We Are Monsters

by Creaturemaster

Ben somehow arrives in a strange new world where people and actual monsters co-exist (sort of). When he tries to blend himself in with Monster High's skeleton crew, things go horribly wrong! With a darkness lurking just of reach and an absurd amount of ghouls all wanting a piece of him, just how much can Ben take before he'll really "feel like a monster"? Rated T for harems & yuri.

35. The Final Countdown

Hey, everyone.

The following news will rock you to the very core and may turn your world upside. It may shock you, it may even horrify you to the point where all you want to do is scream for hours on end.

I'm giving up on this story.

It's no longer fun, and I find it incredibly boring. I've received several PMs saying several hurtful things that have made me decide to give up Fanfiction forever and delete this story so that no one else will have to face the horror of reading my work . . .

In the famous words of Lucy Mann, "PYSCH!" Hahahahahahahahahaha!

April Fools! What, you didn't really think I was giving up this thing, did you? Nah, I'm not that evil. Everything I've just said is an absolute lie, and I hope you all know that. And for those of you who didn't fall for it, I have one thing to say to you: DARN IT!

Let me just start off by saying that this has been one of, if not the most fun I've had typing a story ever. Not only is thanks to my brilliant writing, but its all thanks to you! Yes, you! The person reading this at this very moment! If it weren't for you, none of this would have been possible. So give yourself a pat on the back!

In other news, I have struck up a sort of deal with another writer by the name of Blazorna Ibara. For those of you who don't know who this is, you're missing out on something awesome. This writer is currently writing a Xover story with Ben 10 and Queen's Blade. While admittedly, I haven't even heard of Queen's Blade, it is still an amazing read. Surprisingly for something so complex, it's easy to pick up and fun to read.

Now for those of you wondering where the Sphinx I'm going with this, Blazorna has offered to do a short Xover with my story and his, possibly a few chapters in his story. If you want to read this (and I highly suggest you do), go to his profile and read his story. For the moment however, the Xover part is not out yet, but I still suggest you read his story until and even after the Xover part.

On a side note, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Axle the Hedgehog. More on why later on, but I'll leave you with this little message: whenever things look bleak or at their lowest, there will always be a small glimmer of hope that you can latch onto in the darkest of times. Whether you believe it or not, it will always be there.

Now then, comment, review, suggest, and request down below!

Onward!

When traveling through time, Frankie expected things to be a bit more . . . noisy.

She imagined that her ears would be filled with a loud roar, a constant sound that rattled her to her core as they forced their ways up the River of Time in a way similar to a salmon swam against the current to get upstream. It seemed they were stuck in Limbo, where no time passed at all and yet getting to their destination seemed to take an eternity.

She yawned and sleepily blinked her eyes, unsure of how much time had passed since they left the apocalyptic wasteland of the future. Draculaura sat next to her right, quietly sleeping and resting her head on Frankie's shoulder while Jane nervously shifted her hands between hundreds of different animals to pass the time; as fascinating as it was to watch the shape-shifter's smooth skin shift to coarse fur and then into slimy scales before turning into colorful feathers, it was the sound that was driving Frankie crazy, a constant sucking and expelling noise that sounded much like heavy breathing as Jane shifted from a peacock's wing to an octopus's tentacle.

With a sigh, Frankie unbuckled her seat belt and got up from her seat, stretching her sore muscles as Draculaura fell over behind her, still oblivious to the world. Frankie stiffed another yawn and made her way through the the tangle of legs up to the cock pit where Ben and Spectra were currently bickering over where Maltruant would stop first.

"I'm telling you, Maltruant probably stopped somewhere in the 1800's!" Spectra argued.

"I'm not saying I don't believe you, Spectra, but that was an experimental power core he stole," Ben debated, his eyes shifting between the ghost to his right and the endless time stream before him. "If there's one thing I've learned over my years as a hero, is that you should never underestimate the villains, no matter how unlikely it might seem.

"What about Dr. Animo?" Spectra shot back.

Ben rolled his eyes. "He's a complete lunatic." he simply said before returning his gaze to the time stream ahead and ending the argument.

"What are you two talking about?" Frankie asked, popping her head between the seats.

"The Overgrown Windup Toy," Ben replied. "Got tired of waiting?" he asked.

Frankie shrugged. "Jane's becoming a little . . . annoying." she admitted.

"Shifting between forms again?" Spectra sighed.

Frankie nodded. "I'm not sure if it's safe for her to do that kind of thing for so long."

"We'll have Blukic and Driba give her a look once this whole mess is all over," Ben told Frankie. "Or whoever we can get a hold of."

"Speaking of Blukic and Driba, what's it like back in your world?" Frankie asked. "I mean, you've told us a lot of stories about all your totes clawesome adventures and stuff, but you never really told us much about anyone else."

"Because you never asked." Ben suddenly said with a slightly bitter tone. Before Frankie could ask him anything else, or even take offense at his tone, she noticed a shape in the wavering River of Time, a sort of angular gray blob swimming through the tunnel that surrounded them.

"Bad guy, dead ahead!" she announced, pointing a finger at Maltruant's distant form. Ben nodded and pressed a button on the dashboard in front of him; there came a small sound of machinery moving as a pair of speakers folded up from the roof above.

"Stop in the name of the Plumbers!" Ben announced through a small microphone hooked up to the dashboard.

"Ack! Beth Tennyson!" Maltruant growled, turning around briefly to glare at them. "Why must you be so hard to get rid of!?"

"It's Ben Tennyson!" yelled at the Chronosapien, swiping the microphone from Ben. "Now pull over already!"

The Chronosapein hummed, as if actually considering her suggestion. "Hmm, let me think about it for- NEVER!" he cackled. Before Ben could fire off any weapons to try and stop him, the Chronosapien swam towards the side of the River of Time and pushed through one of the swirling walls, a bright flash engulfing him as he left the time stream. "After him!" Spectra cried, jabbing a finger in the direction he had gone. Ben didn't need to be told twice and grabbed hold of the steering wheel, jerking it towards the right and stomping on the gas to shove the Scrap Heap through the spot Maltruant had been moments ago.

The Scrap Heap just barely managed to fit through the quickly tightening hole in the time stream, closing just behind it as they were engulfed in a bright flash of light. For a brief moment, nothing really seemed to exist around them, nothing but inky blackness and dozens of bright lights that shot past them before Ben could even hope to guess at what they were. In a way, it was what Ben imagined entering hyperspace would be like; not that he hadn't experienced it before. He just was always too distracted to notice what it looked like.

And then, as soon as it began, they were out of it. Ben was distantly aware of the gray, stormy clouds they were blasting through as hundreds of sensors and devices beeped and whined in his ears. The startled yells and cries of his friends in the back met his ears as they plunged into a steep noise dive, the Scrap Heap's systems and thrusters caught off guard from the force of reentry into an unknown time zone; Ben made a mental note to look at the engine and other systems to see if there was anything he should fix before blasting back into the time stream again.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, as he had relatively more important matters at hand, Ben switched from the gas to the the break and practically shoved the pedal into the floor as he yanked back up on the steering wheel to try and attempt pull up out of the nose dive and ease their landing. Before he could even reach the Omnitrix however, the ground came up all to soon and before Ben knew it, the entire windshield was plunged into the blackness of the earth as the Scrap Heap shut down with a dying whine and shake. The watch wearing hero cracked open his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, noticing he was still alive. He then quickly made sure everyone was still in one piece and still working before relaxing fully. Everyone else was alright for the time being; shaken up and greatly frightened, but all right. The same could not be said for Frankie and Heath, Frankie simply because she had not been wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash and had ended up pressed the windshield of the Scrap Heap, and Heath for entirely different reasons.

"You have exactly two seconds to get hands off of Abbey's breasts before she break every bone in hands." Abbey threatened Heath, who had landed rather awkwardly on top of the yeti during the crash. Heath grinned sheepishly before jumping off of Abbey and kicking up the back door of the Scrap Heap in one swift motion, screaming and begging for mercy as he assumed Abbey was chasing him. With collective groans, the others pulled themselves out of the wreckage and stretched their aching limbs as Ben took assessment of the damage.

"Well, isn't this delightful." Skurd mused sarcastically upon seeing the scratched sides and burnt out thrusters of the Scrap Heap. "I don't suppose anyone knows a tow man? Or, at the very least, where we are."

"Not where, luv," Robecca corrected him, dusting off her bronze skin. "Rather, a matter of 'when'. And from the looks of things, I'd say we have actually landed somewhere rather useful." she added, pointing off through the misty fog that surrounded them. The others all peered through the low clouds of moisture, not quite sure what they were looking for before a large, castle-like building rose up from the distance, a familiar banner stretched across the front of the estate.

"What are the odds that we land in 1814 again?" Venus sighed with relief.

"Again?"

"You aren't the only one who's had crazy time adventures, Ben," Spectra smiled. "And you now owe me five bucks."

Ben grumbled and dug around in his pocket, forking over the correct amount of cash as Skurd gave him what Ben could only guess was a deep smirk. "So why exactly landing in 1814 a good thing?" Ben asked.

"Because we know someone from here that can help us," Frankie smiled. "He actually happens to a relative of mine."

"Who?" Ben asked.

Frankie grinned mischievously. "You'll have to wait and see. For now, see if you can't get the Scrap Heap out of that hole and meet us over at Monster High. I have a feeling it's going to take a long time to explain what the Sphinx is going on."

---

By the time the guys and ghouls managed to reach the front step of Monster High, it was already what most could only guess was high noon. For the time being, instead of a bright sun rising high into the afternoon sky, it was a pure white, full moon that shone down on the black and gray land beneath it, giving everything a rather dull and frightful look. Monster High itself was rather different than what the guys and ghouls were use to. In fact, the building was still under construction, with scaffolding raising up into the sky to surround what looked like the front belfry in a giant cage of wooden beams and platforms. Grand windows lined the front with a large set of stairs guarded by two stone gargoyles on either side; the statutes, unlike Rochelle, were completely lifeless, glaring at the group of approaching monsters with blank eyes.

"Yo, what's up with the ghouls in this time period?" Heath whispered to Venus when he noticed that several of the female students were looking at him with odd, yet endearing looks.

"In case you didn't notice Heath, our clothes are a couple centuries ahead of time." Venus told him. "Just ignore them until we find Sparky."

Heath cocked an eyebrow, but was distracted when he felt a hand stroking his shoulder and turned to see a vampire tentatively touching his Letterman's jacket with her fingers, curious as to what the mysterious clothing he wore felt like. There then gave a feral roar and what sounded like a snorting bull, and the ghoul quickly took off with a frightened look on her face. Heath blinked and turned to see nothing out of the ordinary around him, save for Abbey coughing and covering her face.

They continued to get odd looks from the student body of the current time period as they walked up the steps of Monster High, Frankie taking the lead and look around for someone in particular. She was so distracted in looking however, she didn't notice the small boy sitting on the front steps of the school, muttering to himself quietly as he did calculations in his head, until she actually tripped over him; both of them fell to the ground, the boy's lab coat nearly flying off of him as his monocle clattered to the ground.

"Oh, my ghoul, I'm so sorry!" Frankie apologized.

"Don't worry about, dear girl. Happens all the time." the boy said cheerfully as he patted around for his missing eye piece. "You haven't by chance seeing my monocle, have you?"

"I don't see any-" Frankie started before the sound of breaking glass met her ears. Fearing the worst, she looked down at her feet and raised her left foot up, wincing at seeing the shattered shards of glass and twisted frame crushed beneath her feet. "Heh, heh. Uh, found it." she said nervously.

"Oh, for the love of gargoyles," the boy frowned. "Ah, well. Glad I started carrying around more of these." he said cheerfully, digging around in his lab coat with his thick, black gloves before pulling out another eye piece and fitting it over his left green eye; his right one was startling blue, similar to Frankie. Almost as if they were related . . .

"Frankie? Is that you?" the boy blinked, not quite believing his eyes.

Frankie smiled. "In the flesh. Nice to see you again, Grandpa." she greeted him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Oh, please, dear girl! To you it's Sparky!" he said cheerfully. "I see you and your friends have returned from the future, thanks to Professor Steam's wonderful machine. To what do I owe this pleasure of your visit?" he asked brightly.

Frankie exhaled. "Well, we didn't exactly come here by Professor's Steam's time machine," she admitted. "And we came to ask for a small favor."

"Anything for my future granddaughter!" Sparky smiled. "But please, tell me, how did you travel back through time if you did not use Hexiciah's time machine?"

Frankie bit her lip as her friends shifted nervously behind her, not quite sure how to explain everything to him. "Well, uh, that's kinda rather hard to explain," Frankie shuffled her feet. "You see we have this . . . friend . . . who needs our help."

"Oh, really? And who is this friend of yours?" Sparky asked with slight suspicion, cocking an eyebrow and looking over Frankie's shoulders to give her friends a questioning look; despite his curious stare, none of them were yielding to him, though Gil looked he was about burst at any second before Abbey gave him a smack upside the head and a warning look.

"Well, uh . . ." Frankie trailed off, unsure of how to explain everything to her grandfather. How one exactly explained that she and several other ghouls were dating a boy who could change into hundreds of alien heroes with a magic watch was beyond her. Fortunately, it seemed she wouldn't have to explain much, because at that moment, the ground began to shiver and shake in a steady rhythm.

"Egad! I didn't think we were standing on a fault line!" Sparky exclaimed as he tried to stay on his feet.

"Hate to break it to you, luv, but that isn't an earthquake." Robecca informed him, a small smile curving its way across her bronze lips. Before Sparky could ask what she meant by that, screams of fright and terror suddenly rose up from the surrounding students, who had remained quiet as curious for the past few minutes, as they yelled and rushed past the guys, ghouls, and Sparky holding onto their hats and hiking up their skirts as something massive approached from the distance. Sparky watched in frightened awe a massive, human-like figure lumbered out of the forest, absentmindedly crushing full grown pine trees and oaks beneath its gigantic feet. The enormous creature strolled closer and closer, squinting its large, green eyes at the ground to try and see through the fog that swirled around its multiple fins and crests that decorated its metallic body.

"Frankie? Are you down there?" the monstrous behemoth boomed,shielding its eyes with one hand to try and see said monster; the Scrap Heap was clutched tightly in the other had.

"Great balls of fire!" Sparky exclaimed, his monocle popping lose and nearly falling to the ground had it not been for his quick reflexes. "Quick, Frankie! Get behind me! I shall fight off foul demon!"

"Who are you calling foul?" Way Big rumbled, bending down to set the Scrap Heap on the ground before reaching for Sparky with a hand that seemed to block out the sky. The scientist took one look at the giant's fast approaching hand and screamed before attempting to make a get away before being caught between two fingers that lifted him high off the ground, kicking and squirming.

"Unhand me, you demon!" Sparky cried, trying to get lose from the To'kustar's iron grip; Way Big didn't even falter, just looked oddly at the little, bug-sized person between his fingers that he could easily crush to a bloody pulp if he so chose to.

"This a friend of yours, Frankie?" Way Big asked.

"I was getting to that!" Frankie yelled up, cupping her hands over her mouth so that she could be heard better. "Now put him down!"

"If you say so." the titan shrugged before bending over and gently setting Sparky back down on the ground, only to watch him scurry away and take cover behind Abbey and Nefera, trembling.

"Now come down here!" Frankie demanded, jamming a finger towards the ground. "You're gonna scare the locals!"

"It's already a bit too late for that, my dear." Skurd sighed as the To'kustar tapped the large Omnitrix disk stuck to its chest. Sparky watched with awe, disbelief, and even a little horror as a wave of green light washed over the massive alien, changing it back into its original form; the bony crest on its head was sucked back into is skull, the large blades on its arms sliding back into its wrists as the fins on its shoulders and waist were pulled back into the body. The tough and metallic hide of the To'kustar became soft and firm, turning from red and white in color to a faded pink. A fifth finger was added to the massive hands as bones ground and organs sloshed and oozed about. The most noticeable change to Way Big however, was the size; he started out towering over Monster High, a good twenty feet or so taller than the tallest available spire. Now he was as tall as the nearly finished second floor, then the complete first floor before shrinking down to a size just a little taller than Nefera. A mop of thick, brown hair grew out from the bare skull, small ears forming on either side of the head as the eyes turned white with green orbs at their center. The final transformation was the addition of the Omnitrix and Skurd on the human boy's left hand, a wide grin on his face.

"So, who's the mad scientist?" Ben asked, walking over to the group and giving Sparky a good look.

Frankie smiled. "Ben, meet my grandfather Victor 'Sparky' Stein. Sparky, meet Ben Tennyson. Also known as my boyfriend." she added, her smile broadening upon seeing her grandpa's eyes widen even further.

"Astounding." Sparky breathed, scurrying out from behind Frankie and up to Ben, snatching up his arm and peering at the Omnitrix, flicking Skurd aside to get a better look, only for the Slimebiote to snap right back like a rubber band. "Ah, watch the merchandise!" Skurd whined, rubbing her sore head.

"The single-celled organism speaks? Amazing!" Sparky practically squealed. "Is it because of you that he is able to transform" he asked.

"Oh, if only," Skurd sighed mockingly, earning a flick upside the head from Ben.

"No, it's not the talking Snot Rocket," Ben told Sparky. "It's the Omnitrix, a device that can turn me into hundreds of different aliens."

"Extraterrestrial technology? Extraordinary! Come! To my lab!" Sparky gestured wildly towards the school and jogging up the steps of the school. A thought then occurred to him and he jogged back down the steps and skidded to a stop at Ben's side, grabbing his wrist and turning on the Omnitrix and quickly selecting a transformation before Ben could do anything to stop him.

The Omnitrix beeped and suddenly consumed Ben in a flash of brilliant, green light, injecting him with a set of alien DNA and forcing his body to change into something new. His skin turned a dark gray in color as his skeleton groaned and cracked he slowly grew a couple feet taller than his original form, his ears becoming long and floppy, drooping down on either side of his head before they stiffened and stuck back like rabbit ears as his eyes became diamond-shaped and turned an emerald green in color. His arms grew until his knuckles just barely touched the ground, small spikes popping out at the elbows and his pinky finger sucking back into his hand, a process that was rather normal for Ben's aliens. A grinding noise came to his attention and he cocked his hand far enough to see a skeletal tail grow out from the base of his spine, fresh muscle wrapping around the bare bone before smooth skin raced over the muscle. His toes popped back into his foot one by one as the bone quickly slithered to the surface like jelly before hardening into a solid hoof. His organs sloshed around inside his body, expanding slightly to fill the empty space inside of him as his brain filled all the available space inside his skull. The final piece of the transformation were the addition of black and green arm and leg braces, chest plate, shoulder pads, belt and a helmet that protected his skull, the Omnitrix and Skurd appearing on the belt around his chest.

"It seems the Omnimatrix has presented me with yet an additional contemporary form." the tall alien noted before looking down upon Sparky, who had a look equivalent to young child who had their birthday and Christmas all rolled into one for the next six months with no school whatsoever. "Ah, yes, Dr. Victor 'Sparky' Stein," the alien droned with a somewhat bored and irritated tone. "Is your laughable intellect fascinated by you are observing?"

"YES!" Sparky squealed.

"Delightful," the alien rolled its eyes. "Now since it seems to be a standard treatment whenever I so happen to discover a new form, I shall now name it with an irrelevant name. 'Brains' seems to be a fitting name, considering my massive and astounding intellect."

"Uh, Ben?" Spectra cocked an eyebrow. "Are you feeling alright?"

The Twin turned its head toward Spectra and cocked its head before responding, strolling over with a disinterested expression. "Yes, Ms. Vondergeist? How may I serve you?"

"Mind telling us why you're acting like this?" she asked with a slightly irritated tone; since when did Ben become so pompous?

"Ah, it appears your simple mind is unable to comprehend the prevailing phenomenon," Brains concluded. "To put in simple turns for your simple minds, I am a species called the Twins that possess mass intellect, telekinetic, levitation, and physical phenomenal qualities that make me far superior to any extraterrestrial form in the Omnimatrix." Brains bragged.

Spectra rolled her eyes. "That's all well and good, Ben, but can you help us move the Scrap Heap in Sparky's lab for repairs?" she sighed.

"Considering the circumstances, we do not have much option," Brains said with a defeated tone. "I doubt the technology of this era will be able to aid us, however." Before any of the group could protest however, Brains eyes glowed a bright green in color, the twisted pile of metal and scrap glowing the same color before being lifted off the ground by some invisible force. "Lead the way, good doctor." Brains droned; Sparky, seemingly unaware of Brains's attempts to insult him, eagerly gestured for everyone to follow him into the school, Spectra casting a suspicious look in the Twins direction.

They traveled down the halls of Monster High, every student pausing in mid conversation to stare at them as they passed by; whether they were staring at the guys and ghoul's fashion sense, the confident and ecstatic mad doctor leading the odd parade, or a large alien telekinetically moving a even bigger pile of twisted scrap metal behind it, was up to debate.

"Oh, do continue to stare at us as if we were odd beasts locked away in a zoological garden," Brains drawled sarcastically. "We simply adore being starred at."

Spectra ground her teeth, her attitude towards Ben at the moment really starting to grind her last nerve. She quickly steeled her nerves and sucked in a deep breath, trying calm herself as she followed Sparky down a short staircase and through a door that led down in the catacombs that ran beneath the school; finally, familiar territory. Unlike the rest of Monster High, the catacombs could not be easily remodeled without severe consequences, meaning the layout would be the same even two hundred years in the past.

"So, have you figured out how to make life yet?" Frankie asked her grandfather as they walked through a cobweb filled tunnel, swatting the webbing aside and avoiding the monstrous spiders that scurried about in search of food.

"I'm afraid not, my dear," Sparky sighed. "I'm afraid I've been rather busy as of late."

"Why?"

Sparky paused before speaking. "Are you aware that this school's swimming pool stretches down to an unknown depth, and no one has been able to reach the bottom?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So, my dear Frankie, we have been having slight . . . problems . . . with one of the pool's inhabitants as of late. Constantly snatching away student's belongings and precious items."

"Is it the Kraken?" Frankie asked.

Sparky startled for a moment. "How did you-" he trailed off before it dawned on him. "Ah, yes. Time travel."

"Don't worry," Frankie smiled. "I'm sure Ben can take care of it no problem. Lets just say he and the Kraken have a sort of rivalry going on. Though now that I think about it, the Kraken won't be aware of it."

"Interesting," Sparky hummed. "So your spouse is able to switch between multiple forms of extraterrestrial life, all of which have unique powers and abilities? Intriguing how far we have become in the future."

"Actually, there's something I forgot to mention," Frankie realized. "He's from another dimension."

Sparky blinked and starred at his granddaughter as if she had grown a second head. "You are positive you didn't just have some bad biscuits before visiting?"

"He can change in aliens, can't he? Why is it so hard to believe he's from a different dimension?" Frankie asked.

"I'm not saying it is, but if anyone else who wasn't as mad as me heard, they would think you had completely flipped your lid. "Ah, hear we are." he announced, stopping in front of a dead end.

"I hate to state the obvious, dear chum, but isn't that just a wall?" Skurd asked.

"Obviously, it is either an optical allusion, or a disguised entrance of some kind," Brains rolled his eyes. "For a single-celled organism with an extended vocabulary, you are rather dim." he added as Skurd fumed, wondering how long it would be before his host returned back to his original form. Sparky threw a playful look to the present company and stepped forward to the blank wall, pressing his hand down in the dead center and pushing in on a hidden plate. The sound of gears grinding and groaning filled the tunnel as dust rained down from the ceiling and the wall in front of them slid upwards, revealing a large room on the other side.

"I rest my case." Brains hummed, pushing past the rest of the group with the Scrap Heap in tow, the vehicle just barely fitting under the frame.

"He's really getting on my last nerve." Spectra whispered under her breath, floating after her lover with the others following after her. The room, supposedly Sparky's laboratory, was as high tech as the time period allowed. Several lab tables sat stationed in the middle of the room, multiple experiments sitting on top of them. Shelf after shelf after shelf of ingredients and instruments lined the walls, jars with body parts inside and vials containing mysterious liquids that held off stacks of books just some of the few contents on the shelf. A pair of large conductors was attached to the ceiling, massive amounts of crackling electricity dancing between them as flickering torches lined the walls.

"You may set it down over there," Sparky instructed to a large empty space off in a corner of the room just big enough for the Scrap Heap. Brains did as instructed and clopped over t the empty space, releasing his hold on the vehicle and letting it drop to the floor as Sparky walked over a collection of tools in his arms, dropping them to the floor with a loud clatter.

"Would you please jack your vehicle up so that I may take a look?" Sparky asked politely, positioning a pair of jacks under either side of the Scrap Heap.

"Only because you asked so nicely," Brains responded, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes glowing green again. The levers on both car jacks glowed an ominous green as well before moving up and down in a repetitive, pumping motion that pushed the Scrap Heap into the air just enough for Sparky to roll back under on a board with wheels crudely screwed in on the four corners.

"Can someone hand me a wrench please?" Sparky asked from under the Scrap Heap; Hoodude volunteered and scrounged through the pile of tools before pulling out a random wrench and handing it to the mad scientist. "I'm sorry, my good man, but that was not the one I needed." Sparky told the voodoo doll, handing him back the tool and waiting patiently as Hoodude carelessly threw it over shoulder, just high enough for it to fly between the two conductors and create massive light show; Sparky, true to his nickname, lit up like a Christmas tree and screamed for a few short seconds before the wrench fell back to the floor.

"Okay, would anyone else to volunteer?" Sparky moaned from under the Scrap Heap, smoke curling off of his lab coat. Venus was kind enough to volunteer, throwing Hoodude a sympathetic glance before handing Sparky the tool he needed.

"Hey, Sparky do you want us to handle the Kraken while you're working?" Frankie asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," Sparky said from under the Scrap Heap, loosening a few bolts before suddenly crying out in startled panic as the panel above him fell on his head. "But could you leave some of your friends to assist me while you are gone?" he asked with a low groan, sliding the metal paneling out from under the Scrap Heap.

"Sure," Frankie smiled, gesturing for Brains, Robecca, Heath, Gil, Nefera, and Jinafire to follow her out of the room; Brains followed with a tired sigh, leaving Spectra to narrow her eyes at him as he left.

---

The pool was both similar and different to what most of them were used to back at Monster High; the floor was rather bumpy and craggy, with puddles of sea water dotting the room, stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping water down into the pool as a few stray bats fluttered about. The smell of sea salt was overwhelming, fresh colonies of algae hanging off the stone walls and creeping over the rocks and tide pools. Two doors were thrust into the side of one wall, the boys locker room and the ghouls locker room. The crabs that scurried about however, didn't seem to pay attention to the signs.

"How primitive." Brains noted.

"So where's Squid Face?" Heath asked.

"Leave that to me," said Gil, pushing to the front of the group and to the side of the pool, a crudely cut square about as long as two school buses end to end, and dipped his hands in the water before thrashing them about, creating as much as noise as possible. The freshwater monster then quickly scurried back as far away from the pool as possible and waited.

They didn't have to wait for long.

With an explosive splash, a dozen tentacles as thick around as oak trees with row after row of suckers and spinning hooks rose out of the water, thrashing about in search of food and victims. Brains cocked an eyebrow at the beast, noticing how the whipping tendrils moved independently of one another; he sidestepped to the right just in time to avoid one of the tentacles as it crashing down to snatch up an unfortunate crab that had been scuttling behind him.

"Voltage," Nefera cursed under her breath as she pulled out her duo blades and ran them across one another; Heath summoned hot coals into his hands, his hair a raging inferno; Robecca snapped her goggles over her eyes and activated her rocket boots, hovering a feet few off the ground; Frankie's bolts crackled with electricity, ready to deal the final blow if necessary; Gil gulped and held out his Orishan gauntlets, ready fire at will; Abbey balled her hands into fists, an icy vapor escaping her lips as she gave a cruel smile; Jinafire bent her body into a fighting stance, smoke drifting past her lips as her tail swished back and forth with anticipation; only Brains didn't prepare for battle, merely watching everything unfold with a bored expression.

Brains watched as the guys and ghouls rushed forward as one as the Kraken sent forth half of its tentacles to deal with them. Nefera roared and swung her blades in a quick slicing motion, cutting through the soft flesh with ease and severing the limb as thick, black blood came shooting out, splattering all over her; the mummy didn't even flinch.

Heath and Abbey worked as one, dealing with the tentacles as they came. No sooner had Heath given a flaming karate chop to one tentacle and then cauterize the bleeding stump had Abbey slugged another with tight fist and frozen it in ice. The yeti was at a slight disadvantage against the massive sea monster, since Krakens originated in the icy waters of Norway; while having sharp ice crystals embedded in ones soft flesh was not pleasant, it wasn't as effective as the searing flames that washed over Heath's body. This drove Abbey crazy to no end; why did he always have to find someway to best her in everything? Sure, he hadn't beaten her in an arm wrestling contest, but he had bested her several other things, namely a game of Go Fish that she now had to honor a deal they made. An idea suddenly dawned on her, and she ducked down low to the ground where the tentacles had harder time reaching her as she held out her hands and breathed heavily into them, forming a thin icicle between them. She quickly lengthened the ice to her liking, flattening it and sharpening it on one end and adding a serrated edge until complete. Abbey grinned maliciously and quickly popped back up to her feet, swinging her new weapon in a wide arch and severing a tentacle in front of her; the Kraken screeched horribly as it retreated the bloody stump.

Jinafire ran along the edge of the pool, out of the tentacle's range and attacked from behind, going for the Kraken's mantle and striking the area just above one of its massive, fiery orange eyes. She dug her claws into the wet flesh and delivered a swift kick to the eye itself, causing the Kraken to screech in agony and thrash about even more. The dragon quickly opened her jaws and blasted out a jet of fire at the sea monster, scorching the soft flesh and leaping out of the way of an up coming tentacle before delivering a quick lashing of her tail.

Robecca was twisting and turning through the air, performing stunts to avoid the thrashing tentacles that chased after her. She quickly did a barrel roll to avoid the tentacle chasing her from behind and a tentacle that attacked from in front of her, both of them colliding with the other and then falling limp to the ground, as if they had hit their nonexistent heads. Robecca smirked and zoomed up towards the Kraken's face, blasting a massive amount of fiery smoke in the sea monster's face, blinding it.

Frankie and Gil hung back, unable to do much to help; blasting a sea monster with pressurized water, no matter what temperature Gil might change it to, was not very effective. And Frankie simply couldn't electrocute the Kraken without zapping her friends at the same time. It was then that they bothed noticed something rather interesting; Ben was doing nothing to help.

"Uh, Ben?" Frankie cocked an eyebrow. "Do you mind giving us a hand?"

"Why should I waste my valuable intellect on such a pointless battle? Besides, you are handling the situation rather well." Brains replied as Heath flew over his head and smacked hard against one of the walls, sliding to the ground with a groan; Frankie gave an irritated look, one that promised severe pain to his cerebral cortex if he didn't help.

"Very well," Brains wisely surrendered; there was no sense in ticking off his girlfriend in such an already dire situation. "It seems I must show you the shame my species has been cursed with." he sighed before closing his eyes. Frankie watched with confusion and amaze as Brains's form began to shrink down, his skeleton grinding and cracking loudly as he shrunk down to a height shorter than Frankie's waist. His delicate fingers fused together into sharp points before his hands and wrists suddenly swelled with massive amounts of muscle until they were the size of basketballs. His tail slurped back up into his spine like a piece of spaghetti as his hooves cracked and split apart into three talons. His skin went from a dull gray to a pale white as swirling black designs appeared on his head. Brains's pointed ears became more rounded and drooped down the side his head as the face mash vanished into thin air. The arm and leg guards disappeared as well as a pair of black shorts and a green belt with the Omnitrix and Skurd on it appeared around his waist, completing the transformation.

"Brawn! Brawn! Brawn!" the little alien cried happily, bouncing up and down and swinging his rounded fists wildly. "BRAWN!" he yelled before rushing at the Kraken on his little legs and drawing back a fist before driving it forward with enough force to stop a runaway train in its tracks. The Kraken jolted back from the blow of the punch as Brawn rapidly jabbed his legs out at one kick per second, raking his sharp talons across the soft skin.

"WAH-HOO!" the Twin cried as he bent his legs and shot off like a spring towards the ceiling of the cavern, digging in his talons into the solid rock and running around the stalactites as the Kraken tried to grab at him with its razor sharp tentacles. "Can't catch me!" Brawn laughed, taunting the sea monster. The Kraken growled and lashed out with one its tentacles, missing Brawn just by an inch and slamming the writhering tentacle into the solid rock. Brawn cackled with delight as he jumped onto the tentacle and slid down it like a slide, drawing both fists and ramming them into the Kraken's mantle before giving a final head butt and jumping free of the ailing sea monster.

The Kraken gave a halfhearted growl and sank beneath the waves, half conscious as Brawn landed on the edge of the pool with a cocky grin; the Omnitrix timed out seconds after that brought Ben back to the world with a massive headache.

"Ah, headache, headache, headache!" Ben winced, holding his pounding skull. "How does a species deal with being able to switch between a snarky no-it-all and a cocky bruiser?" he wondered, massaging his scalp.

"For once, we can agree on something, partner," Skurd sighed, rubbing his own little head. "Hard to believe, I know."

"That reason why Brains no help?" Abbey asked, slinging her new weapon over her shoulder.

"Pretty much," Ben groaned. "Can you spare some ice, Abbey?"

The yeti nodded and held out her hand, a small collection of ice cubes forming in her palm. Ben gladly took them in hand and jammed them onto his head, holding them in place as he sighed. "Much better."

---

"Pliers."

Venus grunted and handed Sparky the tool he asked for before climbing to her feet to stretch her aching limbs; sitting in a crouching position without barely moving was not good on her joints. With a stifled yawn she took the opportunity to walk around. Spectra was quietly soared up around the ceiling, absentmindedly picking away at her fingernails as Draculaura hung from one of the rafters overhead, taking the opportunity to nap. Hoodude was curiously playing with a few of the pickled body parts, watching them jiggle and slosh about in their glass prisons and Jane was leafing through Sparky's many journals and books; Venus opted to see what Jane was up to, walking across the lab and peering over her shoulder to look at several sketches of wild gargoyles.

"Ugly little things, aren't they?" Venus said.

Jane startled and snapped the book shut before realizing who was peering over her shoulder and flushing a deep red. "Y-yeah." she agreed.

"Hard to believe Rochelle's related to them." Venus remarked, prying the book back open to the page Jane had previously been on, absentmindedly slipping an arm around Jane's waist; the shape-shifter turned an even darker shade of red.

"Something wrong?" Venus asked mischievously, noticing Jane's behavior.

Jane promptly shook her head and quickly turned to the next page in the book, pretending to be fascinated by some sketches and notes of different species of wild dragons; Jane still found it amazing that Jinafire could be related to such ferocious beasts, but at the moment, she found something more interesting. Particularly the fact that Venus was massaging her shoulders without concern of being noticed.

"Feel good?" Venus smiled.

Jane barely nodded her head, let eyes droop shut as she felt the stress in her muscles melt away like hot fudge. Venus chuckled and rested her chin on the shape-shifter's shoulders, still moving her hands and even the least bit worried of what someone would think if they caught them. Before the plant monster could do anything else however, she was suddenly shoved to the ground and felt a great weight on her chest. Venus blinked and managed to pull herself out from whatever was on top of her, climbing to her feet as she brushed herself off. It was then that she noticed that Jane was gone; in her place was a large, shaggy, violet colored Mastodon, just barely managing to fit into the room.

"Ms. McFlytrap! I've been asking for a two inch Scaremister's wrench for the past ten minutes!" Sparky yelled with annoyance, rolling out from under the Scrap Heap. "Whatever is so important that-"

It was then that he noticed the presence of a large, extinct pachyderm in his laboratory.

"For the love of gargoyles, how did you get an extinct Mammut scaremericanum into my laboratory?" he sighed with a tired tone that hid his shock and amazement. Technically speaking, it wasn't odd to stumble across extinct species of animals hidden away in the Monster parts of the world; while Normies drove species to extinction, the Monsters were far more conservative and very rarely were ever the result of extinctions, meaning animals that should have been extinct thousands of years ago were still roaming around in parts of the world only Monsters had access to.

"The Mastodon," Sparky sighed upon seeing Venus's confused expression. "Why is there a Mastodon in my lab?"

"Oh, that's not a Mastodon," Venus smiled. "That's Jane."

"I find that hard to believe, dear girl." Sparky said flatly, taking out his monocle and wiping it clean with the part of his lab coat that wasn't stained with oil. Venus smiled bigger as she turned to Jane and gave her a look. The pachyderm rumbled and closed its small eyes, focusing on an image in her head. The large ears on either side of the animals' head shrank down to a near microscopic size compared to the rest of the body, becoming disk shaped and purple in color as the long trunk was slurped back up into the animal's face like a piece of spaghetti. The tusks ground and cracked as they were forced back into the mouth, the entire skull pulling back and shrinking down into a small, box-like shape. The heavy forelimbs shrank and were pulled back towards the body as the flat feet ground and split into five, bent rods with a sickening slapping sound. The tail was pulled back into the spine a the large hind legs shrank back towards the body like the first two, the large feet spiting into five, small toes. The thick layers of fur was sucked back into the body and left the shifting creature with nothing more than pale, purple skin. Thankfully, Jane's clothes reappeared on the shifting mass as poof of indigo and magenta streaked hair appeared on her head, ending the transformation.

"A shape-shifter. Should have guessed." Sparky mumbled under his breath as he turned back to the Scrap Heap. "Venus, if you please?" he sighed.

Venus nodded and followed Sparky, but not before kissing Jane on the cheek and leaving her there. The shape-shifter stood there, clutching her book tightly as if her body had lost all power altogether. She felt her face heat up as memories came back to her. Of how good it felt to have Robecca's lips to hers, to be within Ben's warm embrace. And then there was the time Venus had managed to talk her into having some fun with her and Whisp and had nearly been caught by Ben. Long story short, Abbey easily found them out with no effort whatsoever, and Jane had never been more embarrassed in her entire life. But it had felt amazing.

Now she was at a dilemma; she was now in a relationship with not only Robecca and Ben, whom she both loved dearly, but also with Venus. And the thing was, Jane found that she couldn't find the heart to tell Venus it wouldn't work. Even if she could tell Venus, she wouldn't. She had come to love Venus as well, and the plant girl took every opportunity she had to let Jane know she shared the same feelings.

"We're back!" Frankie's joyous voice rang out through the laboratory's high ceilings.

"The Kraken is taken care of?" Sparky asked from underneath the Scrap Heap.

"Squid Face's sleepin' with the fishes," Ben smiled, the ice on his aching head having melted. "Literally, we knocked him unconscious." he added upon seeing Jane's troubled expression; her expression didn't let up.

"What's wrong Jane?" Ben asked, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, shaking her out of her trance and bringing her back to the real world.

"N-nothing." she said, trying to sound confident.

"I played this game with Jinafire less than three hours ago, Jane." Ben stated.

Jane bit her lip before sighing with surrender and setting the book in her hands back on the shelf. "I'm . . . in a relationship with Venus." Jane admitted after a few seconds of hesitation and hanging her head in shame.

"What's wrong about that?" Ben wondered. "There isn't some jerk telling you that you can't have multiple girlfriends. Or boyfriends." he added.

"True, but goes against everything else." Jane sighed.

"What?"

"It goes against the laws of nature!" Jane exclaimed loudly, attracting everyone's attention. Jane laughed nervously, flushing a deep red before looking around wildly for some way, anyway to escape the starring eyes. Ben saw the look in her eyes and firmly put his hands on her shoulders, holding her place as everyone else took this as a momentary panic attack and returned to their business.

"Screw the laws of nature," Ben whispered under his breath so that only he and Jane could hear. "If you look me, Robecca, and Venus that much, it shouldn't stop you from loving us. Hasn't stopped me."

"That's because you're a male," Jane whispered back. "Males of many species have herds, packs, or harems consisting of multiple mates."

"It still shouldn't matter." Ben rasped.

"Why are we whispering, mates?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"GAH!" Ben startled upon seeing Venus and Robecca peering over his shoulders, just inches away from his head; Jane cracked a weak smile.

"Jane's having second thoughts about all three of us." Ben replied once he had calmed his frayed nerves.

"What, we not good enough for you?" Venus chastised Jane.

"Or are you more worried about what other ghouls will think when they see us together?" Robecca asked.

Jane remained silent, hanging her head in shame. She didn't deserve such nice friends or lovers as she had now. She doubted them, and cared more about what everyone else thought when they clearly could care less. She sniffed and held her arms, trying to comfort herself when she felt three pairs of arms slither around her, hugging her tight and reassuring her that things would be alright; she could feel Robecca's warm copper against her skin, Venus's delicate plant flesh caressing her, Ben's strong embrace that promised no harm would ever come to her. Jane smiled and took their hands in hers, holding them over her heart.

"Thanks." she whispered, leaning into their embrace.

"No worries, luv." Robecca smiled, pecking her on the cheek.

The moment between the four lovers was quickly interrupted by a high-pitched squealing sound, a noise that could only be outdone by a jet plane at take off. Which could mean only one thing: it was the sound of an extremely excited girl.

"EEEEEEEEEEEE!" Draculaura squealed happily. "I knew it! I knew it!" she cried.

"Know what?" Abbey asked, cocking an eyebrow as everyone turned their attention to the four lovers; Jane was now a light shade of pink as the other three tried to look unaffected at being caught.

"Ben, Venus, Robecca, and Jane are all totally dating each other!" Draculaura announced loudly, barely able to contain her excitement; a loud cry of anguish came from under the Scrap Heap as Sparky banged his head.

"Is vampire's statement true?" Abbey asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Ben smiled sheepishly.

Abbey starred at all four of them with steely eyes before responding. "In village, such relationships are forbidden," she said coldly. "Being good for you we are not in village." she added with a smile.

"Dude, you got lucky!" Heath laughed, clapping Ben on the shoulder. "Three hot ghouls, dude!"

"If I were you, I would watch what you say." Ben responded, nodding his head towards the three ghouls; Heath got the hint and backed away from the group and into a slightly irked Abbey.

"Congratulations, lad!" Sparky smiled as he rolled out from under the Scrap Heap. "One slight issue though: are you not dating my granddaughter as well?" he asked.

"Ben's quite the ladies man, Sparky," Draculaura explained. "And he's very good at it, whether he's trying or not."

"How's the Scrap Heap coming along anyways?" ben asked, attempting to steer the conversation away from his love life long enough to defeat Maltruant.

"I am confident I managed to get it up and running again," Sparky told him, cracking his aching back. "Perhaps you would like to take a look at it? Change into a smarter form and look over my handiwork?" he hinted.

Ben rolled his eyes; if he wasn't careful, this kid was going to try and create his own Omnitrix rather than focus on creating Frankie and her family. With slight reluctance, he turned on the Omnitrix and cycled through his roster before coming across the alien he needed and slapping the activation button. The familiar green light washed over Ben, changing his form into whatever the watch commanded it to become. The first noticeable change was his size. He quickly shrank down from his good six foot frame to something a little under five inches. His skin turned a gray color and became moist. He felt his feet each lose two toes and become webbed. He lost a single finger on each hand as his eyes bulged out of his head. The most dramatic change Ben felt as he was changed was when he felt his part split into two parts, one that seemed slightly smaller than the other half. He suddenly understood everything about the world and its inner workings. The Omnitrix and Skurd appeared on the back of his jumpsuit, completing the transformation.

"Lets see how you did." Greymatter stated in a rather nasally voice as he hopped over to the Scrap Heap and up into its bowels; Sparky rolled back underneath, tools at the ready to make any fine tune adjustments.

"Hmmm. You've done a rather remarkable job in putting the Galvanic coupling into the Incursean transformers, and the Tetramand engine block seems to functioning well enough," Greymatter noted. "I see you've managed to mix up the Conductoid wiring though. Honest mistake, really; only Conductoids and trained mechanics can ever really tell them apart."

"Did you understand half of that?" Nefera asked Gil.

"Not in the slightest," Gil replied. "But I think it's good."

"Where are the Galvanic thrusters!?" Greymatter suddenly cried out from under the Scrap Heap.

"Where the thrusters should be, obviously!" Sparky shot back.

"You are from the 19th century! How would you be capable of knowing where the thrusters for a 21st century Chronocycle go!?" Greymatter yelled.

The two scientists bickered and argued over Sparky's handiwork for the next half hour, Sparky doing a remarkable job of repairing the Scrap Heap. Other than the thruster incident, in which he accidentally placed them next to the engine thinking they were cooling devices, the work went smooth. Before long the Scrap Heap was up and running again, hovering a few feet above the ground.

"Thanks for your help," Ben said to sparky once the Omnitrix had timed out.

"You as well," Sparky smiled, taking Ben's hand in his and giving it a good shake. "To think my granddaughter is engaged to such a remarkable person."

Ben blinked. "We aren't-" he started before Frankie gave a quick whistle from the Scrap Heap, gesturing for him to get in. "Gotta go," he shrugged. "And thanks for making Frankie possible." he added with a smile, climbing into the front seat of the Scrap Heap and turning it on. The engine growled to life and the Scrap Heap moved a few feet higher into the air.

"By the way, you haven't seen a giant, black windup toy anywhere, have you?" Ben yelled over the roar of the engine.

"That was real? I thought I was imagining things!" Sparky yelled back. "I saw him go through a portal of some kind just before you got here!"

"Voltage. We've wasted too much time." Ben cursed under his breath.

"Wait!" Robecca cried, pushing her way to the front and pushing Ben out of the window's view. "Have you seen my father!?" she yelled.

"WHO?" Sparky yelled back.

"Hexiciah Steam, my father! How is he!?" Robecca shouted.

"Absolutely perfect, lass! He's been locked away in his lab working on some project or other! Something about finally having a family!"

Robecca gave small fist pump and pulled herself back into the Scrap Heap, Ben rubbing his sore skull and sitting back up in the driver's seat. "See ya around, Sparky!" Ben yelled, stomping on the gas; a large portal instantly opened up in front of the Scrap Heap before it could ram into the wall of the laboratory, disappearing in a loud roar before the portal closed.

"Either I've just had the experience of a life time, or I've completely lost my marbles." Sparky shook his head with a smile.

---

The Time Stream continued its silence existence as the Scrap Heap cruised along at a much faster pace, the wavering sides of the tunnel giving the Scrap Heap's passenger's a sense of serenity; it did nothing to calm Ben's nerves.

"Hey, uh, Ben?" Frankie asked after a few heated moments of silence. "Remember what were taking about before we crashed?"

"You wanted to now more about his life back home before he unprofessional blocked you out." Skurd said bluntly, Ben knocking his head against the dashboard.

"She asked me, Snotty." Ben said with an annoyed tone.

"If you're so protective about who she asked, why don't you tell her then?" Skurd pressed with an invisible smirk.

Ben was silent for a moment, having backed himself into a corner. He could either refuse to tell Frankie anything and most likely ruin their relationship as time wore on, or make a fool out of himself; neither were welcome options.

With a sigh, he surrendered and began to talk. "What do you want to know about first?" he asked.

"Your family," said Frankie.

"I have a Mom and Dad," Ben started. "My Mom is addicted to health food and has no idea to cook anything that's actually edible, and my dad is retired."

"Any siblings?" Frankie asked.

"I don't have any biological siblings, if that's what you're asking," Ben said, pressing down on the gas a little more. "Kevin and Rook are my brothers in a sense, and Gwen is almost like a sister to me, despite being my cousin."

"Rook is your partner, right?"

Ben nodded and continued. "He and Grandpa Max would always get on my case about how I handled work as a Plumber, despite getting things done just as good as when I would ever decided to follow protocol."

"Plumbers? I thought you were some intergalactic police officer?" Frankie cocked an eyebrow.

Ben actually smiled. "Common mistake. 'Plumbers' is what we use to call ourselves in public, when people weren't supposed to know. The name kinda stuck after a while." he admitted.

Frankie was about to ask more when something caught her eye, a familiar black stain against the wavering background of the Time Stream. "Maltruant!" she announced, pointing a finger at the spot, merely only a speck in the distance.

"Geez, if he's that far ahead, we must be getting close. I thought Paradox said he had to keep jumping from time zone to time zone!?" Ben remarked in disbelief.

"Well apparently he doesn't," Skurd grumbled. "Step on it, dear boy! Don't stop for anything!"

"Not even a smoothie break?"

"I am not going to dignify that with a response." Skurd muttered. Ben grinned, glad to have finally gotten the Slimebiote to be quiet for a while as he stepped down on the gas as far as possible, the Scrap Heap shooting off like a rocket.

"Hang on!" Ben called over his shoulder into the back as the afterburners kicked in and blasted the Scrap Heap forward even further; Ben could just make out the windup key protrusion on Maltruant's head.

"Kick it into high gear, dude! We're almost there!" Ben could just barely hear Hoodude, the only one of them not affected by the sheer force. Ben did as the voodoo doll suggested and let up on the gas pedal long enough to stomp down on it as hard as he could. The engine gave a loud roar and the thrusters gave a loud belch and the Scrap Heap shot off at an impossible speed, catching up to Maltruant so fast that he was caught against the windshield as they zoomed out of control up the River of Time.

"TENNYSON!" Maltruant bellowed, hanging on as tight as he could. "Release me at once, you foul vermin!"

"Trust when I say I can't!" Ben managed to yell, his cheeks flapping in the wind behind him as he was pressed into the back of his seat. Never before, in his entire life, had he gone so fast. Not when he was RazrEdge, not when he was Brawn, not even when he was XLR8 or Fasttrack. This faster than any of his forms could ever hope to go, almost near the speed of light if that was possible. Bne could only watch as the end of the tunnel, opening up smoothly into a dark, endless void that was empty of literally everything; matter, space, time, it wasn't there. Ben shuddered to think what might happen if they were stranded out there. The magnitude of the force got even greater as they exited the tunnel and briefly were exposed to the endless abyss before slamming face first into what looked like a white, pinkish colored cloud of sorts. Ben was cut off by surprise when the Scrap Heap slammed into it like freight train, forcing a hole through the cloud's thick walls before suddenly emerging out the otherside with a loud explosion.

Ben screamed wildly as the Scrap Heap began to roll uncontrollably, not allowing him to see anything clearly other than Maltruant's ugly mug, Frankie's pale face, Skurd's gelatinous body, and bits of the Scrap Heap that had been torn off in the explosion. It wasn't until after a few minutes (it seemed like hours to Ben) of rolling and tumbling, did Ben finally make something out in the endless white void. Despite there being nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to do, there was something.

A massive starship of sorts. It was shaped a little like the body of boat with its masts torn off, with seemingly random spikes poking out at the front and back. The bottom, a grand gold in color, seemed to drip down like a large icicle in the winter frost, the farthest point nearly a hundred feet away from the massive hull and bridge.

"What's that?" Frankie managed to ask, keeping down her lunch.

"A Contemelia ship, my dear girl!" Skurd replied.

"What's it doing here?" Ben wondered.

"We're about to find out!" Skurd managed to cry just before the Scrap Heap smashed into the side of the ship. The last thing Ben was conscious of was hearing Maltruant loudly cursing and muttering obscenities about improper use of a time traveling machine.

---

Ben blinked his bleary eyes, his skull a pounding mess. The world around him, a twisted pile of scrap metal, leather seats, computer consoles, and bloodied limbs all that he could see. With a groan he lifted up his head and managed to climb up into a sitting position, his hand absentmindedly unbuckling his seat belt.

"It's about time you woke up, dear boy,"Skurd grumbled.

"Don't worry, I got it." Ben mumbled, his mind still aching from the crazy. With a quick shake of his head, he cleared his thoughts and looked around him. They had punched clear through the side of the Contemelia ship and into a hallway of sorts, golden rib-like braces lining the walls amongst technology so advanced it put the Galvans to shame. The Scrap Heap, as it's name sadly implied, was a literally pile of twisted metal; the windshield was completely shattered, and the doors were ripped off their hinges. The dashboard was absolutely trashed and from the awakening groans Ben could hear in the back, the rest of the Scrap Heap had suffered a beating as well.

"Everyone alright?" Ben asked.

"We're fine, luv," Robecca groaned from the back, a chorus of agreement following after. Spectra swooped up to the front and through Frankie's passenger door, digging in her fingers before she finally managed to pull it off; Frankie half consciously climbing out of the seat and slumping to the ground once she was free.

"Remind me to never get involved with conniving Chronosapiens ever again." she coughed, climbing to her feet with Ben's help as the others exited through the passenger door beat up, but alive and in one piece.

"Noted," Ben said with a small smile. "Now lets find Maltruant."

The others followed him down the hall, mostly because they had no one else to follow. Whether Ben actually knew where he was going was unknown to them, but he was the closest thing they had to a guide in this world of the unknown illogical. In fact, everything ever since they had met Ben was suddenly brand new and strange, full of danger and excitement. Had he not come along, they would have either been currently stuck in Dragonomics or not even in existence if Maltruant's plan succeeded. And for that, they were grateful.

But what would happen when all was well and over? Would Ben remain here with them in their dimension, happily attending Monster High with them before eventually marrying all of his ghoulfriends? Would he take up as their world's new hero and start a family? Or would he abandon them, throw them away like forgotten trash and return to his universe, never to seen again and leave a trail of broken hearts behind? It all seemed so confusing, as if some kind of outside force or all potful god or being couldn't make up its mind on what to do as it wrote Ben's story, intricately intertwining it with their own so that their lives would never be the same again whether he decided to stay or go.

"We're here." Ben announced after a few minutes, pausing in front of a perfectly round door in the wall that suspiciously looked like the gaping maw of a Kraken; Ben grimaced at the memory and waited outside as everyone caught up.

"If Maltruant is in there, he's most likely ready for us, right?" Venus asked.

"Pretty much." Ben nodded.

"And you're not worried about this?" Draculaura asked, cocking an eyebrow

"Nope."

"Dare I ask why?" Nefera sighed.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," Ben smiled. "For now, it's time to clean Maltruant's lock!" he exclaimed, slapping what looked like an activation button on the door's side. The door silently opened its hatch and Ben and Venus, Nefera, Spectra, Heath, Hoodude, and Abbey charged right through, weapons at the ready.

"Skurd's right. His quips are getting worse." Frankie sighed, following her boyfriend with Jane, Gil, Draculaura, Jinafire, and Robecca in tow.

"You are going down Ma-Ma-Ma . . ." Frankie heard Ben exclaimed loudly before trailing off. She quickly ran the rest of the way, prepared to electrocute someone who tried to endanger her love when she saw Ben and the others safe and sound starring at something beyond her view. Curious, she turned her gaze to see three figures turning to study them.

What surprised and startled her the most however, was that the three figures were three oversized copies of Monster Beat Magazine.

"Do you see what I see?" Ben asked with a tone of an excited child.

"Dad?" Robecca startled.

"Abbey!?" Heath cried, glancing back between Abbey and the three clones in front of him.

"Father?" Jinafire cocked an eyebrow.

"Lagoona! And my parents!?" Gil yelped

"My iCoffin!" Spectra cried.

"Mother Nature?" Venus gasped.

My iCoffin!" Draculaura cried with glee. "And the cutest outfits a ghoul could have!"

"Frankie?" Hoodude cried with shock.

"Abbey see nothing!" Abbey cried defiantly.

"Ben?" Jane screamed with fright, unsure of what to make of the four versions of her lover.

"Exactly!" Ben cried with glee. "Wait, what? No, it's Mr. Smoothy! Or Smoothies, or whatever!"

"I see three of my father . . ." Jinafire trailed off suspiciously.

"No, I'm pretty sure your dad doesn't have a straw coming out of his head." Ben said firmly.

"You are all correct," one of the three magazines said, flapping its pages up and down like a mouth in a deep, all powerful voice that sounded as if a dozen others were all speaking at the same time. "We are the Contemelia. But our fifth dimensional forms can not be seen by your eyes. What you are seeing, is only a projection of the thing that holds the most sway in your heart." the Contemelia explained.

"Then why am I seeing three masses of energy?" Skurd asked, slight fear in his voice.

"A genetometaphomorphic. How interesting." the Contemelia noted.

"We just blasted all the way back in time to clean some psycho clockman's clock, and that's what you find interesting!?" Heath exclaimed.

"Do you have anything to do with our other guest?" another of the Contemelia asked with a slightly annoyed and bored tone, as if he had much better things to do than answer the questions of lifeforms lower than him.

"Maltruant? Where is he?" Gil asked urgently.

"Why haven't you tried to stop him?" Robecca asked.

"What can he do? He is as inconsequential to the experiment as you are." the third Contemelia said firmly; he and his three compatriots then turned and left Ben and the Monsters to return back to their work.

"You'd think they would have remembered this whole mess after the last time we went through it." Skurd mumbled. "Then again, they probably aren't the same Contemelia as before." he added as an afterthought to himself.

"They are no help," Jinafire sighed, a puff of smoke escaping her teeth. "We need to move."

"What experiment?" Ben asked loudly.

"We are about to create the universe," the lead Contemelia informed them, turning around in his seat. "The countdown has already begun."

"How are they going to do that?" Draculaura wondered, stunned. "I mean, it's the universe! How does someone create the universe!?"

"Using the Anihilaarg, that's how." Ben said simply.

How do you know about the Anihilargenesistoriafimiaorgost?" the lead Contemelia asked, curious.

"Maltruant has one of his own that he's gonna use!" Frankie practically yelled, finally glad that they had the Contemelia's attention.

"Interesting." the inter-dimensional being hummed. They were all suddenly consumed in a bright flash of light as they were briefly erased from existence. Everyone of them, Ben, the Contemelia, and the Monsters all popped back into existence into another room near the bottom of the ship. Bronze braces that looked like the veins in a body lined the walls, machinery crammed between them and leaving the main area clear; a large canister that stretched from ceiling to floor was positioned at one end of the room. And none other than Maltruant was standing there, slipping out the old Anhilaarg for his own, twisted version that would make the universe into whatever he desired it to be.

"Ah, a second too late as usual, Tennyson." Maltruant remarked with a sadistic and almost playful tone. "And, three alternate versions of myself! Come, we shall relish in the victory together!" he proposed to the Contemelia.

"Do something!" Abbey snarled at the three Contemelia.

"The Contemelia?" Maltruant cocked an eyebrow.

"That extra-dimensional field protects us from the upcoming release of energy," the lead Contemelia stated calmly. "It is impossible to breach or turn off."

"Agh! Well if you're not going to do anything, I am!" Ben announced loudly with a seriously annoyed tone in his voice. "Guys, ghouls, you keep Maltruant busy while I find a way through that field." Ben instructed as he ran over to the tube; the Monsters grinned maliciously and charged at the rogue Chronosapien, eager to do some damage.

"Haven't you learned that your attacks are fruitless?" Maltruant seemed to grin sadistically, raising his hands and preparing to slow down his approaching opponenets. His victory was so close, he could almost taste it, it was so sweet! Finally, after a millennium, he would see the universe as it was intended to be created!

Except nothing happened.

"What!?" Maltruant cried in shock Abbey charged forward, yelling at the top of her lungs and slugging him in the chest twice and sending him skidding back.

"Clockman's powers are time based, no?" Abbey cocked an eyebrow with a confident grin. "Too bad that time has not begun." Maltruant gulped and quickly brought up his arm to cover his face as Jinafire came soaring through the air to deliver a flying kick and only to bounce off of the Chronosapien's body. With a low growl of impatience, Maltruant blocked another strike from Abbey before punching her in the gut, sending her skidding away a couple of feet and only to be replaced by Nefera as she slashed her swords across Maltruant and succeeded in leaving deep scratches on his metallic skin.

"This is for all the trouble you've caused us!" Frankie yelled, charging forward and drawing back a fist as her bolts crackled with electricity. Before the rogue Chronosapien could hope to block the shot, Frankie punched him in the center of the glass circle on his stomach with everything she had, sending massive amounts of energy coursing through his metal body and blowing him back straight into the wall.

With a loud roar, Maltruant pulled himself free and charged forward as fast as he could, managing to catch up to Gil and send him out of the fight with a quick back handed swipe to his glass dome that sent him flying. Draculaura was sent sprawling as she attempted to strike from above and missed by just so, rolling across the floor and coming to a stop as she caught her breath. The Chronosapien kept a descent distance from Heath, lest he be melted, and went after Jane, attempting to stomp down on the violet cobra that slithered under his feet while dodging Venus's whip and swatting Robecca away from his head.

"Would you like me to give it a go?" Skurd hummed as Ben cycled through nearly half of his roster, desperately searching for an alien that could help him now.

"Meh, what difference does it make?" Ben shrugged, relinquishing control over to the Slimebiote and waiting patiently as he slithered his little green tentacles over the watch face. "Viola!" he announced triumphantly. Ben gave a confident smile and slapped the activation button, relishing in the feeling of the Omnitrix as it changed him; for all he knew, it might be his last. His skin turned a chrome white in color and became cold and hard to the touch, much like a sheet of metal as his arms expanded and bulked up. The first part on either of his arms, just below the elbow, became see through like glass as a toxic green started glow within the cylinders, bubbles bouncing around inside his shoulders became massive and rounded. His neck thickened as his head shrank slightly and reshaped itself into a cone shape as green ridges formed around the see-through tank on top that also held a toxic looking liquid inside. His chest bulked out as artificial muscles piled themselves on top of each other, racing down his legs as his toes melted together into a single, chrome white foot. A round, glass window suddenly appeared on his chest, looking very much like the Omnitrix itself with the bright, greenish glow as Skurd and the actual Omnitrix appeared on a green and white belt, completing the transformation.

"Holy Sphinx! Atomix!" he cried happily. The large alien quickly strolled over to the side of the glowing canister and drew back a glowing, green fist, slamming it into the barrier; despite appearances, he felt the field give a small amount, bending inwards before bouncing back. Atomix grimaced and drew back his other fist, driving it forward into the barrier, punching it repeatedly before resulting to a new move.

"Nuclear Beam!" he announced, stepping back a few feet and raising his palms, a blast of bright green, nuclear energy shooting outwards and slamming into the barrier without effect.

Nefera gritted her teeth and struggled to hold her swords in place, protecting her head as Maltruant relentlessly pummeled his large fists against the blades. Around her were several of her unconscious comrades, the only ones left operational being Spectra, Hoodude, Heath, Abbey, Robecca, and Frankie; Jane lay off to one side, trapped halfway between her original form and that of large bird of prey; Gil's helmet suffered severe cracks, water slowly dripping onto the floor as Jinafire's hair soaked up the mess, her fingers twitching slightly; Draculaura's chest was heaving in and out at a rapid pace with Venus's frame carelessly thrown over her.

"Take that, ya wanker!" Robecca yelled angrily, zooming up to Maltruant's face and blasting a cloud of noxious smoke from her rocket boots into his field of view.

"Interesting." the Contemelia noted.

"Is that all you can say!?" Spectra shouted irritably, driving one of her blades into Maltruant's back without much affect.

Atomix stopped for a second to catch his breath, nearly to the point of exhaustion; the extra-dimensional field hadn't budged in the slightest, and time was quickly running out. The loud click of a hatch being opened came to his attention, signaling time was almost up. "It can't end like this!" Atomix panted before Skurd suddenly slithered a large portion of his slimy body over Atomix's right arm. "What are you doing, partner!?" Atomix yelled.

"Making a point!" the Slimebiote declared. "I forgot you have Celestialsapien DNA in this thing! So elusive!' he added as a dull green light consumed Atomix's arm, an inky black limb traced in a bright white with star-like patterns placed haphazardly across the arm; a sharp and nicked sword forged of the same material appeared in Atomix's new hand, and slight grin came to his otherwise motionless face.

"Partner, you Gooey Genius!" he declared.

"I dabble." Skurd shrugged as Atomix drew back his arm and thrust the blade forward, the tip just barely cutting through the extra-dimensional field. With a strangled grunt, Atomix shoved the sword forward even more, forcing the hole even wider before grabbing onto it and pulling back making an opening big enough for his other hand to slide through.

"Impossible!" Maltruant exclaimed upon noticing, stopping just before he would have slugged Hoodude in the face.

"Interesting." the lead Contemelia remarked, clearly intrigued.

Atomix struggled to keep the barrier open, the property's of its design forcing the hole closed millimeter by millimeter. The Anihilaarg glowed an ominous blood red in color, the red circuit designs across its face glowing brighter as the time neared. "Friends! Lovers!" Atomix cried with alarm.

"It has been an honor to fight at your side, Ben." Jinafire groaned, coming back to reality a few precious seconds too late. The others were waking up to, only to be greeted by the site of agonizing defeat and utter annihilation instead of the joyous victory they fought so hard for.

"NO!" Atomix cried as the Anihilaarg suddenly fell, his chrome colored fingers just an inch away from grabbing it and saving all of existence from utter nonexistence. With a sudden desperate move, Atomix shoved himself through the hole he managed to create in the extra-dimensional field and fall down after the tumbling Anihilaarg, desperately trying to reach it as the force field closed behind him, cutting him and his loved ones off.

"BEN!" Frankie screamed.

"You vermin!" Maltruant roared, throwing Hoodude and slamming his fists into the field to no avail.

Frankie, Nefera, Spectra, and the rest of the guys and ghouls all rushed up the field, desperately trying to catch one last look of Atomix as he fell after the Anihilaarg. Tears were starting to fall down Jane and Spectra's faces as the ghost tried desperately to phase through the extra-dimensional field without success. She then quickly tried for the floor, the walls, the ceiling, even the portholes that allowed one to view the outside, but all of them never allowed her access to the outside; for once in her undead life, she was absolutely helpless to help a loved one in need, left to stare after them and watch as they perished while she lived.

"Well, he had a good run, didn't we, old friend?" Skurd sighed with defeat.

"Agreed," Atomix surrendered. "Apologies for calling you a Booger Sack." he added as the Anihilaarg paused in mid-fall, defying the nonexistent laws of gravity and physics for a split moment as the top opened up on a hinge and a bright red beam shot out into the white abyss before being sucked back into the device as it collapsed in on itself in a small and ever expanding black hole.

"You never called me a Booger Sack." Skurd noted with suspicion.

"I thought it!" Atomix shouted as the black hole, with absolutely nothing to suck in collapsed back in on itself before suddenly giving an enormous eruption or dangerous red energy and expanding outwards at a rapid pace.

"I can't believe my last words are Booger Sack!" Ben wailed as the bright red light consumed him, Skurd, the Omnitrix, and every little piece of scrap metal floating over in the void and incinerating them as an explosion of indescribable magnitude rocked the white void, literally shaking it the nonexistent core.

"BEN!" Frankie cried, sliding down the side of the tube and onto the floor, sobbing.

"HE FAILED!" Maltruant cackled madly, his victory. "I have dreamed for millennium of this moment! An entire universe in my image!" he cried happily, strolling over to the nearest porthole to view his handiwork at what he would soon become ruler of.

His delight quickly diminished upon seeing something odd: the blast, the Big Bang was dissolving! It was shutting down, dying out, as if being reversed and rewinded by some all powerful TV remote! There was no new universe, no new galaxies, no new planets or stars to rule, just empty white space!

"What is happening!?" Maltruant cried with horror, turning to the Contemelia, the only suspects capable of such events. "You are supposed to be observers! You are not to involve yourselves in any events that transpire!" he cried incredulously, wanting to believe they were the reason he had failed.

By now the guys and ghouls had noticed the anomaly, watching with stunned hope as they watched the Big Bang die down and condense back into the bright ball of swirling red energy that pulsed and throbbed with every passing second as it somehow flew straight back up towards the ship, aiming for the hole it had been released from, the entire chamber lighting up and dancing with all the shades of red as they all started at with awe, horror, and disinterest.

"What are you doing!?" Maltruant cried with terror, not wanting to believe what was happening was occurring. Because it could only mean one thing and one thing only . . .

"We are observing." the Contemelia stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The room flashed brightly for a few heated seconds before dying down slightly enough, the pressure of energy inside of the tube making the sides pump and bend outwards slightly, allowing enough of the light to die down for everyone to get a good look at why things had turned for the better for everyone but Maltruant.

There, hovering inside the extra-dimensional tube with the Big Bang held tightly between his plugged fingers was a Condcutoid struggling to keep the massive amount of energy coursing through its body and fingertips from going supernova; a familiar symbol was plastered on the alien's chest, glowing brightly with a certain Slimebiote shielding his beady eyes from the blinding light.

"Ben?" all the Monsters wondered in unison, unable to believe their eyes.

Feedback didn't acknowledge them, concentrating too hard on keeping the Big Bang contained to notice them. It was then that Spectra noticed that the Omnitrix was glowing more brightly than it had ever been before, suddenly consuming the Conductoid in a bright green flash of energy and bringing a large Teramand back out into the world.

"What's happening?" Jane asked worriedly.

Four Arms. Ripjaws. Heatblast. Wildmutt. XLR8. Diamondhead. Grey Matter. Stinkfly. Upgrade. Cannonbolt. Wildvine. Ghostfreak. Blitzwolfer. Frankenstrike. Snare-oh. Upchuck. Ditto. Eye Guy. Way Big. Swampfire. Echo Echo. Humungousaur. Jetray. Big Chill. Brainstorm. Spidermonkey. Goop. Chromastone. Alien X.

"It's the Omnitrix . . ." Robecca gasped.

Lodestar. Rath. Nanomech. Water Hazard. AmpFibian. Armodrillo. Terraspin. NRG. Clockwork. Shocksquatch. Fasttrack. Chamalien. Eatle. Jury Rigg. Bloxx. Gravattack. Crashhopper. Ball Weevil. Mole-Stache. Walkatrout. Pesky Dust. The Worst.

"It's overloading!" Heath cried, throwing himself to the floor. "Hit the deck!"

Kickin' Hawk. Toepick. Astrodactyl. Bullfrag. Atomix. Gutrot. Whampire. Arctiguana. Buzzshock. Phobos. Overflow. RazrEdge. Mindmesser. Teleportail. Brains. Brawn. It seemed the Omnitrix couldn't make up its mind about which alien was perfect for the job, which form would be better suited to save the universe from utter destruction before finally settling on Feedback once more.

The extra-dimensional field somehow managed to open up once more, as if sensing the need to release it's supercharged prisoner, and Feedback floated back out into the chamber with the Big Bang pulsing more violently between his fingertips as the sheer amount of energy coursing through his body kept him aloft.

"You can not do this!" Maltruant argued.

"You're the one who wanted his own Big Bang," Feedback snarled as he and Skurd glared defiantly at the rogue Chronosapien; the guys and ghouls merely watched with awe and confident smiles on their faces as Maltruant's end no doubt neared. "And now, you're gonna get it!" he yelled angrily, thrusting his hands forward and blasting out the massive amount of energy coursing through his body at Maltruant, the blood red energy turning a bright green in color as it hit the rogue Chronosapien.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Maltruant howled as the he struck, the crackling green energy dancing across his rotund, metallic body and working its way inside of him, slithering over his gears and pistons and up his windup, increasing in magnitude until the pressure was too great. With a final roar of defeat, Maltruant was suddenly compacted into a tight ball and exploded!

With a satisfied grin on his face, Feedback dropped back down to the ground and landed on his feet before collapsing to his knees, the Omnitrix timing out as Ben now tried catch his breath, utterly exhausted. "And that, as they say, is that." Ben sighed, crushing Maltruant's modified Anihilaarg underneath his foot.

"Oh, thank Ghoul you're alright!" Frankie cried, suddenly tackling him to the floor and hugging him tightly. "I thought I was going to lose you!"

"Careful dear girl. Any tighter and you will lose him." Skurd chided.

Frankie ignored the Slimebiote and hugged Ben tighter as the rest of the guys and ghouls all gathered round to make sure Ben was alright, hugging him tightly once he reassured he was fine and might only pass out from lack of oxygen if they squeezed him any tighter.

"Don't ever do anything like that again!" Spectra yelled angrily, slapping Ben across the face before holding him tight again.

"Geez, for someone who can pass through solid objects, you sure pack a punch!" Ben winced, rubbing his sore cheek.

"I thought you were . . ." Spectra trailed off, not wanting to say the words.

"Nah, I always figured the Omnitrix had a fail safe that wouldn't let me die, and sure enough, it kicked in right before the Big Bang started," Ben smiled, pecking Spectra on the cheek before starring down at the watch face lovingly. "Gave me just the alien I needed."

"Your recklessness never ceases to amaze." Skurd drawled.

Ben rolled his eyes before he felt Spectra smash her lips in his, pressing her body to his own and pulling him in tight. Ben was stunned for a few seconds before deepening the kiss, circling his arms around her translucent waist and pulling her in, enjoying her embrace as everyone else gave them a mischievous smile. "You may be reckless," Spectra smiled, ending the kiss and resting her head on his shoulder, looking up at him with love in her deep indigo eyes. "But I still love you."

"Love you too." Ben smiled, pecking her forehead as Jinafire, Robecca, Venus, Frankie, Nefera, and Jane crushed them both between their warm embrace. Finally, after so much fighting, so much loss, so much horror, it was all over. They were altogether, and nothing would tear them apart.

Heath sighed and watched Ben and ghouls longingly; as much as he would have liked to have had his own harem (on several occasions he had actually attempted this and had not only been suspended from school from a week, but his face was so swollen and beaten up you could hardly recognize them), he knew he would be lucky enough to score even one girl. And whoever that girl was would have to be highly tolerant of his goofiness. He trailed his eyes back over to Abbey, who was watching her friends with a small smile before she caught sight of Heath looking at her. Heath quickly glanced away, sweating nervously at what Abbey might do to him if she caught him starring at her.

"Something wrong, Hothead?" Abbey asked him, walking over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder; the fire elemental was now sweating buckets.

"Uh, n-n-nothing's w-wrong, babe! Abbey! I-I meant Abbey!" he quickly corrected himself, praying silently Abbey would let him keep his family jewels intact.

"Abbey let irritating nickname drift off on iceberg for now," Abbey smiled, suddenly leaning forward and pecking Heath on the cheek. "Who know? May actually answer to it." she added with a smile small before walking away; a triumphant wolf howl and smell of a raging inferno met her ears as she turned her attention away from Heath.

"Ahem."

With celebrations and reunions out of the way, everyone turned to stare at the three Contemelia, who had remained absolutely silent and observant through the whole ordeal, not having said a word as they watched the heroic young teens hug and kiss each other to death.

"Would you like to see the creation of your own universe?" the lead Contemelia asked, bending over and picking up the Anihilaarg, the real Anihilaarg in his hand (page, wire, sleeve, as the case may be). "It seems this one may be the most interesting one yet." he added with a smile.

The guys and ghouls eyes widened and they all nodded in unison, scurrying over to the port holes to watch the stunning event as the lead Contemelia walked up to Ben as he climbed to his feet.

"It seems only fitting that you do the honors." the Contemelia said to him, holding out the Anihilaarg for Ben. The watch wearing hero, Bane of Vilgax, Victor of the Highbreed Invasion, Destroyer of Malware, Master of Khyber the Huntsman, Scourge of the Deathless Incursean Empire, Bane of Albedo, Nemesis of Zs'Skayr, Champion of Maltruant, and Wielder of the Omnitrix, smiled and took the Anihilaarg in hand, walking over to the still open containment field and dropping it down the open hatch as the extra-dimensional field closed once more and he rushed over to the portholes next to his ghouls.

Frankie quickly took his hand as the Anihilaarg fell down into the white void before exploding as its tampered counterpart had before. Only this time, it exploded into huge supernova of thousands of colors, more than the rainbow could ever hope to contain or create. The guys and ghouls watched with stunned and astonished looks on their faces as the universe formed before them, flashing into bright lights as galaxies were birthed, planets were formed, stars began to glow, and the rest of the unused material gave off a stunning glow that would never die down for millions of years. It was so beautiful, so stunning, so utterly magnificent, one could not hope to ever find something so beautiful in all of existence no matter how long they searched for it.

"This is the most amazingest thing anyone could ever see." Ben breathed as Frankie squeezed his hand tighter and rested her head on her shoulder.

"'Amazingest' is not a word, luv." Robecca told him, leaning against his other shoulder as Ben wrapped his arm around her copper frame.

"Do you have a better word for it?" Ben smiled.

"No." Robecca replied after a few moments of thought.

A sudden beeping sound caught all of their attentions away from the magnificent light show below them as several of the large braces that held the room together suddenly slid open, their hatches sliding downwards to reveal thousands of tiny little capsules embedded into the walls. Inside each capsule, oblivious to the world around them and swimming in endless little circles were thousands, if not millions, of tiny, little Slimebiotes all nearly identical to Skurd.

"More of me!" Skurd cried with desperation, oozing his little tendrils clear across the room and dragging Ben with him as he went in for a closer look. "I thought I was alone in the universe!" he added with a relieved sob.

"No," the Contemelia reassured him with a kind smile. "Your species is the most important in all of creation. For eons, these Slimebiotes will carry, gather, mix, and deposit DNA across the growing universe." the inter-dimensional alien told them before reaching behind him and opening an empty container. "Would you like to join your ancestors? It seems you have forgotten who you are," he said with a light chuckle. "Which is understandable after millions of years."

Skurd blinked and looked at the empty capsule in the wall, tracing his beady little eyes up at the rest of the Slimebiotes as they starred down at him, wondering why one of their own was strapped to the wrist of such a large and ugly looking being. Skurd studied them for a moment before looking back at Ben, looking at the guys and ghouls, and all the friends he had made along the way.

"When I first met, I saw you nothing more than a free lunch," Skurd admitted, his voice cracking slightly.

"Are you talking to me or the Omnitrix?" Ben asked with a joking smile.

"If I hadn't found antagonizing you so much fun," Skurd continued. "I . . . would have stuck with you. Thank you for everything, dear boy."

Ben gave Skurd a sad smile and moved his hand towards the empty capsule, his knuckle just barely touching the container as Skurd detached himself from the Omnitrix and hopped into the waiting container.

"You about this Skurd?" Ben asked, earning an assured nod from the Slimebiote. "Thank you, Skurd. I owe you my life." Ben said farewell, closing the tiny capsule and ending one of the most grueling, most annoying, yet worth it friendships he had ever dared to forge.

"And I owe you mine." Skurd gave a mouthless smile.

"Good-bye, Skurd!" Draculaura cooed, waving farewell as everyone said their own good-byes.

"Thank you, all," Skurd addressed them. "It has been an honor to serve with you all." he said as the hatches rolled back up and Skurd vanished from sight. There came another loud beeping as everyone rushed back over to the portholes of star ship, peering with their eyes as a cloud of greenish, little dots fell lose from the bottom of the ship and out into the newly born universe.

"There's Skurd!" Hoodude pointed out, jamming a cloth finger at one of the billions of little dots; if one looked close enough or had eyes sharp enough, they would indeed see their Slimebiote friend slithering off to seed life across the growing universe, the Omnitrix symbol on his head disappearing from view.

"Well done, Benjamin," an old, warm voice greeted them.

Everyone whirled around to see Professor Paradox step out from a swirling portal with a grand smile on his face. "I knew you wouldn't fail." he added.

"I knew it too." Ben smiled confidentally.

"You did?" Venus asked, Ben throwing her a look before everyone burst out laughing.

"See, Maltruant is stuck in a Time Loop," Ben began to explain, bending down to pick up one of the larger pieces of Maltruant that had been carelessly thrown everyone, the main spring if Ben remembered correctly.

"And he is doomed to failure, over and over," Paradox continued, taking the spring from Ben's hands. "Every time he pulls himself together, he returns to the Beginning of Time and is defeated by Ben!" he said with a chuckle. "We gather up the pieces of Maltruant and scatter them across the universe. And the loop begins again."

"Ugh, my head hurts!" Hoodude gripped. "Who knew having stuffing for a brain could be such a problem?" he joked, earning a laugh from everyone.

"The only person who doesn't know about the Time Loop is Maltruant himself," Ben remarked, picking up the windup key that would have sat on Maltruant's head and handing it to Paradox. "And you, I guess." he added to Hoodude, earning another laugh from the group.

"Mr. Paradox?" Robecca asked nervously. "If I may venture, why did you refer to yourself as 'we'? Is there not only one of you?"

Paradox's smile actually seemed to broaden at the question. "Ah, I was wondering when you would ask that, Ms. Steam. I am, in fact, working with another party. The Time Walker of his set of dimensions, to be precise."

"Who are they?" Robecca asked. "Can we meet them?"

"All in due time, my dear," Paradox smiled. "But first, the author must break for a very important announcement. Afterward, you shall meet my mysterious friend."

"You make that sound as if we're inside of a story." Venus said suspiciously.

"We may be, we may not. Certain laws and matters prevent me from telling you for certain." Paradox smiled.

---

Hey, everyone. I suppose you're wondering why I have interrupted the awesome flow of my story to plague with a surprise author's note (mainly because more than half of you don't read the author's notes anyway, which would explain why I don't have many entries for my Nemetrix contest). I assure you, this is no April Fool's joke. Recently, as in four days ago, a dear friend of mine by the name of Axle the Hedgehog attempted to commit suicide by getting run over a car in the middle of heavy traffic.

The entire reason why he tried to do this, was because of something between his friends on this website.

I am heavily ashamed that such dastardly acts have been committed on this website by these people. While I am one to judge, and am not sure where he and his friends now stand, I am utterly appalled. This website is supposed to be a safe haven for people who simply want to write stories for fun or who have no where else to go and need to build themselves back up. This kind of behavior is completely unnecessary; this website should be used for happiness, not hatred.

So when you're done reading this story, go over to Axle the Hedgehog's profile and read his story Gwen 10: The Omniverse War and show him some love. Do it not because I told you to, not because you obligated to, not because you'll feel guilty if you don't. Do it because this person needs help and needs to be shown that they matter to others.

And now, back to our irregularly scheduled program.

---

"A most unfortunate turn of events indeed." Professor Paradox hummed with disappointment. "So hard to believe that the people you call your friends can suddenly turn on you."

"What's he talking about?" Draculaura whispered.

"I have no idea." Ben murmured back.

"Now then, I suppose we have waited long enough," Paradox smiled, looking at the metal gauntlet that was his right hand. "He should be along any second now . . ."

As if on cue, a bright purple colored portal appeared next to the Professor, opening with a loud and celebratory roar as a figure stepped out of it and back into reality. He wore a black and white pinstriped vest over a white dress shirt with dull brown colored pants and shining black shoes polished to their fullest. His skin was slightly tanned and, similar to Paradox, had his left hand missing only to have it replaced by a strange, bronze limb that looked like a cross between a sort of gauntlet and skeleton. On his head, he wore a top hat with a pair of goggles around the brim and he had a full mustache that made him look quite intelligent. But it was the eyes that caught everyone's attention as he twirled a timepiece topped cane around in his fingers; they twinkled like the newly born stars, as if they knew something everyone didn't.

"Always with the time puns, eh, Paradox?" Hexiciah Steam chuckled as the portal closed behind him.

"My poor punch lines do not seem to be the important matter at hand, Hexiciah." Paradox smiled.

"DAD!" Robecca practically screamed shooting off on her rocket boots and slamming in her father, hugging him tightly and never wanting to let him out of her sight.

"It's good to see you again, my daughter." Hexiciah smiled, returning the hug and stroking his daughter's hair. "You are in remarkably good condition since the last time we met." he continued with a smile.

"Oh, Dad! I'm fully capable of maintaining myself!" Robecca protested childishly. "But what happened to you? Where did you go? Why are you here now?" she asked desperately.

"Ah, so many questions, so little time." Hexiciah sighed.

"Now who is the one making the time jokes?" Paradox raised an eyebrow with amusement.

"Wait, wait, hold up," Ben said, pinching his brow and rubbing his throbbing temples. "This is you dad, Robecca?"

"That I am," Hexiciah bowed, tipping his hat to Ben. "And you must be Ben Tennyson, correct? I've heard much about you from my friend Paradox."

"Dad. What happened to you?" Robecca asked.

"To put it quite simply, I fell out of time and reality," Hexiciah explained. "I was trapped for a couple millennium in this dimension, slowly going insane. After a couple more millennium, I got tired of that and became sane again."

"And let me guess: you learned the inner workings of time and became a Time Walker, am I right?" Ben guessed.

"I suppose it is a rather clique, considering my colleague suffered the same fate, am I right?" Hexiciah chuckled. "Either that, or you have a rather fine head on your shoulders!"

"I've always thought so?" Nefera smiled, kissing Ben on the cheek and turning him a deep shade of red.

"Agreed. He shall make a fine husband for my daughter!" Hexiciah announced proudly; every but Ben's, Robecca's, Hexiciah's, and Paradox's jaws dropped to the floor in shock.

"Did he not tell you?" Hexiciah asked, cocking an eyebrow. "The Professor and I meant once in the past, before I became a Time Walker. That reminds me, how is that gear doing?" he asked Robecca.

Robecca's expression immediately fell, oily tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. "Zs'Skayr drained it. It's useless." she sniffed, slipping her hand underneath her shirt and popping her hatch open wide enough for her to slide her hand inside and pull out the mentioned gear to show her father.

"I was going to use one of my wishes to restore it," Ben told her. "But then, ya know, we left and everything and then . . ."

"it's alright, luv," Robecca sniffed, smiling sadly. "I always knew I never be able to savor the joys the raising a family. I've come to accept that." she continued, leaning into Ben's frame and starting to sob a little more, steam pouring out of her ears at acting like this in front of her friends and her father. Ben held her tight, running his hand up and down her back to soothe her.

"He certainly is worthy," Hexiciah noted happily. "But you shall have what has long eluded you, my dear."

"What?" Robecca asked, wiping her eyes and leaving black smears across her copper face.

"The gear has no limit," Hexiciah explained. "The rapscallion Zs'Skayr has tricked you, turning off the gear so that, in the event that you tried to use it, it would not work."

"The bastard." Ben cursed.

"Indeed." Paradox frowned.

"Well, since we are all agreeing on things, allow me." said Hexiciah, taking the gear from Robecca. Ben wasn't sure how the cyborg did it, but he quickly fiddled with some kind of hidden system or other before the gear gave a low whine and glowed a bright gold in color as he handed it back to his beyond happy daughter. Robecca quickly slipped the gear back under her shirt and back into her system before throwing her arms around her father and hugging him tightly, unable to ever forgive him.

"We'll be on our way soon enough," Paradox assured the Contemelia, who had been ignoring all of the action in favor of checking their instruments and monitoring the newly born universe. "Help me pick up the pieces of Maltruant, will you? We have a lot to do before I return you back to your friends."

"Who no doubt are worried sick about you," Hexiciah added before turning to Ben. "I expect you to keep her happy, dear boy. Don't make me have to come back here and give you a stern talking to. That, or give you an up close and person tour of medieval torture devices." he said to Ben, smirking slightly upon seeing Ben pale.

"Well, no sense in sticking around any longer, now is there?" said Paradox. "Onward!"

And there we go!

Now for those of you wondering, this is not the end of the story! In fact, there are many other tales I've been meaning to work in to this story, all of which will be tied in together. However, for a limited time, I will be excepting ideas for 'episodes'.

Much like the actually TV series, there have been multiple filler episodes that have nothing to do with the main story line, but are still published with small hints at what will happen later on. While some people find these boring and senseless, I find them highly useful. So if you have any ideas for the plot of an 'episode', do not hesitate to PM me your idea (I would rather you PM me and not review, that way people will not plagiarizer or know what might come up next). If I find the 'episode' plot to be good enough, it will be posted here as a filler chapter until we get the final chapter(s).

But I digress.

As always, comment, review, suggest, and request down below. And hey, show Axle the Hedgehog some love and visit his profile and read his stories.

Hasta Luego!