"Are you positively certain that you have located their coordinates?"

"This indubitably is the terral transport that the dyad has been utilizing."

"Splendid. Should we engage with the subjects in question now?"

"I opine we would get better results if we waited until they remove themselves from the designated trafficway so as not to disturb the unsuspecting populace."

"Perceptive. Your thoughts correspond with mine. Now, let us anticipate."

The Dondai made its way along the highway in relative silence, only ever interrupted by other passing-by cars. The engine's monotonous revving was almost hypnotizing, and it would have certainly been sleep-inducing if Ben and Steven hadn't overslept this morning. Though, Ben noticed that the silence was a bit awkward, as Steven looked stressed.

"Pwhhhhhhhhhhhft." – Ben made a long exhale, hoping to break the tension. He turned the radio on, but it started playing extremely loudly, and it was so sudden that Ben immediately turned it off to return to the silence. He then checked the glove compartment, just something, anything to distract from the situation. Among the love gloves from last night, Steven's charger (for the phone which was now broken) and a spray bottle of hand sanitizer, there was a CD that said "Kerry Moonbeam".

"What's this?" – Ben asked as he grabbed it, slightly relieved that they had at least something to talk about.

"Please don't play that." – Steven responded.

Back to square one, then. Ben put it back and closed the glove compartment.

"Sorry for breaking your phone even more than that Dundul guy did, by the way." – Ben said awkwardly while side-eyeing Steven to see Steven's response.

He didn't react.

"I mean, I was trying to go Upgrade, but I got Juryrigg, and, well, he kinda gets carried away." – Ben explained.

Still nothing.

"This isn't about Connie, is it?" – Ben wondered. "Because you can call her from my pho-"

"No, it's not Connie." – Steven interrupted.

"Right." – Ben said. After a pause, he piped up again – "Soooooo, what-"

"It's just Dundul. The stuff he was saying." – Steven interrupted again. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"Oh come on, don't tell me all that nonsense about half-breeds got to you!"

"No, not that. What he was saying about the Diamonds. And about all the planets they've conquered."

"What about them? They're free now, aren't they?"

"Well, yeah, but you saw how people like Dundul feel about them." – Steven explained. "Nobody besides Technorg tried to intervene. There are planets out there that were permanently damaged by gem operations, that are still hurting now. And I was so caught up with fixing everything for gemkind and for humans and that I overlooked the other victims of the Diamonds." – he went on, with heavy breaths in-between.

"Well, what do you want to do? Go to each of them one-by-one and solve their economic crises by yourself?" – Ben responded sarcastically.

"I don't know! Maybe?" – Steven responded. "And I know that it's not healthy to put all of this on myself, I'm trying to move away from it, but I still can't live with myself knowing there's still more people suffering from what the Diamonds did!"

"Listen, you've already done more than enough. I mean, you're the one that freed them all in the first place!" – Ben argued. "What they do now is up to them."

"But I still want to help them…"

"If you wanna help, you can help, obviously nobody's saying you shouldn't…" – Ben assured him. "But you should never lose sleep over not doing enough. Trust me."

"Hm. Yeah. Maybe." – Steven responded. As they kept driving in silence, Ben noticed that Steven was more at ease now.

"Take this exit." – Ben pointed out. The Dondai took a turn.

"So, this is where it all started?" – Steven asked him as the road took them past the sign "Welcome to Prickly Pines" and into the woods. His original plan was to keep heading north along the coast after Empire, but Ben wanted to take this detour to revisit a location he was nostalgic about from the last big road trip.

"Yep. Six and a half years ago, it all started when an alien device did… well, what it did." – Ben reminisced fondly, though he did remember that he wasn't too fond of it as it was first happening. He imagined what would it look like from the outside if someone saw Heatblast running around in a crazed frenzy.

"Do you even remember where that campsite was?"

"Can't be that hard to find. I, uh, "accidentally" burned the whole place down, so, probably the place where they trees are young and regrowing?" – Ben supposed.

"You burned the forest down?!" – Steven yelled.

"Only a part of it!" – Ben defended himself. "And it was my first time using the damn thing! What was it like when you first used your powers?"

It was Steven's turn to reminisce as he remembered the joyous delight of eating one of the very last Cookie Cats as he formed Rose's signature weapon, and then…

"I broke the TV with the shield." – Steven admitted.

"See?" – Ben asked him, happy to see his point was proven.

"What do you mean, see? Burning a forest down is much worse than breaking my TV!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"What do you mean, excuses, excuses?"

"Alright, I think this is the spot." – Ben told him to get himself out of the argument. Steven stopped the car. "Wow, can you smell that fresh air?" – he said as he had a good long inhale after getting out of the car. "Gee, now I'm starting to sound like grandpa."

"As long as I don't smell anything burning." – Steven commented.

"You're still on that?"

"Well, it's a serious issue, Ben! The world's ecosphere is already suffering from mass deforestation, and it… what?" – Steven asked, as Ben was looking at him weirdly.

"And you're starting to sound like Gwen." – Ben commented. "Which is… fitting, I guess." – he added, as he looked around the forest. "A little bit more and you're gonna make me go for a walk into the woods, just like that first time."

"Well, if another Omnitrix drops down, I call dibs." – Steven commented.

"Why do you need an Omnitrix? You've already got gem powers!"

"Well, you want a second one?" – Steven retorted.

Just then, they saw something falling across the night sky, like a shooting star.

"No way." – Ben said in awe.

"Could it be?" – Steven whispered.

Ben couldn't take his eyes off of it, it was déjà vu, the feeling of cosmic wonder, the idea that there's something more out there, waiting in the stars, the sensation that opened up a 10-year old's world to the infinite possibilities of the universe, Ben relived all of it all over again, completely shutting out everything that was going on around him, even Steven yelling "Get out of the way! It's coming right at us!"

Whatever it was, it really was heading right for them, but instead of crashing onto the earth at full speed, it descended slowly and landed in front of them. It wasn't what they had been expecting – it was a spaceship. One resembling a crab, at that. The hull opened, extended a ramp towards the ground and a couple of cerebrocrustaceans sidled out of it.

"Oh. It was just a couple of Brainstorms. And here I was thinking… hoping… but what do I even have to hope for? I've already got the Omnitrix!" – Ben thought to himself, but didn't voice his opinion to the aliens that approached him.

"Greetings, great heroes Ben Tennyson and Steven Universe." – one of the cerebrocrustaceans politely greeted them with respect and admiration.

Steven looked at Ben on what to say – non-gem aliens were his department.

"Um… hi." – Ben awkwardly said and held his hand out for them to shake it, not realizing the mistake he just made.

The pair of brain crabs examined the held out hand.

"I'm not certain…" – one of them muttered as he stared at it. It was his right hand, so he surely wasn't offering the Omnitrix to them. What did that gesture mean?

"It's the human greeting ritual!" – the other exclaimed, happy that he remembered what it was.

"Oh, indeed, indeed!" – the cerebrocrustacean grabbed Ben's hand with his claw and shook it repeatedly, not noticing Ben wincing in pain from being pierced in the hand. "Pardon me, great hero, us cerebrocrustaceans aren't completely familiar with human etiquette and therefore, sometimes we might be a bit… tardy in comprehending your body language, as well as your culture. I hope that does not diminish our image in your eyes."

"No problem!" – Ben tried to stay collected, as he didn't want to be rude to someone showing an inhumane level of politeness. Though, he rubbed his hand in pain as soon as it got it back.

"So, um…" – Steven tried to make friendly talk with them. "What brings you guys to Earth?"

"As a matter of fact, we have been on Earth for quite a few cycles, looking around the local hub for extraterrestrial individuals, designated Undertown, with the intention of finding you, Ben Tennyson. When we received the information that you had left the planet in order to participate in exploits across the cosmos, we did not part with our optimism." As the cerebrocrustacean was explaining, neither Ben nor Steven got the chance to get a word in, as they were too busy comprehending their rather verbose manner of speech. "However, our directive needed to be adjusted. We still required a hero with renowned prominence throughout the galaxy…"

"So you tried to find Steven?" – Ben managed finished their sentence for them for once.

"Indeed."

"Hey, look at that, Steven. You're a hero with renowned prominence throughout the galaxy."

"Why, of course, for he's the one who halted the Diamond Authority's millennia-long aggressive expansion campaign. But as we attained the destination Little Homeworld, we had come to the cognizance that you, too, had taken your leave."

"Oh." – Steven said, only now realizing people were gonna look for him while he was away.

"Distraught but not discouraged, we followed the directions your compatriots, the Crystal Gems, gave us, which led us to Empire City, though, we failed to spoor you there. Our remaining alternative was to seek out other local gathering points for extraterrestrial beings, such as Underbelly, where we finally detected, much to our delight, not only you, but rather, Ben Tennyson as well!"

"Oh, yeah. There were a couple of Brainstorms there during the fight with Dundul, yeah." – Ben remembered.

"Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to engage you due to the ongoing confrontation, so we took the alternative in following you instead." – the cerbrocrustacean finished his story.

"Why did you need to find us so badly, anyway?" – Ben asked them, as the cerebrocrustaceans still hadn't explained that part.

The crabs paused for a moment, hoping to articulate their request in the best light possible.

"You see… we represent a group of cerebrocrustaceans that are of the belief that Encephalonus IV, our home planet, is facing an unavoidable cataclysm that is sure to result in the destruction of said globe."

"Well, if it's unavoidable, what can we do?" – Steven piped up.

"Help us… avoid it." – the crab said, though diffidently.

Ben and Steven exchanged looks.

"Let me elucidate." – the other cerebrocrustacean took over. "You see, the crisis Encephalonus IV is undergoing is… economical in nature. The rate at which our civilization has been exploiting its unrenewable resources could be categorized as highly inefficient, to speak lightly."

"And though the matter has been identified and denounced on manifold occasions, the population of Encephalonus IV has shamefully and regrettably persisted in the consumption of unrenewable resources. So far, this has had disastrous consequences on the ecosystem of the planet, and we fear that further consequences of this course of action will eventually escalate to galactic scale."

"Okay, I guess we could try to help?" – Ben suggested, though Steven didn't seem so sure about it.

"Um, I'm not sure we'd be of much help there, really." – he timidly told them. "I mean, we're just a couple of kids, you know. Ben hasn't finished his school and I, um, never even started mine, haha…"

That awkward chuckle killed him.

"…and we're really not experts on, well, economics or unrenewable resources or anything like that, especially with alien civilizations, so what I'm saying is, I'm not sure we're the right guys for the job..." – Steven finished.

"Don't distress over that, Steven Tennyson!" – the first cerebrocrustacean reassured him. "It is not the task of devising an alternative stratagem to resource consumption that falls upon you! No, no, we sought you out as inspirational motivators, for it is you, great heroes, that must inveigle the Head Encephalites to alternate towards a more rational plan."

"Well, okay, but I think that's a bit big for us…" – Steven said, still reluctant about the whole ordeal.

"Come on, Steven, I've saved the whole entire universe more times than I can count. How hard can this be?" – Ben asked him, not letting an opportunity to brag get away from him.

"And how many times did you solve complex alien geopolitical issues?" – Steven whispered over to him.

"I, um…" – Ben hesitated. "Once." – Ben said, continuing Steven's hushed tone.

"That's what I- wait, you've done it once already? Where?"

"Hey, weren't you the one saying just now that you wanted to help those planets affected by the Diamonds that were undergoing economic crises?" – Ben retaliated.

"Well, yeah, but these weren't affect…" – Steven wanted to retort, but stopped halfway, as he knew that this argument was just plain wrong. "Yeah, the cerebrocrustaceans don't deserve our help any less than the other planets do. Of course we can't refuse them our help."

Meanwhile, the two cerebrocrustaceans were fiercely whispering something between each other as well, just like Ben and Steven.

"Oh! Additionally!" – one of the cerebrocrustaceans yelled, then quickly scuttled back into their ship and retrieved something. He ran back to Steven and Ben and held something out in both of his claws.

"We discovered that these phalangeal habiliments are considered as tokens of union and amity between terrestrial and extra-terrestrial life-forms." – the cerebrocrustacean said as he held them out into Ben and Steven's hands.

When Ben realized what they were, he tried his best not to laugh. Steven found them endearing, even if a bit silly. There was a pair of brain crabs standing in front of them, holding out love gloves, eagerly awaiting their response… How could you say no to those faces?

"Alright, alright, we'll try our best." – Steven caved.

"Huzzah!" – the crabs exclaimed in unison.

"Awesome. I always wanted to visit Brainstorm's home planet." – Ben said to himself as him and Steven followed the pair of brain crabs to the interior of their spaceship.

"And I've always wanted to go visit a planet not controlled by gems." – Steven told him.

"Then it seems as if this will be a stimulating and fulfilling enterprise for you as well." – one of the cerebrocrustaceans told them.

"Hey, I don't think I caught either of you guys' names." – Ben reminded them.

"Oh! Our apologies, Ben Tennyson and Steven Universe, it seems that in our eagerness to enlist your aid we had neglected to properly introduce ourselves. My praenomen is Ranvaxon, my compatriot's – Endrit."

"Very nice to meet you two." – Steven politely told them.

The two crabs' stares lingered, now unsure what to do. Endrit clamped his claw several times in quick succession, something like a nervous tick. Ben and Steven now weren't sure on what they were supposed to do or say either.

"Let us depart, then!" – Ranvaxon exclaimed unexpectedly. The fact that they communicated without opening their mouths made this especially sudden, as Ben and Steven flinched. The cerebrocrustaceans, however, didn't even notice that they startled them, as the pair assumed their posts at the terminals. Ben and Steven quickly realized that this was their cue to find a seat, one with a strap, so that they wouldn't get knocked around during the acceleration phase. The ship, however, didn't have any other seats, not ones you'd be drawn to intuitively, anyway, and before the pair of shapeshifting superheroes could ask about them, the crabs had already initiated blastoff.

Ben and Steven fell and rolled along the floor of the ship to its back. Ben got the worst of it, as Steven was at least able to instinctively activate his bubble. Ben, however, did not, and the gravity was too strong for him to use the Omnitrix to try and turn into something more suitable. He had also hit his back badly against some protrusion on the ship's hull.

"For the second smartest species in the galaxy, they sure are oblivious sometimes." – Ben told Steven.

"Shh! Don't let them hear that! It'll crush them!"

"And I think escaping the atmosphere just crushed me but who am I to complain…" – Ben retorted, though agreed that it was for the best not to say anything, as the cerebrocrustaceans were nothing but polite to them, even if somewhat absent-minded.

As they left the atmosphere and Ben and Steven were finally able to get up, Ben got an idea.

"Hey, Steven, give me your phone."

"You do remember it's broken right?"

"Of course I know it's broken, I'm the one who broke it… more than it was already, that is, but I know just what to do."

Steven skeptically looked at Ben, but proceeded to take the phone out of his pocket and hand it to Ben.

"Oh, Endrit and Ranvaxon!" - Ben turned to the cerbrocrustaceans.

"Yes, great hero?" - they both eagerly turned to him.

"We have a little request of our own. You see, our phone, that is to say, an Earth communications device, is broken, and we'd really appreciate it if you guys got it fixed for us." - Ben told them as he showed them the phone.

The crab duo reached for it at the same time and collided with each other.

"Why, yes, we'd be positively delighted to assist you in the matter! After all, you did so graciously offer your services for the betterment of all cerbrocrustaceans, accepting this request would demonstrate only an iota of the gratitude we feel towards you, young heroes!" - Ranvaxon assured Ben while Endrit examined the phone.

"Are you certain we possess the required tools and materials for such an operation?" - Endrit asked.

"Surely! It is a low-range communicator from a level 2 planet, how difficult could it be?" - Ranvaxon assured him

"Actually, Earth's been carried over to level 3 recently." – Ben noted.

"Oh? Earth has developed a rational usage of nuclear energy? Good for you, good for you!" – Ranvaxon congratulated them. Though in reality, Ben knew that Earth had been as irresponsible as ever with nuclear energy – the reason it was being carried over to level 3 classification was more of an exception, as more and more alien activity was registered on it, it had started becoming somewhat of a galactic hub around that area. Though, he didn't want mention it to the second smartest species in the galaxy because of embarrassment.

"So, um, could we know a little bit more about what your planet is going through?" – Steven asked them. "It'd be easier for us to help."

"Of course, of course." – Endrit told him. "To address this problem, I think it would be best if we started at the beginning. The precursor of our species was first created on the planet we designated "Encephalonus", later "Encephalonus I". However, due to unchecked exploitation of that world's energy and materials, it was soon hollowed out and subsequently destroyed. Fortunately, they had already started colonial operations on the neighboring planet, which became the new home to our people, designated Encephalonus II."

"I can see where this is going." – Ben commented.

"I assume you can predict the rest. The cerebrocrustaceans were doomed to repeat history, and soon were forced to relocate to Encephalonus III, and subsequently, IV. During that time, we had also evolved the enhanced ability of generating electric energy through our cerebrums, thus allowing us to fight the energy crisis by generating our own."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" – Steven interjected.

"It would appear so at first, indeed. However, this new ability has also had negative concomitants. As our neural membranes generate a higher amplitude of electricity, they require more ions to remain operating. And as our metabolism demands to intake more ions, that only means that the consumption of unrenewable resources of Encephalonus IV has grown exponentially, which, as you may imagine, does pose a problem."

"Well, why don't you just keep going to a new planet every time?" – Ben intervened. "That's what the gourmands do."

"Such an enterprise is highly unsustainable, as colonization of further planets always interferes with the local biosphere, and additionally, the demand for resources will only intensify, depleting planets faster and faster."

"Good point. Well, as long as we're not the ones that have to come up with an alternative…" – Steven said.

"… and we only have to convince the other cerebrocrustaceans to do it themselves… Yeah, we'll try our best." – Ben finished for him.

"Splendid! Now, we've almost arrived to our destination. Prepare for reentry!" – Ranvaxon declared, and Ben and Steven knew what was coming next.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!" – Ben yelled as Steven activated his bubble again, but there was no time to do anything, again, as the spaceship slowed down and this time, Ben got knocked forward instead, right into Endrit. Endrit, being a cerebrocrustacean, had tiny spikes on his shell, which were really uncomfortable to collide with head on.

"I swear, these Brainstorms are gonna be the end of me more than Psychobos ever was." – Ben thought to himself, though still didn't voice his thoughts.

"Gentlemen!" – Endrit declared as the ship finally made contact with steady ground. "Welcome to Encephalonus IV!"

Author's notes:

This is another case of me splitting a chapter in two to let it breathe better. I should probably get better at writing single-chapter stories, though, I would rather give Encephalonus IV more room so I see this as a win. And I don't want to change up the length of the chapters either, I think operating in the 3-5k length is for the best.

So yes, one of my decisions for this universe was to have Bellwood on the east coast. In canon, it's a bit shaky, but I think there's more evidence to put it on the East. However, how do they get from there to New York and Washington D.C. in the span of couple episodes is... questionable. In canon, the forest where Ben found the Omnitrix was at Yosemite National Park, so, I had to change that up too.

I did notice that I've been slightly... restrained in using Ben. He's always there, but he's never really the driving force of the story, at least, not so far, and so him just tagging along does feel a bit off when we're used to him being in the center of everything. I do intend to fix that in future stories, however.

The pair of Brainstorms, the cerebral bros, Ranvaxon and Endrit, I named them after parts of the brain, or rather, the neuron (the axon and the dendrite), similarly to how Dr. Psychobos is named after the mind, the psyche.

And with this chapter, our main duo finally left Empire City and are already going to... space! The next leg of the journey is going to be on the cosmic side. But there's stories to tell both on and off world so until then, everyone!