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Chapter 15: Lost Hope part 2

Manny loved getting up early in the morning. Not having Ben's new touchy feely friends awake was something that he needed. Yuki and Erin were alright, but when space is brought up they go wild over every little tidbit they can find. Erin is more level headed, if she did have a temper on her, while Yuki is creative and fun loving, though she panics way too easily. Not to mention Ran and Tojiro. Ran is loving and a great fighter from seeing her practice but she does not liked to be touched unless she tells you it's OK, which is rather hard sometimes and Tojiro, while friendly and carefree was LOUD.

"Awwww! The best part of waking up is no one in my-" but his sentence was cut short by Gentaro's greeting. Out of all of them he was the loudest but he was a friendly guy who makes time for his pals. Still this was Manny time, not KRC time and he wanted Gen to know that.

"Yo man, don't you get enough of me during the day? I kinda need my Me time, buddy" Manny gritted though his teeth. But Gen would have none of that.

"I don't know when we will have to part ways. So we shall stay together as long as we can so we'll have wonderful memories to look back on" Gentaro somberly answered. So he polity gestured Manny back to the house when it was now a hotbed of activity.

Inside...

Tojiro and JK were hard at work making a new song. It wasn't for fame, but for the first time in a long time just for fun. It had a good beat to it, Manny thought, but it needed a good bit of work done before it would be a great song. But the two of them didn't care about that at all.

"Ha HA! Nice to see that my fiery passion is growing hotter with my increasing skills! We're going to be a couple of badasses my friend!" Tojiro boomed to JK, thoughts of girls all over him present in his mind. But he was thoughtful of other's feelings, more so after JK taught him a few tricks about vocal control he learned from Miu. Surprising how much a cheerleader needed her voice but her help was much appreciated.

"I'm glad that we're not as sucky anymore. I guess we needed our muses" JK stated as he looked at Erin, watching space footage with Yuki. The older transfer student was quite happy to help out the two rockers as she grew up listening to this sort of music and her advice was doing wonders for their music's quality.

Erin was thrilled that space travel was possible in this world. "If only my father could see me now. I'm going to make him proud of me! Just think of the new worlds we'll see, Yuki-chan! To think that our dreams are coming true!" she excitedly shouted as she jumped out of her chair in joy.

"I know, right? My parents love learning about other cultures and if we could bring this technology back with us then we can help people all over our world! There are other people out there and if we put our minds together then we're stronger than we are apart! Maybe I can see my friends in space that talked to me during my childhood" Yuki cheerfully added. Erin was not totally sure that Yuki's "space voices" are real but given that they met all sorts of odd characters in Ben's world anything's possible at this point. "Plus I think our families are going to get along so well! We'll be like sisters!" the space otaku happily told Erin as the both of them hugged each other. Theirs would be a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

But as they were happily going about their business Hope watched from outside sadly. She so desperately wanted to see her father again but she knew that was never going to happen. As Ran and Julie went to finish breakfast, talking about things that they like to do, namely sports and spending time with their friends, Hop couldn't hold back a few tears from falling down. But she could not help but wonder where Ben was at time hour.

As if the universe itself wanted her to know Ben walked right behind her, tired from his morning jog. But when Charmcaster turned around to see just who it was she was a tad startled. However Darkstar was ready for Ben.

"You kept me from my Lovely Gwen, Ben. You denied me power and fame while you partiality swam in it. Well no more will I suffer your stupidity and your need to butt in everywhere I go!" As Darkstar changed to Dark Aquarius and tried to drown Ben his water blasts were blocked by something he knew all too well: Manny's hulking form.

"We don't need a powerwash today, thanks!" the Tetramand snarked. Dark Aquarius was besides himself as he was able to survive his power draining waters. Perhaps if he could separate Ben from the others then this might go better. He would have so such luck as Fourze rolled into battle with his "Uchuu Kitta" battle cry. "A little help here would be splendid dear" D. Aquarius whined. No way was he fighting two opponents at once.

"You always need more than a 'little' help" Charmcaster muttered under her breath as she mutated to the form of Dark Virgo. The Zodiart form was clad in blue dominatrix gear with two horns on her head. Gold chains were on her biceps and thighs and over her stomach and the Virgo constellation on her choker. Completing the look was a pair of black angel wings with a sad eggshell white face with black lipstick on the lips and a harsher looking halberd than the one Emoto wielded. "I look...not like myself anymore" as the fact that she used Diagon's power was setting in.

"Whine about it later. Ben must die and I can't do the deed by myself, now can I?!"Michael snapped at Hope. Soon both Horoscopes were on top of Fourze as everyone looked on in shock. They were fighting viciously and Gen may not live without some aid. Aid that Ben is happy to provide.

Turning to Swampfire he threw two fireballs apiece at D. Virgo and D. Aquarius, knocking them away from Fourze. "Thanks, Ben. I don't think I could have gotten them off myself" Fourze thanked the Plumber.

"It's no biggie. Now then we have a job to do!" Dark Virgo slashed energy waves from her halberd at Fourze but he dodged them with a little trouble. Charmcaster was not as mellow as his normal foes and Gen needed to stay on his toes. But Charmcaster was always a quick study and soon she teleported behind him and broke his arm with a judo grab.

"Gen-chan!" Yuki cried out in horror. "How dare you hurt him! He did nothing to you and you just want to fight, no matter who you hurt" Her words cut deeper than Yuki realized as Dark Virgo turned to her direction, staring her in the face. Yuki was shaking in terror as she wasn't sure what Charmcaster would do to her.

But D. Virgo just wanted to talk. "I know from the Intel I got from the old Horoscopes that your friend is a good person and I don't wish to harm him further. But I have no home to go back to. My people will never want me back as I was such a tyrant to them. My life here is not much better but at least I have my pride left!" But Hope was feeling sadder than she was letting on and Yuki knew it.

"Then why still with Vilgax? Perhaps we can help you get back on your feet? Is there someone who you care about? I'm sure that they must be worried about you right now" Yuki comforted the older girl. Hope was feeling batter and the person she cared about more than anything was right there. She didn't care what people thought about that anymore. She had to get it out!

"The person I care about is BEN!" D. Virgo declaimed as she pointed to Swampfire, a look of confusion on his face. "Ben, I know this is sudden but ever since that day when I robbed that store I felt something growing in my heart. Now I know it's love and it's for you" Her words were a total shock to everyone there but poor Julie was just blindsided by the news! One of Ben's enemies...LOVED HIM? It was too much for her to take in as she ran back inside to think about what went down.

Dark Aquarius was stunned by this as well. "I thought I was your greatest lover!" he protested. But Hope's mind was made up and Gwen has proven that Michael could not be trusted at all.

"You were a horrible lover. Especially in bed" she bitterly admitted to Dark Aquarius. That was too much for his bloated ego to take as he grabbed onto her forcibly and began to drain away her power.

"You were always such a brat, laughing like a crazy old woman! Hell, you LOOK like a old woman too! I don't think you deserve such gifts, you wreathed COW!" Soon Hope was human again, her skin pale as death. But Darkstar could care less about her condition.

"HA HA HA! Now I am more than I was before! I have reached the final level of power, SUPERNOVA!" His body began to contort into a demonic state with sharp claws and jagged horns on his skull-like face. He then spun around like a sprinkler, spraying passerby with his dark waters, causing their life force to go into him body, increasing his power even more . Luckily the KRC knew to go inside when he was mutating, taking the limp form of Hope with them to so they were safe. The people he got his dark waters on, no such luck.

Ben was angrier than ever by what he saw. The people he got with his Dark Waters were nothing but husks now, never to rise again. Going to his Benwolf form he slashed at Dark Aquarius to no avail.

"You can't do it alone! Let me help you!" Fourze cried out as he switched to Magnet States, firing off attack after attack of magnetic power from his railguns. Seeing as that was not really helping Ben he leapt from a claw swipe from D. Aquarius with Hopping while blasting him with Launcher. Again, no effect.

Ben howled at his mutated foe and ran towards Fourze. "I don' think we're doing all that great out there. Darkstar's just too strong for us!"

Fourze sadly nodded his admittance to his doubts on stopping Darkstar. Benwolf gritted his teeth as he was helpless before his onslaught and he could do nothing about it!

But then something happened. The love Yuki was feeling for Gen as well as the bonds of friendship they all share brought new life to a Switch Fourze thought he's never use again! The Cosmic Switch was back online! Thanking his friends silently as he placed it into the Fourze Driver he turned it on and all the other Switchs aside from Shin-Chan and Super-1 went into his suit, turning it electric blue with more armor to it as well as arming him with a sword that looked like a rocket.

Yuki and JK were pleased to see that their friendship was now stronger than ever! Cosmic States was back and there was going to be trouble for Dark Aquarius!

To be concluded

Sorry about making this a three parter but I might lose power tomorrow and I wanted to get this out in the open before that happened. As always let me know what you think it the review section!