(A/N: Alright you guys this is the chapter where we finally get to that "Omniverse" element I mentioned in the first chapter. This is where things will finally get put into gear. Get excited!
It'll also make a few jabs at stereotypes and bias. Specifically, the typical bias and stereotypes often associated with villains. It definitely takes things in a different direction (at least in my opinion).
There may be a few political instances in this that some may consider insulting to their views. I apologize ahead of time if that's the case. I really don't insult people on purpose, even if it seems otherwise.)
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"How far is it to August anyway?" Beast Boy asked.
"Augstaka," Kevin corrected. "It's on the other side of the galaxy."
"How are we supposed to get there?" Cyborg asked. "Our ship is totalled."
"Easy, we'll take the Rust Bucket," Ben grinned.
"Yeah, that sounds safe," Raven uttered sarcastically.
Ben and his friends just exchanged smiles with each other. They were in for quite the surprise when they see their ship.
"Meet us on the roof in five minutes," Kevin told them, "then we'll take off."
"Make sure to bring a jacket, it's going to be cold," Ben added.
The three of them made their way up to the roof. Once up there, they got inside their ship and waited for everyone.
Meanwhile, inside the Tower, four of the five Titans were in the living room discussing. Everyone else was doing their own thing for the moment.
"Are you sure this trip is a good idea?" Raven was the first to ask.
"I must agree with Raven, I feel uncomfortable journeying to the Highbreed home planet," Starfire admitted.
"I'm not entirely sure if this is a good idea or not, but if we don't the entire Universe is at stake," Robin stated.
"I don't know, from the sound of it, sounds like Ben and his team deals with this stuff all the time." Cyborg then noticed something or someone was missing, "Hey, where's Beast Boy?"
"Now that you mention it, where are Slade and XL?" their stoic leader questioned.
"I'm over here," Slade's calm voice replied.
They all looked and saw that he was looking at the view of the city. His arms behind his back, much akin to a common military position.
"What are you doing?" he asked, almost surprised by the sight.
"Enjoying the view whilst I can," he answered calmly. "Who knows? It may be the last time."
"Last time for what?" Beast Boy asked as he and XL walked into the room.
"Uh, where'd you guys go?" Cyborg asked.
"I got jackets for everyone," he replied, gesturing to the pile of the said garment he was holding. "Ben said it would be cold."
"It will be, the Highbreed like it cold," XL mentioned.
"Where did you go?" Robin asked.
"I went back for these," he held up his music player and headphones, "and called my parole officer."
"Parole officer?" he inquired.
"I have to call everyday," he explained, "but I have a feeling this will take awhile, so I told him I won't be calling for a few days."
"You... actually call your... parole officer?" Raven inquired doubtfully. The other Titans had similar expressions on their faces.
He nodded, "What do you take me for? Irresponsible?"
"Uh, yeah?" Beast Boy looked at him stupidly.
He looked at them like they were idiots, "Seriously? Do you just assume that villains enjoy going to jail or something? I call every day so that I don't get thrown in jail!" It was quite obvious from his behavior that he considers their assumptions to be an insult.
Before this could go any further, Kevin's voice could be heard from Robin's communicator, "Are you guys coming or what? If you don't get up here in the next two minutes we're taking off without you."
"You heard him," Slade spoke. "Tick tock."
XL turned around with a huff and walked away in the direction of the roof. He put on his headphones and picked a song from his music player. He made sure to pick a loud one so that he wouldn't hear them if they tried to talk to him.
"I think we made him mad," Beast Boy muttered.
"You think?" Raven asked sarcastically.
Slade followed after him and turned to look back at the Titans, "Coming?"
They all exchanged looks with each other before following them. Hopefully, this mission wouldn't be as bumpy as the near-confrontation they just had.
They made it up to the roof and saw their green jet. The hatch was open and it closed when they walked inside. They walked into the cargo area where there were two sports cars, one from about thirty years ago, the other from that current year.
Cyborg wolf-whistled, "Sweet cars."
"Don't touch my ride," Kevin's voice growled over the speaker.
Metal doors with the same symbol as the Ultimatrix and Plumbers' badges opened and showed Ben standing with a grin and crossed arms. "It's about time you guys showed up. C'mon, I'll take you guys up to the cockpit."
He led them through a seemingly endless tunnel with side tunnels that presumably led to exits. Along with the side tunnels were closed compartments that most likely contained equipment.
It ended at another door that was the same as the other. It opened and revealed the cockpit. It contained high-tech computers and a high-tech piloting system among other advanced technology. Kevin sat in the pilot seat and Gwen sat at one of the computers, they turned to see their awe-struck faces.
"Not bad for a piece of junk, huh?" he smirked.
"Well, what do you think?" Ben asked as he went to sit down in the co-pilot seat.
"What do I think?" Cyborg started. "This place is amazing!"
Robin admired the computers, "I bet you'd be able to get access into any database in the world with this."
Kevin and Ben turned around and they started to prepare for take off. It wouldn't be long before they would take flight.
"Might wanna find a seat, we'll be taking off in a second," Kevin told them as he flipped a few switches.
They looked around, but saw that there were no more seats left. XL had taken the last seat and was playing with his music player.
"Uh, dude, there are no more seats!" Beast Boy shrieked.
Ben pushed a button and six seats suddenly emerged from the floor. "You were saying?" he asked wittily. They sat down in a seat and buckled up.
"I hope everyone's buckled up," Kevin started, "'cause we're taking off."
The wheels retracted into the jet and they hovered over the Tower. It hovered up a little higher, then they were flying over Jump City.
"Oh, man! She flies like a dream!" Cyborg grinned like a child.
The Osmosian looked back at him with a proud smirk, "Built her myself."
"I thought you said this was a standard issue Plumber jet?" Ben asked pointedly, destroying his ego in the process.
"Whatever," he grumbled. "So, we're just going straight to Augstaka, right?"
"Um, actually, I was wondering if we could make a stop first," XL spoke.
He let out a long sign, "Fine. Where to?"
"Undertown-" he paused, "Bellwood."
Ben looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "That's our hometown. What could you want there?"
"You won't believe me if I tell you," he muttered, turning his seat around so that he was staring out the window.
"Try us," he smiled in an almost reassuring way.
He looked at him in a hopeful and friendly manner, "Underneath your town is an entire city of beings from across the Universe. There's an area where I usually go when I need supplies."
Everyone, not just Ben and his friends, looked at him in disbelief. He slammed his hands in frustration and put his head down.
"I knew it! You don't believe me!" his voice was slightly muffled.
He got up from the co-pilot seat and went over to him, placing a hand on his back. "Hey, hey, it's okay."
He looked up at him, "It would be great if someone would believe me for once," he turned his head and glared.
"I believe you," Kevin spoke.
He shot up and nearly fell out of his chair, "You do?"
"Yeah," he looked back at him with a grin, "I've heard of the place, but I've never been down there."
"I can show you, but not until we get there," he told him.
He turned around and set a course to Bellwood. Ben rejoined him and sat in the co-pilot seat.
"How long will it take to get there?" Robin asked.
"Depends," Kevin shrugged.
"On?" he questioned.
"On how fast we go," he replied.
"We might have to go a little faster here shortly since we'll be flying over several military bases," Gwen commented, mostly to herself.
Suddenly, XL perked up and stood over the computers to look out the window. "I was there!" he exclaimed. "I was there!" He clawed at the glass like a rabid animal in a cage.
The Titans stood up and looked out the windows. A glance down revealed a large military base in the middle of the desert.
"What is that place?" Beast Boy asked, mostly to himself.
"And why does he claim to have been there?" Starfire inquired.
Ben glanced out and his eyes widened, "That's Area 51." He turned his chair around to face everyone, "We've been there, it's a prison where aliens over the past fifty years have been illegally contained by the Air Force."
"Fifty years?!" Robin shouted in anger.
"I was there when I was eleven with a Necrofriggian," he proclaimed, clearly distraught.
"That's Big Chill's species, isn't it?" Gwen inquired.
"They tied me up in a way that I would accidentally strangle myself with any sudden movement," he claimed, trembling with fear.
Seeing him this way, Slade immediately gets up from his seat and goes over to him. He pulls him into an embrace and tries to comfort him.
The Titans were utterly surprised by his actions. After all, it's not every day that a hero gets the honor of witnessing a villain express their softer side. Perhaps this means that deep down not all villains are really bad.
"Do you know who tied you up or who captured you?" Robin asked.
He shook his head, "I don't know who tied me up, but the man who captured me was blond with piercing blue eyes."
"Do you think you'd be able to identify him?" Gwen asked.
He nodded, "I scratched him across the face. I'm certain that it left a scar. And speaking of scars," he pulled back the clothing covering his wrists, ankles, and neck. When he did, it revealed deep scars around the circumference of those body parts. His voice was strained as he spoke, "These are the memories I carry with me every day of my life."
Robin took out a small camera from his utility belt and asked, "Do you mind if I take a few pictures?"
He shrugged, "I don't care. Go for it."
He took pictures of the scarred areas and was shocked by how deep some of them were. Just thinking about or imagining a young kid being tied up like a lamb about to be culled was heartbreaking and stomach-wrenching. Little did he know, Slade had similar thoughts on his mind.
"How many aliens were down there when you were there?" Ben asked.
"A little over two thousand," he replied. "Why?"
"Two thousand? There were less than eight hundred when we went there!" he raised his voice in realization and growing dismay.
"That means over a thousand aliens are unaccounted for!" Robin surmised.
"They are likely dead," XL uttered sadly. "When I was there we were all crammed into cells. Usually five or six into one cell. I believe we were arranged that way so that they could watch us tear each other to shreds for just the smallest scrap of food."
"I saw the same thing when I went down into the cells as Big Chill," Ben claimed. "Oh, man... it was inhumane."
"Tell me about it," he muttered.
Eventually, the heat died down and everyone went back to their seats. Even XL was able to calm down relatively easily, he was scrolling through his songs, looking for something to listen to.
He was listening to "The Hell Song" by Sum 41 when someone shook his shoulder. It was Ben. He removed his headphones from his ears.
"We're getting close to Bellwood," he told him.
"Okay," he got up from his seat and took his. "Fly to the west side of town."
"Alright, whatever you say," Kevin replied.
He directed the Rust Bucket west just as he said to do so. He then directed him to an old stretch of highway that led into a tunnel.
He landed in front of the tunnel, "Now what?"
He stood up from the seat and started to walk away, "We walk."
They got out of the Rust Bucket and walked down into the tunnel. They didn't have to walk very far.
It wasn't long before they saw various buildings, shops, advertisements, and homes among other things. In the streets were aliens of various sizes, shapes, and colors.
"Dude!" Beast Boy and Ben gasped in unison.
"Look at this place," Cyborg's jaw dropped.
"Are you coming?" XL called out to them from below, Slade was at his side.
They quickly joined with them and he continued to lead them through the city. Although they were on a mission, it was hard to stay focused when there were so many things to admire.
In spite of all the sights, the food the vendors sold was nothing to get hungry over. Beast Boy shivered in disgust at the food, "Ugh! The food here looks worse than what Star makes us eat!"
"Oh, man. Same with us and my Grandpa Max," Ben groaned in agreement.
"Remember that time he made us hash browns and deep fried squid eyes for breakfast?" Kevin asked, voice full of laughter.
"Or those cockroach croquettes?" Gwen added.
"Stop, you're making me hungry," XL grumbled, rubbing his stomach.
Beast Boy laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, "Oh, right, you haven't eaten since last night. Sorry, dude, I, uh-"
He interjected, "It's fine, I wasn't hungry last night or this morning anyway." As if on cue, there was a prolonged growl coming from his stomach, "But I am now."
He stopped at a stand and spoke to the vendor in a language none of them recognized. He took some strange currency out of his pocket and handed it to the vendor, who in turn gave him a strange fruit.
The fruit was the size of a tennis ball and had a foul odor that they could all smell even though they stood roughly two or three feet away from him. It was colored sulfur with black spots that were the size of a nickel.
He cracked it over his knee and opened it with ease. Inside was a bright yellow custard-like substance with a faint, sweet smelling aroma.
"What is that?" Cyborg asked, holding his nose.
"Boladh Bréan. Smells bad, but tastes good." To demonstrate, he poured a small portion of the custard in one of the halves into his mouth. He held out the other half to them.
No one dared to touch it, until Kevin shrugged and took it, "Why not?" He poured a little bit of it into his mouth and nodded while licking his lips, "Not bad."
Ben tried some of it, "Huh, you're right, tastes pretty good."
Gwen tried it too, "I guess we shouldn't have been so quick to judge Grandpa Max."
Starfire went over to XL and asked, "May I?" He held out his food to her.
In just a couple of minutes, everyone, save for Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Slade, had tried the fruit. Raven and Slade didn't want to try it, not because they thought it was disgusting or anything similar, but because they just didn't want to. Beast Boy and Cyborg didn't try it because they saw it as "weird" and instead were consuming an ice cream-like product. They didn't know what it was, but XL did and decided to have a little fun.
"You know you're eating babies, right?" he questioned pointedly.
They looked at him with shocked expressions, their faces were covered with the product they were eating. "What?" they asked in unison.
"You're eating Lewodan children," he replied flatly.
Kevin decided to play along, "The consumption of Lewodan children is illegal in fifteen systems. That's a felony that lands you a trip to the Null Void."
"The Null Void is full of the most dangerous criminals in the Universe. They will eat you alive," he smirked.
They gagged and tried to wipe away all evidence of the "babies" from their faces. Meanwhile, Kevin and XL were trying to steady themselves as they struggled to hold back their laughter.
Gwen crossed her arms and scolded them, "Enough's enough."
Kevin groaned in disappointment, "It was fun while it lasted." He whistled and got their attention, "Guys, we were just kidding."
Beast Boy blinked, "Huh? So, we're not eating alien kids?"
XL shook his head with an amused smile, "No, you're eating synthetic Lewodans. As in artificial." They sighed in unison.
"That's a relief!" Cyborg grinned from ear to ear and continued to stuff his face.
"Uh, want some?" Beast Boy offered, extending his hand out.
He looked at his hand and noticed that it was covered in the product. He backed away from him, "No thanks, I'm allergic to synthetic lifeforms. It will cause irritation if it gets on my skin." He shrugged and continued to eat it.
Once their snack was finished, they focused on the matter at hand and continued to walk through Undertown. It wasn't until they got to a particular area of the city that he stopped in his tracks.
"What's wrong? Why are we stopping?" Gwen asked.
He said nothing and pointed in front of him. They looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw a highway of primarily black and blue flashes in the middle of the street.
"If we continue," he started, "we will be ripped apart until there is nothing left. It would be very bloody."
"What are those blurs?" Beast Boy asked.
"'Those blurs' are the residents," he answered. "The children enjoy playing in the streets."
"No problem," Ben smiled, dialing the Ultimatrix, "we'll just fly over them."
"I wouldn't recommend that," he told him.
"Why not?" he asked.
He pointed at the playing children again and they watched as a kid that looked striking similar to Fasttrack jumped up high into the air to kick a ball and went back to the ground with his friends. It happened within the time span of only a single second.
He saw the point he was trying to make, "Oh."
"So, now what? This is it? This is as far as we go?" Cyborg asked dramatically.
He sighed, but whether or not this was due to annoyance or frustration is unknown, "Quit being so dramatic. All we have to do is walk."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Raven asked. "You did say they're pretty dangerous."
"That's only if you walk too fast or start running," he replied. "If we walk slow enough, we won't be in any danger. After all, the only way to fight speed is to slow down."
He started to slowly walk towards where the children played. They held their breath and exhaled when he was able to walk through unharmed. They followed him as soon they saw it was safe.
He waited for them with his hands in his pockets with a bored yet amused expression on his face. He stood in front of a tunnel that appeared to lead into a deeper area of Undertown.
"Look out! She can't stop!" a young, unfamiliar voice shouted from behind them.
They turned and saw a blue and black blur skidding towards them. XL stepped forward and knelt down with wide arms. He caught the blur and stood up as soon as he did. They saw that the blur was a young girl that was the same species as Fasttrack and the boy they saw earlier. As soon as he caught her, two boys came up to them.
One of the boys was the same species as the little girl, the other was the same species as some of the other children and one that Ben and his friends immediately recognized. Both were in their pre-teenage to early-teenage years.
"A Fasttrack and an XLR8?" Ben questioned out loud.
"Citrakayah and Kineceleran," Kevin corrected.
The Citrakayah took the little girl from XL, "Sorry about that, she's still learning how to control her momentum."
"Thanks for catching her before anyone got hurt," the Kineceleran smiled appreciatively.
He gave a smile of his own, "No problem. Anything for a friend."
"Friend? Do we know you?" the Citrakayah asked.
"Yes, you do," he replied. "I believe you once called me 'a death-cheater.'" They looked at him with surprised expressions and almost fell to the ground in shock and realization.
"Xilo, sorry, we didn't recognize you," the Kineceleran apologized.
He shrugged, "It's fine. Do I really look that different?"
"Yeah, we almost never see you without your costume," he told him.
He glanced down at himself and the clothes he wore, a jacket and dark pants. 'I suppose I do look a little different in civilian clothes,' he mused.
"Or without-" he was about to add something, but he was cut off by XL suddenly covering his mouth.
"What's going on here?" Robin almost demanded.
He looked back at him with a playful and mischievous yet warning expression, "Nothing you should be concerned about."
"Anyways, thanks again," he grinned and playfully hit his shoulder.
He shrugged with a small smile, "No problem."
"Yeah, I would've been in big trouble if you hadn't stopped her," the Citrakayah joked slightly.
"We both would've," the Kineceleran added flippantly.
They sped off to rejoin their friends and looked back to wave. He waved back at them and they disappeared in an instant. He looked back at everyone else, they looked at him as if he had just grown some form of disfigurement.
"What?" he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"You saved a little girl," Robin started.
"And you have a lot of friends down here," Cyborg added.
"So?" he narrowed his eyes. "I might be a villain up there," he pointed up, then pointed at the ground, "but down here I'm whatever I want to be. I have friends that aren't complete idiots and I can be myself without a care."
Before this could go any further, Slade places a hand on his shoulder, "Calm down." He looked up at him angrily with gritted teeth, but calmed down.
"We continue forward from here," he told them. He pointed to the tunnel, "Down there."
They went over to it and walked into the lower levels of the city. The scenic change was quite drastic. It goes from liveliness and prosperity to dread and shadiness.
"Are you certain we are in the correct place?" Starfire asked timidly.
He nodded, "Yes, we are. We should be fine since we have Plumbers with us."
"You don't have just Plumbers, you have the great Ben Tennyson!" Ben declared proudly while in a 'hero pose.'
"Ben," Gwen growled warningly.
"Wait, what do you mean 'should be fine'? Are we in any danger?" Beast Boy asked, panicking a little.
"No," he assured, then paused with uncertainty and shrugged, "Well... maybe."
"That's reassuring," Raven uttered sarcastically.
"What the hell do you want from me?!" he snapped. "I have no idea what kind of trouble we could get into. And what are you so worried about anyway?! You have powers! My abilities are useful near water! Not here!"
Slade gave his shoulder a squeeze, he inhaled sharply. "That's enough," he calmly disciplined him, almost in a fatherly manner.
His expression lightened up and he looked back at them, "Sorry. Let's go."
As they walked through the shady area with uneasiness, there was this constant need to look over the shoulder to see if anyone was following them. Most of the people down there looked more than powerful enough both physically and socially to make any of them disappear forever.
"I do not like this place!" Starfire shrieked.
"How much longer until we get to... wherever we're going?" Beast Boy asked.
"We're not quite there yet," was the only reply he gave.
The walk was seemingly prolonged, especially with all the mysterious figures staring at them from around every corner, but they eventually came to a stop. They stopped at a hollowed out space in the concrete wall with a small gate to separate the inside and outside. It looked to be some kind of underground elevator.
They were about to question what it was, but stopped themselves when XL calmly opened the gate and stepped inside. They followed him and he closed the gate behind them once the last person stepped on.
"Uh, where are the controls?" Cyborg asked.
He was right, there were no buttons, no lever, no nothing to make it go up or down. They looked around for the controls, but found nothing.
Then, the elevator floor shook, they looked and saw XL jumping, trying to reach the ceiling. "Dammit," he grumbled, "they changed the controls again."
They looked up and saw a black, linoleum-like slate above them. He jumped up again and his finger skimmed the surface of the slate. When it did, a light blue vibration appeared for a brief time and disappeared.
"Can somebody help me reach it?" he asked.
"Dude, why don't you just use your powers?" Beast Boy asked.
"Are you mocking me?" he snapped. "I don't have powers! And even if I did, I'm not willing to use them while I'm sharing my body!"
Strong arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind and lifted him up before he could say anymore. He looked down and saw it was Slade, he idly noticed that he was glaring at them. He looked angry, but with his mask it was hard to tell, plus he was always good at sustaining his anger, much better than him.
He started working on the control panel, it was like watching some kind of magic show. There were some points that resembled a phenomena known as "ball lightning." He finished off by dragging a finger across the panel, the river of light that went along with it was a breathtaking finale.
Slade put him back on the floor as the elevator suddenly went down at an alarming speed. It stopped abruptly and XL and Slade were the first to walk out, everyone else appeared to practically be frozen in time. They eventually shook it off and walked out.
"Where are we?" Robin asked.
"About ten miles beneath the Earth's surface," XL answered.
"What?! How are we still alive?!" Cyborg screeched, causing XL to flinch in pain.
"Scream a little louder, why don't you?" he sarcastically grumbled, cleaning out his ears due to the pain.
Ben then noticed something dark in the palm of his hand. "What's in your hand?" he asked.
He looked at, "Oh, fur. Must have stuck to me when I picked her up." He rolled it up and flaked it off.
"How did it stick to you after all that time?" he asked again.
"Probably due to the protective mucus," he uttered.
"Mucus?" Robin repeated, slightly intrigued.
"My species secretes a protective layer of mucus to make us inedible to potential predators," he explained. "It's also a pretty good moisturizer. One of the reasons why my people were specifically attacked and forced into slavery. Don't worry, it usually only sticks to me and it can only come off with a dry rag."
"So, where's this place we're going to?" Kevin asked.
He led them to a rather large stand where a strange plump, blue alien with small wings and a nose similar to that of an elephant. There were numerous items for sale that were as strange as the alien, some were weapons, others were living creatures, the rest was simply bizarre.
He walked up to it and greeted the owner in a weird language, similar to the one from earlier, "H'chu apenkee."
The owner grinned, "Ah! Young Xilo, good customer!"
He got right to the point, "I need another suit."
"Wanta?" he asked, very confused.
"I, uh, lost it about two weeks ago," he explained.
"Sorry, I ran out years ago. You can't find that anymore," he said.
He was understandably disappointed, but there was something else he could ask for. "Give me two vials of serum."
He fluttered his wings and came over the counter with a chair and serology equipment. "Hunto milliliters see bonsa."
He sighed and sat down in the chair, rolling up his sleeve, "Luto. Woy fa momeu."
He looked away as he stuck a needle into his arm and flinched when he felt a sharp pinch. A blue fluid rushed into a tube and was removed when it was full. He placed it on the counter and grabbed another one.
XL saw this and pushed him away, he tore out the needle. He stood up and held his arm as blood gushed out, he weakly spat while gasping, "You said ten, not twenty!"
He shrugged and went back behind the counter, taking out a petri dish and a dark colored vial, "Jee banag bai neu haku Meecooda yoieu koumhaptecee cay."
"Whatever. Just give me the serum," he told him, nearly growling.
"Here," he gave him two vials filled with a sulfur colored liquid. "Cuova woy yanee cay uba."
"E chu ta," he spat before he walked away with the vials. "Let's get going," he told everyone.
"Best idea I've heard all day," Kevin uttered.
They were about to walk away, when the owner shouted, "Chuba! Yoieu bata wata!"
"Choy? Da chuda?" he asked, turning around.
"Is this a joke?" he snapped. "Fa baa tee ciy. Doth uba dopo bai dwana mi va foppa?!"
"Not pure? What are you talking about?" he inquired, walking up to the stand.
He showed him the petri dish, "It's still blue, not red! It should be red!"
He took it from him and examined it, he gasped in realization, 'Of course, Angelos! It must have damaged my DNA!' He quickly asked him, "Hi chuba da naga doi mi?"
"Jee banag mah bahie bata!" He took the vials from him and threw the tube of tainted blood at him, which he easily caught and put in his pocket.
He went back to everyone, "I'm sorry, I didn't know this would happen!"
"Hey, it's cool," Kevin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let me talk to him." He went over to do just that.
'Oh, no,' XL thought. 'We will need a miracle.'
"Hey, listen, he's with us. You know? The Plumbers. Not to mention he has two teams of superheroes to back him up and a guy who's probably the most dangerous man in the world. So, what do you say? Can we cut a deal here?" he asked in a polite and negotiable manner.
'Here we go,' he thought. He tapped on Ben's shoulder, getting his attention, "Be ready for anything."
"What?" he questioned. "What are you-"
He got his answer when the owner gave Kevin his answer, "Nobata!"
He took out a small, wooden flute-like whistle and blew into it. Two large aliens came out from behind the stand. One was a Tetramand, except his skin was blue, not the usual red. The other was a muscular green alien with gills and fins on the sides of his face.
"Killee hoohah!" he commanded.
The Tetramand cracked all four of his knuckles, "With pleasure, boss."
Kevin backed up nervously with his hands up, "Hey, hey, take it easy." He was lifted up off the ground by the lower left arm, the other three arms were aimed down at him.
"Kevin!" Ben shouted and hit the Ultimatrix.
The green light enveloped him and when it cleared away he was transformed into a dark purplish-blue crystalline humanoid. He had a magenta face, hands, crystal shards on his back and chest, and one lone shard on top of his head, almost like some kind of horn.
"Chromastone!" he shouted. He raised his hand and shot a rainbow beam at the Tetramand, causing him to drop Kevin.
Beast Boy was awestruck, "Dude! This guy is amazing!"
Starfire couldn't help but to agree, but for a different reason, "Indeed, the colors were most beautiful."
The owner's eyes lit up when he saw Chromastone, the other alien was about to strike him, but he stopped him, "Stand down, koochoo."
He took out a metal box from underneath the counter and fluttered over the counter. He opened the box, revealing a glowing sphere shaped object the size of a tennis ball.
"What are you-?" Chromastone tried to ask, but was cut off by his own screams when it was suddenly thrust into his body.
The shards on his body turned red and grew longer as an aura of the ray he shot danced on them. When all of it eventually stopped, he started breathing in and out heavily and nearly fell over.
"Puna puna hoohah mo!" he ordered. They did as they were told and broke off the elongated crystals.
"Hey!" he protested, backing away when they tried to remove the shard on top of his head.
"Crystal or no vials!" he said.
XL pulled on his arm, making him face him, "Just do it."
He was hesitant, "But-"
He interjected, "They grow back."
"Fine," he caved in and broke off the last shard. He turned back into Ben, "Here. Don't make me regret this."
He eagerly took it, "Cuova woy yanee cay uba."
Before he could go anywhere, XL tapped on his shoulder and held out his hand expectantly, "The serum."
He gave him the vials, "Wata uba doth." He went back over the counter and said in a surly manner, "Cuova woy yanee cay tytung uba."
"E chu ta, kung," he hissed. He told everyone as he started to walk away, "Come on, let's get out of here."
O*~*O*~*O-X-O*~*O*~*O
(A/N: So, what do you think? I know it may not be my best work, but a lot better than some of my earlier stuff.
The stand owner is based on Watto from "Star Wars" and the language he and XL are speaking is Huttese. It's a lot of stuff, so I'm not going to translate it, but it should be pretty easy to figure out, even without a translator.
I recently got started on two one-shot stories for "Ben 10." One is the sequel to "Ghostly Vengeance", the other isn't. That's all I'm really gonna tell you. You'll have to be patient to find out more.)