Author's Note: Hey again, welcome back to another chapter! Let's just jump right in!
Chapter Twelve - Alone No More
The Moon…
Taking a step back to survey her work, Peridot wagered she had outdone herself. Even with her limb enhancers the exoskeleton towered far and above the small green alien. It was mainly a shimmering coat of black, with bits of deep crimson. As she admired her handiwork, and the complex hardware she had created, Peridot barely noticed when the troupe of Rubies file in behind her.
"Technician." the one with a gemstone eye said. "Status report."
Peridot, without even turning to acknowledge them, made a spiteful face and groaned internally.
"The armor is almost online. I'm just putting the finishing touches on now."
"Good. Lord Vilgax will be pleased," the lead Ruby said. Then, Peridot was suddenly overcome with a question.
"Why doesn't he just come look for himself?" She asked.
The Rubies paused. For the first time in a long time, Peridot saw a glimmer of their own personalities shine through. However, that glimmer quickly vanished, and the lead Ruby addressed Peridot with the same monotone they had all adopted lately.
"Lord Vilgax is very busy," she said, returning to business. "Which reminds me. What of the trespassers?"
It was Peridot's turn to falter slightly. She had turned off the monitor that displayed the prisoners in their cells. Something about the footage had begun to bring up a familiar unpleasant feeling. As the Rubies' eyes bore holes into her, Peridot quickly brought up the screen again. The human (Agent Five), now with access to oxygen, was breathing, but nursing several wounds, and laying in the fetal position in his cell. Peridot felt a pang of guilt when she looked at him.
Then, her gaze fell upon two smaller cages, one on either side of Five's larger cage. In one cell was an enraged looking Ruby, scrappier and (Peridot thought mirthfully) cagier than the others. The floor around her was steaming, and scorched in some places. In the other cage was a gem of similar size, but blue in hue, with thick, periwinkle hair bobbing down to cover most of her face. Peridot knew her as a Sapphire, a rare gem. The floor around her was frosted over, like grass on a winter morning.
"Everyone is accounted for," Peridot said, trying to keep all emotion out of her voice.
"Good," the lead Ruby said. Then, wasting no time, she and her entourage began to leave the scene, leaving Peridot to her work.
Once they were gone, the green gem sighed, and the sigh quickly turned into a groan of frustration. With a small shriek, she punched her limb enhancer through the screen showing the prisoners. Sparks and glass flew, and she was left with nothing but an angry, empty feeling in her chest.
She couldn't stand to look at them. They just reminded her that she, too, was a prisoner in her own right.
She had been. For a very long time.
Back on Earth, the teens were putting Steven's idea into action. He and Ben had laid down in two rooms near one another, and were now attempting to fall asleep. Jake and Gwen were sitting across the hall from Ben's door. To pass the time, Gwen was eagerly asking him questions about a strange section of runes in the back of her tome. Jake, to her surprise and excitement, was being instructed in rune reading by his grandfather. He wasn't very good yet, but he could make out a few words.
"Well… Uh, OK, you see that one?" He said, leaning over and pointing to a rune. There were six runes, around in a circle, and he was pointing to one of them.
"Mhm," Gwen said quietly.
"I'm pretty sure that's fire," he said. "Or, like, the manipulation of fire? Runes are weirdo specific and don't always make a lot of sense."
They both laughed about it. Further down the hall, Jenny and Miko were keeping watch over Steven's room. The young woman with purple hair turned to her android companion quizzically.
"So, what exactly are they doing again?" Miko asked. Jenny crossed her arms.
"Apparently, Steven has some kind of ability that will help combat Ben's nightmares, but they both need to be asleep for it to happen," she said. Miko nodded, and uncomfortably moved her crush beneath her armpit. Jenny turned to her with a worried look, and Miko gave her a smile.
"Well, that's nice and all, but I think I might go to bed too," she said, wincing again.
"Yes, humans need rest!" Jenny said. "Should I walk you to your room?"
"I'm OK," Miko said, with a small laugh. "It's just bedtime."
She looked past Jenny's shoulder and waved to the two reading runes.
"Goodnight you two," she said, with a bit of a teasing, sing-song tone.
Jake and Gwen bid her farewell, and from there the hallway was quiet for a while. There hadn't been any noise from either of the boys' rooms for a few minutes, and the others were wondering if they had fallen asleep. As they waited, and time ticked on, Jake and Gwen began to yawn, struggling to keep their eyes open. At one point, Jenny glanced over and found the two of them fast asleep, Gwen's head resting on Jake's shoulder.
Jenny shook her head, a small smile forming on her face. Then, she turned to look at the doors to Ben and Steven's rooms. Her smile faded. She just hoped that the two of them knew what they were doing.
Steven knew he was dreaming when he found himself alone in darkness. It wasn't normal darkness, however. There was something like a spotlight around him. It was a strange but familiar landscape. Immediately, Steven started to look around for another spotlight. However, at first, all he saw was darkness.
"I better not see a dog with a helicopter tail in here…" Steven muttered.
Then, the half-gem began to walk at a steady pace. The spotlight panned to keep pace with him, illuminating only himself and the fog-covered floor of the dreamscape. As Steven peered out into the shadows, eventually, something caught his attention. A voice, shouting in fear and defiance.
Ben's voice.
Steven took off in the direction of the shouting, and soon found himself staring at a much larger portion of illuminated dream space. As Steven got closer, he started to spot structures. Small shacks with illuminated signs, and taller supports for what appeared to be long lengths of track and trail. Walking into the illuminated zone, Steven finally realized what it was. It was some kind of amusement park. An eerie carnival theme was playing.
"You asked for it! Diamondhead!"
That same voice, followed by a loud, echoing chime. Steven gasped, and then took off towards the sound of Ben's voice, his flip-flops slapping against un-seeable floor. More sounds followed; horrible sounds. Steven pressed on despite them. Whipping between rows of abandoned festival games and unmanned food stands, Steven eventually found Ben. However, it wasn't how he expected to find him.
CRASH! Suddenly, a support beam for one of the roller-coasters exploded into wooden splinters, and a large creature came flying through it… and right towards Steven!
"Oof!" Steven exclaimed, unable to get out of the way in time. He was crushed briefly beneath the weight of the other being. However, they quickly stood up.
"What the-?" They said, standing and turning to see what (or in this case, who) they had landed on
Steven, looking on the other being's face, was surprised. She was tall, with lavender skin, a massive mane of white hair, and faint tiger stripes lining her body. She wore light armor made from some kind of glistening material, and she had strangely familiar cats-eye irises. A purple gemstone rested on her forehead. The strangest thing about her, though, was the shining green hourglass shape in the center of her chest.
Ben had become a full-sized Amethyst.
"Steven?" The alien that was Ben said in confusion.
"Ameth- Erh, I mean, Ben!" Steven said, getting up and rubbing his side. Despite not being a physical form, he had learned quite quickly that his psychic projection could feel pain in this twisted carnival mindscape.
"Thank goodness you made it," Ben panted, through the gruff alto of the Amethyst's voice. "I barely got away from him."
"Him?" Steven asked.
Then, a horrible, rasping roar sounded from the roller-coaster Ben had been thrown through. Both boys turned to look up, and found a terrifying sight. A billowing figure, like a cloak in the wind, floated its ways around the towering pillar the supported the coaster. It had glowing red eyes, hidden away inside of its floating, octopus-like body. It roared that rasping roar again, and both boy's took a step back with uncertainty.
From there, disaster struck. As Ben's fear took hold of him, a low droning sound could be heard. Steven quickly glanced over to him. After their last few encounters, Steven had grown familiar with that sound.
It meant that Ben was transforming back.
It happened faster than normal. Ben gasped in fear, the Omnitrix groaned, and instantly there was a flash of green, and standing in the hulking gem's place was now a slight young boy. Steven looked over to him.
"Is that him?" He asked.
Ben said nothing. A lump had formed in his throat, he couldn't even swallow. He simply stood there, petrified, staring at the billowing figure that hovered above them. Steven grimaced, following Ben's gaze, and found that his eyes were locked with the glowing red orbs of the phantasm. Neither of them moved. Maybe, thought Steven, just maybe…
With a sparkle and a distortion of the air around his arm, Steven quickly summoned his shield. For a second he briefly hoped he hadn't summoned the weapon in the middle of his dorm back in the Hinobi base. However, he quickly shook the fact that he was in a dreamscape out of his mind. Focusing back on the real world shook his concentration, and caused him to feel a tug back to consciousness. He had business to do.
"Hyyah!" Steven shouted, whipping the shield overhand with all of his might.
The pink, curved disc went spinning towards the floating figure, causing a low humming sound as it flew. Steven clutched a fist as the projectile's path proved true, heading directly towards their quarry. However, Steven's flutter of satisfaction was quickly snuffed. Just before the shield collided with the nightmare, it seemed to shake out of its trance.
A tendril of whatever fabric made the creature's body whipped up, lightning fast, and wrapped itself around the shield. The pink disk lost all momentum and spun out into the shadows of the cloak beast. With a growl, Steven dispelled the weapon, and then pushed to summon it once more at his arm. A little trick he had learned from Pearl.
Ben seemed to stumble back as if he had been dropped. He landed on his butt on the dusty carnival ground. He glanced to Steven, and then up to the glowering eyes of the phantasm, which were now focused on the half-gem. Ben glanced at the Omnitrix: still red. Sweat dripping down his face, the boy shook his head, and scrambled to his feet.
"Run, Steven!" Ben shouted. Then, he bolted off into the maze of carnival attractions, leaving Steven alone to face the floating creature. The half-gem readied his shield, and a bead of dream sweat dripped down Steven's forehead as the monster cocked its head to the side.
This energy… I recognize it...
The voice sliced directly into Steven's brain. Not only that, but he felt like it was stabbing into his stomach. Directly into his gem. Steven began to shake as he stared down the specter, unable to look away. The being slowly floated closer to him, and Steven found that he was unable to move. Eventually, the creature was nearly face to face with Steven. It lifted one of its tendrils, which slowly closed over Steven's face.
Steven's heart pounded, and if not for Ben being in need, he might have closed his eyes and force himself to wake up. As Steven tried to gulp, he found that he was truly paralyzed now. He wasn't sure if he would even be able to shake free of the psionic grip he suddenly felt. The specter spoke again, and when it did, it send fearful shivers down Steven's spine.
Your intrusion means nothing… The outcome will remain the same.
Jenny was just about to open the door to Ben's room and check on the boy when she heard footsteps from further down the hall. She paused at the door, and then spun around to lean casually against it, her arms behind her head. As she made a robotic whistling sound, the small, lavender form of Amethyst appeared. She was holding a massive sandwich in both hands, and paused halfway towards making a bite to look at the strange gathering.
"Uh… 'sup," the purple gem said to Jenny.
"Hi," Jenny said, with an awkward wave. Amethyst gestured with her sandwich to the pair asleep on the floor.
"What's goin' on?" She asked, again addressing Jenny.
"Oh, you know," Jenny said, shifting her lean into an even more "casual" (read: awkward) stance. "Just a… sleepover."
Amethyst raised an eyebrow, but then looked past her and towards the room she was blocking. Slowly, the gem took a bite out of her sandwich. Then, she shrugged, and munched down the food.
"A'ight," the gem said. "Whateva."
With that, Amethyst continued on her merry way, and Jenny let out a relieved breath. Then, she turned and peered into the window at the sleeping form of Ben. The android pursed her robotic lips and sighed.
"Hope you guys are OK in there…" she said.
"Wah!" Steven screamed.
The carnival around him had suddenly been yanked out of existence at Mach 6, and replaced with the stifling walls of some kind of chamber. Steven was tossed haphazardly into his new surroundings, and stumbled to the cold, hard floor. In a flash, the wraith was on top of him, its tendrils lashing forward to try and wrap him up in a cocoon. Steven screamed again, and instantly threw up his bubble, which gave the hovering specter pause. However, the glowing in its eyes just intensified.
A weaker attempt than I expected…
Steven back up, crawling backwards and rolling his pink orb of defense with him. The nightmare floated easily in pace, and then suddenly evaporated, only to reappear behind Steven half a second later.
"Ah! Get away!" Steven shouted. The wraith paused, there, and squinted its glowing eyes.
Pathetic.
Suddenly the tendrils lashed out! The force and velocity behind them far exceeded Steven's expectations based on their flimsy appearance. Instantly, several holes appeared in his bubble, and sweat ran down Steven's forehead. His shield wouldn't last long… His heart started to race faster, as more holes were smashed into the bubble.
What has become of your power, Rose Quartz? There was a time when your will was a match for mine...
The mention of his mother's name broke the last of Steven's resilience. The bubble shattered easily under the next blow, and Steven crumpled into the fetal position, preparing to force himself awake. To flee from this nightmare. However, before he could escape, he felt a psychic power seize the edges of his mind, forcing his consciousness to remain in this cold, stone place. Steven froze, his eyes glued to the far end of the chamber, to afraid to look up at the floating figure.
Then, to Steven's surprise, he saw something that gave his heart a glimmer of hope. Crouched low and sticking to the shadows of the far wall was Ben. His watch glowed a gentle green, but he covered it carefully with his hand. Stealthily, the boy made his may to hide behind a large stone pillar. He caught Steven's gaze, and tried to give him a reassuring nod. That small amount of encouragement did wonders for Steven, and he felt a renewed sense of fighting spirit. They could beat this thing, if they worked together. He knew it. They just needed to wait for the right moment…
When I first arrived on Terra's moon I was following a crew of gems from your Homeworld. I had assumed they were looking for you, but in fact, it seems that they had locked onto the Omnitrix… Which worked out perfectly for me.
Steven tried to get to his feet, to somehow put himself into a better position, but he was quickly seized by powerful, thin tentacles, and held firmly in place. Steven struggled slightly, and found that he was able to push harder against their grip than he thought. He kept that secret, however, and pretended to succumb to the wraith's hold, so that he wouldn't tighten it further.
Whatever happened to you must have been truly tragic, for your strength to drop so dramatically. You're no threat to me… It's the mind of the Tennyson boy that I am after.
"He'll never give you the watch!" Steven said defiantly.
Something like psionic laughter shook the chamber, and both Ben and Steven felt it, and it sent a shiver up their spines. Then, specter flung Steven across the room with a force that might have sent him crashing into the wall, if not for his instinctual activation of his flotation powers. He used his strange, gravity defying nature to slow the momentum. Instead of making a crater in the wall, he instead touched off of it gently, landing easily on the floor. Then, Steven quickly summoned his shield, staring the hovering specter down.
So, your power is gone, but not your reckless spirit… You gems really do remain the same from cut to death… Predictable.
"You're wrong," Steven said, without even thinking. The words just tumbled out of his trembling lips. Again came that rumbling psychic laughter, which made Steven take a step forward, despite his shaking legs. "Gems can change… They can grow. Get stronger. Better."
The wraith seemed to stop laughing, then, and regard Steven with something less than respect, but more than pity. However, before anything further could erupt from their stare down, the chamber around then began to warp and distort, like a television set with bad signal. There was a low, buzzing sound, and then a voice could be heard. At first it was hard to understand, covered as it was in some form of psionic static, but as it persisted, all three of the nightmare chambers inhabitants could not only hear the voice, but see who it belonged to.
"-ax… Um… Lord Vilgax?" the green alien said, as her form shimmered into existence behind the floating wraith. She wore makeshift mechanical limbs and bore a yellow visor over her eyes. She didn't seem take note of anybody else in the chamber, save for the tentacled specter. "Lord Vilgax… You wanted me to inform you when your body was finished, sir…"
The moment she said the name Vilgax, Steven and Ben swapped glances. The distracted specter, apparently Vilgax, still hadn't noticed Ben. However, both of them knew that this would be their chance to push the intruding alien out of Ben's dreamscape.
The moment she mentioned a body, there was another distortion of the room, this time in the center of the chamber. Vilgax spun around, seemingly caught unawares, as a large, mechanical exoskeleton materialized there. Ben and Steven saw it too. Ben especially saw it, as he had been looking through his queue of aliens, and had found one that might be powerful, in the right circumstances.
That armor was the right circumstances.
"Now!" Ben shouted, springing from cover and dashing towards the exoskeleton, the cylindrical portion of the watch popping out, ready for action.
Steven instantly reacted, whipping his shield once more at Vilgax. This time, the spectral form of the alien's mind was distracted by the sudden appearance of Ben, and so Steven's aim held true. The whizzing pink disk struck Vilgax upside the head, and caused him to recoil, if only in surprise. Then, there was a flash of green light, and Ben vanished.
In his place was a tall, bulky figure, with a build that Steven could only in that moment describe as marshmallow-ish. It was white and black, with veins of neon green running through its body. A singular green eye, shaped like the power button on a video game console, glowed in the center of what had to be its head.
"Time for an Upgrade!" Ben shouted. To Steven's surprise, this alien's voice just sounded like Ben's voice coming through some kind of digital voice changer.
After recovering from Steven's shield hitting him in the face, Vilgax lunged forward, strafing across the air and directly towards the mechanical body that now was a part of the dreamscape. However, he was too far, and Ben's strange, bulbous form was closer. The strange alien bounced like a glob of jello through the air, and seemed to seep into the cracks of the exosuit. Every crevice was filled with the glowing green veins of this strange alien. Finally, from the open neck hole of the armor, a comically small head popped out, sporting Upgrade's singular eye.
"Alright!" Ben said, his glee seeping through despite his now imposing form. "This thing is crazy!"
ArrrrRRHGG!
Waves of psychic energy blasted out of the floating Vilgax, and Steven's vision nearly blurred, his ears ringing. His shield dispelled and he dropped to his knees, clutching his head from the psychic feedback.
Ben, however, was unaffected.
"Nice try, mop face!" Ben-as-Upgrade said. "Upgrade isn't organic! Meaning, he's not affected by psychic waves!"
WHAT!
Then, Ben charged forward, carried swiftly by the exo-suit's powerful legs. He swung a mighty punch at Vilgax, who shot upwards and deftly avoided it. However, Ben didn't stop there. A huge cannon suddenly emerged from the exo-suit's back; a cannon that had not been there previously. After a brief second of charging, green particles began to form at the barrel of the cannon. Viglax's eyes went wide.
"Um…" The green gem said again. Steven, now recovering from the initial blast, recognized her then, in the moment before the cannon went off.
It was Peridot.
"Lord Vilgax?" She said again.
sheEEEERn!
The laser cannon fired a powerful beam of green light. Vilgax's spectral form was engulfed in this beam, and with a final explosion, he was vaporized. Cast out of Ben's mind. In the last moments, he almost resisted, but Ben's willpower, combined with Steven's will to help Ben, cast him out. As he left, so too did the chamber that he had summoned around them. The beam, it seemed, took a lot out of Ben's mental idea of the Omnitrix, as it droned sadly. Then, a flash of green caused Upgrade and the armor to vanish.
The two boys stood in Ben's dark dreamscape for a moment, a small spotlight on both of them. Neither said anything, until Ben turned to Steven. Despite still having bags under his eyes, Steven could tell that there was something more like a friendly sparkle there now.
"We did it," he said. Steven laughed.
"We did it…" He echoed. He was still thinking about the last thing he had seen before Vilgax disappeared. Peridot. However, he gave Ben a smile to try and ease the tension. "I don't think he'll be bothering your dreams for a while."
Ben grinned too.
"I think you're right," he said. Then, he yawned, and stretched his arms above his head. Then, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Alright, man… Thanks again… I think I gotta use this chance to get some actual sleep."
Steven gave Ben a genuine smile.
"Yeah, good idea!" He said, still hiding his own troubling thoughts. "Well, I'll leave you to it then… Uh, goodnight."
"Goodnight," Ben said.
Then, the two of them stood there awkwardly for a moment. Ben just looked on as Steven seemed to close his eyes for several seconds. The air was filled with silence.
"Uh," Ben started to say.
"Yeah, sorry," Steven said. "Takes a se-"
Before he could finish his sentence, he blipped out of the dreamscape. Ben blinked, looking around for where he might have gone. However, quickly, the sweet song of sleep called to him, and his weary mind drifted gratefully towards it.
Back on the moon, Peridot jumped back in surprise as Vilgax's eyes suddenly snapped open. One moment, the chamber had been entirely silent, except for the ambient bubbling of the goo tank. The next, Vilgax's eyes were open, and his seething rage was palpable, like a ringing in the air. Frothy bubbles formed in his tank, and Peridot quickly shrank back. However, that didn't save her from Vilgax's psychic wrath. Pain lanced through her mind, and she fell to her knees.
IDIOT! Curse gem-kind, and you in particular! You DISTRACTED me… WHY ARE YOU NOT TRACKING THE LOCATION OF THE OMNITRIX?
"I'm.. Ah! I'm sorry, Lord Vilgax!" Peridot squeaked, as she held the sides of her head to try and quell the pain there. "I only came to tell you that your armor is finished!"
The pain continued for a moment, but then slowly receded, as Vilgax relinquished his vice grip on her mind. Peridot gasped, and groaned in pain at her throbbing head. Her gem, too, ached; something far more concerning. Vilgax, however, despite showing her that mercy, did not let up.
Then what of the Omnitrix? The entire REASON I REQUIRE THE BODY!
"I have a solution!" Peridot spat out hastily, to avoid further torment. "I think. I can check the warp pad and decode the last location that it was used to travel to… With any luck, that will give us the coordinates we need."
Vilgax paused, and Peridot waited anxiously, hoping her answer was sufficient. It seemed to be, as when the floating, tentacular alien spoke psionically to her again, his tone had lost some of its rage-filled edge.
… Very well. Decipher the location, and then plug them into my ship. Its time I show these fools who they are dealing with.
As if on queue, the door to this chamber of the moon base (the one that held the viewing sphere) slid open, and a troupe of worker drones filed in. A pair of them methodically went over and lifted the tube that held Vilgax. As they made their way out of the room, and supposedly towards the armor chamber, the alien warlord gave Peridot one last psychic command.
I want the prisoners dead and shattered upon my return.
Peridot said nothing, waiting for the troupe to leave her to her misery. However, they lingered at the door. Vilgax, it seemed, wanted to confirm her loyalty. Unlike the Rubies, she had not yet fully fell under his psychic spell. Peridot, taking not of his, bowed her head, and turned to him, trying to portray respect.
"It… Will be done, Lord Vilgax."