NOTE: Obligatory Recap episode time! Hopefully you all enjoy the chapter.
A little sneak peek into the next arc is that it does revolve around Max. It won't be a super long one, but it'll be important to the story.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 48: A Time for Talking
"See! It's just like old times!" Rise exclaimed, happily.
"Please remind me how sitting in an old cramped RV is anything like old times?" Naoto asked, giving Rise a dead stare. The detective quickly looked at the Tennysons. "No offense."
"None taken." Yukiko and her cousins said.
"Well, we're all together attempting to figure out a mystery. Seems pretty similar to me." Rise answered.
"I'd have to agree. Rise makes a good point, Naoto." Yu said. "Just replace Junes with a Rustbucket and nothing has really changed much."
"Thanks, Senpai." Rise gave him a thumbs up. Naoto just sighed exasperatedly at the idol and her Senpai, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"The Rustbucket is a lot more cozy than Junes though." Yukiko added.
"Unless you count Ben's snoring, then I'd rather prefer a supermarket filled with people." Gwen said.
"I don't snore!" Ben yelled.
"So do!"
"So don't!"
"So do!"
"So don't!"
"So do!"
"So don't!"
"So-"
SMACK!
SMACK!
"OW!" Ben and Gwen gripped their heads, feeling the sting of Yukiko's smack.
Kenny sighed in relief. "Thanks, I was scared they'd break into another tangent again."
Rise motioned at Ben and Gwen. "See! It's just like Yosuke-senpai and Chie-senpai!"
"Except Chie is usually the one hitting him." Yu said.
"T-then who am I supposed to be?" Kenny asked Rise.
"Teddie."
"W-why doesn't that make me feel better?" Kenny muttered.
Naoto snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention. "I think we're starting to get off track. We're here to discuss very important matters, right?"
Rise nodded her head, agreeing with the detective. "Naoto-kun is right. This isn't the time to be goofing around!"
Her friends blinked at her in surprise, especially Naoto. "Wow, Rise, I didn't think you'd take this seriously-"
"So, tell us more about your adventures this summer!" Rise demanded from the Tennysons.
SLAM!
Everyone stared at Naoto, who had banged her head against the table. The detective didn't move for several moments.
"Your friends are weird." Ben told Yukiko.
OP: Ancient Romantic by P-Maru Sama
Ancient Romantic!
(U! Ha! U! Ha!)
(U! Ha! U! Ha!)
A rotating shot of the Omnitrix comes into view before latching onto Ben's wrist. He's seen standing with Yukiko, Gwen, and Max in front of the Rustbucket.
For a split second the landscape around them glitches out as purple lighting cracks the sky above.
The miracle of humankind that I met at once was a loss if neither Edison nor Watson knew (Loss!)
Ben stands on top of a broken spaceship, staring out at the clear blue sky above him.
Below him was Yukiko, who stood in the shadows of the ship. Her eyes transfixed on her tarot card.
Mr. N was surprised at such a situation since the earth was created (Unexpected!)
Gwen walked past the two, her eyes focused on her spell book. She shut the book instantly, her eyes glowing with blue mana.
Max stood in the back and in his hands was a broken picture frame.
The ancient civilization and the school playground that I ran yesterday are all connected.
The scenery changed to Inaba. Yukiko is seen running through the town with the rest of the Investigation Team.
SHATTER!
Yukiko was now running around with the Tennysons. Ben, happily leading the charge with the Omnitrix ready.
SHATTER!
Yukiko was smiling brightly, her arms draped around Ben's chest as he proudly stood in front of her. His face is full of confidence and aspirations.
SHATTER!
Older versions of Ben, Yukiko, Gwen, Max, and Yu appeared. The Tennysons were standing around the married couple as Yukiko held a small blue bundle of blankets in her hands. She smiled warmly at her newborn baby.
The invitation to unravel the true nature of this romance is an initiation from ancient times.
Ben sat inside of a blue limousine. In front of him were both Igor and Maragret, the attendant holding a large blue book in her hands.
Sitting next to Ben was Yu, whose tarot card expanded into a blinding flash of light.
All members! Go in! Aye-aye!
Ben charged into battle first, slapping down the dial and transforming into Four Arms. Gwen came in next, hands glowing bright with mana. Yukiko summoned Sumeo-Okami, unleashing waves of fire. Max joined his grandkids, his own personal blaster ready to battle.
Let's dance in such an era! Dancing all right!
Yu appeared next with his sword drawn. Izanagi jumped out from behind him, his blade sparking with white electricity.
Naoto Shirogane dropped down in front of him with her gun pointed at the screen. Her Persona: Yamato-Takeru appeared next to her in a flash of light.
Rise Kujikawa descended downwards gracefully, with her eyes closed shut. Her Persona: Kanzeon had appeared behind Rise. Placing a red-colored headset over her user's eyes.
Rehabilitation! Introspection! I'll do it one after another! The past and the future are all mixed together!
Yukiko had her arms wrapped around Four Arms' neck as the two glided through a massive tornado. Four Arms loudly strummed his guitar.
Kenny and Lucky Girl stood back to back, facing off against an army of robots. The elder brother held a baseball bat in his hands, while Lucky Girl's hands vibrated with mana.
Collapse! Situation! Hurry up!
A familiar looking creature appeared dressed in shadows, its purple eye glistening with malicious fury.
The feelings of hundreds of millions of years are romantic over!
Three new aliens appeared on the screen. A Frankenstien's monster, a werewolf, and a mummy all stood in front of a large satellite. Above them the sun transformed into a massive purple eyeball.
March! Send! Do in! Do in Love! There is one love in any era!
The Rustbucket was speeding towards the satellite with its boosters activated. The Tennysons inside were determined to stop whatever was about to happen.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, you can see!
Chie, Yosuke, Kanji, Teddie, Nanako, Rise, and Naoto held each letter as they flashed across the screen.
H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, you caught!
For the last remaining letters were each held by Ben's aliens as they flashed across the screen.
Ancient Romantic!
Yukiko fell through the air, unable to stop herself. Ben reached for her as fast as he could, his hand only inches from her's.
(U! Ha! U! Ha!)
(U! Ha! U! Ha!)
Yukiko tapped her chin in thought. "I guess it'd be fine to talk about some of our adventures. I haven't really explained a lot of them to you guys yet."
Naoto rubbed her forehead. "I'd much rather get to the important topics."
"Are you always this serious?" Ben asked. He didn't have much of an opinion on Naoto other than her saving his life. She was starting to remind him of his aunt Natalie and Gwen a little too much.
"Yes, she is." Rise answered before Naoto could get a word in. "But isn't her pouty face just the cutest?" Naoto's frown doubled as Rise lightly poked her cheeks.
"I don't know." Ben shrugged.
Yu took the chance to intervene, he was pretty curious to hear about some of these adventures as well. "It'll be fine, Naoto. I think it's better for us to wait for Kenji-san and Max-san to return anyway." He knew just how anxious Naoto was to get to the bottom of the mystery, but as always it wouldn't do good to rush things.
She relented, relaxing her shoulders. "Fine, we'll wait for Grandfather." And she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious as well.
"Alright, then… uh… what should we start with?" Yukiko asked her cousins.
Kenny raised his hands. "Don't ask me. I wasn't here for most of them."
Gwen hummed at that. "In that case, we can start with the first one you got to experience with us, when we went to Bancroft Academy."
Ben's face grimaced as he recalled the painful memory. "Ugh… do we have to start with that one?"
"What's wrong with this one? Was the school that bad?" Rise asked.
"Well, yes, but that's not exactly why Ben reacted like that." Kenny winced lightly. That memory wasn't that good for him either.
"We can skip that one if you want, Ben." Yu said.
Ben shook his head. "It's whatever, the doofus already brought it up anyway."
"Excuse me for trying to include my brother!"
"Anyway." Ben ignored Gwen, making her even more upset. "Gwen wanted to go to this snobbish school for losers."
"It was a school for intellectual individuals, y'know, people who aren't Ben." Gwen interjected. Yukiko quickly intervened before her cousins got into another fight.
"When we got to Bancroft we met up with Kenny who was invited by Grandpa. It was the first time I got to meet him." Yukiko smiled at him.
"It was nice getting to see these two knuckleheads." Kenny ruffled the kids' hair, getting indignant cries from them. "And Yukiko was different from what I imagined."
"What did you imagine? Yukiko asked.
"Uh…"
"Who cares about that!" Ben interrupted them, earning glares from both teenagers. "Let's get to the important bits of the story. Ghostfreak."
"Ghostfreak?" The mystery solvers asked.
"He was one of Ben's aliens. One of the first 10 aliens." Gwen clarified.
"And what exactly happened with this Ghostfreak?" Naoto asked.
The Tennysons were silent for a brief moment before Ben answered. "...He escaped the Omnitrix."
"WHAT!?"
"It all started with a weird dream…"
"HELP! I CAN'T GET DOWN!" A small child screamed from the top of a tree. The small boy had been trying to get his frisbee back without thinking of a way to get off the tree.
"Don't worry! We'll come up and get you!" He looked down to see Ben, Gwen, and Yukiko standing right below him.
"We?" Ben questioned.
"Hey, you're the superhero. Go be a hero," Gwen lightly pushed him to get moving.
Rolling his eyes, Ben activated the watch and turned into Wildmutt. Gwen rolled her eyes this time. "Oh, good thinking! Turn into the vicious drooling alien attack dog to rescue the scared kid out of the tree."
"I don't think Wildmutt looks vicious," Yukiko disagreed.
"Of course, you think that," Gwen replied dryly.
Wildmutt ignored them, climbing up the tree. He slowly approached the child, who was indeed scared of his appearance. Wildmutt tried to calm his nerves. "It's okay, I'm here to help get you down."
"I don't want to get down…!" The kid turned around, his face twisted and mangled. A single purple eye was staring back at Ben. "I WANT OUT!"
"AAAHHH!" Wildmutt backed away from the kid. Suddenly, everything around him began to transform into a green and black void. The kid vanished along with the tree, morphing into a long gray arm. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Behind him, the purple eye reappeared. "You can't get away from me!" Wildmutt was grabbed by the creature's hand. "ALWAYS THE HERO! WHAT A WASTE OF POTENTIAL!" The hand started squeezing Wildmutt, crushing him slowly. "You want to be a hero…?"
Wildmutt was brought up to the creature's face, allowing him to finally notice just who and what was attacking him again. "GET ME OUT!"
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
Yu's hand tightened into a fist as Ben retold the dream to them. He had similar experiences last year during the case, when he'd dream about the outcomes if he failed to save someone from the TV World in time or where he and his friends were brutally killed inside of the TV. Those nightmares had lessened as time went on, but sometimes he'd get hit by one. But to hear that Ben was still suffering from something similar to the Vilgax situation and that it had been manipulated by his own forms was something else, it was terrifying to think about.
"What else?" Naoto asked.
"It got even stranger after that. Even though we brushed off the dream as a nightmare I could still feel Ghostfreak as if he was breathing down my neck the entire time." Ben continued on.
"...en…"
"Huh!?" Ben flinched from the whispering voice. He looked up at the sky, seeing something vanish from sight.
"...Ben…"
"Ben!"
The Tennyson family continued to follow the snobbish student with Ben silently grumbling at Gwen. As he walked along the walls, his shadow morphed into something different. He had only caught it last minute, but he double checked his shadow just to be sure. When it looked normal, Ben rubbed his eyes. "Grandpa's right. I just need a little sleep."
Watching the smile disappear from Gwen's face brought Yukiko's mood down further. She REALLY didn't like this Tiffany girl judging her family like this. A small pool of malice seeped out of Yukiko, making Tiffany shiver slightly.
Ben and Kenny glanced around the tables. "Hey, Ben, doesn't this look like grape soda to you?" He chuckled.
"Hm? Yeah, wonder if it tastes like it-" Ben's good mood soured as the liquid bubbled from the burner. A familiar purple eye materialized in the liquid.
"LET ME OUT!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ben smacked the beaker off of the table, shocking everyone.
Naoto hummed softly, processing the information. "He was able to materialize himself in front of you?"
Gwen shook her head. "I don't think that was it. I think it was more that he was affecting Ben's perception, because his consciousness was still intact. Making himself appear in front of Ben and even in his dreams even though he's not actually there."
"Like a specter." Yu said.
"Really living up to the name 'Ghostfreak'." Rise gulped. She hated ghost stories, and she was really happy that she hadn't experienced any of that at all.
"How did he escape from the Omnitrix? I didn't think something like that could be possible since they're all just DNA." Yu said.
"We thought the same thing, it never occurred to us that any of the aliens in the watch could be alive, but apparently Ghostfreaks' species' consciousness can exist even within a strand of DNA." Yukiko explained.
Ghostfreak happily chased after his prey until a familiar ringing sound made its way to his ears. Ghostfreak flew away from the Freaks, screaming in fear. "No! I'm not going back-"
FLASH!
Ben stood up from the smoke, brushing himself off. "Phew. Man, I'm glad to be rid of that freak."
"Aw. And I thought we were close."
Ben froze in horror. Floating right in front of him was none other than Ghostfreak. "Nice to finally meet you. FACE TO FACE!"
"T-this can't be happening! You can't be you! I'm you!" Ben exclaimed.
"I was never you. An Ectonurite's consciousness exists even in a few strands of DNA! When the sample was taken for the Omnitrix, I was trapped inside. But now… I can reveal my TRUE SELF!" Ghostfreak's body began to undergo a horrific transformation that would haunt Ben for the rest of his life.
The phantom's body now had a gaseous appearance and claw-like hands. His skin was still grey with black lines running all over him. His skin appeared to still be removable as black and white striped tentacles wiggling underneath it. Ghostfreak now looked as if he was straight out of a horror film.
"I thought you were ugly before. What do you want!?" Ben backed away.
"I need the power of the Omnitrix to make me whole again! I can only do that by taking over your body!" The Ectonurite closed the distance between them. "Now let's see how you like being trapped inside someone else!" Ghostfreak attempted to grab Ben, but the boy was in the sunlight. His skin started to burn, forcing the Ectonurite to retreat.
Ben took this chance to run away, but he ran right into Max. "Ben, take it easy! You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Ben just stared at Max and Yukiko. "You have no idea how right you are, Grandpa."
"After that we explained everything to Kenny and got to searching for Ghostfreak. We couldn't risk leaving him to endanger the students of Bancroft Academy." Yukiko said.
"What would happen if Ghostfreak succeeded in taking Ben's body?" Rise asked, afraid of the answer.
"I'd rather not think about that." Yukiko answered, darkly. Gwen and Kenny looked just as upset about the question as she did.
"Eep! Sorry!" Rise apologized.
"So, it was just you guys vs Ghostfreak?" Yu asked.
"No, he had gained the help of a group called the Circus Freaks." Ben said.
"The Circus Freaks? Weren't they with that insane clown Zombozo?" Naoto was surprised to hear that. "I'm certain that they were all arrested."
"Trust me when I say that a lot of our foes have a habit of coming back for revenge." Gwen responded. Naoto really didn't like the sound of that, just how many enemies did Yukiko's family make during this summer vacation?
"Ghostfreak can't survive in sunlight, so he needed my body to cancel that out. In the meantime, he used the Circus Freaks as hosts, so that he could negate Grandpa's sun gun. But in the end, he outsmarted us." Ben sighed.
"By doing what?"
"By taking over one of our bodies." Yukiko's words left the three shocked again. "He tried to take my body first, but my Persona expelled him before he could take over."
Ghostfreak floated inside of a dark space, cackling as he felt his presence growing inside of the teenager. "HAHAHAHAHA! With this, Benjamin won't be able to hurt his precious family!"
"...get…out…"
Ghostfreak's laughter ceased instantly, confused by the voice. "Who said that?"
"...Get…out…"
The Ectonurite could feel the space growing hotter. His skin grew warmer and warmer by the second. He was concerned by the feeling. "W-what is happening? This shouldn't be possible…"
"...Get out….!"
Ghostfreak saw something in the distance, a tiny light shimmering in the darkness. He was confused by its appearance until the speck started growing by the second. The light burned his skin on contact. "GAH! W-WHAT!?" Fire started spreading out from the bright light, eclipsing his entire form. The Ectonurite's eye grew wide in fear. Every instinct in his body was screaming for him to escape.
The fire around him began to take the form of Sumeo-Okami and the Persona was not happy to see the intruder enter its user's body. "GET OUT!"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Ghostfreak was forcibly ejected from Yukiko's body. The Ectonurite floated in the air, gasping for air from the forceful ejection.
"Phew! So, I'd be safe then if I was there, since Persona users can't be taken over. But who did he go for next?" Rise asked.
"Me." Kenny said, surprising her. "Well, technically, he tried to go for Gwen, but I pushed her out the way before he could."
"I'm sorry that happened, Kenny." Rise felt bad for him.
"Thanks. Let me tell you that being possessed is not fun at all. I don't even remember what he did during that time. It was like a massive blank in my memory, all I can remember is the pain like it was a splitting headache." Kenny explained.
"But considering you're all here now, this story does have a happy ending?" Naoto asked. For the first time since this retelling began, Ben's face morphed into a wide grin.
"Yup! When Ghostfreak attempted to take over my body, I unlocked this guy!" Ben brought up the Omnitrix and showed the Eye-Guy icon.
A large blast of green energy illuminated the night sky, catching everyone's attention. Suddenly, a grey body dropped down onto the middle of the courtyard. Looking closer at the disheveled figure, everyone realized that it was Ghostfreak.
However, the Ectonurite's body was noticeably heavily injured, his entire body was smoking as if he had just been set on fire. The phantom was trying to regain his strength. "N-need…to…hide…re…gain..strength…" Ghostfreak attempted to try and merge back with one of the Freaks.
"EYE DON'T THINK SO!"
Another blast of green energy zapped Ghostfreak, knocking the Ectonurite back down. The Tennysons and Freaks turned around to see two other bodies join the fray. Obviously one of them was Kenny, but the other was someone entirely new.
He was one hell of a creature to look at, considering his entire upper body was covered with green eyes, ironically, he had no eyes on his face. Only a mouth and a very large pair of bat-like ears. He has dark yellow skin with lighter yellow skin on his chest. He wore black pants with white bands on them and a white belt with the Omnitrix symbol on it.
The Tennysons were shocked by the new alien. "BEN!?"
"Eye don't know about Ben! But Eye-Guy is here to save the day!" Eye-Guy declared as he allowed Kenny to stand on the ground.
"And with Eye-Guy's power, beating those Circus Freaks and Ghostfreak was pretty easy!"
"...I…I…won't…"
The Tennyson family turned to Ghostfreak, who was slowly floating over to them. "...I won't…be…defeated by a…child…"
Eye-Guy stepped forward, extending the massive eye on his chest. "Too bad, Ghost wimp! EYE heavily disagree!" Energy began to surge from the eye, charging up a powerful burst of energy.
Ghostfreak's single eye widened in fear. "T-this isn't over… Ben Tennyson…! I will have my revenge!"
"EYE don't think so!" Eye-Guy unleashed the blast of energy from his chest eye, the beam of energy collided with Ghostfreak. The Ectonurite screamed in pain as his body was being eradicated by the blast. A dark chuckle escaped his throat as if his final laugh was mocking one. The intent behind it was unknown as the blast collided with the clock tower.
The Omnitrix beeped red, turning Ben back to normal. The boy released a breath of relief, dropping onto his butt. "Finally, the nightmare ends…"
"And that's the end of that story!" Ben exclaimed, proudly.
"Sorry, we had to start with such a heavy handed one." Yukiko apologized to her friends.
"D-don't sweat it, Yukiko-senpai. Just make sure the next ones aren't as terrifying." Rise requested.
"No promises!"
"Uwaaa…!" Rise cried cartoonishly.
Yu chuckled at the two, then he noticed Naoto's inquisitive look. "Something the matter, Naoto?"
She looked up, realizing everyone was staring at her. "Ah… not really. Just thinking about something." Before anyone could press her further, the door to the Rustbucket opened up. Max and Kenji stepped into the Rustbucket with several grocery bags in their hands.
Gwen sniffed the air, then pinched her nose. "Ew! Please don't tell me that's supposed to be dinner!"
"Alright, I won't, Gwen." Max teased her. Gwen glared at him for the joke, dreading whatever she'd be eating tonight.
"As much as I would love to discuss what we're planning for dinner, we're gonna have to save it for later." Kenji said before reaching into one of the bags. He pulled out a folded newspaper and tossed it on the table. "Open it to the second page." Naoto does as requested and opens the newspaper for all of them to see. The teens and kids gasp loudly at the Newsline and photo.
"BANCROFT ACADEMY CLOCK TOWER DISAPPEARS!?"
"Wait, but how does an entire clock tower disappear?" Kenny asked.
"That's pretty convenient, considering we were just talking about your guys' experience at Bancroft Academy." Yu pointed out.
"Apparently the incident was reported a few days ago. Nobody knows when it was taken or how it was taken, and no one's reported any sightings of the clock tower." Max said.
Ben tilted his head in confusion. "I get that this is pretty weird, but I don't exactly get the reason you're showing us this, Grandpa."
Gwen thought about it for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Unless you think that the stolen clock tower is related to the purple lightning!"
Naoto also realized what her grandfather and Max were getting to. "I see! This sorta seems to line up with the other strange incidents that have happened recently."
"The werewolf back in the Navajo Village and the technology it stole!" Yukiko exclaimed.
BOOM!
Another bolt of purple lightning struck the ground behind Ben, snapping him out of his daze. The boy turned around to see a massive werewolf staring him down. Ben stared at it with wide eyes. "Anyone want to ask that thing for an umbrella?"
Back with the hunt, the men and Naoto hid behind a ledge. Below them was the werewolf from before, but the most shocking thing was that the creature seemed to be building something. A massive pile of scrap metal and machines surrounded it.
"The NASA tracking station on the North ridge was just destroyed by some sort of werewolf." Wes said as the old men approached the kids. "It almost ripped apart the guards there."
"What did it want?" Kenji asked.
"It took some satellite equipment."
"And it took that receiver you had here. What do you think it wants?" Ben mentioned.
"And then we had the mummy back at the farm that was digging up Corrodium." Kenny added.
XLR8 arrived in another clearing and was surprised to see the mummy. With a closer look he noticed the bandaged zombie was digging a hole into the ground, a bright purple glow beneath it. "Wow! It looks like Todd was right! But why would a mummy be trying to get back into the ground?"
Diamondhead jumped off the upper floor in a haste. "Ben, wait!" Max called out to his grandson, but the boy didn't listen. He dug through the ground and found the Corrodium. "Found it."
"Nice work, genius!" Gwen yelled at him as the group walked down the steps. "You just did the mummy's work for him!"
"Oh…yeah." Diamondhead realized. He and the others flinched when the lights started flickering, setting a very ominous atmosphere inside of the factory. With each flicker, the mummy got closer and closer to them.
"We've got company!" Kenny cried as the mummy was right on top of them.
"I don't think he's here for the chocolate zoomies!" Gwen cried. Diamondhead charged at the mummy, impaling it with a crystal blade, but it was unaffected by it. The mummy wrapped bandages around the Petrosapien and smashed him into the wall. It then grabbed the Corrodium, adding it to the two other pieces it already had.
Rise groaned, struggling to understand everything. "But why!? Why would a werewolf and a mummy want a bunch of space rocks and satellite equipment? What are they gonna take next? A spaceship?"
"...Spaceship…" Yu repeated the word, and then it clicked in his head. "Rise, you're a genius!"
The idol blinked at him. "Really, Senpai? Well, I don't mind if you call me one-" She stopped herself when she felt a very murderous aura coming from Yukiko. "I-I meant thank you, Senpai!" And the murderous intent disappeared as soon as it came.
"I-I think you're a genius too, Rise!" Kenny exclaimed.
"Oh, thanks!" She appreciated it.
"What did you figure out, Senpai?" Naoto asked.
"Well, Max-san, you said that Corrodium is capable of transforming people, right?" Yu asked.
"Correct. Prolonged contact with it has disastrous effects on all living things." Max replied.
"Then we have the werewolf with the satellite parts." Yu turned to Ben. "Ben, did you see the werewolf escape the cave collapse?"
"Yeah, I guess it didn't want to die in the cave. Didn't have time to try and stop him, since I didn't want to die in there either. Though, I don't know why you need to know this." Ben answered.
Kenji finally got what Yu was getting to. "The werewolf was building a satellite, that's why it kept taking those parts. It wants to send a signal, but to where?"
"To space. That's the only reason I can think of for stealing NASA equipment." Yu answered. "I'm guessing it wants to send a message into space, but then you'd wonder why the Corrodium would be needed unless you wanted to transport it!"
"That's it!" Yukiko exclaimed. "The werewolf wants to send Corrodium into space, but that's impossible since we buried the mummy with the Corrodium underground."
"Unless the Corrodium the mummy had wasn't the only Corrodium they had in their possession." Naoto said.
"And if the werewolf wants the Corrodium into space, then it'll need a spaceship." Max said. "And the only place in America that you could get a spaceship from is…"
"NASA!" Both Max and Kenji shouted.
Ben jumped up. "Cool! Guess we're going to NASA! I always wanted to see a spaceship up close!"
"You've seen a spaceship before." Gwen pointed out.
"Yeah, but this time I'm not getting abducted into one."
"So, we're all going to NASA then?" Rise asked.
"No, you and Narukami are coming with me to the Navajo Village." Kenji told them, then turned to his granddaughter. "Naoto, you'll be going to NASA with the Tennysons."
His granddaughter was confused. "Why am I not going with you, Grandfather?"
"Because I know that you really want to see a spaceship as well." He smirked. His granddaughter sputtered, blushing up a storm. "And Kujikawa-chan's tracking ability will be useful in finding that werewolf's equipment and destroying it. Narukami will be there to defend us just in case the werewolf is there."
"But wouldn't the werewolf be heading to NASA?" Ben asked.
"You think there's something else?" Max pointed at the newspaper.
"Yes, I still believe that the missing clock tower is related. I just can't possibly think of why." Kenji was stumped. The others were the same way, unable to think of how the clock tower could possibly fit into their theory.
Naoto stared at the newspaper, still thinking it was strange that the Bancroft Academy's clock tower was taken instead of any other one. It had nothing to do with the purple lightning at all. "There's something we're missing. A piece to this puzzle that's alluding us and for some reason I believe we'll find that answer at NASA."
Chapter End
NOTE: They didn't figure out Ghostfreak's plans entirely or that he's coming back. The clock tower essentially threw them off, but they are aware that the Corrodium needs to be transported somewhere and that the werewolf's satellite is being used for something. Obviously, Ghostfreak is the big piece they're missing, but they have no reason to think he'd be resurrected, because the battle with Ghostfreak was completely unrelated to the purple lightning and there's a chance that the clock tower isn't related to the purple lightning at all.
Too many variables that they aren't sure of and can't make a true conclusion until the truth is revealed.
Next Chapter - The Return