Greetings, citizens of the universe! It is I, Creaturemaster back with another chapter for you to enjoy.
I come baring many ideas and suggestions for X-overs brought to you by my dear friend Menatron the Angel of Ideas: ideas for an Avengers/Winx Club X-over, a Ben 10/Avengers X-over, Ben 10/DC Nation X-over, even a Ben 10/Winx Club X-over! I intend to do a few of these in some form or other, but I would love to see what other people come up with. If you like one of these ideas, PM me or Menatron about it; we'd love to help.
As always, comment, review, suggest, and request down below!
Onwards!
Ben felt himself start to slowly stir, his eyes starting flicker about and move underneath his eyelids. He tried to force his eyes to stop moving so he could back to sleep, but his body seemed against the idea; his muscles felt uncomfortably stiff and heavy, his brain was starting to take in information better, and he started to feel a tad hotter than last night when he collapsed back into bed after dealing with the Vreedle brothers for about half of the night; luckily for him, it seemed most of Bellwood's and Undertown's assorted criminals quickly turned themselves in once word of Ben's return had spread like wildfire. Whether they were petty criminals or powerful gangsters, all of them seemed to fear Ben the instance he came back into play. Really, it only seemed the most dimwitted or powerful of the villains dared to remain at large until Ben found the time to knock them back down one after the other.
For the moment however, it seemed he was stuck fighting the urge just to go back asleep. After a few more minutes of struggling, Ben finally gave up and let his eyes open to stare upwards at his bedroom ceiling. He was about to get out of bed like he normally did when he was disturbed from his sleep by hero work (which usually involved oozing out of bed and onto the floor), when he heard a soft snore in his left ear; he froze on the spot and moved his eyes to see Frankie cuddled up to him, her lips turned upwards in pleasant slumber. Ben shifted his eyes to his right and turned to see Jinafire had curled up next to him, her tail wrapped around her head as a thin trail of smoke curled up from her lips every time she exhaled. Ben rotated his eyes all around his bedroom to see the ghouls had claimed various spots as their own; Nefera had claimed the area on the floor right next to Ben's bed, Whisp cuddled up to her in her sleep with her face pressed deep into Nefera's cleavage; Venus had set herself up in Ben's desk chair next to the window where she could feed off of the sun's morning rays while Robecca lay deactivated and lifeless on the floor next to her; Avea stood guard at the door, her wings wrapped around her like a blanket as her legs remained locked into place while Gigi floated on a shimmering, magenta cloud of smoke over her head, lying down on it as if it were a bed of sorts; Skelita and Bonita shared a blanket that the later was slowly nibbling on in her sleep as Clawdeen and Lilith shared the spot at the foot of Ben's bed; Spectra and Vandala were floating in their sleep in separate corners of the room as if they were napping on invisible beds, occasionally turning over in their sleep; Twyla was nowhere to be seen, although Ben did hear some quiet murmuring coming from a dark shadow near the TV that Lorna had curled herself up in front of, resting her head on her hands. He did not however, see Jane anywhere in sight; this worried him.
"Please give me something small." Ben whispered quietly as he ever so slowly moved his arm across his body to activate the Omnitrix, gently pressing the button and cycling through the roster out of the corner of his eye until he came across what he hoped to be what he asked for. Holding his breath and waiting a minute to make sure all his ghouls remained asleep, her pressed down on the activation button, silently praying that his ghouls wouldn't wake up upon the transformation. His skin turned a metallic sheen as his skeleton began to crunch and slither towards the surface of his body, coating his entire body in a tough casing underneath the metallic gleam. His fingers sharpened into small claws as his toes all fused together into a single digit before his heel ground and split into two other toes that bent backwards. A pair of insect-like wings split out from Ben's spin as his skull was pulled back into a small crest while his eyes split into a second. The Omnitrix appeared on the center of his face, surrounded by all four of his eyes, as a green and black body suit appeared on him, completing the transformation.
"Perfect." Nanomech sighed with relief as he pushed off from his bed covers and buzzed his tiny wings, taking to the air and zooming over to the doorway as fast his tiny wings could carry him; the ghouls looked utterly massive to him now, their beautiful faces blown out of proportion and their arms and legs as big as redwoods. His bedroom floor stretched before him like a nearly endless sea with stray clothes and other personal belongings like massive islands. Nanomech buzzed his wings faster, diving down to the floor and slipping out under the crack between the door and floor and into the hallway beyond; it was still dark in the house, the lights turned off for the time being. He flew away from his parent's bedroom and towards the living room, freezing on the spot for a moment when he saw that Lady Persephone had been given the couch for the night, snuggled deep under a spare blanket as her indigo locks crackled and flickered quietly; a sudden breeze threatened to put the goddess's hair entirely, and Nanomech turned to see the sliding door towards the back of the house was open, the source of the problem and most likely where Jane had gone.
The small, metallic insect flapped his gossamer wings and flew through the open crack of the door and out into the open air just as the Omnitrix timed out, engulfing him in a bright, green light and bringing his human form back into the world. The air was cool against his skin and the sun was just barely creeping over the horizon, bathing the world in a soft glow that ever so slowly chased away the advancements of the night until in turn the army of daylight would be defeated by the night's shadows. Morning dew dotted the deep green grass of the backward, a cool breeze rustling through the single oak tree's branches overhead.
"Jane? You out here?" Ben called out.
There was no verbal response to be heard of, but a sudden rustling caught his attention; he had a hunch as he slowly walked across the grass and towards the base of the oak tree, grabbing onto the lowest branch available and hauling himself up before he grabbed hold of another branch pulled himself up into a safer position than before. The tree's leaves formed a sort of shield for him, sheltering him from the outside world and revealing its inner sanctum to him as he moved through the tree's branches as quietly as possible. After a bit of searching with his eyes, he finally managed to find a flash of purple amongst the cover of the leaves and went after it, slowly moving each of his limbs once the previous one was safely hooked around a branch or sitting in a small hollow until he was close enough to his target to sit down.
"What are you doing out here?" Ben asked as he sat down on the large tree limb next to Jane.
The jungle girl didn't move as she continued to look downwards at the backyard below. "I could ask you the same thing." she replied.
"But I asked first." Ben smirked.
Jane sighed; he had her there. "I was afraid that I might . . . go feral again." Jane admitted sadly. "It's because of this thing that I'm afraid I'll hurt you and the ghouls." she gestured to the Nemetrix on her wrist.
"You shouldn't be afraid." Ben told her.
"Of course I should!" Jane cried with exasperation. "I-I could k-kill y-you or . . . or the ghouls! Or your parents! Or someone! I don't deserve such kindness from you! I'm nothing but a monster, a freak of nature! More than I already was! I'm a monster! A MONSTER!" she screamed; her left arm suddenly morphed into that of a gorilla's that quickly obliterated the edge of the thick branch they were currently sitting on in a spray of splinters. "SEE!" she screamed angrily, tears start to well in her eyes as she hugged herself.
"Jane, you don't have to be afraid," Ben said after a few silent minutes. "That thing strapped to your wrist doesn't make you a monster. Knowing how and when to use it is what makes you human, per se."
"Hmm?" Jane sniffed.
"Look, I don't care if you have this thing stuck to you." Ben told her. "How do you think I felt the first few times I used the Omnitrix? People were scared of me, worried I would hurt them. Sphinx, even I was scared at first about using this thing." he joked lightly, holding up the Omnitrix for Jane to see. "But once people saw what I was doing, that I chose to save them and not hurt them, they started to except me. Things only really went bad when my secret was exposed and Harangue started a smear campaign against me."
"Really?" Jane wondered.
"Really." Ben nodded before the Omnitrix buzzed; Ben quickly tapped it and a click could be heard from the other end.
"Ben? Are you there?" Rook's voice came.
"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?" Ben asked.
"Other than the usual precipitation and possibly some birds, it would appear as if some old enemies of yours are currently stealing a parked vehicle." Rook explained. "Are you familiar with the Road Crew?"
"The Road Crew?" Ben parroted. "I haven't see them in years. Not since I was ten." he murmured. "But shouldn't we leave this kind of thing to the cops?"
"Plumber rules state the we normally would, if the road Crew had not also stolen some alien technology and are currently using it to make their getaway."
"We'll be there as fast as we can, Rook." Ben replied.
"We?" Rook wondered before Ben turned off the Omnitrix.
"We?" Jane asked worriedly.
"Yes, we." Ben nodded. "Until we can get that thing off of you, you might as well learn how to use it. And the Road Crew will be a piece of cake to defeat."
"O-okay." Jane agreed nervously.
"Good." Ben grinned as he turned to the Omnitrix and cycled through the listings before selecting Astrodactyl. "Lets fly!" he quipped as he slammed down on the activation button, engulfing him in a brilliant, green light and changing his DNA. Ben's fingers hardened into sharpened blades as a long, whip-like tail sprouted from the base of his spine and stretched out a couple feet. His toes ripped out of his shoes and melted into four claws, two in front, two in back. The ball of his heel crunched forward, moving under his foot bones and becoming perfectly round and smooth, suddenly separating itself from his foot and held there by his curved toes. Ben felt his skull stretch back into a sharp point and his legs bent backwards. A pointy, black helmet with a slide down mask materialized on his head and a tight, black and green body suit appeared on himself, the Omnitrix appearing on his chest, completing his transformation.
"Or run. Running's good too." XLR8 sighed as he hopped down from the tree and landed on his balled feet. "You wanna try the Nemetrix or wait until we get there?" he called up to Jane.
"I-I'll fly on my own." Jane insisted as she focused on an image in her head. Muscles piled themselves along her body as her chest expanded outwards into a large, bowl shape, her lungs and heart growing larger to fill the available space. Her spine cracked and ground as it became more flexible and a long tail whipped out from the base of her spine. Her ears became more pointed and rotated to the top of her head as her eyes moved apart slightly to accommodate her new, sharper eyes. Her teeth cracked and groaned as they became sharp fangs, her fingers shortening and fusing together slightly into form paws with razor sharp claws at the end. She felt more muscles pack themselves tightly together along her shifting legs and in her shoulders as millions of short hairs formed all over her body, turning a violet color as black dots suddenly popped into place, tear lines forming from her eyes and down to her nose as the Nemetrix appeared as a collar around her neck.
"Oh, so you wanna race, do ya?" XLR8 quirked an eyebrow as the cheetah leaped down from the tree and down onto the grass to sit on its haunches and lick its paw.
"I'll take that as a yes." the Kinceleran smirked as he dashed off in a black and blue blur; the big cat seemed to roll its eyes before taking off after him.
"Floor it, Baron!" Turbine snapped. "I don' wanna be around here when the brat arrives!"
"Cool yer engine, Turbine." Baron soothed his teammate; the road pirate had light brown hair and a mustache, with a pair of dark shades over his eyes and a toothpick between his teeth. Fingerless gloves sat on his hands and he wore an open black vest over a white shirt with his trademark green and white trucking hat on his head. "Ol' Tennyson probably don't even remember lil' ol' us."
"Hoo-whew!" Road Rage cheered, showing what little teeth remained in his head. "We done stole us a good 'ne this time!" he cried happily before something large rammed into the RV from the side. Turbine ran away from her position between the two front seats and looked out the back window to see the Proto-TRUK behind them with Rook at the wheel and a determined look on his face.
"It's the blue boy Plumber!" Turbine declared.
"Dang! I thought we done lost him!" Baron cursed. "One thing I will say though, he's got one sweet pair o' wheels."
"Floor it!" Road Rage howled. "We'll take care of- WHOA!" he yelped as the RV was suddenly rammed in from the other side. "What in tar-nation was that!?"
"Either the circus is in town, or Tennyson's done learnt a few new tricks!" Turbine cried; Baron spared a glance in the side mirror to see one very big, lavender stained elephant with a suspicious red collar around its neck running as fast as it could next to the RV, its massive feet hammering into the road as it raised its trunk and let out a loud blast. On the elephant's back, a cocky smirk on his face was none other than Ben, giving the Road Crew a friendly wave.
"Ya know when I said to floor it earlier, Baron?" Turbine gulped.
"Yeah? So?"
"Floor it even harder!" Turbine roared as the pachyderm rammed its massive bulk into the RV a second time, nearly tipping it over. "And hurry!" she added when she heard a soft thump on the roof, followed by a second, and third.
"Either I'm seein' things again, or that there elephant just darn disappeared!" Road Rage gulped nervously.
"I have had it with this whole alien-freakshow thing!" Baron roared as he stomped down on the gas even harder. "Take care of them there bugs while I drive us ta safer waters!"
"Can do, boss!" Road Rage grinned as he unbuckled himself and picked up his new weapon, an experimental Plumber blaster; Turbine decided to keep to her trust wrench as she opened a window near the back of the vehicle and climbed out and onto the roof where she saw Ben, Rook, and a strange, lavender-skinned girl with an equally strange watch strapped to her wrist.
"Long time, no see, brat." Turbine smirked. "I see ya got yerself a girlfriend, too."
"A lot happens in eight years, Engine Block." Ben shrugged.
"The name's Turbine!" Turbine snapped angrily.
"Oh, really? I never really remembered, seeing how me and my cousin beat you so easily." Ben yawned.
"If it weren't fer you and yer stupid, fancy watch, we'd be back out in the badlands stealin' vehicles without hitch!" Turbine growled. "That, and a lotta luck, too!"
"You sure it wasn't just because your complete morons, Steering Wheel?" Ben's smirked deepened as he ducked a swipe of Turbine's wretch.
"My name! Is! Turbine!" she roared. "And the only stupid one here is Road Rage!"
"And I'm proud of it too!" he grinned a nearly toothless smile as he popped out of the sunroof with his weapon in hand. "I think . . ."
"Less thinkin', more shootin'!" Barn ordered from the driver's seat.
"Can do, boss!" Wa-hoo!" Road Rage cheered as he pulled the trigger and sent blood red pods of blaster energy firing at the trio as Turbine attacked Rook; the Revonnahgander just barely managed to shift his Proto-Tool into a blade to block the blow before taking a swipe at turbine and forcing her back as the RV sped ahead.
"C'mon, Jane!" Ben cried as he turned on the Omnitrix and cycled through the roster. "Now's your chance!" he yelled as he slammed down on the activation and was engulfed in a bright, green light. 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 appeared on the back of his jumpsuit, completing the transformation. "Grey Matter? Seriously? Whatever happened to Frankenstrike, hmm?" the Galvan sighed.
"Are you sure about this, Ben?" Jane yelled over the roar of the wind.
"Just trust me, Jane!" Grey Matter cried as he hopped and ducked and dodged blaster fire from Road Rage. "Just don't turn into an Omnivoracious!"
"A what?"
"A large, omnivorous bird that was the natural predator of my current species until it was wiped out by a meteor strike and subsequent climate change!" Grey Matter explained as he leaped and landed on Road Rage's head, dodging the road pirate's hands as he tried to smack him. "And do it quickly, please!"
Jane gulped and ducked down to the roof of the RV, gently tapping the Nemetrix and cycling through the available transformations, careful to avoid animals like a Tyrannopede and Omnivoracious as Grey Matter had requested, before she found a suitable form and pressed the activation button, engulfing herself in a blood red light. She felt her bones grind and groan as they were forced to shift, her organs expanding and disappearing as the case may be. Jane felt her face shove out into a short muzzle, the skin around her mouth vanishing back into her face with a sicking sucking sound as the bottom teeth sharpened into wicked sharp fangs that curved up over the top jaw. Muscles piled themselves on top of her chest and back as her skint turned a pale white, her arms and legs thickening as they bent into different positions than before. A loud tearing sound managed to be heard over the crackling of the flames as her clothes were ripped off of her expanding form, a long, reptilian tail sprouting out from the base of her spine. A row of spikes rose out from Jane's spine as her fingers turned into blood red claws, her white skin turned black and red around the back face as her eyes divided into a second pair; she felt a pair of organs appear around her lungs, connected to the row of gill-like slits on either side of her neck; the transformation was complete when the Nemetrix appeared around her neck as a spiked collar.
"Buglizard? Perfect!" Grey Matter brightened as he jumped out of the way of Road Rage's grasping hands; the road pirate slowly reached down inside the RV and towards the small kitchen area the vehicle provided, grabbing the first thing within reach, which just happened to be a frying pan. He ever so slowly pulled the weapon off of the counter and smacked it lightly in his hand, bringing it up behind him where he hoped the Galvan wouldn't see him. Once he sure he would crush the small, alien amphibian into a gooey paste, Road Rage swung the weapon as hard as he could; Grey Matter saw the move coming a mile away and jumped down onto Road Rage's shoulder before disappearing inside of his overalls, winced as a loud, gong-like noise rang through the air and Road Rage dropped to the floor of the RV unconscious and with a stupid smile on his face.
"Them redcoats is comin', them red coats is comin' . . ." he murmured deliriously as Grey Matter climbed out of his overalls with his hands over his mouth as the Omnitrix timed out and returned Ben to the world.
"Agh! Does that guy ever clean himself!?" he gagged.
"Sadly, not usually." Baron admitted as he unbuckled his seat belt and set the RV on autopilot, a feature he had turbine add in at the last moment while he and Road Rage had kept the authorities busy. That is, until Rook had arrived and nearly diced them into sushi and forced them to make a hasty retreat. "but you probably won't live long enough to him take his next shower!"
"Dude, that is so sick." Ben shook his head as he tapped the Omnitrix and selected a random alien before slapping the activation button and engulfing himself in another flash of green light. His body began to grow as millions of muscles piled onto every part of his body, his fingers and hands swelling as alien blood pumped through his veins. Stitches appeared on his body as the transformation teared through his shirt, ripping it to shreds as patchwork skin took the place of his old one. A pair of green gauntlets formed on his hands as metallic bolts burst out from his body on his arms and back, twin gigantic conductors tearing out of his shoulders and crackling with electricity as a pair of black pants and large boots appeared on Ben. His jaw jutted outwards, a few teeth sticking out as his hair turned jet black and became long and shaggy. The final piece of the transformation was the Omnitrix popping out his right pectoral muscle, a large scar etching outwards from it as if the device had been ripped out of his body.
"Frankenstrike? Against an overweight, vehicle obsessed trucker?" the Transylian wondered as he glanced himself over. "Seems a bit OP, but whatever." he shrugged as a dangerous amount of electricity crackled between his conductors; Baron gulped and took several steps backwards as Frankenstrike grinned and cracked his knuckles, taking a few steps closer. Just when it seemed the road pirate would receive the worst wedgie the universe could offer, the hulking Transylian stumbled over Road Rage's fallen form and landed on his face, nearly toppling the vehicle as Baron grabbed a wrench and jumped onto Frankenstrike's back, unscrewing any bolts he could find and dismantling his conductors as the RV shuddered and shook.
Buglizard salivated heavily and licked her huge cage of teeth before letting out a loud hiss and lunging at Turbine just as she bent over backwards to dodge a quick swipe of Rook's sword. The massive reptile hissed angrily as Turbine climbed to her feet and lashed out with her wrench, the Buglizard defending itself with its tail as if it were a sword of its own.
"Hmm." he hummed before pulling a trigger on his Proto-Tool and spun the weapon in front of his face, the device quickly morphing back into a quantum staff that he used to swipe Turbine's feet out from under her. She fell to the roof of the RV with a loud thud! and immediately started to slide towards the back of the RV; she tried to grab onto the roof, but her rubber gloves prevented her from getting a good grip. Just as she went flying out over the edge and would have landed painfully on the road, most likely either breaking several bones or being run over by upcoming traffic, Buglizard lashed out with her whip-like tail and wrapped it around the woman's leg, pulling her towards the back of the vehicle just before she would have tumbled.
"Impressive save, Jane." Rook nodded as he returned the Proto-Tool to its original shape and set it back on his shoulder. "I can only assume that you are back in control, as unlikely as it seems?"
The Buglizard nodded and gave a low hiss before the sunroof was suddenly blasted out of place by a burst of electricity and Frankenstrike came crawling out, leaving a gaping hole in the roof. "I can't stop him!" he panted. "He's taking me apart at the seams and then some!" he added just as the conductors on his back collapsed into pieces of metal. "You know that statement I made earlier?"
"No." Rook shook his head.
"Well, you had to be there." Frankenstrike before an impeding shadow caught his attention. "Hit the deck!" he cried as he threw himself down onto the roof of the vehicle, flattening himself as much as possible; Rook shrugged and thrust his fist into the roof of the RV, wincing slightly at the numbing pain in his fingers. "I do not see at all how this is useful!" he yelled over the roar of the wind before the Buglizard pinned him to the roof of the RV with one of her legs before ducking down herself just as the RV past through the low tunnel. After a few moments of darkness, they came back out into the bright sun, allowing the three of them to stand back up.
"We need to get him out of the vehicle," Rook said. "Or at the very least, stop it before he can get away."
The Buglizard narrowed its four slits and hissed angrily, pulling its tail and Turbine's entire weight back up onto the roof before throwing Turbine into Frankenstrike's hulking frame and diving through the gaping hole in the RV's roof before the Transylian or Rook could say otherwise.
"Get yer hands off of me, Stitchface!" Turbine snapped, stomping down on Frankenstrike's foot and driving her pointed heel into his boot. The Transylian howled with pain, clutching his foot as he hopped around on the roof of the RV with frightening results, rocking the RV back and forth dangerously, threatening to tip it over as Turbine and Rook clung to the roof of the RV again.
"As you humans say, 'Not one of your better ideas'." Rook frowned as Frankenstrike continued to hop around in pain.
"Yer probably right," Turbine gulped as the RV rocked and forth dangerously. "But if I'm going down, yer going down with me!" she cried, grabbing hold of a spare wrench in her tool belt and swiping it across the roof of the RV as Frankenstrike continued to rock it; Rook yanked his Proto-Tool and shifted it back into a blade to block the strike just in time. Again and again the two clashed as Frankenstrike finally stopped hopping around and made a move to grab Turbine by her legs. The road pirate saw it coming and lashed out with her leg, kicking him in the knee and sending him tumbling towards the front of the RV.
Inside of the rocking vehicle, Buglizard slowly made her way towards the front of the RV, silently stalking her oblivious prey until she was within attack range. She licked her chops and let out a loud hiss before she flexed the muscles in her neck and pumped out a cloud of the smelly, disgusting, yellow gas from the organs in her neck, the space inside of the RV filling the with thick vapor and obscurring all sight inside or outside of the RV.
"What the hell is goin' on! I can't see a thing!" Baron cried as he unbuckled his seat belt and whirled around in his seat to see nothing but the thick fog. A loud hiss caught his attention before a hideous, monstrous face suddenly burst out through the fog and snapped its massive cage of teeth shut less than an inch away from Baron's nose. The road pirate screamed like a little girl as the Buglizard hissed and grabbed hold of his shirt with its huge teeth, dragging him into the fog where the beast threw him against the back of the RV before slamming her entire weight down on him and then wrapping her prehensile tail around his body, pinning his arms to his sides. Buglizard hissed victoriously as Turbine and Rook dropped down through the hole in the ceiling, the Revonnahgander trapping Turbine at point blank range with his plasma blade.
"It seems I have won." Rook smirked.
"So it seems." Turbine frowned just before the RV suddenly came to a screeching halt, sending all four of them plus an unconscious Road Rage flying to the front of the RV where they were all pressed against the windshield in a rather painful way with Turbine crushed uncomfortably under Buglizard's weight and Road Rage unconsciously drooling down Rook's neck as his butt hung in Baron's face; the road pirate was attempting to breath with little effort due to his partner's posterior in his face.
"Everyone okay in there?" Frankenstrike asked from the outside.
"We are . . . fine," Rook grunted. "If you could be so kind as to remove us from our current situation please?"
"Sorry about," the Transylian grinned sheepishly as he tore the windshield of the RV off and attempted to pull them all lose as gently as he could. "I didn't think that would happen when I smashed the engine."
"No need to apologize, Ben," Rook grunted as he slapped a pair of energy cuffs on Turbine and Baron before stretching his aching legs. "As long as the criminals are apprehended and I am able to get Road Rage's oral secretion out from my Proto-Armor, I shall be fine."
"How do you even know their names?" Frankenstrike wondered.
"I read your file." Rook replied simply.
"Seriously, how many times have you read my file?" the Transylian asked before the Omnitrix timed out and returned Ben to the world; the Proto-TRUK descended from the air next to them and landed on the road before swiftly changing back into its vehicle form. "And how did your truck do that?" Ben added as Buglizard grabbed the unconscious Road Rage with her prehensile tail and dumped him in the back with his team mates after Rook had set his hands in an extra pair of handcuffs.
"Autopilot." Rook simply replied as he closed the back doors of the Proto-TRUK and climbed in to the front as the Nemetrix timed out and returned Ben to the world; the jungle girl didn't say a word as she climbed into the back seat without another word as Ben did one last survey of the area before he climbed into the passenger seat and sped away to turn their captives over to the authorites.
"I am not familiar with monster expressions, but are you upset?" Rook asked Jane after several minutes of awkward silence between the trio.
"N-no, I'm fine, Rook." Jane said in a shaky voice. "It's just . . . y-you do this every day?"
"More on a weekly basis, actually." Ben corrected. "And are you sure you're alright? The Nemetrix didn't affect you or anything?"
"N-no, I was fine. Completely in control." Jane reassured him.
"Jane . . ." Ben pressed.
"Fine," she sighed. "At one point, I had to resist the urge to eat Baron after I filled the RV with gas."
"It is both an impressive and frightening feat that you were able to suppress the raw savagery of the Nemetrix for as long as you did." Rook remarked. "Most would have succumb to the powerful instincts of the wild DNA within it."
"Thanks. I think." Jane said quietly; Ben frowned slightly, a plan already starting to form in his head when the Omnitrix suddenly started to buzz on his wrist. Ben tapped it and held it out in front of him as a wavering, green hologram of a Galvan appeared before his very eyes. He had pale gray skin with darker patches here and there like liver spots of sorts as wiry whiskers formed a sort of beard on his chin. He wore a black and green robe and had old, weathered eyes, as if he had lived a thousand lifetimes more than once, if that was possible.
"Azmuth? What are you doing here?" Ben asked.
"Your grandfather alerted me about the Nemetrix's reactivation," Azmuth sighed wearily. "He also informed me that it was now attached to the wrist of a young girl?"
"T-that would be me . . . Mr. Azmuth." Jane spoke up from the back.
The old Galvan blinked and rubbed his eyes before peering at her closer. "I don't believe I recognize your species." he simply stated.
"She's not from around here," Ben explained. "She's from another dimension without any counter parts of us."
"A parallel universe, I suspect." Azmuth shrugged. "What is remarkable to me however, is how she is able to retain her sanity with such a cheap knock off on her."
"When we get to Galvan Prime, we can show you." Ben smiled somewhat mischievously.
"Why waste all that fuel and time when I can simply teleport you like last time?" Azmuth drawled as he rolled his eyes.
If I may interrupt," Rook cut in. "We are currently carrying three criminals with us. If you could transport them to Plumber Headquarters for proper treatment before you teleport us, that would be greatly appreciated."
"Smart," Azmuth nodded. "For a Revonnahgander. No offense, but your species is quite stubborn."
"None taken." Rook simply shrugged. "My home world has thankfully become more open about intergalactic traveling and the likes."
"Indeed." Azmuth nodded before he pulled out a small remote from the folds of his robes and pressed one of the many buttons on it; there came a bright flash of light from the back of the Proto-TRUK and the sounds of Road Rage's obnoxious snoring suddenly cut out and left them all in wonderful silence. Azmuth then pressed another button his handy remote, and Jane could suddenly feel herself getting lighter. Looking around at herself, Jane could see herself being slowly consumed in a bright, green light that slowly traveled up her body until she couldn't see anything at all and she, Rook, and Ben were all teleported out of the Proto-TRUK.
Said vehicle quickly spun out control and crashed into a lamp post after Rook failed to activate the autopilot before being teleported.
If Jane had to describe Galvan Prime in one word, that word would have to be humid.
The sky was a light, greenish hue with a yellow tint towards the horizon and dull, brown terrain dotted by colorful bushes and trees. Bugs buzzed about in the air in thick clouds across the sky as hundreds, maybe thousands of Galvans went about their normal, everyday business, most of them not even sparing the sudden appearance of the trio a glance. All around Jane were buildings and homes and towers all sculpted and constructed to look like mushrooms or fungi with green pods and domes acting as windows or sunroofs. Considering their builders, a few of the buildings were only a little taller than Jane, most of them being at least twice as tall. The tallest building however, stood in the center like a beacon, stretching almost as tall as an Earth skyscraper to allow large visitors inside; the ever familiar Omnitrix symbol sat loud and proud on the face of the building.
"Impressive, is it not?" Rook smiled when he caught sight of Jane marveling at her surroundings.
"Yes." Jane breathed. "But are you sure they can help me?"
"If anyone can help you get that thing off of you, it's Azmuth." Ben reassured her. "He's the smartest guy in like, seventeen galaxies!"
"Five, actually. Why is that so hard to remember?" an aged, tired voice sighed with annoyance. The bizarre trio of human, Revonnahgander, and shape-shifter turned their attentions downwards to stare at Azmuth as he walked down the steps of the main building to meet them, a fatigued look on his face as he stopped by Ben's ankle to stare up at him. "Alright, where's the Nemetrix?"
"On my ghoulfriend, that's where." Ben said with slight annoyance.
"I'm not even going to ask why you are talking like that." Azmuth shook his head as Ben bent down and offered him a hand; the Galvan hopped into his waiting palm and waited patiently as Ben stood back up and brought moved him over to where he could get a good view of the Nemetrix attached to Jane's wrist. "It's the monster version of a girlfriend; got stuck in a dimension where actually monsters exist."
"Such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein." Rook added in, though he doubted the Galvan was actually listening.
"Hmm. Interesting device." Azmuth hummed as he studied the watch. "Obviously, it's had some Galvan corrections and improvements added to it, though. I assume Blukic and Driba are responsible?"
"How'd you know?" Jane asked, her voice tinged with fear.
"While the Nemetrix's inner workings are complex by human standards, they're quite crude to Galvans. And seeing as how Blukic and Driba are in fact, the dumbest Galvans to have ever lived, it's not too hard to figure out their handiwork."
"Does that not seem harsh?" Rook asked. "While Blukic and Driba do have their moments of idiocy, they-"
"They were assigned to build an emergency exit for the Plumbers at Mt. Rushmore, but they only built one big enough for them to use." Ben finished. "They're the galaxy's dumbest geniuses."
"This is, unfortunately, true." Rook agreed.
"What I can't figure out, is how you are able to retain your sanity." Azmuth remarked. "The pure savagery of the Nemetrix DNA would have destroyed intelligent minds after a mere hour of use, yet you claim you have used it twice already."
"That's because she's special." Ben grinned. "Wanna show 'im, Jane?"
"Is he gonna stick me in a cage or something if I show him?" Jane asked fearfully.
"Not unless it is necessary." Azmuth promised her.
Jane gulped but nodded her head nervously as she focused on an image in her head. Her body began to throb and grow as her back expanded up and outwards, the back of her clothes starting to rip and tear as her bones grew bigger and muscles piled themselves on top of each other. Her fingers twitched and suddenly fused together into two, sharp claws as her feet tore through her shoes, now nothing more than three strong toes tipped with sharp talons that grew bigger and bigger as the transformation went on. A skeletal tail suddenly whipped out from the base of her spin, longer than her original self as muscle began to wrap around it followed by smooth purple skin. Her head was part of her that changed the most as it expanded it outwards and forwards into a rounded snout, her teeth ripping through her gums into razor sharp fangs that fit neatly over the bottom jaw. Her eyes turned a golden color with black slits as her skin suddenly became loose and hung off her expanding frame like a wet towel before it suddenly snapped back into place, now cracked and pebbled like a dark, indigo desert landscape. The transformation became complete when a small mane of black and purple feathers appeared on the back of the creature's head and it finally reached its full frame as the Nemetrix appeared around its neck, completing the transformation.
"Hmm. Interesting." Azmuth mused, stroking his whisker beard.
"My ghoulfriend from a parallel universe just turned into an extinct dinosaur without any use of technology whatsoever, and all you can say is 'interesting'!?" Ben shouted with exasperation as Jane returned to her original form.
"Admittedly, it is strange, but natural shape-shifting is not all that uncommon, even in our universe," the old Galvan explained as he pulled out yet another small device from the folds of his robes and waved it over the Nemetrix, reading the data given to him; his expression grew darker and darker with every past second.
"That's not good." Azmuth hummed sadly.
"What? What's not good?" Ben asked worriedly as Jane bit her lip.
"It would seem as if the Nemetrix has bonded to your DNA," Azmuth explained. "It is permanently attached to you."
"B-but Ben said the Omnitrix couldn't be taken off!" Jane protested.
"And yet, he managed to take it off at least once." Rook added. "I remember him telling me about his battle with his evil versions."
"Be that as it may," Azmuth said with slight annoyance. "The Nemetrix is permanently attached to you. Period."
"What about some kind of pass code or something?" Jane asked. "I mean, it was taken off of Khyber and his dog once, it can be taken off again, right?"
"I wish I could," Azmuth shook his head sadly, making a mental note to add an upgrade to the Omnitrix that made sure it was permanently attached to its owner. "But as hard as it is to admit, Psychobos didn't do a bad job with the Nemetrix. I wouldn't know where to begin with pass codes of any kind, if he even remembered to install them. But the fact of the matter is, the Nemetrix is 100% attached to you for as long as you live; it is as much of a part of you as you are now a part of it."
In all of his years, all one thousand seven hundred of them, Azmuth had never quite seen what followed next; he had heard stories from his brother and nephews, but he never been able to actually experience it himself. He watched, quite stunned, as Jane screamed bloody murder and collapsed onto the ground before curling up into a tight ball and sobbing loudly, her body heaving in and out as she cried. Ben quickly pawned Azmuth off to Rook before he bent down pulled Jane into a hug, holding her tight and running his fingers through her hair and along her back to sooth her.
"Ahh, young love." Azmuth sighed bitterly. "A wasteful, yet necessary act of nature."
"You seem quite unhappy about the subject." Rook cocked an eyebrow.
"I'd rather not say." was all Azmuth could say as memories came back to him. "Why, Zennith! Why have you forsaken me!?" he wailed loudly on Rook's shoulder.
"Who?" Rook wondered.
"Nothing." the Galvan said quickly to cover his tracks.
Jane could do nothing else but cry her eyes out as tears streamed down her face like raging, salty rivers of water. She was vaguely aware of Ben holding her nice and tight, trying to soothe her, but it did little to help her situation; she could also feel the Nemetrix digging deep in her breasts as she hugged herself, but the vile device felt like ice to her. Her heart was in her throat and her skin felt unbearably hot to her as she lay there, feeling utterly helpless. Despite Ben being right next to her, she felt so alone in her current situation. She didn't want to be like this, cursed with such a horrific device that everyone was afraid of. The brightest mind in the galaxy said it himself: she was a freak of nature simply because she had an unstable genetic code that allowed her to be a bigger freak of nature than she already was.
"Father!"
Jane sniffed and dared a peek out from under her arms to see thousands of innocent Galvans running away as dozens of foot soldiers ran or flew in the opposite direction. She was slightly confused as to what was going on until Ben suddenly let go of her, clenching his fists tightly as an enraged look crossed his face; Jane followed his gaze and nearly pulled herself up into a tighter ball. Towering over them, his single, black eye as dark as the abyss and completely emotionless as he crushed buildings under his feet. Sharp and swirling, blood red designs seemed to painfully etch their way across his midnight black skin as razor sharp, scythe-like spikes from his back and arms seemed to slice through the air with ease. A massive, high-tech cannon effortlessly fused with his right arm, the twin barrels glowing an ominous and dark yellow in color; a Tachyon Cannon.
"Malware." Ben frowned, grinding his teeth angrily as the mutant Galvanic Mechamorph raised an arm to deflect the fire of the Galvan soldiers before he fired off his weapon, sending them scattering.
"We meet again, Ben Tennyson." Malware spat angrily. "Surrender now so that I may have what is rightfully mine: the Omnitrix, if you will."
"Never." Ben's glare deepened.
"I was hoping you'd say that," Malware's motionless maw seemed to grin wickedly. "I'm sure you remember how a Tachyon Cannon works?"
"No." Ben admitted, never tearing his eyes away from Malware.
"Of course not. No puny human would know how something as advanced as this would work," Malware snarled. "This device will key into the bio-signature of its target and then disrupt every last cell in their body upon firing. And do you know what I am going to do?"
"I think the more important question is how are you possibly still alive?" Rook wondered, drawing his Proto-Tool and aiming it at Malware. "Last I heard, you were functioning as a suit of armor for Vilgax, no? And the time before that, Ben destroyed you and had your remains put into the Galvanic Hall of Predators."
"I was never really dead, fools," Malware growled. "I was still alive inside that petrified shell of my body and allowed myself to be turned into a suit of armor for Vilgax, knowing he would fail and give me the means to escape." he spat before the full meaning of Rook's words sank in "You used my remains as a cheap display!?" Malware roared angrily, glaring at Azmuth.
"Well, we really didn't have much use for your petrified body." Azmuth admitted with a blank face, yet a sheepish tone.
"It seems I will have to make a change of plans," Malware growled to himself, turning his attention to Azmuth and away from Ben for the moment. "First I shall destroy you, and then I will take your greatest creation over Tennyson's dead body." he announced in a sinister tone before noticing Jane cowering on the ground behind Ben. "And his little girlfriend's body too." he added with a sick tone, firing up the weapon with an ominous glow coming from the twin barrels.
"Bring it." Ben frowned as he activated the Omnitrix and selected a random alien before hitting the activation button. Ben's skin slowly started to melt away, revealing dark red muscle underneath and multicolored organs that sat on his skeleton. The muscle and tissue began to dissolve soon after the skin had vanished, the internal organs liquidating into a thick soup that pulled together into a glowing, green sphere; Cleo thought she was going to be sick. His bones began to blacken as his toe bones crunched and ground together into toe claws as a thin film began to form over his bones in a sort of suit of some kind. The soup that was his organs began to expand, gathering mass as the suit soon became whole and the organ soup exploded, filling with the space inside the suit and giving it an ominous green glow. A pair of black shoulder pads appeared on the alien's shoulders, a belt forming around his waist with the Omnitrix on it, completing the transformation.
With a loud hiss, Bonez grabbed Jane's shoulder and yanked her out of the blast of the Tachyon Cannon as Rook ducked beneath the beam with Azmuth securely on his shoulder.
"Jane, I need you to either fight or get somewhere safe," the Esqueletian pleaded with his girlfriend. "Can you do that?"
"Y-yeah." Jane sniffed as she disappeared in a purple blur into the form of a small box turtle that promptly pulled in its head and legs without hesitation.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Bonez sighed as he ducked beneath another fire of the weapon before whirling around and unhinging his jaws, firing off his own beam of radioactive energy and nailing the corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph in the face. Before he knew what was happening, Bonez had fired off another beam and and sucker punched him in his fanged mouth with a glowing, green fist; the Galvanic Mechamorph stumbled backwards as the Esqueletian gave a roundhouse kick and struck him in the gut before firing off twin jets of toxic energy from his eyes, striking Malware in each shoulder.
"Ready to give up yet, Mal?" Bonez hissed.
"Hardly." Malware growled as he leveled the cannon at Bonez and fired without any warning of any kind; the Esqueletian's eyes widened as the blast struck him in the chest sending him flying into a set of buildings and eradicating them within seconds. With a groan, he sat up to find that he no longer had no black bones inside of a tight, see-through suit. No shoulder pads with the Omnitrix sat on his shoulders, and he no longer radiated a warm glow; he was human once more.
"Luckily for you, your previous form was able to protect you from me," Malware said. "You won't be lucky a second time." he threatened before sharp blaster fire pelted his back and drawing his attention. Malware turned around and narrowed his optical sensor at Rook as he took cover behind a demolished building with Azmuth clinging to his shoulder. The corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph leveled his weapon at the Revonnahgander and fired, forcing Rook to dive to the side and out of the powerful beam as it reduced the rubble into dust.
"Surely the greatest mind in the universe has a contingency plan for this sort of situation?" Rook asked hopefully.
"Five galaxies," Azmuth corrected. "And who has time for that?"
"So you do not have a plan?"
"I never said that." Azmuth defended himself.
"Just as you did cry out in the loss of your girlfriend?" Rook wondered.
"Who told you!?" Azmuth snapped before he realized what he had said and coughed uncomfortably. "Um . . . yes, well. I have a plan." he said simply.
"And what is this plan of yours?" Rook asked.
"Just keep Malware busy while I prepare." was all Azmuth would say before he hopped off of Rook's shoulder and took cover behind some rubble, waiting for a chance.
"It is what I do best." Rook smiled as he fired off his Proto-Tool again, pelting Malware in the face and chest several times and forcing him to shield himself as Rook spun his weapon around before him and morphed it into a Custom Bow. He pulled the energy string and fired off two sharp arrows of bright, orange plasma at Malware, hitting him in the shoulder and neck before he fired off arrow after arrow at high speed, hitting him in the chest and arms and ankles until he bared resemblance to a very ugly porcupine.
Ben flickered his eyes back and forth between Malware and the Omnitrix, looking for a suitable transformation to contain the foul monstrosity before him before he found what he was looking for and slammed a hand down on the activation button, the ever familiar green light washing over him and changing his DNA into something new. His skin suddenly exploded into patterns of the prime colors, red, blue, and yellow, racing and dancing over his body until it looked like a paint truck had exploded on him. He looked down at his feet to find them completely vanishing into box-shaped toes, rings of cubes and squares racing up his legs with the sound of a thousand clattering LEGO bricks. The rings ran up his body, becoming wider as they reached his chest and arms, his fingers melting together to form three digits on each hand. The blocks raced up his back and neck to envelope his face, making his face cubular and boxy as the Omnitrix appeared on his chest, completing the transformation.
"Time for the block party!" Bloxx joked as he shifted his right hand into a round, curved shield and his left arm into the Bloxx-lobber with a loud clattering sound that drew Malware's attention for a brief moment before he was pelted with more arrows.
Normally, Frankie was an early riser, what with having to be up and get herself nice and ready for the school day that would follow. And if the morning wasn't entirely spent primping herself up for the day, it was spent catching up on the homework she should have done last night instead of shopping or watching movies with her ghoul friends. Today however, she slept in as late as she could before eventually her body got sick of lying on one side and forced her to finally wake up. And thankfully, she was in a place where her dad couldn't say 'It's alive!' every time she shuffled into the kitchen in the morning. Plus, she didn't have any school to attend for the time being, at least until she had to return to her own dimension.
This got her thinking again. She loved Ben like she had never loved anyone else before, even if she was only technically a year and a half old; and she knew he loved her and all his other ghouls with as much, if not even more, love than she had. But seemed that the power of love wouldn't be able to save her from the inevitable, despite what all the Scary Tale stories her Mom had read to her during her first few days of life had claimed. It was only a matter of time before she would be forced to go back to her dimension and for Ben to remain in his own, separating them all from the other forever. If this did happen, how would she fair? Out of all of her ghouls, she was the one to have lost the most boyfriends, and she wasn't even technically a teenager, despite having the body; she wasn't sure if she could take another heartbreak. And there were the other ghouls to be concerned about. Where would they end up? Venus, Robecca, and Jane all stood a fair chance of surviving the inescapable break up since they had each other, but the others might be more vulnerable; Clawdeen would most likely become more snappy and cranky than she sometimes did, Nefera might resort back to her hateful ways, Twyla and Bonita would be forced back into the shadows out of habit, Avea would become less trustworthy, and Frankie didn't even know how Lilith would react. All of the hard work Ben had put into making his ghouls happy by reshaping their lives would be undone within the time span of less than a month.
"Are you thinking about what I'm thinking?" Clawdeen yawned from the foot of the bed.
"About what might happen once we go home?" Frankie guessed even though she knew the answer.
"Yeah," the werewolf sighed. "I don't wanna break up with Ben. My time with has been the happiest so far. You know, other than that time in Scaris."
"We can't just stay here though," Frankie reasoned. "Not only will we leave everything behind, our parents, friends, homes, and lives, but staying in one dimension for two long might cause some . . . I dunno, multiversal crisis or something!"
"You really think so?" Clawdeen's eyes widened.
"We don't have the slightest idea,' Frankie shook her head. "Our world's scientists aren't even aware of other dimensions. And my dad would have agreed with them before Ben tumbled into his life and ruined his petunias."
"Oh, my head." Clawdeen moaned, rubbing her temples. "Speaking of Ben, where is he?"
"I dunno." Frankie hummed, noticing the empty spot in the middle of the bed where Ben had been the night before. "Any idea were Jane is?"
"No." Clawdeen mused. "You don't suppose those two are somewhere . . ."
"I doubt it." Frankie reassured her, her face turning red. "Jane was still pretty shaken up about nearly killing Ben yesterday. Maybe they went for a fly or something."
"Now that's something you don't hear every day." Clawdeen's lips turned upwards into a smile. "So, how about Ben's parents?"
"Well, Carl didn't seem to mind us all that much." Frankie shrugged. "Sandra, I'm not so sure about. She seemed pretty haunted by something last night."
"Thank goodness Lady Persephone can summon gold and stuff," Clawdeen grinned. "I don't think they had enough money to feed us all for one night."
"I didn't think you could eat so much steak." Frankie laughed.
"Compared to all the haggis Lorna ate, I've been starving myself." Clawdeen joked.
Frankie was about to joke around some more when an idea popped into her head. "I just had a fang-tastic idea!" she exclaimed quietly. "What if we make Carl and Sandra breakfast? Maybe that'll help calm Sandra down."
"Woth a shot," Clawdeen shrugged. "But ghoul, do you even know how to cook? Without bringing it to life, I might add?"
"I can try." Frankie smiled. "C'mon, lets wake up the others; maybe they know a thing or two as well."
One by one, the ghouls were aroused and woken up, some easier than others; Whisp refused to go anywhere until Nefera was fully awake and able to carry her to the kitchen. The mummy initially refused but eventually surrendered when Whisp gave her what she instantly dubbed 'The Face'. And so, after a few more minutes of waking the other ghouls up and dodging Lilith's fist on Clawdeen's part, the ghouls all silently slunk to the kitchen as quietly as they possibly could while trying not to disturb Lady Persephone; the goddess snored as loud as a freight train, which absolutely baffled the ghouls.
"Anyone know how to cook?" Bonita yawned as she leaned against the counter, her wings lying limp against her back as she rubbed her eyes.
"I could just summon us some food." Gigi offered, floating above them all and near the microwave.
"Lets use that as a last resort, okay?" Frankie offered. "We want this to be special."
"Si. We should do it ourselves." Skelita agreed. "But what to make?"
"I could make toast." Jinafire offered. "All I need is bread."
"I can make eggs." Lilith added in. "Granted, they were harpy and dragon eggs, but I can still make them with regular chickens."
"Your uncle was one scurvy dog, wasn't he?" Vandala frowned as she hovered over the stove.
"Regrettably." Lilith agreed.
"I can make some orange juice and coffee!" Whisp smiled happily. "That is, if my Nile jewel will help me."
Nefera shuddered slightly but agreed to Whisp's delight.
"Your sister is weird." Spectra noted to Gigi..
"Tell me something I don't know." the genie sighed.
"Alright, ghouls! Lets get cookin'!" Frankie grinned.
Jane cautiously dared a peek out from her shell as the world trembled and shook around her like she was in the middle of the earthquake. She sleepily blinked her eyes, despite being scared out of her mind; being a turtle made everything slow. She refused to acknowledge the horrid device around her reptilian neck as she turned her attention to the battle at hand; Malware went flying as Brawn cackled madly and flexed his rubber arms before ramming his titanium skull into the mutant Galvanic Mechamorph's gut and sent him through a row of low buildings, obliterating them into rubble and dust. Rook continued to snipe at Malware from behind cover, not daring to get any closer for fear of Malware getting his slippery, oozing hands on his Proto-Tool again.
"Chew on this, Mal!" Brawn cackled as he gave a swift uppercut to Malware's jaw and drove his talons into his knees, forcing him deep into the ground. Just as he was about to go for another attack, Malware sent him flying with a quick movement of his arm and fired off the Tachyon Cannon, blasting the Twin in the chest and erasing him from existence, bringing Ben back into the world.
"One by one, your forms will fall, until you have none left, Tennyson." Malware snarled. "And then I shall have what is rightfully mine!"
"You mean a Galvanic Mechamorph-proof straightjacket?" Ben cracked.
"Your incompetence and immaturity knows no bounds," Malware growled. "An error I mean to rectify."
"Bring it." Ben smirked as he turned to the Omnitrix, turned it on, and slapped the activation button without even looking at which alien he had selected. 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.
"This world is crawling with bugs!" Malware hissed as he fired off the Tachyon Cannon and missed. "I will make an example of them." he glowered.
"I am no bug! I am Atomix!" the radioactive alien gave a mouthless smile before he shot up into the air and soared up into the air. "Atomic Anvil Drop!" he cried as he fell through the air and crash landed on the Galvanic Mechamorph with a wet, slapping sound. Before Malware could fully comprehend what was happening, Atomix gave him a swift uppercut to the jaw before grabbing him by the shoulders and ramming his pointed head into his skull.
Jane watched as Malware blasted the hulking alien with the Tachyon Cannon, obliterating Atomix and forcing Ben back out into the world. He quickly turned to the Omnitrix and randomly selected an alien before slapping the activation button and engulfing himself in a green light. Everything about him began to change in one single way: it got big. It got huge. It got enormous as Ben's frame rocketed upwards towards the sky, dwarfing everything below him and even making the surrounding mountains look like nothing more than large rocks. His skin turned a pale, metallic white and red, large, thin blades growing out of her wrists and arms, fins sprouting from her waist, wrists, and shoulders. A large, thin red crest rose up from his head, adding to his height. Hard, metal knobs grew out from the corners of his mouth and he could feel a pair of organs forming in his hands, filling up with a sort of corrosive acid. The Omnitrix appeared on his chest, finishing the transformation.
"Way Big? Perfect!" the gigantic To'kustar grinned for once in a while.
"So it is a clash of the titans, is it now?" Malware growled darkly as he waved his free hand over the sea of rubble that surrounded them; his arm oozed out into a long tentacle that attached itself to the pieces of the rubble before grabbing, sucking, and then consuming it all to add to his mass. His figure began to swell at an alarming rate as he consumed the matter, growing bigger and bigger until he stood just about even with Way Big, his arms and legs like redwood trees and his teeth like jagged mountain tops.
"So hiding is your plan?"
Jane instinctively pulled her head back into her shell before she realized who the owner of the voice was and carefully peeked back out to see Azmuth standing next to her, both of them standing about the same height; that quickly changed as Jane morphed back into her original shape and knelt down low to the ground to both speak to the aging Galvan and keep out of Malware's sight. "What else am I supposed to do?" she asked him. "Not even a would be able to go toe to toe with Malware."
"What about the Nemetrix currently attached to your wrist?" Azmuth asked; it was phrased like a question, but it sounded more like a demand.
"I-I . . . I can't," Jane told him shamefully. "I just can't. It's turned me into a bigger freak than I was before."
"This . . . curse . . . you've received," Azmuth mused. "You view it as more than nothing else?"
"Y-yes, Mr. Azmuth."
"Please, just call me Azmuth. I don't have time for such formalities." the decrepit Galvan waved her off. "You know who else had a curse? Malware."
"R-really?" Jane asked with amazement.
"Admittedly he could have used it as a gift, but now he is whole." Azmuth said sadly. "Only he doesn't view it as a gift. Simply because he is different from the rest of the kind, he believes he is nothing more than a monster that must use his curse for destruction and misery to ensure his happiness. He will never stop and never change until he has made sure that every being in the galaxy has suffered his fate."
"R-really?" Jane repeated.
"Yes, really." Azmuth nodded before he started to walk away. "As you humans say, 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'. You can either choose to let this curse define who you are, or you can turn it around and use it as a gift to help others."
Jane blinked as the Galvan went on his way; Way Big slugged Malware twice in the face before he headbutted the corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph and launching himself up into the air. Once he reached as he could go, he thrust his feet downwards and brought them down on Malware, crushing him underneath his titanic weight; Malware quickly oozed out from under Way Big's feet and reformed in a few short seconds. The corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph then fired off an optical laser from the single, blood red ring he had for an eye and blasted the To'kustar in the chest, knocking him down to the ground; the world trembled.
She realized what Azmuth had said was true; Malware, despite his abilities, chose to use them for destruction, to threaten millions upon billions of lives who had no involvement in his fate whatsoever and to make them suffer. She also realized that, to a lesser extent, Ben had also been cursed; had he never even found the Omnitrix, he would have lived a normal life and actually finished high school instead of having to quit his education to defend the earth from alien menaces and human lunatics. But he had found the Omnitrix, and he chose to use it for good instead of evil. He could have chosen it for his own nefarious purposes, to rule the world with an iron fist with ease or even rewrite the entire history of the universe so that they all bowed down to him. But he chose not to turn over to the dark side. He chose to fight for what was right, to protect innocent lives, and to be hero, no matter what people like Harangue had to say about him.
And suddenly she knew what to do.
Jane sucked in a deep breath to still her frayed nerves, and tentatively tapped the Nemetrix's face, the ever familiar holographic disk lighting up in front of her eyes; she had to admit, despite being a near utter disgrace to the Galvan species, Blukic and Driba did a fair job on repairing and upgrading the Nemetrix. Sure, she found the fact that it could detonate and nearly wipe an entire planet a little unsettling, along with the fact that the watch seemed against her, but she chose to ignore it. She quickly found a transformation that she hoped would help and slapped the activation button, engulfing herself in a blood red light. Her back began to expand outwards into a slightly flattened dome, a loud cracking noise meeting her ears as her skin split and divided into numerous, interlocking plates that quickly darkened into a near, pitch black color. Her chest widened grew to watch her massive carapace, her bones cracking and groaning loudly as they grew bigger and bigger accommodate her new size, her organs sloshing and oozing around inside of her, growing larger and larger with every passing second. Jane's fingers shortened as her fingernails warped into sharp claws, webbing forming between her digits as every single last strand of hair on her head and body was sucked inwards like strands of spaghetti. Her skull cracked and groaned as her lips and nose fluidly melted into a horny beak as her eyes rotated to either side of her head until they seemed to be in separate area codes. A loud, grinding noise met her attention as more plating appeared on her flattening skull, a row of gills appeared on her neck, and a long tail whipped out from the base of her spine, growing a pair of whale-like flukes at the end; the final addition was the Nemetrix in the form of a spiked collar around her neck.
With a low grunt, the massive, alien turtle hauled its elephant-sized bulk into the hundreds of seas and ponds that dotted the city; they undoubtedly had to be linked. She found this out to be true, the murky, green water effortlessly sliding past her massive carapace. Above her she could hear the dull thrums and tremors as the two giants moved about, tearing up the ground and sea with their battle. She pumped her tail furiously and swam faster through the water, her shell allowing her to easily slide through the water and up to Malware's massive leg as the two titans remained locked an a stalemate for a short amount of time. The Cetaqueloneo sucked an deep breath through the gills on her neck until her lungs were at their full capacity and full to bursting. She sucked in one last small breath before unhinging her jaw and letting all the air out into a loud, sonic boom. The sound waves traveled through the water like rockets, slamming into Malware's leg and disrupting his molecules; the corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph fell to one knee, suddenly weakened by the blow.
The Cetaqueloneo sucked in another deep breath and swam downwards to the very bottom of the sea before shooting back upwards, pumping her tail up and down as fast as she could before she shot out of the water like a guided missile, arcing over Malware's head and unleashing another sonic boom at his skull; the mutant titan howled in agony as Way Big allow himself a small smile. "Boom Shell is awesome!" he exclaimed with a broad smile as the Cetaqueloneo plummeted back down into the water. The To'kustar gave a sudden shove of his hands, pushing Malware back before ramming his shoulder into him and then cross his arms over each other; he felt a sudden heat building up in his wrists before a bright beam of neon, green energy shot out and slammed into Malware's chest, utterly obliterating him into a smoldering mess; the Omnitrix timed out moments later, reducing the massive titan down to a small human.
"Knowing Malware, that is probably not the end of him." Rook stated grimly as he came out from behind a mound of rubble.
"My thoughts exactly." Ben agreed as the limited remains of Malware started to ooze and pool together into a much smaller form of the villain, his Tachyon Cannon forming at his side.
"You may have gotten a lucky shot, Ben Tennyson, but your luck just ran out!" the Galvanic Mechamorph snapped before leveling his weapon at the pair. Ben quickly turned to the Omnitrix and cycled through the listings before selecting AmpFibian and slapping the activation button; but nothing happened. No flash of bright light, no new limbs, no new shape, no nothing. He was still human.
"Great. It's on recharge." Ben sighed in defeat.
"It has been an honor to fight at your side, Ben." Rook declared proudly.
"You too, bud. You too." Ben agreed as the Tachyon Cannon was just about fire and incinerate the both of them, forever scattering their molecules so that there was no hope of being restored by someone of even Azmuth's intelligence. Suddenly, the murky green waters around them lit up in an ever familiar blood red light before the water suddenly exploded, droplets flying everywhere as something emerged from the depths. It was gigantic, just a few feet taller than Malware and was covered in coarse, shaggy, brown fur that was almost as black as midnight. Large spikes curved upwards from its shoulders and back and a reptilian tail covered in fur and with four, Stegosaurus-like spikes at the end sprawled out from the base of the spine. Massive claws sat on its front feet, and large, saber-like teeth curved upwards from the lower jaw of the massive, bear-like animal as a pair of Triceratops-like horns sat on its face; a familiar, red, spiked collar sat around its neck.
"Behold, Nemibear!" Ben announced loudly, catching Malware off guard before the Risasoportar bellowed and slammed a massive paw into Malware's face, sending him flying across the landscape. Before he could protect himself, Nemibear rammed herself into him, the horns on her face leaving deep holes in his gelatinous flesh before she spun around on all four legs and smashed her tail across face, leaving deep gouges; the wounds slowly healed over, but the animal could tell she was making progress.
"Enough of this insolence!" Malware cried, firing another beam from his eye at the Risasoportar and missing. "I will not be defeated by some, dumb beast!"
"Probably shouldn't have said that." Ben smirked as Nemibear narrowed its eyes at Malware before becoming engulfed in a bright, red light.
Her shoulders and back swelled with muscle and tissue as her bones grew bigger and bigger with a loud cracked noise. Her spine ground and cracked before splitting into a second pair right above the original, the transformation forcing it up and out from under her skin and into the open air where it quickly hardened into bony plates with two, sharp fins go outwards and another curving back. A long, bony tail whipped out from the base of her spine, muscle and tissue quickly enveloping it before skin and more bony plating covered the top, a spike forming on the end as four more, Stegosaurus-like spikes sprouted along her tail. Her legs made a sickening, wet sound as they split in two, forming a second pair that quickly bloated with muscle and bigger bones; her toes melted together into two, razor sharp claws as her heels ground and popped out as a third claw. Her body lengthened and became segmented as her arms split into not one, not two, but three pairs whose fingers quickly fused together into two large claws. Her head bulged outwards as razor sharp fangs ripped through her gums and four, bull-like horns grew on either side of her head. The skin around her head turned a blood red as her segmented underbelly turned a light lavender with the back plates turning a dark purple. A long, hollow horn sprouted out from her skull as her nostrils enlarged, completing the transformation as the Nemetrix formed around her neck.
The Tyrannopede roared in Malware's face before grabbing him by the head in her massive jaws and throwing him clear across the ruins of the city with a twist of her head. As he flew, she shot out a jet of webbing from the horn on her head, encasing him in a thick cocoon before he crash landed into the remains of a house; the Galvanic Mechamorph cut himself free with his optical laser just before Tyrannopede smashed her left foreleg down on him once, twice, three times in all before she smashed her tail down on him, splattering his head all over the place before it reformed.
"AGH! Someone get a fire extinguisher!" Bonita cried as she hunkered down on the floor with her hands over her mouth and nose; Frankie quickly rushed to the sink and filled up a bowl with water before rushing to the stove and doused the entire thing with the liquid, only to have the flames suddenly get bigger and hotter within seconds of attempting to put out the flame.
"How is that even possible!?" Nefera exclaimed before she was suddenly splattered with orange remains. "Whisp, I told you we don't need the mallet to make orange juice!"
"But it's fun!" Whisp whined as she swung the hammer around her three times before smashing another orange with it. "I am Thor!" she roared.
"Lilith, I thought you said you knew how to make eggs!?" Clawdeen yelled as she grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet and threw it over the burning pan, effectively putting out the fire within seconds.
"I do! I don't know what happened!" Lilith protested. "I turn my back on the stove for one second to help Whisp properly make coffee and the next thing I know, my eggs are more burnt that molten lava!"
"Granted, Whisp was dancing on the beans to grind them up instead of using the coffeemaker." Nefera butted into the conversation, wiping orange guts and peels from her face.
"Can't she ever do things normally?" Clawdeen sighed.
"You're talking about someone whose gone insane from being trapped inside of a lamp for a thousand years." Lilith said with a deadpanned expression.
"Point taken." Clawdeen admitted defeat.
"I'm not insane!" Whisp protested. "I'm trying to live life to the fullest before I kick the bucket!"
"You're immortal." Lilith pointed out.
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't!"
"Ghouls! Focus!" Frankie cried loudly, halting all movement in the kitchen. "Ever since we started this project, we haven't got one thing done!"
"Correction." Jinafire smiled as she held up a plate of golden brown toast. "I have cooked the toast to perfection." she smiled, a trail of smoke escaping her lips; as soon as she set the plate down on the counter, the supposedly golden brown toast instantly disintegrated into black ash and a pool of melted butter. "Well, as you Scaremericans say, 'it was worth a shot'." Jinafire sighed.
"Ghouls, we need to stop goofing around." Frankie announced as she paced back and forth in front of the crowd of ghouls currently taking up the kitchen. "We need to do things right, we need to things without messing them up, we need . . . to act like Normies."
"Does that mean no more smashing?" Whisp asked with disappointment.
"YES!" all the ghouls yelled in unison.
"It's a wonder we haven't woken Ben's parents yet." Spectra mumbled under her breath as she rubbed her throbbing temples.
"Lilith, start another batch of eggs and don't take your eyes off them," Frankie instructed. "Nefera, Whisp, make orange juice and coffee using the squeezer and coffeemaker and not a mallet or anything unusual." Frankie emphasized; the mummy saluted as the genie pouted but begrudgingly agreed. "Jinafire, try using the toaster this time; the rest of us will try to clean everything else up before Carl and Sandra get here. Any questions?"
"What if Ben's parents wake up before we're ready?" Robecca wondered.
"Hmm. Good point." Frankie mused. "You, Venus, and Skelita keep them distracted and busy until were ready. Okay?"
"Yes, mam!" Venus saluted.
"Alright, ghouls! Lets-" Frankie started to say before she suddenly disappeared in a flash of bright, green light.
"Que? What just happened?" Skelita wondered.
"I'm as confused as you are." Twyla sighed.
"Jane will not last much longer." Rook stated as he and Ben watched Tyrannopede go flying across the ruined city and just barely miss the central tower before she crash landed into a pile of rubble. A flash of red light illuminated the rubble and about a dozen large animals leaped out of the debris, growling and snarling as they cautiously stalked forwards; each one of them was covered in deep, red fur on the bottom with a mane of pitch black fur on their neck and back and tufts of fur on their joints. They bared resemblance to prehistoric Smilodon, right down to the saber-like teeth that curved out over the bottom jaw. Spikes adorned the tip of their long, feline tail with a small spike on the end of their dog-like nose.
"Ooh, this is going to be a tough one." Ben mused, stroking his chin as he mulled over something.
"Indeed. Malware will be pressed hard to endure against a pride of Panuncians." Rook agreed as the entire pride roared and charged at Malware, skillfully dodging from side to side to avoid the optical laser fired at them before they pounced and tackled Malware to the ground, dividing themsleves into even more clones to weigh the corrupt Galvanic Mechamorph down.
"That's what I meant," Ben said to Rook. "I was thinking about to what this one."
"I am confused as to why you name all your transformations and insist on naming Jane's." Rook cocked an eyebrow.
"It makes them easier to talk about under certain circumstances," Ben explained. "You sued them too."
"I do not remember that." Rook frowned; Malware managed to shake some of the Panuncians off of him as the others raked their claws across his circuit pattern skin and dug their fangs into his flesh.
"I've been gone for too long." Ben shook his head before all the Panuncians went flying and were engulfed in bright, red flashes of light; Jane came stumbling out of a nearby pile of rubble, a nasty cut on her forehead as she leaned against Ben.
"It's no use," she panted. "Everything I throw at him, he takes it. And then he slings it back double!"
"Whatever Azmuth's planning, I hope it's done soon!" Ben yelped as he ducked low to the ground to dodge a blast from Malware's Tachyon Cannon; Rook quickly changed his Proto-Tool into a pod launcher and jammed a missile into the barrel before firing at Malware and succeeding in blasting his gut to pieces. Before either side could fire again, a group of five odd, glowing, green spheres floated out of the surrounding wreckage and ever so slowly their way over to Malware, three of them forming a triangle around him while another floated above and the third waited patiently to the side as its four brothers suddenly activated and fired off a cage of brilliant, green electricity, trapping the Galvanic Mechamorph inside the cage of pain; the final sphere lit up and moved into position directly under its topmost brother, trapping Malware in a bright, green energy field shaped like a diamond. Malware's single, blood red ring glowed an ominous red before it fired off five individual beams at the five spheres, blasting them to bits.
"I really hope that wasn't his plan." Jane whimpered.
"I assure you it was not." Azmuth's voice promised them; the trio turned around to see Azmuth calmly standing on the shoulder of none other than Frankie Stein, an ever familiar remote in his hand; Frankie was looking around with a confused as well as horrified expression.
"What is she doing here!?" Ben exclaimed.
"She is here to help us stop Malware." Azmuth replied simply.
"Are you trying to get her killed!?" Ben yelled angrily.
"Ben, I'm fine." Frankie promised him, her bolts crackling with electricity.
"How did you even know she was in the current dimension?" Rook asked Azmuth.
"I had a hunch that there was a similar girl to this 'Frankenstein' you mention," Azmuth shrugged. "I did some quick research on Earth literature, and it turns out my hunch was right."
"But how is Frankie going to help us stop Malware?" Ben asked before they all ducked to the ground under another beam of the Tachyon Cannon that the villainous Galvanic Mechamorph wielded.
"Do you remember how you defeated Malware the last time?" Azmuth popped the question.
"Yeah, I blasted him with Feedback." Ben said. It was then that he was starting to understand what Azmuth was getting at. "Oh, I see what you're saying."
"Indeed." Azmuth nodded. "Ms. Stein will act as a power source so that you can put Malware's rampage to an end."
"Well alright then." Ben smirked confidently as he turned to the Omnitrix and cycled through the listings before selecting the Conductoid icon and hovering his hand over the activation button. "What about all my forms that got blasted by Malware?"
"The Omnitrix should repair the DNA so you will be able to use your transformations at a later date." Azmuth reassured him. Ben nodded and pressed the activation button, instigating a correct transformation as well as saving a short lecture from Azmuth on the proper use of the Omnitrix. He felt himself become powerful as the alien blood coursed its way through his veins, the watch forcing his very DNA to shift and mold and change into something it shouldn't have been. The changes began almost immediately, starting his skin becoming a dark, midnight black that raced up his arms and legs and covered his face. His eyes widened into large almonds before melting together into a single, green orb. His teeth became sharp his toes all ground together into two claws. He felt an itching sensation at the base of his spine, and craned his head to watch a long, elastic-like tail stretch out behind him, a growth forming on the end that resembled a forked plug. His fingertips become hard and metallic, becoming cube shaped as muscles piled themselves on his arms and chest. Two long antennae suddenly shot out from his skull, unrolling behind him like dreadlocks as forked plugs formed on their ends. His chest and torso turned a dark shade of green as the Omnitrix appeared on his chest and a sharp, tingling feeling could be felt in his fingers.
"You ready, babe?" Feedback asked Frankie.
"Ready." Frankie nodded with a smile on her lips and a light blush on her face.
"I want in on this too." Jane grunted, turning to the Nemetrix on her wrist and cycling through the transformations before finding the one she was looking for and slapping the watch face, engulfing her in a blood red light. Her skin cracked and hardened into bony plates that covered her entire body, muscles building up underneath them as her body shifted. Her arms lengthened to match her growing legs, her fingers and toes all fusing together into a single digit before the nails on each limb melted into a tough covering that quickly formed into a tough hoof. Her spine cracked and groaned as a long, skeletal tail grew from the base of her spine and shark-like fins sprouted from her back and on either side of each growth; small vents, openings that flowed into special organs formed underneath each fin. Large, bony teeth that connected right into Jane's moving jaw as her eyes split into a second pair as her ears became long and pointed. Every last hair disappeared on her scalp as a pair of bony knobs formed on her head, quickly growing long and bigger, splitting into more branches that added to her size; the Nemetrix appeared as a large, red collar with silver spikes around her neck, finishing the transformation.
"Ah, I see what you are getting at." Rook nodded as he loaded another missile into the front of his pod launcher. "A combination of all our strengths and abilities should finish the job, no?"
"Actually, I just thought hitting him with all we got would be really cool." the Conductoid joked; Antlerback bellowed and lowered her head, a ball of blood red plasma forming between her massive rack of antlers as Feedback folded his arms over his chest and snapped his antennae backwards, each one hooking up to one of Frankie's bolts as she clenched her fist and sent a monolithic amount of electricity coursed through her and into Feedback.
"Ready when you are, Ben." Rook grinned.
"Then lets turn on the power!" Feedback quipped as he felt a tingling in his fingertips. "On three! One! Two! Three!" he cried before firing a burst of powerful energy from his plugged hands as Antlerback fired off her plasma ball and Rook pulled the trigger on his pod launcher; as a last resort, Malware fired off his Tachyon Cannon in a last ditch effort to preserve himself from death once more. The two beams edged closer and closer across the ruins of the city before they slammed into each other, the combined efforts of Feedback, Antlerback, and Rook effortlessly powering through Malware's attack and obliterating it as they closer and closer to the helpless Galvanic Mechamorph.
"CURSE YOU BEN TENNYSON! CURSE YOU!" he roared as he was suddenly engulfed in a monumental explosion that blocked out the sun for a brief moment, forcing everyone to shield their eyes as a wave of heat blasted its way across the landscape, nearly destroying everything else left standing before it died down and the cloud of smoke faded away to reveal the petrified remains of Malware, forever frozen with a look of horror and unrivaled hatred plastered on his face.
"And that, as they say, is that." Feedback smirked before the Omnitrix and Nemetrix timed out in flashes of green and red, changing their respective owners back into their original forms.
"Yes! We kicked his butt!" Frankie cheered. "If only cooking breakfast for your parents was this easy."
"Wait, what?" Ben wondered.
Lorna had opted to hide underneath the kitchen table.
While most people or monsters would have been confused as to why the freshwater monster was hiding under the table, all one really had to do was see what Lorna's fellow ghoulfriends were up; Clawdeen and Lilith were currently arguing over yet another pan of burning eggs, ignoring the fire entirely as Bonita desperately tried to find some way of putting it out before it got any worse; Vandala and Nefera were running around the kitchen, the later with only her bra on, her shirt in the clutches of Whisp as she flew around just out of Nefera's reach and with a crazed grin on her face. Unsurprisingly, a mallet was in her other hand; Spectra was attempting to finish Nefera and Whisp's job unsuccessfully, her hands almost always phasing right through the items she needed to use; Avea, Twyla, and Gigi were attempting to calm down Whisp without much success; really, it seemed only Jinafire was no having any issues of any kind as she simply slipped in one slice of bread after the other into the toaster and patiently waiting for each slice to be toasted to perfection before buttering them.
A sudden scream of fright rang throughout the house, halting all movement with the exception of Nefera as she swiped her shirt back from Whisp; moments later, Venus, Robecca, and Skelita came running back into the kitchen, shutting the swinging door behind them before moving the table in front of it before locking the door shut,
"What's going on out there? Sounds worse than a banshee with a sore throat." Lorna wondered.
"Lets just say that Sandra is easily startled by Skelita and leave it at that." Venus winced as she yanked off the table cloth and waved it over the burning eggs, putting out the fire.
"I'm really starting to think we should just summon breakfast." Robecca sighed, sliding down onto the floor. "And while were at it, wish for the kitchen to be cleaned up too."
"I thought making breakfast would be simple, not loco duro." Skelita rubbed her aching head.
"What I want to know is why we can't make simple food." Clawdeen grumbled. "I mean, it's not any different than what we do back home."
"Maybe we're not as good at cooking as we thought we were." Lilith grumbled with defeat.
"That be the understatement of century." Vandala muttered under her breath.
"All in favor of summoning breakfast?" Robecca asked, raising her hand above her head; every single hand other than Jinafire's went up. That is, until the toaster somehow managed to catch fire before the dragon's eyes, forcing her to put her own hand above her head and make the vote unanimous.
"Alright then. Nefera shrugged as she slipped her shirt back on. "Gigi, I wish breakfast was made and that the kitchen was clean."
"As you wish." Gigi closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest before jerking her head downwards. A bright, white light suddenly engulfed the kitchen, blinding everyone in the room before dying down; the stove was no longer on fire and the toaster was still in one piece. There were no juice stains or coffee bean remains dotting the counter, and the air no longer smelled of vaporized butter and charred eggs. More importantly however, was the wide variety of foods that lay across the counter. Everything from pancakes slathered in butter and sparkling maple syrup to steaming omelets with fresh breakfast potatoes and hash-browns with large pitchers of coffee and orange juice to spare. And it wasn't just that; there was freshly cooked and baked sushi with a kettle of ginger tea and a bubbling pot of haggis on the stove for anyone willing to partake in the exotic foods. Plump, juice grapes sat amongst a collection of bananas and apples, limes and oranges, and even the occasional pineapple or papaya.
"Well, that turned out better than I thought." Clawdeen hummed happily.
"Now if we can just get Sandra use to the fact that her son is in love with a bunch of undead ghouls." Bonita sighed before yelping with fright as the air next to her crackled and sparkled with green energy before it suddenly exploded and died down, revealing Frankie, Jane, and Ben standing there.
"Glad that's over with." Ben yawned and stretched before he noticed the wonderful aroma in the air. "And you ghouls made breakfast too! Nice." he grinned.
"Uh, yeah! We totally made it ourselves." Avea grinned nervously. "Right, ghouls?"
"Yep!" Whisp laughed happily.
"So, where are my parents?" Ben wondered.
"Most likely cowering under their covers." Clawdeen sighed with exhaustion.
"She kinda got freaked out after one of Skelita's arms popped off. And crawled up your Mom's leg. And then kinda . . . played with her face a little before reattaching itself."
"Great." Ben sighed as Skelita gave him an apologetic look.
"I'm sure she knows it was an accident, Ben." Frankie reassured him.
"I guess you're right." Ben shrugged. "I mean, if Mom can remain friends with Ma Vreedle after she rampaged all over Bellwood, she'll be able to handle you ghouls." Ben then quickly cracked his aching back before grabbing twin plates of pancakes, pausing when he noticed the kitchen table in front of the locked kitchen door. "Do I want to know?" he asked.
"Probably not." Frankie sighed as she took the two jugs of coffee and orange juice; Avea and Twyla grabbed hold of the table and dragged it out of the way as Ben slipped by, unlocked the door, and made his way to the dining room table, setting the plates down at his parent's usual seats before the rest of the ghouls followed carrying different foods and lining up a sort of buffet.
"Ben? Is that you?" Sandra's voice came from down the hall.
"Yeah!" Ben called over his shoulder. "The ghouls made breakfast!"
"T-that's nice, dear!" Sandra said from her room. "Um, there aren't any body parts crawling around, are there?"
"Not that I know of!" Ben yelled back.
"Alright then!" Sandra sounded somewhat unsure, but willing at the very least. After a few minutes, Sandra and Carl came shuffling down the hallway in their pajamas, cautiously looking around for any of Frankie or Skelita's body parts and passing by a still passed out Persephone on the couch; even the sweet scent of fresh breakfast foods could not awaken the goddess. Once Ben's parents had made their way to the dining room table without being attacked by body parts or mutant food of any kind, Sandra looked upon the smiling ghoul's faces; most of them seemed somewhat pleading, as if begging for her to except them while others seemed either indifferent or their presence was not seen but not unknown; Carl thought he saw something flicker in the shadow of the sofa. What really caught Sandra's attention though, was Jane taking cover behind Ben, looking at her like she was about to bite her head off for some unknown reason.
"Morning, Mrs. Tennyson!" Frankie waved.
"H-hi." Jane stammered.
"Good morning, ghouls." Sandra said with a warm smile before setting her sights on the frightened jungle girl cowering behind her son. "Jane, is it?"
"Y-yes, Mrs. Tennyson." Jane squeaked.
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry about all the things I said to you." Sandra apologized. "Had I known it was you, I wouldn't have said anything." she said before shuffling over to Jane in her slippers and giving her a small hug. "I'll admit that I was doubtful at first, but now I see that you, all of you really, care for my son and that he cares for you. Therefore, I approve of your relationship with him."
"Th-thank you, Mrs. Tennyson." Jane smiled.
"Please, just call me Sandra." she smiled.
"Alright . . . Sandra." Jane grinned. "Now how about some breakfast?"
"Did someone say breakfast?" Persephone woke with a start from the couch.
And there we go!
Remind me never to get into the same kitchen as the ghouls when they are unsupervised. Anyways, as you may or may not have noticed, there were some new Nemetrix predators in this chapter as promised! Below is a list of all the Nemetrix predators to appear.
Buglizard (Stinkfly's predator) – Ben 10: Omniverse
Boom Shell (AmpFibian's predator) – Darkness Rissing
Nemibear (Blitzwolfer's predator) – DragonWarrior20
Tyrannopede (Humungousaur's predator) – Ben 10: Omniverse
Repeat (Ditto's predator) – Ben 10 Omniverse
And I've got some news. Man of Action has announced that there will be another Ben 10 series to come in 2016/2017. Only it is apparently a reboot of the Ben 10 series. Now, I love Ben 10 as much as the next guy, but this is going to be one big headache when this comes out, especially since there will be new aliens for 10 year old Ben to use in addition to several fan-favorites. So essentially, they'll be rewriting the entire seasons from the start. Maybe. I dunno. Leave your thoughts about the upcoming series in your reviews below!
As always, comment, review, suggest, and request down below!
Hasta Luego!
