Lucy

"Headache, headache!" Grunted Ben as he dug himself out of a pile of scrap. "What am I doing in a pile of garbage? And why does this feel so familiar?" Pulling himself to his feet and dusting himself off, he scanned around for any signs of life, only finding a vast field of scrap stretching on for over a mile, stopping at the edge of Undertown. "Rook? You anywhere around here?" He called out for his friend. Getting no response, he activated the Omnitrix, slamming down the dial to turn into Wildmutt. While Ben wasn't sure exactly what possessed him to turn into this old favorite, turning into aliens when dealing with any unusual or major problem was so second nature that he didn't even question it.

Setting about sniffing around for any answers, his radar-like hearing and keen sense of smell had difficulty working through the stench of refuse, but he managed to keep his head on straight and pick up a familiar scent. It wasn't Rook, but it was familiar enough even through the rusted piles of junk for him to track. Unknown to the searching Vulpimancer however, as he was tracking the scent, he himself was also being tracked.

Sniffing and rooting through the metal and slag, Ben frequently needed to shake out his nostrils. The unintelligible canine-like alien was reluctant to admit, even to himself, that searching through the surrounding stink of scrap was slow going. He couldn't place the scent he was tracking, but he knew he'd know it when he found it. Oddly enough, the scent he was tracking seemed to be coming from several locations at once. One of which, he noticed, was currently attempting to sneak up on him from behind. Hearing a blaster being primed, he jumped out of the way just as a laser bolt blasted the ground where he'd been standing. Getting ready to pounce, he snarled at his attacker.

"Well, well, well." Psyphon remarked smugly as he stepped out from his hiding place. "I came here looking to scrounge up a few useable parts here and there, but I never thought I'd run into you, Tennyson!" He grinned maniacally as he leveled his wrist blasters at Ben, who, much to his shock and surprise, simply relaxed and scratched himself with his hind leg. "Do you not see me with the blasters?" Psyphon asked in confusion, only to receive the Vulpimancer equivalent of the 'seriously' look. "Right, Vulpinmancer, totally blind." He realized dumbly, before snapping back to attack mode. "Either way, this is the end for you Tennyson! Once and for all!"

Ben, for his part, just yawned and curled up into a sleeping position, barely paying Psyphon any mind. This only served to baffle and infuriate the shark-like alien even further.

"Will you pay attention to me?!" Psyphon demanded angrily, stomping his feet in a tantrum. "Seriously, it's like you don't even see me as a threat! Is that all I am to you?! A nonthreatening, pathetic, incompetent, waste of space?! Am I still just Vilgax's toady in your eyes?!" Barely getting another eyeless 'seriously' look, Psyphon slapped his face in exasperation. "Fine! Am I still just Vilgax's toady in your ears, nose, and/or heat sensors?" He asked bitterly. Suddenly, his eyes snapped wide open in an epiphany look, slapping his face again. "Just my luck that you had to choose the one alien who can see through my tricks." 'Psyphon' remarked in a feminine voice before melting into a humanoid mass of dark-purple sludge. "And you can't even really 'see' at all!" Lucy huffed, irritated that her ruse had been revealed, causing Ben to chuckle at her misfortune.

"I even went the extra mile to outfit myself with the same weapons as the real Psyphon." Lucy huffed as she held out the wrist blasters she'd fired at him before. "And yet you just had to go and ruin the surprise training exercise by sniffing through my disguise."

Shrugging his shoulders as best he could, Ben gave Lucy a big sloppy lick, before realizing his mistake and spitting out globs of organic putty in disgust.

"Ahhaahahahaaa*snork*ahhahehaho*sherkt*!" Lucy laughed as Ben tried desperately to get the taste of mud out of his mouth. "Oh, Ben! You know just how to crack me up! Ahhaahehohe*snork*ahhahehahahe!"

Grumbling in protest, Wildmutt rolled around in the mud for a few second, confusing Lucy. At least he did, until he shook himself dry, getting huge globs of non-Sludgepuppy mud mixed in with her own.

"Hey! Cut it out, you jerk!" Lucy protested through her laughter as she shielded her face. "Do you know how much getting regular mud mixed in with my own body tickles? It's like a bunch of butterflies fluttering through my body, and not in a good way-hahaheheheha*snorkt*hahehahahe!"

Chuckling once his target was thoroughly dirtied, Ben walked over and pat her on the head. Chuckling at her pouting face, he quickly dodged a tentacle lashing, wheezing/laughing further at her failure.

"You're just lucky I'm winded after dividing myself into so many bodies." Lucy huffed stubbornly. "If all the parts of my body were together, you wouldn't stand a chance."

Quirking his head in confusion, Ben sat down and tapped his front paw against the ground repeatedly.

"Oh right, I guess you don't know, do you cuz?" Lucy remarked calmly. "Sludgepuppies can divide themselves into clones. Not like Echo Echo or that cute little scamp Ditto though." She gushed as she scratched Ben behind the ear, causing his hind leg to involuntarily thump. "When we divide ourselves, we divide our mass, strength, and even our focus, and we can never really go higher than four or five bodies. We also need to put ourselves back together in an hour or so, otherwise things can get... weird." She said eerily.

Not knowing what she meant by 'weird' Ben cocked his head slightly and briefly lifted Lucy's head off her shoulders before putting it back.

"They start acting all loopy," Lucy explained calmly. "Random shifting, independent thought and movement. Worst case scenario, I've got a fully living and independent clone walking around out there, and I can never get them back in."

Ben's jaw dropped in shock, and then he quickly started sniffing around, trying to track down the other pieces of his distantly related cousin.

"Oh, don't worry so much about it, cuz!" Lucy reassured him as she brushed his fur, making it muddy in the process. "I can track my copies easy-peasy. I have to control them remotely after all. Not all of us can make independent clones, after all." Taking a calm pose with her arms out, Lucy began humming. This went on for several seconds before her eyes opened in shock and confusion. "This isn't right. I can't call back my copies." She said worriedly. "I can't even sense where they are! Ben," She grabbed the Vulpimancer in a panic. "Something is seriously wrong! I need you to help me find myself, fast!"

Nodding in understanding, Ben scooped Lucy up and dropped her on his back. Taking just a moment to get her scent, he rushed off in the direction of the nearest matching scent, hoping he could get Lucy back together in time.


Lucy Number 2

"Hurry up Ben! I'm getting close enough to feel myself!" Lucy ushered him on, grossing Ben out to the point of gagging with her poor choice of words. "Okay, maybe I could have worded that a little better," She apologized sheepishly. "But this is a part of my body we're talking about here. I need to pull myself together, or I'm gonna end up the single mother of triplets." Ben abruptly skidded to a halt, sending Lucy flying off his back and into a pile of trash. "I know that's gross, why do you think I'm in such a rush to reabsorb my body?"

Shaking his head, Ben pointed just beyond the pile of trash Lucy landed in. Peering around the pile, Lucy saw why he had really stopped.

"Oh yeah," Muttered Lucy as she took in the jerky imitation of Aggregor wobbling around in a clearing. "I suppose finding a fake version of an Osmosian who nearly took over the whole universe would get the same nonverbal reaction as the mention of teenage motherhood."

Nodding, Ben rushed in to make a grab at 'Aggregor', who just happened to flail his arms in a way to strike the teen hero with his weapon, giving him a nasty shock and sending him flying.

"Ooohh!" Lucy winced as she ran over to help Ben up. "I forgot to mention that all of my duplicates have fully functioning replicas of the bad guy's weapons. Sorry about that, cuz."

Grumbling mockingly, Ben scooped Lucy up onto his back again.

"Hey! Who are you calling a scatterbrain?!" Lucy asked irritably as she kicked Ben in the sides. Ben, for his part, only gave her another 'really' look. "I know you can't talk when you're like this, but it helps me to put words to your body language." She explained calmly, getting a snort from Ben as he kicked up some dust like a bull about to charge.

Rushing into battle again, this time Ben had the sense to jump over the flailing weapon before turning around and slashing the Sludgepuppy construct in half.

"Ole~!" Cheered Lucy before breaking into laughter and applauding. "Good job, Ben! That's one down, and two to go!" Dismounting her distant cousin, she reabsorbed the two halves of herself Ben had taken out, growing bigger before willing herself back to a more manageable size. "So, where to next? I'm really looking forward to seeing what trouble you can get us into next!" She asked eagerly.

Shaking his head despondently, Ben got a quick sniff of the air around him, and pinpointed the next Lucy Clone. As he rushed off to the source of the scent however, he failed to notice the shadowy figure observing them from afar.


Lucy 3

"Thanks again for helping me round up my clones, Ben." Lucy said to her mount as they rushed through the garbage. "I really mean it. I don't know how I'd be able to take care of so many babbling newborns. I mean, if it was just one kid, I'd be able to handle it. I happen to have very strong maternal instincts, you know." She boasted with her head held high.

Ben just shook his head, unwilling to respond to her statement even if he were able to do so verbally.

"Are you saying I couldn't be a successful teen mother?" Lucy asked irately as she pounded his back. "Because I could definitely raise a kid better than you could. I happen to have two years of babysitting experience under my belt, and I know I could balance work and a kid. I'm not one of those layabouts who can't take care of my own kids!"

Coming to an abrupt halt, Ben yanked Lucy off his back and growled at her menacingly.

"Sorry about that," Lucy melted, literally. "Dividing myself into copies makes me a little moody. That's why I don't do it too often, it just makes it a lot tougher to get into character."

Accepting her explanation with a grunt and a nod, Ben placed Lucy back on top of him, before taking a moment to regain his bearings. Withing moments, Ben had regained the scent, and come upon a clearing where an imitation of Khyber was viciously flailing his arms about. Not appreciating the irony, Ben glanced up at Lucy with what could only be defined as an eyeless glare.

"Sorry about that," Lucy apologized sheepishly. "But how was I supposed to know that you'd turn into an alien that this guy hunts by the pack?"

Pointing up at Lucy, and then at her clone, before marching in place for a moment, then handing her the replica of Aggregor's pole-arm, his rider was able to get the gist of what he was saying.

"Ooh, a joust!" Lucy hissed excitedly as she grabbed the spear and held it out like a lance. "Let's get medieval on this guy." She remarked eagerly as she morphed her body into a suit of armor. "Onward, mighty steed!" She commanded with a kick to his sides.

Chuckling slightly at how much she was getting into character, Ben charged forward. Then a brief slideshow of three action scenes that showed Wildmutt and Lucy fighting the Khyber imitation who managed to get a few lucky hits in. Then the Khyber imitation fell to the ground in a puddle of mud.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked worriedly as she brushed Ben's fur to help ease the pain from the fight. "It feels like I just blacked out for a second."

Ben just shrugged his shoulders before grabbing Lucy and dropping her at her clone's remains.

"Yeah, I guess sometimes when you're doing the hero thing, you can just zone out and win before you know it." She seconded before reabsorbing the puddle that was part of her body. "Alright, just one more to suck back up and that's it for the day." Pausing as she took notice of Ben scratching behind his ears, Lucy asked. "How long have you been Wildmutt for? Shouldn't you have changed back by now?"

Ben just shrugged his shoulders, then lying down so Lucy could mount him again.

"Does this feel weird to you at all?" Lucy asked as she got on Ben. "Me riding you, looking for a little lost clone. It feels weird to me, like we're a pair of crazy lovebirds from the 70s looking for our illegitimate lovechild while we're baked out of our minds."

Glancing at Lucy in concern, Ben tried to shake the hormone addled thoughts from his mind.

"Like I said before, dividing and merging makes me loopy." Lucy shrugged as Ben ran in the direction of the last clone. "Some Sludgepuppies have been known to get addicted to it, with terrible side effects." She said eerily, before going back to her usual cheerful self. "Now let's go find our baby!"

Ben could only sigh and hope that Lucy would go back to normal as soon as she got all her pieces back together. She was weird enough under normal circumstances, but it was a pleasant kind of weird. This was getting kind of uncomfortable.

Unknown to them both, the shadowed figure was getting closer, and a set of razor sharp teeth could be seen chuckling maniacally.


Lucy 4

"I feel funny talking to you," Lucy remarked as they approached the location of the last clone. "Not funny in a bad way, just funny like my insides are full of worms. I get all goofy, and tongue-tied, and start to babble. Can I scratch your belly? I'd really like to scratch your belly." She gushed as she stretched her arms out and started doing just that, eliciting contented giggles from Ben before he came to a screeching halt and glared eyelessly at her. "What? To much?" She asked sheepishly.

Ben, having had enough of her extra bubbly behavior for one day, stuck out his arm and strictly pointed downward.

"Yeah, I guess I have been a bit of a headache today, haven't I?" Lucy admitted casually and she dismounted. "But you've just been such a good sport about it, cuz!" She gushed as she wrapped Ben in a hug around his neck. "Don't be too nice, or I might start getting a school girl crush on you! Ahhaaahehahea*snort*ahehahahee!"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Ben couldn't decide how much of Lucy's borderline flirting was genuine, and how much was just the division talking. Deciding to ignore the growing feeling of dread in his stomach, he marched off to where the last clone was.

"I'm pretty sure my last clone wasn't anything too threatening." Lucy assured Ben. "I can't remember for sure because I'm still a little cuckoo, but it's just one clone, so I'm sure it can't be that bad!" She said confidently.

Strolling into another clearing, Ben's thermal sensors picked up a familiar looking shape, causing him to send another eyeless glare at Lucy.

"Oooh, Vilgax." Lucy winced, before she put on a reassuring smile. "Oh well, at least it's just a weaponless clone that can't even fight right, right?" She remarked confidently. Confidence which soon turned to shock when Ben got blasted by a huge laser beam.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Sludgepuppy filth!" Hissed Psyphon, the real Psyphon, as he stepped out from the shadows. "I've placed a control device on this replica, and outfitted it with all the weapons and powers Vilgax gained from his conquest of 10 worlds, before they were stripped of him after his defeat and brief imprisonment." He gloated as Ben struggled to get up. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to track all of them down, but it's going to be oh so worth it in the long run. Just imagine; a replica of Vilgax, with all of his old powers and weapons, totally obedient to me, acting as my puppet while I move on to bigger and greater things, and no one will know that I'm the one really calling the shots!"

"You're forgetting one thing you chocolate dipped banana elephant," Lucy slurred as she wobbled on her feet, drawing confused stares from Psyphon, Ben, and even the Vilgax replica. "We know all about your little scheme, so why don't you just give up now, and save yourself the trash kicking you're gonna get."

Nodding in agreement, Ben slapped the Omnitrix dial on his collar, but to no effect. Trying again several times, he was met with failure each time.

"Aww, is your precious Omnitrix not working right?" Psyphon sneered. "Probably because the jamming device I used to block your control over your replicas is also preventing the Omnitrix from changing you into anything else. Now then, where was I? Oh, that's right," He sneered as he took out a game controller shaped device, inputting commands for the fake Vilgax to follow as he hid behind his new toy. "Tying up some loose ends."

"My nostrils whisper to me!" Shrieked Lucy as Ben picked her up and ran circles around the Vilgax imitation, trying to look for an opening. "My baby is addicted to video games, but he's no match for me." She giggled, giving Ben an idea.

Taking advantage of the rudimentary level of control Psyphon had over the clone, Ben bobbed and weaved between the laser blasts from the eyes and wrist of the duplicate. Throwing Lucy high into the air, she flew over her clone's head and landed on Psyphon, knocking the controller from his hands.

"In the name of Hao, Midora, Sasuke, Anakin, and every other character that the writer wants up to sympathize with but we never will because they're irredeemable jerks, I stab at thee!" Lucy declared as she landed a wicked headbutt to Pshphon's gut, knocking the wind from the arrogant gangster's lungs.

Chucking at Lucy's weird battle cry, Ben casually strolled over to the duplicate, reached into its muddy body, dug around for a bit, and pulled out a mechanical device, crushing it on the ground, causing the clone to melt.

"Pool party!" Cheered Lucy as she dove into the puddle, coming out with a mighty roar as a full-sized Sludgepuppy.

"You think you've won, don't you?" Psyphon scowled as he got up and activated every weapon he had on him. "I still have my arsenal, you Tennyson is still weakened and stuck as a common Vulpimancer. You're no match for me!"

"I got this one, cuz." Lucy smiled confidently as her eyes started glowing. "Think of it as my thanks for helping me pull myself together." With that, she fired laser beams from her eyes, scorching Psyphon to a crisp instantly.

"In hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to implant all of my master's power into a Plumber in the hopes I could brainwash it into doing my bidding." Psyphon said before coughing out some soot and passing out.

"I don't know," Lucy mused before switching back to her more compact form. "I think it's gonna do wonders for my career. Ahaha*snort*ahehehaheha*snirkt*ahaha!"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Ben could already tell that her new powers were gonna make his distant cousin even more of a handful. Not that he minded, he was just worried for Gwen.

"Oh, who asked you, cutie?" Lucy huffed, completely aware of what she'd said, causing Ben's jaw to drop.


Conclusion

"I'm glad we finally found and disabled that jamming device." Ben remarked as some Plumbers ushered Psyphon into a squad car. "I think being Wildmutt for so long was starting to give me fleas." He grunted as he struggled to scratch his back.

"Don't sell yourself short," Lucy smiled as she slapped Ben playfully on the back, causing him to wince in pain from her new super strength. "I think you look good in fur."

"News flash Lucy, you're not loopy from division anymore." Ben groaned as he rubbed the kinks out of his shoulders. "You can stop flirting with me now."

"What if I don't want to stop?" Lucy batted her eyes at Ben as she leaned in close. "You were so nice and patient with me when I was acting cuckoo, I think I've really got a crush on you now." She said before kissing Ben teasingly on the cheek, sending him into a blushing fit.

"Seriously, Lucy?!" Ben asked in exasperation as he wiped the slight trace of sludge off his face. "Do you have any idea just how many girls I have to deal with on a regular basis are already crushing on me? Believe me, I've completely lost track by this point."

"I don't mind the competition." Lucy smirked as she wrapped Ben in a vice-like hug, squeezing the air out of his lungs. "It'll just make it that much more fun! Ahahahehaa*snort*ahahehahahee!"

"Great, now can you please stop choking me?" Ben said breathlessly.