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)

10. Some Serious Subjects

A/N (IMPORTANT, Please Read): Hey there, everybody! Welcome back to Ultimate Omniverse, and I am quite pleased to announce that we are BACK on the weekly schedule! I look forward to bringing you guys more of this story over the course of the summer and fall, but there WILL be a bit of changes when it comes to winter time. If you guys didn't see the Author's Note from the last chapter of "Transformers, MHA: Bumblebee", then I'll repost what I said over there to give you guys a bit of context;

So, here's what I want to do; I want to make Transformers MHA a seasonal thing, something to give me a bit of a break from Ben 10 RWBY whenever I feel the need for it. Luckily, I think I found the perfect time; the winter months. Why those specifically? Because that's when RWBY airs its volumes, and I like to keep myself away from most things RWBY-related to avoid spoilers at that time. So, going forward, when a new volume of RWBY is close to launch, I'm going to take a break from my Ben 10 RWBY crossover and come back to Transformers: MHA (as well as Ben 10 RWBY Chibi, since I always like a good bit of humor as well).

I hope that explains my plans clearly enough, so without further ado, let's get into the chapter! A bit of a shorter one this time, but next time, it will most likely be longer. So, let's jump into it. This is…

Chapter 9: Some Serious Subjects

…..

Ruby had to admit, she did NOT think that this was how their flight back to Bellwood was going to be. Because for the most part, the day at Niagara Falls had been AMAZING. The gang had managed to pretty much do everything under the sun. They all got a chance to observe the natural majesty of the waterfalls, they all stopped by the aquarium at one point or another, and Neptune and Helen's group even went on a nature hike, which definitely helped relieved the former's stress from being near so much water. Heck, the group even reconvened at the Rainforest Café for lunch, per Helen and Neptune's recommendation. And Ruby had to admit, the place had some VERY effective ambiance.

All in all, the day had been really fun, and they all had the appropriate Niagara Falls souvenirs to prove it. …So of course, the entire flight back to Plumber HQ was filled with a tense silence. It was one thing when Ruby had brought up her and Penny's… strange meeting with Orson, but then Max and Six called in. And the moment they heard that some of Vilgax's drones had attacked Cooper's home town, everyone felt a chill fall over them. The only ones who weren't feeling that chill were Ben, Gwen and Kevin… and that's because their faces all became serious the moment Max said that. Gwen a bit less so, but Kevin was completely concentrated as they flew back to base.

And Ben… he was VERY stone-faced at them moment, the hero sitting by himself near the front of the craft as he gazed out the window. They could only take one guess as to what he was thinking about, the very mention of Vilgax seemingly having flipped a switch in his mind. One moment, he was completely care-free and happy. But then next, his expression became visibly upset, though not exactly what one would call "angry".

It was here where Team RWBY found themselves, the four girls standing near the back of the jet's cockpit as they hesitated to talk with their friends. Rex was with them as well, the EVO quirking a brow while keeping his arms crossed. The others were in the cargo hold, opting to give the Alien Trio space.

"Man, they've been like that for most of the ride." Rex glanced between the quartet before whispering; "Soooo… we gonna go talk to them or…"

Weiss rolled her eyes and whispered back; "Robo-dolt, we can't just walk up and TALK to them about this. We need to find a way to work our way TO the subject."

"Weiss has a point." Blake nodded. "I mean… when we got that call, it was like something just… changed with them."

"Well, it IS their oldest enemy finally making a move after three weeks of being free." Ruby pointed out. "I guess it only makes sense that they'd take the subject super seriously." Her silver eyes trailed over to her sister. "What do you think, Yang? How do we—" She cut herself off when she saw how focused Yang seemed to be, her lilac eyes boring right into the back of Ben's head. "Uh… Yang? Sis?"

Yang, however, was lost in her own thoughts. The moment she saw Ben's demeanor change on a dime at the mention of "Vilgax", she quickly knew that she didn't like to see her Green Boy like that. Yes, it WAS his worst enemy, but seeing the love of her life completely emotionless like this… it just wasn't him, at all. She pursed her lips and stepped forward, much to her team's confusion.

"Yang! What are you doing?!" Weiss whispered harshly.

Blake leaned over and suggested; "Maybe she's got a plan, ssh."

The Blonde Brawler strolled right up to the Alien Trio, her footsteps having gone completely unnoticed. Kevin continued to fly the ship, Gwen was buried deep into one of her spell books, and Ben still stared out the window, concentrated on the clouds going by. She glanced between the three with raised brows… before then practically jumping up and landing in Ben's lap.

THAT managed to get his attention. "GAH!" All at once, Ben's emotionless face was replaced with one of shock, his green eyes darting to his girlfriend while Gwen and Kevin both snapped their heads around, visibly surprised. "Y-Yang?! What're you…" But then, Ben, trailed off, seeing that Yang wasn't even facing him. Instead, she had her arms crossed and her gaze settled straight out the window, almost as stone-faced as theirs were a few moments ago. "…Uh, Yang? What's with the face?"

"What does it look like?" Yang questioned back. "I'm mimicking you guys."

The Alien Trio all glanced toward one another in shock before eyeing the built in clock above the windshield, seeing that they were close to the end of their flight. "…Oh." Gwen mumbled with a guilty expression. "Were we really zoned out for THAT long?"

"Yeah, kinda!" Rex called out as he and the rest of Team RWBY all came to the front of the cockpit. "You guys have just been muy concentrado since we got the news."

Ruby tapped her fingers together. "Everybody's been worried about you guys… and kinda scared to approach you, really."

Ben winced at that. "Oh… crap. Sorry, guys. It's just that—"

"We get it." Blake said with a wave. "Vilgax is your biggest enemy, and the fact that he's making himself known again isn't a good thing. But I don't think that you guys should've just… well, for lack of a better term, turned yourselves off like that."

"Well why wouldn't we?" Kevin countered, his eyes going back to the sky. "Vilgax is the most ruthless, most evil being in the galaxy. He's a warlord with an army that could level an entire planet, he's conquered ten worlds… though I think he's taken down even more, AND he's got a personal beef with the Plumbers AND Ben, meaning that when he comes for Earth… he won't let anything survive if he succeeds in conquering it."

"Okay then, question;" Weiss placed a hand on her hip, "is Vilgax even here?"

Kevin's eyes shifted left and right before uttering; "Uhh…"

"Exactly." Weiss crossed her arms with a narrow-eyed gaze. "Perhaps you could save the super-serious attitudes for when Vilgax actually comes here HIMSELF, rather than just hearing that he sent some of his robots, WHICH Team CFVY dispensed, by the way."

"As far as we know, Vilgax may not even be close to Earth." Ruby added. "I get that you guys take Vilgax seriously… but you gotta remember that you guys aren't the only ones in this anymore." She smiled at all three of them. "Your new team is here to help… so long as you don't scare us like that."

The Alien Trio glanced between each other, all feeling rather guilty at what they had just done before Gwen and Ben bowed their heads to them. "You're right, Ruby." Gwen agreed. "For a moment, we got sucked into our old way of doing things. We promise that we won't neglect you guys like that again."

"Well, I wouldn't say it was "neglect" per se." Rex shrugged. "But the apology is appreciated."

Ben took in a deep breath and faced his girlfriend, who was still mimicking how he, Gwen and Kevin were being earlier. "…Yang?" Her violet eyes glanced over to him, meeting his emerald green ones as he pulled the Blonde Brawler into a hug, though her arms remained crossed. "I'm sorry for the silent treatment." The hero gave her an apologetic smile. "Please don't be mad?"

Yang smirked and giggled a little bit before returning the hug, snuggling her head into the crook of his neck. "Ben, I was never mad at you to begin with. I just wanted to break you out of your trance, that's all." She reached up and poked her finger to the side of Ben's lips. "That and I wanted to see that smile of yours. After the kind of day we've had at the falls, you can't just put on that sourpuss like the entire day's been ruined for you."

"Yeah, you're right." Ben sighed and cupped Yang's cheek, bringing her in for a brief kiss. "Again, I'm sorry for all of that. I just… the thought of Vilgax even potentially coming to Earth now is…"

"I know, but we'll get through it together." Yang assured, her head nudging toward Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Rex. "We ALL will."

In the front seat, however, Kevin wore an unsure face. "Uh, I wouldn't recommend joining in on the fight if THAT'S what you're thinking." This got everyone's attention, Team RWBY most of all. "Gwen and I have fought Vilgax before and each time, we only just barely managed to keep him down. Rex could probably hold his own in a fight with him, and Penny could maybe do some damage if she got lucky enough, but Ben's the only one who's been able to beat him." He glanced over to Team RWBY. "You gals, Team JNPR, Sun, Neptune, and Ilia… you guys need WAY more training if you even want to get a HIT in on Vilgax."

Team RWBY stared at Kevin with slack jaws and widened eyes. He… really just said that. "Wait, SERIOUSLY?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Seriously." Gwen affirmed. "We've told you before just how dangerous Vilgax is, and that was no exaggeration." The Anodite shook her head. "Even at our best, the most that Kevin and I can do is keep Vilgax from doing too much damage. Ben's pretty much the only one who stands a chance against him in a one-on-one fight." She raised a hand to the girls. "And while you guys have all proved your worth in slaying Grimm and stopping bad guys to protect your world, Vilgax is just on a whole different level. He's not a combatant to be taken lightly."

Team RWBY all eyed one another at her words. While Gwen wasn't staring off into space anymore, she was still quite serious, they could tell. But at the same time, they could tell that she was concerned for their wellbeing, so they nodded to each other in agreement. "…Well, you know how to make a convincing argument, Gwen." Weiss noted.

"As much as we don't like it, we won't join you in any battle against Vilgax until you think we're ready." Blake added. "That's a promise."

Ruby raised her hand. "Just one question… what if we DO encounter him before we're ready."

"Then you stay as far away as possible and start shooting at him instead." Ben answered. "Any chip damage can help out substantially, so just be sure to stay at a safe distance." He quirked a brow at his girlfriend and booped her on the nose. "And that includes you, Miss Fisty Punch-A-Lot."

Yang feigned a hurt expression and put a hand to her chest. "Ah! Ben, I would never!" Her boyfriend wore a deadpan face before raising a brow to her, making her smirk return to her face. "…Okay, yeah, I totally would." She leaned in and rested her head on her shoulder. "But, if it'll make you happy and make you less worried, then I'll do it."

"Hah, thank you, Yang." Ben sighed as he rested his arm across her back. "Honestly… the thought of Vilgax doing anything to you… that's probably the scariest thought I could ever think of."

The Blonde Brawler reached up and touched his face. "Has anyone ever told you how considerate you are?"

"A few times." Ben said with a rather wry smile. "But if it's coming from you, I wouldn't mind hearing it again."

"Okay, there's flirting and then there's stroking your ego."

Ben laughed at his girlfriend's snappy comeback. "Ahaha! Okay, yeah, I kinda walked into that one." It was then that the group noticed that the Rustbucket 3 was slowly beginning to descend, their eyes moving up to see that they were coming in for a landing. Ben and Yang stood up, the hero nudging his head toward his friends. "C'mon, guys, we're due for a meeting."

"Uh, before we do…" Rex jabbed his thumb toward the back of the jet. "You might wanna make sure that the rest of the gang know that you guys are okay. They've also been a bit worried about you since… well, ya know."

The Alien Trio winced at that as they all began to make their way toward the back. "Oh yeah, right."

…..

A few minutes after landing back at the airport, the gang had all driven back to Plumber base, though not without a bit of explanation as to what happened earlier. Thankfully, the entire team was very understanding of the situation and accepted the Alien Trio's apology without a second thought… though there were two certain redheads who wanted to ensure that there was no reason to worry. "So you're absitively, posolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, GUARANTEED that you guys are all alright now?" Nora asked in her usual over the top manner, the hyper girl popping out of nearly every corner with each word.

Kevin sighed as the Pink Dynamo got up in his face, only to slowly push her back down. "YES, Nora, everything is good."

"You are quite certain?" Penny inquired as she scanned Kevin with her eyes. "Because I am detecting quite the amount of frustration coming off of you." The redheaded android saw Kevin purse his lips, mumble something under his breath, and then turn away, continuing back down the hall of Plumber base. "Hm, perhaps my question was mistimed?"

Jaune sighed as he and Pyrrha walked side-by-side while Ren tried to keep Nora from getting up in Kevin's face again. "Well, I believe him." the blonde knight shrugged. "And honestly, I can't really blame them for being so concerned about this."

"Indeed, after all, it IS their worst enemy." Pyrrha added, her gaze shifting over to Gwen. "I doubt that the previous encounters you've had with Vilgax were anything BUT pleasant, of course. But tell me… what IS Vilgax truly capable of?"

Gwen's eyes moved up to the ceiling as she thought over the Chimera Sui Generis was able to do. "Well, for one, he has a bunch of weapons at his disposal. He's got a sword, a ruby that can fire lasers, a crystal that can generate a shield, he's strong beyond belief, and I'm pretty sure he has wind breath and laser eyes."

The whole group stared at the redheaded girl in shock before Ren uttered; "Wow… overkill."

"Yep, and we have a feeling he got all of those things when he conquered those ten worlds." Ben added. "But the strength was something that he's always had, at least since I started fighting him." He faced Yang, Blake, Ilia and Sun, the four of them walking up front with Ruby and Weiss. "You guys remember when we encountered Salem in Menagerie and she was able to throw Humungousaur around like a rag doll?" The four of them nodded. "Well… Vilgax is pretty much able to do the same. He doesn't do it so much nowadays since I've improved, but when I was a kid, he just wiped the floor with me."

Sun let out a whistle. "Woo, man, sounds like he's a pretty rough dude."

"Understatement of the year." Ilia commented. "How were you ever able to beat him when you were a kid?"

"Mostly through luck." Ben answered. "It was only when I unlocked Way Big that I was finally able to beat Vilgax by myself." A proud smile came to his face. "But like I said, as I got older and better with my aliens, I've been able to take on Vilgax with any one of them."

Neptune visibly shivered. "Ugh, well, remind me to NEVER get face-to-face with him. The dude sounds scary as hell."

Trailing not far behind the team, Manny, Helen, Alan and Rook were all walking as well, with the former giving a scoff. "Psh, you don't know the half of it, man. Vilgax is the type of guy who just won't stop comin' for ya." He gestured toward himself, Helen and Alan. "The three of us, Pierce and Cooper all went up against him when he came back to Earth, and… well, let's just say…"

"We got our asses handed to us." Alan finished.

"Wha—hey!" Manny shouted. "What the hell, man?! Why do ya gotta word it like that?!"

"Face it, Manny, we sucked in that fight." Helen admitted. "Nothing we did could even scratch Vilgax, he was so powerful."

The entire team murmured at the Kineceleran girl's words before Manny sighed, his shoulders slumping forward a bit. "…Yeah, okay, fine! We sucked! Vilgax whupped our butts big time, ya happy?"

"Not really the term I would use." Helen said with a light smirk. "But I'm at least glad that you're being honest."

As Manny grumbled to himself, Rook finally spoke up again as well. "I must admit, with everything that I have read on Vilgax at the Plumber Academy, there was one thing that the instructors always made sure to note." He raised a single finger and stated; "No amount of reading will ever prepare you for the real thing." He moved his sights to Ben and the others up front. "And after hearing all of this from you, I am all the more inclined to agree."

"Heh, you had smart instructors, Rook." Ben chuckled. "Because they were right."

"Yeah, well, maybe you guys can talk about it when we're done 'ere." Bobo said, the EVO chimp resting on Rex's shoulder as they all finally made it to their destination; the hangar for the Plumber's space craft. "'Cause right now, we've got a buncha' scrap ta inspect." The doors opened the moment the team were in front of it… and what they all saw next made their jaws drop.

There, on display for everyone to see, were the remains of several gigantic robots, their body parts all lined up throughout the entire hangar. The robots eyes were all dark and lifeless, their heads practically mangled along with the rest of the metal in the place. There were also several smaller destroyed drones littering the ground as well, though there were several Plumber scientists working on disassembling them. Team RWBY, who were directly in front of every one else, couldn't help but stare as the final piece of destroyed mech was lowered into the hangar, this one probably the most intact of all of them. "Woah…" Ruby managed to squeak out. "This… this is…"

"Freaky." Yang finished. "This is definitely freaky." Her eyes scanned over the robot, taking in every detail. "Vilgax knows how to make his robots look threatening, I'll give him that."

Ben noted how there were more gun emplacements on the robot than he remembered, as well as chainsaw-like fingers and an additional cannon in its face. "Yeah… and it seems like he's been making a few upgrades, too." He lowered his gaze to see the exactly who they were searching for, all of them standing in front of the mostly intact robot. "Grandpa! We're here!"

Max turned around, his expression quite serious, though it was easy to see that he was glad to see his grandson. Six, Holiday, Winter… and surprisingly enough, Kenny were all there as well. "Ben, kids, glad you all could make it back."

"As you can see, we've had quite the time while you were gone." Holiday commented with a small grin. "Bet you're glad that Cooper and Team CFVY stuck around, huh?"

"You can say that again, Doc." Rex agreed before noticing the absence of the aforementioned team. "Er, wait… where exactly ARE they, anyway?"

"Yeah, I thought they'd be here." Gwen said with an inquiring brow.

Max was quick to answer, though. "Ah, they couldn't make it for this one. Coco said they'd promised Cooper's folks that they'd be back for lunch." A smile finally came to the old man's face. "But they did send their best regards… and said that you owe them one."

That got a small chuckle from the group, if anything. "Hehe, I'm sure we do." Weiss said before her eyes went over to Winter, placing a hand to her hip. "So, sis, I'm betting that you had more action than you were betting on today, right?"

"Hm, you could say that, little sister." Winter shrugged. "Though to be fair, it wasn't all that hard to take it down. I've faced far more intelligent enemies than these things."

Gwen then stepped forward and gave her brother a questioning face, crossing her arms to make her seem more intimidating. "And what exactly are YOU doing here, Kenny?" The question made Kenny shrink back a bit, a nervous chuckle escaping his throat. "You DO know that this place is off-limits to civilians, right?" …And then a smirk came to her face. "Or did you SNEAK in here on purpose to try and get in a little time with Winter?"

The moment their elder siblings faces became beat red, they knew they had them. "Ooh… a little secret rendezvous?" Weiss guessed.

"Uh, hehe… w-well, maybe…" Kenny trailed off, rubbing his neck nervously. "B-But I was caught sneaking in… again." He saw his sister grumble and smack her forehead, which led him to take out a small keycard from his pocket. "B-But look, I have an official pass now, okay? No more sneaking in for me!"

Gwen pursed her lips and sighed, shaking her head exasperatedly. "Well, okay…" She poked a finger to his chest. "But I don't want you sneaking into any OTHER dangerous places, okay? Just because you have a knack for it doesn't mean you SHOULD do it."

"Ahem." Winter cleared her throat, garnering everyone's attention. "I agree completely, Gwen, but I don't think right now is a good time to talk about it."

"Exactly right!" Everyone's ears perked up at the sound of a somewhat goofy voice, their heads all turning to see two Plumber agents approaching, with Caesar walking along with them. One agent appeared to be a normal woman with short, brunette hair and the other… was a walking angler fish. The fish man wore a serious expression with his hands behind his back. "After all, we've got some serious business here."

"Magister Patelliday." Ben greeted as he, Gwen and Kevin approached the fish man. "Good to see you again."

Patelliday smiled back slightly, bowing his head in greeting. "Ha! Well, it's good to see you kids, too! Been quite a while, now hasn't it? Only wish that this reunion could've been under better circumstances."

"It is what it is, Magister." Gwen assured. "Trust me, I think we ALL wish this didn't happen so soon after we got back." The redhead then set her sights on the woman next to Patelliday. "And Molly, always good to see you, too."

Molly set a salute to the Anodite. "Gwen, always a pleasure. Though I WILL say that yer brother hasn't exactly been makin' things easy fer us here at the base." She sent a knowing smile Kenny's way. "Such a troublemaker that one is."

Gwen raised a brow and glanced over her shoulder toward her brother. "Yeah, he's kind of a hard nut to crack when it comes to listening."

"HEY!" Kenny protested, crossing his arms indignantly. "I listen quite fine, thank you!"

Everyone got a small laugh out of that before Rex sent Caesar a wave, seeing that his brother was holding a piece of a small drone in his hand. "Yo, bro! Guessing you've been dissecting these things for info?"

Caesar grinned back to his brother and nodded as he held up the head. "Exactamente, hermano. I'm hoping that I can extract the data from these things processors and find out exactly what their mission… was…" He trailed off when he noticed a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring directly at him in his field of vision, leading him to see that Blake had her sights directly set toward him… or did she? He couldn't exactly tell what she was staring at, but her demeanor seemed a bit different than usual. "Uh… is Blake okay?"

Everyone quickly faced the cat girl, with Sun leaning over slightly in concern. "I… I-I don't know. She was fine when we got here." He waved a hand in front of her face, but she didn't even blink. "Uh… Blake? Babe, you okay?" His only response was something that took him off guard; a bit of drool rolling down from Blake's mouth. Sun's eyes widened immediately, realizing just what was going on. 'Wait, this only happens when Blake's…' His head snapped up, making sure to follow her sights to make sure his theory was correct. "…Oh no."

Sure enough, Blake was zeroed in directly… onto Patelliday, the Piscciss Volan raising one of his brows at the two Faunus. "Uh, son? Is your lady-friend alright?"

"…Giant…Fish…" Blake mumbled.

Patelliday's eyed widened slightly at that. "Beg your pardon?" However, when he noticed the girl's hair was twitching slightly, he set his sights up… and saw that the girl had a pair of cat ears that were folded downward. Patelliday's expression fell as he quickly realized what was happening. "…Oh no."

With her eyes completely glazed over, Blake pounced prepared to take down her next meal, with Patelliday flinching and letting out a yelp of fear. Thankfully though, Sun was directly next to the cat girl and quickly wrapped his arms around her, keeping her arms pinned to her sides as she struggled to break free. "GAH! No! Let me go! M-Must… have… FISH!"

"WOAH! No! Blake, that is NOT an edible fish!" Sun protested. "How the heck can you still be HUNGRY, anyway?! We ATE earlier!"

"There is ALWAYS room for fish!"

As the whole group stared at the scene in utter disbelief, watching as Sun attempted to get Blake to come to her senses, Manny couldn't help but mumble to himself. "And just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder today."

Helen leaned over to Neptune and whispered; "Does… she ALWAYS get like this when it comes to fish?"

"Well, not always, but lemme put it this way;" Neptune answered. "She balanced herself by her abdomen on a pole just to barter with a fish monger a few days ago. Blake is VERY serious about her fish, so I'm not surprised she'd become THIS incensed about eating a fish the size of that guy."

"That is an understatement." Rook said as he watched Sun press Blake between himself and a nearby wall, the cat girl continuing to squirm against him.

"And THIS is awkward." Alan concluded.

Sun, meanwhile, was thinking desperately of a way to break his girlfriend out of this incensed state, all while she kept squirming against him. 'Ugh, c'mon, there has to be SOME way I can snap her out of—wait… could that work?' Sun shrugged his shoulders. 'Eh, only one way to find out.' In one swift movement, Sun captured Blake's lips with his own, causing her eyes to widen immensely. It wasn't the first time they had kissed… but the familiar sensation was enough to get her mind focused on the kiss instead of her stomach.

Ilia sighed and rolled her eyes as Blake started to return the kiss, though she couldn't help but smirk to herself. "Oh, of course, because that ALWAYS works."

Gwen raised a brow over to the chameleon girl. "Aren't you over Blake?"

"Doesn't mean I still can't snark at their expense." Ilia countered.

After a few more seconds, Blake and Sun separated, with Blake's eyes having cleared up. However, it was evident that she was confused, blinking a couple times with a stunned expression. "…What happened? I think I blacked out for a second." She placed a hand onto her head. "I remember smelling fish and then… nothing."

Sun grinned and jabbed his thumb over to Patelliday. "Uh, I think your stomach might've gotten a fish-like alien being confused for a REAL fish there, babe."

Blake's attention was drawn to the still rather frightened magister, and a horrified gasp escaped her lips. She broke free of Sun's grasp and quickly bowed her head, apologizing profusely. "I am so, SO sorry, sir. I-I don't know what came over me, really! Please forgive me for what I've done!"

"Woah, woah there, little lady." Patelliday waved her down. "No need for an apology. Trust me, you aren't the first person who's tried to eat me and something tells me you won't be the last, either." He moved his hand softy across his front in a sweeping motion. "As we say on my planet, it's all water in the current."

"Th-Thank you, sir." Blake said with her ears folded low. "I promise that this won't happen again."

"Good to hear!" Patelliday nodded before his serious expression came back. "But now, I think it's time we get back to the topic at hand. Caesar?"

The young genius stepped up with the drone's head in hand. "Ever since we got these back to base, I've been doing some analyzing and… well, I'm sad to say that all of these drone's processors were scrapped in the fight. I'm not sure if I can collect any data on what their true mission was…" He craned his head over to Ben and the rest of the team. "But if I were to make a guess, it would be to come after you, Ben."

"Not surprised." Ben shook his head. "But why now? How is it that Vilgax sent these RIGHT when we got back from Remnant? And where the heck as he even BEEN all this time?"

"Trust me, Ben, I want to know those answers myself." Max said as he faced the mostly intact robot, staring up at it with narrowed eyes. "Vilgax always has a method to his plans, but with how sudden this attack happened, I'm not sure if I can get a read on him this time."

Six stepped up and added his two cents; "So now what? We sit on our hands and wait to see if Vilgax actually comes to Earth?"

Ben, however, had a different idea. "Well, we COULD do that… or I could go Upgrade and see just what exactly these things deal is." The hero reached for the Omnitrix and activated it, bringing up the holo-ring for his selection. "All I gotta do is find him and—" VRRRRRMM! Ben and everyone else's heads snapped up, hearing the sound of something activating. "…Did everyone else hear that?"

"Sure did, Green Boy…" Yang searched around before setting her sights upward, her lips parting as she saw just what the sound came from. "…And I think we might be in trouble." The blonde pointed up to the mostly intact drone… whose eyes were now lit up in a bright, neon green.

Without hesitation, everyone immediately went for their weapons, the group all taking combat stances. Ruby, with Crescent Rose at the ready, murmured; "That can't be good."

A bright light suddenly shined out from the robot's eyes and shot down at the team, with all of them jumping or rolling backward to avoid getting hit by it. However, the light proved to be completely harmless, hitting the floor without leaving so much as a dent. As it happened, this light was actually a projection… and it became immediately clear what it was projecting just a few moments later. Everyone's jaws went slack as the holographic image of a tall being graced their eyes, and almost immediately, they wanted to look away.

The alien was about twelve feet tall, though his enhanced musculature made him appear much taller. His arms and legs were rippling with muscles… though it also appeared like they were all made out of tentacles, and his hands had clawed fingers while he had two clawed toes on his feet. He was donned in heavy, brown armor, his legs completely covered while his arms were mostly exposed, with the exception of two gauntlets and a pair of large shoulder pads. On one gauntlet, there was a red gem, while on the other, there was a yellow crystal. And finally, there was a large, two-pronged headpiece settled onto his forehead that resembled his shoulder pads, the V-shaped piece making him look even more angry than he seemingly was.

And that was saying a lot since he appeared to be VERY angry. His skin was a sickly green and he had two bright green sacs on the sides of his face, which appeared to carry some kind of liquid inside them. He had tentacles on his chin that resembled some sort of heard and his lips were a dark black, which stood out against his gnarled teeth. His red eyes pierced down at the group as he held a large sword in his hands, the blade firmly planted down in the ground in front of him.

He set his gaze downward and spoke in a gravelly voice, one that sent chills through everyone there. "Ben Tennyson…"

A snarl came to Ben's face immediately. "Vilgax!"

"THAT'S Vilgax?!" Weiss exclaimed, whipping her head toward Gwen. "He's even uglier than you described!"

"Yeah, he gets that a lot." Gwen admitted.

Ben strode up to the hologram and furrowed his brow at the warlord. "Vilgax, what're you—"

"I apologize for not being there myself." the Chimera Sui Generis went on, seemingly ignoring the hero as he raised a fist and clenched it. "Believe me, I would want nothing more than to crush your throat with my bare hands… but that will have to wait. Right now, this recording should get my message across…"

"A recording?" Rook muttered, glancing over toward the Alien Trio. "That is very unlike him. Has he ever sent one of these?"

"No… it's kind of odd." Kevin admitted.

The recording of Vilgax went on. "You are probably wondering how I knew you had returned." He pointed down toward the hero in question. "But I have a feeling you already know…"

"The Omnitrix." Ben concluded.

"When you activated the Omnitrix, my detection systems picked it up immediately." Vilgax continued. "I knew it was then that I had to send my little… "Welcome Home" gift. Even as I watched you and your team be engulfed by that light, I knew that you would return SOMEHOW." He narrowed his blood red eyes in hatred. "You always do…"

Kevin nodded at that. "Yeah, can't fault him there. We DO cheat death a lot."

Vilgax raised a hand to the air. "But I am sure that you have also been wondering where I have been, as well as why I haven't attacked your puny planet in the time you have been… inactive." The warlord gripped his sword once again. "Well, when I broke out of prison, I had always intended on making my grand return to my home planet. It was to be the first thing I did, in order to make sure that my people's wellbeing was still intact in my absence."

"His people?" Jaune echoed, facing Ben with an incredulous look. "He rules over his home planet?"

"Yeah, and believe it or not, the people there worship him." Ben affirmed.

"Wow… how very Darksied of him." Rex commented.

"Unfortunately, when I arrived, my planet was in the middle of being overrun by Incursean forces." Vilgax's grip on his sword tightened and a growl escaped from his lips. "Emperor Milleous must have thought that with me out of the picture, Vilgaxia would be free for the taking…"

Nora's expression soured at that. "Okay, that CANNOT be that planet's original name."

"But regardless, the Incurseans were so far into their invasion that my people were forced underground, so I have been rallying them and building up my forces since my return. Know this; by the end of this conflict, the Incurseans will either be forced to retreat… or they will all perish by my hand. And once the war is over…" Vilgax bent over so that his face was closer to everyone, which made the group all take a step back… except for Ben, who simply glared back at the monstrous alien warlord. "I WILL be coming for you, Tennyson. You, your world, AND the Omnitrix. And be warned; I will NOT hesitate to take extreme measures against you. The universe WILL be mine, even if I have to go through you, your family, your allies, and even your other enemies to do it. And Maxwell…" Max's eyes widened at the use of his full name by the alien. "If you are nearby… know that you will be the one I come for first." The alien's lips curled up into a rather malevolent grin as he stood to his full height. "Sleep well, Ben Tennyson, and treasure your waking moments. You never know when your FINAL rest may come."

With that, the hologram deactivated and there was a very still air inside the hangar, with any noise having been drowned out by what had just happened. Many of the Remnant teens were left quite petrified by Vilgax's words, with Weiss, Neptune, Jaune and even Ruby all having turned pale. The Plumbers and Providence agents in the room more or less kept their composure, but even they looked visibly shaken. Even Six appeared to be visibly worried.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, the silence was finally broken. "…Well DAT'S fuckin' ominous." Bobo uttered.

"GEE, YA THINK?!" Ilia snapped back.

"I… I feel like I just stared death in the face." Blake said, finally able to speak again. "And I've seen Salem in person!"

"Indeed." Rook placed a hand over his chest. "I have seen Vilgax in images, an even then, I felt my innards twisting at the sight of him."

Ruby winced at the wording. "Uh, Rook, I think you mean you had a "gut wrenching" feeling."

"I was unaware that human stomachs needed wrenches."

Pyrrha let out a sigh as her shoulders slumped. "In all my years of training to be a Huntress, I don't think I've ever come across something so… so truly horrifying." It was then that Jaune came over and enveloped her in a hug, which she gladly reciprocated. "I don't think there's any kind of Grimm that could match the kind of terror that I just felt right now."

"Same here." Yang breathed out, running hand through her hair as she faced the Alien Trio. "I… I guess I can see why you guys reacted the way you did earlier."

Kevin's brow furrowed as he put his hands on Gwen's shoulders, giving them a squeeze as she put her hands over his. "Like we said… Vilgax is no joke."

"He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants." Gwen went on. "Even if that means killing others in order to get it."

"So… what do we do?" Ren asked. "There has to be something that we can do to prevent Vilgax from coming here… isn't there?"

Patelliday stepped forward and placed his hands behind his back. "I'm afraid there ain't much we CAN do, young man. Ya see, even if Ben were to go off planet in order to draw Vilgax's attention away, the mad man would STILL probably come here to destroy Earth." The Piscciss Volan adjusted his glasses as his eyes narrowed. "He's come to know just how resourceful humanity is, and the fact that there are Plumbers stationed here doesn't help matters for him."

Max took a deep breath and gave a nod. "Patelliday's right. At this point, Vilgax's vendetta isn't just against Ben, but the Earth itself as well." He set his gaze out to the team, his expression resolute. "As such, we need to prepare for the eventuality that Vilgax WILL be coming to Earth."

"B-But how?!" Weiss questioned. "How do you prepare against something like… l-like THAT?!"

"Simple… we train." Six spoke up, moving toward the team with his stoic expression having returned. "In order to be ready for Vilgax, we need to make sure that everyone's abilities are at their peak, which means that training will be an everyday requirement."

It was Winter's turn to step up to the plate. "Six is correct. You all may not be in Vale anymore, but training will still be a top priority in your daily regimen." She pointed a stern finger toward the teenagers. "That said, I'm quite sure that the Plumber base must have at least some adequate training facilities. So, starting tomorrow, I expect all of you to be here for midday training. Four hours, every day of the week starting at ten o'clock sharp. You all will be allowed a lunch break at noon and you are free to go at two. Barring any surprises that may happen, I expect this to be the norm."

The group of teens remained silent as they thought it over, only for Ruby to shrug her shoulders and say; "Hey, sounds good to me. I mean, we already knew that we were going to be training quite a bit, so having a set schedule for it sounds good!"

"Indeed." Penny approved. "And this way, we will be able to have the whole afternoon to ourselves!"

As she heard more murmurs of approval from the team, Winter craned her head over to Six. "What about you, Six? Sound fair?"

Six nodded in approval. "Yes, that sounds perfect, actually."

Sun, however, raised a hand. "Okay, so just one question about this. Does this apply to all SEVEN days of the week, or is there a different deal with weekends?"

Winter and Six glanced toward each other in thought, but surprisingly, Ben finally piped up after a long silence. "Guys, I say we give 'em the weekends." the team leader said with a grin. "I know more than anyone how important it is to deal with Vilgax whenever he decides to show his ugly mug, but… at the same time, it's summer vacation. And I'll be damned if I let it all pass by without showing these guys a good time. And I'll NEED time to do that."

After a few more seconds of thinking it over, Winter smiled and gave Six a nod. And while he didn't seem all too happy about it, the man relented, knowing that he was out numbered. "Very well. Weekends are off."

A cheer erupted from the crowd as Ben stepped forward, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Haha, alright! Now, who wants take a tour of the base? Something tells me you guys will need to know the layout of the place."

"Ahem." Everyone perked their heads up to see Molly step forward, the woman placing a hand over her chest. "If'n ya don't mind, I'd be happy to be yer guide on this lil' tour." She pointed over to the Remnant teens with a small grin. "But in return, I wanna know more 'bout the place that y'all are from! You kids've definitely piqued my interest, 'specially with those crazy weapons o' yours."

Ruby clapped her hands eagerly. "OOH! You wanna talk weapons?! I'd me MORE than happy to share!"

"We all would." Weiss emphasized as she bowed her head in gratitude. "And thank you for making such a kind offer, Lieutenant Gunther."

"Oh please, sugar, call me Molly… also, if memory serves…" Molly jerked her thumb over to the military specialist standing behind her. "Yer Winter's lil' sis, right?"

Weiss blinked at that in surprise. "Oh… yes, I am. I didn't know you two had met already."

Molly sent a knowing glance over to the other white-haired woman. "Well, let's just say that we literally bumped into one another out in the hallway." She saw Winter's face flush at that before letting out a laugh. "Ha! But hey, that's somethin' we can talk 'bout on the tour, so let's get movin'! Winter! Grab yer beau an' let's get goin'!"

If anything, this just made Winter blush even more, and made Kenny hide behind his hand. "Jeez, this is just going to keep happening, isn't it?" the redhead mumbled as the two heard their younger sisters laughing as well.

"I suppose…" Winter trailed off as a small idea entered her brain. 'Take this and make it an advantage.' With all the willpower she could muster, she put a grin on her face and raised a brow over to Kenny. "That said, I will give her this… she HAS reminded me of one thing."

"A-And what would that be?" Kenny asked as he shrunk back under Winter's gaze.

"…You haven't officially asked me out yet." Winter said as her smirk increased, taking a bold step as she was now within just a few centimeters of him. "Now tell me, when WERE you planning to do that, Ken?"

The face that Kenny was making was priceless. If the others had seen it, they would've laughed out loud. Face beet red, eyes widened to the size of baseballs, and on top of it all, he was beginning to sweat a bit. He did NOT do well under pressure, especially in a situation like this. "Ahahah… ha…" Kenny laughed nervously as he tugged on his shirt collar. "M-Maybe w-we could come back around to that when my brain ISN'T about to explode? …Please?"

Winter sighed and rolled her eyes, though she kept her smile about her. "Alright, very well. I will cease putting the pressure on you… for now." She took a single finger and ran it across the boy's jawline. "But I do hope that you will ask soon, because I would like to make this…" Winter tapped his chin for emphasis. "…official." She spun around on her heel and made her way toward the door, making sure to put a little extra sway in her hips for the poor boy. "Now, are you coming?"

Kenny quickly hightailed it after Winter… once he was able to collect himself, that is. And with that, the hangar was left to Max, Patelliday, Six, Holiday, Bobo and Caesar, the five all standing in silence for a few moments. Their attention shifted focus over to the giant robot remains, with Patelliday giving out a sigh. "Well, s'pose I should get to work on gettin' these things onto the next salvage ship."

"Hm, right. Now that we got that message, we don't need these things hanging around anymore." Max agreed before setting his sights onto Six. "But, uh… just a heads up. I know that you and Winter wanted the kids to have their first training session tomorrow, but we might have to put a bit of a wait on that. I've got a ton of things that I've scheduled for them over the next couple days."

Six raised a single brow. "Like what?"

"Ho boy, I recognized DAT face." Bobo groaned. "That's the face he makes when he's got his schedule messed up." The EVO Chimp turned around and went toward the exit, waving back toward the group. "I ain't gettin' caught up in dat mess. If ya need me, I'll be in my quarters takin' a snooze."

Once Bobo left, Max pulled up a data pad and began scrolling through it. "Ahem, well, tomorrow, not only will they probably be officially moving into their respective places, but they have Swift's parole hearing to be at as well."

Holiday slapped her forehead in realization. "Oh, that's right! How could I have forgotten about that?"

"The Aerophibian girl?" Patelliday asked. "Huh, didn't know she'd qualified for parole."

"It's a recent development." Max explained before going to Six again. "And the team will have to be there to help vouch for her in the court room."

"Hm, alright." Six allowed. "What about the next day?"

"Well, on THAT day, I scheduled a press conference with the media." The old Plumber scrolled through his data pad until he found the entry in question. "Just so that Ben and the others can explain just what happened a few weeks back and reassure the public. That and it'll help establish the group from Remnant with the people."

Six let a sharp breath out through his nostrils. If there was one thing that he detested more than anything… well, in reality, he could name several things, but the media was one of them. It was a big reason why he wasn't on the PR side of things when it came to working with Providence. Still, Max DID have a point. Formally introducing the Hunters-in-training to not just Bellwood, but the world, would be helpful to be sure. Just so they could make sure no one saw them as a threat. "Alright, I'll allow it. But after that day, their training WILL start."

"And I won't get in your way, Six." Max assured. "Trust me."

"Good, glad we're all on the same page!" Holiday clapped her hands together before wrapping her arms around Six's own. "Now, I believe that you and I were in the middle of talking about our dinner date…"

Six hummed out a response, a part of him slightly irritated that they wouldn't get to training right off the bat. …But still, he wasn't about to say no to his fiancé.

…..

After about an hour and a half-long tour of the entire Plumber base from top to bottom, Molly was working on bringing it to a close. There was only one other place that she had left to show them, and it just happened to be on one of the lower levels of the base. "An' now, fer the grand finale!" The Lieutenant placed her hand on a hand-print scanner and within two seconds, the door that she was in front of slid open, allowing her and the team to make their way in. She spread her arms out as she spun around to the group, gesturing to the rather spacious, silver-paneled room around them. "This place here… we call it the "Hazard Chamber"."

Near the back of the group, Manny crossed all four of his arms proudly. "Named so by yours truly, might I add."

"Yeah, because you're such an X-Men nerd that you looked up synonyms for the words "Danger" and "Room" and named it that." Helen added, leading her best friend's face to sour and for everyone to let out a laugh.

"Haha! Wow, really, dude?" Rex grinned. "

"Grr… w-well, uh… I'd like to see YOU come up with something better!"

Before the whole thing could devolve into an argument, however, Sun raised his hand. "Uh, excuse me, but what's an "X-Man"? I've heard Kevin and the others throw that word around and I'm still not quite sure WHAT it is."

Rook placed a hand onto his chin at that. "Hm, I believe it has something to do with human intercourse, but I could very well be mistaken."

All four of Manny's eyes widened at that, as did everyone else's. "W-What?! NO! Rook, you're thinking of X-RATED stuff. Get your head outta the gutter!" He whipped his head around to the Osmosian next. "And DUDE! What the hell, you haven't introduced them to X-MEN?!"

"Hey, we've had to deal with a lot over the past couple of weeks." Kevin shrugged. "Forgive me if there's still some things that we haven't show 'em."

"But hey, we know about a whole bunch of OTHER Earth stuff!" Ruby jumped in before listing said things off on her fingers. "Like the guys have shown us Pokémon, Zelda, Transformers, Back to the Future, Charlie Brown, Disney, and a whole ton of other franchises, too." The Hooded Huntress winked and gave a thumbs up. "They haven't been slouching on us by any means, I can tell ya that!"

"Hah, well, that IS a pretty big catalogue." Alan agreed before raising a brow toward Ben. "But, uh… how DID you guys show them all that stuff in the first place?"

Ben smirked and let out a chuckle. "Heh, well, we keep a bunch of stuff in Kevin's car just in case we need to go anywhere for an extended period of time." He placed a hand to his chin. "Granted, that's probably not the BEST place to keep those things since Kev's car does have a knack for blowing up at times…"

Kevin grumbled at that as Gwen set a hand onto his shoulder. "Well, then let's bring that stuff back into our houses when we get around to moving everyone in." She faced the group of Remnant teens with a knowing grin. "After all, we've still yet to do THAT, haven't we?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Ilia recalled. "We've had so much going on since we got here that we've let that slip past us."

"Ah, no big deal!" Nora waved off. "Tomorrow's another day, after all." At that moment, she pulled out Magnhild in its grenade launcher form with a manic grin. "Right now, I kinda wanna get a feel for this Hazard Chamber before we REALLY get scrappy in here!"

"As do I." Winter agreed as she and Kenny stepped further into the room. She faced Molly with an inquisitive gaze. "So, Molly, how does this place work?"

Nora zipped right up to the lieutenant with her grenade launcher at the ready. "And what can we blow up in here?!"

Molly gave a hearty laugh at the redhead's enthusiasm. "Haha! Well, aren't you just a ball full o' energy? Well, I'm afraid that we can't show ya what the Hazard Chamber's REALLY capable of right now since it's goin' through a bit o' maintenance. But, if ya'll wanna do some target practice, then I think I can whip somethin' up fer ya." Molly went over to the nearest wall and pulled down a metal plate, revealing a control panel underneath it. She flipped a few switches and, in no time, a bunch of metal training dummies came rising up from out of the floor.

"These're our standard dummies." Molly continued. "Feel free to rough 'em up as much as ya want, we've got plenty more where they came from!" She raised a finger toward the group. "But in return, I wanna see just what yer weapons are capable of doin', if'n yer able to."

The gang all wore big grins at the prospect. "Ooh, Molly, you are SO on!" Yang accepted as she slammed her fist into her hand, activating Ember Celica in the process. "C'mon, guys, let's show her what we've got!" With that, the teens pulled out their weapons and began to close in on the dummies, with Yang lowering herself to the ground. She pumped her fists behind her and let off a pair of shots, propelling herself forward and letting out a loud battle cry. In an instant, she zoomed ahead of everyone aside from Ruby, Weiss, and surprisingly Pyrrha, the three using their Semblances to give themselves a boost. Yang pulled her fist back and landed a hard punch at her dummy's head, letting off another shot from her gauntlet as it made impact. The dummy broke off its pedestal and slammed into the wall only a second later.

Using her Polarity semblance on the metal floor beneath her, Pyrrha increased her speed greatly as she closed in on her chosen dummy, bringing up Milo in its rifle form to let off a couple shots on it; one in the chest, two in each shoulder, and one directly in the stomach. Then, without missing a beat, she jumped up and transformed Milo into its javelin form, rearing her arm back before pulling the trigger. A shot let off from Milo's handle, propelling it forward as Pyrrha threw it directly through the dummy's head and knocking it off its own pedestal.

Ruby emerged from her signature petal blizzard in midair and pulled out Crescent Rose, the weapon in its sniper rifle mode as she took aim directly at the dummy's head and fired. The Fire Dust round went straight through the head, searing the metal and making it erupt in flames. Then, in the blink of an eye, Ruby transformed Crescent Rose into its scythe mode and twisted around, spinning down and slicing directly through the dummy in an instant.

After closing in on her own dummy, Weiss spun Myrtenaster's barrel so that it was on the Ice Dust setting before creating several glyphs on either side of her. The glyphs then all took aim at the dummy and blasted it with several beams of cold energy, freezing it up solid. She then switched up the setting on Myrtenaster, using Fire Dust to power up the weapon's blade. With a quick, clean slice, Weiss cut through the ice block and the dummy like butter, the former heiress bowing after her performance.

Nora came barreling toward her dummy without a second thought, using Magnhild to launch a single grenade at it. The moment it made contact, the grenade blew up, sending the already half-destroyed dummy right into the air. However, Nora wasn't done. She jumped up after it and transformed Magnhild into its hammer mode, the Pink Dynamo laughing as she swung her hammer down onto it and making it crash into the floor. Now as flat as a pancake, Nora landed next to the dummy and raised her chin proudly.

Sun, meanwhile, was already putting a firm beat down on his dummy with his bo staff, the metal rod slamming into the dummy with quick and hard strikes. However, it was then that he thrust Ruyi Jingu Bang directly into the dummy's chest, the monkey boy pulling the trigger and blasting a hole through it. He pulled his staff out and then separated it into its gunchaku form, delivering two hard swings down onto the dummy's head and caving it in.

Not far from him, Neptune was blasting his dummy with rounds of Lighting Dust, which were absorbed by the metal while leaving small holes in it. Deciding to switch it up, the blue-haired boy shifted Tri-Hard into guandao form and stabbed the dummy right in the head… before shifting it yet again into its trident form, splitting the head open as the blade separated into its three separate prongs.

Blake and Ren wasted no time with their targets, using Gambol Shroud and Storm Flower respectfully to riddle their dummies with bullets before both of them leapt forward with amazing speed. Blake shifted Gambol Shroud into blade mode as Ren brought Storm Flower's own blades up, the duo slicing cleanly through their dummies in the blink of an eye.

The same could be said for Ilia and Penny, though the two girls decided to take a more direct approach. Penny's arms shifted into her Floating Array Blades while Ilia extended her Lightning Lash, the thin bladed whip lighting up with electricity. The redheaded android jumped up and spun herself around, cutting through the metal dummy at multiple angles until it was nothing by a pile of scrap on the floor. And as for Ilia, she jumped right over her dummy while whipping her weapon around it, resulting in the target being ensnared by the Lightning Lash. With one good tug, the whip sliced through the metal, leaving the dummy in a similar state to Penny's own.

Finally, there was Jaune, and while he didn't perform any big, impressive feats of athleticism with his take down, he more than made up for it with how direct he was. He slammed his shield directly into the metal dummy's chest, knocking it backward before stabbing the tip of his shield into it, activating the gun barrel soon after. He blasted a hole clean through the dummy and it fell back onto the ground, where Jaune then leapt up with Crocea Mors over his head. He landed over its chest and stabbed his sword right into the mannequin's forehead, dealing the final blow.

With everyone having finished, Ruby stood up and twirled Crescent Rose around, striking her signature pose as she grinned toward Molly. "So, Molly, how was that for a demonstration?"

The Plumber Lieutenant was staring at the whole scene, slack jawed and eyes widened at what she had just seen. Next to her, Kenny was also staring in utter disbelief as well, leading to Winter putting her hands on their jaws to close them up. "I think they were very impressed."

"IMPRESSED?!" Molly echoed. "It was AWESOME is what it was!"

"Very much so." Rook clapped his hands together in admiration. "You all have done quite well, but considering that I have seen your fighting skills first hand earlier today, that does not come as a surprise."

"No kidding!" Kenny agreed with a big grin. "If that's what you guys can do with dummies, I can only imagine how you guys handle real villains!" He faced his two cousins with a raised brow. "And you guys think that these guys need MORE training?"

"Oh, they're good, make no mistake." Ben quickly corrected as he strolled up and put a hand on Yang's shoulder, the blonde cuddling up to her boyfriend instantly. "I've seen these guys killing creatures that are practically ten times their size. They wouldn't be in a Huntsman Academy if they weren't capable of fighting. I mean, how ELSE would they get in?"

Off to the side, Ben and many others failed to notice that Jaune's face slightly faltered at that, the blonde glancing down toward the ground with a shameful look. The only one who had managed to catch it was Pyrrha, and the redheaded warrior knew immediately what was bothering him. She slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, their eyes meeting before Pyrrha gave him a silent nod. "I know." she whispered. "It's probably time to tell them, isn't it?"

"Yeah… but not now." Jaune answered. "We have to find a good place and time to do it."

Ben continued on; "But, the main thing is that they aren't ready for Vilgax yet, which is why we're gonna start training to face him."

"Exactly right." Gwen said as she stepped up as well. "But first, I think it's important that we address something that happened earlier today, back at the falls." The whole group started murmuring amongst themselves as Gwen faced Ruby, giving her a nod. "Ruby, you said that you and Penny saw a mysterious man, didn't you?"

Everyone's attention went right to the two girls, with Penny moving closer to Ruby so that they could take center stage. "O-Oh, right, yeah…" Ruby put Crescent Rose away as she cleared her throat, facing her friends as she recounted what had happened. "Well, Penny and I were checking out the seals at the aquarium…"

"Which were VERY adorable, by the way!" Penny added with a cheery grin.

"Yes, very adorable." Ruby concurred. "But more importantly, just as we were about to leave, a strange man came up to us in a grey coat and hat." The Hooded Huntress put her hand over her face for emphasis. "He had a white beard, held a walking stick, and wore sunglasses, plus he had a large horse with him somehow."

Rex raised a brow at that. "Uh… I don't know if things are different in this world, but normally, large animals aren't ALLOWED in public places like that without a warrant."

Nora slid into the scene and nodded. "Yeah, sounds SUPER weird."

Weiss tilted her head toward her partner. "Did he say who he was?"

"Indeed!" Penny affirmed. "He said his name was Orson, and his horse was named Sylvester. And he also said that they were from some place called… Europe?"

Ben hummed to himself and put a hand to his chin. "Hm, that's all the way on the other side of the world. How odd…"

"Well, he DID say that he was a world traveler." Ruby explained. "But what I'd be more concerned about is the way he just up and disappeared." She jerked her thumb over toward Blake and Sun. "We heard our group coming from around the corner, turned to say hi, and then we were GOING to keep talking with Orson… but then he just wasn't there. It was like he just vanished into thin air."

"Oh… yeah, that's DEFINITELY not good." Ben agreed. "Random old men just disappearing like that usually isn't a very good sign."

Blake furrowed her brows at that. "So… what do we do? We can't just expect this to work itself out, can we?"

"Should we wait and see if this guy shows up again?" Yang suggested. "I mean, it doesn't SOUND like he's dangerous."

Penny nodded her head. "Yes, we actually had a rather pleasant conversation with him." Her smiled increased slightly at the memory of his horse. "And Sylvester was very sweet as well."

Ben placed his hands on his hips, thinking over exactly what they should do. "Well… for now, let's keep a sharp eye out for this guy." He pointed toward his team with a serious face. "And let's keep our guard up as well. If any of you guys see him, don't make direct contact with him. Contact either me, Gwen or Kevin in case you see him and we'll be there as fast as we can. Then maybe we can get some answers from him about who he really is."

"Sounds like a solid plan." Rex agreed. "So, what's next for us?"

The Omnitrix bearer let out a sigh and put his hands behind his head. "Well, for now, I'm thinking we should probably get back home… er, that is to my house." He pressed down on the Omnitrix and activated its holographic clock, showing that it was currently three-thirty. "It's still mid-afternoon, so I'm thinking that we still have time to do a couple things." A smirk came to his face as he asked; "So… who's up for games and dinner at my place?!" The collective cheer was all the answer he needed.

…..

However, little did the team realize that the person they were talking about wasn't too far from where they were. On the outskirts of Bellwood, the man only known as "Orson" stood on a hill overlooking the town, his gaze set firmly on the sprawling metropolis as his steed, Sylvester, stood by his side. The horse whinnied and reared back a bit before Orson tugged lightly on the reigns, keeping his friend steady. "Yes, yes, I know, old friend. Trust me, I know this place isn't like home, but we need to keep watch. After all, I made a promise that I need to keep." He let out a sigh as he adjusted his sunglasses. "Paradox, old boy, I hope you're right about them. Because if not, then this world has little hope for what is coming…"

Caw! Caw! Orson's eyebrows shot up, his head doing the same as his gaze moved skyward. There, circling above him, was a black raven, one that was calling down to him with its constant crowing. A smile came to his face and he let out a chuckle, offering the bird his hand. "Haha, why hello there, my friend. I had not expected to see you here so soon…" The raven flew down and landed on the back of his hand, leading Orson to pull him slightly closer to his face. "Now… show me what you have seen."

The bird let out a single "CAW!" before its eyes suddenly lit up, staring into Orson's own as it relayed what it had seen. Behind his sunglasses, Orson's right eye glowed as, in his mind, he began to see flashes of familiar places where he had been, places that were strewn all across the globe. The Pacific Islands, Japan, Central America, The Mediterranean, and even his own home in Northern Europe among many others. And in every location he saw, he could sense more and more power beginning to stir.

Orson hummed a bit before nodding his head in understanding. "I see… then everything is continuing as it has normally been, then." He raised his hand and the raven flew off, cawing as it continued to fly over him and his horse. Sylvester lowered his head to him and Orson met his gaze, the horse nickering softly as if encouraging him. "Hm… you have a point, old boy. These young people certainly have faced many trials in the past and have succeeded with flying colors…" Orson trained his sights back onto Bellwood, gripping his walking stick in his other hand. "Perhaps a little faith wouldn't hurt." With that, Orson turned around, ushering Sylvester to follow him as the raven did as well, only to vanish without a trace just a moment later. "Good luck, young heroes. We will meet again soon."

…..

A/N: And there you have it! It seems that Vilgax has been dealing with some problems of his own in the three weeks since Ben and the others were gone, huh? Of course the Incurseans would take advantage of Vilgax not being on his home planet and try to conquer it. That said, with that message from Old Squidface, everyone's gotten their first little look at Vilgax, and they definitely do not like what they see. Fortunately, it seems that Six and Winter are already planning their team's training regimen for the future, so that'll be pretty interesting to see. And with the training happening in a place called "The Hazard Chamber", you know it's probably gonna be really interesting. But still, it seems that this Orson fellow definitely seems to be a lot more than he appears to be, so we might wanna keep an eye on him to see when he pops back up again. Just who… or what could he be?

As I said at the top of this chapter, though, we're returning to the weekly format starting NEXT TIME! And there, we're going to be seeing the team as they move into their respective new places of stay. What sort of shenanigans could they possibly get into? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for reading, everyone, and I'll see you later! Stay safe out there!