A/N: How's it going, everyone? Well, it's Friday, and you know what that means! Indeed, it's time for another new chapter, and we're gonna be keeping it casual this time around. After all, with the craziness of last time, we could use a breather. So, sit back, relax and enjoy, because this is…
Chapter 49: CFVY Catch-Up
…..
Back at Plumber HQ, Taiyang Xiao Long was… calm. He was calm, and he was okay with that. In all honesty, this had been the least stressed that he'd been in a while, and he had a lot of that owed to a certain Spring Maiden. When they had gotten back to Remnant, the first thing she had him do was go to see a counselor for his high-levels of stress, and in hindsight, it was the best decision that anyone ever made for him. Admittedly, he had always been nervous about expressing how he felt to anyone outside of his immediate family or friends, but this councilor was genuinely very kind and willing to lend an ear and listen. These past two days alone had helped him get quite a bit of stuff that was bothering him off his chest, between sharing with both the councilor and Raven herself…
…At least, when they weren't performing the… OTHER method of stress relief. Tay's cheeks became beat red as the memories of those nights played back in his head. It had been a LONG time since he had seen Raven like that. Hell, it had been YEARS since he'd done that with any woman. But he was thanking every god he could think of for the fact that he still had it, and Raven was no slouch either in that regard.
'Still as beautiful as she was back then.' Tai thought wistfully. 'Hell, even MORE so, actually.'
As he was lost in his thoughts, though, the blonde man failed to notice Max coming up from behind to tap his shoulder. "Tai, are you—"
"AH!" Tai jumped and spun around, clearly unprepared for the sudden touch. "Oh… hah, Max, I'm sorry. I wasn't prepared for that."
Max smiled and raised a brow at him. "Lost in your thoughts?"
"Heh, you could say that." Tai admitted.
"Worried about your girls? They'll be back, I'm sure."
"O-Oh, no, it's not that." Tai shook his head. "Though believe me, my girls are always in my thoughts. But what's mainly on my mind is… well, the past two days I spent with Raven." He craned his head down a bit. "In all honesty… I don't really want to leave, not after laying everything out to one another. We still have so much to make up for… but I've got my job at Signal and she's got team-related things to take care of here."
Max chuckled and placed a hand on the semi-retired Huntsman's shoulder reassuringly. "I know what you mean. I've… gone through similar things with my wife in the past."
Tai's eyebrows rose in intrigue. "Oh, yeah… that's right, she's an alien. I'm sure it's pretty hard to be away from her for such a long time. Kinda makes me and Raven's situation seem small in comparison, I bet."
But Max denied that. "Not at all, son. It's true that Verdona and I have been apart for quite a few years now… but that doesn't mean we don't care about one another." He gestured toward the hangar they were standing in. "But even when I had to deal with all this while we were raising our kids, we were in similar situations to yours and Raven's all the time. But we hung through." He pat Tai on the shoulder once more. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, Tai. You're a good man, and I'm sure Raven knows that, too."
Tai glanced off to the side sheepishly, catching sight of Six and Holiday approaching as well. "Heh, thanks, Max. I appreciate the advice." But then, all of a sudden, a large, black and red swirling vortex opened up above all of their heads, taking Tai a bit off guard. "Woah! Speaking of, here she comes!"
"Oh, thank goodness." Holiday sighed in relief. "I was starting to wonder how much longer they'd be."
Six, however, quirked a brow at the massive portal. "Why would she need a portal that size, though?"
Before anyone could make a guess, they saw Raven herself come flying down through the portal and land in a crouch, followed by Cooper, who was carrying Coco, and Rex, who held Weiss in his arms. Next came Penny and Qrow himself, the corvid shifting into his human form as he rolled and sprang to his feet. "Ah, home sweet home." the huntsman said before spotting his old partner. "And Tai! Haha, you shoulda seen it, man!" He went up and shook his brother-in-law's hand. "Your girls kicked ASS back there."
"Hah, good to hear it." Tai smiled back before seeing Raven approach, along with the other teens. "But uh… where's everyone else?"
"Oh, they're coming." Weiss smiled knowingly as she pointed up to the portal. "They're flying on Tennyson Airlines."
"…What's that supposed to—HOLY FREAKING CRAP!"
All at once, Six, Holiday and Max gasped at the sight of what was coming through that portal. Or rather… what flew through it. With a wingspan of probably eighty feet in length and standing at a height well over sixty feet… was an absolutely MASSIVE dragon. The behemoth came swooping into the hangar and performed a loop around the whole place before coming to a landing in front of Tai and the others… who finally took note of the Omnitrix blinking on its chest. "BEN?!" Max exclaimed.
"Hi grandpa!" The dragon waved before craning his neck toward his team, who were all riding on his back. "As you can see, we're all back in one piece."
"Daddy! Up here!" Tai's eyes widened at the sight of Ruby and Yang holding onto the dragon's neck, all while waving down at him. Ruby beamed excitedly down at him as she shouted; "Look at us! We're on a freaking DRAGON!"
"I… I-I see that, honey!" Tai nodded. "Ben… since WHEN can you change into a dragon?!"
The beast shrugged his shoulders. "Just now, actually. Unlocked it, Rock Bottomed a Tyrannopede into a space ship, took down the hunter who's been after me for the past week and a half. Pretty satisfying, honestly, I—" FLASH! "…Uh oh—AAAH!" The entire team let out a unified scream as Ben changed back to normal, leaving them all to fall freely down to the hard metal floor. Some were able to land on their feet… but others like Jaune, Kevin and Neptune fell directly on their asses.
"AGH! Jeez, nice one, Tennyson!" Kevin barked. "Cutting it close, much?"
The only ones still holding onto Ben were Yang and Ruby… and they actually landed on TOP of him, so that only made things worse. "GAH! …Oh dear god, why?" Ben muttered.
"BEN!" The sisters shot up to their feet and Yang helped her boyfriend up, making sure nothing was broken. "Oh god, you didn't get hurt or anything, did you? I'm so sorry for landing on you, that was—"
But Ben just took her by the shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug. "Haha, Yang, it's fine. I'm fine, trust me." He pecked her on the lips and gave her a wink. "I know you'd never hurt me on purpose, that's a given."
Yang smiled back and rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, that's obvious. But still, can't blame me for worrying, right? Last thing I want after this mission is to get you hurt."
"Ah, I've had worse landings." Ben said with a wave before spotting Tai and Raven coming over to them, along with Six, Holiday and the rest of the team. Six came straight up to him as well, leading Ben to take a firm stance. "Agent Six, I'm happy to report that there were no casualties or any signs of collateral damage on this mission."
Six gave him a nod. "Hm, our sensors had detected an airbourne craft raising out of the Florida Everglades and headed northwest to Tampa before crashing in the woods outside the city." He wore a proud smirk. "I take it that was your doing?"
"You bet, Six." Rex said as he placed an arm over Ben's shoulders. "My dude here went all DRAGON FIRE on Khyber and we got the heck outta dodge!"
Blake came up with a more serious expression. "The only unfortunate aspect about this mission is that Cinder and the Ministry got away. So we might have to keep dealing with them in the future."
"That's alright. After today, I'm sure they've seen the point you're trying to make to them." Holiday stated, folding her arms over her chest. "Should they choose to mess with you again, I'm sure you'll get that message across."
"Yeah, and that's "don't mess with us"." Rex said before giving Ben a fist bump, both boys laughing in agreement.
Tai went over to Ruby and Yang, bringing them in for a hug. "Ooh, I'm so darn proud of you two. I never thought you two would get into the villain-busting business THIS soon, but both of you are CRUSHING it!" He shifted his sights over to Weiss and Blake, as well as the other teens. "Along with your friends, of course."
Yang rolled her eyes and nudged her father's arm. "Hm, thanks dad. But uh, I can't help but notice you seem a lot… happier."
Ruby nodded up to her dad eagerly. "Yeah! I'm guessing you and Raven had a good couple of days back home?"
Tai's face fell slightly at Ruby's question, knowing full well that was a drastic understatement. If she knew what they had done in that house, Ruby would likely flip out and scream "FILTH" over and over again. Sharing a brief glance with Raven, making the Spring Maiden smirk, Tai simply agreed with his daughter's words. "Uh, hehe… yep, sure did, Ruby."
"We've never felt closer." Raven added as she came up and wrapped her arm around Tai's own. Ruby and Yang certainly seemed delighted at that. "But that's not all. I managed to convince your father to go to a counselor to help with his stress, too."
"Oh, THANK YOU, Raven!" Ruby said happily. "We've been saying he should go to therapy for years!"
Tai deadpanned and folded his arms at his baby girl. "You make it sound like I was a crazy person, Ruby."
"Well, of course you aren't." Ruby brushed off. "But you know what I mean."
Gwen cleared her throat, gaining everyone's attention. "Ahem, well, I'm also very glad for you, Tai. It's always good to see someone whenever you have any problems that aren't easy to confront by yourself." She placed her hands on her hips. "With that said, though, now that we're all back home and Khyber's been dealt with, I think now is the perfect time to address a certain something…" She nudged her head toward her grandfather. "Right, Ben?"
"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Ben smacked his forehead. "I nearly forgot about that." He went over to Max, sending him a grin. "So, grandpa, about this weekend. I suggested the other day that we should all go out for a big team camping trip. Think you'd be free enough this weekend to come with?"
Max brightened up in an instant. "Haha! Why Ben, I'd love to." He reached out a put an arm across his grandson's shoulders. "It might not be South America like we had initially planned for this summer, but I know a good place up north where we can… oh… wait a moment."
Everyone grew confused as Max's smile faltered a bit. "W-What's the matter, Max?" Jaune asked.
The elderly Plumber sighed and he scratched his chin. "Hm, well, I WOULD like to take all of you kids camping, but those Kur experts will be here this weekend to help us identify the writing on that plaque the Forever Knights stole." His hand went to his neck and he let out a despondent sigh. "Hmm… this could present a problem."
Pyrrha tilted her head. "Kur experts? Those exist?"
"Oh yes, and they're actually old friends of mine, especially Solomon." Max affirmed. "He's helped me many times in the past and I'm sure he and his family can help here, too…" He paused again, thinking of some way they could compromise this whole situation before he was reminded of something. "D'oh! Of course, why didn't I think of that until now?"
"Think of what, Max?" Ren wondered.
"Heh, I just remembered that Solomon and his family actually get around mostly through their air ship. So really, they probably won't have any trouble meeting us out at camp." Max shook his head, rubbing the top of it a bit. "I'll just have to give them a quick call later to tell them of the change in plans."
"These people have an AIRSHIP?!" Nora exclaimed in excitement. "Ooh, they sound so cool! I can't wait to meet them!"
Off to the side, Cooper and Team CFVY were grouped up, the former shedding his metal armor and freeing himself up. Coco in particular seemed to chuckle at what was being said. "Hehe, yeah, sounds like a pretty cool time all things considered." She adjusted her sunglasses with an apologetic grin. "Sad to say, though, we probably won't be able to join in."
Velvet scratched her face guiltily. "Oh yeah, we DID promise Cooper's mom that we'd be over whenever we came back. Don't think we'll be able to make that camping trip, unfortunately." Fox and Yatsu seemed to deflate at the sound of that, though Ben was quick to reassure them.
"Ah, don't worry about it, Vel." The hero gave her a thumbs up. "There'll always be more camping trips we can head out on in the future." Ben set his sights to Max with a nod of approval. "But yeah, that sounds like a great idea, grandpa. I can't wait to meet these friends of yours, actually."
Max chortled and gave him a salute. "Oh, I'm sure they'll ALL get a big kick out of you kids, too." He sent the team one more knowing look. "But hey, I'm sure after today, all of you are WIPED. So head on home and start getting things together. We'll be leaving late tomorrow evening to get to the spot I have in mind, so be all of you are ready, alright?"
"Yes, sir!" The team saluted all at once.
Six stepped forward again and added his two cents. "In that case, I suppose it's only fair to give you the day off tomorrow so you can pack." He sent a knowing smirk to the group. "Besides, knowing all of you, something's bound to find you."
"Hehe, thanks Six, I think." Rex chuckled before tilting his head toward Ben. "So, what's on the agenda for the rest of the day?"
Ben wasted no time in eyeing Cooper and Team CFVY. "Well, that's pretty obvious. You guys might not be coming along on the trip, but that's not to say we can't spend some time together BEFORE we head out, right?"
"Oh yeah, for sure." Cooper nodded. "Ironwood's coming over to pick us up on Monday, so we've got plenty of time to catch up before we head back."
Ruby couldn't help but be confused at that. "Um, can't you guys just head back on your own? Why's General Ironwood coming to take you back himself?"
"Well, technically, he's not picking US up." Yatsu emphasized. "He's picking up… another certain someone."
"Indeed." Winter affirmed, bringing everyone's attention to her. "I've spoken with the general recently myself, and…" She pulled out her scroll and brought up a picture, one of a very familiar bearded man with a mane-like head of hair. "It's almost time for the former headmaster's court hearing."
The team were a bit surprised by the revelation, but all quickly remembered that they had indeed brought the disgraced headmaster of Haven Academy TOO Ben's world. They also recalled that he didn't look like the picture they were seeing anymore, having been forcing into a mutation by Doctor Animo himself. "Oh… right." Sun muttered, feeling his stomach churn in disgust. "Lionheart."
"Or Leonidas if we're being technical." Neptune pointed out, also a bit put off by the picture. "Either way, he deserves everything that's been handed to him for selling us AND Haven out the way he did."
"Hey, hey, c'mon guys." Ben stepped between them, taking hold of their shoulders. "Yes, he does deserve to serve some time for the crap he pulled." But then, he shook his head. "Still, you gotta admit, being mutated against his will to be a puppet of the Ministry was just needlessly cruel, and I'll bet he's been reflecting on all the mistakes he's made."
Sun and Neptune winced a bit, knowing that Ben had a point. "Well, yeah…" Sun shrugged. "But still, you think he'd be doing that even if he didn't get mutated?"
Ben leaned his head a bit, thinking over Sun's counter argument. "Honestly… who can say?"
"Well, I can say he deserves what he gets." Qrow grumbled as he walked off. "At least in my opinion. The man's a coward. Always has been, always will be."
Raven hummed in agreement. "Ben, I know that you like to see the good in people." She craned her head over to her brother, who skulked off through the automatic doors. "And, unlike my brother, I will say that Leo's mutation was somewhat unfortunate… but in the end, he brought it upon himself for allying with Salem." She set her eyes to the image of the former headmaster, though the image of his mutant lion form was all that stared back at her in her mind. "Whether he learned his lesson or not doesn't matter. He must still face justice for his crimes. And hopefully, Jim will see to that."
Tai suddenly jumped into the conversation, raising his hands to the duo. "Okay, I think we've had enough serious talk for one day." He nodded to the hero, as well as his daughters. "All of you, head on out and have a good time. We'll cross the whole Lionheart bridge when we get to it."
"Sounds good to me, dad." Yang gave him a thumbs up before turning to the rest of the team, specifically to Coco, Yatsu, Velvet and Fox. "C'mon guys, let's head to Ben's place. There's something there that you've just GOTTA see, trust me." She quickly pointed to the Fox before he could say anything. "And yes, Fox, I know what I just said."
"Sheesh, can't even let me poke fun at ya, huh, Yang?" Fox quipped back. "I had a joke at the ready and everything."
"Dude, we already know the punchline to every one of them." Yang smirked as she spun on her heel and headed toward the door, with Ben and her teammates following after her. "You're kinda predictable that way."
Fox shook his head as the rest of his own team started following them as well. "Sheesh, can I help it if I'm comfortable with poking fun at myself?" With that, he followed the group out, leaving the adults behind.
Raven sighed and leaned on Tai's shoulder, smiling as the teens left. "I'll admit, I missed this."
"Wow, a full two days away and you can't wait to get back to training them." Tai grinned down to her knowingly. "You really have gotten attached to those kids."
"Yeah, well, it's hard not to when they banter like that…" Raven trailed off as her eyes landed on Vernal, her protégé standing off to the side silently ever since they had arrived. "Oh, and Vernal!" Her voice managed to perk the girl's head up as she went over to her. "I don't think we got the chance to properly say hello. How's Earth been for you so far?"
Vernal immediately straightened up and bowed to her teacher. "It's fine, Raven, thank you for asking." She put on a smile herself as she nudged her chin toward the door. "But I gotta say, I don't know how you put up with those brats. They're a handful and a half."
The Spring Maiden took to her pupil's side, putting an arm across her shoulders. "Hmhm, time and patience, Vernal. Believe me, you'll get used to them." She glanced knowingly to her. "Though I'm surprised you aren't used to your "sisters" yet at least, especially since you have to live with them."
All at once, Vernal's eyes widened, confused at what she was talking about. "Uh… what?"
"I mean, I know that bunking at Ben's house probably wasn't easy to adapt to, but…" Raven trailed off as she saw the bafflement in Vernal's features, the younger woman clearly not knowing what she was talking about. "…Vernal, you DID set yourself up in my room while I was away, right?"
With a bite of her lip, Vernal reluctantly answered; "Um… no?"
A sigh escaped Raven's lips and she brought a hand to her face. "And I even separated the beds and everything." She raised a questioning brow to her student. "Where exactly HAVE you been staying, then?"
"Here, at Plumber Headquarters."
"Oh, excellent." Raven started to walk away, but suddenly grabbed Vernal by the collar, dragging the girl along her heels. "Then we're going to grab your things and you are moving into Sandra's place with me as soon as possible."
"W-Wait, what?! No way!" Vernal started struggling against Raven, but couldn't get out of her iron grip. "C'mon, Raven, you can't be serious!"
"Do NOT use that tone of voice with ME, young lady!"
"Stop treating me like a child!"
"Only when you stop ACTING like one."
The back-and-forth argument continued as the two women went through the door and disappeared down the hall, leaving Tai, Max, Holiday and Rook to stare after them with incredulous stares. The blonde man himself cleared his throat and started making for the door himself. "I'd uh… better go make sure they don't kill each other. See you guys." And with that, he was off, hoping that neither woman would go too far.
Six, in his usual monotone, actually made a bit of a joke as he put a hand in his pocket. "Hm, well, I suppose Raven's taken to motherhood fairly well."
Rook reached up and scratched his neck awkwardly. "I was unaware that Earth mothers could be so… forceful."
Holiday let out a small laugh and wave a hand to him. "It's okay, Rook. I promise that not ALL Earth mothers are like that. …At least not when one of their children is misbehaving."
"Hm, I see." Rook nodded in understanding, starting toward the door himself. "Well, if you will excuse me, Swift and I have a parole hearing in an hour, so I had better—"
But Max cut him off, placing a hand on his arm. "Woah, hold on there, Rook." He offered a smile to the Revonnahgander, who was a bit perplexed at the abrupt stop. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Regarding the team, that is." He could see that Rook wasn't too sure what to make of that, but he knew he would soon.
…..
Twenty minutes later, the team had arrived back at Ben's house in their respective vehicles, Coco having brought her own roadster back from Remnant as well. After parking either in the driveway or on the side of the road, the cluster of twenty teens disembarked from their cars, with Winter having driven with them in Natalie's minivan, which she allowed her to borrow. Not long after, Rex slid to a halt on his own Ride and flipped onto his feet, pulling his goggles up. "Ah, casa sweet casa." The EVO went over and assisted Weiss out of Ben's car, taking her by the hand. "May I?"
"Hmhm, you may." Weiss giggled as she planted a kiss on his cheek.
Yang rolled her eyes at the sight. "Sheesh, don't look now, everyone, but we've got some chivalry going on here."
Weiss turned her nose up at her friend. "Oh? And what's so wrong with that? Ben opens the door for you every time YOU get out or when you're going in the house."
"Pfft, no he doesn't."
However, just as Yang approached the house, a green blur rushed past her and Ben opened the door for her, waving his arm into the abode. "Welcome home, Goldie Locks!"
Yang deadpanned and Weiss folded her arms, satisfied at her correctness. "Hm, he doesn't, does he?" She gave a laugh as Yang slapped her forehead, but that quickly came to a halt the moment she saw a certain someone standing on the other side of the door. "Wait… Kenny?"
"Huh?" Ben whipped his head toward his front door and was surprised to see that his older cousin was indeed there. He seemed to be taken off guard a bit, likely due to the sudden opening of said door. "Kenny, when the heck did you get here?"
"Hey guys!" Kenny greeted as he stepped out. "Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but I got a call from grandpa saying that you guys were back and headed here." He gave them a shrug. "So, I figured I'd wait out here. I wanted to see how you guys were doing after the big mission, and…" He glanced off to the side and scratched the back of his neck. "I'm, uh… a bit impatient, I'll be honest."
At that, Winter put on a sly smirk and sauntered her way over to Kenny. "Oh, really? And whatever could you be impatient for?"
Kenny reciprocated the grin, reaching out to gently grasp her hand. "Heh, you of all people should know what." He sent her a rather charming wink. "Seeing you is the highlight of my day, after all."
There was a chorus of "aws" from several of the girls present, though Coco couldn't help but be a bit more vocal in her support. "WOO! Get 'er, boy!" Winter and Kenny did a double take at that, the duo's cheeks flushing red as they remembered they had an audience.
Cooper, however, bit down on his lip, lest he burst out into a fit of laughter. His girlfriend had done something similar with Velvet and Cardin the other day… only Velvet was on the receiving end of Coco's support that time. The genius could see the bunny girl blush at the memory, lowering her head to that her ears hid her face. He had to admit, he was glad that Coco was being supportive of their relationship now… but that didn't mean she wasn't going to tease them. Cooper sighed and shook his head. "Hehe, okay, I think we've gone WAY off course already. We're here to catch up, not tease those two."
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Weiss said in slight disappointment, but nevertheless, leaned over to her sister and whispered; "Let me know how that date goes, by the way."
"Hm, of course." Winter muttered sarcastically, only to see that Gwen was whispering to her brother to do the same thing Weiss had just asked as well. 'How is it that our sisters are both so damn nosey?' she wondered to herself before everyone went inside.
"So, Velvet, how've things been back in Remnant?" Ilia started, tilting her head to her fellow Faunus with a knowing smile. "You seem in really good spirits, I've noticed."
Vevlet brightened up at the question. She and Ilia weren't particularly close, but she DID sense a bit kindred spirit in her, so she was all too happy to answer. "Oh, things have been doing pretty well, actually." Everyone gathered around in the living room, the group allowing Team CFVY to have the couch as they were the special guests. "The reconstruction of Beacon has gotten a real shot in the arm after the attack on Vale and Ben revealing his secret."
Ben's eyebrows rose in intrigue. "Really? Huh, never would've thought that."
"Hmhm, well, once they heard that you'd be attending Beacon once the school was rebuilt, they were all too eager to keep going." Yatsu explained. "You've become VERY popular there." He reached behind him and pulled out a piece of black cloth, which was revealed to actually be a shirt. …And it had a white number "10" on the back. "Heck, they've even taken to wearing these on the job."
The tall swordsman turned the shirt around… revealing the familiar Omnitrix hourglass symbol. Smack dab in the middle, big enough to cover the whole chest. Ben's jaw hit the floor, while the rest of the team were equally as surprised. "They're… they're making Ben 10 MERCH?!" Gwen exclaimed. "…Already?!"
"But… how?!" Ben said in bewilderment, taking the shirt from Yatsu. "…Oh my god, and it's freaking soft." He held the shirt up to Team RWBY. "Feel this, it's like a bed sheet or something!"
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang followed through, and were very stunned at how soft this was. "…Is it too much to ask if I can have this?" Yang muttered.
"Er… that's a men's." Yatsu explained. "I mean, it's a medium, but—"
"Don't care." Yang snatched it away from Ben, holding it close to her chest. "Mine now."
As much as Ben was amused by his girlfriend's antics, he was still focused on the new line of "knock-off" merchandise. Of course, it wasn't like it was a BAD thing. After all, he knew it'd be a while before he could even think of setting up merch deals in Remnant, but at the very least, this showed that there WERE people who supported him and knew he was a hero. 'I HAVE to thank Lisa Lavender when I see her again for that top-notch reporting.'
Rex couldn't help but pout a bit. "Man… no Generator Rex t-shirts?"
"I'm still working on a design there, big guy." Coco said with a reassuring wave. "I've been trying to design a logo and I wanted your input, so feel free to give me some suggestions."
"Ah, okay." Rex nodded. "Good to know. …Hold on." The EVO's eyes widened in realization, along with many others as his arm snapped up and pointed to the fashionista. "YOU made those Ben 10 shirts?!"
Coco simply shrugged, eating up the attention. "What can I say? The hero market is a pretty popular one at Beacon right now."
Ben blinked, still not sure what to make of all this. Coco… was making merchandise… based off of him. A part of him was wondering where she got the time to do all of that… but the other part of him was considering hiring her as a consultant or something. "Coco… I'm honestly flattered that you're handling both my merchandise AND essentially my PR in Remnant at this point, but… it would've been nice to know about this."
"I know, I know." Coco held her hands up in surrender. "I really should've, you're right. But honestly… the opportunity was right there, and I couldn't just let it pass by." She took off her sunglasses, giving Ben a genuine smile. "Ben, you really should've been there. After you guys saved the day and gave that press conference, we came back to a Beacon full of life and hope." She gave a small shrug. "And honestly, I just wanted to keep that hope going, you know? I had the shirts made, and all the Lien I made back went directly to a charity in Vale to help reconstruction efforts down there, too."
The room was filled with a chorus of happy sighs, and before anyone knew it, Nora spoke up. "Well, if THAT'S the case, then I gotta buy one of those shirts on the double!"
Jaune was quick to agree. "Yeah, me too. If it's all going to a good cause, I wanna pitch in."
And just like that, several others began making their interest in the shirts known, namely Sun, Neptune, and Ruby. Even Gwen had to admit, it was a very good idea. "Okay, I've actually never bought any of my cousin's merchandise before… but even I've gotta say that this is probably one of the best ideas ever."
As the teens clamored for Coco's creation, Ben stepped out and held up his hands. "Okay, okay, let's all take a pause here…" His sights locked back onto Coco, giving her a skeptical gaze. The fashionista was curious and even somewhat worried by the look that Ben was giving her, but her fears were unfounded as Ben smiled and gave a sigh of his own. "Hah, alright. Coco, I've made a decision." He pointed straight at her and revealed; "I'm gonna get you in touch with my merch team. I'll get you some good stuff to bring back to Vale. Plushes, action figures, keychains, you name it."
Coco's lips parted in astonishment, unprepared for what she was hearing. "W-Wait… you want me to sell your OFFICIAL merch in Vale?"
"Only if EVERYTHING you make off of it goes straight to those charities you were talking about."
"Ha! It's a deal!" Coco reached out and shook Ben's hand, giving him a determined stare. "I won't let ya down, Tennyson. Promise."
"Good, because I'm going to get you in touch with my PR team, too." Ben added. "Because in all honesty, you spreading the good word around in Remnant is VERY helpful, that's for sure."
That got Coco to recoil a bit in shock. "Hold on… you wanna hire me?"
Ben chuckled and nodded. "Hehe, you got that right. Someone as good as spreading hype around as you? You'd be VERY welcome on my team." He nudged his head toward the television. "Heck, my PR Team is the only reason why Harangue hasn't completely dismantled my hero career, so that shows you how good they are."
"…Wait a second, Ben." Pyrrha eyed the hero incredulously. "If that's true, then why haven't they tried to sue him?"
"Hah, you think they haven't been TRYING?" Ben returned with a frustrated expression. "Believe me, they have, but the asshole's been hiding behind legal jargon for months at this point and he's managed to wiggle out of everything they've thrown at him." The Omnitrix bearer facepalmed exasperatedly. "I tend to stay out of courtroom stuff, but I swear, I WILL see that idiot in court one day."
Just then, Weiss and Rex both slid up on either side of Ben, placing their hands on each of his shoulders. "And when that day comes, I hope you consider the law offices of Schnee and Salazar to represent you, Ben!" Weiss said cheerily, making sure to put some… extra pressure on Ben's right shoulder. "After all… we could use the experience." she added as she glanced coldly up at him.
A mild chill went through Ben at the thought of them representing him in court, even though they had technically been successful in representing Swift. "…Well, maybe once you've made your law office an actual THING, I'll consider it." Ben answered.
"We're working on it." Rex said with a pat on his friend's shoulder, the couple giving him his personal space back afterward.
Ben let out a short breath… but then heard Yang behind him. "Well, now that that's been taken care of…" Without warning, he was suddenly set upon by his girlfriend when her powerful legs suddenly jumped up and wrapped around his waist. She put her whole weight on his back and then used the t-shirt to pull on his neck, leaning her head down so it was next to his. "…Why wasn't I informed that you had OFFICIAL MERCH?!"
"Gah… because I knew you'd want lots of it." Ben choked out.
"You bet your sweet ass I do!" Yang pulled the shirt away and then whapped him on the noggin with it, giving him a playful smirk as she jumped off of him. "As soon as I get the chance, I'm gonna go through your selection and see what I like."
"Yes dear." Ben nodded dutifully. He knew that this day would come, but now he could no longer delay it. 'She's probably going to get a plushie of me to sleep with.' he thought anxiously. 'Oy.'
After the room was done laughing at the couples' antics, Sun placed his hands behind his head, leaning against the wall. "Well, glad to hear you guys have been doing some good things back home." He nodded to them with a bright smile. "So, anything else interesting going on?"
"Hmph, not exactly." Fox shrugged. "Unfortunately, Vale's in even worse states after the battle with the Ministry." The blind huntsman shook his head as the rest of his team also became a bit downtrodden. "Grimm attacks are becoming a lot more frequent, by land, sea AND air."
"That's why we've been raising as much money as we can to help pick reconstruction back up." Coco explained. "It's a process, but one that I hope is worth it in the end."
Velvet brightened up a bit, however. "Thankfully, there HAS been quite a bit of help, even from other Kingdoms." She spotted Penny in particular. "Penny, your father's been assisting quite a bit in helping get the city's computer systems back online. He says hello, by the way, and that he's doing alright."
Penny gasped, clasping her hands together. "Oh, how sensational! Tell father that I am very glad to hear that he is doing fine, and I hope he is successful in his endeavors."
"Of course." Yatsu bowed his head, with Velvet doing the same. "We'll tell him upon our return."
Blake craned her head over to Cooper, the genius having been mostly silent. "And what about you, Cooper? I'm sure you've been majorly busy since you went back there, right?"
"Ha, you have NO idea, Blake." Cooper affirmed, slumping against the chair he was sitting in. "Ironwood and Goodwitch have had no lack of jobs for me to do, either around Beacon or the city." He craned his head down toward his chest, right where his suit's power core would be. "Heck, sometimes I'm called down just to kill a huge swathe of Grimm that end up entering the city. It's… a bit stressful, not gonna lie, but I've been persevering."
Ben gave his friend a sympathetic gaze. "Trust me, Coop, I get where you're coming from. It's like you've got the whole city on your shoulders, huh?"
"You have no idea… but honestly, the stress kind of helps stimulate my brain in a way." Cooper poked the side of his head knowingly. "I've been cooking up some ideas. Ideas on how we could not only rebuild Vale to its former glory… but also make some marked improvements on it as well. Namely in the defense against Grimm." He raised a brow to the team. "How does the sound of a giant, protective dome sound to you?"
Undeniably, the very sound of the idea caught the team's attention. "Ooh, a giant DOME around the city?" Ruby reiterated.
"One that could keep the Grimm out from every angle." Cooper affirmed.
"Heh, sounds like quite the undertaking." Kenny commented.
Winter placed a hand on her chin. "Yes, it does. The idea is very admirable, Cooper, but… I'm afraid that Remnant is incapable of building something to that scale." She gave a small shrug. "Granted, Hard Light Dust probably WOULD be able to sustain something like that, but… we'd need a lot of it, as well as a lot of materials to create a forcefield that size."
Cooper raised a finger. "Heh, well, lucky for us, a mine of Dust was recently discovered, one that's got quite a bit of the Dust needed to MAKE Hard Light Dust. And as for the materials…" He craned his head back to Ben, Gwen and Kevin. "I was hoping that maybe the Plumbers would be able to help us with that. Ironwood likes the idea of protective domes being around all the major kingdoms, as well as several cities and large towns that might also be targets."
"And the smaller towns and villages?" Gwen brought up. "What about them?"
"The general hope is that, with these domes, more huntsman and huntresses can be dispatched to those villages to add more protection to them." Cooper elaborated. "They'd still have their own form of defense, heck, even MORE so than they'd already have."
As they thought this over, they did start to see Cooper's point. The people who were the most exposed to the Grimm would be able to have plenty of hunters in their villages while the more populated areas would be able to defend themselves with massive domes. It'd be a win-win. "Hm, well, you'd probably have to speak to grandpa about this." Ben noted. "Along with a lot of other Plumber higher-ups, I'll bet."
The blonde genius gave Ben a serious gaze. "I know. This is for the safety of all of Remnant, Ben, so I'll talk to whoever I need to so I can make this happen. Even the general himself is willing to make a plea to the Magistrata herself about this."
Nora slid up from behind the chair, peering down at Cooper in confusion. "The Magis—what now?"
"The Magistrata, Nora." Gwen elaborated. "She's pretty much the high commander of the entire Plumber force." The redhead raised a brow to Cooper. "The question is, though, would she allow for such a thing?"
"If we can appeal to her in the right way… maybe." Cooper shrugged, slightly lowering his head again. "We'll have to see what happens."
Coco crossed her legs and leaned back on the couch. "I'm sure things will turn out fine, Tech Head." She sent him another of her supportive winks. "You always manage to pull through." That got her boyfriend to blush a little, reassuring her that he felt a lot more bolstered in his mission. Coco's attention went over to Ruby next. "Well, that's pretty much the extent of what WE'VE been up to. What've you guys been doing?"
Ruby threw her head back and exclaimed; "Whoo, what HAVEN'T we been doing?"
…..
Over the course of the next hour or so, the Omni-Hunters had relayed everything that they'd experienced to Cooper and Team CFVY since their departure. They had regaled them with stories of a certain museum-hopping mage, a race of aliens who nearly turned Bellwood into a magma-filled crater, their first battles with the Street Sharks, and of course, their encounters with the Collective along the way. By the time they were done, Coco, Cooper, and the others were all quite stunned that all had happened in their time away, needless to say. "Man… you guys really HAVE been busy." Fox remarked.
"Our experience seems almost like small potatoes compared to that." Velvet added.
"Ah, c'mon Vel, that's not true." Yang denied. "I'm sure you guys kick plenty of Grimm butt back home. We're doing the same… just with super villains."
Weiss lolled her head to the side with a wince. "Well… technically, I don't think we can call the Kraaho "villains" per se since Ester's reigned them in."
Gwen placed her hands on her hips. "And I'm still in my firm stance that Charmcaster's not a villain either."
"Ahem, in any case…" Ben cleared his throat, hoping to move away from that subject. "We've pretty much been doing what we've been good at… even if we've been wracked with a ton of bad luck recently."
However, Coco shook her head, tapping it with her finger. "Ah, I'm not too sure about "bad luck" being an excuse, Ben. I think those Collective freaks just got into your head on the day you found them."
"I agree." Yatsu concurred, counting on his fingers; "I mean… you managed to save that museum from Creepers, you saved the whole TOWN from the magma flow, AND you helped out a lot of people at that bank." He gave a smile and shrugged. "I'd say that's still a good amount of victories."
Blake folded her arms, almost hugging herself as she sighed. "Yeah, but… we really could've done more. Especially at Fort Knox."
"Well, that just means you'll have to work harder." Much to everyone's surprise, it was Kenny who said this, the young redheaded man standing up in the middle of the room. His sights were locked onto his younger cousin, along with Team RWBY as well. "Because honestly, I think Coco's got a point. Those Collective geeks just got into your heads with all those things they said. As far as I'm concerned, you guys are still great heroes. Could things have gone differently? Maybe even better? Yeah, sure they could've, but that's something that you CAN work on."
"…He's got a point." Jaune said, bringing everyone's attention to him. "I mean, look what we did today. We played the villains' own game against them and won."
Pyrrha held up a determined fist. "Exactly! If we can keep at it, I'm sure that we'll be able to bounce back from this setback in due time."
As the team started muttering their agreements, Kenny gave Ben and Team RWBY a grin, along with a thumbs up. "I know it's not much, but… you guys have my support."
Eventually, the young hero and the four girls all returned the gesture, with Ben going so far as to fistbump his older cousin. "Thanks for that, Kenny. I'm sure everybody needed to hear that."
"Yes, not bad at all, Kenny." Winter said with an impressed smile. "I must say, that was quite the rousing speech you gave."
"Ah, hehe…" Kenny's cheeks flushed as he scratched the back of his head. "Y-Yeah, well… I watch a lot of super hero shows."
"Hehe, I see." Coco snickered before eyeing Yang again. "By the way… didn't you say that you guys wanted to show us something here, Yangarang?"
Yang snapped her fingers at the reminder. "Oh yeah, that's right!" She eyed Kenny with a questioning glance. "Hey, are Sandra and Carl here?"
Kenny shook his head. "No, they left for a grocery run just before you guys got here."
"And knowing them, they probably won't be back for another hour or so." Ben estimated.
"Great! Which gives US an opportunity to bend the rules a little…" She jogged over to the basement door, heading down the stairs in a flash. "Be right back!" Not a few moments later, Yang was back up the stairs… and her arms were full with a set of figures that made almost everyone on the team brighten up… while Gwen grimaced.
The Anodite facepalmed. The Kyoryuger mecha was back. "Oh god, not again." she whispered.
Team CFVY were understandably quite confused at the sight of the colorful, robotic dinosaurs that Yang set on the coffee table. "Uh… this is what you wanted to show us?" Fox asked, being able to sense the forms of the dinos in front of him. "Some weirdly-shaped dinosaur toys?"
However, both Kenny actually DID recognize the figures for what they were. "Oh hey, neat!" Kenny smiled before reaching out and grabbing Gabutyra, inspecting it for a second. "…Yep, these ARE the same ones!" He set his sights over to his cousin. "Ben, I thought Aunt Sandra sold these off YEARS ago."
"Heh, yeah, I thought so too." Ben chuckled. "But turns out she trusted the job to dad… who actually hid them in the attic for me."
Winter gave the red tyrannosaurus figure a quizzical eye, just as perplexed as Team CFVY were. "Um… but what are they, exactly?"
"These are called the "Voltasaurs"." Cooper explained, much to everyone's surprise as he picked up Pteragordon. "They're the main mecha used in the show "Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger", which is part of the long-running Super Sentai series over in Japan…" He then gave Team CFVY a knowing grin. "You'd probably know it better as "Power Rangers"."
At that, the realization dawned on the four of them, with Coco giving an; "Oh yeah! You showed us a couple episodes of that the other day. So these are more of those "Zord" things, huh?" However, she eyed the t-rex that Kenny was holding. "But, uh… that doesn't look like the T-Rex Zord WE saw."
Velvet placed a finger to her chin. "Yeah, I think the one on the show you showed us had a drill tail."
"Exactly, because I showed you Power Ranger Dino Thunder." Cooper elaborated. "Which was adapted from Bakryuu Sentai Abaranger, another dinosaur-themed Sentai." He placed a hand on Pteragordon's back. "But THESE mecha are from Kyoryuger, which was adapted into Power Rangers Dino Charge."
"Wow, I don't think I've heard a nerdier sentence be said." Gwen mumbled to herself.
Yatsu scratched his head, admittedly quite confused. "Not really sure how you can keep track of all that, but if you say so, Cooper." He reached down and picked up the pink triceratops and the blue stegosaurus, each of them almost becoming buried in his grip. "So, I'm guessing that these can combine, too?"
Ruby nodded and went over to Kenny, reaching out for Gabutyra. "Yep, and it's a DOOZY of a combination sequence!" The redhead gladly handed her the t-rex and Ruby turned it on, receiving a biting sound before opening its mouth and taking out the Zyudenchi inside. She then took the cyan Ankylosaurus and grey Pachycephalosaurus from the table and pulled out the batteries from their mouths as well, beginning the combination sequence by placing each battery into Gabutyra's mouth;
Gaburincho! AAAANKYDON!
Gaburincho! BUNPACHY!
Gaburincho! GABUTYYYYRRA!
After getting Gabutyra and the other two properly, Ruby pressed the black button on the center of the T-Rex and the samba music started playing, which made Gwen cover her ears. The Hooded Huntress then clipped Ankydon onto the right socket, and Bunpachy took to the left, forming the mighty robot's arms. She placed the helmet onto its head and then pressed the button again, finishing the transformation;
HA-HA! SIM-HA-HA! HA-HA! SIM-HA-HA!
KYORYUZIN! KUNG-FU! AACHO!
By the end of things, Kyoryuzin was once again formed, this time with a hammer and ball-and-chain weapon combo for its arms. Coco, Velvet, Yatsu and Fox were quite taken aback by the very strange and very LOUD combination, but they had to admit… it was kind of amusing. "Hah, well… that was an experience." Coco commented.
"That's putting it mildly." Gwen grumbled.
That made Velvet round about on her, much to Gwen's surprise. "Okay, Gwen, forgive me for being straight forward, but what in the world is your problem?" She pointed up to her ears for emphasis. "All I've heard from you are negative whispers about these innocent kids toys, so what's the deal?"
Before Gwen could answer, Kenny rolled his eyes. "Ugh, don't bother, Vel. She's always been a Negative Nancy when it comes to Tokusatsu. Super Sentai, Power Rangers, even Kamen Rider isn't safe from her."
Gwen scoffed, narrowing her eyes at her brother while folding her arms over her chest. "I am NOT a Negative Nancy. I'm just—"
"Hold the phone there!" Cooper suddenly shouted, much to everyone's surprise. Even Gwen was taken aback. He had never cut her off before, and his focus seemed intent on her brother. "Kenny… you mentioned Kamen Rider just now." the genius said with a hopeful smile. "Does that mean you're…"
"A fan?" Kenny grinned back, surprised to have found a fellow fan in an unlikely place. "Yeah, I am, actually. You?"
Cooper placed a fist against his chest. "Hah, you bet! Man, I didn't expect YOU to be a Rider fan."
The redhead put a hand to his neck sheepishly. "Hehe, have been since I was twelve when I stumbled on it accidentally." Just then, an idea got in his head. "Oh! Hey, favorite series on three?" Cooper gave an eager nod and Kenny started counting down; "One, two, three…" and from there, both boys shouted;
"BUILD!" It was clear to see on their faces that the two were surprised and overjoyed at the same time. Not only did they have something in common, they liked the exact same favorite series. It was crazy to think of what the odds of that were, but the duo didn't question it as they brought their fists together with a simultaneous; "SWEET!"
As the duo laughed, the others were left just as confused as ever, mainly the Remnant natives who had no idea what they were talking about. But, to Team RWBY and Team CFVY, the term sounded familiar. "Uh… Cooper?" Ruby piped up. "What's a Kamen Rider?"
"Yeah, I remember you weren't too happy when Animo mimicked one in his grasshopper form." Weiss recalled.
Cooper then realized that indeed, the others probably needed to be filled in big time, so he started to explain. "Oh, right, sorry. Kamen Rider is actually another Tokusatsu show made by the same company that makes Super Sentai; Toei. Both series have been running concurrently along side each other for many years, almost like brother and sister shows. Heck, they've even crossed over plenty of times."
"Okay, but what IS a "Kamen Rider"?" Jaune reiterated. "Is it like a Ranger or not at all?"
"Actually, Riders and Rangers ARE fairly similar." Cooper affirmed, listing a couple similarities on his fingers. "Both use special devices to transform, usually belts, that grant them superpowers. And they DO wear colorful costumes, but instead of spandex, Kamen Riders are usually decked out in armor." He raised a single finger. "Also, unlike Sentai where there are usually five characters who have to learn to work as a team, a Kamen Rider series usually starts with JUST the single main Rider, and from there, he makes allies along his adventures who also become Riders as well."
"Ooh, I'm intrigued…" Yang said with a raised brow. "Tell me more. Does Kamen Rider fight monsters?"
"He does… though they don't grow giant sized, and thus, no mecha."
Yang's smile somewhat decreased and she put on a more skeptical face. "Aaaand interest starting to wane."
"Wait, wait, it's not that bad!" Kenny assured, waving his arms frantically. "Sure, there's no giant mechs in Kamen Rider… most of the time, but the series makes up for that with REALLY strong writing that doesn't fall into most of the repetitive nature that Monster of the Week shows tend to fall into." Yang's uncertainty fell to interest once again, and Kenny felt relief that was the case. "Believe me, Sentai's fun, especially with mecha battles, but if you want strong writing and mature story-telling, then Kamen Rider's definitely the way to go."
Cooper was quick to agree. "Yep, Rider characters often go through tons of development over the course of the show, which tends to be very arc-heavy in terms of story-telling."
"You've got villains turning good, morally grey characters, and even villains who become DARK Kamen Riders for the good guys to go up against." Kenny added. "It's pretty compelling stuff."
"Well that sounds neat and all…" Nora said as she sat upside down on the chair, kicking her legs back and forth. "But I'm still not sure. I'm all for a good story, but does it at least LOOK cool?"
The two boys glanced to one another and smirked before pulling out their respective phones, doing a quick search. It wasn't long before they found what they needed and turned their phones toward the team. "You tell us." At Cooper's behest, the teens all gathered around… and their eyes widened what they had to show them.
On Cooper's phone was an armored individual in a suit that was mainly red, blue and black, the two primary colors making up different halves of the armor. However, it wasn't directly down the middle half-and-half, more like… the halves were mixed with each other. The right side of his head, the left side of his torso, and his right leg were covered in red amor while the left head, right torso and left leg were blue, with part of the blue parts leaking into the right side slightly. On the Rider's head was a pair of eye lenses that were shaped like the head of a rabbit on the right and a tank on the left, the rabbit's ear and the tank's barrel sticking out on either side. Also, on his right shoulder, another rabbit ear and tank barrel stuck out as well.
On Kenny's phone was a Rider who seemed much more symmetrical, covered head to toe in dark blue armor that seemed very draconic in theme. He had a silver mouth plate and parts of his armor were detailed in orange fire, including his head crest which also vaguely resembled like a dragon. In his hand was a sword, which… seemed to have a volume measurer in its blade? Strange, but also quite unique.
"Woah!" Ilia said, with everyone now very attentive toward the images in front of them. "Who're these guys?"
"This… is Kamen Rider Build." Cooper introduced. "My personal favorite Rider."
Kenny tapped the screen on his phone. "And this guy is Kamen Rider Cross-Z, Build's secondary Rider and one of my personal favorites, too."
Both Yang and Nora were practically enamored with the suits. This was MUCH different to Super Sentai… but in a very good way. Both ladies smiled widely up to the boys. "Okay, you've convinced us." Yang affirmed.
"When do we start watching?!" Nora shouted.
"Heh, we can start now if you want." Ben interjected. "I've actually been meaning to try and get into Kamen Rider myself, so this actually presents a great opportunity." At that, everyone else let out a chorus of agreement themselves, all aside from Winter and Gwen.
The former was at least amused by what was going on, though. "Hmhm, I must admit, I didn't think I'd see this side of you, Kenny." The military specialist commented, giving him a nudge in the arm. "It's actually a little funny to see you… "geek out" like this, for lack of a better term."
Kenny blushed, only now realizing that he HAD indeed geeked out in front of his girlfriend. "Ah, heh… y-yeah, I guess it is. I only hope you don't think any less of—"
"Hey, you stop that thought RIGHT now." Winter halted. "I'd never think less of you for being passionate about something you like…" She glanced over to Gwen, the Anodite thoroughly shocked by Winter saying that. "Unlike SOME individuals, it seems."
Gwen grimaced. She had truly been outnumbered here, even by Winter. Still… if even Winter could be mature about this… maybe it was time she started exercising that maturity as well. A sigh escaped her lips and she threw her hands up into the air. "Okay, fine… maybe I've been a bit harsh when it comes to Tokusatsu stuff." She raised a finger to all of them. "Doesn't mean I'll suddenly like it… but I'll at least try to give it a chance."
Pyrrha smiled with pride, bowing her head toward the Anodite. "Very good to hear, Gwen. I know that Super Sentai and this "Kamen Rider" aren't exactly your cup of tea, but I'm at least glad that you're willing to at least try it out."
"Haha! Awesome! We got Gwen to cave on Tokusatsu!" Sun cheered.
"Truly, this is a VERY momentous occasion!" Neptune postulated as well… earning him and his partner a questioning look from Gwen. "Ah, heh… I-I mean, glad you're willing to give it a chance!" He and Sun gave her a thumbs up.
"Hm, right." Gwen rolled her eyes. "Now let's get started before I suddenly change my mind, shall we?"
Cooper, however, was feeling a little regretful at the moment. "Man, if I had known we'd be getting you guys into Kamen Rider today, I would've head home first to at least grab my Build Driver to show you guys."
"Yeah, same here." Kenny concurred. "I definitely would've brought mine, too. Probably one of the most fun Rider Belts, honestly."
Ben gave them a shrug. "Well, hey, maybe you guys can show 'em off tomorrow. After all, we've got the day off, so that means we can—" Knock-knock-knock! Ben paused after hearing someone knock on his front door, bringing his and his team's attention to it. "Hm, weird. Wasn't expecting anybody…" He went over to open the door… and was greeted with the sight of a rather nervous-looking Vernal. Raven was also standing with her, the older woman giving her protégé an expectant gaze. "Uh…"
With a nudge from Raven, Vernal was pushed forward, which she gasped at. "Ah! Okay, okay, I'm going…" She cleared her throat and faced Ben head on, wearing a sheepish grin. "Uh… hey, Tennyson. So… turns out I was supposed to be bunking here and not the Plumber base when I came to Earth." Vernal bowed her head slightly to him. "So, at Raven's behest, I'll be staying at your home from here on. I… hope that won't be a problem."
The room was silent for a moment, but then a faint sound could be heard. Humming… which then became squeals… and then screams of utter delight. It was as Vernal feared. Within moments, a certain pair of red and yellow blurs glomped onto her and crushed her in the biggest bear hug imaginable, their voices piercing through the air as they shouted; "AAAAAAHH! BIG SIS IS STAYING HERE!"
"Hm, that went just as well as I expected." Raven smiled approvingly at the trio. She had to admit, the thought of ALL of them being her daughters was very appealing, even though she knew she wasn't exactly at that point with Vernal. Theirs was a strictly mentor/student relationship. Meanwhile, she and Ruby were… certainly getting closer, but Raven knew it'd be a while before the two would be comfortable having a mother/daughter dynamic. Still, she chose to relish this moment. "Welcome to the Tennyson household, Vernal."
"Yeah, welcome!" Ben said cheerily. "You're always welcome to bunk here. We've got plenty of room, you know."
"Joy." Vernal said dryly, all while keeping as much air in her lungs as possible. 'This is gonna be an interesting time…'
…..
Several hours later, as night time covered Bellwood in almost total darkness… something began to stir just outside of the town. Deep within a shrouded, misty forest, a sudden tremor suddenly erupted from out of nowhere, shaking the trees violently as the ground began to crack open. This, however, was far from any ordinary earthquake or sudden sink hole. No, this was a mighty fissure… one that was accompanied by a rather frightening red glow. It was warm… but definitely not in a comforting way as flickers of flames danced out of the hole.
In addition to the flames came a strange, golden haze, one that slowly wafted out of the crack as something else emerged as well. And with its appearance, several of the local wildlife were quick to up and flee, the sight of a powerful paw clawing its way up being all they needed to see to get the point across. This thing… was trouble.
And indeed, rising from out of the fissure… was a horrifying beast. A massive feline-like creature that took to all fours and kept its back bristled, as if to warn any nearby creatures not to approach it. In the red light of the fissure, as well as under the moon itself, its fur seemed to have an otherworldly glow to it, and its equally red eyes gleamed through the night, with no pupils in sight. It barred its large, pearlescent white teeth and belted out a roar to the heavens, sending several more animals scattering deep into the forest for miles.
"RRROOOOOAAAAAAARRGGHH!"
The beast's mind began to focus. It was back in the human world. …And it was time to feast.
…..
A/N: Well… that could be bad. A massive beast emerging from a crack in the Earth? Yeah, definitely not a good thing. But, considering the nature of this creature, it's safe to say that it's mystical in nature. That said, what IS its true nature? Will it head for Bellwood? More than likely, yes… but will our heroes be able to stop it? Well, we'll have to find out come next time…
But before that, let's shed some light on what happened in THIS chapter, shall we? Of course, we caught up with Team CFVY… and Coco in particular seems to have been pretty busy since they last saw them. Making Ben 10 t-shirts and then selling them to Beacon students to help raise money for Vale's reconstruction? Man, that girl is GOOD. So good in fact that Ben's wanting to hire her on the spot. Heh, just goes to show what a little creativity can get you.
That said, sounds like Cooper's been busy too, both in putting his Centurion armor to the test against Grimm, but also cooking up plans to improve Remnant's defenses AGAINST said Grimm. A giant force field dome around an entire city? Sounds like quite the undertaking indeed, and it would seem that a meeting with him, Ironwood and the Magistrata will be in their near future. Will the Plumbers provide the resources they need to accomplish this task? We shall have to wait and see.
But of course, we come to the group introducing Team CFVY to Super Sentai… which they were already kind of introduced to thanks to Cooper showing them Power Rangers recently. Guess he and Ben had some similar ideas… but then, we get to Kamen Rider and the can of worms THAT series will open up. Thankfully, though, the teens seem VERY receptive to it, which I'm sure for Cooper and Kenny, is great news. Heck, they even made Gwen budge a bit on her anti-Tokusatsu crusade. Now THAT'S an accomplishment.
Now, admittedly, I'm a little green when it comes to Kamen Rider, since I've only gotten into it early this year. Technically my first exposure to the series was Ghost when that premiered, but I only watched a couple episodes and never FULLY got into it until recently. But, SINCE getting into it, I've been determined to learn everything I can about the series, and that included watching it.
Before you ask, Build actually WASN'T the first Rider series I watched. That would be Gaim, which I heard a lot of positive things about, so I decided to start there first. Yes, the Lockseed gimmick is strange, but I was pretty fascinated with it and I liked the fruit samurai/knight motif that the suits were going for. Sure enough, after watching through it, I was NOT disappointed in the least. And, with 10 episodes of Build under my belt… yeah, I've fallen down the RabbitTank hole, hehe…
Oh, and of course, Vernal's officially moving into Ben's house. Huzzah! So, with all that said, NEXT TIME! We actually start by catching up with the villains… more specifically, Salem finally meeting Malware and Psychobos. What WILL those two have to say to her? Well, we'll find out soon, but as that's happening, Ben and Team RWBY head on over to Gwen's house, namely so Kenny can make due on showing them the Build Driver. But then, our beast decides to show itself… just not in the way you might think. Will Ben, Gwen, Team RWBY and Team JNPR be able to quell this threat… or will someone else arrive to save their bacon? Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!
