There are some things in this chapter the logic of which you might find somewhat questionable. Save those for the end notes, I'll explain there.


"Man, was today great or what?"

"Yeah… I guess."

"You guess? Come on! Wasn't it awesome how I turned into Chromastone and you were able to channel your gem powers through me to amplify them?"

"Honestly? I would have liked it more if it had been a normal circus and not the murder-y supervillain kind."

"Ah, come on. As if that was ever gonna happen. The moment I saw a circus I knew it was probably going to be Zombozo behind the whole thing."

"Yeah, well, I'd just like a day that's like… completely and totally normal."

"What do you mean? That was pretty much the norm for me."

"Yeah, for YOU. Like the time we went to FanCom for signings and I got attacked by an intergalactic criminal, and you got attacked by Jasper. Or when we were gonna have karaoke night but I got spread all over the news. Or how I got pushed off the Washington monument by Bluebird when we were sightseeing."

"To be fair, Bluebird is one of yours."

"It doesn't matter whose it was! I just think that we don't get to do normal stuff that normal people do, cause something's gonna yell BEN TENNYSON loudly enough for the whole city to hear just to get your attention, then turn the place into a battlefield."

"Hey, watching you hang off that ledge with your butt wasn't exactly my idea of a perfect Christmas, either. But come on, Steven, normalcy isn't in the cards for people like us. And it's totally overrated, anyway."

"I am sick and tired of hearing how overrated normalcy is from people who have been living in normalcy their entire lives!"

"Okay, okay." – Ben paused. "I guess if you're not gonna take it from me..."

Ben made a sharp U-turn on the road.

"We're taking a little detour."

"To where?" – Steven asked him.

"I know a kid whose entire life has been abnormal for as long as he can remember it. At least you'll listen to him, won't you?"


"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" – Ben yelled, completely disappointed, while being surrounded by fangirls, trying to touch every part of his body. Some were pulling his hair, some were tugging on his ear, one of them grabbed his nose, but this was a situation Ben had found himself very often in, so he remained unfazed in his disapproval.

"What?" – Rex nonchalantly asked. "I ended a worldwide cataclysm and completed what was pretty much my life's mission, so I thought it was about time I started living a normal life. My best friend Noah had just graduated from high school and was enrolling in college, so I thought I'd go with him."

"Generator Rex, college freshman? Something about that doesn't really sound right." – Ben said skeptically. "What are you majoring in, anyway?"

"Generating." – Rex grinned. "Okay, okay, it's engineering. Which is pretty much the same. But I didn't really come here to study all that stuff, I just wanted to be normal for a while."

"DUDE, TELL ME ABOUT IT!" – Steven agreed with Rex. "That is exactly what I told him, too!"

"I should have called Zak." – Ben shook his head in disapproval while one of the college fangirls got her hand in his mouth and started pulling on his cheek.

"So, um, Rex, right?" – Steven asked as him and Ben followed Rex along the building. "I'm Steven."

"Hey, are you the guy that was at FanCom with Ben? Cause I heard something about that."

"I guess my reputation precedes me." – Steven awkwardly laughed.

"You're not the only one." – Ben added from behind them while being followed by an autograph-chasing mob.

"So what's your deal?" – Rex asked Steven.

"Well, long story short, My mom was a rebel from an alien race called the gems a few thousand years ago that wanted to colonize the Earth, her and her friends had to stay behind while the gems that were invading, the Great Diamond Authority, left the planet, and my mom had to give up her physical form so that I could be born when she fell in love with a human, but then the Diamond Authority returned a couple years ago and my mom wasn't around anymore, and it turns out that my mom wasn't actually a rebel but one of the members of the Great Diamond Authority that staged her murder so that the invaders would leave. Also, I am my mom. Kinda." – Steven explained in quick succession.

Rex, after taking all that in, turned to Ben, finding it hard to believe. Ben nodded, confirming Steven's explanation.

"Dios mío. And I thought my backstory was complicated." – Rex said, shocked. "Well, what happened to those Diamond guys?"

"They're not a threat anymore." – Steven told him.

Rex threw a suspicious glare at him. "Don't tell me you…" – he slowly asked.

"What? No, no. I just convinced them not to invade other planets anymore. It was a whole hassle…"

"Do you want me to tell you how I came to be this lean, mean, EVO punching machine?" – Rex then asked Steven, hoping for an opportunity to boast.

"Not really. I mean, sorry, it's just that you were already all over the news when you brought the Nanite Event to an end."

"Ah, so I see my reputation precedes me as well."

"So I got a question." – Steven then looked at Rex.

"Shoot."

"How do you deal with stuff like that?" – he asked and pointed at the crowd that was seemingly trying to rip Ben apart trying to get his hoodie.

"Well, stuff like that sometimes happens, sure, but, I mean, what are you gonna do? If you fret about that kinda stuff then you might as well not go outside at all. Let loose, you know?"

"I guess you got a point there. It's just that I've been outed as a "superhero", and I'm worried how that might affect the people close to me."

"You guys could come help me anytime now!" – Ben said from the inside of the blob of fans.

"Hey, you said you wanted this!" – Steven shushed him.

"You shouldn't worry about that, either. It's gonna blow over and the people will find someone else to obsess about. Well, unless you're him." – Rex jerked his head towards Ben.

"I'm serious, you guys!" – Ben yelled, *this* close to using the Omnitrix.

"Ahem."

At the sound of that the entire crowd stopped what they were doing immediately.

"What just happened?" – Ben asked, though relieved it was over.

"Dude, that's Knoblich!" – someone whispered to him. He looked around, and Steven saw him too. It was one of the professors. He was wearing a mustard-yellow button-up shirt with a green vest over it, tiny crescent glasses and was sporting killer sideburns on an otherwise clean shaven face.

"Friends of yours, Mr. Salazar?" – he raised an eyebrow after having seen all the commotion.

"Um, yes, Mr. Professor Knoblich." – Rex answered, trying to stay strong and not allow his soul-sucking stare to devour his spirit.

"Don't let the disturbance seep into my class, though they may attend if they wish to do so. I would never deny a willing mind the privilege of education. Though, the class is…" – he checked his watch. "Beginning in two minutes. I suggest you all to hurry." – he addressed the hallway of students. They all started running in a panic. "

"Um, if it's beginning in two minutes, shouldn't you hurry as well?" – Steven asked the Mr. Professor, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"That is my concern, not yours." – he laconically replied.

"Come on, you guys!" – Rex yelled and grabbed both Ben and Steven by their jackets' collars, generated the Boogie Pack on his back flew in the air and over the crowd that was trying to get to the lecture hall to be able to make it on time.

"Mr. Professor Knoblich?" – Ben asked in disbelief while being dragged through the air by his hood.

"Believe it or not, he demands to be addressed that way." – Rex casually answered.

"What is wrong with him?" – Ben then asked.

"Trust me, I've been trying to figure it out all semester." - Rex answered as they flew into the auditorium. He led them to the seats that were as far away from the Mr. Professor's blackboard as possible.

"Merry Christmas, everyone. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, it is time to begin the lecture." - Mr. Professor Knoblich suddenly appeared on the scene, walked to the auditorium's door and slammed it shut. Unfortunately, there was a single poor soul left locked outside. Ben, Rex and Steven, as well as the others, watched as he begged to be let in through the door's window.

"Please, sir! I was gonna get an A!"

"Mr. Maxwell, if you were really hoping to get an A, you would have set priorities straight and come to class on time instead of ogling the local superhero scene."

"I didn't even know there was a superhero around! The hallways were all jammed up! You! it's all your fault!" - he pointed at Rex through the glass window. The Mr. Professor simply closed the window's drapes and ignored him as he moved on with the lecture.

"Seriously? He was only like a couple seconds late!" - Steven objected.

"Dude!" - Rex hissed as he tugged at his sleeve. "Not in class!"

"And anyway, is that really enough to drop his grade by that much? C'mon, cut the guy some slack, I mean, it's Christmas for god's sake!" - Ben supported Steven.

"I am so dead." - Rex facepalmed.


"On one hand, you spared my Christmas from three uninterrupted hours of brain melting. But on the other, Holiday is probably gonna have my ass on a stick for letting my grades dip." - Rex counted his pros and cons as all three of them walked along the hallway, thrown out of the lecture.

"Is that what the college professors are really like here?" - Steven asked Rex.

"No, not at all. That was his good mood. And he's never in a good mood "

"What kind of college even has classes on Christmas Day?" - Ben asked him.

"The Knoblich kind." - Rex answered. "He probably doesn't even believe in Christmas."

"He doesn't seem to believe in any fun, either. But I can hardly believe it's Christmas, too. The entire year flew by so quickly. So much stuff has happened. I fought an octopus god from another dimension, my best friend driven insane by power, the Incursean invaders, and that's just the stuff that happened in this timeline." - Ben recounted.

"I missed a couple months of the year because I got thrown across time, but I did put an end to the Nanite Event and got rid of the corrupt heads of Providence." - Rex boasted.

"I, um…" - Steven hesitantly said. No, he should own up to it. "All I managed to do is have a meltdown and lose control of myself and turn into a rampaging pink monster."

"That was you?" - Rex asked in awe. "That's awesome! I thought it was one of those kaiju guys that dude in New Mexico is always fighting."

"What dude in New Mexico?" - Ben inquired.

"You know, the guy with the wings and the fire breath. You've probably heard of him."

"Hm. Big world. But c'mon, Steven, you know that's not all you did. You built a safe haven for gems to promote human/gem interactions, all by yourself!" - Ben encouraged Steven.

"Well, it was not all by myself. You were there to help with your grandpa."

"True, but that was more technical support. You were the brains behind the operation. You should be proud of that."

"It is a big accomplishment." - Rex agreed. "So, since Krampus Knoblich was the only class I had today and that's history, what do you guys say we blow this joint?" - he suggested.

"Sure." - Ben agreed.

"I could go for a bite to eat." - Steven added.

"Wing Kingdom it is!" - Rex triumphantly declared.


The trio was quietly enjoying their wings at the fast food place.

"Something's off." - Ben declared.

"You don't like the wings?"

"No, it's not that. It's like it's… too quiet."

"It seems like a quiet town." - Steven shrugged.

"No, no. I just… listen, whenever we meet up like this, something bad always happens. I'm half-expecting 3 of our greatest villains to team up and attack us all at once, or, or… some sort of creature that's part-EVO, part alien and part gem to throw something at us through the window." - Ben explained as he pointed at the window they were sitting at.

"But gems already are a type of alien." - Steven pointed out.

"I don't know, maybe another type of monster then."

"Come on. Just because we're hanging out doesn't mean that something bad is about to happen." - Rex dismissed it.

"Just you wait." - Ben said and pointed at the window. They sat there for several seconds. Nothing happened.

"Paranoic." - Rex muttered as he sipped his Red Gush. "Okay, okay, so. What's the stupidest bad guy you've ever fought?" - he asked as an icebreaker.

"Oh, boy, where do I even start." - Ben answered as he started listing bad guys in his head.

"I know my answer. Like, you know how most of the stuff I had to deal with are EVOs, right? Well, there was this one dude, not an EVO, just a regular dude, on a motorcycle. Nanite-enhanced, sure, but I mean, it was just him on a motorcycle."

"Just a dude on a motorcycle?" - Steven asked.

"I'm not done yet. He called himself Valve, and not only did he exclusively refer to himself in third person, always saying "the biker" this, "the biker" that… He also had some kind of wise sensei theme going on that didn't really suit the tough biker thing. Also I'm pretty sure I saw him drinking motor oil instead of tea once."

"That can't be healthy." - Steven commented.

"It's still probably healthier than whatever that is." - Ben pointed at Steven's bucket of boneless vegan wings.

"Well it's healthy for the environment and I'll leave it at that."

"Oh, I know!" - Ben then suddenly exclaimed.

"Know what?" - Steven asked him.

"The stupidest bad guy I've ever faced. So this one time me, Gwen and Kevin were flying towards this planet on a diplomatic mission to deliver the Tiffin, I told you about that a couple days ago, Steven. So on our way we get intercepted by an Incursean warship-"

"That's the frogs right?" - Rex interrupted.

"Yeah, the frogs. The ones that invaded in like, May or something. Anyway, their captain's all like "we are the Incurseans, we 'ate peace, luv war, har har har…" - Ben said while putting on a voice. "And they had the audacity to attack us. So I had Rath head over there and "talk to them", but even after that their commander attacked us and drove himself into a black hole."

"Wow. That is stupid stupid." - Rex admitted. "Even after Rath?"

"Yep. Whabbout you, Steven?" - Ben relayed the question.

"Does Ronaldo count?"

"I guess…"

"Then it's him."

"Wait, he was a bad guy?"

"Don't ask." - Steven dismissed the topic.

"Who the heck is Ronaldo?" - Rex obliviously asked the two of them.

Just then, an explosion was heard outside.

"AHA!" - Ben triumphantly exclaimed. "I knew there would be a bad guy coming for the three of us!"

"You're happy about it?" - Steven asked him as the three of them got out and fled the restaurant.

"Hey, at least we'll be working together." - Rex shrugged.

Ben slammed the Omnitrix dial and turned into Wildmutt. Rex generated the Big Freakin' Sword. Steven summoned his shield. As the three of them turned the corner where the explosion was coming from, Wildmutt pounced on the individual clearly trying to get away from the scene. Rex pointed the massive sword at his face, and Steven got his shield ready with a determined look on his face.

"GAHHHHH! Get away from me! I swear I won't do it again!" - the perp yelled as Wildmutt growled and slobbered at his face. Then, the trio looked at exactly who this person was. It seemed like just some guy wearing a ski mask, holding a sack of presumably cash. Only, his clothes and mask were splashed with blue paint.

Steven and Rex looked at each other in confusion as Wildmutt pulled back a little.

"You were just robbing the bank?" - Rex asked him.

"Yes but I'msorryI'msorryokay?" - the guy started pleading.

"What about the explosion we heard?" - Steven asked him.

"Just a distraction, I swear nobody got hurt!" - he assured them.

"Dude, seriously?" - Ben asked after detransforming back to his human form. The bank robber, however, was still terrified. "Do you at least have some sort of cool alien gun or something?"

He slowly shook his head. "No, no, all I did was use a prop!"

"That's pathetic, man." - Ben sighed in disappointment.

"I knew I should have listened to mom and taken those sax classes!" - the bank robber scolded himself. Ben, Steven and Rex all looked at each other in confusion again.

"Okay, we're done here." - Ben said as he let go while the police arrived.

"Que imbécil…" - Rex muttered.

"We are on the scene of the crime where three superpowered individuals showed up. One of them is Providence's Generator Rex, boy-machine, and the other is a first-time guest here in Aberdale, the controversial hero known as Ben 10. However, the identity of the third mystery man we see before us has been a sought-after mystery until now. I'm Diane Farrah, and you were watching Ultimate eXposure, where we are about to uncover the identity of Ben 10's new partner." - the newswoman asked as she ran over to the trio, urging the cameraman to follow her.

"Um, excuse me, can you guys stop calling me his partner?" - Steven asked as she shoved her microphone towards his face.

"Then, how would you like to be addressed?" - Diane Farrah asked him, provoking an identity reveal.

Steven looked at Ben and Rex for reassurance. They nodded and gave a thumbs up. He ran all the possibilities through his head and… well, it'd probably be better if this all happened on his own terms.

"I am Steven Universe." - he boldly said while looking straight into the camera.

"So, Mr. Universe, what-"

"Please, just call me Steven. Mr. Universe is my dad."

"Oh, you're a witty one, I like that." - Diane Farrah laughed. Steven did too, except that was never meant to be a joke.

"So, Steven, would you care to tell us a little bit more about yourself? What is the nature of your powers? How long have you been operating as a superhero? And is there a Mrs. Universe?" - she gave a playful wink at the camera with that last one. Rex laughed off-screen with that one.

"Okay, I'm not answering that last one. And I don't even know if I call myself a "superhero", exactly. I just try to do the right thing whenever I see that it's needed. Isn't anyone like that?" - he unsuredly asked.

"Well, that's quite an answer. But not everyone can do what you do. Speaking of which, you never told us what you can do, and how you can do it. Care to elaborate?"

"Well, I'm… I'm a gem. Half-gem, that is. The rest is human. Gems are an intergalactic race of aliens that…" - he considered explaining gem invasion, but decided that was way too much already. "…had ties with the earth for a long time. If you want to find out more about them, you can always visit Little Homeworld at Beach City in Delmarva. Humans and gems are equally welcome, and our goal is to promote the interaction between our two species."

"Very interesting." - Diane said, barely believing her luck in what exclusive information she was getting. "Would you be interested in visiting us at Ultimate eXposure for a full-on interview about yourself and these gems?"

At that moment, Ben and Rex's expressions, which Steven was watching in case he had said something wrong, totally changed. Ben started cautiously shaking his head ever-so-slightly after weighing that situation, advising Steven to avoid it. Rex was waving his hand sideways near his neck level, telling him to cut it out immediately.

"Sorry, but no. Actually I need to leave for, um, superhero business, so, um, bye!" - Steven quickly said, slowly panicking there at the end, and bolted towards where he had his Dondai parked. Ben and Rex followed him.

"Nice save there at the end." - Rex told him sarcastically.

"I didn't know how much I was supposed to tell them!" - Steven explained himself.

"Don't listen to him, you did pretty good. Way better than some of my interviews…" - Ben told them.

"Hey, at least you got to make out with Jennifer Nocturne." - Rex noted.

"Well, yeah, but I meant the one where I turned into Humongosaur and scared away all the reporters."

"And you wonder why Harangue keeps calling you a menace." - Rex retorted.

"Whatever you say, boy-machine." - Ben replied.

"So how long are you guys gonna be in town?" - Rex asked them.

"I don't know. This was somewhat of an impulsive visit." - Ben noted.

"We should have looked for a hotel or something!" - Steven facepalmed his forehead.

"Well, if you're still here tonight, there's this party I'm going to that you guys can totally come with." - Rex noted.

"Sure. Hear that, Steve-o? You're finally gonna get the normal experience you've been talking about." - Ben nudged Steven.

"Okay, okay. We're coming. But what if all our greatest villains show up there, then?"

"Oh, great, now Ben's got you talking that mierda." - Rex facepalmed.


"I'm telling you, you need to turn the car around!" - Rex pointed out.

"No, dude, the map says it's that way!" - Ben retorted. "Don't turn the car around, Steven!"

"We already established that this street isn't showing up on the map!" - Rex replied.

"Well, why is it leading us here when I wrote it in, then?" - Ben retorted.

"Maybe that address you got there is wrong?" - Steven suggested.

"No, dude, I asked Noah three times to confirm and each time he's texted back that this is the right address."

"Ask him how do we get there!" - Ben hissed.

"He doesn't know either!" - Rex yelled.

"Well how the heck are we supposed to even get there, then?" - Ben said. "We're just gonna follow where the map is taking us. Don't stop, Steven."

"Okay, that's it. I'm asking someone for directions." - Steven pulled over. Though, it was a suburb, and most of the people were already inside.

"Hey, kid!" - Steven called the only person he saw in the street. The pig-faced kid, wearing a green shirt with purple sleeves, waddled over to them.

"Hey, do you know how to get to Endicott Street?" - he asked the kid. The kid stared at the three of them for a while.

"Are you guys in a jacket gang?" - he then asked, pointing at Ben's, Steven's and Rex's jackets.

"What? No." - Steven dismissed him.

"Ohhh, I get it. It's a secwet jacket gang." - the kid winked at them and gave them a cheeky smile.

"So do you know Endicott Street or not?" - Rex impatiently asked him

"If I get a jacket like you guys can I join your jacket gang?" - the kid persisted.

"Ugh, sure, just tell us where the street is!" - Ben got tired of it.

Without saying another word, the kid pointed forward, in the direction the car had already been going in.

"Aha! So I was right!" - Ben exclaimed.

"Thanks for the help!" - Steven told the kid as they drove off.


"So, here we are." - Rex said as they got to the house. It had already gotten dark outside.

"So this is like a college party for college kids?" - Steven asked him. "Aren't we a bit too young to be coming here?"

"Ah, don't worry. You're with me. And I actually do go here." - Rex reassured him.

"Hey, Rex! You finally made it, huh?" - someone from the crowd greeted them.

"Could you have made the directions any more confusing, Noah?" - Rex yelled.

"Hey, it's not my fault. That's how I got them. Hi, Ben." - Noah greeted Ben. Ben gave him a fist bump.

"I'm Steven." - Steven introduced himself to him.

"Noah. Nice to meet you. You another one of Rex's superhero friends?" - Noah greeted him.

"I'm not sure about that specific label but I am like Ben and Rex, yeah." - Steven confirmed it.

"You'll see it on Ultimate eXposure, probably." - Rex explained to him.

"Hey, guys, Knoblich Jr. is here!" - someone yelled and pointed at Noah.

"Knoblich Jr?" - Ben repeated.

"Don't ask. It's a long story." - Noah refused to elaborate. "THAT JOKE TOTALLY DIDN'T GET TOO OLD THREE MONTHS AGO, SAM!" - he said as he went back into the crowd. "AND IT'S NOT THE DISS YOU THINK IT IS COMING FROM THE ONLY GUY THAT FAILED JULEP'S CLASS!"

"So now that we're here, what do we do?" - Steven whispered over to Ben.

"Dude, you don't know? It's 2 easy steps. Step one, get something to drink. Step two, hit it on the dancefloor." - Ben ran it down.

"Something to drink? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Relax, I mean soda. I'm not that irresponsible to put myself in that state while having access to the Omnitrix."

"Okay, but I don't know how to dance, exactly." - Steven admitted. He was also worried that he might end up fusing with someone, but that was a long story that he didn't want to get into with the others during the middle of the party. The risk of that happening was low, anyway.

"Don't worry, nobody does. All everyone really does is stand and sway to the beat." - Rex reassured Steven.

"Well, that's stupid." - Steven remarked.

"That's the normalcy you wanted. Go on, go on." - Ben pushed Steven away as Rex took him with him. Ben, in the meantime, found the snack table and started chugging down on the soda.


"Told you it'd be worth it." - Ben told Steven as they were back in the car, then burped. "Sorry, too much soda. Why can't parties have smoothies?"

"That was terrible." – Steven replied.

"At least that guy's leg was broken only a little." - Ben played it down.

"Maybe it wouldn't have happened if you didn't decide to go Goop!"

"That one was on the Blonde Widow, it wasn't your fault, don't worry." - Rex reassured them.

"Good thing Steven was there to heal it."

"Wait, you have healing powers?" - Rex exclaimed.

"Go back to sleep, Rex. You have classes in the morning."

"Dude, after that party I don't think anyone will be coming in tomorrow." - Rex groaned.

"If that was how normal people have fun I don't even wanna be normal anymore." - Steven admitted.

"See? We finally scared the normalcy out of you." - Ben said as he also fell asleep. Steven smiled and wondered if that really was true.


Let me address the B.F.S. in the room. In my canon, Rex is not on an alternate universe, rather the same one. Why? For better worldbuilding. I always hated the type of cartoon crossovers that had their shows take place in seperate dimensions. That is a worldbuilding KILLER. So I changed /

Where does that leave Heroes United? Well, it is somewhat canon. Ben and Rex still did meet in New York, (or rather, Empire City instead), they still took down Alpha at the bug jar. But the interactions and plot were somewhat changed due to Ben already existing in Rex's world.

But Generator Rex is not where I stop, no. You might have noticed I mentioned Zak. And I'm not stopping there either. The universe that this story is set in - it's not a shared universe for two, three, or even four shows. No this is a Cartoon Network Universe. You might have noticed another CN character pop up in this chapter and yet another one referenced. If you ere especially perceptive you would have noticed the slight references I made to various CN media over the previous chapters without calling too much attention to it. So, in conclusion, *most* of CN's cartoons that you can think of are canon. The only ones I'll be excluding are the ones based on existing IPs that are massive franchises, like DC or Transformers. Anything else? Fair game. Here and there there's gonna be crossovers with corners of the CNU that you never even would have thought of. Although the entire CNU is not showing up in this fic, only occasional crossovers. The idea of a "shared universe" is more of a thing that connects my various Cartoon Network fanfics with each other, that are also in the same canon as A Trip to Remember.

As a matter of fact, their meeting with Rex was the first ever piece I ever wrote for A Trip to Remember. I had had the idea before, and the first scene of this chapter came so vividly to my mind that I had to write it out. Granted, I edited it to suit the ongoing story after I actually reached this point, but it's gratifying to see a piece that I had planned so long to finally show up.

As for Rex's college setting, it was my way of showcasing what he's up to after his show was over. This is a living, breathing universe, where events happen off-screen even after the show is over. I always had plans of sending him to college (well, originally high school), with or without the appearance in this story. In fact I had the idea of writing a separate fanfic for Rex's adventures. That is why I didn't want this to feel like *this* was the story that's setting up Rex's environment. I saw it as a crossover, not as a spin-off, so stuff like Mr. Professor Knoblich was my way of showing that he has his own setting going on outside of ATTR's events.

I do admit that I glossed over a couple things in this story. I mentioned encounters with Zombozo and Bluebird that I never showcased in their own chapters, and the reason for that is because it's not really supposed to be a linear story - more like occasional check-ins when something happens, so sometimes I skip a couple days. I didn't feel like Zombozo or Bluebird encounters warranted their own entire chapters, so I referenced them in passing. Same thing with Christmas - it was a bit out of nowhere, but since Steven probably doesn't celebrate Christmas I glossed over it and left the festive celebration responsibilities to the upcoming New Year's Eve.