From the bushes emerged a familiar face, Alaxa. She glanced around at the scene before her, and before any word of justification could be uttered, jumped out of the bushes. The group tensed, readying for another round of combat, but was instead met with a single word.

"Idiots." Alaxa uttered. "I told them you were my guests, not intruders." she muttered. "What do you mean?" Gwen asked, detecting that Alaxa understood the situation far better than themselves. "Why'd they attack Ben and Ester?" Gwen fired off. "They shouldn't have, that's why they're idiots. I told them that you were my guests." Alaxa stated. "So, what, they thought we were intruders so they attack us? Rather than politely ask us to leave? Doesn't that sound irrational to you?" Ben accused. Ester looked at Alaxa, took a step forward, and asked her, "You're their leader, aren't you?" A variety of shock and confusion ensued. "Wait, what?" Gwen involuntarily asked. "Really?" Ben enthusiastically queried, while Rook stood with his mouth agape. "How'd you guess that?" she asked as her underlings began to rouse. "It's all in how you stand. What? I am a princess after all!" Ester exclaimed defending herself against the three behind her. "Recognizing another leader is an important part of being a ruler."

"It seems I still have much to learn. I am the clan leader of all the people you have met, unless you two ran into others..." she stated inquiringly, looking at the two for confirmation. "Nope, just the giant alien doggy that lives in the trees."

"I'm sorry?" Alaxa said with a confused look on her face. "Ah forget it, we're fine." Ben shrugged.

"Perhaps we should go to my house, less idiots there." Alaxa said looking around.

"That sounds like a good idea. Let's go." Gwen put her arms around the group to push them forward.

Minutes later they had arrived. "You mean we were that close to finding it?" Gwen spoke with exasperation in her voice. "Looks like." Ester responded, despite her lack of context.

The walls of Alaxa's home were seemingly made out of the surrounding plant life. "Ooh, cool. Using plant control to create a house? Awesome!" Ben exclaimed as he admired the detail work.

"No, that's just overgrowth from this morning." Alaxa shrugged offhandedly as she removed the overgrowth with a wave of her clawed hand. "Wait. This morning? That's the growth of one day?" Ester inquired.

"Yes, I've heard tell that on other planets plants grow much slower, even down to an inch an hour." Alaxa cheerily replied.

"And what, if you would be so kind, is the average rate of growth on this planet?" Rook inquired with a hint of alarm in his voice. "3 feet an hour. Why?" Alaxa responded. "Ship. Now." Gwen declared. "But we just got here, can't we stay a bit?" Ben whined. "Now." Gwen responded as she put her foot down. "Okay, okay." Ben responded, attempting to appease his cousin. "It was a pleasure to meet you." Ester politely bid Alaxa farewell.

"What's the big deal!" Ben asked after they were out of earshot of Alaxa. "The ship!" Gwen stated. "It's only been like two hours, tops! It can't be that bad yet." Ben replied. "Try 6 hours." Rook responded.

Ben looked at Ester, who silently nodded with a smile. It was then Ben realized how long the two of them had been alone together, making him blush. Gwen and Rook noticed Ben's face, then looked at each other with a knowing face.

"Ben, XLR8 please." Gwen asked. "I'll do my best." Ben replied as he began to sift through the omnitrix aliens. Ben slammed down the circular core back into the watch, transforming into Fasttrack. "Eh, close enough." Ben shrugged. Gwen attached to Ben with her mana, whilst Ester wrapped herself around his torso. Ben and the girls looked at Rook. "C'mon Rook, I'll give you a princess carry." Ben jested. "Ben, I am not a princess, nor do I have a need to be carried." Rook stated as he transformed the proto-tool and fired it at Ben. "What am I? A pack animal?" Ben asked as the proto-tool locked a grappling hook around him. "No, you are more of a ride animal." Rook smirked as he responded to Ben. "More like a cute puppy." Ester stated as she tightened herself around him, sensing that takeoff was imminent. And imminent it was. No sooner had she done so than he had taken off with the three of them in tow.

When they arrived at the ship, vines covered half the ship. Rook was the first to spot the abnormality however. "Ben, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears as if our prisoner has escaped." Rook stated. "Maybe he just went out for a stroll." Ben suggested futilely. Rook started with "Ben, I highly doubt that..." before Rook finished, Gwen interrupted, "Rather than argue, let's just check and get this over with." Gwen said.

"Ben! I have very unfortunate news, Barga was RELEASED from the brig." Rook emphasized. "Which means we were boarded AND hacked?! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he had friends in the area." Gwen predicted. "Or perhaps we had a stowaway." Rook guessed. At this point, the squeaky voice of Charmcaster proclaimed, "Finally! The seed I planted before I was trapped in here has finally produced a result! This is the beginning of your doom!" The four looked at each other in mild confusion, then looked at the bag that held Charmcaster. "What is the bag a prison for? Tiny insect aliens?" Ester inquired. "No, it's for magically inclined individuals." Gwen explained. "Not really, anything with mana can be made a totem." Charmcaster squeaked. "Correction, it was just a sensor glitch." Rook apologized.

"Damn it! Does nobody here dream?" "I do." Ben responded in an attempt to antagonize Charmcaster. "Great!" she squeaked cheerfully. "Just make sure to remember every detail! I'm not the little girl you used to beat up! I'm an all powerful magician!" "Sure, whatever" Ben replied while digging his finger in his ear. "Anyway, can we get back to the missing frog? Mr. Ribbits couldn't have gotten too far could he? After all, he must have left less than two hours ago based on the vines." Rook gave a surprised look while Gwen simply said, "I told you he has his moments."

"You spoke, but I did not believe." Rook stated glancing upward. "And...he is gone." Rook sighed as he saw Ester and XLR8 take off on the ship's monitor.