It's been a long week, and we all deserve some chapters. So here is one of two! Please don't forget to leave a review, it helps us improve!
Ben stared at the high tech message in his hands. It was one of those 3D popup cards that usually had designs of Spider-Man or birthday cakes. This one had a full depiction of Ben's face.
He turned to Ruby. "Is she always like this with messages?"
Ruby nodded, pulling out her own custom card complete with a pop up of Crescent Rose. "You get used to it."
Ben sighed tiredly before reading the message-
Dear Ben,
Please fight me.
Thank you!
Love, Penny
"Fight her? Did I do something wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"Maybe?" Ruby furrowed her brow. "Penny's kinda weird. Especially when it comes to asking simple requests."
"It...it doesn't say when or where. Do I just text her?"
"I'll do it. Oh, fun fact- she's her own personal phone, so she gets all her messages beamed into her head," Ruby told him.
"...cool. Thanks Rue."
"Hey...Penny..." she texted out loud. "What...did...you mean...in...your message to Ben. Aaand send."
"Nice," Ben stated. Before Ruby could pull it away, there was a ping.
"Oh damn, that was quick." Her eyes widened at the screen. "Uhh...yeah, she wants to fight NOW."
"Wha-"
"Salutations, friend Ruby and friend Ben!" a familiar peppy voice declared.
Ben jumped and whirled around to face Penny. "Oh hey! So, uh, why do you wanna fight?" he asked bluntly.
Penny beamed. "Isn't it obvious? To train!"
"Right... Uh, where did you want to train at, exactly?" Ben asked, still startled.
"I'll take you there!" She grinned as she grabbed both of them by the hand. In an instant she was propelling herself through the air, with Ben and Ruby holding onto her hands for dear life.
Ben, understandably, freaked. "I'm not used to this as a normal human!"
"THIS IS TOO FAAAAAAAST!" Ruby yelled as Penny closed her eyes- she loved the feeling of wind in her hair. Always so relaxing. The flight didn't take too long due to Penny's speed- in minutes she had gently lowered them all in an empty field. Ruby was on her knees, breathing heavily to try to catch her breath. Ben collapsed on the ground and curled into a ball.
"Oh my god," he whimpered.
"So, shall we begin?" Penny asked brightly.
"Gimme...a sec..." Ben huffed, struggling to get up.
"I'll give you both thirty seconds to prepare!" Penny declared before flying across the field.
"Jesus Christ," Ben muttered as he finally stood on steady legs. "She's quite the ball of energy, huh?" He raised his Omnitirix and pulled up the dial.
Ruby pulled out her Scroll and called her locker over. "She's a little more tame, thanks to me. You wouldn't have survived the flight had you known her last year."
"Damn, I could've actually died."
"You seriously could have," Ruby mused as her locker landed. She pulled out Crescent Rose and shifted it to scythe mode. "So, what's your strategy here?"
Ben scrolled through a few icons. "Well, it's just a spar… so I guess I'm just winging it!" He slapped down the watch, and purple crystals covered him completely-
Ruby blinked as she stared at the alien. "Ripoff...Diamondhead?"
"Chromastone!" Ben shouted, posing heroically.
"...so, ripoff Diamondhead."
"With lasers!"
"Yeah, but Diamondhead can shoot, like, diamonds," Ruby said, unimpressed.
"...rainbow lasers," Ben added. "Whatever, you'll see. Chromastone's cool."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Pride Parade Diamondhead."
"Speaking of fighting, I've never seen Penny's weapon. What is it?" Ben asked.
"Take a look for yourself." Ruby motioned over to Penny. Her backpack burst open, and an array of swords danced around her.
"...ah," Ben whispered.
"It is now time to fight. Prepare yourselves!" Penny warned as her swords assumed battle position.
Ben's hands lit up, and Ruby pointed her weapon at Penny. "Oh, we're ready," she said with a smirk. Penny charged at great speed, swords rotating around her like a death trap. Ben and Ruby jumped out of the way, avoiding Penny's attack. Ben's hands started to glow even brighter, and he launched a massive blast of ultraviolet energy from his palms.
Ruby yelled as she tried to attack Penny from behind- Penny didn't even turn around. Ruby clashed blades with her swords a couple of times, before Ruby landed a solid swing on Penny-
Just as one of her swords snagged itself on Ruby's signature cloak and dragged her through the air, away from the battle.
Chromastone ran up to try and tackle Penny, using his arms to block incoming swords. Penny smiled as three of her blades assumed a circular shape and fired a massive laser blast. This was sure to knock Ben away!
But Ben just stood there and took it, absorbing the blast as his body lit up in rapid bright colors. Penny's eyes brightened as she watched with glee. "Ooooh~! A light show!"
"If you like that, then you're gonna love this." Ben pointed his finger and fired a blast of equal strength back at Penny. She flew back, enamoured by the attack. She stabilized herself just as Ruby came flying back around, having ditched her cloak. She landed a powerful slash at Penny's back, doing a good amount of damage to her aura.
Ruby landed on the field just as Penny's swords assumed laser formation. Ruby zigzagged around the field, noting that if she kept moving, she couldn't be hit. Quickly equipping her gravity Dust magazine, she launched herself at Penny's flying form by firing the Dust cartridges at a rapid rate, forcing Penny to turn around and blanch in shock. Before she could react, Ruby swung Crescent Rose, catching Penny in the hook of the blade.
Ruby fired rapidly once more, causing her to spin at high speeds and dragging Penny around as a result. Ruby just spun faster and faster, and Penny was beginning to feel the centrifugal force, causing her body to lose control...and her swords to go flying everywhere.
The swords suddenly dug into the earth, halting Penny's movements and anchoring her. She maximized the defensive aspect of her aura to her abdomen, and Ruby's attack was halted so suddenly, it was like she had struck a boulder with a stick.
"I felt like I was about to be torn in half!" Penny wheezed. "You're stronger than you look, bestie!"
Ruby blushed. "Uh, thanks?"
Penny flew back up into the air, and she and Ben regrouped.
"She's invincible!" Ruby gasped. "How do we beat her?
"...On my signal," Ben told her, "shoot an electricity Dust round at me."
"What the hell will the signal be?!" Ruby snapped.
"You'll see!" he declared as rainbow lights enveloped his body. Ben hovered off the ground and took off into the air, catching Ruby off-guard.
"He can fly?!" she exclaimed.
Penny gasped as she summoned her swords to her person.
Ben fired gatling shots of energy at Penny, who quickly sliced through them. Ruby loaded her weapon and flipped up the reticle- she aimed the muzzle of her gun at Chromastone's back.
"Wow, crystals on the back? He really is a knock off Diamondhead." Ruby grimaced as she pulled the trigger. The bullet soared through the air before it hit Ben's back. The sudden surge of energy amped up his shots to a higher level, and Penny couldn't defend against all of them-
Ben screamed as he let loose a much more powerful blast of energy, and Penny was sent flying back. Her swords fell to the ground, charred and battered. She quickly stabilized herself just as Ben flew back to the ground.
"Oh, my!" Penny exclaimed, landing in front of the mess. "I didn't anticipate that happening!"
Ben grinned. "Thought it'd be easy to take those things out."
Ruby shifted her weapon to its scythe function. "So, now what are you gonna do?"
"Easy! Call in the backup weapon!" Penny beamed, her eyes lighting up. Ben and Ruby raised an eyebrow before something flew overhead- no, wait, two somethings flew overhead- and planted themselves into the ground, causing the field to shake. Ruby narrowed her eyes- the back up weapons were two massive swords, bigger than Penny herself. Two thin wires popped out of the hilt of the weapons and connected themselves to Penny's back. As they hovered, she grinned.
"Round 2!" Penny declared. Both of them flew at Ben, swinging into him at full force. Ben was sent flying back through a few trees.
...Ruby thought it best to go on the defensive.
Penny jetted on over to Ruby, her giant blades dragging on the field. Her swords flew up and smashed the ground around Ruby, forcing her to burst into red petals and retreat. She flew back to where Ben had landed, helping him up.
"Fine time for her to change tactics," Ben hissed.
"Dude, it's kinda fair. You can change forms at-" Ruby began, but Ben gave her 'that look'. "...yeah, fair point," she huffed.
Penny made a beeline for the both of them. Her swords were pointed in front of her - it was like she was a living spear!
...living used very loosely, since, you know, she's a robot.
Ben didn't hesitate to slap the Omnitrix and jump in front of Ruby to block her from the blow. The attack was softened by Cannonbolt's shell, but the force behind it sent the two of them flying through the air. Ben quickly curled into a ball around Ruby. His body crashed through a few more trees, but at least he couldn't feel it this time.
Ben finally bounced off one of the trees and began rolling at Penny at breakneck speed.
"BEN!" Ruby yelled from inside the shell. "SLOW DOWN! I'M GONNA BE SICK!"
"It'll be over in a second!" Ben replied. "Just don't throw up!" Ben started to roll at a faster speed. Penny prepared her counter attack- she brought her swords up to hit Ben like...what was that sport her father was a fan of? Baseball! Yes, she was gonna hit a home run with her swords! Penny's eyes narrowed as her target moved closer, and she swung-
Only for Ben to quickly jump over and land behind Penny-
And landed a massive strike to her back.
Penny landed on the ground with a thud- she had lost a massive chunk of her aura. Ben had struck the most obvious weak point.
...that didn't mean he had the energy to continue. Ben and Ruby slowed their attack to a halt, and Ben uncurled from his spherical form and fell over, reverting back to human.
Ruby groaned, slumping over a tired and bruised Ben. "Penny...I know you're a robot and everything..." she wheezed. "But you have to remember...we're meatbags."
"I know, I know!" Penny laughed, popping off the ground like nothing happened. "I forgot for a minute! That was one of the best fights I've had in a long while."
"You're really hyped for the tournament, huh?" Ben said, looking at the bruises on his arms.
"Oh, absolutely!" Penny grinned. "I did note a few things from this experience, so I thank you!"
"Oh?" Ruby asked curiously. "And what's that?"
Penny slapped one of her giant swords. "I should see if these weapons can be compressed into my main ones! They're far better than my usual weapons!"
...it took some time to talk Penny out of it.
