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.

104. 10 Brains Later

SZ: Welp..time for some more spooky stuff..but now its original

GT: Indeed! Where shall our escapades occur? Read and find out~

Z0: *kicks door in with arm fulls of horror movies* Let the Research begin! *activates giant wall TV* I'm going to instill fear of everything in you guys.

SZ:...Eep. also ironic as of writing this..its december..meaning..Christmas time.

GT: Yep. Meaning we still have one spooky scary folk who comes if you're naughty: Krampus.

Z0: He's not welcome in the Z0 home. He knows what he did! And I still have the horn I broke off as a reminder! 12 year old me was not to be messed with.

GT: …Yeah…We don't own the usual. So let's start!

Z0: Wait…what if one of you is the Krampus in disguise? *suddenly covered in war paint and decked out in giant combat knives* Prepare for holiday combat imposters, *draws giant knife* Destroy the Krampus! *fight cloud knocks over the screen*

SZ: Ahh! Not again!

GT: Z0, no! He's needed to keep kids in line!

---

"So it was the Growth rate setting," Tetrax mused as they all returned and explained what happened, "Here it is. Azmuth told me that the Omnitrix has a setting to help certain Aliens reach full maturity. It can often have side effects, such as untold effects on the user. Or even influencing other aliens' growth rates."

"So it's not just for like what happened with Big Chill," Ben nodded.

"Yes, it could mean some of your aliens have grown to their next stage of adulthood as well." Tetrax went on.

"Come to think of it, when I met my future self when I was 10, his Heatblast had two miniature volcanoes on his shoulders and was a lot more buff," Ben recalled, "Hoo boy…I am not looking forward to what side effect that's gonna have on my human self."

"Well not all of them shall have…that…effect," Tetrax noted, "I think because Methnosians are a plant-like life form the biologic effect reacted as those…growths."

"I'm still not looking forward to this new setting…I'm sure Azmuth installed it to bug me…" Ben sighed.

"Either that or he did it on purpose for the Omnitrix before you got it so that the one who 'walks in their shoes' can better experience what the alien forms do as they mature," Makoto noted, earning a raised brow from Ben, "What? Occam's Razor."

"You know, you could show that weirdly diverse military schooling more," Ben pointed out.

"But then people would expect me to be clever," Makoto pouted, "You already proved to people you can lead a team to total victory before; you just let yourself be seen as a jerk so they stop expecting the 'Noble Wise Leader' bit."

"And it works. Tsubaki does my job for me," Ben smirked.

"I feel like if I ever told her you could be an effective leader and choose not to so as to maintain low expectations, she'd have some sort of anger induced breakdown…" Noel muttered.

"Which is why we're not telling her." Makoto smiled.

"Oh you know I'm terrible at lying to her…I get all nervous and, in the worst case, I get all giggly and she knows I'm hiding something," Noel complained.

"It's not a lie if you never say anything," Makoto countered.

"Lies by omission are still lies, Makoto!" Noel cried back as she could feel the stress building already.

"Huh…well then in that case I've lied my tail off to her for years," Makoto shrugged.

"Mari, calm down snuggles," Ben sighed, the mutated mink making an affirming squeak as she proceeded to snuggle into Noel from her position around her master's neck, "Just snuggle with the mink, Noel."

"Mmm…"

"Oh don't stress, you'll be fine. It's not like I'm gonna need to go Leader Mode again anytime soon after this adventure," Ben assured.

"Oh, he put it out there…extra snuggle time…" Noel groaned as she walked away a bit, letting Funkfreed shift to full elephant to pet her head with his trunk in affection to help calm her.

"So anyway," Ben muttered, "What's our gameplan now? We have to deal with Dark Dan, Zs'Skayr, and most of this freaky systems nonsense like the Sentient Magic Pumpkin men…" he motioned to one which saluted him while holding a tray of drinks, "I think I like having goons…"

"We need to take seeds home," Makoto admitted, "Guard Pumpkins to eat the creeps who try to spy on us and give the adorable pets a break from that job."

"I do dislike Funkfreed sitting on so many creeps…it's going to give him some kind of rash from touching them," Noel spoke up, causing Funkfreed to let out a bashful noise from his owner's kindness, "Aw~ You know I'll take care of you. You're my…well…I was going to say 'fluffy,' and while you are cuddly, it's mostly from the routine of polishing in your normal form and moisturizer for your elephant form. Oh~ Cuddly Boy."

"See this? This is why she's allowed to keep magical pets," Ben pointed out, "But Magical Pumpkin Goons? Gonna take some time to sell to the others."

"They did learn how to make drinks fast," Makoto pointed out, "Their tea is pretty good."

"Yes, but I believe we're getting off track," Skurd spoke up, "We have revived spectral fiends on the loose alongside a trauma and a former military superior of Makoto's that are working together with little to no idea of their plans aside from Dan's 'kill everyone I see and don't see' one."

"Yeah, the weird lime-haired hipster and Miss Psycho Panda," Ben muttered, "What's their stake in freeing those losers?"

"Whatever it is…probably nothing good," Makoto replied, "Especially if Zs'Skayr needed that Alpha Rune…and it probably has to do something with the Vladats."

"Do we even know how bad that is?" Ben asked.

"All sources say they are super predators who fed off Anur's other life forms for centuries 'till their extermination." Tetrax spoke.

"Well, how many could they even bring back? Magic sure as heck can't do it. So what…cloning?" Ben asked, "Where would they even find a sample? Their world is so dead nothing organic can exist on it."

"Think about it, Ben," Sam spoke up, "If these guys fed on all the other races in this system, it means there could be traces of them somewhere on one of the planets."

"To quote a classic: Life always finds a way," Tucker noted, "If there's traces of their existence on the other planets here, there may very well be traces of their DNA there, too. Fossils, teeth, bones…anything, really."

"Oh my god, Zs'Skayr's doing Jurassic Park with space vampires…" Ben realized.

"Oh that's totally not nightmare fuel," Makoto whispered with wide eyes.

"And just like the sequels, everything is looking down…" Skurd replied, "Three and it's nonsense. Stupid incorrect spinosaurus…" he mumbled silently to himself.

"Maybe that's what he was planning, Necromancy to bring one back," Makoto muttered with a tremble, "Brr…so creepy to think of, but now he has to default on the Jurassic Park logic."

"Well I left the…we gotta name these guys later," Ben sighed, referencing the Pumpkin Monsters, "But I ordered the entire pumpkin patch to try and raid his castle, so with any luck they are annoyed."

---

"KIDS HELP DADDY!" Monokuma cried as several Pumpkin monsters dragged him through a broken and poorly barricaded window. One pumpkin monster grabbed a hand rake and used it to actually claw at Monokuma's face, "YEOW! What is wrong with you freaks!? Why are you attacking us?! We're on your side!"

The Monsters paused before one grabbed a rock and used it to bash Monokuma's giant head, earning multiple loud squeak sounds.

"KIDS!" Monokuma shouted as one began hitting him with a big stick.

"Oh! Uh… C-Coming, father!" Monophanie shouted as she ran…before she ran back over and began to vomit up rainbow-tinted vomit, "Bleagh~! Too scary…"

"Don't worry, dad! I'll save ya!" Monotaro shouted as he jumped up, pulling out a few shurikens as he began to toss them, "Shuriken storm!"

However…the shurikens didn't seem to have any effect as they just embedded in the pumpkin creature's body.

"...uh oh. That d-AHH!" Monotaro yelped as he was dragged into it.

"Hey, that ain't how you take care of plants!" Monokid shouted…before grabbing Monodom, pressing something on him as his arms were replaced with buzzsaws, "Ya gotta fucking snip 'em…with buzzsaws! ...From the bottom up, too! Hehehehehe~" he laughed sinisterly as he 'snipped' Monodom for good measure.

The monsters tensed at that before they began to run, tossing up Monotaro and parts of Monokuma into the air as a cackling Monokid chased after the pumpkin creatures.

"What is wrong with those things!?" Monokuma snapped.

"Father, you're shaking your leg at them, not your paw," Monophanie pointed out, working on gathering his scattered parts…before his paw flipped and punched himself in the red eye, "Wrong limb again."

"Grrr….just…please hurry up before this fluff spawns into yet another mouth to feed…" Monokuma grumbled.

"This is oddly almost as entertaining as burning down armies," Dark Dan laughed while watching from the ceiling rafters, the Mono-kazoku looking up at the source of laughter, "If you're wondering what's wrong with the Halloween props, looks like Ben's gotten stronger and can now subjugate sentient plant life to his will. So good going, your master's scheme powered him up, and I honestly mean that, thank you. Now this will be fun!"

"Well you're not welcome! Your job is supposed to make him submit to Despair!" Monokuma snapped his mangled body hopping in anger.

"Despair…? HAHAHAHAHAH! Ah…oh Pooh Bear…no one can break that guy, trust me. In my timeline? I tried. If you hurt him…you just awaken Phase 2, and that's when things get intense~" Dark Dan smirked, "So go ahead and keep trying; all you'll do is make it so I have a good day."

"What do you mean Phase 2?! What could that even be? Do you mean he's…really…never…gotten…serious? Hoo boy…" Monokuma realized.

"Serious Ben is scary, that's a Ben who's done following the rules. That's a Ben who stops holding back all those crazy super powers, who takes a shot with the intent to put someone down," Dark Dan explained, "Do you wanna know what he did to Vilgax in my timeline…or even worse, to the likes of Aggregor…or Kevin? See, in my timeline? He stopped being so nice. It's why we always had fun, I'd kill someone, he'd come at me intent to kill, in the end we wasted so much energy all we could do was…crawl off to recover and repeat."

"Why didn't you tell us that?!" Monokuma snapped, "Do you know what my creator did to his girlfriend?!"

"Oh yes, I do, and I can't wait to see what happens if she pushes the button~" Dark Dan smirked, "I want those good old times back!"

"Oh wow…you're just…pure evil…" Monokuma muttered, "No complex thoughts in that flaming scalp of yours, huh?"

"Not a one, monochrome butt. Well…unless you count varying methods of how to slaughter varying amounts of those beneath me," Dark Dan shrugged, "I mean, there are so many ways I could cause pain and suffering with peeling the skin. There's a rather niche art to it. Where to start, where to finish it, how to keep the blood from staining it-now that one's the trickiest bit if you start from the tip of the skull down even with ghost powers letting me just make the skin intangible to make the blood fall right off it-, and that's not even going into what you can do with that skin. Hang it, fill it with something and a ghost duplicate to trick others out of hiding to enjoy the hunt, turn into leather for upholstery and furniture to blow up later…"

"...s…so gorey…" Monophanie whispered as she fainted…before she began vomiting up rainbow colored oil into the air.

"...And she came from you?" Dark Dan asked, "Yeesh…What aspect of you did that one come from?"

"I don't know! I was made by an insane girl with multiple personalities and extreme psychosis!" Monokuma snapped, "For all I know, this is the normal girl aspect."

"Then what would make the Four Stooges over there?" Dark Dan questioned as he thumbed at the other Monokubs...with Monokid throwing down Monodom as he stood on top of a pile of torn up vines and pumpkin pieces, Monotaro knocked out nearby while Monosuke rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Oh that's easy! Chaos loving…"

"WHOO HOO! I GOT A ROCK HARD RAGER!" Monokid declared.

"STOP IT!" Monosuke snapped.

"Smart and no nonsense…"

"What happuh? Where am I?" Monotaro blinked as he woke up, "Did we free father?"

"Forgetful and jumping headfirst into danger…" Monokuma paused once he looked at Monodom, "...silent side that doubles as a tool."

=!?=

"...Right…" Dark Dan muttered.

"Hey, what do you expect?! I'm chaotic evil!" Monokuma argued.

"More like annoying nonsense," Dark Dan spoke, rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well…" Monokuma began before the Pumpkin monsters returned and grabbed him and most of his kids and began trying to drag them through holes in the window too small for their heads, "YOU IDIOTS! THEY CAME BACK!"

"OH NO~!" several of them screamed.

=...= Monodom shrugged.

---

"Okay, so we got some rest. Tuck, is Danny feeling better?" Ben asked as he and Tetrax worked to repair Ben's damaged laser gun.

"Uh…last I checked, he was still sleeping like a baby." Tucker explained, "Whatever Gluto gave me to use on him was crazy strong, I don't think he'll wake up 'till his body says he's at full power."

"He has been staying up all night for a few days," Sam noted, "Several of his roster kept showing up late at night."

"Yikes…" Ben cringed at that.

"What do you do when you have to do all nighters?" Tucker asked.

"I just sleep all day," Ben explained, "No school thanks to a bet with Tsubaki she lost. My job is being a hero, so unless something happens I just walk around town. And that's if I'm not sent on a random mission for the Plumbers. Plus all my friends do the same thing as me, and my girlfriend is my work partner…my life is pretty much fine, secret identities only offer privacy. But…" he motioned to Mari as she used her razor sharp blades to shred some ingredients for Noel, "We have super pets…Anyone tries to bother us, they wake up in the hospital. Also one time a creep walked up to the wrong person's window…and now they have scars all over their body. And, by the way, I was the one who stopped further damage…"

"...Who was the…?" Sam began.

"I promised I wouldn't say because they get embarrassed by the memory."

"I think that's all we will get," Tucker muttered.

"Probably for the best then…" Sam muttered, "Too many to even take a good guess on."

"Yeah…" Tucker nodded before looking at Ben, "So what's the game plan once we're all rested up?"

"Pursuit Zs'Skayr and Dark Dan, find whatever they'll be looking for next since the Alpha Rune is gone, and stop 'em dead in their tracks," Ben spoke, "Which, given they might want dead alien vampire parts…I think we can classify this as either an Indiana Jones or Laura Croft style mission."

"And me without my sunglasses and short-shorts…" Makoto muttered jokingly.

"With how flexible Funkfreed is, I think he can become a bladed whip…" Noel noted.

"Why are you two looking at me?" Ben asked as Makoto and Noel were doing exactly that, "I don't have a cool hat, nor am I careful enough to be an archaeologist. I do have random specific phobias though…"

"But seeing you run around dressed like a cool adventurer would be hot~" Makoto teased.

"Maybe next time," Ben chuckled, "But we're already dressed for a Star Wars adventure. Wait 'till we get home and have to go spelunking in ruins."

"I'll hold you to that," Makoto smirked.

"Not me, thank you. I know what you'll find in those, probably another God of Death Ben will box to a standstill, nope! I'd rather stay…home..and…" Skurd began to trail off before looking around, "...who smells like roses?"

"Wait, what?" Sam blinked at that.

"I detect the faint scent of roses about," Skurd stated, "And I know for a fact this planet has no flora on here."

"Huh…" Sam sniffed the air, "Huh…Are those Mister Lincoln roses?"

"Who's Mr. Lincoln?" Noel asked.

"No, no. That's the name of the rose," Sam explained, earning surprised looks, "...What? I have a greenhouse and grow them with my fruits and vegetables."

"I just didn't expect that," Makoto muttered.

"Ooh…that sounds so pretty~" Noel awed.

"Well just 'cause I like dark colors doesn't mean I hate colors. It just has to be natural colors, not pastel blindingly bright pink…" Sam muttered.

"Do you like Roses 'cause the red ones are red like blood?" Makoto asked.

"You guys get me and I appreciate that," Sam smiled proudly.

"Hm…at least one of you understands it."

"?!" the group jumped up in surprise as they quickly turned, seeing Rachel sitting at an already set up and decorated table as Valekhayn finished prepping up some tea for her.

"What the…?" Tetrax gawked, "How did…why didn't the…Gluto?" several frantic noises came from the stunned gelatinous alien, "...It's magic, isn't it? Really need to invest in some runic engravings for that…"

"Hmph…even then it would be too easy, Petrosapien," Rachel stated as she took a sip of her tea, "..still..it has been a long while, has it not, Ben Tennyson?"

"Wait…you know her?" Tucker blinked as he and Sam looked at Ben.

"We've met a good number of times, she's more familiar with our buddy Ragna than us, but yes, this is Rachel," Ben introduced, "She's an actual…well I guess technically it's accurate to say she's the Mythical Vampire we think of, and not an odd alien species with a lot in common with the concept." he explained, "Oh…also she's in charge of something that controls time itself and if left unchecked…could delete reality. So don't upset the nice Vampire girl."

"It's best you don't~" Nago purred as he poked up from the table with Gii.

"Yeah. The princess doesn't like it when people act rude about her and n-" Gii began before Rachel literally kicked the two out of the table and into the metal wall, causing them to flatten themselves against it,"GAh!...princess…" he whimpered as the two slid down.

"...then…who's the old dude?" Tucker cautiously asked as he motioned to Valkenhayn…who was already in the kitchen cooking something.

"Valkenhayn, her butler and…before you jump the gun, shares the same last name as a certain monster hunter," Ben explained.

"What, you mean like Van Helsing?" Sam questioned.

"You guessed it." Ben smirked, "If you want to ask, you can ask, I stopped getting worked up over it. My girlfriend is from the future and one part magic and another part magical squirrel."

"All Beastkin have magic within them, young master Tennyson," Valkenhyn informed as he walked in, putting down a plate with a fancy looking pastry on it, "Some choose to use it in one way or another, whether its by tapping into their natural instincts…or to put it into their livelihood and passion."

"That's interesting and all, but that doesn't explain why you two…" Tetrax began.

"We're here too…" Nago and Gii raised a paw/wing up.

"Are here on my ship for a surprise tea party."

"My lady is taking a break from searching for something," Valkenhyne explained as he pulled out a small pocket watch from his front pocket, "It is her tea time and she's often irked if she misses a second of it…"

"Searching for something?" Noel repeated.

"...if it's the Alpha Rune, we already took care of that pr-" Ben began.

"I am not looking for a piece of Legerdomain," Rachel informed as she put her cup of tea down, "This is something different…different enough to make me leave my home and pause in my duties…"

"Hah…this is either some end of the world events that need to be halted or some Elder god level nonsense is awakening isn't it?" Ben groaned.

"Incorrect on both," Rachel stated, making Ben blink in surprise, "This…thing I am searching for…" her eyes narrowed for a moment, "They share the same magical energy as mine…"

"Wait, what?" Makoto blinked.

"And before you assume no...it is not the Vladits you are trying to prevent from coming back," Rachel stated, "The one I felt…its not some poultry copy or anything…it feels exactly like mine. Which can only mean one thing…" she glared straight at Ben, "You messed with something involving your Chronosapien form, didn't you Ben Tennyson?"

"Have I shown you the video game room filled with games that shouldn't exist yet?" Ben asked, "I mean that's a broad question, cause we have an entire storage complex with things I have time hacked up that either don't exist yet, or should not exist within this timeline."

"I am aware of what thing you possess…be thankful I haven't given you a proper punishment yet," Rachel warned.

"Is it because I unintentionally deal with your actual work most times?" Ben asked, making her turn her head away, "Yeah…I do your work for you most times don't I?"

*BZZT!*

"Well no need to get rude cause I got it right." Feedback huffed as the Omnitrix auto-activated.

"...you irk me just as much as that foul mouthed red mutt does…" Rachel muttered.

"It's an acquired skill when you do all the actual work for people." Feedback sighed, "You can either do your own job or admit you let the unlucky hero do all the heavy lifting." he put his hands on his hips, "And I am many things, rude, crass, selfish, hyper violent, but at least do my job."

"..."

"Well at least he's honest about it." Valkenhyne chuckled.

"...mmm. Yes I suppose…" Rachel whispered before clearing her throat lightly, "But alas, I believe we are getting off track. This…person who seems to possess the same magical energy as mine."

"Well we did have a real weird time out in the multiverse…twice…" Feedback muttered, "I'm positive someone who polices that would have shown up to tell us something if another interdimensional visitor was here. Let alone an alternate version of you…"

"...?!" Rachel's seemed to widen slightly upon hearing that, "...that's…then why…"

"Well…unless he's trolling us for fun…" Feedback sighed, "I don't even think we could call him to complain. He'd just send a boot into someone's face."

"No. not that," Rachel stated as she got up, "Valkenhayn, we're leaving."

"Milady?"

"I'm suddenly not in the mood for tea," Rachel stated, making her two familiars tense up in fear.

"Oh its totally the alternate version one huh?" Feedback sighed.

"Given her reaction, yes," Skurd replied as Rachel summoned a rose-colored portal.

"If you encounter anything out of the ordinary, let me know," Rachel stated to the group as she and her servants headed towards the portal.

"Wait, but wh-" Noel began.

"I cannot assist," Rachel informed, "As a watcher, I cannot interfere unless I am needed if the situation is dire."

"So what the heck do we do now?" Makoto asked.

"Well it's not like we can ignore Zs'Skayr and Evil future Danny, we should focus on them, then keep an eye out for another unexpectedly powerful vampire girl." Feedback groaned flashing back into Ben, "Given our luck either that literally happens after we finish…or within the next hour."

"Indeed," Rachel agreed just as the portal vanished.

"So now we need to keep an eye out on a lost vampire girl from another dimension." Makoto noted.

"Mmm…I guess we can't say that is the weirdest request we've ever gotten…" Noel muttered.

"Tell me about it," Ben muttered, "Remember when she had us go with Valkenhayn for some ingredients for a very specific Croissant? That was a crazy evening…"

"We were practically up all night," Makoto added.

"Well like Ben said…with our luck, we'll run into her by pure happenstance." Noel sighed in acceptance of fate and its normal patterns.

"Well hopefully we can find this girl before the Lords of Dread find 'em," Sam stated.

"Find who?" the group turned to see Naoto walking right into the room, "Did I miss anything?"

"Magical vampire lady asked us to keep an eye out for her alternate dimension doppelganger who might be walking around." Ben explained.

"..."

"You asked." Makoto pointed out.

"We told you." Sam nodded.

"It's still not the weirdest thing ever." Noel shrugged.

"..."

"...Naoto, wh-" Ben began before Naoto grabbed him, "?!"

"Where?" Naoto asked in a serious tone.

"Woah dude!" Tucker exclaimed as Makoto and Noel pulled out their respective weapons, Tetrax standing in a defensive position.

"Dude, I'm gonna need you to let go." Ben calmly replied with a bit of a groan. "Come on, just let go its starting to hurt through the suit." he gently tapped his arms.

"Not even a flinch…" Tucker muttered.

"Eh Vilgax is worse." Ben replied, "Now I'm gonna need you to let me go. Or this will get awkward, cause I…am in desperate need of a restroom break."

"...sorry. Just…lost my nerve there for a moment," Naoto sighed as he let go of Ben.

"Dude, you grabbed him by his shirt…that's more than losing a nerve," Tucker pointed out.

"Meh…Jin's worse." Ben replied with a shrug, "I once had ice spears aimed at very delicate places due to one off hand remark."

"Ben, I don't know how you're not the scariest person in a room at any given time…" Naoto sighed.

"Only if I need to be, so…what's up? Did that really weird sentence strike a cord or something?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. It's just…" Naoto began as he looked away.

"...this has to do with that girl you're looking for, isn't it?" Tetrax asked, earning the others' attention, "While the rest of you were in the castle, me and Naoto were talking…and he brought this girl of his up."

"...Wait, then that means your girlfriend is the alternate dimension doppelganger of Rachel…" Makoto muttered, "Meaning…your world is a parallel to…our original timeline," she motioned to herself and Noel, "Also meaning…you must have a doppelganger here as well…"

"Important, but not the main point." Noel whispered.

"Right-right!" Makoto nodded.

"Your girlfriend is an all powerful magic vampire girl?" Ben asked, "Respect…"

"Yeah, well…" Naoto paused as he rubbed the back of his head a bit, "We…had our own struggles getting to that point…including me dying to and fighting that bastard Valkenhayn to protect her."

'Oooh~!' Ben, Makoto and Noel mentally winced at that last part, meaning that the Valkenhayn he knew…was a bad guy, so chances were he'd go after the one that was Rachel's faithful butler.

"Wait, you died!?" Tucker exclaimed.

"How do you think I got my powers?" Naoto questioned as his hair flashed white while coating his fist in blood-red energy, "It was part of a pact I made with Raquel so I could fight and protect her from assassins and stuff."

"Wait…so does that mean you're…part Vampire?" Sam asked.

"Eh, we came from a time of magic nonsense and sci-fi weirdness to the point both meld into one. If his world is like ours, he's probably more complicated than that." Makoto explained.

"Kinda considering I've been isekaid to said world," Naoto admitted, "Also know the freaky part, Makoto?"

"What?"

"Don't take it the wrong way, but…you kinda remind me of my aunt Yuki."

"...in what regard?"

"Brown hair, hard to tell her actual age…" Naoto listed…before muttering, "Has a figure that practically attracts attention."

"Oh~"

"Huh…" Noel muttered, "I guess our worlds are parallels…"

"Guess so," Ben nodded, "So we basically got an alternate version of Rachel out there somewhere…in basically Space Transylvania so we need to hurry and find her before Zs'Skayr and Dark Dan f-"

"Naoto left the moment the realization hit in," Skurd spoke up.

"Times like this I wish I cursed…" Ben sighed.

"I mean we're not on Earth." Sam argued.

"Nope. It's a personal rule thing, Babe…you have no such rule, if you'd please?" Ben turned to Makoto.

"After that white-haired goober!" Makoto declared

"I'll get the net gun." Sam sighed walking towards the armory.

"I'll go check on Danny," Tucker sighed as he walked off.

"Lets go!" Ben spoke as he, Makoto and Noel ran off to chase their friend before he did something potentially stupid.

*RUMBLE!*

"?!" the trio tensed up as they felt the ship was beginning to move, "..."

"...Gluto…." Tetrax began.

"!"! #!E!?" Gluto tensed as he rushed off into the pilot room, "2! $!$"

"Sorry! Need to use the ship!" Naoto shouted.

"Do you even know how to pilot this thing?!" Tucker panicked.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ben panicked.

"Ahh! Stop him!" Makoto panicked.

"Oh dear…" Noel whispered with wide eyes.

---

"Okay! Round…er…whatever!" Monotaro declared as he and the Monokubs posed on a rooftop of a house near the Omni-Team's ship, "Let's see what info we can snatch from these guys….er…right?"

"Ugh! Yes!" Monosuke groaned.

"And chaos some fuckin' chaos!" Monokid laughed, "Emphasis on the F-"

"Oh! Profanity!" Monophanie exclaimed.

=...?!= Monodom tensed as he saw the ship beginning to take off, prompting him to shake his siblings.

"Wait..AHH! THEY'RE LEAVING?!" Monotaro gawked.

"THE FUCK?!" Monokid snapped.

"OH NO! FATHER W-!" Monophanie began.

"JUST GET ON BEFORE THEY LEAVE!" Monosuke snapped as he kicked all four of his siblings off the rooftop, "Ugh…freakin' idiots…!"

As the yellow Monokub landed, the five began to rush for the ship, reaching out for an opening in the ship as it began to close up…all while the Monokubs screamed while Monodom had a panicked expression in his optics.

---

"SNkr! Huh….wha…" Danny muttered as he sat up, yawning as he stretched, "Geez…what's all that screaming…?"

"Danny!" Sam's voice shouted, snapping him fully awake as she quickly ran in, "Oh thank god you're awake…"

"Wh-why? What's going o-woah!" Danny yelped as the ship began to rock.

"Something happened, Naoto is going a little crazy, and taking the ship to find his magical vampire girlfriend from another reality…" Sam paused to take a breath, "All hands on deck, we could use an overshadow to stop him so we can regain control of the ship before we crash into something!"

"What did I sleep through!?" Danny panicked, "Also hey…I feel a lot better…"

"That's good but again, I need your help!" Sam exclaimed before holding onto the doorway when the ship began to rock once more.

"Dude, I don't think we're on planet anymore!" Tucker's voice exclaimed.

"I know! She has to be on another planet within this solar system!" Naoto argued.

"Dude I get your worried, but you're kinda out of control right now!" Ben exclaimed, "I mean you flew through an asteroid field…and nicked the ship a few times!"

"Sam, open the door before he crashes into those spooky web things all over this place!" Danny panicked.

"On it!" Sam replied as she quickly opened the door, Danny quickly rushing out as he transformed as phased through the wall.

"Dude we're approaching a meteor! Dude we're approaching a meteor!" Tucker panicked as Danny phased into the cockpit, Naoto-despite Gluto trying to pry him away- doing his best to pilot the ship as it was flying through a large asteroid belt…with the ship currently heading towards a meteor.

"I see it! I'll activate the ship's drill so we can reach the planet!" Naoto argued.

"#QR# R T T!" Gluto gurgled in a panicked tone.

"This isn't an anime!" Ben and Makoto panicked.

"N-Naoto please slow down!" Noel begged as Mari and Funkfreed hugged her in fright.

"I can get this! Just need t-" Naoto began before his body tensed up, his eyes glowing green, "Okay! I g-AHH!" he panicked in Danny's voice before moving, the ship flying right up as it began to avoid the incoming meteor.

"Oh good we're moving so much smoother…Danny that you?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. It's me," D-Naoto replied, "Seriously, I woke up to something screaming…was not expecting Naoto to suddenly flip like that…also missed a lot."

"We…We'll cover everything, just please keep piloting, you are much better at it." Ben sighed as Gluto gave a nod and gurgle of relief, "At least until a point you can hand it over to Gluto and we can sit down and talk about this…"

"Yeah…good idea," D-Naoto sighed.

"This is actually really impressive," Noel noted, "Danny you're a natural pilot."

"Mad skills ghost boy," Makoto added, "Maybe you can be the pilot of our own team spaceship!"

"Honestly not the first time piloting a ship," D-Naoto admitted.

"We can attest…so many times we had to go into the Ghost Zone," Tucker added.

"Well we can make you one of the go to pilots." Ben sighed, "Let's find a safe sector to float for a bit as we talk."

"No such thing here," Tetrax spoke, "We can probably touchdown on a large enough asteroid or a moon."

"Got it, sir," D-Naoto replied as he piloted the ship carefully, "...But seriously though, what was driving Naoto crazy?"

"Uh…long lost girlfriend from another world, might just be here, as we learned from a very easily upset Vampire girl…" Ben explained, "It's a lot to explain trust me."

"...Okay I have missed a lot.." D-Naoto muttered.

---

"BLEARGUH!"

"Ew~! Monophanie's puking green again," Monotaro gagged as his sister was practically spewing green vomit on the floor.

"I can't….deal with…motion s-hurk! BLEARGHUG!"

"HAHAHAHAH! SHE CAN'T TAKE SPACE SHIPS!" Monokid laughed.

"Just shut up, ya idiots!" Monosuke hissed as they were hiding behind some crates in the storage area, "We're gonna get caught if dey hear us!"

"Oh relax, Monosuke. We're completely safe here," Monotaro assured as he crossed his little arms, "As your leader, I know the moment this ship lands…we hide, track what the heroes are looking for, snatch it, and….uh…what was the last one, Monodom?"

=?! Profit…=

"Yeah, that's right! Profit for pops!"

"No! It's…" Monosuke began before sighing, "If it's something we can use for da bosses, we snatch it form them, then swipe the ship and get back to Anur Transyl for da big ghosts."

"And what is it?" Monokid asked, "Also, who knows how to fly a ship?"

"Oh! Mono…burp! Excuse me," Monophanie muttered as she wiped her mouth, "Monodom does!"

=?!= Monodom tensed as he sweated nervously at that.

"Oh yeah! Heh…bet he can hotwire this giant piece of shit!" Monokid laughed before the ship rocked, "!?"

"Oh….it stopped," Monophanie whispered.

"Perfect! Then we can rob em' blind while they go searchin'!" Monokid grinned, "Isn't that right, giant tentacle blob thing?"

"...What?" Monotaro blinked as the Monokubs slowly turned to see Gluto glaring at them.

"!#! #QWEQ!"

"...what did he say?"

=?! Translation: Get out of my ship= Monodom spoke.

"...Since when could y-" Monosuke began before Gluto's tendrils grabbed all five of the small bears, "HURK!"

Gluto gurgled something as a small trap door in the wall opened and Mari crawled out. The mink tilted her head before spotting the miniature bears. After a long moment, Mari's bladed claws extended as she hissed with a look of feral anger at them.

"...not again," Monotaro squeaked in realization.

---

"I said I was sorry…jeez…" Naoto muttered, currently sitting down as he rubbed the multiple head bumps on his head.

"You nearly crashed us into an asteroid belt!" Makoto complained, "And we're not even on Anur Transyl anymore!"

"We get you're worried, but there was no need to go freaking suicidal!" Sam added.

"You endangered us, and more importantly my adorable pets!" Noel huffed.

"Wait, I'm less important than the Mink and Elephant-Sword?" Naoto asked.

"Of course they are more important to me," Noel replied.

"I'm just happy I didn't die in space," Tucker shrugged, "I'm not old enough to take a life insurance policy in my name then claim it as my long lost brother from Jamaica."

"Also it's illegal…" Danny spoke while at the controls to make sure everything was okay.

"Yeah-yeah-yeah, that too…" Tucker shrugged again.

"It's not a half bad idea though…" Makoto muttered, "But anyway!" she pointed to Naoto.

"Aw come on…Ben, you got anything to say?" Naoto asked.

"Uh….it was reckless stupid, and for a woman you love, so…no 'cause I'd probably just have flown off solo to do the same. But…it was still stupid, and like I said I can fly in hyperspace…so…I understand, but not gonna defend ya either…" he raised his arms up and down to signify weighing both sides, "You're built of some tough stuff, man, so you can handle a few bonks to the head. Then we'll call it square and work out how to find your vampire girlfriend without crashing into a fiery ball of death in space Transylvania."

"...ah…fair I guess," Naoto muttered as he rested his head on his opened palm, "So any ideas where we landed?"

"I think one of the moons. The asteroid belt gets more dense further up ahead," Danny replied.

"It'll be enough time to check the damages," Tetrax stated, "But be careful, team…just one of Anur Transyl's moons can be incredibly dangerous."

"Well I guess we should be careful about what locals we meet." Ben sighed, "I'll try and make some repairs go faster with Upgrade."

"Fine with me. I'll go scout ahead for anything freaky," Danny spoke, becoming intangible as he flew through one of the ship's walls.

"I guess we should find something to help with," Sam sighed.

"Don't want to feel lazy," Makoto agreed.

---

"...ok…so far nothing…" Danny whispered as he flew through the area…amongst the ruins of broken down houses and fountains as a mist permeated the area, '...hopefully. Seeing a town like this just screams trouble…' the sound of rocks falling caught his attention, making him turn as he rapidly looked around...only to see nothing.

Shaking his head, Danny continued to fly through the area, cautiously looking around for…hopefully any sign of life. All he could feel…was a sense of dread, fear…nervousness. What didn't help was how hot and muggy this planetoid was, and all the while in the middle of the dead of night it seemed.

"...better call the others," Danny whispered as he pulled his communicator out, unaware of something rising up from one of the ruined houses, "Hey guys, so far I found nothing…aside from a possibly abandoned village with its residents hopefully long gone."

=...abandoned village…on a moon….at night?= Makoto slowly gulped.

"Well I mean to be fair it's probably more of a small planetoid, and just happens to be close to that one bigger planet with what looks like a…giant mine in the crust of the planet…wow…" Danny trailed off, "I think it's blocking all the light, so this place is night time all the time…"

=I'm sorry to ask but aren't you like a C student…where did that come from?= Makoto gawked.

"Well…before the ghost hero thing, I did want to be an astronaut." Danny admitted, "If I'm actually interested in it then I can study it. It's not my fault Lancer makes English sound boring as heck…" he shrugged, "But for once…I feel like I am in my element and it's not ghost stuff for once!" he chuckled, "A-Anyway, so far looks like they tried to live here…but everything they built just fell apart. Plus it's hot, muggy, foggy, and all around unpleasant, like the most perfect horror movie set up ever."

=Oh well that's comforting…hah, well we got a good chunk of the repairs done. Feel free to come back whenever you want, at least we got temp control in the ship=

"Gotcha. I'll do one more sweep of the area then head on back," Danny stated, "Just be careful not t-"

A savage snarl caught his attention, making him tense as he quickly became intangible to avoid the lunge of something, the object crashing into some rubble. As the dust began to settle…he saw it. It looked like a strange humanoid creature, rags barely holding onto its purple body with glowing purple marks, razor sharp limbs taking place of its hands and feet as its head was split down the middle, showing purple blood spilling as its empty purple eyes showed nothing…nothing but madness and hunger as it roared out at him with its opened maw, showing the razor sharp teeth within.

"What the…AHH!" Danny yelped as he became intangible once more, avoiding a swipe from the creature as it hissed at him.

=What happened? Are you getting attacked!?=

"Uh…YES!" Danny yelled flying up to avoid another swipe, before aiming his hand to blast it with an Ecto Blast, the beam exploding on impact and sending its head flying off, "WHOA!" the creature stopped and turned around to grab its head…and roughly slap it back on, "Oh no…" the Halfa groaned out slowly as it growled at him again, "Uh…Sam, don't geek out and, Makoto, don't freak out…but we landed on the Alien Equivalent of the Land of the Walking Dead!"

*THUD! THUD!*

=And she and Noel just fainted…= Ben muttered.

"Ben! Alien Zombies!?"

=Purplish skin, lots of boney bits, hunched over and can pop parts off?= Ben asked.

"Y-Yeah…"

=Oh, so this is where those guys came from! Hahaha…ah…man, these guys are weird…= Ben sighed, =I fought them once when a bunch of them just got dropped off on Earth at some shopping mall when I was 10. We had to barricade the mall and fight them off for like three days! Man, that was fun…I got to eat so much snacks out of vending machines and no one cared=

"Ben!" Danny panicked.

=Don't worry, they don't infect via biting, they infect via the corrodium mutation. You got a shot for that, remember?= Ben pointed out, =You're not gonna turn into one of them, but they do pack a mean punch and with the detachable limbs…they got more reach than you think=

"Why didn't you tell us zombie aliens are a thing?" Danny complained.

=Dude, there is an Alien everything…I got an alien dragon sample in here that I unlocked on a multiversal trip and a Japanese school girl uniform made of alien fibers from another…You gotta roll with the punches out here, man=

"I know, b-" Danny began before the alien zombie let out a huge snarl, making him tense up before a massive horde of them began to crawl out of the remains of the ruined homes and fountains, "...oh boy…"

=More just came out?=

"Yeah. Only…" Danny began…before he began to fly away as the zombie aliens began to chase after him, "It feels more like 28 Days Later!"

=Technically Nightmare City did the Runner thing first,= Ben stated =But you know what you have that people in those movies didn't…the power to phase through walls, rocks, obstacles that they can all stupidly run face first into…=

"What do you think I'm trying!?" Danny snapped as he phased through a wall, only for it to be destroyed by the savage alien zombie horde.

=Oh right you can't freeze stuff as you phase through it like I do, oh no…wait you can, combine cold and intangibility, reinforce the walls with solid blue ice that's almost as hard as steel= Ben ordered.

"I…that is a good idea…" Danny admitted.

=I might not be a ghost, but I do know how to make the best of a specific power set to get the best results=

"...fair," Danny muttered before he phased into an undamaged building, quickly firing a blue beam that began to cover the wall in ice, multiple thuds going off as cracks appeared on the ice wall, "...ok…got a chance to breathe…"

=Shoot in a random direction, make them think you went that way and knock something over, then fly the other way while using invisibility. These guys react to sound and have primitive instincts. But that's not the same as totally stupid, they see something flying, they'll tell everyone else and this chase begins all over again. You got the ultimate stealth power set, time to put it to use buddy=

"You know…you make a weirdly good leader and teacher…" Danny muttered, "How are you not like a Captain rank or something?"

=Intense Fear of Paperwork and the mandatory meetings at 6 AM…= Ben admitted, =Command positions just mean less action and more busy work…I can do more out and about, now go stealth mode and get back to the ship=

"Well it's a good thing you're calm about this cause this is freaking me out," Danny held his hand and made a plasma ball before tossing it a distance away making it explode and all the alien zombies grunted before running off in that direction as the ghost boy turned invisible and flew off.

---

"Oh~ What happened…?" Noel groaned as she regained consciousness, Funkfreed helping her up as Mari nuzzled against her.

"I blanked out…" Makoto muttered as she sat up, "What happuh…"

"You fainted the moment Danny mentioned Zombie aliens," Sam replied.

"...what?" Makoto's ears drooped at that before the ship shook, "?!"

"Wrighthers…" Tetrax frowned as growling could be heard from outside the ship.

"Must have been woken up by the rough landing." Sam guessed, "And Danny making a lot of noise outside."

"Wrighthers?" Makoto asked.

"A mutated race of life forms who call the planetoid Anur Omerrow home." Tetrax explained, "You call them zombies. Which isn't far off, research has shown they are humans mutated and hyper evolved by Corrodium exposure."

"...so they were snatched form Earth…and became zombies?" Noel squeaked.

"Yeah…not helping is the Thep Khufan drop them back on Earth…but it starts the process all over again."

"...they don't bite, do they?" Tucker cautiously asked.

"Unless you got your Corrodium shot, then a single touch will infect you and cause you to change," Tetrax explained, "Then comes stage 2…"

"Wait…there's a stage 2?" Ben blinked before a pair of boney claws tore into the wall, "?!"

Another set began to dig in before it was torn open, revealing one of the alien zombies as it was covered in rotting flesh, razor sharp bones, and glowing purple eyes. It attempted to reach for them before a few crystals sent it flying back out, another set hitting the wall to cover the opening.

"That…..that is the second phase," Tetrax informed as he lowered his arm, "They look more like zombies, but gain an increase in strength and durability."

"Still not the weirdest thing I've ever seen." Ben sighed before the ship shook once more.

"Babe, it concerns me that you say that so often…" Makoto muttered..

"Considering we've been through the multiverse and back, plus dealing with a zombie version of me, kinda loses the shock value with all the stuff we've seen."

"You're either the living embodiment of bravery, or some kind of handsome idiot." Makoto replied.

"I would say the first one…but he does do some really stupid stuff…" Noel muttered, "Like the time he tried to recreate the joke from Kung Fu Panda of eating uncooked rice and boiling water to cook it in his stomach as an alien…"

"Well Eatle could handle it…" Ben muttered.

"To be fair the fact you made it happen made me love you more, but it was kinda stupid." Makoto chuckled.

"...yeah it was…"

"Uh guys…?" Tucker spoke up as another set of claws tore into the wall, prompting Tetrax to create another wall of crystal as Naoto quickly fired at a fire, "Alien mutant zombies?!"

"I got it…" Ben sighed, turning into Big Chill as he flew out and phased through the walls, "...woah."

Outside the ship was a massive horde of Wrighthers, snarling as they climbed the side of the ship to try and get in, a look of pure hunger in their eyes as their claws tore into the metal.

"I just got done fixing this thing!" Big Chill called out, breathing a freezing gust onto the Wrighthers making them fall off the ship and turn their attention to him.

One of the Wrighthers roared out as they all tried to pounce at him..only to end up missing or going through him as they fell apart upon hitting the ground. Yet it didn't deter the horde from trying to grab him to satiate their hunger.

"...okay. Something is definitely up," Skurd muttered.

"No kidding…they weren't this vicious the last time I fought them, and that was before I learned there was a phase two." Big Chill spoke, "No…this isn't right. Something's making them more…agitated…than usual."

"Maybe their minds have deteriorated so much from the atmosphere," Skurd suggested before a louder snarl shook the area, making Big Chill turn to see a much larger Writgher stomping through the horde with a pair of arm spikes jutting out of its wrist, "...oh that is a big one."

The large Wrighter snarled as it aimed its arm spikes at Big Chill, the spikes shooting out as they attempted to knock down the Necrofridgian, only to phase right through him…yet it seemed to be doing less good as the spikes were shooting right into the side of the ship, tearing through the icy defense Big Chill had set up before.

"Oh come on…" Big Chill groaned, "Fine, we'll do this the hard way, diamond hard." he flew up at top speed before angling down and shooting down before flashing into Diamondhead to pick up more speed as he slammed his feet into the ground and caused walls of crystals to begin growing around the ship, sending Wrighthers flying away. He grunted slamming his fists into the ground causing multiple blunted spires of crystals to shoot out and strike the larger Wrighther sending it flying back.

The larger Wrighther growled as it forced itself up, snarling out loud as its arm spikes returned. It then grunted as a large crystal spire launched Diamondhead up into the air as he changed forms again. It grunted as Humungousaur grew to full size just as he impacted with a powerful falling stomp that crumbled and cratered the ground for several meters. Humungousaur grunted jumping back before turning into Heatblast, he roared falling down and slamming the crater filling it with fire to trap the large Wrighther within. It growled and lunged at Heatblast who rushed, and in another flash was replaced with NRG who let the zombie-like alien just slam headfirst into the impenetrable armor. NRG grunted, grabbing the Wrighther before lifting it up and tossing it to the edge of the crater. The Wrighther growled as it turned around to snarl and hiss only to be blasted back by a radiation beam and slammed up along the crater and up its edge before stopping just short of the fire.

"I don't know if you guys are naturally this angry…but…" NRG began before flashing as the flames around the crater grew brighter replacing him with Ben's new wasp like alien as he hissed.

"This one…" Skurd continued for him, "Is angrier~"

The Wrighther screeched as it was suddenly punched into the ground, and again and again as Ben's news alien unleashed an onslaught of punches that began breaking the ground with each blow. The Wrighther tried to crawl out and screeched at the alien only to have its jaw grabbed by Ben's new form.

"We still haven't named this thing have we?" Skurd asked as Ben yanked the Wrighther's arm off and began slapping it with its own arm, "It's a hyper aggressive hornet with the desire to defend its own and kill anything else that breathes…" Ben bit the Wrighter's head and flung it around before tossing it to the ground, "Shh silence boy, I'm taking this one!" Ben hissed at Skurd before turning to the Wrighther as it tried to crawl away, "He's escaping…" Ben grabbed the alien zombie's ankle as it growled in panic as it was dragged back, "...seriously it's like a regular berserker hopped up on…" the Omnitrix began to beep, prompting him to answer, "Yello~?"

=Don't you dare steal naming this form, Skurd!= Makoto snapped.

"Wah….how do you always know?!" Skurd demanded as Ben flew up and slammed the giant Wrighther into the ground making it crack even more, "Oh why not go for a back breaker…no don't do it because I said it you hulking brute of a hornet!" Ben clicked his mandible as he dropped the Wrighther before stepping on its head to keep it from moving, "Well at least you understand I'm a friend…fine then what's your idea for a name then?" he looked at the Omnitrix.

=Hmm…well he's like a big ol' berserker…but as a giant humanoid hornet….Ooh! Buzzerker!=

Buzzerker nodded his head happily at that.

"Oh wonderful. He still agrees with everything you say," Skurd rolled his little eyes, "Why don't you try giving him commands like some sort of pocket monster…"

=Oh you are tempting me today, buddy….Buzzerker, Drill Rush!=

"D-Drill Rush?! He doesn't…?" Skurd began as Buzzerker extended his arms giant stingers, "Oh my…"

Buzzerker screeched as he pounced on the Wrighther and began rapidly punching/stinging it…to the point he was digging it deeper and deeper into the ground. After a while Buzzerker dug itself out of the crater arena he formed with a shake of his head and antenna.

"Oh you're proud of yourself aren't you…you buried that thing like twenty meters down…" Skurd groaned as Buzzerker got up and screeched, making all the other Wrighthers stop.

Buzzerker then held up the still groaning head of the Larger variant he just literally pummeled into the ground. With another screech the alien made the Wrighthers all understand what would happen if they stayed and made them all retreat just as fast as they got here.

=Okay…we're all good, babe!= Makoto assured as Buzzerker panted =You can go ahead and change back=

"Grr….y…yes…" he buzzed as he tapped the Omnitrix, changing back into Ben as he staggered a bit, "Ah geez…I can barely think in that form…also craving honey…"

"At least we know he does anything Makoto asks, so…never use it unless she's around!" Skurd snapped.

=I don't mind, a form where Ben-kun is fully listening to anything I say~=

=How is that any different from normal?= Sam asked.

='Cause he still refuses to attack or flex on random people who upset me. Now he has a form that will exact my vengeance on anyone= Makoto chuckled sinisterly.

=Makoto…you're starting to scare me= Noel whispered.

"Ah…I love that girl," Ben smiled, he then tensed and turned around as he swore he saw something, "..."

"What is it?" Skurd asked.

"I swear I felt something staring at me," Ben explained, "It was close to…" he looked around, "..." he began backing towards the crystal wall he erected around the Resolute.

=Uh…Be…= Makoto began before Ben shut off the communications while remaining focused on the area.

Ben stayed silent as his eyes traced the area, checking for any stragglers that might've been hiding. But…this didn't feel like the Wrighthers….no, this felt different. He took a deep breath as he turned around as if choosing to ignore it before turning around with a flash of the Omnitrix as he turned into Chromastone. He crossed his arms before flashing brightly like a flashbang covering the area in blinding white light.

"Aaah!" a voice cried in surprise.

"GAH!" Danny yelped as he fell and slid along the ground to a stop in front of Chromastone, "DUDE!?"

"Silence boy…someone else cried out before you…" Skurd spoke.

"I know you're there, and unfortunately for you, it's now two against one." Chromastone spoke as Skurd made an arm to help Danny stand, "Show yourself… now!" he ordered, stomping the ground.

A shape dashed only to stop short of a pile of rocks, only to then growl as a blast hit the rocks making it turn to Chromastone.

"I said show yourself…" he frowned, stomping forward, "Don't make me ask again." his arms began glowing with prismatic energy.

"...fine…" a rather deep voice spoke up, a pair of glowing eyes popping out within the darkness, before the figure stepped out into the light Chromastone emitted.

It seemed like a Wrighther, but different. He was standing up straight, his purple skin not as rough and damaged looking like the others, his arms had bones growing out to form ax-like blades with bone growths growing from each shoulder and forming a sort of armor with a long spike extending from each. His legs were covered in what seemed to be long-since stained black pants with what looked like military style pouches strapped on each thigh, more bone growths forming along the sides of his lower legs, and a lone spike extending from each foot out of what seemed to be boots. A long tattered red cloak dangled around his neck and down his back with the faintest sign of what might has been the bones of his ribs overgrowing through his body to form a plate of chest armor, with a hood drawn over his head as red eyes glared out at Chromastone.

"You…can talk?" Chromastone realized, "Wha…who are you?" he corrected himself recalling what he knew of these creatures.

"...Who am I?" the figure paused as they looked to the side, the wind blowing past them as their cloak fluttered in the wind, "I was a father in New York with one fine baby doll, a man down on his luck and planning to make it big fighting those Nazi to get the big clams for his kids. Then the night before I could go, I was taken, brought to this place. Thought I was Cock-Eyed from a buzz on the way...before it came to me that I was sober. Now...Now I am what these beings call a Revenant...one born to cast Dread upon those who dare bop with the innocent."

"You still have your mind?" Chromastone realized, "You're still your old self…but…now you're like them…"

"I am not like them!" he snarled as he turned to glare, his eyes glowing fiercely.

"Look…I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, but technically you…well…" Chromastone motioned to his appearance, "K-Know what, nevermind." he shook his head, "You must have been taken in another of the Thep Khufan's attempts to return the Wrighthers to Earth…but you didn't lose your sense of self, you stayed a man on the inside…even while your body was altered on the outside…" he lowered his arms, "I'm from Earth too, but my alien changes can be turned off…"

"Well…ain't you lucky…" he groaned.

"I'm sorry…" Chromastone sighed, "I just…am not sure what to do here…" he flashed back to Ben, "My name is Ben Tennyson."

"D…Danny. Danny Phantom," Danny spoke once he calmed down.

"...hmph. The names kids'll name themselves for a cheap thrill," the figure shook his head a bit.

"H-hey…is everyth-" Hobble began as he poked his head out the ship, only to yelp as he barely avoided a dark energy cutting wave from the figure, his helmet slowly falling apart with both halves falling on both his feet, "YEOW!"

Hobble Own Count: 5

"Grr…" the figure growled a bit in annoyance, slowly lowering one of his arm blades.

"Hobble, you good buddy?" Ben sighed knowing that his coworker was amazingly capable of surviving damage.

"Just…peachy…!" Hobble squeaked out.

"Good. And sorry! Just…uh…" Ben paused, looking the figure over for a moment before looking back at the hole, "Vendread was just on edge…right?"

"Vendread?"

"He has a thing for codenaming stuff." Danny explained, "Contrary to expectations, but we are not just random kids; we've got powers to help people."

"You had Superman back in your day, right?" Ben asked the newly dubbed Vendread, getting a slight nod, "Well kinda like that. I got my powers from aliens, Danny from ghosts…Okay, it's a lot more complicated, but we don't really have time for our backstories,"

"Well ain't you just a pair of Aces…" he sighed, accepting the name for his own reasons, "So we drafting them younger and younger these days, ain't we?"

"Well you could say something like that," Ben sighed, "But we aren't facing much in the way of threats you're thinking off," he explained, "You…You've been here a long while now…"

"Really? You don't say, it's not like I've been able to send a behavior report back home to the family, now have I?" you could hear his frown from being told the painfully obvious.

"Smooth….real smooth," Skurd deadpanned at Ben.

"Shut up, Skurd," Ben sighed, "Look, man…this isn't exactly an easy thing for me either. As far as I know, all the inhabitants of this world were mindless mutated zombies," he walked up to get face to shadowed face with Vendread, "If you're able to understand things, then why don't you tell me what you know, then we can get somewhere?" he declared sternly with a glare to match his, "If you're just gonna sass me, that's fine, I can take it. But how about we talk like actual people? Cause I'm not afraid of you or anything on this planet."

"Ben is easily the scarier one…" Hobble admitted, "If he's mad…things will get destroyed without question…" he gulped.

"...hmm hm hm hm hm hm hm…" Vendread gave a low chuckle as he crossed his arms, "You got plenty of spunk, kid…a lesser man would've fainted by now…"

"So you'll help us?" Danny asked.

"Yes…but not out here," Vendread stated, his eyes glowing as he scanned the area, "It is sending out more of its horde…"

"It?"

"Did I stutter, junior?"

"N-no sir!"

"Then let's get to a safe spot before those bone munchers return…but with worse problems."

"It gets worse?" Hobble asked.

"Hobble…it's Space, it always gets worse." Ben sighed, "I'll make a larger crystal wall around the ship. We can have a talk here." he flashed into Diamondhead as he stabbed his arms into the ground, forming thicker walls of crystals that surrounded the ship in a dome with a small opening in the front which was blocked by thinner crystal cars to keep anything out.

"Well I'll be damned…" Vendread looked around, "Ain't you just a Grandstander?"

"Hard earned skill," Diamondhead replied simply as he flashed back, "So what do you know?"

"...hmph. What don't I know, kid?" Vendread scoffed as he looked up, "A long time back, some beefed up genius called Viktor came here for an experiment for a grim reaper lookin' cat…"

'Oh god damn it…' Ben and Danny thought in unison.

"Next thing I know…the Wrighters…" he growled out, the name practically poison to him, "They began to evolve even more…becoming nastier, bigger…stronger and faster even. But the worst one is the Core of the horde…called it the Chimera…" he reached down to his side, wincing from the light phantom pain, "Tried to defeat it once or twice…kicked my butt 'round the whole moon and back…that just angered it more."

"So that's why these guys are more violent than the ones on Earth, they were just lumbering dangerous weirdos who attacked anything that spooked them." Ben spoke, "These guys just want nothing but to attack for no reason…"

"Well what should we do?" Danny asked.

"The residents of Ormerow may be zombies, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve some peace," Ben explained, "It's not much, but this place is all they got."

"You actually care about these creatures all the way out here in the boondocks of space?" Vendread asked.

"...They used to be human." Ben argued, "Maybe not so much now, but…deep in there something human should be in there still. And for me, that's more than enough to give them some peace and quiet."

"...I'm with him," Danny spoke up as a light frown grew on his face, "They may be zombies…but at least they don't deserve to be controlled by some freaky mindhive."

"Chances are you may come out with a missing limb or worse."

"Then we'll take that chance."

"...then we're gonna need an army…"

"Hahahaha…ah…oh please, Ben is better than an Army, and Danny is likewise a swiss army knife of powers." Hobble laughed, "Both of them are worth two armies."

"Grr…"

"Eep!" Hobble yelped as he shot back behind cover, "S-sorry…"

"I mean not to brag, we are kind of powerful." Danny muttered.

"Most of our team is pretty strong. Hobble may not be an action movie star, but give him a gun and a good distance from danger and he can do good work." Ben pointed out.

"Aw, thanks Ben." Hobble chuckled.

"Well I'm the boss for this trip, I gotta do good. But once we're home…I'm back to being a slacker doing his rounds around town."

"Oh…."

"If we're done lollygaggin', kid…I'd like to discuss strategy to take care of those bone munchers and the Chimera," Vendread stated with an annoyed 'frown'.

"Right this way," Ben replied as he gestured Vendread to follow, "Guys! We're coming in, and…we have a visitor…Makoto, Noel, do not freak out please."

"Why would we f-WHAT IS THAT!?" Makoto snapped.

"Aaaahhh~" Noel groaned as she fainted.

"I said do not freak out…" Ben groaned.

"Why do you guys keep bringing weird stuff back!?" Tucker complained.

"Real crack team of soldiers you got here…" Vendread muttered.

"...Ben, please explain," Tetrax ordered, keeping an even look at the newcomer.

"Well he doesn't seem like the kind to give his names, so I named him Vendread, he's from the 1940's, and he's retained his human mind." Ben explained, "I wouldn't bring him here unless I was sure he wouldn't cause any chaos. Even if he did…" he turned to Vendread, "...If he did start a fight, I'd win." he smirked.

"Watch it, kid…" Vendread narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"What? It's true."

"Babe, your ego's showing again," Makoto stated.

"Yeah, I'd rather have Ego Ben if it means he can protect us from everything out there," Danny argued, "No offense but humility won't save us from a horde of even more mutated zombie aliens."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah…turns out Victor and Zs'Skayr were experimenting on them and made them worse than stage two…" Ben stated, "Even worse…there's an alpha that goes by the Chimera controlling them all."

"Real nasty piece of work too. Trust me. If the kid is that strong? I don't need humble, I need the freaky shape changing thing he did."

"It gets worse…?" Makoto muttered.

"It always gets worse," Vendread sighed.

"Of course it gets worse," Sam muttered.

"So that's why you brought him in?" Tetrax asked.

"He's only a danger to Noel and Hobble's mental health…and maybe some of hobbles actual health…to be fair he did kinda surprise the guy…but we're good, right?"

"I saw my life flash before my eyes." Hobble admitted.

"Oh~ What happened?" Noel groaned as Funkfreed helped her up, the blonde rubbing her eyes before she noticed Vendread…and fainted once more.

"The little lady's gonna keep doing that, isn't she?"

"To be fair, you look like you," Ben argued, "Makoto enjoys Horror movies on the off time, and Sam…I'll be honest, I don't think Sam feels fear unless she's in real danger." Sam winked in confirmation, "Noel might just have the most normal of sensibilities among us. But she's also a girl with magic guns, a sword that turns into an elephant, a mutated mink, and can kick down metal doors, so…"

"Normal is relative," Sam added.

"That we can agree on," Makoto nodded.

"Guys, he's an alien undead human!" Tucker pointed out.

"Does this one always cry like a lady?" Vendread complained, narrowing his eyes at Tucker in annoyance.

"Wh-?! Hey!"

"He does that a lot," Sam stated.

"Sam, come on…" Tucker groaned as Gluto spoke up in confusion.

"He's generating no Corrodium radiation?" Tetrax questioned as he looked to his friend and then to Vendread, "I've never heard of that before."

"And I've never heard of an alien made of crystals before, so we're even," Vendread replied as he noticed a piece that had broken off one of the aliens on the floor, "As to why?" he picked it up and they watched as the shard's glow faded as it crumbled into a purple dust, "I've gotten used to this instead of a good meal. Can't even remember the last time I had my wife's brown sugar meatloaf with a side of tomato soup and creamed chipped beef on toast."

"...Poor guy," Makoto whispered as her ears drooped. 'He's been alone all the way out here for so long…'

"Eh, save it…I don't need your pity, squirrel girl," Vendread stated, noticing the look on her face.

"Your wife was the one who did all the talking and you were just the pretty face, huh?" Ben smirked, "Well given your persona, she was the pretty one, you were just one lucky as heck jerk, huh?"

"Hmph…"

"Ben, how are you never intimidated…?" Tucker asked.

"I've been given the mean mug from much worse when I was 10," Ben smiled, "That doesn't scare me. The idea of the people I love getting hurt? That scares me…but then it loops back to anger which is never good."

"No…no it is not," Noel whispered as she got up, Mari waving some smelling salts in front of her as Funkfreed helped her up once more.

"If we're done chit chattin', I'd like to get to talking about dealin' with the Chimera," Vendread reminded.

"Well no, 'cause we need to know more about it," Ben explained, "Just moving to fighting it without knowing whatever you know is a recipe for disaster."

"...hmph. Suppose you make a good point, kid…" Vendread scoffed, "Fine…the Chimera is the nastiest of them...one real mean piece of work. Extendable bones, regeneration, mean strength that could crush a tank like a tin can, you name it…however, there is one weakness…" he paused before pointing to a spot on top of his forehead, "The core in its head…take that out and the beast should fall apart and free those bone munchers from its control."

"I-I'm sensing a 'but' coming…" Hobble gulped.

"Problem is you'd have to go through very dense bone armor and some real nasty fangs if you want to even get to it."

"And there it is," Noel gulped.

"So unless we got some really good armor…" Ben began.

"Hmph…more than that. You'll need something strong enough that won't melt like a hot knife through butter the moment its fangs hit ya, kid…"

"So this sounds like only Ben and Danny can do this kinda mission…" Tucker chuckled sheepishly.

"Meaning we get to deal with the ones this Chimera is controlling," Tetrax noted, causing a long, frightened squeak of a noise to come from Tucker and Hobble.

"Oh fine. You guys can stay on the ship and snipe from a safe distance." Sam began, "Hobble…Hobble will shoot," she corrected, remembering he's a great shot, "Please, Hobble, don't let Tucker shoot anything…please."

"Hey…"

"Team kill streak…" Danny reminded.

"...Never gonna let that go, huh?"

"I shall personally man the guns, no worries." Hobble spoke.

"Thank you…" Sam and Danny sighed.

"Again as long as Hobble has a good firearm, he rules," Ben smiled, "Just, you know, he's not exactly a blackbelt in alien martial arts."

"I don't like up close and personal," Hobble whispered, "I'm very allergic to physical pain."

"It's why we leave Hobble here with the guns, the big guns." Ben added, "This way he can do what he does best. And keep him far away from the giant monsters whom…let's face it, with his luck…"

"Would end up chasing me? No, I am not oblivious to that, and you willing to let me do my thing from a safe distance has made me happy." Hobble chuckled.

"Well thank you for being understanding." Noel added.

"Anything else we need to know?" Tetrax asked Vendread.

"No. But…" Vendread paused to look at some of the team's blasters, "...I'm gonna need some guns…and plenty of them…"

"...maybe some armor too," Sam suggested, noting the rags covering him, "Def keep the cloak though...adds to the intimidation…"

"Armor would just slow me down, besides…I stopped bleeding ages ago." Vendread explained.

"Ah…fair I suppose."

"Appreciate the thought though…but..." he paused as he gripped his cloak, "This stays…"

"Alright, but if it's guns, we got plenty of those." Tetrax replied, "We take them off any bounties we capture."

"Duly noted, big man."

---

Within the ruins of a large church, Wrighthers of many sizes and shapes completely surrounded the entire area, growling softly as they looked around for anything suspicious. Tendrils with bony armor were hanging out of some holes on the church walls, a low faint growl coming from within as a mist permeated the area. High above on a cliffside, the group of heroes cautiously looked on, weapons at the ready as they eyed the church.

"...okay forget The Walking Dead, it feels more like Resident Evil at this point," Danny whispered, making sure none of the Wrighthers down below wouldn't hear them.

"No yeah. I am not going down there," Hobble whispered.

"S-same," Noel shivered, Funkfreed shaking in his hilt as Mari clung to her tightly.

"Hmm…" Ben muttered.

"What horrors have you seen?" Tucker whispered looking at Ben.

"Try Vilgax's nasty calamari breath in your face at ten." Ben replied.

"Still…that's a pretty big horde down there," Tetrax whispered.

"Try fighting all of them at once while trying to go for the Chimera," Vendread stated, a few bandoliers wrapped around his chest, "The Hulks are the real nasty ones…"

"I wanted to go to space, but this is not what I expected." Makoto muttered.

"Well…we can take joy in blaming Naoto for all of this." Noel muttered.

"Oi…" Noato complained.

"Shut up." Everyone cut him off, even Vendread.

"Even the new guy…"

"Just focus on not getting hit by the small fries...leave handlin' the big hitters to me and the others."

"I feel so many different things all at once, but for once I don't want dibs on hitting the big ugly monsters," Makoto sighed.

"I can handle them," Ben offered, "I'll take all the big ones. Vendread, you take Danny and Naoto to fight the big boss ugly."

"How are you gonna handle all of them at once?" Tucker asked.

"Skurd, we're doing the thing," Ben smirked.

"Oh I love the thing~" Skurd clapped his little tentacles together.

"The thing?" Sam asked.

"Limited Master Control." Ben explained.

"It allows Ben to rapidly change as much as he needs, but will drain the Omnitrix and leave him on a longer recharge cycle." Skurd explained.

"You had that?!" Makoto quietly gawked.

"Yup…guess Azmuth found out what Sento did and decided to add it in…but only in emergencies."

"...so you can go nuts?"

"For a limited time yeah." he explained, "I still don't get the full thing till I'm 18."

"W-wait…you mean once you turn 18…you just become full powered all the time?" Naoto asked.

"That's unless he gets annoyed and pushes it back to 21…" Ben shrugged.

"And I'll get peeved if that happens," Skurd muttered.

"Anyway, the time for planning and strategy is done, it's time for me to do what I do best: kick butt with the energy of a kid on a sugar rush, It's Hero time." Ben smirked.

"Oh no…leader Ben is gone…Thrillseeker Ben is back…" Noel comically cried.

"Things are gonna get chaotic~" Makoto grinned excitedly.

"Good…chaos is what we need," Vendread stated, pulling up a pair of blasters as his eyes narrowed.

"Alright, army of alien mutant zombies…it's the most cheesy B Sci-Fi movie plot ever and I love it." Ben smirked as he got up and began walking forward, "Ah…only thing missing is the army of killer tomatoes, or a Broadway swinging Venus Flytrap,"

"We like old movies," Makoto smiled.

"Hey!" Ben shouted, "I am here to fight, so give me a good time!" he challenged as the Wrighthers roared and rushed him, "Come to daddy," he taunted as a green flash went off before a powerful explosion of electricity sent them all flying back as Shock Rock raised the construct hammer he used to slam the ground.

"...ahh I love that man," Makoto sighed happily before stepping forward, turning around before she began to dive off the cliff backwards...only to grin before she shot down in a rolling sphere before slamming hard into the ground, sending multiple Wrighthers flying into the air with a few coated in fire, ice, or electricity. One that hadn't been in radius snarled as it charged only to freeze in place with ethereal chains connected to it. "And now to aim and make you a canonzombie," Makoto grinned, tucking her Sheikah Slate away and let loose a barrage of punches on it in the direction of an oncoming swarm, "Aaaand…" the chains shattered a small sonic boom went off as the frozen Wrighther slammed into the swarm, "Strike!"

"Hah!" Shock Rock lifted his arms forming a massive orb of blue energy before slamming it down to create a massive explosion that sent countless normal Wrighthers away. A green flash went off before all of them were cleared out before the blue blur of XLR8 ran up and along the arm of a larger one before flashing into FourArms as he landed a high speed super strength punch that dislocated the mutated beings jaw and sent it flying away. Another Wrighther mutant growled only to be slammed in the chest by Cannonbolt who began grinding into its torso before flashing into Heatblast as he let loose a condensed fire blast like an explosion that sent it flying away.

Another large Wrighter growled only to stop as Humungousaur roared in its face and began punching it out rapidly. With a final uppercut, the giant Wrighther was sent falling back, only for Humungousaur to stomp its head into the ground. With a roar, the dinosaur-like alien rushed on all four before transforming mid stride into Rath. Rath roared as he punched out another Wrighther before chomping on a second and swinging it around like a club into the first he knocked down. He growled, slamming a punch on their lined up heads and knocked them down. In another flash the next giant Wrighther growled as it was suddenly blasted by a barrage of prismatic lasers. Chromastone flew out as he punched it across the jaw once, then twice before clapping both hands together to swing up with a hammer fist to knock its head back. Chromastone swung his arms down and unleashed a powerful beam that pushed the alien back and slid along the ground before stopping as it groaned and passed out from pain.

A few Wrighthers screeched out as they pounced at him, only for a few energy bullets and lasers to shoot them down from above. Some of them began to stop before they were suddenly bombarded by a flurry of rockets and energy grenades. A few large ones roared out as they began to head towards the source, only for a large wave of crystals to rise up out of the ground, sending them all flying into the air as they were bombarded by the rockets.

"Don't let up. Let's give these guys everything we got!" Tetrax shouted, raising his hand out of the ground before turning and slashing at a leaping Wrighthers, cutting it in half as both parts flew right into two more.

"Ooh~! That means I can test the thing!" Makoto beamed.

"Thing? What thing?" Chromastone asked as he blasted down more Wrighthers.

"Something Kokonoe came up with and gave to me before we left for space," Makoto explained as she reached into her tail, pulling out a wrist device that looked almost like Ragna's Azure Grimoire, but the color was a mix of magenta and green, "It's a prototype now, but I called it the OmniDrive to help fit with Azmuth's 'Omni' naming theme. Basically it gives someone..." she paused before jumping up, avoiding a larger Wrighter's swipe before landing on top of its head, "A power boost by tapping Seithr into the body, letting people like…oh say me and Noellie do our Distortions and Astral Heats."

"Wait…so I could potentially do something like those too?" Chromastone asked.

"Yeah…but not sure what the end result would be on those not used to Seithr like me and Noellie. But since Tetrax said go all out…" she smirked before reaching into her tail once more, pulling a few more out while jumping up to kick the large Wrighter's head off, "We can test these~"

"We already have Omni-Kix you know," Skurd pointed out.

"Yes…but I'm pretty sure you've been very tempted to taste Seithr ala Ragna's arm I bet~" Makoto smirked further.

"...You cruel temptress of chaos…no wonder you are the paramour of this walking natural disaster and stupidity…" Skurd spoke.

"Hey~" Chromastone complained as he caught one of the OmniDrives.

"Oh you know I'm right," Skurd huffed as the Crystalsapien placed it on his chest above the Omnitrix, a pair of tinted green guards popping out as the core opened up to reveal the Omnitrix symbol.

"So how do they work?" he asked as Makoto tossed a few of them up to the cliff edge Noel and the others were on before tossing them at the others.

"From what I understood..." Makoto began as she hopped off the headless Wrighter's body just as it fell over, the Beastkin slipping her OmniDrive on her wrist as a star-yellow strap spun around her wrist with the core opening up, "We press the core in the center with our pointer and middle fingers, swipe, and then say 'OmniDrive, engage!' and…" she pressed her pointer and middle finger on it before swiping down, making the core spin rapidly as a deep azure blue aura began surrounding Makoto as her symbol appeared behind her, "Woah mama!...yup...that's def Seithr!"

"...seems simple enough." Chromastone shrugged before he pressed on the opened core, "OmniDrive, engage!" he declared as he swiped to the left, making the core spin as the same azure aura began to surround him, a faint symbol appearing behind him for a moment, "WOAH!"

"OH!...ohohohoho~" Skurd shivered as he felt the Seithr coursing through his and Chromastone's bodies, "Daddy like~ Daddy Skurd like a lot~"

"You think that's cool…check this," Makoto began as she turned towards a group of charging Wrighters, the Beastkin reeling her arm back as a large energy gate appeared behind her, "Big Bang…" she paused before throwing her fist out, the massive energy fist flying out of it as it crashed into the charging group, sending them all scattering and flying out of the area, "SMASH!"

"...dude~" Tucker whispered, poking out of his hiding spot on the cliff perch as he rubbed his glasses, "That was so anime~"

"Tuck…" Sam deadpanned, lowering her blaster to look at him as Noel placed her OmniDrive on the back of her hand, forming into a blue and white glove as the core opened it.

"Sam, that's the same type of thing they were doing during the Incursean War!" Tucker exclaimed quietly, making sure the Wrighthers below wouldn't hear him, "That's the type of thing you see in big action anime or fighting games! How is that not cool?!"

"Maybe because we're not obsessed with anime and video games like you?"

"Hey, I'll have you know a lot of research is done for anime, especially those that originally are manga," Tucker spoke, "Remind me to introduce you to this one murder mystery series. The author goes on hiatus at points to do actual research into his stuff."

"Now really isn't the time for this conversation!" Sam complained as she shot at several Wrighthers that got past the frontline fighters.

"Banzai!" Heatblast shouted while falling from the sky as he was surrounded in a massive cloak of flames before slamming the ground, causing a massive wave of fire to race along the ground like the shockwave of a massive explosion, turning the ground molten and sending multiple of the giant Wrighthers flying and now encased in rapidly cooling molten stone.

"Impressive," Vendread noted under his breath as he raced about, looking nothing more than a blur as Wrighters all about were being scattered from laser shots, punches, kicks, and slashed into, each one with a slash in them having the Corrodium on them wither away before their bodies began to follow, before he skidded to a halt before the back of the building as Danny flew over with XLR8 stopping on a dime by them.

"Not going through the front?" Danny asked.

"It's got the walking corpses scurrying about there. Easier to take the back door."

"Back door? What…?" Danny began to ask before Vendread slapped an explosive on the wall and detonated it with a laser shot.

"Knock-knock…" Vendread greeted, the tone sending chills down the two.

"...I enjoy this man. He has good taste," Skurd noted.

"HA!" Naoto shouted, delivering a roundhouse kick to a Wrighther before running over to Vendread's team, "I think they're catching onto us…!"

"Then we move faster before our friends are overwhelmed or they catch up with us." XLR8 explained as he dashed away before returning, "All good. I tied most of their legs together."

"Wow you are faster…" Danny muttered.

"Nah I'm normally this fast. I do feel like I'm on a sugar rush though, whoo!" XLR8 cheered as he dashed inside, only to be smacked by something and punted out, "Need a minute!"

"...was that…" Danny began before yelping as he flew up, barely avoiding a spiked tendril with melting, rotting flesh coming off of it, "WOAH!"

Vendread and Naoto quickly jumped back as something massive charged straight through the wall. Standing above everyone was a massive…horrid mesh of monstrous body parts, the heads and body parts of different animals poking out of the beast's body as several sharpened bones poked out the beast's back. A huge collar of fangs surrounded its upper body, guarding a small opening with a blue glow shown within the bone armor and multiple rows of razor sharp teeth. It slowly opened its multiple mouths, saliva trickling down it as it dripped onto the ground, instantly eating away as the creature gave a huge roar.

"...Please tell me you have something very destructive in your Distortion Drives, Noel," Hobble wheezed in abject horror as his entire body, suit and all, was a solid white while Funkfreed was frozen solid with his eyes bulging out a foot while Mari collapsed, eyes blank and foam coming out of her mouth.

"..."

"...no no! Don't faint! Don't faint on me n-"

*Thud*

"Oh come on~!" Hobble exclaimed as Noel was knocked out on the floor, her own eyes blank and wide as she visibly shook.

"Giant….m-mutant….z-z-zombie…" she managed to whisper out in her fear-struck state.

"That's the Chimera?" Tucker whispered.

"Where did they get animal parts from? I haven't seen a single one on this moon," Sam pondered.

"Why is that important!?" Tucker snapped, "For once in your life woman, just run in fear!"

"Yes! I'm all for running back to the ship!" Hobble exclaimed before tensing, "AHH! GIANT ACID BALL!"

"Giant a-AHH!" Sam panicked as she, Tucker and Hobble ran, Funkfreed picking up Noel and Mari as they quickly avoided a massive ball of acidic saliva fired from the horrid amalgamation below.

"Wh-!? Hey!" Danny shouted as he fired an ectoplasmic beam at the monster, the blast tearing off a part of its body…only for it to suddenly regenerate as the creature hissed, "?!"

"Nice try…but as long as the Chimera has the core in its head…" Vendread began before rolling out of the way of the monster's spiked tendril, "It's just gonna keep healing itself…" his eyes narrowed as the Chimera looked over at him, all of its eyes glowing red, "That's right, you mutated freak…it's me again…"

"Maybe we need to give them some space," Makoto grunted, punching a Wrighther.

"At the very least put some space between us and the chaos that's about to happen." Tetrax spoke, shooting crystal shards at the alien zombies trying to sneak up on them.

"...good thing we got the OmniDrives then," XLR8 muttered as he zipped out of the way of the Chimera's tendril.

"Then we should probably try a Distortion," Skrud suggested.

"I don't know how to pull that off!"

"Then ask your girlfriend who punches giant energy fists from spectral gates!"

"I don't think I have the time to pull a Goku learning the Kamehameha at this very moment!" XLR8 argued, "That is easily an afternoon's worth of nonsense to get through!" he dashed around more tentacles before running around them at great speed to make them entangle one another.

"...note to self; Teach Ben and the others how to pull off Distortions when we get a chance," Makoto whispered, already forming an energy sphere in her hands before punching it into a group of Wrighthers, the blast sending them all flying, "Comet Cannon: Break Shot!"

"Ahh…What do I do? What do I…?" Hobble mumbled before he snapped his fingers and had Funkfreed lower Noel's head to let him whisper into her ear, "Noel, if you do not awaken right now and use your strongest Distortions on that chimeric abomination, there is a high chance that it will escape the Anur System and go after many sweet and adorable little animals…especially Bluey and Drei." he didn't get a chance to get away when Noel shot up and unintentionally smacked him over to the top of the structure in the area and forcing him to hold onto a gargoyle statue, "YIPE!"

"OMNIDRIVE ENGAGE! PROTECT THE ANIMALS!" Noel shouted, a serious look in her eyes, "Funkfreed-kun, throw me at it!"

"PAON?!"

"Listen to Mama!" she ordered as the elephant saluted with his trunk, "Good." She looked out to the fighting, "BEN-KUN! DANNY-SAN! VENDREAD-SAN! GET AWAY FROM IT! I'M USING AN ASTRAL HEAT!"

"Wait, she's doing a what?" Danny asked as Heatblast's tensed.

"Ohh…a very big over the top finisher," Heatblast explained.

"How strong is it?" Vendread asked.

"My girlfriend can do it…and it can break a moon-sized asteroid in space from where she could be standing on the surface of the Earth."

"RUN!" Danny panicked as he quickly flew off.

"God damn it…" Vendread sighed as he and Heatblast ran after Danny.

"Oh…duh…" Heatblast sighed, flashing to XLR8 as he grabbed Vendread and sped to safe distance before dropping him off and dashing back to drag Danny.

"Unleashing Armagus!" Noel shouted , Funkfreed tossing her hard from her spot on the cliff as she flew right towards the Chimera, bouncing off it as she fired a shot at it, "Here I come…" she whispered as she closed her eyes, crossing her arms as an emblem appeared behind her. She then shot her eyes open as she instantly became a blur, startling the others before she stopped for a second to fire a shot, becoming a blur once more before stopping to fire another shot, and then another…and another, and another, and another. It was hard to tell where or when she was going to stop, but with each shot she fired…another mutated Wrighther went down with any shots that missed began to form into growing energy spheres, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second.

"...oh we may need to clear the area!" Makoto exclaimed as she ran off.

"Hmm?" Tetrax raised a brow.

"JUST RUN!" Tucker exclaimed as he and Sam quickly got behind cover.

"...?!" Tetrax soon realized what the energy spheres were before he slammed a hand on the ground, creating a dome of crystal around him as Noel soon skid to a halt, her back turned towards the horde of Wrighthers as the Chimera began to approach her.

"Valkyrie…" Noel began, spinning her guns quickly before stopping, the ends of each gun facing towards one another, "Viel…" she whispered before slamming both ends together.

This began to create a chain reaction amongst the energy spheres, which began to explode one by one as the Wrighthers and Chimera were engulfed in the resulting massive explosion, the smaller Wrighthers crying as they faded from view with a few falling to pieces from the force of the explosion. The Chimera hissed out in pain as parts of its body began to burn up, its animal heads falling off and disintegrating into ashes. A few more moments passed before the resulting dust cloud began to die down, showing no trace of the enemy Wrighthers anywhere as the Chimera groaned and hissed in pure pain, covered in burn marks that were slowly healing.

"Well you know my sort of personal rule about it, uh Babe, you wanna handle it for me?" XLR8 asked Makoto.

"HOLY SHIT!" Makoto snapped in surprise.

"I love you." he sighed, still utterly shocked.

"Ah…wh…wha…" Danny whispered, his eyes wide as he looked on.

"Holy cow! How are we alive?!" Tucker panicked.

"Controlled chained explosions." XLR8 explained.

"Hoo…I regret the person on the receiving end of that," Tetrax muttered, his crystal barrier having a few cracks in it as he quickly dismissed it

"So…Noel totally has the same trigger as Lambda…good to know." Naoto groaned.

"Is that thing still moving?" Tucker asked as the Chimera slowly moved.

"It's too tough on the outside," XLR8 spoke, his visor closing, as he remembered a feature he never used, but remembered seeing one future alternative version of himself use, a scanner built into his visor.

"Babe, have you had a scanner in that the whole time?" Makoto asked.

"...Yes…" he replied after a moment to both contemplate and berate himself mentally for not remembering sooner.

"That's so awesome…" she whispered.

"At least we can rip its core out while it's repairing itself," Vendread noted as he began to approach the Chimera.

"Hoo boy…" Hobble gulped before a cracking noise made him look to see the part he was holding onto was breaking, "Ah!" It broke off and he fell down with a yelp, landing on his face, "Guh!"

From the impact, the inactive OmniDrive he had been given popped off his uniform. It went up into the air before landing right on the core of the Chimera. The Chimera groaned as its body began to twitch, purple and azure energy beginning to leak from it as its body began to melt…mold into something as it began to shrink a bit down in size…condensing its mass.

"What's happening?" Tucker asked, the cracking, breaking, and resettling of bones erupting in a cacophonic symphony of nausea escaping from the Chimera's twisting and shifting form.

"Phase 2…" XLR8 spoke simply, "It seems these things resonated with the core, causing a rapid change in its power, and therefore rapid mutation."

"...Have you…?"

"Yes I'm actually smart, I just don't act on it so people don't expect me to be so." XLR8 cut him off, "Now if you want this to not go bad, shut up, get back to the ship and leave this to those of us who aren't trembling." he ordered, "I can't even say we won't get away unharmed, in fact I'm positive we're going to get really hurt fighting this thing. So no distractions. Anyone not in the heavyweight class as it were, get out of here."

"In other words? Shoo away the clowns," Skurd added as he pointed directly at Tucker and the downed Hobble.

"No arguments from me…" Hobble groaned.

"You are oddly calm," Danny noted to XL8, "I expected you to join us in freaking out."

"Ordinarily I would, it relieves the tension." he admitted.

"I guess, you really are a pro at this hero thing," Danny chuckled at that, "You don't even sound concerned, but you're not even gonna lie about being brave."

"...Well that's always been my thing." he admitted with a chuckle, "Fear can keep you alive, especially when your powers just stop working and you're a ten year old fighting the octopus headed version of Space Ghengis Khan." he explained, "But it's just easier to go in brave then running like a coward." he turned to Vendread.

"What kind of world demands a little kid like you go up against such scary things?" he couldn't help but ask, "Most of you are just a bunch of kids, I'm an old man and I'm still finding myself horrified by this glorified freakshow…"

"Destiny works in weird ways." XLR8 spoke, flashing back to Ben as he let the Omnitrix recharge, "For some reason, it gave you the ability to stay yourself through all this," he pointed out, "That must mean it wants you to do something important."

"Heh…how is someone like you real?" he chuckled.

"..." Ben smiled as he put his hand to Vendread's shoulder, "I'm not that much of a big deal. I'm just really good at hitting people who have it coming. Eventually that just made me this big name hero. I honestly miss the days where I could just spit fireball loogies for an afternoon."

"You still do that." Naoto pointed out.

"Hey…I won that bet fair and square." Ben argued, "And my movie pick was better."

"You pick the same Sumo Slammer movie each time!" Naoto laughed.

"It's quality cinema!" Ben laughed.

"I still don't get how you're not having a panic attack." Danny spoke up, "This is some of the creepiest stuff I've ever seen."

"Eh top 20…" Ben waved off.

"He's become stranger than this…" Skurd pointed out before looking towards the Chimera…and blanched, "Aaaand it's done reaching Stage 2…and I think it went past that."

The new form of the Chimera breathed out, its breath thick from the coldness as its singular eye glowed an ominous violet as wisps of azure escaped like flames. It took on a more humanoid shape, yet it still towered over the group as it was covered in bone armor, a pair of spikes that emerged from elongated skulls jutting out of its shoulder armor as a pair of large horns grew out the side of its head. Skulls adorned with a horn of Corrodium grew over the knees whilst thickened rib cages acted as further armor for its covered lower legs. More ribs and spines covered its arms like layered gauntlets with its decaying hands exposed, each finger sporting bones acting as more armor along them. The Beast then slammed a hand into the ground, grasping something before it slowly pulled out a huge sword made from bone made to resemble a deceased corpse at rest and rusted metal, the beast growling before it let out a earth-shattering roar, causing the entire area to tremble as the ground beneath it began to shatter. It rasped as it glared at them, the Chimera's core now fused with the OmniDrive nestled in the center of its broad chest, layers of skeletal armor protecting it as it spilled out azure colored flames.

"Where did it get the sword…" Ben couldn't help but ask among the few not shaken by this even slightly.

"Right? This makes no sense half the time…" Vendread sighed in agreement, "Any chance you got a monster that can handle that?"

"I could dip into this new Super Survivalist Playlist I unlocked due to stress…it's where I got Buzzerker…and he's arguably way scarier than most things save that." Ben sighed.

"Oh I fear what other things we could find in that playlist…but…desperate times…" Skurd groaned, "But I do agree…where did the sword come from…?"

"Who kn-" Sam began before the Chimera jumped right towards the group at a surprising speed, making them all tense as they jumped away from the downward slash from the beast's sword, destroying part of the ground in the process.

"Gh! I-" Tetrax began before the Chimera was before him, slamming its fist hard into him as he was sent flying and crashing into the cliffside wall, parts of his armor cracked as he grunted in pain.

"AHH! It's even W-" Hobble began before the Chimera stomped its foot on him, stomping on him multiple times until he was flattened within a small crater, "Ahh…"

Hobble Own Count: 6

"Hey!" Danny shouted as he began blasting the Chimera from its back, making it growl and swing wildly, "Come on~! Ohh~! Swing and a miss!" he called out while going intangible to let its swings miss, "Almost…oh~ nope, sorry not really!" he aimed and blasted the Chimera in its face, making it stumble back.

"We're not in the mood for some long drawn out boss battle!" Naoto shouted, jumping and punching the Chimera in the abdomen, making it back away, "We got places to be!" He spun around and punched it, sending it skidding back.

The Chimera's eye flashed before it reached out and grabbed Naoto before he could get a chance to jump away. Gripping him tightly, he tossed him right into Danny at high speed, causing him to crash into the Halfa before he could go intangible as the two fell to the ground below. The chimera turned around as a green flash got its attention. It was then struck by a massive scaly fist as Humungousaur roared and unleashed punch after punch, his size and strength growing with each swing as he now stood taller than the Chimera. The Monster raised its sword but its swing was too slow as Humungousaur grabbed its wrist and held it in place above its head. He raised his arm as Skurd enveloped and transformed it into Armadrillo's arm before the piston primed. With that, Humungousaur slammed the punch into its chest as the piston dropped and a great force sent the Chimera flying as its core began glowing abnormally from the damage.

The Chimera screeched as it charged and tackled Humungousaur back, sending him skidding back from its amazing power. The two roared as they rushed and tackled one another, trying to pin the other. Humungousaur grabbed the Chimera's arm with the sword as it grabbed its Armadillo arm. The Chimera screeched in Humunguosaur's face making him flinch before he growled and slammed his head into the monster's face making it choke on its own voice. Humungousaur roared as he landed another headbutt to its face before reverting his altered arm to normal. Humungousaur then leaned back as he landed on his back and kicked his legs up to toss the Chimera up and over and let it land on the ground in a surprised heap.

However it didn't last long as the glow of its core and single eye grew brighter as it used its sword to help push itself over and upright. It screeched in rage swinging the massive blade only for it to be deflected by a giant sword made of NRG's armor. Humungousaur now sporting a metal glove of the same material thanks to Skurd. The two swung their giant swords as they collided with a deafening clang. The two pushed as sparks flew off the point of impact, causing the blades to begin glowing with the heat. Humungousaur growled, swinging with his free hand to grab the Chimera by its horn, and twisting his other wrist, deflecting both swords down to stab them into the ground. With a slam of his tail the Vaxisaurian signaled the others as Vendread ran up his back before aiming with his borrowed guns as he began unloading on the face of the Chimera making it cry out in pain.

"Big Bang Smash/Zero Gun: Sleipnir!" Makoto and Noel declared in unison form behind the Chimera, the former punching forward as she sent out the giant energy fist while Noel fired off a massive lectric beam from Bolverk transformed as a giant railgun, the two attacks slamming into the Chimera's back just as a green flash went off making Humungousaur vanish, while the Chimera was sent flying into the stone cliff.

"Hah…I'm so glad we timed that fight…" Ben grunted.

"You're welcome!" Skurd panicked.

"Yes…I.." Ben began before he tensed up, the OmniDrive on his chest dimming as his entire body suddenly locked up, "!?"

"Ben?"

"Gh.." Ben grunted as he fell onto a knee, "What…"

"Oh~ Don't feel so good…" Skurd groaned, his green looking more sickly than its usual color.

"...This must be the drawback Makoto mentioned earlier," Tetrax noted, "Since his body wasn't used to the stuff coming from the OmniDrive…it caused a negative feedback in his body."

"So while we'll be fine with the powerboost and stuff…" Naoto began.

"We'd just end up getting really worn out and some other negative side effects…" Danny muttered, referring to himself, Tetrax, and Sam.

'...boy am I glad I didn't get one…' Tucker mentally gulped at that.

"I got him!" Makoto spoke, picking up Ben, "So…we're down the big gun. Anyone got an idea? 'Cause we're kind of down our only competent leader."

"This is a strangely deep pain…" Ben groaned.

"Can you give a fast lesson on that Astral thing?" Tetrax asked, showing his unused OmniDrive.

"Absolutely not," Noel replied, "An untrained Astral Heat is borderline lethal. Makoto and I have only recently gotten our bodies back to where we can safely use them without needing a long recovery period for our bodies to rebuild from the feedback."

"And we have no clue what consequences you or another race that isn't human or Beastkin will have," Makoto added.

None of them paid attention to Vendread as he looked at the OmniDrive and then towards the cliffside as the Chimera ripped itself out of it and grabbed two downed Whighters before its core glowed and they were absorbed into it, its wounds healing as fast as it absorbed the two. Vendread narrowed his eyes, seeing the OmniDrive in its core. He looked at the others and then at Noel before a small spark went off in his head.

"Heh…" Vendread chuckled before he grabbed the OmniDrive from Tetrax's hand.

"What the…?" Tetrax began.

"Vendread, what are you…" Noel began.

"Elysia."

"Hm?" Noel blinked as Vendread looked at her.

"It was the name of my wife, a real dame unlike any other to me," Vendread replied, "Honestly thought I forgot her name after all this time, but seeing you blow your fuse over the threat that's going to bring if it's not put down reminded me of her own when she felt there was an injustice." he wave an arm out to them to move back, "All of you, amscray out of here. I don't know what's going to happen when I do this, but if it means that I'll rub out this Chimera…this Battlelord that it's become?" he put it on and activated it, "It's worth it."

The device sparked before burying itself into his torso. Vendread grunted as azure sparks crackled off his body, his cloth becoming a deep azure in color. He let out a rasp before snapping his head up to look at the newly christened Battlelord. It bellowed as Vendread before the former military undead was inches from its face, a fist reeled back. He swung and slammed the Battlelord into a large stone, shattering it. He rushed at Battlelord once more, who managed to correct itself and swung its blade at Vendread only for the blade to be parried by one of the blade-like spikes growing from his arms. Vendread grunted as red veins began to form on his blade-like bones before they swelled and grew layered spikes on them with a blood-red spike emerging from the tips. He used his free arm's new growth to slam into Battlelord's gut, knocking it away. He grunted as the skin on his lower arms bulged until gauntlet-like bones tore away the skin. Battlelord bellowed as it rammed into the stunned Vendread, charging them into the ruined church.

"Okay…so Corrodium plus Seithr is not a good combination," Makoto gulped, everyone hearing the battle going on within the church.

"..." Danny looked down at his unactivated OmniDrive, 'Hoo…I hate to imagine what it does with Ghost Energy…'

"Seriously sounds insane in there," Sam noted as a church bench broke through a wall.

"I'm more worried for Vendread," Ben noted with a frown.

"?"

"You saw his arms just before that thing tackled him into the church, right?" Ben pointed out.

"...It's evolving his body," Noel realized, "But…once the Seithr runs out…th-then…"

The front of the church erupted into debris as Battlelord soared out and crashed into several trees. It rose up, giving a roar, as it snarled at the church as Vendread emerged. His skin had gone from its decaying colored state to a crimson red as it looked as if steam was wafting off it. More bones had ripped out of his body, making 'boots' made of rib cages and flattop skulls with the spikes on them having grown larger. Skull-like growths similar to Battlelord's had grown from his shoulders though smaller than the behemoth's. Ripping out of his back near the shoulders were a pair of massive bone-made tentacles with the ends sporting rib spikes and three massive spikes on the ends shaped to resemble the heads of serpents with bull-like horns.

"I can feel it…" Vendread rasped, pointing at Battlelord, "You weaken."

"He'll burn out…" Ben spoke.

Battlelord rasped before roaring and charging at Vendread. With a swing of its sword, it aimed to behead Vendread…only for its blade to be halted. It grunted, trying to pull it away only for it to hardly budge. Vendread kept a grip on the blade, cracks growing from the pressure he was putting on it.

"You don't bring a sword to a fist fight," Vendread warned, "But, to be fair…I don't think these are fists."

The tentacles on his back tensed before they proceeded to rapidly strike at Battlelord, becoming red and white blurs that rained down upon the behemoth. He clenched his right fist tightly, bones popping within the knuckles, as Battlelord grunted and groaned with each blow. Vendread inhaled deeply before delivering a sharp uppercut, ripping its lower jaw off and knocking it back several meters. Vendread looked between it and the large chunk of its sword still in his hand. With a nod, he tossed it up before one skeletal tentacle slapped it hard, making a small shockwave as it shot through the air and impaled Battlelord in the gut, making it cry out before Vendread's tentacles slammed into its face, sending it crashing down onto its back. It struggled to get back up only for Vendread to land on its body. The zombie of the 1940s growled before plunging his hand down into Battlelord's chest, causing it to start wailing in agonized shrieks. It thrashed about, trying to rise up, to knock Vendread away, but to no avail. With a roar, Vendread tore its core out, OmniDrive and all, before crushing it. Battlelord rasped, weakly reaching up to Vendread, before its arm collapsed limply to the side. Within moments, the body began to rapidly wither and decay away until not even bones remained. Vendread breathed deeply and exhaled raggedly.

"It's…done," he spoke, a sense of finality in his tone.

A soft tinkle made him look down, seeing a locket with a broken chain on it. He knelt down as his skin began to darken once more. With an almost tender approach, he carefully picked it up. The pointer finger crumbled as it pressed down to let it open, revealing a slim-looking man smiling happily with a kind-looking woman, arms wrapped around the neck of the man.

"Just…how long have I been at this?" Vendread pondered, "Decades most likely…all because of the one wearing this coming into my sight one time so long ago." the 'flames' in his eyes dimmed as his face grew somber, "We never did get to see it again…a sunrise for one last time…"

"Vendread…" he looked up to see Noel before him, looking to the opened locket, "Is that…?"

"She was with me that night. A last hurrah before heading off to war," Vendread spoke, "I was shambling through here so long ago and found her with this on her neck. The moment my eyes saw it, the memories flooded back to me…and so did the rage as I learned that she hadn't been spared from becoming like I had. Always kept it under my cloak, always kept her right where my heart once beat. I swore to her grave and her memory that I would become a slayer, the vanquisher of those who would dare cause a fate like ours to fall." he looked where the Battlelord had been as a tentacle finally collapsed, breaking away like the behemoth had done, "Heh…Honestly glad I met you kids. You and Alien Boy over there. Makes me wonder…if my kids turned out to be aces like you both without their folks around."

"Vendread…" Noel whispered, sadness in her voice as she looked on at the fading form of Vendread.

"When you skedaddle from this place once the reason you came here is done…" he offered it to her, "...bring it back to Earth and find my kids to pass it on to them. Tell them…" the other tentacle collapsed like the first, "Tell them that their mom died as innocent as she always was while their dad…he lived to save many from her fate, taking on horrors indescribable just for the peace of others."

"...I will," Noel replied, accepting the locket.

The moment it was gone from his palm, the limb began to decay further. A wind began to softly blow, stirring what little leaves hung upon the withered trees. Noel held her locket close to her heart as she looked upon Vendread's dying form. She closed her eyes, unseen by all that they had bled from emerald green to a rich azure, before she opened her mouth.

"Ano chiheisen kagayaku no wa~, Dokoka ni kimi wo kakushite iru ka~"

"What's she doing?" Tetrax pondered.

"She's singing for him," Makoto replied, her ears drooping, "Giving him a last song to hear before the end."

"I didn't know she could sing…like that," Sam spoke in awe.

"Normally, it's La-chan who's always eager to," Makoto replied before their eyes widened.

As Noel continued to sing for Vendread, wings of an azure light emerged from her back, seemingly reminiscent of the ones when she had been part Necrofriggian. As they fluttered, small 'particles' of them flittered off, falling down before her and onto Vendread. As she reached a reprise in her melody, the 'particles' began to shine and soak into Vendread and even the ground where they missed the decaying man…and grass and flowers began to grow where the 'particles' had landed, the daffodils and azaleas intertwining with acacia around the transformed man, who looked up to Noel in curiosity. He tried to speak and reach out to her…before seeing he had reached to her with what had once been a stump. His eyes widened, the 'flames' leaking from them bleeding into a gentle violet, as he looked at it. The skin was no longer decayed as before, but had taken on a rich shade of navy. Leather had grown, melding with bones that had taken on the sheen of a strong metal to resemble layered armor over his lower arms with small spikes jutting out near the wrists. More 'particles' came off her 'wings' as she continued to sing, washing over Vendread and the land more and more, shining and sinking into wherever they landed, growing more daffodils, azaleas, and acacia while the mangled and horrific trees blossomed with cherry blossoms, the petals a deep azure instead of a rich pink. More and more of Vendread's skin mended as it changed to the same navy as his regrown arm. The back of his right arm twitched as two small scimitar-like wing-shaped 'blades' of the metal-like bone rose…allowing a long thin blade of the same material to extend, cracks littering it and glowing the same light violet as his eyes. The 'skulls' upon his shoulders melted and reformed, taking on the helms of knights with the 'horn' remaining on them. His cloak bled from blue to a deep, rich crimson, unfurling and looking as if it had become a massive scarf. A 'mask' grew over his face, three long spikes jutting out towards the back of his head, as he felt a discomfort where his tentacles had been. For a brief moment, it was discomfort, before skeletal wings with bones as thick as one of Funkfreed's legs emerged, connected to triangular bones that glowed before, for a moment, igniting with the same kind of 'flames' that came from his eyes, looking as if he had for a brief moment grown burning wings of ghostly flames.

"Ben, isn't that…?" Naoto began in recognition.

"Yeah…it…it's the power she gained from Gunvolt's home; the Muse," Ben realized as Vendread slowly rose up, his eyes remaining focused upon Noel as she reached the final notes as her 'wings' faded away with their deliverance.

"What's with the flowers?" Tucker asked.

"Azalea for recovery, daffodils for hope, birth, and renewal, cherry blossoms for the beauty and fragility of life, and acacia for protection, purity, and…immortality," Sam explained, earning surprised looks from her two male friends, "It's the language of flowers. I dabble a little, alright?"

"You like the pretty flowers that are purple and black but don't mean anything bad, huh?" Makoto guessed.

"Just a bit," Sam nodded.

"So…both of you can do this?" Ben walked up to Noel, "You know this is going to make karaoke really trippy from now on."

"Eh?" Noel pondered as she opened her emerald green eyes and noticed the scenery, "Eh?" she looked to see Vendread before her, "Ah! Mr. Vendread!"

"I'm…not sure what you did," he admitted as he looked at himself, "But…for the first time in a long time…the rage…the hatred that I've held onto…are gone." he looked at Noel, "Thank you. Your song…no, your kind heart pulled me back from the reaper's hands."

"So now what?" Ben asked, "You…uh…well you're still here? Now what, do you come back to Earth with us?"

"...No," Vendread replied, turning away from them.

"Huh? No?" Ben asked.

"I'd like to, but…I've been to many of the worlds in this system, always chasing for a way to a past I've long lost," Vendread replied, looking out to the eternal night sky, "In the haze of what allowed me to regain my humanity…I never saw what I did for those of these worlds, the hope to the innocents that I brought." he focused on the sky, narrowing his eyes, "Should monsters threaten these worlds…should they ever fall into darkness…I will swing my blade for them once more…but this time? It will be without the resentment I once held in my heart. I will not fight for vengeance, but for peace…to give the people of this system courage and hope whenever they need of it. There is no slayer of the wicked…there is no longer a need for an executioner…I am Vendread…and I will be their savior."

"I guess every place needs someone to stick around and do the right thing," Ben spoke, "I understand," he dug around in his belt, "Here…" he pulled out a Plumbers badge he carried on his person.

"This looks like the thing on you when you change…" he noted.

"It's my badge, it's a symbol for peace; as long as you have that, people will know what you're here for." Ben explained as he offered it to him.

"...Thanks," Vendread thanked, accepting it and placing it on his newly made scarf, before looking upon the sky once more, "It wasn't just here that guy messed with."

"He's working with Zs'skayr along with two dangerous people named Hazama and Junko Enoshima," Ben explained.

"That drip's back?" Vendread questioned, "Thought I tore him apart roughly twenty years back."

"Probably did to his original self, but their DNA houses their soul, and since the Omnitrix collects alien samples…"

"He pulled a runner and managed to get a failsafe to let him survive. Hmph…not as much of a cockeyed yuck like I thought he was," Vendread spoke before pointing to one spot in the sky, "Anur Khufos."

"Hm?"

"The last time we fought, he was after an artifact that they refused to allow anyone to take," Vendread informed.

"You're not coming with?" Danny asked.

"If Zs'skayr's back, I need to check on the other worlds," Vendread replied, "I'm entrusting you kids with Anur Khufos. If that drip manages to get his claws on whatever's there, I'll meet you on Anur Transyl." he looked to Tetrax and thumbed over his shoulder to the southeast, "You're welcome to use my old ride to make repairs for yours."

"Well, that's mighty kind of you, but how will you…?" Tetrax began.

"Heh…The young baby doll over there gave me a new way," Vendread replied as he spread his extra limbs out and made the wings erupt from them before taking to the air.

"Ah! Wait!" Naoto called, "Did you see a girl with long blond hair like Noel's and golden eyes?"

"Can't say that I have, at least not that I can recall. If you're looking for info, you should head up to Khufos. Those Khufans might know something. They pride themselves on being able to sell you anything, be it rare parts, clothes from outside the system, and information," Vendread explained, "They go everywhere and see everything, but…you better know how to haggle if you want anything out of 'em."

"It's a start," Ben put a hand on Naoto's shoulder as Vendread flew away, "We'll find her, but we should focus on fixing the ship." he sighed as he began walking, "Also…I'm gonna need help up the incline…my legs are getting stiff…" Makoto caught him with her tail, "Yep. Locked up."

"Oh joy…" Skurd groaned, looking more like a puddle of slime on the Omnitrix than usual, "...Still worth it to sample Seithr…"

"Ah! Ben-san!" Noel panicked as she ran over.

"Yeah, he's gonna be needing to rest for a few hours," Makoto noted, gently feeling Ben's arms for any pulled, strained, or torn muscles.

"Well it was worth it for a one time thing…but maybe I should stick to my aliens." Ben groaned.

"Practice makes purpose, Babe."

"Oh no…I know that smirk, more training dates…" Ben groaned.

As they made their way back to the ship, none were the wiser as the figures of Zs'Skayr and Dan dropped their invisibility.

"Well now…this is most enlightening." Zs'Skayr picked up the remains of the Core that comprised the monster.

"So…they have a power up, is that gonna be a problem?" Dan asked.

"Oh…not at all, in fact they helped me, see I needed the contents inside the core. And their actions made it easier." he explained, "Now…we just need some free time to do the work, collect some samples, and then…oh that's when the real fun begins."

"Well you never fail to show me a good time, Skayr~" Dan laughed, "Alright, I'll hold back from throttling that little twerp that is a weak me."

"Oh trust me, the end results will be fun. And you and I will be the only ones with the keys to control events, so…win-win~" Zs'Skayr smirked.

With that the two evil specters began to cackle as they vanished into thin air once more. Their laughter echoed through the Anu system, promising untold chaos and suffering for its innocent inhabitants. Now it was in the hands of the heroes from beyond the Stars.

---

Z0: And we are done with the first planet. 6 more to go. And ooh boy is it gonna be fun. Cause again folks, by this point we got things Tightly planned out.

GT: Gotta tell you folks, we were not originally planning the Vendread thing, but then we realized we didn't have enough planned for this. I ended up watching lore on the Vendread archetype, talked with the boys, mentioned Spawn and Keith David, then blammo, we got Vendread and hearing Keith David's smooth intimidating Spawn voice coming from the guy.

SZ: Oh yeah…ahem! Anyways…hope you all enjoyed it, and you know the usual…read, like and review folks, and see you all next time.