Chapter 4: Permanent Retirement
[Gas station]
The Rust Bucket sat at a gas station on a desert road, next to it an ice cream parlor. The kids are busy getting ice cream, while Max uses the local ATM. A dirty red pick up truck pulls up to the same spot, and a big burly man walks up to Max.
"Outta the way, 'Grandpa'. I got a major withdrawal to make!" The Burly man said.
The man shoves Max on to the ground, a buck-toothed man coming up next to him and smiling down at Max.
Inside the ice cream parlor, the kids are taking their time choosing their ice cream. Behind the counter is a grouchy old man.
"I think I might get mint chocolate chip." Tyrone said, pointing to an ice cream flavor.
"Make that two." Fae said getting a look from Tyrone, she just gave him a smile.
"I'll get choco and peanut butter." Achilles ordered.
"I'll get chocolate chip cookie dough." Victor went next.
"I'll get vanilla with caramel drizzle, whipped cream, some rainbow sprinkles, and crushed chocolate candy." Leni picked, pulling down a finger for each topping.
"Uh huh." The old man gave Leni a glare and got to work on the ice cream orders.
At that moment there was the sound of an engine revving and something being torn from its place by a chain. The kids ran out of the shop to see the burly and buck-toothed man had just ripped the ATM from its place, using a chain connected to a truck causing money to go flying everywhere. Leni quickly went to work choosing an alien. Leni transformed into the Kineceleran.
"XLR8." XLR8 said as she ran off picking up the chain, she used it to wrap up the burly man.
The buck-toothed man tried to start up the engine again so he could drive off, only to get punched out of the vehicle at super speed and sent flying across the ground, knocked out. Max comes up to the kids.
"Nicely done Leni, now why don't you and the rest finish getting your ice cream so we can hit the road." Max said as Leni came back to the group and de-transformed.
"Where are we going now?" Leni asked.
"We're going to go visit my sister Vera for the weekend." Max said, making his way back to the Rust Bucket.
"Oh man, not Aunt Vera," Both Leni and Tyrone groaned.
The kids trekked back into the ice cream shop. The old man handed them each their order, Tyrone handed him the money to pay for it.
"I still can't believe we like the same flavor of ice cream." Tyrone said, talking to Fae, who was happily eating her ice cream.
"It's great, right." Fae responded happily before setting her sights on Achilles. "Hey Achilles, want to try some of my ice cream?" Fae came up to him and held out her ice cream.
"No thank you?" Achilles responded, went over to talk with Tyrone.
Leni and Victor stood to the side watching the interaction.
"Bet you a month of homework by the end of the summer they're dating." Leni challenged Victor.
"Oh you're on, I say by the end of summer she stops crushing on him." Victor responded, the two shook on it, and the kids left the ice cream shop to get in the Rust Bucket and go.
[Retirement Village]
The Rust Bucket is driving through a barren desert, coming up to the village.
"Are we sure Grandpa Max's sister isn't Muriel cause this sure do be looking like the middle of nowhere." Achilles said, looking out the window.
"Yeah, she wanted to "get away from it all" seems she was really literal with it." Tyrone said, gesticulating for emphasis.
The Rust Bucket began to pull into the actual village itself.
[Vera's Apartment]
Vera was standing on her lawn speaking with a neighbor of hers named Marty.
"It's been years since I've seen Max, and he told me he's bringing Jannean and Reese's grandkids and their friends. My house is gonna be really lively this week, you should stop by and say hello." Vera told Marty.
"I'd like that." Marty said as he retired to his apartment.
In his apartment, Marty closes the blinds and puts on a scary movie with some popcorn next to him. Unbeknownst to him a green glob of liquid that appears to be sentient, slithers up to the bowl and latches on to Marty's hand when he reaches for some popcorn.
"What the? Hel-" Marty tried to call only for the glob to jump on to his face and muffle his cries.
[Rust Bucket]
The Rust Bucket drives past the various residents that live in the village going about their day. One of those residents, an old man, is climbing on his roof, in an attempt to reach his satellite only for him to start slipping down. The old man, to avoid falling off, makes an Olympic-level backflip off the roof and does a perfect ten landing safely on the ground. Fae, who at the time was looking out the window, jumps out of her seat in surprise.
"Great burning inferno, did you guys see that?" Fae asked everyone as she pointed out the window. The rest gather around her and look out, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
"See what? All I see are old people." Leni commented.
Everyone sat back down in their spots, as Fae tried to explain and convince them of what she witnessed. Eventually the Rust Bucket arrived at Vera's, pulling up at her front lawn the kids and Max began to make their way out. Victor covered his eyes from the blistering sun, not noticing Fae sneaking up behind him with a water gun.
"Yeesh, it's hot out here." Victor said, as Tyrone handed him some sunscreen. That is when Fae chose to spray him. "Ahh! Fae!"
Fae stopped spraying him and began to run off, Victor following after her. While in the middle of her getaway Marty's window catches Fae's eye, as she and him lock gazes. Marty gives her a hiss and cracks his neck in all directions before shutting the blinds. Victor caught up to her and stole the water gun.
"Ha! Taste…your own…medicine." Victor said slowly, noticing Fae's gaze locked somewhere else. "Yo Fae, you okay?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, just some old person weirdness." Fae said deciding to keep what she saw to herself till she can prove it.
"STAY AWAY!" Tyrone came running past the two, in the middle of getting chased down by Leni and Achilles who had water guns of their own.
"Halt! Take your soaking like a man." Leni called after her fleeing twin.
"We promise it'll be quick." Achilles pumped up his gun.
Max and Vera stood off to the side laughing at the kids.
"It's good to see you Vera." Max said as he held his arms out for a hug.
"You as well Max." Vera hugged him back. "I see your summer has been lively."
"Oh you don't know the half of it." Max said with a knowing look.
Later in the house everyone was sitting at the dining table, sitting in front of them was a plate of orange gelatin mold with brown and white bits in it. Victor was eating it happily, while the rest of the kids sat there picking at it with their spoons, while Max and Vera ate happily.
"Ooh, Vera, this is delicious! Now, what are these brown chunks in the mold?" Max asked.
"Pork chops, and the white parts are cauliflower!" Vera answered, getting a look of disgust from Tyrone. "So, what have you bunch been doing all summer?"
"Fighting aliens, mutant animals, dinosaurs, and robots, and taking down poachers disguised as an environmental organization." Fae listed off, getting her mouth covered by Tyrone.
"The imagination on this girl, I'll tell you." Tyrone laughed nervously. Vera gave a suspicious look before laughing as well.
"Oh yeah, she does seem to have a vivid imagination." Vera said.
"What are those?" Tyrone asked, walking up to a cabinet full of trinkets and stuffed birds, pulling Achilles along with him. "Is this a stuffed Red-Billed North American Chickadee?"
"Very perceptive of you Tyrone. Did you know the song of the Red-billed North American Chickadee is actually-" Vera came up to the two.
"A call indicating alarm or excitement." Tyrone finished excited.
While everyone is distracted, Fae comes up to Leni and taps her on the shoulder.
"Pssst, Leni. So not that I want to be rude, but something weird is really going on and I wanted to know if I could get your help investigating it. I'm pretty sure you want to get out of here as much as I do." Fae said, as Leni looked around and just nodded, the two escaped.
Outside Fae and Leni are walking around outside on the lookout for something weird, when both of their stomachs growl.
"Oh man, we really should have eaten while we had the chance," Leni said, holding her stomach.
"Did you really want to risk that mold?" Fae asked, when she gets a whiff of something good. "You smell that?" Leni begins to smell it as well and nods her head.
They go to investigate the scent and find an apple pie sitting out on a window, cooling off. The two girls sneak up to the window, doing their best to stay out of view.
"That smells so good." Leni whispered.
"Let's take it." Fae whispered back.
"What? Are you crazy? W-" Leni began to say but shut up quickly when they heard a noise.
In the apartment an old lady tries to swat a fly in the room. The fly flies above her swatter's reach and lands on the ceiling. The old woman suddenly springs up on the ceiling and eats the fly off it. The girls both see this and give faces of disgust.
The old lady lands back on the ground and cracks her neck in all directions, much like Marty did. The girls quickly flee the scene and hide behind a bush when they notice Marty coming by on a golf cart with a rolled-up rug in the back. As Marty drives by the sprinklers go off, causing him to freak out at the sight of it, he then does his best to swerve around it, to the point of breaking a sweat.
"See what I mean about things being weird?" Fae said more than asked in a deadpan.
"Okay you're right, let's follow him." Leni said as the young ladies began to sneak after the old man.
They follow Marty to a gated-off dumpster site. Marty stretches out his legs far beyond what a human is capable of to get over the gate with the rug. Marty goes up to a dumpster and pushes it aside revealing a trapdoor underneath.
The duo continue to try and follow quietly, climbing over the gate. Fae gets to the top and reaches a hand for Leni who is lagging behind. Pulling her up, they get ready to go down the otherside, when Leni loses her balance and begins to fall to the ground.
"Woah. Woah. Gravity you cruel mistress!" Leni calls out as she falls onto the ground, Fae jumping down beside her.
Marty, who was just about to enter the trapdoor, is alerted by the antics causing him to rotate his head a full 180 degrees. He lets go of the rug and trapdoor as the rest of his body follows his head, as he roars at the girls. 'Marty' extends his arms towards Fae and Leni, grabbing hold of them both, trying to drag them towards him. The two try their best to squirm out of his grasp and are rewarded with their freedom.
They run to the gate and climb over as fast as possible, 'Marty' after them as he once again stretches his legs to get over. They girls commandeer his golf cart and begin to ride away, while being chased. Despite being on foot 'Marty' keeps pace and eventually catches up to them.
"While we're very flattered, I have to decline, I already have someone to take to the daddy-daughter dance." Fae said looking back at 'Marty'.
"Don't you know girls in this day and age, prefer their men to not be so persistent." Leni said, her eyes on the road.
The cart begins to start slowing down as the main gauge lowers to zero,
"Uh, Leni. We're slowing down!" Fae said, grabbing Leni's arm and shaking her.
"I'm aware Fae." Leni responded.
'Marty' catches up and stretches his arms, grabbing the two front bars of the cart. The cart stops in its tracks and drags it back towards him. Looking around for a way to escape the old man's clutches, Fae notices a bag of golf clubs sitting in the back. Taking one out, she takes a shot at one of the arms, slicing through it as if it was liquid.
This was enough to allow them to escape and get the cart moving again, as 'Marty' loses his grip with his other arm. But as soon as Leni begins to drive smoothly, she and Fae feel a rumble above them. 'Marty' had somehow made his way onto the roof of the cart, and extended his hands below in hopes of grabbing up the girls.
"No! Uncle Bad Touch! Fire! Fire! Leni, do you have a whistle?!" Fae exclaimed, trying to beat the hands back.
Leni with all the commotion lost her grip of the wheel, causing the cart to swerve over a speed bump, causing it to fly in the air and crash on someone's lawn. The girls get out of the cart and see 'Marty' standing up; he cracks his arms and neck back into place, he extends them out at the two once more. Fae brandishes her golf club and starts to fight back the arms.
"Hey, now would be a good time to use that alien watch on your wrist." Fae said, as the arms grabbed the golf club out of her hands.
"Oh. Right!" Leni said priming the Omnitrix, only for the sprinkler system to suddenly go off. 'Marty' winces as the water gets on him and starts to run away. "Okay that was-"
"Weird. Intense. Insane!" Fae listed off, her volume raising with each word.
"We should probably get back to Aunt Vera's, they're probably wondering where we are." Leni said, starting to walk back.
"Fine but tomorrow, we will investigate that trapdoor." Fae responded, following behind Leni.
[Vera's Apartment]
It was sundown when the pair made it back to Vera's apartment, rushing inside the house they looked for Max, finding him in the kitchen, with Tyrone, Victor, and Achilles.
"Grandpa Max. Grandpa Max." They said at the same time.
"Hush you two; Vera is asleep, where did you two sneak off too? We were worried, Vera was hurt." Max crossed his arms and glared at the two.
"Wait, listen, so this place is way creepier than I originally thought. There was an old lady that crawled up the wall and ate a fly. Then the neighbor is like an E.T. or something!" Fae began explaining.
"Man stretchy arm and extendo fingered his way over a gate, and here is some type of trap door. Then dude just decides to chase after us, like we're his runaway brides or something." Leni continued, for a second a look of concern flashed on Tyrone's face before returning to normal.
"Okay, okay. If it'll get you to calm down. I'll go do some investigating, you both stay here. We'll discuss everything in the morning." Max said, leaving the kitchen.
"You know, I didn't expect this when you invited me on this road trip. But I'm kinda happy with how it's turning out." Fae said.
"We..we didn't invite you. You just tagged along and we didn't have the heart to stop you." Tyrone said, a little harshly.
"Woah. Woah. Ty, no need to be harsh man. What's gotten into you?" Achilles asked.
"No, it's fine. He's right." Fae said, looking dejected and walking away.
"Not cool dweeb." Leni said, smacking Tyrone upside the head and chasing after Fae.
[Marty's House]
Max enters Marty's apartment, looking around he finds it dark and deserted. Max passes by a grandfather clock, when there is a noise. Max hits the light switch, only to see a jacket on a coat rack, blowing from the open window beside it.
"Well nothing out of the ordinary here." Max said, preparing to walk out when he notices the outline of a rug. Getting low Max investigates it. "Weird." Getting back up Max heads back to Vera's apartment.
[Vera's Apartment]
Max comes back, and comes in to find Tyrone, Achilles, and Victor sitting at the table. Tyrone has a look of remorse on his face. Victor just got done looking at his phone
"Where is Fae and Leni?" Max asked.
"They went to the Rust Bucket, Leni said they'll be sleeping in there tonight." Victor said.
"Okay, well we can all talk in the morning after I go for a walk. I'll be sleeping in the guest room." Max said, walking to the guest room.
In the middle of the night, another blob comes into Vera's room, while she sleeps. One of her arms falls off the bed and the blob uses that to climb up, just as she wakes it covers her eyes and mouth.
The next morning finds Achilles opening up Vera's fridge.
"Alright, so we got prune juice, prune juice, oh wait won't believe this next one. It's prune juice." Achilles listed off.
"Can you pass me some?" Victor asked, holding out his hand.
"Here you go." Achilles passed Victor the juice and closed the fridge.
"Do you think Fae is okay?" Victor poured himself a glass of prune juice. "You were pretty harsh with her yesterday Ty."
"I'm sure she's fine, she bounces back quickly." Tyrone responded.
"You still never said why you said all that." Achilles added.
"It needed to be said, what more do you want? Just get off my back." Tyrone said annoyed.
The girls came walking into the kitchen, Fae's eyes looked puffier and red as if she'd been crying most of the night.
"Morning Fae, how are you feeling?" Achilles said, waving to her. She just walked past him, and poured herself a glass of water.
Leni went up to Tyrone and glared at him for a bit, before pulling him into the living room.
"Achilles. Victor. Come." Leni demanded, the two other boys following her.
The four stood in a circle in the living room, Leni still glaring at Tyrone.
"Okay, you need to apologize." Leni said.
"For what?" Tyrone asked.
"What you said yesterday was uncalled for. Yes she was an uninvited guest on our summer trip, but that doesn't mean you can just be mean to her." Leni explained. "Do you realize she spent the entire night crying, cause she thought we didn't like her. I was lucky to be able to even calm her down to even get an hour."
"Is she okay? Is there anything we can do?" Achilles asked.
"Yes. If Ty can just put aside his pride and apologize for being a jerkwad, then maybe we can have our plucky pyromaniac back." Leni said.
"He still hasn't even told us why he did it." Victor mentions.
"Can we stop talking about me and the girl like we aren't both here." Tyrone said. "Look, if you need to know, it's because once again there she goes inserting herself, where she doesn't belong and making things worse."
"What does that mean?" Fae asked, coming out of the kitchen, a much more angry look on her face.
"I mean, first you follow my friend around like some weirdo, then you invite yourself onto this roadtrip no one wants you on, then yesterday you get my twin sister into danger with some crazy, alien old people. Nearly getting her killed! So sorry if I sound a little harsh." Tyrone stormed out of the house.
"What's all the noise about?" 'Vera' asked, coming into the living room.
"Nothing Aunt Vera, just kids being kids." Leni sighed out, as she started to walk towards the kitchen bumping into Fae, causing her to spill the glass of water. "Oops, sorry Fae."
The water spills on the floor and makes its way towards 'Vera', causing her to jump up into a perfect split to avoid it.
"Clean it up! Clean It up right now!" 'Vera' demanded of the kids.
"Sorry." Leni cleaned up the mess, allowing for 'Vera' to land on the ground, looking over to the guest room she finds it empty.
"Where did Max go?" 'Vera' asked.
"He said he was gonna go for a walk." Achilles answered.
"Hm. Well you kids behave. I'll be back soon." 'Vera' walked out of the apartment.
"So, you guys do know she is one of them, right?" Fae asked, her face still seething with rage.
"One of what?" Victor asked.
"One of whatever it is that is taking possession of the old people in this community. It's gotten to Max's sister, and who knows who else." Fae ranted off. "I don't know about you all, but I'm gonna go find out what. Actually no, you stay here, don't want anyone to feel forced to tag along with me and put someone in more danger." Fae followed 'Vera' out of the house.
Later finds Fae, with a bag of golf clubs, trying to sneak her way through the village, taking alleys and out-of-site paths. Fae kept checking her surroundings, being on the lookout for one of the old people.
"I gotta get to that trapdoor." Fae said to herself, before hiding behind the corner of an alley as some old folks walked past.
"So how far do you really think you'll get by yourself?" Leni asked, tapping Fae on the shoulder, causing her to jump.
"What the? Leni? What are you doing here? I thought I made myself clear." Fae whispered to Leni. "You guys don't want me here, so I'll do this and maybe I can get a bus ticket home or something."
"What? Fae. No. We want you here, maybe not at first but it's been great having you along." Leni said. "Don't listen to Ty, he's a dillweed, who doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Either way, the only reason why I came was-" Fae began to say.
"Yeah, Achilles, we all know." Leni interrupted, Fae blushed.
"Uh, yeah. D-does he know?" Fae asked.
"No, somehow despite how obvious it is, he doesn't" Leni answered.
"Oh, good. Not like it's of any hope now. That was so embarrassing, no way he'll ever like me." Fae said, holding her arm, awkwardly rubbing it.
"Don't say that. There is still hope, the summer isn't over yet." Leni tried to encourage. "Come on, let's solve this mystery and then we can go beat up my accident of a twin brother until he apologizes."
"Wait, how is he an accident if you're twins?" Fae asked.
"Oh, I was planned, he just tagged along to my greatness." Leni said.
Once the old folks had made a decent distance away and the two began to move quickly.
[Vera's Apartment]
Back at the apartment Tyrone came back in after having cooled off. He looked around only finding Achilles and Victor there.
"Where is everyone else?" Tyrone asked.
"'Aunt Vera' woke up after you left and did a full split to avoid some spilled water. She then left and Fae told us, she got body snatched, before leaving herself to investigate. Leni went to follow her, to make sure she's safe, and Grandpa Max hasn't come back." Victor explained, drinking his prune juice.
"So my sister went out on her own and neither of you stopped her." Tyrone said glaring at the young boys.
"Oh I'm sorry, were we supposed to go after the girl with a high-tech watch that can turn her into ten different aliens. Ty, you're my best friend but you're being irrational here. Just a few days ago, you also took Leni on a really dangerous mission, with 'The Krakken'." Achilles said.
"That was different!" Tyrone said.
"How?! How is it different?" Achilles shot back.
"I'm her brother, I was there to protect her if anything went wrong. What can Fae do?" Tyrone fired off.
"What can you do?! You're in the same boat as the rest of us. We are stuck playing support to her. As for Fae, did you know that yesterday she did her best to keep her and Leni safe. She used a golf club to fight off the alien." Victor cut in, Achilles gave an awkward look at the beginning of Victor's tirade.
"And how do you know?" Tyrone asked.
"Because me and Leni text almost constantly, last night I was checking in to make sure things were going okay and she explained to me what happened." Victor explained.
"This summer has started off weird Ty, none of us expected Fae to be here, Leni to get an alien watch or to be involved in all this dangerous stuff. But we are and we're handling it to the best of our abilities. Give Fae some credit, stop being mean to her, and try to be nice. She went off alone, to try and solve this, because of what you said." Achilles picked back up. "Now that you're up to date, we're gonna go see if we can find Grandpa Max cause he hasn't returned yet. Feel free to join us when you stop being a major jerk."
Victor and Achilles walked out of the apartment, leaving Tyrone to think about his actions.
[Another part of the village]
Standing on the sidewalk was 'Marty' and another old man, as Vera meets up with them.
"Is the food supply ready for transport?" 'Vera' asked the two.
"The pods are in the final stages of gestation. What about the young ones?" 'Marty' asked.
"Too chewy! They need to age more before they get nice and tender…" 'Vera' answered.
"I'm not talking about eating! The girls suspect too much." 'Marty' said.
[Leni & Fae]
The dynamic duo was getting closer to the dumpster site.
"We're getting closer." Fae said.
"Yup, just gotta follow the gross smell." Leni responded.
They pass by two old ladies playing what appears to be street curling with small pucks. The girls keep their eyes trained on them as they go past. Suddenly the old ladies hissed, their teeth sharp and yellow, they began to whack pucks in the direction of the girls.
"Seriously, why can't there be one normal old person in this village!" Fae exclaimed, as she and Leni evaded the pucks. "Let's get out of here." Fae grabbed Leni and began to run.
The two continue to evade the pucks, taking shelter behind a corner. They took a second to catch their breath as Max came up to them.
"What's going on girls?" Max asked.
"Grandpa Max they're-" Leni began to say, only Fae to grab her and run. "Fae what the heck?"
"That's not Grandpa Max." Fae said, as 'Max' stretches his arms much like 'Marty'. "What did I say?!"
The girls continue to run away but get stopped by 'Marty', 'Vera', and the other man, all of which are holding up a car. 'Max' comes up behind them.
"Oh man." Leni said, as the car got thrown at them.
Both dodged out of the way, causing it to fly into 'Max', who was swiping at them at that moment, causing him to be crushed. Green slime flew from under the car and assembled back into 'Max' save for his left eye, which is bright green and orange.
"Let's go, we need to get to the trapdoor." Fae grabbed Leni once more and ran, they climbed over the gate and made their way to the trapdoor.
They attempted to push the dumpster off it to no avail.
"We could really use an alien right now." Fae commented.
Leni primed the Omnitrix and turned into the Vulpimancer. She took the dumpster and threw it at the elders. She then motioned for Fae to open the trapdoor.
"Okay, got you Wildmutt." Fae said.
The elders got back up to their feet, and ran after the two. Fae quickly opened the door, revealing a giant pit leading underground. Wildmutt bucked Fae onto her back and leaped down into the pit. As they're falling down, Wildmutt tries to slow her fall by digging into a rock wall, though they still end up hitting the floor pretty hard.
"Nice job." Fae said, getting off and helping Wildmutt up.
They both look above them to find the elders are crawling down after them. Fae hops back on Wildmutt's back.
"Yip! Yip!" Fae said, pointing ahead of them.
Wildmutt speeds down a dark tunnel, coming to a split in the path. They stop in front of it and look at both.
"Which way should we go?" Fae asked, looking down at Wildmutt, who just growled.
A pair of red eyes stalk the two girls in the dark, Wildmutt senses something behind them, making out the outline of 'Max'. He stretches out his arms towards them only for Wildmutt to dodge and uses her mouth to clamp down on the arms, she pulls and slams 'Max' into a wall. As 'Max' stands up, Wildmutt comes slamming into him as Fae uses a golf club to whack his face. Wildmutt picks him up in her mouth and shakes him around before throwing him across the cave.
"Yes! Girl power! Let's finish this." Fae said.
Wildmutt ran at 'Max', she raised her arm preparing to finish him off.
"You wouldn't wanna hurt your old Grandpa Max, now would'ya?" 'Max' changed his left eye back into its original form. Wildmutt hesitates at that, 'Max' uses that chance to kick them away.
"Hey, it's okay, remember he isn't Grandpa Max. It's some body snatcher pretending to be Grandpa Max." Fae said, patting Wildmutt's back. "I'm here with you, and I'm not going anywhere. Let's do this together."
Wildmutt released a grunt in approval, and prepared to charge at 'Max'. 'Max' gives them an evil, challenging smile and licks his blue sharp teeth. Wildmutt took off charging into 'Max' who used his stretchy arms to grab hold of her. Fae used the momentum to launch off and bash her golf club into 'Max' launching him into a wall with enough force for him to release Wildmutt and rocks to come crashing down on him, burying him.
Wildmutt comes up to Fae and gives her a lick, causing Fae to pet her. Wildmutt then suddenly senses something big and puts Fae back on her back before taking off down a tunnel.
"Oh, we're going again." Fae said, holding on tight.
As they go they run into a wall of wooden boards and moss, then busts right through it. As they come out the other side the Omnitrix beeps red and turns Wildmutt back into Leni.
"Wooo! That was wild!" Fae said, throwing her arms up in the air as she lends next to Leni, she then gives Leni a high five.
"Haha, yeah. Alright I sensed something this way." Leni takes the lead going further down the tunnel.
The tunnel opens up into an enormous room, with a large spaceship in the middle and small green pods lining the entire floor. They walk among the pods, and find one with Marty's unconscious body visible in one of them.
"Looks like they've all been podded up." Leni said.
"Yeah, they had to have been working on this for a while. Hm…kinda gives me some ideas for Achilles." Fae mentioned, as she looked in the pods as well. Leni shot her a worried look before shaking her head.
"Grandpa Max!" Leni said, finding the pod that contained Max. She cracks it open and Max's body comes falling out.
"Huh, I was out for a walk, and then…can't remember what happened next." Max said, coming to.
"No time to explain, let's get these people out of here." Fae said, going to open another pod.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" 'Vera' said as her and the remaining elders advanced on the three.
"Well you'd wish you were her, cause she is pretty great." Leni said, smiling at Fae.
"Yeah, you wish you were me, cause I'm awesome and have some cool friends." Fae smiled back.
"Enough of this!" 'Marty exclaimed as he and the rest morphed into their true forms. Standing before the trio were now three Limax.
"Wow, I have missed a lot." Max said as he and the girls began to back up towards the spaceship.
Fae accidently touches the back of the ship with her hand and "activates" it, opening a doorway revealing more pods onboard.
"Their ship." Leni said.
"Wow, they really have been at this for a while." Fae said as they looked back at the ship.
"They found it! We can't let them out!" Limax-Marty yelled.
"Get the pods on board, they've been marinating long enough!" Limax-Vera commanded.
"Marinating? You were gonna eat us?!" Max yelled confused.
Leni looks inside the ship and spots Vera. "And Aunt Vera is on here. Cool." The Omnitrix cool down ends at that moment, and Leni selects Flamecess. "You guys really burn me up! Now let me return the favor!"
Flamecess unleashes a wave of heat on the group of Limax, however instead of being damaged they look unaffected. Growing bigger they all combine into one big combined alien and speak as one.
"Whatever you are, you just made a terrible mistake. Us Limaxes live in heat! We thrive in heat! Why do you think we chose a desert? In the summer?" The Giant Limax said.
Flamecess frowned and started punching the Giant Limax's leg. It grabbed her arm and threw her repeatedly on the ground. Looking behind it, it sees Fae and Max carrying the pods out of the ship, and spawns two small Limaxes to deal with them.
The two Limaxes come up to the two, one of them swiping at Fae, who ducked and it only knocked her bag of golf clubs over. All of the contents, including Fae's water gun, spill on the floor. The two Limaxes look at the water gun and suddenly realize what it contains causing them to run away in fear. Fae grabs the gun and sprays them through the head, causing them to fall as liquid on the ground.
"Water! Of course!I knew bringing this thing was a good idea. It explains Aunt Vera in the kitchen and the neighbor with the sprinklers." Fae said, as she trains her water gun on the Giant Limax and blasts it. It shrieks in pain and drops Flamecess. It doesn't do much else, but give Flamecess a moment of reprieve so she can analyze the situation.
Flamecess notices a water pipe above the Giant Limax and shoots fire at it. Water sprays out from the pipe, onto the Limax causing it to fall. Flamecess gets out of the way as it turns into a puddle.
"See ya, you giant booger." Flamecess said as she went to help Fae and Max take the rest of the pods off the ship.
As they get the last pod off, the ship begins to make a whirring noise, indicating it is about to take off. The puddle begins to crawl onto the ship and shuts the door, as the ship takes off rising out of the crater it created. Tunneling out of the cave and bursting out onto the moonlit desert above and into Earth's atmosphere. Up top the trio of young boys can see it going and just watches.
"And you better stay away, or next time there will be none of you left to flee." Fae threatened even though the Limaxes could not hear her.
"We should probably get them all back to their condos." Max said, looking at the pods.
"Ugh, clean up duty sucks." Fae said exasperated.
"Give me a few and I'll see if I can't use XLR8 to speed this up." Flamecess said.
"By the way girls, where are the boys?" Max asked.
[Vera's Apartment]
It was the next morning and everyone was getting ready to leave as it was the end of the weekend. Max hugged Vera, who looked well despite everything, goodbye.
"Don't be strangers." Vera said.
"We won't." Max responded.
"Bye Aunt Vera." Victor said, as he and Achilles waved goodbye to her.
"Bye dears. Oh! This is for the road." Vera hands Victor a glass container with a green mold in it. "I saw how much you liked the other one, this one is lime with chunks of grouper and chickpeas."
"Thanks." Victor said as he and Achilles loaded into the Rust Bucket.
Leni came up next to hug Vera, who reciprocated.
"I hope this weekend wasn't too terribly boring for you dear." Vera said.
"Oh not at all, I really enjoyed myself." Leni responded and climbed onto the Rust Bucket.
Off to the side while everyone was saying their goodbyes, Tyrone came up to Fae and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look at him, finding him with a nervous look on his face.
"What do YOU want?" Fae asked, emphasizing the 'you'.
"I…I just wanted to apologize for what I said and how I've treated you this weekend, heck how I've been treating you since you came aboard the Rust Bucket. I haven't been the nicest or the most welcoming. I don't know, everythings weird now with Leni having that watch. It's one dangerous adventure after the other, and I'm just trying to navigate it all. I shouldn't have taken things out on you, you did your best to protect Leni and Max." Tyrone apologized,
"You have been acting like a major butt, but… I get you. Things are crazy and I did just insert myself into your vacation. I'm sorry, I just saw this as my chance to get closer to Achilles and then all this stuff happened. I don't have friends if you noticed and I see you and Achilles, Victor and Leni, and you all just hanging together and I want to be part of that." Fae responded.
"Well, you know, you're wrong about one thing." Tyrone said and Fae gave him a questioning look. "You do have friends, we're your friends. I'm your friend, that is if you want me to be." Tyrone held out his hand for a shake and Fae just hugged him, to which he reciprocated.
"Now, you aren't completely forgiven yet, I still need one thing from you." Fae whispered something in his ear.
"Fae, Tyrone, let's go." Max called from by the Rust Bucket.
"Come on, I want to get out of this heat." Victor poked his head out.
"Yeah, I've had enough old people to last me a week." Leni appeared above Victor.
"Let's go already." Achilles appeared above Leni.
"Alright, we're coming. Chill." Tyrone called back. "Later Aunt Vera." Tyrone came up and hugged Vera.
"Aww, later Tyrone. Bet you look even more handsome next time I see you. Remember to keep studying up on them birds." Vera told him.
Tyrone nodded and made his way on to the Rust Bucket, plucking the three stooges, before walking inside.
"See you later Aunt Vera, it was a fun and enlightening weekend." Fae hugged Vera as well.
"You take care of yourself Fae." Vera looked down at Fae, who nodded and started to walk on the Rust Bucket. "Oh and Fae, keep up the good work, dealing with all those bad guys you were telling me about." At this Fae gave a look of surprise.
"You're just humoring me, right?" Fae asked unsure.
"Of course dear." Vera affirmed.
Fae nodded and went inside the Rust Bucket with the rest. On board everyone was taking their seats and Tyrone gave her a wink as he sat at the table, Achilles went to join him only to be stopped.
"Sorry man but, Leni and Vic are gonna sit here to help me catalog this adventure." Tyrone said as Leni and Victor joined him.
Achilles nodded and went to sit on the couch, Fae soon joined him. Smiling to herself Fae gave a little yawn, then started to lean and cuddle up to Achilles.
"You mind if I rest on you a little, this weekend has been really draining and I didn't get much sleep." Fae requested.
"Oh, uh sure. I don't mind. But why don't you just go sleep on your bunk?" Achilles asked.
"This is….more comfy." Fae said tiredly and appeared to have nodded off.
"Oh. Okay." Achilles said, wrapping an arm around her, not noticing her smile widening as she peeks open an eye and takes a quick sniff of him.
Fae then closed her eyes and actually went to sleep this time.
As the Rust Bucket leaves the desert it passes the giant hole the Limax spaceship left. Down the hole and through the caves the Max-Limax crawls from under the buried rocks and slowly creeps along the tunnel.