"Just a couple hours!"
"No, Ben!"
"Come on! Are you planning on being the one to drive for the entire trip? For, like, weeks?"
"Um, sure! Why not?"
"You're gonna get tired eventually! You should just let me take over. Just every once in a while! It's so boring sitting here like this."
"Well, I'm keeping you company, aren't I?"
"I'm not sure if you've noticed, Steven, but you're not really talkative while you're driving."
"What is with your obsession of having to be the one to drive?"
"It's boring just sitting here like this!"
"Haven't you ever gone on long trips? You know, in space, at least?"
"Sure, but at least in Rook's Proto-TRUK I had access to the extranet! This is more like the original road trip. At least back then I had Gwen to hang out with and there was some space to move around. And I could play Sumo Slammers. Now, even my butt is getting sore!"
"You can lie down on the backseat if your butt is what's bothering you."
"Steveennnn…"
"Listen, I don't wanna fight while I'm driving. Not after what happened the last time to me and my dad. So you're just gonna have to find another way to entertain yourself."
Ben groaned in frustration. He had already opened and closed the glove compartment several times, though to no one's surprise, noting new appeared in it to occupy him. He had also adjusted and readjusted the level of his seat, played with the window scroll, and stuck his head out of the open window to feel the wind on his face. Now Ben did the one thing you do in a car when you've completely given up on any other form of entertainment and let luck decide your fate. Ben turned on the radio.
"On hottest days, on coldest nights, feel the joy of Radicola's delight-"
"-he words get stuck in my throat, The words get stuck in m-"
"I'M famous. I have no idea who SHE is."
"THE NUDIST AND MR. PENDELTON GONNA BEAT IT ON DOWN THE ROAD-"
"In tonight's big news, after a two-week hiatus, Ben Tennyson was seen yesterday at the popular Fantasy Convention "FanCom". As you would expect, major disaster soon followed." – Ben heard a very familiar, very unpleasant voice, so he didn't switch the channel. "This locally captured footage shows Ben Tennyson in his various alien forms throwing large objects and bringing down the walls of the exhibition hall, as well as turning into his infamously gigantic "Way Big" creature and leveling the event's parking lot. This is nothing new, of course, but there have been other unconfirmed sightings of Ben Tennyson in the area outside Bellwood, such as in Empire City. Has Ben Tennyson embarked on a journey to wreak havoc not just on Bellwood, but all of the United States? What's interesting as well is another juvenile so-called "hero" was with Ben Tennyson at the FanCom scene. This footage shows that another teenage boy, wearing a pink jacket, was seen in the superpowered brawl, as well as talking to Ben Tennyson while getting into a car together, which according to a witness was a Dondai Supremo. Does the similar style of clothing imply that he is some sort of new sidekick/partner-in-crime for Ben Tennyson? Follow the Harrangue Show for exclusive updates on the Ben Tennyson situation as well as the identity of this mystery new so-called "hero". Will he be a threat or menace? You decide the answer!"
Ben sat in silence, wondering how Steven was going to take it.
…
…
…
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" – Steven yelled after a pause. In fact, he got so heated that he almost lost control of the vehicle and decided to pull over.
"Yeah, I've been there." – Ben sighed, trying to reassure him.
"What the heck? Who is this Harangue guy?"
"He's this reporter that revealed my secret identity to the entire viewing world. And he also hates my guts, for no reason. I mean, he's desperate for ratings, so he'll go live on the air and say pretty much anything." – Ben explained to him.
"A couple of days hanging out with you and now I'm being dubbed a national threat?!" – Steven exclaimed.
"Or menace. The public hasn't decided yet." – Ben jokingly added, as the same was once said to him. Despite this being a problem, Ben was glad that at least this time he could poke fun at the situation. Though, Steven glared at him for it.
"What? It's not my fault Harangue's crazy like that!" – Ben reacted.
"No, I'm not mad at you. But, what the heck am I supposed to do now? Like, when my identity gets out, there's gonna be reporters everywhere around me, around my dad, oh my god, Connie…"
"Listen, I went through all of that earlier this year. I can give you a few pointers." – Ben reassured him.
"Okay. So, what should I do?"
"So, first of all, your dad is gonna be fine. He's living with the Gems now, isn't he? Although, you should probably call the Gems and warn them about it so that they don't hurt the reporters too bad."
"Okay. What about Connie, though?"
Ben remembered what he went through and what he did back in January when his identity was revealed to the public and how it affected his relationship with Julie.
"Everything's gonna be fine, just, uh, DON'T flirt with famous actresses in front of your girlfriend, no matter how hot she may be." – Ben told him confidently.
"That's… oddly specific. Ben?" – Steven asked suspiciously.
"Now, you might be too stressed out to drive after all this, so why don't you just…"
"Come on, Ben."
"What? I'm serious! You're the one that said you didn't want the thing with you and your dad to happen again."
Steven inhaled and tightened his lips, trying to come to a decision.
"Fine, fine. Anyway, I gotta talk to dad about this. And the Gems. And Connie."
"You can use my phon- oh, wait, I'm getting a call." – Ben said as he put his phone to his ear. "Hey, Jimmy. Is this about the FanCom thing? What? Wait, is this really important or is this one of your wild goose chases, because I don't wanna have to drive all the way back to Tow- okay, if you say so. Wait, you're here? Okay then." – Ben said as he hung up. "Change of plans, Steven. Looks like we can't go to the karaoke bar tonight. Jimmy says there's something he needs to talk to us about."
"I don't think I was up for karaoke anyway, after all this crazy stuff. And who the heck is Jimmy?"
"He's kind of like an informant. He's got good intel." - Ben explained. "Eh, most of the time." - he added.
"I think this is it." - Ben said as he parked the car in front of a roadside diner. He went in, and Steven followed. It was already dark out, so the warm atmosphere of the diner was welcome.
Steven looked around. Besides the woman serving the place, there weren't a lot of people there. In the corner sat a little boy. Across the row was an unpleasant-looking man with a shaved head, just sitting there. He glared at them as they walked by, so Steven looked away to avoid eye contact. Finally, near the entrance was a shady man wearing a trenchcoat and hat obscuring his face. He assumed this was the informant, so he followed Ben to his table, but was shocked when Ben didn't stop walking and instead went over to the little boy.
"Hey, Jimmy." - Ben said and sat down in front of him. Steven, astounded, sat next to Ben. He noticed Jimmy was wearing a green and white hoodie just like Ben's.
"Um, hi, Jimmy." - Steven said after composing himself. "I'm…"
"You're Steven Universe, leader of the Crystal Gems and the son of Rose Quartz, a.k.a. Pink Diamond!" - Jimmy excitedly exclaimed.
"See? And you probably had doubts about him." - Ben smugly smirked at Steven.
"Do you want anything, sweeties? Coffee?" - the nice old server approached their table.
"Sorry, I don't drink coffee this late. Nothing for me." - Steven politely declined.
"I don't suppose you serve any smoothies, do you?" - Ben asked warily.
"Sorry, dear, no. I could getcha a milkshake." - the server suggested.
"Alright, I guess." - after considering it, Ben complied.
"You're the one that told me Jimmy's only reliable most of the time!" - Steven continued their earlier conversation.
"You really said that, Mr. Tennyson?" - Jimmy asked.
"Uhh… I mean, Jimmy, you know, sometimes you…"
"That's the best thing you could have said about me! Thank you, Ben!"
"You got everything right, only I'm not the leader of the Crystal Gems. Garnet is." - Steven corrected him.
"Well, yeah, you left to go on a road trip after transforming into that huge pink ka- ouch!" - Jimmy went on, though Ben was desperately signaling him to cut it out. Jimmy didn't catch it, so Ben had to resort to lightly kicking him under the table.
"No, what I mean is, I was never the leader. That'd be way too much responsibility for someone like me to handle." - Steven clarified as the nice old lady brought Ben his milkshake.
"Really? I don't think Mr. Tennyson ever had a problem like that."
"Jimmy here is also a big Ben 10 superfan." - Ben told Steven after taking a very long, very loud sip. "This ain't half bad…" - he muttered to himself.
"Aren't we all." - Steven remarked.
"So Jimmy, what brings you out here? And what's the big tip you've got?" - Ben asked him, trying to move the conversation forward.
"Well, the reason I'm here is because I went to FanCom too. But I have a tip that something's been going down in this area."
"Okay, what is it?"
"I think you'd better hear it from my source. " Jimmy said.
Ben and Steven waited for him to do something, though Jimmy just sat still.
"Well? Aren't you gonna call him or something?" - Ben finally asked.
"Hm? Oh, no, he's here, he just went to the bathroom before you guys arrived."
"Oh. Okay." - Ben said. After an awkward pause waiting for Jimmy's "informant" to finish his business, Ben struck up a different topic. "Say, Jimmy, you haven't been in contact with Harangue lately, have you?"
"No, Mr. Tennyson! I promised you I would never give him any info after the stuff he said about you! I did get some footage of Steven's fight, though, but I only posted it on my blog!"
"I guess it had to have reached him somehow." - Ben supposed.
They all heard the toilet flush as someone exited the bathroom. He was wearing a gray, torn trenchcoat, though the tears seemed to be done through scissors rather than actual wear-and-tear. He was also wearing a fedora, a pair of square glasses and a fake beard badly glued on his face.
"Bathroom review: Seemingly a normal roadside diner bathroom, I discovered a species of undiscovered mushrooms growing under the toilet. I have collected a few samples for later testing, but I suspect it might be the spore pods of the mycosapiens from Earth's second core… Steven?"
"Ronaldo." - Steven concluded with disappointment, recognizing the fry boy.
"You know this guy?" - Ben whispered over to Steven.
"You know everything you said about Jimmy? He's kinda the total opposite of that." - Steven explained. "What are you wearing?" - he then asked about Ronaldo's outfit.
"Um, hello? This is my hobosona! I was wearing it to FanCon so I could get my No Home Boys signed until you wrecked the whole place."
"But why are you still wearing it? The Con's over." - Ben pointed out.
"I tried taking it off but I couldn't get the beard off because of the glue so I decided to keep wearing it." - Ronaldo admitted. "Next time at DelmarvaCon I'm going as a ficus."
"This is your contact?" - Ben turned to Jimmy.
"Yeah! He's got this blog called-"
"Keep Beach City Weird. Yeah." - Steven finished it for him.
"Yeah, and he's the only first-hand source for all the gem related stuff. He's also great at Sumo Slammers Online." - Jimmy noted. Ben eyed Ronaldo suspiciously while taking another sip of his milkshake, evaluating his potential skills.
"I'm a big fan of your work, Ben Tennyson. You've done a lot for the weird community in the Delmarva area.
"So what's the big story that needs to be investigated? Please don't tell me it's the snake people again."
"Nonono, Steven, you don't understand. The sneople have left the state after you and your gems conquered it. This is something else."
"Sneople?" - Ben asked, already regretting the question. "You mean like, uh, Ssserpent?"
"You're a sneliever too, Ben?" - Ronaldo excitedly asked. "That's snawesome! With your kind of publicity sneveryone's gonna sknow about my sneory!"
"Okay, I sneed you to dial it back a bit." - Ben stopped him. "If it's not "snake people"" - Ben said with air quotation marks - "then why did you bring us here?"
Ronaldo straightened his glasses with his finger, emulating an anime character, though not looking nearly as cool, then simply said:
"Knights."
"Knights?" - Steven repeated. Ben, knowing where this was gonna go, facepalmed.
"That's right. Knights. I've been going around the alien forums and there's been suspicious activity of people with knight profile pics going around and posting anti-alien messages and they wear knight armor and gather around old castles."
"Jimmy, haven't we been over this? The Forever Knights are history, there's only like three of them left anymore, and they're all caught at Plumber headquarters."
"I'm telling you, Ben, there's a castle near here somewhere and there's gonna be a meeting going down TONIGHT!" – Ronaldo insisted.
Ben sighed, and looked at Steven in a silent cry for help. "They could be recruiting new members." - Steven shrugged.
"I can't believe we're really doing this…"
"Can I drive the Dondai?" - Ronaldo excitedly exclaimed as he ran outside while the others calmly exited.
"No!" - Ben and Steven rejected in unison. "I'm driving." - Steven said firmly.
"I think you mean I'm driving." - Ben corrected him. "You promised me, remember?"
"Fine, Ben's driving." - Steven sighed.
"Shotgun, then!" - Ronaldo yelled and ran towards the front seat. Steven sighed as he opened the rear back door for himself and sat down next to Jimmy.
"So Ben, I found evidence that when the Incurseans had the Earth occupied, they were abducting people to their home planet Incursea for cross-pollination experiments. Can you confirm or deny that?" – Ronaldo inquired as Ben was driving.
"Wh- where did you even get that? No, of course not!" – Ben rejected it immediately.
"What do you mean by cross-pollination experiments?" – Jimmy asked curiously.
"DON'T tell him what it means." – Ben warned Ronaldo. "Anyway, you were using the term wrong. But regardless, the whole thing is stupid talk. Well, besides the fact that their princess was super into me…"
"I thought that was the tetramand princess?" – Steven questioned.
"Her too. Those two nearly started a war, fighting over me. Me. I mean, I get it, I'm amazing, but seriously?"
"You're so lucky." – Ronaldo said in awe. "One day, I vow to be as badass as you and get all kinds of space chicks."
"What is wrong with this guy?" – Ben whispered hoarsely over to Steven. "Oh, and by the way, Incursea isn't a thing, they don't have a homeworld." – he noted.
"Try dealing with him for years…" – Steven shook his head. "Heck, try living with him…"
"Okay, so the castle is-" – Ronaldo started navigating, but Ben interrupted him.
"I KNOW where it is. I've actually been there before. Fighting the Knights, you know, when they were actually there."
"I mean, they could have come back." – Steven suggested. "Ronaldo's theories are right… sometimes… well, once… and that was on accident…"
"By the way, Jimmy, shouldn't you be with your mom? There's no way she let you go on your own. Or especially with him." – Ben asked.
"Everything's okay, Ben. She's waiting for me at the hotel room. Although, I did promise her I'd be back by 9…"
"Does she know you're going around investigating castles and stuff?" – Steven asked with concern.
"I kinda… leave out that part. She knows that I have some sort of blog, but never actually bothered to read it. I don't think she even knows her way around the computer enough to find it. Cause if she did, boy, I'd be in loads of trouble." – Jimmy admitted.
"Right. And who is it that takes you on dangerous missions like this one?" – Steven side-eyed Ben.
"Hey, don't look at me, he goes around looking for leads with or without me, at least this way I can at least watch after him, alright?" – Ben said defensively.
It wasn't long until they had reached the old medieval castle, standing proudly for some reason in the middle of West Keystone State. All four of them got out of the car.
The castle looked worn out, obviously having stood there for centuries, with several structures, such as the towers and the wall stretching between them had major cracks and dents in it, with torn drapes hanging over. It looked like nobody had even set foot inside for years, though Forever Knight hideouts usually did. The castle had a moat around it, which was filled with water even now, but the drawbridge was lifted.
"I guess we're really doing this…" – Ben muttered, activated the Omnitrix and slammed the dial down to turn into Bloxx, who stretched himself across the moat and turned into a bridge for Steven, Ronaldo and Jimmy to cross over, then stretched himself up while they were on his back to bring them onto the top of the wall.
"Um, hello? Any knights conspiring in here?" – Ronaldo asked as they explored a large hall, with his voice echoing across the entire castle extremely loudly.
"SHHHHHH!" – all three of the others shushed him.
"So Ben, if the Forever Knights really are back, do you think they're here to fight Dagon again?" – Jimmy asked curiously.
"Nobody's back, okay, especially not Dagon." – Ben refused to believe. "And even if the Knights were back, they're probably just back to being a nuisance against aliens. And believe me, I'll put a stop to that if I see it." – he said firmly. "Hey, cut that out!" – he hissed at Ronaldo, who had his phone out with the flashlight on, pointing everywhere, filming the hallways, the torn drapes, the empty suits of armor.
"I'm filming a video for my blog!" – Ronaldo whispered.
"Of what? There's nothing in here!" – Steven told him.
"Well, what if we missed something? We'll have footage to review!"
"Just turn that flashlight off, Ronaldo! These armor stands are creeping me out."
"Well, if there's no one here, why are we so scared to make noises or light the flashlights?" – Jimmy asked.
"Well, just in case there are…" – Ben started, but was interrupted by Ronaldo.
"Aha!" – he yelled triumphantly and waved his hands in the air. "So you do admit that the Knights are here."
CL-SHRGTSHTSH-ANNNNNNG!
"YEOWCH!" – Ronaldo yelled in Terror as he jumped into Ben's arms and wrapped his hands around him, not letting go. Ben could barely keep balance himself after having to lift a guy heavier than he was.
"Do something, Ben! Use one of the 7 banned aliens!" – Ronaldo yelled.
"Dude, I would but I can barely even stand here! Get off of me!" – Ben protested while taking a couple of steps back to keep his balance.
"It's just an empty suit of armor that got knocked over." – Jimmy calmly pointed out.
"Oh. Of course." – Ronaldo collected himself as he got off Ben and stood firmly on the ground. "I'm willing to bet this points to some paranormal activity going on here in the castle."
"Um…" – Steven hesitated to point out the fact that Ronaldo himself was the cause so as not to disappoint him, but he was saved by the Ben who asked him something else.
"What the heck are the 7 forbidden aliens, anyway? You mean like, Alien X?" – Ben asked Ronaldo.
"Pffft. Everyone knows Alien X is a myth made up and propagated on the Ben 10 fan forums. No, I'm talking about Essen, Gaia, Apollyon, Zilch-"
"Dude." – Ben interrupted. "What are you even talking about. None of those are real aliens."
"Yeeeeah…" – Ronaldo winked at him, clearly thinking that Ben was lying to keep a secret.
"Alright, we've been all over this place, I think it's safe to say that there's nobody here." – Steven brought up. "With all the racket we've been making, they would have found us by now."
"Also, it's gonna be your bedtime soon, Jimmy." – Ben commented.
"Oh, crud! My mom is gonna be super mad!" – Jimmy yelled in shock when he looked at his watch (which was a replica of the Omnitrix that still could tell the time). "Yeah, let's get out of here."
"But the truth! The truth is in here!" – Ronaldo protested, but since everyone else was leaving, and he'd have to stay in the castle all by himself, get over the moat, and not to mention the Dondai was the only ride around, he followed them.
"At least I can have a piece on the great Ben 10 for my blog." – he said. "Oh, and by the way, Steven, can you provide me with any more interesting stuff about you? Cause an actual news outlet is running my stuff now!"
"Wait, what did you just say?" – Steven froze in place.
"Yeah!" – Ronaldo nodded excitedly. "I got a video of your fight with that cosplayer at FanCon and sent it everywhere and Harrangue Nation actually ran it!"
"What? What? What?" – Steven was stuck saying the same thing over and over again in shock, barely able to process that it was Ronaldo here that might have ruined his (and Connie's) lives.
"Listen here, you, Ronaldo-Maldonado." – Ben turned to him. "You can post whatever you want on your blog, go and investigate anywhere you want, but for the love of god, DON'T go around sending stuff for Harangue to use!"
"Okay, okay, I won't!" – Ronaldo complied. "I was never gonna send anything to Harangue ever again anyway. I told him to credit Keep Beach City Weird and he didn't even mention me. And I won't be exploited by the mass news corporations like that, especially not the ones ran by sneople…"
Ben sighed, dragged Steven along, and all four of them got back into the car and drove away.
"Yeah, he was here. We didn't get the chance. Apparently, he knew Ben 10, and brought him with him. No way we could have done anything with him around. Good thing that neither Tennyson nor the other dude believed him on it. Though, if he's this well-connected, we should probably drop him. Yeah. The kid too. In aeternum vivere novum ordinem."
Author's notes:
And there you have it, the new chapter and it's still a couple days before the month is over. Can I keep a schedule or what?
So I found an approach to this story that works well, which is having the chapter focus on a pair of characters, one from the Ben 10 franchise and the other from Steven universe. Those two can synergize and explore connection between the two shows' lores. I did the same with Jasper and Vulkanus last chapter, and even though they didn't actually interact, their synergy was from what roles they served to the chapter individually - both of them being big powerhouses, going after Ben and Steven (though with a villain swap going on that I'm pretty proud of) and one providing sort of a buffer/B-plot while the other is the main fight. And I took the same synergy pairing method in this one with Jimmy Jones and Ronaldo, which, I think, is a pretty obvious one. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna do it like this in every chapter. It's just a trope I'm gonna use occasionally to have a simple chapter to fall back on.
Although the next chapter... stay tuned, it's gonna be very special. Revolutionary, you might say.
