Galactic Shift Extend

by Seanzilla1988

A familiar Beastkin goes through a familiar abandoned Cauldron. However, she doesn't end up in another timeline, but Bellwood, home to a teen with a watch he wears on his arm that can change his shape to save the world from harm.

105. Walk like a Khufan

SZ: Welcome to the next part of the current arc and…well I know some are complaining how we might be deviating from the source material…but that Anur arc was 2-3 episodes in Omniverse and we wanted to show more of the Anur system…more of its other residents and more.

GT: We give ya what they didn't show.

Z0: I didn't know people complained about…more content. Must be the same type who actually pay for the egregious DLC stuff like thirty bucks for one character skin.

SZ: *nods* But anyway, we hope you enjoy this chapter..something a bit more comedic compared to last time.

Z0; *stuffing something dangerous into the story* Huh?

SZ;...ahem! Anyways…we own nothing aside from original content.

Z0: The Creature escaped! RUN! *Ice spikes begin destroying everything even the screen*

---

"Okay, I get that last time I was a little…overly enthusiastic…" Naoto began as he was currently tied to a chair by Goop who was constricting around him like a straight jacket.

"You crashed us…onto the world of Alien Resident Evil!" Danny snapped.

"Biohazard," Makoto muttered.

"Okay so I messed up." Naoto admitted.

Goop formed his head to give Naoto a flat look, =You reached for the controls…a second time…= he pointed out, =We are landing on the only planet that has sunlight in this sector of space, and we…as in us AND you, are going out into the hot desert heat for parts to patch up Tetrax's ship…THEN! We shall search this crazy B horror movie sector of space for your girlfriend. But you don't get to touch the controls!= he stressed leaning his slimy face right into Naoto's making him gag from getting alien goo in his mouth.

"Nod if you understand," Sam sighed while crossing her arms.

"MMM!" Naoto rapidly nodded his head as Goop retracted from his face, he took a long moment as he sputtered, "...why does it taste like kiwi?" he asked in a state of horrified disgust that he tasted an alien slime.

"Yeah…we…found out Goop's species actually taste like stuff…" Makoto muttered, "Why anyone wanted to, I'll never understand, Goop is a highly acidic predator."

"WHAT!?" Naoto panicked as he began spitting and gagging.

=Only if I wanna be= Goop corrected.

"DUDE!"

=Oh relax you big baby, you're not dissolving are you?= Goop made his eyes roll around in a circle in his body, =I never use the acid power unless I need acid. You seriously think I'm not able to control aliens? I've had way longer than I've known most of you, except Tetrax= at that, Tetrax gave a thumbs up.

"It is kind of easy to forget that most of Ben's aliens evolved their powers through violent means or survival…" Noel muttered, "With how he uses them in such a controlled and tamed method…except to property and cars."

=Had to get one in, didn't you?= Goop complained.

"Quick question, couldn't Ben use Upgrade to fix the ship?" Tucker asked.

=No, Upgrade improves on what is there while merged with it. I can improve some stuff at a digital level, but we need actual parts to keep the ship running as we need it to. I can't just be merged with the ship all the time= Goop explained.

"Besides, Ben did the best he could to fix what he could. But most of the parts were burned out from the reckless flying." Tetrax added.

"And the parts from Vendread's ship are barely compatible and likely to give out sooner than later," Tucker added, earning a raised brow from Sam, "...What? Gluto's a good tutor on extraterrestrial tech."

"Why can't you ever be consistent?" Sam groaned.

"How many times have you been flip-flopping on subjects when something happens?"

"Can we please not fight and focus on finding parts to repair our ship?" Noel begged.

"Sure, but your probably gonna have to haggle with the locals." Tetrax explained.

"Haggle?!" most of them asked.

"Thep Khufan are well known as merchants and good at business. It's how they get supplies for the greater Anur system." Tetrax explained, "If anyone has the tech we need, it's them. But they're gonna haggle us to try and take us for all we're worth."

"Oh joy. So we have a chance to encounter con artist if we're not careful," Makoto sighed.

"Which is why we will give you this list," Tetrax held up a small device that expanded into a hologram screen tablet, "This will scan and confirm the part is real, or at the very least compatible with my ship. As well as its going rate in the normal galactic market. Thankfully…" he held his hand, making his glove recede and produced a small abundance of his crystals, "We Petrosapians have an unfair advantage in that we generate taydenite crystals, which is as good as honest tayden out here in the outer reaches."

"Wait…you can print money out here?!" Tucker gawked.

"It's not so easy in the 'big city' sections of space, but out here, especially in such an isolated sector of space. Well I don't gotta worry. One of the perks of being a Petrosapien. Helped me out for years when I was the last of my kind." Tetrax explained, "So if need be, just buy the piece for whatever they ask."

"...so we…"

=Tsubaki immediately vetoed and banned the idea since its 'dishonest and counterfeiting',= Goop stated.

"Aw what?! But you can be a literal money machine!" Tucker argued.

"See that's what I said, but she was still adamant on her choice," Makoto added…before a coy smile grew on her face, "But she never said we couldn't do it while undercover~"

=So long as no one narcs on us…= Goop muttered.

"Narc on what? I never heard anything," Naoto stated.

"Neither did I," Danny added.

"..but…even though..but its still…" Noel whispered, trying to find an argument…but saw how practical it was for stealth missions.

"Let's just say we're saving Tsubaki the trouble of writing up the expense report." Sam offered.

"Oh, good idea, that stresses her out a lot." Noel nodded, "Well I guess we shouldn't have to worry too much, the Khufan's aren't that cranky." she then looked around, "Funky? Where's Mari?"

---

"Run away! Run away!" the Mono Kubs panicked as Mari crawled along the walls of a maintenance shaft as she chased them down like rabbits in a field. The Mink trilled in enjoyment as she extended her claws and pounced at them, the sounds of shredding and cries of pain filling the maintenance shaft.

---

"Eh. I'm sure she's resting somewhere," Makoto shrugged.

=This ship is pretty big, and Minks like to find nice secluded spots= Goop added, =Maybe she's making a little napping spot in the maintenance shafts?=

"Aw~ That's a cute thought, and you read the pet books I got," Noel smiled.

=Well we have so many of them, I wanted to make sure I don't do something to upset or hurt them. Well…I mean the unique ones, I did grow up with a dog and Cats are a lot easier of a pet to learn, especially when it's a cybernetic cat= Goop explained, =But a Mink? Yeah I still didn't know the difference between a Mink and a Ferret for like the first week we had Mari=

"They are very similar…" Makoto muttered.

"Right? So weird…" Danny added.

"Not true. Minks are slightly larger and have a more darker shade of fur than Ferrets do," Noel explained.

"To be fair, your adorable Mutated Mink is still a small little lady," Makoto pointed out, "Who knows how big she could grow. She might grow long enough to act like a long fuzzy scarf around your neck."

"...hmm…"

"You want that to happen, don't you?" Sam smiled.

"It would be very warm and cuddly." Noel noted.

=Adorable that may sound, it might get really warm when it's not winter= Goop joked as he finally slithered off Naoto and reformed his body and flashed back to Ben.

"Hm…Worth it." Noel replied.

"Alright we're about to touch down." Tetrax spoke as the Resolute rocked a little as it landed, "Just one more thing I should warn you all about…watch your pockets."

"Hmm?"

---

Almost immediately the moment the group stepped into a fairly large arabian-style city, they were swarmed by a myriad of Khufan aliens trying to bargain deals with them, some trying to push their products into one or two of the group's faces.

"Come now, young travellers! No finer treasure than brass or silver!"

"I have the finest perfumes in the Anur Galaxies, made from the rarest of orchids and flowers!"

"Those things look quite heavy on your sir. Perhaps I can offer a means of carrying it for you?"

"Mayhapes the pretty ladies would like a necklace or two?"

"Ah hey! Easy easy!" Danny exclaimed, trying to move some younger Khufan's off of him while trying to keep a few away from his pockets.

"If you don't give me a tip, you won't be allowed into the afterlife, sir," one child Khufan stated to Ben, tugging on his Omnitrix arm.

"Hey hey hey hey! Don't touch the tail!" Makoto snapped, having transformed into her squirrel form as she climbed onto Ben's shoulder.

"Okay Tetrax was not kidding," Ben muttered

"It feels weirdly familiar in a way," Sam muttered, "I guess even across the cosmos, some things are just universal…"

"Oh wait Mari be nice!" Noel panicked as Mari hissed and swiped her claws at any wrappings that got too close to her human, "Oh she's normally much nicer than this," she muttered as the Mink ran around her body to continue to keep the unwanted touching at bay.

"Okay, Noel keeps the money, or rather Mari keeps the money on Noel's person." Makoto muttered.

"Agreed," Naoto added, trying to keep some Khufans off of him.

"Also probably keep a close eye on Tuck," Sam added.

"Wh-? Why me specifically?!"

"Dude you legit look like an ancient Pharaoh from Earth, how do you not expect them to notice that? Them and FourArm's species messed with Egypt a lot." Danny pointed out.

"Hmm…" a Khufan shop keeper mused upon spotting Tucker, "I can't place it, but that ugly fellow looks weirdly familiar… Heba!? Does that ugly guy look familiar?" He called to his wife.

"Hmm? What do you mean, Abasi my husband?" a female Khufan shop keeper replied, pausing in measuring Noel for a moment before yelping when Mari swiped at her.

"Look!"

"Hmm?" She blinked as she noticed Tucker, "...by the great suns…he does look familiar…"

"I just can't put it, but you can certainly remember something that looks like them." he nodded, "But it just escapes me…" he knocked on his mask a few times.

"Indeed, something that ugly is hard to forget." Heba nodded in agreement.

"Hey…" Tucker complained having overheard that part.

"Tucker to this entire sector of space we are hideous horror movie monsters. These guys just know what humans are." Danny pointed out.

"Oh…that's what they are," Abasi nodded, his wife nodding in equal realization as they remembered this species name.

"Aw~ space couples are just the same as Earth couples." Noel smiled, Mari resting atop her head.

"Excuse me, we're looking for parts for our ship," Ben spoke up, "We got good Tayden," he tossed a handful of the 'Tayden' Tetrax made up into the air, "But we're no rubes, we need quality." he stated with a smirk, "Anyone who knows such a salesmen with quality parts, there's a good tip in it for you."

"Ooh, good play my boy, entice them to take us to a quality salesman with what they want." Skurd complimented as he slithered up Ben's arm to his shoulder.

"Works in the movies, we will need to play this their way to an extent. But not look like easy marks." Ben sighed.

"Hmm…oh yes! I do believe there is such a store a few blocks away," Abasi replied, "Just take a left turn or two, and then make a right once you see the statues of our culture's gods, but be warned! Do not go near the temple around this hour…"

"Temple?" Danny asked as Abasi was smacked by his wife.

"It is nothing for which you should concern yourself with travelers. Just something superstitious." Heba explained.

"Don't worry, we can respect the local rules," Ben spoke up, "But we appreciate the help," he pulled out a handful of Tayden he handed to them, "You've been a great help."

"It is a pleasure," Heba 'smiled' in response, "If you ever need any more information, just come visit my husband or I."

"Thank you!" Noel bowed.

"Thanks!" Makoto waved.

"Husband, the symbiote was normal, but…what was that hairy thing on the other shoulder?" Heba asked as they walked off through the market.

"I don't know my love, just wave," Abasi chuckled.

"Of course, dear."

"Anyone else get a bad feeling the moment superstitions was brought up?" Naoto whispered to the group as they walked off.

"Dude, it was probably something important to their culture," Ben stated.

"I know, but just saying…what ends up being superstitious tends to end up bumping into us."

"Then let's just avoid it, so we don't get into trouble with them, the thing that's got them spooked, and any other crazy shenanigans." Ben explained, "Worst thing that should happen today is haggling with a stubborn vendor."

"Noellie you're not allowed to haggle." Makoto spoke up, still riding on Ben's shoulder in her squirrel form.

"Oh…that's fair," Noel sighed in defeat.

"Unless it's a souvenir you want," Makoto sighed.

"...just a hairpin for La-chan," Noel admitted as she looked away, "...and a new collar for Drei."

"After the ship parts," Ben offered, "Then a little knick-knack shopping."

"Deal."

"...Ahh! I should've asked!" Naoto exclaimed.

"Hmm?"

"If they saw Raquel…I gotta go back!"

"Naoto they could b-and he's already gone," Sam deadpanned as Naoto quickly ran off.

"Hey you guys mind keeping an eye on him?" Ben asked, "I can handle getting the parts back with Makoto and Noel. But…eh…well…him on his own…"

"The three of you are a good team, and it might take a team to keep him from doing something stupid." Makoto sighed.

"Plus Ben and Makoto have muscle for hauling stuff, and Danny…well he can just overshadow Naoto to stop him." Noel added as she handed Sam some Tayden, "Incase you need to say sorry…"

"Gotcha."

"We'll see you guys back at the gate once we do," Danny added as he and Sam began to walk off…before they reached out and grab Tucker, "That means you too, dude."

"Oh come on…wait. Is this still about the whole mummy situation?!"

"No, we just don't trust you with shopping," Sam explained.

"Oh come on~" he complained.

"Hah…alright lets get the parts," Ben sighed, "Noel got the list?"

"Yep," she held up the holo-tablet, "It's a pretty extensive list, we're probably gonna need FourArms to haul it."

"Gotcha," Ben saluted.

"Lets try and get it done fast incase someone does something stupid," Makoto added, "Now, first things first we need to find the statue of their god, what do you think that is?"

"Good question," Ben muttered as he and Noel began to walk off, "Maybe based on one of the Egyptian Gods..or something similar?"

"You mean like Ra, Isis, Anubis, all that?"

"Probably."

"You better not be thinking of a certain card game…" Skurd deadpanned.

"What…no…" Ben laughed, "I mean if I was I would have said look for the Obelisk with the 24 pack abs."

"Or the giant mega ultra chicken," Makoto giggled.

"I…still don't get that reference…" Noel muttered.

"Well it's a weird but hilarious internet parody." Makoto explained.

"No, I know what it is. I just…don't get the joke. The Winged Dragon of Ra looks nothing like a chicken."

"Then there is nothing more to explain." Ben chuckled.

"Wha…but…I…" Noel sputtered only for Mari to silence her by covering her mouth with her tail, "Mmm…"

---

Meanwhile, within a different part of the bizarre, an all too familiar Huntsman was walking through the city streets. His face hidden by his combat mask and a cloak covering his body, his hunting beast beside him with a muzzle over its jaw and a vest that was used to keep it cool in the scorching desert heat, as well as disguise what it was.

"...There," he whispered as he stopped before a large temple, a hieroglyphic resembling a large black, gold,and brown falcon atop the blocked entrance to it, "Let's hope this search was all the worth while…"

"Ahh mou…where are they?!"

"?!" Khyber tensed as he quickly hid in a nearby alleyway, seeing Naoto running with Danny, Sam, and Tucker chasing after him.

"Dude!" Danny called out with a huff as he and Tucker looked winded while Sam was simply jogging in place, "You gotta stop doing that, man…hah…"

"You made us run…in the heat!" Tucker snapped, "And unlike you guys, I don't have a cool temperature regulating bounty hunter suit!"

"Again, we get you're worried about finding your girlfriend…but you gotta stop with going off the handle like that," Sam added.

"I…look, I'm sorry, but I've been lost in the multiverse; and, finally, after…I can't even recall how long, I've got a lead," Naoto sighed.

"It's sweet that you're dedicated to finding her, but causing trouble when you don't need to is not the way to go about finding her," Sam pointed out.

"I don't care…" Tucker huffed.

"Yeah, look we'll help you. But you gotta stop going nuts on us and running off and leading us…who knows where…" Danny looked around, "Uh…"

"Are we lost?" Sam asked.

"Well I am…" Danny admitted.

"Uh-oh…" Naoto realized they were lost in an alien bazaar on a desert planet…

"Smooth move there," Tucker noted.

"Hey, you guys followed me," Naoto argued.

"If I wasn't sure you had some sort of super strength I'd smack you," Sam stated bluntly.

'Now what's going on here…?' Khyber mentally pondered as he spied on the quartet, 'The Halfling Vlad Plasmius has beef with…along with one of Tennyson's allies are here. That could possibly mean one thing…' he looked down to see his beast growling a bit, 'Tennyson is here…Was this by chance or is the goddess of luck smiling upon me?"

"Alright look, we'll ask. We'll just ask if from their perspective they've seen anyone as ugly as us," Danny sighed, "Given how they react to us, I'd imagine another human…or, I guess, human adjacent looking being would be hard to miss."

"Chances are if the whole view on traditional beauty being flipped works how I think, just ask if they've seen anyone horrifying walking around," Sam explained.

"...This is a setup isn't it?" Naoto asked.

"Do you want an actual lead or not?" Sam offered, "Chances are if you ask for the most beautiful girl around, they'll just point to a random local girl."

"...shit, that's a good point," Naoto muttered.

"You are very lucky you're strong and pretty looking, 'cause I can tell, she doesn't love you for your brains," Sam shook her head.

"Wait. Strong and wha…?" Danny blinked a few times.

"Not worth it, dude," Tucker slapped his shoulder.

"Okay, so…we ask for any tips, then we find the ship…and I say 'sorry' before Makoto makes Ben wrap me in Goop again." Naoto offered his idea.

"Fine, but when Tucker passes out, you carry him," Sam sighed.

"That's fair. He's rather light."

"An all beef diet can do that for ya," Tucker smirked.

"Uh no. That's called being lazy," Naoto retorted as they began to walk off.

"Ye-Hey~!" Tucker complained as he ran after them, passing by a shorter Thep Khufan with a buzzard-themed blue and gold headdress.

"?!" the mummy-like alien did a double take on spotting Tucker and gasped, "Oh by Ra's eternal flames…" he quickly ran off, "I must tell Humite! He has returned at last for the prophecy! Upshi shall rise again!"

---

"20 Taydenite!"

"15!"

"25!"

"12!"

"23!"

"18!"

"Boy, she is not giving up," Ben whispered as he and Noel were watching Makoto bargain with a Khufan salesman.

"All this for Shcwrama, too," Noel added.

"When it comes to food, I've accepted that Makoto will never waver…" Ben muttered.

"I am so glad you learned that so fast," Noel spoke, patting his shoulder in sympathy, "It took me two weeks of knowing her to accept it and Tsubaki six months."

"12 and a half!" Makoto and the salesman declared in unison.

"DEAL!"

"And thank you," Makoto smiled as she picked up the entire shawarma rack.

"Wh-?!"

"You said 1 Taydenite per few strips with extra for the wrap. I forgo the wrap and paid practically 12.50 for the entire thing~" Makoto grinned, "Or are you trying to call it a bluff~?"

"?!"

"I know how you types work…you sell food on the side within a bazaar, hoping to con some schmucks out of paying for the actual price, but pay more for less."

"The irony is we are rich…" Noel muttered, "This was just for spite…"

'Say that to our water bill and electric bill…' Ben thought as Makoto skipped back over, tail wagging as she nibbled on her food.

"You're gonna share, right?" Noel asked.

"Hmm?" Makoto blinked as she stopped nibbling.

"You planned to eat all of it," Ben sighed, "Can't you shave off some for the three of us at least?" he motioned to himself, Noel, and Mari.

"I'm fine. I don't want to think of what beast that used to be…" Skurd muttered.

"Mm. I s…" Makoto began before she started to sway a bit, "Ohh~"

"Makoto?"

"My stomach…" Makoto groaned a bit before looking back at the merchant, "What seasonings did you use?"

"What I always use, ma'am…homemade and purchased from a Tetramand salesman."

"..."

"Tetramand spice?" Skurd asked, "You realize mild for them is like ghost peppers to humans…"

"Really?"

"..." Makoto began to shake as her entire body began to change to red, sweat coming off of her as her tail fluffed up.

"Umm…Ma…" Noel began before…

*FWOOOSH!*

"ATSUI~!" Makoto screamed as she ran, literally breathing fire from her mouth.

"Oh…there's always one…" the salesman awed, "That has to be a new record for the fire breath…" he nodded before realization dawned on him, "Ah, my tarp!"

"Haha! He did it again!" another salesman across from him laughed.

"Shaddap, Rashid!"

"WATER! MILK! ANYTHING!"

"Oh water ain't gonna work," Ben sighed, shaking his head.

"Huh? Why won't water work?"

"The capsaicin," Ben replied.

"The what?" Noel tilted her head.

"The chemical that makes up spice itself," Ben explained, "The amount of it in something will determine the spice. It also reacts in a weird way to other things which is why some stuff stops the burning and others don't."

"Seems she's trying to use sand," Skurd noted, "But it's turning into glass before she can grab any."

"He-help~!"

"We need something dairy, sugar, or sour fruit," Ben sighed before looking over at Rashid and the various fruits, "Any of them sour?"

"Oh, I have several lemons straight from Earth," Rashid replied, "I have a cousin who lives in a place called Amity Park who sends them."

"Oh, I have a friend who lives there," Ben smiled, he then pulled out some Tayden, "Here, this should be a fair trade," he hand over a rather good handful, "If it's too much or whatever I don't care, as long as it's not the parts I'm looking for, price is no matter to me." he took the lemons, "Babe, sorry but this is about to get really sour!"

"Think of this as kiss improvement training," Skurd suggested.

"Skurd…"

"What? She's going to have to pucker up from all this, after all."

"I don't care...just give them to me, please~" Makoto begged, her voice coarse and raspy.

"Alright…here it comes."

Unaware to the currently busy trio, Khyber was seen slipping into a small opening within the nearby temple, his beast giving a light growl at Ben before going in next behind its master. Once Khyber was able to get out, he was greeted with darkness...nothing but pure darkness with no source of light in sight.

"Even on a world in perpetual day…a room this dark and cold, but utterly uninhabited?" Khyber mused to himself, the Khyyberian Baskurr moving out of the hole as it sniffed the area, "Strange….still, the Thep Harusian's remains should be in here…the very beast that once served the Vladite King…" he whispered as he tapped a part of his armor, causing a light to flip out of his shoulder armor as it brightened the room up.

As the two began to search, they noticed something else. Despite it being a desert planet, it was…surprisingly cold in this room. Was there an enchantment or something…no. That would be impossible. Soon he took notice of a part of the floor, seeing a large gash in it…as if something had clawed it with the remains of bones, wrappings, or broken gemstones nearby.

"...hmm…did a battle take place here?" Khyber whispered, his beast sniffing the gash for a moment as he approached it and the remains, "...no. This seems almost recent…" he reached down for one of the bones, only to wince when he pulled it back, "Bloody hell, that's cold…how is it even this cold?" He moved his light around the room, seeing broken hieroglyphics on the wall with broken stone torches, more claw marks littering the walls, "...A struggle was here…but the prey got away…another impossibility…"

"Grr…" he looked down to see his Khyberian Baskurr growling, its back up as it rapidly looked around.

"..." a frown soon grew on Khyber's face, feeling the massive killing intent coming from the darkness above, "Terumi, you son of a bitch…."

The two quickly rolled out of the way in time, dodging a huge block of ice that crashed into the ground where they stood. It quickly shattered apart and littered the ground in chunks of ice. The ice was too cold and began to rapidly evaporate, filling the room with an icy mist that served to obscure whatever attacked them. Khyber however caught something, a fast moving object, it seemed to be some form of aerial creature. It flapped two wings as it took a sharp turn away from them as it noticed it was spotted. Khyber tracked it through the mist, only for it to make an impossible sharp turn through this enclosed space and dart around in a sharp U turn. The next thing the hunter knew he was ducking out of the way of icicles that shot through the air like missiles, each one stabbing into the ground before melting away once more.

"Where…?" Khyber looked around as the mist began fading, his eyes widening as he spotted the creature, its wings were massive for its size nearing a wingspan of ten feet, all four of them reaching…yes Four, four wings is how it could move in the air so well, each wing tipped with small gripping claws, its body was an oddity it was covered in mostly scales, but its back, tail and wings were tipped with what seemed to be feathers, jagged ones that concealed the beating of its wings, it's elongated skull resembled less a bird and more a pterosaur, small sharp teeth glistening in its long jaw. Its sharp slitted blue eyes locked on Khyber and his beast as it screeched out. "It lives…the Thep Harusian lives?!"

The Thep Harusian screeched as it flapped its wings again, a cold mist coming off them as it formed a multitude of ice chunks that it fired off like a barrage of shotgun pellets. The two jumped aside as the hail slammed into the ground like bullets. Khyber grunted as he spun around and pulled out a pistol he aimed and fired, only for the creature to veer sharply to its left and avoid his line of sight. The Hunter gawked before ducking under another barrage of icicle missiles that nearly impaled his head.

"Gr…Terumi, you bastard…this isn't the beast's tomb…" Khyber growled, looking around for any trace of the Thep Harusian as his beast snarled, "It's its cage!" He then whistled as his beast turned into Crabdozer and used its body and hide to defend Khyber from another barrage of icicles, "For such a middling size…this beast's powers are devastating…no wonder it's left caged here…" his eyes narrowed, "Quite a worthy hunt."

As he attempted to get up, he grunted a bit in pain as he felt a sharp cold feeling in his leg…wait. His leg? This caused him to look down, seeing icy 'vines' as they splayed out along the ground from the shards of ice littering it, practically trapping his leg and foot.

"Mngh…how did…?! The ice," Khyber realized, "It was setting up a trap…!"

Just as the Thep Harusian began to close in on him, it stopped when a bright flash of light filled the area, causing it to shield itself with its wings before the light died down. It spread its wings forth…only to see no sight of its prey aside from bits of frozen blood and a ripped up part of Khyber's pants frozen to the floor. The new target must've escaped…it disturbed its slumber, awaiting the day for its master to return…but it lost another prey…just like that green haired thing that came before. That's twice its lost prey…a mistake it won't make again as it shot towards the opening Khyber had went through, spinning in place while folding its wings it, ice forming around it before it shot through the opening, destroying parts of the wall as it flew high into the clear blue skies, bits of ice falling off of it as it gave a loud cry.

---

"?!" Makoto tensed up, her tail poofing up as a shiver went up her spine, "...what was that…?"

"You okay?" Ben asked as he finished paying a vendor for some ship parts, "Still feeling some spice? Or was it the extra sour lemonade we force fed you?"

"No no. Its…" Makoto paused as she looked around, "It's like…some huge Apex predator just woke up…and all rodent-like creatures immediately evacuated the area…"

"An Apex?" Noel repeated, "...do…do Thep Khufan's have a predator?"

"That's…honestly a good question," Ben whispered as he turned his communicator on, "Tetrax, you there?"

=I'm here Ben, just making a few cosmetic repairs to the haul of the Resolute. What's up?=

"Are there any predators for Thep Khufans?" Ben asked, currently scratching Makoto's ear in hopes of calming her down a bit, "Makoto just got a real bad feeling...like an Apex woke up or something."

=Predator for the Khufans? Hmm…well they are essentially just living bandages coming from a core= Tetrax explained, =But if I recall, Anur itself has had a long sorted history of dangerous predators, all should have been dealt with when they destroyed the sentient super predators of the sector…but I heard rumor that those guys raised and nurtured some predatory species from the sector as their pets…=

"I'm sorry, sentient predators…raised a predatory creature…as their pets?" Ben asked.

=It's been a while since I traded the stories…but if I recall the legend goes they raised some sort of aerial predatory creature, as a hunting beast…the Thep Harusian=

"The Thep Harusian?" Ben repeated, causing a nearby merchant to drop their clay pot as they quickly ran into their home screaming, "Well I just learned the taboo word of the day."

"What is a Thep Harusian?" Noel asked, only to flinch as another merchant screamed upon hearing that word and ran off with their arms flailing, "Let's stop saying it now…"

=The Thep Harusian…a very smart, very dangerous creature…said to be able to produce ice that doesn't melt, even in desert regions…=

"?!" Makoto tensed upon hearing that, a pale look on her face as her eyes became dots.

=They were also master hunters…but were so prideful they hunted after any prey that got away out of pure spite=

"..."

"...M…Makoto?" Noel blinked as Mari poked at the stiff Beastkin.

"...how…big are they normally?" Ben slowly asked Tetrax.

=Oh well I couldn't begin to compare, but it's not like they are giant monsters, most legends say a modest sized one could perch on its master's arm. Bigger ones being a little hard to lift, so I would guess probably the size of a big bird of prey from earth, like an eagle or condor, these books Noel gave me helped with the visualization=

"Oh…you're welcome," Noel muttered.

"...Petshop's real, but even worse…" Makoto whispered, pure utter fear in the Beastkin's voice.

"P…Petshop?" Noel blinked, looking around at a few shops for a moment, "...but, there aren't any here."

"No!" Makoto shook Noel, Mari jumping to Ben's shoulder to avoid the shaking, "I mean that evil twisted bird from the JoJo Bizzare Adventures Manga, part 3 Stardust Crusaders act two!"

"Wah…ah…Gah!" Noel cried out being shaken faster and faster, her hair whipping about wildly as a result.

"Babe…Babe…Makoto!" Ben shouted, making her stop, "You're gonna give her a concussion or something rattling her brain like that."

"Uwawwawawa~" Noel groaned, her eyes replaced with swirls as her hair was a mess from all the shaking around.

"...oops. Sorry, Noellie," Makoto whispered as she let her go, resulting in the blonde collapsing into the sand, "...still, this is very bad…"

"Um…context, babe?" Ben asked, "We just started Part 3 a week or so ago before that whole goth circus fiasco, so…to save on spoilers…give us the abridged version."

"Bad…a really evil, really spiteful birdwith freakin' ice powers that would make Jin jealous and Tetrax basically just told us it's real…but way worse!"

"So a bird that makes ice in the desert," Ben spoke, "Okay, so it's not a natural predator, but just A predator from this sector of space…that went mostly extinct with this race no one likes talking about. And this thing is just as bad," he nodded, "Okay, Tetrax, I'll bring the pieces we found to the ship so Gluto can get to work, Makoto and Noel will…uh not move to be honest,"

"We'll be here…" Noel gave a wobbly thumbs up to a random Thep Khufan child who awkwardly returned the gesture to her, before being dragged away by their mother who told them not to talk to ugly strangers.

"Safety in numbers to calm Makoto, clever my boy." Skurd mused, "Still if this creature is as bad as they say we should be concerned it's…out and about."

"Be right back," Ben smiled, turning into Fastrack as he lifted the big crates with their purchases before dashing away.

"Mmm…" Makoto muttered nervously as she picked up and held Noel close as a comfort object.

"Gh…Makoto…hug of doom…hug of doom…" Noel groaned.

"Sorry, Noellers. I am freaking out right now and I don't have my boyfriend to be my emotional support…so I need you to be it for me because now I fear Petshop 2.0 is gonna find me and eat me like those…" she quickly stopped herself from finishing that sentence.

"...Like those what?" Noel blinked out of innocence.

"...n-nothing," Makoto whispered, 'She'd probably go after Araki if she learned about what happens to Dogs in Jojo…'

---

"Uh…guys, did you see that smoke cloud?" Tucker asked as the others spoke with a merchant.

"Shh…" Sam didn't' even turn to acknowledge her friend.

"I'm sorry my friends, I don't believe I've seen a being like the one you described, it would be hard to forget such a…homely visage." the merchant shuddered.

"I…right…" Naoto struggled not to argue, "Are you sure nobody has been running around talking nonsense about seeing something like this person?"

"Hmm…well old man Bennu has been ranting about some horrible creature he saw while on Anur Transyl…" he mused scratching his mask-like face, "But you know what odd things folks see on those night locked planets, any random shape or shadow could just be some random kid playing a prank on someone who doesn't have their night vision." he explained, "You could ask him, but I warn you he's a bit crazy, says the strangest things, like a mutated on Ormerow…who can talk!"

'Technically we actually met him and dealt with a giant group of mutated Wrighters…' Naoto thought, "But this old man Bennu…do you happen to know where he lives?"

"Oh he lives a few houses down from the temple. His family are its groundskeepers." he explained, "Though they are probably all off tending to other grounds, so he's likely home…stewing in the crazy~" he laughed.

"Oh…joy. A crazy person…" Tucker muttered.

"Well it's a lead, and a lead is why we came to chat with these folks." Sam sighed, "Let's check in with Ben and the others before we go pester this guy at his house." she offered.

"Good idea," Danny nodded

"Ben," Sam spoke as she activated her communicator, she waited a moment before Ben answered as Fastrack.

=Sorry, for the wait, busy rushing heavy parts across this place without hitting anyone! You catch Naoto before he did something stupid like disturb someone's home?=

"No, we got him to calm down, but we are asking for hints and clues, and maybe got something. We're gonna talk to a possibly crazy old man about something he may or may not have seen." Sam explained.

=Wow…well that's an adventure there…but be careful, Makoto says she felt some weird predator roaming the place=

"Weird predator? Like an actual animal predator?"

=Would it be anything else in regards to this type of lifestyle?= he sighed, =It's some kind of bird of prey thing with ice powers that is really petty, vindictive and spiteful=

"A killer bird with ice abilities and is the most vindictive thing around…subtract the ice powers and sounds like Paulina…" Sam muttered.

=I don't know who that is…but they sound needy…=

"Ben, this is why I think you're a good friend." Sam smirked, "But I'll keep my head on a swivel, incase of a killer frost bird."

"Killer what?" the boys asked.

"Shh…smart people are talking." Sam replied, "Anything else?"

=Not at the moment. Stay in public, don't go anywhere easy to be picked off, make sure Naoto doesn't run off and stumble into someone's home, and don't let Tucker do something like sell himself to the Thep Khufans=

"Shoot…I should have thought of that one," Sam snapped her fingers, "We'll be careful."

=Thanks. I'll find ya once Gluto finishes the repairs=

"Can do," Sam nodded as she turned her communicator off.

"No seriously. A killer what?" Tucker questioned.

"Nothing for you to panic about."

"Uh, yeah I do. I've read every part of Jojo Part 3 and I know for a fact a certain killer bird from it sounds exactly like what you just said, Sam!" Tucker argued, putting his hands on his backwards hat.

"Well…Ben says it's a predatory aerial creature raised to hate everything by the vampire folks we are here to not let get revived, and it has powers over ice; even on this planet," Sam explained, "So…yeah. That's exactly what's out and about."

"….."

"…" Naoto blinked as he waved his hand before Tucker's face, "…I think he passed out from utter fear."

"Uh…Tuck? You, uh…you okay, man?" Danny asked in concern, lightly tapping his completely frozen stiff friend, "….wow. I think you actually broke him, Sam."

"I'm disappointed it took us going to an alien world to stop a prophecy made by a native that moved to live under Amity Park and an alien super predator…" Sam sighed, "I'd hoped it was pointing out his romantic pursuits led to a great mistake."

"Harsh…" Naoto grimaced.

"Anyways, let's see if we can find that old man…"

"Alright. Come on, T…" Naoto began as he turned to the side, only to tense when Tucker…was no longer there, "…oh don't tell me…" a loud screech soon caught their attention, seeing the still fear struck Tucker being carried away by the Thep Harusian, "AH!"

"We look away for just a second and this always happens," Danny groaned, quickly taking flight after it, "Get back here, ya overgrown parakeet!"

The Thep Harusian's eyes narrowed at that, looking back at Danny before large icicles formed in the air behind it. With a cry, it sent the icicles rocketing straight towards him.

"…Okay, that was d-ahh!" Danny yelled as he quickly went intangible, causing the icicles to miss…and end up flying towards Sam and Naoto, "Ahh!"

"Shit!" Naoto grunted as he punched, his fist impacting the ice; it didn't shatter, but his strength still knocked it aside, "Gh!" he grunted as his fist trembled before he punched the rest of the icicles out of the way, but afterwards he groaned as he looked at his shaking hands, "What kind of ice was that? It was harder than steel…"

"Of course it's harder than steel; it's ice!" Sam replied.

"...Huh?"

"Mr. Lancer talked about it in science class since he had to substitute for the teacher again," Sam explained, "Ice is a harder material than steel, but it doesn't stand up to heavy stress all that well."

"That makes no sense!" Naoto complained, "It's ice! How can it be harder than steel, but not handle stress?! This is why I don't do science!" he grunted, "Gah, you'd think hitting something so cold would make it hurt less…but it just stings more!"

"Me and my big mouth!" Danny screamed, narrowly avoiding more of the ice missiles fired by the Thep Harusian as it was now chasing after him, Tucker still passed out in the avian's talons.

As they raced about in the air, the odd Thep Khufan was standing atop a nearby building with a taller one in a crimson and gold headdress with a falcon motif, the shorter of the two speaking up in glee, "You see, Humite? You see?"

"Egads! It is him, Yubee!" the tall one gasped, "And ensnared in the talons of a Thep Harusian! Oh, by Ra's sunlight, he must be rescued!"

"But how will we do that?" Yubee asked.

"The last time roughly seven years ago at the mall on Earth the last time they tried reintroducing Ormeowons to humans, I checked in a bookstore and was startled by a book depicting what I thought was a Thep Harusian. It was actually a biology book upon a race of avians known as 'raptors' and how their bodies work. Since they appear similar to the Thep Harusian, the methods I read should prove fruitful for our endeavor."

"…what else did you learn?"

"That humans have made contact with gods of death and that the death gods have books that kill when you write a person's name within them," Humite replied.

"...WHAT?!"

"It's true! They even enjoy apples as an offering!"

"What is an apple?"

"A red fruit. It reminds them of fresh blood from a human, so it appeases them."

"...Okay so…we're never going back to Earth…" Yubee put his finger tips together and nodded simply.

Humite slapped him upside the headdress and pointed at Tucker still in the bird's talons, "Focus, Yubee. We must save him for Upshii to rise."

"But how will we do that?" Yubee asked.

"How is your aim?"

"Oh, quite well. The last time I faced Petohnema yesterday in a javelin contest, I reached twenty kilometers with it."

"Good. Use that to throw this at the talon holding him," Humite ordered, giving him a rock, "Right where the leg turned into talon. If the book was correct and the physiology is similar enough, the impact will force the talons to release."

"Oh sure, this is just totally not aerodynamic at all like a javelin, but sure I'll make it act the same," Yubee complained as he stretched his arm back, literally extending it a good distance for some leverage.

"Ah! Whoo!" Danny yelped, avoiding another ice shard before glaring at the bird, "Alright, you wanna chill things off?" his eyes flashed a burning green as ghostly flame erupted from his fists, "Then let me heat things up!"

The Thep Harusian's eyes locked onto him as he began heating up, it let loose a horrible screech as it unfolded its dual set of wings and began flying around in a sharp zig-zagging formation. Danny grunted as he aimed to blast it with his ghostly fire only to flinch as it stopped midair and held Tucker up in front as a shield. Danny flinched as he aimed up and shot his fire into the sky. But the next thing he knew, he was being smacked out of the air by a boulder of ice and slammed into the sands below.

"It…used Tucker as a shield…" Naoto gawked.

"It's…not just clever…it's cruel and intelligent…" Sam covered her mouth in concern for her friends.

Danny groaned while phasing through the ice. He rubbed his head as he looked up at the Thep Harusian as it tilted its head while flapping in place in the air. Danny moved to charge it but stopped as it moved one leg over so its sharp talon was aimed at Tucker's neck. Danny paused as the predator tilted its head, it noted his reaction and…released Tucker. Danny rushed up to catch his friend only to grunt as the Thep Harusian swooped down faster and closed its talons, and 'punched' Danny suddenly before spinning around and making an impossible sharp U turn as it swooped past and grabbed Tucker by the leg.

"Gah…did I get punched by a bird?" Danny groaned, rubbing his face, he then turned around as the alien bird of prey flew around in a circle…clearly not done with him yet, "Oh great…a bird wants to mess with me now…wait. Is…" he squinted his eyes a bit, "Is it…smiling?"

The Thep Harusian floated in the air as it looked down at Danny, its beak curved a bit to make it as if it was smiling at the poor fool. While he was not one of the ones that escaped…this one would make for a possible good appetizer.

"What kind of bird is this…?" Danny couldn't help but ask, it was clearly an animal, but it was so smart, cruel, and prideful. Something about all those traits on this predatory creature made it…intimidating. Even in spite of the caliber of dangers he's faced before this, this felt on par with some of the more dangerous enemies he's fought in the past.

"GH!" Naoto grunted as he grabbed Sam, jumping up to a nearby rooftop as he saw vines of ice shooting towards where the two were standing, said 'vines' coming from the ice littering the sand, "It even laid traps, too…how the hell are you supposed to fight this thing?!"

'He's right…how am I gonna get Tuck away from that thing?!' Danny mentally exclaimed, looking up at the Thep Harusian 'smirking' down at him as more ice missiles began to form around it, 'Come on man think…it has to have some type of weakness. It…' his thoughts were soon interrupted when a rock suddenly hit the Thep Harusian's talon from behind, making it squawk out in pain as it dropped Tucker towards the sands below, "?!"

The Thep Harusian turned to glare at where the rock came from and spotted two Thep Khufan's running as fast as they could towards Tucker as well. It screeched in anger as it flapped its wings and unleashed a barrage of icicles that began peppering the sand like rapid fire from a firearm. Humite unraveled himself and grabbed Yubee before quickly making himself into a makeshift slingshot and sent him over the barrage while his unraveled form slithered to avoid the pinpoint barrage. Yubee grunted as he managed to grab Tucker before making his lower body unravel and act as a cushion with the sands.

"He is oddly lighter than I expected, Humite," Yubee noted as the taller reformed himself beside Yubee.

"It matters not, Humite. We must abscond ourselves immediately," Humite advised, seeing the way the Thep Harusian was glaring at them before swiftly avoiding a blast of ghostly flames from Danny.

"Well…uh…I'm not sure if that's good…but you got no hostage now, you terror Tweety!" Danny called out as he let loose another blast of Ghostly Fire, but the Thep Harusian twisted its body and spun itself around as it fell from the sky to avoid the blast. Danny blinked as it suddenly flapped its wings and took back up into the air with great speed and was up in his face within moments, "How ar…" he had no time to finish his question before he was slapped by a wing armored in hard blue ice, knocking him out of the sky and to the sand below, "Ow…a bird slapped me out of the sky…never gonna live that one down."

"Okay, that thing is not that big. How can it just bird slap Danny like that?" Naoto gawked.

"Well Birds wings are actually incredibly powerful." Sam stated, "Why do you think people fear geese? They can break bones with their wings. And the stronger the flier, the stronger the muscle in those wings."

"...I thought they were just really pissed off about their territory," Naoto muttered, rubbing his face with a bit of phantom pain going through his face.

"Have you fought geese before?" Sam blinked.

"Once while I was on patrol around the city. Took my normal shortcut to get to Mr. Smoothy's…I literally got ganged up on by four Canadian geese that slapped, pecked...and I swear one of them held me down while one hit me with a trashlid."

"What kind of Geese were you fighting?!"

"Turns out…they were part of Animo's old experiments…He instantly regretted giving them enough strength to scare an entire herd of gorillas."

"They beat him u-"

"They beat him up, yes."

The Thep Harusian's loud screech soon caught everyone's attention, its wings spread out as a block of ice began to form above it, growing bigger…and bigger…and bigger…and bigger that it was practically about to overshadow the entire area.

"Uh…Danny?" Sam spoke up.

"Holy cow!" Danny panicked, "I don't think I got enough pent up anger to boost my fire to stop that…"

'...I'm gonna kick myself for this,' Sam mentally sighed, "Hey Danny!"

"Hmm?" Danny looked down to Sam.

"You know that old guitar you and your dad found and fixed up before it broke?"

"Yeah…dad was pretty sad about it because it reminded him of one of his favorite bands…why?"

"Well…"

"...Don't tell me it was Danni, Sam. She likes to pull pranks, but she's not that b-"

"It was Dash...found the IOU card he left and tried to pin it on Tucker."

"WHAT!?" Danny shouted as his hair ignited into green fire.

"Yeah. Danni was the one who took your last can of root beer last month."

"She what?! I was saving that for a float after that crazy week!" Danny snapped, "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Because you now have a power fueled by anger, so I need to save some for if your goofy butt ends up in a moment where you got no anger," Sam explained.

"And you didn't think to tell me THEN?! What else have you been hiding, Sam?!"

"He's taking this a lot more personally than I realized…" Naoto muttered with a sweatdrop.

"You want them in alphabetical or by date?" Sam asked.

"SAM!" Danny snapped as fire escaped from his mouth.

"Killer ice meteor," Sam pointed up.

"I! FREAKING! KNOW!" Danny snapped as a massive explosion of green fire engulfed him and slammed into the giant iceberg, causing the entire area to be covered in steam.

Danny gasped and huffed as he literally burned out his anger. He took a deep breath before flinching as he heard a shriek as the alien predator flew through the thick layer of steam and slammed its wings into Danny's back, knocking him through the air. He turned around to try and track it, but it vanished into the steam. He looked around for it, any sign of it, but nothing. Its flight was silent. He turned around as he heard something and saw it was right behind him, its talons encased in ice as it swung in an attempt to slash only for Danny to go intangible at the last moment. Danny turned to follow the Thep Harusian as it flew past, and flinched at the look of anger in its eyes as it looked back at him. He swore, for a moment, it looked like the edges of its eyes began turning red for a moment.

"What is with this bird?" Danny asked as it swooped around, 'Ben…I could really use your help right about now…' he thought, unaware of the two Khufan's running outside the steam cloud while carrying the still unconscious Tucker.

---

"Tch…when I see that bloody green-haired snake…" Khyber growled as he finished wrapping some bandages around his exposed leg, bits of his blood staining it with multiple puddles of hot water nearby, 'He sent me to die, knowing full well I'd end up releasing the Thep Harusian…but why? What would he gain from that? ...Questions for later. For now…' he paused to look out teh nearby window of a hut he was hiding in, seeing lots of the town folks scrambling and screaming to get inside their homes or find a safe place to hide, the huntsman seeing a certain Beastkin and Blonde trying to play damage control, 'May as well take advantage of the situation…'

"P-Please! Please remain calm!" Noel called out.

"The Thep Harusian! It lives!"

"Who let it out of the temple?!"

"I do not know, but no one is safe now!"

"Someone do something or we shall lose our businesses due to its menacing existence!"

"Save the money!"

"Everyone calm down! Things will b-ahh! Hey!" Makoto snapped when one pushed her to the side.

"Oh dear, this is not good. Who knew it would be so…apocalyptic…" Noel muttered, "We need to capture this Thep Harusian."

"Yeah, that sounds like a job for my boyfriend with literally any power we need," Makoto stated, "No offense, but…I am the last person who should be fighting a killer bird of prey."

"None taken," Noel assured before a townsfolk yelped, making them look to see Funkfreed scowling as he sat on them, "...Oh he tried to take Funkfreed…"

"Why is the sword an elephant?! …And why does he look neither Indian nor African? Is he a new species? I will pay top Tayden for it!" Funkfreed flicked the headdress of the townsfolk he pinned down, "...I will pay top Tayden for her?" the trunk proceeded to slap the headdress, "Oh, you are a boy…My mistake. The eyelashes, you see…"

"You can't have my pet," Noel frowned, "Now shoo before we feed you to the Thep Harusian." she pointed to the panicking mob.

"Ah….apologies then, ma'am…"

"It feels so odd for you to be the confident strong one, and me to be the scaredy cat…er…scaredy squirrel…" Makoto muttered.

"One of us has to be since Tsubaki or Mai is here to be the first one," Noel replied, "Just note that when we get home and the mission reports are done…I am snuggling Drei and Mari while being held by Funkfree and watching Sing and Sing 2 at the house with Lachan and Bluey."

"That's cute. Now…find the one person we know can save our bacon…Ben-kun!" Makoto called out in a panicked tone.

"Ben!" Noel called out as she began to join.

"Ben, where are you!?" the two shouted.

"Yes…"

"?!" Makoto and Noel tensed before jumped away from one another, letting the Khyberian Baskurr crash into a stall and completely destroy it.

"Where is Ben Tennyson?" Khyber questions as he stepped out of the shadows, dagger already in his hand as he looks at the two, "I'd like to have a…'talk' with him…"

"Oh shit…Khyber," Makoto scowled.

"Wh-What is that?!" Noel gawked.

"That is a Khyberian Baskurr, a…'donation' from Dr. Animo," Khyber replied.

"You got him to make you a chimera?!" Makoto gawked.

"Oh, this was in the report Tsubaki submitted when she took P'li's team out for the first time on a mission," Noel recalled before yelping when the Khyberian Baskurr growled at her.

"Still though…it has been, what? Months since I've last seen him and you two.." Khyber paused, aiming his dagger at both Makoto and Noel before mostly focusing on the latter, "And let's say…I've learned something interesting about you…Murakumo Unit…"

"?!" Noel's eyes widened at that, "...h…how…do you know that?"

"Hehehe…It would seem the Great Megatron…has adopted one of your sisters," Khyber explained, making their eyes go wide, "And she's learning…a great deal from him."

'Oh shit…' Makoto mentally gulped before tensing as she jumped over the Khyberian Baskurr's attempted bite at her leg, "Ahh! Hey!"

"I'm having a rather bad day due to an earlier hunt getting the best of me, so as much as I'd like to hunt a weapon capable of slaying gods…I'll settle for the next best thing," Khyber stated as he flipped his dagger into a reverse grip, "Call Tennyson."

"We're trying!" Noel complained, holding her hand out as Funkfreed jumped and landed in her hand, transformed into sword form.

"Well now…don't see that everyday…" Khyber blinked.

"Bet you don't see this either?" Noel swung Funkfreed as the blade began extending into a long elephant's trunk made of steel that slapped Khyber and sent him flying through the air into an abandoned pottery shop, "Aw…I wanted to buy a new vase…"

"Down!" Makoto snapped, punching the Khyberian Baskur across its jaw, making it yelp as it slammed into the sand, "I only like one dog at this moment and it ain't you, you horrible mistake from The Thing from another world!"

The Khyberian Baskur growled as its lower jaw was now dislocated, only for it to snap it back into place just using the muscles of its jaw. Makoto cringed at that as it snarled and lunged at her again, only for her to catch and swing it around before throwing the beast into its owner, sending them deeper into the pottery shop and breaking more items in the process.

"Aw man…" Noel slumped at that, "Now everything good totally has to be broken…"

"Grrr…Get them!" Khyber ordered as he whistled, his beast howling as it shifted into Crabdozer.

"Oh…that's gonna be a little harder to throw around…" Makoto muttered, her ears drooping before picking up Noel and leaping over a charge as the beast slammed through multiple shops, "One place to shop where we don't get banned…I hate online shopping…the bras I order never fit…"

"Agreed. I-" Noel began before yelping when Crabdozer changed into a Glavenus mid-charge, the two quickly ducking as its tail sliced into a few buildings behind them, "Ahh…we're in so much trouble…"

The two quickly rolled out of the way of Glavenus's tail slash, Makoto being the first to quickly charge as she delivered an uppercut to the beast's jaw, making it grunt out as it staggered back in surprise. It quickly shook off the initial shock before using its tail blade to block Funkfreed's own blade, the clash causing sparks to go off before it pushed back the elephant's trunk.

"This ain't gonna be like last time either, Khyber!" Makoto shouted as she bounced off Funkfreed's trunk, arm reeled back as an energy fist formed next to her, "Aphelion…" she swung for a haymaker as the energy fist slammed into the Glavenus's face, "Haymaker!"

"Grr…" Khyber growled only to grunt as he was pelted by bullets, making him turn to see Noel as she aimed at him with Bolverk.

"We've been through a lot more since the last time we met!" Noel declared.

"And we've faced scarier than your Predatrix," Makoto added as she jumped up, cupping her hands together as a pair of energy fists appeared above her, mimicking her hands, "Cosmic…" she slammed her fist down as the energy fist slammed into the Glavenus' head, "Hammer!"

Glavenus growled out as he staggered back, shaking the pain away before it began to change into Slamworm. The giant predator dove down into the sand and began digging through even faster. Makoto looked around before jumping as the sand below her exploded as Slamworm tried to bite from below. Khyber moved to whistle commands only to grunt as he was blasted by a shotgun blast and knocked away. The Slamworm flinched and searched for its master only to be tackled by Funkfreed and slammed into a building. It turned its head to aim at the Elephant and opened its jaw to spit acid, only to flinch as Makoto jumped off Funkfreed and slammed another punch to its face that slammed it back into the building. Makoto landed on Funkfreed's back and tapped his side to order him to back off as the Slamworm hissed and tried to lunge at the elephant, only to miss as he rapidly turned back into sword form as Makoto grabbed him. Nodding with a sudden idea, Makoto shouted as she swung Funkfreed as his form was intended for and slashed Slamworm, making it cry in pain as it now sported a…well, for its size, a relatively small gash in its skin.

"So this is why people have swords. That was awesome…" Makoto awed as Funkfreed wiggled, "Oh sorry. Not used to using a sword, buddy," she softened her grip on the handle.

"Gah!" Khyber grunted as he dodged another barrage of bullets, "Why you little…" he growled only to be surprised by a kick to the jaw, followed up with a pistol-whip to his face that knocked him back, "Grr…" he growled in pain only for Noel to slam both barrels of Bolverk to his chest and fired both guns to launch him flying back and flipping along the sand.

"Now I see why Ben struggled at first…he's really durable," Noel huffed, the heat of the desert making her stamina drain faster.

"Noellie?" Makoto asked.

"It's really hot…How are you so okay?" Noel asked.

"Well the suit helps, but I guess also my tail," Makoto explained, "Did you know this thing can help cool my blood, too?"

"Wha…How do you just recently learn things of your animal DNA?" Noel muttered.

"Eh. Was bored in my squirrel form, so I sometimes shoot the breeze with the squirrels that often hang around our house. The gossip from them is really fun!" Makoto snickered, "And the sweet juicy blackmail I've been getting, too~"

"Y-You can talk to squirrels now?" Noel blinked.

"Only as a squirrel. It was a little note near the end of the scroll. 'Only able to understand your animal form's language while in your animal form. Does not translate other animal speech,'" Makoto replied before tensing, Funkfreed extending his trunk to a nearby stall as he dragged her away in time from Tyrannopede's bite, "Right! Fighting time; talk time later!"

"Hai!"

---

"...AHH! Petshop's real!" Tucker panicked as he shot up, only to groan as he felt a throbbing pain in his head, "Ahh…why do I feel like I was whipped around by someone at high speed…wait…" he took notice of the darkened room he was in, "Where…am I? Sam…Danny? Ben? ...Gluto?" he tried to get up only to feel resistance on his ankles and wrists, making him look to see he was tied down to a stone table, "Oh no…"

"He's come around," Humite spoke up, making him look to see the two.

"Ah! Where am I? Who are you two?!"

"You are in the sacred tomb of the great God Ra," Humite replied, "Reincarnation of the trespasser of Upshi's sacred tomb!"

"Oh not again…" Tucker groaned, "You guys don't happen to know a Hotep Ra, do ya?"

"Your nefarious minion, of course," Humite replied.

"Of course," Tucker rolled his eyes, "But I'm not Duulaman."

"Of course you aren't; you are his reincarnation," Yubee replied.

Tucker closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, before quickly exhaling it, "Right. And you two are…?"

"I am Humite, High Priest of the great God Ra!" Humite declared, "And this is my assistant Yubee."

"Delighted, I'm sure."

"Huh…" Tucker nodded.

"Now. Who might you be?"

"I got it, I got it."

"No. Who might you be?" Humite demanded.

"You just said it."

"So you will not tell me?" Humite demanded.

"Tell you? You already know," Tucker argued.

"We shall see about that!" Humite declared before looking at Yubee, "Yubee, you try."

"Oh very well, Humite," Yubee replied before walking up to Tucker, "Listen, I am Yubee, right?"

"No, wrong," Tucker replied as he pointed at himself, "I am." he pointed at Yubee, "You are."

"Ah~! There we go, Humite," Yubee spoke up, pointing his thumb at Tucker, "He is Yuarr."

"So you are Yuarrr?" Humite demanded.

"I am not. I am not," Tucker argued.

"So you are Nott. He is not Yuarr; he is Nott."

"You are Yuarr?" Yubee asked in disbelief.

"I am not Yuarr," Tucker denied, understanding they thought his name was that and not simply 'you are.'

"Oh don't call me 'Yuarr.' I am not Yuarr, I am not Nott. I am Yubee!"

"Okay, okay, look. Let's get things settled, alright?" Tucker demanded, "I am not Nott. Okay?"

"Yes," Humite nodded.

"And I am not Yuarr," Tucker went on, "But you are Humite and your are Yubee, right?"

"That is indeed correct," Yubee replied.

"Okay, good."

"But…" Humite began.

"Yes?" Tucker raised a brow.

"Who might you be?"

"...AAAAAAAAAARGGHHH!" Tucker screamed, wanting to rip his hair out, "I can't take this anymore!"

"I don't think this one is very smart," Yubee replied, "Must have been dropped on his head a lot as a child…"

"I was not!" Tucker snapped.

"Ah, see? His name is Waznut!"

"GAH!" Tucker screamed.

---

"Where is Tucker?!" Naoto grunted as he and Sam ran across rooftops as ice missiles struck building after building behind them.

"He's safer than us! Run!" Sam snapped.

"Why would the Thep Khufans kidnap Tucker?! No offense, but he's far from a perfect specimen!" Naoto grunted, helping Sam leap a large gap in buildings.

"That's…not what's going on…" Sam huffed as they'd been doing this for a good while, "Ah, I hate the horrible light of any sun…"

"What did you mean that's not what's going on?" Naoto asked.

"They didn't take him as a specimen…They probably took him because he looks like an ancient pharaoh from the times of ancient egypt. Even a ghost of that same Pharaoh's servant did the same thing," Sam explained, "Folks have been noticing the resemblance all day, so they probably saved him because they think he is him, his reincarnation, decedent…something!" she threw her hands up in exasperation, "But he's probably safe in some reinforced building or structure…"

"Great…and.." Naoto paused as he quickly turned, coating his leg in bloodred energy as he kicked away another ice missile, "We're still being hunted by this vindictive thing!"

"Hey! I'm trying!" Danny shouted, flying right behind the Thep Harusian as he tried to blast it only for it to weave out of the way.

The Thep Harusian flew up as it flapped its wings and lined up its wings on each side before closing them, its claws in the middle of its wings interlocking to clasp both pairs of wings into seemingly one set of wings. As it did, ice began forming along the front of its wings to seal them together, with the gap between the wings suddenly blasting out gusts of freezing air…which propelled it through the air without the need to flap its wings. It twisted its body to perform an aileron roll in the air, the gusts of cold air ejecting from its clasped wings forming a twisting cone of cold mist…before it began raining a barrage of sharp icicles all around as it flew around. Danny flinched, forming a barrier of ecto-energy he used to shield himself, Sam and Naoto stopping the sharp rain of ice blades from hitting them.

"It…has a faster flight style?" Sam asked in awe, "It's X shaped wings let it move at insane angles, and now he has a method of jet propelled flight?"

"Aliens are so weird…" Naoto groaned.

"Hey, you should deal with Ghosts over in Amity sometime," Sam argued.

"Now does not seem like the time to compare!" Danny grunted as he dropped the barrier.

The Thep Harusian flew back around as it aimed at the trio. It boosted its speed as it formed multiple icicles around its body aimed at them. But it flinched as a tornado of sand suddenly swept it away and began tossing it around. The tornado began picking up speed becoming tighter and tighter as it propelled the predator upwards into the sky and let it fall a good distance away as the sand twister stopped. The others blinked before flinching as Fasttrack slid to a stop behind them. The Citrakayah sniffled and sneezed as he shook sand off his fur.

"Okay…Fasttrack…doesn't like sand in his fur…knowledge for next time," he grunted, shaking himself off, "Sorry, things are crazy, I got lost, I'll make it up to you later. Sam, progress report!" he ordered.

"Crazy Ice Bird attacked us, won't let up, and we lost Tucker to some Thep Khufans," Sam explained.

"Oh come on, Tucker…" Fasttrack groaned as he slumped his shoulders, "Alright, uh…well I can probably take it from here. Jetray or Astrodactyl should be able to handle this dog fight. You guys find Tucker and…" he paused and slapped the Omnitrix, "Go for Ben."

=Ben! Khyber!= Noel called out before the sound of fighting cut the call.

"Oh come on~!" Fasttrack groaned as he paced around in a circle with his super speed, "Gah! Can we not ever have just one problem?! First evil ice turkey, now Tucker's been taken, and my lamer version of Kraven the Hunter!?"

"Oh, so we do both have one of those…" Danny muttered.

"Okay, think think…thinking…I'm thinking…" Fasttrack tapped his head as he paced back and forth as a blur, "Ah! Super speed doesn't mean super fast thinking! You just all look slow!"

"Can't Heatblast just supernova and bake the killer ice turkey?" Naoto asked.

"On a Sand planet…" Fasttrack pointed out, "You want me to make everything into glass? Including the people who are essentially living bandages?"

"Uh…" Naoto began, "Well when you put it like that my idea sounds stupid."

"Because it is stupid," Sam replied, "Besides, it can make Ice…in ALL THIS!" she motioned to the intense heat around them, "The fire would only stop the ice but not its ability to produce it despite the environment. We need to actually knock it out of the sky and contain it."

"Right…And how we gonna do that? Not like we can make it heavier," Naoto noted.

"Hea…" Fasttrack began before facepalming, "I have too many aliens that even I sometimes forget what I have."

"?"

Fasttrack tapped his emblem and, in a flash of green, Gravattack took his place, "Okay…" he cracked his knuckles, "Time to down an angry bird."

The Thep Harusian kept its eyes narrowed as it flew through the skies, trying to find its targets, ready to feast on their remains if there were anything left. Suddenly it felt the air beginning to grow heavy, making it squawk out in surprise as it tried to stay flying up in the air. It opened an eye to look down, seeing Gravattack holding up a hand as the air began to grow heavier and heavier….it was making it fall towards the ground…he was humiliating him!

"...Come on. Seriously?" Danny whispered in slight disbelief, seeing the Thep Harusian struggling to stay floating up in the air, all while giving them a death glare, "Just how determined is this freakin' bird?!"

"Worry not, it'll go down eventually!' Skurd shouted from his place on the Omnitrix.

"Increasing the intensity now," Gravattack spoke, the energy around his held up hand growing stronger.

"It really wants to kill us…oh god, this thing isn't even doing this 'cause it's hungry…it's just psychotic…" Naoto muttered.

"No wonder the residents don't like talking about this bird…" Sam added.

"...wait…what's it doing?" Skurd whispered, narrowing his eyes as he saw the Thep Harusian looking in a different direction.

In the distance, it could see some faint explosions going off, followed by a faint roar or two…there it could hear 3…4…5 targets, two of which having a very…familiar scent…yessssss. It knew those scents…the ones that got away before from its resting place, and there were more near it…these morsels will have to wait.

"It wants to go there…" Gravattack noted, "Khyber…he's the one who let it loose. He snuck into its prison and pissed it off first."

"...and Makoto and Noel are there fighting him," Sam realized before the Thep Harusian let out a loud screech.

The Thep Harusian extended its wings as it began dropping icicles on the ground that began crashing, cracking and dispersing into the sand like snow. Eventually, the ground below was a large blanket of snow and ice that it let itself slam into with the gravity. A large cloud of powdered snow went up into the air, making them blink. Gravattack moved over to the edge of the building and gasped seeing a rising lump in the sand traveling away and deeper into the bazaars of Anur Khufos.

"It goes underground!?" Danny snapped.

"Is it part mole or something?" Sam pondered.

"Actually some owls and kingfishers burrow…" Skurd explained.

"Who cares?! After that damn buzzard!" Naoto shouted as he quickly ran off.

"Wait, what about Tucker?!" Danny asked.

"Oh right…" Gravattack remembered, "Well…I guess me and Naoto will deal with the Murder Tweety, you guys can focus on finding and saving Tucker from Celestialsapien knows what they have planned for him."

"Probably ritualistic sacrifice and mummification," Sam offered.

"Ahh…Sam…why~?" Danny complained.

"Yeah, I don't think I could repair that sort of damage…so off you pop, get the boy," Skurd waved a little pseudopod to hurry them off.

"Right," Danny nodded, "Let's go find Tucker, Sam."

"Good thing he has a tracker." Sam smiled.

"He does?" Danny asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah, I had them implanted in our skin while getting the anti-corrodium shots," Sam explained.

"Wh-Why?" Danny asked.

"...for these exact moments." Sam explained, "Now come on, let's find our idiot!" she grabbed Danny by his suit and dragged him off the building.

"She's going to do fantastic in the Plumbers," Skurd stated.

"Oh big time," Gravattack nodded as he jumped and folded into his planet form as he flew off after Naoto.

---

"Okay, so you guys were saying 'who might you be' and not just repeating your names?" Tucker asked.

"Yes. That is indeed correct," Yubee replied, "Still, we do need your name."

"Oh~ no. No. I read about how powerful knowing someone's name is in Egyptian mythology and likely Thep Khufan culture," Tucker replied.

"Blast, he is smarter than in his previous life," Humite frowned.

"Well he's still human so not by much," Yubee shrugged.

"Ouch," Tucker muttered sarcastically, "Now what do you want with me!?"

"Why to sacrifice you of course," Yubee replied.

"WHAT?!"

"Indeed. For your sacrifice shall allow us to gain an audience with the great God Ra and Upshii shall rise again," Humite declared.

"That's him over there," Yubee pointed at a hieroglyph of what appeared to be a Thep Khufan with a fur-coated headpiece floating in the air and leading the construction of Earth's pyramids with humans and Tetramands.

"Are those Tetramands?" Tucker blinked.

"Yes. Ancient Egypt was a popular vacation spot for them. We had fun building those pyramid things with humans. Though they also went off and built them in other places we hear," Humite shrugged, "Not as nice though."

"How many of our world wonders are just alien pranks?" Tucker whispered to himself, "N-Now wait a minute! You can't do this to me!"

"Oh, you just hang about and see," Yubee replied.

"We must! In order for our great pharaoh to be revived and Upshii may rule our home again!" Humite declared, "Yes! He shall have his fill!"

'Gotta stall…Maybe do another wordplay again?' Tucker thought, "Who? Ra?"

"And Upshii rises!" Humite declared.

"...You know, we do know Upshii back on Earth."

"Indeed?" Yubee asked.

"Yes, yes. We even have a song of his splendor and of a celebration he was at," Tucker noted.

"A song about the great pharaoh Upshii?!" Yubee gasped.

"We must hear this tune so that we may share it with the masses!" Humite declared.

"I will…on one condition."

"A son of Thoth…!"

"The Thep Harusian…Why do you guys have something like that roaming around alive?!" Tucker exclaimed.

"We didn't think anyone would disturb its tomb/cage," Yubee admitted.

"It was sealed there once its master was defeated, along with one of the relics,"Humite added.

"R-Relics?" Tucker repeated, "What…relics?"

"Items to have said to belong to the Vladite King himself," Humite replied, "Once he was gone, they were separated amongst the stars of the Anur system so no one would revive him…one of which is on this very planet while the other was on a nearby moon."

'Oh….no….' Tucker mentally realized, already having a good feeling that it might've been one of those 'relics' that mutated all those Wrighthers, "...and you said there was one on this planet?"

"Yes. Sealed within the very temple the Thep Harusian is…or rather was in," Yubee responded.

"Why would you put them in the same place!?" Tucker asked.

"So any stupid treasure hunter after it would become a free meal to the beast, obviously." Yubee replied sarcastically, "It's rather lucrative. Whenever we meet people we really don't like, we tell them about the temple in a way to tempt them to go in. If we like people, we warn them not to go in."

"Dude, that's messed up…so you send the biggest jerks in the galaxy to be alien killer frost bird feed!?" Tucker gawked.

"Well we don't know when it came here…so…accurate." Humite replied, "But anyway, time for the ritual! Yubee, get the brain hook!" Yubee held his hand up with a hooked poker between his fingers, which in his hands looked small but to a human was maybe a bit larger than what they show in Ancient Egypt documentaries, "The small one?"

"His nose looks so small," Yubee explained..

"Hey…"

"Well your nose was much larger in your last life," Yubee noted.

"Okay, can we stop complaining about my face?!" Tucker complained.

"He's right, we should use the big one just to be respectful," Humite nodded as Yubee produced a larger hooked poker with a sharper hook and serrated teeth along one end, "Good!"

"Me and my big mouth…" Tucker groaned, 'Danny, Sam…anyone that's hopefully close by…help! Wait why am I saying it in my mind, I'm in danger!' "HELP!"

"Pretty loud, too…" Yubee muttered, unaware of an intangible Danny and Sam phasing into the room before they quickly hid behind cover.

"Are all humans this loud?"

"Well…you were right," Danny whispered, "Now what?"

Sam looked at the hieroglyphs on the walls and spotted the one of Upshii, "Huh…Thought they'd have slight variations to their writing to ancient hieroglyphs, but no. Pretty much the same."

"And what does it say?" Danny asked.

"Okay, apparently that Thep Khufan on the walls is the first Pharaoh known as Upshii," Sam explained, "Those two are trying to perform a ritual to summon Ra to revive Upshii to usher in a new era."

"Well that's not foreboding at all…" Danny muttered as Sam looked between the mural and Danny, "...What are you thinking?"

"Oh not much…Upshii."

"What do you…oh…oh no…" he realized.

"AHH!"

"Stand…still…please!"

"He is really struggling, Humite!"

"Yeah, because you're trying to kill me!"

"You say as if being sacrificed for the greater good is a bad thing."

"IT IS!"

"...So where are we going to get bandages for this?" Danny asked before Sam held up a medkit, "...ugh. Wrap me up."

"L-Listen, maybe we can talk this out..!" Tucker exclaimed as he was dragged by the two Khufans, "Like..maybe we can make a deal?"

"Okay, Can you provide someone else for the sacrifice?"

"Wh-?! No!"

"Then…we can make no deal. Please understand we need the mighty Upshii to bring order back to our people after that stupid Cult of the Dagon started by Kuphulu went bust…" Humite groaned.

"Oh, he was the worst! And he worked for Zs'Skayr as well! What a jerk," Yubee agreed, "Then suddenly one day his magic tchotchke breaks and he loses magic and everyone throws rocks…no, actually, that last part was kind of fun…" he nodded to himself.

"...You guys had a Dagon cult here? Guess that was the day Ben beat him and Vilgax…" Tucker realized, 'Wait…this is it. These two just keep talking like an Egyptian Abbot and Castelo bit, so keep them talking and someone will save me, hopefully…unless that evil ice bird gets in the way…' "Hey, wait!" Yubee paused in his attempt.

"Oh what now?" Yubee asked in exasperation.

"Did you know that you can go into 28 by using 7 by 13?" Tucker asked.

"I do believe he's spent too much time in the sun on our planet, Yubee," Humite noted.

"I do believe you are right, sir," Yubee agreed.

"H-Hey! I'm serious here! I can divide 28 by 7 and get 13 from it!" Tucker declared.

"That is completely absurd," Humite scoffed.

"I can prove it!" Tucker pleaded.

"Oh very well. May as well give you one mercy on your mind being settled," Humite sighed, "Yubee?"

"Of course," Yubee replied as he ran off and came back in with a chalkboard and some chalk as Humite undid the straps on Tucker's wrists to let him sit up.

"Now then," Humite spoke as he wrote the equation 7/28 on the board, "How do you get 13 from dividing 7 from 28, hm?"

"Well, the first thing's first. 7 doesn't go into 2, now does it?"

"Dreadfully not, no," Yubee replied.

"Exactly, so we just take the 2 and tuck it away elsewhere. Alright?"

"That is fine," Humite agreed.

"Now! How many 7s are in an 8?"

"Just one," Yubee replied.

"Right. 8 minus 7?"

"1," Humite replied.

"Exactly!" Tucker replied, drawing a 1 under the equation, "Now that 2 from before? We put it right here by the 1."

"I see, I see," Humite nodded.

"Now, how many 7s in 21?"

"Oh, that's simple enough: 3," Yubee replied.

"Exactly. Hence the answer is 13," Tucker stated, writing the answer and causing both to do a double take as they looked at the board.

"Well…This is a surprise, isn't it, sir?" Yubee asked, blinking a few times in disbelief.

"No, no, no. This cannot be the answer," Humite frowned, erasing the board and writing down 13 X 7 on the board, "He must multiply! There is no manner of way that 13 goes into 28 seven times!"

"Easy enough. Seven times 1?"

"Seven of course," Humite replied with a huff.

"And 7 times 3?"

"21!" Yubee replied.

"Right you are," Tucker nodded, "Now, 7 plus 21 is 28! And there! 13 times 7 is 28!"

"Oh, I do feel a little faint now, sir," Yubee groaned, slapping the sides of his head in disbelief.

"This should not be!" Humite snapped, wiping the board again and put seven 13s on it in an addition formula, "Addition! This must be solved with addition as well! I refuse to believe this to be true without addition!"

"Sir, I think you…"

"Silence, Yubee!" Humite snapped, "Now solve this, reincarnation!"

"Well…"

"No, no, wait. I shall instead!" Humite declared, "3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21…"

Tucker grabbed the chalk and began to tap on the ones, "22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28!" he wrote 28 at the bottom, "Like I said."

"Oh, how amazing!" Yubee applauded, "Is it not, sir?"

"No no no! It does not add up!"

"Is Tucker outsmarting them? Or just being stupider than them?" Sam asked, "But props to the old bit…"

"Okay…I wrapped the bandages around my body…" Danny sighed as Sam slapped his back and made his bounty hunter's suit expand its helmet, "How did…hah…manual?"

"Yes, now go in there…and lie your skinny butt off," Sam ordered.

"Right, right…Ugh…Tuck so owes me for this."

"ENOUGH!" Humite snapped as he pushed the chalkboard away, "We have let you do what you wanted..now you will do what we say, yes?! We must see that this ritual is successful or else we fail!"

"28."

"...what?"

"You said 28 words in that sentence."

"GAHHHH!"

"So does this mean we do or don't rip his brain out with the hook?" Yubee asked, "We could always start with the stomach."

"...yipe…" Tucker whispered at that.

"Just start anywhere! I cannot handle another moment of this! We must perform the sacrifice to call upon the great god Ra so that Upshii may rule again!"

"Uuuuuuhhhhh…"

"...wh….what was that?" Humite whispered, "Yubee?"

"That…was not me, sir…"

"...The Thep Harusian did not' follow us, did it?"

"No…we would've felt the change in…"

"Uuuuuuhhhh…"

"?!" Tucker and the two Khufan's tense is they slowly looked to the side, seeing a bandaged up individual stepping out of the shadows.

"Who dares interrupt the sleep of Upshii…?"

Both gasped before bowing, "Upshii rises! Upshii rises!"

"Ah man, he came for me himself…" Tucker groaned before squinting, "Wait is…Mmm!" he gasped as he silenced by a hand over his mouth and roughly dragged away and into the shadows.

"Your majesty..how may we assist you?" Humite asked, "We apologize for disturbing your slumber, but we were trying to summon you fo-"

"SILENCE~~~!" 'Upshii' declared, making the two Khufan's flinch, 'Wow…this is kinda fun, no wonder all my enemies talk like something out of Shakespear for no reason,' "Unless you two want to be cursed for eternity for disturbing my slumber, then you must heed my commands~!"

"Y-yes, your lordship yes!" Yubee bowed repeatedly, "What shall you have us do?!"

"We will do anything you say!" Humite added.

"Then I order you…to uh…"

"My lord?"

"Your Lordship must think! I've not had to do such revival things as 'think' in millenia, now I must do so because of your actions!" he declared sharply, making the two Thep Khufan's yelp and hold onto one another, 'I really hope this Upshii doesn't get pissed at me for this…'

"...wh-what of your sacrifice, my lord?" Humite nervously asked.

"I need no such thing, I have no need for a return, who would willingly leave the afterlife?" he argued, 'You know…besides the losers I fight, but good chance a beloved ancient ruler is living the peaceful life in a good place.'

"...so then…you do not want our sacrifice?" Yubee asked.

"I do not!"

"Oh…you hear that? You are f-" Humite began as he and Yabee turned..and saw no trace of Tucker anywhere, "...Yubee?"

"Yes?"

"Where is the one we were going to sacrifice for his majesty?"

"He was…right…AH!"

"YOU LOST HIM?!"

"This all works out. I wanted no sacrifice in my name, I wish to return to my peaceful afterlife." 'Upshii' declared simply.

"Ahh…"

"B…but…"

"No buts!" 'Upshii' declared before turning around as he began to walk off, "I shall go back to my eternal slumber…do not disturb me again."

"Aw Anubis…" both groaned.

'I can't believe this actually worked…I really hope this Upshii guy isn't upset that I used his name and likeness to speak for him…' Danny sighed mentally, not noticing the depiction of Upshii winking at him as he thought that.

---

"AHH!" Makoto freaked as she dove out of the way of Buglizard's lunge, using her hand to cover her mouth from the gas it was emitting, "Mou~ come on! Why ya gotta use the worst one?!"

"Hah!" Khyber roared, swinging a punch that missed and went through a wall, "Grr…your short stature makes this annoyingly difficult!" he growled only to grunt when Mari jumped and began slashing his face.

"Excuse you but my height is not all that odd for a girl from earth!" Noel pouted, aiming Bolverk as a shotgun to Khyber's chest before pulling the trigger and blasting him through the wall he was stuck before Mari jumped back to her shoulder, "From my perspective, you're the weird alien lizard man who's far too tall…"

"RAGH!" Khyber roared as he shot out of the wall, dagger at the ready.

"AHH!" Noel yelped as she ducked under the lunge.

"Where is it?!" Khyber growled, swiping his knife at Noel as she did her best to dodge the series of slashes coming at her, "Why are you not transforming, Godslayer?!"

"What are you…I can't transform…" Noel gasped, dodging swipe after swipe of the giant hunting knife.

"Don't you dare pity me child!" he swung down only to grunt as his arm was stopped, making him and Noel turn to see his arm encased in a bubble of gravity.

"...Touch her…and I use gravity to flip you inside out like a möbius strip…" Gravattack warned as he landed behind Khyber.

"T-Tennyson!" he gawked as he was suddenly flung away and through many walls and stands.

"BEN!" Noel and Makoto gasped.

"Sorry for the delay. Naoto's sense of direction is abysmal," he spoke, grabbing Buglizard midlunge and slamming it into the sand till its muzzle was covered in sand and prevented it from spewing its foul smelling gas, "On the bright side, I did find a nice shop you girls might like for some nicknack shopping." he swung his arm and flung the shapeshifting hunting dog into the air and towards him as he cocked his arm back and coated it in a gravity bubble, "Bad Dog!" he swung and punched it into the ground as gravity intensified and buried it into the sand.

"Ah this way!" Naoto spoke, jumping over a roof, "We beat the bird!"

"It's coming here?!" Makoto snapped.

"Yeah…it sorta changed its mind on who it wanted to kill mid-battle and flew here." Naoto explained.

"I think Khyber is the prey that got away, and it has a record to keep." Gravattack explained, "In short? It wants the crazy hunter who wants me, or rather most of us," he turned to Noel, "I suppose we should work under the theory that they know a lot about all of us."

"Oh dear…" Noel whispered in worry.

"But the question is how?" Gravattack pondered.

"Uh…it sounds like your villains are…friends now." Noel spoke up.

"...Oh no…Not again…" Gravattack groaned, "It's the Negative 10 all over again…"

"You have a Sinister Six!?" Makoto and Naoto gawked.

"Meh…" he shrugged to denote how less than impressive they were in actuality, "Usually not that threatening…"

"Then why does Khyber and whoever else he's working with have one of Noellie's sisters that's working under freakin' Megatron?!" Makoto shouted.

"Wait, what?"

"T-turns out…they know about the Murakumo Units," Noel explained.

"And Megatron adopted one like…what…some sort of Evil Expy of Sari back when she was Optimus's sidekick?" Gravattack asked, making them all pause to think of that.

"That's gonna make the family reunion kinda awkward, huh, Noel?" Naoto muttered.

"Oh…well La-chan and I hoped we'd find them someday…but…well…not like this," Noel sighed.

"We'll get her therapy after we save her from literal Space Evil, but first let's survive this mess." Makoto offered while handing Funkfreed back to Noel.

"R-right th-" Noel began before a loud screech was heard, "!?"

"Ghh…!" Khyber growled as he pushed himself out of the rubble, his beast roaring out as it exploded out of the ground as Slam Worm, "The Thep Harusian…"

"And the killer bird of the frozen ring of hell has found us…" Gravattack sighed.

Another loud screech could be heard, causing everyone to look up and see the Thep Harusian flying straight into the area, its eyes narrowed as multiple icicles began to form around it.

"Um…Mayhaps we utilize a little OmniKix?" Skurd suggested.

"G-" Gravattack began before a giant block of Ice crashed into him, burying him down into the sand.

"B-KYA!" Noel screamed as everyone was now trying to avoid the literal bombardment of ice missiles shooting towards them.

"Grr…you just had to bring it here?" Khyber growled.

"Bring nothing, we beat it here! It still wanted you!" Naoto declared.

"Tch…idiots the lot of you!" Khyber growled, quickly bringing out an energy shield that he used to deflect an incoming ice missile.

"Not like you're one to talk, you're the idiot who let it out!" Naoto grunted as he rushed and punched Khyber, knocking him back.

"I thought the beast had perished!" Khyber growled back, "My informant left out the part that the Thep Harusian was still alive, and when I find that green-haired bastich, I am going to forced him his fedora and chock him with his own chain!"

'Green h-oh god damn it…' Naoto thought, realizing the green haired person he mentioned happened to be a certain snake they fought back at Anur Transyl.

"Grr!" Khyber's beast growled as it turned into Tyrannopede and roared at the Thep Harusian to get its attention before spraying it with webbing. The Thep Harusian's eyes narrowed before it stopped in the air, flapping its wings as the web suddenly hit a thorned barrier of ice.

"It has two sets of wings?!" Makoto gawked.

"Yeah…it can do some crazy stuff in the air." Naoto explained.

"Ben please get up!" Makoto called out.

"Tennyson can't have fallen to such a trivial attack." Khyber frowned only to grunt as the sand under his leg burst as a hand grabbed his leg, "Gah!" he flinched as he stumbled back as the hand lifted him up, revealing it to be Aramodrillo.

"Thanks for the praise, fanboy. Now how about you help chum-chum the dog fight Alien Pet Shop!" he spun his arm and tossed Khyber into Tyranopede's face, making it groan and stumble over a few steps.

The Thep Harusian screeched and dashed for Khyber only to be knocked out of the sky by a headbutt from Tyranopede, making it crash into a random vendor's shop. The alien predator raptor rose up with another screech of anger as it stomped its talons to the ground sending out a wave of ice across the ground that encased everyones legs. Everyone focused on breaking free letting the Thep Harusian fly back up into its domain of the sky. With a flap of its wings it aimed its leg at Khyber as three large icicles formed around them that began growing into massive ice talons before rocketing forward towards the hunter.

"Gah!" Khyber grunted only for his beast to turn into Crabdozer and jump over him to block the attacks.

"This thing really is Petshop 2.0!" Makoto exclaimed as Mari and Funkfreed were trying their best to get the girls free.

"Thanks a lot Khyber…you and your stupid green haired hipster friend just had to drag us into the plot of a manga…and us without a sand bending boston terrier with attitude…" Armodrillo groaned as he smashed the ice and used his piston to send a shockwave to crack the ice around the area.

"Do you just blame your enemies for all your problems?!" Khyber snapped.

"YOU ARE MY PROBLEMS!" Armodrillo snapped back even louder, making Khyber flinch, "Not only do I need to worry about you and Space Pet shop, Zs'Skayr and an evil alt future variant of my friend are on the loose trying to revive space vampires!"

"...I'm going to bloody skin that snake," Khyber growled to himself before quickly using his dagger to block an incoming swipe of the Thep Harusian's talons, his eyes widening a bit as ice began to form on hsi blade before he quickly tossed it to the ground.

The Thep Harusian flew back up into the air, turning around as it prepared its talons once more, targeting Noel this time as it flew faster and faster at her. However it soon gave a surprised squawk, Mari leaping right at its face as she began to claw at it, the predatory avian trying to shake the mink off as it flew about the air.

"Mari!" Noel panicked.

"Hey, pick on someone your own size, you frozen buzzard!" Armodrillo called out grabbing the Thep Harusian in his giant metallic hand as Mari jumped off and climbed his arm to his shoulder before the alien pumped the piston and fired it to launch the alien avian predator flying and crashing into Khyber's dog as it reverted to normal. Armodrillo snorted steam from his helmet as he raised a finger to Mari and gently scratched her chin, "Ah…I've really gotten used to you furry little beast," he sighed.

The Thep Harusian gave a growl like noise as it staggered up, a slight bruise on its chest with a bleeding cut on its face. It noticed the Mink looking back at it…it hurt its face...it made it shed blood for the first time in years. This hurt its pride even more than the two previous targets running away…it was going to eat that furry little freak.

"...?! Ben you m-" Skurd began before the Khyberian Baskurr was tossed right into Armodrillo, sending him crashing into a stall.

The Mink tensed in surprise before quickly jumping back from a talon slash from the Thep Harusian. The mink quickly extended her own claws as she hissed back at the flying predator, who glared back at it as ice formed over its cut.

"Mari!" Noel gasped out, Funkfreed bashing his blade trunk on the ice to try and get her free once more.

"HAH!" Naoto shouted as he kicked up, his legs covered in bloodred energy as he managed to free himself, "Oh no you don't, you g-" he began before grunting when an icicle shot into his shoulder, making him grunt as he shot into a different stand, "GAH!"

"Okay now I'm tired of you!" Armodrillo declared as he flashed into Jetray, he took off into the air as he flew by and smacked the Thep Harusian with his tail making it hiss as he struck the slash over its eye. "This way frosty!" he declared while shooting a neuroshock beam from his tail at its back to get its attention.

The Thep Harusian glared its eyes at him for a moment before it flew straight at Jetray, weaving out of the way of each laser shot before it stopped immediately before him, its beak wide open as icy mist began to form within it.

"..oh you gotta b-" Jetray began before he was sent crashing into the frozen sands below once more, bits of ice covering his face as his eyes were barely closed, "Gah…c-can't see…!"

"T….to…cc-c-c-c-cold…" Skurd shivered, completely frozen to the Omnitrix.

"Skurd…just use Heatblast to melt us out!" he grunted out as he tried to claw the ice away with his hands.

"I c-can't! I'm too c-cold to move!" Skurd shouted.

Mari gave scared chitters and squeaks as she began to run, avoiding the incoming barrage of ice missiles aimed at her as the Thep Harusian gave chase.

"Mari!" Noel called out, swinging Bolverk as she aimed in its default form and began shooting the icicles out of the air.

Mari quickly turned to pounce at the Thep Harusian, only for it to suddenly do a quick barrel roll out of the way, smacking the mink into the side of a wall before it slammed its talons on her, making her cry out with a bit of blood escaping her mouth. Before the mink could move, the predatory bird slammed her into the wall a few times, causing some more blood to spill before it tossed her right into Khyber's beast just as it leapt, causing it to growl out in pain as it lost focus to transform…unaware of some sparks coming off the Nemetrix and Mari as the Mink bounced off the Khyberian Baskurr and flew into a nearby alleyway.

"?! M-AHH!" Noel cried as she was pinned against the wall by the Thep Harusian.

"What…is this bird's deal?!" Naoto grunted as he pulled the icicle out of his shoulder, some blood dripping off it as he let it drop to the sand.

"The Thep Harusian are persistent hunters," Khyber explained, his leg wincing in pain a bit as his earlier injury began to flare back up, "Once they set their eyes on a target…they won't stop until that target is slain to be eaten."

The Thep Harusian screeched, opening its jaw wide only to flinch as it was punched by Makoto and knocked away from Noel. It hissed as it turned around to glare at her only to look up as Jetray even while his eyes were forced shut with ice flew up and began rapid firing his neuroshock beam from his tail into the sand, making a thick layer of sand that hid everyone from the predator. The Thep Harusian screeched and took off after Jetray, deciding to finish one pesky prey off, only to gawk as a green flash came from Jetray's eyes before the ice shattered and twin neuroshock beams slammed into the predator and slammed it into the sand. It was stunned because Jetray chose to harm himself by using his attack while his eyes were near shut in order to melt the ice. The beast was pinned further by the neuroshock beams when Jetray used his optic and tail beams to amplify it and make a powerful ray of green energy that slammed the Thep Harusinan deeper into the sand against its will.

"I don't think Ben's ever used those at max power…" Makoto awed.

"He does tend to go for his physically powerful forms more often than not when he wants to go 'max power,'" Noel agreed before sighing, "I just don't get boys and why they think physical strength is what it's meant to be 'manly' and all that. I prefer a boy who's strong in heart, dang it…"

"Uh…Noel?" Makoto pondered.

"The blood is rushing to my head," Noel explained, "Please hurry. I think I'm starting to see spots."

"Ah! R-Right!" Makoto shook her surprise off as she began to pull the ice spikes keeping Noel pinned to the wall off.

"This is getting most bothersome…At this rate, Tennyson will annihilate the Thep Harusian, good riddance," Khyber scoffed, "But I won't be leaving empty handed," he whistled with his gills as his Khyberian Baskur shook its head and growled as it focused on Noel and Makoto, "Bring me the shorter one. I don't care what you do to the one in your way."

The Khyberian Baskurr growled before changing into Terroranchula, hissing before it fired some electric webs at Makoto, making the Beastkin yelp in surprise as she was stuck to the wall.

"No you…" Naoto began as he approached only for some bola ropes to wrap around him as he fell to the sands, "OH COME ON!"

"Ah…" Noel whispered as her body locked up, seeing Terroanchula approaching her as it clicked its mandibles, 'I…I can't move…' Funkfreed attempted to jump in front of Noel, only for the elephant to get engulfed by webbing from Terroranchula as he cried out in pain from the electricity coursing through it.

"What?" Jetray stopped his attack for a moment, only to hear a screech as the Thep Harusian in a mad rage flew up and tackled him through the air and began clawing and biting at the Aerophibian, "Gah!" he cried out as he tried shooting it off, only for it to refuse to release its talons or beaks grip.

'I…w…what do I do;...?' Noel thought, her fingers refusing to pull the triggers of her guns as Terroranchula hissed at her, approaching her slowly as its eyes glowed menacingly, 'I…I thought…I…I…' she began to pant as she visibly shook, feeling as if she was surrounded by multiple Terroranchulas looming in on her…as if she was a butterfly caught within a spiders web, 'I can't fight it…I….I'm….I'm too scared….' tears began to form in the corner of her eyes, mentally begging for her body to move away from the beast coming to her.

"Come now…there's no reason to be afraid," Khyber assured as he walked up to the side of his beast, "I won't have Tennyson's head…but the head of a godslayer-even though a weak one- makes it all the more deserving…"

"Ah…" Noel cried out as she shivered in fear.

Khyber smirked as his gills flared to whistle, only for him to cry in pain as Mari ran up his back and bit his gills just as he began to do so, the horrible gurgled noise his gills made confused his beast as it stopped to look for an alternate method of command and saw the Mink biting at its master. Mari let go as Khyber's hand shot to his gills as he gasped in pain. The mink leapt off and began crawling over Terroranchula, making the beast panic and revert to its normal form. Mari on instinct alone made her way to its neck and with the best effort she could due to her injuries, moved to bite what she knew was a sensitive area, but forgot of the Nemetrix…and her fangs bit onto the dial as it shifted to a different beast. Just as the Nemetrix was about to activate the Mink's fangs bit down…and found a long since undiscovered chip in its material which formed into a hairline crack in its screen, and caused a powerful red bolt of energy to zap Mari off and slide along the ground next to Noel.

"Mari!" she panicked crouching down to her pet as she trembled from injuries and the sudden shock of bioenergy from the Nemetrix.

"That…gah…" Khyber coughed, "...is one persistent vermin…Very well. It can die with its master…" he gagged from the damage to his gills as his Beast was by his side to defend him, "I'll be fine. Kill them both," he ordered with a snap of his fingers which he turned into a point at Noel, the Khyberian Baskur growled in understanding as it moved to pounce.

"Mari!" Noel called out picking up her pet as she breathed heavily, "Mari! No…please…" she held her beloved first pet close, not noticing the red sparks racing along her body before forming faint dark black marks along her back and up to her forehead.

The Khyberian Baskur growled as it began running and jumped into the air to strike, but a sudden flash of light blinded it before yelping as a massive paw slammed into its body and pinned it into the sand, causing a huge dust cloud to obscure its attacker.

"?! What…" Khyber began before something blurred by, a sudden large gash appearing across his chest from his shoulder as blood spilled from it, "GAH!" he grunted as he staggered back, clutching hand to his bleeding wound as he looked around, "I didn't…even see it…"

The Thep Harusian immediately stopped its attack on Jetray for a moment, tensing up a bit as it got off the Aerophibian and flew up, eying the dust cloud…or rather…what was hidden within it. Extending its wings out, it flapped them hard as it unleashed a large wave of cold air that swept through the area, knocking the dust cloud away...just as a razor sharp silver scale to come shooting towards it at high speed, prompting it to fly up to try and dodge it...only for a second one to shoot by and pierce through one of its wings, making its eyes shoot wide open in pain.

"...Wh…What j-" Noel began as she looked around, only to yelp when something large blurred right in front of her, the webbing-or ropes in Naoto's case- holding Makoto, Naoto, and Funkfreed in place suddenly being torn to shreds.

Standing defensively before her was a large creature that looked to be a mixture of a wyvern and a panther. Its body was covered in a stripped pattern of black and silver colored fur, with silver scales along its underside, matching scales on its three clawed paws with two long bladed chiroptera wing fingers with a red fur covering the membrane between the two bladed wing digits. The same red fur markings formed around the sides of the beast's head just under its yellow eyes and extended to its long pointed feline-like ears, as its jaw was more like an armored hooked beak with multiple tomial teeth as it breathed out to reveal the sharp rows of teeth in its jaw. Its long fur covered tail was black at the base before turning pure silver towards the end, as its 'fur' was flared out revealing them to be sharp scales that matched the appearance of its fur down to a black base and silver tips.

The creature paused and looked down at Noel before moving its head closer…and nuzzling itself into her chest with its eyes closed, the action taking Noel back as this…giant predatory beast was cuddling her. But then she heard what seemed to be a purr and chittering sound from the creature as it continued to do so. Noel moved her hand up to begin scratching its ears as it shook its head along with the scratches happily.

"...m…Mari-chan?" Noel cautiously spoke, earning a light lick from the large panther-like creature, "...MARI-CHAN!"

"No…" Khyber whispered, a bit of worry in his voice as he managed to stand up on one knee, "A Nargacuga…no…this one is different…a new…" he grunted as his chest wound flared, "A new…subspecies…but how…?!"

"That…That's Mari?" Makoto asked as Mari began nuzzling her as well, "Y-You grew big…What has Noel been feeding you?!"

"I don't think it was my special Mink Treats. I think…it happened when she bit the Nemetrix!" Noel realized, "Like when Kevin mutated as a kid, Mari must have absorbed some of the energy of the Nemetrix and…mutated into…this!"

"What?!" Khyber gawked as he looked at his Beast and saw the crack in the Nemetrix, "Blast! That creature actually broke the dial!"

"Good girl…" Noel and Makoto awed at this feat from a tiny injured Mink which was now a Nargacuga it seemed, earning a pleased noise from the Nargacuga.

"It makes no difference we will just match your Nargacuga with ours," Khyber whistled as the Nemetrix sparked but still turned his pet into a Nargacuga as well, only it was pure black in fur and scales, but what surprised them was while both beasts where massive, the regular Nargacuga paused as Mari's form seemed a slight bit larger in scale.

"Wha~?" Makoto blinked, "Mari's is bigger!?"

"Could be the difference between a boy and a girl…" Noel muttered, "Or since Mari was already mutated due to Animo's shannigans…she is therefore a mutated Nargacuga…meaning she has traits the normal ones never had…"

"Bugger…" Khyber realized as Mari spun around and tail slapped his Nargacuga and sent it flying away a good distance, "Double Bugger…"

The Thep Harusian let out an angered screech as it formed multitudes of ice missiles in the air, flapping its wings down as it sent the flurry at Mari, only for the transformed Mink to do a quick turn as her tail swept through the air, causing a large silver cutting wave of air to shoot towards the Thep Harusian as it sliced through all of its ice missiles with ease.

"Ah…" Khyber gawked at that.

"Did she just use Rankyaku with her tail?!" Makoto gawked.

"Well…I'm not fond of saying this, but given the trouble that bird has caused us…" Noel coughed into her hand, "Mari!" she called out as the Nargacuga turned her head to her, "Sic 'em!" she ordered as Mari's eyes flashed from yellow to red as she glared at the Thep Harusian.

Mari jumped forward before raising her head and unleashing an absolutely devastating roar that made the entire area tremble. The Thep Harusian paused as the roar's infrasound caused the predator to pause, an odd unknown feeling washing over it…was this fear? In the time it took to process this feeling, it was pelted by a barrage of the sharp scales from Mari's tail that knocked it out of the air and to the ground. The Thep Harusian screeched, getting up and moving to fly up only to be smashed into the ground from behind by Mari's giant clawed paw.

Mari growled as she lept off and climbed a building before turning and glaring at the avian predator as it slowly got up once more. It flew up and aimed multiple ice missiles at Mari only for its eyes to widen as, with a roar, Mari's fur bristled and shimmered before…she vanished. The predatory bird of the Anur system stopped and flapped in the air as its icicles were left to fall to the ground due to loss of concentration.

The Thep Harusian looked around, its unmatched eyes looking every which way it could as it kited through the air. It snapped its head to the right, suddenly spotting kicked up sand, but no sign of the beast. It snapped its head the other way hearing sharp scales scratching a building. The avian predator turned its head again hearing the clatter of roofing tiles on a building and once more nothing, but in a moment a shimmer of light made its eyes widen as Mari was already leaping through the air and pouncing on the Thep Harusian and slamming it into the ground. Mari roared as she bit down and grabbed the annoying predator at the base of its neck and began whipping her head around before tossing the would-be predator into a stand.

The Thep Harusian's eyes snapped open as they became bloodshot and formed a red ring around its pupil. It screeched in rage as multiple ice spikes exploded from the ground and towards Mari, who just spun around and with a swing of her tail sliced through the ice and in the same action 'slashed' the Thep Harusian making it squawk in shock as a thin cut formed on its body. The Thep Harusian gawked in shock at the wound as it looked at Mari who growled and bared her teeth. The Thep Harusian screeched and moved to attack only to flinch as multiple bladed scales were launched from Mari's tail and several scratches formed on its face making it slowly trickle blood. Mari growled as she stomped on the ice and crunched it under her paws as she stalked closer and closer. For the first time in its life since its master…it was cornered…cornered by a more powerful predator. This…this made it feel angry inside that this…thing was able to make it feel actual fear. Flapping its wings, the Thep Harusian quickly kicked up a dust cloud as it flew up, shooting right into the sky as ice formed on its opened wounds…The next time it'd see that damn furry freak…it was going to make her pay.

"...shit…" Naoto whispered as he, Funkfreed, and Jetray looked on with wide eyes with the elephant's tiny eyes bulging out like needles and his jaw literally dropped to the sand beneath them, "That bird beat all of us…and Mari just beat it like it was nothing…"

"Well of c-course…" Skurd shivered as he was finally thawing, "The Nargacuga are the Apex Predator of Liam's species…their kind hunt and eat all kinds of avians…but are heavily endangered due to their pelts making for highly optimal stealth armor."

"...And Mari just became a new subspecies of it which ended up beating the original," Jetray finished as he changed back into Ben.

"Well…I'll tell you one thing," Naoto spoke.

"What's that?" Makoto asked.

"Not it on telling Tetrax and Gluto about the bigger passenger they've got now," Naoto replied as he pointed at Mari…who turned over onto her back and wagged her tail happily all while Noel was babying the big beast and scratching her stomach as best she could.

"Who's a big strong Mari who scared the scary ice bird off? You are~! Oh, yes you are~!"

"Noellie…you just keep getting the best pets ever…of all time…" Makoto was still in awe of all that transpired.

"Don't worry, Makoto, we'll find you a pet magic squirrel yet!" Noel smiled.

"Don't you patronize me, you adorable goofball…" Makoto muttered.

"So…how is Mari gonna fit in her warm little nest when we get home?" Ben asked as Mari's eyes widened at that, the Nargacuga flipping over and giving a worried look to the three, "Ah you're just like your owner, an adorable goofball, huh?" he smiled, scratching Mari to help calm her down.

"Oh…I suppose in the relief we beat the bird, I forgot Mari's now a much bigger girl than before," Noel muttered, "Maybe…we can invest in a pet house…or a stable?" she looked at Ben, "P-Please?"

"Aw man…I gotta build it, don't I?" Ben sighed as Mari joined in the pleading eyes, followed by Funkfreed, "Ah…why do I gotta help spoil the pets so much? At this point, they're all our pets you know…"

"Hey woah now…I am not taking them for walks…" Naoto held his arms up, "I am just a roommate, the pets just tolerate me, they like you." Mari shrugged her head at that, "Well you don't have to agree with me," she complained as the Nargacuga chuffed in laughter.

=Hey guys? Everything okay over there?= Sam's voice went off from the communicator, prompting Makoto to answer.

"Yeah. Just finished dealing with Khyber and…well you might want to give Tetrax a heads up," the Beastkin informed, the group unaware of Khyber limping away into an alleyway.

=Why? What happened?= Danny asked.

=...You're not bringing that freaky ice bird on here, are you?!= Tucker exclaimed.

"Oh good. They rescued you, Tuck," Makoto smiled a bit, "And no. It's Mari. She just…went through a growth spurt."

=Really? Huh…always thought she was smaller than the normal mink her age= Sam noted =Good on her=

"Not…what I mean…"

=?=

---

"I…grr…can't believe this…" Khyber growled as he and his beast limped down a shadowed alley between shops, "First that Green haired human looking little piece of trash uses me as bait for that bloody Thep Harusian, and then Tennyson and his…pack of freaks show up and I get no treasure…" he growled, holding up some feathers, "And this hardly feels worth it after all the trouble it took…" he tapped his belt buckle, "Shockwave…if you'd be so kind as to get me a portal back to my hunting blind…"

=Of course..I take it you were not successful in your mission?=

"No…and I'm going to wring Terumi's neck the next time I see him…" Khyber growled out, coughing up a bit of blood as his chest wound flared up once more.

=That seems to be an ever growing line…= he sighed =Alright…I'm forming the Space Bridge. Do be careful in transit, Albedo shall be sent to repair detected damage to the Nemetrix. I shall report on the problems caused by Terumi once again=

"Please do…" Khyber grunted as a portal opened before him, 'Next time, Tennyson….next time your head is mine…along with that 'Godslayer'...' he thought as he limped into the portal, his beast following behind him as it quickly closed.

---

SZ: REALLY sorry we took so long with this chapter…and haven't updated any stories in a long while.

Z0: Technically not true. But also I keep advocating we stop posting chapter to chapter.

SZ: True.

Z0: I got nothing to say, we got life and etc and etc, anyway hope you folks enjoy.

SZ: Hai. This arc and the current arc of GSESS are still going strong, so be sure to look forward to more.

GT: Eeyup. So enjoy this and the other chapters that get posted with this, folks! Please Read and Review each one, too!

Z0: Yep, now drop the bomb! *points to cartoon bomb above our heads* What you thought I wouldn't destroy things for once, hahahaha! Ah…no, drop it.

SZ: Dropping it.*hits button on the side of the wall, causing the bomb to drop as a large explosion covered the screen*