The Ones Who Bump Back:
Pathos.
Pt. 3
Chapter Three: In Too Deep.
Despite his earlier proclamations about how he knew Moka was going to do the right thing, Ben, while not outright skeptical about the prospect of working with a vampire, still had his reservations. Pretty much everything he'd heard from vampires came from stuff like movies which, just about 90% of the time, portrayed them as evil and wanting to enslave or destroy humanity, unless the film was an obnoxious rom-dram that left him feeling bored. Plus, that look that she had shot him earlier was still fresh in his mind, that almost hypnotic gaze that struck a chord with Ben.
He knew that he couldn't truly judge an entire race of creatures on stuff like that. Otherwise he would have never trusted that any alien was good, thanks to films about them, and thus wouldn't have made friends like the Helpers, a couple of Max's buddies, or… Well, it wasn't right to call Azmuth a "friend", but he was at least an ally of sorts.
"Uh… are you staring at me for a reason?" Moka asked, as the group continued walking towards their destination.
"Oh, sorry," Ben said. "I was just… thinking."
Moka giggled. "Don't apologize," Moka said. "I never said I didn't like it."
"Moka," Annabeth said firmly, "keep it in your pants."
"What do you mean?" Moka asked. "I'm flattered that somebody like Ben Tennyson finds me interesting! To be the center of attention to a celebrity!" As she spoke, she laid a hand across her chest dramatically, shifting back and forth from warm and cheery to tomboyish and flirtatious in a pattern that nearly gave Ben whiplash.
Annabeth rubbed her eyes, Moka snickering happily to herself. Ben watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow and a smile on his face. Ever since they picked up Moka and Jake for their party, things had certainly gotten more lively. Moka spoke nonstop about things that Ben couldn't even begin to comprehend, like bringing Annabeth up to speed on a few shows or movies she'd been following or stuff going on in the Dark Realm, while also ebbing out information from Annabeth about things going on in her own life that made the blonde girl a bit uncomfortable (which for some reason lead to her taking nervous glances in Ben's direction, as if she were hiding something).
Jake himself spoke of things that were more relatable in Ben's eyes. Stuff that existed in the "Light Realm" that Ben understood, which also lead to Danny finding a bit of enthusiasm in the conversation as well. Ben particularly found Jake to be entertaining, as the dragon behaved like a wannabe skater dude pulled straight out of the nineties who had gotten stuck in the modern day, where now behavior like that was seen as odd or just pathetic.
Danny and Jake were currently still wrapped up in a conversation as the group made their way, just behind Touka, who was in the lead, still keeping quiet, while Moka, Ben, and Annabeth took up the rear. Annabeth stepped away from Moka and walked alongside Ben.
"I apologize for… everything," she said quietly.
"Don't worry," Ben replied. "She's funny. I like her. Definitely not what I pictured a vampire being like."
"No," Annabeth said. "I promised that I would help you with this investigation, and all we've gotten so far is a bunch of monsters nipping at each other."
"It's still too early to start having regrets," Ben replied. "This has all been laying out the foundation. Next step we-" "Start building the house," Annabeth said, eyes shining in delight at the allusion.
Ben was taken aback by the amount of enthusiasm she displayed. "Not quite what I was going for," he said, "but sure, we can go with that. Whatever floats your boat."
Annabeth felt her face flush, as she looked away from Ben once again. "R-right," she said. "S-sorry, that was just me thinking about construction." Ben merely laughed. "You apologize too much," he said, nudging her with his elbow.
"But, honestly Ben," Annabeth said, "that's what I needed to hear. Thanks. It was a bit therapeutic."
Ben gave her a nod. "Always happy to help," he said. "I mean, it's what I do."
"Look alive, lovebirds," Touka said, "we're here." Before either Ben or Annabeth could reprimand her for that, they saw that they had indeed arrived at their intended destination: A hospital.
"So…" Ben began, "wanna remind me again what we're doing here?"
"We're investigating one of the victims," Annabeth replied. "By using the Somnus Charm that Moka has kindly let us use, we'll be able to hopefully figure out how they became affected."
Ben looked around the area, reading a lot of kanji on nearby store windows. "I don't know about you," he said, "but this does not appear to be Bellwood."
"Because it's not," Touka replied. "We're back in my home. If you had been paying attention earlier, you would have recalled that Annabeth showed me this activity that you described is not just happening in Bellwood, or even the Ghost Zone. It's happening in a lot of major cities."
"I saw that," Annabeth replied, "while doing some research on that ship of yours. Y'know, before it crashed."
"Ah," Ben said with a nod, displaying his understanding.
"We came to this hospital," Danny added, "because Touka felt more comfortable being in her environment."
"That is true," Touka replied. "So we'll figure out what's going on inside a victim's memories, and then I can go back home."
"Your willingness to help," Annabeth said, "never ceases to amaze."
"Zip it," Ben said, "both of you. So, how do we get in?"
"It's a hospital," Touka replied, "not Fort Knox."
"I mean," Ben said, "how do we get in without drawing attention to ourselves? There's obviously going to be staff that's gonna wonder what a bunch of teenagers are doing just… walking inside."
"We could always break somebody's ankles," Moka said. "That could give us the excuse we need."
Everyone looked at her with shocked looks! Then, they all took a collective step away. "What?" Moka asked. "It was just a suggestion."
A nearby creaking noise got their attention, bringing them all to attention, where they saw Jake standing next to a door leading into the hospital from a nearby alleyway. "Will this help?" he asked.
The group approached, finding it to be an emergency exit. "Well," Annabeth said, "there's no alarm. So I guess that makes this as good an entrance as any."
Choosing to go with it, the group snuck their way inside. The smell of sterilization and repeated droning of heart monitors or breathing pumps and similar machinery hit them as soon as they entered. "Okay," Jake said, "where do we go from here?"
"Intensive care," Touka replied, already leading the way. "That's where the victims were put."
The group moved as silently as they could, the hallways thankfully empty for the most part. But any time a doctor or nurse approached, they had to duck into any nearby corner they could throw themselves in order to remain unseen! The pattern kept up as they made their way through, getting especially complicated as they had to make their way to the upper floors.
Upon one encounter, Ben almost had to laugh at their desperate attempts at stealth.
"What're you snickering over?" Touka asked, crouched next to him. "Keep it quiet!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Ben whispered in reply. "I just… I think we're the worst spies ever."
Touka raised an eyebrow at him, before she found herself grinning as well, as they resumed their journey. "Well," she said, "that's what happens when you have as many of us as there are. Just… try to keep professional, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ben replied. "Don't worry about me. Push comes to shove I can turn into Grey Matter or Nanomech and hide in one of your pockets. Or better yet, Ghostfreak and turn invisible."
"Why haven't you done that already?" Danny asked.
"Why haven't you?" Ben replied. Danny was about to reply, but found that he could not. Ben smirked victoriously as the group began moving again. "I thought so," he said.
"Just stick with the buddy system. No losing track of anybody." "We're just walking through the hospital," Annabeth replied. "How would we lose track of each other?"
"You never know," Ben shrugged.
Moka was the one to laugh this time. "You're quite the character, aren't you?" she asked.
"What can I say?" Ben replied. "I like to keep things interesting."
"I should hope so," Moka replied.
Before too much longer, they found the entrance to the intensive care ward, Touka still up front.
They entered the ward and began looking at the plates on the different doors. "The most recent victim," Touka said, thinking aloud, "is right over… here!" She got up to the door, the others still trailing behind her, as she reached for the knob and started to turn it.
But, the second that she did, a voice was heard nearby! "What do you all think you're doing?" the voice asked. Everyone tensed up and looked over at the source of the voice, which turned out to be a nurse. "You all can't go in there! We have no idea what's-!"
Before she could finish, Danny promptly transformed and lunged at her, vanishing inside her body! Her eyes opened, revealing them to now be green and glowing, indicating that Danny had overshadowed her body. With a blink, her eyes returned to normal, and Danny saluted to the group with his newly acquired arm. "I'll make sure that nobody comes poking around here," he said casually, using the nurse's voice.
With a turn of the heel, Danny promptly began strutting towards the opposite end of the hall to keep anymore staff from coming near. "Okay," Touka said calmly, "take two."
"Is it… alright that he just did that?" Ben asked.
"Got any better ideas?" Jake replied.
The door was opened, and the group stepped inside, where a sight lay before them that sent a chill down their spines! The patient inside was a man, strapped down to the bed, with skin as white as a sheet, and eyes that were firmly open with dark crescents underneath. The eyes themselves were filled with bright red veins that indicated how unhealthy they were! Not to mention how their cheeks also appeared sunken, and lacking of life.
"Okay," Ben said, "definitely nothing good going on here." "What was your first hint, dawg?" Jake asked. "The pale skin or the messed up eyes? Or maybe the cheeks that look like messed up raisins!"
"Okay, enough out of you two," Touka said, "we need to get started." "Good point," Annabeth agreed. "Moka, the charm?"
The vampire nodded and held it out. The charm looked like an old fashioned gold coin, with an upside down triangle in the center, and a few carved markings around the perimeter that Ben couldn't begin to recognize.
"How does it work?" Ben asked curiously.
"It's basically a magical shortcut," Touka replied. "Allows anybody to access different planes of existence without having to do half a day's worth of incantations. With any luck, by poking around this guy's memories we can find out how his mana became infected."
"Moka, the charm?" "Wait," Moka said, stepping between the ghoul and the victim. "I mentioned before that I was coming with you, and this is still my charm. So I think I should go inside too and see what I can find with you."
"Have you ever used this charm?" Touka asked. "I have. And it isn't as easy as just diving into another person's memories."
"That exactly what it is," Moka replied. "And I know about the psychic overload that can come with it. Again, it belongs to me, so I have the final say on who uses it."
"Oh for - Fine!" Annabeth snapped, spooking both the ghoul and vampire. "If you both are still going to be playing this game, we'll all go in together, just so that way I can ensure that both of you don't go killing each other inside that guy's head!"
She promptly swiped the Somnus Charm from Touka's hands and laid it on the victim's forehead. The next instant, the Somnus Charm glowed brightly, before a wormhole of some kind opened up in the guy's forehead! Annabeth proceeded to grab both Touka and Moka by their ears, causing the both of them pain, as the three seemed to turn into a kind of smoke that flooded inside the wormhole!
"Well that all just sort of happened," Ben said. "We didn't even take part in that at all." "Women, am I right?" Jake added.
"Apparently," Ben said. He crossed his arms and casually leaned against a wall, not knowing how long it might take for the girls to find the clues they were looking for. "Hey, Jake," he said.
"Yo, waddup?" Jake replied.
"I don't really know you," Ben said. "In fact, I don't really know anybody here. But I was just wondering, do you really transform into a dragon?"
"Yeah," Jake replied. "My mom is a dragon too. Well, kinda. Basically the part of our bloodline that allows her to transform into her true dragon form missed her, and instead went to me."
"I see," Ben replied. "I saw another dragon earlier today, but it walked on all fours and didn't talk to me. Is that… normal?"
"Well," Jake replied, "did it give you a reason to talk?"
"Uh… no?" Ben replied.
"So maybe," Jake said, "it was smarter than you thought, but it just didn't want to talk?" He was speaking in a pretty cheeky manner, giving Ben the indication that he still had a lot to learn about the Dark Realm.
"Okay, barring that," Ben said, "so, is this… your true form?"
"Well, kinda," Jake replied. "I suppose it all depends on how you look at it. My mom has dragon blood, and I've heard from my grandpa that dragon blood is so pure that it's basically what makes me up entirely. Ain't got no real human blood in here."
"So, no blood donating then, I take it?" Ben asked.
"Nah, dawg," Jake replied. "Not a fan of needles. But anywho, my dad is human, and I still live like a human, going to school, chillin' with my friends, going to concerts and all that smooth stuff. You dig?"
"I… guess," Ben replied. He was having a hard time keeping up with Jake's "cool guy" vocabulary.
"But I still do stuff that dragons do," Jake replied. "I still help out any magical crew that I can find in the Dark Realm. That's what we dragons are meant to do. That's how I met Moka. She's come to me for help a few times, and now we're all pretty tight."
"And do you know Touka or Annabeth?" Ben asked.
"Nah," Jake replied. "She doesn't really talk about her personal life whenever we chill. She's always keeping it mad professional."
"I see," Ben replied again. "Well, it seems the three of them have some real history between each other."
"No joke," Jake replied. "And a mad amount of baggage too. Mostly that Touka girl."
Ben gave a nod. He just hoped that the three of them could hash out whatever was going on between them, or else this investigation was going to become really harsh before it even got fully off the ground.
Just outside the intensive care ward, Danny was continuing to keep his eyes peeled (or rather the nurse's eyes) for anybody that might try to get into the ward so he could divert them away. For a minute or two, there was nothing of any note. Nobody came near that area, which he honestly didn't mind, and Danny just remained standing guard. Until he caught a whiff of something nasty. Something really, really nasty!
"Oh, man," he groaned, holding a hand over the nose he was using! "What the heck is that? Did somebody drop a bedpan or what!? Ho!"
Knowing he would never maintain focus with that smell nearby, he walked towards where it was coming from. Soon enough, he saw a trail of brown coming out from under the door to the nearby bathroom. "Oh great," he said, turning back around, unable to do anything about that. That's when things went from bad to worse.
The lights overhead began to flicker, before they turned totally black! Then, a form slammed out of the bathroom door! What looked like brown, slimy tentacles whipped around, Danny hastily dodging to the side to avoid being hit, before they retreated back in the room! Then, as Danny continued backing away, the entire creature came crashing out of the room, writhing up the side of the wall, as it forced its way out!
It was a brown, sludgy form, walking on some kind of buglike tendrils that grew from the mass! An almost humorous, cloud-like shape that was large enough to practically take up the entire hallway! The smell that was almost as noxious as rotting flesh was still smelled as the thing moved towards Danny at an almost impossible rate of speed, heat pouring off the creature!
"Is that… what I think it is…?" Danny asked, moderately horrified. Stirring himself, he ran to a corner, where he found the desk to the opening of the intensive care ward, vaulting over it and letting the girl he was possessing go! He flew back towards the creature and shot beams of Ecto-Energy from his hands! Unfortunately, the monster was more or less unaffected by the attack, the beams shooting right through the semi-liquid form, before it just repaired itself a moment afterwards! It tackled Danny to the ceiling, a burning sensation promptly shooting into Danny's chest, before the creature shifted, wrapping around Danny, and throwing him to a wall!
Danny pushed himself back up, seeing that a brown stain had gotten on his chest! "Oh come on!" Danny yelled. "Did you seriously just get-?"
He stopped himself in time to jump over and fly around in the air as the entity continued attacking him! Danny knew that whatever this thing was, it was not related to a ghost like before, or else his Ghost Sense would have gone off! But he didn't bother wondering where the thing came from so he could just focus on the fight!
Danny fired more beams of energy at the monster, but like before, they continued to have no affect! The monster slammed Danny against the wall, before its entire body shifted into a tendril that wrapped around Danny's body! It slammed Danny against one wall… then the other… And then the floor… before finally it tossed him down the hall! Danny was about ready to transform back to normal thanks to all the abuse, but managed to push himself back up, eyes now glowing blue!
"What the heck was tha- what?!" Ben yelled, having left the room upon hearing the sounds of conflict outside! Danny fired off ice beams from his hands that froze the creature in place! However, the ice began popping and steaming, indicating that the creature beneath was incredibly hot! "Okay…" Danny said. "Didn't see that coming."
The creature blasted from the ice, slamming on top of Danny, who managed to turn intangible at the last second, thankfully sparing him from that disgusting fate! Ben activated the Omnitrix, as Jake transformed into his dragon form at the same time! Jake began flying in midair, looking at the creature intently!
"Yo, slime boy!" Jake said confidently. "If ya'll don't like the cold shoulder, how bout' we turn up the heat!" He breathed a jet of fire all over the creature, causing it to hiss and roar in discomfort! "How the heck is that thing even groaning?" Danny asked. "It doesn't even have a mouth!"
"Don't question it!" Ben replied, settling on a transformation! Holographic images of his transformations, much like the Ultimatrix or his old Omnitrix, appeared over the faceplate until he chose his transformation, where it then opened as the dial popped out. Ben punched it back down to activate the transformation, and with a flash of green, Ben transformed into Heatblast, ready to assist Jake with his attack!
He shot his own blasts of fire from his hands that further smothered the entity in heat! "Uh…" Danny said, realizing he had no fire attack to use. "I'm just gonna cheer you guys on! Keep it up! Bring the heat!"
With a massive roar, the creature shot tendrils out that struck both Jake and Heatblast, pinning them to the ceiling and a wall respectively! "Well that stinks," Heatblast said. "This thing isn't like fighting Sludgepuppies!"
"Uh… Ben…" Danny said, firing off energy blasts to distract the creature from continuing to harm them. "I hate to break it to you, but… this thing ain't mud!"
Heatblast raised an eyebrow (or what stood for one), before the foul smell told him what Danny meant. "Oh you are kidding me…" he growled. Fueled by rage at his disgusting situation, he blasted heat from all over his body to cause the creature's tendril pinning him down to pop, freeing him from his situation! Heatblast shot into the creature, body condensed in fire, and just began wailing on it!
Danny took this opportunity to slice off the tendril holding Jake, freeing the dragon from his own position! "Thanks man," Jake said. "Man this thing is nasty!" "You're telling me," Danny agreed.
The creature flattened Heatblast with its massive form, before tossing him into both Danny and Jake, causing them to roll across the ground! "I don't suppose anybody's got any ideas?" Danny asked.
"Uh…" Heatblast said, raking his brain. "We need to protect the people, that much is obvious. Give the girls more time until they can help."
"Well that shouldn't be much of a bother," Jake replied, "considering this thing seems pretty dead set on crushing us!"
Ben pressed the Omnitrix dial on his chest, transforming himself into Echo Echo! He duplicated himself and charged towards the creature, surrounding its body, before letting out waves of sonic from his mouth! The multiple attacks caused the creature to shriek in pain! It shot out more tendrils that knocked the clones aside, many were destroyed, whilst others slammed across the ground or walls!
Jake and Danny rushed in to assist, blasting with either fire or ice! The creature continued to wail as it threw itself around to crush the dragon or ghost, causing the both of them to dodge and avoid as many attacks as they could!
Echo Echo shook his head, well one of them, before jumping over Danny as he was knocked aside by the creature! The monster then crawled from the wall to the ceiling as it now chased after Jake! The dragon continued shot flames at the creature, which ended up triggering one of the sprinklers.
Water poured down on top of the creature, making it wail in pain once again! Echo Echo got another idea this time, transforming into Ampfibian! He shot electricity at the creature, causing it to convulse in a wild, moving blob from the mixture of water and electricity!
"Well," Danny said, "that's definitely doing something."
"What was your first hint?" Ampfibian asked.
The creature managed to knock Ampfibian aside with convulsing tentacle, knocking him into Danny, and sending the both of them flying down the hallway! With the attack gone, the creature slammed Jake against the wall next before the dragon could attack! It then caught Jake and tossed him aside next, where he flew right over Danny and Ampfibian's heads, slamming against the nearby wall behind them!
The creature continued to roar, as it made its way over to the door that the victim the girls had entered was being kept! "No you don't!" Danny screamed, releasing a Ghostly Wail that sent the monster back against the farthest wall! Only by sliding into a nearly puddle like form, did it slide its way beneath the attack, and wrap itself around Danny!
It began dragging the ghost down the hallway, prompting both Ampfibian and Jake to pursue them!
"Moka… Moka!" The young vampiress shook her head, coming back to reality. She saw Touka and Annabeth looking at her with questioning expressions, Annabeth having let go of the both of them. Inside the man's mind resembled a kind of spectral sea that stretched out somewhat endlessly.
"Sorry," Moka said. "Got distracted."
"I told you," Touka said. "Your mind will get overwhelmed quickly."
"I can handle it," Moka said. "Don't worry about me."
Annabeth merely continued rolling her eyes at her friends' squabbling, and began searching for the memory that would link them to the situation at hand. The memories appeared as glowing orbs that when touched, showed the events before her. She instantly put herself to work, looking from one to another to find the most recent one.
"And as per usual," Touka muttered, "little miss Daughter of Athena jumps right to work as is convenient for her." "If you have something you want to get off your chest, Touka," Annabeth said, "let it wait until we get out of here."
"But Annabeth," Moka said, "with your ADHD, wouldn't you want a distraction?"
"You're going there Moka?" Annabeth asked.
"Sorry," Moka giggled. "I'm just being honest. You know I adore you."
"Yeah," Touka said sarcastically. "That honesty has always done well for you."
"Don't think I'm the one who burnt that bridge!" Moka said firmly. "You've always been the troubled one. Not me!"
"Please!" Touka said. "I sacrificed everything for you! My time. My health. Everything to make sure that you were happy while you were stuck as that stupid, pink bimbo!"
"Bimbo!?" Moka asked angrily. "She is every bit a part of me as I am!"
Annabeth felt a splitting headache forming. This really was a terrible idea, she thought. We aren't ever going to accomplish anything with these two around.
"And once again," Touka said. "Annabeth is ignoring us "
"Unlike you both," the demigod said, "I am actually trying to focus on why we all came out here. Which was not to have some petty argument!"
"Petty!?" Touka said. "You think that this is petty!?"
"Yes! I do!" Annabeth replied. "Because you ran away from us, so you have no right to hold a grudge!"
"I only ran," Touka said, "because you two already gave up on me!"
Annabeth and Touka looked each other in the eye, Moka shaking her head in turn. Like Annabeth, she didn't want to keep up with this argument when they really couldn't afford to. As her eyes moved, she suddenly came upon what they had been looking for. Standing in the outskirts of the "field" of memories, she saw what she could identify as the most recent one. "Guys," she said, getting their attention. "This is it."
The three looked at the memory, as Moka held her hand out. The space around them became a full reconstruction of the moment that had gone on. The man, whoever he was, had been operating on a car in a garage, just minding his own business. But as the girls continued to watch, they caught sight of a dark figure emerging from the ground behind him, totally cloaked in shadows, as he got to his feet, wiping his hands with a rag.
The shadowy figure held a hand out towards the man, grabbing him by the back of his head. The man shuddered and convulsed in what appeared to be sheer pain, before dropping to the ground in a heap! He now looked every bit as bad as he did on his hospital bed, cheeks sunken, skin pale, eyes dried.
The figure then vanished in a wave of smoke. And like that, the memory stopped. "Huh," Moka said. "Did either of you see that?"
"See what?" Touka asked. "The fact that the guy dropped just from that thing grabbing him?"
"No, not that," Moka said. She waved her hand and the memory restored itself. She froze it on the image of the dark creature holding its hand out, grabbing the man by the back of his head. She got in closer, seeing something pinned to the creature's chest that caught her interest. While the details of the figure were totally obscured in darkness, she could see the thing pinned to his chest jutting out.
"That," she finished. She grabbed onto the thing and held it out in front of her. The rest of the memory vanished in a haze as she held onto the image in her hand, which had turned into a golden wireframe shape. It was a circular object, a charm of some kind, with a number of plain lines that were etched into the face. Two vertical lines on the top and bottom, with one in the middle that stretched across, tilting upward on either side.
"What is that?" Annabeth asked.
"I don't recognize it," Touka replied.
"Me neither," Moka conferred. "We will have to investigate that later it would seem."
The entire memory space suddenly shook violently, and what could be labelled as a fierce roar was heard! "What is going on!?" Annnabeth asked.
"Something must be happening to the man's body outside!" Touka replied. "We need to get out of here now!"
"One more second!" Moka said. She held her hands around the image of the charm she had plucked. She was pumping as much yoki as she could into it in order to pull it from the mindscape back into reality!
Finally, she deemed it satisfying and nodded to the other girls! The three then proceeded to shoot upwards, out of the mindscape and back into the real world!
Ben struggled to free himself from the creature! During his pursuit of the monster, it managed to wrap itself around Ben - who had transformed into XLR8 - and Jake, keeping the three of them trapped as it returned to the room where the victim was being kept, looming over his bed! Danny was able to free himself by becoming intangible, and then flew right towards the victim! However, the monster slapped him aside with one massive tendril, causing Danny to slam face-first against a wall!
That did it. Leaving a trail of green that turned to red, Danny transformed back into his human form and crumpled onto the ground.
Ben continued to put up a fight, at least trying to free his arms! If he could just transform again into somebody like NRG or Shocksquatch, he might get out of this! He might at least be able to get the man free and play keep away!
However, with a flash of light, the girls all appeared out of the Somnus Charm dropping to the ground. Moka took one look at the creature that was hanging over them, looking rather unamused. The creature promptly released everyone and sent its full gargantuan form at her! But the next moment happened in a flash, as Moka just kicked the creature, and caused it to completely explode in a storm of… feces!
Everything was silent for a moment, save for the disgusting sounds of the creature's essence sliding about the room. Ben was the first to react, after transforming back to normal. "What the heck was that?" he demanded. "You just kicked that thing once and it fell apart? We were throwing everything we had at it for the past fifteen minutes and it wasn't stopping!"
"Of course," Moka replied simply. "I'm a vampire."
"That doesn't explain-!" Ben began, but Jake cut him off. "Don't worry about it," Jake said, also transforming back to his own human form. "You'll only break your head."
Danny staggered back to his feet, face bruised and bloodied after connecting with the wall a few moments ago. "I feel like a rainbow…!" he said. He shook himself off, drying his nose a bit, before continuing. "Did you… ahem, find what you were looking for in there?"
"Yes," Annabeth replied. "But now we need to find exactly where the source came from. And that might become more complicated."
"Well it's not like things weren't complicated enough," Ben replied. "Now we got both ghosts and monsters of unknown origin hunting us down, with no idea where either came from."
"Just another day at the office for you, huh?" Annabeth asked.
"Oh, indubitably," Ben replied.
"Then let us continue?" Moka asked.
She lead the way out, as everyone slowly began following her.
"I know what this is," Ben said, looking at the symbol that the girls had pulled from the head of one of the mana victims. The group had returned to Anteiku, enjoying some coffee as they went over the facts. Ben was looking at the image that Moka had taken from the victim's mind, which was floating over a magic circle that she had created to merely project the image outward.
"It looks like one of the Charms of Bezel," Ben said, as he sat on a stool against the bar counter. "But my cousin and I destroyed them when we were ten years old. What one of them is doing here is anybody's guess."
"You said charms, as in plural," Jake said. "That mean there are more than one of them?"
"Yeah," Ben replied. "Each one has a unique ability about it. One gave my cousin the ability of luck when she first used it, but they can also do other things too. Like elemental abilities, or even being able to resurrect. But which one this is, I have no idea."
"But do you know who might have gotten them?" Annabeth asked.
"Sure thing," Ben replied. "And we look no further than the lunatic that had been using them the last time we fought: Hex."
"Hex," Moka replied. "Who is that?"
"He's a sorcerer," Ben replied. "Did the whole 'seeking unlimited power' thing back when Gwen and I first fought him. Gwen's been keeping tabs on him, given the fact that he used to be one of our archenemies, but he's thankfully been keeping quiet for a long while. I guess that's all changed now."
"Anything we gotta know about him?" Jake asked.
"Being a sorcerer," Ben replied, "he'll use spells and all that jazz. But he isn't hard to take down if you can just give him one mean punch to the head. We haven't really fought in forever, so I don't know how his magic might've changed over the years."
"So expect the unexpected," Danny said. "Good enough for me."
"We'll rest up for a little while," Moka said, "and then we'll head over to where he is currently based out."
"Sounds good to me," Ben replied. "After that last fight, I could use a break."
"Yeah," Danny agreed, "that fight was a real… crapfest."
Ben looked at Annabeth with a baffled expression. "What was that?" he asked, referencing Danny's pun.
"You get used to it," Annabeth said. "...actually, scratch that, you really don't."
Ben shook his head as he sipped his coffee, cringing at the flavor! "Black? Are you kidding me?" he said, sending Touka a reproachful look as she stood behind the counter, enjoying her own drink.
"What?" she asked. "With all of us here, you expect me to flavor everyone's drinks according to their preference?"
"Well you could at least consider me," he said, sounding offended. "I am a hero!"
Touka shook her head. "I shall endeavor to please you in the future," she said, "Mr. Hero." Ben merely smirked at her, as he flavored his drink to his liking. While he still preferred smoothies, he soon enjoyed the coffee, particularly the added kick that it gave him.
"You're one brave dude," Danny said. "Whenever I talk to Touka like that, I end up with a bruised nose."
"I have fought conquerors and mutants," Ben replied, "I have no fear."
"Either that," Jake replied, "or you're arrogant as to think she won't break your kneecaps the moment you go one step too far."
"Let it be said," Ben replied, "that I welcome retaliation."
"Brave indeed," Moka said, a bit flirtatiously. "A man with backbone is always interesting." Annabeth could only sigh at their banter, despite her smile.
The group began mingling casually amongst themselves, but Ben picked up something nearby. Off in the corner, Touka was just sitting by herself. Ben had noticed this because, while he still knew jack diddly about the Dark Realm, he still felt like the leader of the team. He knew that, even without knowing about the Dark Realm itself, he was the one that had grown the most used to the "saving the world" concept, on top of the discovery that one of his enemies from his childhood was responsible for what circumstances brought them all together.
So, it was only natural that he saw her standing alone. He turned to the other girls, specifically Annabeth, and pinched her cheek. She naturally recoiled in pain, smacking his hand away with a dramatic, "ow!" Ben checked on Touka, seeing that she had noticed that, even fighting off a laugh. Ben smirked, thinking, step one, done!
"Ben, what the hell!?" Annabeth said in annoyance.
"Go talk to Touka," Ben replied, looking her in the eye.
"What?" Annabeth asked. "What're you talking about?"
"Look," Ben said, "I don't know what happened inside that guy's head, but whatever it was, it's gotta stop. You two and Moka can't keep arguing with one another at every turn. I was kind of hoping that inside that guy's head you would have hashed all this out, but obviously you didn't. You only made things worse. So, now that we have the chance, settle it."
"But-" Annabeth said.
"No buts!" Ben said. "Just hash it out, okay?"
"Who died and put you in charge?" Annabeth asked. "Aren't you working with all of us in the first place because you don't know anything about the Dark Realm?"
"That may be true," Ben said, "but I'm still the one who's the most used to saving the world from bad guys, and it's my bad guy that is the one responsible for all this. So when the going gets rough out there, I can't afford to babysit you three." He then proceeded to pinch Annabeth's nose. "Hop to it."
Annabeth looked stubborn, but finally relented with a sigh, standing up and walking over to the ghoul who was still in the same spot. "Hey," Annabeth said. Touka took a sip of her drink before replying with, "hi."
Annabeth looked awkwardly at the ground, Touka not speaking further. Annabeth took another breath and tried to steel herself. "Look," she said, "about what happened back in that guy's memories, I don't-"
"Save it," Touka said. Annabeth was taken aback, before Touka continued. "I know you're only here because you were put up to it. If you're not going to apologize and do it sincerely, then don't bother at all."
Annabeth ground her teeth and clenched her fists, frustration growing from the pit of her gut! "I. Am. Trying," she said slowly. "I am trying to get through to you! But I just… I just can't help you if you don't let me!"
"Then stop acting like it's my fault," Touka said.
"It is!" Annabeth said in exasperation.
Ben could only look at the exchange in silence. The others were no better, unable to pull their collective gaze away from either Half-Blood or ghoul. "What is their story?" Jake asked. "They've been at each other's throat the whole time." He turned his gaze to Moka, who was only casually paying attention. "You too," he added. "You and Touka have been pretty aggro this whole time."
Moka gave a heavy-hearted sigh. "You know how we used to spend time together," she said, "and acted as supports for one another, yes?"
"Yeah," Ben replied. "We got that much."
"Well," Moka continued, "the problem with Touka is that she tries… too much."
"What're you saying?" Jake asked. "How can somebody be too supportive?"
"At the expense of her own health?" Moka replied. "Yes, I should think that would be too supportive."
"Touka has a bad habit, of doing things that go one step too far. Like, she has a human friend who offers to share her lunch, or even made her a meal for Touka when she was sick. So, Touka ate the food."
"But," Ben said, "I thought you guys told me that ghouls can't eat human food?"
"They can't," Moka replied. "Or rather, they can but they get no sustenance from it, and it all tastes like pure filth. Typically, if a ghoul is trying to pass for human they'll just swallow the food whole, and regurgitate it later."
"Gross," Jake said.
"But Touka doesn't," Moka replied. "At least with her friend. She forces herself to eat the food whole, no matter how revolting it is for her."
Ben let loose a curse under his breath. "Why would she do that to herself?" Ben asked. "It can't be healthy."
"It isn't," Moka replied. "But she does it because she cares too deeply."
"But you still haven't answered," Ben said, "how this lead to you three splitting up."
Moka tilted her head back. She peeked at Annabeth and Touka, who were still heatedly discussing, probably knowing nothing about what the rest of the group was discussing. "It happened a few months ago," Moka replied.
A/N: Not much else to say about this chapter. Figuring out the best way to demonstrate the fight between the heroes and the "Crap Monster" was fairly fun, especially their reactions to what it's made of. I was also a fan of showing how Moka could take it out in one hit, like she does, even after the guys put their all into it!
I always preferred the look of Ben's alien selection in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien (UAF as it's commonly abbreviated) so I decided to use it like that for this story (well, as much as I could get it to in written word). I dunno, I just wasn't a fan of the circular hologram with almost chibified versions of the aliens' faces in the selection screen. I get they were trying to go for a phone app style selection so... I find that dumb, especially compared to a detailed holographic representation of each alien species.
I also failed to note this earlier, but for Moka's outfit design, I tried hard to think about an outfit that would suit Moka, with both her established tomboyish personality, and what would suit her best for her preferred fighting style of using kicks. I ended up recalling an outfit belonging to Megurine Luka (a 'Vocaloid' AI singer) dubbed as her "Successor" outfit, and I felt that it would suit Moka well, being both professional and comfortable. I changed a few slight details, but the majority is there. Go check it out!
If you have a different look you think would work on Moka, let me know.
On that note, I also changed Danny's human look a bit too. Not by much, I just liked the idea of Danny using a hoodie like in Butch Hartman's official "College Years" design for him. I also gave him some new pants and shoes too, just to complete the look. And you can also presume that I'm still having Ben wear his UAF ensemble as well.
As always, thank you for reading! And any characters you would like to see in the future, I'm still open to suggestions! See you next time, where we learn about how the girls had their falling out.