Ben stayed outside the Rustbucket, glaring at the open front hood. Some sort of smoke was wafting out of it, and Grandpa Max had just come around with more tools. Ruby was right next to him, DS in hand.

"Dude, just chill out," she told him, silver eyes glued to the screen. "If Max can't fix it, then we can call someone. We're not that far out from civilization."

"True," Ben noted as he took in the sparse amount of trees around them. They hadn't gotten into the middle of the forest yet, so they still have a decent phone signal. "Still inconvenient though. Whatcha playing?"

"Oh, Pokemon Ruby." Ruby was about to explain, but then they heard the sounds of a car approaching, and the two children looked up just in time to see an extremely orange SUV slow to a stop near them. A muscular blonde man with purple eyes stepped out, dressed in brown cargo pants and a tan dress shirt. He had a soul patch and some stubble on his jawline, and from what Ben could tell he had a heart-like tattoo on his arm. His eyes were kind though, and his voice was oddly soothing when he called out, "Hey, you guys need a hand?"

Ruby, who had gone back to her game, suddenly gasped. Her head shot up and she shoved her console into Ben's hands. And then she ran as fast as she could to the man, screaming out, "DAD!"

"RUBY!" the man cried out, smiling gleefully as his young daughter tackled him. He let out an 'oof' sound as she did so, but he still continued to grin as he hugged Ruby close, spinning her around before gently settling her down on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked, eyes shining.

"I could ask you the same thing," her father said. His eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait, if you're here, then that means…"

"Good to see you again, Taiyang," Max said, walking up to them. Ben followed suit, more curious than anything.

"Max, you old space dog!" Taiyang exclaimed. The two shared grins and clasped hands. "Didn't expect you here."

Neither did I," Max admitted, waving vaguely at the RV. Taiyang gave a wince.

"Well, I don't mind helping," he said. "I'm actually heading towards a camp right now, I can give you a lift."

"I'd appreciate it," Max said, relieved. "Oh, where are my manners? This is my grandson, Ben."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Ben said politely as he walked up to the crowd.

Taiyang gave him a warm smile. "Oh, so this is one of the kids you talk so much about." He stuck his hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you, Ben." Ben gave him a genuine smile and shook his hand. He could see Ruby looking happy from the sidelines, her smile so wide it looked like it could break her face.

"You said we're near a camp," she said in a rush. "Is Yang there? Can we meet her?"

"Sure thing, sweetie," Taiyang reassured her. "But first we should probably do something about the Rustbucket." He winced again. "You sure you upgraded that thing?"

There was another explosion from the engine. "Yes, but I'm starting to think I was cheated," Max said sourly.

"You can't trust those auto shop guys in Undertown, Max," Taiyang laughed. "They'll just swindle you out of every last penny!"

Ben was more focused on the word 'upgraded'. "I think I can help!"

Taiyang looked over at Ben, a bit confused. "How so?"

Ben looked over at Max for confirmation, pointing down at the Omnitrix. Max just nodded, and Ben grinned as he activated the faceplate and turned to Upgrade's icon. As he slammed it down, cold liquid ran up his body, reshaping it into Upgrade's odd form.

Taiyang was a bit shocked, but not so much that he couldn't say, "I've seen weirder. Still, that's one hell of a skill, kid."

"I do my best," Ben quipped, his voice tinny. "Everyone get inside. Taiyang, you lead."

Taiyang did just that, but not before sending Ben a bemused look. It quickly morphed into awe when Upgrade slid over the Rustbucket, turning the RV black and green and forcing the engine to start.

"Holy shit," Taiyang punched out. Ruby just gave a happy laugh.

So, with Taiyang and Ruby in the extremely orange SUV, the two cars drove through the forest, right into the middle of the densely packed wood, where sunlight tried its best to filter through the foliage but inevitably failed. They ended up going down a hill off one of the lesser travelled paths, right into an enormous valley full of… cabins?

"Whoa," was all Ben could say as he took in the camp. It reminded him of that weird camp from one of Ruby's books, Camp Half-Blood or something? The camp was huge, nearly spilling out of the grassy valley in a colorful, patchwork style. There were multi-colored cabins of varying sizes; an armory; an arena; an arts and crafts center; a decent-sized swimming pool; a climbing wall; a mess hall; and some sort of center house that must have acted as a headquarters for the camp. Ben was sure there were more places hidden from view, but suddenly he was aware that he was driving around children, all of them wearing brightly colored clothing and many of them looking fairly young.

As soon as Taiyang and Max parked inside a garage, Ben slid off the RV and immediately turned human, his watch interface now red. The garage was empty anyway, so it wasn't like anyone would have seen. Once they were all assembled, Taiyang said:

"Okay, so I got the gist of what the summer's been like since I left Ruby in your care." He gave Max the driest glare possible. "I thought you promised me it would be a peaceful vacation."

"I can't account for everything, Tai," Max retorted.

Taiyang sighed. "In any case I'm glad you kids came out of it okay. While you're here you can take full advantage of the arena, brush up on your skills."

"So this is a training ground for future Huntsmen," Ben realized. And then he had another thought. "Wait, why is only Yang here? Why not have Ruby train here too?"

Taiyang's smile became strained. "Eh, that's a story for another time. Why don't you guys explore the camp? If I remember Yang's schedule she should be close by."

"Oh my gosh Ben!" Ruby squealed. "You gotta meet my sister, you're gonna get along great!" And then she pulled him out of the garage, Ben yelling out, "How strong are you and will you let me in on your workout routine?!" He could hear Taiyang and Max laughing at his misery, those jerks!

But that was soon forgotten because the camp? Was totally amazing? Ben had gotten a pretty good view of it from the RV but seeing it in person was something else. Everything smelled like wildflowers and pine, and the buildings looked pristine despite the worn color of their paint jobs. The entire place looked like something out of a storybook.

And the campers? Extremely multicolored. Ruby's hair was odd in the way that it naturally went from black to red, but some other kids had natural gray, green, blue, purple, even white hair. And did that one girl have naturally red eyes? Whaaaaaat?

"Is it normal for Huntsmen to have natural hair like this?" Ben asked, unnerved.

"Hm? Oh yeah," Ruby told him. "My hair's actually pretty normal, all things considered."

"...huh."

"But anyway, you're going to love Yang!" Ruby said cheerfully. "She's super fun to be around, plus she can totally kick ass! She once punched a guy in the balls so hard he cried! And the dude was like three years older than her!"

"Whoa," Ben breathed. "Why did she punch him?"

"Oh, he wouldn't stop picking on me and Yang got sick of it," she said dismissively. "Plus the guy was a dick to just about everyone in the neighborhood, he had it coming. Now where is she?"

"Well, what would Yang normally be doing this time of day?" Ben asked curiously. He took a look at the nearby clocktower and noticed that it was nearing lunchtime.

"Um, she might be near the mess hall, or in the arena," Ruby said hesitantly. "I don't really know this place and Yang never gave me a concrete answer about her schedule."

Ben just smiled and shrugged. "Hey, we need to explore this place anyway, we can do that while looking for your sister."

"Okay!" Ruby said cheerfully.

There was no sign of Yang in the armory (but there were plenty of cool weapons) or the mess hall ("Which isn't that weird, Yang's kind of a picky eater," Ruby admitted) and there were too many cabins to try and search through, so they went to the arena next.

The arena looked like a metal coliseum/amphitheater, mostly bleachers with a single expansive playing field. It looked amazingly high tech, all sleek black metal and domed ceiling and dim lighting. Ruby just had to say her name and they were in, and Ben could only stare in absolute awe as he took in the fight right in the center of the arena.

It was some young man with a mohawk and light gray armor, fighting against a brightly colored preteen girl. The blonde's curly pigtails bounced around as she backflipped away from the mohawk guy, and then the blonde struck her two fists together and exploded.

"That's my sister!" Ruby shrieked, jumping up and down. "Kick his butt Yang!"

"WHY IS YOUR SISTER ON FIRE?!" Ben screamed. A few people looked over at them, but the rest were glued to the fight, cheering for their favorite fighter and waving oddly-colored money in their hands. Ruby was still shrieking, but Ben just watched as Yang punched, kicked, and nearly struck Mohawk, only for the guy to dodge, weave, and slash his daggers at Yang.

It was a battle that almost looked orchestrated, if the relaxed stance of Mohawk was anything to go by. But with a punch to the kidneys Yang was victorious, Mohawk slumping to the ground with a pained cry. Ben looked up at the scoreboard- or was it aura-board? He still wasn't sure- and saw that Yang's health bar was halfway gone, while her opponent's was completely depleted. Considering how much older Mohawk looked, it was kind of sad.

Ruby then dragged him towards the front, pulling at his wrist like a rag doll. Ben could see people either smugly or despondently exchanging money. He saw Yang bounce out of the arena, a smile on her face. A slender, white-haired girl sat nearby and talked to one of the adults in the room, her long ponytail shining in the light. A dark skinned girl with green highlights in her black hair was standing next to her, nervously looking around.

And then Ben decided to do something stupid.

"...how do you join in one of these fights?" he asked.

"Ben, don't," Ruby said firmly. It was enough to make Ben seriously pause. "These kids already have their auras activated and have years of combat experience on you. And a lot of these kids have trouble controlling their semblances, if you go all out or freak them out with with your aliens, a lot of people could get seriously hurt."

Ben pursed his lips in thought, but then reluctantly nodded his head. "I guess that makes sense. I mean, if you didn't know about aliens before summer started then I don't think a lot of these kids have either. But if some asshole challenges me, I'm kicking his ass."

"That's fine," Ruby agreed, giving him a relieved smile.

"I wanna kick the new kid's ass!" some douche conveniently announced, pointing at Ben.

"LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK?!" Ruby screamed, eyes wide and her jaw dropping.

As for Ben? He just grinned maniacally. He stepped onto the battlefield, and the crowd quieted. Ruby just nervously moved next to the white haired girl and hoped this would end well.

The douche stepped up onto the field next. Ben smirked as he glanced over his opponent: the boy had burnt-orange hair, combed backwards with a slight peak at the front, and indigo eyes. He wore silver-gray armor with gold trim. The chestplate sported a bird with its wings outstretched. Underneath the armor, he wore a black shirt with red trimmings and black pants with a red belt tied around his waist. Not to mention, the boy was tall. Very, very tall.

"That kid is dead," the white haired girl deadpanned.

"Come on, Weiss," the girl next to her said. "Root for the underdog!"

"...please note that kid isn't holding a weapon, Kylie," Weiss pointed out.

Kylie paused, before nodding her head. "That's a good point. Then why does he look so confident?" Everyone turned to look at Ben, who just looked at ease as Cardin Winchester sneered at him. And then everyone turned to the girl who came in with this Ben kid.

"Uh, do you know what's going on?" Weiss asked, looking concerned.

"I get the feeling Ben's gonna beat the shit out of someone," Ruby admitted, biting her nails. Everyone around her either gaped in shock or snorted derisively. From what Ruby had heard from Yang's phone calls, Cardin was a notorious bully, practically unstoppable outside of the arena. And Ben? Ben was just some scrawny little ten year old with no noticeable weapon.

But the question remained: why was Ben so confident?

"You ready to die, dweeb?" Cardin mocked, brandishing his mace.

Ben rolled his eyes and popped the dial on his Omnitrix. "Does every bully follow the same script or are you just particularly slow?"

"What makes you so tough?" Cardin scoffed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "That's big talk for a newb."

"Did you just drop the word 'newb' in this day and age? Y'know what, whatever," Ben said dismissively. His hand hovered over the dial. "So, how do we start this thing?"

Cardin ran at him, screaming, his mace high in the air. Ben just smirked again and slammed down the dial. There was a green flash that made almost everyone shield their eyes. Cardin struck his mace once, twice, three times, each hit causing a loud explosion. "Oh come on, you're not so tough!" Cardin mocked loudly.

But then the smoke cleared. And instead of a tiny ten year old boy, there was a hulking mass of green crystal with suspiciously familiar green eyes.

"You wanna try that again, hot shot?" the alien asked, his voice a dangerous baritone.

And it was on that day that the entire camp realized just how high pitched Cardin Winchester could scream.

And in the end, Ben climbed out of the arena, dusting off his hands and giving the shocked crowd his signature smirk. "What, did you expect something different?" he asked haughtily.

Ruby stomped over to him and punched him on the shoulder. "Seriously dude?!"

Ben grabbed his shoulder and glared. "Seriously, what's your workout routine?!"

"DUDE!" a bunch of kids yelled as they ran over to them. Yang Xiao Long was among them, wearing an orange tank top and brown cargo shorts, her curly blonde hair in pigtails, athletic bandages wrapped around her hands.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, violet eyes shining. "You gotta tell me your secret!"

"Oh, it was just alien magic," Ben said, shrugging. "No biggie."

The white haired girl rolled her eyes. "Sure it wasn't."

"Ignore her, she's always cranky," the blonde girl dismissed. "I'm Yang, and she's Weiss. The girl with green in her hair is Kylie."

"I'm Ben Tennyson, and this is…"

Yang's eyes lit up even more as she picked up her little sister. "Ruby!"

"YANG!" Ruby squealed happily, hugging her sister like a happy koala.

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Yang grinned, swinging her sister around.

"The RV broke down conveniently near here!" Ruby explained. "...wait, put me down! You're spinning me too fast!"

Yang set her sister down, giggling. "Seriously, I can't believe you're here!" She then looked over her shoulder, at Ben. "And this must be that Ben kid that you've been traveling with! You could've mentioned the whole alien thing."

"I didn't want dad to be worried!" Ruby nervously said. "You know how he can be."

Kylie tugged at Ben's arm. "So, does this mean that you were at all those alien sightings with her?"

"Yeah, why?"

"...how come she didn't do anything?"

"Well, consider the fact that I'm 10, have no cool costume to hide my face, and still need to master some moves," Ruby answered. "...though, I have bit a guy on the throat."

All the girls 'oohed.'

"Tell us everything," Yang beseeched Ruby and Ben. "You sound like you two had a fun June."

And so Ben and Ruby explained their summer so far, interrupting each other ("No no, it was like FWOOSH!" "Hey, I'm telling the story here.") and excitedly exclaiming about some other adventure. They made sure to gloss over events like Kevin and the cult, there was no need to worry Yang. They moved towards the bleachers of the arena, most of the building cleared out except for a few adults milling about. One adult was sitting near them, a tall brunette with glasses who was engrossed in a large book.

"Oh, and I could totally beat any superhero," Ben finished confidently. "Like, Green Lantern? Pfft. As if I'd lose to that ring-pop wearing loser."

Kylie turned around and called out. "Mom, are you hearing all this? You might have inspiration for your next book."

The tall brunette looked up just then, her dark green eyes glinting mischievously. "You know it."

"Next book?" Ben asked curiously, peering over at the adult. Was she reading Harry Potter…?

Kylie just smiled and shook her head. "I'll tell you some other time. So, where are you headed to next?"

Ruby and Ben shared a confused glance. "Honestly, we have no idea," Ruby admitted. "Grandpa Max keeps it from us. He wants us to be surprised."

"They're usually...ok surprises," Ben admitted. "Though, last week…"

"Yeah, Sparksville? More like Dullsville." Ruby snickered.

"Well, how about a tour?" Yang said, jumping up and a down a bit. "I know some great places where we can all hang."

"Sounds fun. Lead the way," Ben said, smiling.

And so Yang did, because Ruby hadn't been kidding when she said that her sister was like the sun: she was fun and cheerful, the life of the party in the form of a single girl. She had a hair-trigger temper and the semblance to match, but Ben could see that for all her rage it was almost always positively driven, always trying to protect her sister and anyone else she called family. Because Yang didn't have much left, and so she clung to what little she had left and shielded her family in the only way she knew how.

But Ben didn't dwell on that now. Not when Ben had heard the most terrible thing ever.

"How is Mortal Kombat better than Portal?!" Ben yelled, getting all up in Yang's face. The blonde just smirked. Everyone else in their little group stayed back and quaked.

"Uh, gory, well choreographed fight scenes versus boring puzzle games," Yang scoffed. "You do the math."

"Boring puzzle games? Portal has a dark, feminist storyline and the main heroine isn't sexualized at all! Plus the science in it makes sense!" Ben retorted, eyes narrowing. "Mortal Kombat is just useless gore!"

"HOW DARE-!" Yang raised her fists and was about to pummel him, when Ben reached for the Omnitrix and slapped down the faceplate. In a flash of green light, Yang was suddenly colliding her small but powerful fists against something hard. The diamond guy again? She thought, clenching her teeth. However, her guess was wrong; her tough eyes softened as everyone backed away to see Ben had turned into some sort of puffy pill bug with yellow armor.

"What is that? I want to see that loud one," Kylie whined.

"I call it Cannonbolt!" Ben grinned. He grabbed Yang's fist and pulled her in, and suddenly, he curled up into a ball and took off, rolling down the side of a cliff. Everyone eagerly followed.

"Ten bucks on Yang!" Someone yelled. "Break his legs!"

Ben made sure the ride down was painful for the two of them...while Ben felt little pain, Yang was suffering due to the cramped space and quick movements. But that didn't stop her from punching Ben in the face and chest (they both were really hard to tell apart). Ben ended the bumpy ride as he crashed into a rock, and released Yang from his trap.

Yang quickly equipped her weapons, the gauntlets from earlier, and struck a battle pose. Ben returned to his ball form and rolled to his opponent. Just as he was about to hit Yang, he reversed his roll, causing dirt to be flung from off the ground underneath him and into her face. Yang was suddenly blinded by the attack, and Ben took the opportunity to strike her from behind. Aura doesn't block physical blows, only weakens them. Ben thought. If I can get in a few good strikes, she'll be down for the count and it'll prove that Portal is a better game!

Ben paused.

...wow, this is a lame fight. But she started it! Ben reassured himself mentally. And take advantage of the blindness he did. Ben steamrolled and flattened her a few times, but she could take it; Yang's aura weakened a majority of the blows, but they still hurt. As Yang weakly stood up, Ben jumped up in the air and spun quickly.

"Time for the finishing blow!" Ben yelled, as he fell back down to Earth, ready to slam back down into the Earth...when suddenly, Yang caught him, with one hand.

His spinning stopped, and he uncurled. "Oh no."

Yang spun the giant pill bug around, and slammed him face first on the ground. Her hair was burning bright, and her purple eyes were now a bloody red. A dangerous feeling overtook her sunshine attitude.

Ben knew he was utterly fucked.

Yang picked up his leg and threw him against the rock, leaving a comical Cannonbolt shaped mark in it. Ben groaned as Yang took a dozen shots and jabs to his chest, each burning and powerful (and do keep in mind, she was 12) and as she was about to land the finishing blow-

"STOP FIGHTING!" Ruby was suddenly between them, giving them her patented puppy dog eyes. "You're tearing this family apart!"

"Was that a reference?" Ben asked, anger temporarily abated, as he reverted back to human form.

The same could be said for Yang, who shot him a look and hissed, "This isn't over."

"As fascinating as it was to watch you two brawl, we have other things to do. It's almost dusk," Weiss noted, looking up at the sky.

"Will you guys be at the campfire? It's kind of tradition to attend every night, no matter who you are," Kylie asked.

Ben shrugged. "Uh, sure. We'll be there."

"Good. And please, show me that loud dude. I need to get a new selfie for my phone wallpaper…" Kylie said, before Weiss dragged her away. "SERIOUSLY!"

The group dispersed then, everyone saying their goodbyes and leaving Ben, Ruby, and Yang alone in the forest.

"Okay, but seriously, this watch?" Yang held up the arm with the Omnitrix. "Straight up science fiction. I honestly love it."

"Yeah, well, apparently it spits in the face of modern science," Ben said. "According to Ruby it is an awesome abomination of God."

"Sounds like my sister," Yang said, chuckling. "She once told me that the Achieve Men were secretly aliens because their fans once wore tinfoil hats to a concert. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was a meme the band made and the fanbase ran with it."

"Well, considering aliens are real, she may have been on to something," Ben said, crossing his arms and smiling slightly. "But you're taking this whole alien thing really well. So did Ruby and just about all your friends. Why is that?"

Yang shrugged. "Eh, I can't say for everyone, but I've been a part of this secret war against the Grimm all my life. And it's narcissistic to think we're the only planet capable of having life, not to mention incredibly lonely. Yeah it's crazy, but it's not that crazy if you think about it."

Ben shook his head in happy disbelief. "You and your family are insane. Isn't that right Ruby?" He blinked, not seeing a familiar redhead right next to him. "Ruby?"

Yang's eyes went wide with worry. "Ruby?" she called out. "She doesn't know the area, she could be lost."

"And that girl seriously knows how to hide," Ben noted, remembering all the times where Ruby just seemed to straight up disappear only to reappear soon after. "I have a pretty good chance of finding her with my watch, you go look into any place you think Ruby might hide."

"I'll alert some of the teachers, they can help," Yang said as she ran off. Ben went off to the side and transformed into Astrodactyl, flying up into the sky within seconds. He did a quick scan of the valley, shocking quite a few campers as he called out Ruby's name and swooped down between alleys. When he didn't see a familiar hood, he went outside the perimeter.

At that point, all he had to do was follow the trail of rose petals.

Eventually he found a small clearing of wildflowers, tall trees guarding the area like ominous gates. Ruby was curled up in the middle, grass and weeds around her, her hood obscuring her face.

Ben landed on the ground, and slowly walked towards her...and then he saw the statue.

It almost appeared to be the spitting image of Ruby, from its face shape to its hood. A familiar weapon was in its hands. In the only image Ben had seen of her, Summer's face was partially obscured and her hair was longer than Ruby's, but the statue at least showed off Summer's kind smile.

"Is everything alright?" Ben squawked, forgetting he was still Astrodactyl.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ruby said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Well, I'm more concerned about why you're out here. The whole camp is looking for you!" Ben berated her.

"Oh, shit, really?"

Ben moved closer. "Really. What are you doing out here, Ruby?"

"I'm just spending time with my mom."

Ben reverted back to human form. "Oh."

Ruby sighed before patting the ground next to her, motioning for Ben to join her. He quietly did so, and they both looked up at the darkening sky; it wasn't quite dusk yet but getting there, and the stars were already visible.

"Mom, I'd like you to meet Ben!" She smiled brightly. "We're essentially besties."

"...'essentially?'"

"Well, I dunno, since you and Yang have been buddy buddy all of today, it's...it's kinda making me feel...lesser? I dunno, it's stupid." Ruby brushed it off. "I feel like I'm kinda being replaced, but I know that's not actually happening, but the feeling won't go away, you know?" She blew a raspberry. "Anxiety is the worst."

"Ruby, I like you for who you are. You're fun, fearless, totally badass, the list goes on," Ben stated honestly. Your anxiety can kiss my ass."

Ruby hid a watery smile into Ben's shoulder. "Does this make us best friends?" she asked in a small voice.

"Definitely," he said, smiling slightly.

"That's good," Ruby smiled.

"So, should we head back to the camp?"

"Nah. I just wanna stay here for a while longer…"

And then a low growl made them jolt up. From the forest red eyes glared at them, and the two children were instantly on their feet.

"Grimm," Ruby whispered as the hulking mass walked into the clearing. Ben thought it looked like a bear, but everything about it was wrong. Its fur was matted and oily black, its claws like knives. A bone mask made up its face, red markings around its cheeks and eyes. Its mouth opened to snarl at them, revealing rows of sharp yellow teeth.

"What do we do? It's close to the camp," Ben said, voice quavering.

"Ben, turn into an alien now," Ruby ordered, her own voice trembling. "XLR8, Eatle, anything, just get us out of here!"

And it was on that terrified note that the Grimm roared, and Ben slammed the dial down on the first alien he saw. Vines erupted out of him, his two eyes morphed into one, something was closing in on his head-

The world seemed to still completely. The Grimm stopped snarling. Ruby was staring up at him in shock.

"What the heck is that?" she asked, her fear temporarily abated.

Ben stared down at his hands- were they still hands at this point? It was so hard to tell sometimes- and said, "Beats me. I've never been him before!" But then he waved an arm and shot out giant green spikes that hit the Grimm right in the stomach, making it howl in agony. "But I like what he can do!"

"YEAAAAHHHH!" Ruby cheered as the Grimm roared in pain. Ben practically flew at the beast, wrapping vines around its meaty arms and wrenching them back. And then he sent another spike right into the face of the monster, cracking its bone mask and forcing it to still.

Ben dropped the body as it began to disintegrate, and he stepped back as the smoke became too much. "And here I thought you could only kill Grimm with Dust," Ruby said, smiling happily as she watched the body crumble apart.

"Dust is that magic stuff that's only activated with aura, right?" Ben asked. He genuinely couldn't remember what it was.

"For the most part," Ruby told him. "I'll have my dad explain it later. Right now I'm more worried about the camp. If there's even one Ursa nearby…"

"What exactly are the chances that the Grimm will attack the camp?" Ben asked, cold realization swimming through his veins.

She bit her lip. "Pretty likely, to be honest."

"Then get on my back," Ben told her. "Let's see how fast this alien can go."

Ruby would later describe the trip back to camp as clinging to the back of a Lovecraftian monster while it swung from tree to tree. In other words, she loved it. (Though Ben thought she could have worded it differently, seriously.)

Ben changed back into a human almost as soon as they came to the camp, the two children pitching forward and rolling on the ground before they stopped… right in front of a terrified Taiyang. "Where have you two been?!" he cried out, picking them both up effortlessly.

"Looking for Ruby, but more importantly we got a Grimm problem!" Ben exclaimed, dusting himself off quickly. Ruby took a quick look back at the forest, which seemed so much more menacing in the waning light.

Taiyang paused his upcoming tirade and took in the new information. "Are you sure? There's normally some Grimm around these parts, they're kind of inevitable."

Ben gave the man the most incredulous look possible. "You have a camp full of children who can't control their powers or their emotions very well placed in an area where monsters that feed off negative emotions can easily get to them?"

"Not easily," Taiyang protested, "and we normally have teachers and the older campers deal with them. It's all very controlled, believe me."

Ben still looked skeptical, but then Ruby asked, "How do you know that the Grimm won't just attack en masse though?"

"Because we normally have Ursae, and it's not common for them to just attack someone together," Taiyang told them. "That's more of a Beowulf thing."

And that was when a cacophony of wolf howls was heard above the usual din of the camp. Conversations stopped. The animals in the forest quieted down. The howling continued for one, two minutes. And then silence.

"Like that?" Ruby whimpered.

And then an alarm sounded, rousing the campers. In an erratic, nearly hysterical pattern, every single child in camp moved towards the mess hall, a constant stream of colors that left the camp eerily empty in minutes.

Taiyang marched Ben and Ruby towards the mess hall and forced them inside. "You kids stay here, just in case," he told them. "I'll find Max, see if he can't help with this mess." And with that he shut the door and cracked his fingers. On the outside, Kylie's mom and a few other staff silently and quickly geared up.

"Don't hurt yourself," Kylie's mom quickly pulled Taiyang aside. "I don't feel like substituting for you like last time, when that Spartan girl beat you at arm wrestling. Especially when you lost me twenty bucks in the betting pool."

"Well, I took that day off so I could relax my back and recover my pride. Also, you shouldn't encourage the other teachers into your weird betting games," Taiyang mused as he equipped his weapons, golden gauntlets with a red lines spread throughout the weapon. "Just keep them safe, Anna."

Anna pulled out a blue book with golden lines decorating the front of the book, sporting a fancy sun and moon design. "I'll make sure those freaks don't touch the kids." She opened her book, and pages upon pages flew out of the spine, folding and flattening until it formed into a brilliant white hussar sabre and shield for her to wield. The blade was almost flat like the paper it came from but no less deadly. "And if they do...well, you already know the outcome."

Taiyang grinned. "That's the spirit." He took a few steps away and quickly took off running into the forest, hoping that Max wasn't a meal for the Grimm. They love the tender meat. Though considering what Max considers fine dining, he's probably fine.

Meanwhile, with the kids, there was obvious panic and distressed murmurs with in the place. Yang was getting pissed off by the moment. "EVERYONE CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" she finally bellowed, silencing the mess hall. "The more worried we get, the more we attract Grimm. Someone start singing Kumbaya or something!"

Ben gave her an incredulous look and was about to say something, but Cardin fucking Winchester beat him to it. "Why should we when your sister is the one who put us in this mess?"

The mess hall, which had been filled with murmurs moments ago, went silent.

Yang slowly turned around to see Cardin fucking Winchester sneering down at her. "The fuck did you just say?" she said, eyes turning red.

Ben had to have Kylie and Weiss restrain him from making him taste Diamondhead's fist again. "None of this is her fault, dipshit!" Ben snarled, trying to swing at Cardin, but the girls were too strong and Cardin was too tall and far away.

"Look, her moping got us a pack of Grimm in the camp," Cardin weakly defended himself. "Maybe if her older sister cared about her more, then we wouldn't be in thi-"

And then Cardin exploded. Or at least his nose did. Yang had lost her temper, and while one second ago she was on the other side of the mess hall, the next she was in Cardin's face, fist furiously mashed into his ugly mug.

At first it was funny for Cardin to get the shit beat of him, especially since the audience egged her on after the initial shock wore off. The next few seconds led to Yang feeling immense regret, as she realized she did it again.

She injured someone because she couldn't control her temper.

(But from the way everyone was congratulating her, she somehow had a hard time thinking too badly for herself.)

Ben blinked, and gave a breathless 'whoa'. Ruby patted him on the back. "You see why I stopped that fight earlier?"

Ben knew he looked ashen. "Remind me never to piss off your sister."

Ruby looked at him sympathetically. "That's nearly impossible, my guy."

"Damn it."

Meanwhile, with the adults-

"GET YOUR HEAD IN THE FUCKING GAME, BOYS!" Anna yelled out from above. She then rained down a hellfire of cut up sticky notes and worn out dollar bills that somehow sliced apart thirty Grimm in one go.

"YOUR POWERS DEFY PHYSICS, ANNA, WE CAN'T COMPETE WITH THAT!" Taiyang yelled back. He punched a Beowulf in the jaw, which broke off and turned to dust in seconds. The rest of the monster followed suit.

Max wasn't doing so bad himself; he was wearing his Plumber suit and waving around laser weaponry with the experienced precision of someone twice his age. His marksmanship was handy in finding the weakest points of a Grimm and hitting them with technology most hunters didn't have. It only took two shots for each Grimm to disintegrate.

Anna slammed back down on the ground, watching the battle around her. Teachers were firing multi-colored Dust at monsters; Taiyang had an Ursa Major in a headlock before popping the head right off. Max rolled his eyes and shot at a Taijitu, blinding one of its eyes before landing a killing blow.

Anna then took at the horde of Grimm still coming at them, escaping the forest like snarling black streams. She cursed before turning mere paper into a bastard sword, decapitating an Alpha Beowolf in one fluid motion. Her blade became an arc of destruction, Taijitus and Death Stalkers turning to ash in her anger.

"This is taking too long," she snarled. She barked at Max and Taiyang: "Cover me! I'm gonna try and end this!"

"You better do it quick!" Taiyang shouted back as he backflipped and landed heavily on a Boarbatusk. Picking his feet off the gore, he explained, "We're running low on Dust! We weren't prepared for an attack on this scale!"

"I can only do so much myself!" Max said, aiming his gun at the sky. He fired blue lasers in rapid succession, and baby Nevermores ingloriously fell to the ground.

As she thought, Anna thought back to her spare closet, a tiny space barely big enough for an adult male to stand in. She thought of the stacks of discarded books in there, things she herself had deemed uninteresting for her to read. Books her daughter and her friends didn't bother with. Old magazines with the pages falling out. Newspapers, even.

It was just enough. It had to be.

Anna's eyes glowed a deep, devastating green. Her bastard sword reverted back to graph paper. The rustling of soft pages could be heard underneath the sounds of battle.

Everything was converging around her, above her. Splitting apart and reshaping itself into tiny, catastrophic parts. Anna grinned savagely.

"EVERYBODY CLEAR OUT!" she screamed. And they complied as quickly as they could.

Anna flicked her wrist down.

What looked like white rain flew into the Grimm. They were as small as raindrops, as fragile as flower petals.

And they ripped apart the creatures of Grimm like tissue paper.

Screams cut short. Black fur caked in gore. Masks turned to bone dust. Beings turned to black smoke. The stampede running back to the forest.

Silence.

Anna turned back to the shocked, terrified crowd, smiling cheerfully. "Let's go find the kids, shall we?"

Yang had finally gotten her breathing under control, the rush of finally giving Cardin what he deserved fading away like a dying flame. She'd lost control again, she'd let down her dad again, she hated losing control, she hated being angry.

She breathed, steadily. There was no need to start a spiral, now of all times. The mess hall lights flickered. Yang's anger was replaced with fear.

"Grimm…" Yang whispered. "They must be going camp generators. They love those things for some reason, it's why we have five sets of backups."

"This happens often, then?" Ruby whispered back.

"It's a nice bit of exercise." Kylie shrugged.

"All we have to do is stay calm, and the Grimm will just pass through?" Ben suggested hopefully. The light flickered again, accompanied by a far off roar.

The cabin fell silent, ears trained to hear the tell tale signs of a Grimm attack. There was silence, which eased some of young huntresses...only to be horribly shaken by the creaking of wood in the wind. A shadow flickered over them, accompanied by the flutter of wings, distressed metal groans, lights buzzing and flickering. Vibrant sets of eyes darted from window to window, breathing steady, reaching for absent weapons out of habit.

The roof of the cabin was ripped away from the walls, crumbling under the talons of the Grimm hoisting it away.

"Nevermore!" Someone cried. "Everybody out!"

The kids all rushed out of the collapsing place, and into the courtyard. Bad idea. The courtyard was crawling with Grimm, Ursa and Beowolves, Boarbatusks and the grand Nevermore, all snarling, screeching and eyeing their prey.

"Hey, why don't we give that new guy another go?" Ben smiled, turning the Omnitrix dial to the unfamiliar icon.

"We need a plan!" Weiss urged, as she stopped Ben's hand above the dial. The group shrugged, except for the blonde brawler.

"What we need is our weapons!" Yang yelled, running off towards another cabin, followed by an assortment of the children.

"I have a plan, it's called Hero-!" Ben's boasting was cut short as an Ursa claw came sweeping down, tearing fabric and skin, staining the ground red.

"Ben!" Ruby screamed, having to be restrained by Weiss. Her voice caught the attention of the Grimm standing over his body.

Bloody claws dragged across the ground, a growl rumbling from within the monster's throat. The three children did their best to back away from the advancing Grimm. From behind it, a bright green light flashed, and a familiar pile of torn plants rose from the ground, striking it dead center in the chest. "Hey, ugly!"

The Ursa turned, it's growling maw met by another vine striking it square in the face. More and more vines struck the beast in a frenzy, before finally digging its roots into the Grimm and dissecting into small, fading fragments.

Ruby gasped. "Dude, those vines are wild!"

"Hey, I like that!" Ben laughed, "Wildvine!" The joy didn't last long, though. More and more Beowolves charged at Ben.

"Use Vine Whip!" She commanded, pointing at an oncoming Beowulf.

Ben frowned, his body somewhat lazing in disappointment. "Seriously, Pokémon references now?"

"Rubes, heads up!" Yang's voice called out. Ruby ducked as Ben burrowed underground. Yang's gauntlets shot out bombshells that exploded upon contact with the Grimm, dissipating them and giving the heroes some breathing room.

Ben shot back out of the ground, and spat out some dirt. "Ugh! I'm not doing that again."

"Seriously though, plan?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Don't look at me, you're the strategist. I'll just deal with these guys while you deal with Edgar!" Wildvine jabbed a leafy thumb skywards.

"Edgar?"

"Yeah, y'know, 'Nevermore?'" Ben shrugged. "Aw, forget it." He stretched out his arm and latched onto an Ursa before launching himself towards it. Ruby began slicing and dicing through Grimm, while Yang punched her way through the crowd.

"We need to ground the Nevermore!" Ruby yelled as sister watched her back.

"Obviously," Yang scoffed, "but how?"

Ruby quickly searched the battlefield, watching Huntsmen-To-Be hold the line of oncoming Grimm, each using their weapons and semblance. Her eyes narrowed in on Weiss, who was carefully summoning intricate circular patterns. A Beowulf tried to pounce on her, but she summoned the pattern in front of her. The second the Grimm touched it, it was immediately covered in ice and shattered into pieces once it hit the floor. Weiss grinned before returning to combat.

"What's with the girl with the white hair?"

"Weiss? She's a stuck up daddy's girl, and a bit of a b-" Yang was interrupted by Ursa charging towards them. She easily dispatched it at point blank with another Ember Cecilia bombshell.

"Personality doesn't matter! What's with her powers?"

Kylie shot out some smoke from her pores, blinding some Grimm. "She uses Glyphs. They can push and pull, kind of like a magnet. She can also launch projectiles out of it using her dust, but it takes a lot out of her!"

Ruby grinned. "Well, maybe she could hold the Nevermore's wings in place, or its feet to the ground!"

"Yeah, that's stupid...but, it's stupid enough to work!" Yang grinned. "Go talk to her about it!"

"You two need to hold the line," Ruby ordered them, "keep the big uglies back."

"But it is a big ugly!" Kylie joked.

Ruby's body bursts into rose petals, and the swirling mass of them flew towards the other group. Her body reformed with Crescent Rose at the ready, the blade slicing its way through unsuspecting Ursa. She landed right next to Weiss and shot down a few more.

"It's Weiss, right? Can you use your Glyphs on the Nevermore?"

"Ugh, fine," Weiss sighed, and Ruby relaxes a bit. "What's this hairbrained 'plan' you have?"

Meanwhile, Ben wasn't exactly having the best time. Maybe it wasn't the greatest idea to have chosen the new guy. Yeah, he was a plant, but that was it. The thorns growing out of his body were cool and all, but that meant getting attacked by the Grimm willingly. And that was a horrible plan.

Beowulf teeth scraped like nails all over his slender body, biting into what should be his spine (what even was alien anatomy), but it instead bit into something that was almost squishy. Ben stretched his head around to see some strange seeds. "What the-"

The seeds plopped out of his back and onto the ground. The beast tossed Wildvine aside and began sniffing the seeds...only for them to plump up in size and EXPLODE, decimating the beast and every other monster in a fifteen foot radius.

"Hold on, these explode?" He examines the eggplant-like… seeds, he supposed, on his back. "I'm explosive?" Ben grinned. "Okay, new plan!" He grabbed some more seeds from his back and began hurling them across the battlefield, destroying more of the Grimm with ease.

"BEN! Need some help here!" Ruby yelled, pointing to the Nevermore that was heading straight for them.

"I gotcha covered!" Ben lobbed another seed at the Nevermore, this one hitting its bony mask before exploding. The Nevermore screeched in pain as it's mask cracked, causing it to crash on the ground, sending debris everywhere. The avionic monstrosity stood up, only for black glyphs to appear on the its wings, halting their movement for one precious moment before they shattered and dissipated.

Weiss stumbled back. "I'm… my glyphs aren't strong enough."

Ruby holds her steady. "No, you did great, this Tweety just needs one Hell of a birdcage."

"Really? Puns? You're a dolt."

"No worries! Wildvine's gotcha co-" The Omnitrix bleeped, and Wildvine silently cursed. The now human Ben was now a sitting duck in the battlefield and OH MY GOD, there's a big Beowulf headed right for hi-

A hand grabbed Ben's shoulder, before pulling him back to where the other fighters were. Kylie pulled out her weapon, a single gun, and fired a concussive bullet at the Beowulf. The bullets cracked one Grimm mask before bouncing to another and doing the same, and bouncing to another, and another… Ben didn't even see where the line ended, all he knew was that it was awesome.

"Did you just save me?" Ben asked, eyes shining.

"What? No!" Kylie yelled, not really focused on Ben. "She did!"

Ben turned to see Yang, clutching her left arm...and what looked ribbons of flesh unraveling from the thing. Her arm was completely robotic underneath, the metal shining in the flickering lights. Ben's jaw dropped as Yang's 'flesh' began to wrap around her arm again.

"What the hell?!"

"It's a long story," Yang sighed. "Let's just say, I'm…'all right' now!" she said with a shit-eating grin.

"I will smack you with your other arm, just watch me."

Meanwhile, Ruby was trying a different strategy with Weiss. "Just try to form a glyph or something right...there!" Ruby pointed at its mangled left foot. Weiss nodded as a glyph appeared under it, before the leg was coated in ice. Frost spread across the feathers, thickening into ice, before nearly covering the Nevermore. As it encompassed the entire wing, Ruby decided it was time to bring down the house.

"Hey, sis!" Ruby grinned. "Wanna see how strong I've become?"

"I already know," Yang shrugged. "But sure."

"Weiss, if you would?"

Weiss nodded, as black glyphs began appearing along the ground.

"Thanks!" Ruby grinned. Suddenly, she disappeared in a burst of rose petals. She was running at such a speed that the ground beneath her cracked, rose petals flying from her ascent.

"She's using Crescent Rose to propel herself even faster than usual!" Ben realized. With each new shot, she got closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe caught the Nevermore's neck in its blade and ran up the fucking mountain with it.

Yang and Ben watched in amazement as she shot out bullets to help her speed, the Nevermore screeching as the blade dug into its neck. With both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reached the top of the cliff, circled up, and fired one last shot. Her blade flashed once, and the Nevermore lost its head. Its body slowly fell to the ground with a jaw dropping crash, and Ruby quickly descended in a shower of rose petals.

Ruby stood triumphant at the bottom of the mountain, folding her scythe into its compact form.

"Woah," Ben said breathlessly.

"...bye bye birdie." Yang said to himself.

From the treeline, small paper daggers flew out, causing the last of the Grimm to collapse, instantly dead.

"Get the stragglers, I've got the...kids." Taiyang yelled, before realizing they were too late. The battleground was completely destroyed, with some smoke still present.

"Well, I think the kids just exceeded my kill count," Anna frowned lightly.

"Ben! You okay?" Max ran over to Ben. "Where's Ruby?"

Ben pointed towards the mountain, where Ruby was awkwardly standing. She waved to them, and they waved back to her.

"...I don't think Tiayang is gonna let her out of his sight again." Ben commented.

"No, I don't think he will." Max chuckled.

"Cardin, you're bleeding," Anna commented, fussing over his wounds. "What did you do to make your aura get so low?"

"You know, just, got too close to a Boarbatusk." Cardin glanced at Yang. Yang smirked...before she noticed her father, staring at both her and Ruby, arms crossed.

"What did you two do?" Taiyang asked, in full 'I'm Your Father' voice. The sisters shrank a bit.

"What do you mean? We defended the camp." Ruby nervously grinned.

"Ruby, the roof of one of the cabins is missing." Tiayang pointed to the newly formed sunroof.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Oh… right, forgot about that."

Yang sighs, rubbing her prosthetic. "Yeah, there was a Nevermore..."

"Yang, that's not the most reassuring way to start a sentence." Taiyang sighed, before kneeling to their eye level. "You two took it down together?"

Ruby grinned. "No, we had help from Weiss!" At the mention of her name, Weiss jumped into a military-like stance, before her face flushed and she forced herself to calm.

"Good work." He smiled like the embarrassing dad he was. "All three of you! I'm taking all three of you out to ice cream later!"

Ben smiled as he watched from afar, as Max was bandaging him up. "I never knew Grimm stuff could get this bad. Like, Rushmore was a bit more tame compared to...all of this."

"You honestly have no idea. Your grandma and I used to deal with Grimm stuff with Taiyang," Max chuckled.

"...grandma's a Plumber?"

Max smiled secretively. "You'll find out later."

"Now, be safe, ok?" Taiyang warned, hugging his daughter tightly. "I really don't want another scare like that."

"Dad, I slayed a Nevermore," Ruby grinned. "If anything, you should be telling Max to stay safe."

Taiyang chuckled, and kissed Ruby's forehead. "I love you."

"Oh yeah? I love you times 3000!" Ruby grinned.

Ben smiled as he watched the two from the window of the RV. Max was doing a quick checkup on the engine before they got back on the road.

"So," a voice said from the back, "where you heading to next?" Ben turned to see Yang, casually walking out of the back.

Ben gave her a light glare. She had scared him, though he was loathe to admit it. "What were you doing back there?"

"Eh, just wanted to play a quick prank," Yang teased, not buying his facade for a second. "Seriously though, where are you headed?"

"I dunno," Ben shook his head. "All I know is that it's fun."

Yang snickered, before her face turned serious. "Hey...I wanted to thank you for looking out for Ruby."

"What do you mean?"

Yang looked down at her right arm. "I've honestly been worrying about her all summer. It's hard to be seperated from siblings, you know? Especially if you've been dealing with stuff like robots and mutants and...rabid hamsters, apparently."

"O-oh! Yeah, no problem…" Ben stuttered. "Um...hey, if it's not too much to ask...what happened with your arm?"

"Let's just say it was a picnic gone wrong," Yang said, smiling ruefully. "Some Grimm attacked us and I stupidly defended us...and then…" Yang sighed loudly. "I'm just glad she's got a friend to watch her back."

Ben smiled softly. "Same here."

"Anyways, I should say goodbye to her," Yang grinned. "It was nice meeting you, Tennyson."

"Same to you," Ben said, outstretching his hand...and without second thought, Yang crushed his hand with her iron grip. Ben cringed in pain, as Yang grinned evilly.

"By the way? I could still kick your butt," Yang laughed as she walked out the door. Ben waved his hand around and blew on it to ease the pain.

"Oh, I am so kicking her butt the next time we meet."