Ultimate Fairy

Chapter 53: Wendy's first job

…

Last time on Ultimate Fairy…

The pregnant silence in the office was heavy and becoming unbearable as Makarov explained to Ben how the events had transpired to the point they did.

"So Daphne kidnapped an entire town?" Ben asked as that seemed a bit much in his opinion 'Kinda reminds me of something Animo would do.' he thought thinking of the mad doctor.

"Essentially yes." Makarov said as the people being sealed away was more an accurate statement.

"Ben, I know sorry is never gonna be able to cut what I did." Gray said as he accepted that Ben would never forgive him for what happened, not even sure he would forgive himself "I was just trying to help those people." He said as that was what was guiding him originally.

Ben sighed as he took a breath "Gray listen I get it." He said to him seeing surprise in the ice mage's eyes "Trust me I've pulled my fair share of solo acts and stunts as a kid and even now." he said to him "But Gray while Natsu made a mistake, you made the same type of mistake since you didn't get any help and went it alone." he said knowing how hypocritical that sounded as he rarely asked for help as help mostly just arrived due to luck or something with him.

Makarov sat and listened as Ben was truly acting like an adult here 'If Gray had asked for assistance from anyone from his team or came to me, there would've been much less risk.' He thought as he saw many scenarios and if he told anyone Ben wouldn't have been there or they could've captured Daphne before she captured them.

Ben looked toward the master "Listen, no one was severely injured and things got out of hand, I don't think there's a need for punishment." He said as if Ben was being honest he would've done something similar to what Gray did.

Gray grit his teeth as he couldn't fathom how Ben was able to forgive him.

Makarov was impressed by this level of maturity in Ben as it was worthy of very high praise within the guild 'Perhaps.' He thought to himself thinking of something in the near future.

…

"You let him off the hook, just like that?" Gajeel asked Ben as they ate breakfast having Ben fill him in on what happened as his curiosity got the better of him "You really are just bred for forgiveness." he said unable to see how he could forgive Gray for what happened especially the part about him having his flesh torn off, it honestly made the Iron dragon slayer think of himself as less of an ass when comparing what he had done to what Gray did.

Ben rolled his eyes "Listen Gajeel I've made my fair share of mistakes, putting trust in the wrong people and going it alone without my friends, yeah I've done that." he said in admittance as it was either his pride or desire to protect those he cared for that got the better of him.

Gajeel wondered what kinda mistakes those could've been, but fought the urge "So I hear you're taking the squirt on a mission?" Gajeel decided to change the subject.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to come?" Ben asked Gajeel who looked curious having some mixed feelings about his request, but what still boggled about him was how Ben could be the way he was and the friendship he gave him, and the things he had done for him.

'Maybe I'll figure it out on this mission.' Gajeel thought to himself getting ready.

Gajeel took a minimal amount of time to prepare as he traveled light, he was curious to see Ben with a knapsack similar to the one Natsu sometimes carried and saw some things that caught his eye, especially the thing that had the Omnitrix symbol on it.

…

"The B-Class quest right?" Mira asked Ben as he was confirming it's status before he left "no one else has accepted it." she said to him as she kept track of all the jobs as some were posted at multiple guilds.

"That's great." Ben said as he thought the job was a good memorable one for Wendy for her first job.

Mira looked over the details 'Simple monster hunting job.' she thought as there were many like these and she felt a B-class was right up Wendy's ally from what she heard from Erza about her skills, she waved Ben off as he left the guild.

….

"So what job did you pick out?" Wendy asked curiously as they left the guildhall.

"A B-class quest." Ben said getting a scoff from Gajeel "a town is being attacked by a giant scaly monster with wings." he said seeing that got the two slayers' attention.

"Do you think it's a Dragon?" Wendy asked him curiously as like Natsu she and Gajeel kept their ears out for the occasional rumor about Dragons wondering if it'd lead them to their lost parent.

"No." Ben said to her.

"Haven't you had enough of dragons?" Gajeel asked as after the whole Daphne thing he would've expected Ben to have some discomfort of his father's species "Also what makes you so sure?" he asked him curious to know how he knew it wasn't a dragon.

"It's been there a week and so far has stolen cows, wrecked a few buildings, and caused some injuries." Ben said to them "What makes me think this isn't a dragon is because from what I've heard about Igneel, Metalicana, and Grandeeny." he said seeing them twitch slightly hearing their respective parent's name "There have been no elemental attacks and the town is still standing." he said as when he first met Natsu he expected the creature to have something akin to that level of strength and since the town was only missing a few buildings he didn't assume much of it.

The two Dragon Slayers had to admit he had a point with that.

"Why bring us if you think it wasn't a Dragon?" Gajeel asked him, wondering what logic he had for bringing them.

"Cause I could be wrong." Ben said not afraid to admit that "And there was something else in the job that made me curious." he said to them as the job had descriptions of the monster and he handed it to Gajeel and Wendy.

Wendy looked it over and saw nothing wrong, but Gajeel saw something picking up quickly.

Gajeel read the reports and saw that the town was a fishing town not unlike Hargeon and read the reports 'giant creature circling the skies like a bird of destruction.' by a townsman 'monster of the deep, a giant shadow lurking near the harbor coming onto land.' by a fisherman 'huh maybe something exciting here after all.' he thought as most of the reports were like this but they were conflicting as it was impossible for something to live in the air and at sea.

...

"Are you ok?" Wendy asked as Gajeel looked green around the gills as they rode the train.

'Him to?' Ben thought curiously as he expected this from Natsu, not Gajeel "Why aren't you affected?" he asked Wendy who shrugged in response wondering what the female dragon slayer had over the other two.

"I have a spell give me a second." Wendy said as she placed her hands on Gajeel "Troia." she calmly said as it worked quickly.

"Thanks half pint." Gajeel said feeling the effect immediately 'What the hell!' he thought in pure rage wondering how he had motion sickness.

"Listen, I'll fly us back as Laserscale if need be." Ben suggested as Natsu up and demanded that be the mode for transport to long-distance locations, but Laserscale was like certain aliens that consumed a bit more energy like Humungosaur 'plus with his change, he may cost more power.' he thought to himself as he always had a feeling or at least a basic general guess about how much power he had.

Both Dragon Slayers perked at Ben's dragon form bringing back much nostalgia as they thought about their parents and loved the thought of soaring through the air again especially after his transformation.

"Hey, Ben can I ask how Laserscale changed?" Gajeel asked as Laserscale truly took a sudden turn for the better after Daphne took him.

Ben wondered that himself as he noticed the change in Laserscale almost immediately after his liberation from the Dragonoid he was immediately aware that Laserscale had magic, he felt it when he was Beelzebash and Ultimate Terraspin, it felt the same in Laserscale as well, just more powerful "I think maybe it was Natsu's magic maybe, we were pretty close to each other maybe when we were being absorbed Laserscale absorbed some of his magic?" he said unsure as he had a few transformations that were special or needed certain circumstances to change.

'Maybe.' Gajeel thought as from what he understood Natsu and Laserscale's essence were being joined into the lacrima core of the Dragonoid, it certainly was possible if Laserscale absorbed or possibly bonded with Natsu's magic 'whatever happened, Ben's got the power of a true dragon now.' he thought sure of that in his core as one never forgot the presence of a dragon after meeting one and Laserscale's new appearance definetely cemented that he was a dragon now.

They rode the train having the occasional conversation.

Ben looked over the descriptions again as the times the creature attacked made no sense as it attacked at both day and night and while he understood a person was able to make mistakes due to certain circumstances, the way the creature is described on each attack by a different person made it seem strange and the tactics it used varied greatly, especially the description of the creature at night.

…

A lonely redhead was eating her strawberry cake with a side of strawberry smoothie as she let out a sigh in boredom as she had no idea what to do, many thoughts and ideas ran through her mind, most of the thoughts surrounded Ben and Gray as she as noticed the tension between Gray and Ben.

Ben didn't seem to mind and quickly forgave Gray but he hasn't forgiven himself. But with bBn she's noticed a bigger sense of maturity in him, first taking Wendy in and letting her and that arrogant cat live with him in his home.

'I think it's because he sees himself in her when he was her age.' Erza thought as Ben had a high opinion of Wendy and her potential as a mage.

Mira had a small mischievous smile as she looked at Erza and even though she knew that it was bad of her but given the situation she couldn't resit as she used her transformation magic to turn herself into a familiar face to the scarlet knight.

"Hey gorgeous." a familiar voice said to Erza and just as she was about to reprimand the poor soul who thought they could call her that, she did a spit take seeing it was 'Ben' in a fancy bartender's uniform.

Mira twitched 'Ben's' eyebrow as she was just sprayed in the face with backwash by her rival "Ow what the heck it's me red!" she said deopping the transformation "if I knew I'd get this reaction, I would've worn less clothing." she said with a pure smile she had as if she didn't do anything wrong but Erza would disagaree as she looked at her scathing glare but it slowly faded as the thoughts of Ben clouded her mind as she slowly sat back in her chair and slumped. This made Mira clean herself off before walking towards the scarlet knight"so let's talk about Ben." she said rolling her eyes when Erza seemed shocked, she knew what the source of her thoughts were.

Erza blushed a bit as it was hard to pin down one thing.

"Listen Erza." Mira said in a serious tone "he's been at the front of your mind all the damn time." she said to her in a more calm tone "and it's apparently the same with him." she said to her.

Erza moaned gently as she heard her talking as hshe slowly looked up and responded gently "Really, cause right now i can't tell as when ever we have time to ourselves something happenes to him or the guild

"He thinks about you more than you think." Mira said to her as she began to tell her about her time training with Ben and Elfman.

…

"So Ben thinking about a certain redhead?" Mira asked cutely as she was cooking as Elfman was foraging for some more food and she decided to use the opportunity to get some juicy details from Erza's boyfriend.

Ben just chuckled "kinda yeah." he said to her "I gotta be honest dating Erza is a bit relieving if I'm being honest." he said to her off handedly.

"Really?" Mira asked as she expected Erza to be a bit clingy especially after everything she's seen from when Ben was under the entrampment spell, but to hear it was relieving to be dating her was not what she expected, especially with Erza's more eccentric personality.

"It's weird in a way, I always felt like everyone is in danger being near me." Ben said to Mira as his friends and family have often been put in

"And you think Erza could be in danger being with you?" Mira asked curiously as she knew of Ben's life through Erza so she understood his concerns, but wanted to know the true meaning

"Yeah, but its more...even I guess given I know how strong she is." Ben said as he knew how strong Erza was and it took some of the burden away of worrying when or if she was ever in danger.

Mira understood in a way as she always wanted her siblings to reach a certain point in magical ability before they could take on more serious jobs, she could understand that in a partner as well, especially in the lives they lead.

…

"He thinks about you constantly Erza, even when training and even when he's with other people, he thinks about you, you're at the front of his mind too." Mira said as it was kinda sweet how both constantly thought of each other even when with other people.

"I wish I could spend more time with him or help him." Erza said pouting slightly as Ben was taking better care of the guild then she was.

"You may wish to talk to Gray then." Freed said from two seats over.

Erza rather than be angry for him listening in on her private conversation, but wanted to hear what he wanted to say.

Freed took a sip of his tea "Ben forgave Gray as you know, but Gray has been out of sorts since." he said as being a man who made mistakes, his recent ones being present at the previous Fantashia parade, he was a bit at ends if he should forgive Gray for what had happened to Ben even more than the other members of the guild.

Erza felt like that was pretty obvious as Gray had spent a little less time at the guild lately

"Erza from what I've seen of Ben's character he values everyone and tries to be the better man and guild mate." Freed said as it amazed him when Ben held no grudge against him and the Thunder Legion, not even Laxus like most of the guild, but to forgive Gray when it was due to his actions which resulted in him being maimed was what truly got his respect.

Erza and Mira were a bit surprised as Freed rarely gave praise baring Laxus, but to hear his reasoning made it a bit more understandable.

"I have seen many like Ben, those with courage, valor, and honor." Freed said as he had a great respect for Ben Tennyson as he was sure Laxus did as well "helping a friend, taking in a child, forgiving an enemy and now a friend." he said listing some of the more recent things "he is truly genuine and has real steel in him." he said as he could never do all of that the way Ben had.

Erza smiled at what he said about Ben and she couldn't agree any more then she already has and what she has in her heart for the man he is.

"Erza let me give you some advice, just tell him." Mira said to her as while she liked to tease sometimes a person just needed to speak up to get what they want "no games, no teasing, no fear, tell him what you want and how you feel." she said to her as Erza was not gonna get anywhere as one of them needed to be clear as the way they were felt for the other didn't match the speed of how they were moving and acting with the other.

Erza nodded now knowing what she needed to do and was thankful and appreciative of the advice given to her.

…

"I need some food." Gajeel said as it was early in the morning as they had just arrived the sun had not even risen.

"Same." Ben guessed an inn would be open around this time "Let's look around." He said as they split up, Wendy went looking for an inn as Ben gave her money leaving the other two to look for a place for breakfast.

The two wandered the town for a bit looking for both a place to eat and the places the monster destroyed.

'Why these buildings.' Gajeel thought to himself as he saw a storage building and what looked like a storehouse 'The cows make sense but why these places?' he thought as from an animal perspective these were meaningless.

Ben was having the same thoughts looking around and saw another building in the distance 'an old rune knights building?' he thought to himself seeing an old flag "Gajeel what is this place?" he asked him wondering what he .

"A store house maybe." Gajeel said in thought seeing a bunch of papers and books on the ground "could be a local office that acted as a way station." he said as many buildings acted like this merely an in between.

They both saw that these documents were merely transition papers.

"Hey wait look at this." Ben said tossing him a book.

Gajeel skimmed the book "I have no idea what this means, but I might have an idea on what it is." he said as his former master Jose was an intellectual sort so he had seen this type of research before "these are notes on magical experiments or maybe magical decryption." he said explaining how it was that many tried to study old magic or make new magic "this place must've been a side operation or someone here studied it." he said to him unsure as Rune Knights always tried to keep their opperations secrets.

Ben wondered if this research had anything to do with the monster attacks here in this town.

Gajeel grabbed Ben's shoulder "You hear that?" he asked him.

Ben listened closely to the silence and heard something rustling in one of the destroyed buildings.

Both men went to investigate and entered the destroyed building and were a little shocked by what they saw.

Inside was a creature that matched the creature's description from the job poster but it was smaller, well over the size of two magic mobiles, but it had dark purple lines on it and looked monstrous.

"Hazardous radioactive material detected." the Omnitrix said, the dial turning purple and blinking.

The creature turned and saw Gajeel and Ben the moment it heard the Omnitrix speak and roared.

Ben slammed the Omnitrix down immediately after it opened up turning into an old alien Blitzwolfer "Gajeel put up your iron scales!" he said to him quickly, because if it was as dangerous as the Omnitrix said it iron would act as a decent shield against some forms of radiation.

Gajeel nodded, growing his iron scales as prepared himself "What the hell is this thing?" he asked never seeing a creature like that in his life and what made it more off was it didn't have a scent.

"It looks familiar." Blitzwolfer said to him that despite the shape and color of it's lines and of course the radiation it looked like one of the golems Charmcaster made 'looks like some kinda gargoyle.' he thought to himself thinking of the statue one saw on certain buildings.

The creature hissed at them, standing up flap its wings and growled at them, or more accurately at Ben.

'Is it….afraid of me?' Blitzwolfer thought to himself as he saw the creature back up.

"Demon Logs!" Gajeel yelled out shooting small spears at it taking the opportunity to attack it.

Blitzwolfer opened its jaws separating into four as he unleashed a loud sonic howl, thinking it was best to take the creature down immediately.

The creature growled at them as it took the attack, with the damaged part of its body crumbling before slowly beginning to reform, it hissed in pain as the light touched its foot making it look to the distance, seeing the sun begin to rise in the distance, it roared at Blitzwolfer and Gajeel.

"It's gonna take off, roar at it now!" Blitzwolfer said to him as he took a deep breath.

"Iron Dragon Roar!" Gajeel roared as Blitzwolfer howled both of them hitting the mark but sadly the creature only lost its right arm and leg as it flew away "damn it, what the hell is that thing!?" he yelled in anger, wondering how it wasn't in pieces with their combined attacks.

"No idea." Blitzwolfer said transforming back as he looked down to the ground seeing the creature's limbs or what remained after his and Gajeel's attacks, was either shattered or got shredded and oddly enough in the pieces that remained he saw them bleed a purple goo, he changed back to normal "Omnitrix scan." he said to it simply hovering the Omnitrix over the goo wanting to know exactly what it was.

"Scanning…error source is showing multiple readings readjusting parameters." the Omnitrix said to him "Sources found substance is composed of energy which once caused problems within the Omnitrix known as mana while also composed of a radioactive material substance identified as Corrodium highly radioactive recommend using appropriate shielding technology or transformations." it said to him.

"This is bad, this is very bad." Ben said in fear remembering what the radiation did the last time it was used or in the general vicinity of people.

"What's the deal with this stuff?" Gajeel asked wondering why he was so afraid as it would take a lot to scare Ben in his mind.

"This stuff turns people into monsters. It's highly radioactive, meaning it can poison you in a very bad way." Ben said to him remembering what Ghostfreak had done from space with it, he quickly turned to NRG and burned the corruptive substance with his energy, not leaving a trace "what does this town do exactly?".he asked after changing back.

"Mostly a fishing town where they go further out to sea sometimes to neighboring countries or even ethernano scans." Gajeel said as he passed by this town a few times and picked up some hearsay.

Ben sighed to himself as this was bad if there was more of this stuff and what made it even worse was there was a creature that bled it and had it inside of him "We need to do some research and check the hospital." he said as he remembered there were some people injured.

"Send the half-pint to the hospital, we'd be useless there." Gajeel said to him giving his council.

"You're right." Ben said in admittance that while the Omnitrix could probably do something it would drain too much power and cause it to be depleted of energy like when he tried curing the highbreed soldiers "But I still need to see it." he said to him.

"Maybe we should talk to the mayor, may have more info than the hospital." Gajeel said as there were always secrets those in a position of power hid.

Ben had to agree as that seemed best, they decided to get some food, after asking around about what had happened in town but the information was the same as the reports.

…

"So you found the monster, what did it look like?" Wendy asked as Ben began to describe it to her

"It was like a gargoyle," Ben said. "Have you heard of them?" he asked not entirely sure if they were a thing here or perhaps another species.

"Big, winged, ferocious statues of beasts?" Wendy said unsure as she never really liked statues like that.

"Yeah, but it's ma and this one has a poisonous material that can turn a person into a monster if unprotected." Ben said.

Wendy shivered in alarm.

"Sounds scary." she said as Ben was detailed in his description also telling her how it was deadly to be around.

They all got their food to no surprise it was mostly seafood.

Ben got the grilled fish, Wendy got the chowder, and Gajeel got the smoked salmon and just as they were about to eat they stopped when they heard the Omnitrix go off "Corrodium detected…be advised and take safety percautions." it said to them.

"Are you kidding me where?!" Gajeel said expecting the monster to appear.

Ben was thinking along the same lines till he saw the Omnitrix do it beeping and when he 'followed' it seeing it blink faster indicating the source was close, he was shocked it lead to his own food along with Gajeel and Wendy's.

"Are you saying, what was in that thing is in our food." Gajeel said in a hushed angry whisper, feeling extremely pissed that something messed with his breakfast.

"How'd it get into our food?" Ben asked doing a quick scan. The brunette read the holographic projection from his watch and saw that it was in the fish before being cooked. Luckily, the levels were vastly low 'Did it poison the fish in the water?' he thought to himself looking around and saw a lot of people looking terrible and exhausted, even for the morning.

Wendy cast a spell on their food and after a quick check from Ben with his Omnitrix the food was now safe.

"So what, this thing wants to kill the town." Gajeel said stuffing his mouth sending a small barely noticeable appreciative look to Ben and Wendy as he was glad his food was no longer poisoned.

"Why would it poison the town, it's not even alive…right?" Wendy asked curiously as Ben said the creature was familiar.

"Not really." Ben said. He knew first hand Charmcaster's creatures knew only violence, labor and followed simple instructions. Doing something like poisoning a town was far too advanced for them. Unless they were being instructed.

"Maybe we should check the water, before the hospital has to deal with more sick fishermen." Gajeel said as he didn't want this to spread and there was no telling how much fish was like their breakfast "This thing is supposed to have been seen in the water. It's a damn statue, so it needs no air." he said grasping at straws as he had zero clue what type of rhyme or reasoning it had.

"Maybe a good idea." Ben said, impressed at Gajeel for looking at the bigger picture. Neither of them wanted this to spread further.

…

The team went a good distance away from the port town deciding it be best not to be watched or seen with what they were gonna do, they made it a good distance finding a nearby beach. Which was out of sight from the town thankfully.

"Here." Ben turned to Gajeel, handing him a device that looked like his Omnitrix.

"What is it?" Gajeel asked, sniffing the compact decide in his hand thinking it looked alright.

"Don't eat it!" Ben scolds, swatting at Gajeel's hand.

"If it's not to eat..." Gajeel growled, not liking to be teased or told he couldn't eat especially after the near poisoning this morning.

"It's a plumbers badge." Ben said. "Just hold it to your mouth and speak. I'll be able to hear you as I explore the water." he said explaining some of it functions to him

"Explore?" Gajeel asked.

Ben let out a smile as he slammed down on the Omnitrix.

Wendy let out a shriek, as when Ben transformed, he was his scary, fishman form.

"Don't suppose you've met Ripjaws before, huh?" Ripjaws asked in his husky tone of voice.

"No, I haven't..." Wendy said a little intimidated by all the teeth.

"Don't worry, this is just the form I take to swim and explore underwater. He's no good on land..." Ripjaws grabs his throat.

"Speaking of..." Ripjaws dashes toward the water and dove into it.

"Can you hear me?"

Gajeel startled a bit, hearing Ripjaws voice from the badge.

"Ah! Yeah, yeah, we can hear you." Gajeel said regaining his composure.

Suddenly, the badge shot up a projection to show a map of their area, and a glowing dot.

"You should see me on the map, and be able to keep track of me from there." Ben's voice spoke.

"Ah, right. So...how's the water?" Gajeel asked, finding it cool how this worked. It wasn't his usual action-packed venture, but he could enjoy it.

"Not gonna lie the water in the bay and the water out here where they fish is pretty clean." Ripjaws said on the open comm as he has used this form so much he could taste contaminants in the water through his gills, so he could tell if something shifted in the water.

"Well, this thing has to be poisoning the fish somehow right?" Gajeel asked.

On their way over to the beach, Ben had scanned some other places that had fish in them. Lake, river, and storehouses, all of them had fish that were poisoned.

Ripjaws had to admit he had a point as he doubted the fisherman or people at the restaurant were doing this, he stopped when the Omnitrix glowed purple again.

"Whoa, that seems high." Wendy said as the badge began to show the same readings Ben's Omnitrix was giving. And they were way off the charts from what they could make sense of.

"Is this where is it coming from?" Ripjaws asked, as he wasn't able to see the readings from the badge, as the saltwater would short it out. So, he has left the badge with Wendy and Gajeel, so they could help him better figure out what the Omnitrix would pick up.

"Ben it's literally all around you it's-" Gajeel was saying till he spotted something on the map "Ben there is something big coming your way." he said to him as if Ben's dot on the map was anything to go by it was massive.

Ripjaws looked around seeing nothing out of the ordinary which was odd as this was open sea and Gajeel and Wendy were shouting it was getting closer and closer.

"Ben." Wendy said, sounding terrified "it's right on top of you!" she yelled loudly.

'Or…I'm on top of it!' Ripjaws thought to himself as he did the one thing no one should do when on a high position…he looked down and like everyone who made the same mistake of looking down he wished he hadn't as he saw something big and to his terror, it was looking right back at him.

…

"What's he doing?" Gajeel asked seeing Ben's dot act erratically along with the more giant one.

Wendy didn't know how to respond till they saw Ben's dot shoot to their current location.

"Move now!" Gajeel said thinking it was best to move further inward to land as while he had no problems with water environments, salt water made him rust at a fast pace and if they were gonna combat something it'd be better to have the advantage on dry land.

As they ran back they saw Ripjaws shoot out of the water and saw Ben turn back before running over to join them.

All of them looked back and saw something slowly rise out of the water. This something, while not as large as the Phantom Lord Giant Ben and Gajeel were acquainted with, it was around half the size.

"What is that!?" Wendy said in shock.

"A Krakken." Ben said as it looked at them 'that thing always creeped me out.' he thought looking at its eyes, but he was wondering how one was here.

"Ok ignoring the fact that you know what that is, how do we kill it." Gajeel asked, wanting to live and finish this job. "The job's details changed Ben, we have two monsters instead of one." he said as this was not what he was expecting.

"We need to kill this thing, it looks pissed and it was in the area where the watch picked up the radiation." he said not liking how close these dots connected.

"Should we go back?" Wendy asked curious to what they should do.

"We do still need to find out what's poisoning these people." Ben said as they needed to go back to where they spotted the beast and where the sensors went off with the Corrodium readings.

Gajeel sighed "We need a boat…a fishing boat." He said, not liking the idea one bit.

He wanted room to fight and being on a small paddle boat with how big that thing was made him think of it just coming up from beneath and swallowing them whole.

Ben had to agree with his idea.

"Ok, do you have any ideas that don't involve us becoming shrimp cocktails to that thing?" Gajeel asked in annoyance, feeling useless.

Luckily, the creature had turned and retested into the water and they soon saw the creature dive and go back into sea.

"Is it wrong that I feel even more terrified now that it's gone?" He asked the others.

"No." Wendy said as she was afraid as well "but why didn't it attack us?" she asked Ben.

"Million jewel question Wendy." Ben said as he knew this creature was many things, but foremost was instinctual and territorial.

…

"Who fishes at night?" Wendy asked finding that a little odd as they heard from the docks that a ship went out for 'night fishing'.

Ben had to admit he found that odd 'hopefully these people aren't pissing it off.' he thought remembering those poachers that stole the Krakken's eggs 'I'll do a lot, but fighting an angry protective mother, heh not a chance in hell.' he thought to himself as he thought back to the fights he had with his mother, Ma Vreedle, and of course, the Krakken when he was a kid, it was not worth the effort on some occasions.

Gajeel came walking to them "I asked around about it and heard something you two should hear, the water apparently glows here." He said seeing the confused look Wendy had.

"Bioluminescene." Ben said simply seeing the natural phenomenon "it's when stuff like algea or certain elements can shine in the water." he said giving Wendy the details.

"Uhh yeah, apparently everything glows in the water here." Gajeel said as he heard it was pretty much most, if not all the natural resident wildlife from animals to plants

"Will that make finding the crystals harder?" Wendy asked Ben curiously.

"Maybe, not sure." Ben said thinking to himself as he wondered if the crystals themselves would glow making it easier to find it 'Or maybe the crystals are making things glow.' he thought as the radiation may have been causing the ocean's water to glow.

…

Gajeel disliked this town with the number of issues they discovered and that piled onto their job, he was sitting at the window watching the sunset on unofficial guard duty as Wendy was in her room napping for tonight and Ben was tired from all the information gathering he did 'he's not bad.' he thought as Ben wasn't like him in his subtle ways, but he did know how to dig and ask the right questions, he was gonna try and catch a few winks himself but he noticed something.

A hooded and cloaked figure was on a roof a good distance from their room and seemed to be oozing out malic and rage.

'That thing ain't human.' Gajeel thought thinking it's shape looked familiar, but what got his attention the most were his eyes 'what the hell is with this purple crap.' he thought as the figure decided to leave which was best in his opinion 't

This stuff is powerful.' he thought as things were going crazy for these crystals.

…

"You want me to lead!?" Wendy asked in surprise as Ben told her she would be with the captain of the ship.

"Yeah, we'll follow your lead, ok?" Ben said as he straightened up and went to find the captain.

"Smart idea keeping her outta the way." Gajeel said as Ben played it like Wendy would be acting navigator, while they would be on deck checking the fish and keeping an eye out for the Krakken.

"You feel like we're missing something?" Ben asked Gajeel who raised a brow "I mean look, we have a gargoyle attacking buildings, a Krakken in the waters, and people being poisoned somehow with radiation." he said listing what they knew.

"And we have a stalker." Gajeel said as he filled him in on the figure who spied on their room.

"Well, it's uncommon for someone to be spying on me," Ben said. "But the number of people who it can be is small. Since most of them are back on my homeworld."

"And how does this tie into what is going on here?" Gajeel asked.

"The best guess I have is maybe…an experiment?" Ben said to him "the Rune Knight base and the crystals may link up or maybe the Krakken is drawn here by the crystals."

"I'll say this, it's not making a whole lot of sense at first." Ben said. "We just need more pieces."

"Well, I agree that it doesn't make sense." Gajeel huffed.

They both sat down as the fishermen collected their fish.

Ben scanned each catch and so far no radiation

"What the hell are we missing?" He said in annoyance.

Gajeel was equally frustrated as this was a lead they knew they could follow and it was a dead end.

"Hey, wait a second you said something earlier about this thing eating the cows?" He asked, remembering there was mention of missing cattle.

"Yeah, why?" Ben asked as that was a weird thing to bring up.

"The farm has a processing plant. It's near the town and near the ocean, but there is no way in hell this giant fish is getting there without attracting some attention and why would the gargoyle need food, it's inanimate." Gajeel said, raising some points.

"Best lead we got so far." Ben said as he looked at the glowing water.

"This is kinda nice." he said in admittance.

Gajeel said nothing but did admire the widespread of colors.

…

The team was a good distance from the processing plant a good distance away.

"We ain't being blindsided again Gajeel." Ben said to him as they were behind some bushes but could still see the plant "Wendy you place the spare badge inside?" he asked having given Wendy a spare badge as it was linked to his Omnitrix so if it got a scan of the radiation he would be notified.

Gajeel had to admit these two were better at stealth than he imagined, Ben said he did some stealth missions in the past, but given how he hung with Natsu he doubted it and was proven wrong, Wendy was also surprising as despite her youth she was doing wonderfully well being quiet, he was brought out of his thoughts when Ben tapped him and pointed upwards.

"Look another person." Wendy said to them as she pointed at another figure on the ground entering the normal way.

"The puppet and the puppet's master." Gajeel said grinning as he was gonna enjoy the rematch.

They proceeded to the plant and quietly entered seeing rows of fish.

"Look." Wendy said in fear as she saw the person enter and start slicing away at the creature, making it 'bleed' over all the fish.

"I'll take the creep in the cloak, you get the creature." Ben said getting a nod "Wendy back me up." he said knowing Gajeel could hold his own, he readied the Omnitrix "Chromastone!" he said loudly as Gajeel put on his Iron Scales

"Ben Tennyson." The cloaked figure said to him his glowing eyes glaring at him.

"Iron Dragon Club!" Gajeel said punching his enemy through a wall and followed after.

"Now that your pet is gone how about we start with who the hell you are and why are you poisoning these people." Chromastone said in a tone that made it known it was not a question, but a demand.

"A side project from my master, but you know about him all too well don't you, Ben?" the cloaked figure said mockingly "I mean you and him were one in the same." He said, chuckling a bit.

"One in the same?" Chromastone said not following.

"It's sad how you seem to have forgotten us, but we have bever forgotten you Ben, what you did to us burying us and leaving us in space!" The cloaked figure said his tone was now becoming hostile.

"Ben, who is this?" Wendy asked as those things sounded pretty memorable.

"This guy isn't making much sense Wendy. I've done both those things, but to the same person that list is extremely short." Chromastone said to her as chief among that list was Vilgax and this person was not him and then there was the 'we' and 'us' it made no sense to him.

"You will remember us Ben and when you do, it will already be too late." the cloaked figure said chuckling darkly.

"You sound like we're-" Chromastone was saying till something latched to his midsection and sent him into a wall.

"Sky Dragon Wing attack!" Wendy said charging at the cloaked figure sending it through the hole Gajeel made.

Gajeel saw the figure get sent out crashing into the gargoyle and when he got close to try and finish them off with a breath attack he froze 'what the hell!?' he thought as it smelled like…wrong in every sense of the word, the smell coming off the person controlling the beast was inhuman as no living being should smell like that.

The cloaked figure looked at Gajeel and glared but ran off with the creature flying away.

"Gajeel, are you ok?" Wendy said walking out with Ben as he took a hard hit.

"Do any of you have any idea what the hell that was?" Gajeel asked not knowing what he was feeling.

"Maybe?" Ben said as he had a bandage in his hand "This is a bandage similar to my alien Snare-oh, the alien I got this from is one I haven't seen in nearly a decade, ever since I was ten." He said.

They had ejected him into space and they did bury him, but he honestly thought the alien was dead.

"Let's get out of here, we're too out in the open, so tell us more on the way." Gajeel said before Wendy dashed inside confusing the two and after a few minutes she came out

"What was that?" he asked curiously to what she did there.

"I cured the fish, I didn't want more people to get sick." Wendy said as they two men of her team nodded in understanding.

…

The team went back to their inn and decided to rest for abit.

"Let me see if I got this right, we have a statue, a giant fish, and a roll of toliet paper." Gajeel said listing what they fought "And now we know that this place is being poisoned and that it could be for something else all together." He said still thinking there was more to this as poisoning this town seemed like a low game.

"Pretty much." Ben said to him.

"Listen Ben." Gajeel said in a calm tone "We're dealing with poisoned people, multiple monsters, and a lunatic made of bandages." He said as he rarely was one to give up, but he felt they were out of their element "This job feels more like an S-class, if not higher." He said as his secret work for Makarov felt easier than this.

Ben closed his eyes as this was more than just a mission for Wendy now as there would be major consequences if they failed.

"We're possibly the best bet of solving this mission, I know what we're facing, Wendy can heal the poison, and you are able to protect yourself against the radiation in combat, like it or not, Gajeel, we're the only ones who could possibly even accomplish this mission." He said to him, causing Gajeel to nod his head in accepting that truth.

"Damn, fine you're the one calling the shots, it's better to back you than to argue." Gajeel said having no other choice

"You do have a plan though, right?" He asked in slight concern as Ben's smiling face didn't convey relief.

…

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Wendy asked Ben as they were at the beach again.

"The Krakken wanted us away from the ocean." Ben said, still trying to think of what happened as he remembered the last one and that she was protecting her eggs.

"Whatever its gender, it didn't outright attack us." he said as he was taking note of everything it did.

"So what, it's only when we invade it's territory?" Gajeel asked as that seemed like the best answer as animals fought for little else than the basic needs.

"Maybe, but I have another idea." Ben said, grabbing another plumber badge.

"How many of those things are you packing?" Gajeel asked curiously, wondering why Ben was carrying multiple badges.

"Just the two, I made them for our team but then went a little overboard, they don't do much besides act as communicators and the maps are very incomplete." Ben said as the maps worked like sonar at best collecting data from whatever was in range and he used the data from the Omnitrix to upload all the data he collected geographically.

"Anyway, maybe I can tag it and have the badge scan it. Maybe we can get a clearer picture of the ocean." He said as the Krakken got closer, if they were lucky it would show them where the corrodium was strongest and where the source of the stone creatures might be hiding.

"You're gonna get up close and personal with that thing again?" Wendy asked in surprise.

"Do you have anything that can keep up with it?" Gajeel asked as he didn't know if Ben had any better-suited aquatic aliens than Ripjaws.

…

'This is gonna suck so much.' Ben thought as he transformed into Jetray. 'Get in close and get the hell out of there.' He thought as he dived in.

"You know, this is the first time I'm actually glad to hang back." Gajeel said to Wendy.

"That thing was really scary." Wendy said as she was terrified when she saw it.

Gajeel scoffed at the thought of fear, but also could not deny her words rang true.

"Hey, let me ask you something, does it bother you that he may be from another world?" He asked as while he barely cared, Ben was still from another world, he knew Wendy despite his limited interactions with her was close to Ben. Almost as if she couldn't bear the thought of him being too far away from him and he didn't know if Ben knew but after all the abandonment Wendy went through if Ben left her…it'd crush her.

"No." Wendy said as she heard stories about Ben mostly from Natsu and Erza and the other guild members about him getting more information to what she did hear before, but she knew what Gajeel what was really asking

'Would you be ok if he leaves to go home?' and she didn't know the answer as after losing her mother, Jellal once again, and her guild she had no idea how she would cope if Ben just disappeared as well.

Gajeel had to admit he gave the girl to little credit as she was much more than people seemed to realize 'thought she was like Salamander, but no she's much smarter than that.' he thought as while it was just the true dragon slayers that knew and understood each other's pain, he felt no envy that Wendy had to endure that pain again and again and had to mature much quicker than she herself had yet to realize.

"Gajeel remind me to hit myself for not inviting a water mage like Juvia." Jetray said over the comms as this seemed more up her ally.

"I'll do it for ya." Gajeel said with a savage grin he could just tell Ben could feel.

"Are you ok?" Wendy asked in concern.

"..." Both Dragon Slayers shared a look as Ben was a little silent "...define ok?" he asked them making them even more concerned, they both looked at the map and saw something odd.

"Ummm are you inside of it?" Gajeel asked as he saw that signals were overlapping and wasn't sure if they should be panicking or laughing.

…

"Yeah I'm inside it and not gonna lie as far as being eaten goes this ain't so bad." Ben said as he changed back to human when he saw he had limited room to fly as Jetray.

"How are you even breathing in there?" Gajeel asked as he was sure when he saw the thing it had gills.

"And have you been eaten before!?" Wendy asked too.

"Believe it or not I think this thing has gills and lungs." Ben said as it made some sense as when he was a kid the Krakken from then was above the water for a good few minutes, while fish would've slowed down and eventually have died, it didn't despite how active she was in retrieving her eggs.

The Omnitrix began beeping and flashing a purple light.

"Ben I am starting to hate that thing." Gajeel said to him in clear annoyance which was more annoyance than he regularly displayed.

"Join the club."Ben said as the Omnitrix was guiding him further down into the belly of the beast.

Ben saw some things as he ventured down, guessing it never made its way to the stomach as he found a few bones, some wooden debris, and something that freaked him out.

'Claw marks?' Ben thought as it wasn't the claw marks that got his attention it was the fact they were glowing purple, he touched one forgetting where he was as there was a violent shake 'ok this thing obviously ate the creature at one point, maybe that's why it's attacking things in the water it's scared of being harmed again.' He thought to himself and just as he was about to undo the damages his eye caught something

"Gold?"

He said in confusion picking it up seeing it was a genuine golden sash with traces of Corrodium in it.

"This looks familiar." He said knowing he had seen this somewhere before 'wait this belongs to the mummy.' he thought chuckling a bit at how it got eaten by the Krakken.

"Hey Ben, what's the plan here you need us to come save you or…are we waiting for this thing to take its natural course?" Gajeel asked as he felt a little uncomfortable.

Ben went a pale green at the thought and soon got to work fixing the damage, he placed his hand on the scar tissue, more gently and as it began to heal something fell out and when Ben picked it up he was confused

'A claw?' He thought to himself. It was a dark canine-like claw he couldn't place and assumed the Krakken ate something else on land. Besides the stone gargoyle as the claw was organic.

…

The Krakken found a soft spot in its nest made of ship debris, feeling the irritation inside slowly starting to die down and wanting to rest.

It's plan was interrupted as it began to cough and soon spat out a small blue shark-looking creature with legs.

"Are you serious Omnitrix!?" Walkatrout asked his watch, feeling betrayed as facing a Krakken like this was basically asking to get eaten again.

The Krakken with it's superior eye sight got closer to the small creature that it spat out looking at it calculatingly.

Walkatrout immediately noticed and knew he needed to calm down.

'Ok play it cool Tennyson these things are smart and hostile if pissed off.' He thought, still basing this off his encounter with the mother Krakken, he was interrupted, when something bopped him and when he turned around he was face to face with a much smaller Krakken, which was easily the size of a horse.

'Ok it's female and I will be so dead if I mess with her kid.' he thought to himself.

The Krakken became concerned seeing its young interact with the small creature and glared at the creature as a mother would to any threat to her young.

'I swear kids are gonna be the death of me.' Walkatrout thought as he dived down a stomach and threatened war for the Tiffan, rescued Krakken eggs from poachers, became an enemy of war 'trying' to help a little girl, and a bunch of other stuff and now his life depended on a small Krakken liking him.

The baby Krakken looked at Walkatrout in normal childish curiosity and swam around him and did what all children did when they saw something new.

"I can't tell if it thinks I'm a toy or a playmate." Walkatrout said to himself forgetting something important.

"I'm sorry what?" Gajeel said on the comms still there.

"Nothing hold on, I have an idea." Walkatrout said backing up the baby moving forward, he then moved up and the baby followed, he then performed some stunts and the baby followed his movements ``Ok it's follow the leader!" He said shooting off as the baby followed him…along with its mother.

"Gajeel, I'm coming back and whatever you do, don't attack the Kraken." Walatrout said into his Omnitrix.

…

"What do you mean don't attack, are you on something down there!?" Gajeel said as he and Wendy watched as the Krakken was literally on Ben's tail.

"Listen you attack it we're dead, I need you to not attack it!" Walkatrout said as he saw the beach in the distance.

"What the hell did I sign up for?" Gajeel asked himself as he expected to fight monsters not…whatever the hell this was.

They soon saw what they guessed was Ben followed by the beast they saw before along with a much smaller addition.

It was a bit of a standoff, when they got back to land but the Krakken didn't immediately go on a rampage.

The baby one saw Wendy, and waddled over to her cautiously.

Wendy kept her hands over her mouth to stifle any sudden noises. She was in awe of the cuteness of the critter.

It bumped its nose into Wendy's side, and she squeaked in surprise.

The baby imitated the squeak, and Wendy gave a little squeal, so did the baby. And soon, she was holding its flippers in her hands and let it initiate dancing with her in a cute fashion.

"Why is it glaring at only me!" Gajeel said in annoyance as the mother Krakken glared at him. It clearly wanted the iron dragon slayer to not get much closer to her baby, while Wendy was having the time of her life as she played with the infant animal four times her size.

Ben turned back to normal and approached the group.

"No idea." Ben said lying through his teeth as he was sure the mother didn't like the scowl Gajeel had on his face.

"Anyway, did we find anything?" Ben asked the dragon slayer.

"Nothing, but why not ask her yourself." Gajeel said spotting the same thing Ben did as the creature was smarter than she seemed.

"I doubt my Omnitrix will translate, she's sentient but not sapient." Ben said.

"What's the difference?" Gajeel asked.

"Sentient means they can remember, and can plan, or plot some stuff. But are unable to hold conversations, and are still more instinctive." Ben said. "But maybe she can give us a clue.

Ben sighed as he slowly approached the mother who noticed him approaching and bowed its head to be at Ben's level.

"I need to know where this came from?" He asked, holding out the golden sash he found.

The Krakken seemed to growl, not at him but at the sash itself, as if remembering what caused her internal damage and then looked toward her baby who didn't seem to notice its mother's gaze, it turned to Ben and used its mouth tentacles to lift him to her head.

"Hey where are you going!" Gajeel asked him loudly.

"Would you believe I have no idea!" Ben said, transforming quickly into Water Hazard as the mother dived.

'Great now I'm babysitting two.' Gajeel thought as he unknowingly got closer to water and didn't see the baby approach him and also didn't see it use it's mouth tentacles to trip him.

"Yah!" Gajeel falls face first into the sand, and a small wave crashes over his head.

'I hate kids.' he thought, as he was being laughed at by the creature and Wendy.

…

'The harbor, why here?' Water Hazard thought as he surveyed this location and it wasn't that deep to begin with and soon he reached the location where he originally met the Krakken mother the Omnitrix blinking purple again 'where is it?' he thought as he thought purple glowing crystals would be easier to see.

The Krakken brought Water Hazard to a large crevice on the ground beneath them and it was pitch black meaning it was pretty deep.

'Must be how she came beneath me.' Water Hazard thought as he could see this crevice was larger than the Krakken herself and was a little wide spread making it easy for him to have missed.

Water Hazard quickly changed to Ripjaws using it's lure to glow lighting up the dark.

'Tunnels?' Ripjaws thought to himself as he saw many, but the one that got his attention the most was the one that seemed to be letting out warmer water than the icy cold one he had been feeling since he came into the ocean, the mother went inside and soon Ripjaws no longer needed his lure to light his way as there was much Corrodium lighting it for him 'really hope Ripjaws is immune.' he thought as he hoped the water was helping as well as none of the fish mutated but still had radiation from the crystals in them 'wonder how she didn't mutate.' he thought wondering how the damage done to her didn't cause her to die, mutate, or end up like the fish.

Ripjaws was brought of of his thoughts when they rose up into a cave "underwater cave?" he said to himself as he ran into one when he tracked Bivalvan the first time they met "hey Gajeel do you read me?" he asked and then heard the sound of children on the line as he crawled onto land and turned human.

"Tennyson when you get back you are dead!" Gajeel said as Wendy's giggles could be heard on the line along with the baby's.

"Yeah yeah tell me where the hell I am?" Ben asked wanting an exact location or as close to as he had a theory.

"Says you're…right below the harbor?" Gajeel said in confusion.

"I'm in a tunnel below the town harbor great." Ben said as he was guessing the Corrodium he saw coming into the cave was what might also be poisoning the fish and was giving him his readings from earlier "listen I'm gonna keep searching this cave don't contact me I'll contact you." he said doubting Gajeel would get the term 'radio silence' "go, if that thing comes back I don't want you hurt." he said to the mother Krakken appreciative of her assistance especially when she could've just eaten him…again.

The Krakken whined but soon dived back down leaving Ben.

"Now what are you hiding." Ben said venturing deeper into the cave.

Ben went inside going deeper seeing many cave passages, instead of guessing he merely raised the Omnitrix to each passage till he landed on one and it turned purple "c'mon I need something radiation-proof." he said slamming his hand down on the Omnitrix and became Frankenstrike "not the most subtle, but it's ok." he said remembering this form was radiation proof thankfully and was meant for combat physical or otherwise.

The cave began to glow as Frankestrike saw massive amounts of crystals some the size of what he'd be able to make if he were Diamondhead.

'Who the hell needs this much hell this is enough to make Magnolia ground zero for mutant monsters.' he thought to himself till he saw a barrel and crates and against his better judgment he opened some 'these are food rations and documents.' he thought seeing they were marked with the Rune Knights crest 'these are all on Hex and Zero or Brain of whoever the hell he was.' he thought seeing much of the notes were on sacrificial magic like the spell Hex had used to get to his world "ok this is making less sense why is the mummy having that thing stealing this crap." he said to himself having half a mind to burn this abomination of magic.

Frankenstrike kept searching trying to find something more as to what it could want and soon found something odd in the shape of a book "Body link magic advanced mechanical theory?" he said in confusion "This is the magic Laxus had for his Thunder Palace." he said remembering whenever someone broke a sphere another person got dealt the magical power it contained, he "Body link magic, a magic meant to link two or more objects either to a person or object or whatever the intendants target, through further experimentation it has been discovered that a magic object can be tied together with another target and binding them together." he read off the paper that seemed read and used given all the wrinkles on the paper "That thing was made." he said realizing the mummy must've fused the Corrodium to a rock creature.

Frankenstrike looked around the cave even more and found something that shook him to his core, a head-dress or more accurately a pharaoh's head-dress "you have got to be-" he was saying till he was blasted from behind by a sonic howl, he looked up and saw his old Loboan enemy the one who partnered up with Ghostfreak, but it looked different as it looked injured and scarred and had many bandages along it's appendages.

"Ben Tennyson." the previously silent wolf alien said to him growling like a canine "You found us faster than we expected you to." he said glaring at him.

"Oh this is just precious you know, I thought Hex was behind this and when I thought it was the mummy I was not so sure, but turns out it was just some amateur dog with no master to guide him." Frankenstrike said getting up "So who else is here, wolf boy. Dr Viktor? Because toilet paper boy doesn't look too good." he said pointing toward the head-dress of his former now deceased enemy.

"No it is just us, but that won't matter Ben Tennyson I intend to make you pay!" the wolf said to him in pure anger.

"Whatever you say Cujo." Frankenstrike said charging electricity into his fists.

The Loboan merely chuckled "that is not our name boy after our defeat to you and after our rebirth I dawned myself a new name, we are…Anubis!" the now named Anubis shouted in the form of a howl.

'Not bad.' Frankenstrike thought thinking the name fit in a way.

"This won't be like last time, child, we are new and improved!" Anubis said as the bandages seemingly came alive and wrapped around Frankenstrike.

"What how?" Frankenstrike said in confusion as he was launched to a wall seeing the head-dress fall to the ground and soon put the pieces together.

'Oh crap.' he thought in realization, "You used body link magic on yourself with the Mummy." He said as that was what made the most sense at this point.

"Yes, after we failed all those years ago I was buried alive in the explosion when you stopped Zs'skayr!" Anubis said clearly, still miffed about that "It took me much time to steal from that fool of a plumber." He said. But stealing from Plumber Green was even easier when he thought he was dead. "The world was harsh to survive with my injuries, but I eventually found my now deceased comrade." Anubis said, lashing out his bandages like one would a whip "I had little options and was able to make a few allies amongst those who despised you." He said, thinking back to the large numbers.

"Let me guess Hex." Frankenstrike asked as it was more of a statement.

"The very same I wanted to continue my master's plan, but with you alive that was an issue so I made a deal with Hex, he gets a portion of these crystals as I make this world completely and utterly dark!" Anubis said passionately something the hero couldn't see coming.

"How? This planet is similar to earth, but there is no way that crystal in natural." Frankenstrike said in confusion wondering how he was making them.

"The rules of this planet differ boy with magic these once empty crystals now absorb the radiation from the prime crystal producing their own and infecting the other like a virus." Anubis said, slashing his whip at Frankenstrike.

"You keep saying we and us can I assume there are risks to whatever it is you are now?" Frankenstrike asked as it was a bit od seeing him fo in between us and I.

"There were…complications, the mummy as you referred it to was not entirely dead so when I used the spell, he became a part of me, not just physically, but spiritually as well and the merge has been slow on that front, but as you can see the physical aspects have all been complete." Anubis said as he tightened his bindings.

"Ok your psycho tendencies I can understand, but why does Hex want these things they'd mutate him to!" Frankenstrike said as he didn't get why Hex would want something that'd harm himself "And the Krakken I thought it was a coincidence that I found one here, but now I am not so sure." he said as with all the magical creatures around here. It wouldn't be a shock if the Krakken from his childhood came from this world.

"A disloyal guard dog." Anubis said before mentally kicking himself as he basically insulted himself "I did my research, my master informed me of your exploits beforehand and I thought this would be a nice way to protect my investment. Too bad the creature barely seeks out violence." he said as he scoffed.

"It was you that it ate, not the rock creature." Frankenstrike said as the pieces were starting to fit even more.

"Yes a rather…unpleasant experience." Anubis said as being eaten was not pleasant at all.

"I could imagine." Frankenstrike said sarcastically "Wait the rock creature…it was an experiment wasn't it." he said, guessing Anubis had a little touch and go before perfecting what he did to himself.

"Yes the notes Hex gave me while useful were outdated, so I broke into a Runes Knight outpost which had a hidden cache of information." Anubis said as the Council hid most secrets with the Rune Knights in plain sight.

"Hard to believe you can use magic." Frankenstrike said as he guessed that was one of the few new things about him or something he didn't know back then.

"Ghostfreak was rather curious about it in the past after that girl used it." Anubis said growling as he had a fury for all the Tennysons.

'Ghostfreak with magic or mana, now that's a scary thought.' Frankenstrike thought to himself "Ok thanks for being so talkative all things considered, but I need to go." He said electricity building in his hand as he touched the ground and electricity went outwards

"Next time don't use an underwater cave makes electricity more shocking." He quipped as he hit the Omnitrix and turned into XLR8.

"Gajeel I'm gonna need you to be my eyes and ears I need you to mark where I'm going I need a way out!" He said.

He didn't think Anubis could get out there the same way he did through the water and with all the caves down here one at least had to reach the surface.

…

Gajeel was having a hard time keeping track with how fast the map changed and how fast Ben was running "Wait go back and turn left!" He yelled as Ben easily did as asked "That spot is close to the surface, hit the ceiling hard enough and you can breach it!" He said as making an exit seemed easier than.

"Forget that." XLR8 said as he changed into Big Chill

"Why didn't you do that in the first place!" Gajeel said in annoyance as he had seen that alien phase through just about everything.

"Because, I'm coming back later and the job ain't finished." Big Chill said as he made it to the surface.

…

"Thank the gods, the meat isn't poisoned." Gajeel said as he was eating meat and not fish as after breakfast they decided fish wasn't the best option.

"Umm Ben?" Wendy said, getting his attention "How are we supposed to get rid of the crystals if they harm us?" She asked as Gajeel paused for a moment as she brought up a good point.

Ben had been thinking about that for a while as there were certain issues to consider as the towns fish were still being poisoned due to the crystals in the water even if slightly and Wendy's powers seemed to remove the poison from the fish from breakfast, but would that make her safe from the full effects of the crystal if she got near it.

"Worst case is I'll burn it." He said thinking Heatblast or NRG could melt the crystals to non-existence.

"How do you know he is still there?" Gajeel asked as. Ben had clued then in on what was happening with Anubis and while arrogant, he thought the werewolf seemed much smarter than he appeared.

"He won't leave those crystals for anything and he made a deal with Hex." Ben said clenching his fist lightly

"And he knows me, we have fought before he knows I'll be back." He said.

That was the problem with some of his villains; they made their intent obvious and think they always had the upper hand.

"I'm going with you." Gajeel said to him.

"So far, I've been a babysitter and a guide." he said growling as Wendy blushed slightly as she tried not to laugh remembering what the baby did to Gajeel.

"Plus, I want to take that thing we fought down." He said as he didn't like how that thing brushed off his attacks.

Ben gave it some thought and it did make sense to have backup.

'But will his iron scales protect him enough?' He thought.

There were a lot of crystals and one crack in Gajeel's armor might be enough to turn him.

…

"We got paid already?" Gajeel asked as he wondered why as the quest was half done.

"I explained the circumstances to the mayor, he knew there may have been more than one creature on the quest he issued so he prepared secondary payment and gave us this since I took care of the Krakken." Ben said.

Ben had gone to the mayor originally to ask him about the town's people and even he knew and seemed affected by the poisoning in the food, but since he didn't want to start panic he didn't say anything to the people 'at least he stopped the outgoing shipments don't want this spreading.' he thought as fish was basically what this town thrived on and made profit with. If it all stopped together there would be major issues and even might make the situation here worsen.

"Um Ben, would it be ok to go to the hospital now?" Wendy asked wanting to see if she could do some good in the meantime.

Ben nodded as they had time to kill as they agreed it would be best to move on the cave when the harbor wasn't active making it much less dangerous if something were to happen in the cave.

…

Wendy looked at the hospital victims and was slightly horrified by what she saw as when Ben told her the victims were in a serious condition she rushed over here and what she saw scared her as she saw an infection around certain wounds on some of the patients, but not on others it was weird.

"Let me ask you how bad would it get if these people turned." Gajeel asked wondering the damage.

"On the scale of the crystals in the cave, if Anubis is trying to enact his old plan I'd say a large chunk of Fiore." Ben said as transformation became permanent after a certain amount of time meaning he could travel from town to town causing an epidemic.

They waited as they watched Wendy heal the people as best she could.

"Hey c'mere." Gajeel said calling Ben over to the window "see anything strange outside?" he asked him curiously.

Ben looked out and saw no one which was odd as this morning the streets were packed full of people.

"Let's go take a look, Wendy should be safe here." he said Gajeel merely nodding.

They both walked out to the city seeing a fog rolling in both of them feeling their hair stand on end.

"Something is off." Gajeel said as he smelled something disturbing in the very air.

Ben had a similar feeling not liking this one bit, he looked around till he spotted someone on the road.

"Hey, it's a kid." Ben said seeing a little girl with her back turned in the fetal position, he approached her and reached to her with her left hand and as soon as he did both men were shocked by what they heard.

"Corrodium detected." the Omnitrix said the symbol turning purple.

They jumped back in surprise and were glad they did as the girl was a monster and she tried to bite in their direction.

"Is this?" Gajeel asked Ben in surprise not expecting the effects to be this monstrous.

"Yeah corrodium mutations." Ben said looking at the child "Look at her leg." he said to Gajeel

Gajeel looked at the monster girl's foot and saw a bite mark.

"What is this thing spread like rabies?" He asked not knowing what to say.

Both watched as the monster girl climbed the wall of a building, running away.

"Maybe it was the food that's IN them not just affecting them externally they may be able to spread it through contact and like you said rabies." Ben said as they searched around. "Or I could be wrong." he said, transforming into Heatblast and Gajeel armored up as they saw a small chunk of corrodium.

"He's screwing with us I hope you know." Gajeel said as he saw this for what this was a distraction

"He wants us to be distracted or tire ourselves out." Ge said as Anubis was using the people as both mindless zombie soldiers and cannon fodder.

"Yeah I can see that." Heatblast said as he fried the crystal but saw more mutated people appear.

'This isn't like last time, the effects may be more permanent or there are more crystals around.' He thought to himself.

The simple B-class turned into what now seemed like an S-class

Author's note: Hey everyone would like to give a big thanks to some help I got with this chapter, "Vanessa Masters" this person is terrific as a beta reader, they were very through and helpful, if you are a writer I recommend checking out their profile, I give a 10/10 on their work and talents and they're very nice and respectful when compared to more irratable people(cough Gajeel cough) and to all loyal readers I have got in contact with StarSaber21 and he's going to be able to start helping me with the story starting next chapter, he gave this one a look over and seemed to like what he saw.