Hey, y'all! I'm back with another chapter for the new 'season' of We're All Monsters! As I really have nothing to say, I'll just sum up what's happened last time.
Charmcaster has been reunited with Ben, and the two have gone on a suicidal mission to rescue and recover Gigi's sister, Whisp, before Zs'Skayr's forces can her. Upon return, Ben used the first of his 13 wishes to restore Gigi's sight, and she couldn't be happier. But now Ben has gone and wished for the near impossible: to raise the dead back to life. Can't it be done?
Find out here!
As always, comment, review, suggest, and request below!
Onward!
"I wish Lagoona and all my friends who died for the Rebellion were alive!" Ben wished.
The Grant sister's eyes widened upon hearing the words pass over Ben's lips. No one, not a single mortal, had ever wished for something so big, something so huge it could change the course of history. And no one had ever wished for something so selfless. But of course, certain rules prevented Ben's wish from coming true.
"Ben? We, uh, can't do that." Gigi practically whispered.
"Not right away, anyway." Whisp added when she saw Ben's expression droop. Ben cocked an eyebrow and Whisp sighed with slight annoyance, patting the side of Gigi's bed for him to sit down. Ben complied as Whisp and Gigi began to explain.
"As you know, Ben, we genies are limited to a set of rules," Gigi began.
"But while no rules prevent us from raising the dead, we have limitations." Whisp finished.
"We can resurrect the bodies and repair any muscle, tissue, or skeletal structure," Gigi continued.
"But we can not truly make them live again. Not without their souls." Whisp completed the sentence.
"In order for you to fulfill your wish, you have to travel to the Land of the Dead, the Underworld," Gigi went on.
"And ask the ruler, Hades himself, for their souls back. He is not very cooperative to others desires." Whisp told Ben. The Omnitrix wearer's face a sea of emotions, not quite a continuous and single one that either of the sisters could pick out. He seemed to be happy, sad, angry, enraged, disappointed, and for some reason or other, hungry. Hos dark green eyes looked like ivy whirlpools that one could get sucked in and drown in if they weren't too careful, which was why Gigi was currently trying to avoid Ben's face.
"In that case, I'm going in." he finally said.
"What!?" Skurd yelped from the Omnitrix. "You can't be serious, dear boy!"
"He's serious." Whisp told the Slimebiote. "And if he's not changing his mind, then we better send him on his merry way!"
"He can't go alone," Gigi reminded her sister. "To be alone in the Underworld, when one is still alive, is just asking for death."
"Then may I be of assistance?" Spectra's voice asked from above. Everyone tilted their heads skyward to see Spectra's head poking out of the ceiling and staring down at them all with her wide purple eyes. She eventually slipped her entire body through the ceiling and into the room, opting to hover a few feet above Ben's right shoulder while they continued to talk.
"Why should you come, dear girl?" Skurd inquired.
"Are you blind, Snot Rocket? She's a ghost!" Ben reminded him. "If anyone knows their way around the Land of the Dead, it's the dead themselves."
"True, true." Skurd mused. "Hard to believe you actually came up with that idea, what with your puny mind." This little remark earned him a quick whack on the railing of the bed.
"You need at least one more person, Ben." Gigi interrupted the glare off between Ben and Skurd, both of them looking at her and making a silent truce to continue the argument later. "Three is a very powerful number, and you'll need all the power and allies you can get when your in the Underworld."
"I know some people," said Spectra, a pleasant smile crossing her face at the idea. "I think I can persuade them to help."
"I'm not gonna have to fight them, am I?" Ben asked.
"No, no. You shouldn't have to," Spectra mumbled. "But a lot can change in a century or two."
"Great," Ben groaned. "So who's the other lucky person to come with me on this mission of suicide?" The teen monsters thought it over for a few moments, most them leaning towards Skelita or Twyla, considering the Underworld was both dark and full of dead people. Their answer however, soon came when Frankie came limping into the med bay, dragging her left leg with her; Ben was immediately alarmed at the site.
"What happened?" he demanded.
Frankie smiled and rolled her mismatched eyes as she sat down on the bed to Gigi's left and pulled out a small sewing kit from underneath it, pulling out a needle and some black thread. "Stitching came lose during training," was her reply as she jammed the sharp point of the needle into the mint green skin around her thigh; she didn't even flinch once as she redid the stitching on her amputated leg, quietly humming to herself as she worked.
"What're you guys talking about?" she asked when she finally noticed Whisp hovering over Gigi's head, her legs traded away for a long, pink tail of vapor that dissipated a few feet below her. The genie smiled and gave a wave, Frankie blinking and giving a stunned wave back before giving Ben a questioning look.
"Long story short, we found Whisp, she is currently another of my many ghoulfriends, and she and Gigi are granting me an impossible wish at the moment," Ben explained. "Any more questions?"
Frankie blinked as she processed the information. "Um, yeah. Since when did you get 13 wishes? And what is said impossible wish?"
"Answers in order you asked questions: when I first rescued her from Zs'Skayr, and bringing the dead back to life. I presume you want to see Lagoona and Cleo again?"
"Wait, what? Lagoona and Cleo are what!?" Frankie cried, dropping her needle and thread to the floor. "They're dead? For how long!?" she demanded, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. Ben pulled her into a hug, not bothering to answer; it wasn't important at the moment.
"Me and Spectra are going on a mission to the Underworld to get their souls while Gigi and Whisp resurrect their bodies," Ben told her. "Do you want to come too?"
Frankie sniffed and gave a smile, pulling herself away from Ben. "Definitely. Anything to get away from my dad." she smiled. Ben nodded and turned to the Grant sisters. "Looks like we're set. So, uh, where is the entrance to the Underworld anyway?"
"It's normally found in Greece," Whisp replied. "However, there is a short cut around here. Actually pretty close to my old cave, now that I think about it."
"Great," Ben groaned. "More flying."
"Are you sure this is the place?" Terraspin asked Spectra. With Frankie currently riding on his dome-shaped shell, the Geochelone Aerio and Spectra were currently hovering over a massive hole in the ground. Actually, massive didn't begin to describe the huge gap in the earth's crust. The hole was easily wider than cruise ship, looking big enough for even Way Big to jump down into with his arms stretched out wide and not even being able to the touch the opposite sides until much, much, much, much farther down. It was a wonder Zs'Skayr hadn't found the gaping monstrosity before them.
Then again, the gaping void was cleverly hidden in a secret valley at the center of a massive mountain range that one could only enter through by air travel; the sides of the mountains went up at a near vertical angle, their pointed tops poking through the heavy blanket that blocked out the sunlight from above.
"Positive." came the reply. Without another word, the ghost swooped downwards, both flying and falling at the same time. Terraspin sighed and angled his shell downwards, Frankie screaming and whooping with delight as they zoomed down into the bowls of the earth, the dim light from above quickly vanishing and plunging all three of them in pitch, black darkness. This however, wasn't you're regular old darkness; this was an advanced kind of darkness, a darkness so thick and black that it felt like it was somehow wedging and squeezing its way into every curve and corner of your body, somehow finding an opening and getting into your very soul.
"Lets shed some light on the situation, shall we?" Skurd asked as he stretched himself out over Terrapsin's head, blinding him for a split second before hard, black magma rocks raced over his scaly skin, magma seeping into the cracks and wild, crackling flames suddenly ignited on his head, effectively filling the black void with some degree of light.
"And you say my battle quips are bad." Terraspin grumbled.
After what seemed like hours, maybe even years of traveling down the gaping hole's gullet, they came to a final landing, descending down on a patch of fine, black sand that shifted under their feet when they moved; the surface was no longer visible, they were so far down. Terraspin came to a stop, landing on his two stubby legs and letting Frankie climb off his shell before slapping the Omnitrix symbol on his carapace with a flipper, a green light washing over him as he was briefly transformed back into human form and then injected with another alien's DNA. His skin started to harden, becoming unbearably hot and solid as rock. It suddenly split apart, floating like bath toys on a rapidly appearing magma sea. Hot, molten lava swirled and pushed it's way through the cracks and crevices of his skin as Ben's bones literally melted away. His hair began to burn, smoke curling lightly off it until it burst into flames, causing Frankie to yelp in surprise. His fingers disappeared altogether as white hot lava covered them and solidified into a sort of gelatin like substance. His toes melted into two digits that resembled claws as his eyes turned bright yellow.
With a grunt, the Pyronite glowed a little brighter, lighting up the hole they had fallen through; there were no other openings in the solid rock all around them, everywhere they looked was the flesh of the earth seemingly jeering at them for having made the long journey for nothing. Spectra ignored the exasperated look on Heatblast's face as she floated over to a section of the rock wall and put her ear to it, lightly knocking on the rock with her knuckle. She moved on to another section of rock, repeating the process as Heatblast and Frankie watched curiously. Finally, on the third try, Spectra's hand went through the coagulated stone, as if it were an illusion of some kind. Spectra silently gestured for her friends to follow her as she simply seemed to phase through the walls of the pit.
Nervously, Heatblast and Frankie followed, believing Spectra to be pulling a trick of some kind with her ghostly physiology. They quickly stopped believing in the foolish idea when they easily passed through the rock wall, a slight sucking sound meeting their ears as they walked through a portal of some kind and into a realm beyond the mortal world's reach.
It was dark to say the least, most of the light that met their eyes provided from the sizzling flames that danced around Heatblast's head and body. There was however, some light that lit up the darkness a little bit; overhead hung clusters of shiny crystals and diamonds, the little light available in the massive cavern before them amplified by the minerals hanging above. The darkness however, was not what caught their attention.
All about them, silently floating about aimlessly were ghosts. Or what looked like ghost anyway. Spectra quickly explained to her friends that they were really souls, or shades, of the recently departed, awaiting transport to the Land of the Dead.
"Wait, what are you then? A ghost or a shade?" Frankie asked.
"A ghost," Spectra replied. "Only a few shades ever become ghosts, mostly if they have been violently killed in some manner or other." she added, her expression dropping slightly as she rememebered her entire undead existence. She gave them a weak smile before pushing on, suppressing her emotions as she flew over the crowd of shades; Heatblast followed with Frankie on a chuck of rock that flew above the pale souls with ease. A few seconds later, they had managed to come to the front of the crowd, landing on the fine, black sand as the shades parted and made a circle around them, watching with sad eyes. The trio stood there in silence for a few minutes, as if waiting for something; a few of shades got brave and edged closer, reaching with soft, delicate fingers towards their bodies, as if afraid they would lose an arm if they were too bold. Heatblast could feel about half a dozen hands tentatively stroking various parts of his body, and he could see the same thing happening to Frankie. The shades however, ignored Spectra completely.
"Uh, not to be rude or anything, but what's up with these guys?" Heatblast asked. "Why are they so interested in us and not you?"
"Because you're alive," Spectra answered sadly. "When they first come down here, they reminisce about their lives before they passed on. They want to remember everything before . . . . it happens."
"What happens?" the Pyronite asked, politely pushing away a hand that had strayed to close to the Omnitrix for his comfort.
"They cross the Styx." was all Spectra would say, pointing with a translucent finger towards the large river before them; how Heatblast had missed it was beyond him. What he did know however was that the water did not look inviting one bit, a sickening gray and blue in color as hundreds of mortal objects floated in the water; broken toys, rusted jewelry, burnt photographs, it was all in there. Another thing he knew was that the Styx was massive, for he could not even see the opposite shoreline. All he could see was the faintest glow of white on the horizon.
That, and a slowly approaching boat.
Frankie gulped nervously as the shades suddenly stopped petting her and Heatblast and edged away from the shore a bit. The boat continued to approach at an agonizingly slow pace, a single, dim lantern at the bow. The boat was long and narrow, almost like a gondola of sorts but with a much creepier look. Yellowed bones decorated the hull and sides of the boat, a single, cloaked figure with a long staff was slowly, ever so slowly rowing the boat towards the shore. It seemed like an eternity before the boat came to a stop, and even then it was a good dozen feet away from the shoreline.
"All aboard whose coming aboard." the finger quietly whispered in a voice that was surprisingly feminine if one could hear it over the loud roar of the Styx. The shades apparently heard and slowly began to walk towards the boat, quietly walking into the shallow end of the Styx before swimming to the boat and pulling themselves up over the sides. Heatblast noticed something different about them as they climbed over the sides of the ship and sat down, as if waiting for something; their eyes, while previously intelligent and saddened were now completely devoid of any emotion other than a kind of pain that made his own soul want to climb right out of his body.
"That's what happens when you swim in the Styx," Spectra whispered before drifting out over the brackish water. "You lose everything. All your hopes, dreams, and promises are taken away from you. That's why the Styx is so polluted."
"Complete waste of time and of a good river, if you ask me." the ferryman grumbled, lifting her hood up to reveal an incredibly pink face with long, blue and violet streaked hair. Her cloak opened up to reveal a pale, white dress with numerous chains tied around the waist, and Heatblast found that he could even see the faint outlines of her bones and what little organs she possessed. "I assume you living mortals require a ride to the Land of the Dead?" the girl asked with a slightly tired voice.
"If you don't mind, River?" Spectra asked wearily, floating down to meet with her friend.
The seemingly depressed girl actually seemed to smile upon see the ghost. "Spectra. Haven't seen you in a couple millennium. How are things?" the girl, River, asked, beckoning to Heatblast and Frankie to climb aboard. Wary of the poisoning waters of the Styx, the two climbed back onto the Pyronite's rock and flew the few feet over to the boat before landing. The boat dipped slightly under the combined weight of Heatblast, Frankie, and the boulder until the Pyronite heaved it up and tossed it over the side without barely a splash; all that came was a sickening hiss as the waters of the Styx dissolved the rock before their very eyes.
"Good thing we didn't swim." Frankie remarked. Heatblast nodded shakily as the Omnitrix timed out and reverted him back to his human form. He sheepishly turned around to look at River, who was looking at him with wide eyes and a blank expression. She then shook her head and dipped her staff into the waters of the Styx. "Now I've seen everything." was all Ben could hear. The boat slowly, ever so slowly turned around and began to head for the opposite shoreline, River's arms never tiring as she endlessly moved them forward.
"River, is anything wrong?" Spectra asked a few moments of silence; she could already see more shades gathering on the bank they had just left, another task for River to complete. "You're usually much happier than this. Much happier."
A few minutes passed before River Styxx finally spoke. "It's this stupid war of yours, Spectra. With every battle, Uncle Thanos brings more and more souls down here for me and my father to ferry across to the Underworld. It's gotten so bad that I've had to get my own boat and quit my studies at Haunted High just to keep the family business from making my father live. Even Hades is getting exhausted from the number of souls."
At this, River took a short break, bringing her staff up over the side and leaning against it, her arms burning and aching from the constant rowing. Spectra gave her a pitied glance and took her staff from her, dipping it into the poisoned waters of the Styx and starting to row, giving River a break; the daughter of the Grim Reaper gave Spectra a grateful glance and slumped down to the deck, her arms dropping limp to her sides.
"Thanks," she said quietly. "So what's been up with you? I see you've finally found a boyfriend." River noted, noticing Ben and Frankie leaning against the bow of the ship, watching the water crest and part as they moved along; the shades remained motionless and seemingly oblivious to the living passengers onboard.
"And a couple ghoulfriends too," Spectra smirked as she pushed the ship forward, River cocking a surprised eyebrow.
"Didn't take you for the one to end up in a harem, Spec." River chastised her.
"Neither did I," Spectra grunted, her arms already starting to burn; to be fair, she was a ghost and did not usually have a lot of strength in her transparent body. "But I'm glad I did. I love Ben, ghouls love him, and I love them too. They're practically my family."
"Lucky," River joked, her hidden personality starting to rise back to the surface. Spectra smiled and wiped her brow, pushing invisible sweat off her forehead. "Do you want me to get back at it?" River asked, moving to stand up until Spectra pushed her back down with a firm hand.
"No, I'll get Ben to do it." Spectra smiled. River cocked an eyebrow as Spectra called the Normie boy over to them, a determined look on Ben's face. What was so special about Ben, River didn't wuite understand; sure, she had seen him transform from a fire elemental into a boy, but that would often be the case with most half-bloods. She watched curiously as Ben nodded and turned to the strange watch that sat on his wrist, River only just now noticing the slimy little blob that sat on it. She watched intently as Ben tapped the watch face and a green hologram appeared above it, Ben pressing his fingers down and watching the hologram spin before selecting something. The watch face came up like a piston and Ben raised his hand to slam it down on the button.
A bright green light engulfed his entire body, River watching with wide eyes as the magic watch began to change his very DNA structure into something it never should have been. Alien blood flowed through his veins as muscles piled themselves on him, everywhere to his arms and chest to his neck and legs, every part of him was getting bigger and stronger with each passing millisecond. His skin hardened into plate like armor that turned brown as large scales traveled up his legs and chest. His legs became thick and pillar like as his feet began to match those of an elephant. A thick tail sprouted from the base of his spine as he was forced to hunch over slightly. His neck became a little longer retaliative to his 20 foot frame and his lower jutted out his fingers swelled with power. A pair of black briefs and a green sash appeared on him, completing the transformation as the Omnitrix symbol appeared on the sash.
"Humungousaur!" Ben cried in triumph, pounding his chest and roaring as River stared. Spectra rolled her eyes and jabbed the staff forward, the Vaxasaurian taking it in his gigantic hands and dipping it into the water of the Styx, powering the boat forward at a much faster pace than before, his massive muscles and arms barely even working. River yelped at the sudden speed as the boat zoomed forward, Spectra laughing at her surprise.
"Not so normal now, is he!?" she joked, landing on her back and kicking her legs into the air as she laughed. River had to crack a smile as the shades watched the entire spectacle with blank eyes. Frankie came from the bow of the boat to see what the noise was, and rolled her eyes as Humungousaur showed off, doing distracting tricks with the rowing as they went, zooming to the left then the right and even powering the boat enough to do a quick barrel roll; all the ghouls screamed with fear and delight while the shades remained completely oblivious. Sooner than they realized, they were at the other side of the Styx, a good foot or two up the black sandy beach before the boat stopped.
"All ashore whose going ashore!" Humungousaur called. He handed River her staff and hopped over the side of the boat, landing with a loud poom! as his feet met sand.
"Nice to meet you, River." Frankie said politely before following her lover's suit and landing on the shore next to him. The shades began to file out like cattle, milling about the black, sandy beach before some kind invisible force pushed and steered them up the shoreline like invisible cowboys keeping their steer in line.
"If only I had that fancy watch of his," River joked, pulling Spectra into a tight hug. "Nice to see you again, Spectra."
"You too, River. See you in a few millennium." said Spectra, giving a final farewell before floating down over the side. Having pushed them a bit too far up the shoreline, Humungousaur grabbed the bow of the boat and quickly spun it around so he was facing the stern before shoving the boat back into the Styx with a splash, jumping back to avoid the back splash. River waved good-bye and then began another trip across the poisonous river, leaving the three heroes where they stood.
"I guess it is good to have friends in low places." Humungousaur joked. Both ghouls and Skurd rolled their eyes at the jest and turned around to walk up the black beach where the shades had gone, Humungousaur following behind them with a slight pout on his face. They trudged up the beach and onto a rock shelf that stretched for a good couple hundred feet or so before steep, almost impassible, rock walls shot up out of the earth and towards the top of the cavern, forming a wall of sorts. Even from the edge of the rock shelf, all three of them could see it was literally covered with shades, all waiting to get through the only opening in the rock wall. And what they saw truly frightened them.
In the massive gap between the rock walls was gigantic creature of mass proportions. The best way for one to describe it would have been a dog about the size of a blue whale with not one, but three heads all attached to one body. As if having three sets of razor sharp jaws wasn't enough, the tail was a long serpent with incredibly pointed fangs that rattled and hissed whenever it came across something it didn't like; a good couple hundred other snakes formed a mane around the three heads, similar to a lion's mane except for the fact that it was made entirely of living snakes, all their eyes silently watching the sea of shades beneath them.
"Is that . . ." Frankie trailed off as she tried to look small behind Humungousaur. Even the Vaxasaurian was starting to have second thoughts of going into the Underworld uninvited.
"Cerberus," Spectra breathed. "None of the living go into the Underworld and none of the dead come out of it without going past him. If you can get past him."
"Well, isn't that comforting?" Skurd asked with sarcasm dripping from his voice much like the waterfalls of drool and acidic venom that fell from the creature's three mouths. "How the dickens are supposed to get past that monstrosity!?"
"Hit 'em fast, hit 'em hard." was Humungousaur's answer as he socked his fist into his hand. With a loud roar, he charged into the sea of shades, the wispy souls parting to let him pass as he bellowed at the top of his lungs; Spectra and Frankie shared a look before chasing after him. And all the while, Humungousaur was getting bigger and bigger. An audible cracking sound filled the cavern as his plates shifted and his bones cracked, growing bigger, thicker, longer. His plates became sharper and jutted out as he grew taller, crests forming on his head and scutes running down his back as Stegosaurus-like spikes popped out of his tail. Soon, the behemoth had reached Cerberus, just standing a couple dozen feet under his full height. It was hard to tell though as Humungousaur easily dwarfed Spectra and Frankie as they ran up to him, both of them only as big as one of his fingers if one of them stood on the others head.
The Vaxasaurian didn't slow down in his charge, tackling the huge monster head on, driving his head into the beast's chest and shoving it to the ground. The oversized dog roared and bared its teeth, the hundreds of snakes hissing and snapping their jaws in a desperate attempt to bite the alien. With a grunt, the monster hauled itself back to its feet, leaping onto Humungousaur's huge form and tackling him to the ground, pinning his arms and legs to the ground. The many snakes reached out to sink their fangs into his skin, but quickly drew back when they found their fangs merely broke like glass when they tried to bite him. Only the massive snake that acted as the tail managed to cut through the tough skin of Humungousaur's knee, the Vaxasaurian bellowing in agony before shoving Cerberus off of him. With an enraged roar, Humungousaur thrust his fist forward and connected it with the middle head's jaw, a loud crack filling the cavern as the bone was broken. Humungousaur whirled around and swept the monster's feet out from under it with a swish of his tail. Before Cerberus could attempt to climb to his feet, Humungousaur grabbed him by the tail and heaved his entire weight off the ground with a grunt, spinning him around and around. Eventually he let the monstrous dog go when the momentum became too much and watched as the beast soared through the air and landed almost a mile away in the Styx, landing with a tremendous splash that threatened to capsize River's boat, wherever she was on the river.
"Ben! You're leg!" Frankie cried with worry, running up to him as the Vaxasaurian began to shrink; the plates pulled back into his body, became more fused together as his bones ground and cracked, shrinking as the spikes were sucked back into his body and the crests vanished. A bright green light enveloped the Vaxasaurian, and Ben returned to the world, dropping to his knees and breathing heavily as the venom coursed through his body. Spectra had to admire Ben for this as Frankie bent down to try and coax him to his feet; most people, Omnitrix or not, would not survive a bite from Cerberus for more than a couple of minutes.
She pushed the thought away as Frankie helped Ben to his feet and let him lean on her as they marched through the gap in the wall, the shades staring at them with wide, soulless eyes. A few tried to follow them, but were too scared to venture more than a few feet to the opening in the rock walls. Spectra flew over Frankie and Ben's head, keeping an eye out for the horrors that lurked around every corner in the Underworld.
The scene before them was both horrific and in some kind of sick and twisted way, beautiful. Millions upon trillions of shades shuffled about aimlessly, not having much purpose in their eternal waiting in the Fields of Asphodel for the next eternity. Lonesome poplar trees popped out of the rocky ground here and there, giving the Fields a slightly better look in appearance. Spectra could almost picture Elysium at the far side of the Fields. If only I ended up there, she thought glumly.
Other than the poplar trees the dotted the landscape, not much else could be seen in the Fields. Other than, of course, the gaping pit that practically cut the Fields in half. It was enormous, almost a hundreds across and almost a thousand miles long. Unearthly howls and bellows came from down in the pit and the very earth seemed to shuder and shake as something enormous fought tooth and claw down in the pit that was Tartarus.
"Home sweet Home," Spectra sighed. "We better hurry. If we want to get the others souls, we need to speak with Lord Hades himself. And from what I can remember, he's not exactly very cooperative." the ghost told Frankie. "Just don't strike a deal with him."
"Talk about grim and grimmer," said Frankie.
"Hades isn't exactly known for being cheery." was all Spectra would say as the trio climbed up the grand staircase to Hades's palace. They crossed the Fields of Asphodel with little incident, the shades occasionally becoming bold enough to try and touch them; they let themselves be stroked like dogs for a only a second or two before pushing onwards, eventually coming to the nearly endless pit that was Tartarus. Attempting to ignore the horrific moans and groans of agony below them, Ben had transformed into Astrodactyl and flew Frankie over the pit, Spectra using her own power to fly across. Unfortunately, the venom was starting to take affect on Ben, making him slightly wobbly on his feet and make his vision swim before his eyes; if it weren't for the Omnitrix doing everything in its power to remove the poison from his system, he would have long since been dead.
"Stay quiet and submissive," Spectra instructed. "Uncle hades has quite a temper."
"Uncle?" Astrodactyl squawked, stumbling on the stairs.
Spectra sheepishly smiled. "Yeah, he's kind of an uncle . . . kind of. It's hard to explain, really."
"Seeing as how these stairs go on forever, I'm all ears." Astrodacytl grumbled as Frankie held him steady.
Spectra sighed but began to tell her tale, float only a few inches above the steps as she spoke. "We're not exactly related. He's more an adoptive figure to me. Basically, on my first trip to the Underworld, there was a freak accident when I was boarding Charon's, River's uncle, boat; I fell over the side before I could have my memories wiped and was pulled back in only a few seconds later. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and my memory was . . . damaged." she explained. "Things ran a little differently back in the Underworld then. You cross the Styx, be judged, get your memories wiped, and then go to wherever you were supposed to be' due to constant arguing from the shades during judgment however, among others, things were changed down here." she added.
"Anyways, with my memories damaged, I could not successfully be placed in the Underworld. I didn't know how I died, I didn't know what I did in my life. Sphinx, I didn't even know my own name." she lamented sadly. "Hades took pity on me and made me a ghost, in an attempt to give a do-over of sorts. Things didn't exactly go well after that; try as he and his wife, Persephone, they couldn't help me adjust to life in the Underworld. I eventually left and went to the surface. The rest's history, so to speak."
"So we're technically visiting your Mom and Dad, eh?" Astrodactyl summed up.
"If you have to put it in simple terms, yes." Spectra sighed when they suddenly came to a brief halt, Spectra stopping only a few inches from the set of enormous, pitch black doors that stood in front of them. A bright green flash came from behind them as the Omnitrix timed out, but Spectra ignored it as a single tear dropped from her closed eye; no one noticed. With a trembling hand, she raised her white knuckle and rapped it loudly on the door, the sound booming across the Underworld. For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then, the doors slowly opened with a low groan, as if one hinges that hadn't been oiled since the dawn of time.
Spectra slowly drifted forward, hovering a few inches off the ground as Frankie and Ben shuffled closely behind her, the gigantic doors closing behind them with a loud bang! Spectra didn't flinch. They silently walked in a straight line through the expansive room, Greek style columns holding up the roof of the palace as they walked down a long, black rug that led towards the back of the massive room. Two large thrones sat side by side, a man and woman sitting in each. The left throne was large and was pitch black, blacker than even the depths of Tartarus and was decorated with skulls and bones; a man with pale, almost albino, skin sat on the throne, watching them with dark eyes. He had dark blue hair that flickered and waved in the slight breeze, dancing like flames as he watched them intently within the folds of his black and gray robes. Next to him and on dark violet throne, with a reassuring hand on his shoulder, was a woman with dark indigo hair that reached her shoulders; it too danced like fire, kissing her pale gray skin as she watched them with wary, purple eyes. She wore a black and purple dress as the trio approached them, pausing in front of the couple.
Without a word, Spectra dropped to the floor on her knees and bowed before the couple, Ben and Frankie copying her movements. The couple watched without moving an inch, barely even blinking before finally speaking after what felt like an eternity.
"So, dear niece. You have finally returned," the man spoke, his pale lips barely moving as he spoke in a deep and slightly depressed voice.
"Yes, Uncle. I have." Spectra barely whispered.
Lord Hades shifted in his seat. "We were beginning to worry about you, young lady, me and your aunt," Hades continued as Persephone lightly smacked his shoulder. The Lord of the Underworld sighed and attempted to change his attitude. "Who are your friends?" he asked wearily.
Spectra gulped and she climbed to her feet, gesturing for her two friends to stay down. "Uncle, Aunt, these are my friends Frankie Stein and Ben Tennyson." she said, Hades noticeably perking up at the mention of Ben's name.
"Ben Tennyson, you say?" he wondered, looking past his translucent niece and at Ben's pale form on the floor. "I've heard a lot about you, dear boy." Ben didn't reply, only remaining on the floor almost unmoving, even when Frankie elbowed him in the ribs.
"Why does the world's greatest hero refuse to speak to me?" he demanded his fiery, blue hair perking up and starting to get hotter with his temper.
"It would seem, dear Uncle, that he has been bitten by your watch dog, Cerberus," Spectra explained, her neutral expression twisting up into a slight smirk as she continued. "After defeating him, that is."
Hades stopped right where he was, his blue flames dying down as he gazed upon the injured boy. "So the rumors are true then? That he has been granted a gift from the heavens that could allow him to go toe-to-toe with a god?" he asked, his eyes tracing over to the Omnitrix on Ben's wrist, Skurd shifting uncomfortably under the god's gaze. With a snap of Hades's fingers, Ben glowed with a pale, white aura as his pale skin became more colorful and healthy in color as he no longer shook and trembled.
"I have removed the poison from his system," Hades explained as Frankie looked upon him with endless gratitude. "I have also searched his memories in the process. You are here to retrieve those lost in your meaningless war?"
"Yes, Lord Hades," Frankie spoke for the first time. "May we have them back?"
Spectra gave Frankie a warning look when Ben didn't move from the floor, though his breathing had returned to a normal rate as Hades stroked his chin in thought; one look from his eyes however, and Spectra knew what his answer would be.
"I dunno," Hades hummed, leaning back in his throne and drumming his bony fingers on the arm of the seat. Persephone threw him a warning look, but the Lord of the Dead ignored it. "Rules prevent me from doing so without good reason."
Spectra was about to argue when Ben's voice came from the floor. "You like making deals, right?"
"A deal, huh? Go on." Hades told him, curious.
Ben continued as he climbed to his feet, squaring his shoulders and attempting to look serious and invincible. "I'll fight three of your best warriors in any conditions you chose. If I beat all three of them, you send me, my friends, and the souls we've come for all the way back home. If I lose . . . I become your eternal slave and gladiator."
"Ben! Don't!" Spectra pleaded.
"Hmm, The greatest hero the world has ever known as my slave and gladiator forever . . ." Hades mused, Persephone's grip tightening on her husband's shoulder.
"Going once!" Ben cried, holding up a finger.
"Hmm, is there a downside to this?" Hades wondered to him quietly.
"Going twice!" Ben cried out again, holding up two fingers.
"Okay, okay, okay. You know what? Okay," Hades said hastily, getting up from his throne and waving his hands quickly to stop the count down. "You beat my warriors, you get the souls and get to go home. You lose, your friends go home and I keep the souls and you. Do we have a deal?" Hades asked with a malicious smile on his lips as he stuck out his hand.
Spectra bit her lip nervously as Frankie looked like she was going to have nervous break down as she was rapidly undoing the stitching on her hands and arms. Even Persephone was looking at her husband was worry, which was odd since she hadn't said a single word since they arrive.
"Deal." Ben said firmly, taking Hades hand and giving it a good shake.
They were now in what Hades's had dubbed 'The Soul Reaper'. To put it simply, it was a large arena about the size of a small football stadium with a patch of solid rock for the playing field. Stands and bleachers rose up round the tight square, each seat packed with weary shades, impatient Furies and harpies, or other questionable creatures that looked nothing like the monsters that lived on the surface. Sitting smack in the middle of the stands, directly over where the 50 yard line might have been, was a special box where Lord Hades, Lady Persephone, Frankie, and Spectra all sat, watching the spectacle below them interest, indifference, or disgust.
On one end of the arena, looking more exhausted than ready for a fight, was Ben doing some stretches in the hopes it would wake his body up; the constant nagging from Skurd wasn't exactly helping, but it was keeping him on his toes. It especially didn't help when the Slimebiote suddenly screamed like a little and slithered to the safety of Ben's shoulder as a loud rumbling sound came from the opposite end of the arena, iron gates groaning as skeletal warriors turned the cranks to open them. A low growl filled the arena as a huge beast about three times the size of an elephant lumbered out into the dim light. It walked on two, stubby lizard-like legs, claws digging into the bare rock with ease as its tail swished about, dragging behind it. As if it wasn't fearsome enough, neck long and slender necks rose from the body and into the air, each one ending in a diamond-shaped head. The monster roared, each head opening its mouth to reveal row after row of razor sharp teeth, a forked tongue that slipped out, and a soft glow at the back of the throat.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, monsters and shades of all ages!" Hades announced, pulling a microphone down from some undisclosed location from above. Spectra sighed and rubbed her temples as Persephone put on a similar face; whenever it came to deals and fights, the Lord of the Dead seemed like an entirely different person, going from quiet and brooding to almost a polar opposite, being wicked and cynical with a cruel sense of humor.
"In this corner you know 'im! You love 'im! You hate 'im! He's the undisputed champion of the Monster world and wearer of the most powerful weapon in all of history! Ben Tennyson!" Hades announced as the crowd roared; monsters were cheering and clapping their many appendages and stomping their feet and hooves in approval, even a few shades getting into the act, though most of the crowd booed and hissed.
Hades grinned as he yelled into the mic once more. "Aaaaand in this corner! The unkillable monstrosity that terrorized Lernea back in the day and only defeated once by the hero Hercules! Give it up for the reining champion, the Lernean Hydra!" Hades roared into the microphone as the crowd went absolutely nuts. Literally every being, besides the shades, was roaring and cheering, clapping their hands and stomping their feet as the Hydra appeased to its fans. With a smirk on each of its nine heads, the Hydra lumbered forward to the middle of the arena, Ben copying his movements.
"Now I want a clean fight!" Hades instructed from the announcer's box. "I don't want too many body parts lying around!"
"Wait, what?" Ben wondered, but it was too late. Hades cracked a hidden hammer against a hidden bell, the sound echoing through the arena and beginning the match with a loud roar from the crowd. Ben yelped and jumped backwards as all nine Hydra heads came swooping down, their jaws snapping shut on the spot he had been moments ago.
Ben gulped and turned on the Omnitrix. "Okay, Omnitrix! No foolin' around! Give me something good!" he pleaded as he slapped the activation button and felt the watch work its magic. His skin turned a bright yellow and became hard and plated. His fingers and thumb melted together into sharp points, his arms and legs becoming jointed as he was forced to use his arms as extra legs. His lips protruded out from his face and turned sideways as they became cupped pincers. His eyes turned black with green slits as a bony protrusion grew from his brow, splitting in two and becoming forked as Ben shrunk down to the floor, to the size of a small dog. A green and white neck brace formed around his chest, the Omnitrix and Skurd appearing on his chest.
"Ball Weevil!? Sure, because little bugs with plasma balls definitely can beat huge monsters with multiple heads!" the little alien bug cried sarcastically, leaping out of the way as a head slammed into the ground in an attempt to eat him.
"Game. Set. Match." Hades grinned maliciously, pulling a cigar from his pocket and snapping his fingers, a single flame alighting on his fingertip as he lit the cigar's end; Persephone groaned and waved her hand in front of her face, disgusted by the aroma; while she loved her husband dearly, he certainly changed when there a bet of any kind between him and anyone else.
"Ben! Watch out!" Frankie cried frantically from the stands as the Hydra's heads repeatedly swooped down and tried to eat the little insect whole. Ball Weevil yelped and skittered away as fast as he could, quickly vomiting up a small plasma ball and landing on top of it. Pumping his little jointed legs, he rolled the ball of green plasma across the arena ground, the ball getting bigger and bigger as it collected rock and dust. The Hydra roared and stomped after Ball Weevil, swiping with its many necks to try and catch him in its jaws.
This continued on until Ball Weevil's plasma ball was about the size of a large beach ball. With triumphant cry, the little insect quickly jabbed his legs into the gooey film of the ball and divided it into nine smaller balls that came to a stop on the bare rock.
"Hey, Ugly! Over here!" Ball Weevil taunted the Hydra. All the heads roared at once as Ball Weevil hopped from ball to ball, making rude gestures and remarks as a single dove after him and swallowed the gooey ball of plasma, forcing their jaws open when the balls wouldn't go down peacefully.
"And that's how I roll." Ball Weevil smirked as he tapped his front leg on the ground. A loud explosion rocked the arena as each plasma ball individually exploded in the Hydra's mouth, each head blowing to bits and the body dropping to the ground with sickening thud.
"And we're done here," Ball Weevil remarked happily.
"You never paid attention in history, did you?" Skurd wondered.
"Ben! Behind you!" Frankie screamed.
Ball Weevil nervously turned around to the large body of the Hydra twitching and trembling before the stumps of the Hydra's severed necks began to pulse and vibrate as a sickening sound filled the air, like wet flesh being slapped together. There then came a horrific ripping sound as each stump split in two and began to grow and grow until an entirely new head formed. And the worse part was that there were now eighteen heads, two for each head he cut off.
"Aw, c'mon!" Ball Weevil cried as the Omnitrix timed out and reverted him back to Ben. The Hydra heads, now ticked off at being killed once, grinned hungrily and slithered their heads closer and closer to the tiny boy.
"My favorite part of the game: sudden death." Hades cracked with a smile, his hair turning a fiery red and orange as the monster edged closer.
"You are such a hellhound." Persephone grumbled.
"Please give me Rath, give me Rath, please give me Rath." Ben pleaded to the Omnitrix as he slapped the activation button and let the transformation begin, alien DNA coursing through his veins. He felt every last shred of his physical being vanish and become somewhat free, becoming pure energy as the Omnitrix focused his bouncing molecules back into a more stable shape. He watched as simply hands and single-toed feet formed on the end of his limbs. Black braces appeared on his hot, red arms and legs, a belt and pair of shorts attached to black straps materializing on his body. The transformation was only half complete however, as black pieces of metal began to wrap themselves around him, tightening and groaning as they formed moveable pieces for his arms and legs, forming a jar-like containment suit that bent over his head and attached to the front with a lock of sorts. Bolts popped out of the shoulders and hands, metal supports appearing on the lock and a large handle appearing on the tightly sealed lid. Three slits in the grill plate allowed limited vision as the Omnitrix appeared on the lock.
"NRG. Why am I not surprised?" the alien grumbled before being knocked aside by a stray Hydra head. "Ugh. At least I'm protected in the suit." he groaned.
"Yes, but what about me!?" Skurd panicked as the Hydra rushed at them and pinned the Prypiatosian-B to the ground of the arena, foolishly leaning in all eighteen heads for the kill. With a grunt, a bright beam of radioactive energy burst out of NRG's grill plate, striking the closest head and engulfing it in flames, the smell of cooking flesh filled the air. NRG waited for the inevitable head growing to start, but after a few seconds of waiting, nothing happened; the wound was cauterized, burnt to a crisp and preventing anymore growth.
"Methinks you've found the beast's weakness!" Skurd cried happily.
"No. Really? I hadn't noticed!" NRG cried sarcastically as the Hydra roared and sent six of its heads down at the alien, four of the heads biting into his armored arms and legs and preventing movement as two of the other heads struggled at the lock that prevented them from cracking the iron shell, their jaws repeatedly snapping shut loudly on the metal.
"No! Don't!" NRG pleaded when the two heads finally managed to hook their teeth around the lock and tear it off, a large cloud of steam escaping as the pistons came undone and the locks disengaged. The top of suit came off with a loud pop as a nearly blinding glow came from within. The heads hissed angrily as a glowing figure floated out from the recesses of the suit, wearing a pair of shorts and straps over his chest with the Omnitrix and Skurd sitting on it.
"Suckers," NRG grinned with a Russian accent. The Hydra's heads visibly paled as it whimpered and tried to run away, but the Prypiatosian-B wouldn't have any of it. With a loud war cry, his hands ignited with toxic flames as he shot through the air at the fleeing monster and thrust his hands to the either side of him as he rushed the monster from behind, cutting clean through about half a dozen heads in one clean move, the stumps smoking and smoldering as NRG returned for another round. Now on the defensive, the remaining heads opened their mouths and poured out jets of smoldering acid and flame, striking the energy being head on. While none of the attacks seemed to affect him, Skurd was certainly not having a fun time.
"AH! Hot, hot, hot, hot, HOT!" he cried helplessly as NRG came around for another aerial strike, slicing off another half a dozen heads, leaving five more. The Hydra now cowered beneath him, begging for mercy; NRG looked up at Hades for an answer, and the Death God gave a sickening symbol: a firm thumbs down.
With a loud yell, NRG unhinged his mouth and let a large beam of radioactivity pour from his jaws, all but engulfing the heads and incinerating them as the noxious smell of burning flesh filled the air and blinded everyone in the stadium. NRG floated back down to the ground and climbed back into his suit as the Omnitrix timed out, reverting him back to him human form as the blinding light died away. And what was left of the Hydra truly shocked everyone.
Resting on her knees and trembling with fright, was a little girl with dull green skin similar to Iris's. Brown splotches dotted her delicate arms and legs, and a reptilian tail curled out from the base of her spine and wrapped her waist protectively. She was wearing a torn and stained toga the color of bleached bones and was looking at Ben with both fear and curiosity in her hazel eyes. But none of this was more strange than the fact she had not one, but three heads attached to three, long slender necks that added a couple feet to her height. Each head had a different hair color and hair style, the first having long blonde hair tied back in a pony tail, the second having dark pink hair cut short and just a few inches before her ears, and the third having long, jet black hair that was shaved off one side and draped over the opposite side of her face.
Ben blinked and cautiously stepped forward, as the child cowered and hugged her knees tightly, her three heads diving down to press hard against her chest in an attempt to hide from him.
"Are you okay?" Ben asked worriedly.
"G-g-go away! Please! J-just go!" the little girl's heads pleaded between what sounded like sobs.
Ben did not go away. Instead he crouched down next to her and wrapped a strong and protective arm around her back, holding her tight as she struggled for a few seconds. She stopped moving however, when she sensed no sign of danger and buried her three heads into his shoulders, sobbing uncontrollably as Ben awkwardly held her close and rubbed her back, whispering comforting words into her closest head's ear.
Up above, the crowd was watching the scene with mixed feelings, most of them booing and hissing when they discovered the Hydra had not been killed like Hades had ordered. And while Frankie, Spectra, and Persephone were happy Ben had somehow managed to spare the monster's life, Hades was not exactly happy about it. Actually, saying he wasn't happy was putting it lightly.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he roared, his entire body becoming engulfed in red hot flames. "Okay, okay, I'm calm. I'm nice and calm." he said to himself, patting out the flames and trying to recompose himself as he watched the little scene below him with a mixture of confusion and disgust in his eyes.
"What's your name?" Ben asked after a few minutes and ignoring Hades's outburst.
The little girl's three heads slowly pulled out from around Ben's neck region and regarded him carefully before speaking nervously, all in unison. "M-my n-name is Haliey. Haliey Hydra, daughter of the Lernean Hydra." she practically recited.
"If your his daughter, then where's your dad?" Ben asked calmly.
At the this, Haliey's three heads drooped, clearly upset. "He's been captured by Zs'Skayr, forced to work in his labor camps. He sent me here, down to the Underworld, so that I would be safe from the bad things and people on the surface. Bad people like you." she added sadly, tearing up again. "Just, please don't hurt me anymore!" she pleaded.
"I'm not going to hurt you if you can at least tell me why you've been hurting me." Ben said calmly, but frimly.
Haliey sniffed before speaking, wiping her three noses on her arm. "I was bored, so Uncle Hades got me a job here at the arena. I didn't want to do it, but there was nothing else to do." she said ashamed. Ben's expression twisted to anger as he stood up and pulled Haliey up with him, casting her a reassuring glance before speaking.
"New deal," Ben began.
"Oh, come on! Seriously? Just when it was getting good?" Hades practically whined before Persephone elbowed him in the ribs.
"Everything else stays the way it was. Except now, you treat Haliey like the little girl she is, and not some tool to use for your entertainment." Ben demanded, Haliey's three sets of eyes widening upon hearing the words.
"Why should I listen to you?" Hades growled, the flames on his head growing brighter and hotter with his temper.
"Because you've already broken your end of the deal," Ben began. "I said I would fight your three best warriors, not their kids. As far as I'm concerned, I can just walk out of hear with Haliey, my friends, and the souls I need, and you can't do a thing about it."
Hades looked like he was about to go inferno, his entire body becoming engulfed in flames that danced across his arms and back, licking at his robes and threatening to set fire to Frankie and Spectra if he wasn't too careful. Then suddenly, the flames died down as Hades began to become calm. "Fine. I'm a god of my word," he grumbled. "If you fight the next two rounds, I'll give in to your demands." he grumbled, Persephone smirking at her husband's defeat.
"I thought so." Ben smirked. Spectra gave an actual smile as she floated down from the stands and gently grabbed Haliey up in her arms, grunting under the sudden weight and flying back up to the booth with a giggling Hydra girl in her translucent arms.
"Your compassion never ceases to amaze me," Skurd noted.
"Was that a compliment, Snot Rocket?" Ben asked.
"Not at all, dear boy. Just a noticeable event." Skurd claimed as Ben rolled his eyes. A loud whine met his ears as Hades brought down the microphone for the next announcement of the next round. "Ladies and Gentleman, up next we have a doozy of a battle ahead! He's ten feet tall with serious anger management issues, and was slayed by Theseus in his own maze! Please welcome, the Minotaur!" Hades roared as the crowd cheered loudly.
A large figure lumbered out into the arena, covered from head to hoof in shaggy, brown fur that smelled like it was in desperate need of a washing. With horns almost five feet long and hooves the size of dinner plates, the Minotaur stomped out into the arena, bellowing savagely as he raised his war ax over his head, drawing more applause from the audience.
Without a word or witty quip, Ben activated the Omnitrix and slapped the activation button, hoping for a correct transformation; the beast looked incredibly muscled and durable, but especially fast, giving him a key weakness to play against as alien DNA coursed through his veins. His body structure stayed similar to his human form, shooting up about a foot and a half as the Omnitrix worked its magic. His skin turned a pale gray and looked as if it would split and break with the slightest touch. His fingers became long, razor sharp claws as his eyes widened and turned entirely green. His flat human teeth grew into sharpened fangs, some of them not entirely fitting into his mouth and then curving over his lips. Muscles piled themselves onto his arms and chest as he felt his lungs grow very large and heart start to slow. He felt slightly empty and sort of drowsy, drained of the ability to eat normal foods and forced to eat . . . . other things. His feet became sharp claws, hidden beneath a pair of green boots. A tight, black and green costume that showed off his muscles covered him, a green mask with bat-wing horns appearing on his face. The Omnitrix symbol appeared on his chest as a thick membrane grew between his arms and his hips, forming wings and completing the transformation.
"Whampire? Not what I was going for, but I think I can work with this." the Vladat said to himself, taking to the air with a flap of his arms. The Minotaur bellowed and swung his mighty ax in an attempt to swat the alien vampire down from the air, missing with each swipe of the sharpened blade. With a sudden twist of his body, Whampire dove downward, ramming the beast in the chest and stunning it as he swooped back up into the safety of the air before diving back in for another attack.
The Minotaur however, was ready this time and swung his ax like a baseball bat, hitting Whampire with the flat of his blade and sending him to the ground. The Vladat groaned and pulled himself up, rubbing his sore skull, just before the Minotaur anvil dropped onto him, striking his massive elbow into Whampire's gut and knocking the wind out of him.
"How about a little help here?" Whampire gasped. Skurd sighed and rolled his beady eyes before stretching himself out and over the Vladat's hands, selecting a random DNA sample from the Omnitrix before melding it with Whampire's DNA, a bright, green glow covering his arms and changing them. The Minotaur was suddenly blown sky high by a blast of water, landing on the bare rock with a loud thwack!
"Now this is more like it!" Whampire cried gleefully before sending another blast of water from his Orishan hands and sending the Minotaur back another dozen feet. With a yell, Whampire took to the air again and slammed his body down on the Minotaur's back, grabbing him by the horns and yanking back. The Minotaur bellowed and climbed to his feet, snorting and roaring as he ran about, trying to get the alien vampire off his back.
"Go, Ben!" Haliey cheered as Hades sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I order a simple battle to the death, and all I get is a circus act!" he whined, Persephone elbowing him in the ribs again.
Whampire ignored the comment and held on tight as the Minotaur raced around the arena to the cheering of the crowd, swatting at and beating his own head in an attempt to get the Vladat off of him. "Enough of this rodeo!" Whampire cried as he yanked back on the Minotaur's horns and steered him straight into the nearest wall of the arena, sickening crack! echoing through the entire Underworld. The Minotaur's body went limp as his sore head fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Yeah! Who's the greatest? Who's the greatest?" Whampire cried happily, appealing to the crowd as they roared and cheered his victory. Frankie and Spectra cracked grins as Haliey happily clapped her hands. Hades however, did not look exactly pleased.
"I can't believe this guy! I throw everything I've got at him and it doesn't even-" Hades roared, his entire body engulfed in red, hot fiery flames as he watched the Omnitrix time out and revert Ben back to his human form, much to the crowd's approval.
"Sit, DOWN." Persephone growled, yanking her husband back down into his seat, the flames that danced across his body quickly evaporating under his wife's anger. "Stop with your insolent anger management issues and send out the last monster already."
The Lord of the Dead but slowly rose from his seat, yanking down the microphone from thin air and speaking into it, trying to sound chipper and unaffected by the events of the fights; he almost wasn't able to do it.
"Ladies and Gentleman! For our final round, we have a monster so fearsome, so terrifying, so frightfully powerful that if it weren't for the me and the Olympians keeping him prisoners down here, he would literally destroy the world! I give you the Father of all Monsters himself, TYPHON!" Hades roared as every monster in the stadium, with the exception of Frankie, Spectra, and Haliey, went absolutely nuts, the entire Underworld seemingly vibrating with the noise.
The entire Underworld did shake and rumble in a rhythmic beat that sounded distinctively like footsteps. Ben gulped as the footsteps got louder and louder, closer and closer, the ground shaking more violently with each and every step until the other end of the arena was blown to complete bits, rubble flying everywhere as a large cloud of dust rose up. Skurd literally screamed like a little girl when his eyes laid upon the being before them, and even Ben had to admit he was scared witless.
Typhon was huge. And even then, saying he was 'huge' was an understatement. He was absolutely enormous, even bigger than Way Big as he stretched all the way up to the roof of the cavern. Ben could literally feel the power pulsing of him in waves as the titan took a couple steps forward, sending earthquakes outwards with every step. He looked as if he were composed entirely out storms, the strong winds that coursed through his body swooping around the cavern and creating a large tornado as lightning cracked and rumbled within his body. The titan looked down at Ben with an almost skeletal face, completely dwarfing him as he regarded him.
"All too easy." Hades chuckled, sitting back in his seat as the ghouls watched worriedly. There was no possible way Ben could go up against the monster before him without dying in the first ten seconds. None of his known alien forms would stand a chance against the titan.
"Ready?" Ben asked Skurd nervously; Typhon merely stared at Ben, as if waiting for the first move, knowing his victory was reassured.
"I am so not ready to die today." Skurd whimpered as Ben activated the Omnitrix and carefully cycled through his roster. Gulping nervously, Ben slowly pushed the activation button, hoping against hope that the Omnitrix would save him from imminent death. He felt himself become powerful as the alien blood coursed its way through his veins, the watch forcing his very DNA to shift and mold and change into something it shouldn't have been. The changes began almost immediately, starting his skin becoming a dark, midnight black that raced up his arms and legs and covered his face. His eyes widened into large almonds before melting together into a single, green orb. His teeth became sharp his toes all ground together into two claws. He felt an itching sensation at the base of his spine, and craned his head to watch a long, elastic-like tail stretch out behind him, a growth forming on the end that resembled a forked plug. His fingertips become hard and metallic, becoming cube shaped as muscles piled themselves on his arms and chest. Two long antennae suddenly shot out from his skull, unrolling behind him like dreadlocks as forked plugs formed on their ends. His chest and torso turned a dark shade of green as the Omnitrix and Skurd appeared on his chest and a sharp, tingling feeling could be felt in his fingers.
"Alright, tough guy! Lets dance!" Feedback cried, trying to sound as tough as possible. Typhon narrowed his and slammed a massive hand into the ground as Feedback shot up into the air, using electrical blasts to propel him upwards towards the titan's face. Typhon swiped an arm at the tiny being trying to attack him, catching him so that he rolled across his arm until he popped up to him feet. The Conductoid ran up his arm, throwing his arms behind him and letting electricity pour out of his fingertips. The titan's skin felt like we running on a combination of hot sand and water, feeling both rough and vapor-y at the same time. Typhon growled in annoyance as Feedback continued his assault, climbing up onto his shoulder and skittering around his neck before scaling up onto the titan's head where he jabbed his fingertips into the vaporous skin and began to drain Typhon of his energy. The power that coursed through the titan's veins like blood was overpowering, wild trails of electricity escaping Feedback's antennae and tail and screamed in agony; this was worse than when he battled with Malware, worse than when he absorbed a raw lightning strike to reanimate Frankie. The power was incredible as Feedback felt almost every nerve in his body burning in pure agony.
There came a blinding light as Typhon sent an almost infinite amount of electricity and power coursed through his body and into Feedback, sending him flying through the air and into the opposite wall of the arena where he collapsed, unmoving.
"YES! HADES RULES!" the Lord of the Dead cried triumphantly, jumping free of his feet and throwing both of his arms into the air in victory; Persephone threw him a poisonous glare. Frankie and Haliey had climbed to their feet, watching nervously as Spectra flew down to her lover, unable to sit still when he was possibly dead.
"Ben! Ben! C'mon, wake up! Wake up!" she pleaded, cradling his head in her hands. Skurd was yelling insults into Feedback's ear holes in the hopes of waking him up, but nothing was working; he was barely even breathing, and even then they were becoming slow and raged. With a groan, he slowly cracked open his eye, his vision blurry and distorted, Skurd's voice echoing in his head as he insulted his mother.
"Spectra?" he moaned, blinking his eye to try and clear his vision.
"Oh, thank Sphinx you're okay." Spectra sighed with relief, helping Feedback into a crouching position. "I thought you were boarding River's boat."
"Nah, it'll take more than Typhon to send me on the ferry," he reassured her. "Sooner or later though, I'm gonna run out of gas."
"Then change!" Spectra practically pleaded. "Change into something else! I don't want to lose you!" Feedback nodded, pulling the shaking ghost into his strong embrace. He was not about ready to give up, not now, not ever. He would keep on fighting for him, for Skurd. He would keep fighting for Frankie, for Spectra, for Haliey, for every friend of his that ended up in this horrible mess ever since he came here on the whim of a Time Walker. He would keep fighting until he could fight no more. With a quick kiss to her forehead, Feedback sent Spectra to the announcer's box, Hades practically seething with rage as Feedback silently walked towards Typhon, determination radiating off of him in waves.
"Hey, Ugly!" he called up to the titan. "It's time to end this once and for all!" he yelled, slapping the Omnitrix on his chest and letting the alien device do it's magic.
Ben felt every fiber of his being being ripped apart at the molecular, maybe even the quantum scale, becoming lose and separated. In a way, it was similar to being Goop, but this time it was beyond painful. He felt a darkness within him, like a vile serpent that was curling its way around his heart as the dark fibers began to condense back together into a somewhat more solid form. He watched from what seemed like a third person view as the black fibers, shadows seemed to be the more proper term, twisted and turned and molded together, forming the standard body shape for a four legged creature, complete with four muscled legs that ended in sharp, black hooves, and a tail that consisted mostly of stray hairs, much like a horse's. The sequence didn't stop there as the shadows began to form what seemed to be the head; except they didn't. Instead they morphed themselves into a muscled torso, Ben watched as four thin, yet muscled, arms formed on the torso and chest, two on either side. A small, somewhat human-shaped head formed on the end of a thin neck, elf-like ears forming on either side of it as white orbs took the place of the eyes. Dark, midnight colored hair sprouted from the scalp, tightening and condensing into long, wavy black hair tied into a ponytail. Ben then felt himself get sucked back into the lifeless body, his essence taking residence within the core as clothes began to form on the body; a dark green colored chest plate that contrasted nicely against the being's shadowy skin that swirled and whirled about with little control; arm and wrist guards with black stripes against dark green; spiked shoulder pads that framed a Roman style helmet with a bright green plume of feathers running down it. The agonizing transformation was complete when the Omnitrix appeared on the center of the chest plate.
"Phobos!" he roared, rearing into the air and kicking out his forelegs as the crowd cheered and roared at seeing a familiar shape. Hades cocked a suspicious eyebrow as Frankie watched, confused. Had she seen this form of Ben's somewhere before?
She didn't get a chance to ask as the Varjoain raced across the bare rock, his hooves loudly clapping with every stride as he raced towards Typhon. Frankie watched in shock as a pair of massive, black bat-like wings sprouted from Phobos's back, lifting him into the air with every pump of them. Phobos open his clenched fists, watching proudly as two, long and curved katana blades sprouted from his palms, coming free and sliding into his waiting hands. With a raspy yell, Phobos swooped upwards, dodging Typhon's massive hands as he tried to swat the annoyance out of his face.
Phobos swiped his swords across the skin of the nearest hand, watching with satisfaction as a gold colored ooze poured out from the wounds. Typhon howled in agony as Hades watched with disbelief, Phobos flying up to the titan's face and swiping his swords over one massive eye. The titan howled in agony and reached up with a hand to slap Phobos aside, only to stab in the palm. The Varjoain left the weapon where they were and simply conjured up another set of the blades from the shadows that made up his body, flying all the way up to the behemoth's head before thrusting the newly forged katana blades downwards and into skull. Typhon bellowed in pain and repeatedly slapped his scalp in attempts to pull the weapons out as more golden colored blood oozed out from the wounds.
"End it already, dear boy! No telling what he could!" Skurd instructed Phobos.
"Fine." he breathed, swooping down towards Typhon's face and hovering there, flapping his wings to stay balanced. Typhon glared at him in pure hatred with his single eye, daring him to make a move. Without muttering a single one of his witty quips, Phobos simply let go; he had been plugging up his power, so to speak, preventing his true potential from coming out. He felt the power rush to his pure white eyes as he hovered, completely motionless; even his wings didn't move as Typhon's single good eye widened in horror at what he saw before him. He began to tremble and shake violently, his entire body turning a snowy white in color as complete terror coursed through his body, making his worst nightmare come true.
"Duck and cover!" Frankie yelled as she and Spectra dove to the ground, pulling Haliey down with them to save themselves from what was coming next; Persephone was wise enough to follow their move, though Hades refused to do anything but watch in complete anger, his entire body engulfed in flames so hot they melted his seat.
There then came a gigantic explosion that seemed to not only rock the Underworld, but Tartarus, Chaos, even the earth itself as rock and dust rained down from the ceiling, a blinding light feeling the enormous cavern as Typhon simply exploded with fear. After what seemed years, even an eternity, the light died to reveal nothing but a mountain of golden colored dust. That, and a lot of golden colored slime that covered most of the arena, audience, and even Hades himself.
"And that, is how its done." Phobos smiled a mouthless smirk, alighting back down on the ground as the Omnitrix timed out and reverted him back to his human form.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Hades screamed with rage, his body nothing more than a ball of fire as looked upon Ben with complete hatred in his cold eyes. And he would have jumped right out of the announcers box and tackled Ben to the ground and beat him senseless if Persephone didn't finally have enough of her husband's temper and punching him in the face.
"Okay, okay, you what? I probably deserved that." the Lord of Dead said hastily upon seeing his wife's angry face. "And, hey, I'm a god of my word." he added when Persephone's glare deepened. He quickly snapped his fingers as he climbed to his feet, nursing his wound as a flash of light appeared in front of Ben, dying down to reveal six ghostly figures before him, looking around confused before their hollow eyes settled on Ben.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, monsters of all ages! Can I get a round of applause for the newly resurrected warriors of the Rebellion: Lagoona Blue, Manny Taur, Howleen Wolf, Cleo De Nile, Neigthan Rotter, and Rochelle Goyle!" Hades howled into the microphone, drawing a loud cheer and applause from the audience as Ben gave a rock star's pose.
"Yes! Tennyson rules!" Ben mocked the Lord of the Dead.
And there it is, the longest chapter yet!
Wow. Ben has just won a bet against Hades, the Lord of the Dead, himself. Can he get anymore lucky? Probably.
And for those of you that have noticed, I did work a little of Percy Jackson in here, mostly because it's the only Underworld I've seen. And another little thing I've worked in, for those you who haven't noticed, is that Hades is modeled after Disney's Hades. What can I say, the guy's one of my all time favorite villains, mostly because of his personality and the fact that he's 100% sane, unlike most of the Disney villains.
Anyways, it has come to my attention that some of my readers are confused about who is in Ben's harem and who is not. I am here now to clear up this little issue. The current ghouls are as follows: Frankie Stein, Spectra Vondergeist, Skelita Calaveras, Nefera De Nile, Venus McFlytrap, Robecca Steam, Jane Boolittle, Jinafire Long, Bonita Femur, Whisp Grant, and Twyla. There may be more to come, so keep an eye out!
If you have any more questions, comment, review, suggest, and request down below! I will try to answer them as soon as possible.
Hasta Luego!