"A week for everyone? Sign me up," Kevin agreed immediately.
"Agreed," Aurra said with a simple nod.
"Great. I doubt anyone else has any objections. Do you?" Ben questioned.
"Only that I'll probably be spending that entire week doing work," Manny said sourly.
"Eh?" Ben questioned in a confused tone.
"These two agreed to do take some tests in order to not be left in the ninth grade. You know. Since they joined in the middle of the year. They basically have to cram three semesters' worth of knowledge into their heads before the summer is over," Pierce said, and both Gwen and Ben winced.
"Ouch. Regardless of how daunting that seems now, I think it's a great thing you're taking school as seriously as you are now," Gwen said.
"You would, valedictorian," Ben said with a grin, and Gwen unsuccessfully fought a smile at that.
"Shut it, you," she said, giving him a playful shove.
"So when are you two leaving?" Kevin asked.
"All we have to do is contact Verdona through the mana field. But I'm going to let you all know this," Ben said, looking to each member of his team barring Gwen. "Any planetary emergencies means you hit us up on the Plumber's badge. No ifs, ands, or buts. Another thing is that you listen to Kevin's every order concerning the battlefield unless he's being a Incursean level dictator. Never forget that he outranks you. And..."
"'If it gets to be too much, we call you to help out.' Yes, we know that. Jeez, you're like a dad who's afraid to leave his kids alone for the weekend," Helen said with a roll of the eyes.
She laughed when Ben huffed in a moody fashion, which also sent the others into fits of laughter. Besides Aurra, who only showed her amusement with a small smile that was only partially hidden by a shake of her head.
"Don't worry, Papa Bear. I'm sure they'll be alright," Gwen said, elbowing his arm.
"You are not helping," Ben said with another huff.
"You're always worried something bad is going to happen," Gwen said with a knowing look.
"Something always goes wrong. It's just a matter of degree," Ben told her.
"Paranoid much?" Helen said with a raised eyebrow.
"He has every reason to be," Aurra said, and Ben flashed her a grateful smile.
"Thank you Aurra. At least there's someone here who understands," he said.
"We'll be fine, Tennyson. I'll keep them in line," Kevin said with a nod. Ben nodded back.
"Alright. Then all of you make the Alien Force look good," Ben said before his eyes brightened. "Verdona?"
"About time. I was beginning to think you had forgotten," the elder Anodite said after appearing in a flash of light.
"We hadn't forgotten. Just something else to wrap up before we went," Ben said before looking to the others. "See you guys in a week."
"See you. And actually try and enjoy yourselves for once?" Kevin said.
"I'll make sure of that," Verdona said before raising a hand and teleporting the three of them in a flash of light. Though instead of being on the planet, they were in the vacuum of space.
"Why out here?" Gwen asked, noticing that she was surrounded by a ball of mana.
"You can't directly teleport to Anodyne. There's a technique to stop things like that. Otherwise, things would be particularly hectic if just anyone could come in willy nilly. It doesn't affect you if you're on the planet itself though, so there's no need to worry about that," Verdona explained with a wide smile on her face. "Ready?"
"Very," Ben said, looking at the planet intensely. He had wanted to come here ever since he found out he was an Anodite. Now after nearly three years, it seemed like he would finally get his chance.
Floating down to the planet's surface seemed uneventful enough. Though the moment they actually broke the planet's atmosphere, the change was instantly apparent.
Similar to when they arrived on Ledgerdomain, the place itself seemed also completely filled with mana. Not as powerful as Ledgerdomain, but still quite a power boost.
"Feel that?" Verdona said with a wide smile on her face.
"All that energy? It's hard to miss," Gwen said, raising her glowing hands with a smile on her face. "It'd be amazing if Earth was like this all the time."
"Welcome to Anodyne, kiddos," Verdona said with a wide smile of her own before descending down to the ground, her grandchildren following right behind her.
The planet itself was beautiful. The sky was bright pink - likely due to all the mana in the atmosphere. There were no clouds and no sun, but it was still bright and comfortable in temperature.
The town they were in certainly wasn't anything quiet. There seemed to be constant movement and activity everywhere. People flying, talking loudly, playing(if trading energy blasts back and forth was playing on Anodyne), and so much more. Earth had only been this lively when there were festivals and carnivals going on.
"Is this a regular day?" Gwen asked, looking to her grandmother.
"Usually. It's hardly ever quiet except during resting hours, which not everyone stops to do. But this is as quiet as it gets, and even then, it sounds like a busy town on Earth," Verdona explained.
Ben and Gwen were giving Verdona the most attention she had ever seen them focus on something. And she could understand that. While they were born on Earth as regular humans, this was what their real heritage was. That of Anodyne. And she'd spend as much time as she could helping them catch up.
Ben suddenly ducked a mana blast that would've nailed him in the nose if he hadn't. It reminded him of the mana blasts Gwen was throwing when she hadn't even known she was an Anodite. Low powered, could knock a human out, but wouldn't do that much damage to a sufficiently durable alien.
"It's amazing how things change," Ben thought with a small smile.
"Grandma, is that a game?" Gwen asked, pointing to the two Anodites that were throwing mana discs at each other. Given their appearances, they didn't look much older than Ben or Gwen, but looks could be deceiving.
"Yes. Dodgeblast. Similar to your game of dodgeball with one obvious difference," Verdona said.
"You get nailed a lot harder in this game," Ben said flatly.
"Oh, no. I'd say the impact is relatively the same. As long as it stays free spirited and all participants are only shooting low powered blasts. Though some games can take a turn for the worse when the parties get mad at each other. It doesn't leave any lasting damage, but people do get hurt sometimes," Verdona explained. "It usually isn't as bad when there are adults watching, but that's only sometimes."
"It's only sometimes because the adults are usually willing to let them do as they wish. Including hurt themselves," Gwen said with a frown.
"That's true. Ah, we've arrived," Verdona said as they stopped in front of a house.
"Is this Sunny's place?" Ben asked.
"Excited to see her?" Verdona said with a knowing smile, and Ben nodded. "I'm sure she will be too. I hadn't told her you were coming."
"How has she been?" Gwen asked. Verdona seemed surprised, but very pleased by the question.
"Well enough," she told her.
"Enough?" Ben asked.
"I'm sure she'll tell you in greater detail when you talk to her. The girl can talk her mouth off when she wants to," Verdona said before placing a hand on the door before it swung open. "Doors like this are keyed to mana signatures of people you allow access to your house. Otherwise, you could blast away at it with one of those human tanks, and not even scratch it."
"So no one's ever truly locked out if they're allowed in," Ben said, making Verdona nod. "Certainly beats carrying around keys."
"That's for sure," Verdona said as she walked in the house. "Haze! Azula! Are you home?"
There was no answer, which made Verdona frown as she moved further into the house.
Ben took in his surroundings while he could, noticing that the place looked pretty fancy. A lot like some of the big mansions in Bellwood, but in a much smaller housing area. Despite that, there were only a handful photos on the wall. Mostly when Sunny was younger. Some of the wedding day. And one family photo with Verdona in it.
"Not a lot of stuff in here," Ben said aloud.
"Looks really done up though. The design's more Earth like than I expected. Other than the fact that it's all clearly made from mana," Gwen said, enjoying the feeling that ran through her when she touched the furniture.
"No one's here," Verdona said, floating back into the room.
"Well, where could they be?" Ben asked.
"Haze and Azula are out," Verdona said.
"Well, when do you think they'll be back?" Gwen asked.
"Note that I said that her parents are out. Sunny is still on the planet," Verdona told her.
"What?" Ben asked in disbelief.
"Not that much of a surprise. Still, we'll be able to continue without their help. Let's get a move on!" Verdona said, clapping her hands together. Ben and Gwen shared a look with each other before following Verdona out of the house.
On the way there, Ben was being greeted by something he thought he got away from. Being stared at as he walked past.
"Having fun?" Verdona said with a soft laugh.
"I thought I'd be able to escape being stared at," Ben hissed.
"I think you've forgotten that no other Anodite has green mana," Gwen told him.
"So an Anodite walking around with green mana on him instead of the regular pink is going to garner a lot of attention. You're always so popular everywhere you go," Verdona said, laughing when Ben huffed in annoyance.
"It won't be that bad," Gwen said, linking his arm with hers. "Besides, I'm sure you'll still be able to enjoy your vacation. I'm the one who still has to train when I actually get my Anodite body out."
"Oh, don't worry. Ben will still get his fair share. Just less than you, because once that problem is solved, expect quite the training regimen waiting for you," Verdona said with a wide grin.
"Bring it on," Gwen said in an unaffected tone, and Ben laughed.
"Let's see if you say that when you actually start," he said.
A chorus of laughter and cheering both stopped the conversation dead in its tracks. Following the source of the noise, all three Tennysons looked over and saw a small group of adolescent Anodites standing in a circle.
The crowd was small enough to get a view of what was in the center, and one of the Anodites was Sunny, who was smiling widely with a glowing hand. The Anodite in the circle with her was flat on his back, holding his left shoulder.
"Ah. Dodgeblast," Verdona said with an approving nod.
"You expected worse," Ben said.
"It usually is. Half the time, I have to make her return stuff she's stolen," Verdona said as they neared the crowd.
"You want a six out of eleven now? You haven't nailed me once!" Sunny exclaimed, causing most of the crowd around them to jeer.
"I'm good," the Anodite said with a grumble as he picked himself up. "How'd you even get this good? Just a few months ago, I was knocking you down plenty. At least the games were close."
"Oh, just a little bit advice got me to practice more. You're just the poor sap who gets to see the results," Sunny said before looking around. "Anyone else?"
"Sunny!" Verdona called, and at the sound of Verdona's voice, most of the crowd parted to put her in direct line of sight of her granddaughter. That spoke volumes about the reputation Verdona had.
"Hey grandma!" Sunny called cheerfully before her gaze wandered over to Ben and Gwen. Her jaw dropped.
"What? No hello, Sunny? And we came such a long too... Oof!" Ben's cocky statement was immediately punctuated by a flying hug that nearly knocked him off his feet. "I guess being glomped is close enough too."
"Shut it Benji," Sunny admonished, a wide grin on her face. That earned her a flick on the back of her head that she snickered at. "Good to know you still hate that nickname."
"It annoys me less now, Madam Sunshine. But it's still lame," Ben said. That earned him an annoyed huff as she finally released him, giving him a good look.
"Still too old to be a madam, you ass. At least you don't look any uglier than usual," Sunny said before looking at Gwen. She looked at the sky while blowing out a puff of breath.
"If you've got a smart ass remark for me, don't bother saying it at all," Gwen said, putting a hand on her hip.
"I'm not. I'm just readying myself," Sunny said, which earned her three curious looks. "Against all odds, I missed you as well. Just a little though."
Gwen looked surprised, and both Ben and Verdona looked at Sunny with a smile on their faces.
"There. I admitted it. Now let's never bring it up again," she said.
"I can just feel the love," Gwen said dryly, a small smile on her face.
"You're not getting any more out of me. Besides, you being here just means I get to needle you some more," Sunny said with a grin, and Gwen only rolled her eyes.
"As long as it's all in good fun. Cause I don't want to have to stop the arguments I did the last time you two were together," Ben said, glancing between both girls.
"You won't. This is supposed to be a vacation, and I'm not about to spend it arguing with her," Gwen said with a pointed look in her direction.
"You're just jealous you aren't this fabulous," Sunny said haughtily, flicking her mana ponytail in a very diva like way. That earned a snort from both Gwen and Ben. "Overcome with jealousy. The both of you."
"You wish," Ben and Gwen said at the same time.
"Hey Sunny! What gives?" one of the Anodites from the crowd said, causing the three cousins to turn around. "None of us get greetings like that!"
"That's cause I see your mugs every day! Benji here..." Sunny was interrupted by a punch to the arm, punctuated by a glare. "...last time I saw him was two years back."
"Yeah, and if you keep calling me Benji, it'll be the last time," Ben told her with a roll of the eyes.
"Why's he green though?" a female Anodite said curiously before giving him a smile. "He's quite the Anodite though."
"And completely out of your league Kardenia," Sunny said with a roll of the eyes. Gwen couldn't help but smirk at that. "Couldn't tell you why he's green though. He just is."
"He must've been born sick or something. I heard an Anodite being born away from Anodyne could do that to you," another guy said.
"Maybe his mana's super strong or something," a girl suggested.
"God, it's just like school rumor mill levels of gossip," Gwen said with a shake of the head.
"Welcome to the teenage Anodite world. Where there isn't much to do but practice your powers, play, and gossip," Sunny said with a laugh.
"Is that why you're always looking for something to do?" Ben questioned.
"All that stuff gets so boring after a while. You'd want to travel if you lived here too. At least Earth has a lot of variety. Even if less than half of it interests me, all those choices are nice," Sunny said before shaking her head. "That stuff's not important though. What matters is whether or not grandma showed you around."
"I figured you wanted to be around for it," Verdona said, and Sunny gave her grandmother a wide smile.
"You were completely right. Though we'd have to lose this crowd," she said, jerking a thumb towards the teenagers that she was hanging around. "An Anodite with green mana isn't exactly something that's going to get us some privacy."
"Understatement of the century," Ben said with a snort. "I'm never 'not noticeable.' Everywhere I go, something stands out."
"Must be difficult being that popular," Sunny said with a smirk.
"You have no idea," Ben said with a shake of the head.
"You won't have to worry about that," Verdona said, which earned her three curious looks.
"Verdona!" a voice cheerfully exclaimed in a Southern accent. The source was a male Anodite who appeared in front of Verdona in a flash of pink light.
"Koga! Right on time," Verdona greeted.
"I wasn't in the middle of anything. Lucky you, huh?" Koga said with a smile and wink. Then he looked to Ben and Gwen, his gaze lingering on Ben longer. "Ah. These are your grandchildren."
"You can tell?" Gwen asked.
"'Course I can tell. Verdona talks about you so mana friggin' much, I could've drawn a picture of ya two without even seeing ya. And I would've been right," Koga said before looking to the crowd. "Alright, the lot of ya. We got two new Sparklings coming in, and they could use some time to be shown around without all of ya butting in."
"She's an Anodite too?" the girl named Kardenia questioned, pointing at Gwen.
"Sure is. Don't let the human thing fool ya. She's just like the rest of ya. Just needs a bit more fine tuning appearance wise. Now get goin'!" Koga said with a wave of the hands. On his urging, the crowd dispersed.
"I'm a little surprised they actually moved," Gwen said, knowing Sunny had a penchant for hating anything that involved telling her what to do. She didn't expect much different from the other Anodites.
"Oh, it's not because they actually like being told to do. Koga's just strong enough to knock all of them on their heads without breaking a sweat," Verdona said cheerfully.
"And you'd still kick the mana out of me in a fight with little issue," Koga said with a pointed look.
"Hey, I'm good in fights. And you're way better than me at the technical stuff. Speaking of which, isn't it time for you to properly introduce yourself?" Verdona questioned, raising an eyebrow. Figuratively speaking.
"Oh right. I know you two are Ben and Gwen Tennyson, so ya don't even have to worry about telling me. My name, as ya might've heard, is Koga. I'm one of the few Anodites who actually likes teaching Anodites how to use their powers," the male Anodite said before grinning. "'Course, it's partially cause I like seeing the younger generation go completely crazy when they don't get some of the stuff I teach."
"Remember that exploding energized mana trick I taught you?" Verdona asked, getting two nods from Ben and Gwen. "He teaches stuff like that. Of course, that's only for his combat applications. He's more knowledgeable about that involves repairing, healing, and other stuff."
"Did I hear that right?" Koga questioned, raising a brow at Verdona. "Ya taught them that? Successfully taught them that?"
"It took them the better part of an hour," Verdona said with a wide grin.
"An ho- At a rate like that, they could learn everything I could have to teach within the span of four to five decades," Koga said before looking at Gwen and Ben. "That may seem like a lot to you two 'cause years are a lot longer to humans, but that is nothing for Anodites. It's like graduating from college after coming out of middle school."
"Yikes," Gwen said with wide eyes. Then she looked at him curiously.
"Ah, noticed that statement, did ya?" Koga said with a toothy grin. "Yeah, I know about all your human stuff. Verdona got me interested after she told me she fell in love with a human man. I figured they had something to 'em if they could that pull off."
"It definitely has its upsides. You appreciate them a lot more when you're older," Verdona said with a smile. Then she looked to her kids with a smirk. "It's also why he sounds so Southern."
"I could spend years just lying on my butt watching cowboy movies. Most Anodites might not agree, but there's a lot of stuff from Earth worth checking out. Energy being or no," Koga said before looking to Gwen. "Anyway, my interest in Earth definitely helps in your case, missy. I'm the one who's going to teach ya how to swap in and out of that body of yours."
"Don't make it sound weird," Ben said flatly, and that garnered laughs from everyone aside from Gwen, only who only gave him an exasperated eye roll.
"Touché, Sparkling. The point still stands though," Koga said with a grin.
"How are you going to go about that?" Gwen asked, her curiosity peaked. Verdona couldn't figure it out, but she said that he was better at the technical stuff that she was.
"Oh, no. I'm not going to tell ya until the lesson actually begins. Verdona warned me about ya," Koga said in an amused tone. Then he turned to the woman in question. "'If ya give her so much as a slight hint of what to do, she'll brood about it forever so she'll figure out strategies for the actual lesson.' I think those were the exact words ya said, right?"
"Right down to the letter," Verdona said with a laugh.
"You told him that?" Gwen questioned, looking to her grandmother with a baffled expression on her face.
"Am I wrong?" Verdona asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. Absolutely not," Ben said, putting an arm around Gwen when she pouted at him cutely. Sunny tilted her head at both the gesture and the expression on Gwen's face. "Not working this time."
"You're horrible," Gwen told him, the pout immediately disappearing.
"And you're just as bad," Ben said with a grin.
"Ya can take the time to learn the lay of the land before you get to brainstorming, girl genius," Koga said before looking to the sky. "In the meantime, I've got a couple of students who are probably going to absolutely want to give up on life once I start teaching them. Or at least give up on my lesson."
"You enjoy your job far too much, you evil bastard," Verdona said with a grin.
"Ya know you love it. Everyone does, except the people who take my class. Besides, you've forgotten that Lotus is far worse than me. Evil incarnate once you get her mad," Koga said with a shudder before teleporting away.
"Lotus?" Ben asked.
"His wife. And he's absolutely right. She's a sweetheart to most other Anodites. Piss her off though, and it's like you've gotten the devil itself mad at you," Verdona said before smiling. "She's extremely powerful when she's mad."
"Could you beat her?" Gwen asked.
"She already has. That's a story to tell, isn't it grandma?" Sunny said with a wide grin, and Verdona grimaced.
"That's an absolute mess of a story," she said.
"What happened?" Gwen asked.
"Lotus thought grandma was fooling around with Koga, and not even bothering to hide it. I think that's why she was so mad," Sunny said with a grin, and Verdona grimaced even more.
"I could've done without telling this story," she said.
"Who doesn't love a bit of drama?" Besides, now that they have the gist, you absolutely have to tell the whole thing," Sunny said with a wide grin.
"I'd rather just start exploring the town," Gwen said, and Verdona shot her a grateful look. "There's plenty of time for the story later."
Sunny and Ben laughed, while Verdona sighed. But a smile creeped up on her face.
"Your penchant for mischief would make itself known now," the elder Anodite said.
"I blame the mana in this place. Plus I'd like to think I've taken after you somewhat. Just nowhere near as much these two," Gwen said, pointing to Ben and Sunny.
"Thank goodness for small favors," Verdona said.
"Love you too, grandma," Sunny and Ben said at the same time.
"Let's get this show on the road." Verdona said while grinning from ear to ear.
"There's a library here?" Gwen questioned.
"Surprised? So was I when I saw it," Sunny said with a wry smirk. "Especially when no one actually goes in it."
"That can't be true if it's here in the first place. Someone does if it's even here," Ben pointed out.
"I wouldn't know them if they did," Sunny said with a shrug.
"Me either. This place has been here ever since even before I was born, so someone had or still has an interest in books," Verdona said.
"Well, no one person is the same. No surprise that there are a few Anodites that fall under that category," Ben said, and Gwen nodded in agreement.
"There aren't that many Anodites who prioritize much of anything over having a good time. Myself included," Sunny said with a grin as bright as her name alluded.
"Speaking of things that there aren't that many of, I think we might have saw like, three shops so far," Gwen noted.
"That's because on Earth, the only reason people open shops is because it pays. We don't use money, so good luck finding someone who actually wants to spend their days running a shop when they could literally do anything else," Sunny explained.
"That makes sense. There are far too many other things you could do as an Anodite," Ben said, frowning in thought.
"So why does anyone bother?" Gwen asked, echoing Ben's thoughts.
"Favors," Sunny said.
"Come again?" Ben questioned.
"There are some things that you can't get on Anodyne that you can get other places. If someone wants it badly enough, they're willing owe that person a favor. It's usually something embarrassing, but the favors don't get too ridiculous anymore since a law was passed for it," Verdona said.
"There aren't many laws. Probably enough to take up a couple pieces of paper, but that's it," Sunny said to answer what she knew was going to be an incoming question.
"Who makes the laws here?" Gwen asked.
"The most powerful Anodites here, which pretty much consists of me and Koga as well as a few others. We also go off of occasional input from the Plumbers. That way things don't get in the way of an Anodite's general free will, but it also doesn't cater to killers and crazy people. Cause we've had a few of those, let me tell you," Verdona explained.
"Makes sense," Ben said with an approving nod.
"How long is a day here?" Gwen asked.
"Well, we don't really have days. There's no sun or moon considering the whole place is lit up by mana," Sunny said, pointing up at the sky.
"Plus Anodites don't really need time to recharge or sleep, as I'm sure you are aware of," Verdona said, pointing to Ben before looking to Gwen. "It'll also be something you will be able to take full advantage of once you freely go back and forth in your human body."
"Hopefully that won't take long," Gwen said.
"I'm sure it won't with Koga on the case. He can be as intense of a teacher as you are a learner. But there will be no work to be had anytime soon. For now..." Verdona said before a bottle appeared in her hand. "...we enjoy ourselves."
"Is that Conductoid Wine?" Gwen asked.
"You've had it?" Sunny asked, sounding surprised.
"Couple of times," Gwen said with a shrug, and Sunny looked to Ben for elaboration.
"I showed her the bottle close to the time you gave it to me, and I got her to have a few sips," he told her.
"Helped mark of a hell of a start to the summer," Gwen said with a grin, and Ben grinned back. There was definitely a story behind that, and Sunny couldn't stop herself from asking the question this time.
"Am I missing something here?" she asked, looking between both of her cousins. She knew that the two of them were close, but this kind of closeness felt off.
"Ah, right. You weren't here. I'm just surprised Verdona didn't tell you," Ben said, and now the look on Sunny's face was bordering on impatient. "We're dating. Me and Gwen."
"Huh," Sunny said before shrugging. "I'd say I'm surprised, but I'd be lying."
"Wait, that's it?" Gwen asked, and Sunny doubled up on her eye rolling.
"What? You expected me to be super surprised? No wait. You probably expected me to flip out while claiming that it's weird, stupid, nasty, or some other stuff you've probably heard from other humans. Thanks, but no thanks. It's weird, but not that big of a deal to me," Sunny said with a shrug.
"When did you get so astute?" Ben asked, sounding mildly impressed.
"Never underestimate me, Benji," Sunny said with a smirk, which as predicted, earned her a scowl. "When you think about it, it's not that hard to figure out. Earth has way too many rules for my tastes, and the fact that you dodged around actually saying it just told me you broke one of those rules. You didn't dodge long, but you did dodge."
"It was habit for a while," Ben admitted.
"You should just get a transfer so you could live on Anodyne. There's none of the shit you have to deal with on Earth here," Sunny suggested.
"There's no way I'd even think of moving off planet until people stopped trying to conquer Earth. Not to mention I'd still want to be near Kevin and the rest of my family," Ben told her.
"Plus he's the Senior Magister of the Milky Way galaxy, so his job kinda needs him to be nearby," Gwen added.
"Then how are you here?" Sunny asked.
"Unless it's a serious threat that the others can't handle, they agreed to look after Earth while we went to Anodyne for a week," Ben told her. "Kevin's in charge since he and Gwen are next in command if I'm not present."
"Now just what did I say about discussing work?" Verdona said with a hand on her hip.
"You are the only adult I know who would have me drink wine before talking about work," Ben said flatly.
"In the middle of the street at that," Gwen added.
"Then let's go Sunny's house. Her parents will likely be out for quite some time, so we'll have that time to ourselves," Verdona said.
"Then the last one there has to drink last. Twenty bucks says it's Sunny!" Ben exclaimed before taking to the skies. Sunny's expression immediately grew into something more competitive.
"Yeah right! I'm betting it's your girlfriend, lover boy!" Sunny exclaimed as she sped off to try and catch up with Ben.
"Get real!" Gwen exclaimed, taking to the skies immediately.
Verdona couldn't help but smile widely. So far, bringing her grandchildren together like this had been one of the best ideas she ever had.
"No way!" Gwen exclaimed before laughing along with Ben and Sunny. Verdona had gotten around to telling the story between her and Koga's wife, and thus far, everyone was entertained.
"It was a messy state of affairs. The moment the fight began, people just gathered around and watched instead of... you know. Actually bothering to break up the fight," Verdona said.
"I feel like that's just a thing in every culture. Everyone just wants to watch people beat the crap out of the other," Ben said, taking a drink from the bottle.
"And are willing to pay to watch it happen if they can't get it free. Why do you think boxing's so popular?" Gwen asked as Sunny grabbed the bottle from Ben.
"I can't deny I like seeing a healthy bit of violence every so often. Though not to the extent you two see while on the job," Verdona said.
"In that case, we get more than our fair share. But we do have a habit of, how you say..." Ben trailed.
"Giving them way more than they can handle," Gwen finished with a smirk.
"You compete, don't you?" Sunny said with a smirk of her own.
"Sometimes. Ben wins a good amount of them because of how many different strategies he has, but it usually depends on the way everyone's spread out. Remember the small group of Techadons?" Gwen brought up as she was handled the bottle.
"For sure. You beat me by a long shot because for some reason that I couldn't possibly think of, most of them were fixated on me, and you and the others had an easy time picking them off," Ben said with a cheerful smile.
"Must be because of your delightful personality," Gwen said in a tone just as cheerful.
"You two have sarcasm so sharp, you'd cut a planet in half," Verdona said as she accepted the bottle.
"It comes with the territory," Ben said with a shrug. "Gwen's definitely worse than me."
"So not. You can be sarcastic enough to make Aurra proud. And that is quite the feat," Gwen said with a grin.
"Meanwhile, not only are you about as sarcastic as said girl, but you have a whole bunch of sass to go with it," Ben said with a matching grin.
"I'll drink to that one," Sunny said with a laugh before looking to her grandma. "C'mon grandma. Pass it down."
"We're out," Verdona said, tilting the wine bottle upside down.
"Damn. I was waiting for it to come back around," Ben said in a disappointed tone. It contrasted heavily with the wide grin that was still on his face.
"Looks like you've had a few too many, cousin," Sunny pointed out.
"I feel great. What could you possibly mean?" Ben said with his signature not-so-innocent look.
"Yeah, you're definitely just under the 'ready to start causing chaos' limit. So maybe it's a good thing we're out," Verdona said.
"Believe me. I've got into a few sticky situations that way," Sunny admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. But a smile sprang up on her face as she looked to her grandmother. "But it's to be expected considering where we're going later, right?"
"Right you are," Verdona said with a smile of her own.
"I can only you guess you have something for us all to do?" Gwen questioned. She was currently flying in the air upside down, because the idea of sitting down was flatout unappealing to her.
"Having fun up there?" Verdona said in an amused tone.
"This is why I shouldn't drink. Though I would be lying if I said if I didn't feel like I was on top of the world," Gwen said before looking at her boyfriend with a wide grin. "I'm sure this is the kind of thing mom was afraid of when it came to you."
"I don't make you do anything you don't want to do," Ben said with a smirk.
"Which is why I'm always along for the ride," Gwen said before turning to Verdona. "Anyway, what's this about going somewhere?"
"It just so happens that the Anodyne festival happens in the next few hours. We have them a couple of times a year," Verdona said.
"Anodite festival?" Gwen asked.
"Anodites love having an excuse to party even more recklessly than do. Going completely nuts after drinking bottles of wine is part of that deal," Verdona said with a shrug.
"Not that we need it. But the festival's always great, so I ain't complaining," Sunny said with a shrug. "The selections are narrow, but there are games to play and plenty of interaction to be had."
"We're in," Gwen and Ben said at the same time.
"I figured you would be. We have to fly in because the last time people tried to teleport in, it wasn't pretty. Crowded was an understatement from what happened with that mess," Verdona said as she walked out of the door, her grandchildren right behind her.
"Just what are we in for?" Ben asked, and he only got two grins in response to that statement.
And after laying his eyes on the festival, he understood.
The event itself took up, from what Sunny told him, took up several countries' worth of space. Which made sense considering it was a planetary festival, but it was still jarring to see decorations, booths, and all sorts of things to eat, play, and/or interact with to stretch out for miles. It was very grandiose, but in a comfortable way.
"You don't do things by halves, do you?" Gwen asked.
"Since when have you ever known us to do anything by halves?" Verdona asked. "Especially when you can just create it all with a couple snaps of the fingers?"
"And how often do you do these?" Ben asked, sounding baffled by that fact.
"Only do the planetary ones once every twenty years. We try and find different ways to make them bigger and better each time," Verdona said.
"Which is why even though we were late on when you wanted us to actually arrive, we still would've been in the time frame to make it on time," Gwen said in realization.
"You cut it very close, but yes. You were on time," Verdona said with a smile.
"But now that we're here, we need to get to the good spots," Sunny told her grandma.
"Right. Let's be quick kids," Verdona said before taking the skies and speeding off, Sunny trailing behind her. She moved so quickly that both Ben and Gwen were caught a bit off guard before following her.
It was nearly twelve minutes of speedy flying before they made it to at least one of the good spots Sunny had mentioned. And despite their speed, several people had already beat them there.
"Only a few people. That's good enough. You kids have fun now," Verdona said with a grin.
"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Gwen asked in a surprised tone.
"Of course I'm not. You three can handle yourselves plenty, and I want to go off and enjoy the festival on my own terms. Besides, it does you no good to always be hanging around your grandma all of the time," Verdona said with a smile before flying away.
"I guess it's just the three of us now," Ben said, looking between both of his cousins.
"Which means it falls on me to show you all of the good stuff. And I know just where to start," Sunny said, grabbing Ben and Gwen's wrists with tendrils before dragging them away.
"I thought you were going to show us, not drag us!" Gwen exclaimed as she and Ben pulled their wrists out of Sunny's grasp.
"Same difference," Sunny said with an unaffected shrug before stopping at a tree. She grabbed two oddly shaped fruits before tossing one at Ben and Gwen.
"You dragged us over here for fruit?" Ben asked in a tone of disbelief.
"Just try the fruit, you'll find out why," Sunny said.
Ben and Gwen looked at each other before taking a bite out of the fruit, their eyes widening once they did.
Their bodies were flooded with more energy as if they had just absorbed mana. But It also had the taste of an extremely ripe piece of fruit. A very sweet, but delicious piece of fruit.
"Go ahead. Thank me. You know you love it," Sunny said with a smirk.
"What is that?" Ben asked.
"It's fruit. But made of mana," Sunny said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You can make food out of mana?" Gwen said before shaking her head. "Forget I even said that."
"Not gonna happen," Sunny said with a shake of the head. "Anyway, mana food is for people like our resident black hole here. Even though you don't need to eat, you like doing it. So, you do."
Gwen laughed, and Ben only stuck his nose in the air in an arrogant way.
"There's nothing wrong with enjoying good food," he said haughtily, taking another bite into the fruit. It was deliciously sweet while providing a nice energy boost at the same time.
"Well, they're pretty much everywhere if you want another," Sunny said while looking up at the sky. "Might wanna take a few steps to the right."
"Why?" Ben and Gwen asked slowly. Nevertheless, they did as she asked.
"Look out!" someone shouted from the sky before a female Anodite landed in the spot Ben was just standing at.
"That's why," Sunny said, prodding the Anodite on the ground with a tendril.
"Do people always fall from the sky like this?" Ben asked.
"No. Just when you get dared to plant yourself into the ground at breakneck speeds for a bottle of wine," the Anodite said before looking at Ben. "I didn't hit you, did I?"
"If I wasn't warned, you would have," Ben said with his arms crossed.
"Hey, it wouldn't have hurt that bad. At least, I don't think so," the Anodite said before raising her voice. "I did it, Crane! And I almost hit somebody who was probably gonna kick my ass for it!"
"I'm guessing you're gonna want two now," the Anodite named Crane said, landing next to her.
"How'd you guess?" the female Anodite said with a hand on her hip before they both took the skies. "What's with him having green mana though?"
"Is this going to be a common occurrence?" Ben asked in an annoyed tone.
"Probably. These festivals can get crazy. The question is how long it'll take you to start blasting back," Sunny said.
"I'm not that pissed off," Ben said.
"You don't have to be pissed off to hit them back. Not only is smacking people a good answer to most of these situations, but it gives you a bit of a reputation. That people can't mess with you easily. Believe me, you need some of that here," Sunny said.
"Maybe if it happens enough. I do have limits," Ben said.
"That's the spirit. Now, are you ready for a little of fun?" Sunny said with a grin.
"Just what exactly does that entail in your book?" Gwen asked warily.
"Oh, nothing too serious. Just try and put your buzzkill nature aside from one day," Sunny said cheerfully.
"I plan on having fun. Not doing anything stupid," Gwen said.
"If a third of a Conductoid Wine bottle can't make you do stupid stuff, then I think you'll be alright," Sunny said, giving Gwen a look of appraisal. "I figured you'd be jumping all over the place after that."
"It's not the most of it she's had to drink," Ben pointed out.
"Oh?" Sunny asked with a raised brow.
"I learned that half a bottle is my limit before I start entering reckless territory," Gwen said.
"There's a story behind that, isn't there?" Sunny asked.
"None that I'm privy to tell you," Gwen told her simply.
"Oh, come on. I could tell you some of my stories when I was drunk out of my mind," Sunny offered.
"You could, but I'm not interested in hearing any of them enough to tell you," Gwen said, making Sunny groan. Ben looked amused by the entire exchange.
"It can't be that bad," Sunny said.
"It's not bad. It's just private," Gwen said with a shrug.
"Buzzkill. What could that-" Sunny cut herself off before looking between Ben and Gwen quickly. Pieces started clicking, which caused the Grin to spring up on her face. "Ohhhhh."
"Why oh?" Ben asked with a raised brow.
"You know better than me," Sunny said with a shrug, but her Grin was showing proudly on her face. "I'm sure you can figure it out."
Silence. One second passed. Two. Then three...
"No! No, that is not what happened!" Gwen exclaimed, raising a warning finger. It was ruined by the small bit of pink on her face.
"Oh, no? But you look so embarrassed Gwendolyn. Is there something you would like to tell the class?" Sunny said innocently.
"No. There isn't," Gwen said, taking another bite of fruit.
"I'm gonna have another cousin," Sunny said with a smirk before having to duck a mana disc. That made her raise her hands in surrender while laughing. "Alright, alright. I'll drop it."
"That looks fun," Ben said quickly and loudly, looking up at a group of Anodites in the air. All of them looked as if they were competing in some kind of flying competition.
"Up for some fancy flying?" Gwen said, looking to Ben.
"You're on," he said.
"I'm in. But one last thing," Sunny said, which earned her their attention. "Did you two really..."
"No!" Ben and Gwen said at the same time, and they sounded equally as annoyed this time.
"Just checking," Sunny said with a smirk.
"Are you really sure about this?" Alan whispered.
"Pretty sure," Kevin whispered back, absorbing the rock they were hiding behind.
"If Ship gets hurt at all, Ben's going to kill you," Alan told him before looking at said Mechamorph. He hadn't taken his eyes off Baz-l since the moment they came in sight of him.
"And I'm going to watch," Aurra added in a wry tone.
"Which is why it's pretty much guaranteed that we'll kick all of their butts with the three of us here. Now hush. We're trying to be..." Kevin's words were cut off by one of the Churl servants walking out from behind the rocks and spotting them. "...stealthy. Fantastic."
"Since when does stealth work for us anyway?" Alan questioned as Aurra levitated several rocks in front of them to block the lasers blasts coming their way.
"Never unless we're invisible," Kevin said dryly before raising his fists and slamming them on the ground hard enough to send the Churl in front of him off of his feet.
"Eradico," Aurra said calmly, shooting out two black tendrils from her hands that grabbed the remaining Churls. Then she held them up for Alan to easily snipe out of the sky with a blast of flames.
"Ship!" the Mechamorph exclaimed before morphing onto Kevin in the form of a battle suit, protecting him from the lasers that were coming his way from the back.
"Yikes! Thanks, little guy!" Kevin said before turning around and jumping at the Churls that shot at him. Rockets appeared underneath his feet, boosting him forward and provided him with a lot more force to Kevin's punch than he was expecting. "And that's even better."
Aurra used a levitated rock to raise herself up to Baz-L's height while examining the strap that was keeping him bound.
"Just an energy strip? Simple enough," Aurra thought before speaking out loud, her hands holding two black orbs of energy. "Might wanna brace yourself. This isn't going to feel very pleasant."
"Wait! Surely there must be..." Baz-l was cut off by the orbs hitting the strip he was bound by, freeing him. And he recoiled hard from the impact.
"Probably, but this way's quicker, and it's better than being shot," Aurra said before turning around at the sound of a fist hitting someone, knocking the heard Churl onto the altar. "We're done here."
"Blasphemer!" the head Churl exclaimed, looking at Aurra in particular. "You dare protect that thief?"
"Thief?" Kevin asked as Ship molded off of him. "What did he even steal?"
"The Occulent of our masters, the Sentinels," the Churl said, pointing up at the statues.
And sure enough, each of the three statues that were surrounding the altar had an eye socket. But only two of them were filled.
"You got yourself into this situation trying to steal something?" Alan said, narrowing his eyes at Baz-l.
"I've been there," Kevin admitted before frowning. "Still, no wonder they were trying to kill you. These seem like the insane, devoted follower types. Not the best idea."
"That's preposterous. I haven't stolen..." Baz-l cut himself off with a loud burp, causing Kevin to blink in a perplexed fashion.
"You ate it?" Alan questioned in a tone of disbelief.
"You got a magic spell for that?" Kevin asked Aurra.
"I do. Stand back," the sorceress said with a nod, and Kevin gladly obliged before she hit Baz-l in the chest with a yellow spell.
The Mechamorph bent over before his gag reflex was suddenly triggering every other second. Eventually, he coughed up a light blue orb that Kevin could only assume was the Occulent thing.
"This it?" Kevin asked, pointing at it as Aurra reversed the spell.
"Yes. And it would serve you well to return it," the Head Churl said, sounding as threatening as someone who was outnumbered and outmatched could.
"If you want it, you can take it. We're leaving," Kevin said bluntly, carelessly tossing the item at the head Churl, who fumbled and nearly dropped it.
"Just make sure and keep him away from our temple. There won't be a third trip if he returns," the head Churl said, narrowing his eyes as hugged the Occulent to his chest.
"Don't worry. I'm sure he's learned his lesson. Haven't you?" Kevin said, elbowing the Mechamorph in the gut.
"The lasers and forced vomiting were quite enough of a lesson. I do not need to be physically hit as well," Baz-l said, putting a hand over his stomach and backing away.
"Consider it a lesson for being the reason we came out here in the first place. Somehow, Ship could tell that you were in trouble," Kevin said.
"Thank you," Bax-l said simply, but honestly, and Ship spoke in a way that showed he was affirming the statement.
"Is that it?" Kevin asked Ship.
"Ship!" the Mechamorph said. The way he said almost made it sound like, "Yep!" to Kevin's ears.
"Also, can you uh... not mention this to Tennyson?" the Osmosian asked awkwardly.
Alan laughed at the statement while Aurra smirked. Even Ship seemed to be laughing at him when he gave Kevin another agreement.
"Get him mad at you. I dare you. I really want to see if you'd still be laughing then," Kevin told both of them with a glare.
"I've already experienced what it was like when he was only pretending to be evil. I really don't want to see him angry," Alan said with a shudder.
"And I'm not crazy enough to get an Anodite mad at me in the first place. Not without a plan," Aurra said with a shrug.
"Since that's the case, the both of you can stuff it. We need to head back to Earth anyway. Chances are that Pierce and the others didn't have to deal with much, but you never know," Kevin said.
Earth had been unnaturally quiet since Ben and Gwen had left to Anodyne. Kevin didn't realize that when those two left that they would take almost all of the action with them.
Ben probably would've seen it as something bad coming up. Kevin preferred to see it as an opportunity for an early break, and that's exactly what he was going to treat it as.
"You enjoy yourself?" Verdona asked.
"Let's see. We saw and were in the fly offs, dodgeblast tournaments, and mana crafting. All while winning a few bottles of Conductoid Wine in the process," Sunny said as she and Ben held up the items in question. "I'd say that was a great festival, all in all."
"I can tell you were there for quite a while," Verdona said.
"Yeah. I'm sure Sleeping Beauty here didn't give it away at all," Sunny said, gesturing to Gwen. She was sound asleep with her head resting in Ben's lap. "Despite the fact Benji loaded up on a ton of wine, he's been sitting here like this for the past two hours. It's sickeningly domestic."
"Jealous?" Ben teased.
"Yes. Someone keeping me on the couch is just what I want out of life," Sunny said sarcastically.
"Don't worry Sunny. One of these days you're going to be Gwen in this situation," Verdona said.
"Are you kidding me grandma? Not only would Sunny likely never sit still for something like this, but moreover, we might have to rescue the poor guy that gets pulled into her clutches," Ben said with a grin.
"You're right," Sunny questioned, and Ben looked towards her quickly in surprise. "Having to keep up with this much amazing would be too much for anyone to handle."
"Yeah right," Ben said with a laugh.
"Well, there's certainly a party going on in here," an unfamiliar voice said, catching everyone's attention.
Standing in front of the door were two fully grown Anodites. The female looked like almost completely like Verdona, except with a duller mana color, yet still bright. And the man looked like all of the other male Anodites did. With only a slight difference being the brightness of the mana on his head.
"No wonder people stick to mana signatures in order to recognize each other," Ben thought before speaking aloud. "You must be Sunny's parents."
"You'd be right, Benji," the woman said, and Ben didn't even bother hiding his annoyance.
"Yeah, I told them," Sunny said, and it was only now that she looked apologetic.
"There's a running joke, and then there's what you're doing," Ben said with a huff.
"This is Haze and Azula - Sunny's parents," Verdona said to Ben.
"Hey," Ben said with a casual wave.
"Wow. Sunny wasn't kidding," Haze said, tilting his head at Ben as if he was trying to get a better look at him. "That green mana is really something. Pretty bright too."
"Yeah, I've had a lot of practice with my powers. I've learned a lot thanks to grandma," Ben said, earning him a smile from Verdona.
"That's not much of a surprise. Mom always made sure to let everyone know who was the strongest Anodite in the room," Azula said with a smirk, and Verdona laughed. "He was the kid of those human boys you had, right?"
"Him and Gwendolyn. And human or not, they are still your brothers," Verdona told her, making Azula snort.
"Barely. We've never met, and probably won't. Earth's just a big rock with nothing really of note," Azula said, and Ben bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying anything. Chances were that it wasn't going to be anything civil.
"Give it a break, mom. The place isn't that bad," Sunny said with a roll of the eyes, and Ben would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised to hear her say that.
"Oh, come on Sunny. I get that you've been there and that your cousin is here, but you gotta admit that there's probably nothing that could satisfy an Anodite for long," Haze said as Ben could feel Gwen stir in his lap.
"There's more stuff there than here at any rate," Sunny said with a shrug.
"There a room somewhere in here?" Ben asked Verdona through the mana link.
"Upstairs, second door on the left. They won't really care. There are way too many rooms in here anyway," Verdona told him.
"Figured that," Ben told her, and he picked Gwen up bridal style before flying up towards the upper floors. Haze looked at him before back at Verdona, a questioning look on his face.
"Speaking of Earth, why is a human here in the first place?" he asked.
"She's still an Anodite all the same. Don't let the appearance fool you," Verdona told him.
"I figured you would've just blasted her free by now," Azula said, hovering over near the couch that was recently vacated before easing herself down.
"I offered. She said no," Verdona said bluntly, and Sunny winced a bit. She knew that was still a sore spot with her grandmother.
"But why? If she cares about having a human body so much, she can always make one out of mana to replace it," Haze told her.
"Her reasons are her own, and I've decided to respect them. Besides, if all goes as planned, Koga can help her master a way to let her go in and out of her Anodite body whenever she pleases," Verdona said.
"That is a really weird choice, but hey. She's doing things her way, so no one can really be upset at her for that," Haze said before raising an eyebrow. "What was she even sleeping for in the first place? The festival's still going on."
"We were there for hours. And even with everything fueling her, humans do still need to sleep," Sunny told them, looking almost bored at the question.
"Speaking of which, we didn't see you at the festival at all," Azula asked, pointing at Sunny.
"We were moving around a lot. I wanted to show them as much as possible," she said with a shrug. "Guess we just missed each other."
"You've definitely been busy," Haze said with a whistle, tracing a finger one of the bottles of wine they had won. "There are usually some serious competitors out there. How'd you get away with seven bottles?"
"Me and Gwen won two of them, and Ben the other three," Sunny said, causing her parents to raise their eyebrows in surprise. "You'd be surprised how fast they can fly. Even the dirty fliers didn't even slow them."
"Just how much did you teach them?" Azula asked her mother.
"Quite a bit. But I'd say that has everything to do with who they are. Ben and Gwen are Tennysons, and they are overachievers. Not to mention very competitive," Verdona said with a smile as Sunny looked up the stairs.
"Shouldn't he be back by now?" she thought to herself before speaking out loud. "I'll be back."
"Sure Sunny," Azula said, but the Anodite was already flying up to the next floor before she even got all the words out.
Sunny looked in the first room that had a room in it and opened it up. Ben looked up from the wall he was staring at, now in his human body with Gwen clutching his right arm as she dozed on his shoulder.
"She kept a hold on me when I set her down, so I just decided to stay," Ben said.
"Full on benefit for you, right?" Sunny said dryly, noticing Gwen's Anodite skin was showing due to the hold she had on Ben.
It looked really natural. Maybe this is what Grandma Verdona and her Grandpa Max looked when they were younger. Even while sleeping, Gwen looked perfectly content, if the smile on her face was any indication.
"Not completely. It's taking every ounce of self-control I have to sit still after all that crap we had at the festival," Ben told her.
"Color me surprised on that way. You're not really the sitting still type," Sunny said.
"No, I'm not. But I've found that there's always a couple of exceptions to everything," Ben told her before giving her a smile. "See you later?"
"Definitely," Sunny told him.
His cousin shot him an almost off handed wave as she left. Ben looked back down at Gwen with a smile on his face. The Anodite and energy rolling around in him wanted to move around and do more stuff, but the human part of him was perfectly content just being here.
A/N: This took an unnecessary amount of time to get out, and I really have no excuses other than my own laziness biting me in the ass like it usually does. On the bright side, I did manage to get together enough money for a new laptop. So there's that.
I'll touch on Anodyne across these next few chapters, and I won't lie and say I'm completely confident in my take on the place. But at the very least, I'd argue that something is better than nothing. Hope you enjoyed.