NOTE: Sorry, this took so long, school and life suck ass at the moment. I'll be doing my best to write for my stories whenever I get the chance.
I wanted to show you guys the list of the games that I'll be covering in regard to this story:
1. Persona 4: Dancing all Night
2. Persona Q 1 and 2
3. Persona 4 Arena
4. Ben 10: Protector of Earth
5. Persona 5 Strikers
This list might change overtime. We'll see as I continue to write this story.
Review and Enjoy!
Chapter 23: The Persona Tick
"Ah, nothing like finally relaxing in the peace and quiet of the great outdoors," Max took a deep breath.
"I don't know. Nature seems to hate me for some reason," Yukiko said. The heiress turned around to see a couple of squirrels scurrying behind them. The animals took one good look at her before running away in terror.
"Probably, because they can sense who's at the top of the food chain…" Gwen muttered.
"Dang it! I hate this stupid thing!" Ben shouted as he caught up with them. He was listening to music with his headphones as he fiddled with the Omnitrix. He took off his headphones, placing them around his neck. Allowing everyone to hear the broadcast of a meteor flying north of the state, which was something they ignored completely.
"What's the matter, Ben?" Max asked.
"I figured I'd go XLR8 and hit that burger place in Casper. To pick up a double cheeseburger with pickles. But it looks like I'm stuck here," Ben complained.
Yukiko placed her hands on her hips. "Ben, too much of that stuff isn't good for you."
"Neither is your food," He mentally responded.
Gwen moved over to stand next to him. "Ben, Yellowstone happens to be one of the coolest places around. Just hang out and appreciate it." The boy rolled his eyes in response.
Max nodded his head, walking over to a nearby log. "Gwen's right. We can live right off the land." Max pushed the log with his foot, revealing a pack of live worms underneath. "Yum. Grub Worms! Full of protein!" He ate the worm without hesitation.
"EW!" Ben and Gwen flinched.
"You grill them up with a sun dry tomato paste. They are delicious!" Max ate another one.
"Huh…I didn't think such disgusting creatures could be used for cooking…!" Yukiko gasped. Her mind filled up with new ideas to cook up.
Seeing that look on Yukiko's face, caused Gwen's heart rate to increase in fear. She grabbed Ben's wrist and started messing with the watch. "Here, I'll take my burger with chili!"
"That I can get behind-" He was cut off when the Omnitrix started to spark with green light. He was suddenly transformed, forcing his family to cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes back up, the sight before them was a shock.
Ben had transformed into a completely new form. He was now a hulking, broad-shouldered alien covered in yellow armor plating on his back, shoulders, and the back of his arms. He is mostly white with black on the upper half of his body and four claws on his hands.
Due to the suddenness of the transformation Ben fell over. He lifted up his clawed hands, confused as hell. "Guys! What am I!?" His family walked over to examine his new look.
"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko couldn't stop herself from laughing at the way Ben was stuck on the ground. He was like a turtle that got knocked on its back.
"Snrk! N-now, that's a heroic pose," Gwen stifled her own laughter.
Ben wasn't amused in the slightest. "Real funny," He glared at the two as he was helped back up. "I can't believe I'm a new hero!"
"And when there's one more, who knows there could be a hundred more," Max assumed.
"That really is like Yu-kun's abilities. He was always able to house multiple Personas instead of his own. Sometimes appearing before us with ones we've never seen before," Yukiko mentioned.
"I don't know about your boyfriend, but I doubt he had anything as useless as this. What does this thing even do?" Ben asked. He took a deep breath and released it, attempting to breathe flames. "So much for breathing fire."
"I'm pretty sure you'd be taking Yukiko's shtick if you could," Gwen smirked.
"But I don't breathe fire…" Yukiko looked confused.
"Just…never mind," Gwen sighed.
"Maybe, I could fire freeze rays from my eyes?" Ben stared down Yukiko and Gwen, attempting to freeze them.
"W-why did you look at us after saying that?" Yukiko sweat dropped.
"Magnetic blasts?" Ben attempted to shoot energy out of his hands.
Gwen looked unamused until something above caught her attention. The girl gasped as a large meteor was crashing down right towards them. "DUCK!" Herself, Yukiko, and Max dived out of the way. Ben however, was confused until he turned around.
"WOAH!" Ben fell over as the meteor flew over them. It crashed a few feet behind them, creating a large explosion.
"Ben! Are you okay!?" Yukiko ran over to Ben. The newly formed boy was trying to get up from the ground again.
"This alien has got to go...!" Ben complained. In his own little tantrum, he curled up, turning himself into a ball, and rolling away uncontrollably.
"Don't you mean 'got to roll'?" Gwen quipped.
"Snrk! I get it!" Yukiko giggled.
"Well, look on the bright side. You're heading into the direction of the meteor," Max said as the three followed after Ben.
Ben eventually came to a stop, falling onto his butt. In front of him was a giant shell that used to be the meteor. "Woah, it's huge!" He exclaimed as his family caught up to him. Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to rumble like an earthquake, causing Ben to fall on his face.
"Pfft! HAHAHAHA!" Yukiko couldn't help but laugh at Ben's silliness. Her laughing stopped when the shell started to crack open as if it was hatching.
"And alive!" Gwen exclaimed.
As it continued to crack open, a giant pincer leg smashed its way out. The Tennysons quickly ran out of the way to avoid getting skewered. More and more legs started to break through the shell, revealing itself to be a giant pink and purple tick.
Yukiko's pupils shrunk as she took in the sight of the massive alien bug in front of them. She was frozen in place as the bug started to approach them. Max noticed this and quickly grabbed her, pulling her out of the way. The creature planted its legs into the earth, cementing its place permanently. The holes on the side of its body started releasing a bunch of gas into the air.
The Tennysons were forced to cover their noses, because of the horrid smell of the gas. "And quite aromatic," Max commented.
"I just thought that was Ben not taking a shower for three days," Gwen remarked.
"Four! And counting!" Ben corrected her.
The boy's words woke Yukiko back up for a moment. "You're taking a bath once we've dealt with this. And no, there's no room for an argument."
Above them was a weird looking spaceship, the bottom of it opened up. The platform descended down to the earth with three nomad dressed aliens standing on it. "Rejoice! He's arrived, in all his glorious glory!" The taller one announced. The three floated over to the Tennysons with their own hoverboards.
The smaller one with six arms hovered closer to the tick. "I await his proclamation." He put his ear up to the tick's shell.
"Who are you guys?" Max asked.
"Relax, we come in peace," The taller one responded.
Gwen rolled her eyes. "That's what they always say. Right before they blow you to bits."
"Ugh, an earthling with an attitude. I heard they exist here in large numbers, or should I say did," The muscle alien commented. Yukiko stepped in front of Gwen protectively, glaring at the alien that had gotten closer to them.
The taller alien glanced over at Ben. "Oh! An Arburian Pelarota!"
"Australian?" Yukiko tilted her head, confused.
"That's not what he said…" Gwen sweat dropped.
"His presence here must be a sign provided by The Great One. Is he not tremendous?" The tall one motioned towards the tick.
"Tremendous!" The other two copied. "All hail the tremendously Great One!"
Yukiko's disgust from earlier came back in spades. "Tremendously disgusting is more appropriate."
The short one glared at her with repulse. "How dare you insult The Great One!? Freakishly tall human!"
"Freakish!?" Yukiko flinched. "Was that another comment about my legs!?"
The muscular one ignored Yukiko, turning his attention to Ben. "You're a long way from home, aren't you?"
"Actually, closer than you think," Ben responded.
"Unfortunately, there's nothing to go back to. The Great One purified your planet last week!" The muscle one said.
"Purified?" Yukiko questioned.
"SHHH! Everyone quiet down! He's speaking to me!" The short one announced. He placed his head up to the tick once more.
Gwen gave him a deadpan stare. "I don't hear anything."
"Only, I speak his language," He snapped at her. The short alien started rubbing the tick's shell with affection.
The sight alone almost made Yukiko set everything around her on fire. She couldn't imagine why someone would worship something as disgusting as a bug. Clancy alone was still a confusing subject in her mind.
"The Great One says, "Your planet will be purified before the next moon. You are quite lucky," The alien translated.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet started to turn black as if life was being sucked out of it. The sight concerned Max by a great deal. "I don't think so," He commented.
"No, it's actually quite the experience. Let me show you," The tall one said. He hovered over to his compatriots.
"Ugh, not the audio-visual thing again," The muscle one complained. The tall one looked back at him with a confused glance. Pressing one of the buttons on his head, a holographic image appeared in front of the Tennysons.
"We follow The Great One from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy. After he paid a visit to each and every one of our plants." The video showed the tick implanting himself into a planet. The tick's legs extended like roots into the planet's crust, sucking up the planet's core. Killing the world and all of the people on it. "Notice his technique, the deep burrowing of the appendages into the core of the planet. Rotting it from the inside and then…ingesting it!"
The Tennysons were horrified by the example they were shown. "That's what it's going to do here!?" Gwen shouted, mortified.
"Of course. Your cities will be laid to waste, your oceans will dry up, and your mountains will crumble," The tall one explained.
"It will be the end of the world as you know it," The muscle one added.
"Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!"
Yukiko thought back to Ameno-Sagiri and how it planned to plunge their town of Inaba into an eternal fog of darkness. Somehow, the idea of this creature sucking the life out of their planet as if it was an afternoon dinner managed to surpass that. "And you're okay with that!? Even your homes were destroyed by this thing!"
"Why of course! The Great One showed us the truest form of life. This is a gift we graciously accepted and so should you," The taller one answered.
"I don't think so!" Ben curled up into a ball, charging at the worshippers. The muscular one took his axe and smacked Ben away as if he was a baseball.
"BEN!" Yukiko shouted. The heiress was pissed within seconds. "Sumeo-Okami! Agidyne!" The fireball rockets towards the muscular one, but he takes his axe and bats the fire right back at Yukiko. Unprepared for something like that to happen, Yukiko was nailed by her own attack. The heiress rolled across the ground, groaning in pain.
"Yukiko!" Max hurried and picked Yukiko up in a bridal style. He and Gwen sprinted out of the clearing to go find Ben. Inside of the forest they saw Ben bouncing around the trees, he flew directly into them, sending the four of them tumbling down a hill.
Ben turned back to normal just as they reached the bottom of the hill. "Aw man, this watch gives me a new alien out of the blue and all it can do is roll around! Totally not fair!"
Gwen climbed back onto her feet. "Yeah, don't worry about the giant planet sucker that's about to wipe Earth off the face of the universe! Because that's fair!"
Ben was stopped from retorting when the wildlife around them started to shift. The trees became a dark purple mold as the sky started to turn dark red. "The trees are changing," Ben said.
"It feels like I'm standing inside of a dungeon," Yukiko thought back to Adachi's twisted dungeon.
"Let's get back up the hill and destroy it. Before it destroys everything," Max told them. Agreeing with him, the Tennysons hurry back up the hill. They stopped once they reached the top, finding purple tentacles spouting out of the ground.
"Woah, these weren't here when we rode down the hill weren't they?" Ben asked.
"No! I think we would've remembered them!" Gwen answered.
"That big tick's poison is mutating the landscape," Max assumed.
One of the tentacles came down towards Yukiko, going right down into the front of her dress. Yukiko's face turned bright red from the tentacle's intrusion. "Kya! Get away from me!" Yukiko smacked the tentacle with her fan. Forcing it to get out of her dress, a trail of purple slime was stained on the white fabric. "Ew! I've had enough of tentacles for a lifetime!"
Suddenly, the tentacle attacked Yukiko, angered by her attack. She dodged out of the way, unfortunately her dodge allowed it to circle back around and grab Gwen. It wrapped itself around her, taking her as a hostage. Their Grandfather was next to be taken hostage by the tentacles.
"Grandpa! Gwen!" Yukiko shouted.
"GAH!" Ben cried out as he was taken as well. He was unable to transform since the watch was still recharging.
"Let them go!" Yukiko demanded, summoning her Persona. "Maragion!" Multiple medium sized fireballs burnt the tentacles that were holding her family hostage. The three Tennysons screamed as they descended down into the murky waters below.
"AHHH!" Gwen screamed as another batch of tentacles erupted out of the waters. The purple appendages hissed as they were getting closer.
FLASH!
"AAAH-huh?" Gwen stopped screaming once she realized that she was no longer falling. The girl looked up to see that Stinkfly was currently holding herself and Max.
"And the Stinkfly makes the save!" Stinkfly grinned. He flew over to Yukiko, allowing the heiress to grab onto his tail before flying away from the mutant tentacles.
Gwen gagged since she was right under Stinkfly's armpit. "We really need to get you some underwing deodorant."
"We can add it to the grocery list, if we don't get killed, that is," Yukiko said.
"HISSSS!"
"Huh? KYAAAA!" Yukiko squealed as she was suddenly grabbed by the tentacles. The heiress held onto Stinkfly's tail so as to not get pulled in. "Let go of me! AGIDYNE!" The massive fireball was launched directly at the source of the tentacles. A giant explosion occurred as a result, knocking Stinkfly off balance.
"AAAAHHHH!" Everyone screamed as Stinkfly attempted to regain his balance in the air. He flew into the forest of mutated trees by the waterfall. As a result of their intrusion more tentacles appeared from within the trees.
"Crap!" Stinkfly dodged the oncoming attacks, maneuvering higher through the air to avoid the tentacles' reach.
Max gazed down at the transformed earth. "Yellowstone is becoming more and more poisoned."
BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!
"What was that noise?" Gwen asked.
"It sounded like a heartbeat," Yukiko said.
"Sounds like 'ol faithful is ready to blow. And I don't know what that tick's poison will do to it once it does," Max answered.
"One detour coming up!" Stinkfly declared. He changed trajectory over to the disgusting veiny pussball that was secreeting gas.
Over by the ball were the three worshippers. "I have visuals of the elderly man, prepubescent female, and the weirdly long legged female. But what are they riding on?" The taller alien asked.
"Two tons of putrid power!" Stinkfly answered as they flew through the worshippers. "Now move it or lose it!"
"Not until we have witnessed the eruption of The Great One's power!" The tall alien declared.
The Tennysons turned around, smirking confidently. "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen!" Stinkfly shouted.
"That disgusting creature is about to be terminated!" Yukiko added.
"Hold on, I'm gonna goop it up!" Stinkfly quipped, descending down towards the disgusting ball. He shot goop at the hole, plugging it up. This action caused the worshippers to glare at the Tennysons.
Stinkfly lowered himself to the ground, allowing his family to touch down. "What are you doing?" Max asked.
"Letting you off! This fly is flying solo!" Stinkfly announced. Suddenly, a purple air slash just barely missed him. He was forced to dodge a few more as the bulky worshiper kept swinging his axe. Stinkfly opened his mouth barfing out green vomit into his face.
"Get him!" The bulky one ordered. The three chased after Stinkfly. They followed him into the sky, only for the bug to disappear into the clouds. "Where did he go?"
Stinkfly descended downwards for his surprise attack. "Oh yeah, who's bad! Oh yeah-"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"OH NO!" With a flash of red-light Ben turned back to normal. "HELP!" Ben screamed as he was falling to his death.
"BEN!" Yukiko and Max raced to catch him.
The boy tried his luck and reached for the short alien's hoverboard. Luckily, he managed to reach it, knocking the smaller alien off. Ben held onto the board for dear life. "Oh man, where's the instruction manual when you need it?" Ben asked as he tried to fly the board. He was quickly flying over to the tick with the other two worshipers right behind him.
Ben managed to get his balance, standing on it as he would on his own hoverboard. His excitement was short-lived as the other two caught up to him.
"Maragion!"
A medium fireball smacked the bulky worshiper in the back before he could attack Ben. Looking down below Yukiko was doing her best to keep up with them. "Hurry, Ben!" Yukiko yelled.
"Yeah!" Ben tilted the board upwards to escape them. He surfed through the air, dodging the projectiles being tossed at him.
"Maragion!" More fireballs came flying at the worshipers.
The bulky one turned around to glare at Yukiko. "I'm getting really sick and tired of her!" He sent multiple waves of energy slashed at Yukiko.
"Maragion!" Yukiko responded in kind. However, her fireballs were cut in half by the energy slashes, forcing Yukiko to take cover. The bulky one descended downwards to keep attacking her as Yukiko hid behind a tree. She jumped out right as he got close enough. "AGIDYNE!" She roared as a powerful fireball exploded right into his face.
The bulky worshiper was sent flying off of his board and crashed right into multiple trees, buried underneath them. The heiress released heavy breaths from the energy she had to use. She hurried after her family to see what was going on.
Yukiko saw Ben floating down by Max and Gwen. "Are you okay, Ben?" She asked.
"Yup, just gave that tall one a taste of the Stinkfly special!" Ben grinned.
The Tennysons used the hoverboards to fly over to the tick. They were honestly surprised (or disgusted in Yukiko's opinion) of how large the creature had gotten. "It's getting bigger as it feeds," Max observed.
"Then it's time it went on the Four Arms diet!" Ben transformed into Four Arms. The tetramand attacked the tick with his full strength, breaking off bits of its shell. However, he was easily knocked away by the creature's limbs. He was sent flying into the ground, creating a mini crater. Ben turned back to normal, groaning in pain.
"Ben! Are you okay?" Yukiko asked.
"Y-yeah…just give me 10 minutes."
"Okay, one down nine to go!" Ben slapped the dial back down.
FLASH!
Heatblast attempted to melt it, with Yukiko giving his flames a boost with her support spells. However, their efforts were met with zero success.
"UGH! Why does the bug have to be resistant to fire!?" Yukiko complained.
FLASH!
Wildmutt attempted to cut it with his claws, but again he didn't succeed.
"It's okay, Wildmutt. You'll kill it next time," Yukiko gently patted Wildmutt's head. The Vulpimancer growled in frustration.
FLASH!
XLR8 tried to use his speed to do some fast damage, but nothing changed.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" XLR8 held onto his throbbing leg.
"Why did you try to kick it!?" Gwen yelled.
FLASH!
Diamondhead's crystals just bounced off of the tick's shell.
"Seems not even diamonds can cut this thing," Max sighed.
"Oh, come on! That's just cheating!" Gwen folded her arms.
FLASH!
Ghostfreak tried to…scare it?
"What was that even supposed to accomplish?" Gwen asked.
"I'm not sure," Yukiko answered.
FLASH!
Upgrade attempted to merge with it.
"It's not technology, doofus!" Gwen yelled.
"I had to try anyway!" Upgrade yelled back.
FLASH!
Ripjaws used his strong jaws to try and bite through its limbs. But he did no damage once again.
"And now he's suffocating…" Gwen sweat dropped as she watched Ripjaws flop across the ground.
Yukiko quickly reached into her purse and pulled out a water bottle. "Don't worry, Ben! I have you covered!"
FLASH!
Gray Matter just stood there awkwardly.
"What was even the point?" Gwen asked, annoyed.
"Figured I could come up with a solution using my brain," He answered.
"Did you?" Yukiko asked, hopeful.
"Yeah, toss Gwen at it."
The aforementioned girl kicked him across the ground.
FLASH!
Stinkfly's goop just didn't do anything to the outer shell. So instead, he tried to use his stink gas to flush it out.
"Can you not!? The air is bad enough without you adding to it!" Gwen shouted.
"Just another bug to squash," Yukiko glared at Stinkfly.
"Hehe…my bad?" Stinkfly apologized.
"Okay, I give! This thing is indestructible!" Ben yelled. Not a single one of his forms were capable of breaking through it. Behind them the worshipers had finally gotten back up.
"Reverse beam flow," The tall worshiper ordered. The bulky worshiper used his axe to create a forcefield around the Tennysons, trapping them. Max tried to break through it, but the shield zapped his arm.
"It's time for the final purification of your planet. And you four along with it."
"Please tell me we have a plan B?" Gwen asked, scared.
Yukiko watched helplessly as the forest around them was dying from the tick's poison. Her mind imagined this process happening to her hometown Inaba, sending a shiver down her spine. The four of them were lifted into the air by the forcefield. Until they were unceremoniously dropped next to the tick.
The tall worshiper grabbed Gwen's wrist, placing a sponge in her hand. "What are we supposed to do with this?"
"Before The Great one can cleanse your planet forever. HE must be cleansed," The tall one explained. The Tennysons watched the disgusting white fluid pop out of the tick's pours.
Yukiko actually wished for death for a brief second.
"No way! I am not scrubbing that thing's feet!" Ben was defiant. The bulky worshiper shot an energy slash at them without hesitation.
"Agi-" Yukiko was prevented from stopping it when another pink beam blasted her in the stomach, sending the heiress sliding across the ground. The Tennysons couldn't worry for her, since the energy slash exploded the ground in front of them. Knocking them all next to Yukiko.
Yukiko struggled to her knees. "Diarama," She used a healing spell on herself.
"Kids, just do as they say for now," Max whispered to them. They nodded their heads hesitantly, picking up their sponges. The Tennysons got to cleaning The Great One.
The little yellow worshiper was translating the tick once more. "He says he missed us. It was not our fault 'O Great One. Please forgive us."
"Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgiveness."
Below the trio were the Tennysons, who were busy cleaning the cerulean colored slime. "Ugh, could this get any nastier?" Gwen asked, disgusted.
SQUELCH!
Suddenly, mini ticks started to crawl up both Yukiko and Gwen's arms. "EEEK!" Both girls squealed. The heiress was doing her best not to have a total meltdown as Gwen wiped off the ticks for her.
"We're running out of time!" Max said as the forest continued to die.
"And aliens! I went everybody…!" Ben said.
"Not exactly everybody," Gwen reminded him.
"No way! I am not turning into that ball thing again. Plus, I don't even know if I could!" Ben exclaimed.
"Ben, sometimes you have to take risks. My friends and I weren't always sure we were going to succeed in the TV World, but we knew we had to give it a shot every time we entered it. This, right now, is one of those times!" Yukiko encouraged him.
"Fine! But I'm still not sure about this!" Ben responded.
The ground began to rumble again as the tick's shell was starting to crack to pieces. The broken pieces fell down by the Tennysons.
"It's…shedding?" Gwen questioned.
"More like transforming into something," Max corrected.
"His beauty! His power! His puss! The end is upon us!" The worshipers chanted.
Ben scowled at them then at the tick. He activated the Omnitrix and selected the ball alien from before. "Here goes nothing!"
FLASH!
"It worked!" Ben cheered until he fell over onto his ass.
"PFFT! HAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko laughed.
Her laughter ceased when the worshipers descended down towards them again. "Destroy them all." The tall alien shot beams of energy at them. The Tennysons scattered to avoid the blasts, with Ben rolling away.
"The scales will deflect their beams!" Max shouted. He and Gwen grabbed pieces of the shell to deflect the energy beams. The tall one and the short one was descending over to them.
"Round two, Lengthy human!" The bulky alien pulled back his axe.
"Quit making fun of my legs!" Yukiko dodged the strike. "Agidyne!" Yukiko's fireball connected with his axe. It generated an explosion that pushed them both back, Yukiko slid across the ground on her feet. She watched a batch of fluid spewed out of the tick, melting the ground in front of her. "Okay…so avoid that."
"Pay attention!"
Yukiko ducked under an energy slash. She summoned Sumeo-Okami, using the Persona's blade to deflect the energy slashes. Yukiko looked over to see both Gwen and Max being pressured by the other two worshipers. She was about to hurry and help them until Ben had crashed into the tall one.
"STRIKE!" He shouted. Then used the walls of the crater to rebound back to his family, catching them in his arms, and bouncing across the ground. He bounced right into the bulky alien, knocking him away from Yukiko. Ben uncurled him, allowing Gwen and Max to stand.
"I knew you'd figure it out, Ben!" Yukiko shouted, happily.
"You're like a bowling ball!" Gwen exclaimed.
"More like a cannonball!"
"Or a Cannonbolt!" Yukiko added.
"Cannonbolt? Heh, I like it-GAH!" Cannonbolt was blasted from behind by the worshipers. He was blasted again by them.
"Maragidyne!" Yukiko's powerful fireballs knocked all three off of their hoverboards once more.
CRACK! RUMBLE!
The Tennysons stopped their celebration when the ground beneath them started to give way underneath them. The Tennysons ran for it, while the worshipers jumped back onto their hoverboards.
"Let the digestion begin!" They shouted.
"Digest THIS!" Max jumped up, smacking the tall worshiper with the shell piece. The old man landed on the guy's hoverboard.
"Grandpa is so cool…" Yukiko smiled.
"Uh huh," Gwen agreed. The girls and Max turned their attention over to Cannonbolt, who was rolling over to the tick.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" He rolled into the tick but bounced off of it. Cannonbolt groaned, realizing something. "Time to take this guy out from the inside out!" Cannonbolt charged straight for the open pores of the tick. "SAY AH!"
"NOOOOO!" The worshipers cried out in horror.
From within the tick, Cannonbolt was destroying everything that was vital, killing it like a parasite.
Outside of the tick, everything was being sucked in. Including Yukiko and her family, Max was holding onto the girls as Gwen screamed in terror. Suddenly, the tick exploded, covering everything in blue slime and blood.
"UGH! The ultimate YUCK! It's raining tick goop!" Gwen complained as she, Max, and Yukiko used the shell pieces to prevent the gunk from splashing on them.
"I'm going to take a long shower after all of this…" Yukiko sighed.
Cannonbolt stood up within the remains of the dead tick. "Okay, now I need a shower," He said as he was covered in goop.
The worshipers were holding a severed piece of the shell. "Nothing. The Great One has been silenced…forever!" They tossed away the piece and turned to Cannonbolt. "You destroyed him...!"
"Hail to the new Great One!" They started worshiping Cannonbolt. His family joined not too long either.
"Not too loyal, are they?" Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Can we just leave them here? I don't want them coming with us," Yukiko asked Max.
"I don't know, I could get used to this," Cannonbolt grinned. Until the Omnitrix timed out and turned him back to normal. That's when the worshipers stopped praising him.
"That's right. I forgot you're just an underdeveloped…human specimen," The worshipers floated away, leaving to retrieve their ship.
"Does that count as racist or…?" Yukiko asked.
"Well, I'm pretty sure those guys already had some screws loose," Ben shrugged.
Suddenly, the world around them started to turn back to normal now that the tick had been defeated. "Seems everything is starting to go back to normal," Max said.
"As normal as our lives can get anyway," Gwen smiled.
Ben shook all of the slime off of his body. "Normal is pretty overrated anyway."
"Good going, Ben," Yukiko patted his head.
The boy felt his own ego increase as he let Yukiko's praise set in. "Ah you know, I'm just the kid who saved the earth. I think my work here is done," Ben relaxed onto the grass.
"D-do we have to touch this?" Yukiko asked as she stared at the goop that was all over the Rustbucket.
"Come on, Yukiko. The faster we all clean this up, the faster we can hit the road," Max said as he wiped off some of the goop.
"Pretty sure I just lost my appetite…" Gwen complained as she wiped off the goop.
"This is what I get for saving the world? Ugh, me and my big mouth…" Ben whined. He looked at all of the goop they still had to clean off of the Rustbucket. "Could this possibly get any worse?"
PLOP!
"KYAAA!" Yukiko screamed as a whole bunch of goop slid off of the Rustbucket and fell directly onto her. The heiress was now covered in disgusting blue slime. "It's got inside of my dress!" She shivered.
"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gwen and Ben both fell over laughing at Yukiko's predicament. Max chuckled at the sight, hoping for more peaceful moments for a while.
Chapter End
NOTE: Fun Fact - Yukiko's body is 95% legs and 5% everything else.
I was never a fan of how this episode ended with Ben being forced to clean up the Rustbucket even though he saved the world. Like, cut the kid a break every once and a while.
There was a part of me that wanted Yukiko to have a meltdown in this episode but changed my mind halfway through. She still wanted this tick dead, because she hates bugs with a passion.
I kind of want to create and opening and ending for this season. If I do get around to writing them, then they'll be uploaded into "The Tennyson Priestess Logs".
Next chapter - Framed