!" Max ran down the hallway. His grandkids followed him into the control room.

"CORE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL! MELTDOWN IMANINTE!"

"All of the controls are smashed, we'll have to shut it down manually," Max walked up to the controls.

"How do we do that?" Yukiko asked.

"Just outside the reactor core, there's an emergency override system," Max explained.

"Let me guess, you learned about nuclear reactions from a monk in China?" Gwen assumed. She glanced down at the desk next to her and saw a cockroach.

"EEP!" Yukiko screamed as bugs started swarming in again.

"Care for a front row seat?" Clancy entered the control room.

"If this place goes nuclear, you're going to wind up going boom with the rest of us!" Ben informed Clancy.

"We don't think so," Clancy grinned as a colony of cockroaches crawled all over his body. Creating a shield that would protect him from the blast.

"T-That is so gross!" Yukiko cried.

"When the reactor goes critical, we'll be snug as bugs in a rug," Clancy informed them.

"Of course, scientists think cockroaches are the only things that would survive the blast!" Gwen explained.

"So, the guy's gonna wear a bug suit to protect himself from the melt down," Ben walked forward and activated the watch. He dialed up Heatblast and transformed into the pyronite.

However, Heatblast was also affected by Ben's cold. Instead of the usual fiery hot color, he was now icy blue. Yukiko shivered from the chilly air that Heatblast was emitting.

"Wait, Ben!" Yukiko tried to stop him.

"We don't have time to figure things out. You guys shut down the reactor, I'll take care of bugsy!" Heatblast said. Heatblast charged towards the bug-man only to be slapped into the other side of the control room. Max and Gwen ran past to get to the emergency controls, but Clancy noticed them.

"You can't escape us!" He sent a wave of wasps to follow them.

"That's it! Time to turn up the Heatblast around here-ACHOO!" No fire came out of his hands, and he sneezed out cold snot. "Hey, what happened!? You should be a pile of briquettes right now!?"

"Ben, your cold is affecting Heatblast!" Yukiko shouted.

"Aw, come on!" He complained as Clancy punched him into the wall.

Yukiko whipped out her fan. "Agidyne!" The massive fireball smashed into Clancy's back, knocking him away from Heatblast. However, the bug man just got up as if he wasn't hurt by her.

"W-What!? Those disgusting bugs should be ashes by now!?" Yukiko shouted.

"After your little explosion that destroyed our home, I made sure to pack some friends who could take the heat!" He launched a wave of hornets at the heiress.

"EEP! Maragidyne!" The massive balls of flames turned the wasps to ash, but Clancy just sent more after her.

Heatblast tried to attack, but Clancy grabbed him and slammed him into the control panels. He inched closer to Heatblast ready to finish off the hero.

The pyronite lifted up his hand. "W-wait, maybe we could talk about this…" Suddenly, a wave of cold flames erupted from his palms. The cold blast nailed Clancy, freezing his cockroaches.

"Hey!" Heatblast grinned at the reveal.

"Ben! He protected his cockroaches against extreme heat, but he's unprepared for the taste of extreme cold!" Yukiko shouted after sending some more insects to a fiery grave.

"Then let's turn this bug-boy into a bugsicle!" Heatblast shot more icy flames at Clancy, freezing him.

Clancy charged at Heatblast, knocking the both of them into the reactor below. "BEN!" Yukiko followed after, rolling onto the ground to soften the fall.

Within the reactor were Gwen and Max, who were trying to shut off the core. Gwen was attempting to brush the bugs away to stall for her Grandfather, but she was quickly being overwhelmed.

Suddenly, a mix of ice and fire blasted the insects away. Heatblast created a pillar of ice to slide down as Yukiko ran towards her family. Clancy smacked into the ground, having no way to stop his own fall.

"Somebody call for a hero?" Heatblast asked.

"I don't get it, since when are you an automatic ice-cube maker?" Gwen asked.

"Since he decided to get sick. Honestly, this worked out pretty well for us," Yukiko answered. The heiress backed away from Heatblast, since the cold was her natural weakness after all.

Max turned to his grandkids. "I can't override, all the manual controls have overheated." He saw Clancy charging towards Heatblast. "Ben, look out!"

Heatblast created a ball of icy fire in his hands and launched it at Clancy. The bug bastard was frozen in a solid block of ice.

"CORE MELTDOWN IN 10…"

"Stand clear! I got an idea!" Heatblast yelled. The icy pyronite launched two blasts of ice flames at the core, cooling it down to lower the levels. Thanks to his ice, the temperature of the core lowered enough to call off the meltdown. Saving the city from destruction.

"Alright!"

"Good work, Ben!"

"Way to go, Ben!"

Heatblast dropped to his knees, exhausted. "Thanks…now can we please get some hot chocolate or something? AHCOO!"

The Rustbucket drove away from the Reactor now that it wasn't in danger of going off. "Bad guy is on ice, reactor is chillin, and I think that steam knocked out the last of my cold."

"And I can say that any bug that enters my field of vision will suffer a very gruesome fiery death!" Yukiko proudly declared.

"Don't you just love it when everything works out?" Max asked. Gwen closed the refrigerator door to pull out a carton of milk. She looked down to see a cockroach crawl from underneath the fridge.

"Sorry, Mr. Roach this is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me," She raised her foot. Suddenly, a bunch more roaches started to appear within the Rustbucket. "AH! Company, lots of company!"

"EEP!" Yukiko jumped back out of her seat. Ben also jumped away from the bugs as more and more cockroaches were appearing. Max had to stop the Rustbucket due to the roaches blocking the windshields.

The door opened to reveal Clancy, who somehow managed to break out of the ice. The Tennyson kids were doing their best to get the cockroaches off of their bodies.

"NOT AGAIN!" Yukiko screamed as the cockroaches were all over her.

"We didn't appreciate that cold shoulder you gave us in the powerplant!" Clancy glared at Ben.

"HRAH!" Max tried to punch Clancy, but the bug bastard just tossed him back towards the front of the RV.

Yukiko torched the last of the roaches off of her body as Ben tried to activate the watch, and Gwen grabbed a fire extinguisher.

"I thought you turned Mr. Bug into a snow cone?" She questioned as she sprayed the cockroaches.

"He must've thawed out!" Ben grit his teeth when the watch wouldn't work. "Yukiko-"

"Agi!"

The heiress was launching tiny balls of fire at the roaches, incinerating them without risking setting the RV on fire. "Unless you guys want the RV to become even rustier then we'll need another plan!"

A light bulb went off above Ben's head as he remembered something. "I got it!"

Clancy picked Max up by his throat, ready to finish off the old plumber.

"COME AND GET IT!"

He turned around to see Ben holding up the jar of San Ju Yen Pien. The bugs all swarmed towards it, leaving Clancy's body. "What's happening!? Stop!"

"FETCH!" Ben tossed the jar out of the window, and off the side of the road. All of the bugs followed the jar into the depths of the lake below.

Clancy chuckled nervously as all of the Tennysons glared at him. "Hehehe-"

POW!

He was sent flying out of the Rustbucket, lying defeated on the ground.

"Good, that guy was really starting to bug me," Gwen quipped.

"I'm calling the police, I'll be right back," Max said.

"A-A-A-ACHOO!" Gwen sneezed. The girl grimaced as she ended up coming down with Ben's cold. "Oh no…"

Ben grinned at the chances of it all. "Hey, what do you know? Everything did work out after all," He laughed.

"Oh, this gives me the chance to try out that cold remedy recipe that Aunt Vera gave me! Since Ben tossed out Grandpa's," Yukiko skipped over to the kitchen.

Gwen's mood dropped even further at the thought of having to eat whatever Yukiko was about to cook, all the while Ben was laughing his ass off.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 19: Before the Storm

"GONE!"

"W-What…" Ben's eyes snapped open at the loud booming voice. He rubbed his eyes, reaching for the covers.

Only to not find them there.

"What?" Ben looked down to see himself sitting on his bunk, dressed in his regular clothing. "Okay, I definitely remember putting on my pajamas last night," He said. The hero looked up from his clothing to look at the rest of the Rustbucket, but there was nothing there in front of him.

The Rustbucket had been completely destroyed, the roof was torn off, and everything was scattered about. Around the outside was a dark forest that he had never seen before. His heartbeat increased as panic started to build up inside of him, the boy hopped out of the bed and walked around the RV. "Grandpa? Yukiko? Gwen?" He called out for his family.

Working up some courage Ben stepped out of the RV. "Hey! Whoever's responsible better get out of here now!" He screamed.

There was no reply, only the cricketing from the grasshoppers around the forest. "Someone!? Anyone!? HELLO!?" Ben kept screaming. When there was no reply again, he rolled his eyes.

"Ah well, when that doesn't work…" He activated the Omnitrix and turned the dial. "I'll just reply on good 'ol Wildmutt!" Ben slapped down the dial, expecting the bright green flash.

But once again, nothing came. The watch just made no sound and sat uselessly on his wrist. "Uh? Wildmutt!" He slapped down on the dial again. Ben kept repeating the process of slapping the watch until he came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work. "Guess, I'll just walk-"

BOOM!

He jumped at the sudden explosion that was heard from within the forest. While most people would've run away from such a loud booming noise, this summer had engraved a certain lesson into Ben's instincts. "Explosions must mean trouble! And when there's trouble, Ben Tennyson answers the call!" The hero sprinted into the direction that the explosion had come from.

He arrived in a small clearing and saw someone he recognized lying on the ground.

"Grandpa!" Ben shouted and knelt down by his Grandfather. The old man stirred at the sound of his Grandson's voice and looked up.

"B-Ben? What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice was shaky.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing out in the middle of the woods, Grandpa? Where's Yukiko and Gwen?" Ben asked. His Grandfather got to his feet and grabbed Ben by his shoulders.

"Listen, Ben! You need to go, NOW!" Max exclaimed; fear written on his face.

Such an expression had taken Ben by surprise. "Grandpa? What's going on-"

BOOM!

Both flinched at the explosive sound that was extremely close by, making Max panic even more. "Just listen to me for once, Ben and GO!"

"WHY!? Why do I need to run!? Whatever it is, I'm sure I can kick its butt!" Ben argued.

"This is no time for an argument! You need to-" Max was interrupted by a large shadowy hand casting a shadow upon them. Max shoved his Grandson away as the hand slammed down on him, pinning him to the ground.

"FOUND YOU."

"GRANDPA!" Ben screamed.

"RUN, BEN!" Max screamed as the hand clutched his body and dragged him away into the dark forest.

"GRANDPA!" Ben cried and hurried to his feet. He ran into the forest to find his Grandpa, he tried to activate the watch, but it just wouldn't work. "Why won't you work!? Come on! WORK!" He kept slapping the dial.

"BEN!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to his left to see Gwen running towards him, relief washed through his face. "Gwen! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm so happy to see you! We got to find Grandpa; some shadow thing took him-"

"MOVE!" Gwen grabbed him by the hand, forcing him to follow her. He glared at her for the sudden action.

"What's your deal!?"

"You need to run, Ben! Like, NOW!" Gwen yelled at him.

"Grandpa said the same thing, but he didn't explain! What's going on!?" Ben demanded.

"Look, Ben, we can't help Grandpa, okay!"

"What?" Ben stopped, tearing his hand away from her. "What do you mean we have to leave Grandpa? What are you talking about!?" He shouted at her.

Gwen turned around, fear evident all over her face. "B-Ben, nothing we've faced this summer compares to this thing. We can't just force our way through it this time. We need to run!"

"Where's Yukiko?"

"W-What?"

"Where is Yukiko? She wouldn't want us to abandon, Grandpa! If you want to run then so be it, but I'm gonna find them!" With each declaration Ben got closer to her.

"Ben, you don't understand-LOOK OUT!" She shoved him out of the way, just as the shadowy hand from before grabbed her.

"YOU CANNOT RUN!"

"GWEN!" Ben tried to reach for her.

"B-Ben…run!" Gwen coughed out as the hand wretched back into the forest, enveloping Gwen into a den of shadows.

"GWEN!" Ben tried to use the Omnitrix again. "Come on! Work! Four Arms! Wildmutt! Heatblast! Gray Matter! ANYTHING!"

"AGIDYNE!"

Ben's head snapped up at the sound of Yukiko's voice. "Yukiko!" Ben got to his feet and sprinted into her direction. When he arrived in another clearing, Ben found Yukiko kneeling on the ground breathing heavily. "YUKIKO!"

The teenager turned on a dime and found another wind, she enveloped him in a hug, before pushing him back. "Ben! What are you doing here!?"

"I was looking for you guys! I found Grandpa and Gwen, but some shadowy hand took them away and this stupid watch refuses to work!" Ben explained rapidly.

Yukiko shook her head, fear also evident in her eyes. "Ben, it isn't safe for you here! You need to run away!"

"Why do you guys keep saying that!? What could possibly be happening!? WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Ben screamed. He was fed up with all the ambiguousness that was going on. His family was disappearing before his eyes, and nobody was explaining anything!

Yukiko's eyes were pleading for him to listen. "Ben, I wish I could explain what's going on, but there's just no time. He's coming!"

"WHO!? WHO IS COMING!?"

"ME."

Before either one could react, the shadowy hand came flying into the clearing and smashed into Yukiko, a gasp escaped her lips as she went flying into a tree. Yukiko's body hit the tree, a loud crack resounded throughout the whole forest, the heiress' body dropped to the ground, and didn't get back up.

There wasn't even a twitch. Yukiko's body didn't move at all.

Ben stood frozen in his spot as he stared at Yukiko's unmoving body. His mind flashed back to the disappearance of Gwen and Max, realizing what the implications must've meant for the two of them. He wasn't left time to continue thinking about the fate of his family, because something else had just entered the clearing.

Ben couldn't make out what the thing was, because it was nothing more than a large black shadow. But something inside of him was screaming that he had seen this thing before. That this wasn't their first meeting, and it wouldn't be their last.

"W-Who are you?"

"SOMEONE WHO HAS WAITED TOO LONG FOR THEIR PRIZE! I WILL WAIT NO LONGER! TRY TO HIDE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, BUT THERE IS NO ESCAPE!"

"I AM COMING!"

"AAHHHH!" Ben shot up with a scream. The boy's heart was almost beating out of his chest, he gripped his chest to calm down his heart. Taking some deep breaths, Ben gazed around his location, realizing that he was back inside of the RV. He looked down to his left and saw Gwen sleeping soundly as if nothing had happened. Ben then looked at the bottom bunk to see that Yukiko was also sleeping peacefully. Across from them was their Grandfather, and he was sleeping as well.

"A dream…it was just a dream…" Ben tried to relax. But he couldn't…no matter how much he tried he couldn't go back to sleep. The horrific nightmare of his family's deaths plagued his mind, but what bothered him more was the reason.

"That voice was just like the one I heard when I merged with Rojo. But what did he mean…he's coming? He's coming…" Ben didn't know why, but his attention was drawn to the Omnitrix on his wrist.

Above the Earth's atmosphere, stood a large brown ship that resembled some sort of blaster. It floated quietly, invisible to any sensors that the planet had to track unidentified objects. Within the ship's control room were multiple drones operating the vessel. In the middle of the room was a healing tank being operated by several humanoid drones.

Inside of it was a large green and black squid creature with sharp orange eyes. His body was being changed into something larger and fiercer than it previously was. He chuckled darkly as he observed several screens showcasing several of Ben's aliens rescuing people.

"Soon…my new body shall be complete." He lifted a hand, placing it on the glass chamber, his claws scratching against the glass. "And I shall crush the welp who dares to fool around with my prize! THE OMNITRIX SHALL BE MINE!"

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 20: Secrets (Part 1)

"WE'RE LIVE ON THE SCENE OF A HIGH-SPEED POLICE PURSUIT OF AN ARMORED CAR STOLEN EARLIER TODAY FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE IN DENVER! IT ALSO BELIEVED THAT THE THIEVES HAVE A HOSTAGE!"

A chunk of diamond crystals sprouted out of the ground, popping the tires of the armored car. The driver was forced to make a very abrupt stop as the police cars finally caught up. The driver stepped out of the vehicle with the hostage in his arms. Another thief popped out of the passenger seat with a high-tech rifle in his hands. He pointed it at the police and fired the blast, destroying one of the cars.

Satisfied with his shot, he failed to notice Diamondhead standing right behind him.

"WAIT! WHAT'S THIS!? YES, IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE ANOTHER ALIEN SIGHTING!"

Diamondhead slashed the rifle, breaking it in two. The thief tried to run away, but Diamondhead captured him in a pillar of crystals.

The driver walked up behind Diamondhead with the hostage in hand, ready to make threats with the Petrosapien. However, a pink object swept through the air like a boomerang and bashed the driver in the back of his head. He released the hostage, allowing him to run away behind Diamondhead.

The Petrosapian caught the fan in his hands and stared down the driver. He transformed his hand into a crystal blade, making his threat known. The driver raised his hands in surrender too afraid to try and fight back.

"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THESE CREATURES COME FROM BUT THEY SEEM TO BE HERE TO HELP!"

The zoom in on Diamondhead retracted, revealing to be multiple screens playing the news broadcast of recent events. The screens were inside of a large high-tech alien room with a large cylinder tank in the middle of it.

"The Omnitrix wasted on pointless heroics…!" A deep voice growled.

A humanoid drone walked up to the tank. "Should I send more war drones to retrieve it?"

"...No." Smoke encapsulated the room as the tank opened up. Revealing a large hulking figure of the galactic warlord. Piercing red eyes bore into the image of Diamondhead with unbridled hate. "I will see to this task myself."

"AAHHH!" Ben screamed, waking up from his sleep. The lights in the RV cut-on, Max walking over to his Grandson.

"Another nightmare, Ben?" Max asked, concerned.

"I-It was that weird alien from my vision! Only bigger, uglier, and scarier!" Ben answered, confused and scared.

Gwen rolled her from her side of the bunk. "You sure you weren't just looking in a mirror?"

Yukiko popped up from her bed, concern written all over her. "Do you want to talk about it? My friends and I suffered from pretty terrible nightmares, because of last year," Yukiko placed her hand on Ben's shoulder.

Ben nodded his head, finding some comfort in her voice. "Yeah, each dream was filled with him hurting you guys over and over and over again…it would always end with him looking right at me and saying: I'm coming for you now…"

Max froze on the spot as if someone just slapped him in the face. He turned to all three of his grandkids with a weird look of seriousness. "Change of plans, we're hitting the road right now!"

The Tennyson kids looked at one another before turning to their Grandfather. "But Grandpa, it's three in the morning," Gwen complained.

Max was already starting up the engine. "Best way to beat the traffic."

"Grandpa, is everything alright?" Yukiko asked.

He didn't turn to look at her, just keeping his eyes on the road. "Everything's fine…everything's going to be fine."

The Rustbucket drove past a herd of wild buffalos at a breakneck pace, even going past the speed limit. Yukiko and Ben stared out the window while Gwen typed on her computer.

"Uh? Grandpa, what's with the lead foot?" Ben asked.

"The Rustbucket as a lead foot?" Yukiko questioned.

"You're doing this on purpose, I know you are," Gwen muttered, trying to ignore Yukiko.

"I want to make Mount Rushmore by nightfall," Max answered.

"Why? Don't we have all the time in the world to get there?" Yukiko asked, confused by Max's behavior.

"We don't have all the time in the world. I can't explain it right now, but just trust me on this," Max said, confusing them even more.

Ben felt an odd sensation after hearing his Grandfather's words, reminding him of his nightmares. How every time his family wouldn't explain what was happening as if they weren't even too sure. Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, Ben turned to Gwen for a distraction. "Hey, let me play a game," He didn't really ask.

"I would, but I think this would be a good lesson on how to entertain yourself," Gwen smirked. Yukiko reached over the table and pulled the laptop away from Gwen. "Hey!" The cat-themed girl cried.

"You should take your own advice, Gwen. Staring at that screen too much isn't good for you anyway," Yukiko had a smirk of her own.

"Good job, Yukiko! Now give it to me!" Ben reached for it, but the teenager pulled it away.

"No, Ben. Both of you need a break," Yukiko shook her head.

The hero cursed his shorter arms before realizing that he had his own personal cheat code. Activating the watch, he transformed into Upgrade and merged with the computer.

"BEN!" Both girls cried as the mechamorph took over the laptop.

"HAHA! You two underestimate my genius," Upgrade taunted.

"The only thing you're a genius at is being a doofus! Now get out of my computer!" Gwen tried to reach for it.

"What? I'm just entertaining myself!" Upgrade mocked her.

"No, you're just being annoying," Yukiko glared at him. Suddenly, the computer sprouted legs, breaking out of Yukiko's grasp.

"I'm just using my own creativity to breathe some life into your boring lives," Upgrade kept dodging their attempts to snag him. He suddenly gasped, making both females pause to stare at him.

"What's wrong, Ben?" Yukiko asked.

"OH! A diary~"

"Why you little…!" Gwen growled trying to nab him. The mechamorph dodged out of the way as he started to read out Gwen's diary.

"Benjamin Tennyson, that's none of your business!" Yukiko scolded. A girl's privacy was something important and Ben was currently breaking that.

"Knock it off, doofus!" Gwen yelled.

"BEN!"

All three froze and turned to their Grandfather. "Now is not the time to go alien, do you understand!?" He scolded the boy.

"I was just fooling around," Upgrade demerged from Gwen's laptop.

"We can't afford to attract attention right now!" Max exclaimed.

"What kind of attention could I attract here?" Upgrade asked as the watch started to beep. In a red flash of light, he returned to normal.

"Nevermind," Max turned back to the road. His Grandkids just looked at each other again, not understanding what has him so stressed.

"Do you guys think that Grandpa's keeping something from us?" Yukiko whispered.

"Yeah, he's acting weird, and he doesn't normally yell at Ben like that," Gwen replied.

"It's weird, because it reminds me a bit of my dream," Ben said.

"Your dream?" Yukiko repeated.

"Yeah, in it none of you guys would explain what was going on. You'd just say you couldn't explain it and tell me to run…then-" Ben was stopped mid speech when he looked out the window.

"Then? Then what?" Yukiko asked, confused about why he stopped.

"About that," Ben turned her head to see outside the window. The heiress gasped when she saw large clouds of smoke coming from the city.

"What's going on over there?" Yukiko asked.

Max seemed to look uncomfortable and uncertain as he looked at the city. "I'm sure the local authorities have the situation well in hand," Max reassured them. Suddenly, a huge explosion erupted from the city and Ben couldn't sit still any longer.

"Looks like it's Hero Time!"

"Ben! I don't think that's the best idea-"

"Time to turn up the Heatblast on these guys!" Ben slapped down the dial, transforming into the pyronite. He ran out of the RV, forcing Max to stop the Rustbucket.

Heatblast pointed his hands downwards and he shot into the sky like a comet towards the city.

"BEN!" Max yelled as he and the girls watched him take off.

"What's the problem, Grandpa? He does this all the time," Gwen reminded him.

"This time I wish he would sit still for just a minute!" Max ushered the girls back into the RV. He wasted no time in accelerating to reach the city.

Yukiko raised an eyebrow at her Grandfather's behavior, he had been acting off all day and she was getting tired of it. "Grandpa, you need to tell us if something's wrong. Why are you acting as if Ben saving people is an issue?"

"It's not him saving people that I have an issue with. It's what his actions are going to cause us by him saving people," Max responded.

"What do you mean by that?" Gwen asked, suddenly worried.

When he didn't respond back both girls just turned to each other with worried expressions.

"Oh man, why do I have the feeling you guys were expecting me?" Heatblast asked as more than dozens of drones surrounded him. The human-torch released waves of fire from his palms, destroying most of the drones.

When they started to charge at him, he launched whip-like flames to slice them in half. Heatblast shot a volley of fireballs at the remaining drones, ending the battle with his victory.

Until a blue energy net caught him, pinning him to the wall. The pyronite groaned and shook his head; he heard a whirring sound and saw a large red spiked ball rolling towards him.

The ball stopped, splitting open to reveal a pod inside. The smoke that had covered Heatblast's vision started to clear, allowing him to finally see who had attacked him.

The being was a large humanoid creature with a face resembling that of an octopus and pale green skin. He has tentacles dangling down his face like a beard. He was very large with a black mask covering his mouth that was attached to his armor. He has metallic gloves with small fingers and black cylinder objects piercing his arms. His sharp red eyes sent chills down Heatblast's spine.

"...You…! You're the alien from my vision!" Heatblast realized.

"At last, we meet. The being that has caused me so much trouble!"

"Who are you?" Heatblast asked.

"I am Vilgax and I have come for the Omnitrix!" Vilgax revealed.

"I'm…uh…guessing that means you're not with the good guys?" Heatblast jokes as the warlord glares at him.

CRACK!

"KYAH!" Yukiko gripped her head in pain.

"Yukiko, what's wrong!?" Gwen asked. She placed a hand on Yukiko's shoulder to try and help her. Max glanced back at the girls for a moment, before putting his attention back onto the road.

The heiress didn't respond back, too busy focusing on the pounding in her head. Her eyes saw her tarot card floating in front of her, it's light illuminating brightly.

Gwen covered her eyes at the card's sudden appearance. "Y-Yukiko!? What is it doing!?" Gwen asked.

"T-That's right, Gwen can see it. Forgot about that," Yukiko shook her head lightly. "It does that sometimes, especially when it's trying to warn me of something, but it was never like this," Yukiko explained. Her breathing leveled out as her head started to hurt less.

"Warn you? Warn you of what? Can you please explain these powers of yours or-"

"Yukiko, I need you up here! Now!" Max ordered as they drove further into the city.

Yukiko lightly moved Gwen out of the way. "Sorry, Gwen, there's no time to explain," Yukiko moved over to the front seat.

Gwen stared at her Grandfather and Yukiko as she got moving too. "Yeah, Grandpa's not the only one keeping secrets," Gwen huffed mentally.

BOOM!

The Rustbucket shook from the explosion that was nearby. Max straightened out the Rustbucket as the smoke in front of them cleared. Yukiko blinked and saw Heatblast standing in front of a large green octopus creature.

Max's eyes widened in horror at the ghost from his past. "No…it can't be…" He muttered before turning to his oldest granddaughter. "Yukiko create us some cover! Gwen, get your cousin!" He ordered.

"Grandpa, who is-"

"Do it!" He yelled, cutting off Yukiko.

The heiress lightly flinched and rolled down the window. She stuck her upper body out the window and activated her Persona. "Amaterasu! Agidyne!" The fireball smashed into the melted tar, creating another explosion to hold off Vilgax.

The Rustbucket stopped in front of Heatblast and Gwen opened the door. "Ben! Grandpa said to get in, now!"

"What!? I'm about to kick alien butt!" Heatblast protested. Right at that moment the Omnitrix timed out, turning him back to Ben.

"Benjamin, get in!" Max ordered. The boy wasted no time hurrying in and shutting the door. Gwen and Ben fell to the floor when the Rustbucket suddenly took off.

"Believe me when I say: You do NOT want to pick a fight with Vilgax!" Max warned his grandson through the rearview mirror.

"Uh? How do you know his name is Vilgax?" Ben asked.

"Grandpa? What aren't you telling us?" Gwen asked.

"You shouldn't keep secrets from us, Grandpa," Yukiko said.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets, Yukiko," Max side-eyed her. The heiress' eyes widened when she heard that.

"Does he know-" Her thoughts were cut off when more explosions went off behind them, almost toppling the Rustbucket over.

Ben pulled the curtains in the back to see two drones chasing them. "Two robot goons closing in fast!" Gwen yelled.

"I got it!" Yukiko saw both drones in the side mirror and smashed her tarot card. "Maragi!" Dual balls of flame smashed into the drones, destroying them. However, more just appeared in the place of those two. Yukiko tried to poke her head out of the window, but laser shots from the drones stopped her.

"I can't get a good look!" She shouted.

"Then hold on!" Max maneuvered the Rustbucket to dodge the oncoming lasers. Yukiko used that chance to launch more fireballs, destroying some of the drones.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Gwen ran up to the front.

"Things are gonna get a whole lot worse if we don't get to Mount Rushmore!" Max dodged some more blasts.

"Why!? What's at Mount Rushmore!?" Gwen asked.

"Gwen, this is not the time to explain!" Max responded. "You're gonna have to trust me!"

BEEP!

After hearing the sound of the Omnitrix all three turned around to see Ben standing on his feet. "Well, I'm not going down without a fight!" He slapped down on the dial.

"Yes!" Stinkfly pumped his fist.

"Ben, wait!" Max yelled. His cries fell on deaf ears as Stinkfly took off out of the Rustbucket again.

Stinkfly flew at the few remaining drones, he dodged their blasts and shot his goop at one of their blasters. The energy overloaded causing it to explode, and almost hit the Rustbucket.

He then smashed his stinger into the drone he was standing on, blowing it up. The bug floated over the remains of his enemies. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a Stinkfly-GAH!" Stinkfly cried out as Vilgax tackled him. The bug struggled to keep flying as the giant warlord held onto his tail.

"Give me the Omnitrix!"

"No!" Stinkfly barfed in his face, knocking Vilgax off. The warlord jumps back off the ground to grab the insect.

Stinkfly dodged the grab and stared at his assailant. "Who is this guy?"

Vilgax crashed onto the ground unharmed, right in front of the Rustbucket. The RV backed away immediately and drove away from the battle.

"What are you doing!? Ben's in danger!" Yukiko shouted, angrily.

"We'll help him, but first we need to get some special help!" Max responded.

"Let me guess at Mount Rushmore?" Gwen glared at him. The old man winced, hating that he's having to leave Ben behind for now. "Grandpa, you're really freaking me out," Gwen's glare switched to worry.

"I'm not waiting around for that! Ben needs help or he'll get killed!" Yukiko hopped out of her seat.

"Yukiko, sit back down!" Max ordered.

"NO! Just because you want to abandon Ben to…whatever that thing is doesn't mean I have to!" Yukiko shouted.

"Vilgax isn't going to kill Ben, but if you go out there, I can't guarantee that Vilgax won't kill you to get to Ben!" Max shouted.

"How can you possibly know that!?" Yukiko asked in disbelief.

"I can't but you have to trust me on this! Vilgax isn't like anything else we've faced this summer! You have to trust me!" Max's grip on the wheel tightened. "If anything bad happened to you kids, I'd never forgive myself."

Yukiko was ready to argue back, to just storm out of the RV and help Ben. But something stopped her as if this situation reminded her of something else. It reminded her of when Yu was ready to storm into Nanako's dungeon to save her when they were completely unprepared to head in.

The heiress sat back down at the table and rested her head into her arms. "What would you do in this situation, Yu-kun…"

The Rustbucket made it to Mount Rushmore, driving up the side of the National Landmark. Gwen sat in the front seat and nervously turned to her Grandpa. "Uh, I don't think tourists are allowed on this road," Gwen said.

"We're not tourists, we're tenants," Max corrected her. He stopped at a 'Road Closed' sign and pressed a button underneath the dashboard. Both girls gasped as the Rustbucket went down an underground tunnel. The lights turned on and they found themselves in an underground bunker.

"What is this place?" Yukiko asked as they stepped out of the Rustbucket.

"The place that holds the key to saving Ben," Max answered as he led them through the bunker. He stopped in front of a drawer and pushed a button. It opened up to reveal a small blaster.

"Is this it?" Yukiko asked, unconvinced. Max didn't answer her and continued to search through the bunker. As they continued to search Gwen's patience started to run out.

"That's it! I'm not taking another step until you tell us what's going on!" Gwen demanded. "Why aren't we helping Ben!? What is this place and how do you know about that alien guy who's after Ben!?"

"Deep breaths," Yukiko rubbed Gwen's back after the short girl finished her tirade. Max turned to his granddaughters after finally finding what he was looking for.

"Well, it's kinda complicated…" Max pulled out a very large blue high-tech blaster. "I wasn't exactly your normal Plumber before I retired."

Both girls gaped at him and the weapon. "That is a big gun…" Yukiko whistled.

"Uh huh," Gwen nodded her head.

"This weapon is key in'd to Vilgax's biosignature. Hopefully, it'll take him down for good this time," Max explained as the Rustbucket left the bunker.

"This time?" Gwen asked, scared.

Max pointed at the glove compartment. "There's a small red button under that cabinet. Press it!" Gwen pressed it and a blue holographic map suddenly popped up, scaring her. "Hey!"

"GPS Assisted Tracking System," Max said. "It's locked onto the watch's signal, you navigate," Max instructed her.

Gwen nodded her head, examining the map. "I-uh, wonder what Yukiko is doing?" Gwen asked. She quickly turned around to see the heiress meditating. "She said she had something big planned, but I'm worried about her and Ben."

"It'll all be over soon, sweetie. Just watch the map," Max tried to comfort her. Gwen nodded her head and took deep breaths.

"There's the spaceship!" Gwen exclaimed.

"We have to get aboard!" Max said.

"Get aboard? How?" Gwen asked.

"We crash right into it," Yukiko answered as she walked up front. Gwen gulped as she saw her Grandfather press a button. Suddenly, the Rustbucket transformed into a battering ram and smashed right through the ship's interior.

HONK! HONK! HONK!

Just as Vilgax was about to cut off Ben's arm, the RV crashed right into him. Sending the warlord into the wall. The RV backed away from Vilgax before he got back up. Max stepped out of the RV with his mega blaster and pointed it directly at Vilgax. "Claws off my grandson, Vilgax!"

"Grandpa!?" Ben shouts, shocked.

"Tennyson!" Vilgax glares at the old Plumber just as Max takes the shot. The blast sends Vilgax through the wall.

Max drops the weapon and rushes over to his Grandson, Yukiko follows after him. "Grandpa? You know this guy?" Ben asks.

"It's a long story, let's get you-" His eyes widen when the bar holding the Omnitrix starts to spark. Suddenly, Ben's body starts to change and his body morphs through his entire roster.

"H-Hey!"(XLR8)

"W-What's-"(Diamondhead)

"RRAAWWW!"(Wildmutt)

"What's happening to Ben!?" Yukiko asked, worried.

"The power surge must've affected the watch!" Max suggested. Ben transformed into Four Arms next and broke himself free from his bindings.

Gwen stepped out of the RV just as Four Arms tossed the capture device away. She gasped when drones started flying into the chamber, blasting at them. "Look out!" Gwen screamed as she ran over to them.

Whipping out her fan, Yukiko summoned her Persona. "Maragion!" Medium sized fireballs blew up the oncoming drones.

Four Arms attempted to punch one of the drones, but the watch changed him into Ghostfreak. His body just flew through them. "Oh man!" He then turned into Gray Matter.

The little Galvin went inside of one of the drones and messed with its circuits. "A little alien know how and the toaster is toast!" He transformed into Upgrade next and merged with a drone.

"Agilao!" Yukiko destroyed a drone that tried to attack Gwen.

"Thanks," Gwen smiled.

"No problem and keep your head down," Yukiko nodded her head. Upgrade came speeding past them, chasing down the few that were left.

"Try picking on someone your own size!" He blasted and sliced them to bits.

Max used a massive drill to destroy a larger drone. "We got to get the ship under control!"

"You can fly a spaceship!?" Upgrade yelled.

"At this point I'm sure Grandpa can do anything," Yukiko sweat dropped. Her eyes widened when she saw Vilgax's shadow looming over Max. "LOOK OUT!"

The old man gasped when Vilgax grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him over to the hole the Rustbucket had made. The warlord stepped down on Max's chest with his large foot, pinning him to the floor.

"GRANDPA!" All three cried out.

"Your weapon won't help, Tennyson, as you can see I'm much stronger than before-"

"NOOOO!"

"What-GAH!" Vilgax was caught off guard by Upgrade tackling him through the whole. The two descended down towards Mount Rushmore to battle.

"BEN!" The three humans shouted as the two disappeared from view.

"We need to help him!" Yukiko shouted.

"First we need to get out of here!" Max yelled. They turned around to Rustbucket and both girls blanched at the idea, while Max just smirked at their reactions.

"LET'S NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!" Yukiko screamed as the Rustbucket crashed through the spaceship's walls. The ship itself was already crashing down onto the planet, so the turbulence was worse than ever.

"AGREED!" Gwen clutched onto her tightly.

"HOLD ON, GIRLS!" Max shouted as the Rustbucket crashed into the forest.

When everything stopped moving, Max lifted his head back up. "Are you two alright?"

"I never want to go on a rollercoaster again," Yukiko groaned.

"Going back to school doesn't sound so bad," Gwen whined.

Suddenly, Yukiko's tarot card appeared once more, alerting the heiress. "We need to move!"

"What do you-AHHH!" Gwen screamed as Vilgax came into view. The warlord smashed his fist through the windshield to reach them.

"Tennyson!" Vilgax roared in anger.

When his claws were about to reach Gwen, Yukiko pulled the girl out of the way and switched places with her. "YUKIKO!" Both shouted her name.

Vilgax pulled Yukiko through the windshield and held the heiress in his grip. He began squeezing her, his claws cutting into her sides and drew blood. "KYAAH!" Yukiko cried out as his grip kept growing tighter.

"Put her down, Vilgax!" Max yelled.

"Bring me the boy and I may consider it!"

"How about…you just die…"

"Say that again!?" Vilgax glared at his hostage, gripping her even more. Blood started to drip onto the ground.

Gwen, who was shivering in fear, saw something that caught her eyes. "Is that…a petal?" Max saw it too and questioned where it came from.

Vilgax loosened his hold on Yukiko when he also noticed more and more pink petals appearing out of nowhere. Yukiko pushed herself out of his grasp, due to the distraction.

"RUN!" She screamed at her family. The two didn't need to be told twice and jumped out of the RV.

"Where do you think you're going, Tennyson!?" Vilgax demanded. He tried to chase after the Tennysons.

Yukiko turned on a dime, smashed her tarot card, and screamed at the top of her lungs. "BURNING PETALS!"

Every single petal exploded instantaneously, engulfing Vilgax inside of a giant vortex of fire. The flames incinerated the trees around them, and forced Max to shield his granddaughters. Smoke encompassed everything in the vicinity, blocking their view of Vilgax.

Gwen sat up from the ground. "Oh my god…What was that!?" She shouted.

Yukiko was breathing heavily, unable to stand up. "My…my strongest spell. Burning Petals…that's what I was doing earlier in the Rustbucket."

Max stared down at his eldest granddaughter, in disbelief of the power that she held in the palm of her hands.

"Do you think that did it?" Gwen asked, hopeful.

"THINK AGAIN!"

A clawed hand shot out of the smoke and grabbed Yukiko once more, shocking the trio. The smoke cleared, revealing Vilgax, who was completely unharmed by the explosion. However, his eyes conveyed just how furious he was.

"Insolent girl!" Vilgax roared in her face. He once again began crushing her ribs causing the exhausted Yukiko to scream in pain.

"YUKIKO!" Max tried to attack Vilgax, but he was knocked away by the hulking green arm. Vilgax then grabbed Gwen by her torso and held her up.

"Grandpa!" Gwen screamed for his help.

Max struggled to his feet, helpless to help his granddaughters.

"Watch, Tennyson! As your spawns' blood is spilt today!" Vilgax declared, with bloodthirsty eyes.

"WRAHH!"

Vilgax turned his head to see Wildmutt jump out from his hiding spot behind the destroyed trees. The Vulpimancer growling at the warlord to drop his cousins.

Seeing that his prize was in front of him again, Vilgax regained his composure. "It's your choice, boy. You or your family."

"Ben…! Don't-GAH!" Yukiko hissed when Vilgax tightened his grip to shut her up.

Seeing the danger that his family was in and knowing that none of his forms could take on Vilgax, Wildmutt lowered his head to surrender.

The warlord approached the boy, dropping the girls from his grasp. He tapped the Omnitrix and turned Ben back to normal. "How noble." He picked the boy up by his shirt and carried him back into the ship.

"BEN!" Yukiko shouted, unable to move.

As he watched the warlord make off with his grandson, Max called out to Vilgax. "Vilgax, wait! Don't go in there!"

Vilgax didn't listen and took off with Ben.

"Foolish earthling, why would I-" He noticed the alarm system in his ship going off and dropped Ben. "The Auto Destruction Launch Sequence has been initiated!" Vilgax panicked and rushed to the control panel. The panel sparked, meaning that he couldn't shut off the sequence. "TENNYSON! You are the thorn in my side!"

Suddenly, he was blasted in the back and looked over to see Ben holding Max's blaster. "Guess, it runs in the family!" The boy dropped the blaster and sprinted for the hole.

"COMMENCING SELF-DESTRUCT LAUNCH!"

"NOOOOO!" Vilgax cried out in despair.

Ben smirked and slapped down the dial of the Omnitrix, his body transforming into Heatblast!

Now I face out I hold out

I reach out to the truth of my life

Seeking to seize on the whole moment to now break away

Yukiko watched as Vilgax's ship exploded, terrified for Ben. Gwen squinted her eyes and gasped. "Ben…"

"LOOK! THERE HE IS!" Gwen yelled.

Oh God let me out

Can you let me out?

Can you set me free from this dark inner world?

Save me now

Last beat in the soul

A yellow and orange streak blasted out of the smoke and flames. Heatblast was surfing on a board of fire, descending down towards his family.

Yukiko felt her heart swell at the sight of him. "He kinda looks like a shooting star? Don't you think so?"

"A shooting star, huh? Nah, that's giving him too much credit," Gwen shook her head but smiled nonetheless.

Heatblast crashed down onto the ground before transforming back to normal. Ben had his hands in his pockets as he smirked at his family.

"Not bad for a doofus," Gwen complimented him.

"Heh, thanks," Ben held out his fist and Gwen returned the fist bump. He then turned to his Grandfather. "Grandpa, we have a lot to talk about."

Max nodded his head, understanding that everything between the three of them was about to change even more.

Yukiko placed a hand to her heart, contemplating something. "You're right, Ben. We do have a lot to talk about."

"Yukiko?" Gwen's eyes widened.

"I think it's time I told you guys everything. About my powers, how I got them, and about last year. The year when a dark shadow almost enveloped all of Inaba."

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 21: Secrets (Part 2)

After having Upgrade restore the Rustbucket to its original state, the Tennysons left Mount Rushmore to avoid any oncoming officers that would want to see what happened. The family of four stopped at a local rest stop for the night. Yukiko could only stare at the bunk above her, listening to the sounds of her family's slumber. She summoned her tarot card, staring at the glowing light of it.

Tomorrow morning would be the day that she will explain everything to them. Revealing the secrets that she and her friends had all promised to not tell anyone, in fear of being seen as crazy. "Would they even believe me?" The thought crossed through her head multiple times. Sure, aliens were one thing, something that not even she ever thought she'd see. But going inside of a TV to explore dungeons manifested from people's hidden desires, fighting shadow creatures, beating two god-like beings, and catching a town killer at the same time. "It all sounds so make-believe when you put it like that," Yukiko giggled a bit. She dispelled the card and tried to get some sleep.

"Is this how you felt with Dojima-san and Nanako-chan, Yu-kun?" Yukiko asked in her head. The heiress soon drifted off to sleep, dreaming of her friends all sitting at Junes' table.

Ben leaned back in his seat, confused by the uncomfortable air that surrounded the table. Yukiko was silently fidgeting with her hair, Gwen was trying to distract herself by looking out the window, and Max was tapping on the table in thought.

The 10-year-old boy just shook his head at the pointlessness of it all. "Okay, someone better start spilling their guts or Stinkfly is gonna spill his," Ben threatened as he turned the dial. A pink fan quickly smacked him in the face before he could transform. "Ow!"

"Sorry! Reflex!" Yukiko apologized.

"Why is that a reflex!?" Ben asked, baffled.

"Pfft! Hitting you is a pretty reasonable reflex," Gwen laughed. Suddenly, something stepped down hard on her foot. "OW!"

"And shutting you up is a pretty reasonable reflex," Ben shot back. The brainy girl growled at him, ready to strike back against him. Max quickly put a hand between the two.

"Okay, you two, no need to get violent," He said.

"HE/SHE STARTED IT!"

"PFFT!"

They turned to Yukiko, to see the heiress trying to hold back her own laughter. She couldn't contain it and fell into a familiar rhythmic pattern of hyena-like laughs. Ben and Gwen felt their own annoyance at each other fade away and joined Yukiko's laughter. Max just watched his grandkids with a content smile on his face, happy to hear their laughter after what happened yesterday.

Yukiko wiped away the tears in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry for being so awkward. It's just been a stressful couple of days. Thank you, Ben," Yukiko patted his head.

He puffed out his chest. "No problem. Though, I wish you didn't have to hit me for that," He said.

"So, do you feel comfortable now, Yukiko?" Gwen asked.

The heiress nodded her head. "Yes, Gwen. I'm honestly just unsure on where to start. Last year was very bizarre as a whole," Yukiko said.

"How about your powers? That's a good enough place," Max suggested.

"Right, that should work fine. My power is called a 'Persona', the manifestation of someone's soul," Yukiko revealed. Ben and Gwen looked confused at the name, while Max just contemplated the information.

"So, your soul is a giant naked woman?" Ben asked, bluntly. "Are you some kind of shy streaker?"

"Ben!" Gwen and Max yelled.

"What!? NO!" Yukiko yelled, blushing.

"Oh, why is your Persona thing naked then?" Ben asked again.

"I-It wasn't like that initially!" Yukiko stammered. The heiress' face had turned as red as a tomato.

"Wait, you said 'initially'. What do you mean by that?" Gwen asked, confused.

Yukiko coughed into her fist to regain her composure. She brushed some hair out of her face and sighed. "If I'm going to explain that, then I'll need to explain how I got these powers in the first place," Yukiko said. The Tennysons all focused on Yukiko, knowing how important this information would be.

"Everything changed when a young man named Narukami Yu transferred into our school for the school year-"

"Isn't that your boyfriend?" Ben asked.

"Yes, now let me continue," Yukiko quickly answered. "On the same day that he arrived, Chie-chan had been telling me about this weird rumor about something called the 'Midnight Channel': If you stare into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy day, you will see a strange figure in there," Yukiko explained.

"Oh! It's like looking into a foggy mirror and repeating a name three times!" Gwen exclaimed.

"There's a thing like that?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah, it's from a movie," Gwen answered.

"Oh, well, I didn't really pay much attention to the rumor. I was preoccupied with other things at the Inn. Shockingly, on the next day a TV reporter known as Mayumi Yamano was found dead, hanging upside-down from a telephone pole. That's…that's when it all really started…" Yukiko said quietly.

"The murders…!" Gwen gasped. Her words drew Max and Yukiko's attention immediately.

"Gwen, how do you even know about those?" Max asked. He hadn't mentioned anything about them to Ben and Gwen, not wanting the two to ask Yukiko and uncomfortable questions.

The girl winced, realizing she probably shouldn't have said that. "You see…Ben and I-"

"Nope, just you," Ben wasn't going to let her involve him.

"Fine! I was getting curious about you and your powers. You were clearly keeping secrets and wouldn't explain anything. So, I looked up Inaba and found multiple articles talking about the string of murders and kidnappings that had happened. And…your name appeared in the list of kidnappings…" Gwen explained, guiltily.

"What!?" Max jumped forward. He had known that there were kidnappings, but he didn't know that his own granddaughter was one of them.

Yukiko was wincing incredibly hard at her Grandfather's concerned and hurt expression. She was also hurt that Gwen didn't trust her enough, and tried to unearth secrets she didn't want others to know.

Ben felt a bit bad for letting Gwen take a bit of heat, but he wasn't going to take any blame. For the first time something wasn't his fault.

"I…I didn't know you were kidnapped," Max whispered.

"I was hoping to build up to that part but trust me it'll all make sense once I finish explaining," Yukiko said.

"Go ahead, I'll be alright," Max nodded his head.

"Her death wasn't the only one. The next murder was of an upper classman named Saki Konishi; she was the one who discovered Yamano's body. Her dead body was found the next day in the same way as Yamano's. The next part will lead into what happened to me, though you might not believe it," Yukiko told them.

"Why wouldn't we believe it?" Ben asked.

"Because it's related to how they died and how I got my powers. You see, they were killed by being pushed inside of a TV," Yukiko revealed. She noticed that the other three were silent, making her wonder if they'd actually believe her.

"Honestly, I expected something weirder," Ben shrugged.

"Wait what?" Yukiko whipped her head to look down at him.

"After everything we've done this summer, did you really think we wouldn't believe you? While the idea of being shoved inside of a TV sounds weird, I'm way more open to the supernatural than I was before," Gwen said.

"I…eh?"

"Gwen's right, Yukiko. There would've been no reason for us to doubt you. You've been truthful so far, and trust me that's not the strangest thing I've ever heard in my life," Max smiled.

The heiress was shell shocked by her family's words. They believed her, and didn't doubt her for a minute. Yukiko felt a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders, and relaxed in her seat. A small chuckle escaped her lips, before erupting in full blown laughter.

"Uh? Are you okay?" Ben asked, confused.

"Y-Yes, I'm o-okay. I'm just laughing at myself. I was so scared that none of you would believe me. Which is why my friends and I decided to keep all of this a secret, because we feared people would call us crazy," Yukiko straightened herself out. She felt a weird buzzing in her head, but the heiress decided to ignore it for now. "I should continue to explain the story."

"So, yes, the Midnight Channel that Chie-chan told us about turned out to be real. Yu-kun told us that he first discovered it on his first night in Inaba, where he saw Yamano appear on the screen. Then he and Yosuke saw Saki Konishi on it the next night. Both sightings were a night before the deaths were reported. The two and Chie-chan decided to go check out the TVs in Junes' Department store, where the three of them had apparently fallen into the TV and discovered the world inside. Where they would end up meeting Teddie," Yukiko explained.

"Isn't Teddie the Junes mascot?" Gwen asked.

"Yup! He's what you call a Shadow. An entity that inhabits that world," Yukiko explained.

"So, he's an actual talking bear? Not just a costume?" Gwen asked.

"Well, he has a human body in the suit that he somehow managed to grow after gaining his own Persona," Yukiko explained.

"But…that doesn't make sense!"

"It's Teddie, it's not supposed to make sense," Yukiko shrugged.

"Can we continue with the story please?" Ben asked.

Sorry, I'll continue…uh, there are somethings that I wasn't therefore and that both Yu-kun and Yosuke didn't want to explain. So, I'll just skip ahead to when I was kidnapped," Yukiko said. Her audience were once again focused on her, now that they're at the part they've been waiting for.

"Okay, so, I don't exactly remember my kidnapping. I'm aware now of how it happened, but I have no memory of it. From what we had assumed thanks to Naoto-kun, the ones who were kidnapped were drugged and shoved inside of a TV. Inside of that world we manifested dungeons-"

"What are dungeons? Is it like video games?" Ben questioned.

"I've never played any but based on a certain dungeon we did explore I would say yes. Anyway, dungeons are created from the dreams and desires of those trapped inside. My dungeon was a large medieval castle…" Yukiko shivered at the self-reminder.

"A large medieval castle? You wanted to live inside of a castle?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Well…no…I…uh," Yukiko didn't know how to explain.

"You don't have to explain why to us, Yukiko. Especially if it makes you uncomfortable," Max placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I-It's fine, Grandpa. I've moved past those issues now, I just…needed to find a way to explain it," Yukiko reassured him. She took a deep breath before continuing to talk. "As I said, dungeons are the manifestations of our hidden desires. That castle was supposed to represent the Amagi Inn and my Shadow was a trapped princess," Yukiko said, slowly.

"Your shadow?" Gwen repeated.

"Oh, right, so if someone manifests a dungeon then they'll manifest a shadow. They are the rulers that are in control of the dungeons, and are the manifestations of our real selves. The suppressed thoughts that humans bury deep within themselves given physical form. When humans are unable to face the truth within themselves…a shadow will be born," Yukiko said.

Max nodded his head. "Your dungeon represented your Inn, and your Shadow was a princess trapped within…"

Gwen pieced it together. "...Yukiko? Did you hate your Inn?"

"I…wouldn't say hate, but more so that I felt trapped in it. I've spent most of my life stuck within Inaba, constantly being compared to my mother. That would one day inherit the Inn no matter what I wanted, and how much my mother was great at it. My father didn't help much either, with how overprotective he was. He never wanted me to leave Inaba, saying that there was no place safer than our little town…I hadn't even realized that I was trapped since the day I was born," Yukiko sighed.

Ben felt his heart go out to Yukiko; he couldn't understand how that must've felt. When he first heard of her and the famous Inn she came from, he assumed she'd be some rich snob. He realized he was wrong of course; Yukiko was way cooler than he first thought. But he didn't think she had gone through things like that.

Yukiko decided to continue on with the story, not liking the downtrodden looks on their faces. "S-Shadows are very eccentric in different ways, since they're born from our suppressed thoughts. They're very…exaggerated? mine kept talking about wanting to find a…hot…stud…" Her face turned red immediately.

"Pfft!"

"BEN!"

"What!? That's so funny! Can you imagine Yukiko constantly mentioning that she wants a 'hot stud'?" He asked.

Gwen did think about it for a moment. "Pfft!"

"Gwendolyn!" Max gasped, astonished.

"I-I'm sorry…it's just too funny to think about!" Gwen couldn't contain her own laughter.

"I'm glad you guys found it funny," Yukiko shook her head, smiling. She figured mentioning that would make the two laugh.

Gwen gave the heiress a sly smirk. "Though, I guess you did find that hot stud you were looking for, right?"

And suddenly her entire face was red again. "G-Gwen!?"

"I bet you constantly pictured this Yu, in prince-like clothing, coming to save you from your imprisonment! Riding on a silver horse with a sword in his hands," Gwen teased.

"G-GWEN!?" Yukiko felt steam coming out of her head.

"I think that's enough, Gwen," Max said.

"You're right, I can tease her about it later," Gwen smirked.

Yukiko pulled out her fan to cool off her face. "A-anyways! The others were now on a deadline to save me. It turns out that the fog inside of the TV world doesn't last forever, and if they failed to save me before the next time it rains at midnight then the shadows inside would kill me. My dead body would be ejected from the TV world for all to see," Yukiko dropped the morbid information.

"Way to kill the mood…" Ben muttered.

"Since you're here in front of us, that didn't happen," Max said.

"Right, the others arrived in time to save me. It was also in my dungeon that Chie-chan awakened her own Persona. Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun, and Chie-chan all fought off my Shadow. When they did, she started to spout off all of my own insecurities and fears right in front of them, bearing all of my secrets. When I refused to accept that she was me it turned into a giant red bird in a golden cage."

"To represent that you were trapped in your Inn, right?" Gwen assumed.

"Yes! And after they defeated her, that's when I realized something important. I had to accept the fact that I did hold an amount of disdain for my Inn, for my parents, for Inaba, and even myself. I had to accept the ugly side of myself that I tried to hide, because accepting oneself is the first step to growing up."

"That couldn't have been easy, having all of your secrets revealed to your friends like that," Gwen said.

"No, but that's why I was able to accept them. I realized that no matter how afraid I am of what's to come, I'll always have my friends by my side. That Chie-chan had always watched over me to help me grow no matter how selfish her own reasons may have been. She was my brave knight that I can always count on. And that's how I gained my Persona," Yukiko smiled.

"Wish I had a friend like that," Ben whined.

"You have us to help keep that ego of yours down. So, I think you're doing fine," Gwen smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so," Ben returned the smile.

"The rest of your friends had Personas too, right?" Max asked.

"Yes, everyone in our group has their own Personas," Yukiko answered.

"Which means they all had their own dungeons, what were they like?" Gwen asked.

Yukiko shook her head. "Sorry, I can't tell you guys that."

"What? I thought we said no more secrets!" Ben complained.

"Yes, but you have to understand that these dungeons were personal to all of us. I only told you about mine, because I wanted to tell you. But I won't betray my friends' trust like that. If you ever meet them one day, then you can ask them yourselves," Yukiko said.

"Understood," Max and Gwen nodded their heads. Ben just shrugged his shoulders.

"So, who was the guy behind all of the killings?" Gwen asked.

The heiress' face darkened immediately. "A man named Tohru Adachi was the killer behind the deaths in Inaba. He was also a detective that worked with Yu-kun's uncle."

"So, he's the jerk that kidnapped you?"

"No, that was someone else," Yukiko shook her head.

"Huh?"

"Yes, a man named Taro Namatame was the one who kidnapped us and threw us into the TV," Yukiko revealed.

"He was working with the Adachi jerk, right?" Ben asked.

"No, in fact Namatame was trying to stop Adachi," Yukiko shook her head.

"He tried to stop him by helping him?" Gwen was confused.

"Namatame also knew of the Midnight Channel and had seen all of us appear on them. He tossed each of us in there in an attempt to keep us safe, thinking that we would be out of Adachi's reach. Not realizing that he was sending us to our own deaths," Yukiko huffed.

"Sounds like he had some screws loose," Max said.

"He did, he was placed in the hospital for mental health treatment," Yukiko said.

"Finish the story! How did you guys stop Adachi?" Ben was on the edge of his seat.

"Well, after Yu-kun and Naoto-kun had placed all of the pieces together. We had come to the unfortunate conclusion that Adachi was the killer."

"Unfortunate?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"I mentioned before that Adachi and Yu-kun's uncle were partner detectives. Which meant that he was really close to Yu-kun's uncle and cousin. Finding out that Adachi was the true killer wasn't easy for Yu-kun. But we cornered him and chased him into his dungeon," Yukiko said.

"Don't tell me you had to fight his Shadow too," Ben groaned.

"We didn't, because Adachi had already accepted himself when he first entered the TV world. He never had a Shadow to begin with," Yukiko answered.

"Well, that's one less problem then," Ben said.

"After defeating Adachi, we ended up fighting God."

"WHAT!?"

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed at their shocked expressions.

"You're lying about that one, right?" Gwen asked.

"N-no. We actually did fight a god-like entity called Ameno-sagiri. The being that controls the fog within Inaba and the TV world. He is the grander of mankind's desires, and their wishes to stay ignorant of the truth," Yukiko responded.

"What fog?" Max asked.

"Before we figured out Adachi was the killer, a green fog enveloped Inaba. At first, we believed it to be harmless, but then it was revealed to us that the fog was connected to the TV world. Adachi told us that if we didn't stop him before December 31st, then the fog would completely envelop Inaba. Shadows would invade the town, killing everyone," Yukiko explained.

The others were shocked by the revelations of how close Yukiko and her town were to complete and utter annihilation. And to think that the only thing standing between it was a group of teenagers with ghost powers.

"UGH!" Ben screamed. His scream had caught them all off guard.

"W-What's wrong, Ben?" Yukiko asked.

"It's so unfair! How come you got to fight a god and I didn't!?" Ben complained. After hearing that any and all concern was gone in an instant.

"If only I got this stupid watch a year earlier," Ben huffed.

"Ignoring that doofus, what happened next?" Gwen asked.

"After we defeated Ameno-Sagiri, peace returned to Inaba. Adachi turned himself in and the quiet life that the town was once known for had returned in full force. We saved the day and returned to our normal lives in time for Christmas and New Years," Yukiko smiled.

"I'm happy to see that everything worked out," Max sighed in relief. He had no idea that his granddaughter had gone through so much. So much of what she had talked about reminded him of something, but he wasn't too sure on it yet.

"There was some other stuff, but not much of that is important enough to really talk about," Yukiko shrugged.

"After hearing all of that I can understand why you didn't want to tell us. I'm sorry for prying, Yukiko," Gwen apologized.

"It's alright, Gwen. I was a bit hurt that you didn't fully trust me, but I know that you didn't mean anything bad by it," Yukiko reassured her with a head pat.

"Something still confuses me," Ben got their attention.

"What is it?" Yukiko asked.

"You said that your Persona had changed. What was it beforehand?" He asked.

"Oh! She was called Konohana Sakuya," Yukiko answered.

"So, she wasn't a giant naked woman?"

"No…she wasn't a giant naked woman," Yukiko glared at him.

"How did it evolve then? Was it like Pokemon or something?" Gwen asked.

"No, nothing like that. I-I-I-I-It…" Yukiko's entire face suddenly turned red at the reminder of when and how it happened. Both of her cousins stared at her strangely.

"I-I-It was t-thanks to my b-b-bond with Y-Y-Yu-kun that Konohana Sakuya turned into Amaterasu," Yukiko stuttered out, face still red.

"What exactly-"

Max clamped a hand over Ben's mouth. "I think that's enough questions for now. Yukiko has explained everything she's needed to."

"Right, sorry, Yukiko," Gwen apologized.

"Yeah, my bad," Ben apologized as well.

"It's no big deal," Yukiko responded.

"With that said I think it's time we got back onto the road," Max said.

"You still need to explain your story, Grandpa!" Ben yelled.

"Yeah! Don't think you can skip out on it!" Gwen agreed.

He sat down in the driver's seat and turned to them. "Wasn't dreaming of it. I'll explain as we hit the road. We're burning daylight."

Yukiko shook her head at the three of them. A sudden new feeling started to build up inside of her and before she even realized it; she started talking. "Thank you."

"Hm?" They turned to her.

"Thank you for believing me and for helping me since this trip started. I feel like I'm really starting to be a part of this family," Yukiko said.

"What are you talking about? You've always been a part of this family, Yukiko!" Ben huffed.

"The doofus is right, you're like the big sister I never had. There's no need for you to thank us," Gwen smiled.

"Ever since I first laid eyes on you, you've always been family. You never needed to think that you had to earn your place with us, Yukiko," Max smiled.

CRACK!

Yukiko gasped lightly as her tarot card appeared in front of her. Ben and Gwen were also shocked by it's sudden brightness. Max was confused since he couldn't see what the three of them were seeing.

Yukiko stared at her card as the light it was emitting grew brighter and brighter. The brightness didn't bother her one bit as she reached for the card. Holding it within both of her hands, the light died down. A tear trickled down Yukiko's face as she realized what had just happened.

Ben and Gwen opened their eyes, confused by the sudden event. "Y-Yukiko, what just happened?" Gwen asked.

"Sumeo-Okami…"

"What?" Ben asked.

Yukiko dispelled her tarot card and walked over to sit down by her cousins. "Just things concerning a giant golden woman," She giggled.

"So, you admit that you're a closet streaker!"

"NO!"

A few days later:

Ben opened up an ice cream bar that he had bought from the ice cream truck. He turned around just as he was about to take a bite, he bumped into another body, dropping his bar on the ground. Ben glared at the guy who rammed into him.

"Hey! What's your deal?" He exclaimed.

"Ah, sorry about that. I didn't see you," The stranger apologized.

"Watch where you're going next time," Ben huffed. He looked down at his fallen bar and frowned. "Oh man, that was the last of the money Grandpa gave me," He sighed.

Feeling bad for the kid, the stranger pulled out his own wallet. "As an apology let me buy you another one."

"Really!?" Ben perked up.

"Yeah, I was going to buy that kind anyway, so I'll just get one for each of us," He said.

"Thanks!" Ben appreciated the generous offer.

"No problem," He smirked.

After buying the ice cream bars, both Ben and the stranger walked out of the line. Ben looked up at the stranger as he bit into his ice cream. "Thanks for the treat, dude!"

"Like, I said no problem. It's a hot day so make sure you stay cool, alright?" He advised Ben.

"Eh? You sound like my cousin. She likes to hover over me constantly," Ben shook his head.

"I'm sure she just wants you to be safe. I have to remind my little cousin sometimes too to make sure she's wearing the correct clothing for the weather. Kids have the tendency to forget sometimes," The stranger smirked.

"I appreciate her efforts, but I wouldn't mind if she backed off a bit sometimes," Ben shrugged.

The stranger smiled at Ben as if he knew something the 10-year-old didn't. He looked over and saw a bus pulling up. "Ah, that's my ride. Better hurry before I miss it," He said. The stranger turned back to Ben. "Just tell her "Thank you" when you get the chance. I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

Ben was confused at the advice this guy was giving him. "Alright…I guess. I never caught your name though. The name's Ben Tennyson."

"Ah, it's Yu Narukami!" He said as he sprinted across the street to catch the bus.

Ben nodded his head, turning his attention back to his ice cream. Until he thought about the name again and promptly dropped his ice cream bar for the 2nd time. "Wait, what!?" Ben turned back around to where the bus was. But it was too late for him to do anything as the transport vessel was already going down the street.

Ben stood in place, absolutely shocked by the recent development of things.

"Ben!"

He was taken out of his stupor by the sound of Yukiko's call. He looked over to see the heiress approaching him with several bags in her hand. "What's wrong, Ben? You look like you've seen a ghost-freak! HAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed at her own joke.

Forgetting who he had just encountered, Ben frowned at her joke. "That was terrible."

"Here, help me carry these bags," Yukiko handed him some.

"Uh? What are these for?" Ben asked.

"Dinner! I'm going to cook us a pretty big feast tonight!" Yukiko smiled brightly, skipping back over to the Rustbucket.

"Ugh, now I'm tempted to destroy these," Ben sighed as he followed her.

Season 1 End

Chapter Text

Chapter 22: PersonaL Truth

Multiple nukes were pulled out of silos by a tractor beam. Each one being pulled towards a familiar alien ship.

Inside of the military base, a skinnier Vilgax and his drones attacked the soldiers mercilessly. As the warlord was ready to take the missiles for himself a blue beam of energy destroyed one of the drones. Another blast shot Vilgax, pushing him back from the missiles.

"You..!" Vilgax spat.

Three men dressed in blue space-like suits stood in the doorway. Blasters evident in their hands. These men were Plumbers. "It's over, Vilgax!" The one in the middle yelled.

"You're going down!" The other one declared.

"Today marks the end of your crimes!" The third one pointed his laser-rifle at Vilgax.

The warlord glared at the Plumbers. "Many have tried, none have succeeded!

"Until now, slimeball!" The rowdy one charged forward.

"Phil, wait!"

Phil didn't listen and attacked Vilgax with his blaster. Vilgax dodged each of the shots and kicked Phil's helmet off of his head. He held Phil hostage, pointing the blaster at the Plumber's head. The Plumbers and Vilgax were at a standstill as a drone activated the launch sequence.

"Back away or watch one of your cities be destroyed!" Vilgax warned them. The two Plumbers watched in shock as the missile was about to be launched.

"Put the weapons down. NOW!" Vilgax ordered. Both men dropped their guns to the ground.

"You can't just let him get away!" Phil exclaimed.

"Never said we would," Both Plumbers raised their arms to reveal wrist blasters. They shot a Vilgax, knocking the blaster out of his hand, and blasting him in the face. The Warlord released Phil as he gripped his face in pain. With his regained freedom, Phil punched Vilgax away.

The Warlord staggered back but laughed anyway. "You're too late!"

"Wrong, my timing's perfect," The leader kicked his rifle into his grasp. He shot a sticky bullet at Vilgax and the drone, trapping them in the goo.

"NOOO!" Vilgax cried as the missile he was stuck on launched into the air.

"What are you doing!?" Phil yelled.

"Just watch Phil, Max knows what he's doing," The smart Plumber and the leader took off their helmets.

The leader revealed himself to be a younger Max Tennyson and the other was a man with dark blue hair with equally dark blue eyes.

"Vilgax is about to go out with a bang," Max quipped.

"TENNYSOOOOON!" Vilgax roared as he was blasted into his ship, blowing it up with him along with it.

"And then Ka-blamo. No more Vilgax," Present-day Max finished his tale. The ex-Plumber had finished retelling his Plumber history with his Grandkids, more specifically his history with Vilgax.

Ben was on the edge of his seat as he listened to the tale with an unusual hyper focus. Gwen was paying an extra amount of attention as well, but not with the exact same interest as Ben.

Yukiko, who was now dressed in a black long-sleeved blouse and red skirt with black leggings, was just as mesmerized by her Grandfather's history. The heiress couldn't believe that her own family history went this deep. This entire summer trip so far continued to surpass her previous year in Inaba constantly.

"Or so I thought, until a few days ago," Max looked at Ben.

"Woah! You were a hero!?" Ben grinned, excitedly.

"I was just a guy doing his job," Max said, humbly.

"I guess you could say that you really flushed all the evil away, huh Grandpa? Snrk! Pfft! HAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed at her own joke. The other three sweat dropped at Yukiko's sense of humor.

"That was terrible…" Ben muttered.

"Ignoring Yukiko's terrible puns, can you explain a little more about your job?" Gwen requested.

Nodding his head, Max began to explain his old profession. "We called ourselves the Plumbers. Officially we didn't exist, we were the guys who fixed the problems that no one else could. Extraterrestrial, extrasensory, extra ordinary," Max explained.

Ben's grin continued to grow wider at every turn. "So, every time I've been going hero, I've really been following in your footsteps? I'm a Plumber in training!" Ben exclaimed.

"And you knew about the watch the whole time," Gwen added.

"There's also the fact that you weren't too surprised about my Persona once I explained it. As if you knew something more," Yukiko tacked on.

"To answer Gwen, I didn't really know about the watch. Mostly just rumor and scuttlebutt. I was just as surprised as you guys when it turned up on Ben's wrist," Max explained.

"For Yukiko, I wasn't exactly sure about your powers at first. However, I felt as if I knew something like it from before. It wasn't until you explained it that I was able to piece the puzzle together. That I've seen something like a Persona during a trip to Japan I made, a couple of years ago," Max continued to explain.

"A couple of years ago?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah, there was a group of people who wielded power just like yours. Though, I'm not exactly sure what happened to them after I ran into them," Max answered.

"A group of people who could also use Personas…? I thought that we were the only ones. Maybe, I should contact the others about this," Yukiko decided to contact her friends about what her Grandfather had just revealed.

"Why were you in Japan?" Ben asked.

"Just visiting an old friend, nothing too crazy," Max answered.

Gwen, who was pretty silent up to this point, decided to speak her mind. "You know, Grandpa, you always told us we could tell you everything. Guess you didn't feel the same."

As her words entered his ears, Max gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter as if he's heard those words before. Yukiko noticed his body grow a bit tense, making her curious about his reaction. "Grandpa, what's-"

She was cut off by the sounds of Police sirens behind them. Max pulled over so that the cops could drive past them, this sight excited Ben immensely.

"Alright! Could be a chance for the Plumbers to get back to work!" He exclaimed. Yukiko giggled, finding his enthusiasm adorable.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you should start by unclogging that brain, Mr. Plumber."

"You're just jealous, because you're not a part of the family business," Ben taunted.

Max gave his grandson a small glare. "There is no family business. My hero days were over a long time ago," He said.

"Well…technically, I do have a family business that I will have to take over," Yukiko interjected, reminding them of her Inn.

"Yeah, but that's boring compared to Plumber stuff," Ben said, uncaringly. Yukiko was tempted to smack him with her fan again.

"You just found out about this Plumber business a couple of seconds ago, doofus. Like Grandpa said, you're not a Plumber," Gwen glared at him. The boy tuned her out, already rushing out of the RV.

"Oh yeah? Just watch my career take off!" Ben exclaimed.

Max looked back at the door. "Ben, wait!"

The words fell on deaf ears, because the boy didn't wait. "Time to XLR8!" He dialed up the Kineceleran and slammed down the dial.

However, much to his displeasure he didn't get XLR8. "RipJaws!? What a rip-off!" He grumbled; his mood grew even more sour as he heard Yukiko's mocking laughter from inside the RV. The Piscciss Volann jumped on a moving fire truck to get to the crime scene.

"That boy can never just wait!" Max huffed, annoyed.

Yukiko understood the frustration of having to deal with Ben's unwillingness to listen. "It wouldn't be Ben if he did listen," She said as her face shifted into a dangerous smile. Gwen scooted away from Yukiko, terrified of the aura radiating off of her cousin.

When they arrived at the crime scene, the three stepped out of the RV, and approached the detective. "Anyone happened to see a giant talking fish come by here?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, it just went inside. Why would you want to know?" He asked them.

"Oh, we just need something to cook for dinner! You see that was our meal, but it decided to be a little nuisance and run off on its own. I'll go get it!" Yukiko sprinted into the building before the detective could question them further. She could hear Max and Gwen preventing him from following her.

As she entered, she saw RipJaws chasing after a tiny red creature with long black claws. "Ben!" She exclaimed as she chased after him.

RipJaws turned around to see Yukiko closing in on him, under normal circumstances he'd probably be happy to see her. However, judging by the dangerous smile plastered on her face and the rising temperature in the building, that wasn't the case. In times like these, RipJaws knew exactly what he needed to do…

He needed to run like hell.

"Sorry, got an alien to catch! Bye!" Ripjaws increased his speed to get away from his angry cousin.

"Don't you know better than to run away from your punishments!?" Yukiko's speed also increased. The heiress putting all that dungeon running and Chie's(Forceful) morning jogging exercises to good use.

As the two were running through the building there was another person besides them chasing after the rogue alien. He was dressed in a blue and black jumpsuit with a high-tech rifle in his hands. His ear twitched when he heard the sound of clattering feet against the tile floors. Raising his rifle in preparation for his target.

Though, he didn't expect a large fire ball to appear out of the shadows of the darkened building. "Woah!" He ducked underneath it as the flames dissipated right after passing over him. Picking himself back off the floor he questioned what the hell was going on.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"

"Just stand still! It won't hurt at all!"

"It's definitely going to hurt!"

The man pointed his rifle back at the direction the fire ball came from, only to see a Piscciss Volann running for his life and a teenage girl chasing after him. "What the hell-"

BAM!

He was unceremoniously flung into the air by the two, who were two busy with their own business to have even noticed him. He crashed into the ground with zero grace, groaning in pain he crawled to his knees. Turning around he could see the two running around in circles, with the teenager trying to smack the Piscciss Volann with the pink fan in her hands.

Honestly, if he wasn't so annoyed, he'd find the sight comical, that an 8-foot alien was cowering in fear of a regular teenage girl. Grabbing his rifle off the ground he aimed it at RipJaws and fired it with accurate precision.

Too occupied with trying to avoid his furious elder cousin, RipJaws failed to see the blue beam coming at him. He was nailed right in the chest and was sent flying into a nearby desk counter. Seeing that her cousin had just gotten randomly shot, Yukiko rounded on the cause of the attack.

Pointing her fan dangerously at the man, Yukiko glared at him. "Who are you!?"

The man pointed his rifle at RipJaws, before addressing her. "I'm gonna need you to step away from the alien, little girl. That thing is dangerous," He warned her.

"Hmph, trust me, I'm a lot more dangerous than him," Yukiko opened up her fan. A breeze seemed to have entered the building as her hair started to flap gracefully. To her eyes, her tarot card appeared in a bright white glow, and shattered with the wave of her fan. "Sumeo-Okami! Agilao!"

"The hell!?" He gasped as he rolled out of the way of the fireball. He realized that the fireball from earlier must've come from this girl somehow. "I don't know how you did that, but-"

"SCRRREEEECCCHHHH!"

Their attention turned to the cause of the loud screech. Behind the man was the small alien that RipJaws had been chasing earlier, it was rolling on the ground with burn marks on its stomach. Seems that Yukiko's attack had hit it instead.

"There you are!" The man's attention immediately went back to his prey. He fired on it, but the creature regained some sense to roll out of the way. It crawled on the ground as the man continued to shoot at it.

Behind them RipJaws poured a vase of water over his head. "Ah, you gotta love room service."

Yukiko turned around to her cousin. "Come on, Ben. No more fooling around!" Yukiko ordered.

A tick mark appeared on RipJaws' forehead. "And who's fault is that, huh?" He glared at her.

The two looked over to see the man was stuck underneath a bookcase with the creature standing in front of him, celebrating its victory. RipJaws grabbed a case and slammed it on top of the creature, trapping it. "And that's how a Plumber does it," He grinned. The Omnitrix started beeping, turning him back into Ben.

SMACK!

"OW!" Ben gripped the back of his head.

"And that's how I punish my troublesome little cousin," Yukiko giggled. The two scurried away from the struggling man on the ground, hurrying over to their family.

Max looked down at his grandkids. "Are you two alright?"

"If you want to count Yukiko smacking me in the head, then no," Ben was still rubbing the spot she had hit.

"And there was some weirdo chasing Ben around over there," Yukiko added.

"That was you!" Ben yelled at her. His cries went unheard since his family was more focused on the man.

He got to his feet and looked at the Tennysons. His eyes widened at the sight of Max. "Max?"

"Phil!"

The two hugged one another like old time buddies, much to his grandkids' confusion. "You know this guy, Grandpa?" Ben asked.

Phil looked down at Ben. "Oh, you could say that. We used to be partners," Phil revealed.

His words just left the three grandkids a bit more confused, they looked at one another with a bit of uncertainty.

The Tennysons now stood outside after the police and fire department had left. In front of them was Phil, who was putting his gun back into his car. "Yeah, she's not much to look at but it's better than that old Rustbucket of an RV you used to have," He jokes.

Yukiko pouted after hearing that. "I think the Rustbucket is pretty cool," She muttered.

"It smells like old burnt batteries," Ben replied.

"Why would you know what that smells like?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

Ignoring his Grandkids for the moment, Max continued to talk to his old friend. "So, how are ya?"

"Pretty good considering I just bagged a havoc beast. Seems like old times," Phil smiled.

His words caught Ben's attention pretty quickly. "You bagged it!? As if! It was Rip-" Yukiko covered his mouth before the boy could give away his secret.

Max approached his old partner. "Havoc beast huh? I haven't seen one since the one we caught terrorizing Denvor years ago," Max said.

"Yeah, good thing I was around. Once a Plumber, always a Plumber. Though, that reminds me, have you talked to 'ol Grumpy Face in a while?" Phil asked.

"I have actually, he's pretty busy with his work. He has a granddaughter too, ya know," Max told him.

"Really now? Man…hearing that and seeing the three behind you. Time really has flown by for us, huh?" Phil smiled, reminiscing. His face turned a bit serious as he looked back at Max. "You ever thought about getting back into the business? Relive our glory days?"

Max shook his head. "No thanks, I'm retired. And so are the Plumbers."

"Yeah, thanks to you when you took Vilgax out of the picture," Phil sighed. Yukiko raised an eyebrow, noticing the small hint of disdain in Phil's voice.

"Ah, just doing my job," Max replied.

"Yeah…seems that things are starting to pick up again. In fact, I'm starting my own freelance Plumber business…" His eyes trail down to Ben's wrist, staring directly at the Omnitrix. "Woah, cool watch." Yukiko instinctively shifted herself closer to Ben, not trusting the look in Phil's eyes.

"That watch looks pretty familiar," Phil said.

Ben raised his arm, smirking. "Well, you ought to. It's the Omni-" He was cut off by Max gently pushing him away.

"Well, look at the time. We need to go. It was nice catching up with you, Phil. Happy plumbing," Max gave his goodbye. Yukiko turned her head to glance at the old Plumber, feeling suspicious of him.

The Rustbucket drove down the road with no issue, continuing their journey as Ben started to complain to Max again. "I don't get it! How come you didn't tell Phil about the Omnitrix?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis only, Ben. The less people that know the better," Max answered.

"Guess, that's your answer to everything, huh Grandpa?" Gwen said.

Yukiko decided to speak up, not liking the tension. "W-Well, I haven't told any of my friends about the Omnitrix. Even after everything we went through last year, telling them just didn't feel right."

"You also kept secrets from us until recently. It seems to be a secret-loving party within this family," Gwen snarked, keeping her eyes on her computer. Yukiko winced a tiny bit, it seemed Gwen was still sore over the secret stuff.

A light bulb turned on above Ben's head. "Hey, why don't we start up the Plumbers again! You, me, and Phil! We'd be super alien butt-kickers!"

"What about us?" Yukiko asked, pointing to herself and Gwen.

"You have your Inn, right? And Gwen…eh."

"What do you mean 'eh'!?" Gwen yelled, offended.

"Look, Ben, I'm flattered you appreciate what I did, but you can't bring back the past. Suddenly a monitor in the RV's dashboard appears with Phil on the screen.

"Max! If you're out there I need help! Two Vulpimancers tearing up a meat processing plant on Highway 44!" The transmission cut out.

"Vulpimancers?" Max gasped; his face grew serious. He made a sudden U-turn, almost knocking over Yukiko and Gwen in the back.

Ben pumped his fists. "Alright! The Tennysons are back in Plumbing business!" Max looked a bit concerned before turning back to the road.

They pulled up to the meat processing plant and got out of the RV. Inside of the building they could hear the roaring of the Vulpimancers.

"I don't like the sound of that…" Gwen didn't want to enter the place. To her misfortune Ben, Max, and Yukiko walked into the plant. She quickly hurried behind them, with a scowl on her face.

As they entered the warehouse of the plant, they found Phil struggling to get off of the ground. Max hurried over to his friend.

"Phil!" Max helped him up.

"Max, thank goodness you showed up. Two aliens, nasty. We're gonna need a little of that old magic," He smirked.

"No worries! We're on it," Ben grinned. They turned around when the growling got closer, to see two Vulpimancers walk out of the freezer.

Yukiko visibly cringed at the sight of them. "They look like hideous versions of Wildmutt," She commented, much to Phil's confusion.

"Friends of yours?" Gwen asked Ben.

"Wildmutts! Maybe, I could talk with them!" Ben figured and activated the watch.

"Ben!" Max tried to stop him but was too late as the green light blinded them all. When it died down, Ben had finished transforming into Wildmutt. Yukiko was a lot happier to see Ben's version of the Vulpimancers.

"That's why it looked familiar, it's the Omnitrix!" Phil exclaimed.

"Wait, Grandpa said it was just a rumor. How does he even know what it looked like?" Yukiko questioned, mentally.

Wildmutt jumped over to his fellow Vulpimancers and tried to communicate with them. Yukiko couldn't contain herself as she watched Wildmutt trying to talk. "Snrk! Pffft! It looks so silly!"

"Is she always like this?" Phil asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Gwen sighed.

It seemed that Wildmutt's negotiations didn't work, because the Vulpimancers roared at him and attacked.

"What did you say?" Gwen asked.

"Vulpimancers were never big on small talk. Even with their own kind," Max explained. Wildmutt jumped back over to his family and Phil. He then ran away as the Vulpimancers gave chase.

Wildmutt's senses prevented him from getting tackled by the wild beasts. He grabbed a chain to escape to air as one of the Vulpimancers crashed into a tower of canned worms.

"Gross!" Yukiko and Gwen yelled.

The beasts tried to attack Wildmutt but before they could try and knock him down, a fireball crashed into them.

Yukiko marched forward with Sumeo-Okami shining above her. "You two have been beary bad dogs!" Yukiko made a Teddie pun.

One of the two charged at her as the other continued after Wildmutt. The lighter Vulpimancer tried to bite her, but instead its teeth made contact with invisible metal.

Sumeo-Okami's sword was blocking it with her blade. Yukiko whipped her arm, commanding her Persona to toss the beast aside. The creature went flying but used one of the hanging meats to rebound back at her. "Agilao!" The fireball smashed the Vulpimancer in the face and sent it flying across the warehouse.

"Yukiko!"

The heiress turned around to see her family and Phil heading towards the exit, she dismissed her Persona and hurried to follow them. As they approached the exit, both Vulpimancers recovered quickly to block their escape.

"I-I don't consider either of you have considered becoming vegetarians?" Gwen suggested, nervously. Yukiko summoned Sumo-Okami once more to battle, but before she could usher a spell something happened.

Phil was using a device to transmit sonic sound waves to disrupt the Vulpimancer's senses, unfortunately it also affected Ben.

"Turn that off!" Yukiko hissed, trying to comfort Wildmutt. Her arms were wrapped around Wildmutt's head. Gwen was also trying to help sooth Wildmutt's pain by rubbing his head.

Phil raised an arm in defense. "Hey hey! Sorry about that, but it was the only way to stop the Vulpimancers."

"Yeah, lucky for us you have a sonic pitch whistle with you," Max gave Phil a suspicious look.

The Omnitrix started to beep, with a red flash of light, Ben turned back to normal.

"Are you okay, Ben?" Yukiko asked as she still had him enveloped in a hug.

"Y-yeah…I think I'm fine now. Thanks," He appreciated the gesture.

Phil gave no concern to the boy's discomfort. "So, all the rumors were true. The Omnitrix really does exist. Hey, Ben, pretty good moves out there. You remind me of your Grandfather back in the day."

Those words were music to Ben's ears as he gazed up at his Grandfather with admiration. "Really!?"

"You were also pretty good out there, girly," Phil complimented Yukiko.

"My name is Yukiko. But you can just call me Amagi," She corrected him with a glare.

"Just Amagi? What are you, Japanese?" He raised an eyebrow. Before she could answer, Max shouted at Phil.

"Phil, look out!"

The old Plumber turned around to see the darker Vulpimancer getting ready to attack. Everyone ducked down under the beast's swipe. Phil dropped the sonic pitch whistle; it was crushed by the Vulpimancer before he could grab it. The creatures were now ready to fight again until Max hopped on a forklift.

"Why don't you pick on someone with more meat on his bones!" Max shouted as he crashed into them with the forklift. He jumped off of it just before it drove into one of the storages. Max shut the automatic metal doors before the Vulpimancers could escape.

Phil walked over to congratulate Max. "Just like good times, eh? I think this is gonna be the beginning of a new partnership," Phil extended his hand for a handshake. Max looked more uncertain than anything else.

Yukiko watched the exchange with her own uncertainty, continuing to analyze Phil's actions. Everything about the situation looked suspicious to her, which was something she picked up from last year. Even though she and her family have met some bizarre enemies so far, why were sudden wild aliens just popping up out of the blue?

And why was Phil the center of it?

"It's fate that we all met up," Phil said as he leaned back in his chair. The Tennysons and Phil were now chilling inside of Phil's suite. Gwen sat on one of the chairs distracting herself with a book while Ben and Yukiko devoured a bowl of shrimp. Though, the heiress would deny that the shrimp was tasty, only because it would mean complimenting Phil.

The heiress kept her eyes glued on Phil as she bit another piece of shrimp.

"Pretty nice suite you got here. Must've cost a hefty penny," Max said.

"Just a little thank you I negotiated with the manager after helping him with his alien problem. And trust me, this is just the tip of the old alien iceberg." He looked over at Ben and Yukiko. "You know, Ben, you'd make a great Plumber. You too, Amagi."

"Really?" Ben asked, mouth full of shrimp.

"No thanks," Yukiko rejected without hesitation. "I have responsibilities at home that I have to attend to."

"Oh come on! You were like a female version of your Grandfather out there. If we put our skills together, we'd be a great team!" Phil jumped out of his chair. "We have you two with your powers, Max's experience, and my instincts. We'd be an unstoppable force!" Phil exclaimed.

Gwen looked up from her book, knowing that she wasn't mentioned for a reason. "I miss my powers," She mentally sighed before turning back to her book.

"What do you think, Partner?" He asked Max.

"I'm thinking what an odd coincidence for a hyper weasel and two mega mutts to turn up on the same day," Max revealed his suspicions.

"So, Grandpa realized the same thing that I did," Yukiko bit into another shrimp.

"Aliens, go figure," Phil shrugged.

"I…uh, need some fresh air," Max left the suite, much to Phil's chargin. He then smirked, turning his attention to the kids and Yukiko.

"Hey, kids. Order whatever you like off the room service menu," He said before walking out of the suite.

That was music to Ben's ears. "Now we're talking!"

After he left Gwen quickly got up from her seat. "Something's going on that Grandpa's not telling us about."

"No, I think it's more of Phil who isn't telling us, Gwen," Yukiko defended their Grandfather.

"Even so, we need to follow them," Gwen said. Yukiko nodded her head, and the girls made their way to exit. However, the two forgot about one thing.

"And pass up free room service? No way, I'm staying here," Ben continued to eat the food.

Pinching their noses in exasperation, Yukiko grabbed Ben by the back of his shirt and dragged him away. "Hey! What gives!?"

"Come on, Ben. You don't want to miss a super-secret Plumber mission, do you?" Gwen laid the bait. He stopped protesting and broke out of Yukiko's grip.

"What are we waiting around for!? Let's go!" He hurried out of the room. The girls followed after him outside of the hotel. Only for them to see both Phil's car and the Rustbucket were gone.

"No Grandpa!" Gwen gasped.

"And no Phil," Ben added. "But where would they go?"

"If Grandpa thought that the space weasel and those space mutts were connected, then there's only one place to check out around here," Gwen said just as Ben transformed into XLR8. He picked up Gwen and placed her on his back, then scooped up Yukiko into his arms, holding her bridal style.

"Hang on, you two! Pedal to the metal!"

"But I don't see any met-AAAAALLLLL!" Yukiko screamed as XLR8 took off without warning.

When they arrived back at Mount Rushmore, the trio saw their Grandfather about to be attacked by an Org Beast. XLR8 zoomed in on time to save Max from getting killed. XLR8 removed his visor to glare at Phil. "You're no Plumber, you're nothing but a big drip!"

"Ben, listen to me. We don't need your Grandpa, we can start back up the Plumbers again. Just you and me," Phil grinned.

"How about you burn in hell."

"Wha-GYAH!" Phil screamed as a fireball was hurtled towards him. The ex-Plumber ducked under it in time, allowing it to hit the Org Beast. Phil got up to see Yukiko walking into the base, a heated glare found on her face.

"Heh, how could I forget about you, Yukiko? You could be our cover girl to help us advertise," Phil grinned.

"In your dreams, pervert!" Yukiko spat, preparing to incinerate him. Before she could, the Org Beast behind Phil recovered from the surprise attack. Phil grinned and ran past the beast to escape.

"I'd love to continue our chat, but I got places to be," He said as he escaped the base. Yukiko summoned Sumeo-Okami once more to battle the beast.

"Agilao!" She blasts the beast with a medium fire blast. It staggered back from the hit, leaving it open for XLR8 to kick its face in with speedy attacks. As the two battled Max continued to search for something to handle the Org Beast.

XLR8 turned to his Grandfather. "Grandpa, could you pick up the pace!?" Just then the Omnitrix started to beep. He turned back to normal just as the Org Beast tossed a piece of the floor at him, Ben rolled across the floor in pain. "Because I sure don't…"

"Ben!" Yukiko shouted. Glaring at the beast with intense rage, Yukiko built up a large amount of fire and smashed her tarot card. "AGIDYNE!"

The beast was shocked by the ferocity of the fireball that was smashed into its face, its head was quickly incinerated by the heat of the attack. Leaving the creature's headless corpse to collapse to the ground. Yukiko dispelled her Persona before rushing over to check on Ben.

Max glanced at the ball in his hands. "W-well, guess I'll just save this for later then," He said as he hurried over to his Grandkids.

Yukiko had helped Ben to his feet as Max made his way over. "Where's Gwen!?" He asked the two of them.

The girl in question was examining Phil's car, when she heard the elevator behind her, she quickly hid inside of his car.

Phil exited the elevator, satisfied with himself. "And who says crime doesn't pay?" He laughed to himself as he sat in his car. He exited the base of Mount Rushmore with the Null Void Projector and Gwen, who was still hiding in his car.

The Rustbucket quickly exited the base as well. Inside of the RV, Max activated the ignition for something. The outside of the RV began to change, rocket boosters appearing on the back of the Rustbucket. "Buckle up, you two!"

The Rustbucket took off with speed that Yukiko nor Ben was prepared for, the two held on tight as the rocket powered RV followed after Phil. "So, how many aliens did you store in that Null Void thingy?" Ben asked.

"At least a couple hundred. But it's a portal to an alternate dimension, in theory it could have millions inside of it!" Max answered.

"Why does that sound so familiar!?" Yukiko yelled.

Back over with Phil, Gwen saw the Null Void projector in the passenger seat. She quietly reached for it, but Phil could see her in the rear-view mirror. "Oh no you don't," He tried to pry the gun away from Gwen. He was forced to release the projector to prevent the two of them from crashing into a truck.

Using some quick thinking, Gwen rolled down the window. "Better start thinking of a new line of work. Because this thing is going bye-bye," She prepared to toss it out of the window. Sadly, for her, Phil stepped on the gas to stop her. He then activated the autopilot, so that he would freely be able to take the gun from Gwen.

The two of them ended up accidentally opening up a portal just as the Rustbucket finally caught up with the two of them. Phil grinned at Gwen. "Good idea, we could use a distraction." Suddenly, a Null Guardian flew out of the portal.

"Something tells me that's not the bird of South Dakota," Ben quipped.

"It doesn't even look like a bird," Yukiko pointed out.

"I was just-you know what, correcting you is Gwen's thing. Not mine," Ben said. Just then the Null Guardian crashed into the windshield, blocking their view. "We need some muscle to stop this thing! Four Arms of muscle!" Ben slapped the dial.

"Gray Matter!?" Ben whined as he realized who he became. "I said muscle, not miniscule!"

"No, this could work," Yukiko grinned. She grabbed Gray Matter and stuck her upper body out of the window. She summoned Sumeo-Okami and gave Gray Matter to her Persona.

"Uh…Yukiko?"

"Hold tight, Ben."

"W-What are you-WHHHAAAAAAAA!" Gray Matter screamed for dear life as he was tossed like a baseball. The Null Guardian saw the tiny Galvin fly past and chased after it.

Yukiko whipped out her fan and took careful consideration with her aim. "AGIDYNE!" The massive fireball made contact with the Null Guardian. The creature's body was burned like it was the food on a barbecue, its burnt corpse was knocked further ahead past Gray Matter. The Galvin grabbed a hold of the creature's burnt tentacles as it sailed directly into Phil's car.

The vehicle was sent off course, almost falling off of the highway, Phil fell out of his car with the projector in his hands, Gray Matter landed right by him on the highway. "Back off, small-fry or I'll release every alien in this thing."

"Then, you'll be out of a job," Gray Matter said.

"It doesn't have to be this way. We can all work together," Phil tried to convince them.

"No way! This is one hero who is not for sale!" Gray Matter refused.

Phil started to power up the Null Void projector. "Well, then you're all gonna be very busy!"

"No."

A pink fan spun like a boomerang and smacked Phil in the back of his head, the projector fell out of his grasp. Gwen made a reach for it, grasping it and turning it on Phil. "Just you."

She wasted no time in pulling the trigger and trapping Phil into the Null Void. Gwen grinned at their success. "Oh yeah! Who's bad!?" She celebrated.

Below her Gray Matter held Yukiko's fan in his hands and sighed at Gwen's little cheer. Well, not like he wouldn't have done the same.

Back inside of the base, Max had decided to send the dead bodies of the Null Guardian and Org back into the Null Void. "Sorry, I had to keep all of this a secret for so long. Maybe, if I had been truthful from the start…our family wouldn't have as many issues as it does now."

"It's fine, Grandpa," Gwen said.

"Yes, our family may not be whole now. But I know that we'll be able to get through everything together," Yukiko smiled.

"Right, thank you. And Ben?"

"Hm?" Ben looked up at him.

"You would've made a great Plumber. All three of you," Max said.

"We're your Grandkids, what do you expect?" Gwen replied, smirking. Her words brought a smile to Max's face.

He placed the Null Void Projector back onto its podium. "Hey, what about Phil?" Gwen asked.

"Some things about this job we're better off not knowing," Max shook his head.

"Eh, I hope he's being torn to pieces right now," Yukiko said, nonchalantly.

"YUKIKO!" They all gasped.

"What? The guy tried to kill us all. He gets no sympathy from me," The heiress skipped out of the base with her family following her with a bit of hesitation.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 23: The Persona Tick

"Ah, nothing like finally relaxing in the peace and quiet of the great outdoors," Max took a deep breath.

"I don't know. Nature seems to hate me for some reason," Yukiko said. The heiress turned around to see a couple of squirrels scurrying behind them. The animals took one good look at her before running away in terror.

"Probably, because they can sense who's at the top of the food chain…" Gwen muttered.

"Dang it! I hate this stupid thing!" Ben shouted as he caught up with them. He was listening to music with his headphones as he fiddled with the Omnitrix. He took off his headphones, placing them around his neck. Allowing everyone to hear the broadcast of a meteor flying north of the state, which was something they ignored completely.

"What's the matter, Ben?" Max asked.

"I figured I'd go XLR8 and hit that burger place in Casper. To pick up a double cheeseburger with pickles. But it looks like I'm stuck here," Ben complained.

Yukiko placed her hands on her hips. "Ben, too much of that stuff isn't good for you."

"Neither is your food," He mentally responded.

Gwen moved over to stand next to him. "Ben, Yellowstone happens to be one of the coolest places around. Just hang out and appreciate it." The boy rolled his eyes in response.

Max nodded his head, walking over to a nearby log. "Gwen's right. We can live right off the land." Max pushed the log with his foot, revealing a pack of live worms underneath. "Yum. Grub Worms! Full of protein!" He ate the worm without hesitation.

"EW!" Ben and Gwen flinched.

"You grill them up with a sun dry tomato paste. They are delicious!" Max ate another one.

"Huh…I didn't think such disgusting creatures could be used for cooking…!" Yukiko gasped. Her mind filled up with new ideas to cook up.

Seeing that look on Yukiko's face, caused Gwen's heart rate to increase in fear. She grabbed Ben's wrist and started messing with the watch. "Here, I'll take my burger with chili!"

"That I can get behind-" He was cut off when the Omnitrix started to spark with green light. He was suddenly transformed, forcing his family to cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes back up, the sight before them was a shock.

Ben had transformed into a completely new form. He was now a hulking, broad-shouldered alien covered in yellow armor plating on his back, shoulders, and the back of his arms. He is mostly white with black on the upper half of his body and four claws on his hands.

Due to the suddenness of the transformation Ben fell over. He lifted up his clawed hands, confused as hell. "Guys! What am I!?" His family walked over to examine his new look.

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko couldn't stop herself from laughing at the way Ben was stuck on the ground. He was like a turtle that got knocked on its back.

"Snrk! N-now, that's a heroic pose," Gwen stifled her own laughter.

Ben wasn't amused in the slightest. "Real funny," He glared at the two as he was helped back up. "I can't believe I'm a new hero!"

"And when there's one more, who knows there could be a hundred more," Max assumed.

"That really is like Yu-kun's abilities. He was always able to house multiple Personas instead of his own. Sometimes appearing before us with ones we've never seen before," Yukiko mentioned.

"I don't know about your boyfriend, but I doubt he had anything as useless as this. What does this thing even do?" Ben asked. He took a deep breath and released it, attempting to breathe flames. "So much for breathing fire."

"I'm pretty sure you'd be taking Yukiko's shtick if you could," Gwen smirked.

"But I don't breathe fire…" Yukiko looked confused.

"Just…never mind," Gwen sighed.

"Maybe, I could fire freeze rays from my eyes?" Ben stared down Yukiko and Gwen, attempting to freeze them.

"W-why did you look at us after saying that?" Yukiko sweat dropped.

"Magnetic blasts?" Ben attempted to shoot energy out of his hands.

Gwen looked unamused until something above caught her attention. The girl gasped as a large meteor was crashing down right towards them. "DUCK!" Herself, Yukiko, and Max dived out of the way. Ben however, was confused until he turned around.

"WOAH!" Ben fell over as the meteor flew over them. It crashed a few feet behind them, creating a large explosion.

"Ben! Are you okay!?" Yukiko ran over to Ben. The newly formed boy was trying to get up from the ground again.

"This alien has got to go...!" Ben complained. In his own little tantrum, he curled up, turning himself into a ball, and rolling away uncontrollably.

"Don't you mean 'got to roll'?" Gwen quipped.

"Snrk! I get it!" Yukiko giggled.

"Well, look on the bright side. You're heading into the direction of the meteor," Max said as the three followed after Ben.

Ben eventually came to a stop, falling onto his butt. In front of him was a giant shell that used to be the meteor. "Woah, it's huge!" He exclaimed as his family caught up to him. Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to rumble like an earthquake, causing Ben to fall on his face.

"Pfft! HAHAHAHA!" Yukiko couldn't help but laugh at Ben's silliness. Her laughing stopped when the shell started to crack open as if it was hatching.

"And alive!" Gwen exclaimed.

As it continued to crack open, a giant pincer leg smashed its way out. The Tennysons quickly ran out of the way to avoid getting skewered. More and more legs started to break through the shell, revealing itself to be a giant pink and purple tick.

Yukiko's pupils shrunk as she took in the sight of the massive alien bug in front of them. She was frozen in place as the bug started to approach them. Max noticed this and quickly grabbed her, pulling her out of the way. The creature planted its legs into the earth, cementing its place permanently. The holes on the side of its body started releasing a bunch of gas into the air.

The Tennysons were forced to cover their noses, because of the horrid smell of the gas. "And quite aromatic," Max commented.

"I just thought that was Ben not taking a shower for three days," Gwen remarked.

"Four! And counting!" Ben corrected her.

The boy's words woke Yukiko back up for a moment. "You're taking a bath once we've dealt with this. And no, there's no room for an argument."

Above them was a weird looking spaceship, the bottom of it opened up. The platform descended down to the earth with three nomad dressed aliens standing on it. "Rejoice! He's arrived, in all his glorious glory!" The taller one announced. The three floated over to the Tennysons with their own hoverboards.

The smaller one with six arms hovered closer to the tick. "I await his proclamation." He put his ear up to the tick's shell.

"Who are you guys?" Max asked.

"Relax, we come in peace," The taller one responded.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "That's what they always say. Right before they blow you to bits."

"Ugh, an earthling with an attitude. I heard they exist here in large numbers, or should I say did," The muscle alien commented. Yukiko stepped in front of Gwen protectively, glaring at the alien that had gotten closer to them.

The taller alien glanced over at Ben. "Oh! An Arburian Pelarota!"

"Australian?" Yukiko tilted her head, confused.

"That's not what he said…" Gwen sweat dropped.

"His presence here must be a sign provided by The Great One. Is he not tremendous?" The tall one motioned towards the tick.

"Tremendous!" The other two copied. "All hail the tremendously Great One!"

Yukiko's disgust from earlier came back in spades. "Tremendously disgusting is more appropriate."

The short one glared at her with repulse. "How dare you insult The Great One!? Freakishly tall human!"

"Freakish!?" Yukiko flinched. "Was that another comment about my legs!?"

The muscular one ignored Yukiko, turning his attention to Ben. "You're a long way from home, aren't you?"

"Actually, closer than you think," Ben responded.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing to go back to. The Great One purified your planet last week!" The muscle one said.

"Purified?" Yukiko questioned.

"SHHH! Everyone quiet down! He's speaking to me!" The short one announced. He placed his head up to the tick once more.

Gwen gave him a deadpan stare. "I don't hear anything."

"Only, I speak his language," He snapped at her. The short alien started rubbing the tick's shell with affection.

The sight alone almost made Yukiko set everything around her on fire. She couldn't imagine why someone would worship something as disgusting as a bug. Clancy alone was still a confusing subject in her mind.

"The Great One says, "Your planet will be purified before the next moon. You are quite lucky," The alien translated.

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet started to turn black as if life was being sucked out of it. The sight concerned Max by a great deal. "I don't think so," He commented.

"No, it's actually quite the experience. Let me show you," The tall one said. He hovered over to his compatriots.

"Ugh, not the audio-visual thing again," The muscle one complained. The tall one looked back at him with a confused glance. Pressing one of the buttons on his head, a holographic image appeared in front of the Tennysons.

"We follow The Great One from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy. After he paid a visit to each and every one of our plants." The video showed the tick implanting himself into a planet. The tick's legs extended like roots into the planet's crust, sucking up the planet's core. Killing the world and all of the people on it. "Notice his technique, the deep burrowing of the appendages into the core of the planet. Rotting it from the inside and then…ingesting it!"

The Tennysons were horrified by the example they were shown. "That's what it's going to do here!?" Gwen shouted, mortified.

"Of course. Your cities will be laid to waste, your oceans will dry up, and your mountains will crumble," The tall one explained.

"It will be the end of the world as you know it," The muscle one added.

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!"

Yukiko thought back to Ameno-Sagiri and how it planned to plunge their town of Inaba into an eternal fog of darkness. Somehow, the idea of this creature sucking the life out of their planet as if it was an afternoon dinner managed to surpass that. "And you're okay with that!? Even your homes were destroyed by this thing!"

"Why of course! The Great One showed us the truest form of life. This is a gift we graciously accepted and so should you," The taller one answered.

"I don't think so!" Ben curled up into a ball, charging at the worshippers. The muscular one took his axe and smacked Ben away as if he was a baseball.

"BEN!" Yukiko shouted. The heiress was pissed within seconds. "Sumeo-Okami! Agidyne!" The fireball rockets towards the muscular one, but he takes his axe and bats the fire right back at Yukiko. Unprepared for something like that to happen, Yukiko was nailed by her own attack. The heiress rolled across the ground, groaning in pain.

"Yukiko!" Max hurried and picked Yukiko up in a bridal style. He and Gwen sprinted out of the clearing to go find Ben. Inside of the forest they saw Ben bouncing around the trees, he flew directly into them, sending the four of them tumbling down a hill.

Ben turned back to normal just as they reached the bottom of the hill. "Aw man, this watch gives me a new alien out of the blue and all it can do is roll around! Totally not fair!"

Gwen climbed back onto her feet. "Yeah, don't worry about the giant planet sucker that's about to wipe Earth off the face of the universe! Because that's fair!"

Ben was stopped from retorting when the wildlife around them started to shift. The trees became a dark purple mold as the sky started to turn dark red. "The trees are changing," Ben said.

"It feels like I'm standing inside of a dungeon," Yukiko thought back to Adachi's twisted dungeon.

"Let's get back up the hill and destroy it. Before it destroys everything," Max told them. Agreeing with him, the Tennysons hurry back up the hill. They stopped once they reached the top, finding purple tentacles spouting out of the ground.

"Woah, these weren't here when we rode down the hill weren't they?" Ben asked.

"No! I think we would've remembered them!" Gwen answered.

"That big tick's poison is mutating the landscape," Max assumed.

One of the tentacles came down towards Yukiko, going right down into the front of her dress. Yukiko's face turned bright red from the tentacle's intrusion. "Kya! Get away from me!" Yukiko smacked the tentacle with her fan. Forcing it to get out of her dress, a trail of purple slime was stained on the white fabric. "Ew! I've had enough of tentacles for a lifetime!"

Suddenly, the tentacle attacked Yukiko, angered by her attack. She dodged out of the way, unfortunately her dodge allowed it to circle back around and grab Gwen. It wrapped itself around her, taking her as a hostage. Their Grandfather was next to be taken hostage by the tentacles.

"Grandpa! Gwen!" Yukiko shouted.

"GAH!" Ben cried out as he was taken as well. He was unable to transform since the watch was still recharging.

"Let them go!" Yukiko demanded, summoning her Persona. "Maragion!" Multiple medium sized fireballs burnt the tentacles that were holding her family hostage. The three Tennysons screamed as they descended down into the murky waters below.

"AHHH!" Gwen screamed as another batch of tentacles erupted out of the waters. The purple appendages hissed as they were getting closer.

FLASH!

"AAAH-huh?" Gwen stopped screaming once she realized that she was no longer falling. The girl looked up to see that Stinkfly was currently holding herself and Max.

"And the Stinkfly makes the save!" Stinkfly grinned. He flew over to Yukiko, allowing the heiress to grab onto his tail before flying away from the mutant tentacles.

Gwen gagged since she was right under Stinkfly's armpit. "We really need to get you some underwing deodorant."

"We can add it to the grocery list, if we don't get killed, that is," Yukiko said.

"HISSSS!"

"Huh? KYAAAA!" Yukiko squealed as she was suddenly grabbed by the tentacles. The heiress held onto Stinkfly's tail so as to not get pulled in. "Let go of me! AGIDYNE!" The massive fireball was launched directly at the source of the tentacles. A giant explosion occurred as a result, knocking Stinkfly off balance.

"AAAAHHHH!" Everyone screamed as Stinkfly attempted to regain his balance in the air. He flew into the forest of mutated trees by the waterfall. As a result of their intrusion more tentacles appeared from within the trees.

"Crap!" Stinkfly dodged the oncoming attacks, maneuvering higher through the air to avoid the tentacles' reach.

Max gazed down at the transformed earth. "Yellowstone is becoming more and more poisoned."

BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!

"What was that noise?" Gwen asked.

"It sounded like a heartbeat," Yukiko said.

"Sounds like 'ol faithful is ready to blow. And I don't know what that tick's poison will do to it once it does," Max answered.

"One detour coming up!" Stinkfly declared. He changed trajectory over to the disgusting veiny pussball that was secreeting gas.

Over by the ball were the three worshippers. "I have visuals of the elderly man, prepubescent female, and the weirdly long legged female. But what are they riding on?" The taller alien asked.

"Two tons of putrid power!" Stinkfly answered as they flew through the worshippers. "Now move it or lose it!"

"Not until we have witnessed the eruption of The Great One's power!" The tall alien declared.

The Tennysons turned around, smirking confidently. "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen!" Stinkfly shouted.

"That disgusting creature is about to be terminated!" Yukiko added.

"Hold on, I'm gonna goop it up!" Stinkfly quipped, descending down towards the disgusting ball. He shot goop at the hole, plugging it up. This action caused the worshippers to glare at the Tennysons.

Stinkfly lowered himself to the ground, allowing his family to touch down. "What are you doing?" Max asked.

"Letting you off! This fly is flying solo!" Stinkfly announced. Suddenly, a purple air slash just barely missed him. He was forced to dodge a few more as the bulky worshiper kept swinging his axe. Stinkfly opened his mouth barfing out green vomit into his face.

"Get him!" The bulky one ordered. The three chased after Stinkfly. They followed him into the sky, only for the bug to disappear into the clouds. "Where did he go?"

Stinkfly descended downwards for his surprise attack. "Oh yeah, who's bad! Oh yeah-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"OH NO!" With a flash of red-light Ben turned back to normal. "HELP!" Ben screamed as he was falling to his death.

"BEN!" Yukiko and Max raced to catch him.

The boy tried his luck and reached for the short alien's hoverboard. Luckily, he managed to reach it, knocking the smaller alien off. Ben held onto the board for dear life. "Oh man, where's the instruction manual when you need it?" Ben asked as he tried to fly the board. He was quickly flying over to the tick with the other two worshipers right behind him.

Ben managed to get his balance, standing on it as he would on his own hoverboard. His excitement was short-lived as the other two caught up to him.

"Maragion!"

A medium fireball smacked the bulky worshiper in the back before he could attack Ben. Looking down below Yukiko was doing her best to keep up with them. "Hurry, Ben!" Yukiko yelled.

"Yeah!" Ben tilted the board upwards to escape them. He surfed through the air, dodging the projectiles being tossed at him.

"Maragion!" More fireballs came flying at the worshipers.

The bulky one turned around to glare at Yukiko. "I'm getting really sick and tired of her!" He sent multiple waves of energy slashed at Yukiko.

"Maragion!" Yukiko responded in kind. However, her fireballs were cut in half by the energy slashes, forcing Yukiko to take cover. The bulky one descended downwards to keep attacking her as Yukiko hid behind a tree. She jumped out right as he got close enough. "AGIDYNE!" She roared as a powerful fireball exploded right into his face.

The bulky worshiper was sent flying off of his board and crashed right into multiple trees, buried underneath them. The heiress released heavy breaths from the energy she had to use. She hurried after her family to see what was going on.

Yukiko saw Ben floating down by Max and Gwen. "Are you okay, Ben?" She asked.

"Yup, just gave that tall one a taste of the Stinkfly special!" Ben grinned.

The Tennysons used the hoverboards to fly over to the tick. They were honestly surprised (or disgusted in Yukiko's opinion) of how large the creature had gotten. "It's getting bigger as it feeds," Max observed.

"Then it's time it went on the Four Arms diet!" Ben transformed into Four Arms. The tetramand attacked the tick with his full strength, breaking off bits of its shell. However, he was easily knocked away by the creature's limbs. He was sent flying into the ground, creating a mini crater. Ben turned back to normal, groaning in pain.

"Ben! Are you okay?" Yukiko asked.

"Y-yeah…just give me 10 minutes."

"Okay, one down nine to go!" Ben slapped the dial back down.

FLASH!

Heatblast attempted to melt it, with Yukiko giving his flames a boost with her support spells. However, their efforts were met with zero success.

"UGH! Why does the bug have to be resistant to fire!?" Yukiko complained.

FLASH!

Wildmutt attempted to cut it with his claws, but again he didn't succeed.

"It's okay, Wildmutt. You'll kill it next time," Yukiko gently patted Wildmutt's head. The Vulpimancer growled in frustration.

FLASH!

XLR8 tried to use his speed to do some fast damage, but nothing changed.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" XLR8 held onto his throbbing leg.

"Why did you try to kick it!?" Gwen yelled.

FLASH!

Diamondhead's crystals just bounced off of the tick's shell.

"Seems not even diamonds can cut this thing," Max sighed.

"Oh, come on! That's just cheating!" Gwen folded her arms.

FLASH!

Ghostfreak tried to…scare it?

"What was that even supposed to accomplish?" Gwen asked.

"I'm not sure," Yukiko answered.

FLASH!

Upgrade attempted to merge with it.

"It's not technology, doofus!" Gwen yelled.

"I had to try anyway!" Upgrade yelled back.

FLASH!

Ripjaws used his strong jaws to try and bite through its limbs. But he did no damage once again.

"And now he's suffocating…" Gwen sweat dropped as she watched Ripjaws flop across the ground.

Yukiko quickly reached into her purse and pulled out a water bottle. "Don't worry, Ben! I have you covered!"

FLASH!

Gray Matter just stood there awkwardly.

"What was even the point?" Gwen asked, annoyed.

"Figured I could come up with a solution using my brain," He answered.

"Did you?" Yukiko asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, toss Gwen at it."

The aforementioned girl kicked him across the ground.

FLASH!

Stinkfly's goop just didn't do anything to the outer shell. So instead, he tried to use his stink gas to flush it out.

"Can you not!? The air is bad enough without you adding to it!" Gwen shouted.

"Just another bug to squash," Yukiko glared at Stinkfly.

"Hehe…my bad?" Stinkfly apologized.

"Okay, I give! This thing is indestructible!" Ben yelled. Not a single one of his forms were capable of breaking through it. Behind them the worshipers had finally gotten back up.

"Reverse beam flow," The tall worshiper ordered. The bulky worshiper used his axe to create a forcefield around the Tennysons, trapping them. Max tried to break through it, but the shield zapped his arm.

"It's time for the final purification of your planet. And you four along with it."

"Please tell me we have a plan B?" Gwen asked, scared.

Yukiko watched helplessly as the forest around them was dying from the tick's poison. Her mind imagined this process happening to her hometown Inaba, sending a shiver down her spine. The four of them were lifted into the air by the forcefield. Until they were unceremoniously dropped next to the tick.

The tall worshiper grabbed Gwen's wrist, placing a sponge in her hand. "What are we supposed to do with this?"

"Before The Great one can cleanse your planet forever. HE must be cleansed," The tall one explained. The Tennysons watched the disgusting white fluid pop out of the tick's pours.

Yukiko actually wished for death for a brief second.

"No way! I am not scrubbing that thing's feet!" Ben was defiant. The bulky worshiper shot an energy slash at them without hesitation.

"Agi-" Yukiko was prevented from stopping it when another pink beam blasted her in the stomach, sending the heiress sliding across the ground. The Tennysons couldn't worry for her, since the energy slash exploded the ground in front of them. Knocking them all next to Yukiko.

Yukiko struggled to her knees. "Diarama," She used a healing spell on herself.

"Kids, just do as they say for now," Max whispered to them. They nodded their heads hesitantly, picking up their sponges. The Tennysons got to cleaning The Great One.

The little yellow worshiper was translating the tick once more. "He says he missed us. It was not our fault 'O Great One. Please forgive us."

"Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgiveness."

Below the trio were the Tennysons, who were busy cleaning the cerulean colored slime. "Ugh, could this get any nastier?" Gwen asked, disgusted.

SQUELCH!

Suddenly, mini ticks started to crawl up both Yukiko and Gwen's arms. "EEEK!" Both girls squealed. The heiress was doing her best not to have a total meltdown as Gwen wiped off the ticks for her.

"We're running out of time!" Max said as the forest continued to die.

"And aliens! I went everybody…!" Ben said.

"Not exactly everybody," Gwen reminded him.

"No way! I am not turning into that ball thing again. Plus, I don't even know if I could!" Ben exclaimed.

"Ben, sometimes you have to take risks. My friends and I weren't always sure we were going to succeed in the TV World, but we knew we had to give it a shot every time we entered it. This, right now, is one of those times!" Yukiko encouraged him.

"Fine! But I'm still not sure about this!" Ben responded.

The ground began to rumble again as the tick's shell was starting to crack to pieces. The broken pieces fell down by the Tennysons.

"It's…shedding?" Gwen questioned.

"More like transforming into something," Max corrected.

"His beauty! His power! His puss! The end is upon us!" The worshipers chanted.

Ben scowled at them then at the tick. He activated the Omnitrix and selected the ball alien from before. "Here goes nothing!"

FLASH!

"It worked!" Ben cheered until he fell over onto his ass.

"PFFT! HAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed.

Her laughter ceased when the worshipers descended down towards them again. "Destroy them all." The tall alien shot beams of energy at them. The Tennysons scattered to avoid the blasts, with Ben rolling away.

"The scales will deflect their beams!" Max shouted. He and Gwen grabbed pieces of the shell to deflect the energy beams. The tall one and the short one was descending over to them.

"Round two, Lengthy human!" The bulky alien pulled back his axe.

"Quit making fun of my legs!" Yukiko dodged the strike. "Agidyne!" Yukiko's fireball connected with his axe. It generated an explosion that pushed them both back, Yukiko slid across the ground on her feet. She watched a batch of fluid spewed out of the tick, melting the ground in front of her. "Okay…so avoid that."

"Pay attention!"

Yukiko ducked under an energy slash. She summoned Sumeo-Okami, using the Persona's blade to deflect the energy slashes. Yukiko looked over to see both Gwen and Max being pressured by the other two worshipers. She was about to hurry and help them until Ben had crashed into the tall one.

"STRIKE!" He shouted. Then used the walls of the crater to rebound back to his family, catching them in his arms, and bouncing across the ground. He bounced right into the bulky alien, knocking him away from Yukiko. Ben uncurled him, allowing Gwen and Max to stand.

"I knew you'd figure it out, Ben!" Yukiko shouted, happily.

"You're like a bowling ball!" Gwen exclaimed.

"More like a cannonball!"

"Or a Cannonbolt!" Yukiko added.

"Cannonbolt? Heh, I like it-GAH!" Cannonbolt was blasted from behind by the worshipers. He was blasted again by them.

"Maragidyne!" Yukiko's powerful fireballs knocked all three off of their hoverboards once more.

CRACK! RUMBLE!

The Tennysons stopped their celebration when the ground beneath them started to give way underneath them. The Tennysons ran for it, while the worshipers jumped back onto their hoverboards.

"Let the digestion begin!" They shouted.

"Digest THIS!" Max jumped up, smacking the tall worshiper with the shell piece. The old man landed on the guy's hoverboard.

"Grandpa is so cool…" Yukiko smiled.

"Uh huh," Gwen agreed. The girls and Max turned their attention over to Cannonbolt, who was rolling over to the tick.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" He rolled into the tick but bounced off of it. Cannonbolt groaned, realizing something. "Time to take this guy out from the inside out!" Cannonbolt charged straight for the open pores of the tick. "SAY AH!"

"NOOOOO!" The worshipers cried out in horror.

From within the tick, Cannonbolt was destroying everything that was vital, killing it like a parasite.

Outside of the tick, everything was being sucked in. Including Yukiko and her family, Max was holding onto the girls as Gwen screamed in terror. Suddenly, the tick exploded, covering everything in blue slime and blood.

"UGH! The ultimate YUCK! It's raining tick goop!" Gwen complained as she, Max, and Yukiko used the shell pieces to prevent the gunk from splashing on them.

"I'm going to take a long shower after all of this…" Yukiko sighed.

Cannonbolt stood up within the remains of the dead tick. "Okay, now I need a shower," He said as he was covered in goop.

The worshipers were holding a severed piece of the shell. "Nothing. The Great One has been silenced…forever!" They tossed away the piece and turned to Cannonbolt. "You destroyed him...!"

"Hail to the new Great One!" They started worshiping Cannonbolt. His family joined not too long either.

"Not too loyal, are they?" Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Can we just leave them here? I don't want them coming with us," Yukiko asked Max.

"I don't know, I could get used to this," Cannonbolt grinned. Until the Omnitrix timed out and turned him back to normal. That's when the worshipers stopped praising him.

"That's right. I forgot you're just an underdeveloped…human specimen," The worshipers floated away, leaving to retrieve their ship.

"Does that count as racist or…?" Yukiko asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure those guys already had some screws loose," Ben shrugged.

Suddenly, the world around them started to turn back to normal now that the tick had been defeated. "Seems everything is starting to go back to normal," Max said.

"As normal as our lives can get anyway," Gwen smiled.

Ben shook all of the slime off of his body. "Normal is pretty overrated anyway."

"Good going, Ben," Yukiko patted his head.

The boy felt his own ego increase as he let Yukiko's praise set in. "Ah you know, I'm just the kid who saved the earth. I think my work here is done," Ben relaxed onto the grass.

"D-do we have to touch this?" Yukiko asked as she stared at the goop that was all over the Rustbucket.

"Come on, Yukiko. The faster we all clean this up, the faster we can hit the road," Max said as he wiped off some of the goop.

"Pretty sure I just lost my appetite…" Gwen complained as she wiped off the goop.

"This is what I get for saving the world? Ugh, me and my big mouth…" Ben whined. He looked at all of the goop they still had to clean off of the Rustbucket. "Could this possibly get any worse?"

PLOP!

"KYAAA!" Yukiko screamed as a whole bunch of goop slid off of the Rustbucket and fell directly onto her. The heiress was now covered in disgusting blue slime. "It's got inside of my dress!" She shivered.

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gwen and Ben both fell over laughing at Yukiko's predicament. Max chuckled at the sight, hoping for more peaceful moments for a while.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 24: Framed Personas

"Ugh…we've been in this line for 2 hours and it hasn't budged an inch!" Gwen complained. Her foot tapped the ground repeatedly.

"Small price to pay for Sumo Slammers 2.1. I'd do anything to get this game even be seen in public with you," Ben insulted her.

"Be nice, Ben. We agreed to let you get this game, because you've been on your best behavior for a while," Yukiko warned him.

"I am on my best behavior. I'm not cutting in line, am I?" Ben smirked.

"No…no you aren't," Yukiko smiled, proud of him.

"Don't you already have this stupid video game?" Gwen asked.

"Hello!? This is Sumo Slammers 2.1! You can change your fighter's color at any time during the match!" Ben exclaimed.

"That sounds really lackluster," Yukiko said.

"You don't know anything about video games. I can't expect you two to understand," Ben sighed.

"You know there's a nice, air-conditioned bookstore over there. Maybe we could wait in there until this line thins out a bit," Max suggests. Yukiko and Gwen were both keen on the idea of resting.

Ben didn't share the same feelings as them. "And lose my place!? Not an option! You three go, I'll get my game and meet you guys back at the RV," Ben said.

"Last time we left you alone you got us kicked out of a hotel," Yukiko reminded him.

"And wrecked an entire cereal aisle in a grocery store," Gwen added.

"Got yourself trapped as Gray Matter."

"Ended up getting sick, because you broke into an ice cream truck."

"And-"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" Ben cut off his cousins. "Look! Just give me this one chance to show that I can be trusted by myself. I really want this game."

Max nodded his head before his granddaughters could reply. "Don't worry, Ben. I know you'll handle this just fine. C'mon girls," Max motioned for the girls to follow him. Yukiko followed him, but Gwen gave Ben one last stare before leaving as well.

The trio exited the bookstore, a plastic bag in Gwen's hands.

"Here, Yukiko, I got this for you," Gwen handed Yukiko a book.

"A cooking guide for dummies? Why would I-"

BOOM!

The Tennysons stopped, surprised by the loud explosion that came from the video game store. Suddenly, Four Arms jumped out of the building and lifted a police car. He shook the vehicle, dropping the policemen inside of it.

Yukiko stared at the scene with bafflement. Her mind raced to figure out why her cousin was destroying public property and attacking police officers.

"Uh, why is Ben going berserk and tossing around police officers?" Gwen asked.

"Good question," Max responded.

The Tetramand tossed the police car into the game store. Yukiko and her family were behind the lines of police cars that were blocking off Four Arms' rampage. The trio ran behind some cover when the Tetramand continued to throw objects at the police.

"He must've bust his cap! All of this for a video game!?" Gwen asked, scared.

"Ben…" Yukiko remembered back in New York when Ben had done similar acts like this. All just for a video game, and how the boy promised he'd never repeat those actions again. Was he breaking another promise?

Suddenly, an armored SUV pulled onto the scene. The multiple men stepped out of the vehicle, one in particular stood out from the rest. He was a white male with a yellow buzz-cut with a black shirt and dark gray pants. He had a scar running across his nose and a gun strapped across his right side. "LT. Steel! Special Alien Containment Team. We'll take it from here," He introduced himself.

"Alien Containment Team…?" Yukiko repeated.

"Concussion Bazooka!" Steel ordered.

Two of the soldiers took out a large black and yellow gun out of the car, pointing it directly at Four Arms.

"That doesn't look good!" Max worried.

"They can't shoot him with that!" Yukiko exclaimed, terrified. The heiress was pulling out her fan, ready to stop them from hurting 'Ben' if necessary. Though, she didn't expect Gwen to just run into the scene without warning. "Gwen!"

"Ben! What are you doing!?" Gwen yelled. The Tetramand grinned down at her as if he recognized her from somewhere. He made a reach for the girl until a yellow beam of energy shot him in the chest. Four Arms was sent flying into the Pizzeria across the street.

"BEN!" The Tennysons yelled.

Four Arms hurried back out, carrying the stove from the Pizzeria. He tossed it at the police, causing a massive explosion of fire. He then jumped away from the scene.

"There has to be a logical explanation for this, right?" Max said to his granddaughters.

"Ben couldn't have…he wouldn't. Not again…" Yukiko convinced herself. There was something off about the Four Arms they just saw, he wasn't acting like Ben. Not the Ben that she knows.

Gwen tore the door to the Rustbucket open, furious beyond belief. "Are you demented!? Going alien just to get a stupid video game!?" She yelled at the boy. He was sitting at the table, playing the new game he had just gotten.

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked, oblivious.

"Ben…we saw Four Arms destroying the game store and attacking police officers," Yukiko answered.

"You must've been hallucinating, because I've been here the whole time," Ben responded.

"I wasn't hallucinating, doofus! We saw you!" Gwen yelled.

"Look, I'm sure Ben has a good explanation for this. Don't you, Ben?" Max wanted his grandson to have a chance to explain.

"Like, I told Yukiko. I have no idea what you're talking about," Ben answered.

Gwen scoffed at Ben's lying. "Oh sure! Like, how you never put an empty bottle back into the refrigerator, or you never leave the shower all gunked up, or you never ever leave the toilet seat up in the middle of the night!" Gwen ranted. She got directly into his face. "You never do anything wrong do you!?"

"Sounds about right," He smirked. Gwen would've attacked him if Yukiko didn't pull her back. "Look, I don't know if some encyclopedia fell on your head at the bookstore, but you have no evidence that I did anything wrong!"

"Oh yeah?" Gwen turned up the volume on the TV. The new broadcast showing Four Arms wreaking havoc.

Ben was shocked beyond belief to see his own alien causing mayhem. "That's not me!"

"Oh yeah? Oh, I'm sure it's just some other Four-Armed alien going postal in front of a video game store!" Gwen said, sarcastically.

"It might be," Yukiko said.

"HUH!?" Ben and Gwen both turned to her.

The heiress' eyes were analyzing the broadcast, her dark orbs glued directly onto Four Arms. "Ben, where is the watch located on Four Arms?"

Ben was confused. "Uh, on his left shoulder. Why?"

"Because, that Four Arms doesn't have it," Yukiko pointed at the screen. The Tennysons all got closer to the TV to see what Yukiko had meant. Their eyes grew large at the realization of not seeing the Omnitrix on Four Arms' body.

"See! I told you I didn't do anything!" Ben took joy at seeing Gwen's flustered face.

"I-I-I…Well, who the heck is that then!?" Gwen questioned.

"I don't know, maybe it's like Tetrax. He looked exactly like Diamondhead and all of the aliens in the watch have their own species," Ben guessed.

"It's true, besides aren't you glad that it wasn't Ben?" Max looked down at Gwen.

The girl was blushing up a storm as she stared at the floor. "Y-Yeah…I'm happy that the doofus wasn't being a doofus. Sorry," Gwen apologized.

"Apology accepted," Ben smirked. He then felt Yukiko's arms wrap him up in a comforting hug. "What?"

"I'm glad that it wasn't you, Ben. For a second there I thought you broke your promise again," Yukiko said, softly.

Ben wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her shoulder. "Of course, I wouldn't break it. Promises are important, right? I won't make you upset like that again."

"I know you won't," Yukiko broke the hug and patted his head. The boy smiled under her praise, a good sensation rising up to his chest. He looked over to the TV broadcast and frowned. Getting up from the seat, he rushed to the door.

"Nobody's gonna ruin my alien's reputation except me!" Ben exclaimed.

"So…does he realize that he just...?" Yukiko raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, he does," Max said.

Ben stood in front of the crime scene with an analyzing gaze. He picked up a brick off the ground and stared at it.

"What's with the detective-like look on your face?" Gwen asked. She, Yukiko, and Max followed behind him.

"Oh! This is just like with my friends and I at home! We were always analyzing clues to solve the case!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Then, let's hope you haven't gotten rusty," Ben dropped the brick.

"I don't think I can acquire rust…" Yukiko said, pondering the idea.

"That's not what he…ugh!" Gwen gave up.

"Any ideas, Ben? Not too sure on what you can find here that the authorities already couldn't," Max asked.

The Tennysons all turned to the alleyway, when they heard a trashcan get knocked over. Standing behind the corner was the Four Arms doppelganger. He retreated back into the shadows when they spotted him.

"There he is!" Ben exclaimed. He sprinted down the alleyway with his family close behind him. Ben jumped the wooden fence that Four Arms had hopped over, he tried to activate the watch, but it wouldn't work. "Fine! I'll just catch him myself!" When he exited the alleyway, he saw the doppelganger entering the city's coin mint. "The mint!"

"Ben!" Yukiko and Gwen were close behind him.

Max was struggling to catch up with his old age. "Who said retirement was relaxing…"

"How do we keep losing sight of him!?" Yukiko growled, irritated. She, Max, and Gwen entered the Mint but had lost track of Ben.

"Are you sure he came in here?" Max asked. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building alerting them that Ben might be in the processing room. The trio saw Heatblast about to blast two guards with a fiery death.

"Sumeo-Okami!" Yukiko called her Persona. Using her Persona to stop the fire from attacking the guards and sent it right back at Heatblast. "Stop right there!" Yukiko called out.

The Heatblast doppelganger turned around to face them, his face shifted into a sick smile at the sight of the Tennysons. Gwen stepped up in front of her cousin. "Yo, hothead! You better chill it right now or we're gonna kick your butt!"

"Oh yeah?" Heatblast challenged. He ignited his hand and approached the girl; her bravado went up in smoke as he approached.

"Uh…well, maybe not me specifically. But my cousin would be more than willing to help you chill," Gwen backed up.

"Not sure about chilling. I like the heat way more!" He shot a fire ball at Gwen. She screamed as it approached, but Yukiko stopped the attack before it could reach her.

"Tch!" Heatblast scowled at Yukiko.

"HEY!" Ben finally made his appearance, glaring at his imposter. The Heatblast double grinned at the sight of Ben. "Nobody impersonates me and gets away with it!" Ben activated the Omnitrix and transformed into Diamondhead.

Yukiko turned to her grandfather. "You and Gwen need to get everyone out of here." She watched as Diamondhead clashed with the Heatblast lookalike.

"Right! C'mon, Gwen!" Max ordered.

"Right behind you!" Gwen ran from the battlefield.

The lookalike fired a wave of flames that pushed Diamondhead back. The Petrosapien responded back with shards of crystals. Yukiko joined in the battle. "Maragion!" The fireballs fused with the crystals, creating a combo attack that hit the lookalike head on. A cloud of smoke surrounded the area blocking their view of the lookalike.

When it cleared, he was gone, confusing the cousins. "Where did he go!?" Yukiko questioned.

"Right behind you!"

Yukiko was sent flying across the room by a blue and black blur. She groaned in pain as she got back onto her feet. "Did he turn into XLR8?"

"Bingo! We have a winner!" XLR8 taunted as he kicked her from behind.

"Yukiko!" Diamondhead caught his cousin as she was sailing into his direction. He watched as the blur continued to speed around the room, taunting the two of them. "Who are you!?"

"Aw! Can you really not recognize me!? Surely, it hasn't been too long, Benji!"

Suddenly, above the two of them a tank containing the coins was tipped over. Diamondhead quickly tossed Yukiko aside before the coins fell on top of him. The Petrosapien groaned as he pushed the coins off his body.

The XLR8 duplicate stopped in front of them, grinning madly. "Hey! It's raining money!"

Yukiko struggled to get back onto her knees. "Who are you!?"

"Man, you tools are slow! Guess, I'll just tell you." He said. The doppelganger's face started to morph between Ben's forms, freaking out the cousins before finally revealing his true identity, leaving the two shocked.

"KEVIN!?" Yukiko and Diamondhead gasped.

"But I thought you were drained of all my powers back in the subway in New York!" Diamondhead said.

"That's what you get for thinking, Benji. Turns out I absorbed enough of that weird watch energy, so I could turn into any of those aliens inside if I just concentrated hard enough. Only problem is that I can only stay human for a short time," Kevin glared at Diamondhead. "You made me into this freak!"

Yukiko got to her feet. "Don't go blaming Ben for your own choices, Kevin!"

"Shut it!" Kevin hissed at her. He turned his gaze back to Diamondhead. "I'm going to make sure you pay, partner. Everything is gonna be 50/50! I do the crime and you do the time!"

"You'll never get away with this!" Diamondhead exclaimed.

Kevin shook his head. "You'll never get away with this. I'm not me, I'm you! Remember?"

Suddenly, the A.C.T exploded into the Coin Mint, distracting Yukiko and Diamondhead. Kevin used this opportunity to shift into Stinkfly. The mutant shot goop at Yukiko, sticking the heiress onto the wall. He then swung his tail into Diamondhead, slamming the Petrosapien into the machines. "Heh, keep the change. You can use it to pay your bail," Kevin took off through the skylight, escaping the scene. Diamondhead could only glare at Kevin's disappearing form.

Yukiko struggled in her binds as more explosions rocked the building. "A little help here!"

Diamondhead was snapped out of his stupor. "Uh, right!" He tried to get to Yukiko, but the A.C.T units blocked him off.

"Sorry, rockhead. No unauthorized withdrawals on my watch," Steel entered the scene.

Diamondhead grunted in annoyance. "You don't get it! The bad alien just got away! I'm the good alien!"

"Yeah, sure you are. Just like those alien heroes all over the news nowadays," Steel rolled his eyes.

"He's speaking the truth-" Yukiko was cut off by Steel's hardened voice.

"Just stay where you are, miss. We'll have you out of here safely once this alien is dealt with," Steel motioned for his troops to advance.

"They're telling the truth!"

Everyone glanced over to see Gwen and Max walk up to the A.C.T troops. "There was another alien who-"

"I don't try 'em, kid. I just catch them. We'll let the boys at Area 51 figure out who's naughty and who's nice. Chicago, Tallahassee, Barstile; you and your outer space pals have been keeping me real busy. But you're not getting away with it this time!" Steel declared.

Yukiko struggled to break free from the goop, wanting to help in some fashion.

Diamondhead glared at Steel before sharpening his fingers. "This time?" The Petrosapien shot crystal shards at the troops. Their guns exploded from being jammed, creating a smoke screen. Diamondhead ran out of the smoke as more shots were fired at him.

"Get that thing!" Steel ordered. As they were distracted by Diamondhead, Gwen and Max scurried over to help Yukiko off of the wall.

Diamondhead hid between the machines, but it was to no avail. A red dot was aimed directly at his chest, the shot was fired, knocking him onto his ass. From within the smoke the Petrosapien fired more shards at the troops who shot at him. When another round of blast fire was coming towards him, Diamondhead created a barrier of crystals to block them off.

Steel and his troops maneuvered around the barrier and saw Diamondhead climbing up a ladder. When Diamondhead was on the catwalk, the Omnitrix started to time out. On the verge of timing out and being cornered by the A.C.T, Diamondhead made a panicked jump off the catwalk. He crashed into the coin machines, hiding between them.

An A.C.T gunman turned the corner just as a red flash disappeared. He pointed his gun at where he believed Diamondhead had gone, but instead found a 10-year-old boy instead. "Ah! Don't hurt me!" Ben pretended to be scared. "I-Is the monster gone?"

"Ben!" Yukiko and Gwen rushed over to the boy as he was escorted over to them. The girls wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"Oh, thank goodness, you found him! We were so worried!" Gwen pretended to be worried.

Yukiko had fake tears in her eyes. "He's a bit absent minded, so he tends to wander off on his own."

"We're considering getting one of those child leashes for him," Gwen added on. Both of his cousins' comments made the boy glare at them.

Steel walked up to the Tennysons; his eyes stared directly at the Omnitrix. "Hmmm…nice watch. Never seen anything like it."

"Yeah…uh…" Ben glanced at Yukiko. "It's from Japan!" He lied. Steel looked skeptical at Ben's claim.

"No sign of the alien, Sir! It's like that thing disappeared into thin air," A soldier reported.

"And I don't suppose you four know anything about it?" Steel asked the Tennysons.

Max got closer to his grandkids. "No, if we did, we'd tell you." His grandkids all nodded their heads in agreement.

Steel didn't believe them for a second. "Yeah…of course you would." He watched them leave the Coin Mint, his eyes never leaving them. "Keep an eye on them. They know more than they're saying."

The family were now back inside of the Rustbucket, trying to locate Kevin's whereabouts.

"It was Kevin at both the video game store and the mint! They were set ups!" Ben explained.

"That would explain a lot. I don't mind telling ya, that kid's rowboat is missing a couple of paddles!" Max said.

"Kevin has paddles? Why would he have a boat if he can just use Ripjaws?" Yukiko asked.

Gwen glanced up from her computer, glaring at the heiress. "Can you not? For like a day?"

Ben didn't focus on them, his mind still on the earlier events. "Why would that SWAT guy think all aliens are bad?"

"Looks like from personal experience. Check this out," Gwen turned the computer around to show her family the screen. "Your friend has been busy and not just in San Francisco. Look, Wildmutt terrorizing Tallahassee, Ripjaws in Chicago, and Ghostfreak in Barstile."

"I'm gonna get blamed for all that stuff! And I didn't do any of that!" Ben exclaimed.

"Can anyone say ironic?" Gwen smirked a bit.

Screaming could be heard outside, dragging their attention to outside the window. The Tennysons saw a black and green trolley car zooming down the street, innocent people screaming in fear.

"Kevin!" Ben hissed.

"Boy must've used Upgrade to hijack that cable car," Max said.

Yukiko saw Ben getting ready to transform. "Ben, wait! He's trying to get your attention. We need to come up with a plan!"

"I got a plan! It's called Hero Time!" Ben slapped the watch down and turned into Wildmutt. Judging by the Vulpimancer's pouting, he didn't mean to do that.

"Good going, fido," Gwen insulted him. The alien dog growled at her before rushing out of the RV to chase after Kevin. Yukiko hurried after him, jumping onto the dog's back before he got too far. Max and Gwen stepped out of the RV to watch them.

Unknown to them the A.C.T were watching them from the rooftops. "Mobile one, a wild dog alien just emerged from the RV with a teenage girl of Asian descent riding on top of him. All three are heading down California street."

"Maintain visuals, I'm on my way!" Steel's voice was heard from the other end.

Meanwhile, the conductor tried to get the cable car back under control. However, Kevin wasn't going to let him. "Now why are you doing that?" The mutant's tentacles tore out the controls. "We're just starting to have fun!"

Wildmutt jumped across multiple car tops to catch up, Yukiko hung on tightly as the Vulpimancer swung on a cable. The two flew through the air and landed on top of the cable car.

Kevin's one eye glared at them both. "Sorry, Ben…and… his less smart mouthed cousin?"

Yukiko sweat dropped. "Do you not remember my name?"

Wildmutt roared and raised a paw to attack Kevin, but the mutant was faster. He sprouted out multiple black spikes from the roof, attempting to impale them. "No pets allowed, Benji!"

"I didn't know Upgrade could do that!?" Yukiko gasped. And judging by Wildmutt's groan, he didn't know either. The Vulpimancer swung on the side of the trolly and hopped inside of it.

Behind them the Rustbucket was flying down the street to catch up, Max had activated the boosters once again. "You know times like this my stop car driving experience really comes in handy!" Max proudly exclaimed. Gwen was still terrified by the speed they were going at.

The people on the trolly backed away in fear of Wildmutt, Yukiko was attempting to calm them all down. "It's okay! He won't bite! We made sure he got his shots!"

"Peekaboo."

Yukiko turned around to see a black and green fist slam into her stomach. The heiress doubled over for a moment before slicing Kevin's arm with her fan.

"Gah! That hurt!" He hissed, regenerating the limb.

"I'll make sure the next one is permanent!" She hissed back.

Wildmutt stuck his claws into Kevin's neck, causing the mutant to cry out again. "Down boy!" Kevin smacked the Vulpimancer away with a bench. He then tossed it at Yukiko.

The heiress acted quickly. "Agi!" She used a weaker spell to destroy the bench. She then saw that Wildmutt was stuck under the other broken part and hurried to help him.

While they were distracted Kevin demerged from the trolley and stood on the roof. "Let's see, breaks are out, heroes are trapped, and everyone is about to go for a dip in the bay. My work's done," Kevin was about to turn into Stinkfly, but something caught his attention.

The Rustbucket.

"Or maybe not yet," The mutant smirked.

Gwen watched as Kevin stood on top of the trolley. "What is he doing?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't like the looks of it!" Max glared at the mutant.

They watched as he transformed into Stinkfly and flew directly at them. Gwen's eyes widened as green goop blocked the windshield. "Grandpa!"

"Hold on, Gwen!" Max yelled as he tried to wipe the gunk off with the wipers.

"She won't be holding on for long! Hahaha!"

"Kyaaa!" Gwen screamed as a black stinger tore off the passenger door of the Rustbucket. Kevin's hand reached for Gwen and took her by her shirt. She was ripped out of the seat and into Kevin's grasp.

"Gwen!" Max yelled, terrified.

"Better keep your eyes on the road, old man! Or else you'll all be fish-chow!" Kevin laughed as he took off with Gwen.

"GRANDPA!" Gwen screamed as she was kidnapped.

The old man wanted nothing more than to save her immediately, but right now he needed to make sure his other two grandkids didn't sink into the sea. He pulled the RV over to the trolley car, where Yukiko finally got Wildmutt to his feet.

"Yukiko! Ben! Attach the line to the bottom of the RV!" Max ordered. Wildmutt grabbed the line with his teeth and jumped over to the RV with Yukiko on his back. He hooked it on, and Yukiko gave Max a nod to start his plan.

Max hit the brake pedal and pressed another button. A cable was fired from the back of the RV, sticking into a wall. Both the RV and trolley were saved from falling into the sea. Yukiko made her way into the RV as the people celebrated being alive.

Yukiko entered the Rustbucket with a smile on her face but noticed someone was missing. "Uh, Grandpa is Gwen in the bathroom or something?"

Max gave her a look before explaining what happened, shocking Yukiko.

The Rustbucket pulled up into an alleyway, where Ben revealed himself to be behind a dumpster. He had a smile on his face until he realized the not so happy looks on Yukiko and Max's faces.

"What's wrong? And where's Gwen?" Ben asked.

Yukiko's face hardened into a furious glare. "Kevin happened."

Ben's eyes widened. He understood Kevin's desire to torment him, but to go after his family. That was crossing the line. "Why that no good-"

"FREEZE!"

All three Tennysons turned to their right to see the A.C.T guys pointing guns at them. Steel approached the family. "One move and you're all Swiss cheese."

"You'd shoot a child?" Yukiko referred to Ben.

Steel's face betrayed no emotion. "That depends on how you answer my question. You either tell me how you're connected to these aliens or you get ready for your prison uniforms."

Ben glanced down at the Omnitrix, prompting Steel to grab his wrist. Yukiko tried to get him off of Ben, but the sounds of rifles clicking made her think otherwise. "It has something to do with this watch, doesn't it? Is it some kind of signal to call the aliens?"

"Sir, we're getting reports of a crystal alien rampaging on top of the Golden Gate, and it seems that he has a hostage with him," A soldier reported.

"GWEN!" The Tennysons realized.

Steel released Ben's wrist and took out his walkie talkie. "Falcon One, pick up at my twenty. We're not done," He addressed the three of them. A helicopter appeared above them, dropping down a rope for Steel to use to get aboard.

The Tennysons watched Steel fly away. "Those guys don't stand a chance against Kevin and who knows what might happen to Gwen. I have to stop him," Ben's resolve tightened.

"We are going to stop him, Ben. Nobody kidnaps our family and gets away with it," Yukiko corrected him. The three of them all hurried into the Rustbucket to stop Kevin once and for all.

"UGH! You're not gonna get away with this, ya know!?"

"Do you ever stop talking?" Kevin turned around at Gwen, who he had stuck to the bridge with Stinkfly's goop.

"I don't know. Do you ever stop being a jerk!?" Gwen shot back.

Kevin marched up to her, glaring into her eyes. "I don't need any lip from you. All I need is to drag Tennyson out here, so that I can pay him back once and for all."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "And causing a bunch of destruction and hurting people is gonna make you feel better? My doofus cousin isn't worth all the time and energy."

"He made me into this!"

"You did that to yourself!"

Kevin protruded a crystal blade and pointed it at Gwen's face, forcing the girl to stop talking. "How about you just shut your mouth like a good little hostage!? Or else I'm gonna…" He stopped himself when the sounds of a helicopter made themselves known. Kevin and Gwen saw Steel jumping down onto the bridge.

The mutant shot crystal shards at the helicopter, blowing up the back propellers, and sending it off course. "Oh yeah!" Kevin cheered.

"Are you out of your mind!? Oh…wait. I guess you are," Gwen interrupted his celebration.

"Shut up!"

Steel used a knife to cut the rope and he landed perfectly onto the top of the bridge. Kevin greeted the military officer. "Lieutenant Steel! So nice to see you again." Steel glared at the mutant and charged at him.

Down on the road of the bridge the Rustbucket finally arrived, noticing all the destruction that Kevin had caused. The family stepped out of the Rustbucket. "Great, more things I'm gonna get blamed for," Ben groaned.

He and Yukiko hurried off to help, while Max could only wait and watch.

Steel crashed against the walls of the bridge, his face brushed and bleeding. Kevin approached him; diamond blade ready to end the fight. He lifted Steel by his collar and prepared to impale the officer.

"Stop it, Kevin!" Gwen yelled.

Kevin turned around to look at her. "Just sit and watch, smart mouth. This is the good part." Kevin pulled his arm back and-

"AGIDYNE!"

Kevin dropped Steel as he was knocked back by the large fireball. The mutant groaned in pain from the attack and turned around, knowing just how had finally arrived. Four Arms touched down on the bridge top with Yukiko on his back. The heiress touched down and hurried to the trapped Gwen.

"Yukiko! Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, relieved.

"Don't worry, I'll have you out quickly," Yukiko began tearing the slime away.

Four Arms cracked his knuckles as he approached Kevin. "That's enough, Kevin. This fight is about you and me."

"Sounds good to me," Kevin kicked Steel out of the way. The officer held onto the steel beams, so he wouldn't fall to his death. "Still trying to be a goody-two-shoes, Ben. Let me guess, you just want to help me?" Kevin mocked.

"Maybe, I did at first and still wanted to earlier on. But the moment you attacked my family was the moment you crossed the line. You had plenty of chances, Kevin. Now I'm ending what I started," Four Arms said.

Kevin didn't care in the slightest, all he wanted was his rematch. "Aw, does this mean we're not best buddies anymore?" The mutant quickly launched diamond shards at Four Arms. The Tetramand deflected the shards and charged at Kevin, punching the mutant in the jaw. Kevin slid across the metal on his hands.

Yukiko wanted to help him, but she remembered his words before they jumped on the bridge.

"I know you want to help me beat Kevin. But this is my mess from back in New York. I won't ever make the same mistake again, Yukiko. So, promise me that you won't get involved in this."

She had made him a promise, so unless that watch times out, she won't interfere. Yukiko focused on getting Gwen down from the wall.

Four Arms marched slowly over to Kevin's downed form. "You hurt all of these innocent people and kidnap my cousin just to get some petty revenge?"

"It's not petty!" Kevin shot to his feet instantly. "None of these people are innocent! Nobody is gonna call me a freak again and I'll shut them up before they do! Starting with you!" Kevin charged forward.

Back on the bridge Max saw the A.C.T agents run up with the concussion bazooka from earlier. "Wait, he's trying to help and there are two young girls up there!"

"Out of the way, civilian. This is our job," The agent stopped Max.

The bazooka was aimed directly at Four Arms and Kevin, ready to fire. "The weapon is locked on, Sir. Permission to fire?"

Steel grabbed his walkie. "Fire on my command only. Repeat, on my command only!"

One of the two was ready to fire anyway. "We gotta blow those alien freaks back into outer space!"

"You really want to disobey a direct order from Steel?" The other reminded him of their place on the ladder. Stopping the gung-ho one from doing something stupid.

Meanwhile, Kevin was getting absolutely pounded by Four Arms. The Tetramand's punches were landing perfectly, giving Kevin no time to fight back. He picked the mutant up and did a back breaker on his knee. Kevin rolled across the metal in pain, he saw Four Arms getting ready to slam his face in; so, he transformed into Heatblast. Shooting a massive ton of fire into Four Arms' face.

Four Arms staggered back from the attack, but his tough skin protected him. The mutant shot another wave, but Four Arms charged straight through it. Kevin moved out of the way, making Four Arms run past him. "HURRAH!" Four Arms slammed his fist onto the metal, making it shift like a wave of water.

"Eeek!" Gwen squealed as she and Yukiko held on.

"Just hold on, Gwen," Yukiko held the girl close.

"Why aren't you helping him again?" Gwen asked.

"Because boys like to have their fights," Yukiko answered. The heiress thought back to when Kanji would describe to her about "The Essence of Manly Fights".

"Ugh, boys…" Gwen shook her head.

Kevin morphed into Stinkfly and smacked Four Arms into the floor. He tried to do it again, but something different happened. The mutant's body changed on its own, turning him back into a human. "AAAAAHHH!" Four Arms chest bumped him, breaking Kevin's fall.

"What the…?" Tennysons were shocked. Four Arms began to approach the human Kevin. He raised his fist into the air for the finishing blow.

Yukiko turned Gwen away and closed her own eyes.

BAM!

The heiress opened her eyes back up to see that Four Arms had missed Kevin's head by a few inches. The Tetramand stared at Kevin for a brief moment with nothing but pity. He walked away from the mutant, walking back to his family.

Kevin sat up, glaring at Four Arms' back. "Get back here and fight, Tennyson! I'm not through with you yet!"

"But I'm through with you. You're not worth it. You never were," Four Arms gave his parting words.

Something inside of Kevin's head snapped at that moment. Memories of his family calling him a freak, the looks of disgust that people in his hometown used to give him, his first meeting with Ben at the arcade, their escapades in the warehouse, and their fight at the subway.

"You're not worth it."

"You…you don't get to decide that…! I…won't be looked down on again!" Kevin's pupils shrunk as the energy inside of his body began to erupt like a volcano. Warts sprouted on his hands as it increased in size, his body grew bigger as well. The boy's body began to morph into something…something grotesque. "RRAAAAAHHHH!" Kevin's scream of pain could be heard all throughout San Francisco.

The Tennysons on the bridge were absolutely horrified by Kevin's transformation. Gwen felt as if she was going to puke at the sight of Kevin's new body.

The boy was now a mutated fusion of all of Ben's aliens, he looked like a science experiment gone wrong. His body was dark red with four limbs, the lower ones resembled Wildmutt and the upper arms were Diamondhead and Heatblast respectively. His upper chest was green and black like Upgrade, with Stinkfly's wings on his back. One of his eyes were like Gray Matter's while the others were Four Arms'. On his forehead was Ripjaws' antenna. Kevin looked at his grotesque body and tried to change back. "I…I can't change back! I'm stuck like this! Look at what you've done!" With pure hatred Kevin charged at Four Arms.

"Oh man! Is there anything I'm not gonna get blamed for today!?" Four Arms complained.

"BEN! PAY ATTENTION!" Yukiko screamed.

The Tetramand looked back up and saw Kevin coming at him. The mutant shoulder tackled Four Arms, sending him flying towards the girls.

"GET DOWN!" Yukiko pushed Gwen down as Four Arms and Kevin hit the wall. The two scurried out of the way as the two battled.

Four Arms attempted to hold Kevin off, but the mutant's newfound strength and fury were a fantastic combination. Kevin slammed Four Arms through the wall with a double punch.

"AGIDYNE!"

Kevin grunted as the fireball slammed into his back. He turned around to stare hatefully at the girls. Gwen hid behind Yukiko as Kevin approached them. "I'm sick and tired of you Tennysons!"

"Then go to sleep!" Four Arms wrapped his arms around Kevin's midsection, ready to give the mutant a suplex. However, Kevin smashed his elbow into Four Arms' sternum, knocking the wind out of him. Kevin grabbed him by his collar and tossed him at the girls. Yukiko pushed Gwen back down as Four Arms slammed into her.

"Kya!" Yukiko slid across the metal floor as Four Arms fell off the edge. The tetramand grabbed onto the cables, to prevent himself from falling onto the bridge.

Kevin walked right past the girls; his anger directed solely on Four Arms. The mutant stepped on Four Arms' hand, ready to finish the fight. "You'll never beat me, because you're one of the good guys and good guys never have the guts to finish guys like me."

"But I do. FIRE!" Steel's order surprised them all.

A red-hot beam slammed right into Kevin's chest, knocking the mutant off of the bridge and into the ocean. He didn't reemerge from the water depths.

Gwen gazed down at the spot that Kevin had fallen into for a moment, before turning back to her cousins. She hurried over to help Yukiko back to her feet.

Four Arms turned around to see Steel was about to fall off the beam. He jumped over to it and saved the military officer. "Are you still looking for me?"

"Second target locked on! Permission to fire?"

"We got our alien. Stand down," Steel ordered. Four Arms smiled before going back over to grab his cousins. Steel turned his talkie back on. "Well, what are you waiting for!? Get me down from here!"

"Not even Kevin could survive that blast and that fall…right?" Gwen asked as the Rustbucket drove away from the bridge.

"You're asking the wrong guy. I thought he was gone for good the last time," Ben responded.

"For his sake, he better be dead," Yukiko said, darkly.

Max stopped the RV, when Steel and his men stood in their path. "Now why is it that you four seem to be involved in all of these alien battles?"

"Really? Guess, it's just the wrong place at the wrong time," All four Tennysons smiled at Steel. Each one of their faces made the officer's neck hairs stand straight. He obviously could just take them into custody, but they saved his life today.

"Yeah…guess, it's just a coincidence. Maybe, we'll cross paths again sometime. Drive carefully, lots of weird stuff out there," Steel warned them.

Ben smirked. "Yeah, you're telling us."

The Rustbucket drove away from the bridge. Steel watched them leave, making a mental note to keep a close eye on the four of them.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 25: Room of Velvet

Ben blinked slowly as he awoke from his sleep, stretching out his arms he yawned away his sleep. Sniffing the air, he could smell the scent of sweet fragrance. "Wait a minute…!" Ben sniffed the air again. "The Rustbucket doesn't smell this good!"

"That would be because you are not currently inside of it."

Snapping his head to the sound of the voice Ben found two strangely dressed people sitting in front of him. One was a man dressed in a black suit with a weirdly long nose and the other was a beautiful mature looking woman with platinum blond hair tied into a ponytail; she wore a blue dress with black leggings and heels. Her golden eyes were staring directly at Ben, while the bald man's eyes were still closed. "Or I should say, you technically are still inside of that RV," The woman hummed.

Ben was immediately on high alert, wondering where he was and who these people were. "You better get to talking right now or Four Arms is gonna introduce you to a four pieced knuckle sandwich!"

The woman merely chuckled at him. "That would be unwise, but go ahead," She wasn't taking him seriously.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance Ben reached for the Omnitrix. "Keep laughing! It's Hero Time!" Ben slapped down the watch.

Or he thought he did.

"Eh…?" Ben slapped his wrist again, confused as to why he wasn't transformed. Or better yet, wondering why he couldn't feel the Omnitrix. Looking down at his left wrist, Ben found that the watch was no longer attached to him. "What the heck!? Where's the watch!?"

"It's connected to you," She answered.

"Um? Are you blind or something, Granny!? My watch isn't here!"

"Granny…?" The woman's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

Ben ignored her, trying to figure out some way to escape. "There's gotta be a way out of here somewhere. Wait, where am I even?" Ben finally took notice of his surroundings. He noticed that he was inside of a blue limousine instead of the Rustbucket.

"This is the Velvet Room."

Ben's and the woman's eyes snapped over to the man with the long nose. His fingers entwined with each other in their white gloves. He opened his eyes and grinned like a maniac. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, Ben Tennyson."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "The Velvet Room? What is that some kind of loser club?"

"You are a rude little boy," The woman sighed.

"And you're old," Ben shot back. The woman glared at him and suddenly Ben was reminded of Yukiko and his mother whenever they were annoyed with him.

The man however chuckled at Ben's attitude. "The Velvet Room is a space between matter and reality. Currently in the real world you are asleep inside of your Grandfather's RV."

"So…I'm like dreaming?" Ben asked.

"Yes."

"Why do I always get the weird dreams?" Ben sighed. "Who are you anyway, old man?"

"Would it kill you to show some respect?" The woman demanded.

"It might, like how old age might kill you," Ben smirked. The vein on the woman's forehead throbbed as her irritation towards him increased by the second.

Ignoring the banter the man lifted a gloved hand. "My name is Igor, a proprietor of this world. This lady is Margaret, my attendant. Our role is to help our guest reach the end of their journey, regardless of the outcome," Igor explained.

"Guest? Am I a guest or something?" Ben asked.

Igor chuckled lightly. "No, you do not possess the ability of the Wild Card. Though, that watch of yours resembles it slightly."

"Wild Card? Why do I feel like I've heard that before," Ben tapped his chin.

"Your cousin Amagi Yukiko is deeply tied to the fate of a previous guest of ours," Igor explained.

"...Yukiko?" Ben tilted his head. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off above his head. "OH! You mean Yukiko's a Wild Card!"

"No," Margaret shut him down immediately.

"...Uh…her friend Chilie?"

"It's Chie and no."

"Sanji?"

"Kanji and no again."

"Oh! I got it! It's Yusuke!"

"Yosuke and you're incorrect," Margaret felt her patience wearing thin.

"Nagato!"

"Her name is Naoto. The Wild Card is Narukami Yu, your cousin's boyfriend," Margaret responded with a harsh glare.

Ben's smirked formed a full-on smile. "Oh, I knew that. I just wanted to see how long it would take me to annoy you, Granny."

She was going to kill this boy. Margaret swore it.

Igor snapped his fingers bringing their attention back over to them. "Are you done?"

Margaret released her anger. "Yes, sorry Master."

Ben placed his hands behind his head, leaning in his seat. "Okay, if I'm not this Wild Card thing. Then why am I here?"

Igor raised his hand towards Ben, specks of light danced in the air until a tarot card was formed. "You are an interesting young boy, Benjamin Tennyson. Out of everyone in the world your fate deeply affects fate itself."

"Even more than these Wild Cards?"

"No, just as much as them. The reason you were brought here is still tied to that of our previous guest. Your fate will change his in a way I've never seen possible," Igor explained.

"Change his fate? Sounds weird to me," Ben shrugged.

Igor dispelled the card. "The road of destiny leads to many destinations for you, Benjamin Tennyson. The choices that you make in the future and the decisions that those close to you make will clear the fog in your path."

Before Ben could respond his head started to feel dizzy and the world around him started to become darker.

Igor's chuckling increased in volume. "Whatever path you take, Benjamin Tennyson, will surely be entertaining to see."

"BEN, WAKE UP YOU DOOFUS!"

Ben's eyes snapped open and he sat up instantly. Which ended up being a bad decision as his head collided with another. "OW!"

"OW!" Gwen fell onto the floor, gripping her head. She looked back up at Ben and glared at him. "What's your deal, doofus!?"

"How hard is your head, dweeb!?" Ben hissed back. "Why were you screaming in my face!?"

"Because you overslept again! Grandpa wanted us up early today!" Gwen yelled back.

Rolling his eyes, Ben stepped down from the bunk. "Yeah? Grandpa, can wait a few more minutes."

"Okay, then I'll just tell Yukiko that the reason you overslept was because you spent all night playing your video game!" Gwen smirked.

His eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't!"

"I would!" Gwen hurried out of the RV. "YUKIKO! BEN DID SOMETHING WRONG!"

Ben sprinted out after her. "DON'T LISTEN TO HER! SHE'S LYING!"

Margaret turned to her master. "Are you sure it's wise? Trusting that boy?"

Igor looked at her. "We have no choice in the matter. Fate has picked him to walk this path. It is up to him how his choices shift the world. All we can do is watch."

Margaret nodded her head. "Yes, like we always do." Her mind traveled back to her younger sister. The one who refused to stay still and watch.

SHING!

Margaret's eyes shifted to the seat as a light began to materialize in front of them.

Igor chuckled as another person began to appear inside of the room. An all too familiar face. "Welcome back to the Velvet Room."

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 26: Galactic Personas

Within the futuristic city civilians ran away in fear of the large robot that was terrorizing them.

"TREMBLE INSECTS! BOW AT THE FEET OF LORD DOOMICUS!" The madman declared from inside of his robot.

"OH YEAH!?"

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the challenge. Standing on top of a destroyed car was a 10-year-old boy dressed in a blue and white superhero costume. His white cap fluttered in the wind and his face covered by a blue visor.

"Ultra Ben!?" Doomicus cried in fear. He was too slow to stop the hero from destroying the legs of his robot. "MY DESTRUCTOID! NOOOOOO!" He cried as he lay defeated.

Ultra Ben reached inside of the machine and pulled out the evil scientist. He flew on top of the destroyed legs. "And anyone who makes trouble in Tennyson Town is gonna get the same Two-Fisted Justice!"

"ULTRA BEN! ULTRA BEN! ULTRA BEN!" The people cheered on for their hero.

Ultra Ben sucked up the praise like a sponge to water. "ULTRA BEN! ULTRA BEN! ULTRA BEN! BEN! BEN! BEN-"

"BEN!"

The boy finally looked up from his comic to see his cousins glaring at him from below the foot statue. Gwen and Yukiko both had their hands on their hips. "That's a work of art, ya know? Not your personal butt rest," Gwen reminded him. "You're going to get us kicked out of the museum!"

Ben jumped down from the statue. "I don't have that kind of luck."

"The hotel," Yukiko slashed through his arrogance.

"You guys are never going to let that go, are you?" Ben glared at her.

"Nope," Both replied.

"Tsk," Ben reached into his pockets and pulled out a piece of chocolate. Seeing that he has candy piqued Gwen's interest.

"Hey, can I have some?" She asked.

"Sorry, chocolate is for superheroes only," Ben walked past her as he kept eating.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "More like super jerks only." She felt Yukiko's hand pat the top of her head.

"Don't worry, Gwen. That stuff would just spoil your dinner anyways," Yukiko tried to cheer her up. The younger girl shivered at the mention of dinner before scurrying back into the museum.

The heiress then turned to Ben's retreating form. "Don't get lost, Ben!"

"When have I ever gotten lost?" He replied.

"I really don't think you want me to answer that question," Yukiko sighed. Before either could do anything else a spaceship flew over their heads and into the city. "Was that a spaceship!?" Yukiko asked.

Ben smiled and walked towards the exit. "Yup! Maybe this won't be such a boring day after all."

Yukiko sighed and followed after Ben. "And here I thought we'd have a relaxing weekend for once."

Ben and Yukiko pushed through the crowd to see the ship; Yukiko held the boy back from getting closer to it.

The doors to the ship opened to reveal a large and bulky alien with brown armor standing in the doorway. He had multiple spikes decorating the shoulder pads of his armor. He jumped off the craft and gazed at everyone. "Take me to your Bicenthium Alloy." His demand was met with blank stares since nobody knew what that was. Frustrated by the lack of response the alien punched ground, creating an earthquake that knocked people over. His attack created a mass panic. The bulky alien grabbed a nearby car and tossed in the direction of Ben and Yukiko.

"Ben, come on!" Yukiko took him by his hand. The two turned the corner before the car could hit them. Yukiko whipped out her fan from her red sleeve, she didn't bother turning around after hearing the activation of the Omnitrix.

"Somebody's gotta teach ugly there some manners!" He dialed up Four Arms.

"Snrk! T-Teaching someone else manners is impossible for you, Ben! HAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed.

The boy grimaced at her mocking laughter. "Ugh, who asked you anyway?" He slammed down the dial, enveloping himself in green light.

"Ben! Yukiko!" Max called for his missing two grandchildren.

"Where do you think they went?" Gwen asked.

BOOM!

The two turned to their left to see smoke rising from the city. Both grimaced, knowing exactly what could've caused that. "I'll give you one guess," Max responded.

"HYAH!" Four Arms jumped onto the alien's back. "Okay, tough guy!"

"A Tetramand? Hey, this planet really is a dumb," The Detrovite groaned. He knocked Four Arms off of his back, grabbed the Tetramand by the face, and slammed him into a building.

Four Arms got back to his feet and smashed his fist into the Detrovite's face, knocking him back.

Suddenly, a familiar figure soared into the skies, blasting at Four Arms with his guns. Four Arms recognized him immediately. "You!?" The Tetramand gasped as he tried to avoid the blasts.

SixSix extended his left arm, releasing multiple small missiles at Four Arms. However, before they could reach, each one was destroyed by a fire blast. SixSix turned his head to see Yukiko sprinting over to Four Arms.

The heiress looked up at SixSix as he prepared to continue raining down fire. "It's that bounty hunter from the desert!" She exclaimed. Yukiko didn't think they would run into them again, but it seems that luck wasn't in their favor.

At the same time Max and Gwen had arrived on the scene, hiding behind a corner. "Grandpa, the alien with the jetpack."

"He's one of those bounty hunters who came after Ben in the desert. Must've busted out of Galactic Jail," Max said.

SixSix unleashed more rockets at the duo, which Four Arms gladly tossed right back at him. The bounty hunter fell onto a truck. Four Arms hopped onto the truck, lifting SixSix into the air. Before he could land the final punch, SixSix dropped a tiny grenade.

"Huh?" Four Arms had no time to react before he was locked down by electric shocks.

"Ben! Agidyne!" Yukiko fired her attack.

SixSix turned around and jumped over her attack. The ball of flame smashed into the downed Four Arms, sending him flying into the wall. The bounty hunter took advantage of Yukiko's shock and dropped a similar grenade at her feet.

"KYAAA!" Yukiko cried out as the electrical currents coursed through her. The heiress dropped to the ground, struggling to get back onto her feet. She looked over to see SixSix pointing his rockets point blank. However, before he could fire, a blue case of energy wrapped around his body.

SixSix struggled to move as he was forcefully lifted into the air and tossed away towards his partner. The Tennysons were confused by what happened, looking over to see who had interfered.

Four Arms eyes widened. "No way!"

"Okay, this is weird," Gwen said as Max was helping Yukiko back to her feet.

In front of them were three similarly dressed individuals. The one on the left was some sort of floating octopus brain in a jar, with yellow tentacles. The one to the right was a Tetramand just like Four Arms, except female. She wore golden armor, gold wrist bands, and a white skirt. And finally, in the middle was a humanoid man with dark blue skin. He wore a yellow top with white pants, gold boots, white gloves, and a flowing white cape.

"Rescue Formation: Alpha Nine!" The humanoid commanded. He and his team charged towards the alien criminals.

"It's the capes! I HATE CAPES!" The Detrovite yelled. SixSix pointed his blaster at the humanoid.

The leader dodged the blasts and unleashed his heat vision onto the bounty hunter, destroying his gun.

The female Tetramand sprinted at SixSix, she pulled back her hands and unleashed a devastating Thunderclap. The bounty hunter flew into the truck, defeated. Four Arms looked up at her in shock, to which the female look alike winked flirtatiously.

Four Arms flinched in disgust.

Yukiko was also disgusted at the implications of the gesture.

The brainy one dodged the punches from the Detrovite and used his telekinesis to float the criminal into the air. Once he was trapped, the leader nailed a devastating punch into his face, effectively taking out both criminals.

The new arrivals and Tennysons gathered around the criminals. "By the provisions set forth in the Galactic Code of Conduct. I order you to surrender. Will you yield?" The leader asked.

"Yield!?" Four Arms cried out. "What is this, a traffic light!? Kick their butts before they try to pull something!"

CLICK!

FLASH!

It was too late, and the criminals vanished into their ship before the heroes could stop them. SixSix stood in the entrance way of the ship and fired two blasts at the building behind them, destroying the pillars. Both Four Arms and the female Tetramand caught the debris before they could cause any damage.

The brainiac flew forward, using his powers to lift the structure. "You may release your grip now." Then the leader used his heat vision to meld it all back into place.

The female Tetramand wrapped her arms around Four Arms' shoulder. "So…what's a big strong alien like you doing on a planet like this? We make a good team, don't we?" The woman felt a tap on her lower arms and looked down. Next to her was Yukiko, who had a very dark and dangerous smile plastered on her lips.

"Please release him or I'll have to get violent," The heiress demanded.

"Chill, human. I'm just having a talk with muscles over here-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Oh, yes! Saved by the beep!" In a flash of red light, Ben turned back to normal. The Tetramand was disappointed.

"Hey, where the rest of you go!?"

Ben smiled nervously. "Uh, sorry. I'm just a kid. I just get some extra hands once and a while." Yukiko wrapped a protective arm around him as well.

"Yes, a 10-year-old child! So, back off!" The heiress hissed. The Tetramand raised her arms in defense, backing away from the terrifying teenager.

The two other members of the superhero team descended next to the Tetramand with Max and Gwen walking over to the rest of their family.

"So, it's true. The Omnitrix is in the possession of a child," The brainiac said. "We heard you were of some limited mental capacity," He insulted them.

Ben raised an eyebrow, confused.

"He's calling us stupid," Yukiko explained, glaring at the brain.

"Oh…" Ben responded.

"I mean no offense by my statement," He said.

"Don't worry, that's an accurate description of Ben," Gwen smirked. Her remark drew Ben's irie.

"Greetings, I am Ultimos: Specimen Prime," The leader introduced himself. "This is Synaptac and Tiny," Ultimos introduced them as well.

"We are The Galactic Enforcers!" All three stuck heroic poses.

"Pfft! Snrk!" Yukiko tried to control herself. The heiress couldn't help that their poses looked so goofy.

Max and Gwen looked uninterested.

"WOAH!"

The three looked down at Ben, who was jumpy with excitement. "The uniforms! The moves! You guys rock! Finally some other superheroes I can hang with!"

"As per the Galactic Code of Conduct, we hereby officially request clearance to operate in your quadrant," Ultimos requested.

"Uh?" Ben looked back at his family. The three shrugged their shoulders, making him turn back to the Enforcers. "Sure."

"Then we have much to discuss," Ultimos tapped his belt buckle, activating the teleport system of their ship.

Four blue circles appeared beneath the Tennysons' feet. Ben was the only one pumped for what was about to happen. "ALRIGHT!" He shouted as they were teleported.

The Tennysons landed in the meeting room of the Enforcers' ship. "Oh…never did like those teleporter disc," Max rubbed her head.

"That kinda felt like going inside of the TV World," Yukiko said.

"Glad you have experience," Gwen sighed.

Next the Enforcers appeared in front of the Tennysons, standing proud and mighty. Ben gazed around the ship's interior. "How cool is this? I'm in superhero heaven!"

"There's a heaven just for superheroes?" Yukiko asked.

Gwen folded her arms, fighting off the urge to correct the heiress. "Not gonna fall for it…not this time…"

Max walked closer to the Enforcers. "So, what do we owe the pleasure to Mr. Gadget's company again?"

A holographic projection of SixSix appeared above the meeting room's table. "His name is SixSix. He escaped incarceration and allied himself with the cretin Vulkanus," Ultimos explained. A projection of Vulkanus appeared as well.

"A Detrovite, a being with limited mental capabilities. All brawn, no brains. You know the type," Synaptac looked at the Tennysons.

"Kanji-kun wouldn't appreciate that," Yukiko frowned.

"I don't think he'd appreciate you assuming that he's even like that…" Gwen sweat dropped.

Vulkanus' projection was replaced by a mysterious item. "They are here to steal: Element X!"

The four humans stared blankly at Ultimos. "Okay…we give up! What's Element X?" Ben asked.

"Is it like Chemical X?" Yukiko questioned.

"How do you even…never mind…" Gwen stopped herself.

Synaptac folded his tentacles as if they were arms. "It is an explosive compound."

"But why come to Earth?" Max asked.

"Most likely in search for the other ingredient: Bicenthium Alloy. It's very rare but rumored to be found on your planet. When combined the alloy and Element X for an explosion powerful enough to destroy an entire solar system," Ultimos explained.

Gwen stared at the projection, feeling a sense of deja vu. "Why does this stuff feel so familiar?"

"Uh, Gwen." The girl turned at the sound of Ben's voice. "I think the giant floating brain guy has it covered."

"Well, I guess we should get back down and start looking for the-" Max was cut off by Ultimos' hand.

"Excuse me, but the Galactic Code is very clear on our protocols," Ultimos commands Tiny to release survey bots to scour the city.

"Our Observos will scan every inch of the city and locate the perpetrators," The Tennysons looked out the window to see the bots descend towards Earth. "In the meantime, perhaps, a tour would be in order," Ultimos offered.

"We'd be honored," Max accepted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But the Galactic Code is quite clear. Perversion 373-837: No civilian visitors in secure areas of the ship. You and your granddaughters will have to stay here on the bridge," Ultimos corrected himself. The three looked displeased at the news.

"Ben, Tiny will show you around," Ultimos said as Tiny picked the boy up. She placed him on her shoulder, much to Yukiko's despair.

"What!? No! Wait!" Yukiko tried to follow them but was held back by Ultimos. The heiress tried to fight her way out of Ultimos's strong grip. Her eyes were filled with despair as Ben and Tiny laughed at her predicament.

Gwen glared at Ultimos. "Hey! How come he gets to go!?"

Ultimos turned to face her as Yukiko continued to struggle in his arms. "Wearing the Omnitrix gives Ben full hero status."

"Then what about Yukiko's powers!?" Gwen yelled. The heiress stopped for a moment to listen.

"While I do not know how this young lady came to possess her abilities, they are not a form of official ability, especially for your species. The Omnitrix, while originally a rumor, is a device considered to be the greatest in the galaxy," Ultimos explained.

"Hahaha! Whoo hoo! Official Hero Status!" Ben cheered as he and Tiny left. Missing the glare that Synaptac was giving him.

Ultimos placed Yukiko back onto the floor, the heiress tried to follow the Enforcers, but Max held her back. "Grandpa! We can't just let them go with Ben! Who knows what she could do to him!?" Yukiko struggled in his grip.

"Calm down, sweetheart. Nothing is going to happen to Ben," Max reassured her.

"Yeah, Yukiko. Just let the super-jerks have their fun. How about telling us some more stories about Inaba?" Gwen asked, hoping to distract her.

It seemed to have worked, because Yukiko stopped fighting. "O-oh…uh, well. There was this one time when we all went to the beach…"

"This is the Galactic Code of Conduct!" A gigantic sized book dropped onto the table in front of Ben. "Every Galactic Enforcer must learn the rules so that they may live the rules!" Ultimos exclaimed, proudly.

His eyes flashed with fear at the sight of it. "Oh man…! Superhero homework!?"

"Well, the first 12,000 pages are admittedly a bit dry," Ultimos admitted.

"Ugh…I can hear Gwen and Yukiko's laughter if they found out about this," Ben grumbled mentally. His thoughts didn't go farther as the ship's alarm started to go off.

"The Observos have discovered something!" Ultimos exclaimed. He and the others rushed back into the control room to see the rest of the Tennyson family standing over the table.

The Observo found SixSix and Vulkanus searching around an old mining site. "That's a strip mine. Looks like they're after iron ore," Max explained. "Is that the missing ingredient?"

"We better get down there…but we could use some help," Ultimos looked down at Ben. "Ben, would you consider a temporary commission into the Galactic Enforcers?"

"Good idea!" Tiny agreed.

"Bad idea!" Yukiko and Synaptac yelled. The two looked and glared at one another.

Ultimos gazed at them. "It would seem I am the deciding vote…" He thought about it for 3 seconds. "Let's get you in uniform!" He agreed to Ben's delight.

"Presenting Ultra Ben: Galactic Enforcer!" Ben stood in the yellow and white uniform, proudly. The boy marched with swagger until tripping over the long white cape.

"PFFT!"

He glared at his cousins, who were trying not to laugh.

Yukiko felt that Ben looked adorable in the uniform. Even if it looked too big on him.

"What about us?" Max asked.

"I'm afraid the G.C.C. is quite clear about the participation of non-super powered beings and unregistered ones. You'll be safe here," Ultimos said. Synaptac shot a beam from his helmet, creating a forcefield.

"Hey!" Gwen banged on the shield.

"Let us help!" Yukiko smacked the shield. "Ben! Tell them to let us help!"

"Sorry, Yukiko, this is a Superhero job. We'll be back after kicking SixSix's can!" Ben declared, smirking. He reached into his pockets and pulled out some chocolate, after eating one he offered some to Ultimos. "Hey, you want some?"

"Ah, local cuisine. I certainly wouldn't want to offend your planet's customs," He said and ate the candy.

"You've already offended us!" Gwen cried. She went ignored as the Enforcers and Ben teleported down to Earth.

The forcefield disappeared right after they left, allowing the Tennysons to have free movement again. Yukiko was beyond furious as she fanned herself off. "That boy can be so infuriating!"

"So are those super jerks," Gwen turned to Max. "What are we gonna do, Grandpa?"

"We're gonna get down there and help them, that's what," Max began fiddling with the controls.

"What are you doing?" Yukiko asked.

"I'm programming the coordinates from the spaceship. We should be beamed right down into the pit," Max explained.

"Should?" Gwen asked.

Max pressed a button, teleporting the three of them down into the mining pit.

XLR8 watched as the Galactic Enforcers were easily defeated by SixSix and Vulkanus, while the sickly Ultimos hid behind a shed. The hero couldn't believe that such a cool looking team would be so incompetent when dealing with criminals, especially ones that fight dirty. "Maybe Yukiko was right. This was a bad idea."

When a large shadow loomed over him, XLR8 saw Vulkanus with his arms raised. The Kinceleran used his speed to dodge the attack, running around the hulking Detrovite. He dodged around the incoming shots from SixSix, somehow getting cut off at every corner. Turning around XLR8 raced up the wall and jumped towards SixSix, kicking the bounty hunter in the face. Landing on the ground, XLR8 looked to his right to see his family arriving on the battlefield.

And the large construction vehicle that was just thrown at them by Vulkanus, Yukiko already had Sumeo-Okami at the ready.

"AGIDYNE!" The vehicle was blown to pieces by her fire, creating a giant smoke screen. They thought the cost was clear until Vulkanus came charging through the smoke like a titan.

"Peekaboo!" He raised his large fists.

XLR8 got to them in time before Vulkanus could crush them. Not prepared for the weight of all three of them, XLR8 and his family rolled across the ground next to the defeated Enforcers. The Omnitrix flashed red, turning Ben back to normal.

"Chuthye wa!" SixSix pointed at a crate. Vulkanus picked it up and carried it over to their ship.

Gwen groaned, holding her head. "Why couldn't we have just stayed on the ship?"

The Tennysons turned around to see the SixSix shoot missiles at the top of the pit. Creating an avalanche of rocks to crush them. Ben looked back at the defeated Enforcers and got an idea, he walked right in front of the avalanche. "This looks like a job for Ultra Ben! Only I can save Tiny!"

His words infuriated Synaptac, giving the jealous Enforcer enough strength to get back up. "Step aside, Earthling." Using his telekinetic abilities, he stopped the avalanche from killing them all. Then he hurried back over to Tiny to check on her.

"Huh? You can annoy anyone into action," Gwen smirked.

Yukiko patted Ben's head. "Good job using your head for once."

"What do you mean? I use it all the time," Ben smiled.

"Yeah, just not effectively," Gwen added.

Their banter was stopped by the sounds of a ship's engine. The Tennysons turned around to see the criminals escaping. "We've lost SixSix and Vulkanus!" Max exclaimed.

"The Bicenthium Alloy and Element X can only be bound together with an enormous amount of heat," Synaptac said.

Max understood instantly. "Oh, like the forge of a steel mill?"

"Are there any such facilities in this area?"

"Hello!? Pittsburgh!? Steel Town, USA!" Gwen pointed out.

"OH! That name makes sense now," Yukiko gasped.

"Interesting theory…"

They saw Ultimos, who seemed to have recovered, approaching them. "But according to protocols in the Galactic Code of-"

"Forget it your stupid protocols!" Ben cut him off.

Yukiko stepped forward. "As Kanji-kun would say, 'You can shove your protocols right up your behind!'" The heiress copied.

Ben smirked, punching his fist into his palm. "Yeah, because this time we're doing it the Tennyson way!"

Vulkanus shoved his massive hands into the bucket of lava. SixSix walked up behind him, speaking his species' language. "Don't blow a gasket, partner! Only the purest of mixture combined with Element X can give us the explosive we want." Vulkanus took his lava-covered hand out of the magma. "Perfect-"

A rumbling was heard from outside, putting the criminals on guard. They turned to the ceiling to see the Galactic Enforcers descending.

"You capes never learn!" Vulkanus smirked.

"WRONG!"

Vulkanus and SixSix turned around to see Cannonbolt spinning right towards them. "Galactic Enforcers Formation: Surprise Party!"

SixSix attempted to blast him, but a ball of fire staggered him. Cannonbolt smashed right into him, sending the bounty hunter spiraling like a bowling pin.

"Galactic Enforcers! Engage!" Ultimos ordered. Tiny pounded her fists into Vulkanus' face, knocking into the air for Ultimos to tackle him.

Gwen and Max had entered the control room. "Making steel is like baking a cake! Mess up the recipe and Element X won't bond to it!"

"Is that why you didn't have Yukiko join us here?" Max asked.

"Uh…no comment…"

The heiress in question fired off multiple fireballs to intercept SixSix's cannon fire. "Maragion!" She released the army of fire upon the bounty hunter. He activated his jet pack to dodge the flames, but was blindsided by Cannonbolt, who was bouncing around the mill.

SixSix regained his composure and maneuvered out of Cannonbolt's trajectory. He unloaded a multitude of guns from his armor and aimed them directly at Yukiko.

"Uh oh!" Yukiko sprinted away from the blast fire as it rained down on her. The onslaught of blast fire started to destroy the catwalk beneath, making heiress unbalanced. She would've fallen into the buckets of lava if Cannonbolt hadn't swopped in to save her.

"Gotcha!" Cannonbolt yelled as he bounced off the wall.

"Thanks, Ben!" Yukiko responded inside of his ball form.

"No problem, now let's toast this bucket of bolts!" Cannonbolt bounced around SixSix and uncurled his body. Releasing Yukiko, who had her Persona ready.

"AGIDYNE!" The massive fireball was too fast and strong for the bounty hunter to avoid. He was nailed by it, the flames melting some of his armor as he crashed against the metal floor.

Yukiko would've celebrated her victory if she wasn't falling over another pit of lava. "BEN- '' Her cry was stopped when a blue light of energy surrounded her, Yukiko turned around to see Synaptac gently placing her onto the floor.

"Oh…thanks," She smiled.

"Don't mention it-UGH!" Synaptac cried as he was ensnared by an electrical whip. Yukiko turned around to see SixSix had recovered quickly enough from her attack.

Cannonbolt swooped down and striked SixSix, stopping him from torturing Synaptac.

At the same time Tiny and Ultimos had finished beating Vulkanus to a pulp, the female Tetramand had knocked the Detrovite into the burning magma. Ultimos was giddy with excitement. "Oh, boy! This is exhilarating! No plan, no rules! No-" He was cut off when Tiny tackled him out of the way of a large ball of magma.

Vulkanus had crawled his way out of the pool of lava. The Detrovite saw that the ingredients were being tampered with, turning his attention to Max and Gwen. The Detrovite balled up a bunch of metal and dipped it into the pool. He tossed it like a baseball directly at the humans.

Max and Gwen luckily reacted in time to dodge the massive magma ball; however, the controls were completely destroyed. "The controls are smashed! I can't mess with the mix from here!" Gwen yelled, worried.

Seeing that they wouldn't be getting in his way again, Vulkanus prepared to dip Element X into the mix.

Tiny used her strength to knock Vulkanus off balance by smashing the ground. The Detrovite lost his grip on Element X and it went flying into the air. Cannonbolt quickly caught it, almost burning his hands. "Hot! Hot!" He turned around to see both criminals had their sights on him.

"Agidyne!" The large fireball smashed into Vulkanus' back, but he barely even felt it.

"Ha! Was that supposed to hurt me!?" Vulkanus turned around to face her.

"No, but she is," Yukiko giggled.

Vulkanus raised an eyebrow, turning around to see four red knuckles simultaneously smash into his face. The Detrovite crashed into the wall, groaning in pain as Tiny stood over him.

SixSix descended over to attempt to help his teammate, but his efforts were foiled by Synaptac. The brainy enforcer used a beam of energy to disrupt SixSix's jetpack, making the bounty hunter fly off balance.

Ultimos flew upwards and landed a devastating uppercut to SixSix's chin before using a hammer blow to knock him down into Vulkanus. Synaptac used this chance to tip over the magma bowl above the two, drenching the criminals in lava. Ultimos used his super breath to cool down the magma, trapping the criminals for good.

Cannonbolt and Yukiko made their way over to the Galactic Enforcers, the Arburian Pelatora still had the Element X in his hands. "Heh, I don't know if it's art, but I like it," Cannonbolt smirked.

"Pfft! Snrk! Ben recognizing art…HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed.

Everyone stared at her weirdly. "Is she always like this?" Tiny asked.

"You have no idea…" Cannonbolt sighed.

Ultimos carried the captured criminals out of the Mill.

Ben walked over to Tiny. "Uh, listen..about that…uh? Tetramand thing-"

"Do not worry. I have found a new partner," Tiny said as Synaptac wrapped a tentacle around her shoulder. "Check out the frontal lobes on him," She cooed happily.

"Oh, thank goodness," Yukiko felt relieved. Ben was too young to be falling in love or vice versa in her opinion. Especially someone who was much older than him.

If any girl wanted to date him, they'd have to get her approval first.

Ultimos approached them next. "Ben, your unorthodox methods are exactly what we need to defeat this new breed of criminals. We officially extend to you a full commission into the Galactic Enforcers!" Ultimos held up a badge.

Ben took the badge. "Thanks, but no thanks." He turned around to his family. "I'm already a part of a super team." His words brought appreciative smiles from his family, especially Yukiko who was swaying in delight.

Ben tried to hand the badge back, but Ultimos refused. "Keep it. In hopes that we meet again someday," The leader walked back over to his team. "GALACTIC ENFORCERS! AWAY!" The hero team and criminals were teleported back to their ship.

Gwen smiled at Ben. "You really mean all that stuff to Ultimos about already being part of a super team?"

"Nah! But who wants to hang with a pack of wackos like that! I'm better off with you guys!" Ben tried to walk off but Yukiko's arms quickly trapped him.

"Oh, Ben! You don't need to hide your true feelings from us! I know you love us!" Yukiko held the boy in her arms, much to his irritation.

"Yukiko! Let me go! This isn't funny!" Ben cried as Max and Gwen were laughing behind the two. Ben continued to struggle in Yukiko's hug, wondering if he would've been better with the rule-abiding weirdos.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 27: Tough Persona Luck

"AAAAHHH!" The terrified screaming of elderly civilians could be heard all over the canyon. Their transportation bus had swerved out of control and was now dangling over the edge of the canyon. Their screaming ceased when something had grabbed the back of the bus and lifted them back to safety.

Four Arms gently placed the bus back onto the ground, he tore the back of the bus off, so that the elderly people could get off easier. "It's okay, everybody. Everything's alright now." He turned around to walk away until an old man's voice stopped him.

"So, you're not gonna help off, Mr. Strong man guy? Who raised you anyway?" The old man said.

"Oh, be a dear and carry me, would you? My bunions are killing me," An old lady stepped forward.

"Your bunions, my butt! My hips are out of whack, I'm first!" Another lady complained. Four Arms groaned silently as he went to help the old people down.

Across from the bus was the Rustbucket, Yukiko could be seen keeping an eye on Ben from the window. This wasn't an issue she needed to help with, but she wanted to keep watch over Ben anyway. On the other side of the table was Gwen, who was busy scrolling through her laptop. She was scrolling through images of magic related topics.

Gwen stopped in her mindless scrolling and lifted up her Lucky Girl mask. "Lucky Girl…I wish you were more than just another Halloween costume."

The door opened, Ben walking inside of the RV with a huff. "Sometimes this hero stuff gets way old…"

"Was that a pun?" Yukiko wondered.

"You should be proud of yourself, Ben. Those people would've been in a real pickle without you," Max said as Ben walked up front.

"I don't see any pickles, Grandpa," Yukiko tilted her head.

"It's a figure of speech, Sweetheart," Max responded.

Ben rolled his eyes in a tired manner. "I know, but I actually wish for a regular summer day. Where I could just hang out all day long and do nothing!"

"We could go shopping," Yukiko suggested.

"I'm not that desperate," Ben responded. "Why do I have to bust my butt all day and Gwen just gets to sit there and do nothing?"

Gwen's attention was immediately brought into the conversation. "I wouldn't be sitting here doing nothing if I still had my powers! You get to go hero all the time, while I was only Lucky Girl for a day. Appreciate what you have!"

Ben laughed, mockingly. "Really? Was that it? Because with all the bragging you did it felt like weeks-"

SMACK!

"OW!" Ben gripped his head, glaring at Yukiko who was holding her fan above him.

"Be nice," Was her only warning.

Ben stuck his tongue out at her and sat down in the front seat, turning to Max. "The worst part was when all those grannies wanted me to go with them to some lame-o magic convention in Las Vegas. As if!"

THAT got Gwen's attention. "Magic convention?"

"Oh! Maybe, I could get something for Yosuke-kun there!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Why?" Ben asked.

"Well, he is the Magician Arcana."

"Like, the tarot card?" Gwen asked.

"Yup! Yu-kun said that we each reminded him of certain tarot cards. I'm the Priestess," Yukiko said proudly.

"That makes way too much sense," Gwen groaned. Realizing why Yukiko referred to herself as 'The Priestess'.

The Tennysons arrived at the Magic Convention in Las Vegas inside of a building called 'MT. LAMP'. Inside were rows of booths and tables dedicated to magic-like items and magicians.

Gwen was completely disappointed. "Magician of the Year Expo?" She read off the banner that was hanging off the ceiling. "It's all cheap junk and gross out tricks! I thought it was going to be magic magic, not cheesy magic."

"PFFT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Both Max and Gwen turned to see Ben and Yukiko digging into a box titled 'Magic Bin'. Ben had a fake arrow headpiece on. "Check it out! Fake bugs, fake ice cubes, fake barf, fake dog poop!"

"Hehehe! HAHAHA!" Yukiko turned around. She had a pair of silly glasses with a large warty nose on her face. The heiress was laughing up a storm. "G-Grandpa! You have to try these on!"

"Well, if you say so," Max took the glasses and placed them onto his face. The sight made Yukiko almost fall over from laughter. Ben was still digging through the bin to see if he could find anything else.

Max turned from his two giggling grandkids to look at Gwen. He saw that the younger girl was disappointed by the fake magic. Wanted to comfort her, he placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind, Sweetheart. But since we're here we may as well continue to look around. Maybe, something here will surprise you?"

Gwen huffed softly. "Yeah, as if that'll happen."

As Gwen walked up to a random table she saw a teenager, who looked to be around Yukiko's age, analyzing the jewelry that was on the table. In front of him was the woman who owned the items, she read her book as he picked.

Gwen walked up to the table, ignoring the teen as she scanned the jewelry. "You find anything you like?"

"Huh?" Gwen turned up to the teenager. He was smiling down at her, waiting for her to reply. Usually, she would ignore or exit the conversation to avoid speaking to strangers. But something about the boy's smile made her think otherwise, it was just so charismatic.

"Well, I'm trying to find something real. Like, real magic," Gwen responded.

"Real magic, huh? Nothing around here fits that description for you?" He asked.

Gwen clicked her tongue. "Nope. Just boring old parlor tricks," Gwen sighed. "What about you? Why are you here?"

He looked a little surprised at the question. "Me? Ah, I'm just trying to find a gift for my best friend and girlfriend."

"Both of them? Why?" Gwen grew curious.

"My friend isn't really into magic, but I think he'd find it funny if I send something to him. He reminds me a lot of magicians with how he is. And my girlfriend has a really unique sense of humor, she'd definitely find some of this stuff funny," He explained.

Gwen smirked a bit. "Heh, that's funny. I feel like I've heard this before-"

BEEP! BEEP!

The beeping noise stopped Gwen from her speaking, the noise was coming from the teen's pocket. He reached into it and pulled out his cell phone. "Ah, sorry, this is my mom calling. It was nice talking to you," He started walking away.

"...Yeah…same…" Gwen mumbled. Something about that entire exchange had felt off…the teenage boy himself just gave off a certain vibe. Something in the back of her mind was telling her to follow after the teen.

"Weird guy, huh?"

Once again Gwen was stopped by another voice. It was the vendor of the table who had started speaking to her. "Y-yeah, I guess he was."

"He had been standing here for a while trying to pick something out. Now are you going to find something or are you going to stand there all day?" The woman asked.

Looking down at the table, Gwen noticed an arm brace sticking out the most. When she picked it up there was an odd tingling sensation in her chest. Gwen's eyes widened as she slipped the brace onto her wrist. "I'll take it!"

"Find something you like?" Max asked. Both Ben and Yukiko followed behind him, the heiress still had the funny glasses on her face.

"Yeah, it kinda reminds me of-"

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

For the third time today Gwen was interrupted, but this time by the panicked screaming taking place outside. The Tennysons hurried back into the parking lot to see a man in a strait jacket dangling from a helicopter.

"I don't think that's part of the act," Max said. The family turned towards Ben.

Ben sighed. "I know, I know. Hero time," Ben walked off.

"Come on, Ben!" Yukiko pulled the boy into the alleyway, so that he could transform. She didn't have time for his complaining when someone was moments away from dying. Yukiko watched him transform into Stinkfly and take off. Would've gone with him, but there were too many people around for her to fly on his back. "Guess, I'll settle for ground support."

The helicopter flew through a couple of power lines, the electricity from the power lines managed to hit the rope. Setting it on fire, terrifying the magician even further.

Yukiko saw this and discreetly used Sumeo Okami to weaken the flames.

Stinkfly flew underneath the helicopter, grabbing it with his limbs. "Everything's under control-"

Until the back propeller flew off its hinges, spinning down to the crowd below. "Oh no!"

Gwen and Yukiko saw the blade heading directly for Max. "Grandpa, look out!"

Yukiko prepared to summon her Persona, but the crowd of bystanders rushed directly into her, preventing her from summoning her tarot card. "H-hey! I can't move!"

Gwen, who had already been running towards Max, jumped over several cars to reach him. The brace on her arm glowed brightly as she pushed her Grandfather out of the way. However, Gwen was still in the direct path of the blades. Time seemed to freeze for Gwen as the spinning metal of death was inches from cutting her in half.

CRASH!

TINK!

Gwen was confused when she didn't feel any pain coursing through her body. Opening her eyes she saw that something else had stopped the blades from hitting her.

Floating in front of her was a giant gray ghost-like being. It held a long sword in its hand and wore an outfit that resembled a Japanese high school uniform. Its metallic face showed no emotion as it held the propeller in its hand.

Before Gwen could question anything, the ghost disappeared in a flash of light.

"Gwen!" She turned to see her grandfather running over to her. "What happened just now? How did you do that!?"

Realizing that Max most likely didn't see the ghost, Gwen remembered that she just flipped over two cards and pushed a man several times her size. Looking down at the brace, Gwen smiled. "Just lucky I guess." A thought came into her mind, and she ran off towards the RV.

Meanwhile, Stinkfly was still struggling to get the helicopter under control. He used his goop to stick the helicopter in place by sticking it in between the buildings. "Hold on…a few…seconds…longer…!"

Much to his dismay the magician's rope snapped from the weight and previous burns, sending the man falling to his doom. "Oh crud!" Stinkfly cried and hurried to grab the magician.

However, it wasn't needed as a smaller figure dressed in purple jumped through the air, grabbing the magician in time. She landed on her feet and gently placed the man down.

Stinkfly was shocked by this new development. "Lucky Girl!?"

"Don't even get started about me cramping your superhero gig!" Lucky Girl exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm just happy that you showed up in time. But how did you get your Lucky Girl powers back?" The girl in question just smiled.

Yukiko pushed through the crowds of people to hurry to her family. From the cheering of the crowd it would seem that Ben had managed to save the day, but what Gwen had done by jumping over those cars shocked her.

She was about to make it through the crowd when a masculine hand grabbed her wrist. "H-hey, what are you…?" The words died on her lips as she stared at the person who grabbed her.

A familiar head of silver hair and eyes met her coal black ones. "Hey, Yukiko. How are you?"

"Y-Y-Y-Yu-kun…?"

"Looks like it's one of the charms of Bezel," Gwen said as she held the brace to her computer.

"But, you destroyed all of them in that cemetery fighting that Hex creep," Ben said.

"I thought so too, but this is the legendary lost key stone. It's rumored to increase 10 times the powers and skills of the one who possesses it," Gwen explained.

Max got up from the driver's seat after placing the phone back down. "What did Yukiko say, Grandpa?"

"Seems she ran into somebody that she knows, though she was vague with it. She said she wanted to catch up with him and will meet up with us at the magic show. Knowing that she's alright is good, but we should focus on that charm on your wrist."

"You are so lucky," Ben said.

"It's not luck. It's magic," Gwen smiled.

"Your dad's work?"

"Yeah, it seems he was needed over here in America and all the travel expenses were paid for. So, we're pretty much just traveling around for the summer. Just like you," Yu smiled.

The two teenagers were walking away from an ice cream truck. Two popsicles in their hands as they walked back to the magic convention for the magic show.

Yukiko blushed at their almost similar situation. "I'm honestly surprised beyond belief. Why didn't you tell me?"

"At first, I wanted to surprise you if we ran into one another by chance. But I ended up running into your cousin Ben in South Dakota," Yu explained.

"Ben!? But, he never mentioned it to me!" Yukiko exclaimed. A dark cloud formed over her head as swore to give the boy a good swat on the head for keeping this from her.

Yu shivered slightly at Yukiko's dark aura. "I-It's alright, Yukiko. I'd say he just forgot to mention it to you."

The heiress mellowed out slightly, realizing that Yu was right about that. That week in South Dakota was pretty stressful for them all. "How long does your family plan to stay in Vegas?"

"Hm, probably for another couple of days. You?" He asked.

"Most likely just for today. We came here so that Gwen could get her fill of magic," Yukiko said. Reminding herself to talk with Gwen about that charm Max had explained to her over the phone.

"By Gwen, you mean the girl with the orange hair, right?"

"Yes, that's my other adorable little cousin," Yukiko smiled. "How do you know that?"

"I ran into her at the convention. She wanted to find something involving real magic. Seems she managed to get her wish," Yu said.

Yukiko stopped and stared at him. "Uh? What are you talking about?"

Yu looked at her. "About Gwen getting magic. There's no way a normal 10-year-old girl would've been able to pull that off," Yu stepped closer to Yukiko.

"Y-Yu-kun…" Yukiko blushed from his close proximity.

"Yukiko…please tell me everything you and your family has done this summer," Yu stared her in the eyes. The heiress was shocked by Yu's words, baffled by his suspicions.

"I-I've just been traveling around with them. Nothing strange has been going on," Yukiko tried to lie.

"Yukiko, we both know that isn't true. I could sense that something happened to you a few weeks ago. Something that pushed you to change, just like before," Yu said.

Before Yukiko could figure out some other lie, she caught something in the corner of her eye. A large puff of red smoke began to filter inside of the convention hall. An explosion followed soon after, drawing Yu's attention as well.

"Yu-kun!"

"Yeah, let's go!"

The two teenagers hurried into the convention hall. To Yukiko's shock a familiar skull-faced magician stood on the stage with Ben (Who had transformed into Wildmutt) and a regular magician. "Hex!?"

"Who?" Yu asked.

She wasn't given the time to explain when Hex had sent the showman flying into Wildmutt, knocking them both off stage. Hex pointed his staff at the crowd. "Give me the keystone of Bezel! If it's magic you want, it's magic you shall have!" He began to set off magical explosives within the hall, causing mass panic.

Yukiko and Yu ran through the panic, avoiding the explosions that were going off. "Grandpa!" Yukiko cried out for him.

Both Max and Gwen turned to see Yukiko and Yu approaching, the younger girl was surprised by the familiar young man. "It's Hex!" The heiress exclaimed.

"Yeah, it seems he's up to his old tricks," Max responded.

"Looks like it's a job for Lucky Girl!" Gwen exclaimed.

Back on the stage a teenage girl with long gray hair stood next to Hex. "Hand over the keystone or I shall destroy you all!"

"You forgot to say pretty please!" Lucky Girl jumped onto the stage. Yukiko joined her, whipping out hre fan for battle.

"The keystone, Lucky Girl, and the mysterious ghost girl. How convenient," Hex pointed his staff at them.

"WRAAH!"

"GAH!" Hex cried out as Wildmutt tackled him. Hex held the Vulpimancer back with his staff. "Charmcaster! Do something!"

"Yes, uncle!" Charmcaster reached into her small bag, shooting out rings that smacked Wildmutt in his back. Hex used the distraction to send Wildmutt flying through the air and into a booth.

"Ben!" Yukiko cried out. "Agi-"

Before Yukiko could launch an attack Charmcaster locked two rings around the heiress' hands and ankles, trapping them. Yukiko lost her balance and fell to the floor. Lucky Girl attempted to attack next but was knocked back by Charmcaster's rings.

Noticing the distress that the girls were in, Yu searched around the floor for a weapon. Grabbing a broken pole on the floor, Yu charged at Charmcaster. His attack missed due to the witch noticing his movement. Reaching back into her bag, Charmcaster launched another ring at Yu, however this one grew in size.

"Crap!" Jumping back to avoid getting steamrolled by the object, he failed to realize that Max was right behind him. Leaving the old man in the giant ring's destination. "Tch! Persona!" He summoned his tarot card, crushing it between his fingers. "IZANAGI! Cleave!"

Izanagi came to life in a bright flash of light, the Persona swiftly intercepted the ring's trajectory. Raising its blade into the air and slicing it in half. Both halves of the ring clanged to the ground harmlessly.

"What the?" Charmcaster was shocked by the sight before her. Never before had she seen abilities like this. The young man turned around to glare at her as Izanagi floated threateningly behind him. "Wow…that's hot."

"Yo!"

"Huh-GUH!" Charmcaster was sent flying across the stage via Lucky Girl's foot. Before she could get up a ring of fire surrounded her, Charmcaster looked up to see Yukiko standing on her feet. The heiress had melted the rings off of her.

"Any friend of Hex is no friend of mine!" Lucky Girl declared.

"There are two kinds of luck, child," Hex stomped forward. "Let me show you the bad kind."

"Guess what, I'm not just lucky anymore!" Lucky Girl dropped down and swept Hex's legs, throwing him off balance. She then grabbed his robes before he could hit the ground. "I'm totally kick butt!" Using her controlled balance and super strength to toss Hex over her shoulder.

"Wow…" Yu was suddenly reminded of Chie.

"Go, Gwe-Oh…I mean Lucky Girl!" Yukiko cheered.

Hex climbed to his feet, glaring at Lucky Girl. "Even with your new abilities, you are no match for a master magician. Now give me the keystone!" He shouted.

"Uncle!" Charmcaster yelled.

Her shout alerted him to turn around and dodge the loudspeaker that was almost dropped on him. Wildmutt roared as he climbed back onto the stage.

"Finder's keepers, Skull face!" Lucky Girl responded.

"And losers' weepers," Charmcaster whipped her arms, snuffing out the flames that surrounded her. Reaching into her bag, the witch tossed out several brown balls at Lucky Girl's feet.

Yu's eyes widened as he felt something from them. "Gwen, move!"

Lucky Girl was confused until the balls started to glow purple, growing into almost human sized four legged creatures. "Okay, not a fan of this…!"

Wildmutt soared through the air and went right for Charmcaster, while Lucky Girl, Yukiko, and Yu handled the magic beasts.

"Get…off of me, Dog breath!" Charmcaster grunted. Using her magic to create a totem pole, sending Wildmutt flying. She launched several small magic grenades at Wildmutt. "See ya around, fido!"

Each one exploded at Wildmutt's feet, sending the dog alien falling through the floor.

"Agilao!" Yukiko burnt one of the creatures to a crisp. Another one tried to jump her from behind but was smashed to pieces instantly.

"Zio!" Izanagi released a small lightning bolt that obliterated it. Yu watched as Lucky Girl raised her leg and axe-kicked the last rock creature into pieces. He shivered once more in reminder of Chie's powerful kicks. "Yeah…definitely a mini Chie."

The Tennysons and Narukami surrounded Charmcaster, not noticing Hex climbing back to his feet. The magician's eyes glowed yellow as his anger skyrocketed. "ENOUGH!" Swaying his staff, the magician sent vibrations through the air that sent the heroes flying through the back doors and into the hedge maze.

Yu quickly grabbed Yukiko and held her, so that he could take the brunt of the fall; while Max held Lucky Girl.

"You okay?" Yu asked.

"Yeah. But where's Ben?" Yukiko looked around for Wildmutt.

Lucky Girl looked down to see more brown balls rolling towards them. "I don't think we have time to worry about him!" The balls transformed into the rock monsters from before, inching closer to them.

Yukiko turned to her family. "You guys look for Ben. We'll handle these things!"

Max nodded his head. "Right, be careful!" He and Lucky Girl ran off to look for Ben.

The Priestess and Fool held their weapons as the creatures approached them. "Kind of like old times, right?" Yu smirked.

"Yes, and just like before we'll come out on top," Yukiko said, confidently.

Hex and Charmcaster landed inside of the maze in a haze of red smoke. "Circle around, then drive them towards me like lambs to the slaughter," Hex ordered.

"Yes, uncle!" Charmcaster followed Hex's command. She reached into her bag and set more rock monsters loose inside of the maze.

The magician watched her run off then turned his head to the sounds of lightning and fire. He floated into the air and flew towards the battle.

"This way!" Max yelled as he ran into a different direction from Lucky Girl. Turning around Max noticed that his granddaughter was no longer behind him. And unlike his granddaughter's luck, a rock monster jumped down from the hedges to attack him. "Ah!" Max noticed that he was trapped in a dead-end with the monster approaching.

"WRAAAHHH!"

Wildmutt returned with great force and slammed his large paw into the monster. The creature shattered on impact. Wildmutt smiled in satisfaction until the watch started to beep red and he turned back to normal.

"You okay, Ben?" Max asked.

"Yeah. Where's Lucky Girl?" Ben asked.

"Cleave!"

"Agilao!"

Izanagi and Sumeo-Okami struck down their opponents with great force. The creatures were shattered and melted by their combined force.

Yukiko smirked, fanning herself. "Is that all?"

Yu was about to respond to her victory quote until he felt the hairs on his neck stand up. "Move!" He pushed Yukiko out of the way as a volley of crystal shards rained down on their previous spot. Looking up, both teens found Hex descending down onto their position.

"Hex…!" Yukiko growled.

The magician held up his staff, pointing it at the two. "Your powers…that magic! Tell me, what is it!?"

"Why do you wish to know?" Yu asked in his battle stance.

"No human, especially teenagers, should be capable of wielding magic in this realm," Hex's eyes glowed yellow. His staff powered up, releasing a torrent of flames at the two.

Yu summoned his tarot card. "Persona! Black Frost!" A different Persona appeared in Izanagi's place. Now stood a small black snowman with blood red eyes. "Bufula!" An icy mist appeared out of the snowman's hands. It collided with the flames weakening them and pushing Hex back.

Yukiko stepped forward with her fan at the ready. Before she attacked Yu crushed another tarot card. "Fire Amp!" He boosted Yukiko's abilities.

The heiress smiled as she felt Yu's warmth shower over her. "Agidyne!" The massive fireball raced towards Hex.

Grunting in annoyance, the magician's eyes glowed once more. He raised his staff and batted away the fireball into the sky. Where it combusted and exploded in the air.

Yu sprinted forward with his pipe in his hands, bringing it down onto Hex, forcing the magician to block the strike with his staff. "Really wishing I had my sword now," Yu thought.

Hex stared at Yu for a moment. "Boy, there's something more to you than meets the eye."

"Huh?"

"I can sense it. The power you hold is beyond anything I've seen in this realm. Where did you get it!?" Hex asked once more.

"From a lady with a God complex," Yu smirked.

His answer confused Hex, distracting him momentarily. A pink object spun through the air and collided with Hex's face, forcing the magician to back away.

Hex growled as he glared at the teenagers. He looked up at the sky and hissed. "I'm wasting time." From the corners of his eyes he saw both Max and Ben exiting the maze. "Yes…that'll work." Hex's eyes glowed brightly once more. The air around him started to dance violently, lifting everyone around him into the air.

"W-wait! I don't want to hurt anyone! My uncle made me do it!"

Lucky Girl raised an eyebrow as Charmcaster pleaded to her. The younger girl was skeptical of the witch's words. "Why should we believe you?"

"My name is Charmcaster, I'm Hex's niece. You know what he's like, he doesn't take no for an answer," She explained.

"Understatement of the century," Lucky Girl muttered.

"I-I can help you! He's after the keystone in your bracelet," Charmcaster pointed at the brace.

"Duh, he wants to magnify his powers."

"That's not all, if he performs the ritual of Bezel with the keystone at the highest point during the eclipse, he can recreate all the other charms you destroyed," Charmcaster explained. That tidbit of information worried Lucky Girl greatly.

"GAAAAHHHH!"

Lucky Girl and Charmcaster both yelped when four bodies crashed down next to them. Her family and Yu were all groaning in pain as they were restrained by Hex's magic. Hex descended down from the sky, staring directly at the girls. "Making new friends, Charmcaster?"

"Give me the keystone or watch your family suffer a painful demise!" Hex threatened.

"I won't let you do this, uncle!" Charmcaster grabbed her bag from Gwen's hand. She opened it up, releasing tiny stone bats to attack Hex.

The magician screamed as the bats lifted him away. "Charmcaster! How dare you betray me!?" With Hex gone, the magic surrounding the Tennysons and Yu disappeared. The magician was taken over to the hotel's pool and dropped into the water.

Lucky Girl blinked repeatedly. "Oh, I guess you are legit. Now, let's finish the job before Hex can dry off!"

"My uncle's going to be really mad at me isn't he?" Charmcaster asked, worried.

Ben walked over to her. "Hey, if it's any consolation, people are mad at me all the time."

SMACK!

"OW!" Ben gripped the back of his head, glaring at Yukiko. "What was that for!?"

"I'll explain it later," The heiress replied.

"Look if it's worrying you so much then go with our Grandpa. Ben, Yukiko, and I will handle Hex. Oh, and this guy too," Lucky Girl pointed at Yu.

"Yu Narukami."

"Right, Yu will help us," Lucky girl said. Charmcaster squealed in delight and pulled Lucky Girl into a tight hug.

"Thank you! I'll never forget this!"

"You seemed to have forgotten boundaries…" Lucky Girl muttered. The kids and teens raced off to chase after Hex.

"Was it me or was that a bit weird?" Gwen asked.

"You're a superhero now. Trust me, people act weird around us," Ben replied.

"She was laying it on a bit thick. Wouldn't be the first time someone put on a fake act around us," Yu said.

Gwen turned her head. "Oh, right. I haven't thanked you yet for saving me earlier."

Yu smiled. "No need for thanks. It was the least I could do."

Yukiko gasped and clapped her hands lightly. "You guys haven't been properly introduced yet. Gwen this is Yu and Yu this is Gwen!"

"What about me?" Ben asked.

"Hm? Ben, why are you speaking out of turn?" Yukiko asked.

"Are you still mad!?"

Yu chuckled at the small interaction before noticing the exit ahead of them. "Heads up! The pool is right in front of us!"

A tornado of water levitated out of the pool, Hex standing on top of it. Ben groaned as the watch was still recharging. "Ugh, my watch is still in the red. We have to wait!"

"We can't!" Gwen exclaimed. She attempted to jump high but instead landed face first into the ground.

"Gwen!" Yukiko knelt down in worry.

Hex lowered himself down towards them. Ben, Yu, and Yukiko tried to attack but Hex held them back with his magic, focusing entirely on Gwen. "Give me the key!" He grabbed her wrist. However he noticed something was missing and smirked.

"We'll see each other soon and finish our business then," Hex disappeared in an explosion of smoke.

"Uh?" What just happened?" Ben asked.

Gwen looked at the brace and gasped. "The keystone, i-it's gone!" Gwen immediately figured out who took it. "Charmcaster…!"

"And if she has it, then your Grandpa might be in trouble," Yu said.

That made the three worried. "Grandpa!" They hurried back into the maze.

Yu and Yukiko both helped Max walk back to the RV, Gwen and Ben following closely behind. "Oh…I turned away for just a second and wham! When I came to Charmcaster was gone," Max explained.

Gwen was frustrated with herself. "All that stuff about her uncle forcing her to do it was just an act! She needed to get close enough to me to steal the keystone." Gwen took off her mask. "Some hero I turned out to be…"

Yukiko placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up, Gwen. We all make mistakes and it's okay to do so. What isn't okay is beating yourself up over them."

Ben joined in. "She's right, I've made plenty of mistakes this summer and you don't see me giving up, do you?"

"No…you're too stupid to give up," Gwen smiled.

"And you're too stubborn to give up. So, let's get a plan going so we can stop Hex and Charmcaster," Ben said. Yukiko wrapped her arms around Gwen and hugged her, then pulled Ben into it as well.

Yu stood next to Max as he watched the scene, thinking of Nanako. "While there's still a lot for me to catch up on, do any of you have an idea where they went?" His question broke apart the hugs between cousins.

"She said the ritual would be performed at the highest point during the eclipse," Max answered.

"And the highest point around here is…" Everyone looked up at the Stratosphere tower.

Hex and Charmcaster landed on top of the tower. The elevator doors opened revealing a group of tourists. Hex pointed his staff at them, seeing that maniac with the glowing stick, the group quickly closed the door back up. Hex used his magic to seal it permanently.

"I do not want to be disturbed!" Hex shouted. His eyes trailed to the sky as the eclipse was about to start, the keystone glowing in response. "Wamba hestida zerzan. Wamba hestida zerzan!" The keystone floated into the sky as the world grew darker.

The Rustbucket pulled up to the bottom of the tower. The Tennysons and Yu stepped out of the RV as the eclipse was beginning. "We're running out of time. The eclipse is only a few minutes away," Max said.

"Guess, it's all up to you guys. There's not much else I can do," Gwen said.

"That's never stopped you before, Gwen. Are you still feeling lucky?" Ben responded.

"What luck?" Gwen asked.

"Lucky enough to still have this opportunity. You can either keep doubting yourself or you can join us and get pay back for them tricking you. It's your choice, Gwen," Yu said.

His words had an effect on her, especially the part about revenge. "Revenge does sound pretty sweet right about now," Gwen said.

Their attention turned to the elevator that was broken. "Seems we can't use the elevator to get up there," Yukiko said.

"Don't worry, Stinkfly has us covered," Ben said confidently. Except the watch still wasn't working. "Oh man, that stinks! Stupid watch isn't working yet!"

"But that window washer's platform is!" Max pointed to the platform.

"And I have an idea for my own ride!" Ben ran back into the RV.

"What is he talking about?" Yu asked.

"Worry about it later, Yu-kun!" Yukiko grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the platform.

Magic began shooting out of the keystone as Hex continued to chant.

"Did you really think you could ditch me that easily," Gwen interrupted the chant. The platform stops just enough to make it look like she's floating. "Now give me back the keystone or deal with the awesome powers of Lucky Girl!"

"This is totally bogus! She can't have any powers it has to be some stupid trick!" Charmcaster called her bluff. Hex raised a hand, levitating Max and Gwen into the air. The two were brought down onto the roof of the tower.

"Your silly stunt has gained you nothing!" Hex taunted.

Gwen got to her feet. "You should know better than anyone that magic is about misdirection."

"ZIONGA!"

"GAAAHH!" Hex screamed as a medium sized lightning bolt blasted him in the chest. The magician was blown back into the wall of the tower.

"Uncle!" Charmcaster cried.

"AGILAO!"

"KYAAA!" Charmcaster screeched as fire danced around her body. The witch was sent flying back into her uncle.

[Persona 4 OST - Reach Out To The Truth]

"WHOOO!" Ben came flying through the air on his hoverboard. The device had been extended to allow Yukiko and Yu to ride on it along with him. "I forgot just how much this thing is!"

"It is pretty exhilarating!" Yukiko agreed.

"Seriously, I need to get myself one of these things. Nanako would love it!" Yu laughed.

They looked back to see Max waving at them. Ben and Yukiko mistook it for a greeting. "Hey, Grandpa!" They yelled.

Yu however had caught on. "That's not what he meant!"

Hex flew in front of the three, sweep kicking Ben off of the board. Yu quickly reached out and grabbed Ben before he could fall. "I will not be denied ruler of the world!"

"Then you're going to be disappointed!" Yukiko prepared her fan.

"Because it ain't gonna happen!" Ben yelled.

Hex raised his staff, magic transforming it into a scythe. Yu quickly summoned his Persona. "Izanagi!" The Fool Persona blocked the strike with his sword. The hoverboard wobbled as it tried to hold the four bodies on top of it. The device flew all over the tower.

Charmcaster watched the fight from the roof of the building. "Hey, Charmcaster!" She turned around to see Gwen and Max rushing at her. "Told any good stories lately!?"

The witch launched magic grenades at the duo, knocking them back onto the roller coaster ride. Charmcaster hopped onto the railings, using her magic grenades to destroy the controls to the ride. Without the control the roller coaster took off with Max and Gwen on it.

Yukiko held Ben as Izanagi and Yu were blocking repeated strikes from Hex's scythe. "If you wanted to fit the Grim Reaper motif, then you're doing a great job!" Yu grunted. The trio were slightly being pushed back with little space to work with.

"You think this is a game, boy!?" Hex shouted.

Ben glanced down at the watch and saw that it had turned green. "Yeah, and you're the loser, Skull face!" Ben jumped off the hoverboard.

"BEN!" Both Yu and Yukiko screamed.

The boy descended towards the ground and turned to the watch. "Time for The Four Arms of justice!" He slapped down the dial and transformed into Diamondhead.

"Diamondhead? Great!" The Petrosapien extended his arms towards the building. Creating a crystalized chain to catch himself from falling. Diamondhead swung himself back up into the air towards the hoverboard. "Get off my ride, Skull face!" Diamondhead's fist sent Hex flying off the board.

Diamondhead grabbed onto the board as Yu brought it back down onto the tower. Charmcaster used this opportunity to toss grenades at the tracks, destroying it.

Yukiko's fan made contact with Charmcaster's head, knocking the witch over. Due to the suddenness of the attack a small purple book slid out of Charmcaster's bag.

Diamondhead raced over to the tracks just as his family was about to go fall off. "GWEN! GRANDPA!" Diamondhead jumped in front of the ride, using his sturdy body to catch it and slow it down.

Yu broke his card once more. "Izanagi! Cleave!" The Persona swung its blade destroying the wheels of the ride.

"Sumeo-Okami! Maragidyne!" Yukiko shouted. The heat melted the metal, melding it together to slow down to a complete stop. Everyone released a breath of relief.

Unluckily for them the eclipse had started. Hex had flown back over to Charmcaster, ready to complete the ritual. "I'll take it from here, Charmcaster."

The teenager chuckled at her uncle. "That would be a big no, uncle. Change of plans. I get the power of the stones, and the keystone, and you get squat!"

Taken aback by her 2nd betrayal, Hex tried to use his staff. However, Charmcaster was faster in shooting out her grenades. Hex dropped the staff and flew into a metal vent. "I just needed a master magician to recreate the ritual. And now that that's done…" Charmcaster turned to complete the ritual. "Now, where was I?"

Clouds began to circle the tower as lightning struck. The beams of light transformed into the several small charms of Bezel. "The power of Bezel will soon be mine!"

"Show's over, Charmcaster!"

The witch turned around to see the Tennysons and Yu approaching, Gwen holding the staff. Charmcaster laughed at them. "That staff only works in the hands of a master magician-KYA"

Gwen blasted her with the staff.

Everyone stared at Gwen in shock, the girl herself was confused. "Okay…how did that work?" There wasn't much time to focus on it as the ritual was almost complete.

Yu turned to Ben. "Ben, can you create a sword made out of diamonds for me?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just do it!" Yu yelled as he ran straight for the charms of Bezel. Diamondhead complied and quickly created a crystalized blade for Yu.

"Here, Narukami!" Diamondhead tossed the blade at Yu.

The Fool jumped into the air and grabbed the blade with his hands. Closing his eyes, he released a breath as a pure white card appeared in front of him. Yu's eyes snapped open instantly, his orbs were now shining blue instead of gray.

He brought the blade down onto the white tarot card and bellowed out a name. "IZANAGI-NO-OKAMI!"

The Persona that appeared behind him looked exactly like Izanagi, however it was purely white instead of gray. "MYRIAD TRUTHS!" The deity Persona lifted its blade into the air and swung it down.

Pure silence ran swept through the air until a barrage of slashes tore through each one of the charms. The barrage didn't end until not a trace of the charms was left over.

Back down on the roofs purple mist began flowing out of Charmcaster, Hex, and the staff. Hex staggered to his feet, hissing at the Tennysons. "Do you fools understand what you have done!?"

"Save the day?" Diamondhead answered.

"AAAHHH!" Hex screamed as the last bits of his magic poured out of his body. He collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Yu watched as the purple mist flew into the keystone. He grabbed it with his hands and dropped back down onto the roof. Izanagi-no-Okami disappeared since he was no longer needed.

Ben turned back to normal as the eclipse finally ended. "So, what do we do with it?"

Yu walked over to Gwen and handed her the keystone. "Here."

Gwen took it, putting it back into the brace. However, nothing happened. "Well, looks like the magic is gone. So is Lucky Girl…again," Gwen sighed.

"Eh, don't be too bummed. There are other ways you can be a hero," Ben said. Gwen spied the hoverboard on the ground.

"Like, riding on a hoverboard?"

"To get good at one of these things takes lots of practice," Ben smirked.

"Then I better get started!" Gwen jumped onto the board.

"WAIT! WAIT A MINUTE!" Ben screamed, not expecting her to just take off with it.

Yu chuckled at the sight in front of him, he was starting to like these two. Yukiko came up next to her, locking her hand with his. Though her attention was on something else entirely. "Hm? What do you have there, Yukiko?"

"A book. It fell out of Charmcaster's bag. Maybe, Gwen would like it?" Yukiko suggested.

"Isn't that stealing?" He sweat dropped.

"They tried to take over the world. This'll make Gwen feel better hopefully. She really enjoyed being Lucky Girl," Yukiko justified.

"Are you going to explain everything to me now?" Yu asked.

Yukiko nodded her head, after everything that just transpired there was no point in hiding anything. She even had some questions of her own. "Yes, I'll tell you everything that has happened so far this summer."

"Good, I'm starting to get sick of secrets," Yu chuckled.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 28: Heroes' Promise

"So, let me get this straight," Yu and the Tennysons sat inside of the Rustbucket. Yukiko and her family had just finished explaining everything up to that point to the Wild Card. Yu pointed his finger directly at Ben.

"He found that watch, which is called the Omnitrix, from a meteor. However, that meteor turned out to be a pod that was sent down to Earth in hopes of protecting it from this alien tyrant named Vilgax."

"Yes," Yukiko nodded her head.

"Said watch can transform him into 10 aliens-"

"11 and counting!" Ben exclaimed, proudly.

"Right. He transformed into Heatblast and almost burned down a forest."

"Not my proudest moment," Ben interjected.

"You have proud moments?" Gwen looked up at him, in her hands was Charmcaster's book. Ben stuck out his tongue at her in response.

Yu turned his attention to Yukiko. "Then you awoke your Persona when Ben was being attacked by these drones that were sent by Vilgax."

Yukiko nodded her head. "Yes, and I've been meaning to ask you about that. You were able to summon Izanagi and other Personas with no issue. I figured I was going to have to explain to you that we could use our Personas outside of the TV World, but you already knew. How?"

Yu rubbed the back of his head. "I always knew that we could summon our Personas outside of it."

The heiress was shocked, not too sure on how to feel about Yu keeping that from them. "And you didn't think to tell us? Or me?" She was starting to understand how Gwen felt about all the secrets. Yukiko felt Yu gently hold her hand, his thumb brushing the back of it gently.

"I didn't mean to keep any secrets from you guys. It's just that I didn't think any of you needed to know, I figured it all out by accident one night after we left the TV World. Nanako-chan was busy watching her show and Uncle was working late," Yu felt the memory returning.

Yu entered the home of his Uncle, exhausted from the prior events that transpired. He and the team had made good progress through Kanji's dungeon, but they still weren't close enough to his location.

"Welcome home, Big Bro!"

Looking up, he found Nanako sitting in front of the TV watching her favorite quiz show. The little bean of sunshine was smiling at him. That look on her face instantly brightened his mood, seemingly giving him a small boost of energy. "Hey, Nanako-chan." Gazing around the small home, he noticed that someone was missing. "Uncle, still isn't home?"

Nanako shook her head. "No, he said that he'd be working late again tonight." Her mood dropped a bit after thinking of her dad again.

Cursing himself for bringing up his workaholic uncle, Yu hurried over to Nanako. "Hey, don't worry Nanako-chan! How about I cook dinner tonight and we play a game together?"

The mention of playing a game with her big bro cheered her up for the moment. "Yeah! Let's play a guessing game! Like, the quiz show!" Nanako pointed at the TV.

"Alright, I'm all for it!" Yu smiled. The Wild Card loved the bright smile on Nanako's face, he could only wish that it would be a permanent look.

After eating dinner, playing with Nanako, and putting her to bed; Yu sat on the couch in his room. His silver orbs staring directly at the TV in front of him, his mind occupied by the sound of rain outside of his window. "We still have time…there's no fog tonight."

Staring down at his hand, Yu opened and closed it. He found it strange how quickly he had managed to accept the concept of Personas, another side of you that you were unaware of. It was exhilarating to summon Izanagi for the first time, as if for the first time in his life he had finally taken a breath of air.

That's when something quickly struck his mind.

What if he could…?

But, this wasn't the TV World. Igor and Margaret had told him that this was a special power that only those who have accepted themselves can achieve.

But they never said it was impossible to summon outside of the TV…

"Per…so…na…"

His hand was eclipsed in a bright light.

"And that's basically it," Yu finished his tale.

"But that doesn't explain why you didn't tell us afterwards," Yukiko said.

"At first, I was going to tell you guys, but then another thought struck me. If we could summon our Personas outside of the TV, then wouldn't it be possible to use their attacks?" Yu responded.

"I get it," Max understood. "You feared that if the others noticed then they might be reckless with them."

"Like, a certain doofus I know," Gwen glanced at Ben.

The boy took offense. "Hey! I'm not reckless!"

Deadpan stares were aimed at him.

Ben pouted, crossing his arms. "I'm not that reckless…"

Yukiko shook her head at Ben's adorable pouting. She turned her attention back to her lover. "You didn't trust us enough to tell us?"

"It's not that I didn't trust you guys, but I didn't want to risk the chance of anyone making a mistake while on high emotions. Like when Nanako…"

"I get it," Yukiko softly cuts him off. Their hands tightened the grip between them. Both teens were silent for a moment, confusing the Tennysons.

"Is everything alright?" Gwen asked.

Both Persona users were brought right back to reality. "A-ah! Yeah, we're just fine, Gwen!" Yukiko exclaimed.

"Yeah, we should probably get back to the conversation." Yu shifted his gaze to Max. "You were a space police officer?"

"We were called the Plumbers. Intergalactic Space Force," Max answered.

"And you had battled with this Vilgax tyrant beforehand?" Yu continued.

"Yes, I had figured he was dead for good. But I underestimated just how tenacious Vilgax is and his return caught me off guard. I never would've thought about going to Mt. Rushmore if it wasn't for Ben's dreams," Max said.

Ben puffed out his chest. "Yup, without me the day wouldn't have been saved!"

"He's really full of himself, isn't he?" Yu chuckled.

"Oh, you haven't seen the worst of it," Gwen sighed.

"But Ben did defeat Vilgax back in South Dakota. Not even my strongest spell was able to damage him," Yukiko said.

The Wild Card was baffled to hear this. "Burning Petals didn't faze him?" Considering the fact that Burning Petals had gotten the Team out of a lot of messes in the past, Yu couldn't believe that Yukiko couldn't deal damage to an opponent.

Yukiko nodded her head. "Sadly, Vilgax was too strong physically."

"Yeah, not a single one of my forms were able to take the creep. He managed to crack Diamondhead! And Diamondhead is one of my toughest guys!" Ben exclaimed.

Yu went deep into thought after hearing their talk about Vilgax, a sense of worry building up inside of him. "I was in South Dakota when this happened. I even saw the news reports of large explosions rocking through Rapid City and the extensive damage done to the Black Hills. The reporters and law enforcement had no idea what had caused all of that damage. Well, I guess I do now.." Yu stared right at Yukiko.

"You could've died, and I wouldn't have known what happened…" He realized.

The pain in his voice made her chest tighten. "It wouldn't have been your fault-"

"But I should've been there. I was in South Dakota when Vilgax came after you guys. If I had known you were there and that you were in trouble…nothing would've stopped me from saving you," Yu said. Yukiko carefully pressed her forehead against his in an attempt to calm him down.

Her action seemed to have worked for the moment. "Don't blame yourself for something you don't have control over. Everything is fine, I'm still here. We're perfectly fine, I promise."

Yu chuckled softly. "We're still doing promises?"

"Of course,' Yukiko huffed softly. "You haven't forgotten our most important promise, have you?"

"Nope. It's permanently engraved into my soul, just like my love for you," Yu smiled.

"Good, that makes me feel a lot better-"

"BARF!"

…

…

…

Coal black and silver orbs slowly turn to the 10-year-old boy who was making gagging motions. They weren't the only ones, since Gwen and Max were glaring down at Ben.

Ben was absolutely disgusted by the lovey dovey air that the teenagers were producing. He wasn't bothered at all by everyone's anger. "Can we please move past all the lovey dovey garbage!?"

"Way to kill the mood, doofus!" Gwen yelled.

"What!? It was suffocating in here with them getting all kissy kissy!"

"Kissy kissy!?" Both teenagers blushed heavily.

"Just because you're too stupid to understand true love doesn't mean you should ruin it for other people!" Gwen pushed a finger into his chest.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Blah blah blah! Love is for losers anyway. That's why I'll never fall in love," Ben said, confident.

Gwen scoffed. "Oh yeah, I'll be sure to remember that. Don't expect me to not rub it in your face the moment you get a crush!"

"You won't. Because it won't happen."

Yu looked at his girlfriend. "They…are nothing like Nanako-chan," He smiled.

Yukiko sighed, smiling, nonetheless. "No, no they are not. But, I wouldn't have them any other way."

Max looked outside the window and noticed the sun going down. "I think it's about time we got you back to your hotel room. Wouldn't be good to make your folks worry," He said to Yu.

"Ah, I appreciate it," Yu said. "I wouldn't want to hold you guys up on your summer road trip and all."

Yukiko looked at her grandfather. "Grandpa, would it be alright if we stayed in Vegas for one more day? I-I mean it's up to you of course…but…" Yukiko's face was red from her request.

Max smiled and shook his head. "I'd be fine with staying one more day here. You guys haven't seen each other in a while, so tomorrow you'll have the whole day together."

Yukiko's face brightened up at the acceptance of her request. "Oh, thank you, Grandpa!" Yukiko wrapped him up in a hug.

"No problem, sweetheart," Max returned the hug.

Yu found the scene cute, happy that Yukiko is happy with her family. "Hey, Yu." The teen turned his attention to Ben.

"Hm? You need something, Ben?" Yu asked.

"You know all about Personas and stuff, right?" Ben asked.

"I'd like to think that I know a good amount about them, yeah," He answered.

Ben sat up straight in his seat, looking completely serious. "Why is it that Yukiko's Persona is naked?"

"BEN!" Yukiko screeched, face turning red in an instant. She thought she had gotten him to stop bringing that up!

"Oh! That's pretty easy to answer. It's because-"

"DON'T JUST ANSWER HIM!"

Next Day(Late Afternoon)

"I wish we didn't have to say goodbye." Yukiko had her arms wrapped around Yu's neck, and his around her waist.

"It's not a goodbye, we'll see each other again before the summer ends," Yu responded.

"How can you know that?" Yukiko asked.

"Well, we met up here in Vegas, right? Then, we almost encountered each other in South Dakota. Fate wants us to stay together, so I know we'll meet up," Yu answered.

Yukiko hummed sweetly, agreeing with his theory. "Fate, huh? I remember when fate wanted us dead."

"And we defied it. Meaning that we'll always be together. That's what we promised, right?" Yu reached into his shirt. Pulling out a necklace with a small silver ring attached to it.

Yukiko smiled at the sight of it, revealing her own necklace that was hidden in her dress. "Yes, our greatest promise."

Yu looked back into her eyes. "Stay safe, okay? If anything happens that seems like you guys can't take on alone, just call me. No matter how far away I may be, I'll always come to help you."

"I promise," Yukiko and Yu sealed the promise with a kiss. The two ignored Ben's gagging noise in the background, then giggling when they heard Gwen smacking him in the head.

The teens broke their hug, Yukiko was about to say another goodbye until she remembered something. "Oh, that's right! I still have some of yesterday's dinner leftover! I'll go pack some up for you to take with you!"

Some color drained from Yu's face instantly. "I-I don't think that's necessary, Yukiko-"

"Nonsense! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't give you a goodbye present?" Yukiko hurried into the RV to pack the meal.

The Wild Card trembled; he had a feeling that Yukiko still wasn't over the events of today. In a way this was his karma…

"Welp seems you're in trouble," Ben cackled, walking over to him.

Yu rolled his eyes. "It's fine, it makes her happy to see us eating her food."

"Yeah, at the risk of our own health," Ben shuddered.

"It's worth it. Seeing her smile like that will always make the pain worth it," Yu said.

Ben thought about that then turned his sights back to the RV. "Hm, I guess. I always get this weird fuzzy feeling whenever Yukiko is happy."

"That's called love, Ben."

The boy looked at him with disgust.

"Not like that!" Yu yelled at him.

"Oh."

"I meant love in the sense of familial in your case. Making her happy causes you to feel good, that's love, Ben," Yu explained.

"...And if I make her unhappy?"

"Then you'll feel hurt, because you've managed to let her down. Something I've always tried to avoid."

"I've already managed to let her down once," Ben thought back to New York. Hurting Yukiko and making her cry had hurt him a lot more than he would've thought it would. Sometimes he could still feel the pain of her slap on his face.

"Hey, Ben."

"Huh?" Ben was dragged out of his thoughts, noticing that Yu was now kneeling down in front of him.

"Could you promise me something?" Yu requested.

"Uh? Sure?" Ben shrugged.

"Promise me that you'll protect Yukiko for me, alright?"

Ben was confused. "Yukiko is strong enough to protect herself. Heck, she's saved my butt multiple times."

"I know that, Ben. Trust me, I've seen her roast a ton of Shadows into unrecognizable piles of ash. But that will not stop me from worrying about her and hearing about all of the dangers you guys have encountered this summer has made my worry grow. I won't be there to have her back, but you will, Ben," Yu explained. The teen raised up his fist for a fist bump to solidify the promise.

Ben stared at the fist for a moment, feeling the immense weight that this promise carries. A part of him was unsure if he'd be capable of keeping such a promise, especially with how close some of their previous battles had been.

But he was a hero. And heroes always win.

If he couldn't even protect his family, then he couldn't call himself a hero.

Ben's smaller fist met Yu's bigger one, the boy giving a wide smile. "Ben Tennyson gives you his word! I'll keep everyone safe!"

Yu's smile was just as wide as Ben's. "Then it's a promise! A promise between heroes!"

"Yu-kun! Ben!"

The two turned around to see Yukiko running out of the RV with a wrapped bowl in her hand. A sickly purple aura was coming from the item in her hands. "I have the food ready!"

Yu's felt his stomach's uneasiness. "T-that's great…" He looked to Ben for help, but the boy was already walking away.

"Sorry, you're on your own for this one," Ben laughed, darkly.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 29: The Ultimate Persona

"So, what do you think? Bet you've never tasted anything like that before?" Max asked, excitedly to his grandkids. The family of four sat at the table, each one eating Max's cooking.

"I've had Yukiko's cooking. I don't think anything on Earth even comes close to it," Gwen said between bites.

"Aw! Thank you, Gwen!" Yukiko took it as a compliment.

"It wasn't a compliment…"

Ben looked down at his bowl as he crunched the food. "What's the crunchy stuff?"

"Dung Beetles."

….

"BLEGH!" Ben and Gwen both spat out the food immediately. Yukiko grabbed a napkin and spat into it, not wanting to betray her own dignity by copying her cousins. Max was unbothered by their reactions.

"What? Too spicy? You'll get used to it," He said.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

All four were surprised by the loud beeping erupting within the Rustbucket. Suddenly a cabinet popped open above Ben and Gwen, descending a screen down between the two. "Hey!" They exclaimed after almost being hit.

The screen got up close to Max, showing him an image of a brown mask with golden handles. "No…" He muttered.

"Grandpa? What's wrong?" Yukiko asked. She glanced at the screen since she was right next to him.

"The Mask of Apuk." Max moved the screen around so that all three of them could see it. "It's the most powerful and destructive weapon ever created."

"And there goes another almost normal day…" Yukiko sighed.

The Rustbucket zoomed down the desert road. Inside of the RV, Max had the holographic map projecting to guide him. "The Mask of Apuk is the guide to the Sword of Ekchuah. The Plumbers searched for it for decades without any luck."

"Ekchuah? What kind of alien is that?" Ben asked.

"Not alien. Mayan." Max corrected. "Ekchuah was the Mayan God of War. His sword was rumored to level cities with just one swipe."

Ben smirked; hyped from the story. "Sounds like just the thing the most powerful 10-year-old boy should have-"

"This is no toy, Benjamin! Whoever controls the sword controls the destiny of mankind. And I will not let it fall into the wrong hands," Max cut off Ben's excitement.

"You could say the same thing about the Omnitrix. Minus the mankind part," Yukiko thought back to what Tetrax told them before.

"This is different from Ben. Which is why I want you kids to take this seriously. Understand?" He glanced at them.

The three glanced at one another slightly taken aback from Max's sudden commanding attitude.

The Tennysons arrived at the dig site where the Mask was located on the map. "I bet they're keeping it in the basement. Ben, you go alien and sneak in then open the side door for us," Max instructed.

"Sneak in?" Ben felt insulted at the idea. "Don't you mean break in?" He grinned, expecting his grandfather to play along.

However, unlike the last times, Max wasn't in the mood. "Ben! I don't have the time to explain to you how important it is for us to get the mask. Now can I count on you or not?" He stared his grandson in the eyes, unnerving the boy.

Ben flinched back slightly. "...You know you can, Grandpa…"

Once he was certain that Ben got the memo, Max got up from the driver's seat to enter the bathroom.

Once he was out of earshot, Ben turned to his cousins. "What's up with Grandpa? He's so…uh…intense?"

Yukiko placed a hand on her heart, Max's attitude reminding her of Yu's attitude during Nanako's dungeon. "Grandpa…"

Gwen, while also unnerved, tried to understand her grandfather. "Cut him some slack. He's trying to save the world."

"As if I haven't," Ben muttered. He activated the Omnitrix and dialed up Gray Matter. Once he transformed the tiny Galvan hopped out of the RV and snuck into the main building where the Mask was being kept.

With him gone the girls turned back to their grandfather. "I know Ben can be a major doofus, but don't you think you were a little-"

"You're just kids, I don't expect you to understand," Max cut her off. Gwen turned away, hurt from being talked down to.

Yukiko stepped up. "I do understand, Grandpa. My friends and I saved our entire town-"

"And if this sword ends up in the wrong hands, then the entire world is under threat, Yukiko. This matter is bigger than what you went through last year. Like I said, you don't understand." Max ended the argument.

Yukiko deflated a bit from the way Max had just disregarded all of the pain she and her friends had gone through. Within her own heart, the heiress could feel a small bubble of anger boiling.

Gray Matter crawled out of a small sewage pipe within a bathroom. A small piece of filth on his head. "Oh man! I should've just gone Cannonbolt and busted my way in-"

GRRRRR!

Gray Matter turned his head to see a guard dog growling at him, teeth barred and saliva dripping onto the floor. He backed away just to find another dog growling right behind him. "AAAAHHH!" He screamed as both made a jump for him.

Gray Matter leapt into the air, causing both dogs to headbutt each other. The little Galvan sprinted out of the bathroom, pulling the mop bucket that was holding the door open, and closing the dogs within. "Ha! Who's the big dog now!?" Gray Matter taunted. He hurried down the hall to open the basement entrance.

Max and his granddaughters stood behind the building, waiting for Ben. They heard the knob turned, alerting Max to open the hatch. Gray Matter flipped off the handle, standing proud.

"Good job Be-"

"About time!" Max cut off Yukiko, entering the basement.

Yukiko clenched her fist at the rude gesture. "Grandpa, aren't you going to thank Ben?"

"No time. Come on." He ushered his kids to follow.

Gray Matter looked upset at Max's disregard of his success. Yukiko picked Gray Matter up and placed him on her shoulder. The heiress sniffed the air, smelling something weird. She looked at Gray Matter. "Why do you smell like dog saliva?" She asked as the three followed after Max.

Gwen closed the hatch, not noticing the black car that pulled up behind them.

The Tennysons walked down the hallway, following after Max.

"Have you ever seen Grandpa this serious?" Gwen asked Gray Matter.

"I've never seen anyone this serious," He replied.

"I have…" Yukiko said. Her words didn't bring the two any comfort.

They entered a room with a large safe sitting in the back. "It has to be in here," Max said.

"I'm on it!" Gray Matter crawled up to the dial of the safe. Scrolling through combinations until he heard the right click and motion for Max to open the safe.

"Good job, Ben!" Both girls congratulated him.

Max opened the safe, revealing the Mask of Apuk. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Uh? Not exactly," Gray Matter disagreed.

The retired Plumber picked it up. "Over 40 years of searching. Now finally you're-"

"I thought you retired from the Plumbing business, Mr. Tennyson," Loud metallic footsteps were heard behind the Tennysons. "Or may I call you…Max."

The family turned around to see the Knights from before walking up to them. "It's Enoch and those Forever Knights guys who tried to slice and dice me!" Gray Matter exclaimed.

"How nice of you to remember. And of course, how could I forget the family who left the Forever Knights without a castle!" Enoch exclaimed.

Yukiko whipped out her fan, summoning her Persona. "That's what you deserve for trying to turn my cousin into a science project!"

Enoch chuckled. "Aren't we feisty today? I'd love to chat about old times, but I'm late for holding the world at my mercy. So, I'll be taking that mask now."

Max gripped the mask tighter. "Over my dead body!"

Enoch wasn't bothered at all. "Excellent suggestion. Gentlemen?" Enoch motioned for his two lackeys to kill the family. Both knights pulled out swords, marching towards the Tennysons.

"Hey!" A security guard entered the room. "What's going on here?" He was enough of a distraction for Gray Matter to jump onto Enoch's face.

"RUN!" Gray Matter yelled. His family wasted no time in escaping the room, Max shoulder-checking the guard out of the way. Yukiko stayed behind to make sure Gray Matter could escape as well.

Enoch managed to pry Gray Matter off of his face, tossing the Galvan over to the desk in the room.

"MARAGI!"

Enoch and his knights were knocked back into the wall by Yukiko's fire, giving her ample time to grab Gray Matter, who was about to get shredded by a paper shredder. "Come on, Ben!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Gray Matter grumbled as Yukiko held him in her hands. The two ran away from the room to escape the building.

The knights gathered to their feet to give chase. "Wait!" The two turned around to see Enoch motioning for a different direction. "They aren't the ones for us to be chasing."

"Wrong way!" Max yelled as he and Gwen almost ran into a security guard. The two hurried for a different exit until a grappling hook snatched the mask away from Max.

Enoch stood with the mask in his hands, his two knights at his side. "Your loss is my gain!" Enoch laughed as he escaped with the mask.

Sadly, for Max he didn't have enough time to get it back, he grabbed Gwen's arm and pulled her forward. "Hold on!" The two had to hurry before the emergency gate blocked off their only exit. Luckily, they managed to slide underneath it before the gate closed.

BOOM!

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

FLASH!

Ben coughed as he and Yukiko ran through the smoke. "Did you have to make the explosion that big!?"

"I had to get us through the gate somehow!" Yukiko defended her actions.

"And you say I cause the property damage," Ben rolled his eyes. The two stood outside of the building as the Rustbucket pulled up in front of them.

"We don't have time to fool around, you two! Get in!" Max ordered.

Yukiko growled as she and Ben rushed into the RV. "You could at least be happy that we're safe…"

The Rustbucket chased after the Forever Knight's car at high speeds, Max had activated the boosters to make up for the lost time. Max pressed a button, turning the front bumper into a battering ram, and smashed right into the back of the knight's car.

Suddenly, a mechanical saw came out of the back of the car, cutting through the Rustbucket's battering ram. Max was forced to deactivate it to protect the RV.

Gwen and Yukiko got out of their seats to reach the front. "Come on! Wildmutt? Ripjaws?" Gwen looked at Ben. The boy's watch was still recharging.

"Maybe, I could blow up their car with an Agidyne? But that might destroy the mask," Yukiko sighed. Her grandfather wouldn't be happy if that mask got destroyed.

Max eyed his grandkids before coming to a decision. "This looks like a job for a Plumber." He pressed the button for the autopilot, but the system wouldn't work. He grew frustrated for a moment before remembering something. "Yukiko, take the wheel."

"WHAT!?" The heiress screamed.

"You can drive, can't you?"

"Yes! A motorbike, Grandpa!"

"Same difference," He got out of the driver's seat. Without his hands on the wheel, the Rustbucket began to swerve until Yukiko took the seat. Ben and Gwen casted worried looks at each other as their grandfather entered the bathroom.

"Guess when you gotta go, you gotta go," Ben said.

The knight's car pulled back behind the Rustbucket. Both of the regular knights climbed out of the car and jumped onto the RV as Enoch used the mask to find the sword's location.

Yukiko did her best to keep the RV steady as Ben tried to activate the watch. Gwen had pulled out the spell book, trying to find something that she could use.

Max stepped out of the bathroom, revealing himself to be wearing his old Plumber uniform. His kids turned to look at him (Yukiko was looking through the rearview mirror). "Uh, Grandpa? What's with the fashion statement?" Ben asked.

"It's my Plumber suit. Been saving it for the right time," Max pulled back the curtains to see the car pull off to the side of them. He opened the door, using his old suction cup magnets to attach himself to the roof of the car. Max was about to reach for the mask until Enoch almost pierced through him with his sword. The old man was forced to roll off the roof of the car to avoid getting impaled.

"Grandpa!" Gwen watched from the window. "We need to help him!"

THUMP! THUMP!

"We need to worry about ourselves right now! Grandpa can handle himself!" Yukiko shouted as the two knights entered the Rustbucket. The Knight tried to reach for Gwen, but the girl rolled between his legs.

Ben jumped out of his seat. "Hey, you want a fight! Try picking on someone your own size!"

The knight was more than happy to oblige, pulling out his sword and swinging it down at Ben. The boy ducked under the swing and Yukiko had to move her own body to avoid getting hit as well.

Keeping one hand on the wheel, Yukiko pulled out her fan and swung it hard.

WHACK!

The knight was knocked back away from the front seats. The knight regained his senses and tried to attack Yukiko, but a blue aura of energy held his blade back.

"GRGH!" Gwen grunted as she did her best to levitate the sword away, but the man's grip was proving to be an issue.

Noticing this, Yukiko tossed her fan back. "Ben!"

The boy caught the fan in his hand and opened it up, remembering the exact way Yukiko would use it and spun it through the air. The object collided with the knight's head, knocking him down once more. With him not fully conscious, Gwen used the rest of her effort to levitate the knight out of the Rustbucket and into the street.

"ALRIGHT!" Ben and Gwen celebrated their victory. Yukiko had a small smile of her own as she looked through the mirror.

CRASH!

A metallic mace smashed through the roof of the Rustbucket, reminding the three of them that there was another knight to look out for. Gwen reached for the fire extinguisher that was underneath the cabinet and sprayed the knight in his face. Causing him to fall off the Rustbucket and into the water below the bridge.

Meanwhile, Max was still doing his best to avoid getting impaled. When Enoch stuck his sword through the ceiling, Max attached one of his magnets to the blade; making it difficult for Enoch to remove it. While he was distracted Max grabbed the mask and reentered the Rustbucket.

"GOT IT!" He held it for his kids to see. He noticed the truck that was barreling straight for them. "Yukiko, move!"

The heiress happily obliged, hoping out of the seat for Max to take over driving again. "Hold on!" Max activated the boosters and swerved out of danger right before collision would have occurred. He then activated a trap, releasing multiple spiky objects that popped the knights' vehicle's tires.

As the Rustbucket drove far from the knights' car, it eventually began to break down from the overuse of the boosters, forcing the Tennysons to stop.

"This is a metric! I said I needed a half inch wrench!" Max tossed the tool back over to Gwen. He was currently doing maintenance on the Rustbucket.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Grumpa," She snarked. She looked over to see Ben messing around with the mask, when he placed it over his face the eyes began to glow green.

"Um…Grandpa!"

"Not now, Ben."

"Grandpa, I think you need to look at this," Yukiko stepped closer to Ben in case the thing decided to explode. Green light shot out of the eyes creating a projection of a Mayan temple.

Max slid from underneath the Rustbucket to examine the projection. "It's a map to the ancient Mayan temple of Ekchuah. We need to beat them to that temple!"

"How are we supposed to do that? The RV isn't exactly in the mood for driving," Gwen pointed out.

BEEP!

Everyone glanced down at the Omnitrix finally recharging. "But the watch is!" Ben grinned.

Stinkfly flew through the air, carrying Max in his arms with Gwen and Yukiko on his back. The bug struggled to carry them all through the air.

"Ben! Can't you go any faster!?" Max demanded.

"I-I'm sorry, Grandpa! I'm not used to flying with such a heavy load!"

"I'm heavy!?" Yukiko cried.

Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not what he-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Everyone's faces darkened as the Omnitrix started to count down at the worst of times. "Oh, come on! We were so close too!"

FLASH!

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The Tennysons climbed to their feet, groaning in pain from the rough landing. Luckily the tree they fell in managed to cushion the fall enough to not kill them.

Ben spat out the leaves that got in his mouth. "I have got to work on my emergency landings…"

The Tennysons walked through the forest, finally arriving at the Mayan temple. They hid behind the large bushes to see the Forever Knights had arrived before them. The group planted charges to blow a hole in the temple, however the structure was too durable to be blown up.

The Tennysons snuck around the knights to find a secret passageway to enter the temple. "There's always a secret entrance to these temples," Max said.

Ben gazed down at the mask attached to his grandfather's waist and took it. He held it up to his face and scanned the wall.

"Ben, what are you doing?" Max asked.

"If this thing showed us how to get this far, maybe it can show us how to get in." He walked up to a loose stone and pushed it in. Activating the entrance, allowing the Tennysons to finally enter the temple.

"The sword would be kept in the center of the temple on the lowest floor. There should be some stairs nearby," Max said.

"Stairs? Oh man, where are the express elevators when you really need one?" Ben complained. As they walked the light began to dwindle trapping them in darkness until Max suddenly lit a torch too close to Ben's head.

"Woah!" The boy flinched from the close contact of the heat, falling off the ledge of a broken bridge.

"BEN!" Yukiko screamed.

Max dropped the torch and made a grab for his grandson, managing to catch his leg. Gwen and Yukiko held onto Max's belt to keep him from falling off too. Mustering up enough strength to pull the large old man and boy back to safety. Yukiko wrapped Ben up in a tight hug, refusing to let the boy away from her proximity.

Max picked the torch back up, staring down at his grandson for a brief moment before focusing back on the goal. "That was a close one. We almost lost the mask."

The heiress almost snapped then and there. Completely flabbergasted that Max just disregarded the fact that his grandson almost died.

"Okay, can you say obsessed?" Gwen said, shocked.

"Once he gets that sword…he'll be himself again, right?" Ben and Gwen both turned to Yukiko for reassurance.

Yukiko did her best to quell their worries. "He will be. I'm sure of it." Though it felt as if she was saying it to herself more than them.

They followed Max down the wooden structure that led to the lower levels of the temple. "Stay sharp. The ancient Mayans were notorious for setting-"

SNAP!

Ben held a broken piece of wood in his hands. The wooden structure began to shake violently. "Booby Traps!?" Ben gasped. The Tennysons look up to see multiple large stones falling from the ceiling.

"RUN!" Max commanded and the kids didn't waste time in following the order. Doing their best to avoid certain death as they raced down the collapsing structure. Their pathway was destroyed, and another stone launched them down onto another part of the structure. The four of them quickly climbed to their feet and ran down the wooden steps as the stairs collapsed behind them.

Ben was trying to activate the Omnitrix. "Come on…! Somebody…! Anybody!" Multiple stones fell at once, destroying everything around them, leaving them on only one unstable wooden platform.

Max pulled his grandkids close, activating a grappling hook from his suit, and attached it to the stone wall. "Jump on!" They did so and he swung to safety…

…Or safety with a rough landing, since the grandkids landed face first into the stone floor. Max landed on his feet.

"Thanks, Grandpa-"

"Are you three coming? Or are you going to stand there all day?" Max rudely interrupted Gwen. Already continuing his way to the bottom.

"...no…"

"Hm?" Max turned around to see a pissed off Yukiko glaring at him. "Yukiko, what are you-"

"Shut up…!"

Ben and Gwen both shivered at the venomous tone that seeped through Yukiko's lips.

Max met her glare head-on. "What was that, young lady?"

Yukiko clenched her fist tighter. "I said, shut up!"

Max shook his head. "I don't have any time for your drama, Yukiko. We have a weapon to find-"

"Shut the hell up, Maxwell Tennyson!"

The silence that followed Yukiko's anger was deafening, even Max had looked shocked. Never seeing this amount of anger from Yukiko before.

Ben had seen this before when it was aimed directly at him. And it terrified him to his core.

Yukiko stomped forward, the air around them growing hotter each second. "I do not give a damn about this ultimate weapon of yours! What I do care about is the blatant disregard and negligence you've been showing us since this mask appeared!"

"Y-Yukiko-"

"First!" The stomp that followed quickly silenced Max. "You order Ben around as if he's some type of soldier, disregarded Gwen and I's feelings, disrespected Ben when he's the one who has been doing the heavy lifting this entire time, and then completely ignore the fact that we almost died as if it didn't matter; as long as you got your precious sword!" Yukiko shouted as she stepped closer to Max. Glaring directly into his eyes, freezing the old Plumber in his spot.

"What's more important!? Us or this stupid weapon!?" Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as shouted those words.

Max found himself lost within Yukiko's eyes as her words triggered a memory from his past.

"What kind of father favors his work more than his own kids?"

"Yukiko…I…" Max tried to find the right words to say. But something prevented him from doing so.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Max and Yukiko turned to see Enoch walking forward, clapping his hands as if he just watched some drama play. "Good show, good show! Jolly good show! May I ask for an anchor?"

"Enoch!" Yukiko and Max stepped forward, but Enoch held out a hand.

"Ah ah ah. I wouldn't do anything if I were you two. Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the kids now would we?" Enoch snapped his fingers and two knights walked forward. Within their grasps were Ben and Gwen, who were being held back with swords to their throats.

"Hand over the mask or the brats die. Your choice, Maxwell," Enoch said.

"Do you think this is a game!?" Yukiko growled.

"Yes, and I win." Enoch grinned underneath his mask.

Max stared at the terrified faces of his youngest grandkids, then looked at Yukiko's troubled expression. Knowing the heiress wanted nothing more than to save the two immediately. He knew what he had to do.

Max tossed the mask over to Enoch.

"Grandpa!?" Ben and Gwen gasped. Yukiko gasped as well.

"Let my grandkids go, Enoch!" Max ordered.

"Oh, I will. But first," Enoch snapped his fingers and two more knights appeared from behind Yukiko and Max. Restraining the two before they could even attempt to fight back.

"This wasn't the deal, Enoch!" Max growled.

"When did I say that I was going to keep mine? Bring them with us," Enoch ordered as he and his knights descended the stairs. The captured Tennysons have no choice but to follow.

Enoch turned his head to Max. "I really must thank you, Maxwell. Without you bringing the mask, we wouldn't have been able to get inside the great chamber." Enoch and the others stopped once they arrived at the chamber.

"Now, I believe it's time to toss the garbage!" Enoch declared.

The Tennysons were now being held at sword point in front of a giant pit. Max had been stripped of all his weapons as well.

"Legends has it that the eternal pit of despair is bottomless. Let's find out…" Enoch took great pleasure walking up to Ben and shoving him down the pit.

"GUAH! AHHHHHH!" Ben screamed as he fell to his death.

"BEN!" The three screamed as they could only watch him fall.

"Wouldn't want the lad to get lonely, wouldn't we?" Enoch commanded his guards to attack. Three of the knights kicked the last remaining Tennysons to their doom.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Enoch watched them all fall with a satisfied smile. "This is what happens when you cross the Forever Knights. Come on, now." He turned around to the chamber's entrance. "Destiny awaits us."

Ben spun through the air as he fell down the pit, he managed to get his balance to activate the watch. He dialed up Four Arms and slammed down the dial. The Tetramand gripped the wall, stopping his descent.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Four Arms looked up to see the rest of his family falling after him. Using his arms, he managed to catch all three of them. Yukiko and Gwen were swung up to ride on his shoulders. "I am so going to band camp next summer!" Gwen whined.

"Oh! What kind of band?" Yukiko asked.

"Hopefully, the not alien kind," Gwen answered as Four Arms began to climb back up the pit.

They arrived back at the top, Four Arms released Max, allowing him to grab his weapons. Four Arms looked at Gwen, noticing her exhaustion. "Grandpa, I think Gwen needs a second to catch a breath.

Max turned around and stared at Gwen's exhausted face. Then he thought back to Yukiko's rant from earlier, noticing how the heiress was staring down at him with judgmental eyes. As if she was testing him.

Four Arms glared at his grandfather, shocked that he was still struggling with this. "Grandpa! What's more important? That weapon or us!?"

Before Max could answer him, a loud roar erupted from the chamber. The Tennysons rushed towards the chamber to see what was happening. They stood behind the chamber doors to see the Forever Knights getting tossed around by a large gray creature in Mayan clothing.

"What is that thing!?" Yukiko gasped, reminded of a Shadow.

"It must be Ah Puch. The Mayan god of death and the underworld. He's the guardian of the Sword of Ekchuah," Max explained.

"Why can't these places ever be protected by…like the guardian of cheerfulness!? Is that too much to ask!?" Gwen complained.

"Looks like he's pounding the bad guys for us," Four Arms said.

"Ben, keep him occupied while we get the sword!" Max instructed as he and the girls ran for the shrine.

Ah Puch smacked another knight away then crawled over to see Max and the girls climbing the shrine. He was going to stop them until Four Arms called him out.

"Yo! Rat Puke! Come and get some!" Four Arms challenged. Ah Puch was more than willing to accept the challenge as he tackled Four Arms into the wall. The two began to brawl with Ah Puch overpowering Four Arms.

Meanwhile, Max tried to use his grappling hook to get the sword, but Enoch cut the line. Max kicked the knight away before he could try to use his blade again.

Another knight tried to cut them off from reaching the sword, but Yukiko reacted faster. "Agidyne!" The massive fireball sent the knight flying off the shrine.

Enoch climbed to his feet and tossed lasso at the girls, wrapping them up, and preventing both of them from using any spells. The girls rolled down the steps of the shrine as another knight quickly approached with his blade ready to pierce them both. "GRANDPA!"

Max was just about to reach the sword as his granddaughters cried for help. Turning around he found them both about to be killed and realized something important. Activating his rocket boots, Max flew towards the knight. "Keep your hands away from my granddaughters!" Max tackled the knight down the shrine stairs. The blade landed right in front of Gwen.

Max then planted his feet onto the knight's chest and boosted himself back towards his granddaughters. Using a pocketknife to set them free.

The knight from before tried to reach them but Max launched several grenades at the knight, sending him flying.

"That was so cool, Grandpa!" Gwen cheered.

Yukiko smiled proudly at Max. "I'm glad you figured it out, Grandpa."

"I have you kids to thank for that. Now let's hurry!" Max grinned.

"Yeah!" Max and the girls raced back up the steps. When they reached the sword, Enoch had tossed his shield at Max, knocking him back down into his granddaughters.

Meanwhile, Four Arms was getting his ass kicked by Ah Puch. The god of death was pounding the life out of the Tetramand.

While that was happening, Yukiko blocked a strike from Enoch's sword with her fan. Max punched the knight away from his granddaughter, but Enoch rebounded and smacked the Plumber away with the hilt of his sword.

Behind them Gwen was flipping through the pages of her book and found something useful. "Here goes nothing! Emocha Objectia!" However, instead of the desired effect, Gwen felt herself being levitated into the air. "EEEKKK!" She squealed as she was sent flying into Yukiko. Both girls tumbled down the steps of the shrine, leaving Max to fend for himself.

Enoch smiled at his opportunity and lifted up his blade to pierce Max through his back.

Four Arms saw this and found a new boost in energy. "NO!" He uppercutted Ah Puch and then nailed the god with all four of his fists. Sending the god of death spiraling into the shrine.

The vibrations from the impact stopped Enoch from killing Max and knocked Max off the altar. Four Arms was shocked at how he managed to do that. "I…uh…meant to do that!" He lied as the watch timed out. "Not good!"

Max tried to race back up the stairs to get the sword.

"Grandpa!"

He turned around to see Ah Puch was back on his feet and approaching his grandkids. Yukiko was doing her best to fend him off with her spells, but the heiress' fire wasn't doing anything to the god.

Max once again knew what he had to do. The old Plumber jumped onto Ah Puch's back. "How about you ground old beak face?"

His grandkids ran behind Ah Puch and pushed him down off the shrine. Max jumped off his back right as Yukiko crushed her tarot card. "MARAGIDYNE!"

Ah Puch was slammed in the back by a multitude of boulder sized fireballs. Burns sizzled against the god's back as he laid still on the ground.

They would've celebrated if it wasn't for Enoch finally obtaining his goal. "Enoch!"

"At last!" Enoch pulled the blade from the altar. "The ultimate weapon! The world shall kneel before me!" He held the blade into the air…until it crumbled to dust within his grasp.

Everyone stared at the broken sword in confusion. "Woah! What happened?" Ben asked.

"Snrk! Pfft!"

The kids perked up and turned to Yukiko, but it wasn't her who was laughing. Turning around the three saw Max clutching his sides as he laughed loudly. "Guess, that's what happens when your ultimate weapon is 5000 years old!" Max laughed at the irony.

Enoch tried to salvage the dust of the sword as the temple began to crumble. "Do you think that sword was booby trapped!?" Gwen asked. The Tennysons ran for their lives to escape the temple.

Max turned around to Enoch. "Enoch! Get out of here!"

But the knight wouldn't listen, he was still trying to gather dust.

Yukiko pulled her grandfather back. "We need to move, Grandpa!" He nodded his head and the Tennysons escaped from the temple.

Leaving both Enoch and Ah Puch to their fates.

Max and his grandkids watched as the rest of the temple crumbled to dust. He released a breath as the realization of his decade long quest finally came to an end. He looked down at his grandkids. "I'm sorry, kids. I shouldn't have let this quest control me so much. You guys didn't deserve to be at the end of my anger."

"It's okay, Grandpa," Gwen forgave him.

"Yeah, we all have our moments," Ben said.

"As long as we learn and grow from our mistakes. Then, everything will turn out fine in the end. At least, that's what Yu-kun taught me," Yukiko giggled.

Max smiled; feeling lucky to have grandkids such as these. This adventure had reminded him of the mistakes he had made in the past, helping him see that even at his age there was still room to grow.

There was still time to fix the mistakes that he had made.

But for now, he can focus on the three in front of him.

"So, how about that dung beetle stew? It's even better reheated, ya know!" He grinned. The reminder of his stew brought forth bouts of laughter from all of them.

Chapter End

Chapter Text

Chapter 30: A Persona's Grudge

"GUAH!" Diamondhead flew into the windmill.

Marching towards him was none other than the mutated Kevin Levin. "You are one sorry sight, rockhead!"

"That's Diamondhead! And we were having a pretty nice day until you decided to show your ugly mug again!" Diamondhead growled.

Kevin cracked his knuckles. "It's payback time for turning me into this, Tennyson!"

"You were always a freak, Kevin! It's just now the ugly is only on the outside!" Diamondhead fired back.

Kevin's hatred grew as he continued to be called a freak. "Diss me all you want, but I'm 10 times better than you! I got all your powers plus my own! I'm Kevin 11!" Kevin fired off crystal shards at the Petrosapien.

Diamondhead caught one of the shards as the others broke on contact with his body. "Too bad each one of those is only a tenth as powerful as mine!" He crushed the shard in his hand and approached Kevin slowly.

Kevin opened his mouth, firing off Stinkfly goop from his throat. The slime made contact with Diamondhead's face, blinding him.

"Ew! Gwen and Yukiko were right. This stuff is gross…" He tried to pry off.

Kevin charged towards Diamondhead, prepared to tackle him until a wall of fire blocked off his path. Snarling at the interference, Kevin turned around to see both Yukiko and Gwen standing outside of the overturned RV. "You keep getting in the way!"

"And you keep breathing…!" Yukiko hissed. She pointed her fan at Kevin, glancing down at Gwen. "Gwen, you stay back here while we handle this."

"What!?" Gwen gasped. "B-but I can help you guys this time!" Gwen held up her spell book.

Yukiko didn't feel like arguing at the moment. "Kevin is too dangerous for you to get anywhere near and you're still trying to figure out how to use that book. Stay put!" Yukiko ordered before charging towards Kevin.

Gwen frowned at being seen as a liability, the girl wanted payback against Kevin for kidnapping her last time. This time she wouldn't be seen as useless.

Kevin raised his crystal arm. "Come on, princess! You've been a nuisance since New York!" He fired off more shots.

"Then the feelings are mutual! Maragi!" Yukiko unleashed small fireballs to destroy the crystal shards. Kevin tried to jump at her, but something grabbed his tail. Turning his head, he found Diamondhead holding him back.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Diamondhead began swinging Kevin around by his tail. The Petrosapien released the appendage, sending Kevin flying into a windmill. Both the mutant and the windmill fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Diamondhead glared at Yukiko. "I can handle this! You don't need to get involved!"

Yukiko shook her head. "You had your fight with Kevin back in San Francisco, Ben! This time I'm not going to let you fight by yourself!"

"Kevin is still my problem! My powers and my issue!"

"It's all of our issue!"

"Bet your ass I am!"

"Huh-"

BAM!

"GYAH!" Diamondhead had little time to react as Kevin smashed one of the propellers on top of him. The mutant shot green goop at Yukiko's feet, trapping the heiress in her spot. Raising his crystal fist at the heiress and launching several more shards before she could process what happened.

However, much to his disappointment the shards never made it to Yukiko's body. Each one was covered in a blue mist of energy before being flipped around and aimed back at him. Kevin used his arms to block each oncoming shard. "What the hell!? Who did that!?"

"Me!"

Kevin looked down to see Gwen running into the field and grinned happily. "Look who decided to show her annoying little head. It's the smart mouth! Now we just need the old man, and we'd have the whole family!"

Gwen clicked her tongue. "I'm not weak like I was before! You inconsiderate jerk!" She opened up her spell book. "Emocha Objectia!"

BANG!

BANG!

CRASH!

Diamondhead suddenly flew out from underneath the propeller, covered in blue energy. He was sent flying directly into both of the girls, sending all three Tennysons rolling across the ground. Gwen groaned in pain from the impact. "Oops…"

"HAHAHAHA! This is a riot! I might actually miss this once you're all gone!" Kevin marched forward.

The Tennysons quickly climbed to their feet, mildly embarrassed by what had just happened. Diamondhead glared at Kevin. "I think you got it wrong, Kevin! The only one going bye bye here is you!" Diamondhead charged at Kevin.

"Ben, wait!" Yukiko rushed in.

"You're not leaving me behind!" Gwen followed through.

Kevin and Diamondhead were about to clash fists just as a bright red beam of light engulfed the both of them along with Yukiko and Gwen. Leaving nothing but a large scorch mark in the middle of the grassy field.

Max, who had climbed out of the RV, had seen each one of them vanish before he could do anything. "KIDS!"

"Kya!" Yukiko landed on her rear from the sudden teleportation. She tried to locate where she was, but everything around her was completely dark. "Where am I?"

"WELCOMING ONE OF OUR NEWEST CHALLENGERS FROM PLANET EARTH!"

"Newest challengers?" Yukiko repeated as the world around her was now illuminated. The heiress gasped as she realized she was standing in some sort of arena. Rows of aliens staring down at her, cheering loudly. "What's going on!?"

VROOOOM!

Turning around, Yukiko saw a dark green object rolling towards her. It stopped right in front of her, before unfolding into a large robot with equally large knives. The heiress' eyes widened once she realized what was about to happen.

Yukiko jumped away from the blade that came crashing down, it tried to slice her with its other hand, but she ducked down in time. Whipping out her fan, Yukiko summoned her tarot card. "Agidyne!" She bellowed out.

The large fireball knocked the robot away, damaging it with burn marks. The machine was undeterred, spinning its blades rapidly like a saw. Yukiko launched several more fireballs, only for them to be sliced in half by the robot.

"Great…" Yukiko growled. She had to move again to prevent herself from being sliced in half by the machine.

Within a bright red room were multiple screens showcasing four different battles. One of the screens showcased Diamondhead battling the same robot as Yukiko, another showed Kevin tearing apart a similar robot, the third had Yukiko being seen burning off the robot's limbs, and the final one was the most interesting one.

A young girl with orange hair with glowing blue hands stared down at the broken robot at her feet. Completely baffled by how she had managed to defeat the machine in the first place.

"Two humans…no…three humans," The mastermind corrected himself once he saw Diamondhead turn back into Ben. "And a mutant with a sadistic streak…a true gladiator. Yes…yes this will work…!"

Yukiko summoned Sumeo-Okami and used her sword to block the spinning blade from hitting her. "Enough of this!" Yukiko closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to focus all of her energy. Her eyes snapped open instantly once she felt the energy in her body peak. "AGIDYNE!"

The explosion of fire was strong enough to send the robot flying into the opposite wall, it exploded on contact in a brilliant glow of red and orange.

Yukiko fanned herself off as the audience around her cheered loudly for her victory over the robot. She ignored them to focus on the more important matter. "Where am I? And where are Ben and Gwen?"

Back inside of the room the mastermind nodded his head. "Yes, a resourceful human." He said as he stared at Ben's screen. Then turned his gaze to both Yukiko and Gwen. "Then the wildcards with extraordinary abilities not seen before."

"Yes, I will make quite the profit…"

Suddenly, the walls around her began to descend allowing Yukiko to see the rest of the gladiatorial stadium. She gasped loudly when she saw both of her cousins standing over the destroyed wreckage of robots. "BEN! GWEN!"

Both kids finally noticed one another and Yukiko. "YUKIKO!" Both started to make their way over to her, happy to see that each other were alright.

"TENNYSON!"

All three stopped in their tracks when they noticed Kevin standing in front of a large flaming wreckage, which they could only assume was also a gladiatorial robot. The mutant stepped forward before taking a leap at Ben.

"What's up with sending me to this freaky place!?" Kevin attempted to smash Ben with his larger arms, but the boy rolled out the way in time.

Yukiko and Gwen sprinted forward, standing in front of Ben. "I had nothing to do with this!" Ben defended himself.

"As if, Tennyson! Everything is always your fault!" Kevin raised his fist.

"Don't try it, Kevin!" Yukiko warned.

"I'm going to shut you up once and for-" Kevin couldn't finish his threat before he and the Tennysons were teleported once more by another flash of red light.

"-all!" Kevin missed his strike due to being put off balance.

The Tennysons scrambled away from him with Yukiko wrapping her arms around them protectively. Ben broke out of her hold to attempt to look threatening against Kevin.

Gwen glanced around their new location. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't like whatever is going on…!"

"Just stay close to me, Gwen," Yukiko said as she attempted to pull Ben back towards them. It proved to be difficult with him constantly fighting against her.

Kevin was ready to make his move until three robot guardsmen approached the four of them. They raised their staffs into the air. One of them brought the bottom of it down onto Ben's chest, knocking the boy over.

"Ben!" The girls cried. They weren't given much time to fret or fight back when the bots turned on them and struck them in the chest as well. "Guh!" They grunted from the impact.

"What the…?" Ben glanced down at the little red marker that had been placed onto his chest. He saw that both Yukiko and Gwen also had one of their own.

"Hey, watch it!"

The Tennysons looked over to see Kevin had been struck by the guards as well. The mutant attempted to strike back, but the guard activated the markers, eliciting an electric shock that had both Ben and Kevin screaming in pain.

"Ben!" Yukiko helped the boy back up quickly, Gwen scurrying to his side as well. When the guards left the four of them alone in the chamber, the four of them took in their surroundings.

"Where are we?" Ben asked. He and the others all looked out the windows and all of the color drained from their faces.

They were inside of some sort of spaceship in the middle of space.

"This is not good…" Gwen blanched.

"What was your first clue, genius?" Kevin snarked. Gwen glared at him immediately, rising to her feet.

"At least I have a brain, you illiterate idiot!" Gwen growled.

"Say that again!" Kevin growled back.

Yukiko quickly got to her, placing a hand on both of their chests to stop them. "Quit it! We need to figure a way out of here," She said to Ben and Gwen. The heiress then turned to Kevin. "You can stay here for all I care."

"HEY!" Kevin glared at her, offended.

"I wouldn't try to escape if I were you guys."

The Tennysons and Kevin turned around, finding a whole group of inmates with markers like them. "Escaping here is impossible," One of the inmates said.

"We've all been taken from our native worlds and forced to fight for our lives for the entertainment of the galaxy," Another one explained.

"Y-you mean we're going to be stuck here forever!?" Yukiko gasped, horrified. Thoughts of never seeing her friends and family again crossed through her mind. The way that this place was being described as sounded like some sort of slave camp.

Kevin growled, furious at being held captive against his will. His eyes shifted down to the main cause of him being stuck here in the first place. "HRAH!" He grabbed Ben and held the boy against the wall, pointing a diamond blade at the boy's head. "This is all your fault!"

"Let him go, Kevin!" Yukiko shouted.

"How is any of this my fault!?" Ben exclaimed.

"I-I don't know! It just is!" Kevin defended his claim. Both boys growled at one another until their markers glowed, eliciting another round of shocks through their bodies. Kevin fell to the ground, while Yukiko caught Ben in her arms.

An alarm went off above them. "Mealtime!" An inmate announced. Suddenly multiple trays were extended from the wall. From the ceiling purple sacks released sludge onto the trays.

"What do we do?" Gwen asked.

"I guess we eat…?" Ben shrugged. Seeing as there was no other option available for them, the Tennysons (And Kevin) sat down with the other inmates. All three were disgusted by the steaming sludge in front of them.

Yukiko gagged. "Who could cook something like this?"

Gwen and Ben side eyed her before looking at one another. "This might be more edible than Mystery Food X," Gwen whispered.

"Yeah, but I ain't about to find out," Ben responded. He turned to an inmate next to him. "Is there anything else to eat?"

The alien shook his head. "Nope, but it's the only thing we got here. You should hurry up and eat before Technorg and Bisca demand their offering."

"Who's Technorg?" Kevin asked.

"And who's Bisca?" Gwen asked.

RUMBLE!

Everyone turned to see a titan of a man enter the chamber. He had orange skin, a massive prosthetic left arm with a spiked ball for a hand, and prosthetic legs that steamed.

The other figure next to him was a bit smaller in body mass and had a feminine figure. She possessed a cybernetic body with razor sharp blades on her elbows. Pink skin and short raven black hair.

All of the inmates bowed down in his presence. "The reigning champions. You would be wise to show them respect."

The two stalked forward, not even giving the bowing inmates attention. Yukiko quickly ushered her cousins to also kneel down to avoid a confrontation.

Technorg grabbed trays of sludge, downing the mess easily, while Bisca stayed behind him. Her eyes are actually eyeing both Gwen and Yukiko with a bit of interest. Though, it was due to her watching those two that she noticed Kevin sliding his tail underneath one of the trays next to the human boy.

Kevin sent the tray flying into Technorg's face, getting sludge all over him. Bisca had a small smile on her face. "This might be fun."

Kevin grinned maliciously, while the Tennysons sat there shocked. "Woah! Major disrespect, you gonna take that from him?" Kevin pointed directly at Ben.

Technorg grabbed the boy with his large fist.

"Ben!" Yukiko made a grab for him, but Technorg slapped her onto the ground. "Kya!"

Gwen scrambled to her feet. "W-wait! It wasn't Ben's fault! It was Kevin!" She pointed at the mutant.

Kevin played the victim. "Hey now! It wasn't my tray that spilled all over him, was it?"

Ben glared at Kevin before turning back to Technorg. "Look, maybe we could-GAH!" Ben was interrupted by steam ejecting out of Technorg's prosthetics, the titan sent the boy flying across the chamber.

Yukiko got back onto her feet, glaring at Technorg. She pulled out her fan to help defend her cousin until an extended sharp blade found its way around her neck. Yukiko gasped lightly before a metal finger was pressed against her lips. "Don't interrupt now. Things are just getting fun, sweetheart." Bisca warned. "The same thing for you, little missy," She had her other blade pointed at Gwen, who nodded her head quickly.

Ben grunted as he glared at Technorg. "You wanna play rough? Then try picking on someone your own size!" Ben activated the watch and slapped down the dial, enveloping the room in green light.

Technorg was confused until two red fists sent him skating across the floor. He looked up to see Four Arms standing tall, ready to fight.

"Oh~! This human is full of surprises! Bring me the humans and the mutant!"

Red light appeared underneath the Tennysons and Kevin, transporting them into the main control room of the ship. They were confused until the guards forced the four of them onto their knees. "Hey!" Kevin grunted.

"Where are we now!?" Gwen cried.

In front of them was the mastermind's silhouette. "I am Slix Vigma! This is the Mega Cruiser, everything on this ship belongs to me. Including you," Slix explained.

Kevin chuckled darkly. "I don't belong to anyone, Slix! You bast-ARRRGH!" Kevin screamed as shocks coursed through him.

"I speak, you listen...!" Slix warned. "These eyes see everything on this ship and these hands control everything on this ship. And I have decided that your relationship will make you an entertaining team in the arena," Slix spoke to Ben and Kevin.

"Team!?" Four Arms exclaimed. Both he and Kevin looked down to see bonded cuffs latched onto their ankles.

Slix then turned his attention to the girls. "And you two possess abilities that I have yet to see in the grand void of space. You two will make matches very interesting indeed!" Bonded cuffs were then placed onto both Gwen and Yukiko.

"NO! I'm not going around being tied to this loser!" Kevin complained.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Freakazoid!" Four Arms glared right back.

"Don't call me a frea-AAAAK!"

"AHHHH!"

Both mutant and Tetramand collapsed onto the ground in pain.

Yukiko had enough of seeing her cousin getting electrocuted. "If you don't stop it with the shocks I'm going to-" She was halted by Gwen clamping a hand over her mouth.

"I'm just as upset as you are, but I'd rather we also didn't get electrocuted…!" Gwen hissed.

Slix hummed; continuously intrigued. "Your fates are now linked. If one of you were to expire, then the shackles will ensure that the other does as well."

The girls paled considerably at the deadly info dumped onto them. "This really is like a slave camp…" Gwen muttered, scared.

"Now, your opponents await!" With that said both teams were teleported out of the main room.

Yukiko and Gwen found themselves standing inside of the arena once more. They got to their feet. "Ben!? Where are you!?" Yukiko screamed for him.

"He's probably in a different section of the arena!" Gwen exclaimed.

Yukiko nodded her head. "Yes, he and Kevin both are stuck fighting some match."

"Then who are we fighting exactly?" Gwen asked, nervously.

"Me."

Yukiko felt every danger sense in her body go off at once. She hastily grabbed Gwen and pulled the girl down to the floor just as an extremely long blade soared over them. The human girls looked over to see Bisca slowly making her way towards them, licking her lips.

"It's not every day that we get female competitors to join in. I hope you two cure my boredom a bit!" She raised her scythe-like blade into the air and brought it down.

The Tennyson girls rolled apart to dodge the blade, however that left the two vulnerable for Bisca to use her blade and hook their bonded cuffs. Grinning maliciously at what she had planned next. "Time for a ride, ladies!"

"Oh man!" Gwen cried as she was lifted into the air.

"Eeep!" Yukiko pressed her hands down against her skirt to keep it from flying up. It would be beyond humiliating if she ended up flashing her underwear to an audience full of extraterrestrial beings.

Bisca began to twirl them both through the air, much to the pleasure of the audience, who enjoyed watching the human girls get treated like fools. Bisca slipped her blade through the bindings of the cuffs, leaving the girls to fall through the air. Once Yukiko was within distance, Bisca lifted her leg and kicked the heiress in the stomach. Yukiko coughed up blood and saliva from the impact, her armor not protecting her enough from the blow.

Bisca then grabbed Gwen by her shirt, spun around, before tossing both girls across the arena floor. They struggled to get up from the floor as Bisca slowly approached them. "C'mon! I had hoped you girls would put up a better fight than that!"

Yukiko coughed, still reeling from the blow Bisca had dealt her. Lifting her fan, Yukiko smashed her tarot card. "Maragion!"

A legion of fireballs went soaring towards Bisca. The cyborg raised both her blades, slicing each ball of flames in half, leaving them to fly in opposite directions and explode instantly. She smirked until a larger legion of fireballs came crashing into her. Bisca cried out as she went flying back against the stadium wall.

The audience cheered louder from all of the violence taking place.

Yukiko used that chance to check on Gwen. "Gwen, are you okay!?"

Gwen was struggling to get up. "I-I'll be fine, but do you think that got her?"

Her question was answered by the extension of a silver blade that almost pierced through Yukiko's body had she not dodged in time. Only receiving a cut on the side of her white blouse. "No…I don't think that did it," Yukiko grimaced.

"W-What do we do!?" Gwen asked, worried.

"You need to help me, Gwen!" Yukiko answered.

"What!? B-but I can't be of any help here!"

"You beat that robot from earlier, right?"

"By pure luck!"

Their conversation was halted when Bisca jumped into the air, blades ready to strike. "You two don't have any time to converse!"

"Maragidyne!" Yukiko fired off another powerful round of fireballs. Bisca was forced to block the fireballs or cut through them to avoid getting burned to a crisp.

Yukiko used this chance to run, pulling Gwen with her. "Gwen, we don't have time to second guess ourselves! If we don't work together, we'll die!"

"But you were right! I don't have full control of my magic yet! I've only screwed things up or got by on pure luck! It's like I haven't improved at all!" Gwen cried.

Yukiko felt a sense of Deja vu, remembering her first time fighting with her friends in the TV. When she wasn't as confident in her abilities to be of any use to the others, only seeing herself as a liability.

And that's exactly why she was the only one who could help with Gwen's self-confidence. "It's okay to screw things up, Gwen. I've messed up plenty of times in the TV world, so have my friends. Many times, we survived battles on pure luck when in all honesty we should've died." Memories of their close call in Rise's dungeon came to mind. "But even so, that's why we had to keep trying! Working as a team to make up for each other's weaknesses and improving ourselves is the only way to win! You have to believe in yourself, Gwen!"

Gwen's eyes widened from Yukiko's speech. Somehow Yukiko always knew what to say when the situation called for it. Clutching Yukiko's hand, a bit tighter, a smile grew on Gwen's face. "...Okay! What's the plan!?"

Yukiko grinned. "We combine our power!"

When Bisca finally made it through the barrage of fireballs, she touched down onto the arena floor. "Where did you two go~" She searched for her prey.

"Over here, ya Terminator rip-off!"

Turning around, Bisca found Yukiko and Gwen standing tall, glaring at her. The heiress stood behind Gwen, hands clamped onto Gwen's shoulders, her body radiating a fiery red aura. The younger girl had her arms extended, palms glowing with blue energy.

Bisca shrugged. "Well, standing there definitely makes it easier for me to hit ya. Sorry, ladies, but I have a title to keep!" Bisca charged them with killing intent.

Yukiko and Gwen stood still, building up the necessary energy as Bisca was getting closer. Gwen took a deep breath to focus all of the energy entering her body at the center. The aura in her hands had changed into blue flames.

"Got ya!" Bisca exclaimed, right as she was about to reach them.

It was at that moment that both girls heard glass shattering inside of their heads, their combined energy reaching its breaking point. Their eyes snapped open, glowing blue and red respectively.

Bisca couldn't even react quick enough when her entire body was engulfed by blue flames.

"BLUE BURNING!"

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Bisca cried out as she exploded into the wall. The cyborg groaned before collapsing to the ground, defeated.

"BEHOLD! OUR NEW CHAMPIONS!" The announcer declared.

Gwen and Yukiko were panting heavily from the amount of energy they used. "W-we did it? We did it!" Gwen exclaimed, proudly.

Yukiko gave Gwen a head pat. "Yes, we did. All thanks to you, Gwen."

Gwen blushed under the praise. "Y-You don't have to say that. You did most of it…"

TZZZT! TZZZT!

"Hm?" Their celebration was short-lived when a projection of Slix appeared in front of them.

"Good, girls. Now finish her off!" He commanded.

"What!? No!" Both were horrified by the order. While Yukiko might go through with the action if it meant protecting her family, she wasn't going to kill someone for other's entertainment.

Slix seemed disappointed. "Oh well." His hologram disappeared.

"Wait! What happened with Ben!?" Yukiko cried out.

Her question was answered when the walls of the stadium were brought down to reveal Ben and Kevin being held by robot guards, and Technorg's body lying on the ground. "Yukiko! Gwen!" Ben cried out.

"BEN!" They tried to rush for him, but their marks shocked them. Leaving both to fall into the grasps of two more robot guards.

Slix hologram appeared once more, this time in a larger form. "Showing mercy? What an interesting concept. Prepare for Galactic hyperjump. I need to recruit some new blood worthy of our champions," Slix announced before disappearing.

"Hyperjump…?" Gwen questioned.

"I think it means we're about to lose our chance to get home," Ben grimaced.

The four were led back into the chamber, where all of the previous inmates were now bowing down to them after defeating the previous champions. Kevin soaked up all of the glory.

"Nice to finally get a little respect around here." He said.

"Maybe, you'd get a little more respect if you didn't act like a jerk all the time," Gwen snarked.

Kevin scoffed. "Shows what you know, smart mouth. I'm not a jerk. Everyone else is."

"View must be great from the glass house of yours…" Ben muttered.

"Kevin has a glass house?" Yukiko questioned.

"No, Yukiko. That's not what he meant," Gwen corrected.

"Is she always this dumb?" Kevin asked, receiving glares from the humans.

Their movement was halted when two familiar faces made themselves known. Both Bisca and Technorg approached the Tennysons and Kevin.

Kevin got into a fighting stance. "Good job letting them live, dipsticks!" He glared at the Tennysons.

Technorg kneeled down to Kevin and Ben, offering his tray.

Bisca also kneeled down to Gwen and Yukiko, before giving a flirtatious wink towards the heiress. Yukiko tilted her head, confused by the gesture.

"You bested then spared my life, now you are my master," Technorg said to Ben.

"You two surprised me in that fight, never have I experienced a passion burning that brightly before," Bisca said to the girls. Then she stared directly at Yukiko. "I wouldn't mind serving you~" She winked again.

Yukiko still didn't get it. "Oh, sorry. I don't like owning other people. That's wrong."

Bisca just chuckled. "Keep the innocence. It's cute."

Kevin's ego took a boost. "Actually, it was all my idea." He claimed. As he ate Technorg's offering.

"Please! You couldn't find your way out of a paper bag," Gwen rolled her eyes.

Kevin growled directly into her face. "Say that again!" She stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry in his face.

Ben was more focused on Technorg. "Thanks, but I don't want to be your master. I just want us to get back home to Earth."

Technorg glanced at the guards before talking again. "Even if you could free your collar and escape. This ship will soon be traveling through a new galaxy."

"There must be some way to get to the guards' collar control," Ben said.

"Sorry, sonny. We've all tried and none of us are powerful enough to beat them," Bisca sighed.

Yukiko giggled, placing her hands on Ben's shoulders. "Trust me, they've never had to deal with us before."

Ben smirked. "Yeah, and when we work as a team nothing stands in our way."

"So, let's all work together to figure this out," Gwen turned her attention from Kevin.

"What's the plan?" Bisca asked.

Both alien gladiators were taken aback by the mischievous aura that the three Tennysons began to radiate brightly.

Ben sat next to the guards, head down on his knees. When he saw that the guards weren't paying attention, he winked over to Technorg. The gladiator tapped his knee to Gwen, who was next to him. Gwen kicked Kevin in his head, pissing the mutant off.

Kevin growled at her before initiating the plan. "Arrrgh! I can't take it anymore! I got to get off of this ship! NOW!" The mutant began firing off waves of fire and crystals all over the chamber and guards.

"Stop him! The lug's out of control!" Bisca yelled.