THE STARS ABOVE ARE REBELLING
THE WORLD IS A PLAYTHING TO HIM
QUESTION EVERYTHING
Max carefully held his marshmallow prong over the campfire- he occasionally rotated it, to cook it more evenly. He was a pro at this sort of thing, so, naturally, he'd bestow his wisdom onto the novice across from him.
"Now, remember Benjamin," Max said, watching the bored youth carefully stick his marshmallow on the stick, "Constant rotation is the key to a perfect marshmallow. Like so." Max did a quick demonstration, slowly rotating the treat over the open flames.
"Yeah, yeah..." Ben huffed, sounding like he'd rather be anywhere but here, "I gotcha."
Max sighed. He loved his grandson dearly, but there were times that he just didn't understand the kid. Ben was a moody kid. He didn't have many friends, he didn't have many hobbies or likes or dislikes, and he especially was indifferent to the roadtrip. It wasn't that he was spoiled or anything, he was just strange, for lack of a better description. Maybe detached would work?
Add onto that, an alien watch strapped upon his wrist, and you had a very, very interesting boy with you.
Max was more concerned about the boy's wellbeing, though. A few weeks back, he'd just fought a conqueror from space, hellbent on killing him. Ben was quieter than usual, and, knowing him, he'd be quiet for a long while. But, worry not, Max still had some other company with him.
"Hopefully, this should be enough," a new voice called out as they brought three more good pieces of wood for the fire. Well, more so they had a tall, glowing white knight bring it over. Weiss ordered her summon to set the firewood down by the end of the logs that the three were using as makeshift benches.
"Thank you, Weiss," Max said, "You doing okay? I know Hex tuckered you out earlier."
"As if," Weiss smiled confidently, "He'd have to try harder to knock me down."
Max was assigned to watch over Weiss by Ironwood, sometime before the road trip began. Ironwood and Willow were both too busy with some...more pressing matters, that they couldn't keep watch over Weiss. So, they decided it was time for their child to see the world, get her out of the house, show her life isn't always going to hand her everything.
Suffice to say, Weiss wasn't expecting the road trip to be as wild as it was. Encounters with aliens of all kinds, evil sorcerers trying to obtain ultimate power, an emotional vampire clown trying to suck out the joy of an entire town, those memories would be sticking with her forever. That last one, in particular, was a stand out in just how entirely insane it sounded, even if she was there to experience it first hand.
Too bad Ben was a sourpuss all the way through, "He still frowning?" Weiss asked, a bit annoyed, "I swear, you've had that same neutral expression from the second I got on the Rustbucket."
Ben didn't really respond, brushing Weiss's comment off.
"Unbelievable. I think you're the only person I've met who would show absolutely zero emotion to this kind of thing," Weiss huffed.
"Weiss," Max said, hoping to stop this from escalating. She was able to take the hint and dropped it, sighing. It was just so odd. She'd spent her entire life in Atlas and when she finally got out to see the rest of the world, she was met with the fantastical, the strange, the downright bizarre. It was a mix of terror and amazement, sometimes pure terror, sometimes pure amazement. For Ben to just act this way, to be so unimpressed with it all, just seemed...off.
"Everything good, kiddo?" Max asked, hoping to get something out of Ben today. He was hoping this road trip would help the boy open up a bit.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ben said, in that same, uninterested tone of voice.
"You sure?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms, "You look like you wanna talk about something."
"It's nothing."
"...your s'more is burning," Weiss pointed out.
Sure enough, Ben had completely failed to check it and actually tried to save it. Too little, too late though.
Ben gasped, as he quickly flailed it around, putting it out in seconds. Weiss rolled her eyes, as she prepared her own marshmallow.
"Dweeb," the heiress muttered.
She was more careful when she started to roar her marshmallow over the fire, especially making sure she had it at the right distance so it wasn't burned.
"Ugh. Sorry..." Ben frowned, a bit ashamed of himself.
"Hey, don't feel too bad." Max said, handing Ben another marshmallow, "Second chances are always a thing, no matter what."
As if to interrupt, or maybe in some cruel, cosmic twist of fate, a tear formed in the air not from the campsite with an audible sound of a blade being swung and cutting through something. Everyone turned to see the wound in space be pushed open and a figure step through. They were a tall, imposing humanoid, with a jet black body. White, glowing spots dotted the form, resembling the stars in the heavens. Maybe they were stars? The way it looked was as if a portion of space itself had become humanoid.
Its green eyes scanned its surroundings before locking onto Ben. The most distinctive feature, however, were the green and black hourglass symbols embedded in his body. Omnitrix symbols. One on each shoulder, three on each forearm and one on the right side of his chest.
"There you are," it said coldly.
Ben's blood went cold, as he stared at what felt like the embodiment of the abyss. What the hell was that thing?!
"Grandpa, look out!" Ben yelled.
Max turned around, to see the giant menacing alien raising up its leg. The group fled from the campfire, as the divinity smashed its foot into the log, seemingly dissolving it within seconds.
"What...the heck is that thing!?" Weiss asked.
"An Omnitrix salesman, from the look of things." Ben said.
"The Omnitrix," the being said, turning to Ben, "Surrender it...and you get to survive this."
"Sorry, pal," Max said, reaching into his back pocket for something. He pulled out what looked like a small flashlight. He pressed it once, and it automatically turned into a mounted hand blaster.
"But that thing isn't coming off," Ben's grandpa took aim with the blaster, energy humming within the weapon as it charged up.
"Yeah," Weiss said, pulling out her trademark rapier, "Don't you have enough already?"
"No...I don't," the abyssal alien growled as he thrust his arm to his side, morphing from a normal arm into a needle-like blade.
"Now hand. It. Over. You don't even need to take it off...I'll rip it off myself..." the cosmic entity threatened.
Ben's hand wrapped around the Omnitrix defensively.
"Nuh uh. No way! You're not getting this thing!" Ben looked down at the Omnitrix. The device was a slim and sleek watch-like tool, with a green wristband, and the face of the dial being a black and green hourglass.
"You're just the latest guy who's come after it. And just like them, you're gonna get sent packing! It's Hero Time!" Ben yelled, pressing a button on the side. The hologram of a crab appeared before Ben, as he grinned.
"Getting real tired of hearing that," the alien muttered as he started walking towards them. Max started things off by firing a few shots from the energy blaster. This thing didn't even try to block the shots, it just tanked them. Each shot didn't even spark against the entity's body, just making ripple effects as if its body was made of a liquid.
Weiss frowned, as a glyph appeared before her. With a few swift motions from her rapier, she unleashed a torrent of ice shards at the creature. The extraterrestrial didn't even bother to tank them. In a flash of black and green energy, he simply warped away.
"H-huh!? Where'd he go!?" Weiss gasped.
Her question was soon answered. Mere seconds later, it reappeared behind her and back-handed her, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying.
"Weiss!" Max shouted as he took aim at the alien's head.
"Hey! It's me you want! Not her!" Ben yelled, slapping down the Omnitrix.
In a flash of green, Ben's form changed. A red shelled, six-legged crustacean like alien took his place. The shell on his head opened up in two parts, exposing the alien's brain. Energy sparked and arced off of the gray matter until it coalesced and a stream of lightning launched forth, hitting and shocking this void monster.
"Crabcake's Psionic Electricity blasts should be enough to decimate our opponent!" Ben confidently cheered, "He's as good as..."
Not a scratch.
"...done? What?" Ben asked in shock. The titan then warped away again and appeared in front of him. It brought its fist down onto Ben's head, the shell closing up to protect his brain but the hit still made Ben's head ring and his vision blur.
"Ben!" Grandpa Max began to use rapid fire on his blaster. In the long-run, this little weapon wasn't gonna leave a dent in this monster, but maybe it'd be a handy distraction. After all, it looked like the void-being forgot someone.
A glowing white knight suddenly slashed at the galaxy alien, admittedly catching it off guard. The hit didn't do anything, but it did catch the entity's attention. Its eyes narrowed, annoyed at, to it, was nothing more than a bee sting.
"First time you've been here," the alien muttered as it grabbed the knight's sword and yanked it forward. The knight didn't lose its grip on the blade. Instead, the titan shoved its needle-arm right through the knight's neck, making it disperse into particles.
Ben quickly skittered away, as Weiss rejoined with him.
"Use Crabcake's big brain of yours to do something useful, Ben!" Weiss frowned.
"I...do not think my enhanced intellect can even hold a candle to that rapscallion, heiress," Ben frowned, "That right there is a Celestialsapien, one of the strongest races in the known universe."
"So? You took on Vilgax," Weiss scoffed, "He shouldn't be-"
"Compared to this cosmic horror, Vilgax is as threatening as the calamari we often jested he resembled. This creature needs no ship or minions to reach his goal, he may do as he pleases. He is omnipotent," Ben scowled.
Weiss felt her blood run cold. Omnipotent? That had to be a joke right? But the way Ben said it...he was one hundred percent serious.
"So then...how do we beat a god?" Weiss asked, in fear.
"You don't. You break before it," the Celestialsapien answered.
"We can catch him off guard. Follow my lead," Ben said, ignoring the celestial's comment and skittering to the side. His brain was running through incredibly complex calculations, countless trig ratios, physics necessary for this combo, the chances of this working. He was just hoping the chances were at least somewhat favorable. Hell, even a one-percent chance was better than zero.
Weiss nodded and followed whatever plan he was thinking up. Max saw they had something and just tried to keep the alien busy, taking shots at its torso. They weren't hurting it, sure, but it was annoying and distracting. Just what he needed right now.
"Make a ramp!" Ben said, "NOW!"
Weiss nodded and jabbed Myrtenaster into the ground with ice Dust already locked into the revolving chamber. Ice raced across the ground, freezing it in place until the frosty wave jutted upwards and formed the ramp Ben needed.
Ben quickly skid up the ramp, as his pincers slapped down the Omnitrix, changing into a new form.
"As they say, bigger IS better!" Ben grinned, as he started to bulk up.
The Celestialsapien didn't even turn or look up as Ben suddenly changed into a much larger, much more reptilian form. Dino Might soon came crashing down with a loud thud, cratering the earth beneath him and causing a massive cloud to fly out from the impact site.
Weiss quickly formed a glyph around her and Max, sheltering them from the rain of debris and dust that was kicked up by the impact.
"Seriously!? THAT WAS YOUR PLAN!?" she yelled.
"Hey, ever heard of 'simple but effective?'" Ben asked as he got up, dusting himself off, and ready to stomp down on this so-called god if he was still conscious.
"I have. Your plan was simple...but completely ineffective," a familiar voice droned on, like it was bored. The Celestialsapien then grabbed a hold of Weiss from behind, tightly gripping her arm and pulling it back hard. In the process, she lost her grip on Myrtenaster.
"Your presence here is...new. And an annoyance. One that I won't suffer any longer."
"H-hey, let go!" Weiss said.
"As you wish," The entity, even without a mouth, smiled. Reality was its to command and it had a fitting punishment for the heiress that would defy it. It was like air was being pulled towards its palm as it clutched its enemy's head. One single thought was all it took.
And then Weiss froze over.
He gently let go and stepped back, almost admiring his handiwork.
"I would be very careful if I were you," it said, a smug tone in its voice, "Ice is a very fragile thing. Breaks far easier than glass."
Ben's eyes were wide in horror as he saw Weiss just completely frozen. Max wasn't faring any better as he saw Weiss, a shocked expression forever frozen on her face. He looked at the Celestialsapien but it didn't care about the old man.
"Maybe now you'll reconsider," the Celestialsapien said, "As you've seen...resistance only begets pain."
"W-Weiss?" Ben asked, as the Celestialsapien warped on over to him.
"Fear not. Her melted form will help the environment grow. She will still have use," the cosmic horror said, trying to give a fake silver lining to the situation, "You, however..."
The alien flicked Ben's chest and sent him flying.
"The only thing you have left to offer...is on your wrist," it growled. Ben skid through the dirt, leaving a massive trail behind. The Celestialsapien simply followed in the wake of the reptilian alien.
"And now it's time to collect," it sighed, ready to end this.
"N-no..." Ben grunted, weakly trying to fight back, "P-please...I...I still have people to save!"
The Celestialsapien stomped on Ben's best, rearing its arm back. It's hand morphed and split into several sharp, black tendrils.
"They'll have to save themselves," the abyssal titan coldly countered as he slammed the morphed hand down.
"N-no! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
It was painful, getting the Omnitrix torn out of the chest. Ben could describe it as his heart being torn out of his body. Each tendril of the entity's morphed hand was digging into the Vaxasaurian's body, bypassing the scales and pulling at the device.
With one last effort, the Celestialsapien freed the Omnitrix from the boy, the process ripping away Dino Might's form as well like it was a cheap costume. For a moment, the Omnitrix was just the symbol face-plate in his hands, before it shifted back into its normal appearance. He closed his hand around the device and simply absorbed it into his body. Seconds later, another Omnitrix plate had appeared on the other side of his chest.
The alien looked down at Ben's crippled state, his gaze specifically going to the so-called hero's arm. It looked misshapen, as if it was being swallowed up by the void itself, as evidenced by the inky black "scar," for lack of a better term. What made things worse was how that scar was crawling up his arm.
The entity couldn't care less.
Though, it did feel an odd bit of deja-vu when looking at it. It soon felt more blasts hit its back. It simply turned its head to see Max, rage in his eyes and finger on the trigger.
"Oh please," it muttered to itself, "At least the last one of you had a bigger gun..."
"What?" Max said, before the Alien X snapped his fingers. White lines appeared across Max's limbs before they were separated, severing them like a broken puzzle. Those lines then appeared all over Max's body and shattered him in a similar way. The pieces didn't fall to the ground; they were just frozen in the air like some sick art display.
"He tried the same thing." the Celestialsapien said, "One last stand to avenge his grandson. I won't divulge the details, too graphic. Thank you for your attempt at stopping me, though. It was very entertaining..."
A portal formed in front of the cosmic entity, and he slowly floated through it. Once it was through, the portal simply closed behind him, the only evidence of him even being there was the chaos he'd caused. Weiss, turned to solid ice, Ben, powerless and wounded, and Max, mangled like a twisted puzzle.
There was nothing that could save them. Weiss was slowly starting to melt under the heat of the campfire. Soon there'd be nothing left of her except droplets on the blades of grass below her.
Until a beam hit her, quickly reverting her back to normal.
Weiss gasped, letting air fill her lungs again. She fell to her knees, coughing a bit, her eyes wide in shock.
"W-what...what just…" was all she could say. Being turned into an ice sculpture and already starting to melt was not going to leave a mind unscathed.
"Easy now," a familiar voice said, helping her up, "Are you okay?"
Weiss looked over to see a man in a strange space mask...wearing a Hawaiian shirt and jeans, while also being equipped with some military gear.
"How many fingers do you see, kid?" the man held up his hands, before putting a few fingers down.
"U-um...four...I think?" Weiss said a bit shakily, "What just...happened? Why do I...why do I still feel cold?"
The man went over to the rustbucket, and pulled out a blanket- it was weird. Despite being a stranger, the man knew his way around the thing.
"You were attacked," the man bluntly explained, "Be happy I got here in time."
"T-thank you," she said immediately after he placed the blanket around her shoulders, "I- w-wait, where's Ben?"
The man frowned underneath his helmet, "That's what I'm worried about too." This new figure ran off in the direction of the destroyed trees.
Weiss tried shaking off any of the fear she was still feeling, stood, and followed this guy, whoever he was.
The man ran over to a crater, and frowned, "I'm too late..."
Weiss was right behind and then she saw him: Ben. He was just laying in the middle of the crater, beaten and crumpled on the ground. Her eyes went wide and she raced over to him. He had to be alive. Weiss wouldn't let her mind think of any other alternative; Ben HAD to be alive.
The man slid down into the crater after the girl, and cradled Ben in his arms. The first thing he checked for was a pulse. It was still there, thankfully.
Ben groaned, as he looked up at the man, "H-huh? Who are..."
The man took off his helmet, "I gotcha, kiddo. Hang tight."
Weiss was still in shock from seeing Ben in such a state. It helped a bit that he was alive, but then she saw who it was under the mask and her mind just started to race with questions.
"Max?" Weiss asked, "Where did you get...?"
"I'm...right here..." Max, her Max anyway, said with some difficulty.
Weiss looked over and screamed. Seeing Max in pieces was even worse than being frozen.
The other Max turned back to see that as well and winced.
"Every time, he always just...gets more and more 'creative,' doesn't he?" he sighed, his words carrying an air of contempt with them. He checked the device he used to unfreeze Weiss. Good, still plenty of charges left.
"Weiss?" he turned to face the young heiress.
"Y-yes?" Weiss asked, shivering with fear. That omnipotence of that...thing was scary.
"Just scan Max with this device. He should be a-okay after a quick button-press with this," the other Max explained, "Temporal Reverser. Rewinds your body's physical state back to what it was just an hour ago."
Weiss took hold of the device and tried to calm herself. Just one scan. She pointed it at the Max in pieces and activated, scanning his broken body.
In a matter of seconds, Max's shattered form began to quickly repair itself. Weiss sighed, as Max felt around his body.
"Everything seems to be in place..." Max sighed.
"And now, for you..." the other Max turned to Ben, "This is gonna sting a little."
Weiss handed back the reverser to Max and he took aim. He scanned Ben and "sting" was an understatement. Healing whatever damage the Celestialsapien did when he tore off the Omnitrix hurt like hell. It took every bit of willpower Ben had at that point not to just scream out in pain.
Ben took a few deep breaths, as he looked down at his arm- it was back to normal, but still scared a bit.
"Sorry about that," the Other Max apologized.
"It...it's fine," Ben said weakly, looking at how bad the scars were on his arm.
"Ok..." Max said after making sure he was properly back together, "Since you seem to know more about...that thing than we do, I think an explanation is in order."
The other Max took a deep breath, "It's none of your concern now. It got what it wanted."
The moody Ben rubbed his ruined wrist disdainfully.
"The Omnitrix...it's...gone..." he muttered.
"And...I'm sorry about that, kid," the Other Max said, hugging the boy, "Truly. I am."
"I...I just wanted to help..." Ben said, tears welling in his eyes.
"None of our conce-, you expect me to just sit back and take this? Whoever that thing was, he assaulted my grandson, nearly killed him AND Weiss, and you expect me to just let it lie? Ironwood's stubbornness might be rubbing off on me because there's no way in hell I'm letting this rest," Max said to his counterpart.
"I'm sorry...but you're gonna have to," the Other Max said.
"Oh, what, this is your personal mission? You're the only one who can bring him down or some other poor excuse like that?"
"...sadly, yes." The Other Max said, "You should be lucky you still have your Ben. Some weren't so lucky."
"Are...you saying that..."Max's face fell.
"I...really could've died?" Ben asked.
Max turned to Ben. He didn't even want to think about that possibility.
The Other Max didn't say anything and that silence was telling. Weiss and Ben, they both knew from that alone. If the Celestialsapien had wanted, he would've killed Ben outright. And then the thought hit Weiss.
"The reason he had so many symbols..." she began.
"Exactly…and somewhere in that crazy bastard's mix is my own Benjamin's watch," the Other Max sighed, "...get some rest. Take the next few days off. I'm sorry that this all happened to you."
"...where will you go next?" Ben asked.
The Other Max pulled out something, what looked to be a small tracker. He adjusted a few of the settings before his eyes narrowed. The device had zeroed in on the entity's next target.
"I'm going to Universe 122718."
The Outcasts were busy today. They were called in by Ironwood to deal with a persistent pest problem at the Amity Tower project site. While the group had never taken a full tour of the place before now, they were aware that the colosseum was situated over an abandoned SDC Dust mine. Blake knew about it, and its rather dark past. Back during the days of Jacques' iron-fisted control over the company, the mine was the site of one the biggest black marks on the company's reputation at the time. Due to the unstable nature of unrefined Dust, detonations were an ever-present threat. When it actually happened, it may not have come as the biggest shock to some.
The real tragedy came in just how many lives were lost thanks to that blast. And what did dear old Jacques do? Practically nothing, save for handing out condolences and a promise to "improve safety conditions." Of course, all those words were empty since most of the miners were Faunus. It was one of the biggest motives for joining the White Fang back then. Plenty of people lost loved ones in that accident, one of them was even a close friend to Blake. The Fang offered people a way to get back at Jacques and his disregard for Faunus life.
Was it any wonder that a place so drenched in fear and despair, so often tied to hate and resentment, became a nest for Grimm?
Speaking of the Grimm, the ones that the Outcasts were currently dealing with could only be described as very, very annoying. A colony of Centinels had wormed their way into the site, already taking the lives of three technicians.
The team had made their way past the massive cave-in that took a majority of the lives in the initial cave-in and worked their way in through a side entrance. As the group came to the first of what would no doubt be many steep-angled descents, Blake couldn't help but be on edge. That fear would be proven correct when a Centinel dug down from the roof of the mineshaft and tried to snap at Yang's head. Neo, thankfully, jabbed Hush's blade through the back of the giant bug's head. When the corpse fell to the floor, it signaled more of the Grimm to tunnel through the floor, walls, and ceiling. One of the creatures hissed and fired off a slew of acid globs that forced the group scatter to avoid them.
Ben dodged some more acid splats from another Centinel, letting the green slime burn through the frozen floor.
"This dude's just...ew." Ben shuddered.
"Yeah, some Grimm are like that. Scared or something?" Yang joked.
"What? No." Ben said, activating the watch, "Humungousaur will be happy to squash this guy into the dirt! STAND BACK!" Ben yelled, as everyone quickly ducked for cover. Ben slapped down the Omnitrix and soon felt something cold run across his arm, a liquid of some sort. He looked down to see black ooze with green lines running across his body.
Upgrade? Ben thought. Well, nothing wrong with Upgrade. Ben grinned as the liquid coated his body, and prepared to kick some ass.
FWIP! The ooze suddenly compressed Ben to about 1/4th of his usual size, as it fell to the ground. The ooze spun around a bit, as it created a cube like structure, before it extended in four directions.
Ben blinked, as everyone around him just...stared.
"Ben. I know you have a form called 'The Worst', but...this is a new low," Ruby said.
Ben was just a blocky, black X with a green eye on the top right side. He had green circuitry over his body that resembled Upgrade's with the Omnitrix symbol in the center of his body.
"It's a fucking X?" Kylie asked in shock.
"That's fucking stupid!" Kevin yelled, "What, is my sample of the guy gonna be like, a division symbol?!"
"What...is that thing?" Weiss asked, turning to Albedo.
Albedo narrowed his eyes in surprise.
"Fascinating...a Xerge," the Galvan human commented.
"A what?" Yang repeated, as she hurled a chunk of ice at the swarm of Grimm.
"Xerge. They're these strange alien species from the Triangulum Galaxy," Albedo explained, "They're an...interesting species, to say the least."
"If by 'interesting' you mean 'fucking stupid looking,'" Min commented.
"Intimidating, or even humanoid, appearances are not a universal constant," Albedo admitted with a shrug, "Besides, some species would think humans have a bizarre look. No, they are interesting because of their potential. Ben! The wall! Fly up to it and hopefully the biology hasn't glitched out!"
"The wall?" Ben gave Albedo a look, before he turned back to the icy cave wall behind him, "Well, you know how this thing works." Ben flew over to the wall, as a strange burst of energy filled his body.
Then, as if Ben had no control over his body for a second, he slammed himself into the wall. He didn't just bounce off the ice, no, but instead the X shape was now EMBEDDED in the ice.
"Albedo, what the fuck?" Ben could only groan as it seemed like he just got himself stuck.
"It isn't finished!" his alter-colorscheme clone shouted. And he was right. The same patterns that covered the goo during Ben's transformation spread through the wall. Ben...suddenly felt like he could move? Not just hover, but actually move. With some effort, Ben managed to pull free an ARM, made of the ice in the wall. He kept putting forth the effort until a massive ice GOLEM had torn its way free of the wall with the alien in the center of its body, a layer of ice growing over him to serve as protection.
"I believe this is where I say 'I told you so'," Albedo tossed out.
"What the heck did it just-?" Ruby blinked.
"The Xerge can terraform bodies for combat. Not so useless now, is it?" Albedo chuckled.
"That's cool, but it's STILL an X," Kylie said as she aimed her gun at the Grimm. She fired off a few rounds, nailing three of the insectoid monsters right between the eyes.
"Would you prefer it to be another ghost?" Albedo retorted with a roll of his eyes.
Some of the Grimm centipedes that remained hissed and spat acid at Ben's new ice body. He brought his arms up to tank the shots and, while the damage wasn't as bad as it could've been, it still stung like hell. Parts of his ice arms melted away from the acid burns, but once the substance had done its work, the damage was quickly repaired. A fresh layer of ice grew over the wounds, bringing the golem form back to pristine condition.
"Okay, okay...pretty neat," Ben hummed, "But let's see how you like this!" Ben fired a barrage of icy shards at the centipedes, as did everyone else, in an effort to hold the line.
Centinels were, by no means, tough. Any of the bugs that didn't immediately burrow back underground were shredded to pieces by the massive volley.
"Hey, X-Rated!" Min yelled. Ben turned around, a bit unamused with the nickname.
"Seriously?" Ben frowned.
"Hey, just throwing out potential names," Min defended, "Lemme try something!"
"Alright..." Ben said, not knowing what to expect. Min's hands charged up with magic, as she hit Ben's icy body with a spell.
Ben suddenly felt his body head up. In a way similar to becoming Heatblast, everyone saw the ice magically change into fiery magma, molten rock serving as a kind of face-plate armor to protect the actual body. In all honesty, this "face armor" resembled the grate of a furnace.
"Oooohhh, I like this!" Ben grinned.
"Admire later!" Kevin said, activating the AntiTrix, "Flood the underground with lava so we can flush these fuckers out!" Kevin twisted the dial to a familiar face. Doppler gave him a pleased look.
"I restored another form."
"I noticed." Kevin grinned, as he looked at the symbol. He slapped down the Omnitrix, as red scales ran up his body.
Once the scales reached his head, it took on a more reptilian shape. Black, sharp scales ran down the length of his spin and some of his newly grown razor-sharp tail. His feet became clawed, resembling those of a velociraptor. His eye opened to show it had become a red reptilian slit as he became his version of Humongosaur. He had a bit of trouble deciding on a name for it at first; Yang suggested "Humongouraptor" but it didn't fit with his naming theme.
Ceres looked Kevin's familiar form up and down, "Oh, hey...it's this form. Whatcha call him again?"
"The name sucks. I don't wanna say it," Kevin frowned.
"Why not?" Min asked.
"He came up with it when he was 14. That was the height of 'bad alien names' for both Ben and Kevin." Blonko noted.
"It can't be THAT bad." Min reassured.
"...it's 'Scary Monsters'." Kevin said.
"...wow, that IS bad. A good Bowie song, but a TERRIBLE name." Min said, "Mind if I suggest one?"
"I'll take ANYTHING over Scary Monsters." Kevin said.
"How about...'Dinosaur Laser Fight'?" Min suggested, stars in her eyes.
"How'd you know he could shoot lasers from his mouth?"
"Sometimes I wonder how your hybrids WORK," Yang said as she reloaded some shells into her gauntlet.
Once the change had finished, Ben slammed his hands to the ground and let magma surge out from his palms. The surge alone burned up a few of the annoying bug Grimm. Those that were fast enough to avoid getting burned quickly re-emerged on the surface, only to be met with the newly dubbed alien.
Kevin's maw started to glow, as he began shooting beams of cosmic energy from his mouth. Ceres began firing more fireballs, and Blonko began firing more shots from his ProtoTool.
"Come on, girls! Can't let them hog the spotlight!" Ruby joked.
Yang smirked and started firing a barrage from Ember Celica while Weiss summoned up a set of Time Glyphs for Team RWBY. There wasn't any FORMAL competition between them...but no way Weiss would let her team lose in the Grimm killcount. That's just poor teamwork.
Blake stepped up to one of the glyphs, and began slashing wildly with her katana- wide slices of energy flew out, slicing through the hordes of Centinels like butter.
Yang did the same, her punches getting faster and faster as she shredded Centinels with her shots. Weiss decided to try something out. Using the Time Glyph, she was going to try and speed up the summoning time for her Queen Lancer, though at a much smaller scale.
The Queen Lancer began stinging through the Centinel, as the battlefield just got more and more hectic. Honestly, that hectic nature made the whole fight quite the spectacle, a spectacle that Albedo and Neo were all too happy to watch. hummed as they watched.
...they're certainly doing their job. Neo signed.
"Yeeeep." Albedo nodded.
...you wanna get involved? Neo signed back, a little bored honestly.
"I'm fine right here," Albedo shrugged.
Kinda getting bored not doing anything.
"There's more opportunities for us. Don't worry," Albedo yawned.
Neo pouted a bit and laid her parasol over her shoulder, just watching the team tear apart the Grimm.
When the last bug fell and scattered to ashes on the wind, Yang and Ceres took the lead and took the team further down the winding ice tunnels. It was more of the same really, some tunnels were just normal, while others were more ambushes waiting to happen. The mission didn't understate the number when it said "infestation." A few of those extra ambushes were partly handled by Ben turning back into his Xerge form and creating more improvised ice mechs to pilot, but as they continued to fight their way to the center of the mine a thought occurred to Min. She finished incinerating the last of their current ambushes before turning to one of the resident Grimm experts. Well, she called them experts at least.
"Hey Blake?" Min asked, extinguishing the black flames on her fingertips.
"Yes?" Blake answered as she loaded a fresh clip of Dust ammo into Gambol Shroud.
"Mind if I run something by ya?"
"I suppose. Shoot," Blake said as the two began to lag behind the rest of the group to talk.
"Great. So, the Grimm, they still age and when they do they get extra armor, right?" Min asked.
"And greater intelligence. Not so much as they can make proper strategies, but more that they know when its more…beneficial for them to strike," the feline Faunus explained.
"Right. Buuut, sometimes the species don't need to be the same."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Manticores. Heard the name thrown around some…but never an Alpha Manticore. It's always a pack of Manticores led by a Sphinx. So, what I'm trying to get at here…is there such a thing as an Alpha Centinel or are we going to have to deal with something else entirely?" Min inquired.
"That's…a good question actually," Blake said, "Centinels are only native to Atlas, so…it could go either way."
"Ominous. Well, I'm sure we can handle it either way," the chaos demon grinned.
After what felt like hours in the maze-like network, the group finally left the access tunnels and emerged into a massive central cavern. Some old industrial floodlights and other manmade sources of illumination were present, turned off and, honestly, kind of unnecessary. The mining chamber was practically a gold mine in terms of Dust, with veins of it crossing over practically every stone wall. Faintly glowing reds, yellows, blues, and purple lit up the cavern perfectly. Even deposits of Dust crystals jutted out of the ground and weakly pulsed with unrefined energy.
"Holy shit," Kevin whistled in surprise, the words echoing slightly in the cavernous chamber.
"Just like the mine at the Plumber base," Ruby said, "But a lot more…bright, I guess."
"When the accident happened, the mine hadn't even gotten a third of the way through the usual production process," Weiss said, "That's why there's still so much unrefined Dust here. Only reason I remember that specifically is because Jacques went into a rage about how much it'd cost him. Never shut up about the profits lost from it."
"Without a single care for the workers lost. Sounds about right for him," Blake said. It's like every time she found something anyway connected to Weiss' birth father, there was always a reason for them all to hate him even more.
It sounds like he should meet with an 'accident,' Neo signed.
"We can't. Ironwood would know, even if he would agree that Jacques should be dealt with," Albedo countered.
You and I got away with a lot before we left Salem and no one ever pinned on us. How's this any different?
"...gonna unpack that later," Yang said, looking back at the former villain duo.
"Hmm, maybe we cleared them all ou-" Weiss hummed, only for the ground to begin to shake. Eight more Centinels burst out of the ground in a circular pattern hissing and clicking their dripping mandibles together to try and intimidate the intruders in their nest. The Outcasts got ready to deal with what seemed to be the last of the bugs, before the ground at the center of the acid-spewing Grimm's circle exploded outward.
Through the dust and rubble, Blake could see something begin to crawl out of the ground. The first thing she saw was a massive blade reaching out and stabbing into the stone floor, followed by another. The two blades then pulled up a massive, segmented body lined with bony legs and protective bone plating, much like a Centinel's but larger in size. The creature sluggishly slithered through the dust, revealing a strange tube at the center of its thorax that snakes down and connects to a large, bulging green sac on its underbelly. Two clicking mandibles curved inward towards the beast's actual mouth, hidden under an almost dinosaur-like skull.
"Oh what the fuck is that?!" Kylie asked.
"A Cenitaur," Albedo said, getting the Ultimatrix ready, but he brought up a form that was less combat oriented, Fasttrack.
"Going more support this time?" Ben said, already getting a heavy-hitting form ready.
"Precisely. And you know exactly why."
"The unrefined Dust," Ruby answered, noting all the crystal deposits.
"So in other words, we just need to be careful with our shots," Kylie said.
"And make sure none of the crystals come loose and detonate on impact," Weiss added.
"Ok. Albedo, Neo, and Kylie, can you guys handle the crystals?" Ben asked.
"On it!" Kylie said, "As long as I can take a few shots at these things too."
"Be my guest! Alright! Outcasts, break!" Ben called out and the group scattered to cover all angles of the Grimm's improvised wall. On cue, the group opened fire with a variety of projectiles-bullets, glyph darts, electric arcs, and more-but surprisingly, none of those shots hit. The Centinels and their alpha scattered, the latter digging back into the ground while the former split off into groups of two. Each of the four pairs joined together and launched themselves at some of the Outcasts as powerful corkscrew-like projectiles. Blake dodged the corkscrew that flew her way, the Grimm hitting the wall behind her and burrowing into it. The digging caused the wall to shake, knocking loose a red crystal that began to fall. Albedo raced over to quickly catch the crystal before it hit the floor, preventing a detonation. Blake gave Albedo a thumbs up in thanks, but her gratitude was cut short when the stone floor in front of her exploded and knocked her off her feet.
The Cenitaur hissed as it crawled out of the ground, towering over the stunned Faunus. It reared one of its blades back and brought it down to impale Blake. She gasped and rolled out of the way, continuing to do so and avoiding stab after stab. It hissed in annoyance and brought down both quickly used her Semblance, letting the Grimm stab an afterimage. Unlike the usual fare, this Blake-duplicate was made of ice, catching the Grimm's blades and freezing them there. The beast picked the ice sculpture up and tilted its head in curiosity at the sight. Blake, who had used the chance to get back on her feet, rushed at the Grimm while it was distracted. One of its eyes moved to land focus on her and spun at just the right moment to smash her own clone into her, shattering the ice Blake into pieces and freeing its arm-blades. The cat Faunus gracefully landed on her feet before opening fire with a salvo of bullets. The Cenitaur crossed its blades and blocked the shots before hissing and retaliating by spewing acid from its maw. Blake dodged out of the way, but that let the Cenitaur close the distance and fight her blade to blade.
Yang and Ceres, meanwhile, dodged their pair of Centinels as they raced past them, again digging into the wall and knocking a purple crystal loose. Kylie came in for the save on this one, turning to a gaseous form and racing over to grab the crystal before it hit. Before she could even let out a sigh of relief, the four Centinels that missed their respective targets reappeared and spat more acid globs at her. She quickly turned to gas again to avoid the shots, while Yang and Ceres fired back themselves, blasting one to dust while the others slinked back into the wall.
Ruby and Ben were much luckier in dealing with the Centinels. Ruby dashed out of the way of their weird corkscrew move, letting them tear through some of the left behind petals. She hooked her scythe around the middle of the Grimm on the "top" of the combo-move and fired off a round. Crescent Rose's blade cut cleanly through the Grimm's segmented body. The insectoid monster let out one last screech of pain before it scattered to the winds. The remaining Centinel fell to the ground, hissing and spitting globs of acid at the red-hooded reaper, only for her to dodge out of the way. A flash of green shone behind the distracted centipede Grimm, catching its attention. It turned around and looked up to see the flaming form of Heatblast.
"Really? Heatblast? Here?" Ruby asked.
"Hey, it's fine. I got better control of him in here than I would out in a forest!" Ben grinned, holding his hands and letting out a wave of flames that engulfs the centipede Grimm. It writhed and let out screeches of pain before the fire brought the insect low.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Min had similar luck with their pair of Grimm. Kevin took the lead on this one, letting Doppler create the mandibles and jaw of Brass Monkey. He fired off a series of webs that tangled up the twisting bugs and stuck them to the ground.
"All yours!" Kevin called out. Min grinned and snapped her fingers, summoning up black flames in her hands. She merged the flames together and threw a massive fireball at the Grimm, vaporizing them in an instant.
With Kylie, another glob of acid was fired at her from one of the remaining Centinels after she put the Dust crystal in a safe spot, but it was blocked by a familiar glowing giant sword. Weiss nodded to Kylie after summoning up a barrage of darts to end the offending Grimm. Yang looked over her shoulder to see Blake still struggling with the hive's leader, blocking slash after slash.
"Go, we got this!" Ceres said, trying to predict where the other Centinels would emerge. Yang nodded and raced towards Blake. The Archimedian looked around, trying to guess where the Grimm would appear. The walls seemed to rumble as both the Centinels appeared and spat globs of acid at the leader of Zeta. Ceres dodged the globs and fired off a round at one of the centipede monsters, blasting it to pieces. The other beast was finished off by a well-placed bullet between the eyes, courtesy of Kylie.
The feline Faunus, meanwhile, narrowly avoided the insectoid alpha as it swung both of its blades in a scissor-like motion, no doubt aiming to sever her head. She righted herself, but couldn't attack back as the Grimm forced her back with a stream of acid from its maw. Blake avoided the first and second streams the Grimm spat at her, but once she was ready to go back on the offensive, Yang rushed past her. The blonde threw a good punch at the Grimm, only for it to catch the strike with its blades. The blonde's eyes widened as the creature was about to spew another stream of acid, only for a familiar needle to pierce its back. Neo smirked as she withdrew Hush's blade from the Grimm's back, forcing it to spin around and slash at her. The blades shattered Neo, much to the Cenitaur's confusion, opening it up to a barrage of punches from Yang. The Cenitaur looked over its shoulder as Yang jumped back. Several flashing red lights covered its body. The real Neo gave a mocking salute to the Cenitaur as Blake took aim and fired off a single fire Dust round, blasting the Grimm to pieces.
Yang held out a closed fist towards Blake without looking at her and, with a little grin, the cat Faunus reciprocated the gesture and fist-bumped the blonde.
About twenty minutes later, the Outcasts were walking out of the mines none the worse for wear. There was already a Manta parked outside, ready for lift-off, and another three were flying in and preparing to land. One of the oncoming Mantas, from what Ben could see, already had its doors open to show that Vine and Rex were part of the clean-up crew. When the ships landed and their passengers disembarked, the two Ace-Ops walked over to them.
"So, how much fun did I miss out on?" Rex asked.
"Eh, not much. I get why no one really takes Centinel bounties now. Annoying as hell, but nothing too bad," Ceres answered.
"But it is still necessary," Vine added, "Just as Beowolves become Alphas over time, Centinels evolve into Cenitaurs if they live long enough."
"So it's a bit of both, huh?" Min muttered, "Weird."
"Both of what?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing you need to worry about. Just some curiosity on my end," Mine handwaved the subject away.
"I have to admit though," Albedo began, "I'm a bit shocked the Xerge sample was just unlocked now."
"Whatcha mean?" Ben asked.
"The Xerge don't really HAVE a planet. They're more like tiny stowaways. There's some on every planet," Albedo explained, "They should've been unlocked a while ago."
"Really?" Ben said, "Cool, I guess."
"They're harmless on their own, though," Albedo explained, "Outside of a construct, they're…essentially moving target practice."
"So, more of a situational form then, huh?" Yang asked as the group walked past the other members of the clean-up crew and towards their Manta.
"In a way. It all depends on what's available," Albedo replied, simply reminding Yang and Ben of that key factor. The golems the x-shaped alien made were pretty versatile, especially if other materials could be used to build them.
"Well...if that's all, we better get going to Bellwood." Ben said.
Kylie paused, a bit confused. She was about to ask what was going on, before it hit her like a Humongousaur falling out of the sky. "...oh, yeah. Almost...forgot."
Ben took a deep breath, as he looked at himself in the mirror. He never liked dressing up for events. The comfort of jeans was better than dealing with those stupid sharp ridges in dress pants and the annoying dress shirt buttons. Not to mention, ties- equally annoying to deal with.
Ben fixed his hair a bit. For once, it wasn't a messy explosion of bedhead, but neat and matted down. He had to look proper, especially today.
It had been two years since Grandpa Max died.
And today, he was being honored.
Ruby knocked on the door to the room Ben was using to get ready, Max's old room.
"Hey, you ready yet?" the red-hooded huntress asked.
"Huh?" Ben said, looking away from the mirror, "O-oh yeah. Coming." Ben walked over to the door, and opened it. Ruby was wearing a simple all black dress instead of her usual trademark red.
"Are you doing okay?"
"I wanna be," Ben admitted, "That's all I can say."
"It was nice of the Plumbers to commission a statue for him," Ruby said, as she and Ben walked out of the room and made their way to the event, "And even nicer of Ironwood to give us some time off to honor Grandpa Max."
"I guess." Ben shrugged, "You got your speech ready?"
"Dude, don't remind me." Ruby said, "Public speaking isn't my forte..."
Ben chuckled a bit, "Come on, you'll do great."
"I could ask the same about you." Ruby smirked, "How's your speech look?"
"Short. Simple. To the point," Ben said, "...that's the way he would've wanted it.
"Maybe I went overboard on mine then," Ruby nervously admitted, looking back on she'd prepared.
"It'll be fine," Ben said reassuringly.
A stage had been set up inside the common area of the Bellwood Plumber base, chairs set up and organized for the sheer number of people that were attending. The memorial was well underway by now. Ben waited off to the side for now, letting Ruby go through her speech first. Verdonna had already said her piece for the event, a speech which had brought a few of the guests to tears. Now, Ruby was doing her best to give something just as good, and to her credit she was succeeding, even if she did fumble over a word every now again due to strong emotions. Understandable, given what today was. It's been two long years since he's been gone and the Plumbers, spurred on by Verdonna, decided that was long enough without actually commemorating Max's actions. A good distance behind the podium was a large structure covered by a concealing cloth, meant to be pulled off at the conclusion of the ceremony.
Ruby finished up her speech, wiping some tears from her face before walking away from the podium. She moved over to where Ben was standing and nodded, holding it together as best as she could. He gave his girlfriend a quick and comforting hug, before he moved over to take his spot at the podium as well.
Ben stared out into the crowd. There were quite a few faces he recognized out there. Aside from the Outcasts were people he knew he'd see today, like his parents, Verdonna and Taiyang, there were also a few more surprise guests. Qrow was surprisingly there; Ben wasn't entirely sure if he would make it considering all the missions he'd been on lately. Azmuth was there, which wasn't exactly a surprise considering that the First Thinker appeared to Ben and Ruby after the initial incident. But perhaps the most shocking guest was Ironwood himself. Well, sort of. Ironwood's duties as both headmaster and general of Atlas kept from physically attending, but it would be unforgivable if he didn't attend. So, to compromise, he'd be there via hologram. The Atlesian Plumber base gave him the code to access one of the Bellwood base's holographic emitters so that he could be there. Ben understood at least, and it was at least nice that he made a compromise for the event.
Even Gwen and Team JNPR had managed to attend. While the latter group didn't know Max as well as many of the others here, they had heard countless stories of him from Gwen, giving them all a good idea of the man they were here to memorialize.
Aside from them, there were countless other faces in the crowd that he didn't recognize at all. Some he could recognize the species of at least, including an older looking Piscciss Volann, a Tetramand, a gorilla-like alien with light purple fur and an advanced visor, and a greyish-tan skin reptilian alien sporting two large fangs on his lower jaw, with a large horn sticking out of his forehead, just to name a few. Their eyes were focused on him, as they waited for the Omnitrix wielder to speak.
Ben took a deep breath before adjusting the microphone on the podium "Grandpa Max is still my hero. Even though he's gone, he's still with me in spirit," Ben began, "I still remember everything he's ever taught me. Whether it was tips on fighting or camping tips or...tips on girls..."
That got a small chuckle from the crowd.
"But there's one that's always stood out to me." Ben continued, "When I was little, Grandpa Max taught me how to ride my bike, without the training wheels. I remember falling over a lot and having some scrapes, but not once did Grandpa Max give up. He encouraged me to keep going, because this time, I was just so close...he ran alongside me, holding me up while I pedaled. By the time I realized he had let go...I'd been riding by myself for a long time. I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing Grandpa, waving at me while I rode down the street. I almost panicked- how was I doing so well without Grandpa's support?"
Ben paused for a moment to catch his breath.
"...I still kinda wonder that to this day."
Even if the speech was meant to be short, the audience could pick up on how much emotion was behind each and every word, especially that last sentence. Even Ironwood, notorious for keeping his emotions in check, was noticeably sullen at the speech.
"I can," Ben began again, "I can only hope that everything I've done up to now is good enough. I know Max would say so."
It was like Ben said. Short, sweet, to the point. Nothing overly long. When he finished and walked back to Ruby, Verdonna once again took to the stage.
"Max always was an inspiration to us," Verdonna began, "All of us. Each and every one of you knew him in some way, be it as family, close friends, or even those who simply served under him during his time with the Plumbers. It would seem wrong to just…ignore that legacy. So, while he may have had his own reservations for it, it seems only fitting to immortalize the impact he had."
Verdona moved back to the covered structure and pulled off the cloth. Fitting for what they were here to remember, the structure that had been hidden was statue of Max wearing, not his Plumber armor as quite a few expected, but rather his usual outfit, including that trademark Hawaiian shirt of pose of the statue wasn't anything combat oriented like any Atlesian statue would be, but instead it was much more inspiring. Max was pointing forward with one hand, while the other held onto his Plumber badge. Him pointing forward like that was some obvious symbolism, and while it was easy to figure out the meaning behind it, that didn't diminish its significance.
Always look to the brightest future. Fight for that future.
Keep moving forward.
Ben stared up at the silver statue of Max. Max never did like gold, felt like it was too flashy. Ben was a bit relieved to see that his wishes were still respected, even after his death. Ben took a deep breath, and felt the wound around his chest. It'd healed up nicely. Besides a small scar, no one could really tell that Ben had taken such a near fatal blow.
Ben looked down at his hand. It was Grandpa's spirit that encouraged me to use my semblance...I didn't even know I had it until then, Ben thought to himself, remembering that harrowing situation at the top of Beacon so long ago now. Cinder was ready to kill him, burn him to ashes and leave nothing left. Then came that fateful flash. It always felt like a dream when the lightning leapt from his fingers and shocked the Fall Maiden, saving him and giving Ruby the moment she needed to rush in and add even more insult to injury.
He and Ruby saved me back there, Ben finished, closing his hand and sighing a bit.
He put his hand on the base of the statue and looked back up to the statue's face.
"Grandpa," Ben whispered, "I miss you every day. I wish I could see you one last time…but I know that's never gonna happen," he clenched up his fist, "But I know I can avenge you."
"There you are!" a familiar voice called out.
Ben looked behind him, to see Ruby walking over to him.
"Hey, come on! Gwen wants us to meet up with her and her friends," Ruby added.
"Oh, yeah! Coming-" Ben began.
Ben and Ruby paused, as something felt...off about the room. Like there was a new, unfamiliar vibe. It sent a chill down Ben's spine, as he looked around.
"Why do I have that awful feeling that something bad's about to happen?" Ben asked. The universe answered his unwanted prayers- from above their heads, a portal opened up. Ben and Ruby quickly ran away from it, as something fell out of it.
Ben and Ruby stared from behind Max's statue, Ben peering over it, "What the hell was that!?" Ruby asked.
"No idea," Ben said as he readied the Omnitrix. He slammed down on the faceplate and in a flash of green, Ben's human form was replaced by that of XLR8, "but I'm about to find out. Now, if you wanna stay here instead of racing me there," Ben smirked as his visor lowered and got ready to speed off.
"I don't think it's a threat!" Ruby said, "Look! The guy looks hurt..."
"If he's hurt, might wanna be ready to call Ari. Unless she's busy. But either way," Ben said before he sped over to check on whoever just fell through the rift.
Ben carefully flipped the body over...and paused.
"Scratch that. We're gonna need Ari, Ceres...and maybe Albedo," Ben corrected himself.
"They're not medical professionals..." Ruby raised a brow at the sudden addition.
"Then maybe they can help explain this." Ben said, motioning for Ruby to come over.
She did so cautiously and then froze when she saw...Ben. On the ground, in front of Ben, her Ben, anyway, was...another him. Well, now she understood why Albedo and Ceres needed to come along.
"Calling them now," Ruby said, overcoming her shock long enough to put the numbers in her Scroll.
"Who is this guy?" the original Ben asked.
WELCOME TO YOUR X-TINCTION
DO NOT STARE INTO THE SKY FOR PROLONGED AMOUNTS OF TIME
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE
A/N: Hi there! Welcome back to Gemstones. This will be a long 10 parter / movie event. Get ready for some interdimensional shenanigans.
The opening for this movie is "Desire" by Pelican Fanclub and the ending is "Today" by The Smashing Pumpkins.
Here's an invite link to the Gemstones Discord. /cgFmXz3qJ5
Please leave a review! Thank you for reading.
