Chapter 50: Under-Confidence, Meet Overconfidence

Guys! Hey guys! Do you know what chapter this is? It's the 50th! Ben 10: The Slayer Chronicles is officially fifty chapters long! *throws confetti in the air*

Thank you so much for sticking with me all this time. I'll do my best to make this story as amazing as you expect it to be. You guys deserve it.

Also, at Calvin: last chapter was supposed to be disorganized. It was supposed to be a mess of things happening on the same day. As for the names, those only apply to Lucille. She's got a lot of nicknames: the underworld calls her Lucifer, Evan calls her Lulu, Sam and Charlie call her Nan...these things just kind of popped up. Also, thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate all the reviews you've written for this story even though I don't always answer back. It really makes me happy that you continued to read my story ever since the beginning even though I don't always show it.

Anyway, on with the show!

Lucille was sitting on the couch in the DuBaer den. She had thrown her jacket against the armchair and tucked her feet underneath her as she cradled a hot cup of tea. She stared serenely into the dark depths, her fingernails slowly tapping out a rhythm.

And then her hands began to shake, slowly at first, then faster. She quickly set down the mug and held herself as her entire body shook violently. Curls of smoke left her head as her hair color slowly peeled away, turning into the familiar red and orange with some yellow speckled about. She curled into a ball, tears brimming in her eyes as her body betrayed her.

And just as suddenly as it began, the shakes stopped. Lucille waited a full minute to be sure, and then she slowly grabbed her bag. She quickly took out her blue compact and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The sparse makeup around her eyes was smudged, but nothing she couldn't fix. What was worse was the fear etched into her face, the haunted look that never left. She glumly took some of her short red hair into her fingers, examining it before letting go.

"It never ceases, does it?" the familiar scratchy voice of Phineas said. The man himself walked into the room, dressed in his usual slacks and blue button-up shirt. A lit cigarette dangled from his lips.

"Does it ever hurt?" he asked the cancer stick still in his mouth. "Do the lapses in stability ever hurt you physically, or does it emotionally drain you, like how you drain the sanity from those poor kids?"

Lucille said nothing. She quickly picked up her mug and drank, her eyes glaring at the man before her.

Phineas quickly brought up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I'm not the enemy here. You came here out of the blue, set up an appointment with Cordelia and Isaac, and then fly off to catch up with your granddaughter, which somehow escalated into you terrorizing her and her friends. That's the truth no matter how you spin it. Taking your anger out on me won't make you look any better."

"I never asked for this," Lucille suddenly said, the bitterness showing through. Her teeth clenched and she nearly broke the ceramic cup in her hands. "I never asked for this…this psychosis. I never wanted to give my children such a terrible legacy to follow. I only wanted…I just want…" Hot tears cascaded down her face; she rued the day the Great Leviathan destroyed her home realm, rued how Kirche selfishly destroyed her life, rued how she could never stop the urges-she still had her conscience, but the need for pain and terror was so great that she had to act out on them. And all the while her soul screamed for her to stop, but she never did, she couldn't-

Phineas took a long drag of his cigarette. As the smoke left his lips he said, "You know we've all been branded, the people of the god gene. Isaac can't handle his thirst for knowledge. Cordelia has her nature versus nurture dilemma. I have to leave home for periods at a time or I fly off the handle. Raph has to be in every goddamn war till the end of time, because he has to be the leader for the right cause. And you have to act out your bloodlust to teach people that giving into such urges will destroy them."

He looked at her huddled form. "We've all got our problems. Hell, look at Isaac. Look where his curiosity got him."

"Isaac has the power to save the world," Lucille snapped.

"Yeah, but look at all the sacrifices he had to make," he pointed out.

She scoffed. "And thanks to that we have a plan to defeat the Unbeatable Beast if he ever rears his ugly head near us again. The sacrifices were well worth it."

"So you shouldn't have a problem with sacrificing your grandkids to teach them a valuable lesson," Phineas told her.

"That's different!" Lucille cried out. The makeup running down her face was starting to dry, turning her pretty face into an ugly mask. "They're my children. I can't destroy them to prove a point."

"You don't have a choice," Phineas stated. Lucille's face crumpled. She seemed to physically deflate, her flaming hair losing its luster. Her copper brown eyes stared ahead of her, dead to the world.

The burnt end of the cigarette was beginning to loosen. He quickly went up to the coffee table and tapped the ash into the tray. Lucille gave no sign that she knew he was up close. He needed to drag her out of this depression.

"Hey, what happened to you when we were separated?" he asked quietly. "After we received the god gene, we were forced to split up. Isaac and Cordelia found each other relatively quickly, then Raphael, then me. But we couldn't find you for really long time. What happened to you?"

Nothing. Lucille might as well have been a living corpse.

Phineas took another drag to get some time to think. As he exhaled he said, "Raph wouldn't want you to worry."

Lucille stirred slightly.

"You know he's always worried about you," he went on. "The medicine Isaac gives you to stop the shaking always wears off eventually. Raph says that no medicine can cure a sick Immortal, so he's always worried when it's about you."

Lucille blinked and slowly turned to face him.

"You were always good at putting up a brave front," Phineas said. "You never wanted to worry him, so you always faked the pain away." He quickly snuffed out his cigarette into the ashtray. He held out his arm. "He may not be here now, but you can still pretend he is. Now how about we get that medicine?"

Slowly Lucille lifted her head and said, "Can I wash up first?"

Phineas smirked. "Go right ahead. I'm not going anywhere."

At the same time...

"Gwen! Check out what I found!" They could hear Ben's voice through the hole Gwen created. She was keeping it open through sheer force, her elbows rammed into the sides to make sure it didn't close in on her.

"Hi, pumpkin!" It couldn't be. Max Tennyson? He was still alive? Did the makeshift bomb he made accidentally send him into the Null Void? Whatever; they had more important things to worry about.

Gwen didn't even have time to celebrate her grandfather's rise from the grave. The hole was closing in on her, nearly cutting her off from her cousin. "I can barely keep this doorway open, you've got to hurry!"

"You heard her grandpa; get the Helpers, it's time to go!"

"I can't do that Ben." The others exchanged questioning looks before Evan stepped up to the plate. He quickly took the small blue disk out of his pocket and poked his arm through the doorway. He tossed it away and heard a grunt. It seemed like Max got it.

"That's a teleporter. It's easy to figure out. You can use it to get out of the Null Void," Evan quickly explained before retreating. Ben was saying something-they couldn't make the words out. And then Gwen was leaning into the portal, grabbing onto something, no, she was pulling Ben back into their dimension. But she couldn't and keep the portal open at the same time. Kevin could see that and quickly bullied his way through the doorway. He quickly grabbed Ben's arm and said:

"It's time to come home Ben."

And the two of them pulled him back into their dimension. He fell headfirst, falling flat on his face as the doorway behind him closed. He groaned and slowly got himself off the ground.

"DOG PILE!" Evan shouted and the Pride was instantly on him. Ben cried out in pain as three bodies pressed him to the ground. They were cheering, whooping war cries before they finally let Ben stand up.

"Nice homecoming," Ben said in an almost sardonic tone. He then turned to Carter and said; "I so won."

She blinked. She had forgotten about the earlier wager. She blamed Lucille. With a groan she got her wallet out of her combat boot and gave him the ten dollars. As she put the rest of her money away Kevin asked, "You keep your wallet in your shoe?"

"Among other things," Carter said. She then turned to Ben and said, "So, tell me: what kind of trouble did you stir up in the Void?"

And so Ben launched into an epic retelling of what happened: how he fought the Null Guardians, found out how Dr. Animo-or DeVoid- had taken over the pocket dimension, how he fought Pierce and met up with the Wrench (in reality his grandfather) and how the two of them as well as the Wrench's Helpers took out Animo.

"…and then I left Grandpa Max and now I'm here," Ben finished. He was met with awed silence before Kevin clapped him on the back.

"All right," he commended. "You saved the day, got reunited with your gramps…"

"Got ten bucks," Ben added smugly. Carter stuck her tongue out at him. Gwen just rolled her eyes.

"In other words, all in a day's work," Evan said, finishing up the conversation.

"So anything interesting happen here?" Ben asked guilelessly. Instantly the good mood dampened. Whatever happiness was brought in leaked out, leaving nothing but cold air.

"You could say that," Sam muttered darkly.

"We met her grandmother," Carter elaborated. "And let's just say she's emotionally unstable and in dire need of medication."

"And we found out that her grandparents are probably the same way," Gwen pointed out. Carter averted her eyes shamefully.

Ben arched an eyebrow. "And this came as a surprise?"

"Lucille's the definition of insane, Ben," Evan said. "Of course it did."

"The three of them are five thousand years old, right?" Ben asked. The Pride nodded. "So if you consider everything they've seen in the past five millennia, don't you think it's natural they have a few screws loose?"

Everyone pondered that for a moment and realized, in shocked awe, that he was right. "That…is a really good point," Kevin admitted. "But you didn't meet Lucille. And when we say she's crazy, she's crazy."

Ben held up his hands in surrender. "I completely agree with you. If you say she is, then she is. But she's not here right now so let's not worry about it."

"I have to," Sam groaned. "She's visiting."

"Wanna stay over at my place?" Carter asked. "Charlie's probably already over at Beck's."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I doubt it. My parents are so anal about proper manners that we'll both have to stay. On the plus side Lucille rarely does her illusion magic when my parents are home. We'll be safe for the time being."

"Wait, your parents are home?" Kevin suddenly said.

"Yeah, why-oh. Yeah, you can't come to my house," Sam added as an afterthought.

"Why? Is her dad overprotective?" Gwen asked Kevin.

Barely holding back a laugh, Evan said, "He's trigger happy. Especially when his daughter has a boyfriend."

Ben started to howl with laughter. Evan let out a peal himself. Gwen patted Kevin on the back pityingly. Carter rolled her eyes as Sam face palmed.

At the same time...

"Are you done?" Isaac asked as Newt coughed up blood.

The void was empty: no floor, no ceiling, no furniture, no people save for the two inside the bleak nothingness. There was very little light, only enough for the two to see each other. The man could hear as well in the void. He was currently listening to the sounds of his grandson heaving his own blood all over the would-be floor.

The boy's shirt was soaked in it. He had no cuts or bruises or any other physical wounds. It was all on the inside. His internal organs were rebelling against him, his treacherous heart beating the blood he was coughing up.

"Are you done?" Isaac asked again, his cane propped from under his arm. He was leaning against it, one hand on his waist, the other against his cheek. His stance screamed with boredom, but there was an odd glint in his eye. It almost seemed like pride.

Newt spat out the last of the blood and looked up. The feminine bang covering half of his face was speckled with red. Tears were running down his face, but they weren't normal tears. They were bloody, leaving dark rivers down his pretty face.

"I'm not done," he said in a husky voice. Even his vocal cords were betraying him.

Isaac sighed. "Of course you'd say that. But I have to commend you on your tenacity," he added. "Most people much older than you wouldn't even consider this type of training. And here you are sticking to it. It's damn impressive."

"I'm not most people."

"No. You're a Valentine," Isaac said proudly. He stood up straight, twirling the cane like a pro. It elongated and became heaver until the thin dark cane became a wizard's staff taller than him. Runes were carved into it, from the top down to the very bottom. It was ancient looking and contrasted heavily to the ageless man in the business suit.

"You're amazing, Newton. You're more of a man than anyone I've ever seen. But you just had one thing wrong." Isaac's staff glowed pure white energy. It was spreading out, its tendrils reaching the far corners of the void. It was a beautiful, warm light, but it was bright, too bright. Newt closed his eyes…

"You were never useless. Don't you dare consider yourself that."

Newt opened his eyes and found himself on the floor of the pod room. Isaac's wizard staff was back in its ornate cane form, which he held in his hands behind his back. "I need to go Newt. I have an appointment with the devil." He quickly pressed a button on a pod and the glass screen slowly lifted up. "Now let's get you strapped in."

With a flick of his wrist Newt was hovering in midair, the blood droplets that were falling off him suspended in the space between the boy and the clean floor. Isaac waved a hand over Newt's face; gold dust seemed to fall into his eyes. He blinked, trying to get the annoying particles out of his eyes. But he was suddenly so tired, so very tired…He couldn't open his eyes, his body felt heavy and sluggish and he…just wanted…to …sleep…

The next day

"Why is Sam coming to my house?" Ben asked Carter over the phone.

"Because her grandmother is taking a tour of her dad's software company and she doesn't want to be home when they get back."

"So why doesn't she stay over at your place?"

"That's the first place they'll look."

"Okay, then how about Evan's?"

"That's the second place."

"And I guess Kevin's house is out of the question," Ben stated flatly.

Carter snorted. "That's an understatement. We don't want our chauffeur riddled with bullet holes."

"Just how trigger happy is this guy?" Ben asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You know how Evan's so brutal on the other team in CoD?"

"Yes…"

"Mr. DuBaer is ten times worse."

Ben gave a low whistle. "Kevin's got his work cut out for him."

"True. So Sam's staying over at your place for the time being," Carter stated.

"Why isn't she staying over at-?" Ben would have continued, but the doorbell rang just then and Carter chose that moment to hang up the phone. He groaned and went to the door, where Sam was standing with two plastic bags in one hand.

"There's something you need to see," she said, holding up the bags. "But first: ice cream."

"You brought ice cream?" Ben asked as Sam walked through the doorway.

"It's a peace offering," she explained. "Carter probably told you to take me in and I didn't want any bad feelings between us."

Ben closed the front door. "I don't have a problem with you coming over for a few hours. What I want to know is why not stay as Gwen's house."

"Well, I did ask her, but she said she wasn't going to be home for most of the day," Sam explained as she walked into the kitchen. Ben quickly followed after her. "That and her parents ask too many questions."

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Ben questioned in a serious tone.

Sam looked at him, amused. "Gwen told me. Apparently her parents are still skeptical about the whole alien thing."

"I thought they were over that." Gwen had told him that while they were angry at her for endangering her life and lying to them for so long, they eventually understood that what she did was important. They weren't okay with it, but they wouldn't give their only daughter any grief.

"Oh, they're completely over her using her powers to beat up DNAliens," Sam said dismissively. "They just don't like her hanging out with aliens."

Ah. That made sense. "So you're over here. What did you want to show me?"

Sam got out a box set of some anime. She handed it to Ben, who took a look at the title: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He arched an eyebrow at Sam, who was now putting a carton of vanilla ice cream on the table, along with a bottle of hot sauce.

Ben blinked. "Hot sauce? With ice cream?"

"Hot sauce with ice cream."

"…Why?"

"It tastes good. Now get out the bowls while I pop the DVD in." Without breaking her stride, Sam grabbed the box set and walked out of the kitchen. Ben stared after her and shook his head. With a slight grumble he did as she told, getting spoons and bowls and putting ice cream in them. He hesitated over the hot sauce though. He didn't want to put it on-it seemed like a pretty nasty topping-but Sam had brought it. Ben shrugged; it was her choice to put it on her dessert. Didn't mean he had to try it.

When he walked into the living room, he saw the TV on and the blue screen on it, the DVD logo bouncing around. Sam was sitting on the opposite end of the couch, remote in hand. Ben walked over and handed her a bowl of vanilla goodness and got the bottle from under his arm. She immediately popped the lid and started spraying spicy red liquid on her ice cream.

As Ben watched in mild disgust, she asked, "Hey, are your parents' home?"

He slowly said, "No."

"Okay then." She pressed the play button on the remote and the screen went dark. Ben looked at her, shrugged, and then sat down on the other end of the couch. A companionable silence stretched between them.

"By the way, this first scene has nothing to do with the actual series," Sam piped up suddenly.

"Then why did they add it?" Ben asked curiously.

"According to the rumors, the first scene is what was supposed to happen in the series before the executives started meddling," Sam quickly explained. "It's got nothing to do with it now, but it does set the tone of the entire series."

Ben was about to question that as well when on the TV screen, stars began to explode.

The screen showed space in brilliant deep purple and blue colors. Stars were sprinkled across, glittering in the deep void. And then, one by one, they began to explode. Orange fire streaked across the galaxy in a never ending flash.

The scene suddenly shifted, showing a black flag with a red skull with cool-looking shades over the eye sockets. Was it a pirate ship in space? It was highly improbable, but then it again, it seemed like a sci-fi fantasy kind of series, this Gurren Lagann.

"Screening shield, class eight!" a character said off screen.

"Mirror armor plating's detaching!" another character said.

The scene shifted again, this time showing the back of a man. He was wearing a cape with the flag logo on his back. As he walked jewelry could be heard hitting against each other.

"Damage?" someone asked.

"Minimal!" one of his cohorts revealed. "But our thruster planes are visible now."

"Stand fast men," the figure taking up most of the screen said. "Let's teach them a little something. Teach them exactly who they're facing."

Ben, still on the couch, started slightly. The man's voice sounded eerily familiar. He couldn't tell how, but he had heard it somewhere before. Was it from a cartoon, or some other English dubbed anime? It was possible.

Back to the anime, a female voice said, "Enemy fleet size is off the charts."

One of the man's companions looked up at the exploding stars. "So, all the lights in the heavens are our enemy now."

The man (the protagonist) held out a hand to reveal a little golden drill. He lightly tossed it up and caught it. "Yeah, but they're worthy opponents. I'll use the fabric of space time to wring them out of existence!" With a majestic flap of his cape he turned around and walked away.

His cohort said to the crew, "All right, prepare the maelstrom cannon! Target the great dimensional waterfall!" The scene closed in on the protagonist standing before the flag. His arms were crossed and he was standing before his crew like the confident leader he was.

"Gurren Lagann!" the protagonist yelled a smirk on his face. "Speed on! Who the hell do you think I am?" The scene shifted away from him, revealing the rest of the battle ship. It might as well have been a flying armory: there were cannons reaching the sky and robot mechas attached to the port side and other wonderful devices that faded away too quickly.

And then the scene revealed that the ship wasn't a ship at all. It was actually on top of the head of a giant robot, so large that the people on top appeared smaller than ants. And then the robots eyes flashed green, the scene shifted to black, and the anime title in Japanese characters appeared on the screen.

Ben blinked once and then said, "That was awesome."

"I know right?" Sam agreed. "But watch out for the next part. This is what I wanted to show you."

"Huh?" The scene shifted again, revealing a white figure in the ground. The figure wasn't dead or anything, but it looked similar to the signs signaling what gender could go into which restroom. It had a drill in its hand; it was creating tunnels in the dirt.

"Digging tunnels, day after day. That's my job," someone in the anime said. Ben started, nearly knocking his ice cream to the floor. It was that voice again, but now he recognized it.

It was his voice.

"The more we dig, the more the village can expand," the Ben-like voice continued. "When the village chief is happy, he feeds me pig-mole steaks. Do I dig for the steaks? No…"

The scene shifted again, revealing a boy with short blue hair and dark beady eyes. He was a small thing, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts, large boots, and a brown cape that covered his torso. He had a giant drill in one hand and he was covered in dirt. The boy was digging around in his tunnel, eventually holding up the same drill revealed in the badass scene earlier. Except this one slightly glowed green.

"I also do it to dig up treasure," the Ben-voice said again.

Sam chose that moment to pause the show, leaving the scene of the glowing drill onscreen. She turned to Ben, who was staring at the TV with his jaw dropped. He wanted to say something, anything, but he was too much in shock. Someone had copied his voice-his own unique voice-and revealed it to the world.

"And this is what I wanted to show you," Sam said casually, like Ben was an idiot. He closed his mouth and regained his composure.

"That's…unreal," he finally said, shaking his head. He went for a joke. "I don't exactly remember being a voice actor."

"And I don't think you take on an under-confident, wimpy persona," Sam teased. Ben gave her a confused look. "The guy with your voice is the voice actor for a wimpy character," she quickly explained. He groaned loudly and slumped in his seat.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, for the second half of this anime, you become one of the most badass people in anime history," Sam said cheerfully. Ben gave her an incredulous look.

"Really?"

"Yup. Hey, say the name of the anime in an epic voice."

"What?"

Say it like it's the final battle against the big bad and if you don't the entire world is doomed."

"But why-?"

"Just do it!"

Ben took a moment to gather his wits. He could imagine the last battle he had with his sworn enemy, the one who threatened to take over the universe if he didn't hand over the Omnitrix. He could remember the rebellion welling up inside him, the need to defy one of the most horrible people in the universe.

"TENGEN TOPPA… GURREN LAGANN!" It didn't come out shaky or whiny. It was a battle cry, a defiant shout against the evil one. It was a rally cry, one a leader would have. And it was an amazing roar, one only a badass would have.

"That…was awesome," Sam applauded, actually clapping her hands together slightly. Ben gave a slight bow, saying, "Thank you, thank you," like a pompous twit. And then he spooned more ice cream in his mouth.

With a strangled cry he said, "You put hot sauce on it?!"

He could hear Sam's troll laugh echo through the house.

Yuri Lowenthal, Ben's voice actor, also voiced Simon in the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan. Simon is a fourteen year old boy with a very low self-esteem; Ben is an overconfident braggart. It's weird to hear the two characters at the same time because even though they share a voice actor, they sound so different. When I found this out I had to share it with you all.

Also, Yuri Lowenthal voiced Captain Bernadette in the anime Hellsing Ultimate. It's basically Ben with a French accent. It must be seen to be believed.

So, thoughts anyone?