Inside the Rust Bucket…
Jack was in some sort of discomfort. "Don't think I can take this much longer." Groaned Jack.
"Just hold on. Almost there." Max said.
Raf approached Max with a shallow box the tools a tailor has.
"Uh! Can't breath!" Jack groaned.
Max reached into the box and pulled out a pair of scissors. "Don't quit on me now Jack!" Max shouted.
"Gotta get outa here. Going, hero." Jack reached for the Omnitrix, but Max grabbed his hand.
"No you're not." Max said. Jack was revealed to be wearing a maroon formal suit with a red tie. "Save the drama, will you please? I just need to make sure this tux fits."
From behind a curtain, Miko spoke up. "Can we come over there?" She asked. I promise I won't laugh."
"Okay." Max opened the curtain, letting Gwen, Arcee, and Miko see Jack, who was obviously not liking this.
Miko broke her promise not to laugh and laughed anyway.
"Oh cheer up Jack. You look handsome in it." Arcee rubbed her partner's head. She noticed that Jack was having problems breathing, so she loosened the tie.
"You mean it Arcee?"
"Sure, I might've known cliffjumper longer, but he never had the courtesy to look like this."
"Well, it still doesn't help that I'm not just going to the the wedding, but I'm also going to be in it. Seriously, why do I have to be the one of the groomsmen, I barely know this guy."
"Shinnosuke got food poisoning last night at the bachelor party, so you're the replacement." Max said. "Besides, it's only for one weekend."
"Well I'm glad we're here." Gwen said. "I've never been a bridesmaid before."
"Jack, be careful with this tuxedo, it's a family heirloom. It was mine when I was your age." Max said. "Then, for some completely unknown reason, your mom wore it. Don't ask. And now you're wearing it."
"Oh lucky me. I get to where the tuxedo that my mom wore." Jack said sarcastically.
"Just be careful with it please."
"Smile and say blackmail!" Miko shouted as she took a picture of the suffering Jack.
There was a knock on the door to the rust bucket.
Max opened the door and saw that it was June, who was wearing a red and blue dress.
"I just came to check on you guys- Oh I remember that tux, but not why I wore it."
"Mom, what're you doing here?"
"You think I'd miss my cousin's wedding?"
Later…
Jack, Arcee(who wasn't using her Sadie disguise, but was still human sized), Max, Gwen, Miko, Raf, and June were walking around the area outside the country club where the wedding was being held.
It was what you'd expect, plants such as roses and willows to set the mood, swans in the lake that went around where the ceremony was in place. A gazebo for the band I guess.
"Uncle Max." Said a black haired man who wore a green polo shirt and blue jeans. With him was a woman wearing a pearl necklace who wore tan pants and a salmon blouse.
"Joel. And this must be Camille. Congratulations."
"Arcee, put you ID mask on now!" Miko shouted.
"Arcee, what's her problem?" Joel asked the blue autobot.
Arcee rolled her optics. "Don't mind Miko, she doesn't know much."
"Any way, Uncle Max, could you and June try to talk someone into my parents?"
"Max!" A man and a woman walked up to the group. The man had grey hair and wore a white polo shirt with a light brown jacket on it, he wore a cowboy hat. The woman was probably of Asian descent. She wore a dark red coal, a blue shirt, and a brown skirt, and had black hair that was slightly blue.
"Betty Jean. Gordon." Max knew these people.
"Ah, Max." Gordon said. He then saw Arcee waving at him. "We're so glad you're here. Maybe you should talk some sense into these kids."
"What's going on?" Max asked.
Gordon leaned on Max's shoulder. "Ah, they don't know what they're doing. This whole wedding is a terrible mistake."
"The whole wedding's a terrible mistake?" Asked Max. He had played right into Gordon's hands.
"See, listen to your uncle Max."
Jack was having a hard time comprehending this. "How can the whole wedding be a terrible mistake?" Asked Jack. "Something's up."
Miko and Raf turned to face each other. They just shrugged.
"June, you understand you this will end badly." Gordon said.
"Uh, what? I don't think I was ever married to an alien, let alone one that my dad didn't like."
Arcee was having enough of this. "Gordon, isn't scrap like this what caused your early retirement in the first place?"
"No, those charges were never proven. All I'm saying is that the kids don't know what they're doing."
"Now Gordon," A new man, or should I say Mann, said. "The kids are grown ups, who're we to get in the way?" Asked the man, who wore a dark lime green polo shirt and a pair of brownish tan pants. He had black hair that was beginning to grey. Next to him was a woman with brown hair who wore a dark purple scarf, a dark grey long sleeve shirt and a black skirt. They were followed by a brown man who wore a black tuxedo and a black bow tie.
Camille introduced her parents. "These are my parents Mr and Mrs Mann."
"I'm sorry we had to meet under such," She raised one of her eyebrows. "awkward circumstances."
"So are we." Betty Jean and Gordon said at once.
"I know the feeling." Jack said.
Without saying another word to each other, the parents of both the bride and the groom left.
"Maybe this won't be so boring after all." Miko said with a smile on her face.
"Something's not right." Jack paced back and forth.
Camille went to got talk with her parents.
Joel sighed. "Uncle Max, this has been a nightmare. Not just the families, but the wedding dress got lost, the photographer's camera got smashed, all the flowers up and died, everything's going wrong."
"Don't worry cuz. I'm sure it'll all work out." June assured her cousin.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but I'm Gwen, one of the bridesmaids, and I have a few questions" before Gwen could do her best Miko impression, Joel place his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, I'm sorry Gwen, didn't you here? Camille's friend Kiriko was able to make it after all." Gwen pouted when she heard this."But her brother Go couldn't make it, so we're short one ring bearer."
"I'll do it. How hard can it be?" Raf volunteered.
"Well, that sorts that out,"
"Please tell me Shinnosuke got better too?" Pleaded Jack.
"Uh, no, sorry Jack, Shinnosuke still isn't feeling good. Nothing changes for you, except who you'll dance with at the reception."
"Dance?!" Jack wasn't expecting this. "I don't know how to dance! Arcee, you heard me admit that."
Arcee played an audio clip of Jack from a long while ago. "No I'm not going to the dance. Experience suggests I should never cut a rug, unless replacing a carpet. Be careful? Seriously? This is Alamo. I love you. I love you too mom, I gotta go. Hello beautiful. Where have you been all my life?" That was a bit more than what Jack wanted Arcee to play.
June was laughing at what she just heard. "So that's what you said to Arcee when you first met her?"
"See, I can't dance."
"Then I guess you'd better learn then. You don't wanna look like a mega dweeb out there in front of everybody, ain't that right June?" Joel said with a grin on his face. "And also figure out what you meant by cutting a rug."
Jack gulped.
The following night…
In the Rust Bucket 2, Raf was reading a book while Max dusted off the tux that Jack would wear to the wedding.
Raf noticed something was up. "It's too quiet. Where's Jack?"
"I think he said something about going downstairs to take a dip in the lake.
Outside…
Jack was wearing his black and white swim trunks as he walks to the lake. He had a towel in hand. He walked by a truck that had come from a bakery. When he walked by the back, Jack peeked inside. He saw a bunch of pastries. He thought of eating one of them. It it wasn't worth the risk. If he did, he would've gotten in trouble since the guy delivering the pastries came back while Jack looked into the truck.
"Don't mean to cause any trouble." Jack said. He proceeded to the lake. When Jack left, the delivery man was grabbed by what might've been an arm made out of s clay like substance.
The delivery man screamed as he was dragged into the forest. Seconds later, the delivery man walked out of the trees, but his eyes were glowing purple.
"Now to deliver a wedding present they'll never forget."
Jack got to the lake. He saw a sign that read 'no swimming'.
"No swimming? Now what'm I supposed to do for fun?" Jack asked himself.
He heard the squealing of tires, indicating that there was a vehicle moving rather quickly. Jack looked in the direction of the noise and seconds later, the pastry delivery truck burst through a wooden gate. Jack got a mischievous smile on his face. The truck was heading for the gazebo. Jack ran towards the truck before selecting Cannonbolt. He transformed into that alien.
Cannonbolt rammed the delivery truck, destroying it. "Oh yeah!" Cannonbolt was experiencing premature jubilation. He looked behind him to see that some of the chairs were on fire. He now kinda wishes he turned into Big Chill instead. He had to put out the fires somehow, so he rolled up into a ball, and tried putting out the fires by crushing the chairs, but seemed to do nothing. If anything, it caused the flames to spread faster.
Cannonbolt tried blowing out the flames like they were candles. He also tried hitting them with a wet rag, but that somehow only made it worse.
"Scrap. This isn't working! I need water. Lots and lots of, water!" Cannonbolt remembered that he was by a lake. He got an idea.
Using the wreckage of the truck like a ramp, Cannonbolt got high up in the air. Before he came crashing down he managed to shout: "Rider Cannonbolt cannon ball!" The splash he made caused water to get sent up into the air, which came down as discount rain. It extinguished the flames.
When Cannonbolt got out of the lake, two blasters were pointed at him. "Boy, the lifeguards around here must be pretty strict."
"An Arburian Pelarota?" Gordon couldn't believe his eyes.
"An alien wedding crasher! Who sent you?" Betty Jean demanded answers.
"No body, I swear. I don't even want to be here!" Cannonbolt explained.
"What is going on?" Asked Joel as he, Max, Gwen, Arcee, and June ran up.
"This alien was trying to ruin the wedding."
"I was trying to save the wedding!"
"Uh, it seems like he's telling the truth." Max said, trying to not say that the Alien that Joel's psychotic parents wanted to blast was their great nephew.
"Still, better not take the chance." Betty Jean and Gordon charged up their blasters. "You know aliens. Can't trust any of them."
"Ahem!" Arcee drew the attention of the two psychos away from Cannonbolt and to herself.
"No offense Arcee."
"Offense taken in full."
"Camouohlant vaporis." Gwen said quietly. A cloud of steam appeared, allowing Cannonbolt the opportunity to escape.
"He's getting away! Blast it!" Gordon shouted. He and Betty Jean fired in the direction of the lake, but not one of their shots hit anything.
"Put those things away!" Shouted Joel as he slapped his father's blaster out of his hands. "This is a wedding, not a shooting range."
"But that thing is still out there."
"It doesn't matter. We want you to promise. No more weapons for the rest of the weakened."
While Joel berated his parents, Cannonbolt hid in the bushes on the others idea of the lake. He heard what sounded like stepping in mud. He looked to see a Vaughn humanoid blob mover out of the broken gate. Cannonbolt rolled after it but found that it was gone.
"Hey, where'd it go?" He asked. As Cannonbolt scratched his head in confusion of large tendril with two 'arms' that was made of of a mud like material was behind him it rose up and was poised to strike. Cannonbolt got out of the way and rolled a good distance away before the mud being struck him. He then turned and rolled back to the mud creature. He jumped and landed on it, just as the Omnitrix started to time out. The mud monster took that as his cue to leave. Right before the Omnitrix timed out, the mud monster slapped Cannonbolt away toward the bushes. When the Omnitrix times out, it caused him to be reverted back to Jack. Jack groaned as he landed in the bushed.
The mud monster, which had glowing purple eyes oozed into the sewers. "I hate weddings." Jack said as he rubbed his forehead. He noticed that on his chest, there was a bit of the 'mud' that made up the creature's body. "But I do love a good mystery."
Jack walked back to the original Rust Bucket. He got a small glass jar out of the covered and put the alien mud into the jar. He labeled it 'Sample from attacker' Jack changed into his cloths that he kept in the original Rust Bucket.
June, Gwen, and Max entered and saw the bruise on Jack's forehead. Max sat across from Jack as June sat next to him and was applying an icepack to Jack's forehead. Gwen took, a seat in the passenger's chair
"I guess I forgot to mention that grooms parents were plumbers, and the bride and her family are aliens." Max said.
"Aliens? They don't look like aliens."
"They're just in disguise for the wedding." June explained. "Actually, they're some of the toughest, nastiest, meanest beings in the galaxy. We call them sludge puppies. The plumbers and the sludges have been going at it for hundreds of years, all across the Galaxy. But a few years ago, their children, Joel and Camille, met and became close, a truce was forged from that single relationship."
"This is the first marriage between a mud alien and a human. It could put an end to years of fighting."
"And someone obviously doesn't want that to happen." Jack said. "And I intend to find out who the culprit is!"
"Jack, that's a bit ambitious." June said. "We'll all do it together."
"Well, we can all help, but who's actually started on the case?" Asked Jack.
"What'dya mean?"
Jack placed the jar that had a sample of the alien that attacked him on the table. "Here's the culprit. Now we have to get samples from all possible suspects."
"And then what?"
"Take them to Ratchet so he can run tests on them to see if any match. I'll do that while you guys see if any of our suspects had any motives for committing this crime."
Later, inside the country club…
Gordon, Betty Jean, June, Max, Joel, Camille, Mrs Mann, and Mr Mann were sitting around a round table, eating dinner.
The Manns held up their wine glasses and held them in a way that showed that they didn't want to cause trouble. However, Gordon and Betty Jean were keeping an eye on them.
Jack, Miko, Raf, and Gwen sat a smaller round table that had a pink table cloth around it.
Two girls walked up, one had long blond hair and blue eyes. She wore a black sleeveless shirt that had a white star on it, I'm addition, she also wore a red skirt. On her face, she had two sets of two markings that resembled whiskers. She seemed to be about Raf's age.
The other girl was Japanese. She had brown hair and eyes, and wore purple sleeveless shirt and light grey pants. Around her waist was a red belt. This one was a bit older than Jack.
"I'm so excited to be the flower girl!" The younger girl said excitedly. "Did you know we get to dance in front of everyone?" She grabbed onto Raf's cheeks. "Isn't that great?" She asked.
"Yeah great!" Raf said, his voice sounding muffled.
"Did anybody ever tell you how cute you are?" She said. "You're like some kinda puppy dog!"
The younger girl ran off, giggling as she did so.
The older Japanese girl was still present. "Jack, you and I will also dance."
"Um sorry…" Jack didn't know her name.
"Kiriko."
"Sorry Kiriko, but I can't."
Kiriko grabbed Jack's ear. "Oh, and why's that?"
"Ow ow ow! I'm trying to solve a case. And I can't dance."
"Is that true?" Kiriko asked. "Then you better learn how to dance, or else." Kiriko then walked away.
"Oh scrap I'm doomed!"
"Don't worry Jack I took cotillion for three years." Jack looked at Gwen like she was crazy. "Cotillion, it means, never mind. Simply put I know how to dance, I can teach you."
"Thanks Gwen, but right now, I have work to do." Jack said. He placed a circular device into his right wrist. Gwen, Miko, and Raf were looking at him with wide eyes. Jack flipped a switch on it and turned invisible.
"Uh, what just happened?" A confused Miko asked.
"Stealth Boy. Got it from an old friend of ours."
"Wash." Raf, Miko, and Gwen said.
"Yep." Jack stood up from his chair and walked over to the table with the adults. Since he knew that only Camille's family were aliens, Jack focused his efforts on them.
As Camille and Joel looked into each others eyes while they held hands, the pastry deliverer got mad and had an outburst.
"Camille! I'm not letting you marry any filthy human without a fight!" He angrily shouted. His eyes turned solid white before he turned into a monster made out a purple mod like substance that towered over any human. The monster was mildly humanoid, possessing two arms, but no legs.
Camille gasped when she saw this alien. "It's my ex boyfriend! How'd he find out about the wedding?"
"Who the hell invites their Ex to their wedding?" Jack said to himself as he scraped a bit of Mr Mann into a jar. He did the same with Mrs Mann.
Camille's ex boyfriend smashed a table and tossed another one in the direction of the kids.
That's gotta be the thing that attacked me last night." Jack said. He activated the Omnitrix and turned into Diamondhead.
The Ex boyfriend continued to trash the event. "Without our gear were sitting ducks!" Gordon said.
Camille's ex boyfriend grabbed Joel and held him less than a foot from his face. "If I can't have Camille, the neither can you, you meat puppet." The arm that he used to hold Joel was sliced by a disk of crystal that came out of nowhere.
"Back off the man who might be hospitalized by an explosion in a few years." Diamondhead, who was still invisible said.
"Who said that?" The ex boyfriend asked.
Diamondhead pressed the deactivate button in the stealth boy that he wore, revealing himself.
"A Petrosapien? What're you doing here?"
"I'm just a passing through alien hero, remember that, plus, I'm a friend of the groom."
Camille's ex boyfriend glared at Diamondhead. "Then you're no friend of mine." He swung one of his arms at Diamondhead, however the Petrosapien dodged it and then fire several crystal shards at the sludge puppy. When the shards hit the Lenopan, they were absorbed into its body.
"Uh oh." Diamondhead knew he was in trouble. The uni exited guest slapped him into a pillar and while Diamondhead recovered, he struck the Petrosapien again, sending him through the pillar as well as another one.
Diamondhead was tossed into a spa. When he got up. He turned his right fist into its diamond shooting form and looked around for the attacker. He heard something moving from behind him. He turned around, shouting "Gotcha!" It turned out it was just a woman, who was trying to relax. She screamed when Diamondhead pointed his crystal launcher at her. "Sorry lady. I thought you were some kinda alien." The woman walked away. Caught off guard, Diamondhead was grabbed by the sludge puppy. He was brought in close to it. In response, Diamondhead punched the Lenopan, causing him and the attacker to fall into a jacuzzi. In the water, the ex boyfriend started to melt, turning the water dark purple. Diamondhead climbed out. He was covered in purple mud. June, Max, and Gwen ran up to him. "Ew." Diamondhead was rather disgusted but the idea that he was covered in an alien's goo.
"It was a dirty job." Max joked while rubbing the back of his head. "But somebody had to do it."
"At least you have another sample to send to Ratchet." June said. "Oh, and look what I got for you." June held up a shot glass with more of the purple mud. There was a note on it that read 'bodyguard'. She handed it to Jack after the Omnitrix timed out.
The following evening…
"We are not canceling the wedding!" An angered Camille said.
"Civilians will be at the wedding tomorrow. What if there's another alien attack?"
"Maybe just put if off until after I complete my investigation."
"At least let us bring our plumber gear." Betty Jean said. "Investigation, what investigation?"
"I'm trying to figure out who's attacking the wedding."
"Jack, you're not a detective." Joel said. "And as for your request mom, this is a no weapons wedding. Only Arcee's allowed to bring her blasters because they're a part of her body."
"Everyone relax! There's no need for weapons now." Said Mrs Mann. "It's all over."
"I wish I could believe that." Max said.
Jack walked away from the group. He got on his phone and dialed Ratchet.
"Hello?" Asked Ratchet.
"Ratchet, I need you to do some forensics." Jack said.
"For what reason?"
"I'm at my mom's cousin's wedding, and it was attacked by a sludge puppy."
"So let me guess, up you need me to help you search for clues?"
"No. I need you to run some tests on a collection of DNA samples from the four suspects."
"Hold on, you need me to run test to find who the assailant is?"
"No, I need you to find who matches the attacker from yesterday. Could you do that?"
"Very well. I'm opening a ground bridge at your location."
The bluish green vortex of a ground bridge opened, getting the attention of the families of the bride and groom.
"What the?" Joel didn't know what this was.
"It's a ground bridge, but why would the 'bots, or the 'cons come here?"
They saw Jack's shadow in the light the vortex generated. "June, is that your boy?"
"It is. Jack where're you going?!" Shouted June.
"To the base! Ratchet gonna help me with the case." Jack walked through the portal and into the Autobot base.
When he got into the base, Jack saw that Optimus was working hard on decoding one of the entries in the Iacon archives. Optimus looked over his shoulder and saw Jack. "Hello Jackson, did you find the relic I sent you the coordinates to?"
"Yeah, we did but it wasn't anything spectacular."
"How so?" Ratchet asked.
"It was just a model of a space bridge, that was on display in an art museum in Pittsburgh." Jack said. "Care to explain why your mentor would put a model into one of the pods for the valuable items?"
"As for that, I have no answer. Jackson, why are you here right now? You said that there's a wedding, do you not have to get to it?"
"The ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow, so I have time to run my investigation as to who's responsible for the attacks." He walked over to thee leafed human area. "Ratchet, I think you'll need these." Jack placed the five jars into Ratchet's hand. Each one had a different label. One was labeled 'Perpetrator', another was labed 'Mr Mann', after that, another one was labeled 'Mrs Mann'. The final two were labeled 'Bodyguard' and 'Camille's ex boyfriend' respectively.
"Who's Mr and Mrs Mann?" Asked Ratchet.
"Camille's parents. Oh, did I mention that Camille and her family are aliens?"
"No, you did not." Optimus said.
"Well, they are." Jack said. "Ratchet, while you work on this, could you please send me back to the wedding?"
"Why? I thought you said it's tomorrow?"
"It is, but I need to learn how to dance by tomorrow."
"Dance?" Ratchet was confuse.
Optimus spoke up. This was one of the few times where he would be the one to explain an earth custom. "At wedding, it is traditional for the groomsmen and the bridesmaids to dance with each other. But why do you need to learn how to dance?"
Ratchet played the audio file from when Jack first met Arcee.
After it played. Optimus had a few questions. "What is this 'rug' you spoke of?"
Jack shrugged. "Hey Ratchet, mind emailing me a copy of that?"
"Why, I thought you were embarrassed by it?"
"Well, yeah I am, but that did lead to the three greatest things that ever happened to me."
"And those would be?" Optimus asked.
"Being given the Key to Vector Sigma by you Optimus, then meeting you guys, and finally, the greatest thing that's ever or will ever happen to me, finding the Omnitrix."
"Hmm. Interesting. Why would you place being given the key over, say beating Vilgax?"
"I didn't beat him. He's currently chilling in the Null Void with Vince, and I really hope he stays there." Jack said. "Now, could you send me back to the wedding so that I could get some dance lessons from Gwen?"
Later, in the Rust Bucket…
The waltz was playing as Gwen showed Jack how to dance at the reception. Jack was having trouble moving his feet in tune with the song.
"Jack, it's not that hard. You just gotta let it flow gently."
"Sorry, but I just can't do this."
Gwen, knowing that Jack was a fan of Kamen Rider, got an idea to help Jack get the handle of this.
She switched the song to a song that Jack would know.
As a piano played, Gwen took Jack's hands. The two of them swayed back and forth in tune with the song. Joining the piano, were violins, as well as various light wind instruments.
A woman started singing.
'Daiji ma hita kazoeru nara anata,'
'Douzo watashi wo oyayubi ni shitte'
After a bit of a break in song, where only the instrument could be heard, the singer continued.
'Tatoe utsusemi no karada hanaretemo'
'Nee kitto yo.'
The singer took a break for a few seconds before continuing.
'Anata koso ga ashkita ni tsutsuku, yume'
She sped up her singing a bit.
'Anata dake ga aoku kagayaka, hoshi'
She increased her volume.
'A~ Watsurenaide'
'A~ Kono yakusoku'
She went back to her previous volume.
'Deatte, yokatta to, mayowazu ieru~,'
She got louder again.
'Forever! Futari wo, even musubu no.'
There was a long break in the singing, which gave one time to look at Jack and Gwen, who were moving rather gracefully.
The singing started up again.
'Suki na tokoro ageru no nara watashi'
'Ryoute wo yubi ottemo tarinai'
'Amai kuchibiru mo tereta hohoemi mo,'
'Sou, subete.'
'Kokoro koso ga toki wo tabi suru, fune'
'Kokoro dake ga unabara terasu, tsuki'
She increased the volume of her voice.
'A~ Namida saw mo'
'A~ Koete yukeru'
She decreased the volume of her voice.
'Donna ni, mijikaku temo, tokimeita hibi~'
She got louder again.
'Forever~! Nozomi wo~ eien ni takusu no~'
'Forever~! Nozomi wo~ eien ni takusu no~'
The woman was done singing, and for the remained of the song, the increments played, getting softer and softer until, they ceased making noise.
"Wow, that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."
"See, even you can do it. All you really gotta re her is to not step on her toes."
"Aw, that's adorable!" June, said, holding a video camera in hand. She had filmed Jack and Gwen dancing to the song.
"Mom!"
The next day…
The wedding was going off without a hitch, so far at least. Joel and Camille were looking into each other's eyes. Next to Joel stood Raf, who was wearing a yellow and black tux that had a black bow tie.
"Dearly beloved," The justice of the peace began. "we are gathered here to witness the union between Joel and Camille.
The tie Jack wore was too tight. He saw his grandfather giving him a thumbs up.
"I am so proud." One would think Max meant he was proud of Jack, but then, "Just look at that tux."
"This young bride and groom are an inspiration," Camille's parents smiled. "they remind us that love conquers all." Joel's parents shot angry glares at the Manns. The justice of the peace continued to speak.
Jack loosened his tie. When he saw the Mann family's response to the hostility put forth by Gordon and Betty Jean, something clicked in his mind. Images flashed before his eyes. It all made sense to Jack. Mr and Mrs Mann were being far too nice. They're one of the only people who could've told Camille's ex about the wedding, and it wasn't Camille who invited him, seeing as you never, ever, ever, invite your ex to the wedding. Add to that the fact that DNA from the ex boyfriend matched that from the attacker from to night ago, and the fact that there's a deep seated hatred of the plumbers among the sludge puppies, which translates into a desire for the war between the two sides to continue, and Joel and Camille's marriage might put a stop to the fighting, it would only make sense for two warmongers to distort the wedding that would result in a peace treaty.
"If anyone has a reason why these two should not wedd, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."
"I've got it together!" Exclaimed Jack. "My brain is in Top Gear!" Jack straightened his tie.
"Sir, do you object?" The justice of the peace asked.
Jack saw his mother shooting him looks that said 'I am going to kill you'. Jack then spoke. "It's not I who objects to this wedding, rather, it's the parents of the bride." Jack pointed at Mr and Mrs Mann.
"Huh?" Joel and Camille,were dumbfounded.
"Everyone, ask yourselves, have Mr and Mrs Mann ever shown any signs of hostility towards anyone?"
"They're nice people is what they are." Joel said. "Let's just move on."
"Silence man slave! Despite the fact that Gordon and Betty have shown nothing but hostility towards those two, the Manns have been acting nice. Too nice. Disgustingly nice. Canadians are telling you to tone it down, that's how nice you two are."
"What're you getting at young man?" Asked the justice of the peace.
"In my experience, nobody who's mentally sound acts this nice on a regular basis. And since you two are very much anchored in reality, your politeness means one thing and one thing only. You have something to gain."
"That's preposterous, we'd never sabotage our daughter's wedding."
"Exactly. You didn't. You hired someone to take the fall for you. Enter Camille's Ex Boyfriend, who according to the bride, should've been unaware that there even was a wedding, despite the fact that he did in fact, show up on at least two separate occasions. One being last night, the other being the night before when he crashed a truck in an attempt to destroy this set up. And it was definitely you two, seeing as Camille wouldn't be dumb enough to do such a thing, you never invite the ex."
The justice of the peace was about to speak, but Jack covered his mouth with his hand. "Ah, but we haven't delved into why they would do such a thing. You see, Mr and Mrs Mann are from a race of alien called Sludge Puppies, who're currently in the middle of a war with a group known as the plumbers. And since Joel and Camille's marriage would be the first step on the path to peace, Camille's parents want to make sure that that first step is on a landmine."
"Your point is?" Gordon asked.
"My point is, the true masterminds are Mr and Mrs Mann. But hey, I could be wrong. You may continue."
"Does anyone else object?" The justice of the peace was hit by a glob of, purple mud.
"Yeah, we have something to say." Mr Mann said, his voice being much deeper.
Joel's parents stood up and their jaws dropped. The Mann family's bodyguard covered them in a pile of mud, leaving only their heads exposed. Most of the guests ran away from the attacking aliens, however, Miko, Raf, June, Max, and Jack stayed, as did Joel and Camille.
The Manns and their bodyguard approached Jack, Joel, and Camille.
"You hit the nail square on the head." Mr Mann said. "And now this wedding, along with every human here, are about to be canceled."
Camille still couldn't believe that her parents would do such a thing. "Mom, dad, what're you doing?"
"As the little detective said, planting a landmine."
"See, I was right. It was her mom and dad who planned every single one of the dirty tricks."
Despite being stuck in the muck, Betty Jean still felt like talking smack. "See, what'd I tell yah, once a sludge, always a sludge."
"So the ex boyfriend was to keep suspicion off of themselves?" Max reasoned.
"See what happens when you don't listen to me?" Jack said.
"There will be no wedding, and no truce." Mr Mann grabbed Joel and held him up in the air.
"But you said you like me!" Panicked Joel.
"We lied."
Camille ram up to her father. "Stop it! No!" She begged.
"Stay of this Camille." Mrs Mann growled. "This is for your own good."
Mrs Mann whipped Camille, sending the only good lenopan in the group back.
Jack, having enough of this, decided it was time to transform. From behind the gazebo, he activated the Omnitrix and transformed.
As Joel tried to get out, Camille recovered, she looked at her parents and saw the evil look in their eyes.
A fireball hit them. The source of the fire was Heatblast. "Ore, sanjou!" He struck a pose that was very similar to one of Momotaros'. Joel fell to the ground, which caused Heatblast to look behind him to see Joel.
The smoke from the blast cleared, showing that the Manns had bits of them missing. "Another wedding crasher. Why'd we even bother with invitations?"
They shifted Into their true lenopan forms, which were three legged beings that stood almost twice as high as Heatblast.
Mr Mann slapped Heatblast across the lake. They then went after the Pyronite.
Gordon and Betty had been freed from the mud by Max and June. They were going to help Jack, but the shadow of the bodyguard loomed over them. They looked up to see him about to strike them with a spiked mace are. They got out of the way when he began to strike.
Gwen thought as if she had to do something. "Stingu invisibus.. Two chunks of rock floated out of the ground. She flung them at the bodyguard. When the passed the rough him, Gwen realized all she did was make him mad. She giggled nervously before running away.
"What're we going to do?" Asked Betty Jean. "We're defenseless."
"You promised to leave the Plumber gear at home, I didn't." Max handed Gordon and Betty Jean each a grey cylinder with a blue button the to. When they pressed the button, the cylinders unfolded into a pair of blasters.
"Ha! Just like the old days."
June pulled out the gun she had gotten from Rojo.
The bodyguard tried to catch Gwen, but the human teen was too fast to be caught, however, when she stopped to take a break, he managed to grab onto her.
A blast of yellow energy hit the bodyguard, blowing his head apart. He reformed his head and looked at who shot him, which was June. He extended his torso and arms. He then threw a punch at them.
With Heatblast...
Heatblast had gotten to a forest, where after being struck by the parents of the bride, he was sent flying into a tree.
Mr Mann raised his arms up and was poised to strike Heatblast. However, the pyro its dodged the attack, as well as the next one, and the one after that.
Heatblast then fired a stream of fire at them. "Aren't you guys a it old to be playing with mud?" He quipped. He was caught off guard by Mrs Mann, who pinned him to a tree. She got closer to him and raised up her other arm, forming it into a spike fist.
Back at the gazebo…
Max, June, Gordon, and Betty were firing at the bodyguard, their shots doing little to no damage. Raf, Miko, and Gwen had taken cover.
Joel and Camille were forced to watch as their families fight each other. Camille was starting to loose her cool. "This was supposed to be my special day. And nobody is going to ruin it. Especially not my family!" She turned into a hybrid ohms Lenopan and a human. She stood at the same height as her human guise, but she was made out to the same material as the others of her kind, and much like female lenopans, she had four catfish like 'whiskers' on her face.
"She is going to be my wife." Joel said proudly. I have this to say to you Joel. You are going to be hospitalized for close to a year eventually.
The bodyguard tried stabbing them with three pointed tendrils, but that didn't works, seeing as the Tennysons were on the run from him. He followed after them.
Camille jumped up and formed her hand into a hammer. She extended her arm and used it to whack the bodyguard upside the head, he was sent to the ground.
With the attacker downed, Gordon and Betty walked up to Camille. "We're sorry that we've been so tough on you Camille."
"Can you ever forgive us?" Asked Betty Jean.
"Of course. That's what family is for." Camille saw that the bodyguard was about to strike them. "Look out!" She pushed her soon-to-be in laws out of the way before she ducked. She and the bodyguard got into a tussle.
Max twisted the back part of his blaster, exposing the fuel cell. He set the gun to its self destruct mode. He ran up to the two lenopans. The bodyguard assumed a humanoid Lenopan form and punched Max away. June ran up to him.
"Dad!" June helped her father up. The looked at the Lenopan that was roaring at them. It stopped when it heard a beeping. It looked down to see Max's blaster imbedded in his chest. Max and June ran before the blaster went off, defeating the lenopanmbyntossingmthe majority of his body into the air, where when it fell to the ground, he was knocked unconscious.
June, Camille, and Max stood over the passed out lenopan. "Where's Jack?" June asked.
"And my parents."
Back with Heatblast…
Camille's mother was about to bring her mace arm to strike Heatblast, but the pyro more had other ideas. He concentrated really hard, which caused him to heat up. The light from this tactic caused Mrs Mann to look away.
"What's the matter? Can't take the heat?" Heatblast solidified her arm and broke it, freeing himself.
"Irritating pest!" Mrs Mann broke off the part of her arm that had hardened. "You just be from the groom's side of the family."
Before Heatblast could respond, the ground that he stood on began to rise up. He jumped off it, shooting a jet of flame to allow him to get more distance between himself and the attacker.
The attacker was Mr Mann. "We'll teach you to muck up our family business. Mr and Mrs Mann merged into one huge being that towered above even Optimus Prime. The mammoth sized creature was a mass of purple mud with the faces of the two lenopans atop it.
"You've been a bad little alien." Mrs Mann said. An arm came out of their body, which grabbed Heatblast and dragged him towards their body. "We're putting you down for a dirt nap!" Heatblast was brought inside their body.
They laughed triumphantly, but much like how Cannonbolt experienced premature jubilation when he thought he won against Camille's ex boyfriend two night ago, the Manns were experiencing the same thing. They heard bubbling. They looked down to see that Heatblast was not as dead as they thought he was. They Pyronite was firing them from the inside out. He hardened into a sculpture that seconds later. Heatblast broke out of.
Second later, Heatblast was joined by his great aunt and uncle, his grandfather, his mother, Camille, Joel, and Gwen."
"A little big for the wedding cake. But it's the thought that counts."
Later…
In the wreckage of the ceremony, most of the guest weren't there, but Max, June, Miko, and Gwen were there. They were going to try to do this again.
"I now pronounce you man and wife."
"Yep. Best wedding ever. Of all time."
At the reception, people had a good time. Joel(for some reason) slammed a piece of cake into camille's face, which, in response, Camille did the same to Joel, only she used the entire cake. The photographer, who was revealed to be Miko, took a picture of the aftermath.
When it came time to dance, Raf danced with Lucy(the young blond girl), while Jack was with Kiriko. Both of their attempts at ballroom dancing ended badly. Raf saw that Lucy must've been messing with him. Lucy's legs turned into same mud that the other lenopans were made out of. Raf slipped in it and fell over. Miko got a picture of it while Lucy was laughing.
Jack however had a different problem. While he was dancing with Kiriko, Jack stepped,on her dress, tearing it. Kiriko stopped dancing. She grabbed his nose and flipped him onto a table, cracking it, which Miko got a picture of.
Being slammed into the table was enough to tear the suit. Max saw the tear and was shocked. Miko, being the little sadist, got a picture of Max's reaction.
Another picture was of Jack angrily storming off.
One of the last pictures was of the bride and groom getting their picture taken as a couple. Miko tried to photobomb it, but she was being pulled out of it by Jack and June, however, Miko was in frame when the picture was taking it, making this endeavor of hers a success.
A black armored hand closed the wedding album.
Chapter end.
Author's note: The Shinnosuke I mentioned is gonna have a big role to play way, way down the line, but Kiriko won't be seen or mentioned ever again.