NOTE: A quick chapter that I was able to write up since it's not an episode. Since, this is a fic that I really want to write more about, I was thinking of writing some spin-offs about this idea. Some of them taking place in spin off Persona games. Like, Persona 4 Dancing all Night or even Arena. Of course I would have to change dates/plots a bit with those considering what Yukiko is doing right now and to accommodate for Ben and Gwen.

Anyways other than that, review and Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Questions

Most people would call Ben Tennyson an idiot, which isn't true. Lazy? Yes. But, he was no idiot, he just needed something that could catch his interests. Which was the reason why he was originally going to be participating in Little League this summer, but last decision making turned his summer into a road trip. A road trip that has changed his entire life on the first night. While he wasn't academically smart, the boy was observant when he wanted to be. So, when both of his female cousins have been awkwardly fidgeting around each other, he knew something was up.

The two were currently occupied on their own things, with Yukiko nervously watching the window and Gwen hiding her computer screen. He shrugged his shoulders and opened up the cabinets to pull out a big bag of chips.

Ben popped open a bag of chips and plopped down on the seat next to Yukiko. He propped his feet onto the table and began munching on his chips. The two girls made no movement to acknowledge his presence, but he didn't exactly care. He munched on the chips as the two continued to ignore him. He decided to chew louder.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

The two twitched lightly.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

Their twitching increased.

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH-

Yukiko's hand ripped the bag of chips out of his hand instantly, she tossed it out the window and pointed her finger at it. "Agi." And the bag was turned into ash just as instantly as it left his hands.

Ben sat there surprised for a moment before pulling out another bag of chips and ripping it open. He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth, continuing to chew louder to annoy his cousins.

"Ben," Yukiko's voice was tense.

"Yeah?" He asked after swallowing his food.

"I will set your hoverboard on fire."

He understood the threat, knew she would follow up on it if he continued, and promptly set the bag of chips onto the table. Before anything more could happen their Grandfather walked into the RV with a package in his hands. "Yukiko, I got what you asked for," He lifted the package up.

Yukiko gasped and pushed Ben out of her way, knocking the boy onto the floor. She rushed over to her grandfather, grabbed the package, and ran into the bathroom. "Thanks, Grandpa!" She shut the door and locked it.

"You're...uh welcome?" He was slightly stunned by her sudden speed. Turning to his younger grandkids. "I'll be running a few more errands for a while. Gwen, keep Ben out of trouble," He told her.

"Understood, Grandpa," Gwen responded. When he left the RV, she turned her attention to Ben. "Do you just exist to annoy people?" She asked.

"Do you exist to be a geek?" He shot back. Sitting back down across from her, he glared at her. "Are you going to explain what's going on with you two?" Ben asked.

Her eyes went from her computer screen to him to the bathroom, then back to him. "There's something about Yukiko that is driving insane," She whispered to him.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked, loudly.

"Keep your voice down!"

"Okay okay! Jeez…" Ben flinched back. "So, what's got you so paranoid?" He asked again.

Gwen turned her computer to him and showed him the news headline. Ben scratched his head in confusion. "Uh? Gwen? I don't read Japanese," He said.

"Ugh, useless."

"Shut up, dweeb! Just explain it to me!"

"Fine, do you remember a couple of days ago when we got attacked by those bounty hunters?" Gwen reminded him.

"Yeah, that's when we met Tetrax and I got my super cool hoverboard," He smirked, rubbing his gift in her face.

The orange haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I had asked Yukiko about her powers, but she just dodged the question."

Ben wasn't too surprised about that, he remembered asking Yukiko about her abilities when he first got the Omnitrix. She didn't answer his questions nor did she really answer Grandpa's. It was as if she was keeping everything to her chest and that the world would end if she told them.

"So, I decided to look up about her hometown Inaba. Turns out there was a long string of murder/disapperance cases there last year," Gwen revealed.

"Woah...what's that got to do with Yukiko?" Ben shrugged his shoulders.

Gwen resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. Of course the doofus wouldn't think too hard about it. "Because, doofus! She was one of the victims!" She flipped the screen back over to him. She had pressed the translate option, so that Ben would read the words on the screen.

AMAGI YUKIKO, THE HEIRESS OF THE AMAGI INN HAS GONE MISSING!

Green orbs grew wide after reading the headline. "Woah...that is big news," Ben replied. He didn't think too much of the issue at first, since Gwen had told him the incident had been concluded, but this was something else. "But, Yukiko never mentioned this to any of us."

Gwen nodded her head. "Yeah, I figured maybe it was a traumatic experience that she didn't want to speak about at first, but then other things started to seem off to me," Gwen said.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Yukiko had gone missing, but three days later she appeared back at her Inn as if nothing had happened. It was reported that she was exhausted for a couple of days, but she suffered no injuries nor showed any signs of PTSD. Then, next was that a young man named Kanji Tatsumi also went missing," Gwen explained.

"What's so important about that guy?"

"Because Yukiko mentioned that he was one of her friends. And the same thing that happened to her happened to him. There was one other disappearance reported, but the person's name was kept hidden for some reason," Gwen finished.

Ben leaned back into his seat, his arms behind his head. "Okay, that's cool information and all, but what exactly does this have to do with her powers. I mean, yeah they're weird, but what does it have to do with her disappearing?"

Gwen sighed and closed her computer. "I-I'm not too sure at the moment. But, there's just something about all of this that doesn't make sense. Like, there's a big piece of the puzzle missing that nobody is aware of," Gwen felt disappointed.

"Look, Gwen, if you care so much then just ask her or I'll ask her," Ben suggested.

"No! You'll just mess it up and say something stupid."

"Hey!"

"And she'd just dodge the question and attempt to keep even quieter about it," Gwen responded.

"Then we should just wait for her to tell us. I mean, how crazy could her secret be?" Ben laughed.

"This is completely crazy."

Yukiko sat on the toilet after tearing open the package that her Grandfather had picked up for her. It was the armor that Yu had bought for her before their final battle against Ameno-Sagiri. She had messaged Chie to grab it and mail it to her after their battle against the bounty hunters. The inspiring police officer had asked why Yukiko even needed it, to which she answered back with 'feeling a bit nostalgic'.

"Am I really going to constantly try to hide this under my clothes whenever we go out? That'd be way too suspicious, but I need this. These last few battles have gotten tougher and tougher for me. Is it the armor that I need or do I need to become stronger?"

Yukiko placed the armor back into the packaging, trying to wrap it back up the best she could. "Should I just tell them? What's the worst that could happen from explaining that year to them. Yu-kun told Dojima-san and Nanako-chan about it, but that was a special circumstance. They had been personally affected by the whole TV world, Adachi, and Namatame. Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa will never experience anything like that. It's fine to keep this secret…" She bawled her fists as her thoughts continued.

A memory flashed in her mind. A broken and bloody body was being held in her arms as she cried loudly. The Shadow's laughter was heard in the background, while her friends all fought to stay alive.

She flashed back into reality and splashed some water into her face.

"Nothing bad will happen to them...I'll protect them...I'll protect them."

Chapter End

NOTE: I do think that Rise's disappearance was kept quiet about for the most part, so that people wouldn't freak out about 'Risette' disappearing. Also, nobody would've known about Naoto getting herself kidnapped nor would Dojima want his daughter's name put all over the news. So, only Yukiko's and Kanji's kidnappings were reported and so were the murders that took place.

Next chapter will be Tourist Trap!

Have a great day!