Ben 10 RWBY Volume 2: Ultimate Omniverse

by The Omni-Remnant

Having returned from a massive adventure in the world of Remnant, Ben, Team RWBY, and the rest of their friends find themselves faced with new challenges at every turn on Earth. Be it villains old and new… or even things that they never imagined to be real. It's going to be a challenge unlike any they've seen before, but they're up for it. It's Hero Time! (Cover Art credit inside)

7. Niagara Fights

A/N: Greetings everyone, and welcome back to Ben 10 RWBY Volume 2 and the conclusion of the Niagara Falls Rescue mini-arc! Gotta say, this chapter was a bit of a challenge as not only is there a lot of fighting in it… but I also got sick this week, which made the writing a bit hard. That said, I'm actually quite pleased with what came out of it, so I think I did pretty well. That said, we've got a bit of a longer chapter on our hands here again, so how's about we get things started, huh? Not much else to say, so let's dive right into…

Chapter 6: Niagara Fights

…..

"So, that's the whole story, huh?"

Gwen held herself steady as she talked with her grandfather over her communicator, being absolutely careful so that she wouldn't slip over the edge of the narrow path she treaded on. In fact, that's what everyone else was doing behind her as well, scooting along the path so that they wouldn't go plunging into the waterfall a few several feet in front of them. Thankfully, the hidden cave was nearly insight, which relieved Gwen to no end. "Hah, y-yeah, grandpa, that's pretty much the gist of things."

She heard a small hum from Max on the other end before he responded. "I see. Well, if we have someone working against the Collective on the inside, then that's very good news for us." he noted. "It means we may actually have a reliable source in helping take these people down. …Six, Holiday, you two have been awfully quiet."

The group finally made it to the cave entrance the moment Max said that. And when heard what the old man said, Weiss stepped up with a raised brow. "Yeah guys, no input at all? What's on your minds?

Holiday responded first. "Well… I don't THINK it's anything, Weiss. It's just… something seems very familiar about all this."

"That's what I'VE been saying, Doc." Rex jumped in, grouping up with the two girls. "It feels like I should know what's going on here, but I just can't place it."

"Rex and Holiday are right." Six replied in his usual blunt tone. "Something doesn't feel right with this. Did this hunchback girl mention her name to Rook at all?"

"Not really, no." Gwen denied. "All she did was give him back his Proto-Tool and then she teleported to wherever she came from."

There was a brief silence before Six continued on. "Well… I suppose we'll have to worry about that later." he concluded. "Right now, we need to focus on the mission at hand; rescue Manny and Alan as well as stop the Collective from whatever they're doing." There was a brief pause before the agent went on. "Our trackers are pinpointing you all near the mouth of the cave. Hope you're ready to bring the vice down on these people."

"You know it." Sun affirmed with a spin of his staff, placing it against his shoulder. "Ben, Blake and the others should be in there by now, I think."

Gwen nodded at that. "More than likely, yes." She set her eyes back down to her Plumber's badge with a nod. "We'll call you guys as soon as we finish the mission here, okay?"

"Affirmative." Max nodded. "Good luck, sweetheart, we'll see you soon."

Weiss leaned in and added; "Oh, and wherever Winter is, tell her how we're doing, okay?"

"Hehe, of course, Weiss. I'll make sure the message is passed along." the old man chuckled. "Well, I'll let you kids get to it. This is Max, over and out."

With that, the call was ended and the eight teens were left to themselves… along with a certain talking chimp. "So… whadda we do now?" Bobo asked before pulling out his red pistols with a smirk. "I'm thinkin' we go in with the direct approach. Give these creeps a bit o' the one-two-punch an' blast 'em to Kingdom Come."

"That is literally the worst plan I've ever heard." Jaune commented, causing Bobo to slump and sneer a bit. "Seriously, were you NOT paying attention to what Gwen's been telling us this whole time? This mission hinges on the element of surprise and—GAH!" Without warning, Bobo suddenly lifted one of his pistols, aiming it at Jaune's face.

This took everyone aback before Bobo's smirk returned to his face. "Heh, surprised ya, eh, Slim?" He lowered his pistol and crossed his arms. "I think I've made my case."

Pyrrah wore a rather sour look as she took a hold of her boyfriend's shoulders. "If you mean "terrified the living daylights out of him", then yes, you certainly HAVE made your case."

"C'mon, Bobo, we can't joke around here." Rex implored. "Let's wait until AFTER we've infiltrated their base and catch them off guard. …THEN we can wreck them."

Bobo let out a groan, slumping once again. "Ugh, fine. Sheesh, you people come from a world where humor's dead or somethin'?"

Weiss sighed and shook her head. "No, we just we know WHEN to get serious when the situation calls for it." She took out Myrtenaster and loaded it up with Dust vials, ready to go to work. "Jokes can come later… though I have a feeling we WILL be hearing plenty of quips soon enough."

Rex grinned and nudged her arm. "Be honest, Ice Princess, would you have it any other way?"

The former heiress rolled her eyes and nudged him back. "Save it for the sightseeing, Robo-dolt." She turned her attention to Gwen and gave her a nod. "So, what first?"

"I'm glad you asked, Weiss…" Gwen said before her eyes lit up bright pink once again. "If everyone would please stand back…" The teens did as the redhead said and she stepped up toward the cave entrance, placing her hand on one of the rocky walls. From there, she began sensing the life signatures of every being in the place, her eyes closed in concentration. After a few minutes, though, a gasp escaped her lips and she recoiled a bit, taking everyone off guard.

"Gwen!" Penny exclaimed, moving over to steady the Anodite. "What happened? What did you sense?"

"I… I-I don't know." Gwen muttered. "At first, I was sensing a whole slew of human life, but… there was something different in there."

Ilia furrowed her brow in concern. "Well, how many people are we dealing with?"

"About… forty or fifty, I want to say." Gwen replied. "It's a lot, but I can tell distinctly who're normal humans. But there are four people in there that concern me. They're… different."

"Must be the hunchback girl and the leaders of the cult." Jaune noted. "But… I thought that Helen said there was only three people we need to worry about."

Pyrrha crossed her arms, a serious expression coming to her face. "How much you want to bet that fourth one is "the Exalted One" that the others spoke so much about?" The group glanced at one another nervously before the redheaded warrior set her sights on Gwen. "Can you pinpoint their exact locations, Gwen?"

"I can." Gwen affirmed before focusing again, sensing the life energies of every single person in there. "Let's see… there are two people in the very back of the cavern. One feels like they're radiating confidence while the other is very scared."

"Probably the Exalted One himself." Rex noted. "And the other must be that girl, only makes sense."

"Yes… and I'm detecting the other two moving down a corridor with ten people in tow…" Gwen continued. "They're all closing in on—" But then, she cut herself off, a gasp escaping her throat as her eyes snapped open. "Oh no! Ben!"

BOOOOM! Not two seconds after she said that, a huge explosion could be heard echoing from the cave, sending everyone on high alert as the ground shook beneath them briefly. Once it was over, everyone focused their attention to the cave in concern. "Oh crap, you've gotta be kidding me!" Ilia exclaimed as she pulled out her Lightning Lash. "They found them ALREADY!?"

With that, Bobo pulled out his pistols. "A'ight, that's all I needed ta here. Let's go kick some cult ass!"

However, Weiss quickly waved Myrtenaster in front of the chimp to stop him. "No, bad idea. We need to stay focused on the plan we came up with."

"Weiss, I'm sorry, but when the Collective make the first move, we gotta adapt!" Sun said as he separated Ryui and Jingu Bang into their gun-chuck mode. "Our teammates are being ambushed, so we gotta start putting the pressure on NOW."

"He's right." Gwen nodded as her hands began glowing. "I'll make sure to seal off the entrance with a spell after we head in." She directed her sights over to the couple next to her. "Rex, Weiss, you two follow me, we'll find this "Exalted One" and the hunchback girl and hopefully we'll find some answers to what they have in store." Her eyes then moved to a certain chameleon girl as well. "And Ilia, you come with us, too. Like you said before, your Lightning Lash will be very useful in this situation."

Ilia smiled to the Anodite and gave her a thumbs up. "Gotcha, I'll stun the girl and hopefully then we'll get to have a one-on-one with the Exalted One."

"Exactly what I'm hoping." Gwen then directed her attention to the blonde knight standing across from her. "Jaune, you and Pyrrha lead the offensive and get to Ben and the other's location. They'll need back up against those two Collective leaders."

Jaune gave a salute. "You've got it, Gwen."

"We won't let you down." Pyrrha assured.

"Good. Now…" Gwen brought up a massive mana shield and readied it to be placed over the cave entrance. "Let's get in there."

…..

If there was one thing Ben had to admit, he always hated it when the bad guys were somehow one step ahead. The hero, who was still Frankenstrike, was staring down the two Collective leaders and their armed followers, waiting for them to make a move. The rest of his group were doing the same thing, though he could tell that a few members of his team were growing restless. He saw Yang fidgeting in place, growing slightly impatient as the stare down continued. And Nora… well, she was jittering all around and giggling uncontrollably, the electricity still giving her a buzz.

Thankfully, the silence didn't stay long as the man in the furry purple jacket, Bishop, spoke up. "So… you are the mighty Ben Tennyson." he said in a raspy voice. "I have to admit… the news and tabloids were right to say that your transformations are quite impressive." Bishop set a finger to his chin. "Though… I also think that Harangue fellow was right to call you a nuisance."

Frankenstrike sneered a bit at that, and Yang slammed a fist into her palm as she stepped forward. "You want me to throttle this guy for you, Green Boy?"

"Hold on, let's not get too hasty." Frankenstrike put a calming hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Let's see if we can get some info outta these guys." He focused on the Collective leaders with a bit of a glare. "So… I take it that you two are the top dogs around here?"

The green-clad cult leader, Scales, scratched his mask with a deep chuckle. "Heh, well, not exactly. If you want the big boss, you need to go to the Exalted One for that."

"I see… and who IS this Exalted One?" Frankenstrike asked further. "He sounds pretty important."

"You have no idea." Bishop responded. "Trust us, you do NOT want to mess with the Exalted One. That said, we can take you to meet him if you wish…" He snapped his fingers and the hooded followers all refocused their blasters onto the group, making everyone grow even more anxious. "That is… if you're willing to come quietly."

Frankenstrike simply furrowed his brow further, his hands lighting up with green lightning. "Sorry, but I don't do "quiet"." However, the Transylian paused before cutting his lighting off all together, a smirk coming to his face as he relaxed his stance. "But that said… I don't wanna hog ALL the action to myself." He glanced over to Yang, Ruby, Blake, Nora, Ren and Neptune, the six of them all smiling back at him. "Guys… how about you show these crazy cultists what you can do?"

The group of teens wore eager grins as they set their sights onto Bishop, Scales and the hooded cultists, all of them readying their weapons. "Oh, you're speaking my language, Green Boy." Yang said as she activated her Ember Celica.

Nora let out an excited laugh as she tossed Magnhild up into the air, the weapon transforming from its grenade launcher form to its hammer mode before catching it in her hands. "Eeheeheehee! Alright! I was hoping for a good scrap!"

As the others all began to pull out their own weapons, though, Manny and Alan couldn't help but stare on in complete and utter shock, with Rook having been surprised as well. Helen saw this and gave the three boys a smirk. "Heh, pretty impressive, huh?"

"Uh, understatement of the DECADE!" Manny exclaimed as he saw Crescent Rose unfold from its compressed state, with Ruby spinning it around effortlessly. "Just who the HELL are these guys an' how do they have such cool weapons?!"

"More importantly, where can WE get some?!" Alan added.

"I must admit, this is quite the unexpected sight." Rook conceded.

However, Ruby glanced over her shoulder and raised a brow at him. "Really? Rook, you HAVE a transforming weapon of your own."

"Yes, but it is the only one of it's kind in the entire galaxy." Rook countered. "The Galvans who built it told me so themselves."

Neptune loaded up his rifle, Tri-Hard, and sent a smirk over to the Revonnahgander. "Yeah, well, yours might be the only one in THIS galaxy, but where we come from, transforming weapons are pretty much the norm." He popped a few muscled in his neck before taking a battle stance. "Now c'mon! Let's quit the chit chat and start this scrap!"

Across the way, Bishop snickered and shook his head. "Heh, if you insist." He waved his hand and ordered his followers; "Chosen Few, FIRE!" At his command, the hooded cultists began firing their Mutliblasters at the group, forcing them all to move out of the way.

Kevin rolled to a halt and transformed his Lightning Dust arms into a hammer and a sword, the Osmosian still charged up from absorbing the cage's electricity. "Alright, that's how you wanna play it? Then let's go!" With that, Kevin sprinted forward, charging directly at one of the cultists. He used his hammer arm to deflect the energy blasts coming at him, sending them into the walls before making it to his quarry. Then, in a quick second, he sliced the Multiblaster in half with his blade before slamming his hammer into the cultist's gut, sending them sprawling to the ground and stunning them for good measure. "Heh, not so tough."

Meanwhile, Yang and Ruby were sprinting toward two other cultists, bobbing and weaving around the blasts that were sent their way. Ruby eyed her sister and smiled. "Sis! Yellow Rose!"

"Read my mind, Rubes!" With that Yang jumped over toward her sister and Ruby used her Semblance, picking Yang up with her as she did. The two moved as a united red and yellow blur toward the duo of cultists, who were taken aback by the action so much that they stopped firing all together. Unfortunately, that would prove to be a mistake as the red and yellow blurs moved behind them and Ruby and Yang reemerged, the duo smiling in satisfaction. "Made ya look!" With that, Yang used a Fire Dust-fueled punch to destroy one cultist's blaster before immediately socking them in the gut with a regular punch, making them crumple to the ground.

Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose again and let out a battle cry, slicing the massive scythe down so that it cleaved the other cultist's blaster in half. The cultist screamed, but was quickly cut off when Ruby delivered a solid kick to their face, sending them sprawling down. "Ha! And that's that!"

"Nice work, sis!" Yang said before sharing a fist bump with Ruby. "That makes three!"

"And soon, it'll be five!" The sisters sent their gazes over to see Ren and Blake swiftly sprinting over toward their targets, the green ninja narrowing his eyes as they drew closer. "Blake, are you ready?"

"Ready!" Blake affirmed before she jumped high up into the air, causing the cultists to focus their fire on her. However, as this happened, Blake used her Semblance to create a shadow clone of herself, vanishing into the shadows as the cultists blasted the clone. This left the duo confused… and distracted enough so that Ren could rush up to them.

With a few quick slices of his Stormflower blades, Ren reduced both blasters to mere pieces, leaving the cultists stunned. He grinned up to them and said; "And down you go."

THWACK! All of a sudden, Blake reappeared behind the two cultists and kicked them directly in their backs, sending them down to the ground. She dusted off her hands and nodded. "Great work, Ren." She then set her eyes over to a certain blue-haired boy. "Neptune, how're you holding up?!"

However, just as she said that, she saw Neptune performing a midair flip over one of the cultists, his rifle shifting into guandao mode at the same time. The moment he landed, Neptune crouched down and swept the cultist off their feet with his long weapon, forcing them to drop the Multiblaster. Then, with one well-placed stab, Neptune destroyed the blaster, slicing its barrel in half. He eyed Blake and cupped a hand over his ear. "Sorry, Blake! I can't hear ya over how much I'm owning this guy."

Blake rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Yeah, sure…" But then, she trailed off when she saw a certain Pink Dynamo charging without hesitation toward the last four armed cultists. "…Sorry, Neptune, but I think you're about to be outdone."

Sure enough, with a laugh from her lips, Nora performed a powerful leap, one that was even MORE powerful than her usual ones thanks to her enhanced strength. However, oddly enough, she didn't jump TOWARD the four cultists who were firing at her, but rather off toward the side of them. She did a midair flip and landed on a cave wall to the left of them, the redhead making sure that they were all lined up in a row before reeling her hammer back. "AHAHAHA! BONZAI!" With another powerful leap, Nora launched herself toward the four and swung her hammer into one's stomach, sending them careening into the other three as a result.

And as the cultists smacked into the adjacent wall, their weapons were all send sailing up into the air, which Nora took advantage of quickly. She shifted Magnhild back into grenade launcher form and took aim at the falling weapons. "Say KA-BOOM, little toys!" She pulled the trigger and shot a single grenade up at the weapons, and then… BOOM! All of the Multiblasters exploded in a brilliant cloud of pink smoke, with Nora still laughing as she landed. "And THAT is how ya blow crap up!"

With all ten cult members soundly defeated, Manny, Helen, Alan and Rook all stared at the scene with widened eyes, still trying to comprehend the intense action they had just witnessed. "That… was… AWESOME!" Alan cheered.

"You're damn right it was!" Manny affirmed before eyeing Frankenstrike again. "Ben, where the HELL did you find these guys?"

The Transylian chortled before waving to his friend. "Again, I'll have to explain later. But right now…" Frankenstrike's attention went back to Bishop and Scales… though the duo of cult leaders didn't appear to be all that perturbed by what had just happened. "Well, would ya look at that? Your "Chosen Few" have been beat."

Rook stepped up as well and aimed his Proto-Tool at the duo. "He is correct, you are now both out numbered AND out gunned. I suggest that you both surrender peacefully."

"Ha! Ya hear that, Bishop?" Scales guffawed. "These idiots actually think they've got us beat!"

Bishop, with his arms crossed, smirked wickedly at this. "Hm, yes, it would appear that we've been beaten… but I can assure you that this is FAR from over."

As everyone aimed their weapons as the duo, Frankenstrike electrified his hands again and smacked his fists together. "So, I'm guessing that we're still doin' this the hard way, huh?"

"That's fine by me!" Nora shouted as she rolled her shoulders, loosening up her muscles. "I'm still rarin' to go!"

Bishop cocked his head to the side, an amused smile on his face. "Really? Well then, I hope you're ready for this…" All of a sudden, every single one of the hooded cultists all began to slowly and wordlessly stand up, which surprised everyone. It was evident they were all in some sort of pain, but they didn't let it get in the way of what they were doing. They all stood side by side and up straight, facing the team as they prepared for what came next. "Because trust me…" Bishop continued, "you're not gonna like what you're in for."

Frankenstrike furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? Spit it out!"

Bishop raised his right hand, the Chosen Few spreading their arms out to the sides as he did. "Why tell you… when you can see the power of the Exalted One with your own eyes?"

…..

Jaune knew from the moment he and his squad split off from Gwen's group that something was off, and it was none more obvious than what he was seeing before him. He and the others were standing in the middle of a massive grotto inside the cave system, right where Gwen said that they'd find the cultists… and there was no one there. This was definitely not right. "Um… okay, I know for a fact that Gwen isn't a liar." Jaune commented, keeping his grip tight on Corcea Mors incase they were in for a sneak attack. "So… where the heck did all of those cultists go?"

Bobo stepped up and took a whiff of the air, only to gag when he did so. "Bleh, well SOMEONE was here pretty recently." He plugged his nose and winced in disgust. "An' from what I'm smellin', I don't think they've had a bath in WEEKS."

"There's absolutely no way that all of these people could just suddenly up and disappear." Penny noted, her eyes scanning the room in search of any signs of life. "It is a statistical improbability."

Sun glanced over to the others in concern. "You don't think… our inside woman got them all out before we even got here, do ya?"

Pyrrha furrowed her brow at that. "But… that's impossible. If they were able to get out THAT fast, then… they would have to know we were coming." The Invincible Girl eyed her boyfriend warily. "You don't think she was only pretending to be a double agent, do you?"

"…Maybe, maybe not." Jaune shrugged. "No way of telling unless we find her ourselves. Come on, we should probably regroup with—" However, the blonde knight cut himself off at the sound of gun fire and explosions coming from another cave system on the other side of the grotto. This got everyone's attention immediately. "Well, at least we know where to go. Follow the sounds of carnage!"

Following Jaune's lead, the group all rushed down the natural hallway and were immediately met with the sight of two men standing in the entry way of another room, with bits of rock all strewn about the cave floor. The man in the furry coat had his hand raised and Sun was the first to call him out. "Hey you! Who the hell recommended THAT jacket to ya?!" The white-haired man growled and spun toward him, though Sun just kept going. "Seriously, I'm no fashion expert, but even I know that purple fur isn't flattering."

From inside the room, though, the group heard a familiar voice call out to the monkey boy. "Sun?!"

And then it was followed up by another; "Dude, is that you?"

"Blake!" Sun called back. "Yep, we made it in!"

From there, Jaune, Pyrrha, Bobo, Sun and Penny all surrounded the two cult leaders, allowing them all to get a better view of their friends and allies inside the room. However, when she saw them, Ruby wore a confused expression. "Wait… where's everyone else?"

"Gwen and the others went to find this "Exalted One"." Jaune answered, leveling his sword directly toward Bishop's face. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find any other cultists in here. Something tells me they've all been teleported out."

Scales let out another laugh and threw his head back. "HA! Excellent, then the Exalted One's plan is going perfectly…" He faced back to the group inside the other room. "See, we had a feeling that you guys would be coming when the speedster girl got away, so we cooked up this little plan; to get the rest of our members away while cornering you all in here with the rest of us." He placed his hands behind his back. "In fact, if I'm right, the Exalted One should be gone by now, too…"

"WHAT?!" the group of heroes exclaimed.

"Hmhmhm, yep, and you all fell for it." Bishop snickered. "Granted, we didn't count on the Revonnahgander escaping, but it still worked out."

"Crap." Kevin muttered before taking out his Plumber's badge, contacting Gwen immediately. "Gwen, are you there?"

"Wha—Kevin?" Gwen answered. "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"

Kevin furrowed his brow and shook his head. "We've been duped, Gwen. Nearly the entire cult is gone already… and apparently, the "Exalted One" is gone too. We need you guys over at our position NOW."

"…So THAT'S why we haven't been able to find anyone." Gwen lamented on the other end. "We'll be there as soon as possible!"

As the Osmosian talked with his girlfriend, Frankenstrike stomped forward, his jaw clenched and his conductors sparking with electricity. "Alright, you listen here; you're gonna tell us EXACTLY where they went RIGHT now, or else—"

"YOU are in no position to make demands!" Bishop snarled back. "Not when WE have the upper hand."

This confused everyone greatly. "Um… I'm not sure if you've noticed, but WE out number you here by a large margin." Penny pointed out.

"Maybe so… but with the assets we have, we easily out power you." Bishop put a hand to his ear, pressing his finger to an earpiece before speaking into it. "Exalted One… it is time. The Chosen Few are waiting for your gift."

What happened next was almost instantaneous. One moment, all of the Chosen Few were standing without a problem… and then the next, they all began to grunt, groan, even yell out in pain. Some of them even sank to their knees, they were in so much pain. This took the whole team aback as they saw parts of the hooded cultists bodies begin to contort in ways that were definitely unnatural. "W-What's going on?!" Ruby shouted.

"Why, the FUTURE, my dear!" Bishop exclaimed, spreading his arms out as the bodies of the Chosen Few continued to grow and contort into rather grotesque shapes, though they were all fairly identical. "THIS is what the Exalted One promised to the members of our organization; the chance to defend themselves and take matters into their OWN hands without relying on untrustworthy "heroes" to do it for them! THIS is the next step in human evolution, and all of you have the privilege of witnessing it!"

Much to everyone's shock and horror, all ten of the Chosen Few had transformed into large, unnatural abominations, each of them appearing fairly similar. They all had dark grey skin that appeared to be twice as thick as normal skin, and different line patterns going down their arms, legs, chests and faces, but all of the lines were a deep green color. The nails on their hands and feet were all overgrown and rather unkempt and their teeth were distinctly sharp. And their eyes were all wide open, staring straight through the heroes and into their very souls. It was all anyone could do to hold back screams of terror as their eyes bore into them.

"…Well, wasn't expectin' that." Bobo muttered.

"HOLY FUCK!" Manny shouted at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE SHIT ARE THOSE?!"

"Hehe, pretty impressive, right?" Scales chortled as he strolled up and placed an arm on one of the beasts large, muscular arms. "We like to call these guys "Creepers". Pretty fitting for guys like us, wouldn't you say?"

"I say you're ALL a bunch of FREAKS!" Yang belted out at them. "Who the FUCK is willing to do THIS to a person?! Hell, how does anyone agree to be transformed into one of those?!"

"She's right!" Helen clenched her teeth. "You must've forced them to do it, didn't you?!"

Bishop sent her a sneer in response. "Hmph, on the contrary. If you'd been paying any attention, I said that these people chose to undergo this procedure of their own free will." He waved a hand toward one of the Creepers and it turned to him, giving him a nod. "These people wanted power all their own to take care of themselves instead of having to put their lives and trust in the hands of teenage superheroes. Also, in case you aren't aware, they ARE still completely sentient. They may lack the ability to speak at the moment, but they can be returned to their human states at any time."

"And get this, this is the best part;" Scaled continued, "any injury they get in these forms are instantly healed when they change back." He spread his arms out across the group of monsters. "So feel free to hurt these guys as much as you want, but whatever you do won't stick! Haha! The Exalted One truly thought of everything!"

Frankenstrike narrowed his eyes at the masked man. "Yeah… and I assume this "Exalted One" is the one who decides WHEN they change back, am I right?"

"See? You ARE learning." Scales said with a condescending tone. "Yes, the Exalted One is who calls the shots for them, at least for now. But once our ultimate goal is achieved, we'll let these people transform any time they wish."

"And what exactly IS this "ultimate goal"?" Blake asked.

"Sorry, but that info is on a need-to-know basis." Bishop waved off. "The time for talk is over, anyway. Now… we leave you to the slaughter. Creepers, ATTACK!" All of a sudden, there was a flash of blinding red light… and Bishop and Scales were both gone, leaving everybody stunned.

Sun could only gawk at what he had just seen happen. "W-Where did they—" GROOOAARRR! "GAH!" At that moment, one of the giant Creepers spun around and went to slam its massive hand down onto the monkey boy, only to be met with nothing as Penny pulled him out of the way just in time. "Phew, thanks Pen! I was almost flattened!"

"No thanks are necessary, Sun!" Penny smiled before setting her focus back to the Creeper, the beast's beady eyes meeting hers. "Perhaps this requires some more heavy machinery." With that, Penny activated her Mechano Crushers, the two large arms slamming into the floor and hoisting her up into the air. "Alright, let's do this!"

Frankenstrike slammed a fist into his palm. "She's right, c'mon team, we can take 'em!"

"Heh, easy fa' you ta say, muscles." Bobo remarked. "You're not the one who's a tenth o' this thing's size." Still, though, the chimp spun his red pistols around and took aim at the Creepers. "Eh, a simian's work is neva' done, I guess." With that, Bobo open fired onto the Creepers… only for his laser blasts to bounce harmlessly off the beasts' thick, grey skin. "…Uh, that usually works."

The Transylian grimaced as a Creeper charged directly to him, only to dodge at the last second. "Yeah, if these things can absorb laser blasts, then that's a bad sign." Frankenstrike perked his head up and called out over to everyone there. "Guys! Group up and start fighting back!"

Rook sent the hero a skeptical face. "I would hate to argue with you, Ben, but are these "Creepers" not still human beings beneath those… unsightly visages?"

"Maybe, but we're left with little choice at the moment!" Frankenstrike reiterated as his Creeper charged at him again. "Guys, these things heal when they go back to normal, but one thing I don't want you to do is kill ANY of them." The Creeper slammed into him and he began grappling with it, slamming his feet into the ground to keep his leverage. "Gah! After all, they're still human, no matter how messed up they look!"

"You got it, Ben!" Yang nodded as she pounded her fists together and charged right over to him. "Hang on, I'll help ya out!"

"Yeah, me too!" Ruby said as she rushed over as well.

Frankenstrike smiled as he started pushing the Creeper back, thankful for the help. "Thanks ladies! Now let's group up…" With that, Frankenstrike let lose a powerful electric jolt that course through the Creeper's body, causing it to belt out a scream and send it recoiling back. The Transylian raised his fist to the sky and shouted; "AND GIVE 'EM HELL!"

…..

The moment Ren and Nora heard Frankenstrike give that command, they knew exactly what they had to; get to Jaune and Pyrrha. Working as a unit, they knew that they'd be able to take these Creepers on without a problem. So, Nora took thinks into her own hands. She flipped her hammer upside down and stood on its head, keeping a secure hold of its handle with one hand while grabbing Ren with her free arm. "Hold on, Renny!"

"Ah! N-Nora, what're you—"

But Ren didn't get to finish that question. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" With a pull of the trigger, Nora fired Magnhild and propelled both of them into the air and through the entry way, the duo riding the hammer all the while. They immediately saw Jaune and Pyrrha, the couple already being set upon by a Creeper. "Alright, now for phase two! Get ready, Ren!"

For a split second, Ren was hesitant, but the moment he locked eyes with Nora, he knew what she wanted him to do. He smiled and gave her a silent nod before thrusting himself off of the hammer and onto the creature's back, stabbing Stormflower into its shoulders. The once human beast let out a feral scream as it lurched back, flailing its arms in an attempt to get Ren off its back.

"Woah! Ren?!" Jaune exclaimed. "What in the—"

"FOUR!" Nora shouted at the top of her lungs before swinging her hammer like a golf club directly at the Creeper's head, causing it to stumble back in a daze. Ren pulled Stormflower out and jumped off the Creeper's back as it landed on the floor, the green ninja meeting with the Pink Dynamo with a high five. "WOO! Another picture-perfect combo, Renny!"

"Have to admit, it was pretty good." Ren nodded. However, out the corner of his eye, Ren saw that the creature was stirring, beginning to stand up not ten seconds after it was knocked down. "…But I think it's gonna take more than that, unfortunately."

Pyrrha and Jaune regrouped with the two, the Invincible Girl keeping her eyes trained on the Creeper as it steadily stood. "Alright, we need a new plan, then."

"And I think I have just the one." Jaune jumped in. "Remember how we handled the Nuckelavee with Jesse?"

"Yeah, we basically strafed around it." Nora recalled. "Thinking that's what we should go for, Fearless Leader?"

Jaune gave a thumbs up. "That's what I'm thinking. It's still dazed, so whenever you see an opening, go for it. But remember, don't kill, just injure."

"Sounds like a plan." Ren affirmed. "Let's go!"

With that, the Team JNPR dashed off, the four members all following one after the other with Jaune in the lead. While the Creeper was still trying to get up, the blonde knight took the opportunity to bash it in the head with his shield, once again leading it to stumble away in pain. Following that, the four teammates all began to strafe around the beast, taking each and every opportunity they could to get a shot in. Jaune and Pyrrha used their respective blades to slice into its skin, though they quickly discovered that to be harder than it appeared given how thick it was.

"We aren't even piercing it!" Pyrrha noted. "It's like it has two different layers!"

"Use more force!" Ren said before delivering another sharp stab at the Creeper, this time going for its arm. "I fell on its back, so I had a bit more momentum in my attack. That's probably how I pierced its skin!"

Reluctantly, Jaune and Pyrrha did what he suggested, putting much more force into their slashes. Sure enough, they began to draw blood from the Creeper. After delivering another powerful slice to the Creeper, Pyrrha sent it a sympathetic face, a wave of guilt coming over her. "I'm sorry! I really don't want to do this, but you're really leaving us with few options!"

"Yep, brought this one on yourself!" Nora said as she delivered yet another massive hit with her hammer, sending the Creeper stumbling forward this time.

the Creeper was shot directly in the torso by Pyrrha, the redhead then kicking the beast backward. "Ren!"

As it tried to regain its footing, Ren leapt forward and delivered a strong slice across the beast's left shoulder, followed up by Pyrrha rushing forward as she converted Milo into its rifle mode. She aimed directly where Ren had slashed at the Creeper and fired, making it scream as the bullet grazed its wound. "Jaune, NOW!"

At her call, the blonde knight activated his shield gun and aimed right at the beast's torso, firing at it within a second. The Dust Round didn't pierce its skin… but Jaune had also made sure to load in a certain KIND of Dust Round into his shield. The moment the round hit the beast, ice began to appear right on its chest, freezing it over in a matter of moments. From there, Jaune took advantage and began blasting more rounds, aiming specifically for its legs. Once the two limbs were frozen over, the Creeper began flailing about again, slamming its fists into the ice to try and free itself. "NORA!" Jaune called out. "Finish it!"

"You got it!" Nora called back before shifting Magnhild into its grenade launcher form. She took aim and smirked as she got a clear shot. "Say "night-night", ya creep!" With a pull of the trigger, Nora sent two grenades flying at the Creeper, the beast turning its head just in time to be met with a massive pink explosion. Not only did that break the ice, but it also sent the Creeper careening into a nearby cave wall, where it slumped over and onto the ground, groaning in pain. Nora pumped a fist into the air as she reunited with her team. "WOO-HOO! And another one's in the bag for Team JNPR!"

Jaune shared a high five with her and Ren before pulling Pyrrha into a side hug with a laugh. "Haha! Yep, we've definitely got it down, for sure. Great work out there, guys."

"Simply splendid, indeed!" Pyrrha smiled. "And here I thought we were going to have a tougher time with—"

"AAAAAAUUUGH!" The quartet were all taken aback when they saw Kevin and Rook being thrown back into a cave wall, another Creeper practically bounding after them on all fours… with Bobo on its back.

"ACK! Jane, stop this crazy thing!" the chimp hollered.

There was a brief pause as Team JNPR stared at the scene, with Ren commenting; "…I'm thinking that some of these Creepers might be more competent than others. …Also, who's Jane?"

…..

Kevin was pretty sure he just got punted into the next century. At first, things had gone well. Rook had used his Proto-Tool to hook a tether around the Creeper's neck to keep it steady, allowing Kevin enough time to get in hit after hit on the creature with his electrified Lightning Dust arms. It was almost like he was permanently putting the Creeper into a stun lock, like it was a videogame.

…But then Bobo decided to get involved. The EVO Chimp had leapt into the fray and jumped onto the Creeper's head, accidentally unhooking Rook's tether from its neck. From there, things went belly up as the beast was allowed to bend forward and hit Kevin on his back, sending the Osmosian tumbling to the ground. And before either him or Rook knew it, they were both kicked away directly into a wall, with Kevin so hurt that his body transformed back to its normal state. "…Uuuuugh, did anyone get the number of that bus?"

Rook slowly picked himself up, making sure his Proto-Tool was still in hand. "I see no way how this relates to a bus."

Kevin blinked at the Revonnahgander before facepalming. "We REALLY need to educate you on Earth lingo."

"YO!" The duo perked their heads up to see the Creeper come charging at them with a crazed look in its eyes, with Bobo still holding on for dear life. "If ya don't wanna get flattened, GET OUTTA THE WAY!" Kevin and Rook's eyes widened and the two darted off in separate directions, leaving the Creeper to slam headfirst into the wall. This allowed Bobo to finally let go, the chimp slumping down onto the ground in a heap. "Uuugh… remind me to neva' do that again."

"Gee, wonder what made you think it was a good idea in the FIRST place?!" Kevin snapped before the Creeper pulled its head free, glaring at Kevin with its almost vacant stare. "Oh god." The Osmosian bent down and absorbed the rock beneath him before narrowly avoiding the Creeper's next charge, going for his Dust pouches the moment he was out of the way. "Let's see… which one, which one…" He finally pulled out a crystal, one that was black in color. "Huh… don't think I've used this before—" RROOAAAR! Kevin's head snapped up in time to see the Creeper come circling back to him, which set his mind into active mode. "Well, no reason not to go for it!"

With that, Kevin quickly absorbed the black Dust and put it back in his pouch, running toward the Creeper all the while. He went to punch his fists together to activate the Dust, but the Creeper got to him first, grabbing him by the face and tossing him into the wall again. Kevin grit his teeth in pain, but refocused as the Nomu came back for more… only to get blasted in the side by a volley of red and orange laserfire.

"'Ey, paws off the miscreant, big guy." Bobo said as he continued shooting the beast.

"Kevin, move!" Rook called to him. "This is your chance!" As he shouted that, the Creeper set its full attention over to the two furry team members, which made Rook take the initiative. "Alright then, if that is how it must be…" Rook shifted his Proto-Tool into a different mode, with some sort of pod emerging from its barrel. Rook took aim and fired the pod at the Creeper, resulting in a rather large explosion that made the beast stumble back.

"HAHA! Now we're talkin'!" Bobo laughed before glancing back to Kevin. "Well, hot shot? What're ya waitin' for, an invitation?"

Kevin's eyes widened and he stood up, ready for battle once again. "Be right there!" The Osmosian slammed his fists together, activating the Dust. His arms, once a solid black, were now glowing in a deep violet color, taking him by surprise. And oddly enough, it felt a bit different from the other types of Dust he absorbed before. "Huh… feels a bit tingly, but…"

"Kevin!" Rook's shout brought Kevin back to reality and his feet started moving, his arm shifting into a hammer as the Creeper stood back up.

"Alright, ya ugly freak, let's see how ya like THIS?!" The Osmosian threw his hammer hand forward and hit the Creeper directly in its back. What happened next made everyone so stunned, the fighting stopped for a few seconds. When that hit made contact, the Nomu was sent flying. It careened through the crowd, with everyone in its path just narrowly avoiding it as it went. Finally, it came to a curve in the hallway, slamming into the wall with such force that it collapsed on top of it.

Everyone stared at the scene in dumbstruck awe, with Kevin eyeing his arm, nearly speechless. "W-Wha… what just—"

"Kevin!" The raven-haired teen snapped his head around to see Ruby, a mixture of amazement and shock on her face. "You just used Gravity Dust—AH!" The Hooded Huntress let out a small yelp as the Creeper that she, Yang and Ben were fighting continued to attack, which got the fight going again.

Kevin himself, however, was staring down at his glowing arms, astounded by just how much power there was in that one hit alone. "Woah… THIS kinda Dust would probably be useful for the future."

"I would say so." Rook piped up, with him and Bobo walking up to Kevin. "That was quite impressive, Kevin. I am not entirely familiar with what this "Dust" can do, but I must say that it has me intrigued."

"Yeah, no kiddin'." Bobo jerked his thumb over to the others. "An' if these guys use it in their weapons on the regular, I might have to get some myself."

Kevin raised his brow at the talking chimp. "Yeah… maybe not such a good idea." he said with a shake of his head. "Knowing what Rex has said about you, you're probably liable to blow somethin' up if you got your hands on that stuff."

"Hey, I resent that!" Bobo said with a pointed finger. "I'll have ya know that I haven't blown ANYTHIN' up in a long time. About a month, at the least."

Rook and Kevin glanced toward each other and shrugged before the Revonnahgander decided to get things back on track. "Well, now that we've got that taken care of, let us assist the others. I am sure that they could all you the help—"

"Kevin!"

"My name is REALLY popular today." The Osmosian noted as the trio turned around. "Blake, what is… it?"

He immediately got his answer when he saw the cat Faunus come sprinting toward them as fast as her feet would allow. Behind her, they also saw Sun and Neptune running as well, both boys wearing panicked looks as the three of them were being pursued by not one, but two Creepers. "Guys, get out of the way!"

"Unless you wanna get hit by the pain train!" Neptune added.

Rook quickly set his eyes on Kevin. "I have an idea." He placed the Proto-Tool on his shoulder and activated its grappler, pulling the thick line out and handing the hook to Kevin. "Get on the other side of the hall and pull when I tell you to, understood?"

Immediately getting the idea, Kevin grinned and gave him a nod. "Just say when." The duo took their places, with Bobo joining Kevin as Blake and Team SN ran by.

"NOW!" On Rook's command, he and Kevin pulled on their respective ends of the cable just as the Creepers came running up, resulting in both of them tripping up over it. The monsters landed on their faces afterward, making Rook smile in satisfaction. "Hm, all according to plan."

Immediately, Sun, Neptune and Blake all stopped, the monkey boy grinning when he saw that the Creepers finally stopped. "Haha! Alright! Thanks guys!" He faced Blake and gave her a nod. "Now, maybe we can finally pull off that plan we made up."

"Right." Blake smiled back before shifting her eyes to Neptune. "Think you can hold the other one down for a little bit, Neptune?"

The blue-haired boy lowered his goggled and nodded to the cat girl. "You know it!" With that, Neptune lifted Tri-Hard up and leapt at one Creeper, shifting the guandao into its trident mode as its prongs began to electrify. He brought his trident down and stabbed it into the Creeper's shoulder, sending an electric pulse throughout its entire being and making it scream in pain. At the same moment, however, the other Creeper quickly got back up and began charging at the couple. Neptune turned his head to them and sent a salute. "Alright, guys, do your thing!"

Blake and Sun both smirked knowingly to each other. "Time for the big boom." Sun said. With another nod from Blake, the duo activated their Semblances, with Sun going into a meditative pose while Blake leaned forward in preparation. In a split second, both of them created a clone of themselves, with Sun's being made of pure light while Blake had used a Fire Dust vial to give her shadow clone a fiery touch. No matter how many times they used this combo, they still found great use for it.

Both of the clones rushed at the incoming Creeper, and the moment they made contact with it, they exploded into a brilliant display of light and flame. The Creeper howled in pain before stumbling into the rock wall, leaning up against it as it held its hands over its eyes, blinded by the explosion. Blake shouldered Gambol Shroud, a satisfied grin coming to her face. "Mmm, I never get tired of that one."

"Me either." Sun said as he stood up and wrapped his arms around Blake's midsection. "Though maybe it's time we try to mix things up a bit. Maybe a different type of Dust?"

"Hehe, we'll see." Blake chuckled. "But for now, how about we—"

"GUUUUUYS!" The couple were brought out of their conversation and snapped their heads up to see Neptune… and he was keeping his grip on Tri-Hard as the Creeper he'd stabbed into stood up and began throwing him around, with Kevin and Rook trying to hold it down by its legs. "STOP! FLIRTING! AND! HELP! ME!"

The two Faunus' eyes widened and they immediately started forward. "Hang on, buddy!" Sun exclaimed. "We're—" WHOOSH! All at once, a black and blue blur rushed past the couple, leaving them confused. "…coming?"

Any questions the group might've had came instantly when the blur rushed up the Creeper and jumped off its head, revealing itself to be Helen. She spun around in midair, whapped the creature in the face with her tail, and then delivered a volley of quick kicks to the monster's chest, culminating in one final shot to its groin. It doubled over on that last hit, allowing Helen to rush up and grab Neptune off its back. By the time they came to a halt, Neptune was holding onto Tri-Hard like it was a security blanket, astonished by what had just happened. "W-W-W-What the—"

"You good, Neptune?" Helen asked with a grin. "I saw that you could use some help."

Neptune blinked and his eyes locked with Helen's, surprised by her words. "Y-You… you came over just to help me?"

"Well yeah." Helen winked. "After all, I had to return the favor for what you did for me yesterday."

The feeling of shock in Neptune soon gave way to a sheepish blush, his hand quickly going to the back of his head as his eyes moved to the floor. "O-Oh, w-well, I… heh, I-I don't know what to say, I—"

"YO, HELEN!" The blue-haired boy was cut off by Manny, the Tetramand grappling with a Creeper while Alan through fireballs at it from behind. "Quick gabbin' with the blueberry an' HELP US!"

Helen grimaced and groaned quite audibly. "UGH! Fine, I'm coming!" Her smile reappeared in an instant, though, when she faced Neptune again. "Sorry, Manny's usually like that. We'll talk after this is over, 'kay?"

"Y-Yeah, sure." Neptune replied. "Good luck." After Helen gave a salute to Neptune and zoomed off, Neptune was left to himself, a big grin coming to his face as he gazed after her…

"Ahem." But that didn't last long as Neptune's eyes snapped fully open and he spun around to see Blake and Sun, the duo wearing knowing smirks at their friend. "Well, well, well…" Blake said with a particular Cheshire grin. "Now what do we have here?"

"U-Uh… nothing." Neptune stammered, his eyes shifting from side to side.

Sun rolled his eyes, though. "Oh dude, c'mon, we ALL know that's BS." He pointed a finger and winked at him. "You totally have the hots for Helen, don't you? And don't try lying because I recognize that grin. Hell, I've worn that grin before."

"And I can testify to that." Blake added.

Neptune was silent, surprised that they were confronting him about this NOW of all times. "W-Well, I… I-I don't… can we talk about this later? If ya haven't noticed, we're kind of in the middle of a—"

"AAAAAAAHH!" A loud holler brought the trio's attention back to the Creeper that Helen had kicked in the groin earlier. It had recovered… and it was now slamming Kevin around like he was a ragdoll, slamming the Osmosian into the ground repeatedly. Rook was attempting to stop it with his tether, but it ended up just swinging him around every time it swung its arm. And it was obvious that Kevin was not in the best of states. "AGH!" Crack! "ACK!" Smash! "OOF!" Blam! "FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP!" CRASH!

"Kevin!" Sun, Blake and Neptune shouted simultaneously before launching into the fray. Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud while Neptune readied Tri-Hard again, the two running toward the Creeper while Sun leapt ahead of them with Ryui Jingu Bang in hand. The monkey boy vaulted with his staff, a shot coming from its barrel to give him some extra height. He spun his weapon around and brought it down on the beast's head as hard as he could, making the Creeper double over again. Then, in the blink of an eye, Sun separated his staff into their gun-chuck mode and swung down on its back, letting loose another pair of shots that sent the beast stumbling forward.

Just as that happened, Blake performed a series of clean slices across the Creeper's torso with both parts of Gambol Shroud, making it reel back suddenly. Then, Neptune came in once again and slashed at the beast's abdomen, the trident electrically charged once again to add a bit of bite to it. With the Creeper roaring in pain, this allowed Kevin to escape and deliver a Gravity Dust-fueled uppercut to the beast, sending it flying upward. CRACK! The four combatants stared up in the ceiling, slack-jawed from what they just saw. Kevin's uppercut was so powerful that the Creeper's head made a hole in the ceiling… and it was stuck. Its body hung there, flailing about as it tried to get itself out.

"…Won't lie, that is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life." Kevin admitted.

"Now THAT, I can agree with." Bobo said as he and Rook came over as well. "Haha! Man, talk about in ova' your HEAD, eh?"

Sun snickered at the joke, dispite everyone else groaning. "Heh, yeah, that guy definitely didn't get AHEAD in life! Hahaha!"

Neptune deadpanned and placed a hand to his partner's shoulder. "Dude, puns are Yang's thing. Please don't do Yang's thing."

Blake shook her head. "Okay, no more messing around. It's time to—" RROOAAAR! "Oh, come ON!"

As it happened, the Creeper that Blake and Sun had fought before managed to regain itself, having put out the fire and its vision having cleared. The beast was bounding right toward them and lunged into the air… only for a huge green and black fist to collide with its face. The hit was so powerful that it sent the Creeper sailing into the one that was hanging from the ceiling, dislodged its head, and then both of THEM slammed into the pile of rocks that had buried the Creeper that Kevin punched before.

The four teens, Rook and Bobo all stared in surprise before trailing their eyes over, seeing a certain perky redhead giving them a salute. "Salutations!"

All at once, a collective sigh escaped their lips, with Kevin giving Penny a thumbs up. "Thanks for the assist, Penny, much appreciated."

"No problem!" Penny assured before she used her Mechano Crushers to lift herself up again. "Now, if you will excuse me, I believe I am needed elsewhere!" She launched herself with her large arms and in no time, she was over on the other side of the hall, where Ben, Yang, Ruby and the others were still.

"…Man, these things really ARE tough." Neptune said before turning to Kevin. "We due for some back-up any time soon or what?"

"I'm sorry, but did someone mention us?" Everyone's eyebrows snapped up simultaneously at the familiar voice behind them, the group spinning around and smiling when they saw another certain redhead standing there with their aforementioned back-up. "Seriously, you guys REALLY like getting into trouble when I'm not around, don't you?"

…..

"WILL. YOU. JUST. FALL. ALREADY?!" Manny shouted as he continued to pummel all four of his fists into the Creeper's abdomen, hoping to hit it so hard that it would be forced to stand down. "Man, why the hell is this not WORKING?! Just fall already will ya?!"

Meanwhile, behind the creature, Alan poked his head around the side, all while continuing to blast fire at it. "Maybe we should try a different strategy?!"

"Don't worry!" Manny called back. "Trust me, this'll—" WOOOOSH! All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind rushed past Manny, along with a black and blue blur that forced him to take a step back from the Creeper. The monster attempted to go after him, but quickly found that the blur wouldn't let it do that, knocking it back the moment it got close to Manny.

"Helen!" Alan cheered. "Haha, alright!"

"Don't worry, guys, I got an idea!" After saying that, the blur that was Helen began to run in circles around the Creeper, eventually resulting in a mini-tornado whipping up. The force of the wind grew with every loop Helen took, growing faster and faster until the gusts managed to pick up the Creeper with its own power. The beast let out a roar as its body was lifted off the ground and sent hurdling upward, slamming back first into the ceiling while colliding with a few stalactites, making it roar even more.

All at once, Helen stopped, the tornado slowly coming to a halt and allowing the Creeper to fall down. "Manny, NOW!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Manny shouted before letting loose a battle cry, charging forward to deliver a massive uppercut to the beasts' jaw, using his metal fist for good measure. The Creeper's entire body snapped around and careened into a nearby wall, hitting its head in the process. Its body slumped onto the floor with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, groaning all the while. "HA! That's what YOU get!" Manny mocked, pointing four fingers at the beast.

Alan came over and changed back to his human form, giving Helen a high five. "Thanks for the assist, Helen."

"No problem… just wish I had been called over here a bit DIFFERENTLY." Helen gave a pointed glare at Manny, the Tetramand hybrid also furrowing his eyeridges at her. "I mean, seriously, Manny?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who left their friends just to go save some rando." Manny countered, placing two hands on his hips while crossing his other ones. "I mean, seriously, what was THAT all about? You've known these guys for what, a day and you're already going off to save some of 'em?"

Helen grimaced at that. "Well, unlike you, I don't have trust issues, Manny."

"Uh… guys?" Alan spoke up.

"I ain't sayin' I don't trust these guys!" Manny insisted. "I'm just sayin' it's a bit weird bein' so buddy-buddy with 'em THIS soon when we know NOTHING about them!"

"Guys?" Alan said louder this time, transforming back into his Pyronite form.

Helen rolled her eyes. "For Pete's sake, Manny, the term "fast friends" exists for a reason, you know? It's not like they're—"

"GUYS!" Alan shouted, finally getting their attention. He pointed toward them and the two turned in the opposite direction… only to see another Creeper charging directly at them. Manny and Helen were taken off guard, so much so that they barely had time to react. And when they finally did…

WHAM! A pair of giant, green and black spiked boots came jumping into action before delivering a swift kick to the Creeper, slamming it straight into the adjacent wall. The Plumber trio's jaws were all slack as they shifted their eyes up to see Penny standing before them, her legs having transformed into the boots. "Greetings, friends! Are you all well?"

Helen's smile reappeared and she gave Penny a wave. "Hey Penny! Yeah, we're doing good. Thanks for the assist!"

Penny saluted to them with the brightest smile possible. "Always happy to lend a helping hand! Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe Ruby, Yang and Ben could use my help. Farewell for now!" With a mighty leap, Penny jumped up into the air and exchanged her Block Busters for her Airheart jet pack, blasting off to aid her best friend.

Helen smirked over to Manny and Alan, who were still staring at her in stunned amazement. "So, still think it's "weird" making friends with these guys so soon?"

"Psh, you kiddin'?" Alan jerked a thumb to where Penny had blasted off. "What that girl just did was AWESOME!"

Slowly but surely, Manny's lips curled into a smirk of his own. "…Yeah, I guess they're alright." He then pointed a stern finger to Helen. "But the blueberry's still an oddball." He received another light scowl from Helen for that remark, which he responded with a shrug. "Hey, call it like I see it."

…..

"GRRRRAAAAHH!" A mighty bellow escaped Frankenstrike's mouth as he sent forth a powerful electric shot of green lightning to his imposing opponent, the Creeper convulsing in pain as the bolt made impact. Once the lightning stopped, it was followed up by two more battle cries that came from either side of the beast. The first came from a blizzard of petals that flew past the Creeper's head, with Ruby popping out of it in midair. She had Crescent Rose in its sniper rifle mode and took aim at the Creeper's back, unloading a couple rounds into its back, aiming specifically for the pressure points of the body. With every shot, though, Ruby made it a point… to apologize. BANG! "Sorry!" BANG! "Sorry!" BANG! "Sorry!"

This left Frankenstrike puzzled. "Ruby, what are you—"

"I'm saying sorry to whoever's inside that thing!" Ruby said as she continued firing at pressure points. "Pretty sure this isn't enjoyable to ANY of them!" The Dust Rounds wouldn't penetrate the creature's skin, but they still stung enough to make it double over… allowing the Blonde Brawler to take it from there. "Yang! You're up!"

"GYAAAAHHH!" Yang belted out as she began delivering punch after punch on the beast's abdomen, unloading Fire Dust rounds at a rapid-fire pace at close range. However, the Creeper wasn't about to take it, reaching out quickly to grab Yang and throw her against the wall with all its might, making her yell upon impact.

The beast roared in fury, fighting through the pain it felt to charge right at Yang and raise its fist to finish the job. It went for the punch… and was immediately stopped. Yang caught the punch with both hands, her eyes not visible due to her bangs for a few moments. But when she lifted her head up, the Creeper screeched at what it saw. Her violet eyes had turned to red, and she was giving it the worst death glare imaginable.

"…No." With that one simple word, Yang cranked her arms and twisted the Creeper's wrist, making it howl in agony before she went back at it. She shot Ember Celica toward the wall and shouted; "CEPHEUS SPEAR!" as she drove herself into the Creeper's abdomen at full force, pushing it back several feet. From there, the onslaught of punches continued, the fiery blasts from her gauntlets exploding against the Creeper's body until it was low enough for Yang to deal a swift right hook to its face. The monster was sent sprawling back as one final round exploded against its face, slumping to the floor as it was finally knocked out. "HA! That'll teach ya who to throw into a wall!"

"Haha, nice work, Goldie Locks!" Frankenstrike clapped his mighty hands as he and Ruby made their way over, both smiling at the blonde. "You really showed that thing what for."

"Yeah, awesome job, sis." Ruby grinned. "…I just hope whoever's in there doesn't wake up with too bad a concussion."

Yang smiled back and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, you heard that guy. We can beat these things up as much as we want and they'll be fine when they change back. Besides, they probably knew what they were getting into when they agreed to be transformed into these things."

Frankenstrike winced a bit as his eyes settled onto the Creeper again. "Hate to say it, but you've got a point there, Goldie Locks. Now c'mon, there's plenty more where that one came from—"

GROOOAAAAARRR! The three snapped their heads around to see one of said Creepers come barreling toward them on all fours, putting the three of them on high alert. But just as it closed in on them… "INCOMING!" From directly behind the Creeper, Penny came soaring in, crashing into it with a force comparable to that of a speeding car. The two of them tumbled to the floor, with Penny exchanging her Airheart jet pack for her Floating Array blades, launching herself into battle against the Creeper.

"Penny!" Ruby shouted before shifting Crescent Rose into scythe mode, using her Semblance to join in.

"Ben, c'mon! We gotta get in there!" Yang said before launching herself after Ruby with her gauntlets.

Frankenstrike was about to follow as well… but then a thought came to him. "…You know what? Why not mix things up a bit?" With that, the Transylian pressed the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and a flash of green light shined through the hall, the hero changing his form yet again.

Standing where Frankenstrike once did was now a rather tall, plant-based life form. It was still just as green as the Transylian, maybe even MORE so. It had four, skinny vine-like legs at the bottom of its torso and two long arms that had very long, thin fingers as well. There was a single green eye in the middle of his face and two secondary glowing green eyes on his shoulders. There were six black pods growing right out of his back, and around his neck, there were rather large Venus flytrap-like flaps, with sets of large, yellow teeth on each one. As always, the Omnitrix symbol was on its chest, and the plant alien threw his arms back and grinned wildly. "WILDVINE! Haha, alright!"

Without missing a beat, Wildvine swung himself into the fray with the girls, quite literally as he extended his arms and began swinging from the stalactites on the ceiling. Ruby, Yang and Penny were keeping the pressure on the Creeper as it flailed its arms at them, trying to get in a hit, but to no avail. Ruby weaved around the monster with her Semblance before slashing Crescent Rose across its back, making a rather deep, clean gash and making it roar in pain. "Sorry to whoever's in there!" Ruby shouted. "But we gotta bring you down somehow!"

Penny shifted her jetpack back into her Mechano-Crushers and grabbed the Creeper as it writhed, lifting it up over her head. "Apologies in advance!" she said before slamming the beast onto the ground as hard as she could. "Yang!"

"On it!" Yang jumped up high in the air and did a midair flip before falling straight down, her fist reared back as she let out another battle cry. "GYAAAAH!" BLAM! An explosion of fire surrounded the Blonde Brawler and the Creeper, with Yang having socked it straight in the gut. For a short while, it seemed like Yang had actually knocked it out… but this proved to only be a ruse, as the Creeper suddenly snapped up and snatched Yang in its hand, taking her off guard. "GAH! Hey! Your friend tried the same thing and it didn't end well for him, so if I were you, I'd—huh?"

Yang cut herself off when she saw a long, vine-like arm wrap around the Creeper's own arm, the same one that was holding her up. As the vine slinked around the Creeper's arm, it also began to grow thicker and thicker, putting additional pressure on the limb. The same also happened on the beast's other arm as well, along with four additional vines clamping down around its abdominal area. Not a second later, Yang saw an unrecognizable alien pop his head over the Creeper's shoulder, but she knew that it HAD to be Ben.

"Hey, not to rain on your parade or anything, man." Wildvine said with a smirk. "But I kinda want my girlfriend back, so if you could just let go of her, that'd be greeeeaat." However, the Creeper roared defiantly, swinging its strong arms around in an attempt to free itself. "Ah, that's how ya wanna play, huh? Well, maybe THIS'LL change your tune!"

All at once, multiple sharp thorns suddenly jutted out of all of the vines, managing to pierce through the Creeper's skin. The effect was immediate; the monster letting out a cry of sharp pain as its hand was forced open, dropping Yang instantly. After she landed on the ground, Wildvine let go of the Creeper's midsection and planted his four roots down into the ground, giving him leverage in order to toss the beast away by the arms. The Creeper landed in a heap and Yang let out a cheer. "HAHA! Alright, Green Boy! …And wow, this guy's REALLY green."

Wildvine chuckled and gave her a thumbs up. "Thanks, but you haven't seen the BEST part yet!" The Florauna reached around to his back and pulled off six, black fruit-like pods, holding three in each of his rather large hands. "Don't blink!" Wildvine tossed all of the pods to the Creeper and each one of them exploded on contact, making the Creeper howl as it was finally knocked out. "Haha! Wildvine shoots and he SCORES!"

"Woo-hoo! That was awesome, Ben!" Ruby cheered as she and Penny came over.

The redheaded android placed a finger to her chin. "Indeed, who knew that a plant could cause explosions of that magnitude?"

"Yeah, pretty cool right?" Wildvine pulled his roots out of the ground, his back growing another set of six pods in no time at all. "Now, did we finally get every one of those… oh boy." The Florauna's single eye widened and the three girls followed his line of sight, seeing two more Creepers charging right for them. Wildvine sighed before he and the girls took combat positions. "Well, guess things can't be that easy. C'mon girls! Let's kick these guys back to—"

"On your six, guys!" The quartet stopped when they heard the voice and were taken by surprise when they saw none other than Ilia come leaping straight over their heads, whipping her Lightning Lash expertly. She landed directly in front of the Creepers and began lashing at them, her sharp, electrical whip causing the two Creepers so much pain that they stopped in their tracks.

Ruby and Penny both brightened up at the sight of their friend. "Ilia!"

"Nice timing, Color Girl!" Yang said with a thumbs up.

"Don't think me yet!" Ilia shouted. "I suggest you all get out of the way, now!"

It was only then that the group heard massive footfalls coming from behind them and they all moved before whatever was coming could hit them. As it happened, it was none other than the Arma Gigas, the massive white armor charging directly toward the two Creepers. It reached out and took the stunned beasts by their throats, slamming them both down onto the cave floor repeatedly.

Then, not long after, Weiss herself came strolling confidently onto the scene. "Don't worry, guys. We got the rest of these things handled."

"Weiss!" Ruby beamed to her partner. "Haha, you guys made it!"

"Yep, and we're going to finish the job." Weiss glanced behind her and nodded. "Rex, your turn!"

From right behind them, Rex came soaring in on his Sky Slyder, the EVO darting toward the action. "I'm away ahead of you, mi hermosa!" In one fell swoop, Rex deactivated his hoverboard and instead brought out his Funchucks, using the momentum from his flight to his advantage. "Say goodnight, you monstruos feos!" The Arma Gigas tossed the Creepers up and Rex slammed the Funchucks onto the sides of the Creeper's heads, knocking them together to knock them both unconscious instantly. Rex landed on his feet and put the Funchucks away, pumping his fists up in victory. "Woo-hoo! And THAT is how ya do it!"

"Damn, I'll say!" Yang said in shock. "I think that was a new record or something!"

"Hm, well, what did you expect?" Weiss said as she dismissed the Arma Gigas and went over to her boyfriend, the EVO placing her in an embrace instantly. "Not to brag, but we work pretty well together. Plus, Ilia's lash did a lot of damage, too. See?" She gestured to the beast's chests and, sure enough, they were all cut up from Ilia's weapon. "Between being stunned, injured and pretty much throttled, these things didn't stand a chance."

"It's hard to believe that these things were all once human, though." Ilia commented. "How did they get this way?"

Wildvine gave a shrug. "Dunno. Apparently this was a "gift" from the "Exalted One"."

Yang crossed her arms with a skeptical look. "Yeah, starting to wonder if those Collective guys are just pulling our legs with that stuff about this "Exalted One" guy."

"Well, I don't know about that." Everyone turned around to see none other than Gwen coming their way. The Anodite had created a large, bowl-shaped mana construct which was floating along behind her, which was actually carrying all of the unconscious Creepers in it. Along with her was the rest of the team, all of them gathered around the massive bowl to make sure the Creepers didn't go anywhere. Gwen's hands lit up and she asked; "May I?"

Wildvine and the others stepped aside as Gwen made a large mana panel, using it to scoop up the two Creepers and plop them down in the bowl with the others. With that, they watched Gwen close up the bowl, making it into a whole sphere to contain the massive beasts. Wildvine hit the Omnitrix and transformed back into Ben, giving his cousin an impressed smile. "Man, Gwen, are you under ANY strain right now with that?"

"A little bit, but not much." Gwen assured. "Anyway, back to what you said, I definitely sensed more than three unique energies when I came in here. Two had to be those leaders and one must've been the hunchback. Meaning that the fourth…"

"Must've been that Exalted One, guy." Rex concluded, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "Why do I STILL feel like this all sounds vaguely familiar—oof!" He was cut off by a strong pat on the back, leading him to dart his eyes up to see Manny.

"Dude, what the heck?" the Tetramand grinned as Alan joined him. "You rushed past us before we could even say hi!"

Rex laughed and gave Manny a handshake. "Haha! Yeah, sorry Manny. Kinda focused on helping my girl take down those last two… what're they called again?"

"Creepers." Alan answered before his and Manny's eyes snapped open in realization. "W-Wait, Rex… did you just say…" he pointed over to Weiss. "That she is your girlfriend?"

Rex nodded to them, eliciting an impressed whistle from Manny. "Rex, bro, you definitely got hit with the "DAMN Lucky" stick, my friend."

Weiss pursed her lips slightly when she heard that. "…I don't know whether to be flattered by that or not… but a part of me also can't help but agree with you."

"Gee, thanks, Ice Princess." Rex said with an eye roll. "Back me up, why don't ya?"

"Oh, you know I'm playing." Weiss assured, lacing her hand with his before extending her free one to Manny and Alan. "Anyway, I'm Weiss Schnee. And you two must be Manny and Alan. Rex, Ben and the others have told us a lot about you guys."

"Did they?" Alan said as he excepted the handshake, with Manny doing so as well. "Hope it was mostly good things."

Weiss sent him an assuring wave. "Oh don't worry, they were… for the most part." She glanced toward Manny knowingly. "Helen and Kevin may have made us aware of a certain… loose cannon on your team."

Manny grimaced and whipped around to the aforementioned two, the Osmosian and Kineceleran looking away from him while whistling an innocent tune. "…Yeah, doesn't surprise me." Manny grumbled before grinning toward Weiss. "I swear I'm a nice dude, Weiss. Just… certain things happen to rub me the wrong way."

"Understatement of the century." Kevin muttered.

"THAT'S IT! GET OVER HERE LEVIN!" Manny leaped right over to Kevin in a single jump, tackling him to the ground where a fight quickly broke out. The others watched on in stunned silence for a few moments, when, much to the two combatant's astonishment, Gwen created two mana tethers with one hand and separated the two of them, the Anodite giving them a pointed glare.

"Now's NOT the time, boys." Gwen said as she set them down. "Any disagreements can be settled later on. Right now, we have more important things to worry about…" She eyed the pink energy sphere full of Creepers, raising a brow to it. "Namely… how ARE we going to change these things back to their normal human state?"

Ben lifted the Omnitrix up immediately. "Here, let's see if the DNA repair function in the Omnitrix can fix—" FLASH! "GAH!" Everyone let out a yell as a bright red flash of light suddenly shined within Gwen's mana sphere. And, in the blink of an eye… all ten Creepers were gone, leaving the group dumbfounded. "Wha… WHAT?!"

"W-Where did they all go?!" Jaune exclaimed.

Ruby shook her head, disbelief written across her face. "They just… disappeared!"

The group all began to search for how the Creepers could've possibly escaped when Sun pointed to the opposite end of the hall. "Look! Over there!" All at once, the team whirled around and saw none other than the hunchbacked woman, standing all by herself at the end of the hall, standing motionless with her hood covering most of her face. And oddly enough, her face was now entirely covered by a black skull-shaped mask. "…I'm guessing that's your escape friend, eh, Rook?"

"Indeed… and considering the red flash, she must also be responsible for their disappearance." Rook concluded.

Manny, however, was NOT happy. "TRAITOR! I KNEW you couldn't be trusted!"

However, the girl spoke up, shaking her head. "You misunderstand. I had to do it." Her voice was muffled by her mask and one of her thin hands came up to clutch her chest. "If I didn't then… he would punish me greatly for not returning his Chosen Few."

"You mean the Exalted One, right?" Rex piped up, stepping forward with a serious expression. The sound of his voice made the hunchback jump a bit, something that Rex took note of. "You make this guy out to be some sort of monster. Please, let us help you… and maybe you could tell us more."

The girl was silent for a few moments before shaking her head. "I apologize, but you need me on the inside more than you could ever know. I will inform you of what the Exalted One plans next as soon as I can. But for now…" She raised her hand toward the group. "It's time for all of you to leave this place."

"W-Wait!" Rex started forward, only for a blinding red flash to engulf him and everyone else, teleporting them all out of the cave.

With that, the hunchback took off her mask, and from her eyes, a few tears dropped down onto it. "…I'm so sorry."

…..

Moments later, the team all emerged from another red flash of light, the group falling down onto the ground beneath them. "Gah!" Ruby cried out as she stumbled to her hands and knees, wincing all the while. She shook her head and lifted her gaze up… only for her eyes to widen at what she saw. They were back out in the field where the Proto-TRUK had been parked, with the cool wind greeting them all immediately. "W-What the…"

"We're back outside." Ren noted. "That girl used her powers on all of us…"

"Heh, wow, she must be pretty powerful to do THAT." Nora mused before kicking up onto her feet, placing her hands on her hips. "Also, did anyone else feel the floor get pulled from underneath them when she teleported us?"

Weiss nodded, sitting on her knees. "Yeah, that WAS weird…" Her eyes trailed over to see Rex. Unlike the rest of them, he was standing up, facing almost the same direction he had been when he was looking at that hunchback girl. "…Rex?" Weiss stood up and made her way over to him, settling a hand to his back. "You alright?"

There was no response for a few moments before Rex lowered his head, the former heiress seeing a ponderous expression on his face. "…Yeah. Yeah, I think so." He clenched his fist lightly. "Just wish we actually could've talked to her more. Maybe get a feel for what she's all about with betraying her master like this."

"Ah, don' worry 'bout it, Chief." Bobo waved off, joining the two and giving Rex a nudge in the leg. "There's always next time. An' 'ey, maybe then we WON'T get a buncha ugly son's o' bitches sicked on us."

"Bobo's right… on both accounts." Weiss agreed. "Don't worry, she said she'd tell us when their next move is, remember? The best we can do is have patience."

Rex sighed and gave his girlfriend a smile, placing a hand over her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm kinda glad to be outta that den of monsters." Neptune said as his gaze went over to Helen, who was lying on her back. "You okay?"

The Kineceleran girl gave a shrug. "Eh, not the first time I've been teleported. But thanks for asking."

"Uh, hello?!" Manny shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "Not sure if you guys got the memo or not, but our mission was to apprehend as many people as we could an' try to take down the leaders of the Collective." He extended his arms out to his sides. "An' what do we have to show for it? Nothin'!"

Ben stood up, helping Yang up as well. "Maybe not, but we at least have a better idea of what these Collective people are capable of. Creating monsters out of human beings? Yeah, NOT good."

Alan shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, we managed to handle 'em just fine, I think."

"Yes, but we had the numbers advantage." Rook reasoned. "There were only ten of them and we essentially doubled their forces. Given all of our collective experience, it was only natural that we succeed."

There was a slight pause from that before Yang gave Rook a smirk. "Rook, did… did you just make a "Collective" pun? Nice one!"

Rook just raised an eyebrow at her. "…What is a "pun"? A sort of Earth pastry?" The Blonde Brawler's eyes widened immensely and she facepalmed at the question.

Gwen sighed and shook her head, picking it up from there. "Well, getting back to the point. Something tells me that this is only a taste of what's to come. If this "Exalted One" can make Creepers out of anybody… then imagine what he could do if he had a whole ARMY of them."

Manny and Alan looked to each other with worried gazed before the latter faced Gwen again. "Okay, yeah, NOT good."

"Exactly." Kevin pounded his fist into his palm with a furrowed brow. "So next time we run into 'em, we give 'em the pounding they deserve before they pull out their toys. Then, we find the Exalted One, whoever he is."

"…Unless he decides to come after US first." Blake spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I mean, think about it; we came to attack HIS cult, and since everyone knows that Ben lives in Bellwood, they may target us there at some point."

Sun crossed his arms with a nod. "Yeah, Blake's got a point. Maybe we should all stay on our toes for a bit."

"Now that, I will not argue with you." Ben conceded. "Trust me, I'm no stranger when it comes to people targeting me where I live." But then, a confident smile came to his face. "Thankfully, after THAT particular incident, I had the Plumbers install state of the art security systems at ALL of our houses, so hopefully, we'll be able to sleep easy." The hero clapped his hands together and rubbed them eagerly. "So, now that the mission's done, how about we all go do a bit of sightseeing, huh?"

The group brightened up at the proposal, especially the Remnant natives. "Oh, I have been waiting for this!" Pyrrha said excitedly as she hugged Jaune's arm. "Our first excursion on Earth and it's at a set of beautiful waterfalls! It sounds perfect, right Jaune?"

"No doubt about it, Pyr." Jaune affirmed as she pulled her in closer. "While we DID get up close and personal to the falls, I'm still excited to see what's around here, too."

"I hear that!" Ilia grinned. "Let's do it!"

"Eeheehee! This is going to be sensational!" Penny cheered, pumping a fist into the air before spinning around to Manny, Alan and Rook. "Would you three like to accompany us? We always have room for more!"

Helen sent an encouraging smile to her teammates. "Yeah, c'mon guys, it'll be fun. Besides, after all that, we could use a bit of chill time, don't ya think?"

There was a bit of a pause before the three shared a nod. "Ya know what? Yeah, sure, why not?" Manny answered. "Beats just goin' back to base feelin' like crap."

"Yeah, count me in." Alan said with a thumbs up.

"I will also join." Rook added. "I have been meaning to observe and study the natural wonders that Earth has to offer, so this provides me the perfect opportunity."

Ben gave a laugh and pulled Yang into a hug, the blonde laughing as well. "Haha! Well alright then, if it's all settled…" The hero pumped a fist into their air and shouted; "Let's go have some fun!" The entire group joined in on Ben's cheer as Kevin lowered the back of the Rustbucket III, the duo going up the ramp to get their cars. Once everybody was loaded up in the cars as well as the Proto-TRUK, the three vehicles rolled off to the main highway, heading toward the town of Niagara Falls without hesitation.

…..

However, unbeknownst to the entire team, a figure had been observing them from the top of a nearby hill, having stayed silent the whole time. And standing next to this person was a rather large Silver Dapple horse, a saddle strapped to its back.

The figure itself was an elderly yet well-built man who appeared to be in his early-to-mid seventies, his face wrinkly yet with a bright smile. His hair was long and stark white, with an equally long beard to match. He was donned in a long, grey cotton coat with a slightly lighter grey vest underneath, which was worn over a white, button-up shirt. He had a pair of matching grey pants and black hiking boots on his feet, a pair of sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sun. On top of his head, he had a grey, wide-brimmed hat, a knap sack was slung over his right shoulder, and he held a wooden hiking stick in his left hand, giving him the appearance of an adventurer. A light chortle escaped his lips as he stroked his beard, keeping the reigns of his horse in his other hand.

"So… Ben Tennyson has returned to this world. How very interesting…"

…..

A/N: Well, THAT was quite the series of events, wasn't it? A cult that grants people power… by turning them into monsters. Pretty crazy, right? Just who in the heck COULD this Exalted One be with THAT kind of ability? Well, unfortunately, he seems to be the kind of person who's also one step ahead of everything, because he managed to get the heck out of dodge before anyone could get to HIM. And while the Collective managed to get away in the end, the team do still have at least have a trustworthy(?) ally in the form of that hunchback girl, whose identity also remains elusive. Plus, they managed to pull off Manny and Alan's rescue, so there's a positive. That said… mysterious old men have a certain way of making their way into the picture, no matter what medium they're in. Just who IS this strange old man and his horse? Well, we'll probably just have to find out…

NEXT TIME! It's the return of the casual chapter and, with the mission behind them, the team decide to spend a little R&R at Niagara Falls, doing some sightseeing and a bit of shopping along the way. However, during these events, Ruby and Penny end up bumping into a certain mysterious stranger seemingly by accident. But is everything as it seems to be? Well, we'll just have to find out, now won't we? Tune in on May 21st for that, gang, and I'll see you all then! Until next time, everyone, and thanks for reading! And as always, stay safe out there!