NOTE: Welcome back to the first part of our finale! I see you guys are excited, so I hope you all enjoy!
Review and Enjoy!
Chapter 66: Ben 10 vs The Negative 10 (Part 1)
In the dark of night, only illuminated by the city lights, an escaped helicopter flew over the cityscape. The two crooks inside were double-checking their loot: a bag of stolen diamonds. "We got the loot and made a clean getaway!"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that!" A nasal voice rained on their parade. Looking out the window, the crooks saw Stinkfly keeping up with them. "My name's Stinkfly, and this joyride's over! Land this thing now!"
Instead of complying, the crook pulled out a rifle and started firing at the bug. The alien stinkbug maneuvered around the gunfire, descending into the city to gain some cover. "Wanna play rough, huh? Now you see me! Now you don't!" He fired goop at the copter's windshield to block their vision. Dodging past the out-of-control flying vehicle, Stinkfly shot more goop at the propellers to stop them from flying.
"We're out of control! We're gonna crash!" The criminals jumped out of the helicopter using their parachutes. Luckily, the helicopter landed in the lake, so no further damage was caused to the city. Unluckily for the crooks, Stinkfly nabbed them as they were descending and dropped them down at the feet of the police. The Lepidopterran touched down onto the roof of a building before the Omnitrix could time out.
FLASH!
Ben watched as the criminals were arrested by the police, feeling proud of himself for a job well done. "This is getting almost too easy! Isn't there a villain out there who can give me a challenge?" With all of his adversaries behind bars, Vilgax and Kevin still stuck in the Null Void, and Zs'Skayr seemingly gone for good, there really wasn't anyone left who could challenge him as a hero.
However, unbeknownst to the young hero, the Forever Ninja was watching him from the shadows, all the while transmitting the footage of his deeds and his location to its master.
OP: Glory by BAND-MAID
A stream of stardust appeared, flowing like a peaceful river. The stardust joined together into a string of green DNA, twisting together before entering a single star. The star exploded in a blinding flash of light.
Trapped in conventionality, even denials are obvious!
The light disappeared to reveal Ben, who was busy playing his handheld game. His headphones placed over his ears as he engrossed himself in Sumo Slammers.
(That, there, this, whichever - Hey, isn't it true?)
A green flash changed the image to show Ben now preparing for battle. His eyes filled with a strong sense of confidence. His hand hovered over the Omnitrix's dial, ready to transform into Four Arms.
Why is it before you wake up you build a wall, saying it's impossible!
The scene switched over to Yu Narukami, the Fool was dressed in his Yasogami High uniform. He was peacefully making his way through the streets with his school bag draped over his shoulder.
(No discussions, no ideals)
This time a tarot card shattered the screen to reveal the teen now in his battle stance. His eyes were brimming with determination, his sword gripped firmly in his hands. Electricity bristled around his blade like a static coil.
Calling, calling, calling now!
The Omnitrix, Gwen's spellbook, and Yukiko's fan all popped up with each 'calling' that was spoken.
Even together, it's not the same!
Yukiko and Gwen were next to appear by each other's side. Yukiko was dressed in a pink apron with pink mittens on her hands. In her hands was a pot of disgustingly boiling purple liquid that threatened to spill out.
Gwen floated in the air, her spellbook in hand. The young girl was comfortably curled up as she read the book to herself.
Break yourself though, go way!
A tarot card shattered the screen again, showing that the girls were now battle ready. Yukiko's smile was dangerously beautiful, her left arm was raised into the air while the right held her fan, pointed right at the screen. She stood with the grace of a maiden, but a threatening aura could be seen on her.
Gwen was still floating in the air, her hands were extended outward, brimming with pink mana. The young sorceress' eyes were bright pink, burning a fierce intensity with a cocky smile.
Even if you lose your way, keep moving forward!
Max and a young chubby boy were up next. The ex-plumber was dressed in his fishing gear, a long green rod held in his left hand and a bucket of worms in the right.
The young blond chubby boy stood nervously next to him. His eyes looked everywhere but straight, his knees buckling with fear.
Our desires won't be stopped!
Another screen shatter brought forth a change from them both. Instead of his fishing gear, Max was wearing a grey exo-suit with blue markings on the suit's visor. His gauntlets vibrated with power, an excited grin making its way to the elder's face.
The chubby boy was even more different. Instead of his usual nervousness and fear, he hovered in the air, covered in blue energy. His eyes were completely white as his hair raised from the power radiating off of him, the boy almost looked omnipotent.
Oh, ah!
Mount Rushmore was the next thing to appear, but the screen cracked like glass, revealing that half of the National Monument had been utterly destroyed.
The whole wide world! Let your emotions spill!
Standing in front of the bright red background was the Forever King. His large frame towering above everyone else. Right under him was the Forever Ninja, Dr. Animo, Charmcaster, baby Hex, Kangaroo Kommando, Rojo, Zombozo, Clancy, and Adachi. The full force of the assembled villains was for all to see.
Keep rewriting, only glory!
The screen shattered once more to show a wide shot of the Tennyson family clashing against the Forever King and his new army of villains. Ben was facing against the king, while the girls and Max were going against the rest of the Negative 10.
If we're together! We can seize it! The war is just beginning!
Finally we have the Tennyson family standing together in front of the Rustbucket. Yukiko and Ben stood in front, her arms draped over his chest, holding the boy close to her. All of their wide smiles could be seen as they enjoyed being with one another.
The final shot was of the spinning Omnitrix, before the dial pressed down to envelop the screen in a blinding flash of green light.
"Thanks for giving me a ride back home from summer camp, Mr. Tennyson." A young boy with blonde hair said. He had fair skin, blue eyes, freckles, and long blonde hair. He wore a white T-shirt underneath a purple sleeveless jersey with the number 3 written in yellow, a black necklace with a gold bead, black shorts, and white and purple shoes. "With my parents out of the country and my Grandpa sick with the flu, I thought I might have to walk home."
"Well, I'm glad your Grandpa called. After all, what are old friends for?" Max responded to the boy as he carried his bags. The two were walking up to the Rustbucket, which was parked outside of the summer camp. "And I know you're going to like Ben, Gwen, and Yukiko, they're a lot of fun." Max gave a positive idea of his grandkids before opening the door. "Hey, guys, this is Cooper! A grandson of an old Plumber buddy of mine-"
"Will you two shut it!?"
SMACK!
SMACK!
"OW!" Ben and Gwen cried, holding their heads. "What was that for!?"
"For annoying me for the past several hours about some movie premiere! Just get over it and go see it later!" Yukiko hissed at the two. She swore these two were going to drive her insane if they hadn't already.
"But there's a super cool VIP party right after the movie! You get to meet the actors and take photos with them!" Ben defended their behavior. Gwen, who used this as her chance, took the phone and began dialing the number. Ben noticed faster than she hoped, grabbing the phone and putting it to his ear.
"Hello! You're lucky caller number #10!"
"I won it, give me the phone!" Ben and Gwen began fighting over the phone once more.
"You won!? I won!" Gwen argued back. Their constant fighting of the phone eventually led to Ben's thumb accidentally ending the call before either of them could respond. Forever losing their chance for the ticket.
"You owe me one ticket to the premier of Space Pirates 4!" Ben yelled at Gwen.
"Tch! If I had a ticket, I surely wouldn't give it to a mega doofus like you!"
Before Yukiko could smack them over the heads again, someone new had interrupted them. "I have an extra ticket to the premier." Cooper brought their attention to him.
"What!?" Ben and Gwen exclaimed.
"My uncle worked on the movie, he got me two VIP tickets. One of you can go with me…i-if you want." Yukiko noticed the ways his eyes shifted, feeling slightly suspicious of his claim. Her little siblings took the bait like mice to cheese.
Gwen lightly shoved Ben aside to kiss ass to Cooper. "Where are my manners? I'm Gwen! I'd love to go to the premier with you!" She took his hand, doing her best to win his favor.
Ben roughly knocked her away. "Back off, cootie queen! I got dibs on the extra ticket!" The two continued to butt heads with each other, sparks flying dangerously between them.
The heiress ignored them, walking up to Cooper and lightly bowing. "Sorry about what you had to see, Cooper. I'm Yukiko, and it's a pleasure to meet you." Yukiko introduced herself.
"You don't care about the ticket?" Cooper asked, surprised by how genuine she sounded.
"After hearing them argue over it since this morning, I'll burn that ticket to ash the moment I see it." Yukiko's dangerous aura leaked out for a bit, unintentionally scaring the hell out of Cooper.
Max sighed at the 'pleasant' first introductions Cooper had with his grandkids. "This should be interesting…"
At the famous army base known as Fort Knox, there was a group tour going on. The tour guide showed the group to the extremely secure vault. "Fort Knox is proud to be home to the U.S. Federal gold reserve, where over 100 billion dollars worth of gold is stored. Of course, for obvious security reasons, the actual vault is off limits to the public. Now if you excuse me, we'll continue our tour." The guide and most of the group left, however several cloaked figures stayed where they were and approached the heavily guarded vault.
"Halt! This is a private area!" One of the guards yelled. "You'll be escorted back to the public section of the base!" He was certain they'd listen, until one of the cloaked figures swung their arm, and several metallic shurikens struck their guns."What!?"
BITZ!
With their guns disabled, the Forever Ninja, followed by several knights, swiftly dealt the armed guards. The ninja extended its arms, ordering the knights to quickly access the vault to complete their mission.
The Rustbucket drove through the desert as they made their way to take Cooper home. Yukiko was at the stove, trying several new recipes in her aunt Vera's cookbook, while Ben and Gwen were doing their best to distract Cooper from Mystery Food X so that they could get his ticket. "And I've always been good with computers and stuff like that."
"Then you'll love this!" Gwen showed him her new laptop. "It's the new XT-9000 with satellite uplink. Use it whenever you like!"
"No fair!" Ben slammed the computer shut. "You can't use bribery!"
"Oh yeah!?" Gwen reached down, pulling up the gift basket Ben had made for Cooper. "And what do you call this!?"
"We're not all as selfish as you, Gwen!" Ben huffed as if he was in the right. "Some of us enjoy sharing!"
"Isn't that Yukiko's shampoo?"
"No."
"What about my shampoo?" Yukiko turned around to face them.
"Uh…just that I really like using it!" Ben grinned, forcing a smile.
Yukiko seemed to have bought his lie, smiling brightly. "Oh, Ben~! I'll buy you some for your birthday since you like it so much!"
"What!? I don't want that!"
"Then move on from this stupid ticket nonsense before I whack you both over the head with this wooden spoon." Yukiko's threat sent a shiver down the kids' spines.
"Ben, get up here!" Max called for his grandson. Gwen gave a smug look at Ben, hoping the boy was in trouble. "You too, Gwen and Yukiko!" She gasped, fearing if she was in trouble before she and her cousins hurried up to the front.
"Take a look at this. I just picked this up from one of the security cameras at Fort Knox." Max showed his grandkids live footage of the Forever Knights breaking into the military facility. One of the knights looked up to see the camera, pointed his blaster at it, and destroyed it.
"So, what's up with those weird knight dudes?" Cooper's voice startled them. The Tennysons looked back to see Cooper had heard and seen everything.
"I-It's just uh…a video game! Like the ones Ben plays!" Yukiko lied.
"Yeah, it's that…uh…Oblivion game!" Gwen added.
"Wow, you guys really do suck at this." Ben said before getting smacked by them both.
Cooper wasn't buying what they were selling. "That lame story is the best you could come up with? My Grandpa was a Plumber too, remember? Max told him all about you guys and the Omnitrix, the Personas, the spellbooks, and everything!"
Yukiko turned to look at Max, who chuckled a bit. "Figured I owed some explanations after the whole ordeal back in the desert."
The heiress then thought back to her friends and how she still hadn't told Chie or the others back in Inaba about everything. Even if it wasn't entirely in her place to do so, they should still know just in case anything bad happened. "It's only fair if I don't want to end up looking like a hypocrite."
"So, what's the deal with the knights in the video?" Cooper asked once more.
Arriving at Fort Knox, the Tennysons and Cooper kept a low profile, but as they approached the vault, it became more and more obvious that something was wrong. "Where is everybody?" Ben asked. Looking to their left, the group saw a pile of unconscious guards, who were stripped of their clothes, laying on the ground.
"They're still alive." Max said after checking their pulse.
Gwen furrowed her brows. "This doesn't make much sense. Why would the Forever Knights break into Fort Knox?"
"Steal a bunch of gold?" Ben suggested as they approached the vault.
Yukiko noticed the charred edges of the open vault. "And it seems like subtlety wasn't on their to-do list today either." Before she could take another step, several red bolts barreled down at them. The Tennysons and Cooper avoided the bolts as they ran for cover, hiding behind some of the wooden crates. Peeking over the corner, the group saw several 'guards' firing down at them.
"Why are they firing at us? Aren't we the good guys!?" Cooper asked.
"I don't think those are guards!" Gwen exclaimed, thinking back to the naked men from before.
"Looks like they stole the uniforms to keep people from getting too suspicious!" Max assumed.
Ben activated the Omnitrix, dialing up XLR8. "Looks like a job for XLR8!"
FLASH!
"Woah! It's even cooler in person than how Grandpa described it!" Cooper's eyes were bright with amazement.
XLR8 turned to Gwen, mocking her quickly before turning to the smaller boy. "You think that's cool!? Watch this!" The dinosaur-like alien zoomed away from their cover, approaching the 'guards' who were attacking them. "I'll give you one chance to surrender now!" They didn't care and continued to fire at him.
"Guess we're doing it the easy way then!" XLR8 declared before effortlessly blitzing through them. He admired his handiwork before an RPG fired at him, knocking him off of the catwalk. Several more 'guards' were coming into the storage room to deal with the Tennysons.
"Maragi!" Yukiko unleashed her flames upon the fools who attacked her little brother. Gwen launched pink disks at the ones with rocket launchers, slicing the weapons in half to make them unusable.
Suddenly, a forklift came out of nowhere, slamming into the ones Gwen had attacked. The Tennysons turned to see Cooper standing by the forklifts, laughing sheepishly. "How did you do that!?" Gwen asked.
"I…uh…said I was pretty good with mechanical stuff." Cooper responded. Yukiko patted the boy on the head to congratulate him, causing him to blush from the praise.
With all of the knights tied up, the Tennysons and Cooper entered the vault. However, they were shocked to see that none of the gold had been taken by the Forever Knights. "All of the gold is still here!" Gwen exclaimed.
XLR8, who was a bit further down in the vault, turned to them. "Okay, so the Forever Knights break into the toughest bank in the world, switch places with the guards, but forget to steal any of the gold!"
"Maybe they were after something else?" Cooper suggested. He was standing by a broken cage where a huge hole in the wall had been dug. "Check this out!" The hole led to a secret underground bunker that looked like it hadn't been touched for years.
FLASH!
"Woah! What is this place?" Ben asks.
"A blast from the past. It's an old Plumber base." Max answered.
"Like the one at Mount Rushmore?" Ben recalled the base from before.
"Not exactly." Max walked further into the base with the kids behind him. "At the height of the Plumbers, some of these satellite complexes were established all over the country in hidden locations like this one." He explained. "Once we brought down Vilgax the first time, these attics weren't needed anymore, so we eventually shut it all down."
"Now it makes sense why the Forever Knights didn't take any of the gold! It was never on their radar in the first place!" Yukiko realized.
"Exactly, but I don't know what it is that they'd want down here, and it bothers me that I can't piece it together." Max turned to his kids. He and the others had missed a spot, where a key-shaped object seemed to have been taken.
Inside an abandoned warehouse, the Forever Ninja handed the key to its master. The rest of his newly assembled party watched the scene with confusion. "A freaky looking key? Is that all you wanted to get!? I could've done that ten times quicker and dealt with those meddling pests!" Rojo boasted.
"Patience. This was merely the last piece needed to set everything in motion." The Forever King explained.
"And we couldn't be the ones to do that?" Charmcaster asked, poking her little uncle, much to his annoyance.
Dr. Animo, sitting upon a creature hidden in the shadows, scoffed at the notion. "I don't have to waste time with such pointless robbery, I would much rather hurry and showcase my newest creation!"
"Fret not, your time is soon approaching. The Tennysons have now been put into a state of questioning. Now is the time to give them our answer."
Adachi lazily rested on top of a crate, not caring too much of the jibber the king was spouting. However, he was interested in the part that was coming next, and couldn't wait to see the look on her face.
Yukiko and her siblings stared at the self-driving steering wheel with confusion. "Uh, Grandpa? Who's driving?" She asked him. The ex-Plumber was currently messing around with his radio station.
"It's the autopilot. Cooper managed to fix it up for me. Real work saver." Max answered. They looked over to see the young boy sitting at the table, working on a circuit board.
"Grandpa says that my brain must look like the inside of a computer." Cooper said.
"Can brains look like computers?" Yukiko questioned.
"No, it's just a comparison!" Gwen huffed.
Max finally got his portable screen working, showing them a map of the United States with several dots littered all over. "These dots represent all of the closed Plumber facilities."
Gwen noticed the one that was blinking. "Hey, why is the one in Seattle, Washington blinking?"
"It's an alarm; that can't be a coincidence." Max hummed.
"Then let's go kick some Forever Knights butt!" Ben yelled, amped up.
Max had to rain on his parade a bit. "Unfortunately, even in turbo mode, it's doubtful we could even reach there in time to stop them."
Cooper chose this moment to flex again. "Well, while you guys were playing, I did mess around with the turbo boost system a little." With that piece of good news shared, everyone rushed to their seats as Max disabled the autopilot.
"Alright then, let's put it to use and see if she's got some extra giddy-up!" Max, with a little too much excitement, activated the turbo boost. And Cooper wasn't lying when he said that he amped it up, the Rustbucket took off like a rocket.
"Heh! He definitely has some skills!" Ben laughed.
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!" Yukiko laughed at the way Gwen's face was shaking from the speed.
"Stop laughing at me!" Gwen pouted, lightly hitting Yukiko with her fists. The heiress didn't stop laughing, and found her little sister even more adorable.
The Rustbucket, still in turbo mode, zipped around the cars in traffic. "We're coming up to downtown Seattle! We should throw down the anchor and start slowing this puppy down!" Max informed them, much to Cooper's dismay.
"Uh oh."
"Please tell me that you didn't forget the super duper brakes to go with the super duper turbo!" Gwen cried.
"Seems like a very important detail to not forget!" Yukiko unhelpfully added.
Ben wasn't worried, activating the Omnitrix. "Don't worry, I got your back!"
FLASH!
Diamondhead crawled through the skylight to reach the roof of the Rustbucket, using the crystals on the soles of his feet to stay attached. "Woah! Major windage!" He yelled before extending his arms out in front of the motorhome. Several crystals embedded themselves into the road to act as a roadblock, but the Rustbucket just barreled right through them. "So much for speed bumps!"
"Ben! I hate to bother you, but we could really use some brakes here!" Max yelled.
Using his crystals to create an anchor, Diamondhead swung the anchor around before tossing it down behind them. It tore through the road, but luckily it managed to slow the Rustbucket down before it could crash into the Seattle Space Needle. Diamondhead jumped off the roof as everyone else exited the Rustbucket. "What I tell you, no problem!"
"Good job, Ben!" Yukiko patted his arm, making the Petrosapien blush.
"Sucks to be the city's road crew though." Gwen examined the damage they had caused just getting here.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The Tennysons and Cooper turned toward the screams of the terror, seeing multiple people running out of the tower as a huge swarm of hornets flew right past them. "Uhhh…when did the Forever Knights get wasps?" Diamondhead was getting confused.
"KYAAAAAA!"
He and the others watched as Yukiko hid behind Diamondhead, trembling in fear of the horrendous insects. Gwen gave her older sister a flat stare. "Are you serious right now!?"
Suddenly, the wasps went straight for Diamondhead, knocking Yukiko to the ground and slamming the Petrosapien into a car. All of the hornets swarmed together to reveal their old adversary Clancy.
"That's Clancy!" Gwen exclaimed.
"NO! Out of everyone, why does it have to be the disgusting, horrendous, putrid, skin-crawling, deserves to be burnt alive, ugly bug man!" Yukiko held nothing back as she insulted Clancy right to his face.
"Really letting your real feelings show here…" Diamondhead sweatdropped.
"RAGH!" Clancy roared, blasting a wave of hornets at the group of heroes. Each disgusting bug was met with a fiery gruesome death as Yukiko released a tidal wave of flames out of fear and desperation. The flames pushed all the way back to Clancy, who let out one last cry as the flames devoured him whole.
"Phew…" Yukiko relaxed, happy to see that the bug man was hopefully dead.
FWOOSH!
Dashing each and every one of her hopes and dreams was Clancy, who erupted out of the pool of flames with minimal injuries. Everyone stared horrified at Clancy's sudden new and unexpected transformation. The bug man could no longer be classified as human, having gone full insect with a green exoskeleton, yellow eyes on stalks, antennae, a pair of extra arms, and wings on his back.
"He got worse!?" Yukiko scrambled back behind Max, using him as cover as she fired more and more flames at the insect. Diamondhead assisted as well, firing diamond shards at Clancy in hopes of taking him down. He proved to be too fast in his new state, dodging each of their attacks. Clancy opened his mouth, releasing a massive tidal wave of wasps at them, which swarmed Cooper and lifted him into the air.
Quickly using a wind spell, Gwen managed to pull Cooper back down as Yukiko incinerated the wasps without mercy. As they did that, Diamondhead managed to reach Clancy and land a powerful punch into his face. The bug man went skidding across the pavement from the force of the attack.
"Thanks, Gwen!" Cooper appreciated the help.
"Hey, what are friends for?" Gwen wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and blew a raspberry at Diamondhead. The crystal hero glared at his annoying cousin who kept sucking up to Cooper. Yukiko and Max sighed at the two, the heiress having gone back to normal with Clancy taken care of.
The Tennysons and Cooper hurried into the elevator to reach the top of the tower. Max punched in a code to get to the very top of the tower. "The Plumber base is at the top, probably still up there!" Everyone waited patiently for the elevator ride to finish, listening to the calm tranquility of the elevator music.
THUD!
"What's the noise!?" Gwen asked.
"It's coming from above us!" Yukiko responded.
SMASH!
A black fish tore through the roof of the elevator, the hole it created big enough for the group to see who did it. Yukiko and her family gasped at the other familiar face that had returned. "Rojo!? How did she break out of jail!?"
"And that outfit is hideous!" Yukiko added.
Glaring down at the heiress for her constant rude comments, Rojo gripped the wires. "Sorry, this elevator is out of service! Going down?" Claws extended from her gauntlets, slashing through the wires and sending the group on a one-way plunge to the bottom.
Everyone hung on for dear life as Diamondhead shoved his arms through the walls. "Emergency stop!" His method proved to work and kept them all alive, then he created a diamond platform to lift them all to the top floor.
The Tennysons and Cooper hurried for cover, noticing the massive hole in the wall. Not only that, there were other familiar faces. Looting the base was Charmcaster and Rojo, who were both looking for something. "Charmcaster too!? Is there anyone else here who doesn't hate us!?" Gwen cried.
Rojo turned to her partner. "You should've seen the looks on their faces when I cut the main cable! Hehe, priceless."
"How come you got to slab them instead of me?" Charmcaster demanded.
"Just lucky, I guess." Rojo smirked, not fully understanding just how much Charmcaster hated that word.
"The feeling's mutual, Gwen. I hate them both extremely so." Yukiko glared at the two female criminals.
"At least this way we can take them by surprise." Diamondhead suggested. Too bad for him, that plan was never going to work.
THUD!
"Hello, Ben!" Turning around, the Tennysons and Cooper gasped at the sight of Dr. Animo, and the new huge monstrous mutant he's created. "You're overdue for a visit from Dr. Animo!"
Yukiko stared at the creation, feeling like she's seen it before. "Wait a minute…that's…!"
"Ah Puch from the Mayan temple!?" Max realized, horrified by whatever Animo had done to the guardian.
The old god had been utterly modified, most of its body was unrecognizable, infused with the DNA of a bat. It banged its arms against its chest like a gorilla, as its two bat wings flapped for it to take flight. Ah Puch descended towards Diamondhead like a vulture finding its prey.
POW!
"GYAAH!" Diamondhead was blasted through the hole in the tower, skidding across the surface of the helicopter platform.
"BEN!" Yukiko and her family followed after Diamondhead, helping him back to his feet. The family of four and Cooper watched as Animo and his new pet smashed through the wall to corner them, especially as Rojo and Charmcaster flanked them on the other side, keeping all five of them surrounded.
"You're still alive!? You're making me look bad!" Rojo hissed.
"Trust me!" Gwen rolled her eyes, hands glowing pink. "You don't need help with that!"
"Shut it!" Rojo fired a red beam at the Tennysons, which was deflected by a pink shield.
Charmcaster glared at the young sorceress. "Uncle was right about you using pure mana. What? Couldn't handle using real magic like a professional? What a joke!"
Gwen's fury skyrocketed like a missile launch, her eyes glowing bright pink. "You're dead." A burst of mana was blasted at Charmcaster, who blocked it with her own forcefield. The young sorceress rushed at Charmcaster to commence their duel.
Diamondhead went straight for Animo and Max charged at Rojo, leaving Yukiko to defend Cooper. "Don't worry, Cooper, I'll-" A flash of red entered her vision, followed by a familiar sound of cracking glass. Yukiko was given a small window of time to grab Cooper and push him out of the way as they nearly avoided getting blown to smithereens. A blast of red energy blew over them, disrupting all of the battles taking place on the roof.
Everyone watched as slow steps echoed all over, a skinny lengthy figure stepping out of the shadows. The man whistled a creepy tune, twirling a silver pistol with his index finger, as his yellow raincoat swished with the light breeze.
Yukiko's eyes widened in horror, recognizing the man even before he fully stepped out of the shadows. Every inch of her body was screaming at her to run, to grab her family and exit the tower at the fastest speeds possible. "No…"
"Yukiko?" Cooper was confused by her behavior.
Rojo glared at the man. "And what took you so long to get into gear!?"
"Sorry, sorry." The man apologized lazily. "I was taking a nap, but all of the noise woke me up. Seems I'm late for our little reunion." He stepped into the night light, allowing the Tennysons and Cooper to take in his appearance.
"Uh…who the heck is this guy?" Diamondhead asked, not recognizing him at all.
"No…!" Yukiko's cry caught her family's attention. "Y-you shouldn't be here! Aren't you supposed to be in prison!?"
"Yo, Amagi-chan~! Is that how you greet old friends?" Adachi grinned playfully.
Memories of the terror this man had caused herself and her friends last year replayed through her mind, the painful and close battle they had with him within his dungeon. She didn't know how he escaped prison and got to America, and at the moment she didn't care. All she wanted was to attack this man who was near her family.
"Agidyne!" Flames burst forth at Adachi, who wasn't scared in the least. Before the flames could reach him, they were blocked by his Persona. Gwen and Diamondhead stared at the Persona in shock. It looked exactly like Yu's Izanagi, except black and orange; as if it was devoid of life. The nightmarish Izanagi twirled its blade to attack Yukiko, who was more than ready to fight back.
"Magatsu Izanagi!" Adachi grinned at the familiar feeling of his Persona.
Diamondhead was going to assist her until Ah Puch smashed the ground in front of him. "Don't take your eyes off me, Tennyson!" Animo yelled, giddy with anticipation.
"Wasn't thinking about it, creep!" Diamondhead fired several large crystals at the beast, forcing it to block the attacks. He created a spiked ball of crystals and smashed it into the mutant's stomach, causing it to go flying off the tower with Animo, and Diamondhead smirked at his victory.
Gwen's heel kicked Charmcaster in the ribs, sending the spellcaster flying back. It wasn't enough to beat her as the experienced witch fired off several bolts at Gwen, who countered with pink disks, keeping them in an even clash.
"Hurah!" Max dodged Rojo's tackle, picking her up like a wrestler, and tossing her back towards the inside of the base. He didn't have a chance to relax as Clancy had returned, ready to rip the old man's face off.
Rojo winced, rubbing her head. She was about to jump back in until she noticed a familiar key on the ground. She picked it up and ran out to inform her allies. "I got it!" When Max saw the key, he finally understood what they were after.
"The key…! Of course! Somebody stop Rojo from getting away with that thing!" He yelled at his kids.
Yukiko dodged a physical strike from Magatsu Izanagi. She was struggling to keep up with Adachi, whose strength hadn't grown dull during his time in prison. Fighting him was much more difficult when she didn't have the rest of the team fighting with her. Her eyes trailed over to see Rojo running past with the key that Max yelled at them to stop her from getting away with.
Adachi grinned, getting a sick idea of how to put an end to things, especially since Rojo was running right in the direction of Charmcaster and Gwen's fight. "That girl there is your cousin, right? Let's see if you're just like him." Before the heiress could process what he said, the twisted Fool already shot his gun. "Maziodyne!" A huge red blast of electricity exploded from Magatsu Izanagi's blade, barreling right towards the other females of the fight.
Rojo was given a split second to react, jumping out of the way of the blast, but she ended up dropping the key as she did so, leaving the two magic users in the way of the monstrous attack.
"GWEN!" Yukiko's scream alerted the girl a little too late. Charmcaster snapped her fingers to teleport out of the way of the attack, leaving Gwen to take it head on.
"NO! GWEN!" Max and Yukiko screamed her name.
The dust cleared to reveal Diamondhead, who had jumped in the way of the blast to protect Gwen. The Petrosapien glared at Adachi for attacking his cousin like that. "C'mon, stick-boy, fire another one and this time I'll reflect it back at ya-"
FLASH!
Ben's threat no longer held any merit as he turned back to normal. "Uh…great."
"Thanks, but weren't you fighting Animo?" Gwen reminded him.
"Already took care of him!" Ben responded.
While Max was happy to see that his grandkids were safe, he was still concerned about the key. "Where's the key!?"
"I got it!" Cooper yelled, having grabbed it during all of the commotion. His shout gained the attention of Clancy, who trapped him at the edge. "You want it? Go get it!" Cooper tossed the key off of the tower, forcing Clancy to chase after it. Cooper smirked at a job well done until Animo and his pet soared above their heads, the mad doctor holding the key victoriously.
"Seems it's time for me to go." Adachi said before firing one last attack at Yukiko. The heiress dodged out of the way, rolling across the ground from the shockwave of the Persona's attack. With Yukiko out of the way, Adachi grabbed onto Ah Puch, similarly to Charmcaster. Rojo instead was being carried away by Clancy.
"I wish I had time to teach you a lesson you so richly deserve, Benjamin! But we have a date to rule the world!" Animo declared.
Charmcaster hissed at Adachi. "Watch where you're firing your attacks next time!"
"Just move out of the way, not my fault you're in my way." He responded, pissing the witch off even more.
"Hey!" Rojo got their attention. "How come I have to ride with Mr. Maggot!?" She yelled as Clancy's slob dripped all over her.
"Just lucky I guess." Charmcaster's mood seemed to have improved greatly from seeing that.
The Tennysons and Cooper watched as the bad guys got away with the key. "We need to move, now!" Max yelled.
Using the turbo mode, the Rustbucket sped out of Seattle as fast to get to Mount Rushmore. "Why didn't I figure it out before?!" Max yelled at himself.
"What's so important about that thing anyway?" Ben asked.
Max quickly got to explaining the situation. "Many years ago, the Plumbers helped capture an alien convict. As a show of gratitude, his race gave us a sample of what they call Sub-Energy. A subatomic power source so powerful that it made our own nuclear plants look like wind-up toys by comparison! Despite its enormous potential for good, the Sub-Energy was too unstable and dangerous to use. The Plumbers decided it should be put away for safekeeping within a super secure force field inside the Mount Rushmore complex."
"And the only way to shut down the force field is to bring together the two oddly-shaped keys that were stolen from here and Fort Knox?" Gwen clarified.
"I'm afraid so." Max answered.
"How did the Forever Knights figure all of this stuff out!?" Ben asked.
"A mastermind who has access to top secret classified Plumber information." Max answered.
Yukiko exited from the back of the Rustbucket, hanging up her phone, grabbing the others' attention. "Yukiko! Who the heck was that guy!?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, he's not exactly someone I recognize coming across this summer like Animo or Charmcaster." Gwen said.
The heiress looked deadly serious, something the two weren't used to. "That's because he's not someone we faced this summer…he's the man that was behind everything that plagued Inaba last year."
The Tennysons' eyes widened, remembering when Yukiko explained everything about that year. "You mean that guy that almost killed Gwen was…!?"
"Tohru Adachi…!" Yukiko hissed out his name like poison. "And I don't know how he escaped from prison and got here, but all I know is that he's going back no matter what!"
Cooper was pretty lost. "Uh, what are you guys talking about?"
"We'll explain it to you later, Cooper." Gwen said.
"Heads up, kids! We're approaching Mount Rushmore!" Max alerted them as he powered down the turbo mode. The kids looked out the window, not seeing anything strange about the monumental landmark.
"I guess we beat them here-"
BOOM!
Ben jinxed it, causing several energy beams to strike the ground by the Rustbucket, forcing Max to come to a sudden halt. Yukiko and her siblings approached the front of the RV to look out of the windshield. The Tennysons and Cooper stared in horror at the line-up of villains they had faced this summer that loomed over them.
The Forever King stepped forward, allowing the Tennysons to finally see who was behind it all. "Welcome, I wish I could promise you a swift demise, but alas, I believe my new partners have other ideas. Behold the NEGATIVE 10!" The King declared, his voice booming throughout the forest.
"Oh man…" Ben muttered.
To Be Continued…
NOTE: Second part will be uploaded soon.
1. Yukiko is not putting up with Ben and Gwen's nonsense with that stupid movie.
2. The Tennysons have officially met Adachi, how will things develop? Find out next time! Yu may be somewhat okay with Adachi, but the rest of the team hates his ass, that is not going to change at all ever.
3. The Negative 10 have now made themselves officially known to the Tennyson family! Let's see how things develop!
Next Chapter - Ben 10 vs The Negative 10 (Part 2)
