Ben 10 RWBY Volume 2: Ultimate Omniverse

by The Omni-Remnant

Having returned from a massive adventure in the world of Remnant, Ben, Team RWBY, and the rest of their friends find themselves faced with new challenges at every turn on Earth. Be it villains old and new… or even things that they never imagined to be real. It's going to be a challenge unlike any they've seen before, but they're up for it. It's Hero Time! (Cover Art credit inside)

84. Yoinked to Galvan Prime

A/N (Please Read): *steps into frame and sits down* So… shall we begin again? Hello everybody and welcome back to Ben 10 RWBY Ultimate Omniverse! With this chapter, we begin Season 4, and let me tell ya, I am HYPED for this season. This one, I think, is probably gonna be the most exciting we've had yet.

And why? Well, as the title itself says, we're finally dipping our toes into OFF-WORLD TRAVEL! Indeed, we're not just limited to Earth and Remnant anymore, it's time to head into SPACE! And lemme tell ya, there's gonna be a LOT of it this season. Of course, we'll also have some deific mishaps happening (October's gonna be crazy when it comes to that), and… we're going to start seeing that certain new aspect that we saw last time REALLY get added into the mix. And it'll change things up pretty significantly. Not RADICALLY, but still pretty noteworthy.

But the Rider action is gonna be withheld for the time being… namely because it's time to begin with the end of the Malware arc. So with all that said, this is…

Chapter 83: Yoinked to Galvan Prime

…..

The planet of Galvan Prime was what one might call an oxymoron. It was inarguably one of, if not THE most technologically advanced planets in the entire galaxy, complete with some of the smartest beings as the ones who invented and perfected that technology. However, in contrast, its environment and the inhabitants itself weren't what one might think. For all of the high-tech cities littered across the planet's surface… that same surface was mostly swamp. And the native species, the Galvan, were fittingly all small, amphibious creatures, with heads that were much larger than their skinny bodies to make room for their comparatively big brains.

Of course, the entire planet had to be rebuilt at one point, but its leader, the First Thinker, Azmuth, had made sure that the reconstruction retained what his people thought of as home. Sure, some things were different—namely much less metal covering the surface than the last one, but still, all the essentials were there. Overall, though, Galvan was a hot spot of technological marvels with a unique environment to boot.

…And Cinder Fall was absolutely disgusted by it. "Eugh, I sincerely hope we don't have to stay on this planet for TOO long." The Fall Maiden sneered, glaring out the nearest window of the building that Eon dropped them off in. "I can smell the dirty bog water from here."

With her were her team; Rojo, Emerald, Mercury and Neo, along with Khyber, his pet, Dr. Psychobos, and of course, Malware. They had just arrived on the scene were everything was about to start; the Galvan History Museum… and Malware himself wasn't about to have her bellyaching. "Enough. You will not have to worry about the stench for long, Miss Cinder." He clenched a vengeful fist. "For soon, this entire planet shall be blown to nothing but space dust. But first… we need to collect one final DNA sample for the Nemetrix."

Mercury crossed his arms and tilted his head. "What's so special about this one? You've already got a bunch in that dog's collar, what more do you need?"

Scuttling over toward the entrance to the next room, Psychobos pointed a claw around the corner. "T-T-Take a look for yourselves! Hehehe…" The five Ministry members peeked their heads out, where they saw a room full of fossilized creatures on display. A small tour was being held in the same room as well, and the little Galvans were standing in front of a particularly nasty creature.

It appeared to at one point have wings, its build and stature very much like a bird of prey mixed with an Earth Pterodactyl. Its beak was long and jagged, its talons sharp and legs long… and it also appeared to have had four eyes. "Woah, that things gnarly." Emerald commented, with Neo giving an agreeing nod next to her.

"The heck is that thing, teach?" Rojo whispered.

"That… is an Omnivoracious." Khyber answered. "The only predator that the Galvan have ever known. …And the only one in the universe that they could not defeat."

"And it's extinct." Psychobos added. "The species wiped out as a result of a freak asteroid collision and the harsh weather conditions that f-f-followed. …Though it's extinction will not be the case for long."

A devious smirk came to Cinder's lips. "Ah, I see where you're headed with this. I like it."

Just then, the tour began moving along, with the guide telling the kids; "Now, if you'll follow me into the Azmuth Pavillion of Astounding Galvan Brilliance…"

Moving silently into the exhibit, the group of villains made their approach to the Omnivoracious fossil. "Ha! "Astounding Galvan Brillaince"?!" Psychobos balked. "More like "Persistent, Pervasive Dumb Luck"." He watched as Khyber took out the extractor and plunged it into the beast's skeleton, taking out the sample needed for the Nemetrix. "But then again, I've always asserted that the Galvan are more lucky than s-s-smart."

"Their luck is about to run out." Khyber declared before kneeling in front of his pet and injecting the DNA sample into the Nemetrix, the device glowing as it accepted the new genetic material.

"HALT!" A loud, metallic voice hollered from across the room as a bright light was shined onto the group, a pair of Mechamorph security guards standing in the doorway. "Step away from the fossils!"

A challenging grin worked its way to Mercury as he slammed his fist into his palm. "Oh, I've been itchin' for a fight all week—huh?!"

But he wasn't even able to get a single kick in as Malware plowed past him and went straight up to the Mechamorphs, grabbing them by the necks and immediately shocking them with his powers. However, as they cried out, something… disturbing happened. Their bodies were dried up into a pair of dusty, brown, lifeless husks, which Malware tossed aside like they were nothing.

Emerald couldn't help but gasp at the sight, with Mercury, Rojo and Neo just staring in silent astonishment. "Woah… okay, or we could just do that." Rojo concluded.

"Hmhmhm, soon, the entire Galvan race will wish that they had perished along with their former predators." Malware chortled with nefarious intent, giving Cinder a nod. "The time has come. Contact the others."

Cinder didn't argue as she brought a finger up to her ear, calling the B-Team. "Dominique, this is Cinder. We have what we need… let the games begin."

"Hoho, I was hopin' to hear that soon!" the Street Shark leader shouted. "Ladies, gents, let's get this party started! AHAHAHA!" Soon, her insidious laughter was shared with everyone in the room… aside from Emerald and Mercury, who still stared at the lifeless Mechamorphs.

"Well… too late to go back now." Emerald concluded, glancing up to her partner. "Shall we?"

Mercury offered her a fist, which she bumped in solidarity. "Hell yeah. Let's get this party started."

…..

Back in Bellwood, meanwhile, one of the many public busses pulled to a stop in front of its current destination, letting off four of its passengers. However, these weren't just any normal commuters, the four women making several heads turn as they disembarked. …Mainly because of the venerable MOUNTAIN of shopping bags that they were carrying. "Gah! Ooooh no! Sorry! Watch your back, please!" Ruby's apologies and pleas were all anyone could make of her as she staggered through the isle, her face covered by the bags while Yang, Vernal and Raven all carried around the same amount without much difficulty.

"C'mon, sis, put your back into it!" Yang encouraged while flexing her arms. "Ya gotta stay focused if ya wanna shop till ya drop!"

"What do you think I'm trying to AVOID?!" Ruby cried.

Stepping off the bus, Raven gently set down her bags and turned back to help her stepdaughter. "Okay, Ruby, listen to me closely; you're approaching the steps now."

That made Ruby stop, bringing her foot back down before she could take one step further. "I-I am?! Oh gods…"

"It's alright, I'm going to guide you off…" Raven climbed back up and gently grasped Ruby's hands, assuring her that she was in front of her. "It's okay, see? I'm right here. Now, I'm going to escort you off the bus. Just take it slow and steady, understood?"

Ruby took a deep breath, steadying herself for what was to come. "O-Okay… I'm ready." Slowly but surely, Raven helped the Hooded Huntress off of the bus, one careful step at a time. It didn't take but ten seconds before Ruby was on terra firma, and a sigh of relief escaped her throat. "Hah… ha! I-I made it!"

Raven gave her a heartening nod. "Yes, you did! Now, set the bags down on the sidewalk so we can get them all sorted, okay?" Following her instruction, Ruby daintily unloaded the bags from her person, smiling up to her stepmother in gratitude.

"Phew! Thanks, Raven. I wasn't sure I'd make it."

Vernal came up and nudged her adoptive little sister. "Sheesh, Rubes. For someone who's so dexterous with a scythe, you can be surprisingly awkward sometimes."

The comment immediately made Ruby pout and huff at the former thief. "H-Hey! I'm not THAT awkward!" She gave Vernal a smirk and jerked her thumb over to her blonde sister. "At least, not compared to Yang in the morning. Hehehe, you should see her when she gets outta bed!"

"Mmmph!" Yang gave her sister the stink-eye and was about to retort… when she suddenly realized something. "Uh… unneeded comments aside… do you realize where we are?"

It was only then that the others began to look around, and while Raven and Ruby were left astonished, Vernal was only confused. "Uh… no? Yang what're you talking about—oh good gods!" The young woman's face twisted in disgust as she finally saw it; the massive, golden tower at the very end of the street, its gaudiness purveying the entire area around in. "Who in the HELL signed off on THAT monstrosity?!"

"Billy Billions." Ruby spat on the ground in disgust. "Ptui! He's the little brat who turned us into kids yesterday!"

"Ah, yeah, that checks out." Vernal crossed her arms over her chest, grimacing at the public display of indecency that was Billions' Tower. "Talk about one big pile of shit."

Raven narrowed her eyes at the tower as well. "Normally, I don't use such vulgar descriptions for things, but… yes, this very much is disgusting. I hope they tear it down and build something more sensible here." She craned her head back to her daughter, who was peering at her scroll trying to see if they were at the right place. "This can't be the correct address, can it?"

"247 Wyatt Avenue…" Yang glanced up toward the address on Nemesis' tower. "…and this is 245 Wyatt Ave. Yeah, we're in the right place, but… why would Ben and the others be HERE?"

Ruby could only offer her sister a shrug. "I guess the only way to find out is to… go inside." A shudder went through her just by saying that. "Ugh, let's get this over with." After Yang quickly texted their arrival to Ben, the four ladies went to pick up their bags before heading toward the building, which thankfully had automatic doors. They very second that they dropped their bags back down, though the elevator on the opposite end of the foyer dinged and opened up.

Stepping through was Ben himself, along with Blake, Weiss, Rex, Sun, Penny and Ilia. "Hey! There you guys are! We were—WOAH!" Ben's smile was replaced with wide eyes and a slack jaw, seeing just how many shopping backs the ladies had brought. "Holy crap!"

"Dude, what?" Sun uttered.

"I dunno, man." Rex shook his head. "I stopped being surprised by stuff like this a LONG time ago."

Weiss let out a gasp… as her face fell in disappointment. "AH! GIRLS! If I had known this would be THAT kind of shopping trip, I totally would've gone with you!" She zipped over to her teammates with tears in her eyes, falling to her knees dramatically while clinging to their legs. "AAAAH! Why have you forsaken meeeee?!"

"Uh… Weiss?" Ruby and Yang eyed each other awkwardly, knowing full well why they didn't ask Weiss to come along. "One; it was a family outing." the former answered.

"And two; if you HAD come along, we'd be hauling TWICE the number of bags we've got now." Yang added with a raised brow. "Tell me I'm wrong."

The former heiress' waterworks stopped and was instead replaced with a sour expression, quickly standing up and huffing with her arms crossed. "Hmph! Well, I never! I like to think I've gotten a handle on my shopping addictions, thank you!"

"You were literally crying on your knees about it a second ago." Yang deadpanned.

But Weiss simply waved it off. "Ah, details, details…" She whirled around with her eyes gleaming in excitement. "Now, show me what you bought! I can't wait to see you try them on!"

However, Raven briskly pushed the white-haired girl away with her fingertip. "Ah, before we get to that… does anyone mind explaining exactly WHY we're in this place?" She thrust her hand up toward the ceiling. "After you bested that bratty boy, I would've hoped we'd never have to see this garish place again."

"Uh, hehe… yeah, about that…" Ben rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Soooo… remember how I sent you that pic of me, Edwin and our grandpas a little while ago?"

"Yep, got it." Yang procured her scroll again, flashing the picture. "And where would HE be, exactly?"

"Still giving the others a tour around the place." Blake answered, wearing a knowing smile while placing a hand on her hip. "We broke off a little early to give you girls the good news."

This only piqued the four ladies' curiosity even more. "Good news? Blake, what do you mean?" Ruby glanced around the foyer with an uncertain face. "I don't think any place associated with that creepy Billy is ANY sort of good news."

At that point, no one from Ben's group could resist smiling, with Ilia saying; "Heh, well, it won't be associated with him for much longer, Ruby. Because all of this?" She waved her finger up in the air for emphasis. "It's gonna be ours soon."

"…Uh, wut?" Ruby uttered.

"HA! Okay, get this; turns out, Billy didn't even OWN this place anymore!" Sun revealed, flopping himself down on one of the cushy seats and kicking his feet up on the coffee table. "Edwin and his grandpa had bought out the property and he didn't even know it! And to top it all off…"

Rex thrust a victorious finger toward the ceiling, throwing his head back while delivering the good news. "Edwin's gonna renovate this ENTIRE building into a base for US! And he's just GIVING it to us! This tower's soon gonna become Omni-Hunter HQ, baby! WOO-HOO!"

All at once, Yang and Ruby broke out into smiles of joy and disbelief, all while Raven and Vernal were just left slack-jawed at the revelation. "Y-You're kidding, right?" Yang asked, trying to process everything in her head. "You've gotta be, right? There's no way that some rich guy would just—"

"Oh, he IS, Goldie Locks." Ben assured, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Eddie considers it a "thank you gift" to all of us for helping keep the planet safe. And all he asked in return was for him to be our benefactor."

"…That's ALL?!" Ruby's jaw nearly fell to the floor, spinning around toward Penny to get confirmation. "Penny! You'd never tell a lie, right? Is this all true?!"

With a bright, cheery smile, Penny gave a single nod. "Of course, it is, Ruby! Here…" Blinking her eyes once, Penny brought up a holographic schematic of the tower as it was now, but slowly, it began to change into something different. "Edwin plans on streamlining the tower so that it is more in line with our aesthetic from the inside out…" All of the Billions' signature eccentricities fell away from the tower, replaced with a massive Omnitrix symbol on the front where the hole currently was, along with smoother outer walls as well. "He expects it to be complete in two months' time, and he is currently taking suggestions for what to add into our new base." Blinking again, Penny switch off her hologram projector and finished with; "I suggest you find him soon if you have any ideas!"

"Ho-ho, now THIS is an upgrade, for sure!" Vernal lauded, giving Ben a nudge to the shoulder. "Congrats, Tennyson. Seems you and the guys are movin' up in life!"

"Heh, yeah… though given the number of bedrooms this place has, I'm sure we could fit some of our friends in here, too." The Omnitrix bearer gave a nod to both of the former Branwen bandits. "Present company included."

"O-Oh, um…" Raven had to admit, she was still taken aback by a lot of this. Things seemed to be moving so fast. 'Two months… I see.' She sent a smile to the boy and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Ben. I… I will consider the offer."

But Yang gave a small chuckle of her own, moving next to her mother to grasp her hand. "Hah, mom, what's there to consider? You're the one who mainly trains us, after all. It makes a lot of sense to have your own room here, doesn't it?"

Raven's smile faltered a little as she reached up, slipping her palm over her daughter's hand. "Yang, honey, I appreciate the offer, but… there's something I've been meaning to say." At this, everyone grew concerned and slightly worried, Yang most of all. "Keep in mind, this isn't going to be happening any time soon, but… I do want to move back in with your father at some point." Raven explained. "We… talked about it during my brief time away from Bellwood, and we both felt it would be best to—"

"Hah, is that all?" Yang questioned, much to Raven's surprise. "Mom, ya should've said something sooner! That's a great idea!"

Ruby was all too eager to approve as well. "Yeah, a fantastic one! When Salem is defeated and things settle down, you should totally move back in with dad!"

"I… you both approve, then?" Raven was left stunned. She had thought that the girls would be at least somewhat hesitant about the idea, but it was the exact opposite of what she expected.

"Uh, yeah? Why wouldn't we?" Yang stepped up and enveloped her mother in a hug. "Mom, you deserve to be happy. Dad deserves to be happy. And we'd be happy seeing you happy. What's there to think about?"

A sigh escaped Raven's throat as she returned the embrace. "Well… your father and I were unsure since… well, it's been so long and—"

"Ah, time is relative!" Ruby brushed off before she too joined the hug. "It shouldn't matter how much time has gone by, especially since you've already done so much to make up for what you did in the past." She beamed up to her stepmother undauntingly. "You should do it, Raven! You'd have our one-hundred percent support."

"And hey, you'll still have a guest room here at the tower if you and Tai wanna come visit." Ben interjected. "I'll make sure of that."

Raven's smile slowly came back and she sighed again, this time in relief. Though at the same time, she couldn't help but be a little choked up after the girls made their feelings known. "Hah… you kids." Pulling her arm around Ruby, she brought both of them in. "You sure know how to make a woman emotional."

Vernal came up from behind and placed a hand on the shoulder of her mentor. '…Nah, screw it. This is a family moment.' "Raven, trust me, you deserve it. And I… I know I don't usually get like this, but… to be completely honest, you're the closest thing to a mother I've ever had." Her cheeks flushed as Raven spun her head toward her, astonished by the confession. "I mean, you took me in when no one else would, taught me everything you know… treated me like I was part of something." Her sights went to Ruby and Yang with a smile. "And while the tribe isn't a thing anymore… now, I feel like I'm part of something even better. …Thank you. For making me feel like a part of this family."

At that point, Yang and Ruby's eyes were sparkling with utter joy, and Raven was about to lose her composure. 'Keep it together, keep it together!' She sucked back the sob and instead brought her other arm up from Yang and grabbed Vernal by the arm, pulling her in. "That's it. You, here, now!"

"Yay!" Ruby chirped as Vernal was made part of the hug. "A successful Mother-Daughter Day!"

As much as Vernal wasn't too thrilled about the whole "hugging" part… after a speech like that, she'd be an idiot to back out now. "Ah… what the heck? I'll roll with it this time."

Ben let out a chuckle and strolled forward, giving them a nod of approval. "Haha, well, I'm glad that you guys had a pretty special bonding experience today. That said, though… what DID you guys end up buying?" He pointed over to the bags. "Because that can't ALL be just clothes."

"Oh, hehe, trust me, Green Boy, it's a LOT more than just clothes." Yang and her sisters broke their hug with Raven and she went over to the pile of bags, going for the red, blue and yellow ones first. "I'd say around seventy-five percent IS clothes, but the last fourth of this is… hm, well, okay, context first." Putting a pause on her rifling, Yang spun back to the group. "You remember how Zak's uncle sent us all those Bionicle sets a few days ago?"

"Uh, yeah, how could we?" Sun replied. "Probably the most fun I've ever had actually building a toy. And that's coming from someone who has a crappy attention span."

Weiss eyed the monkey boy and shrugged. "Well, at least you're honest about it, Sun." Both Sun and Blake gave her a questioning look, but Weiss quickly fixed her fumble. "A-And honesty IS the best policy! Hahaha! …But yes, those sets were admittedly fun."

Humming at her white-haired friend, Blake shook her head and set her attention back to Yang. "But what's your point in this, Yang? You didn't… like, fine MORE of those sets, did you?"

"Impossible." Ben denied. "Bionicle hasn't been a thing since 2016." However, the Omnitrix bearer smiled at his girlfriend, raising a brow to her while pointing at the colorful bags. "But… I think I know what you're getting at, Yang. I had a feeling that there had to be something fun in those bags. You guys stopped at a toy store, didn't you?"

Ruby nodded with great enthusiasm. "Yep! We sure did!" She slid over and put a hand over her mouth, murmuring to her friends; "And lemme tell ya, it was a miracle that we got Raven and Vernal to follow us in, hehehe—oop!"

Suddenly yanked back by her hood, Ruby found herself in Vernal's grip, the older girl narrowing her eyes at her. "Yeah, and it's a real miracle they got us in there. Pretty sure some lady and her kid were eyein' me funny…"

But Ruby just waved it off. "Ah, c'mon Vernal! It wasn't THAT bad! Besides, ya got some neat video games out of it, yourself!" A small grumble from Vernal was all the answer Ruby was going to get from her.

"Back on topic, though." Yang said, bringing the focus back to her as she opened up the three large primary-colored bags. "I didn't want any of you guys to feel left out, so I wanted to buy something we could all set up together. And wouldn't you know it…" Pulling her hand out of the bag, Yang revealed a medium-sized box with the "LEGO City" brand on it. Though the top right corner of the box was completely silver and had the word "Space" on it, along with a logo that resembled a large planet with a rocket ship flying around it. The set itself was, in fact, an Interstellar Spaceship. A very streamlined one at that was shaped like a spearhead and had a primarily black and white color scheme with blue and orange accents. "Lookie what they had!"

Ben's eye immediately lit up and he rushed in to get a better look, his excitement clear on his face. "AH! The new Lego City Space sets?! No way! I actually wanted to buy some of these!" His head snapped down to the bags and he peered into them… and was left completely astonished by the large boxes he saw. "…Yang, you didn't. Did you buy EVERY set?!"

"One of each!" Yang confirmed, ushering the others to come over. "C'mon guys, help me take these out."

With extreme care to make sure the bags didn't rip, the team pulled each set out one by one, with each box getting bigger than the last. From the smallest, which was a Space Construction Mech that came with a little robot drilling drone, to what was undoubtedly the biggest; an entire Space Base and Rocket Launch Pad. Though no matter the size, each set had their own fans. "Woah-ho! Look at the WHEELS on this thing!" Rex exclaimed, holding up a box that contained a massive eight-wheeled Command Rover. "This thing is sick!"

"And this freaking space station is enormous!" Penny piped up, holding the box with both hands. The image on it depicted a very sizeable Modular Space Station, a ring-shaped construct that had eight different modules on it that could, in turn, be connected together. "Ben, do the Plumbers have anything like these?"

"Heh, if they don't, I've gotta get on 'em to correct that." Ben nodded, looking down at the small box that he had. It was a 4+ set that was named "Asteroid Discovery", and it contained a smaller ship along with a computer terminal and a crane for moving the boulders it came with. …And it also came with a cute, pudgy, green alien. "…You know, it's toys like these that make me remember something."

Blake tilted her head to him. "And what's that, Ben?"

"That Earth's still incredibly optimistic about what they'll find beyond the stars." The hero stated, setting the box down. "All of these sets, they're depicting us humans exploring the cosmos, mining for new materials, and encountering alien life that's primitive, but friendly." A sigh escaped Ben's throat as he hung his head a little. "Granted, the truth is a lot harsher than fiction, at least partially. For every friendly alien you meet, there's always gonna be a few more that want to eat your head off."

Setting down the Command Rover, Rex pointed out; "Well, it's not like Lego hasn't made sets showing that kinda stuff before. I mean, they make Star Wars sets, for crying out loud."

"Yeah, but… I also kinda just wish we didn't have so much conflict happening up there, ya know?" Ben sat down on the bench and craned his head up wistfully. "If I can live long enough to see peace, not just through the galaxy, but the entire universe, so that humans can go into space without fear, that'd be really awesome."

Ilia couldn't help but smile in admiration of that. "I think that's a very commendable goal of you to have, Ben. Just remember, you can't do it all on your own."

Yang plopped down next to her boyfriend, putting her arm around his shoulders. "Exactly. Remember, you've got us helping you, Green Boy."

"And don't—you—forget it!" Ruby added, wagging her finger at him for emphasis.

Ben let out another laugh and assured her. "Haha, yeah, I know. But on a different note…" He spread his hands out over the seven sets before him. "Where the HECK are we gonna put all these in my house? My dad's basement is already chock full of stuff as it is!"

The Blonde Brawler's eyes dilated at the reminder. "Oh… yeah, that kinda slipped my mind."

Before anyone could even suggest a solution, the tower's front doors slid open, bringing their attention to a certain Revonnahgander walking in. "Greetings, everyone." Rook hailed with a wave. "I hope I am not interrupting."

"Oh, Rook, hello!" Weiss returned the wave. "No, you're fine! We were just discussing, um… accommodations for all the stuff Yang bought today."

It was only then that Rook spotted all of the shopping bags, his brows raising in surprise. "My word… you humans certainly have a penchant for spending copious amounts of currency."

Yang and her family sent him a deadpan glare. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Neither, simply an observation."

"…Fair enough. So, what brings you here, Big Blue?"

Rook produced the keys for his Proto-TRUK from his back pocket. "I have come to inform you that the Saturdays have returned from France, and they have brought our vehicles back as well."

"Oh, sweet!" Ben stood up eagerly. "That means my car's back."

"And Zak, too!" Ruby added… which she immediately regretted once everyone had their eye on her. "Er, I mean, I've been worried about his condition since we left yesterday."

Despite her team sharing a knowing smile, they couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, Zak really seemed like he was in a bad way." Blake agreed. "I hope he hasn't had any more headaches."

That made Penny tilt her head. "Hm? Headaches? Zak is suffering from his powers still?"

Sun rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, but it's gotten worse. We're not exactly sure WHAT'S wrong with him, but every time he uses his power, the headaches just get more severe." He set his sights toward the group, who all nodded in solidarity. "And we're all worried about it."

"I see…" Penny rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps I could run an analysis on him. My scanners could pick up something that other things cannot."

"Well, maybe." Ruby shrugged. "I mean, Hope already did a… magical scan on him and she said that there might be something in him. I'm not sure if your scanners can pick up on something like that, Penny…"

The redheaded android hummed at that before she suddenly smiled and pumped her fist with encouragement. "Well, we will not know until we try, right? I will still give it a shot!"

While some of the teens weren't too sure, Ben was more than happy to offer his own praise. "That's the spirit, Penny. We gotta make use of every option we have, right? But let's wait until the others get back before we head out, 'kay? In the meantime…" Ben picked up the Lego box he was holding and continued to admire the set. "Let's try and figure out exactly what to do with these babies."

Rook saw the boxes and was immediately intrigued. "Oh! I have heard of these…" He reached over and picked up the Space Explore Rover box, depicting a medium-sized vehicle with six large tires. "These are those… LAY-GUH sets, correct?"

"…Bro, that's not even close to how you pronounce it." Rex corrected. "It's "LEGO"."

"…Let go of what?" Rook asked, making everyone in the room facepalm.

…..

Back on Galvan Prime, Azmuth was a fair bit irritated, but no less concerned over the reason why he was pulled away from his work. The museum was the last place he had expected to find the dried-up husks of two Galvanic Mechamorphs, but the fact that they were even there at all was enough to be worried about. "I know that you're a busy Galvan, First Thinker Azmuth." the museum's tour guide apologized. "But given the evidence that HE was here…"

"Much as I hate to say it, you were right to disturb me." Azmuth affirmed, turning back to the portlier Galvan. "Malware may yet be in the vicinity. Alert the guards and have them conduct a thorough search." As the guide ran out of the room, Azmuth took out a small, white device and began scanning the Mechamorphs with it. Astonishingly, he was still getting life readings from them. "Curious…"

*WHAM*

Azmuth's head shot up as all of the exits to the fossil exhibit began closing, trapping him inside. He stepped away from the husks, calling out; "Malware?!"

"Wrong!" An unknown voice replied, bringing the First Thinker's attention up to the observation deck at the top of the room. There, through the glass, he could see the Ministry all glowering down at him, along with who he presumed to be the Huntsman. With them, though, was an unexpected addition; a Cerebrocrustacean that he was unfamiliar with. "You Galvans think you know EVERYTHING. But I, Doctor Psychobos, am about to p-p-prove the undisputed superiority of the Cerebrocrustacean intellect!"

Behind Psychobos, Cinder, Rojo and the rest of their team rolled their eyes. This wasn't the first time they'd heard the brain crab's mad rants about his obsession, and now that they were actually HERE, it was like they were amplified. "Good god, I can't wait until the dog eats Azmuth." Mercury grumbled under his breath.

"Yes." Cinder agreed. "Maybe THEN he will shut up about it."

Down below, said dog came out from its hiding place and approached Azmuth, the Galvan taking a few cautious steps back. "Note the mongrel's collar, Azmuth." Psychobos continued. "Does it seem at all… familiar?" Azmuth did indeed see that the collar had the Nemetrix affixed to it, and, being his fist time seeing it, raised a brow at it. "How many centuries did it take you to perfect your greatest invention, the Omnitrix?" The mad genius continued, bragging about his creation. "It took me mere WEEKS to improve upon that "perfection". And I use the term loosely…"

Azmuth rubbed his chin. "Eh, not bad… for a cheap knock-off."

"Ooh, sick burn." Rojo whispered to her group, making them snicker to themselves until Psychobos whipped around, causing them to stop immediately.

Despite his frustration, though, the Cerebrocrustacean continued. "You Galvans have ALWAYS boasted that you managed to outlive all of our natural p-p-p-predators…" His smirk slightly increased. "Let's put that theory to the test, shall we?"

Lifting his head up, Khyber whistled for his pet and it responded, lifting its head to roar… only for it to transform into a screech as the Nemetrix activated. The tough hide of the Anubian changed into ruffled, purple feathers as its front legs became a large pair of wings, its head extending out on a skinny neck as its muzzle grew out into a long, jagged beak. It stood upright on its hind legs, its claws becoming talons as the skin was left bare on them. With an additional set of eyes growing in its now larger ocular cavity, the Omnivoracious extended its wings and let out a shrill cry before chasing Azmuth down, charging through the various fossil exhibits and breaking many of them.

Eventually, Azmuth managed to duck into a tight corner between the wall and another exhibit, the Omnivoracious trying its hardest to claw through and get to him. "Psychobos!" Azmuth shouted as the beast's claws left deep gashes in the wall. "Stop this nonsense!"

"That's DOCTOR Psychobos!" the villainous scientist corrected. "So, do you concede the superiority of the Cerebrocrustacean intellect?"

"I "concede" that I don't care, Psychobos!" Azmuth snapped back. "I concede that proving which species is smarter is a colossal waste of time, energy and resources." He took out the device he had and pressed a button on it… only for nothing to happen.

"Hehe, you don't think I took precautions to prevent you from using that device to teleport out of here?!"

Azmuth narrowed his eyes at Psychobos' bluster, quickly recalibrating the device for a slightly different use. "Did YOU think to prevent me from teleporting anyone… in?" With another press of the button, the device flashed with a bright green light, and then…

…..

"Okay, so we're all in agreement." Ben concluded, directing his hands over to Team RWBY. "Once we build the Space sets, they'll stay in Team RWBY's room for the time being. Then, once we get everything set up here, we'll dedicate a room to all the collectibles and stuff so that everyone can enjoy them. Sound good?"

The team nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sounds fair to me." Ilia affirmed.

"Same here." Yang agreed. "Better than just leaving them out in the middle of the living room."

*Blip-blip* Ben's eyebrows rose as his phone suddenly went off in his pocket, prompting him to take a look at his messages. "Oh, it's Eddie. He says they're wrapping things up and are taking the elevator down as we speak."

"Ooh, awesome!" Ruby clapped her hands. "I can't wait to see what they'll think about the Lego sets! Oh, and we finally get to actually meet Eddie, too!"

With another short laugh, Ben put his phone back. "Heh, yeah… then YOU guys can get a tour of the place next. C'mon, let's wait for 'em near the elevator."

The group began moving over to the other end of the room… before something happened that made Blake stop. "…Did anybody else's ears just pop?" They all paused briefly, but, in that moment, a flash of orb-shaped light enveloped the group, including Raven, Vernal, and Rook. Then, just like that… they vanished, the light sphere leaving a smooth, bowl-shaped crater in the floor where they once stood.

*DING*

Not ten seconds later, the elevator opened up, letting off Edwin, Neptune, Team JNPR, Max, Donovan. "Hey guys, we're—" But Edwin cut himself off when he saw that there was absolutely no one in the room. Needless to say, he was incredibly confused. There were a pile of shopping bags in the corner, so it's obvious that they HAD to have been there at one point. "Uh… hello? Anybody in here?!"

"Dude, it's a wide-open room." Neptune pointed out. "If they were in here, we would know right off the bat."

Edwin shook his head. "But… where ARE they?" He took out his cellphone again, searching through his texts. Sure enough, Ben had left him on read. "It's obvious that Ben saw my message. I didn't think they'd go anywhere until we got back down…"

"That IS kinda weird." Jaune scanned the room curiously. "You think they started their own tour without us?"

"Um, I don't believe so." Pyrrha pointed down to the floor, noting the new cavity in it. "Namely because I don't believe that was there when we were down here last."

Donovan let out a gasp, seeing the indent. "Gah! Now the floor, too?! Seriously, how does this keep happening?!"

Max raised a brow and stepped closer to the hole, crouching down and tracing his fingers along the outer edge of the tile. Looking at his fingers, he could tell right away that something was amiss. "Hmm… there's fresh residue here. And it's from Galvan teleportation technology." His expression scrunched in concern. "Stands to reason that Azmuth might've brought our friends to Galvan Prime. I don't like this one little bit. Something must be very wrong."

"You're darn right, something's wrong!" Nora shouted, taking out her hammer and thrusting it above her head in frustration. "Those guys DITCHED us! AGAIN! Oh, when I get my hands on them, I'm gonna—ooh!" But Nora's irritation was forgotten about immediately when she saw the stack of boxes on the sofa, zipping over for a closer inspection. "Are these Lego sets?! Cool!"

Her teammates all facepalmed as Jaune let out sigh. "Hah, c'mon. We'd better go tell—" *RUMBLE* "Woah! What the heck?!"

"It came from outside!" Edwin pointed toward the door, prompting everyone to follow him. The group made their way out of the building to see what was going on… and what they saw next made their jaws drop. Something had just shot up straight into the sky, directly from the location of Plumber HQ. It was leaving a golden trail of energy behind it… though for the life of him, Edwin couldn't fathom what was happening. "…Okay, now what is that?"

Team JNPR and Neptune all shared a knowing smile. "Oh, I bet I know what that is." Neptune answered. "Or, rather… who it is. Come on, we've gotta get to Plumber HQ and get our own ride to Galvan… and maybe get in touch with Gwen and Kevin while we're at it."

…..

The first thing that Ben was aware of after the light faded from his vision was that… he was falling. "GYAAA—OOF!" …And then the next thing he knew, he made impact with something soft yet… oddly boney. Almost as if someone had stuffed a feathery pillow full of sticks. Sure enough, something let out a screech the moment he and the team landed, assuring him that whatever this was, it was alive. 'Goddamn it, can't we have just ONE day of peace?!'

He wasn't the only one who seemed irritated by the situation, though. "Gah! Just like a Galvan to cheat!"

The group were taken aback by the sudden telepathic voice in their heads, Yang and the others already on high alert. "AH! Wh-Who said that?!"

"More importantly, where ARE we?" Blake asked, craning her head around the room. It was… like a museum exhibit, only much more alien in nature.

"You are on Galvan Prime, young lady." The sound of a familiar voice brought everyone's attention over to Azmuth, who had emerged from their hiding place. "Apologies for the sudden teleportation, but I imperatively needed your assistance."

"Azmuth?!" Penny exclaimed. "W-What is this?"

Up in the observation deck, though, the Ministry were all gleefully grinning from ear-to-ear. "Oh-ho! NOW it's a party!" Mercury rubbed his hands together eagerly. "How 'bout we give our "buddies" down there a little warm welcome?"

Without hesitation, Cinder created a sword of obsidian in her hand, glowering down straight at Raven as she and the others stood up. "Agreed. Their promised week without us is now up. Let's get back into the swing of things, shall we?"

Khyber, meanwhile, briefly glanced down to Psychobos. "Perhaps you have been cheated, doctor. But I have just been handed an incredible stroke of good fortune." His gaze directed itself straight to the Omnitrix bearer. "My ultimate prey, Ben Tennyson, is now trapped in this arena, ripe for the picking."

"You will keep your focus on Azmuth!" Psychobos ordered. "Leave him to the Ministry."

"I am perfectly capable of, as the Earthlings say, killing two birds with one stone." Lifting his chin, Khyber whistled and commanded his Anubian to change form.

…Which it did, shifting from Omnivoracious straight into Tyrranopede. A loud bellow escaped the beast as it slowly stalked its way toward the team, with Azmuth giving them a serious face. "I'll explain everything later. Right now, there are more pressing matters to attend to!"

"Hah, you always say that you'll "explain later"." Ben sighed as he activated the Omnitrix, transforming into Dynatusk without much fanfare. "You never do." With a loud trumpet, the Paku-Dermaloid charged forth and started grappling with the insectoid saurian. He managed to maneuver his tusks around it in a way so that he could easily wrap his trunk around it as well. And then, with an exerted grunt, he picked the beast up and tossed it onto a display depicting a "primitive" Galvan society. Dynatusk then noticed a fish-like alien model hanging above the Tyrannopede's head, to which he reached up, pulled it off the ceiling, and then SMASHED it over the beast's head. "Okay, guys, here's the plan!" The hero shouted back to his team. "You guys will—AGH!"

But Dynatusk didn't finish that as a torrent of flames came cascading down upon his head, forcing him to raise his arms and cover his eyes. The team all gasped at the sight of Cinder Fall slowly descending from the ceiling on a gust of wind, the Fall Maiden flanked by Rojo, Emerald, Mercury and Neo as they simply fell and landed without issue. "Hmhmhm, well, well, what do we have here?" Cinder chortled sinisterly. "Quite the unexpected addition to this little gathering, but quite fortuitous all the same."

"Cinder!" Ruby shouted, bringing out Crescent Rose as the rest of the team prepped their weapons as well. "Of course, YOU'D be here. Let me guess, this is the end game of your Khyber's big plan?"

"It is MY plan!" Psychobos protested. "MINE!"

The Fall Maiden sneered in disgust. "Tch, don't listen to the brain crab. We're strictly following Khyber's lead on this…" But then, her smirk increased as she eyed the Omnitrix bearer on the floor. "Well… his and a certain OTHER old adversary of yours, Tennyson. Hahaha!"

"…Malware." Dynatusk growled, slamming his fist and cracking the tile floor. "WHERE IS HE?!"

Emerald wagged her finger down at him. "That's for us to know and for you to find out. Besides…" She watched as the Tyrannopede broke free of its entrapment, going after Dynatusk once again. "I think you have bigger problems."

Mercury loosened his neck while Neo stretched her arms up next to him, preparing for combat. "So, we doin' this, or are we doin' this?" the assassin asked, taking a combat stance. "It's been a week and I'm itchin' to get back into a scrap with you."

"Hm, you DID hold up on your bargain, after all." Weiss conceded, taking out Myrtenaster and pointing it at the villains. "But even so, that doesn't mean we'll go easy on you."

Yang smashed her fists together and her aura flared to life, ready to throw down. "Hell yeah. Let's do it, guys! GYAAAH!" She began by throwing her fists to let loose a volley of bullets… and while they fired, they didn't go very far. The Dust shells ended up only making it half way to the Ministry before they fell out of the air, clinking harmlessly to the ground. The two opposing sides were equally stunned, staring wide-eyed at the bullets that refused to go off. "Uh… what?"

Blake quickly tried firing from Gambol Shroud as well… and just like Ember Celica, all of the bullets were duds. "W-What's going on?! What happened to our Dust?!"

"Huh… weird." Mercury shot off a kick straight into the air, and the Dust round exploded upward toward the ceiling. "Mine still work."

"So does mine." Rojo confirmed, showing off her sword. "Bloodstrike's powered by a Dust core. Not sure what your deal is."

By that point, every Dust user began testing their weapons, only to find that none of them worked. Even Ilia found that her Lightning Lash had the "lightning" part taken completely out of the equation. "Ach! I don't understand!" the chameleon girl seethed. "How are our weapons all suddenly… like this?"

It was only then that Azmuth's eyes widened slightly, a realization popping into his mind as he set his gaze upon the device in his hands. "Oh… oh dear."

"Oh dear?" Sun bent his head down next to Azmuth with a questioning glare. "Whaddya mean "oh dear", smart dude?!"

"Ahem, it appears that, in my haste to bring you all here, I neglected to take into account… certain additional factors." the Great Thinker admitted. "It seems that the Galvan teleportation process has syphoned all of the energy out of your Dust… leaving it inert."

Emerald and the rest of her team were taken by surprise hearing that. "Wait, so what the little dude is saying is… you guys have got nothing to shoot us with?" There was a brief pause as the villains all eyed one another… before breaking out into uproarious laughter. "BAHAHAHA! NO WAY! Haha! Some "First Thinker" there!"

Cinder brought a hand up to her mouth, giving a haughty laugh of her own. "Ahahaha! Oh, it truly is a fortunate day for us! Now, we get to beat the living daylights out of you without any—" *WOOSH* "H-Huh—AUGH!"

All at once, the laughing stopped, with Emerald, Mercury, Neo and Rojo all staring wide-eyed at who had just sent Cinder into the nearest wall; Raven. The Spring Maiden's eyes glowed with power as she summoned two ice swords in her hands, scowling at her target. "We may not be able to use Dust… but we CAN still fight! Our aura, our Semblances, our powers all still work! Everyone! Use what you've been taught… AND FIGHT!" On that note, Raven rushed forward to engage Cinder, the Fall Maiden quickly countering with her own swords.

"Raven's right!" Vernal asserted, throwing her Ver Laminae at Mercury. "Remember your training, guys! We can do this, with or without Dust!"

Mercury reacted quickly and kicked the crescent-shaped weapons back at Vernal, only for her to expertly catch them as she ran toward him. "Oh, okay then! Gettin' up close and personal's fine too!"

"That's alright by me!" Yang's eyes flared red and she blasted forward, propelling herself with her own heat energy. "Ladies! Let's do this!"

Ruby followed after her sisters, dashing toward her adversaries in a burst of Flower Petals. "Right! Let's go, Team RWBY!"

Weiss activated her Semblance as well, boosting herself and Blake's speed with glyphs along the ground. "We're behind you! Let's move!"

Sun smirked and was about to join the fray… only for Neo to get in his way. "Oh… the little tricky girl, eh?" Bringing Ruyi Jingu Bang back for a hard swipe, he smashed it directly into Neo's side… only for her to shatter like glass the next second. "Hmph, predictable." He performed a perfect dodge as Neo came in with her umbrella blade, countering the strike and using her own momentum against her to make her trip and fall. Sun spun his staff around, resting it against his shoulders. "I think you'll find that I can be a trickster, too." And just like that, both of them were clashing weapons, trying to out-trick each other.

Ilia, furrowing her brow, retracted her Lightning Lash until it was in its rapier mode, preparing to engage the enemy herself. Before she went, though, she gave Rex and Penny a nod. "You two, you should go help Ben. He may need some backup against that thing."

"Gotcha." Rex gave a thumbs up, bringing out his Smack Hands. "Pen, let's go!"

"Aye-aye!" Penny saluted, her Air Heart jetpack popping out of her back and shooting her into the air.

"I will assist with the effort as well." Rook volunteered, going for his Proto-Tool… only for Ilia to stop him.

"No, Rook." she pressed firmly against his chest for him to stop. "It's best if you stick around here. You're one of the only other members of the team who has a working weapon, after all. And besides…" Ilia nudged her head down toward Azmuth. "He needs protecting."

Recognizing the utmost importance of the situation, Rook brought his arm back down and nodded to her. "Of course. I wish you luck, Ilia." The chameleon girl gave him a brief smile before joining the battle with Ruby against Rojo, leaving Rook to address the First Thinker. …Though in doing so, the Revonnahgander picked him up in his hands, gazing to him in admiration. "You are Azmuth! I cannot believe I am in the presence of the greatest mind in the universe!"

Azmuth didn't even get to respond, Psychobos shouting indignantly; "HE IS NOT! And I am about to prove it! That is, if a certain "partner", and I use the term loosely, would learn to cooperate!"

…..

Back across the room, Dynatusk was being thrown around by the Tyrannopede, careening into displays and skeletons and destroying them in his wake. "Guh! Okay, time out, would ya?!" the Paku-Dermaloid bellowed, though it was clear that the beast wasn't listening. Instead, it charged directly at him… only to be stopped when a certain red-headed android got in its way.

"Sorry, but you've been a bad dog!" Penny chided as she pushed back against the Tyrannopede's belly.

Not two seconds later, Rex jumped in and grabbed into its jaws, pulling its head back so that it wouldn't bite at Penny. "Forget it, perro! You're fightin' three on one, now!" The EVO glanced over to his friend and called out; "Ben! We've got it covered! Change into something else!"

Dynatusk picked up on what Rex wanted quickly, knowing that if the beast was preoccupied, it wouldn't have time to adapt to him. "On it!" Running away, Dynatusk gave a small jump as he slapped the Omnitrix, transforming into… "Ball Weevil!" The little insectoid alien spat out a plasma ball and landed on it, rolling along and picking up all the debris strewn across the floor.

"GUAH! WOAH!" As the Tyrannopede shook its head to and frow, Rex was pulled along for the ride, keeping his grip with one hand while bringing out his BFS on his other arm. "Gah! Would you STAY STILL?!" He swung the blade right down on the head of the beast, managing to knock it for a loop a little… and allowing Penny to pick it up.

The redheaded android's arms trembled a little at the sheer weight, making her shift her jetpack into her Mechano-Crushers to take some of it off. "Agh… you… have been a bad dog!" Spinning herself around, Penny tossed the Tyrannopede head over heels onto its back, making it let out a pained roar. "Ben!"

"Done and done!" Ball Weevil announced, rolling over to the duo with a now HUGE plasma ball under his skittering legs. "Hey! Eat exploding plasma goop, ya jerk!"

However, much their astonishment, the Tyrannopede was able to spin onto its stomach with surprising speed, transforming directly into Terrorantula. The arachnoid predator hissed and spat out its laser webbing at Ball Weevil… only for Ben to abruptly change as well. *flash* "KICKEN HAWK!" Keeping the ball clenched in his talons, Kicken Hawk used it to bounce high into the air, avoiding the laser web and taking the beast off guard. Then, with a seamless flip kick, he SMACKED the ball right down onto the predator, which exploded and left a cloud of green smoke upon impact.

"Hahaha! Aw yeah!" Kicken Hawk proclaimed, landing behind the predator with his hands on his hips and a proud smirk, all while Rex and Penny cheered. "I can quick change too, ya know! Think I haven't learned by now? Can't have a predator for EVERY one of my aliens…" But then, a flash of red light came from the smoke, and the Crabdozer came barreling out at him at incredible speed. Kicken Hawk found himself pinned against the wall in record time, in a way which his arms were pinned down firmly so he couldn't reach the Omnitrix. "Agh! Grr… of course, I guess, YOU could always adapt, too. Guys! A hand, please?!"

…..

While Rex and Penny went to assist their friend, Azmuth and Rook were watching the whole fight happen across the room. Between them, however, Yang and Vernal were busy taking on Mercury, the assassin holding back the two surprisingly well. Yang put her fight on pause, though, when she saw how the others were doing with the Crabdozer. "Ben!" She whirled her head around and shouted at Azmuth; "Hey! You're smart! Can't you figure out SOME way to get that thing to… I dunno, heel or something? AUGH!"

The Blonde Brawler narrowly managed to duck a kick from Mercury, for which she was chastised by Vernal. "Keep your head in the game, sis!"

The First Thinker, however, hummed at Yang's proposition. He picked up a broken bone fragment near his feet, and within seconds, he came up with a plan. "You there." He pointed up at Rook. "That tool on your back, mind if I borrow it?"

"Um, o-of course." Rook wasn't certain what Azmuth was about to do, but the intent was clear. "You have a plan, yes?"

"Of course, I do." Azmuth assured, taking the tool as Rook handed it to him. "Consider it rectifying my error regarding the Dust."

"Hope it's a good plan!" Blake shouted as she and Weiss fended off Emerald, the thief shooting at them relentlessly. "Because Dust would've been REALLY useful right now!" Just as a bullet was about to hit her, though, she used her Semblance and created a shadow clone of herself, allowing Blake to get in closer to Emerald. "Weiss! Think you can get a Summon in here?"

The former heiress stabbed Myrtenaster on the floor, focusing on her own Semblance. "Backup's coming!" From the summoning glyph Weiss created, her Boarbatusk emerged, snorting and padding the ground, ready to charge. "Go!" she thrust her finger forward, instructing the Grimm to charge straight toward Emerald.

Blake whipped Gambol Shroud's ribbon out and wrapped it around the beast's tusks, leaping onto its back for her own attack. Emerald, though, wasn't about to be outdone. Using her own Semblance, she cast a mental illusion making it seem as if several copies of herself had suddenly surrounded the duo and the Boarbatusk, taking them off guard. "Hehe, so, which me is the REAL me, huh?" Emerald's voice echoed around them

"Good question… let's find out. Blake, jump!" At Weiss' call, the cat girl leapt off and the Boarbatusk immediately curled up and rolled out, charging through the first illusion before steamrolling over the others. However… none of them were the real ones, leaving Blake and Weiss stunned. "W-What the—" *BANG-BANG* "AH!"

"Ha! Surprise!" Emerald shouted from above, hanging from the chain of one Thief's Respite while shooting them with the other. "Betcha didn't see THAT one comi—AUGH!" Unfortunately, the green-haired girl was thrown off her game… when Blake was thrown into her, taking both of them down to the floor.

…Only it wasn't Blake at all. Upon impact, the cat girl illusion around Neo shattered, leaving her and Emerald in a heap. Not a second later, and Sun had joined the fray as well, earning him a glare from the mute girl. "Ha! Check and mate, Ice Cream Lady! Couldn't fool ME with that kinda lame trick."

Blake blinked in surprise. The illusion of her was only around for a second, but it still took her aback nonetheless. "Wow, Sun…" she craned her head over to her boyfriend. "You really hit Neo while she was disguised as me, didn't you?"

"Er, well, I mean…" Sun rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I-I just knew that it wasn't you and I wasn't about to let her toy with my emotions and—mmph!" He was cut off when Blake yanked on his collar and gave him a brief yet passionate kiss, ending it after about five seconds. "…Hah, okay, you're not mad. That's good."

"Hm, very good." Blake confirmed.

Weiss, however, was quick to break the little moment up. "Uh, not to be a downer, but they're still coming!" The couple whipped their heads up just in time to counter a pair of incoming strikes from Neo and Emerald, the two girls now fueled by frustration. "Azmuth! Whatever you're working on, PLEASE do it faster!"

…..

Back with the Crabdozer, Rex and Penny had just managed to pry its head back just enough for Kicken Hawk to reach the Omnitrix, the Avianoid smirking victoriously. "Hah! Alright!" Reaching for the Omnitrix, he slapped it and transformed into… "Big Chill!" Turning intangible, the Necrofriggian freed himself the rest of the way by going through the Crabdozer, partially freezing its face and back on the way. "Rex, Penny, get clear!" Hopping off the beast's head, the two Nanite users allowed Big Chill to do his thing; freezing the Crabdozer over with a massive blast of frost breath.

Up in the observation deck, however, Khyber wasn't about to concede defeat. "No shortage of predators to match my prey." he resolved, whistling again to transform his Anubian once more.

All at once, the ice containing the Crabdozer burst out as it changed… into the Hypnotick. The atrocious insectoid predator flew directly in front of Big Chill, who gasped as it excreted its hypnotic pheromones and rapidly flapped its wings, creating the mesmerizing affect. "Oh… ooohh…" Big Chill's natural frown suddenly broke out into an unsettling grin, his eyes glazing over as he was put under the Hypnotick's spell.

"No! Ben don't… don't… eeeeheehee…" Within moments, Rex had succumbed to the affect as well, his smile widening from ear to ear as he and Big Chill drew closer to the predator.

Penny gasped and went in to try and help. "Ben! Rex! Stop this now!"

"Wait, Penny!" Azmuth exclaimed, bringing the android to a stop. She spun around and saw that he was using Rook's Proto-Tool to precisely and intricately carve something out of the bone fragment he picked up. Once it finished, it was revealed to be… a whistle, which he immediately tossed to her. "Blow into this, quickly!"

Catching the instrument, Penny did a quick analysis of the tool… which is when she saw that this was no ordinary whistle. "Oh… Azmuth, this is brilliant! It's no wonder why you are the smartest being in three—possibly five—galaxies!"

"BIG DEAL!" Psychobos shouted in all of their heads. "I am the greatest mind in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE!"

"We shall see about that!" Penny took a breath and blew into the whistle… which made the Hypnotick stop just as it was about to curl its tongue around Big Chill and Rex. The beast let out a sharp cry and transformed back into the Anubian, the dog-like alien standing firmly as Ben and Rex were brought out of their trance.

…Khyber was understandably unhappy. "They CHEATED!" Whistling through his jowls again, he commanded his animal to transform back, resuming its hypnosis of the two heroes.

All the while, Blake was not having a good time herself, buckling to her knees as all the noise became unbearable. She covered her cat ears and screamed; "Could we STOP with all the whistling?! AH!" Blake gasped and whipped Gambol Shroud up, countering Neo's umbrella as she struck down at her. "Gah! Find a way to wrap it up, please!"

"I have a plan." Azmuth said, running around Penny and toward the fight itself. "Penny, keep the mutt busy, if you would."

Penny saluted without question. "Yes, sir! Blake, I'm sorry about this, but it's the only way!" Putting her lips back to the whistle, Penny signaled for the dog to transform back… and before anyone knew it, she and Khyber were in a battle of the whistles.

"KHYBER!" Psychobos shot a constant bolt of electricity out from his head at the huntsman's face, forcing him to stop whistling for just a moment. "Enough of these foolish games! Concentrate on AZMUTH!"

Unbeknownst to them, this allowed for Penny to finally rein the dog back into its normal form, where Big Chill, now completely free, was allowed to freeze its feet to the floor. This allowed Azmuth to climb up onto its back and get to its neck… where he proceeded to scratch behind its ears, easily subduing it. "Now, while I have it pacified…" slowly, he began reaching down to the Nemetrix, intent on decupling it.

Off to the side, though, Ruby and Ilia weren't too far away, the two fighting Rojo and successfully backing her into a corner. "Hah… hah… okay, Red, I'll admit, two on one's not as fair as I thought…"

"Should've thought of that BEFORE you came down, then!" Ruby took another swing at Rojo… only for the bounty hunter to bring her two swords back together into Bloodstrike's bigger sword mode blocking the hit.

"Maybe." Rojo shrugged, pushing Ruby back and countering Ilia's incoming attack afterward. "But if you think I'm about to give up, you're… huh?" But Rojo didn't finish her threat, too confused as to why the dog wasn't moving. "What the…" She reached for her comm and hollered; "Hey, teach! What's goin' on up there?!"

Hearing Rojo's voice through his earpiece, Khyber managed to reach down and slam Psychobos against the glass, growling at the brain crab. "GRAH! Never do that again!"

"You DARE to defy the greatest mind in the universe?!" Psychobos amped up the power of his lightning, using his electrokinesis to manipulate Khyber's jowl whistle as the hunter yelled in pain. "I will FORCE you to comply!"

Between hearing Khyber's yell through the comm and seeing the Anubian suddenly change into the Omnivoracious, it didn't take long for Rojo to put two and two together. "Hah! GUYS, STOP!" All at once, her fellow Ministry members pulled back from their fights… excluding Cinder, who was still clashing swords with Raven. "That crabby little idiot is HURTING Khyber!"

THAT was enough to give Cinder pause. "…What? AH!" And it was also enough to give Raven the advantage, blowing the Fall Maiden back with a wave of icy energy. However, it wasn't anything Cinder couldn't easily melt, and once that was done, she flew up into the air on a gust of wind. "Apologies, Raven, but something else has come up." With a wave of her hand, Cinder summoned more whirlwinds around her teammates, lifting them aloft as well. "We'll finish this later!"

"Cinder!" Raven was about to follow after her, but Yang rushed over to her instead.

"Uh, mom, we've got a bigger problem!" The Blonde Brawler pointed straight toward the Omnivoracious… which had Azmuth trapped, hanging upside down in its jaws.

Penny hardened her glare at the beast and brought out one of her arm blades, prepared to do anything to free the Galvan if need be. "Azmuth! Hold on, I'll—"

"Stop! Penny, throw me the whistle!" Azmuth reached out. "I'll handle this."

The order gave Penny pause, but not for long. After all, she trusted the First Thinker's judgement completely. "…Okay! Here goes!" She tossed the whistle over and Azmuth successfully caught it, bringing the instrument to his lips to have the Anubian transform one more time…

This time, however, it was an alien that not many of them recognized. It somewhat resembled an octopus… if it were a land animal the size of an elephant. It had a distinct head with a large beak and eight massive tentacles, its large, red eyes piercing down at the group. The only ones who recognized it were Rex and Big Chill, who gazed up to it in surprise as Azmuth fell to his feet. "Huh, it's that thing we fought in the circus tent!" Rex pointed out.

Big Chill scratched his chin. "Yeah, didn't expect Azmuth to have it change into that."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Azmuth extended a hand up to the creature, "meet Vicetopus. The natural predator… of ALL Cerebrocrustaceans."

"Oh…" Sun sent a knowing smirk down to Azmuth. "I see what you're goin' for."

Azmuth gave a simple hum as he whistled again, though this time, he played a certain tune to give the predator a specific command. Following it, the Vicetopus reached a tentacle up and smashed through the observation deck's window, reaching for the mad doctor. "As smart as you claim to be, Psychobos, I'm sure you MUST know how to defeat your natural adversary, hm?"

"AH! K-Khyber! Help me!" Psychobos pleaded as the Vicetopus pulled him out… all while the other Ministry members flew back in, not even making an effort to assist him. "S-S-Someone, PLEASE! Whistle! Call it off!"

But all they did was chortle at the sight of the Cerebrocrustacean getting what he deserved. "Hmhmhm. I'm sure the "greatest mind in the universe" can outwit his mindless natural predator."

Rojo put a hand to her mouth and added; "I hope it picks its teeth with that oversized claw of yours, ya jerk! HAHAHA!"

However, Cinder cleared her throat, bringing the heckling to a stop. "Ahem, as much as I'd rather leave him to his fate, Salem will be disappointed in us if we don't bring him back." The group looked at her with disbelief, but she gave her reasoning; "Think about it. He's probably the smartest asset we have at the moment. And if we wish to counter this supposed "new weapon" that the blonde jock made, then we still need him."

"…Agh, yeah, true." Mercury admitted, though he wore a hopeful smile. "Still, can we at least wait for them to torture him a bit?"

"…I don't see why not." Cinder smirked sinisterly before snapping her fingers, creating a fiery vortex around them so that they could slink out the door unnoticed. By the time Big Chill had flown up to the deck… they were nowhere to be found.

The Necrofriggian grumbled, clenching his fists as he flew back down. There, Ruby was… giving praise to the Vicetopus, who astonishingly let her pet it. "Aw, who's a good predator? You are! Yes you are!"

"Gotta admit, having this thing on our side really makes all the difference." Weiss commented.

Rex nodded at his girlfriend's words. "Yeah… also, it just hit me. We're on an alien planet." Hearing that, the other team members did a doubletake, piling over toward the nearest window to see that, yes, they were in fact on a VERY alien world. The museum was surrounded by high-tech road systems that were built over an expansive bog. The buildings were all made out of the naturally growing, oversized mushrooms, given new additions that were also extremely technological. And every which way they saw, there were Galvans flying about with jetpacks, all of which had the signature Omnitrix pattern on them.

"Woah… is this like, where the Plumbers started?" Vernal asked.

"Oh, hah, no, not at all." Azmuth answered. "It's just that the Plumbers adopted the Omnitrix symbol overtime, with my blessing, of course."

Raven stepped away from the window, astounded by the sight. "An alien world… and it stands to reason that if Khyber, Psychobos and the Ministry are here…"

Ben transformed back to his human form, wearing a serious scowl. "Yeah… Malware's gotta be here, too." He approached the Vicetopus, glaring up to Psychobos in its grasp. "And YOU are gonna tell me exactly where he is. Your allies have all flown the coop, so you've got no legs to stand on."

Adding his two cents, Azmuth glowered at Psychobos. "I cannot imagine how the three of you managed to get past the Galvan planetary defenses."

"Hmhm, wouldn't YOU like to know, Azmuth?" Psychobos teased. "How we pulled it off, where Malware is at this time, and what we plan to do from here… well, I'm not telling!"

Before anyone could press the brain crab for answers, though, Rook piped up. "Ben. When we last encountered Malware, he was stealing information from my Proto-TRUK, remember?"

"I do. You think there's a connection?" the hero urged him to go further.

"I am part of Plumber special forces, as you know." Rook explained, placing a hand on his chest. "All of our ships have Galvan security codes. He must have downloaded them from my TRUK's onboard computer memory core. Meaning…"

Yang came over and finished for him. "He and the Ministry snuck in under all our noses."

Turning back to Psychobos, Ben thrust a finger up at him. "You're GOING to tell us where they are, doc. Where. Is. Malware?"

"And I should tell you, why?" Psychobos challenged… only for Ben to peer down to Azmuth.

The Galvan brought the whistle to his lips and played another tune, which caused the Vicetopus to tighten its bind on Psychobos. But, even as the grip grew ever tighter, Psychobos didn't say a thing… even when he slipped into unconsciousness. "Alright! That's enough, girl." Blowing the whistle again, Azmuth had the Vicetopus drop Psychobos' body… while everyone else went completely slack-jawed.

"I-I'm sorry, but… did you just call it a "girl"?!" Blake exclaimed.

"Of course." Azmuth confirmed. "None of you could tell?"

Rex smacked his head in bafflement. "Dude! You expect US to know what alien dog biology is like?! We couldn't get close enough to it in the past to even TELL if it had a—"

"Alright, let's not go there right now." Ilia cut the EVO off. "We've got more important things to deal with right now anyway."

Ben agreed wholeheartedly. "Right. We need to find Malware, quick.

However, Azmuth scolded him for his hurried thinking. "Slow down, Ben. You don't want a repeat of what happened last time, do you?" The hero seemed ready to rebuke the Galvan… but after thinking it over, he just tightened his lips shut instead. "Hm. I thought so. It is not wise to rush into a battle against Malware, and you know that."

"Uh, okay, I'm confused here." Vernal interjected, glancing between the two. "What exactly happened "last time" you faced this Malware guy? Is he a REALLY big deal?"

Admitting his own curiosity, Rook nodded and asked; "Yes, what is this Malware? His Plumber files are quite limited and much information is redacted…"

With a soft wince, Ben gave a sigh. "Hah… right. You guys haven't heard this story." He briefly glanced over to his team, who all sent him supportive nods. "Okay, let's start from the beginning. I'm gonna tell you EXACTLY why Malware should be taken so seriously…"

…..

Over the course of the next several minutes, Ben recounted his experience with the twisted Mechamorph as briefly as he could, going from his first encounter on Galvan B, all the way up to the fight they had in Mount Rushmore. And then… he finished with the story of how he first lost Feedback to Malware, which caused him to purposefully overload the Omnitrix inside of the villain and seemingly atomize him. "…That was probably one of THE worse days of my life." Ben finished. "Back then, Feedback wasn't just my go-to alien. He felt like a part of me… and seeing him be destroyed felt like… like…"

"Seeing yourself die." Vernal concluded breathlessly. "God… Ben, I-I don't know what to say…"

"What's more, as a failsafe, the original Omnitrix would never accept Conductoid DNA ever gain." Azmuth added. "It was only with the final and perfected model that I found a way to do so, on account of not needing Primus to act as the Omnitrix's power source.

Rook craned his head down toward Ben with a sympathetic gaze. "That is… quite the harrowing story, Ben. I am sorry."

"Yeah… it's one I wish I could forget. It's like, I know that I HAVE Feedback back, but—" *TSSS* AH!" Without any warning, a set of canisters came falling from above, letting loose a massive cloud of smoke around the team, sending them into a coughing fit. "Hak-hak! MALWARE?!"

Acting quickly, Rook brought his Proto-Tool out and activated its vacuum function, sucking up the cloud without issue. And when everything was clear… they saw the Anubian back in its normal form… and with the Nemetrix gone from its collar. "Khyber. And he took the Nemetrix."

"That's not all." Yang said, searching the floor for a certain brain crab's body. "Psychobos is gone, too. Guess the Ministry still needed him."

Penny tilted her head to the alien dog, approaching it cautiously. It started to growl and snap its jaws at her, but Penny wasn't afraid to bring her hand up and scratch behind its ear, subduing it easily. "It's odd that they left her behind, though…"

Taking the whistle back out, Azmuth put on a hopeful grin. "Well, that's probably the biggest mistake they could make. Let's see if we can't use her to track down her old master—"

*CRRAAASSSHH*

All of a sudden, a massive tremor shook the entire building, rocking its very foundation. Gasps and shouts of astonishment were elicited from everyone in the room, some holding onto one another for support as everything rattled around them. But then, just as abruptly as they came… the quakes stopped, leaving the team confused. "Okay, what the heck was THAT just now?" Blake wondered.

"It came from outside!" Ben steered his team toward the now open entryway. "Come on, it could be Malware. We need to go, now!"

Everyone followed him out the museum, but once they exited, they were met with something strange. In the center of the city, a large plume of smoke was wafting up into the air, and every armed Galvan within the vicinity had gathered to aim their weapons at it. "…Something must have crash-landed." Azmuth deduced. "Everybody, stay back... and be ready for anything."

Even with their lack of useable Dust, the Omni-Hunters armed themselves up… but once Sun saw a pair of golden eyes shining through the cloud, he began to relax a little. "Uh, guys?" he said with a grin. "I don't think we've got anything to worry about."

As if on cue, the figure dispelled the smoke with a single swing of his mighty staff, slamming the weapon into the ground as his identity was revealed. "Oh-hoho, MAN!" Stepping out of the crater he made, Sun Wu Kong spun his staff and rested it over his shoulder, his beaming, toothy grin widening when he spotted the kids. "Seventy-six THOUSAND lightyears! That's quite a distance for you guys to have traveled in two seconds." He dusted his hand off against his armor. "Of course, not MY biggest jump, but still, pretty impressive!"

"MONKEY KING!" Sun plowed through both his friends and the Galvan guards, kneeling before his master. "Y-You found us! Haha! That's amazing! …Wait, how'd you know we were here?!"

"Hahaha! Oh, young pilgrim, you have a LOT to learn." Wu Kong ruffled Sun's hair. "But uh, more to the point; what the heck is goin' on here?"

Ben and the others approached the Monkey King, though not before the hero nudged his head toward the Galvan guard. "It's okay. He's a friend of ours." The jetpack-wearing aliens all powered down their weapons and backed away, with Ben answering the sage's question. "We were brought here because an old enemy of mine is wreaking havoc. We need to find him before he does something drastic."

"Ah, I see…" Wu Kong nodded, scratching his chin. "Well, I'm no stranger to baddies from my past wanting a piece of me, so I get where you're comin' from." He gave the team a thumbs-up. "Alright, I'll lend a hand here. Tell me, who's in charge 'round these parts?"

Clearing his throat, Azmuth managed to garner Wu Kong's attention. "Ahem, that would be me. I am Azmuth, the leader of Galvan Prime. And you would be… who, exactly?"

Squatting down to get a better look at Azmuth, the divine being introduced himself. "Hah! Who am I? Why, I'm Sun Wu Kong!" Azmuth's expression remained emotionless, almost unimpressed, even. "…The Monkey King? The Fighting Buddha? Great Sage Equal to Heaven?" He piled on his different epithets, hoping one would stick. "Ring any bells, hehe?"

"Apologies, but I'm a man of science, not belief." Azmuth stroked his beard. "Earth's divine beings don't pique my curiosity all that much."

Wu Kong couldn't help but deadpan at that. "O-Oh… I see." He shook his head and got back on track, letting it flow off his back. "W-Well, all the same, I'll do what I can to help out your people, little guy!"

"Wu Kong." Raven interrupted. "Sun brought up a good point before. How DID you know we were gone? It's only been… what, half an hour since we were teleported here?"

"Yep, and I travelled from Earth to here IN that half hour!" the Monkey King affirmed. "I knew you guys were gone from the moment you left. As a Buddha, I'm pretty much in tune with everything." He raised a finger into the air. "Right now, I'm talking to you while also noting the speed of the wind—the moisture in the air—these 37 emails from my lawyer—every TV adaptation of Journey to the West EVER made—and the resonance of my soul while I contemplate the fact that I'm an immortal being who will never be able to die!" After striking a variety of crazy poses, the Monkey King pointed off in a random direction. "…And that bug over there." Said bug was a 10-legged cricket… which jumped up and was subsequently caught in a Galvan's mouth. "…Eugh. But, uh, I'm paying attention to you guys. So, what can the ol' Great Sage do to help?"

*BOOOOOM*

Just then, the entire place was doused in a bright, red light, making Wu Kong snap his eyes open and whirl around. His golden eyes and everyone else's were set skyward as the planet's moon, Galvan B, began to show massive red cracks in its surface. The fissures expanded all across the moon before it broke apart entirely in an immense explosion, leaving everyone present stunned into silence.

And, seeing this dreadful display, Wu Kong made his conclusion. "…Huh. Welp, guess that answers my question."

…..

A/N: Indeed, it does, Monkey King, and what an answer it is. Stakes can't get much higher than a planet's entire MOON blowing up, much less a moon that's inhabited by the planet's neighbors. Malware's plan is now well and truly underway, so how will our heroes respond to this? Guess we'll have to wait and see on that front.

But, of course, that's not ALL that happened in this chapter. We got the culmination of The Branwen-Xiao Long-Rose family's outing, resulting in a nice little family moment! Hooray for Mother/Daughter bonding! …And Legos! Okay, okay, the Lego sets themselves don't add MUCH, but to be fair, the new Space 2024 subtheme DOES seem like the kind of Lego that Ben would be into. …Just so long as we don't take those Alien Force Constraction figures into account since they don't exist in this universe.

That said, though, seems Galvan teleportation tech doesn't mix too well with Dust, does it? Leaves the mineral completely inert and powerless. Originally, though… that wasn't going to be the case. Instead, I was going to have it so that Galvan Prime wasn't rich enough with Mana for Dust to work… but then I was reminded that Galvan Prime IS technically a swamp planet and that meant that there WOULD be enough life energy to power it. And honestly, I think this NEW explanation works much better since it forces our heroes (at least most of the team) to work around not having Dust while fighting the enemies that DO have it.

On that note, seems the Ministry has had enough of Psychobos' obsession with Azmuth, doesn't it? Of course, they DO still need him since he's the smarted scientist they have, but still, I imagine he's gonna be kept on a MUCH tighter leash.

Also, they took the Nemetrix… but not the dog. Those of you who've watched Omniverse, you likely know what's coming. But for those that don't… you might ALSO guess what's coming, but I'll leave it a surprise.

But with that, NEXT TIME! Gwen, Kevin and the others make it back to base, where they quickly set out to get to Galvan Prime to help Ben and the others… including the Saturdays! Meanwhile, things go from bad to worse when parts of the moon start raining down upon the planet's surface… and they all contain Malware's essence. And what's more… one of them lands on Penny. This can't be good… or can it? Find out what I mean Next Time in; Malware's Revenge. Thanks for reading everybody, and I'll catch you all later! Stay safe out there!