A/N: Hello and welcome back to the story everyone, where—IT'S THE WEEKEND OF OUR THIRD YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Yep, that's right, on August 29, 2018, I posted the very first chapter of Ben 10 RWBY Volume 1: Dimension Twist. And while we might not be over on THAT fic anymore, I think it's still fitting that we keep celebrating that day because… my god, has a lot gone down since that initial fic started it all. That said, the reason why I didn't post ON the 29th itself is… well, because I had already posted late two weeks straight now, so I didn't wanna keep you guys waiting again. But, in anycase, here's to three years of doing this, and I can't wait to show you what the future holds for Ultimate Omniverse. That said, we've got a casual chapter on our hands this time, so let's dive right in! This is…
Chapter 19: Recouping After the Fact
…..
Kevin was both in heaven and hell at the same time. …Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration on his part, but he definitely COULD say that he was bored to tears. It had been an hour and a half since he had taken Gwen back to Ben's house to rest after performing that big teleportation spell, and thankfully, her aunt and uncle had helped tend to her quite well, along with Tai, of course. They stretched out the couch for her to lay down on, grabbed her an ice pack and some pain killers for the splitting headache she had when she woke up, and even got her some comfort food to help settle the churning in her gut she was feeling.
All in all, it was a pretty good set up for what looked like a sick day. However, there was one thing that Kevin had forgotten about that he SHOULD have expected… and that's how Gwen herself usually dealt with being sick. Of course, she usually stayed in bed and took whatever medicine was needed, but if there was always one consistent sick day ritual… it was what she watched WHEN she was sick.
"Aunt Sandra?" the incapacitated redhead asked. "Could you go to Discovery Family and see what's on?"
Kevin felt a chill go through him at those words, and before he could make a beeline for the remote, Sandra got to it first. "Of course, dear. Hoping to catch your favorite show?"
"You know it." Gwen smiled tiredly, which increased slightly at the sight of said show being on. "Oh, good, it's just starting…" Sandra nodded to her and selected the channel. And, much to Kevin's dismay, the opening theme played the moment she did;
My Little Pony!
I used to wonder what friendship could be…
My Little Pony!
Until you all shared its magic with me!
The Osmosian nearly screamed his head off while running out the door… but simply settled for huddling up onto the floor, curling up into the fetal position on his side. Sandra glanced down in confusion to him before eyeing Gwen. "Uh… sweetie, is Kevin alright?"
The sick Anodite deadpanned at that. "What's his status?"
"He's on his side in the fetal position."
"Oh good, he's restraining himself." Gwen said, particularly pleased at the answer. "Don't worry, he'll get over himself in a minute. He gets this way EVERY time I make him watch My Little Pony with me."
Sandra rolled her eyes. "I see. Well, I'm going to head into the kitchen to whip up some oatmeal, sound good?"
"Sounds great, thank you, Aunt Sandra."
And thus, that's how Kevin ended up on the couch with his girlfriend, watching a cartoon made for five-year-old's that somehow had a fanbase of people in their twenties and thirties. He had come to terms with THAT fact a long time ago, but he still found it utterly bizarre, along with the fact that Gwen still watched it. "You know that this show's been over for a couple years, right?"
"Yeah, doesn't mean I can't still enjoy it." Gwen countered.
Kevin hummed at that, his sights going onto the screen where Pinkie Pie was feeling troubled after having been inadvertently upstaged by a lanky yellow pony with a curly brown mane… who also happened to be playing an accordion. "Well, at least this one's the one where Weird Al guest stars, so I guess I'm not THAT upset."
"See? Gotta find the positives in things." Gwen smiled before hearing the door open, causing both of their heads to crane around. There, to their surprise, stood a somewhat annoyed Qrow Branwen. "Wait, Qrow?"
"Hey, old man." Kevin greeted, smirking as Qrow grumbled at the nickname. "Thought you were s'posed to be meeting the others at the carnival."
Qrow sighed and went over to the nearest chair, plopping himself down in it. "Yeah, well, turns out Rae and the others managed to actually fight the Ministry off pretty well without me. Flew about halfway there when I got the word."
"I see." Gwen picked her head up off Kevin's chest and gave Qrow a questioning look. "So… do you know how it went?"
Once again, Qrow let out a breath before explaining. "Well, good news is everyone's okay. Bad news? …The Ministry got away." He saw Kevin and Gwen's expressions fall before he continued. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Ya know that transformin' predator that showed up durin' the fight? Apparently that thing's owner came and picked it up… along with the rest of the villains. Not sure what the deal with that is, but Rae told me she and the others would explain everything when they get here."
Kevin groaned and leaned his head back. "Ugh, well, that's fantastic. All that damage, all that fighting… and for nothin'." He shook his head and muttered; "This bites." He felt Gwen lean her head on his shoulder, which he responded by putting his arm around her shoulders. However, it was then he realized; he and Qrow were in the same room. 'Ah, perfect…' He raised his head up to the former drunkard and raised a brow. "But uh… on a different topic… why were you off grocery shopping with my mom?"
Qrow's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh… uh, well… honestly, I was kinda shocked that she asked me to go at all." He gave a small shrug. "She wanted me to tag along so she could get a sense of what I liked to eat, for some reason."
"Hm… guess that makes sense." Kevin relented.
The huntsman put a hand to his chin. "Although, she WAS acting a bit strange. Kept stumbling over her word for some reason."
Gwen could feel a smile curling onto her lips, seeing both men were left clueless. "Oh… really? Well, I hope that everything just went well on your shopping trip."
"Oh, shit no, it didn't." Qrow waved off. "Moment I passed by the canned corn pyramid, it fell over… and then one of the cans exploded on a manager that was passing by." Gwen and Kevin both facepalmed as Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, I'm just glad that I didn't physically knock it over, otherwise that manager would've been steamed at ME."
"Hm, yeah, right." Kevin rolled his eyes. "Just be glad it didn't explode on mom, otherwise things might've been messy."
But Qrow waved it all. "Ah, we already talked 'bout that. She said she wouldn't have minded if the corn got on her."
Kevin leaned forward slightly, giving Qrow a serious gaze. "…SHE wouldn't have been the one you'd have to worry about."
Gwen groaned and set a hand on Kevin's chest. "Ugh, okay Kevin, enough with the macho act, okay? No need to give Qrow a hard time…" Gwen's ears perked up at the sound of vehicles pulling in the driveway, leading her to smile over to the door while pausing the episode. "Besides, I think we're about to have company—"
BAM! "BOOM! We're back, baby!" Nora exclaimed as she crashed her way in, making Gwen, Kevin and Qrow all cringe and cover their ears. The Pink Dynamo skipped in while everyone else followed suit, all while Ren desparately tried to keep her under control.
"Nora, inside voice, please." Ren pleaded.
"Yeah, we don't wanna get in trouble with Sandra." Jaune added before setting his sights over to the center of the living room, greeting the three sitting there with a smile. "Hey guys, how goes it?"
"Ah, you know, just getting our eardrums blown out, nothin' major." Kevin remarked as he rubbed the inside of his ear with his pinkie.
All of a sudden, a loud gasp was heard, followed by the shrill cry of; "Uncle Qrow!" In a flash of red, Ruby rushed right over and gave her uncle a hug, smiling from ear to ear. "Ah! You should've been there! Weiss and I flung Neo into an ice cream shop using a carousel! Haha!"
Qrow smirked and ruffled his niece's hair, giving out a chuckle. "Heh, really? Didn't know a carousel could be used like that."
"Hmph, when it's at top speed, it can." Weiss chuckled.
At that moment, Tai peeked his head around the corner before smiling and entering the room fully, with Sandra and Carl following suit. "Hey-hey, I thought I heard my baby girl! Welcome back, guys!" He went over and gave Ruby a hug as well before asking; "So, how'd things go?"
The second he asked that, Ruby winced and rubbed her neck. "Well… it went KINDA good and KINDA bad…"
"That about sums it up." Tai's eyebrows rose up and he turned to see Raven, Yang, Ben, Winter, Blake, Ilia, Rex, Penny and Team SN all enter the room as well, the mother and daughter stepping up to him directly while Ben was greeted by his parents. Raven wore a stone-cold expression as she said; "Tai, I think that this situation might be worse than we thought."
Both Tai and Qrow furrowed their brows and the latter stood up, facing his sister and his other neice. "Whaddya mean? Ya weren't exactly keen on givin' details over the phone, Rae."
"That's because we wanted everyone here so we could debrief everything that happened." Winter explained, giving a nod over to Kevin, Gwen and the parents in particular. "And now that we are, we can begin. Ben, would you like the floor?"
"I would, thank you." Ben moved away from Sandra and Carl and took to the center of the room, standing in front of the TV. "Okay, so, from what we gleaned of the situation, we know that the transforming predator that attacked us in Undertown yesterday has pretty strong ties to Rojo… namely because it's her old mentor's pet."
Qrow, Sandra, Carl and Gwen all became wide-eyed and slackjawed at that. "Hold on, really?" Gwen asked. "W-When was THAT said?"
"Rojo revealed that after you were knocked out." Yang said as she sat on the sofa's arm rest. "Apparently she recognized it by it's collar, thought she has no idea where the Omnitrix knock-off came from or why her mentor's using it."
"What we DO know, though, is that for some reason, her mentor's hunting Ben." Rex pressed on, pointing to his fellow hero. "Plus, he actually came and picked up the Ministry by beaming them into his cloaked ship. That's how they got away."
Sandra let out a concerned gasp and faced her son. "Ben, I hesitate to ask, but… what does this mean?"
"Is our home in danger, son?" Carl added. "What can we do to prepare if… whatever this thing decides to show up."
Just then, Raven jumped into the conversation. "I wouldn't worry, you two." She sent a knowing grin over to Tai, who returned it with gusto. "Tai and I have been hard at work preparing traps for this thing should it decide to show up, and we're almost ready to place them."
"These traps are the type that work on several types of Grimm." Tai explained further. "If they can work against an Ursa Major, they can work on this transforming predator, whatever it is."
Sandra let out a breath as Carl put an arm around her. "Well, I certainly hope so. The last time our family was in danger like this, I got kidnapped by a psychotic zombie clown vampire."
"And THERE'S a sentence I'd never thought I'd hear." Ilia muttered.
Blake came over and gave Sandra a reassuring smile. "Well, even if the predator manages to get past those traps somehow, we'll all still be ready for it. I can promise you, Sandra, that your home WON'T be harmed."
Sandra gave Blake a thankful smile back. "Oh, thank you so much, Blake." She clapped her hands together and set her sights out to the team. "Alright, now that we've got all the business settled, how about I get dinner started?"
The group all agreed while Ben visibly shuddered, only for Tai and Raven to give him reassuring glances as they followed his parents into the kitchen. Winter and Qrow followed them afterward, leaving only the team to themselves in the living room. It was then that Blake and Pyrrha stepped over to the couch, the two giving Gwen greeting smiles. "And what about you, Gwen?" the cat girl asked. "You doing alright after that spell?"
Gwen settled her head on the couch and let out a breath. "Oh, you know, my head hurts, my stomach's queasy, and I was out of it for about half an hour after I did it. So you know, the usual."
Pyrrha grinned and set a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Well, I'm just glad that you're not seriously hurt or anything. That probably had to be the biggest teleportation spell you've done yet." Her smile became somewhat sly as she recalled another certain incident that had happened about a week back. "Hmhm, remember when you teleported us to Essen and you immediately became loopy afterwards?"
"Ugh, don't remind me." Gwen shook her head. "I still can't for the life of me remember what I said that day." She then glanced over and gave Nora a nod while resuming the My Little Pony episode. "Hey, Nora, My Little Pony is on and it's a Pinkie Pie episode. Want in?"
"DO I?!" Nora bounced straight over the other couch in the room and plopped down into her seat, her eyes transfixed on the screen. "Pinkie Pie is my SPIRIT ANIMAL!"
"Ooh! Count me in on that!" Ruby said as she took a seat on the floor.
"Make that triple!" Penny added as she too sat on the floor next to her best friend.
Kevin rolled his eyes before noticing Ben make his way over to them. He offered his best friend a fist bump, which Ben was more than happy to return. "Hey there, big man. Sorry things didn't go so well."
Ben sighed and put his hands to his hips. "Yeah, well, things definitely could've gone better, that's for sure." He set his sights onto Gwen and gave her a smile. "But hey, I'm just glad that you're doing better, cous." But then he raised a brow at her. "But you know something? I think THIS is probably the reason why grandma wanted to bring you back to Anodine; so that you wouldn't get sick every time you do a big spell like that."
"Oh, har-har." Gwen gave a mock laugh before shoving her cousin's arm. "Like I said, I'm getting better." She took in a breath and leaned her head back on Kevin's shoulder. "So, we have yet another new enemy that's going to ally themselves with the Ministry. …I think it's safe to say not a lot of things have been going our way since we got here."
"THAT'S an understatement." Sun concurred as he and Neptune sat down on the floor as well. "Pretty much our only clean win was when we first got here and took care of those robots."
"Eeyup." Neptune began counting the other days off on his fingers. "Other than that, we let a cult of bad guys get away from us after rescuing Manny's team…" He pointed over to Ben and Yang. "That big transforming predator got away after you guys stopped Psyphon's gang, and now the bad guys actually ended up destroying a city block and managed to get away with it! AND they've got a new ally."
Yang crossed her arms and pursed her lips at that. "Yeah… and here we were on the back of a whole ton of clean wins."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call the second attack on Vale a clean win." Ilia admitted. "Sure, we DID win, but that Grimmungousar caused a LOT more damage… and possibly could've killed more people." A rather remorseful atmosphere took over the entire room after that… which was entirely offset by the loud polka music on the television.
"~Cause I love to see you smile, smile, smile, yes I do!~" The yellow pony chanted while dancing on a massive, cheese-shaped float. "~It fills my heart with sunshine all the while, yes it does! 'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile from these happy friends of mine!~"
Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out of the float while giving the pony a glare. "That's MY song!"
With a big grin, the yellow pony chuckled and asked; "Whaddya mean? I don't know what you're talking about."
That managed to get a soft chuckle going through the room, leading Jaune to ask; "Okay, what the heck's THIS episode?"
"Pinkie Pride." Gwen laughed as the song things continued to escalate in the song. "Pinkie Pie's having a Good Off with fellow Party Pony, Cheese Sandwich." Gwen grabbed the remote and began to put in some commands. "Here, I'll restart the whole thing."
"Oh yeah, this is the Weird Al episode!" Ben beamed before facing the team. "Remind me to introduce you guys to some of his music."
"Aw, yeah!" Rex concurred with a fist pump. "Weird Al's the freaking BEST."
From there, the team settled into just watching the episode right from the very start, and before they knew it, the gang were caught in a Pony marathon, much to Kevin's dismay. "This is NOT how I planned on spending my Wednesday afternoon."
…..
Meanwhile, inside of a certain ship that was flying straight toward the outskirts of Bellwood, Rojo opened her eyes… only to be met by darkness. The room she was in was entirely black, at least until her eyes managed to adjust. Once they did, she was met with the sight of a familiar room; the beaming deck of Khyber's ship. A smile came to her lips as she shot up to her feet, hearing the groans of her teammates as they too regained consciousness. "Haha! Guys, c'mon, get up! We're onboard Khyber's ship!"
"Grr… we WOULD, Rojo." Cinder grumbled on the ground. "But unfortunately, there's one problem."
"What's that?"
"You're STANDING on us!" Rojo's eyebrows shot up and her head snapped down to see Cinder's glowing amber eyes glaring back up at her, along with everyone else's bodies moving around as well. "So if you would be so kind as to GET OFF!"
"AH! Sorry, Cindy!" Rojo immediately hopped off of them and reached down to help her partner up. "H-Here, lemme give ya a hand."
Cinder let out a; "Hmph." before accepting the hand, with Rojo pulling her straight up to her feet. …Though the action was a bit TOO fast as it ended up with the Fall Maiden practically falling into her partner, their faces mere inches away from one another. Their eyes widened considerably and both were thankful that it was still dark, otherwise they would've seen their cheeks flush for a brief moment. Cinder backed away after about a second and brushed off her dress, glancing away from Rojo all the while. "Ahem… um… thank you."
"N-No problem." Rojo returned before seeing the rest of her teammates start to get up… all accept Mercury since his legs were still broken.
Emerald helped him sit up as she asked; "So, this is Khyber's ship, huh?"
"Oh yeah, no mistaking it." Rojo assured. "I've been in this room plenty of times."
Thunderhog stepped up, his glowing purple visor being the only thing the gang could clearly see in the room. He held up his hands and said; "Hold on, lemme get us a little bit of light." With that, he smashed his fists together, lighting up his Shock Gauntlets with more violet light. Following his example, Exo-Skull's horn began charging up as well, with a brilliant blue light giving them all more visibility.
"Ah, much better." Skull grinned before reaching over to help support his respective other. "You okay, 'Dora? You were out of it for a while there."
Subdora reached out and put her smaller hands around his massive one. "I am fine, Farkas, thank you. Ugh, that cagna, Ilia got the jump on me when I thought I had her and her gattina friend beaten."
Mercury crossed his arms and scowled toward the floor. "Yeah, well, at least YOU guys didn't get your legs broken… AGAIN!" He eyed Hog with a questioning gaze. "Speaking of, you landed on me AND the ground from a pretty high place. How did YOU not break anything?!"
Hog smirked and pat his big belly. "What can I say, little man? I'm big boned!" He earned a grumble from Mercury before noticing something… or rather someone was missing. "Uh… speaking of little… where's Neo?"
The group all were on high alert at that point, searching the room with their eyes as Rojo pointed out; "Hey, yeah… and where's the dog—AAAH!" Both questions were immediately answered the moment Rojo caught sight of a huge figure in the corner of the room. It was the Vicetopus… and it was directly on TOP of a still unconscious Neopolitan. "Neo! Neo, wake up!"
Neo's eyes groggily opened, the mute girl shaking her head to get the daze out of it. But, once she realized the position she was in, her eyes went wider than a deer in the headlights… and she couldn't help but tremble a bit when she felt the creature move on top of her. The Vicetopus moved its head up and hovered it directly over Neo's face, its red eyes narrowing at her before letting out a low growl.
"Oh, crap, NOT GOOD!" Emerald stood up and took out Thief's Respite while Cinder created a sword of her own, both ready to come to the aid of her comrade. However, Rojo quickly raised her arm up in front of the greenette and Fall Maiden, earning her a side-long glare from the two. "Rojo?! What're you doing, we need to—"
"Hold on…" Rojo pointed back at the Vicetopus and Neo. "Look."
Everyone's sights went back to the beast and, much to their surprise… it had stopped growling and actually started licking Neo's face, letting out content trills as Neo smiled and silently giggled. Within seconds, a flash of red light came from the beast and it morphed back into its true form; a scaley, dog-like creature whose head also somewhat resembled a lizard, its wet yet thin tongue continuing to lick Neo as she sat up and cuddled it.
"…I don't believe it." Cinder muttered.
"I CAN'T believe it!" Mercury shouted.
Rojo placed a hand to her hip and chuckled a little. "Hmhm, who knew Neo was so great with dogs?" She went over and began petting the alien canine as well, the beast reacting positively to her familiar touch. "Hey there, guy, how's it going? So, think you can lead us to teach?" The dog barked and began making its way to the door, allowing Rojo to help Neo up to her feet.
Subdora raised an eyeridge in confusion. "Does the beast not have a name?"
"Psh, no." Rojo shook her head, rather irritably so. "I've told Khyber that he should give it one, but he insists that he shouldn't. Says that forming too close of an attachment could dull its hunting skills. Apparently Anubian Baskurrs can be savage, but also easily tamed."
"Huh, neat." Emerald watched as the alien canine walked right up to the door, its glaring red eyes staring back at them expectantly. "Well, I think it wants us to go through there." She approached the door while warily keeping her eyes on the Baskurr, its gaze trained onto her the whole time. It wasn't growling, so that was a good sign. However, the moment she reached the door… it opened, revealing a rather tall and imposing figure on the other side. She could only see his silhouette against the light of the hallway, but from what she DID see, he was large, spikey, and had similarly angry red eyes."AH!" Emerald jumped back and went into a combative stance, which immediately set the dog off growling.
The other Ministry members were about to take action when they heard; "ENOUGH!" The figure raised his head and let out a high-pitched whistle, which made the Baskurr sit down obediently.
…However, this also made Hog and Skull grip their ears in pain again. "AGH! Gah, it's even WORSE when it's closer!" the pig man shouted.
"What's the big idea, huh?!" Skull added as he furrowed his brow at the new arrival. "Mind at least givin' us a WARNING before ya do that?!"
"Hmm." The figure acknowledged before reaching into the room and tapping the power panel, the lights coming on soon after. It was then that the figure was revealed to them in full, and needless to say, he made their jaws drop. His face was green and scaley, with a large lower jaw that had teeth fused to it. He also wore a black and red tunic with a matching hood, along with metal gloves that had sharpened fingers. His boots were black and had steel toes with spikes on them, and on his upper torso, he wore bone armor that looked like it belonged to some sort of large, horned alien creature. He glared down at the group, intimidating them all pretty quickly… aside from a certain redhead who wore a big toothy grin at the sight of him. And when he saw her, he gave her a greeting smirk right back. "Hmhm… Rojo. It's been a long time."
"Haha! Teach!" Rojo went up to Khyber and brought her hand up, which he gladly took in his own for a shake. "Ah, man, it's been WAY too long!"
"Indeed so." Khyber nodded. "Though I must say, you've certainly gone out of your way to get my attention."
Rojo could only offer a shrug. "What can I say? I didn't wanna miss an opportunity for a reunion." She reached down and stroked the Baskurr's head. "And I knew that when I saw THIS one at Pakmar's the other day, you couldn't have been far behind." However, she raised a questioning brow to him. "That said… why would you and your new hired help wreck a perfectly good toilet shop just to get Tennyson's attention?"
Khyber's brow furrowed a bit. "I have no association with those three you saw. They were but mere racketeers, nothing more." He gestured down to his alien dog and explained; "I simply took the opportunity to unleash my hound on Tennyson… as well as mark a test run for our newest secret weapon."
The redheaded bounty hunter eyed the Baskurr's collar, along with said device. "Ah, yeah, I've been wanting to know what the heck that thing is…"
"In due time." Khyber assured. "But for now, we have more important matters to discuss. Namely, your encounter with Tennyson today. If I recall, long ago, you told me about your previous encounters with him, correct?"
"Sure did. He was basically the whole reason I ended up in space in the first place."
"Hm, even though you purposefully stole a Plumber ship to escape their grasp in the first place." Rojo gave a nervous laugh at Khyber's accusation, to which he shook his head and sighed. "Hmph, yes well, if you are as experienced with Tennyson as you claimed to be back then, then perhaps we could assist each other in this endeavor." He received a raised brow from Rojo, ushering him to explain further. Khyber drew his knife, making the other Ministry members step back a bit. "As you know, I have made it a point to hunt the greatest prey in the universe, and Tennyson is at the very top of that list. In addition, I have a benefactor who would like the Omnitrix for himself, and he has even agreed to assist me. However… I had not counted on Tennyson having a team with him."
Rojo smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "Ah, yeah, the twerps themselves. They can be a right pain in the ass, can't they?" She winked and gave a thumbs up. "Don't worry, teach, you know you can count on me. My crew and I are more than willing to help you out, especially since OUR boss hates Ben with a pretty great passion."
This made Khyber tap his chin. "Hm… so you have an employer as well. Perhaps they would be willing to lend a hand as well?"
"Heh… I think I can talk the Boss Lady into getting a meeting in with you if that's what you're hoping for."
"Excellent." Khyber grinned maliciously. "I will let my benefactors know at once and I will bring them in as well. I am sure that your boss would be more than happy to have us as allies…" He trailed off before setting his sights onto the rest of the Ministry, and almost immediately, his eyeridges furrowed. "And… I would assume that these are your other allies."
Rojo wore an eager smile at that. "Oh, hell yeah! Hold on, one sec…" She faced her team and set her hand on Khyber's arm. "Guys, allow me to formerly introduce you to my mentor; Khyber. He's unarguably the BEST huntsman in the galaxy and he's hunted down pretty much any alien species you can think of." She craned her head up to her mentor. "Teach, these are my teammates; Emerald, Mercury, Neo, Subdora, Exo-Skull, Thunderhog, and…" She zipped right over and put an arm around Cinder proudly. "My partner, Cinder. I call her Cindy for short."
Cinder deadpanned before clearing her throat, a slight bit of red on her cheeks. "Ahem, yes, well, it's an honor to finally meet you, Khyber, sir. Rojo has told us much… about… you." Cinder's words slowly came to a stop as Khyber came right up to her and Rojo, the larger alien glaring intensely down to Cinder. The Fall Maiden glanced toward Rojo, who only offered a shrug, before going back to Khyber. "Um… is everything alright?"
Then, as blunt as could be, Khyber stated; "I watched your battle with the heroes… and for the most part, I was unimpressed."
This made everyone's eyes widen, including Rojo's. Cinder's eyed flared a little bit as her teeth clenched softly. "What?"
"Woah, woah, woah, hey! Let's not jump the gun here, Cindy!" Rojo pressed her hands firmly down on Cinder's shoulders, hoping to calm her down. "Hehe… I-I'm sure Khyber has a reason for this… critique, right?"
"You are correct, I do." Khyber said before trailing his gaze all across the room, making sure he got the message across. "Because what I see in here is nothing but raw potential. And while you all are competent fighters, that potential still has not been tapped into." He faced Cinder and raised a hand to her. "You, for example. I can sense that you have raw, unlimited power that you've only just barely begun to get the hand of… why then is your technique with a sword so sloppy?"
Cinder's eyes began glowing much more harshly. "What did you say? You think my form is sloppy?!"
"Yes, because you simply don't take care to be patient in battle. The moment something starts, you seem to feel the need to get in there and press the advantage right off the bat. We will work on this…" Khyber pointed toward Emerald with an accusatory finger next. "You there."
Emerald snapped to attention and pointed to herself. "M-Me?"
"You are the exact opposite of your friend. Your strikes lack commitment." Khyber said, taking her aback. "You hesitate whenever you go in to take the advantage. Almost as if you wish to not risk hurting your enemy."
The emphasis on that last word made Emerald flinch. It was true, while she wasn't opposed to hurting her enemies, from afar for with a shot from her guns, she never liked the thought of actually using her sickles to stab into someone. "W-Well, I—"
"And you, Merlinisapien." Khyber pointed to Subdora next. "Your tactics have become predictable to your enemies. They can easily detect you via sounds."
Subdora sneered at him in disgust. "Ugh! Well, that is hardly MY fault. The cat girl, she has hearing that cannot be matched!"
"Then you must learn to be as silent as possible if you wish for your invisibility to benefit you in any way." Khyber scolded. "And that INCLUDES not talking."
"Are you implying that I talk too much—"
"And you two." Khyber strode up to both Hog and Skull, the large mutants taking a step backward as the hunter's intimidating glare bored into them. "The both of you are complete simpletons. Just what in the world WAS that you did back in the city? You had managed to take the heroes off-guard, but you were so sure of yourselves that you decided to sing in the middle of a fight?"
Hog stammered a bit before shaking his head, getting himself back on track. "H-Hey! We DOMINATED those heroes back in the city, bro! Our fresh rhymes put them DOWN… for the time bein'."
"Yes… and then they humiliated you with amusement park rides." Khyber growled.
Exo-Skull gave a snort and reared his fist back. "Okay, that's IT!" He went for a punch… but then Khyber dodged and grabbed hold of Skull's arm, giving in a strong twist that resulted in him THROWING the huge rhino mutant straight over his head. "WAAAAGH!" BAM! "OOF!" Skull landed flat on his back, a soft groan escaping his throat.
"FARKAS!" Subdora cried as she fell to her beloved's side, glaring up at Khyber all the while. "You monstro!"
From the ground, Mercury got onto his hands and knees to try and get up, only to stumble as his broken legs failed him. "Gah! You bastard! If I could use my legs, I would SO kick your ass!"
Khyber looked down to him and grumbled; "Ah, yes… you. The young man who lets his rage overtake him like a petulant child." Khyber approached him, but Mercury didn't move, just glaring daggers at him. "The one who has a storm in his mind so intense that it clouds his judgement and costs him at every turn. You are probably the worst offender of all of your comrades here."
"SAY THAT AGAIN!" Mercury roared as his face became red. "I fucking DARE you—" CRACK! "AUGH!" At that, Khyber kicked Mercury right down to the ground, the spikes on his boots slicing a clean cut into Mercury's cheeks as his metal legs finally detached from his knees.
"MERCURY!" Emerald cried. She ran in to try and help, but was stopped by Rojo at the last minute. "AH! Rojo! What the hell are you—"
"Em, wait!" Rojo placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping she'd listen. "You need to trust me on this… Khyber knows what he's doing."
Cinder and everyone else gave her an incredulous look. "Rojo, what in the world are you talking about?! You're actually defending his actions here?! Why?!"
Rojo pursed her lips and turned her head as her mentor closed in on Mercury. "…Because this is pretty similar to how he got MY anger outta me." If anything, though, this made everyone's jaws drop in shock. "Believe me, I know it looks bad, but if Mercury doesn't learn now, he won't get it in the future."
Mercury kept his hand close to his jaw as he continued to bleed all over the floor, trying to regain his bearings as Khyber glared down at him. Still, he just scowled right back. "You're… garbage. PTUI!" Mercury spat blood in Khyber's direction.
"I have been called FAR worse, boy." Khyber shook his head. "And believe me, you would not like to know what I've been called." He reached down and grabbed Mercury by the face, and even though he attempted to fight back, Khyber's grip was too strong. "Now you listen to me…" He pointed back toward the others as well. "And this goes for ALL of you back there. If you all wish to stop failing and start winning against the heroes… then we have a lot of work to. Like I've said, I see plenty of untapped potential in this room. All that is needed is the right training to bring it out of you."
Khyber let go of Mercury and shoved him to the ground, eliciting another yell of pain from him. "Hear me when I say this;" he continued, "this training will be unlike anything you may have gone through in the past. My regimen will be strict, it will be painful, but most importantly…" He balled his hand into a fist. "It will get you the results you are looking for. So tell me…" He turned to the others with his hands behind his back. "Do you wish to succeed?" The entire group nodded except for Mercury, who was in too much pain to acknowledge him. "Very good. Your training starts tomorrow. We start at dawn."
"Yo, what, at dawn?!" Hog asked, only for Khyber to round on him. The pig man quicky raised his hands up. "Oh-ho-ho, okay then! Dawn it is! I ain't got no problem with dawn."
Cinder nodded in agreement. "And neither do I." She locked eyes with Khyber, determination very clear in her gaze. "I respect your method of training, Khyber. And I am more than up to the task that you've presented us." She clenched her hand into a fist and it lit on fire. "You are correct, we do wish to succeed against the heroes, and if your training can do that… who are we to say no?"
"Excellent. Just what I expected." Khyber said before he headed toward the door… only to stop near Neo, who was cowering behind her umbrella. "You there, girl." Neo peaked out from Hush and reluctantly set her sights up to Khyber. "Out of everyone here, I am most impressed with your ability to create physical illusions. Tell me, does this power have any… other uses?"
Neo blinked up to him a couple times and raised a brow toward Rojo, who only offered a shrug back. The heterochromatic girl took in a deep breath and activated her Semblance, showing Khyber just what her Semblance was capable of. Within mere moments, Neo's form had changed to that of a black-haired, pigtailed girl in a black and white dress and bright green eyes, though her height had stayed pretty much the same. She set her sights back up to Khyber and gave a slightly nervous smile… and was internally relieved when Khyber appeared impressed.
"Ah, very good." Khyber nodded. "You are capable of creating your own disguises by changing your whole form…" He put a finger to his chin and pondered; "I may have a mission for you in the future, Miss… Neopolitan, was it?"
Neo wore a surprised expression before nodding to him, her disguise falling away from her body. It was then that Rojo came up and cleared her throat. "Ahem, well, heh… I think this first meeting's been… pretty interesting." She nudged Khyber with her elbow and got his attention. "But uh, I'm thinking that we should probably get back home, teach. Y-You can come get us when it's time for training tomorrow, though."
Khyber let out a bit of a grumble, but in the end, he relented. He couldn't say no to his best student. "Very well. Let us get you back to your abode." With that, he, along with the Baskurr and Rojo, all exited the boarding room, with the bounty hunter shooting her entire team an apologetic gaze.
Once they were gone, however, Mercury slammed his fist into the floor. "I FUCKING hate that—OW!" He clutched his cheek the moment he felt his new cut move, the sharp sting resonating across the left side of his face.
Emerald sighed as everyone slumped over, still reeling from the experience they just had. "We're gonna be put through hell, aren't we?"
…..
Back at the Tennyson residence, after a two-hour marathon of Ponies, it finally came to an end, giving Kevin at least SOME form of relief. "Ugh, thank GOD." he groaned. "Seriously, I dunno HOW the hell you guys can stand all that cutesy stuff."
"Ah, c'mon, it wasn't THAT bad." Yang waved off. "The songs are really freaking catchy!"
Ilia smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, and I actually think it's a very charming show."
Gwen chuckled and steepled her fingers together. "Mhmhmhm… yes… soon all of you shall be part of the herd… hehehe…" She received several wary glances for that, though, leading her to clear her throat and change the subject. "Ahem, so… anything ELSE of note happen while you guys were there?"
"If you mean us almost eating it when that ROLLER COASTER fell off the track, then yes." Neptune said with a pointed glare at Sun, who shrugged with a cheeky grin.
Jaune raised a single finger. "I decapitated Larry King."
"And I shot Abraham Lincoln in the head." Pyrrha added, causing all eyes to fall to them. Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rex were particularly aghast from what she had said, leading her to shrink back nervously. "…Was it something I said?"
"…Sheesh, and I thought your Flying Grayson's joke was dark, dude." Rex remarked to Ben.
"Yeah, I… I really don't know how to respond to that." Ben admitted.
It wasn't long before Nora jumped in to get the conversation back on track. "Ooh, Penny and I bashed Skull with some bumper cars!"
Yang chuckled and eyes Ren, who grinned back. "And Ren and I humiliated Mercury."
Gwen rolled her eyes at that. "Lemme guess; you broke his legs."
"And we had it so that Thunderhog landed on him when we did." Ren added.
"HAHAHA! Oh god, Gwen, you should've seen it!" Yang burst out laughing and wiped a tear from her eye. "Pretty sure he was just FLATTENED! Haha!"
The Anodite shook her head and let out a sigh. "I wouldn't have expected anything less…" Her sights went over to Ruby and she tilted her head. "What about you, Ruby? You said you used a carousel to fling Neo into an ice cream stand, right? Anything else happen?"
"Well, I—OH! Wait, right!" Ruby shot up from the floor and raised her fists eagerly. "Gwen, you won't believe it! You remember Orson from Niagara Falls, right?" She received a nod from the redhead along with Kevin, both of them surprised yet intrigued by Ruby's excitement. "Well, he was THERE at the carnival! And I'm pretty sure he was watching the fight!"
"He was?" Gwen's eyes widened.
"Huh, guess the old man's still kicking around." Kevin jumped in as the rest of the group confirmed Ruby's words, with Penny, Nora and Weiss all stepping in. "Did he have that horse with him?"
The former heiress started first. "Yep, and all of us saw them, too." She gestured between the four of them, to which the other redheads gave an affirming nod each. "He just… suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He said some cryptic stuff and then we had to leave so we could help out the others."
"By the time the fight was over, they had disappeared again." Penny concluded with a frustrated expression. "Not even my scanners could pick them up anywhere."
Gwen crossed her arms, thinking over what she had just been told. "Hm… I see…" She shifted her eyes over to Ben with a curious brow raised. "Ben, do you think we could be dealing with another time walker, like Paradox?"
Ben's face scrunched up and he immediately shook his head. "Nah, no way. Paradox is the only one of his kind, remember? Unless someone ELSE managed to get sucked into that time and space vortex along WITH him back in the 1950's."
"Hm, good point." Gwen relented.
"Well, if we're not dealing with another Paradox… then what ARE we dealing with?" Rex asked.
Gwen tapped a finger to her lips before coming to another conclusion. "Well… we could always be dealing with someone who's magical in nature."
"Oh boy, here we go." Kevin rolled his eyes. He immediately received a small glare from his girlfriend for that, but he quickly defended himself. "Gwen, no offense, but you know how I feel about magic. I know that you're pretty good at it, but pretty much the only magical threats we've had to deal with are Hex and Charmcaster."
"And you don't think we couldn't be dealing with some OTHER magic user in this situation?" Gwen retorted. "Is that what you're saying?"
The Osmosian shook his head. "I'm saying that we should keep our options open. Magic can't be the end-all-be-all explanation for a mysterious, disappearing old man."
Ben gave a simple shrug. "I dunno, man, we've dealt with weirder in the past."
"Yeah, well, I like to remain skeptical." Kevin concluded.
"I think I'm with Kev on this one." Rex agreed. "I know magic IS real, but I also know that a more rational explanation can't be ruled out just yet."
Ben pointed toward Rex. "And THAT is exactly why when we see this guy next, we HAVE to stay on top of him before he goes anywhere." He set his sights out to the rest of the room. "And if any of you guys see him, make sure that you keep him where he is and contact us so that WE can get there, too." He crossed his arms with finality and said; "We'll find out who this guy is one way or another."
Yang gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, we're right there with ya, Green Boy." There was a collective agreement around the room before Yang cleared her throat. "But, uh, ahem… I think there was something ELSE that we were supposed to address when we got back here, wasn't there?"
The Omnitrix weilder blinked in bewilderment, raising a brow at his girlfriend. "Hm? I don't remember what you—ooooh…" He trailed off as all eyes were now on him, his team's gazes filled with concern. "Yeah… that."
"Yeah, dude, like… not even I knew about that." Kevin tilted his head. "And I'm pretty sure you've told me everything since you and I buried the hatchet."
"Hah, I had a feeling this day would come." Gwen sighed, setting her eyes onto Kevin and the others. "Kevin, the reason why Ben hasn't come out with this to anyone is because… well, as you can imagine, it's not exactly the most flattering thing to relive."
"Understatement of the freaking century." Ben muttered.
Gwen shook her head at Ben's remark before calling out for her aunt. "Aunt Sandra!"
At that moment, Sandra, Raven and Winter entered the room all at once, the three women giving the team small smiles. "Hey there, kids." Sandra greeted. "Enjoying the TV time?"
"Just so you know, dinner's almost ready." Raven added. "We were actually just about to call you when you called us."
"And on that note, what do you need, Gwen?" Sandra asked as she crouched down to her niece. "Need more asprin?"
"No, the pain's actually gone away by now." Gwen shook her head. "And besides, it's not really what I need…" She pointed up to Ben, who was keeping his head hung low. "It's what he needs."
Sandra perked up and stood back up, facing her son. "Ben, sweetie? I-Is there something the matter?"
Ben took in a deep breath and exhaled, bracing himself for what he was about to do. "Mom… it's time to show everyone… it."
In a nanosecond, Sandra's eyes shot open and her hand went to her mouth in shock. "B-Ben, sweetie, are you sure? I-I mean, you don't HAVE to if you—"
"Mom, it's okay." Ben assured. "Besides… they know about the fear already. It's only right that they get an explanation for WHY it's a thing in the first place."
Winter and Raven furrowed their brows, unsure just what was going on. "Ben, just what ARE you talking about?" the military specialist asked.
Ben glanced back to his mother and gave her a single nod, making her sigh heavily. "You'll… you'll find out. Wait right here." Sandra went upstairs and, within a few minutes, brought down an old VHS player and a single tape, one that had the word "FORBIDDEN" written on it in bold, red lettering. She quickly hooked it up to the TV and held the tape ready, pursing her lips reluctantly. "Okay… what you all are about to see is… probably one of the worst things that could happen to any child aside from getting a broken bone."
The group all eyed one another warily, feeling somewhat intimidated by what Sandra was saying. "R-Really, Sandra?" Penny asked.
"Yes, really. This was around twelve years ago, probably a little more." Sandra pressed on. "Ben was only about five when this happened and he was pretty much just discovering the world. One day… Carl and I took him to a petting zoo, and we were actually allowed into some of the pens to get up close and personal with the animals." The woman paused as she put a hand to her temple. "And, well… Ben had managed to climb into one of the pens by himself… one that WASN'T open to people, and for good reason." Sandra put the tape in and pressed play, swallowing hard before finishing; "Because the peacocks were in mating season… and the males were NOT happy."
The tape started and immediately, the team were greeted by the sound of Sandra and Carl yelling, all while the image on screen was blurry from all the running the former was doing. And in the background… they could hear a child screaming. "Ben! BEN!" From the sound of it, it sounded like Sandra was crying, and Carl was very desperate to get to his son. The camera stopped just before a gate, where Sandra screamed at her husband. "Get him, GET HIM!"
"I'M ON IT!" Carl roared before he practically vaulted himself over the gate, which was an impressive feat in and of itself. But then… they saw it.
Several feet in front of the camera on the other side of the gate was a cluster of several screeching peacocks, all of them ravenously pecking, plucking and scratching at what appeared to be several flailing limbs on the ground. They couldn't make out just who the person was… but if the scared, shrill cries of; "MOMMY! DADDY!" were anything to go by, they could infer who it was easily.
The group of young Hunters were stunned at the sight, with some even horrified at what they saw. It wasn't graphic or anything, but… it wasn't hard to imagine how Ben felt at the time, given how loud his screams were. It was then that they saw some zookeepers entering the place as well, but by then, Carl had made it over to the peacocks first and kicked them all away while yelling at them before quickly scooping up his crying son. He rushed back over to the gate, which he vaulted over with one hand before landing back next to Sandra, who was now unmistakably bawling at this point.
…And rightfully so, as everyone in the room gasped at the sight of young Ben's face. His cheeks were heavily scratched up and bleeding profusely, with several small pieces of flesh missing from his forehead where the peacocks had pecked at him. Thankfully, his eyes seemed to be alright, though they also took note that there were also many tufts of hair that were out of place as well. Ben wept hard as his parents clung onto him, the video ending right at that moment.
Silence permeated throughout the room as everyone's horrified yet sympathetic gazes went back to Ben, who opened his eyes to look back at his friends. He raised his arms with a slight shrug and concluded. "Well… now you know where my fear of peacocks comes from. Pretty embarrassing, right?"
"…Sweet Tap-Dancing CHRIST, dude!" Rex exclaimed. "That's not embarrassing, that's… that's goddamn AWFUL!"
"He's right, Ben!" Weiss jumped in. "How in the world could you think THAT is embarrassing?!"
"Because I was attacked by peacocks! Freaking PEACOCKS!" Ben clenched his teeth and began hitting his head against the wall, which Yang quickly began to stop.
"Ben, STOP IT!" Yang spun her boyfriend around and quickly hugged him, pulling him in close. "You don't have to beat yourself up just because you're afraid of something!"
However, the hero took her by the shoulders and pulled her back so he could meet her eyes. "But that's the thing; I'm NOT scared of them anymore! …At least I thought I wasn't…" Ben closed his eyes and faced away from her, crossing his arms as he felt everyone's eyes set squarely on him. "…I was afraid of peacocks for five years after that. …Then I turned ten and learned to be afraid of even WORSE things."
Ruby hazarded a guess. "Vilgax?"
Ben gave a nod. "Yeah… but not JUST him."
"There was also Zs'Skayr." Gwen elaborated. "But we knew him better as… Ghostfreak."
"So THAT'S why you don't like to go Ghostfreak." Blake concluded.
"Yep, pretty much." Ben confirmed. "I was traumatized by one of my own aliens when it came to life and attacked me straight out of the Omnitrix. And Vilgax pretty much speaks for himself. But after I had encountered those two, I thought my peacock fear had finally been superseded and I could move on… well, before today happened, that is."
Sandra gave him a confused look. "What? Why? What happened today, Ben?"
"You know that green-haired girl, Emerald? You probably saw her on TV." Sandra gave a nod at that, ushering Ben to go on. "Well, her Semblances is the ability to make illusions in people's mind… and she used that along with a bit of dirt she had on me to make me see a peacock the size of a T-Rex. I… I don't know WHAT happened, but when I saw that, I just… I got flashbacks to that day. It was like all of those repressed memories just came back to the surface and I just feel so embarrased—oof!"
Without warning, Yang hugged him again… and so did Ruby, Penny, and Nora surprisingly enough. "Ben, we get it." Yang brought her hand up and stroked his face gently with a soft smile. "And there's absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Exactly!" Ruby beamed as well. "Like you said, you had gotten over your fear of peacocks. This incident was something brought upon by a repressed memory, so really, you've still gotten over it."
"Ben, sometimes the things that make us afraid come back to haunt us at the worst times." Nora said as she jerked her thumb over to Ren. "Take me and Ren for example. We weren't expecting to fight the Nuckelavee about a week back, but we did."
"Yeah, and we ended up conquering it, too." Ren added. "I'm sure that you'll be able to move past this incident as well."
"Well, yeah, but… the Nuckelavee is actually SCARY." Ben argued.
Penny, however, shook her head. "Yes, it is. But in the mind of a child, ANYTHING can be scary… or so that I've researched, I've never had a proper childhood." She waved her head and said; "But moving on, what you've experienced can easily be confronted, Ben. You yourself said that you're over your fear, correct?"
"…Yeah?"
Yang gave her boyfriend a small kiss on the cheek. "Good! Then what we need to do is assure yourself of that. Tomorrow, we're gonna be doing some special training when we get to the Hazard Chamber." She gave him a small wink. "We'll help you get past this whole peacock thing in no time!"
A round of uproarious cheers of agreement sounded off throughout the room… and eventually, Ben felt a small grin tug at his lips. He chuckled and returned each of the hugs he was given thankfully. "Heh, thanks guys, that means a lot. …And I'm really glad that you don't think any less of me for this."
Jaune waved his hand and scoffed. "Psh, nah, you kidding? Ben, something like this is NOT worth losing any respect over."
"Exactly." Pyrrha smiled. "And as Yang said, we will help you deal with it come tomorrow. But for now…" Her hand went to her stomach as it rumbled a bit. "I've worked up quite the appetite since this morning. What say we go eat some dinner?"
"Hehe, now THAT I can get behind." Ben concurred, to which everyone started to get up and make their way toward the kitchen. All the while, though, Ben still couldn't stop the smile that was plastered over his face. 'Man, I really AM lucky to have such a great team. …Strike that, great FRIENDS.' With that thought in his mind, Ben took Yang by the hand and they walked into the kitchen together… but not before he whispered to her; "After tomorrow's training; you, me, a night on the town. Whaddya think?"
A sly grin formed on Yang's lips and her immediate response was; "It's a date."
…..
A/N: And there you have it! And might I say, after two weeks of doing lengthy, action-packed chapters, it feels good to get back to a more casual style again. That said, this chapter is pretty much just a "hanging out" chapter that gets Gwen, Kevin and the others who weren't at the battle up to speed on what's happened… as well as addressing just why the heck Ben's afraid of peacocks in the first place. In the original Omniverse, it was played up mainly for a gag, but I figured; "Ya know what? Why not add a bit of a traumatizing backstory to that?". Because let's face it, if YOU were five years old and attacked by peacocks, you'd probably be trying to suppress those memories too. Also, MORE PONIES! And once again, Kevin doesn't really get it, but hey, that's par for the course for him.
But as casual as this chapter was… there ain't nothing casual about the meet-up that the villains had with Khyber. He was NOT shy to critique them on how they did in the battle, that's for sure. Rojo may say that he has a method to his madness, but I can guarantee that Mercury still doesn't like him after having THAT happen. Ah well, at least between Six and Khyber, both heroes AND villains will be put through the wringer when it comes to training.
So, with the third anniversary chapter up, I think now is a good time to focus on… NEXT TIME! Because it's finally time to start training in the Hazard Chamber and see what it can do! Six is there to put the team through their paces, of course, but we also get a bit of help from Holiday monitoring the training… along with a new character who might be small, but has quite the intellect. With that said, thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!
