At the end of the docks leading down to the water, a criminal was joining his accomplice in a small rowboat. "Knocking over that yacht was a piece of cake!", the black beanie criminal stated with a smirk to said accomplice, who just wore a red baseball cap, the two shared a bit of laugh.
While the black beanie turned to untie the rowboat, the red hatted man looked over as soon as he heard something. As soon as he got close enough a grey, webbed fish like hand grabbed him by the face and pulled him overboard, startling the other man. He looked over to see Lakelurker poking his head out of the water, he gasped and rapidly climbed up the latter again.
The crook had made it to the boardwalk and began sprinting away from the area as fast as his legs could carry bim. But suddenly a giant torrent of water erupted behind him as Lakelurker got up from his couch, tilting his head as he slowly walked toeards him.
"S-Stay back!", he pulled out his handgun and aimed it at Lakelurker. "I'm warning you!", the beanie wearing man shook in place as Lakelurker snatched the gun away from his hand.
"Here, I'll do it for you.", Lakelurker held the gun to the side of his head, his claw being the only thing that could grab the trigger as he began shooting himself in the side of the head. The onlookers looked on in horror as the man wearing the beanie began to look more terrified for his safety.
Lakelurker let the bullets that barely cut through his scales clink to the ground, his head being untouched as he simply crushed the gun. The man backed away before bumping into a hot dog stand, he quickly spun around and pushed it over. The oil spilling onto the wood as he pulled out a lighter and threw it at the spilt oil, causing a fire that stood between him and the eleven foot tall, bullet proof fish monster.
"Hah... Hah!", the man nervously laughed as his eyes widened once again, Lakelurker grinned as he rushed into the flames and grabbed the man with his powerful jaws and tossed him into a few knock down cans.
One of the employees at the fair, a blond haired woman with pink dyed tips nervously approached him. "U-uh... thank you sir.", she said shakily as Lakelurker looked at her with what appeared to he a friendly smile, gave her a thumbs up before leaping down into the water.
"... these circus freaks are getting out of hand.", she said before leaping back in fright as the man who wore the red hat was launched onto the docks gasping for air.
Alex rubbed lightly rubbed an ice pack to dull the pain in his head, even though the bullets did no harm to Lakelurker's flesh or bones, it did leave a headache at least. "What a bummer."
"That's what you get for trying to look cool.", Gwen mocked in her usual seat in the Rust Bucket's booth, she looked out the winodw and saw a billboard for a circus actually coming to the town they were passing by. "Zombozo's Traveling Circus of Laughs? Cool! Can we go Grandpa?"
Max laughed. "Havent been to the circus since I was a boy, could be fun."
"I LOVE THE CIRCUS!", Gwen bounced in her seat genuinely excited.
"Thats because you belong in one.", Ben remarked from out of nowhere as he was reading a comic book about some guy in a mech suit fighting monsters. "Besides circuses are for little kids."
"You're ten years old, still in that demographic.", Alex said from one of the far back seat, yawning as he placed the ice pack away from his head. "And dont say its late cuz thats a whole 'nother crock of shit. I've never been to a circus either, so I kinda wanna see if its actually interesting."
"Well, thats a three to one loss on you, Ben.", Max said playfully trying to lighten Ben's mood a bit, but he couldn't see the green eyed brunette slump in his seat.
It didn't take too long to figure out where the circus was, the nearly packed parking lot right in front of a giant tent was practically a neon sign pointing at the circus. Ben constantly messing with the cover to his comic book lightly and him bouncing his left foot in place wasnt exactly unnoticed by Alex.
Ben being very close to Max while they walked along with a rather large crowd also didnt go unnoticed. "You guys think it's sold out?", Ben asked, successfully hiding his nervous tone.
"I honestly wouldn't be surprised.", Alex said taking in the sheer amount of people. Before a light turned on.
"Step right up and see the fingerless freak of nature, who's strength knows no bounds! Thumbskull!", the Barker announced loudly through his microphone.
On cue, Thumbskull exited with a thick bar of metal over his shoulders. Thumbskull was a hulking and muscular man with grey skin and a bald head to give attention to the literal toenail, rather than having five fingers he had one large finger and a thumb on each hand. He wore a pair of black overalls over a purple shirt, his legs having purple stripes. Of course with his physical build as an obvious indicator, he effortlessly bent the thick bar of metal out of place.
Thumbskull tossed the bent bar into the air as it was caught by a red, hair-like tendril. "And presenting Frightwig! When this fierce beauty lets down her hair, anything could happen!"
Frightwig stepped out on cue, she had a very slim and curvy frame with a bit of slim muscular build. She had pale skin with black make-up, yellow eyes and inhumanly long, crimson hair with balls on the ends of them. She wore a black skin tight suit with disconnected sleeves, both her legs and sleeves had bright yellow stripes. With ease, her dread-locks of red hair manage to twist and bend the metal in unnatural shapes before setting it down onto a table.
"And last but not least, the freak of nature who's breath, is as vile as his attitude! Acid Breath!", with the Barker announcing him, the last of the trio exited.
Acid Breath was a tall and lanky man with white skin and strands of stringy black hair hanging, he has bright orange pupils over black sclera and had a sort of hunch. He wore a black jumpsuit with long sleeves that reached past his hands and toe-less orange socks, his sleeves also had this orange color. Particularly, he wore a sort of metal mask over his mouth before taking it off and releasing a green vapor, showcasing his green gums and little amount of teeth. The vapor completely melting the metal bar.
Gwen couldnt help but gag at the sight. "Thats pretty cool to be honest.", Alex shrugged as Gwen looked at him. "What?"
Ben being well... himself, decided to just wander off to get away from the mutant circus performers to calm nimself down. That was until he saw a tent, he took a quick peek within a small crack and saw the main attraction himself.
."HAHAHA-Howdy folks! Are ya ready to laugh?", said Zombozo in a very stereotypical clown like voice, he looks like a clown with red hair and pale skin, he wore a grey and white jumpsuit with three buttons, his jacket was dark blue and light blue, his sleeves were cyan with black stripes with two cyan circles on each stripe, a blue nose, a dark blue and black top hat with a big cyan ball, black shoes and black gloves. "Perfect! You're gonna knock em dead.", he grinned to show off his misaligned teeth, licking his lips with a long and grotesque tongue.
Ben blinked twice before he decided to just... walk away and pretend his fear wasn't just validated. He accidentially bumped into Gwen herself while he was attempting to leave. "Hey!"
Ben felt as if he almost had an early heart attack, letting out a sigh as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Dont do that, seriously!"
Gwen brushed his hand off her like he had a plague. "What's your malfunction?", she asked with a raised eyebrow, shes never seen him so... on edge.
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since we decided to go to the circus you've been acting even weirder than normal. What are you scared of?", Gwen crossed her arms.
Ben scowled almost as if he was offended at her for saying the near truth. "I'm not "scared" of anything!"
"C'mon guys.", Max appeared from behind a tent with his usual warm smile on his face, Alex behind him eating a hot dog. "The shows about to start."
"After you.", Gwen beckons with a smirk as Ben begrudgingly walked to the show with the others into the Big Top.
The light above in the rafters activated and shown over the barker again. "Ladies and gentlemen! Children of all ages! The circus of laughter is proud the present, the Saltine of Smiles! The Prince of Laughter! The Grim Tickler himself! The star of our circus: ZOMBOZO THE CLOWN!",he said as he moved to the side.
A neon pink car sped into the tent, it swerved around to perform a few donuts until it came to a halt, where Zombozo stepped out of the driver side lf the comedically small car. For some reason everybody laughed, Alex was just... bored.
The pink car that had carried Zombozo had suddenly sprung to life suddenly and quickly sped off, doing a sharp turn to to face him. The clown looked surprised at first before smirking and tauntingly egging it on, the pink car revved its engine as soon as Zombozo pulled out a red cape, the car sped at him but like a bullfight, as soon as it came in contact with the red cape it exploded into confetti, everyone laughed at it yet Alex still... didnt laugh.
"If you love clowns then this is the place to be! You're gonna die laughing.", Zombozo exclaimed proudly as there was a strange machine behind him, the orbs on it started glowing a light blue. "That's a Zombozo guarantee!"
"Welp, Imma go get some popcorn.", Ben said abruptly to his family of three and walked off, confusing his grandfather and cousin, but they let this slide and let him go get it.
Alex sighed before getting up. "I'll be back in a bit, gotta make sure Ben doesn't blow shit up.", he said as he left.
"I was never really good at math as a kid, but I do believe I have your un-divided attention!", Zombozo was so absorbed in the attention the crowd was giving him that he didnt notice two people just walk out. "What a boisterous crowd! So full of life!... For now.", the clown said the last part quietly to himself.
Ben quickly sped walked out of the big top with Alex just casually walking behind him. "Dude, are you okay?"
Ben stopped for a moment and looked at Alex. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Why'd ya ask?"
"Someone perfectly fine wouldn't be so skittish at the thought of going to a circus.", Alex casually stated as Ben slouched. "If theres something wrong you can just say it."
"No, there's nothing wrong!", Ben quickly spun around and ruffles his own hair in frustation. "Its just, I didnt wanna be here anyways."
"Yeah, for something else.", Alex mocked as Ben was going to retort, they heard the sound of glass shattering nearby. They quickly tip toed over to a car and hid behind it, looking over to see what was happening.
The glass shattering was the result of Thumbskull using his strength to punch through glass and grab a handful of jewlery and take the cash register. Acid Breath meanwhile used his corossive breath to melt through a car and quickly ripped out its radio. Frightwig on the other hand rubbed her neck, whipping her tendril hair at an ATM and burying it in the brick wall before tearing the ATM out, the stored money flying as she held it up. "Its payday fellas!", Frightwig exclaimed.
"Woah, the freaks are felons!", Ben quietly exclaimed as he and Alex slowly sat on the asphalt. "What do we do?"
"Go back to the Big Top and tell the others, I'll handle these jokers, okay?", Alex asked as he noticed Ben looked away, he placed a hand on him. "Okay?", Ben took a deep breath and nodded before running off.
Alex primed the Omnitrix, scrolling through the icons until he stopped at Deepcut's icon. He raised his hand and slammed down on the dial, erupting in a green flash.
"Ugh I hate these giant nubs, cant even grab things for shi-", Thumbskull was complaining about his unfortunate mutation around his hands until he heard growling. Watchdog dropped down and roarwd at him, Thumbskull backed away from the massive creature that was basically the size of a car if not a bit larger. "Uh... good doggy?"
Watchdog let out a snicker similar to a hyena before letting out another ferocious roar that got the attention of the other circus freaks. Barreling straight through Thumbskull and knocking him into another car as he rammed into Acidbreath with enough force to knock him into a wall. He quickly turned and ran forward before Frightwig wrapped her tendril hairs around his back legs only to be immediately dragged along.
Grabbing her hair, he tugged her forward and threw her into Thumbskull before ramming into the same clown car Zombozo used in his beginning act, he used his powerful claws to shred tnrough the metal and cause the valuables to go flying into the air.
"Hey! We stole that fair and square!", Thumbskull exclaimed.
Acid Breath hissed as he popped his shoulder. "No mangy dog is gonna steal my fuckin loot, get em'!", he took a deep breath before unleashing a cloud of green vapor at the dog-like alien. He quickly rushed out the way at blinding speeds before pivoting and rushing into Thumbskull again. The brute attempted to halt his momentum only to be easily overpowered by the beast, being grabbed by his leg by powerful jaws and tossed into a building as he turned his "sights" on Frightwig.
Watchdog got into a crouched stance before pouncing at her with his jaw opened wide. "Dammit! Go get the boss.", Acid Breath exclaimed to Thumbskull who rubbed his head. "TODAY, THUMBSKULL!"
"Gimme a minute, geez.", Thumbskull groaned as je stood up and ran back to the Big Top right as Acid Breath was throttled by Watchdog throwing a tire at him.
Zombozo meanwhile was doing what clowns do best, entertaining his crowd with various acts and tricks. Such as the current one being a large tiger being lathered in baby oil and sent through a ring the size of a wedding ring. "Uh... boss.", Zombozo didnt seem to notice him, or seemed to care, either works. "Excuse me, boss!"
Zombozo turned to him with an unnatural face, his pupils were dialted so wide most of bis iris was black as his smile was wide and almost toothless. "How many times do I need to nail it into your thick skull, do not disturb me when I'm eating."
Thumbskull backed away from his angered boss. "Uh... we ran into a bit of trouble.", he said with a shrug, his boss' smile straining as his eyes twitched.
Of course back outside, Watchdog had pinned Acid Breath face first against the asphalt as he was strangling Frightwig who tried freeing herself from his tight grip. Thats when an explosion of confetti erupted behind him, Watchdog just tossed the two away before turning to growl at Zombozo.
"I hear you you're full of tricks little doggy, lets see if tou know how to play DEAD.", Zombozo grinned as his eye twitched, Watchdog got into a stance and rushed at him only for Zombozo to extend his arms out and wrap them around his neck and slammed him straight through another nearby car.
Zombozo was surprised when he felt resistance before being dragged forward and slammed into tje ground by the sheer brute strength of Watchdog. "Yer quite the feisty pup aint ya? Good thing I got a good meal in fa this!", with one poweful kick to his neck Watchdog was sent reeling back, blinded by this which was quickly followed by a throw underneath a metal tower.
"Alright boys, finish off this side show!", Zombozo raised his arms as the trio smirked, AcidBreath hissed before unleashing a torrent of acidic spit at one of the legs, Frightwig used her tendrils to bend another leg as Thumbskull used his physical strength to rip away at the remaining legs. They all watched as the metal tower toppled over right as Watchdog was regaining his ability to detect his surroundings.
He let out a grunt that can roughly translate to: "shit." right as the metal was brought down onto him, leaving a massive dust cloud and a clunk of metal and scraps laying around.
"Hm. That was weird.", Zombozo said with an extremely blank expression before smiling. "Alright, back to eating.", he says before erupting in a explosion of confetti.
"Ugh, hate when he does that. Gets my tinnitus actin up.", Acid Breath mutters as he rubbed his ears as he and the other freaks walked back to the Big Top, oblivious to the fact that Ben was curled up into a ball nearby shivering.
Alex was shoved and poked before being slapped by Ben, he jolted awake and banged his head against the metal framing above him. "Ow! Fuck! Oh hey Ben. So, what happened to the whole you getting everyones attention, mmm?"
"I uh... got scared.", Ben said sheepishly, there was no working around this.
Ben helped Alex climb out of the rubble only to be met with a massive empty parking lot with people wandering aimlessly. "What in the actual fuck."
Ben pulled him by his collar. "Dude, we gotta get grandpa and Gwen!", he exclaimed as Alex nodded.
As they walked back into the fairground, the lights to the circus died down, and fish could hear weak murmurs and footsteps leaving the place. What followed was a rather dreary image. Those that came in for a nice time and a good laugh were shambling away like zombies, smiling yet their eyes seemed to lack something... importanr
They looked around and found Max sitting on a step, laughing slightly as his grandson ran up to him. "Grandpa!", Ben shook him, knocking him out of his trance.
"Oh, hey guys, heh, where'd you go?", Max asked him with a smile still on his face.
Alex didn't know if he was joking or not. "Where did we go? Where the fuck did the circus go?", this... seemed to make Max stop smiling.
"I'm not so sure...", Max said turning to see multiple people sitting on steps, holding their heads as if they were in pain and others just walking about before turning his attention back to his grandson. "I remember laughing... it was funny, too funny now that I t..think...", Max cut himself off by falling asleep, before Ben shook him back away. "Sorry... I just feel a little tired is all."
"Wait... where's Gwen?", Alex looked around for her, his fist clenched so hard you could probably see one of his veins.
Speaking of which, Zombozo sat in the passenger seat of a van that Thumbskull was driving, listening to Angels of the Morning by Juice Newton on the cd album he had bought, lightly tapping his actual thumb to the song. "Say, didja remember to pack me a snack for the road?",
"Yeah, took a bit but we got the most lively ones.", Thumbskull pointed in the back as Zombozo opened the curtain, grinning as he saw a small group of twelve people, some of them being on the younger side. Each of them, including Gwen, were still laughing despite the fact that their cheeks had begun to feel sore.
With his granddaughter in genuine danger, Max had regained some of his senses and begun their pursuit to the next town where he knew they'd be at. "Zombozo must have "zonked out" the entire town during the show, while his freaks robbed everyone blind! But why kidnap Gwen?", Ben tapped his chin as he sat in the passenger seat of the Rust bucket.
"Dunno, could be for no reason. I doubt they put in any thought to it at all.", Alex purposed with a shrug as he kept rubbing his nose.
""I don't know... but we'll catch that clown.", Max's old face looked... tired, not smiling anymore.
"Heh... who would be afraid of a stupid clown?", Ben said nervously as Alex let out an annoyed groan from the back.
Max turned to him. "Ben, what's wrong?"
"Promise not to laugh?", Ben asked nervously, Max gave a slight nod as Alex just shrugged at this. "I'm afraid of clowns... they just creep me out! Ugh, im such a loser."
"Understandable, I don't fear clowns but I don't like em that much." Alex states as he finally realized why he didnt laugh at clowns no matter where it was, they just weren't funny.
"Everyone's got their own fear Ben, I know when I was a boy... I used to be so terrified of heights.", Max remembered the times when he was Ben's age, it was so different back then that he sometimes wished he could go back. "My father... he told me to man up finally, so I did one day, I climbed the top of the water tower, sometimes you have to scare your fear away...", Max trailed off as his vision had started to haze until he suddenly passed out at the wheel.
The Rust Bucket immediately started swerving due to not having a driver, Alex immediately leapt to action and grabbed ahold of the steering wheel, Max's head was still firmly against it which made it hard to keep straight as they rammed through a highway rail.
Alex hissed as he swerved past trees left and right. "We're going to fast, i need an anchor!"
"I'm trying here!", Ben exclaimed as he attempted to use anything the RV had to offer which wasn't much in his perspective. That was when he looked at Max's foot and moved it aside and made it slam on the break. The RV skidded to a halt slowly before finally stopping,
"Fuck me dude.", Alex exhaled as he went to the back to calm his nerves.
"Grandpa, are you okay?", Ben asked as what a child would usually do in this situstkon
"I feel... so sad.", Max said waking up at this. "So... very sad.", the old man looked at them.
"What happened in the Big Top after we left?", Alex asked with a stern brow.
Max thought back to when he left, he remembered laughing a lot but suddenly felt... something leaving. "K ... I think Zombozo robs people more of just their possessions... he steals their happiness until there's nothing left.", Max uttered before he passed out once again
"And he's got Gwen.", Ben realized as Alex had got the hoverboard from the cover.
"Lets go.", Alex said as he opened the RV door and hopped out.
"I uh... maybe its better that I stay here.", Ben muttered as Alex looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. "Just in case."
"Dude, its your cousin. I know she gets on your nerves but thats still family.", Alex said as Ben looked away shamefully. "That scared huh... wanna know something?"
"Sure..?"
"When I was little I had a real bad fear of the dark, it was so bad I couldnt sleep without a hallway light on.", Alex almost trailed off before he shook his head and kept going. "My sister had gotten mixed with the wrong kind of people, so one day while she was getting something from the gas station, her friends locked me in our basement which didnt have a working light at the time. Of course she found me balled up with my pants drenched in piss and still crying, so she kicked them out... the next couple of nights she stayed with me, kept me calm and relaxed because she was there for me... I don't remember being scared after that- my point is. If you have something important to you, whenever you're dealing with that fear, its not as scary anymore."
Ben looked at him, he contemplated before shaking his head. "Alright, lets go! Plus you dont know how to ride one of those anyways."
"Wow, right after that? Fuck you."
With the speed and the height advantage the hoverboard gave them, they managed to find the new location of the tent as a blue/maroon tent was a very big indicator of this. Multiple boxes scattered the area as the circus freak trio carried them elsewhere.
Alex and Ben hid behind a set of these large boxes, Alex primes the omnitrix once again as he scrolled through his aliens. "Okay, heres the plan. I distract these guys so Zombozo comes out like last time, you sneak in and find Gwen and if you can, help the other people out."
Ben took a deep breath as Alex patted his back. "You got this, I'm with you in this.", Alex said reassuringly as the ten year old took a minute before smiling and giving a thumbs up.
A green flash erupted which casted a shadow against the circus freaks. "The hell was that?", Thumbskull asked as he turned around to see a hand wrap around his face and throw him into the ground.
Deepcut looked at him with a smirk, his arm had elongated from further away just to grab him. "Neat trick huh?", he comments before a crystalline structure slid over his face with a upside down triangular blue piece resembling Tetrax's mask. "Lets sort you out.", he rushed forward and throttled Acid Breath as he took off his mask.
Frightwig hissed as she leapt onto his back and attempted to strangle him which did nothing but annoy him.
Of course, Ben just snuck on past them before sprinting inside right as Deepcut body slammed Frightwig into the asphalt while AcidBreath attempted to melt him... which failed.
"Okay Ben... its just a guy with white make up, a big nose and big shoes.", Ben thought to himself as he looked confused, as he stared at his reflection. He shoved his nerves away as he stormed through a hall of mirrors.
"Hiya, son! Something tells me you're just a barrel full of laughs!", Zombozo's disembodied voice echoed from somewhere.
Ben irked as he kept marching on determined, he accidentally bumped into a mirror that just... appeared in front of him. He turned around just to realize hes surrounded by his reflection. "Hey, Mr. Serious!"
His reflection's faces transformed into Zombozo's face, his head growing in size until Ben was surrounded by them. "How about a SMILE?!"
Ben's eyes widened as the reflections reached out to him, he ran forward and into a sea of hands reaching out for him, it streched out for miles and miles as Zombozo laughed. "What's your story, Morning Glory? Was that your mutt that gave my freaks such frowns?"
Ben found himself running along a coiling yellow road that just defied gravity, he looked behind him before stopping as Zombozo's head mounted on a spring bursted from the ground. "What about that guy made of rocks outside beating the snot out of em?", Ben attempted to run away only for another to appear in his path. "If it werent for you..."
Ben was launched into the pitch black air by another head that appeared beneath him. "Are some kind of FREAK?!"
"Im not a freak!", Ben fired back as he fell into the black void, Zombozo's face etched in fire appeared and released a horrific laugh as he fell. Ben grabbed onto a trapeze swing, swinging through a chomping head of a large pair of teeth as he grabbed onto another one that quickly snapped.
Ben fell down quickly before being caught by a large spider's web, the ten year old looked around with his heart beating against his rib cage. "Ah c'mon kid, ya gotta learn to loosen up! Laugh a little!", Ben looked to see a golden spider with Zombozo's head crawl along the web before poking his face with his razor sharp pincers. "Its what keeps me goin!"
The sound of endless laugher erupted from the void as Zombozo sliced the webbing causing Ben to fall through the black void once again screaming before landing on dirt as a spotlight shone over him. Despite the fall... it didnt hurt that much.
Ben realized he was in the center of the main tent, slowly finding his strength again as the very real Zombozo appeared behind him with an inhumanly wide smile. "C'mon kid! Dont tell me you're afraid of ol Zombozo!", Ben's eyes widened as the orbs on his arms surged with the spirits of many, he could just faintly see Gwen in his hat laughing uncontrollably still.
Ben backed away and got to his knees. "W-What do you what?!"
Zombozo clapped his hands twice as a spotlight shone above a large machine behind him, the orbs screaming in despair as a cable running down it slithered before attaching to a hole in his back. Lifting him in the air. "Only what every clown worth his floppy shoe wants, ta' make people laugh! AND DRAIN THEIR POSITIVE ENERGY! LIKE A SPONGE INA POOL PARTY!", he exclaimed with his face deforming as he began drooling excessively before snapping back to a regular face. "Is that so wrong?"
"Is that the machine you use to suck the happieness out of your audience?", Ben furrowed his brow as Zombozo grinned.
"Sumthin like that! I call it the Psyclown, clever eh?", Zombozo flew into the air to show off his masterpiece. "Once I take my act to tha big cities, millions of people laughing me! Feeding me! Making me STRONGER!"
Ben stood up after gathering the courage. "I-I want my cousin back!"
"Cousin huh... hmmm.", Zombozo tapped his finger and realized who he was talking about before laughing. "Didnt ya hear? She ran away with the circus!", another spotlight shone over Gwen's body, her skin tightly hugging her bones as she shivered.
Ben's eyes widened as he fell to his knees, his lip quivered as his powerlessness settled in finally. He couldn't do anything, the original plan didnt go anywhere! All as Zombozo laugh.
"Yeah, I've seen enough.", Zombozo stopped laughing as Alex stepped out of the darkness with a blank expression, the omnitrix being red for a brief moment before turning green again.
"Ahh, so you're the alien freakshow, eh? Consider me throughly entertained! Kuddos to you kid!", Zombozo clapped with a grin showcasing his disgusting teeth.
"Keep your mouth shut, I didnt give you permission to talk.", Alex stated flatly, which surprised Zombozo. "Sorry about that Ben, should've expected him pulling this, and thats my fault. But, it did show me that leaving this thing alive is a bad move. So take Gwen, leave this to me."
Ben snapped out of the horror of the situation as he ran over and picked up Gwen. It felt like picking up a feather because she was so light, despite this, Ben powered through and ran out of the tent.
"You got nuts of steel dont'cha, ay brat?", Zombozo crossed his arms confidently as Alex just bore through him with his gaze.
"Im going to kill you. So try actually coming at me, you'll find that much easier than making me laugh.", Alex stated as he erupted in a green flash, a Parapparition floating in his place with his body more tensed up.
"Do yer worst kid.", Zombozo felt confident before being punched hard in the face, sending him spiraling in the air and curling the cord behind him. His eyes widened as he quickly spun around to unravel the cord, the ghost was gone.
"For a clown, youre pathetic. What? Did you bleach your skin and decide to join the fucking circus?", Zombozo looked around, only to be punched by Parapparition so hard in the nose it left an inprint on his nose. "It doesn't matter."
Zombozo looked around before being grabbed by his head and slammed into the ground violently, his head being repeatedly slammed against the tough ground before being tossed away by the phantasmal alien. "You-", Zombozo caught himself in the air and stretched his arms out and swung around him in an attempt to attack him. "Get out here! You little punk-!"
Zombozo let out a scream of pain as his brain was suddenly filled with searing white hot pain as Parapparition had shoved his hands into his brain while intangible. Before quickly wrapping him up in a multitude of snake-like, black and purple tendrils that tightened around his body.
Zombozo felt the air escape his body before he was tossed into his Psyclown and breaking one of the large blue nodes. The machine short circuited and blew up in seceral areas, the blue souls of the many he sucked out quickly flew into the air and pulsed through the sky in a display of light, one of them dashing in the direction Ben had carried Gwen in.
Zombozo rubbed his head and noticed blood leaking from his ears as he floated in the air, clearly shaken. "Im warnin' you to back off!", his voice was shaking as he pointed an uneasy finger at him.
"Wanna see something really weird?", Parapparition grabbed the dug his fingers underneath the black cracks to grab his skin and quickly opened it. Zombozo screamed in terror seeing the horrific visage as his cable jerked back and crashed him into the broken down Psyclown again.
Zombozo whimpered as just like Ben did, he scooted away and curled into a ball. Parapparition was suddenly in front of him, his skin now covering what was underneath once more. "Awh, dont tell me you're afraid of lil ol' me.", he mockingly cooed.
"P-Please! N-No more!", Zombozo, now a sniffling mess coward at the sight of him.
Parapparition looked at him, his body trembling as he struggled to hold it in before bursting out in a horrific symphony of laughter that echoed through the tent. Zombozo's eyes widened, this would usually feed his soul but it did nothing but terrify him even more.
Parapparition's laughter got louder and louder before he looked at Zombozo, unleashing a terrible scream as he rushed at him with his claws bared. Zombozo inflated like a balloon before popping in an explosion of confetti. The phantasmal alien lurched over.
There was only one thing he had to say about that. "Pussy."
With Max having fully regained his strength, he had picked up his grandkids and Alex as police cars along with regular cars surrounded the area. "You feeling okay, Grandpa?", Ben asked still uneasy about his grandfather driving.
"Never better!", Max exclaimed full of energy once more. "I'm proud of you though, you didnt have any power or weapon yet you still stormed in to save Gwen. That takes a lot of bravery."
Ben looked back at it with a smile. "Thanks."
Gwen had appeared next to him with a smile on her face. "I know i get on you a lot, but thank you for coming back."
"Eh, no biggie.", Ben said as Gwen smiled mischievously as she walked away before coming back with a clown mask making a loud noise. "Hmm, not sure that make up suits you."
"Oh you're no fun anymore.", Gwen groaned as she tossed the mask away, all while Alex was chugging down a bottle of chocolate milk. Regardless, Ben and Max shared similar smiles between each other.
/End/
