Chapter 9: Uncouth Youth!
The fire was consuming everything in Johnny's apartment, and he was paralyzed with terror as it surrounded him and his parents. The two tried to reassure him, but it was doing little good. He shut his eyes, ready for the fire to consume him and his loved ones. Fortunately, fate had other plans.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" called out a deep voice. Hearing that, hope stirred in Johnny's heart, and he summoned the courage to reply.
"Yes! We need help! HELP! PLEASE!" he cried. His parents held him close, distressed at the situation around them. However, a beacon of hope would soon arrive. The sound of rushing water began, as torrents of water burst through the door, quickly extinguishing the flames. Out of the door frame stood an alien creature. In any other situation, Johnny would have been more terrified, but a look at the symbol on its chest made it clear that the hero of the world was here. This alien creature specifically resembled a humanoid mollusk. Most of his shell plating was red, but there were black patches on his shoulders and legs, his mouth was grey, and there were grey spikes coming from behind his legs and on his forearms. A single spike also lay on each foot, and in each hand lay a porthole.
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Codon Stream Entry: Water Hazard
Species: Orishan
Home World: Kiusana
Hailing from the Andromeda Galaxy, Orishans are some of the most important life forms on their home planet Kiusana. This due to Kiusana being 60% desert, and the arid climate makes potable water a rarity. Orishans, however, are able to unleash streams of water, and can suck up ambient water vapor into their portholes and quickly condense it into pure, liquid water. Their ability to manipulate water is not simply limited to spraying it. They can create water tornadoes, tentacles to grab objects, whips, and more; they are limited only by their creativity. Alongside that, they can manipulate the temperature of their water, letting them make it scalding hot or freezing cold. As such, Orishans are given a lot of respect, treated as part-shaman and part-rock star.
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"No need to worry now. I've got you!" Water Hazard assured. "Lucario! The fire's out! Help me get these guys out!"
"On my way!" came the deep voice of Lucario. Easily managing to get Johnny's mother in his arms, Lucario picked her up and quickly sped out using a move his training had earned him: Extreme Speed. Moving at blinding speeds while envelopped in a green aura, he carried the unconscious woman out to the streets, and immediately began coalescing water to use Life Dew, working to heal her of any issues. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long for Ben to come down, as he appeared in a bubble surrounding him, Johnny, and his father. Afterwards, Lucario took said water and used it to heal them of any other injuries. With the fire out in the apartment and the main residents saved, Ben turned back to normal and gently looked at the boy.
"Are you okay?" his voice asked, gentle and soothing.
"Yeah. We'll be okay, but thank you for saving our lives!" Johnny said with admiration in his eyes, briefly embracing the wielder of the Omnitrix. Patting his back, Ben gave off a gentle smile.
"Alright! I get it! You appreciate me!" Ben said with laughter in his voice. Lucario similarly gave a small smile of his own. It was fortunate how things would always work out for them. Even if Mr. Harangue would harass Ben with slander, at least they had an ally in the budding journalist Jimmy Jones. While he was young, there was no doubting his support for Ben nor his determination to get the truth.
'Even if he is arrogant at times, it is clear that he puts others before himself, even when others would falter and fall back. But why would anyone envy his life of constant danger?' Lucario thought to himself.
"Why does that stupid pauper Ben get all the attention?! I'm richer, I'm smarter, I'm better in every way!" came a very immature voice. Billy Billions had been thought to have been permanently stuck as an 11-year-old but experiments done by the researchers in the Billions Foundation had discovered a way to undo the temporal effects of Dimension 12, but they weren't willing to share it under orders from Billy. Now he did look like his proper age of a 17-year-old, but it was plain to anyone who talked to him that his maturity was unchanged. His attire was similar to what he wore as a boy. A red/violet tuxedo with black sleeves and golden buttons, black formal pants, golden shoes, a white shirt underneath his tux, and a reddish-pink bowtie. Finally, his eyes were brown and his hair was black.
"Calm yourself, sir, it won't do you much good if you keep ranting like this," a sultry British-accented voice tried to say to calm him down. This was Billy's bodyguard/assistant, Mazuma. She was a rather attractive women with red eyes and a blonde ponytail. Her attire was that of a cheerleader, with her black t-shirt and claret red skirt. Her accessories also seemed to fit the theme, with gold earrings, calf-height socks, sneakers, and wrist bands. She may have been an attractive woman, but the most surprising, and arguably creepiest, thing was that Mazuma was a robot made in the image of a girl Billy had a crush on back in school.
"But it's not fair!" Billy screamed. "He gets all the attention, all the fame, all the girls, and all because of that stupid watch! Even before that, he was a spotlight stealing serf!" As Billy ranted, he slammed his hands against the mahogany desk of his room, only to find himself screaming in pain, his hands badly swollen.
"At ease sir. I think you know people will not accept you as the new hero. Your stint with the Vengers showed that was obvious," Mazuma pointed out, making him remember how things had gone working with Kane North, aka Kangaroo Kommando, and Carl Nesmith, aka Captain Nemesis. Hearing those words, Billy came to a realization.
"That's right! Ben's got a monopoly on the hero game! And no one will believe me if I try to be a hero again! So instead of being a better hero than Ben, I should be the best villain and crush him! Then people will respect me, and then I'll go global, and I'll be king of the world!" Billy figured.
Sighing, Mazuma knew that her master was being foolish, but she had been made to serve him. "Yes. Indeed. Just be careful with how you do it. You may be smarter, but you don't have his physical strength, and given you've only recently gotten your body back to its proper age, I think it would be unwise to try fighting him human vs human."
Gritting his teeth, Billy nonetheless recognized the truth in his bodyguard's words. However, he remembered that he still had one device he could rely on. The De-Aging ray. Yes, the effects could be undone, but surely a younger Ben couldn't be any harder than older Ben. He also decided he'd try something else. Making a call to Mr. Harangue, the cogs in Billy's brain began turning for a new machine to be used against Ben.
"Okay, okay! I get it! You want my autograph!" Ben attempted to settle a raucous crowd of his fans, many having posters and other merchandise they wanted him to sign. It was moments like this where Ben hated his fame, as it meant he had a lot of trouble maintaining a private life. After managing to escape after signing enough autographs, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew! Really do wish that I didn't have my identity revealed back then."
"Then why not tell them to simply leave you alone?" Lucario asked Ben.
"You think it's that easy?" Ben retorted. "If it was, I wouldn't be complaining about it. I tell them to leave me alone, and I get paparazzi stuck to me like I'm some kind of photo magnet. Kinda gets annoying when people constantly try to insert themselves into my life. I've basically had to be homeschooled because photographers kept coming after me, and it caused a lot of problems for my high school. The one good thing about being famous is that I don't really have to worry about money, since I've been entitled to royalties from any merchandise of me. It means no need to worry about college funding."
"I see. It is strange that so many people want to be famous, don't you think?" Lucario wondered.
"Yeah. Well, the old saying is that wanting is better than having," Ben sheepishly answered.
"Why should we listen to you? The last time we worked with you, your ego led to our group falling apart and being humiliated on national TV!" the deep voice of Kane North, aka Kangaroo Kommando, rang. He was currently out of his armor, and looked like a Caucasian man with brown hair, grey temples and beard, a black turtleneck shirt, a brown jacket and khakis, and a gold emblem of a kangaroo.
"Yes! I want my revenge against Ben Tennyson as well, but I refuse to do so under your incompetent leadership!" An arrogant voice agreed. This came from Carl Nesmith, aka Captain Nemesis. He had slicked black hair, a pencil mustache, orange sunglasses, a black suit with a yellow long sleeved shirt underneath it, and an orange handkerchief and tie.
"Incompetent?! If you hadn't been so egotistical and let me, the one who bailed you out and upgraded your hunk of junk-!" Billy screamed.
"Improved? I know my suit inside and out! I've been using it for longer than you or that foolish 'hero', Ben!" Carl interrupted.
"You're both acting like idiots! We don't need to be criticized by a brat like you. We've been in the business of rescuing people since you were in diapers!" Kane countered.
"Call me idiot one more time, and I'll..." Billy began before Mazuma snapped her fingers. When that didn't work, she blasted red lasers from her eyes into the ceiling. That got them all to shut up.
"Enough! All of you! We did not come here to measure each other's technical knowledge. Nor are we being heroes this time. Remember Billy?" Mazuma sternly reminded Billy.
Finally realizing, Billy facepalmed himself at his immaturity. "Right. Right. So we know we won't be able to beat Ben in being heroes. Agreed?"
Hearing this, the two older men turned towards each other, and realized that such was the case. Ben was young, empathic, handsome, and had intergalactic support. There was no way they could do much to oppose him in the hero game. Reluctantly, they nodded.
Billy then developed a sadistic smile on his face. "So instead of playing the hero, why not the bad guy? My deal with Mr. Harangue netted me the remains of a little something he made early in his campaign, and you know what they say," Pulling a familiar red gun, everyone realized what his plan was. "Why fix what's not broken? Even the classics can be useful. You two hold him off for some time, and I'll create a new toy to break him like an old one!"
"HYAAH!" Kickin Hawk cried out, engaged in another spar against Lucario, aiming to slash with his arm blades. One thing Ben was finding was that Lucario was a nice breath of fresh air: new abilities, new fighting style, it honestly got boring sparing with only Julie, Max, Rook, and Patelliday. Even with the occasional visits from Gwen and Kevin, it still didn't fix the monotony of the same opponents. He would have liked to spar with the newer recruits, but none were too willing to spar against the greatest hero of the universe, and instead chose to wait until they were more experienced to do so, a process that took quite a bit of time under Magister Hulka.
"HAAH!" Lucario cried out as he took two small Aura Spheres and exploded them outwards. On the flipside, Ben was an interesting opponent for Lucario to face. Yes, Pokémon battles could be very dynamic, but they always felt rather structured, as attack and defend were synced within one another like a ballet. Here, defense and offense fused into one, and with Ben's versatility of powers and body types, Lucario felt like he was able to better train himself against what could be the next alien opponent. "Surely this isn't everthing you can do? Where's the boy who could make skyscrapers into rubble?"
"Heh. Not here anyway. After all the call outs I get from Mr. Baumann and Harangue, I figured it's time I get some practice with more restrained fighting. Finesse over force, ya know?" Taking advantage of Lucario trying to process what he said, Kickin Hawk leapt up and fell into an axe kick. Lucario, though, had figured out his simple plan, and "Lucario" was revealed to be an illusion courtesy of Double Team.
"Indeed. But it's too bad your mind hasn't quite caught up with your mind," Lucario taunted, smirking. "Now, get ready for this! Dark Pulse" Releasing another wave of darkness around him, Lucario left Ben slightly off-kilter. Deciding to switch things up, Ben slammed the dial. In his place stood a form unknown to Lucario. About the size of a young boy, this alien had pure white skin, with cat-like feet and four-fingered hands, each finger having sharp claws. His attire consisted of a green jumpsuit with black on the ankles, waist, and shoulders, and the black also had some parts on his face. Speaking of his face, he had three fins on his head and two whiskers on each side of his head, and the Omnitrix symbol lay on his forehead. Finally, there were numerous nodes across his body: two on each arm, and three on his belt.
"Let's get this on the road, shall we? Now that I'm Ditto, get ready to get split!" The little alien taunted in a rather high-pitched voice.
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Codon Stream Entry: Ditto
Species: Splixson
Home World: Hathor
A fairly peaceful race, the Splixsons mostly work as farmers and patterns on their home planet. Only about the size of a human child, they do possess unique abilities to make up for their relative lack of strength. They are capable of splitting into a number of perfect clones, each of which has the ability to act independently. All of a single Splixon's clones and the original have a unique form of a hive mind: whatever one clone sees, hears of feels will be noticed by all other clones, making them good at scouting areas. With this, a Splixson can overwhelm opponents through sheer numbers. However, this is not without fault. Splixsons transmit all senses, including pain and if the original Splixson is killed, death will befall all clones of the original (though the reverse is not true). Because of them being perfect clones, it is also easy for them to argue with one another and get nothing done.
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"Ben! This is Magister Patelliday. We need you over here right now!" came a panicky Southern voice over the intercom. Hearing this, Lucario and Ditto nodded and ran out. As they ran, Lucario couldn't help but think about Ben's new form 'Ditto? I know it's just a coincidence, but it's odd how a Pokémon shares that name'.
"What's the gist, Magister?" Ditto asked Magister Patelliday, who had been introduced to Lucario by Grandpa Max. He was a fish-like alien with greyish-yellow scales, purple eyes, an anglerfish lure on his forehead, and fins on his arms and back. His attire consisted of the standard Plumber's uniform and a pair of eyeglasses.
"Well, strap yerselves in, 'cause we got to ex-heroes on the loose! Kangaroo Kommando and Captain Nemesis" Patelliday announced. Hearing the latter name, Ditto's eyes widened, and Lucario noticed the Splixon clenching his fist. "They don't seem to be doing much, but still, I want you -"
"Don't worry Magister. Lucario and I can take care of this. They won't get away this time," the Splixson interrupted, a harsh glare in his eyes. Now that indicated more personal stakes in the matter.
Noticing the anger fueling his voice, Patelliday felt it better to not try and aggravate the human-turned-Splixson. "Alright. If ya say so," Hearing this, the Splixson/Pokémon duo left the base. Looking down, however, the Piscciss Volann muttered, "Just hope ya don't get yourself in trouble because of this."
As the two ran to the scene of the attack, Ditto was cycling through what aliens to use for this. However, his rage had since clouded his decision-making abilities. He was feeling pure rage, and had been looking to use some other aliens. 'Lodestar to rip the armor off them? No, a bit too easy. Goop? No. FOUR ARMS! Yeah, I'll pound them into tomorrow!' he ranted in his mind. Once the disgraced hero duo was sighted, the Splixson's boiling anger bubbled forward. "HEY! YOU TWO! COME QUIETLY OR YOU'RE GONNA BE IN FOR THE BEATING OF A LIFETIME!" As he did so, he slammed the Omnitrix symbol on his head, and transformed. However, this was none of three aliens he had been considering. It wasn't even an alien he had ever used, and it was one he would hate being.
"DECAGON VREEDLE!" he cried in a southern accent before looking at himself. "Are ya kiddin' me?! Ah have a Vreedle sample?" Decagon Vreedle had a humanoid body with pale grey skin, bags under his eyes, jagged teeth, pointed ears, and hair styled similarly to a pompadour. He wore a one-strapped pair of black overalls with grey cuffs, a green short-sleeved shirt underneath, and a green belt with white pouches on it. Finally, he had one green and one white kneepad, black boots, and green gloves. The Omnitrix symbol was featured on the singular strap of his overalls, and a small white disc lay as the buckle on his belt alongside a holstered blaster pistol.
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Codon Stream Entry: Decagon Vreedle
Species: Vreedle
Home World: Nomadic
Vreedles came about as a result of bad science. That is to say that the progenitors of the species, Ma and Pa Vreedle, were made by very substandard scientists. This resulted in quite a few issues, the most notable being intelligence: the Vreedle family lies amongst the dumbest races in the entire galaxy, with most Nemetrix aliens, as in the predators of multiple Omnitrix species like the Crabdozer and Psycholeopterran, being smarter than they are in spite of being non-sentient life forms, and their attention span is less than ideal. That being said, their knowledge in demolition is actually quite remarkable, and are also given a measure of enhanced strength alongside the ability to survive in space for long periods of time. Their genes, however, are amongst their most fascinating features: their DNA is basic and hardy, making it ideal for cloning purposes without worry of genetic degradation. To make up for their tendency to get caught up in their own explosions, Vreedles use cloning to keep themselves on hand, giving them a form of practical immortality as their minds are copied into the next clone body they get into. As such, the Omnitrix sample of this species is equipped with an on-hand cloning device that activates on the flatlining of the original. Finally, in defense of this form being fairly weak, he is also equipped with a blaster pistol for self-defense.
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"Well, well. If it isn't Benny Boy. Long time no see, old friend!" Nemesis mockingly said.
"Save the pleasantries for someone who cares about 'em. Ah'm just here ta bring you two in!" Decagon Vreedle retorted, whipping out his gun. Firing at the fallen heroes, he screamed in fury at them. Seeing this, Lucario initiated an attack of his own, charging up an Aura Sphere in his paws, ready to launch when ready. Seeing this, Captain Nemesis and Kangaroo Kommando split from each other, with Nesmith quickly unholstering missile launchers from his shoulders and launching them at the Vreedle. While widening his eyes at the attack, Decagon Vreedle didn't hesitate to shoot them down like fish in a barrel, leading to multiple explosions in the air. Through the smoke, Lucario fired the Aura Sphere at Captain Nemesis, sending the man flying and skidding across the ground. "Alright. This ain't workin', so how about we give an old friend some time tah play!" Slamming the symbol, Ben transformed once again, but this time, into an old favorite: his Tetramand form. Now, his skin was a dark red, and he had four eyes glowing green, with a black ponytail growing behind him. The most notable things about him, however, were that he had four pairs of arms, each with four fingers, and he was incredibly muscular, He wore attire similar to a Mongolian warrior, fitting his home planet's desert climate: gold wrist and ankle bands, black pants, and two golden bands going across his chest. The Omnitrix symbol lay on the center of his chest, where the bands intersected.
"FOUR ARMS!" the Tetramand roared out.
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Codon Stream Entry: Four Arms
Species: Tetramand
Home World: Khoros
Due to constant conflicts, Khoros's culture has long since devolved, turning from a confederation of thriving city-states into scorched and boundless wastelands. Nomadic tribes ruled by bloodthirsty warlords ceaselessly roam the landscape, seeking out ancient relics of Khoros' past glory, all in hopes of rediscovering the long lost secrets that will gain them an advantage over their enemies. A desert world, only the strongest of species can live their entire lives on it, and none show this more than the dominant species: the Tetramands. These red-skinned four armed humanoids are incredibly strong and powerful. They may not be the most agile, but their leg strength allows them to make powerful leaps. Despite this, their main weapon is their four muscular arms. These allow them to use powerful punches, punch the ground to create localized earthquakes, wield multiple weapons simultaneously, clap to unleash shockwaves to deafen and disorient opponents, and cling to walls and climb them like a spider. Much like insects or arachnids, the females of this species are stronger than males, and as such, any male Tetramand who manages to defeat a female Tetramand in combat is betrothed to them.
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"Let's get this wrestling show on the road!" Four Arms said as he leapt to Captain Nemesis. The former hero could only gasp in shock and dodge the attack, and felt him letting go of a breath when he saw the crater left from the punch. "Stop running and start fighting, or are you just a coward who can't do heroics without setting up for them?!" Ben roared in fury, his fury at the former hero reaching a boiling point.
"You impudent whelp! I didn't need it until you started having powers and interfering in my operations!" Captain Nemesis claimed.
"Interfering in your- I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I WAS INTERFERING! All I saw were crimes that I could stop! What else was I supposed to do? Sit around and not help out? That's not what a hero should do!" Four Arms sputtered, practically frothing at the mouth. However, he heard the distinctive beeping of the Omnitrix running out of juice and soon realized that between training with Lucario and his transformations, he had pretty much left the Omnitrix uncharged for a bit too long. "Oh boy," he could only mutter as he soon turned back into his human self.
"That's enough from you!" A bratty voice rang out, snapping Ben out of his fury. Before anything more could come out, he felt energy coursing through him, and given the cries from Lucario, the same thing had happened to him.
"What?! MY BONES! MY BONES! I FEEL LIKE THEY'RE MELTING!" Lucario howled in pain. If he was honest, Ben felt a similar burning sensation as well, though he tried to remain steadfast, only letting out a few grunts of pain. Soon, Ben felt a sharp pain to the back of his head, rendering him dizzy.
"Feeling tough now, peasant?" The smug voice of Billy Billions drawled, his fist unclenching. As Ben's voice began cracking, he soon realized what he had been shot by and who had done it. 'Really, Billy? You're using the De-Ager Ray again? Because that worked so well last time,' Soon, he felt a hard whack go into his gut, leaving him winded. Quickly looking up to see Mazuma, he also saw the two former heroes retreat. However, relief came when he heard another familiar voice, albeit one far more pleasant to hear.
"Stay away from my friends, you brat!" The familiar voice of Julie rang out. She had merged with Ship and was combat ready, if the missiles and gatling guns emerging from her armor meant anything. Just a glance could tell you that she was steaming mad and would probably ended up giving Billy more holes than Swiss cheese.
"W-Well, alright. I've done what I needed to, so I'll be out of your hair. Ta-ta for now! But I've got a surprise if you think you can handle it," Billy nervously said as he ran off with the rest of the former Vengers. At this, Ben groaned before darkness clouded his vision.
As soon as she arrived back at Ben's house, Julie carried the two back inside, hoping to make sure they had recovered."Ben? Lucario? You two okay?"
"Ship? Ship?" Ship chirped in concern.
"Aww. Not now Mom, I need a bit more...BUH?!" Ben groaned before suddenly shooting awake, realizing his voice had become much younger. "Julie, can you get me a mirror?" Hearing her boyfriend's request, Julie pulled out her make-up mirror and that was when Ben saw what had happened. "Seriously?! This again? I didn't even enjoy being 11 again the first time!" Indeed, Ben had gone from a teenager to a preteen. His attire had remained the same, but had shrunk to fit his new form. "Lucario, you okay?"
"I...I think so. Wait. Why do you like younger. HOLD ON! WHY DO I SOUND YOUNGER!" Lucario asked in confusion and shock. Snatching the mirror out of Ben's hands, they indeed saw that Lucario had changed: if he looked cool when he was older, now he looked cute. The same basic fur color was there, but his spikes had been replaced with bulbous pads, and the one on his chest had vanished entirely; he only had a single "dreadlock" on each side of his face, and the cream color on his chest only stayed at his neck. "No! How did I devolve back into a Riolu?!" Lucario demanded, confusion and shock slathering his voice.
"Devolve? Huh? Last I checked, that was a deaging gun, not one of Dr. Animo's devolution blasts." Ben asked in confusion.
"Oh. I didn't explain tell you about what I meant did I. Basically, evolution in my world would probably be more like a metamorphosis or puberty. Usually, Pokémon undergo a three stage evolution, something like going from a child to an adolescent to an adult. Others, however, have an evolution more like a caterpillar's metamorphosis into a butterfly, with only two stages. Riolu and Lucario like me are of the latter category," the newly-named Riolu explained.
"Huh. The more you know..." Julie trailed after hearing Riolu's answer.
"Alright. That explains some things, but we need to find a way to stop Billy. I don't know what he's planning, but he definitely doesn't planning on any heroics this time. It just feels like old-fashioned villainy. Come on!" Ben ordered. Twisting the Omnitrix, he began to cycle through his forms, and decided a familiar face wouldn't hurt. Switching to XLR8, Ben realized something: looking down at his chest, the green patch on his shirt had been replaced with green, and his body also seemed smaller than before.
"Shoulda figured that Billy's ray would affect my forms, but no time to waste. We gotta get to Billy's place immediately. Julie, do you think you can carry Luca- er, I mean - Riolu to Billions Tower? I get the feeling he'd hole himself over there!" The Kineceleran stated.
"Ben, I am inclined to agree, but I honestly feel more comfortable being referred to as Lucario," Lucario(?) answered.
"Well, whatever. We need to make sure that Billy doesn't do anything more than he has now. No telling what his ego will tell him what he can do!" XLR8 stated before speeding off. Reluctantly, and unable to use ExtremeSpeed, Lucario clung to the armored Julie as she flew after her boyfriend.
At Billions Tower, Billy knew it was a matter of time before Ben would arrive. He was counting on it, actually! If Ben was taken care of once and for all, it would be a total cinch for the Vengers to claim Bellwood for themselves. Then, the world and, eventually, the universe would prostrate themselves at his feet!
Plus, he did want a crack at payback against Harangue after Ben was taken care of: the man was supposed to be on their side, but he turned against him and claimed him and his cronies to be just as bad as Ben! That could not stand! So what if he may have spilled the beans on live TV? That wasn't his fault, was it? But the plebeians' minds were so easily swayed: once Harangue made his mistakes, it was child's play for Ben to regain favor. How fitting that a machine of Harangue's design be used against him? Oh, irony was so delicious!
"I can only hope that your little toy is almost done," Kane snarked.
"This little gizmo of yours had better be able to take care of Tennyson!" Nesmith chafed.
"The more you two keep prattling, the longer it'll take me!" Billy complained. Before he could leap down to confront them, Mazuma cleared her mechanical throat, catching everyone's attention.
"Clearly, Mr. Billions has better things to worry about, so why don't you soften Tennyson and the others while he's working on his new mech? Perhaps if he is defeated, we all win, as Mr. Billions won't have to waste time, and you two get the glory of being the once who defeated Ben once and for all?" Mazuma decreed. Hearing this, the two older villains looked at each other and grinned, deciding to head out and take out Ben and co.
"Thank you for that. Honestly, I kinda hope they lose, ya know?" Billy commented.
"Why is that, master?" his bodyguard wondered.
"Because I would much rather prefer to look at Ben's face when I do defeat him and take his place as the planet's hero!" Billy explained, smiling sinisterly. With this, he figured he should get back to work, continuing to make sure his mech would be ready.
The deaged duo and the human/Galvanic Mechamorph symbiosis managed to reach Billions Tower. A fitting monument to the bratty genius was laid out in front of him, a statue of Billy standing victorious across a mountain with a number of smaller figures prostrating themselves before him, fist raised proudly into the air. 'Oh, for the love of Arceus,' Lucario thought to himself, annoyance growing at the ego of the one who left him in this state.
"Looks like Mazuma was right. You would come here to get back at us," Kangaroo Kommando's voice rang as he hopped down from a nearby roof. "Didn't get too much of a chance to fight the last time we met, but I felt it would be better to not get in the crossfire of the feud between you and Nesmith. But for now, I am your opponent. Nesmith, deal with his friends."
"I told you, I go by Overlord now! But fine. Maybe I can find some satisfaction in seeing Ben's face fall when he sees his friends defeated!" Nesmith complained before complying. Rushing towards Julie and Lucario, he quickly fired a red hot laser at the duo, leading them to dodge, a fortunate thing since the pavement it touched had melted. Charging up an Aura Sphere, Lucario found, to his dismay, his sphere was smaller, and most likely less powerful. Nevertheless, Lucario persisted, and hurled the energy ball with the power invested in his little arms. Thankfully, it made its mark and was at least able to leave Nesmith a little disoriented. With this, Julie went into action, beginning to hammer into her boyfriend's former role model. "Is that really how pathetic Ten Bennyson is? Relying on his hometown sweetheart and little pet to fight his battles for him?"
"You are no one to talk!" Lucario retorted, spite leaking in. "From what I can tell, you are nothing more than a greedy old fraud! Hiring actors to play as criminals for to fight? Just disgusting! It's one thing to be greedy, but it's something else to cause trouble to pretend to be the hero!" Lucario could definitely see why Ben held such a low opinion of Nesmith; the man was despicable. It wasn't like Kangaroo Kommando was anymore of a saint, though: Lucario could see from the thoughts he could glimpse that his ego led him to try to murder his own brother and a cartoonist, something Lucario found ludicrous. There was not much time to contemplate, as Lucario's words struck a nerve with his opponent.
"So Benny got to you as well. Well, I wouldn't be forced to go into villainy if he didn't uncover my little scam!" Nemesis shot, clearly not remembering the words of Ben as he unleashed a salvo of missiles. Julie did remember, though.
"Have you forgotten? A hero is someone who stops crime and protects the innocent, and you clearly weren't!" Julie reminded him as she fired missiles of her own, the explosives targeting one another and creating giant explosions.
"You put your ego in front of your duty, and that is what cost you your reputation. All Ben did was hasten the process of you tarnishing your reputation with your own actions!" Lucario agreed, quickly launching numerous small Aura Spheres to annoy the has-been.
Meanwhile, Ben had been engaging with Kangaroo Kommando and had quickly switched to Heatblast. Thankfully, Pyronites didn't undergo any notable changes in body shape, so 10-year-old Heatblast looked pretty much the same as before, albeit less muscular and a bit shorter.
"To be honest, I do kind of agree with your little pet. Either Nesmith would get in over his head and get himself in major trouble, or some other hero would have taken the spotlight," Kane admitted.
"True. But you know you being right won't make me not want to kick your butt, right?" Heatblast stated as he exhaled a plume of flame from his mouth.
Dodging the attack, Kangaroo Kommando conceded with a nod, but quickly unholstered metallic kangaroo blades and flung them at the Pyronite. "Fair enough. But do you like my Kanga-rangs?"
"Not a bad name, actually," Heatblast complimented before throwing fireballs that turned the Kanga-rangs into nothing but molten metal.
"Good. Then there's more to come! Get a load of these!" Kangaroo Kommando soon threw a flurry of Kanga-rangs, but these ones seemed to be charged with electricity, and each time they grazed his rock-like skin, Heatblast felt like a taser had zapped him. Thankfully, Heatblast was tougher than a regular human, but it still stung. "Shocked? There's more incoming!" Kicking off, he launched into a diving kick and hit the Pyronite in the chest, winding him and leaving him reeling for a few seconds. Still, Ben wasn't deterred, and when the actor jumped again to do another kick, he latched onto his leg, and spun around before throwing him into a wall. Kane may have had powered armor, but he was still no spring chicken, and fell unconscious after landing to the ground. Seeing Julie and Lucario run to him, he could tell that they too were victorious.
At the same time, Lucario and Julie continued to deal with Carl. With him launching energy beams from his armor, Julie had elected to form a shield, serving as a brick wall while Lucario looked for the right moment to strike. Swinging and extending one of her arms into him like a flail, she quickly slammed him in the gut, winding him, letting Lucario jump into his face and unleash a Dark Pulse, sending waves of black energy into him. With horrible thoughts enveloping his mind, Nesmith couldn't help but flinch, leaving him vulnerable to what came next. Ship charged energy into Julie's palms, and Lucario got the biggest Aura Sphere he could muster. Launching the attacks into him, Nesmith was sent flying, bouncing on the pavement a few times and into Billy's ego monument, knocking it down.
Impressively, despite the impact from the blasts and the statue, Captain Nemesis was still standing. "I won't give up! I shall not fall to the cronies of Ben Tennyson! The world will sing my praises and I will be-!" The former hero ranted before Julie gave a harsh interuption with her armored fist, finally shutting him up and knocking him out in one fell swoop.
"They sung your praises because they didn't know the man under the armor. It's your fault you're stuck with multiple charges of murder and kidnapping," Julie sternly stated. Seeing Lucario's shocked look, she quickly told him, "It's something of a long story, better to talk about after we get you and Ben back to normal." Running to Heatblast, who had won against Kane, she flashed a smile as Lucario nodded his head in approval.
Quickly turning back to normal, Ben let the Omnitrix recharge, not willing to go in and detransform in the middle of the upcoming fight. "Good work. Wish I had a chance to shut him up, but I don't think he'll take being knocked out by one of his former hostages well either," he joked. His face growing stern, he quickly readied the Omnitrix. "Well, let's not keep his Majesty Billions waiting."
Hearing the doors being broken down, Mazuma knew that her diversion had now fallen through. Ben and the others had made it, and now they would be more than happy to thrash her and her master. Indeed, now Ben lay on his Tetramand form, albeit in a younger form, similar to him back when he was 10. Instead of desert attire fitting for Khoros, Ben wore a black and white t-shirt similar to the original shirt he wore, and a pair of black pants. No jewelry was on his body, and his head was entirely bald. "Alright, Billy! Time you send you to bed, you bourgeoisie brat!" Four Arms declared as he cracked his knuckles.
"I am afraid Mr. Billions isn't here right now. But I suppose that I can keep you occupied until he is ready to start his meeting with you," Mazuma declared. "He has also given me a few upgrades since we last fought a year ago." Shifting her right arm, she tore through the inorganic skin, unnerving Lucario quite a bit, and turned it into a chainsaw. Rushing towards them, Julie sprung in and generated plasma blades from her forearms, blocking the attack. With this, the two females began to clash. Ben and Lucario weren't sure how exactly they kind get involved, since while Four Arms could get in, he was pretty sure that he could end up harming Julie more than helping, and Lucario was not too ready to go against a fully mechanical opponent yet.
"Ben, Lucario! You two go take care of Billy! Mazuma's mine!" Julie instructed.
"Are you sure about that?" Lucario asked in concern. Remembering how she had dispatched of Bass back when Lord (or Lady?) Decibel had attacked, he didn't doubt her capabilities, but still had some reservations leaving her to completely leave her to her own devices.
"Yes! Ben needs all the time he can, and you can track Billy, right?" Julie stated
"I...I recognize his Aura, yes," Lucario admitted.
"Then you can at least help out Ben. Besides, I think I can handle a glorified animatronic," Julie finished, self-assuredly.
Sighing, Lucario relented. "Very well." His dreadlocks flailing, he jumped onto the Tetramand's back and started directing him to the brat who'd devolved him and reduced Ben's age to that of when he first got the Omnitrix.
"Rather noble of you to hold the line, but I think you will find that your efforts will be for naught," Mazuma commented as she retracted her chainblade and turned her arms into a pair of spike-tipped whips. Sending them forward, they dug into Ship, leading him to squeal in pain. It didn't help that afterwards, her eyes began to glow red, and she proceeded to blast Julie with lasers.
"Ship!" Julie cried in worry at her pet's cries. Gritting her teeth in anger, she quickly sent a missile to Mazuma. Seeing the incoming explosive, she retracted her arms, focusing instead on blasting the missile and dodging the resulting explosion. Switching tactics, she ran to Julie, and punched and kicked at the armor Ship formed with great effort, aiming for his joints to cripple him. Even with the armor, Julie could feel the vibrations sent through Ship, somewhat disorienting her.
"I will not let Tennyson get to the master, but if that means going through you, I will-" Mazuma began to declare before she got a fist to the face. Part of her artificial skin was torn off in the process, revealing the metal components underneath and her glowing red eye, and the damage seemed to be more than superficial, if her sudden glitching meant anything. "I-I-I will not-not let y-y-y-y-you w-win."
"I honestly don't think you will. But for the sake of speed, why don't you shut her down Ship?" Julie asked her pet.
"Ship!" Ship chirped as he slunk off his owner. Turning into a blob, he began to wrap himself around Mazuma. Flailing and attempting pull off Ship, Mazuma struggled against the rubbery, liquidy body of the Galvanic Mechamorph. Eventually, she was entirely surrounded, and with a burst of electricity, small explosions rippled across the Mazuma/Ship hybrid, though Ship's body was able to quickly patch his holes up. Mazuma, though, was not so lucky. By the time he slinked off her, all of her artificial skin had been burnt away, revealing her completely robotic endoskeleton, and with a few sparks, her eyes stopped glowing, signaling that she had finally been shut down.
While Julie and Ship were fighting Mazuma, Lucario and Four Arms had been jumping up the stairs to try to get to Billy. 'Whatever that brat is planning, I can only hope that we have a plan' Lucario thought to himself as the Machamp-like alien jumped up the stairs with the agility of a Mankey and the leg strength of a Hitmonlee.
"Knowing Billy, he'll be sitting at the top like a king. And I'm willing to bet that he's got some new weapon ready for us!" Four Arms stated about three quarters of the way up to the top. Tearing open the door, Ben went into the hallway, with Billy's office up ahead. As if on cue, though, several copies of Computron's minions come out of the doors. These blue robots were given circular motifs for their design: a teardrop-shaped body over a wheel was used for locomotion, their torsos were akin to that of a top and equipped with flat, cable-like arms ending in sharp claws, and their heads had a single eye with a dome-like hat covering their heads. "Or he'll try to delay us so he can iron out the kinks."
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Four Arms punched one of them in the chest, shutting it down instantly. Lucario quickly leaped off, and in spite of his small frame, it was remiss to forget that Riolu were Fighting type Pokémon, and with a grunt, he ripped off the head of one of the robots. Throwing it with all his might, he lodged it into the chest of another robot, while Four Arms simply used his muscular arms to rip one robot in two. Afterwards, Lucario jumped onto another robot, and dug his paws into its head, and with a tug, ripped out wires, shutting it down. Four Arms continued his own assault, punching his fists into the chest of one and threw it into one other robot, breaking them to bits afterwards.
4 robots remained, and Lucario and Four Arms were ready to finish them off. Lucario initiated Double Team, sending several copies around one robot. Looking in confusion, the robot fired lasers from its only eye, only to keep striking the illusory copies of the Emmanation Pokémon. At this, it instead went for a more physical approach and tried to snip at Lucario with its scissor-like arms, but it wasn't much against a small and agile target like Lucario. As further bad luck, one other robot decided to assist and fired its laser. However, it fired at a copy near the robot it tried to help, and ended up blasting it instead. Taking advantage of the confusion, Lucario proceeded to jump right through it, an Aura Sphere in palm. He tore through the chassis, leaving nothing more than an gaping hole, and the robot collapsed in a heap. Afterwards, Ben jumped on one robot and smashed its head into nothing more than a sheet of metal and also cracking its chassis with his bulk, and then ripped off the limbs of the last robot before jamming them into its head.
Briefly turning to look at one another, the two prepared for the fight as they marched to Billy's office, free of distractions.
Now that they had arrived, they saw that Billy's office was a fitting monument to himself. A massive glass window stood on the wall opposite to the door the entered from, divided in two by a wall holding a massive portrait of the young adult genius. Small statues littered around the room, and there was a bonsai tree cut to look like his younger self. Lucario clutched his head in his paws, exasperatedly pondering, 'This brat is as proud of himself as Lopunny are of their ears.' Hearing mechanical whirring, Lucario quickly took a battle stance, and Four Arms did likewise.
"Like a moth to a flame, you come to me! And now it's time you get crushed!" The smarmy voice of Billy rang. From the roof smashed a new powered armor suit. The lower body was a distinctly red colored sphere with spider-like limbs at the sides, and atop that was what amounted to the upper chest and head. It was gold and purple, much like Billy's attire, and had Billy's head displayed on the monitor where its face would be, alongside two powerful arms. "I based this new mech on Mr. Harangue's Stalker robot! After I'm through with you and your friends, he's next!" Pointing his fingers forward, he quickly fired an onslaught of lasers, stinging the Tetramand's skin while the Riolu simply dodged the attacks, weaving through them with great acrobatic ability.
"Great. So not only have my forms become weaker, but now you made the one robot designed to actually be immune to my forms!" Four Arms realized. Clapping all four of his hands together, Four Arms sent out a shockwave, briefly disorienting the mech and Billy, with Billy grunting in response, shown on the monitor.
"AGH! You're good, but I've done more than that. I've uploaded footage of your other aliens into this thing, so it knows any moves you got up your sleeve!" Billy boasted. "And I don't think your little friend will amount to do much!"
"We'll see about that!" Four Arms hit the Omnitrix and swapped to Heatblast. "I'm just gettin' warmed up!" With this, Heatblast unleashed a plume of fire, only for the Stalker-part of Billy's mech to unleash fire-extinguishing foam. 'Gosh darn it! Why did I think that would work' Ben scolded himself. 'But what else can I use?' Changing tactics, Ben tried another old form: Wildmutt. Looking similar to his 17-year-old self, the only real difference was the placement of the Omnitrix: instead of being on a collar, it was instead attached to an armband on his left shoulder. Snarling wildly, the Vulpimancer leapt onto Billy's arm, looking to find a tooth-hold on the mech. However, he was soon assaulted on both the olfactory and auditory fronts: noxious chemicals pumped out of the mech, and a high-pitched whine also emitted. Blinded and weakened, Widmutt fell and began squirming and whining in agony. Recognizing the danger, Ben switched instead to XLR8. Apart from being somewhat smaller, XLR8 at 10 was identical to him at 17. "So Wildmutt didn't work, let's get some acceleration up in here!" With this, he began to work by rapidly running circles around the mech, creating a disorienting tornado. At this, though, Billy's mech unleashed a hose from the abdomen, which began spraying a thick white liquid. As soon as it hit Ben, he found out what it was: rapidly cooling adhesive. Stuck like on a bug on flypaper, the Kineceleran struggled against the glue. Seeing this, Lucario quickly ran to XLR8 and pulled him out. "Single quick target? Why doesn't he try something a little harder? Maybe 10!" Switching to Ditto, Lucario noted the differences were mainly in attire: while 17-year-old Ditto wore black and green, 10-year-old Ditto was garbed in pure white, with small parts cut out to reveal his white skin. With this, Ditto summoned 9 more copies, and with effort, they pulled the original Ditto out of the sticky situation he was stuck in.
At this though, Lucario decided to intervene. He quickly suggested, "Ben, it's no use! If he has all your forms recorded and planned for, it will be futile to turn into anything else. Maybe there's another new form you haven't used yet?"
"Guess we don't have much choice. I hope there's something that can help us," Ben proceeded to slam the Omnitrix symbol, and what came next was another new alien he never knew about. He wasn't a Vreedle thankfully, but he was definitely something new. Ben now took the form of a humanoid pile of sand. Massive arms ending in giant four-fingered trailed down to the ground, and he had no toes on his feet, making his stumpy, cylindrical legs reminiscent of the towers of a sandcastle. Green eyes glowed from his dome-like head, and the Omnitrix symbol lay on his chest.
"SANDBOX!" the newly deemed Sandbox cried in a deep baritone.
¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦
Codon Stream Entry: Sandbox
Species: Sunasapien
Home World: Gaaharko
Gaaharako is an arid world not unlike Kiusana, but here, dust storms and tornadoes are far more common, and water is more easily accessible than Kiusana. As such, the psychic Sunasapien race eventually started to become one with the sand of their environment, taking on a body structure closer to that of a single-celled organicism like an amoeboid, albeit humanoid shaped. Their elemental powers are similar to that of a fusion of a Polymorph and a Petrosapien, albeit with sand instead of crystal and goop, but with some notable differences: Sunasapiens can incorporate sand from the environment into their own bodies, and it's not uncommon for older individuals to be able to reach sizes of over 30 feet in height, and develop wings from this. Their sandy bodies allow for a sort of intangibility, where they let attacks simply flow into their body, but they can also harden their "skin" into tough sandstone to protect themselves or form armor, not unlike a cell wall. Their shapeshifting abilities also allow them to generate extra limbs, such as arms or tentacles, or create weapons out of their bodies. Finally, they can temporarily exit their bodies and dissipate them into simple sand in a form of astral projection and then reform their body entirely from nearby sand, but this is a relatively advanced technique, with most Sunasapiens not mastering this until adulthood.
¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦l¦
"What the-?!" Billy replied in confusion. The sight of the new alien completely caught him off guard. Firing a number of lasers, Sandbox clumsily tripped on his stumpy legs, but much to the surprise of both, the holes left in the body of the sand-based alien quickly reformed like they never happened. By appearance, Lucario was reminded of Hippowdon, but his abilities seemed more in line with Muk or the shapeshifting Pokémon Ditto, not the transformation Ben used. 'Good Arceus, this will be confusing!' Lucario thought to himself know needing to differentiate between the Pokémon and the alien. "Still, how much threat can stupid sand be?"
"If my mind changed with my age when you de-aged, I'd agree. But you know something? Sand can be dangerous! After all it's coarse and rough. Let me show you!" Shifting into a dusty cloud, the Sunasapien lunged at the right arm Billy's mech, and ran through it. With this, it would be better to say that Sandbox didn't hit the mech's arm: he eroded it. Bit by bit, the sharp edges of the individual sand grains scratched and gouged the mech's arm: a single grain wouldn't amount too much, but Sandbox was made of hundreds of thousands of sand particles. The cuts were at ridiculous numbers, and soon began to scratch away the paint before starting to dig into the mech's joints, jamming them up, and eventually, after several more sandy tackles, Sandbox had entirely eroded it away. Badly damaged, the limb could only fall off limply with a clatter while Sandbox landed near Lucario.
"WHAT?! HOW THE-! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Billy ranted, completely flabbergasted at the damage Sandbox had down. With this, he unleashed more lasers from the remaining limb, but unlike before, Sandbox jumped towards Lucario. Seeing the need to protect, Sandbox instinctively found himself thinking of hardening up, and indeed, the sand molecules clumped together and put huge amounts of pressure on each other. With this, Sandbox found his skin turned into thick sandstone.
"Ben. I think I've had enough of this brat's behavior. Do you think you could puncture into his abdomen? Perhaps I can get inside to do some real damage," Lucario suggested.
"Yeah, I can. Sand does also get everywhere after all," Sandbox said as he formed his head inside the dome to nod at Lucario. Afterwards, Sandbox dissipated and returned to his original shape.
"Good. NOW!" Lucario stated.
With this, Ben turned his arm into a cannon, and after clumping more sand into makeshift grapeshot, he fired. Upon making collision with the Stalker portion, the damage was made evident: gaping holes were left inside, and sensing the opportunity, Lucario used his small sixe to jump in. Seeing Lucario's idea, Ben decided to have a little talk with Billy. Jumping into the hole where the right arm used into be, Sandbox was easily able to navigate through the machinery with little trouble. Finding an opening into the cockpit, Sandbox made his physical debut to Billy. As soon as enough sand poured in, he formed his head to glare at Billy, who had been reduced to frightened whimpering.
"HERE'S SANDY!" Sandbox declared as the rest of him began to pour in, turning the cockpit of Billy's newest creation into an Egyptian booby trap. Slowly but steadily, Sandbox fell in, and soon, sandy tendrils began to form, quickly forming a sandstone gag around Billy and tied him in sandstone knots to the chair. As Billy gave pathetical little murmurs, Sandbox began destroying the controls of the consle.
At the same time, Lucario began to work on doing internal damage to the armory. Unleashing a Dark Pulse, Lucario was able to knock several weapons off kilter, and punching and kicking them caused all manner of chemicals to pour out: he could see herbicidal solutions, adhesives, fire extinguishing foam, liquid nitrogen, and more weapons meant to disable Ben's transformations.
In a matter of moments, explosions littered the mech, and it soon fell apart. The legs popped off like they were the limbs of a doll, and explosion racked the remaining red portion. At the same time, sand began to burst out the seams of the mech, leaving little holes in their wake, and Billy was carried out in a dust cloud, still stuck in sandstone restraints. When Lucario exited the mech, he saw the childish inventor and wanted to knock him out, but Sandbox held him back. "Let's get our normal bodies back before we knock the kid out." Turning the sandstone on Billy's mouth to simple sand and returning it to his body, Sandbox ordered, "Tell us where the De-Ager Ray and we'll set you free. Don't try and get smart with us, or you'll know what it's like to be buried in sand!"
With his mech destroyed and no other allies left, Billy relented. "Fine. It's in my desk! Now let me go!"
"Ah ah ah. Not yet, I'll have Lucario confirm your account before I let you go!" Sandbox stated. At this, Lucario ran to the mahogany desk that had miraculously not been damaged in the fight somehow, and sure enough, he managed to locate said raygun. Giving it Ben, Lucario closed his eyes, unsure if Billy had told the truth. With a switch on the dial, Sandbox pulled the trigger and fired. As soon as the light disipated, nothing seemed to have happened. Glowering at Billy, sand began to spin, forming miniature twisters. "Was that a dummy gun to trick us?"
Just as confused as Ben, Billy quickly retorted, "NO! I promise, that was the real De-Ager Ray! Wait. What's going on with your friend?" Thinking it a simple trick, Sandbox, fed up and furious, formed his hand into a fan-like shape, and prepared to slap Billy. "WAIT NO, I'M-!" Was the last thing Billy said before Sandbox slapped him shut and accidentally knocked him out, turning back to normal afterwards.
Noticing a bright white light in the corner of his eye, Ben soon saw that Lucario had been enveloped in the same light, as if he had been painted over in it. 'Guess he wasn't lying,' Ben sheepishly thought. Slowly, Lucario underwent a drastic change, and that was when it clicked for Ben: Lucario's description of Pokémon evolution being like metamorphosis was apt, as Lucario changed from his former Riolu body into the more familiar Lucario body shape. In a few seconds, Lucario had turned back to normal.
"I'm... I'm myself again!" Seeing that the ray was working. Seeing that the ray worked as promised, Ben turned the De-Ager Ray to his head and fired. In a matter of seconds, Ben had been turned back to a 17-year-old.
"Nice! Maybe I shouldn't have slapped him so hard, but eh, no big loss," Hearing the elevator ding, Ben soon saw that Julie and Ship had come up. Seeing her boyfriend back to normal, Julie gasped in happiness and ran to him, embracing him as he did likewise.
"I promise you, Ben! I'll be back! My lawyers'll get me out, and you can expect some payback then!" Billy ranted as he was taken in, struggling against the police who had arrived to take the Vengers away. "GET OFF ME, PEASANT!" Funnily, Mazuma was also being taken away. Taken as evidence, that is.
"So Lucario, how'd you feel being that little guy?" Julie asked. Thankfully, Ship had undergone some Life Dew healing under Lucario to help him recover from Mazuma's shocks.
"It was an experience. I won't deny I liked the agility that came with being small, but I've had this body for longer," Lucario admitted. "What of you?"
"Trust me. I didn't hate it, but I don't feel comfortable being turned back in time," Ben replied.
"Ah come on! You're so cute when you're little!" Julie playfully bantered. "Not that you aren't cute now." With that, Julie gave Ben a small peck on the cheek, leading the young man to blush. "So, what do you say? Want to have a Sumo Slammers marathon after this?"
"WOULD I?! YES!" Ben answered with childish glee. Hearing what he said, he quickly covered his mouth, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "I mean, yes." Quickly turning into XLR8, he scooped up Julie bridal style while Ship wrapped around her waist and Lucario grabbed onto his neck.
"All aboard the XLR8 Xpress!" the Kineceleran announced as he ran back to his house with his friends in tow, ready for more of Ishiyama's adventures.
Voice Cast:
Water Hazard - Dee Bradley Baker
Johnny - Jennifer Hale
Lucario (Lucario) - Sean Schemmel
Ben Tennyson (17 years old) - Yuri Lowenthal
Billy Billions - Gunnar Sizemore
Mazuma - Tara Strong
Kane North/Kangaroo Kommando - Kevin Conroy
Carl Nesmith/Captain Nemesis - Christopher McDonald
Kickin Hawk - Paul Eiding
Ditto (17 years old) - Rob Paulsen
Magister Patelliday - Rob Paulsen
Decagon Vreedle - Bill Fagerbakke
Four Arms (17 years old) - Richard McGonagle
Julie Yamamoto - Vyvan Phan
Ship - Vyvan Pham
Ben Tennyson (10 years old) - Tara Strong
Lucario (Riolu) - Stephanie Nadolny
Four Arms (10 years old) - Richard McGonagle
Heatblast (10 years old) - Steve Blum
Wildmutt (10 years old) - Dee Bradley Baker
XLR8 (10 years old) - Josh Keaton
Ditto (10 years old) - Rob Paulsen
Sandbox (10 years old) - Fred Tatasciore
XLR8 (17 years old) - Josh Keaton
Author's Note
Well, here we are. The story that began my work on this site more than a year ago. Plus, uploaded after my 21st birthday! To anyone who has followed this story for the past year, I don't think I can apologize enough to you. It's not that I lost interest in this story, but months-long writers block is a nasty thing to struggle with, and college certainly didn't help. Plus, I have a bad habit of procrastinating. Hopefully, I can get to the first real arc of this story soon, where things start to get more interesting.
Also, yes. The voice I gave to Lucario as Riolu was based on Kid Goku, i.e. Dragon Ball, not Dragon Ball Z. Hey, if Lucario has the voice of adult Goku, why wouldn't his younger self by voiced by the younger Goku? That series was partially the inspiration for how Lucario defeated one of Computron's robots: think how Goku killed King Piccolo. On a big note, I've also introduced my first two original aliens. 1st is Decagon Vreedle, one of the forms Derrick mentioned was in the Omnitrix. 2nd is Sandbox, one of the aliens mentioned in Ken 10 in the original series, alongside Snakepit and Shellhead. As for his design and power set, there were three main inspirations: Gaara from Naruto, Sandman from Spider-Man, and The Fool from Stardust Crusaders. You can kinda see that in the name of their home planet: Gaaharko (as in Gaara + Sahara + Flint Marko).
Finally, you may also have noticed a new story in the future projects section, SMGo4: Masters of ROFL-Fu. Yes, you are not being deceived: I'm making a crossover between Ninjago and SMG4. Why am I doing this? I've been a subscriber to SMG4 since Mario's Road Trip and I've seen him through all the arcs thus far, and I've also been a fan of Ninjago since it began all the way back in 2011, when the main villains were the Skeleton Army led by Samukai and Lord Garmadon, and have continued to view it through Kalmaar and Wojira. The reason I'm doing this is to take the opportunity for a more funny, comedic series, as the most recent story I've published, Skylandersona: Rise of the Dark Stygian, and the story on the horizon, RWBY: Reincarnation and Redemption? They're probably going to be darker than what I've written so far. For the former, one half of it is Persona 5 and everything that game entails (sexual harassment, implied rape, attempted suicide, abusive/neglectful parents, political/societal corruption, you get the idea), and even the Skylanders half is darker, as the villains are not as comedic either like Kaos is: they still are funny at times, but they're essentially a fusion of Monokuma and Freddy Krueger, which is to say a gang of dream manipulators who see the fear and suffering of others as hilarious, and will do anything to get their sick kicks, manipulating the dreams of others to warp them into horrible nightmares or trap numerous people in a single terrifying dream. As for the latter, it shouldn't be a surprise that RWBY gets much darker after the middle of Volume 3 with the Fall of Beacon. The way things are planned out, however, it may be even darker than that, and I'm worried that it could make canon RWBY look tame. How? One series that will cross over with RWBY in that story comes from Gen Urobuchi. LET. THAT. SINK. IN. And it's not like the other three series are slice-of-life comedies either, so that'll just darken things even more. By contrast, SMGo4: Masters of ROFL-Fu will simply be a retelling of the prologue and the first two seasons of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, but with SMG4 characters and humor. It also would be the shortest of all my stories, and would be easy to complete.
With all that out of the way, let's go over what comes next for this story.
Next Time: Alien Muk Exist?
After the conflict between the Vengers and Ben's team, the Tennyson family is invited to Camille Mann-Tennyson's birthday to celebrate 7 years of peace. However, not everyone is particularly happy. When a blackout plunges everything into darkness and Joel is kidnapped, it turns out that the bride's family are still unhappy with the groom. Now it's time everyone put on their thinking caps and get their eyes open wide, or the fight will get very messy.
Actually, you deserve another preview for being patient. So I'll give you the title of the next chapter after "Alien Muk Exist?" right here! The plot will be revealed in the next chapter!
Trials of Dialga Part 1: Sowing Seeds