What makes a god almighty? Is it complete control over reality? Is it dominance over the mortals beneath their feet? Is it the unlimited power they have from their hands? Maybe... But the most important aspect of a god...
...is that they're not human.
Charmcaster waits for her master as she stands by the dimensional gateway Psyphon had built for him. As the Citadel of Superior Ben remains quiet while his subjects all traverse the hallways of the hourglass shaped, floating structure hovering above the planet Terradino, each Lieutenant of the universal emperor is busy doing their own things.
Tetrax is training in their simulation room, taking down dozens upon dozens of drones with his diamond hard fists, blades and shards. As he does so, Ben's Royal Guards, the Sotarrogian Siblings, Eight Eight, Seven Seven and Six Six, are all watching him train out of boredom.
Meanwhile, Reinrassic VI, Ben's butler, has been baking and cooking exquisite alien cuisine for their new guest, Ben's cousin, Sunny. As the Anodite woman uses a fork to eat a fried, purple tentacle and places it in her mouth, she began chewing it as she places her fork on a recently empty bowl which is next to the other empy bowls Sunny had, well, emptied after eating everything Reinrassic VI had made.
Sunny then swallows what she had chewed, and finally responds, "...That was the best grilled Cephalod-ae I have ever tasted!"
Reinrassic VI bows in respect for his master's cousin and replies, "I am humbled by your words, madame."
While this goes on in the citadels kitchen, Kraab arrives from one of their ships as he is greeted by Psyphon himself. "Scouting report... Uhhh... Well, Terradino residents say that raiders looted their supplies and resources. The main chieftain also says these raiders come here every once a month." Kraab reported to Psyphon.
"I see." Psyphon responds as he rubs his chin. "Well, no matter. We shall track down these raiders and deal with them ourselves to ensure peace for–"
He is interrupted, however, when suddenly, the whole citadel shook. Every person inside the floating castle stumble as the very room where the dimensional gateway is found finally opened.
As a bright light shines from the machine, Charmcaster somehow was strong enough to stay still as a large gust of wind is bursting out of the gateway. As she felt the presence of her master approaching, Charmcaster – nay – Hope, could not help but smile as Ben returns. After all, it's been a month since he left for the Omniversal war against Eon.
At long last, as his feet stepped out of the portal, along with the rest of his body, he finally returned to his dimension...
Superior Ben has come home.
Hope responds by taking a knee and bowing to her master with a smile as she says, "Welcome back, my lord. We have been dealing with the remaining threats to your–"
Before she could finish her report, she was halfway interrupted when a little girl suddenly peeks from behind Ben's legs. The girl had short, black hair, silver eyes, black bodysuit, silver boots, gauntlets, and a chestplate and a purple cape hanging off her shoulders.
After the mysterious child peeked, she immediately hid behind Ben again in fear when she noticed that Charmcaster had spotted her. The child whimpered as she hold on tight on Ben's white pants.
"Who... is she, my lord?" Charmcaster asked her master.
"...Her name is Chrona." Superior Ben replied as he walked off to leave the gateway room. This small act immediately made Chrona, the mysterious little girl Ben brought, panic and run after him to hold his hand as she seem to only feel safe around him. "She is Eon's child."
Those four words were enough to astonish Charmcaster. "Eon's child, master?!" Charmcaster exclaimed with wide eyes. Her supposed paranoia scared Chrona again as she steps in front of Ben and hides her face on one of his legs.
In response, Superior Ben sighs and faces his Vizier, replying, "She is innocent. A victim. For her time here, all of you shall treat her as a guest. Am I clear?"
In response, Charmcaster bows her head in apology and says, "Forgive my assumption, my lord... I shall prepare a room for her as I did for your cousin."
"Cousin?" Ben asks his Vizier and, right on cue, the door to the gateway room bursts open and Sunny, in her full Anodite form, flies in before tackling her cousin into a hug.
"Hiyaaaa, Cuz!" Sunny chirped as her smile beams brightly. Her sudden appearance is enough to perplex Ben, as he and Sunny were never close in the past. Instead of hugging back, the Galactic Emperor stood still as his cousin tightens her hug and nuzzles her head against his chest.
"Sunny? Why are you here?" Ben asked his energy being relative who finally lets go of him as she places her hands behind her.
"Grandma Verdona insisted. You haven't visited us in years. You're our only family left... WE are your only family left. And we were very worried." Sunny explained her visit. Her words actually caught him off guard. It never occurred in his head.
He had lost everything at age 15. He lost Gwen, Max, his mom and dad, his uncle and aunt, his best friends, including Kevin and Rook, and... Julie...
How did he forget about his grandmother and his other cousin?
"... Make yourself at home, cousin." He responded to Sunny as he began walking out of the room, with Chrona, the child from earlier, jumps a bit before following the emperor, holding onto his hand to feel reassurance.
As the two leave, Sunny crosses her arms and looks at Charmcaster to say, "So who's the cute kid?"
After leaving Chrona to Reinrassic VI's care, but not before convincing the scared child that Reinrassic is a good and gentle Highbreed, Ben walked to his throne room to, of course, sit on his golden throne.
Crossing his legs over each other as his left hand rests on the arm of his throne while his right elbow rests on the other arm so his right hand could support his bored head, Superior Ben spaced out and stared into the empty, loneliness of his room.
There's no one else here. All him, on his throne, with no other object in the large area but a red carpet, pillars and a floating orb at the ceiling acting as the only source of light, other than the natural light of the Sun of this system through his stained glass windows that took the shape and colors of an Omnitrix symbol.
To any simple minded fool, it may look like the emperor of the universe is brooding, but in reality... he's thinking of the words Eon shout out during the war between the good Omnitrix wielders and the bad ones...
"There's no point to continue our lives like normal knowing these... these writers... these gods who abuse their power over us! To manipulate our lives for the entertainment of others! They purposely kill those we love for the sake of drama, to urge us to go into rage just so we can get over it at the last possible second! They deny us normal lives that they give us just to take it away to make it seem that we can never live outside of danger and death! They give unnecessary evils to the worlds they create for the sole purpose of conflict in our own so-called stories! Do you not see?! How much evil — why I was written as evil — came to be in the first place is because of these cruel gods who do not care for the things they create?!"
Evil. The one thing Superior Ben swore he would destroy, even if it mean he'd be a necessary evil to keep the chaos at bay.
But he never thought about the evil of other worlds. Eon's words about these... "writers" does not concern him. If they truly are strong enough to simply write people in and out of existence and enough to manipulate how their own future goes, he cannot stand to something like that. For all he knows, his current thoughts are already being written by some insufferable, egotistical goddess...
But his thoughts went back to the topic on hand. He's taken over his own universe already. He's taken the DNA of even upper beings, like Naljian and even Esoterica. He discovered later on in his life the "Esoterica" in Earth merely based their costumes and technology on a race of aliens who owned that name and had natural abilities to go through dimensions and fire energy.
With his power growing, new worlds — new realities — are ripe for him to take over. Possible alien forms to scan to make him stronger, countless heroes he can help and convince into his rule by finishing the problems they could not, innocents he can save and stop experiencing further despair, and worlds he can turn into new kingdoms to defend themselves and for him to rule.
"...Hmmm... of course." Ben whispered to himself and stood from his throne. He steps away from his seat as he walks off, placing two fingers on the side of his temple to telepathically communicate with Charmcaster, and says, "Hope, gather everybody in the courtyard. I have an announcement."
CRUNCH!
The sound of teeth tearing through the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies echoed in the kitchen as Chrona chews her snack as she sat on a bar stool in front of a table where a plate of cookies and a glass of milk sat there as Reinrassic watches over her.
"So, what brought you here, young lady?" Reinrassic asked the time child.
"... I'm... Eon's daughter and he wanted to use me to break a hole in reality..." Chrona bashfully replied, rubbing the back of her head while doing so. The child then holds onto her glass of milk with both of her tiny little hands sips on it, gulping down every ounce of the delicious dairy beverage.
"Eon? Hmph. That despicable man knows no bounds. He would use his own daughter as a weapon. Who would even be at the right mind to let themselves bear Eon's seed?" Reinrassic points out, just in time for Chrona to put down her newly emptied glass.
Grabbing a part of her purple cape and using it to wipe off the milk stain on and around her lips, Chrona then responds to her new butler, "Mom... was not willing... Eon... forced her. But she still loved me and wanted to take me away from him."
Pity was what the Highbreed butler felt for the little one, for all he could do now was pat the head of the Time Child to comfort, all while he says, "No child should ever have gone through that. But it seems that the Tennyson family was always born strange and always finds trouble. Eon being a version of our master means he's still a Tennyson... And therefore, as his daughter, you are as well."
Hearing the butler's last words made Chrona experience melancholy yet again... but her mind rewinds what Reinrassic said, which made her somewhat interested in a topic. "Tennysons all go through adventures?" was what escaped her mouth, her curiosity akin to that of normal children her age.
"Why, yes, young one. In fact, no matter the alternate reality, they always seem to find trouble. Would you like to see the adventures of our master from his early days?" Reinrassic offered to Chrona. After receiving an adorable nod and a smile from the little girl, Reinrassic pulls on a drawer nearby to take out a hologram projector. Tapping on the button on the side, the projector lights up, starting with a familiar battle in space, where a gigantic ship is firing a smaller, defenseless one, and some mysterious baritone voice began narrating.
"It started when an alien device did what it did..."
Psyphon, Tetrax, Kraab and the Sotarrogian Siblings have all gathered in the courtyard of their citadel while behind them is an army of drones, bioids and REDs, all made by Psyphon himself.
"What do you think boss will tell us? The last time he gathered us like this was when he decided to rule the universe." Kraab reminded themselves as he sharpens his sword over his gigantic pincer.
Tetrax also wondered the same thing, as he crossed his arms while he thinks of any possible reason they'd be gathered here, trying to think of any context from today that would prompt his master to arrange a sudden meeting. "It may have to do with something involving his time at the multiversal war. After all, he had just arrived." Tetrax theorized and said out loud for his comrades.
"Still, it's so sudden. I am aware we should not question our lord, but... What exactly happened in the war that made him call us all in such a short time just after he returned here?" Eight Eight spoke, pointing out what they had all been asking deep inside.
"It is alright to ask questions, Eight Eight."
Right on cue, the voice of their master was heard like an echo as he appears in a bright flash of pink light and stands before his Lieutenants while Charmcaster and his cousin, Sunny, stood by his side.
"I value the opinions of my subjects. Even with the combined intellectual prowess of Grey Matter and Brainstorm, I hardly do not have any flaws. You are all free to tell me if I made mistake. Of course, it is still up to me whether I heed your suggestions or not... but that does not mean they weren't of value to me even if I reject them in certain situations." Superior Ben only says as he steps in front of his subjects, the machines of Psyphon all standing at attention, as well as the lieutenants of the Galactic Emperor. "However! That is not why you are all gathered here today. We've conquered most of the major evils of our dimension is such a short time as I grew stronger every day. We've turned Attea into the last of her kind by destroying the Incurseans, we hunted down the Techadon Weapon Masters to near extinction and used their technologies for a much greater purpose, we tracked down every trace of Z'Skayr we could find and erased it to make sure he would never return for eternity, we destroyed the ship of the Contemelia to prevent their technology from being misused, including ourselves, we've eliminated bounty hunters who refused to give up their ways to prevent anymore unnecessary killing for profit, slain Dagon with the help of the most noble Knight of history. And most of all, we... I... killed Vilgax."
Psyphon could not help but smirk, as that last achievement involved him as well, turning against Vilgax in service of the true most powerful man in the universe. In a way, he was responsible for the death of that tyrant by not helping him at his time of need.
As their master walked back and forth, pacing in front of his troops, Superior Ben continued and says, "However, as I plunged deep into the war against Eon, seeing evil versions of me, good version of me having trouble with their own worlds corrupted by unjust government, some, demons and Nazis threatening to purge the planet of what they deem unclean, some losing their loves in cruel ways, and some, become prisoned by their own guilt of following the legacy of a hero they were cloned from by evil entities... I realize that though our universe is left only with petty evil our own citizens could handle, some are yet to be purged of more evils. Ones that may have hard times rising up because of the darkness that holds it back. As ruler of my own dimension, I should not interfere with other realms and their own problems. Yet the thought of evil still present even in other worlds is infuriating me in every second. That is why today, we shall travel and see if what we can do to rid of evil in every world we go to. We will learn of each world's customs, we will gather information and we shall strike the darkness deep into it's cold heart... And once it's over, we see what we can do to prevent anymore harm and evil to come after."
"A necessary evil, if you will." Sunny interprets.
"So we're taking out evil... so we can replace it?" Six Six asked but wad elbowed by his older brother to stop him.
But their master noticed this and simply replies, "I am aware of the implications, Six Six. Thank you for the question. No matter how others see us, whether we are their savior or yet another who would attempt to rule above them once more, we should not let this hinder our process. Villainy for the sake of villainy is disgusting, undesirable and detestable, with no goal in mind other than to provide misery for others. Or maybe that goal is selfish, and it is ultimately still despicable. What I aim for is not for the approval of the masses. What I want is for these kinds of unnecessary evil to be erased and to be kept at bay forever, even if I have to look like yet another face of evil in the eyes of those with simple minds. I will bare this burden and prove that some necessary evils are indeed more necessary than evil."
As the Galactic Emperor turned his back to his subjects to look at the planet Terradino below, they all looked at each other. They processed what he had just, looking back at their master with unsure expressions on their faces...
...until Charmcaster – nay – Hope, stepped up to speak. "When Adwaita killed my father and forced Ledgerdomain under his rule, I detested him. Unlike you, you never truly ruled the universe out of the desire to own it, but rather, to better control it, like a bottle encasing water to keep it from spilling freely, out of control and wasted. When I first met you, you and I were children who knew nothing better."
Chrona is currently watching a young Ben fighting a young Charmcaster as Heatblast while the sorceress fired streams of water from the very floor, as Reinrassic nearby is baking more cookies.
"You were intelligent, yet was still a ten year old boy who I, at the time, thought was doing pointless heroics. I only ever viewed myself as getting what was necessary just so I could have revenge on Adwaita, thinking I'd be a hero. In the end..."
The scene Chrona was watching changed to a part where Ben helps Charmcaster stand up while in the background, Hex is unconscious.
"I was no better than him, who killed my father out of revenge for taking the throne. You, on the other hand, helped those in need without asking for a reward. You were a true hero... but reality ensued and..."
"I saw you watch your own friends and family die... I saw that day, we became a lot more alike... so when you took your vengeance on Vilgax, on that same day I took mine, and Adwaita was destroyed. I left Ledgerdomain as a forgotten wasteland, merely just a tank full of mana. I left it to follow you. You had no one else and I knew your pain. So when you decided to rule the universe to prevent anymore of this pointless wars, I vowed to you and myself, as your Vizier and your friend, I will follow you to the ends of the omniverse, for whatever people may call you in this journey... You are still a hero to me." Hope ended, staring at her master and acquaintance before taking a knee while his back is still turned.
The courtyard was silent for a mere moment... and one by one, the Lieutenants – no – Ben's only family left, all took a knee and bowed to their master. They have their reasons, but they all point to one thing...
Their master is the only who can save the universe, and prevent all their tragedies from happening to anyone else.
"As your servants, it is our priority and duty to serve you, no matter if it costs our life." Psyphon spoke for his fellow subjects.
With such a majestic group, Sunny could not help but admire the people that are working for her cousin. After a smile forms in her face, she turns to Ben and says, "I'll follow you too, Cuz. No matter what. Let's kick evil's ass."
As he gazed at the Vaxasaurian's planet that resembled the beautiful ball of earth and water that was once his homeworld, he turned around once more to face his subjects and outstretched his arms in pride.
"You are allowed to lay down your life for me, but know that even though I permit this, I will not allow any of you to die so easily or unnecessarily. As your emperor, I will make sure that you will all not die to whatever we see in other realities. We are the Kingdom of The Omnitrix, and we will rule the multiverse!" He yelled with such vigor and superiority, it is hard not to be intimidated by thid man. "Psyphon! Prepare our dimension jump gate. We leave immediately!"
"Absolutely, your highness." Psyphon responds.
In her excitement, Chrona is now copying what she's watching as she pretends to swing a pretend sword while watching Superior Ben and Sir George defeat Dagon once and for all. After injuring the demon god, Superior Ben orders Charmcaster to activate the power absorbing machine Psyphon had made and uses it to absorb Dagon into the machine. All that was left was Superior Ben and Sir George facing one another as the old man asks what Ben intends to do with the god's power, all while Charmcaster aims the machine at her master like she's about to give him unlimited power.
Unfortunately, her anticipation was halted when the door to the kitchen opens, and both her and Reinrassic VI, who had finished baking, turn to see Superior Ben and Sunny enter.
Ben noticed that the Time Child is watching his old adventures and, just by looking at the hologram projector, makes it shut down by itself. "Chrona, if you are finished eating, you must go to your new quarters and sleep." He commanded the child, who immediately steps off her stool and nods.
To her surprise however, Sunny suddenly floats towards her, who greets her with, "Hi there, little one!"
At first, Chrona seemed afraid as she slowly backed up... until the energy being noticed and, in an attempt to comfort the young girl, she suddenly flicks her fingers on her right hand and seemingly produces a flower from out of nowhere. The flower had 5 long petals similar to a tulip's that are magenta in color with pale yellow centers on the top face of the petal. The bottom face of the petals appears to be covered in small spines or thorns, as does the green stem of the plant. In the center of the petals the flower has a white mass with several white stamen extending from it.
The sight of the beautiful flower actually won back Chrona as her fear disappeared and actually approaches Sunny, yet still staring at the beautiful mana flower. When she reached for it, Sunny hands it over to the adorable girl who lovingly accepts it and holds onto it, a rare smile forming on her lips.
As the Anodite adult giggled while the Time Child continued staring at the magnificent mana flower, Superior Ben is watching them both from underneath his mask. As it covers his whole face, with very opaque green eye visors covering his ocular organs, it's hard to tell what sort of emotion he has behind that cover. Though, delving deep into his complicated mind... he mentally told himself...
This is the first time his heart skipped a beat in a very long time after seeing a child be so happy, herself rarely doing so in a long time from being held captive by his own father...
"Alright, let's go to your room, brush your teeth, and I'll tell you a bed time story so you can sleep, okay?" Sunny says to the young girl, who nods at her new aunt before the Anodite suddenly lifts up Chrona and places her on her shoulders to give the young one a ride to her new bedroom.
Leaving with a streak of pink energy stream, Sunny began singing a sing in an alien language on the way as Chrona bops her head from side to side in beat with the song.
Superior Ben then sat on a stool at the kitchen next to the counter while Reinrassic wipes the tip of a glass with a clean piece of cloth. "Tea, sir? Or coffee? Perhaps a stiff drink?" The Highbreed butler asked her boss.
"Tea, Reinrassic. Thank you." Ben responded as they both felt the Citadel shake before it enters beyond light speed level so they can enter another dimension.
"I overheard in my radio, sir, about your plans. I do not doubt how you would handle other worlds, master, but what happens to ours while we are away?" Reinrassic asked his master a proper and sensible question as pulls out a jar of powdered tea from a nearby drawer and then activates a stove while a kettle is placed on it so heat up the water within the kitchen appliance.
"I had already asked Psyphon that we return to our dimension five minutes from when we first left to prevent trouble." Superior Ben says to Reinrassic, who had just placed a few teaspoons of tea into his master's mug.
Although it's hard to tell because of the structure of his face, Reinrassic is actually confused, so he speaks his mind to say, "Why five minutes later, sir?"
"Because those people in movies or shows who say they'll return to exactly when and where they left is extremely unrealistic and stupid. If you returned to exactly where you came from from that same time, you would collide into your past self and explode and cause a temporal paradox." Ben explained.
After the kettle started whistling, signifying it had boiled the waterz Reinrassic turns off the stove and pours hot water into the mug of his lord. Placing a teaspoon into the hot water to mix it, Reinrassic nods and speaks, saying, "Truly, you are a genius, milord."
"Genius can only get you somewhere. The multiverse is too wide, too infinite and it is too much even for me. For al I know, there's an even smarter creature in each universe." Ben says while Reinrassic hands him his tea, accepting it with one hand. "Speaking of 'each universe', I do wonder..."
"What is the first world we'll see?"
With a little push, a pink haired boy and a blonde girl managed to finally kick down a large crate into the water while what seems to be a blue cat with angekic wings descend upon them. As the boy and his cat laugh, the blonde woman seems annoyed as newcomers arrive, with one, a boy with black hair and is seemingly topless, and the other is a red haired boy with armor on.
All of them have symbols tattooed onto a part of their bodies, all of which are the same design. This symbol is meant to be the insignia of the group they are a part of:
Fairy Tail.
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
— Jimmy Dean