NOTE: This is NOT an April Fools chapter, so no worries. There's also been a big change of plans regarding that road map I made a few chapters back. Completely forget and ignore that, because I'm not going to be writing out P4D after this arc is done. Timeline wise it DOES happen after this whole arc, but I'll be writing that out at a later date. It's something that only adds some world building and doesn't impact the story too much.
I really just want to move on from Classic and get to AF, so after this arc we're going straight to Season 4 then Secrets of the Omnitrix.
It's also the 15th Anniversary of Alien Force, so I'm going to ask you guys what your favorite AF moments are and what you'd hope to see me do when I eventually get to it.
Pay attention to the end of chapter notes, because there's something that I would love for you guys to do down there.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 54: Regrets (3)
Ben stabbed his fork into his stack of pancakes after drenching them in sweet syrup. He raised the mountainous stack to his mouth, prepared to swallow them whole until an arm reached over and pushed his arm down. Ben glared at Yukiko for interrupting his meal. "What gives!?"
"Eat slower, Ben. You'll choke if you try to eat all those pancakes at once." She looked down at his plate as well. "And you used way too much syrup! That's entirely too unhealthy!" Her plate of pancakes was sliced into squares, with syrup having been added onto each layer. It kept her plate relatively clean and made sure she wouldn't need to constantly add more and more syrup.
"Can you quit nagging at me!? I'm perfectly capable of eating on my own!"
"Considering the messes you make when you eat I highly doubt that." Gwen said. The young girl had cut her pancakes into small perfectly easily digestible squares. She had used a small container for her syrup, choosing to dip the pancakes instead of pouring it onto them.
"Nobody asked you your opinion." Ben huffed.
"I know, but I never care if you ask or not."
"That's enough, you two. Hurry up and finish eating so that we can get a headstart on today." Yukiko said then took a bite out of her breakfast. "I want to head into town today to have this money we got from those Shadows converted to US dollars."
"What for?" Gwen asked.
"Now that we understand the layout of the dungeon we can finally get the expedition started. We're going to need supplies to take with us like snacks, water, and a change of clothes just in case." Yukiko explained.
"A change of clothes? Why would we need that?" Ben asked.
"We'll be running through the floors for more than just an hour and with fighting Shadows, there's a chance our clothes will get dirty and torn. It's best to be prepared with a change of clothes just in case."
"I see…" Gwen mumbled before seeing the glint in Yukiko's eyes. The sorceress jumped up, pointing at Yukiko with an accusing finger. "I see that look in your eyes! No ridiculous costumes!"
"But, Gwen, it's an important part of the journey!"
"No, it's not!"
Ben, who was scarfing down his pancakes as they argued, looked up. "So, how many floors do you think Grandpa's dungeon has?" Ben asked in between bites.
Yukiko turned to him. "First, swallow your food." She waited till he did so to continue talking. "Second, dungeons usually can have around 9 to 11 floors or maybe even more. There's no telling how many Grandpa could have." The knowledge that there was no telling how far away Max was did put a damper on the morning's mood.
Ben shot out of his seat. "So what!? It doesn't matter how many floors that stupid dungeon has! Nothing's gonna stop us from saving Grandpa!"
The girls stared at him with confident smiles, appreciating Ben's bright determination in the face of challenging odds. "Right!"
OP: More Than Like by Bish
The spell we're under is the real deal, I'm watching closely
Oh, I wonder if we can change this shattered world
Ben and Yukiko stood back-to-back in a grassy field, the heiress and hero stared up into the bright sky above them. Ben's eyes were filled with determination as the camera turned to Yukiko, who had a single tear running down her face.
Let's keep on journeying and picking up the pieces, every last one
The Tennyson kids were seen gearing themselves up. Yukiko finished tying her hair into a ponytail and whipped out her fan. Gwen closed her spellbook, allowing the mana to swirl between her fingertips. The last one was Ben, who was holding a glowing blue object in his hands.
Oh, if we can reach beyond the shattered tears
A single picture frame sat on top of a dresser. The image contained 5 people, but one of the faces had been cut out.
You think other people are impossible to understand
I'm gonna take away that sad notion
(Oh yeah! Oh yeah!)
Let's begin
Naoto was seen ducking out of the way of a blazing sword swipe. The weapon belonged to a woman white white hair, who was dressed in a black and orange jumpsuit. She jumped back before unleashing a vortex of flames at the detective.
Yu raised his blade that was coated in lighting to block the gauntlet covered fist. The attacker was a large man with dark skin, black and white hair, and he was dressed in a similar jumpsuit as the woman.
Kenji was seen talking to a young boy around Ben's age with black and white hair. The boy has dark skin and black colored eyes. He's dressed in an orange shirt and yellow sweatpants. In his hands was an orange staff.
I just can't let it go, because it's just too sad
A man resembling Max Tennyson stood on top of a pillar. His malicious yellow eyes glowed in the night as power erupted around his body, transforming him into an unknown entity.
Your words, more than anyone else's
Yukiko is seen smashing her tarot card, Sumeo-Okami coming to life and torching everything around her.
Your answers, more than anything else
Are what I want to know
Gwen's eyes turned bright blue as her magic surged to life. Behind her a glowing silhouette could be seen.
I want to keep shaking them up
Even if now isn't the time
Ben struggled to his feet, his body littered with scratches and bruises. He activated the Omnitrix, the device sparking with green energy.
My words, more than anyone else's
My answers, more than anything else
A 10-year-old Max Tennyson ran through the empty field, in his hands was a toy spaceship that he pretended to fly. He then turned into a young adult, dressed in a spacesuit as he prepared to take off into space. Then finally, his present self stood across from three young boys and a woman, their eyes conveyed no emotions as they stared at him.
Are what I want to give
So hear them and know
The scene transitioned to Ben and the Max lookalike standing inside of a spaceship graveyard. Ben charged the lookalike with a green electrical surge surrounding the Omnitrix and punched out at the clone, creating a massive explosion.
I want to see the same things as you
The final shot was of Max and his grandkids sleeping by a tree. Ben was leaning on the old man's shoulder, drooling on his shirt. Yukiko leaned on his other shoulder as Gwen's head rested on her lap. Max smiled softly as the warmth of his grandkids surrounded him.
After an excruciatingly long shopping trip (in Ben's opinion), the Tennyson trio now stood back in front of Max's dungeon, prepared to continue the journey to rescue their grandfather. Ben looked at the three large backpacks that Yukiko had packed for their journey. "Did we really need all these bags?"
"Certainly!" Yukiko replied cheerfully. "Two of these bags contain a change of clothes for us and the third bag has the snacks and bottles of water. We'll probably be here till late evening."
"How many floors do you plan for us to go through today?" Gwen asked.
Yukiko hummed. "I at least hope we can get to the 5th floor today since we're on the 2nd. Counting today we have four days left until the next fog comes in. Which means we gotta get moving!"
"Aw yeah! Let's get dungeon crawling!" Ben punched a fist into his palm. He was about to enter, but then realized something. "Wait, we reached the 2nd floor yesterday, so do we have to go back through the first floor?"
"Nope." Yukiko answered. The heiress pointed over to the side of the entrance where an elevator was waiting for them. "That's our shortcut."
"A shortcut!?"
"Yup, though they look different depending on the dungeon. Mine, Rise-chan's, and Kanji-kun's dungeons had stairs leading to whichever floors were reached." Yukiko explained.
"And the video game comparisons just continue to grow." Ben said. He looked back at their belongings. "So, who's going to be carrying all of that?"
"You." Both girls answered.
"Me!?"
"Yup! You're our pack mule!" Yukiko answered with a happy expression.
"Don't say that with such a happy face!" Ben yelled. "Why am I the pack mule!?"
Gwen made a cute expression. "Would you really make two innocent young girls carry all of that stuff?"
"Yes! And who said you two counted as young girls!? You're more like a gorilla with a Diddy Kong!"
"Say that again, doofus!" Gwen shouted, getting right up into his face.
Yukiko coughed into her hand to gain their attention. "Oh, Ben~! If you carry our stuff I'll buy you whatever game you want after we save Grandpa!"
That got the boy contemplating. "Really?"
"Yes."
"No take backs?"
"None."
"Alright!" Ben agreed, happy to get a reward of some kind. Activating the Omnitrix, he selected Wildmutt and slapped down the dial.
FLASH!
"Rawr!" Wildmutt roared once the green light died down.
"Convincing him really can be that easy." Gwen sighed. Yukiko brought the bags over to Wildmutt and started strapping them down onto his back.
"C'mon, Gwen! We gotta get moving before he turns back!" Yukiko jumped onto Wildmutt's back, patting the Vulpimancer affectionately. The dog alien growled slightly before relaxing in defeat.
2ND FLOOR:
"Are we going the right way, Gwen?" Yukiko asked. They had been going at it for a couple of minutes now as Wildmutt sprinted through the hallways, trying to get as far as he possibly could before his time ran out.
Gwen nodded her head. "We are, but you weren't wrong about the layout changing. It's so confusing when I think about how the floor felt yesterday." Gwen said. She then perked up when a spark snapped through her head. "Ben, turn left!"
"Rawr!" Wildmutt responded, bolting around the corner. The Vulpimancer's gills expanded as his senses picked up on something barreling right towards them. "Rawr!"
Yukiko's eyes widened at the large Shadow that was coming right for them, its hands swinging around wildly. "Brace yourselves!" She alerted them.
Gwen snapped out of her tracking spell, grabbing the fabric before it could be blown away. Wildmutt jumped over the Shadow, slashing his claws at the arms as they took a swing at them. He touched down on the ground, growling fiercely at the enemy as his cousins jumped off his back to prepare for battle.
The Tennysons watched as the Shadow melted into goo before morphing into two separate beings. The first one was a cyborg-like cheetah with dual swords in its hands, which hissed at the Tennysons with venomous hatred. The second one was a strange humanoid shark-like creature with razor sharp fingers, its red eyes conveying its desire to rip them to shreds.
"Okay, these things are starting to remind me of Dr. Animo's freaky science projects." Gwen shivered.
Yukiko, who was busy taking all of the bags off of Wildmutt, looked back at them. "Hm, I don't recognize the shark one. We'll have to be careful and figure out what their weakness is."
"How do we do that?" Gwen asked.
"By fighting them, obviously. Normally Rise-chan would scan them but she isn't here, so we'll have to do it the old fashioned way!" Yukiko whipped out her fan.
Liking the sound of Yukiko's words, Wildmutt wasted no time in charging right in. The Vulpimancer went straight for the shark, clashing his claws against its fingers. He bit back a howl as the shark's other hand released a blast of icy cold into his face. Wildmutt backed away, snarling as the ice entered his gills, the way it clogged up his senses reminded him of when he was sick.
The shark raised its arms, ready to sink them into Wildmutt's skull until a blast of fire kept it away from him. Yukiko quickly intervened to protect Ben and hoped that Gwen could hold her own against the cheetah Shadow. The aquatic looking Shadow growled at her and unleashed a torrent of ice at Yukiko, which the heiress had to dodge to avoid getting hit. Fire and ice were a challenging match up, both were each other's weakness and advantage.
The shark took this chance to charge at the heiress, catching her by surprise and landing a hard strike to her ribs. "Kya!" Yukiko screamed. She went sailing into the wall with the shark looming over her with a fresh blast of ice awaiting her.
"RWAR!" Wildmutt stopped it by jumping onto its back and biting down on its shoulder. It cried out in pain as the Vulpimancer's teeth sunk into its skin. Wildmutt would've continued his assault if a familiar beeping sound didn't echo in the halls.
FLASH!
"Nom! Nom! Nom!" Ben kept biting it, though his bites were a lot less painful than before. He was grabbed by the back of his shirt and tossed at Yukiko by the shark. "WOAH!" Ben cried before getting caught in the heiress' arms. Ben opened his mouth, feeling his teeth. "Ugh, I hope I didn't end up chipping a tooth."
"Ben, I got an idea on how to beat this guy." Yukiko said, putting him down on the floor.
"What is it?" He asked.
"We need to burn it down! Let's use those cards and hit it with a combined Agi!" Yukiko knew she could've done it on her own, but she really wanted to do a combo with Ben.
"Sure! About time I got to use one of these correctly!" Ben took out the cards, picking out the one that had Agidyne inscribed on it. "This should do the trick!"
Yukiko put the card down and grabbed the Agi card. "Might be better to save that one for later…"
"Lame!"
"Can you two hurry it up!? This thing is trying to mind control me!" Gwen cried as she dodged a psychic blast and sword strike. "And cut me in half!" Gwen fell to the ground, pushing her hands against the floor to kick her feet into the cheetah's gut. "Get back, leopard print!"
"Hold your horses, dweeb. We're coming!" Ben yelled at her, then nodded his head at Yukiko. The two watched as the shark charged at them with the intent to strike them down, but was unprepared for the two to unleash a twin spiral of flames at it. The shark cried out as the double Agi blast incinerated it into nothing but ash.
Ben watched as the card disappeared into tiny particles. "Yup. One time usage."
Yukiko grabbed Ben's deck of cards and looked for a Frei spell card. "There we go! Gwen!" She called out to her little cousin, catching her attention. "We'll hit it together!"
"Right!" Gwen exclaimed. "Emocha Objectia!"
"Frei!"
The cheetah gasped as the blasts nailed it head on, exploding in a bright spiral of blue energy. When the light cleared there was nothing of the Shadow left besides a bunch of money on the ground, which Ben wasted no time in picking up. "Sweet! More money for us!" He cheered until Yukiko swiped the money away from him.
"Money that will be going into our 'save Grandpa' funds." She gave him a look. Ben pouted slightly, upset that he wouldn't be able to use that money for himself.
"C'mon, you gotta let me use at least some of it!"
"If we have any left over after saving Grandpa I'll think about giving some of it to you."
Gwen sighed, activating her tracking spell. "Let's just get off this floor already."
3RD FLOOR:
Ben put his hands behind his head, mulling over something. He adjusted the large bag on his back, a bit thankful that he didn't have to carry them all on his own at the moment. Looking over at his cousins, Ben saw them chatting with one another as they continued towards the next elevator. They had fought a few more Shadows upon reaching this floor and the sight of them had gotten him thinking. "Hey, guys?"
"Hm? What's wrong, Ben?" Yukiko looked back at him.
"Wouldn't it be cool if we fought a dragon?" Ben asked with a grin.
"Uh-no! It wouldn't be fun at all." Gwen responded. "Keep your crazy delusions to yourself."
"What? Scared?" Ben egged on.
"Yes, because you have a strange habit of speaking the stupid into existence." Gwen replied with annoyance.
Yukiko patted Gwen on the head to reassure her. "Don't worry, we never encountered a dragon Shadow, so I doubt we'll even see one here. And the more powerful ones usually match the vibe of the dungeon and dragons have nothing to do with space."
Ben didn't drop it. "Yeah, but what if there's an alien dragon? I'm certain Grandpa could've encountered one during his old days."
"There's a lot of things I'm sure Grandpa dealt with years ago, but none of them compare to the horror of being related to a doofus." Gwen said.
"Haha." Ben rolled his eyes. "Takes one to know one, dweeb."
"Ben, what brought this on?" Yukiko asked.
The boy shrugged. "It's just that we've seen some weird looking things in here already, so I just figured that a dragon could be possible. And if so, maybe I could unlock some kind of dragon alien in the Omnitrix!" Ben exclaimed.
"There's his real reason." Gwen said dryly.
Yukiko thought about it for a moment. "Well…it's not impossible, but still not likely to happen. You'll just have to deal with whatever comes up, Ben, dragon or not."
"Heh, yeah, but I'm still betting on a dragon."
"Just drop it already." Gwen sighed. "Ah! I think I found the next elevator!"
"Already? Sweet!" Ben ran ahead into the room. His eyes widened at the sight of the big red chest that sat in the middle of the room. "And some loot? I wonder what it'll give us." He ran over to the chest, ready to take its insides.
Gwen had an uneasy feeling about that chest, a weird aura vibrating off of it. "Uh, Ben! I don't think you should open that!"
"What? Afraid that I'll take all the good stuff?"
"No, that thing just feels weird."
"Nope. Not falling for your tricks." Ben gripped the edges of the lid with sweet anticipation.
Yukiko's eyes widened at the familiar feeling that went up her spine. "Ben, wait-"
WHOOOOO!
Much to the boy's shock, a Shadow jumped out of the chest, swinging its arms down to tear his head off. Luckily, two blasts of mana and fire knocked it away from Ben as the girls joined his side and glared down at him.
Ben got off his butt, activating the Omnitrix. "Heh…my bad?"
4TH FLOOR:
"A key?" Gwen kneeled down at the locked chest. "Why do some of these require a key? The previous chests didn't need one."
"Wanna go look for one?" Ben asked Yukiko.
The heiress thought it over. "We would have to backtrack through the floor a bit to find it. It could be on the ground somewhere or attached to a Shadow. It might even be a massive waste of time but…"
"But what?"
"But there might be something useful in there!" Yukiko answered, looking hopeful. "Gwen, see if you can track a familiar presence to that chest. It might just lead us to that key." Gwen nodded her head and used her tracking spell.
"Cool! Looks like we're going treasure hunting!" Ben grinned excitedly. The trio left the room for now to search for the key. It took them a few minutes before Gwen eventually located it and they saw that the key was being dangled in the air by a Shadow.
Ben grinned, cracking his knuckles. "You guys sit back and leave this one to me."
"But we don't know what its affinity is yet, Ben." Yukiko warned him.
"Don't worry, Four Arms can handle whatever these things can dish out!" Ben dialed up his favorite alien and slammed down the core.
FLASH!
"Yes, that is definitely Four Arms." Gwen said dryly with an eyeroll.
"Frankenstrike?" The Halloween hero sounded a bit disappointed. "Fine, this one works too." The Transylvanian alien cracked his knuckles and approached the Shadow. He raised his fist crackling with voltage and sent it crashing down into the floor. The green electricity coursed through the floor, shocking the Shadow painfully.
As expected, it morphed into an entirely new creature that resembled a grizzly bear. It had yellow electricity buzzing around its fur like a static shock. The bear opened its mouth, unleashing a loud roar that forced the girls to cover their ears. The very tips of its paws glowed yellow with static pulsating through them.
"Loud one, aren't ya?" Frankenstrike asked.
"Be careful, Ben! Its affinity is electricity, meaning that Frankenstrike might have a hard time dealing with it!" Yukiko warned him.
"So the same types are resistant to each other, huh? That's fine by me." Green voltage surged around his body, illuminating the hallway. "Frankenstrike's voltage is on a whole different level from Yogi over here!"
"RAAA!" The bear charged at him with malicious intent, its paws stomping the floor with enough force to cause small vibrations. An electric paw came up to strike down the transformed hero, but Frankenstrike blocked the attack with his arm.
"Nice try." Frankenstrike landed a devastating right hook across the bear's jaw, sending it skidding backwards. The hero rushed the bear with several jabs to its chest, making it cry out in pain.
"Huh? I guess I forgot that that form is also pretty physically strong too." Yukiko thought back to their battle with Viktor.
Frankenstrike tossed the bear over his shoulder then slammed both of his fists into its chest so hard that the impact created a dent in the floor. The bear screamed loudly, blasting a volt of electricity into Frankenstrike's face to get him to back off. "Guh! Little..!" The hero jumped away in surprise. "You wanna see who's got the stronger voltage? Then let's see!" Frankenstrike shot a green blast of lightning from his hands at the bear.
Which turned out to be the wrong move, as the bear just absorbed his blast to make itself stronger. "What!? It can absorb electricity!?" Frankenstrike turned to Yukiko. "Why didn't you say anything!?"
The heiress shrugged. "I had a feeling it might, but hoped that it wouldn't be able to. Silly me, huh?"
"More like stupid you!"
"RAAA!" The bear roared at him and charged the hero once more.
"Alright! No more Mr. Nice Frankenstrike!" He dodged the initial strike from the bear and embedded his fist into its chest. It tried to shock him to force him to back off, but the hero didn't flinch from the voltage. "You may be able to absorb it, but it still ain't enough to hurt me!" A nasty uppercut snapped the bear's head upwards, disorienting it. Frankenstrike got behind the bear, wrapping his arms around its middle, and suplexed it into the floor.
"Ben! Finish it off with one of the cards! Use a Garu spell card!" Yukiko advised.
"I could…but…!" Raising a fist coated in pure electricity, Frankenstrike pulled it back with a huge grin.
"Gwen, force field!" Yukiko blanched at the sight.
"Already on it!" Gwen created a blue barrier just as Frankenstrike's punch connected with the bear.
BOOM!
The force from Frankenstrike's attack created a massive shockwave that shook the floor itself. Bursts of electricity surged all over, making the girls grateful that Gwen's barrier was up and running to keep them safe from the voltage. A massive cloud of smoke filled the space in the hallway for a short period of time.
FLASH!
"Phew! I got it!" Ben emerged from the smoke with the key in his hands. He raised a brow at the glares the girls were sending him. "What?" They didn't respond, just turning their backs on him and heading back to the room. "What did I do?"
5TH FLOOR:
"Finally, the 5th floor!" Gwen exclaimed. She was feeling pretty exhausted going through this place, even keeping track of time was difficult! It amazed her that Yukiko and her friends had been doing this for an entire year! Looking over she saw that Ben seemed to be doing fine, much to her frustration. He was happily eating a granola bar that Yukiko had given him, then Yukiko turned to her to give her one as well. "Aren't you guys tired?" Gwen asked.
"Nah, I'm good." Ben shrugged.
Yukiko stretched her arms. "I'm just fine, Gwen. Nothing I'm not used to already."
Gwen grumbled to herself. "Why am I always the normal one out of this group?"
"Because you're lame?" Ben's comment earned him a half-eaten granola bar to the nose.
Yukiko ignored her bickering cousins for a moment to examine the floor they were on. Unlike the previous four, this one appeared to have slight differences. Several claw marks tattered the floors and walls, with the lights above them flickering constantly. "Something feels off…"
"Well, aren't you the smart one?"
The familiar voice caught them off guard, putting the three on edge. Their eyes scanned the floor for where the voice could've possibly originated from until loud footsteps could be heard approaching the room. Gwen gulped nervously. "Uh…what's that noise?"
Yukiko felt a buzzing in her head, and that was the only warning she was given to grab her cousins. "MOVE-!"
SMASH!
The three rolled across the floor as the wall next to them was smashed to pieces by something extremely large in size. Gwen created a barrier to protect them from the collapsing ceiling as the large creature continued to tear the place apart with little effort. Smoke and dust encompassed the space, blocking their view of whatever it was that attacked them. When it finally cleared away the Tennysons could only stare in shock at the behemoth in front of them.
Towering over them was a massive black dragon with dark red wings, its tail was shaped like a sharp trident, swishing back and forth ready to skewer them. Claws sharper than butcher knives scraped the floor like a record scratcher. Visible smoke blew out of its nose with a nasty snarl escaping the snout. Two dangerously bloody eyes glared at the trio with malice that could rival Vilgax.
And standing on top of its head was none other than…
"Grandpa!" Ben exclaimed.
"Not Grandpa! That's Shadow Grandpa!" Yukiko corrected him.
The Shadow smiled behind his helmet. "It's so nice to see you kids again. It's not nice to keep your Grandfather waiting."
"You're not our Grandpa!" Gwen yelled.
"You have no idea how wrong you are, Gwendolyn." Shadow Max grinned down at her.
Ben stepped up, punching his fist into his palm. "C'mon down here already! Give us back our Grandpa or I'll make you give him back!"
The Shadow vanished in a flash of purple mist, confusing the young heroes. Until he appeared right in front of Ben, without his helmet, and kicked the boy right in his chest. Ben rolled across the ground before hitting the opposite wall with a loud thud. "Gah!"
"BEN!" The girls cried out his name. Anger inscribed itself all over Yukiko's features instantly, but before she or Gwen could do anything Shadow Max's hand was outstretched towards them. A blast of blue energy nailed the girls, sending them flying across the opposite side of the room, away from him and Ben.
Shadow Max stared down at Ben, who was still recovering from the kick. "Y'know, Benjamin… I've met a lot of individuals in my life. Some I love and some I don't, but you." He pointed right at the boy. Ben looked at his grandfather's look alike and found himself shivering at the scornful expression aimed at him. "You-even more than Vilgax-are the person I hate the most in this world."
Ben's eyes widened in shock at the words thrown at him, but he wasn't given time to mull over them as Shadow Max snapped his fingers. "Kill him." Shadow Max ordered with a cold expression. The dragon's mouth opened wide, a blue ball of deadly energy building up with a roaring noise. With one last stomp, the dragon unleashed the beam down onto Ben, who could only stare in shock at the approaching attack.
"BEN!" The girls could only watch in horror as death seemed to have grabbed Ben. All the while Shadow Max was laughing hysterically at the soon-to-be death of his grandson.
FLASH!
GULP!
"Eh?" Shadow Max stopped laughing when there was no loud explosion that followed the beam. Looking back at where Ben was, his face morphed into a scowl when he saw the attack being devoured by a small green alien.
"Of course…a Gourmand!" Shadow Max hissed.
Upchuck grinned at Shadow Max, his belly was bloated like a balloon. "Sorry, not a big fan of this gift! How about I give it back!?" Upchuck released the energy stored in his belly, unleashing an even stronger blast than the dragon originally did. Shadow Max was forced to teleport out of the way to avoid getting hit, leaving his dragon defenseless to take the blast full force. It roared in pain as the beam incinerated every last part of it until there was nothing left of the dragon once the attack dissipated.
Yukiko and Gwen scurried over to Upchuck, the heiress held the Gourmand in her arms, squeezing the life out of him. "Ben, you amazing disgusting little creature!"
"Why did you have to add that last part!?" Upchuck whined.
Shadow Max reappeared visibly displeased by the outcome of things. "Okay, fine, that's on me for underestimating the brat. But we aren't done here, kids. You still have a ways to go till you get to the last floor, and trust me, that the next obstacle won't be as easily handled as this."
Yukiko glared at the Shadow. "It doesn't matter what obstacles we face in future. Nothing is going to stop us from saving our Grandfather." Her expression then softened into a bright smile. "And we'll save you too."
Shadow Max's eyes widened briefly before returning back to his previous scowl. He grabbed his helmet and placed it back over his head. "I don't need saving." He vanished with those words floating in the air for the trio to mull over.
"Save him?" Gwen turned to Yukiko.
The heiress smiled at her. "Of course, just beating the Shadow isn't enough. We also have to help heal Grandpa's heart."
FLASH!
Ben stared at the spot that Shadow Max used to occupy, his head drifting back to what he had said earlier. He looked over at his cousins to see them conversing with one another, confirming to him that they hadn't heard what the Shadow had said. He knew that he shouldn't take anything it says seriously and that it was just a twisted reflection of his grandfather.
But what if that's how his grandfather secretly felt about him?
All the times he screwed up with the Omnitrix, didn't listen to his orders, and caused him nothing but trouble. Yukiko did say that Shadows represented the terrible feelings of the original person, their deepest-kept secrets about themselves.
Ben looked up to the ceiling with only one thought going through his head.
"Does Grandpa hate me?"
SLAP!
"GAH!?" Ben cried, reaching for his back. He glared at Gwen, who was the one to do the deed. "The heck was that for!?"
Gwen huffed, looking away. The young girl didn't like the depressed look on Ben's face; it didn't suit her annoying cousin at all. "For willing that stupid dragon into existence, doofus! Why do you have to open your big mouth anyway!?"
"Why do you think it was my fault!? There's no way this could be my fault!"
Yukiko hummed, thinking aloud. "Well, Shadows do control the dungeons and can see us at all times. I wouldn't be surprised if he overheard us talking about it."
Gwen turned to Ben with a smug look, much to Ben's annoyance. He glared at Yukiko for opening her mouth. "Why do you gotta open your big mouth, huh!? Now Gwen isn't going to let it go!"
"My mouth isn't big, is it!?" Yukiko asked, worried. She took out her phone to check her face in the reflection.
"He/I didn't mean literally!"
Gwen, already feeling the headache forming, reached into the bag and took out a Goho-M. "Let's just get out of here…." She activated it, teleporting them back outside the dungeon.
Chapter End
NOTE: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Originally, I was gonna end this chapter with Ben's depressing thoughts but thought better of it. His cousins wouldn't just let him sit there all depressed and stuff. There was also going to be an entire fight with that dragon, but I got lazy. This arc might end in the next two chapters, we'll see.
I do plan to do some trivia stuff regarding Priestess 10 over in the TTPL side story. Go over there and leave some questions about Priestess 10 that you would like to see me answer, be mindful that anything that could be a spoiler are ones I won't answer.
Have a great day!
