Just before Ben's training began, Gwen happened to meet Worlock, a Thep Khufan whose arrangement of black bandages almost resembled a beard in design, strangely enough. His posture was not hunched, but upright, almost slightly intimidating. He almost reminded her of an old man from an anime who would train the main character in martial arts.
"Greetings, Gwen Tennyson," he bowed to the girl. "I hear you are already versed in magic, yes?"
As if timed, a Loboan servant in a gray robe appeared, holding Gwen's spellbook on a tray. "Your equipment, mistress?" He asked.
"Thank you," Gwen smiled as she accepted the book. Turning to Worlock, she explained, "I use this to control magic, sir." Checking the pages, Gwen figured he might not be able to read the text inside like she could. "Um, it works using spells in a certain language. I'm not sure if you know it."
"The language is not what matters, young one," Worlock explained, "It is the energy source that drives magic. It penetrates all matter, but only the sharpest and most enlightened of minds can control it. There are many ways; I have mine as you do yours," he paused, brandishing a staff and using his own elasticity to stretch out and draw a line between the two people, followed by a second behind him, and a third behind Gwen. Snapping it back, he challenged, "So, try and use yours to push me behind the farthest line!"
Consulting a spell she'd used multiple times to the point of memorization, Gwen held out the book and shouted, "Elota Objectia!" and a blast of blue energy flew from her hands and struck Worlock in the chest in a way that pushed him over the back line.
"Impressive," he stated while jumping back to his feet, "But now it is my turn!"
He shouted words that manifested as glowing green hieroglyphs, which actually translated as "Unleash the desert wind!" And true to word, Gwen found herself blasted by a tiny cyclone of wind, sand blown all over her clothes in the process as she fell backwards over her line.
He laughed, "Well, now that you know that we are not so different in combat magic, try defending yourself this time!"
The training exercise continued back and forth, each time with Gwen gaining experience in using her spells more quickly and efficiently, almost like the skill levels in a role-playing game, she thought.
Worlock impressed her with how powerful and fast he seemed to be with his own Egyptian magic. 'from the gods', Raht had said. She needed to look into that sometime.
During the break, Gwen asked the wizened Thep Khufan, "Wow, that's some skill you have, sir! Where did you learn from?"
"I cannot tell you exactly," he answered, "But it was a member of a special clan of magicians loyal to the throne. Long before pharaoh Rehk'Set took over. That clan is all but dead now, because of the Ectonurites."
"Interesting. Since we're all gearing up to fight that pharaoh, so I hear, maybe you could join us?"
"Oh, I will, child; do not worry. After all, why do you think I was asked to train you?" He snickered.
Down in the base, Max had been practicing at a long-distance range about 10 feet in length. Not as practical as a military range, but it served its purpose.
Max had been testing a number of weapons, but found a particular liking to a shotgun that fired balls of plasma. It made him think of a compact version of the bulky plasma cannon his grandson used to take down Vilgax.
Ja'Kaal had been occupied with firing arrows, tipped with a substance that made them ignite when fired, like the flaming arrows of medieval sieges. Marnor, likewise, was operating a heavy-looking grenade launcher, his strength augmented by the metal arm.
"Arrows and shotguns, never before have I seen such a strange mix," Max commented while switching plasma clips.
"Unlike your planet, we care about our past traditions, regardless of the innovation of today. Only fair to integrate both at once, is it not?" Ja'Kaal smirked while reaching for another arrow.
"I...see your point," the elderly human shrugged while re-aiming at a new target, the old ones having been replaced via robot arms.
"You are not a bad shot yourself," Marnor commented. "Where did you learn how to handle a firearm?"
"Long story short, I had a job that handled alien relations on Earth. Some were good, some were bad," Max described.
"Interesting," the heavy fighter remarked before returning to his target practice.
Following Ben's break, the boy followed Undyyne's directions to the pool area of the training center. He noticed quickly that while two conventional pools were occupied by a few swimmers, a larger, more natural pool, about the size of an Olympic type, was empty. Undyyne was waiting at the edge, completely bare. Fortunately, the telltale half-tail Ripjaws used when on land covering her groin hid anything sensitive.
"Hi, Undyyne, how's the air going for you?" Ben giggled.
She wanted to yell at the boy for that, but instead she cleared her throat and responded, "Cooler than the outside, but not by much. I wear that suit more for this climate than my own body, if you were wondering."
"Really? I can't last five minutes on land without water when I'm Ripjaws!"
"Maybe that's because you're really young. As we get older, we need water less and less," she chuckled, "Who knows, when you're older you might gain that same perk? If you don't get yourself killed in battle first."
Ben groaned, "You really think I'm that weak?" then, running up to a dividing wall between the natural pool and the others, he reached for the watch. Turning the faceplate to the form he wanted, Undyyne watched with interest as the human slowly transformed into his own Pisciss Volann persona. "Think again, dead-eye!" His raspy voice snarled.
"Oh, NOW we're talking!" Undyyne laughed, feeling the thrill of a challenge just before Ben dived into the water, quickly followed by her.
Down here, almost immediately, the two Pisciss Volanns sparred at each other with their claws, their legs fused into a tail for better movement. Not since that encounter with the so-called 'Yenaldooshi' werewolf had Ben directly fought against an alien that matched one of his own forms. Yet, because of the reason for it, he actually enjoyed doing it this time. Ben's heroic ego filled him with determination to beat her in some way, down here in the clean fresh water that no terrestrial swimming pool would have.
Undyyne was also having a blast with this special training stage. Instead of battling a weak, vulnerable human being, now she was up against something of her own size and species. All that mattered then was to see how tough her opponent actually was. Sure, in this case it was only temporary, but Undyyne wanted to savor this moment for as long as she could.
The warrior reared back and slammed Ripjaws into a wall, holding him there with her raw strength. He reached out, grabbed Undyyne by the arms, and threw her across to the far side of the pool. They repeated at this for some time, slashing, swimming, and trying to outdo each other, until finally the Omnitrix timed out once again, forcing both of them to come up for air.
It so happened that time ran out just minutes before the time on the schedule, and Neferti happened to be waiting by the pool, notably battered from her own melee training.
"Well, friends, having fun?" She teased.
"You bet, that was awesome!" Ben agreed, noticing his robe was gone.
"Well, you'd best get dressed. The briefing starts in a few minutes."
Neferti brought the newly clothed kids and Undyyne back into the base. Gwen thought she heard footsteps echoing in the hall, and thought the security system would pick up something, but it didn't. The door opened without incident.
"So, how was your training, Gwen?" She asked with curiosity.
"Brutal, but I actually had fun with it," Gwen answered.
Fatigued from the brutal training session, Ben stopped for a shower in one of the restrooms inside the training area, though it took some time to understand the controls – and he had to avert his gaze from other aliens in the public area with him.
Drying off using a sliding torus that effortlessly bathed his skin with warm air, evaporating the water in one motion, Ben dressed back into his old, newly cleaned clothes and made for the briefing room, which had already been packed with pretty much everyone else in the base. His cousin and grandfather had also arrived before him.
"Ah, Ben. Good, you're just in time," Ja'Kaal smiled.
"Actually, sir, he has missed seven minutes-" Raht started, but Ja'Kaal hushed him.
Ben took his seat just as the lights dimmed and the projector flared back to life. This time, it showed a map of the entire stretch of land. With a baton, Raht pointed to the city in the south. "Mos Isis is here, as you can see, and due to the great distance and climate, the only way to the pharaoh's sanctum is by hovercraft. The river passes by both locations, but boat travel isn't fast enough for this mission."
"Furthermore," Ja'Kaal continued as he tapped it twice, enlarging the image of the palace and showing red icons surrounding it, "Our scouts reported the pharaoh having built a blockade around his palace several hours ago." He tapped a button on the remote, showing images taken with long-range military cameras, probably using drones.
Raht elaborated, "So far we've been attempting to determine a weakness in this blockade, but his army seems to have been prepared for multiple combat scenarios."
"Like what, sir?" Max asked.
Ja'Kaal flipped to another image, taken closer to the palace, but grainy with pixels, as if it was taken just after someone shot the camera. "From the looks of these troops outside the palace, they appear to have erected a force shield around the perimeter, and dispatched quite muscular troops, even a few Petrosapiens."
Ben's eyebrows twitched hearing that alien name, knowing he had that in his watch.
"Worse, we can also see snipers on the roof with plasma carbines, and what appears to be robed Thep Khufan mages."
"In other words, they've prepared for everything possible?" Ben asked, almost defeated.
"Everything except your watch, my friend." Ja'Kaal smirked.
"What do you mean?" the boy queried.
"We had said yesterday that the Omnitrix gives us the means to defeat the pharaoh," Raht declared. "And the reason behind that is this: Neither Pharaoh Rehk'Set nor his guards can predict which alien you will use, which means it is literally impossible for the troops to defend against all of the aliens in your device."
"In other words, Ben," Gwen stated, "You're the resistance's wild card."
"I like the sound of that," Ben smiled as he leaned back in his chair.
"So what's the plan of attack?" Undyyne asked, eager for a fight.
Ja'Kaal tapped the remote again, flipping back to the holo-map, and hit another button to play a simulated combat scenario, "Using the data gathered from yesterday's events, some of it provided by scribe Elastamun, we have compiled a sneak attack plan."
Raht explained, "We will all fly together in every vehicle we have, but under cloaking devices to evade detection," he continued as icons of ships flew across the simulated desert.
"Then, using my flagship," Ja'Kaal continued, "Ben and two troops will go down to quietly penetrate the blockade and cripple it from within. Once that is done, we will all uncloak and attack."
"What about the pharaoh himself?" Elastamun asked.
"We will have to corner him. The palace is cavernous and labyrinthian," Ja'Kaal reminded him.
"In addition," Raht explained, "we will send in a squad to search the palace for any sort of antidote to the disease. Then, should we find it, we'll bring it aboard one of our crafts to distribute it via the atmosphere."
"And that'll cure the dying infants?" Elastamun inquired.
"We hope, nothing is certain at this point," Ja'Kaal pointed this out, "We are still missing information on how this sickness affected them in the first place, or why humans somehow keep them from dying."
Neferti spoke up, "I just want my family to survive."
"Now, any further questions?"
Max asked for one final detail, "If you don't mind, have you worked out how to get us back to Earth after this?"
Elastamun chuckled, "That is easy! The same way I brought you here: Through the stargate below the temple. I would wager that the pharaoh did not know it was tuned to your planet after all this time."
All of a sudden the projector started buzzing an alert. Tapping the remote again, Ja'Kaal noticed a huge blob sliding towards the river. A neon green line extended from the amorphous shape, ending in a text cube displaying an analysis of what it was.
The P.A. computer dictated, "WARNING: High wind patterns detected from west, Class-three sandstorm is imminent."
"Blast," Ja'Kaal grumbled. Clearing his throat, he turned around and explained, "All right, slight change in plans: We will have to wait for this sandstorm to pass, otherwise flying at this hour would likely be lethal. I will alert you all when the weather is safe. In the meantime, you may do what you wish."
Ben and Gwen were happy to hear that, both worn out from hours of intensive training.
Following the briefing, Ben stopped by the library. Grandpa Max was there, talking with Raht.
The green-hatted officer turned and noticed the boy, "Yes, Ben, what is it?"
"I...I wanted to tell you something. Both of you," he muttered as he walked towards the two men.
"Whaddaya want to tell us?" his grandpa cheerfully asked.
"I'm not sure if you're the right person to talk to about this, but..."
"Well, what, Ben? You can tell either of us anything," Raht tried to assure him.
"Okay," Ben took a deep breath and admitted, "I had a nightmare last night. A bad dream."
"Again? How bad was it?" Max wondered. He turned to Raht and explained, "Time to time he gets these dreams after fighting crime, and sometimes they actually happen in real life."
"After you told that story of how you guys were controlled by the Ec...Ecto...um, ghost aliens, I dreamed I was there when everything went bad, and then..." he stammered, trying to find the right words, "Their leader – what we call 'Ghostfreak' burst out of my watch and tried to take over my body. And the worst part is, he really is still in there," Ben gestured to the Omnitrix in a frantic, pained voice. Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. "We killed him, but it picked up his DNA at the last moment, just before Elastamun found us in Egypt."
"But why would he want your body in particular?" Raht asked with curiosity.
"He said he wants to be 'whole' again, and he needs my body to do that. Probably because right now he's just a sample. A living, thinking sample."
"My goodness, that is very bad news," Raht realized, "Ja'Kaal should have taken this matter more seriously!"
"What're you going to do, Ben?" his grandpa asked, trying to rationalize this.
"I don't know. I'm just...scared," Ben sighed, "And...there's something else to this, Raht."
"What would that be?" the tactician queried.
"This watch isn't as perfect of a weapon as Ja'Kaal thinks it is," he tapped the faceplate again, the device still idle. "There's a glitch or bug or...I don't know, an AI that sometimes changes out whatever form I wanted to have, against my will. What if on my next chance to use this, I'd turn into Ghostfreak? That actually happened a few times, and once, that's how he broke free."
Raht could feel a horrible thought coming, but Ben answered before he could say it.
The boy bowed his head, shuffled his feet a little, and rambled, "Maybe this is something the pharaoh wants? Or maybe the god Set? I don't know why, but it feels like that during this battle of ours, by some random chance or someone's will, I'll turn into this...monster, and I might not come back again," A realization hit him, "I...He might use me to enslave you all over again!" Ben truly started crying now. "I'm not your savior, I'm the angel of death. Like Unicron, Galactus, Ego, whatever those evil cosmic forces are, one of them's in my watch, waiting to body-snatch me!"
"Don't say that, Ben!" Grandpa Max pleased. "We'll get through this, whatever it takes! Come here," Ben stepped over to his grandfather who embraced him with a warm, comforting hug.
Even without a visible mouth, Raht smiled at seeing how much this human cared for his grandson, then he suggested a secondary plan to the mission, "Listen, I'll talk to Ja'Kaal; I'll take Gwen and bring her to the temple with me. Maybe there we can find some answers as to what's happening here and why this situation is affecting all three of you so much. The Gods may have been diminished from our culture, but belief is one thing no selfish being can truly destroy."
"Thanks, that's very kind of you," Max approved of that plan.
The base's computer beeped on the intercom again, "Attention: Weather patterns settling. Estimated time to safe levels: twenty standard minutes."
As Raht walked toward the door, he cautioned, "You'd best ready yourselves for the launch, everyone will be flying today." They noticed Raht holding one gauntlet in front of his face, but the door shut before they could see what he was doing with it.
"Well, you heard the man," Max asserted himself. "Feeling any better?"
"Yeah, thanks, Grandpa," Ben nodded while holding Max's hand as they stepped out of the library.
"I know how you feel, Ben; I really do," his grandpa tried to assure the boy, "We've been through all this in just a day, it's normal for this much...action to rattle a guy. But trust me, everything's gonna be all right in the end. And besides, look at the bright side: Now we've got friends fighting this battle with us!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ben nodded, still sniffling from his crying fit.