A/N: Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Ben 10 RWBY, and the finale of "Season 4". Gotta say, quite the journey getting to this one, and looking back, I definitely think that this season was the most enjoyable for me to write so far. I know that it's been a bit of an odd adjustment with the addition of the Kamen Rider aspects, but going forward, I DO have a solution on how to balance those aspects with our usual type of Alien/Huntsmen action, so look forward to the NEXT season when that starts getting implemented.

But with that said, this finale is actually going to be mostly centralized around Blake and Sun, since I've got PLENTY of plans for both of them going forward. So with that said, let's see how our Monkey Boy is doing first, shall we? …Oh, and yeah, different title than I had advertised last time. This chapter didn't really have much focus on the Bull Family themselves, so I'm saving that for next time. But for NOW, this is…

Chapter 108: Calm Before the Storm

…..

"Mmmpphh… h-huh? HUH?!"

Sun shot up with a start, his eyes opening to the sight of… nothing. Absolutely nothing. Wherever he was, there was no environment to speak of. No walls, no floor or ceiling, just a seemingly never-ending void of blackness. He wasn't even sure he had his eyes open, having to blink a couple times just to make sure. Stranger still, despite the lack of a floor, he still managed to stand up, which REALLY weirded him out. 'Where the heck AM I?' he thought to himself, trying to find ANY source of light within the inky darkness.

Oddly enough, though, regardless of him being alone, he still felt like… he was being watched. As if someone from beyond the void was staring directly at him. He didn't like it, not one bit. So, with lack of any better options, he did the one thing that came to mind; "Hello?!" he called out, hoping for an answer. His heart sank into his stomach when none came, and by that point, his legs started to move. As he walked, he kept shouting into the void, holding out hope for someone to call back. "Blake?! Ben?! ANYBODY?!"

"…Hehehehe…"

A gasp escaped Sun's throat. That had to have been the most spine-chilling laugh he had ever heard. He started whipping around, hoping to find the source. "Wh-Who's there?!" he shouted, reaching back for his staff. "I should warn you, I'm a—AH!" But he gasped again when he realized that his staff was nowhere on him, and then, that unsettling laugh came back.

"Hehehehehe!"

It was more amused this time, as if finding him unarmed was funny. "Grr… come out!" Sun demanded, still scanning his eyes around him.

Eventually, though… he did see something. Though when he did, he quickly wished he hadn't. In the distance, VERY far away from him… he saw two green lights shining in the void. Just from how they were placed, he could tell that they were a pair of eyes, and they seemed to be in a permanent glare. And then… the laughter came back. "Mwehehehehe…" Again, Sun was left creeped out, but this time, the voice said something else. "There you are…"

"H-Huh?" Sun shakily took a few steps back, blinking in shock. But when his eyes opened again… the green orbs were suddenly a LOT closer. "AH!" He tried sprinting away, but it was no use. His legs were suddenly as heavy as lead and he fell to his hands and knees.

"I wouldn't bother trying to run." the figure said as it approached from the darkness. "You can't outrun your mistakes, after all."

"Wh-Who are you?!" Sun demanded trying to keep a brave face as he stared up at the shadow. "WHAT are you?!"

In the blink of an eye, the figure was only a few feet away, and at that point, Sun could get a better view of his silhouette. They were about as tall as each other, though the green-eyed figure had a stronger build, giving him a more intimidating stature. "Heh, here I thought that'd be obvious…" the figure said before finally closing the distance. Where there was once no light before, there was one now, and in that light... stood a horrifying creature. "…I'm you."

As much as Sun wish it wasn't true, he knew for a fact that it WAS him. Or rather, the MONSTROUS version of him. The creature, which Tsukasa had referred to as "Another OOO" loomed over him with his permanent grimace. Sun became completely pale upon seeing the amalgamation monster, his hawkish head, tiger-like claws and insectoid legs leaving him in completely disbelief. "…Th-This… THIS is what I…"

"Take it in. This is your peak." Another OOO said before leaning in. "And guess what? You'll NEVER be this peak again if you keep letting those so-called "friends" hold you back."

"W-What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean… wake up."

"W-Wha—"

"Wake up… Wake up!"

…..

"Sun! Sun, WAKE UP!"

His eyes snapping open once again, Sun awoke with a start, letting out a scream as he whipped straight up in bed. "GYAAAAAHH! Hah! Hah! Hah!" His hand flew to his chest, feeling the cold sweat that was dripping down his body. By then, he had noticed that he was drenched, and that extended to his sheets and comforter. He also felt a reassuring hand covering his own, encouraging him to slow his breathing.

"Sun, Sun, it's okay…" Ilia assured. She, Neptune and Penny were all vigilantly stationed at his bedside, their features etched with concern. "It's okay… you're awake."

"Dude, what the heck was that?" Neptune said, stepping closer to the bed.

"Your vitals were skyrocketing." Penny added, her hands cupped together near her chest. "We were worried about you."

Once his breathing slowed, Sun's hands moved to his forehead, leaning against his knees. "I… I don't know… I was having some sorta nightmare." he uttered before meeting all of their eyes with a grave stare. "I was… in a black void. No one was around… except for me and… myself."

His wording managed to confuse the group. "Er… what now?" Neptune scratched his head.

"I-I mean…" Sun swallowed hard, the image of his own grotesque features having been etched into his mind. "The OTHER me. The… thing that I changed into when I absorbed those metals." Upon hearing that, everyone's eyes widened, realizing what he had meant.

"…Another OOO." Ilia deduced.

Penny placed a hand to her chin ponderously. "Hm, it would make sense that you'd be having nightmares about him, considering what happened."

Neptune raised a brow to his best friend. "So did he—er, I mean, you—er… whatever. Did that Fake Rider say anything to you?"

"…Yeah." Sun pursed his lips, his brows furrowed as he recalled; "He said that… he was my peak. And that I'll never achieve that peak again." His eyes drifted up to them reluctantly. "…Because he says that you guys hold me back."

There was a long, drawn-out silence after Sun explained things. Though naturally, it was Neptune who broke the tension. "…Well that's freaking ominous."

"For sure." Penny concurred. "It makes it sound like he wants to take over control of your body." She gasped as a conclusion was made in her processor. "Ah! Do you think he could be your Inner Demon? Like how Kaz is Zak's Inner Demon?"

The implication was rather distressing to think about, though Ilia was quick to temper those thoughts. "Let's not jump to conclusions too fast, huh? After all, it COULD also just have been a really bad dream." Her focus shifted to Sun, giving him a stern gaze. "Just… make sure you tell us if this guy starts popping out of you in the real world, okay?"

With a deep breath, Sun nodded in agreement. "Y-Yeah, sounds like a good idea…" His eyes moved down to his sheets and blanket, wincing awkwardly. "Now, uh… could I have a moment of privacy while I… remove these?"

Ilia understood immediately. "Oh, of course. But come downstairs once you're ready." Her lips tightened as she explained; "There's something else we need to talk about." On that note, Sun watched as his three housemates left… knowing exactly what she was referring to.

'Oh boy… time to face the music.'

…..

Once Sun had taken care of his laundry, he made his way down to the main floor, where he immediately saw the others gathered in the living room. But before he made himself known, he heard them discussing something, so he decided to wait it out. "Hey, um… so what do you think the chances are that it IS Sun's Inner Demon?" Neptune questioned. "You heard the Monkey King; those things can pop up whenever people experience strong, unwanted emotions. And I know Sun, he's NOT a greedy person who dismisses his friends."

"And I don't doubt that." Ilia said with crossed arms. "But one dream does not an Inner Demon make. For all we know, it could be his guilty conscience. So until we know more, don't egg him on about it. …He's already dealing with a lot right now as it is, so let's focus on helping him through that."

"Indeed, and perhaps if we do, his conscience will be lightened and the nightmares will go away." Penny deduced.

Hearing this, Sun let out a sigh, wishing it would be that easy. '…But I don't think it is.' Then, as if to reaffirm that, a little voice in the back of his mind spoke up; 'What kind of friends would just dismiss the worst-case scenario like that? Seriously, that's—' However, he cut his thought off there, realizing what was going through his head. 'No! Sun, stop that! They're your friends, they're trying to HELP you. Just go down there and speak your mind.' He took a deep breath and proceeded down the stairs. "Hey guys…"

"O-Oh, hey dude!" Neptune said, taken off guard by his arrival. He and the girls were all on the couch, him and Penny trying to put on their brightest smiles while Ilia did nothing to force a grin. "So, uh… those sheets all taken care of?"

The monkey boy deadpanned at that. "Dude, can we please not mention them? It makes it sound like I had…"

"An accident?" Penny finished abruptly. "Ha! Don't be absurd, Sun. We all know you better than that. It's not your fault that your perspiration resulted in that… unfortunate situation." Seeing that Sun didn't exactly appear cheered up by her words, Penny decided to change the subject. "B-But that's all in the past! Because guess what? Today, we're all going on a little excursion!"

That managed to pique Sun's interest. "Really? Where to?"

Ilia stood up from the couch, dusting off her pants as she explained. "We're all going on a hike through the mountains. You, me, Neptune, Penny, and Helen and Vados are coming along, too."

"Um… okay? Where'd this come from?"

With a short sigh, Ilia continued. "That's where this next part comes in." Her eyes trailed over to her friends. "Guys, mind giving us a moment?" Wordlessly, Neptune and Penny nodded, complying with her request.

Though Neptune made sure to give Sun a supportive pat on the shoulder as he went past. "…Good luck, man."

"Oh… right." Sun gulped as they left, leaving him alone with Ilia. "…You mentioned you wanted to speak with me. …About you-know-what."

"Correct." Ilia folded her arms, her countenance unimpressed.

"Hah… alright, let's do this." Sun spread his arms out, staring straight at her as he prepared for the worst. "Give me all that you've got. I'm ready for it."

His willing acceptance on the matter took Ilia by surprise initially, but she wasn't about to show it. Instead, she took a couple steps forward until she was mere centimeters away from him. Of course, she was considerably shorter than him, but thankfully, he didn't have his chest on full display, so there was nothing to distract her. 'Not like I'd look at it anyways.' she remarked to herself. Hardening her resolve she took a deep breath and then…

*SMACK*

She slapped her hand across Sun's face as hard as she could. Of course, this meant that her hand hurt like hell, but his cheek was stinging just as much. "YOWCH!" Sun exclaimed.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Ilia winced, trying to shake the pain away.

"Damn, girl, I don't think either of us feel good after that."

"Yeah, not worth it." the chameleon girl agreed. "Still, you literally asked me for it, so I didn't want to disappointed."

Sun sighed as he rubbed his cheek, sitting in the nearest chair. "Hah… yeah. And I deserve it, too. After what I did… stooping to the bad guys' level, becoming a monster… upsetting Blake." He shook his head guiltily. "That last one in particular sucks the most."

Ilia wasn't about to argue there. "On that, we can agree. You screwed up. BIG time." Her chastising only made Sun lower his head even further, his shame weighing down on him. But then… Ilia threw him for a loop. "So now, we have to unscrew everything up."

"…Uh, I'm sorry." Sun tilted his head in confusion. "But could you repeat that?"

"I mean we're going to do everything we can to FIX this, Sun." Ilia prodded her finger against his chest. "And you can be damn sure about that."

The blonde could only stare at her, completely baffled by what he was hearing. "…Yeah, no, this still isn't making any sense." He thrust his hands out to her. "I mean, you're… how are you NOT more upset with me? I made Blake upset! You know, your best friend and once crush, Blake Belladonna? I figured that you'd be the first to throw me over the coals here!"

Placing her hands on her hips, Ilia rolled her eyes. "Oh, wow, glad to know that you have SO much trust and faith in me here, Sun." She shook her head in denial. "But no, I'm not about to skewer you over a hot fire because of this. Am I disappointed in you for what you did? Yes. But I also care about Blake, and seeing her unhappy is something that I just can't abide by. And you know what makes her happy?" Once again, Ilia poked Sun's chest. "You. So what I'm gonna do is help YOU realize where you went wrong in this whole thing so that you can get back to making Blake happy."

The chameleon girl's speech left Sun absolutely gob smacked. "S-So hold on… you want to help me?" After Ilia gave a simple nod, Sun let that information process in his head, and not long after, he felt a great weight lift off his very soul. "Hah… w-wow, I… I really have no idea what to say." He sent her a grateful smile. "Except… thank you, Ilia."

"Yeah, well, if there's one thing that we have in common…" Ilia smiled back at him. "…it's that we both love Blake Belladonna."

"And we'd do anything in the world to make her happy." Sun raised his fist. "So again, thanks."

Ilia raised her fist back and bumped it against his. "Hmhm, you're welcome. Now c'mon, go get dressed. We're leaving for the mountain in about half an hour."

Sun nodded and went for the stairs. "Right, gotcha…" But then, he paused for a second. "Wait, you never DID explain why we were going on this trip. Isn't everyone else out in the desert today helping get Nora's dragon settled in?"

"Yep, and this little hike it to make sure that you and Blake aren't near one another." Ilia finally revealed with a wink. "Gwen's gonna be talking with her today… and I've also got someone on the inside to help feed me some info."

…..

Deep out in the Chihuahuan Desert region of the southern United States, said insider was currently reclining in a Plumber transport vehicle, very thankful for the air conditioning. "Ah, now THIS is what I'm talkin' about." Peaking one eye open, she glanced over to the transport truck's driver, giving him a grateful smile. "Thanks for letting me tag along on my day off, Rook."

"Not a problem, Swift." the Revonnahgander assured. "Just because you are on parole, does not mean you cannot get out every once and a while. So long as I am with you, of course."

Swift grinned cheekily at that. "Heh, be careful how you say that. Don't want Ilia gettin' jealous or anything."

"Hah, I would never dream of it." Rook vehemently denied. "Though I will say, I AM quite surprised that Ilia chose not to join us…" He directed his sights down toward Kevin and Ben's cars as well as Rex on his Ride driving in front of the transport. The entire rest of the team had chosen to get in on this, with a few exceptions. "Tell me, did she have other plans today? I figured that you two would spend your day off together."

"Oh, we will." Swift assured with a wink. "We've got a pretty hot date scheduled later on. But I just kinda wanted to get out and stretch my legs, you know. Besides, she, uh… wanted to talk with Sun about a few things."

"Ah, yes…" Rook's expression tightened at that. "I have heard of Sun's recent… slip-ups."

Swift glanced off to the side. "Yeah, so did I. Can you believe it?"

With a shrug, Rook simply stated; "In fact, yes, I can. After fighting alongside this team for so long, hearing about someone transforming into a monster by means of mystic medals is not the strangest thing I have seen or heard of."

"…I was more talking about the stuff with Blake, but yeah, fair point."

"Oh, I see." The Revonnahgander glanced to her apologetically. "Forgive me, I am not so well-versed in romantic relationships."

But the Aerophibian hybrid waved it off. "No need to apologize. I get it…" However, she couldn't help but smirk over to him. "That said, kinda ironic that you don't, considering you apparently have more rizz than even I would've thought."

That managed to give Rook pause. "…Alright, you have stumped me. I have not heard that term before at all."

Throwing her head back, Swift laughed out loud. "HA! Well, guess that's not surprising. Ya don't really come off as internet savvy." She sent him a wink. "It means that you've got game with the ladies, dude! I heard all about Rayona."

"…Who told you?" uttered Rook, suddenly very scared.

"Yang."

"Of course." Rook dragged his hand down his face. "So that means that everyone likely knows."

Leaning over, Swift nudged him with her elbow. "You're damn right. I've also seen some pictures." That made Rook's eyes widen, making her nod in approval. "And dude, she is smokin'. How in the hell you let THAT fine of a woman stay single on your home planet where I'm sure a BUNCH of other dudes are vying for her is beyond me."

Clearing his throat, Rook explained; "Ahem, we… um… hah. That is not a concern that I have. Before I left Revonnah, we… promised ourselves to one another." All at once, Swift's jaw dropped, which Rook managed to catch. "Not in a marriage sense… not yet, at least. I promised Rayona that, once I climb the ranks and can afford a more manageable schedule, I would come back and we would have a proper relationship."

"Aw, well that's sweet!" Swift gushed with a bright smile. "So, what'd Rayona promise?"

A fond smile came to Rook's face. "…That she would do anything to commit to our relationship. Even if it meant moving away from Revonnah." He spared Swift a knowing glance. "Something that her parents are vehemently against."

"AH! Defying the 'rents to be with the one she loves!" Swift raised a victorious fist. "I sure as hell know that feeling! Now I wanna meet this girl!"

"Perhaps you will, some day." Rook assured, only to see their destination come into view. "We are here."

Out in front of them was a strange sight for a desolate desert… a town, seemingly abandoned to the sands of time. However as they got closer, it was clear that this wasn't a town, but rather, a military base. It had many buildings, though most of them were reduced to rubble. Some appeared to crumble naturally… while others were completely destroyed. Even so, the base appeared to be completely desolate, with no military activity to speak of. It was also surrounded by a rather high wall, the main gate of which was locked up tight. However, the base was still easily accessible thanks to the big, gaping hole that was directly next to it.

As the vehicles pulled to a stop, Swift couldn't help but comment; "Wow, talk about your fixer-upper." She titled her head toward Rook. "What's this place called again?"

"Los Soledad." Rook answered. "An abandoned military outpost that was the epicenter of the Highbreed War many years ago, as well as several other significant events."

"And lemme guess, they all surround Ben in one way or another."

"That is an easy assumption to make." Rook unbuckled his seatbelt and pressed a big, red button. "Come. Nora will be waiting for us outside…" The two climbed out of the cab of the truck and moved toward the back, which was opening up from the top. Once the entire rear section was exposed, it revealed a whole slew of seats made for Plumber soldiers. There were two rows along each side of the interior, and there were spots for two more rows in the middle, but they had been taken out.

…Mainly to facilitate the SINGLE passenger they were transporting. Or technically two since a certain hyper redhead was sitting on his back. Titan let out a low bellow as he stepped out, inspecting his surroundings while Nora whooped and hollered atop him. "Hahaha! Woo! Finally, outta the tin can and into the… sandpit." She hopped off of her dragon's back and scanned her eyes around, not too impressed with the scenery. "Wow, this is… kinda boring."

The rest of the team, meanwhile, had just disembarked from their vehicles. Weiss had chosen to go with Rex on his Ride… which she was seriously regretting as she spat sand out of her mouth. "Ptui! Bleh! And super dusty!"

"Hey, I DID say you to wear a bandana." Rex shrugged, pulling down his own neckerchief from over his mouth to reveal a smirk. "Maybe on the trip back, you'll reconsider?"

"Mph, fine, hand it over…" Weiss reached out as Rex handed her the blue and white bandana. "It doesn't go with what I'm wearing at all, but function over form, I guess. Ugh, why'd it have to be a desert of all things?""

"Hey, listen, I'm still trying to make sense of how Ben, Gwen and Kevin ever got out here just by DRIVING." the EVO muttered as he scratched his head. "Like, seriously, they live on the east coast and yet apparently, they came out here on the weekends often?"

"Probably best not to think about that too much." Weiss rolled her eyes. "I've figured out that those guys are REALLY good at doing the impossible."

"The answer's actually short-range teleporter tech. The same kind we just used to get out here today." Kevin piped up, bringing their attention to the others. "…Which I had admittedly swiped back then and installed in my car."

Following him were Gwen and the remainder of Team JNPR, the former side-eyeing him in particular. "Yeah, you can bet that I was on about him for that right out the gate."

Meanwhile, the rest of Team RWBY had emerged from Ben's car, along with Zak, who decided to tag along. Their eyes were immediately trained upon the massive military base as they approached. "So… this is Los Soledad, huh?" Ruby asked.

"Yup." Ben confirmed, placing his hands on his hips. "Man, been a while since we've been here, hasn't it?"

"Lots of memories here." Gwen sighed. "The Highbreed invasion, Aggregor's plot…"

The Omnitrix bearer winced uncomfortably as another memory cropped up. "…Our last battle." he stated, eyeing Kevin awkwardly.

But The Osmosian didn't take any umbrage with it. "Ah, that's in the past, man. Not the first time you tried to kill me."

"…It's amazing how you say that so causally." Yang commented with crossed arms.

"Hehe… what can we say?" Ben chuckled as he and Kevin knocked their fists together. "We're a forgiving bunch."

Blake, in the meantime, had made her way over to the hole, where something caught her eye rather quickly. She noticed that the edges of the hole were crumbled in a way that didn't appear as if the wall had been broken through. Rather, they seemed… almost decayed in a way. "So, um… I'm assuming THIS is how you usually get in?"

"Yeah, always has been." Gwen confirmed.

"So what the heck even MADE this? Seems like it's been aged into dust."

"Uh-huh, that's 'cause it was." Ben went on. "Because this is ALSO the place where Professor Paradox… well, became who he was today." He ran his hands along the edge of the hole as he explained. "And he came back here to deal with something from his past. A Time Monster that had been created in the same incident that sent him hurdling through time and space. Heck, you can still see the trail that the Time Monster burned over there."

Upon closer inspection, the team saw that he was right. From the hole, a long, erratic rut ran through Los Soledad, going through several buildings in the process. "Man… that's crazy." Zak said, mostly to himself.

"No kiddin'. Wish I could do that."

The young man flinched slightly, forgetting that he now shared his mind and soul with someone else. "You mind giving me a warning before you speak in my head?" he whispered.

"And how do ya think I can do that?" Kaz retorted. "I don't exactly have a built-in warning system."

"You can hop out of my body as a ghost of some kind, right? Just do that!"

"That takes more energy outta me than ya think, dude. I only JUST regained consciousness recently, remember?"

"And already, you're annoying the crap out of me."

Their back and forth was cut off when Pyrrha cleared her throat. "AHEM." That managed to jolt Zak back to reality, standing up straight as the Invincible Girl addressed him. "Zak, while I realize that your… current situation is unique, could you perhaps keep the discussions with Kaz to a minimum? To be blunt; it's unsettling watching you have a one-sided conversation."

Gwen had to agree. "Yeah, it's even more awkward when he's inside your head, because then even I can't hear him."

Her words prompted Kaz to pop out of Zak's body, the appearance of his ethereal form making Zak shudder. "Okay then! Happy now?!"

"Hah, no!" Gwen chided with a sigh. "Now please get back in there before this gets even weirder, if you'd be so kind?"

"Oh, c'mon, I'm basically the shiny new guy on the block!" Kaz insisted, gesturing out toward… seemingly nothing at all. "I'm the one that your audience wants to see!"

Gwen and Zak stared out to where he was pointing… only to see nothing but more sand. "Uh… what audience?" the latter inquired.

"What? Ya mean ya can't see 'em?" Kaz flew out in that same direction, mugging for something that didn't seem to be there. "The ones who're lookin' in on us right now!"

The redheaded Anodite was now FULLY irritated. All the more so since the rest of her team were just gawking at her and Zak in utter bafflement. "I sense NOTHING there, Kaz. The desert heat is either playing tricks on you—something that I wasn't aware could even be DONE to an incorporeal being—OR you're even crazier than I thought."

Kaz peered over his shoulder with a gnarled grin. "Thanks for the compliment! But I'm serious, ya'll are bein' wa—ATCHED!" He was suddenly silenced as Zak tugged on his ghostly tail, pulling him straight back into his body. "Oh, so THAT'S how it's gonna be? Fine, I'll just shut up then! Guess I'll just stay in here and play POOL for a bit."

"Wait, what?" Zak said incredulously. "What do you mean you'll play… I almost fell for that."

*click-clack*

"Fell for what?"

All Zak could do was grumble as his fists shook at his sides, his eye twitching at the same time. Thankfully, Ruby came over and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Zak, calm down. I know it's gonna take some getting used to, having Kaz in your body and all." She lightly nudged his shoulder and winked to him. "But remember; we're gonna help you through it. Okay?"

Her reassuring words managed to lighten the load on Zak's mind a bit, and he gave her a grateful smile. "Hah, thanks, Ruby. I just hope I'll stay sane through all of this." Taking a deep breath, Zak went back to focusing on the situation at hand. "So, I guess we're in for a tour of Los Soledad, then?"

"Heck yeah, we are!" Nora cheered. "Time to get Titan acclimated to his new home!" She went to mount the dragon's back, ushering him to move toward the gate. "But that itty bity hole ain't gonna fit THIS enormous beast!"

"…Nora, please stop." Ren muttered while most of the girls and even the likes of Rex and Kevin were having trouble holding back their laughter.

But the Pink Dynamo was only just getting started. "Titan, let's PLUNGE ON IN! HYAAAA!" On that note, Titan let out another roar and charged straight to the gate, his horns piercing through it with little to no problem before his entire body just SMASHED it down.

As the other watched, Yang couldn't help but snicker as she pointed to where the smaller hole had once been, now completely decimated. "Well… she's been busted WIDE open, now." The Blonde Brawler cheekily grinned. "Very GAPING, so to speak."

"Oh, totally." Swift agreed, stifling her own giggles. "I guess you could say that Los Soledad finally lost her v—"

"OKAY, moving on!" Ruby asserted, her complexion now just as red as her cloak. "Can we please stop with all the filth?! It's making me VERY uncomfortable!"

"Yeah, I'm with Ruby here." Blake said with a shrewd expression. "I'd rather not talk about this right now. Let's just get in there and look around…" Thankfully, the others took the hit rather quickly and followed the cat girl's lead.

Even so, Gwen couldn't help but look on in concern for her Faunus friend, which Swift picked up on quickly. "…You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Red?"

"Mmhm, it's time. Execute "Plan Kitty Chat"."

"That's cute as hell."

Gwen smiled in appreciation. "Thanks, I'm proud of it, too. Let's go." On that note, the two girls hurriedly power-walked their way up to the front of the group, sidestepping in front of Blake to bring them all to a halt. "Uh, hey guys, before we get too far, there's something I just remembered." She gestured off toward another street across the way. "Blake, there's a library over there that I want you to come see."

Immediately, the cat girl's ears perked up, her attention unequivocally belonging to Gwen now. "Did… did you say a library? One filled with… old, dusty books that haven't been touched in decades?"

"Uh-huh! Since nobody's laid claim to the books in there yet, I figured you'd want to see if any piqued your interest—AH!"

Without any more convincing, Blake grabbed Gwen by the shoulders and spun her around, pushing her toward that street. "Well, what're we waiting for?! Lead the way!"

Swift watched as Gwen was essentially carted off, pleading for Blake to stop as her heels scraped along the pavement. "…Uh, I should probably go with 'em." the Aerophibian girl reasoned with a slight chuckle. "Just, uh… ya know, to make sure Blake doesn't stick around there for too long."

Ruby bought it without question. "Okie dokie! We'll catch you in a bit, Swift!" With that, the group separated, with the Hooded Huntress taking the lead instead. "Alright guys, so big question here; where exactly IS Titan gonna stay here?"

"Good point!" Nora exclaimed, patting the head of her dragon. "You need a proper den, big guy! A hollowed-out garage just wouldn't suit ya."

"Actually, about that…" Kevin raised a hand toward the center of the base. "There's somethin' that I wanted to show you guys. C'mon, you're gonna love this…" Once they made it to the very middle of the complex, the Osmosian pulled out his Plumber's badge, activating a rather detailed 3D schematic of what appeared to be a stadium-like structure. Though rather than having a big, central state, it was instead outfitted with several stables on the inside. Immediately, everyone was intrigued by the sight, which Kevin was hoping for. "Get ready, folks. Because pretty soon, Los Soledad is about to see a pretty substantial make-over…"

…..

Once Blake had spotted the library, there was no stopping her from heading straight there. Her excitement couldn't be understated, a far cry from how she was a few moments ago. "Hehehe, this is gonna be so…" But then, all of that excitement left her when she saw… nothing. Nothing but rows upon rows of empty shelves. Her and Gwen's jaws dropped in genuine bafflement as they walked around, seeing dust outlines where objects and books had once been. "…You've gotta be kidding me."

Gwen wasn't too happy about this either. "Ugh! Are you kidding me?! NOW the government decides to strip the place." She kicked a table leg in frustration. "Can't even leave us any crumbs. …Hah, guess that's what the Plumbers get for purchasing this property. No juicy secrets for us, then."

The cat girl fell to her knees, pounding the ground in disappointment. "Damn it! I bet they even took all of the…" But then, as she raised her head up, a short gasp escaped her throat. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted a full shelf toward the back of the store. And to her utter joy, the sign above it read; "Fiction". And just like that, Blake's ears perked right back up and she gave a delighted; "AAAAHH! Yes! Thank the GODS!"

"Hah, well I'll be…" Gwen followed her friend to the shelf, and while Blake began perusing, she noticed a small, white envelope slotted between two of the books. She pulled it out, opening it to reveal a letter. "To the Omni-Hunters…" she read aloud. "Consider these remaining books as a thank you for all that you've done, both in the past and the present. We hope to keep working with you to keep the world a peaceful place. Sincerely, Colonel Rozum."

"Friend of yours?" Blake inquired.

…Gwen promptly crumpled up the letter. "He's an acquaintance." she spat. "Nothing more."

Blake could only give a shrug. "Eh, well, if he left us this many books, he can't be all bad."

The Anodite rolled her eyes as she began trapsing her way along the shelf as well. "He's not a "bad" person, per se. …But you probably wouldn't like the way he sees aliens. That's all I'll say."

"Psh, government flunkies always gotta be assholes in SOME way, don't they?" The sudden arrival of Swift made the duo look back at her, seeing her smirk at them with her arms crossed. "So, you book worms enjoying yourselves?"

"Very much, yes." Blake nodded, finding a bunch of romance books lined along the shelves. "Getting the chance to just TAKE a bunch of old books? You bet I'm gonna be happy."

Swift walked over to her, very glad to hear that. "Good… but I gotta say, you didn't really seem all that happy just a few minutes ago." Her expression became one of concern as she slid into Blake's field of vision. "Everything okay?"

Blake's lips tightened, remembering her attitude from earlier. Even still, she lied while answering the question. "…Yeah. Never better."

"See, that's what someone says when they're NOT okay."

The young Faunus' features hardened toward Swift, hoping she'd get the message. "I said I'm fine, Swift."

However, it was Gwen's turn to lean in on the subject. "No, you're not, Blake. I can tell just from how you've been acting since yesterday. And we both know WHY you've been acting this way." The redhead met Blake's golden orbs, not the least bit intimidated. Even as Blake's pupils became feline-like slits, she didn't back down. "Blake… you know you can talk to me about Sun. It's not the first time we have, after all." Even as Blake turned her head away, Gwen smiled softly to her, wanting her to know it was alright. "You remember back at Yang's place? How we'd stay up late while talking about your feelings for him? How you could best approach them AND him? I want to make sure you know that we can STILL do that."

"…It's not that simple." Blake muttered. "Things are different now."

"Oh, bullshit." That managed to catch Blake off guard. Gwen rarely swore so heavily, so her attention was brought right back to her in an instant. "If you expect me to believe that, then you probably think I'm a fool."

"I-I do NOT think that!"

Gwen reached out, taking Blake by the shoulders. "Then PLEASE let me help you! I want to understand why you're so upset with Sun. Aside from him transforming into a greedy monster, I mean." Her features softened with sympathy. "Because believe me… I know what that's like. To see the one person that you love most succumb to something that they can't control. Please, Blake… talk to me."

By that point, Blake could feel her heart twisting in her chest, remind of what her redheaded friend went through. "I… I-I…" She couldn't take in any more. In a desperate lunge, Blake pulled Gwen into a hug, expressing her remorse. "I'm sorry, Gwen. I'm so sorry for trying to push you away. I didn't want to, I just… I wanted to try to figure this out on my own. My relationship problems shouldn't be yours to deal with…"

Hearing the cat girl start to choke up, Gwen smiled and brought her hand up, stroking it through Blake's short locks. "Psh, girl, there's nothing to be sorry about." She raised a brow down at her, though. "Also, we've known each other for almost three months now. You should know that I live for this kinda stuff."

"Hah, yeah…" Blake sighed, trying her best to smile through it all. "Gwen Tennyson; Relationship Guru."

"Pfft! Ha! Now that'd be quite the business to go into." Swift guffawed.

But the Anodite wasn't too sure about that. "Eh… maybe. It's a lot easier when it's JUST my friends, but hey, food for thought, I guess." She gently pulled Blake away from her, keeping her hands comfortably on her shoulders. "Now, let's start again, hm?" She took her hands away and proceeded to sit down cross-legged on the ground, gesturing for Blake to do the same. "What problems are you facing with Sun? Again, I know that his time as a monster was one of them, but I'm sensing something deeper going on."

Taking a deep breath, Blake followed suit and sat down, prepared to confide into her friend. "Well, it's just… the whole reason he became a monster was to protect me." She shook her head sadly. "And… I didn't like that. In fact, a part of me hated him for that reasoning he gave."

"Woah, seriously?" Swift's eyes widened. "Most girls would love to have a guy who's that committed."

"Swift has a point." Gwen reasoned as well. "It shows that he truly loves you… though granted, he could've done WITHOUT the stupid decision…"

Blake pointed a shaky finger at the redhead. "Yes! That's exactly what makes me so angry! The fact that he made one of the dumbest decisions possible because he was afraid of my safety! All because he was worried after I told him what happened to Yang." She hung her head low once again. "I… I was so afraid of what he'd become. Afraid of losing him to that… beast. Afraid of…"

"Another repeat of Adam." Gwen deduced. Blake nodded glumly at that.

Swift's expression tightened at the mention. "…Lemme guess; an asshole ex?"

Gwen spared her a brief glance. "Like you wouldn't believe."

A shaky breath passed Blake's lips as she continued. "It's not just that, though. Sun and I… up until this point, we had it going great. But in that moment… he tried doing something that I wasn't okay with."

"That being?" Gwen urged.

"…Taking charge."

That made both girls' eyes widen, leading Swift to come to a quick assumption. "Oooh, so YOU want to wear the pants—"

"NO!" Blake vehemently denied with a swipe of her hand, making Swift flinch. "I don't want EITHER of us to wear the "pants" in our relationship!" Seeing the fear in the Aerophibian girl's eyes, Blake collected herself and calmly explained; "S-Sorry… I just hate that term. What I want is for both of us to be equals in our relationship. I don't want a protector or a knight in shining armor, I want a partner that I can rely on just as much as he can rely on me. I want us to protect each other. To fight alongside each other. Like we've been doing since we started really expressing our feelings."

With a bright smile, Gwen approved of her logic without question. "I think that's a great relationship goal to have, Blake. So… why not tell Sun this?"

Blake's shoulders slumped, shifting her eyes away sheepishly. "It's just… I'm worried about how he'll react—" *BONK* "OW! What was that for?!"

As it turned out, Gwen had karate chopped Blake on the head. Not hard enough to knock her down or anything, but more as a light form of chastisement. "Because that's stupid. You're being stupid." Grabbing her shoulders again, Gwen repeatedly shook her friend, trying to drive her point home. "Stop. Being. Stupid!"

"OoOoKaAaY!" Blake cried, prompting Gwen to stop as her eyes spun in her head. "I… won't be stupid about this…"

"You'd better not." Gwen asserted with a serious gaze. "Because let me tell you something; that boy has got to be one of the sweetest cinnamon rolls I've ever met in my life. He's literally too pure for this world, and you're lucky as hell to have him."

Blinking in shock, Blake once again felt her chest tighten up, realizing just how lucky she was. "I… you're right. He absolutely is." Even still, an uncertain hand clenched over her heart. "But… that's something else I'm afraid of. What if… he's not all that pure anymore? What if that monster form of his is still in there somewhere?"

"Then I'll do my damnedest to find a spell to get it out of him." Gwen reached for Blake's free hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "And I know Sun will do his best to fight it off if it's really still in there. And that's a fact."

Letting out one last shaky breath, Blake calmed herself and smiled to her friend in gratitude. "Gwen… thank you so much."

Picking themselves up off the floor, the two shared a hug, Gwen giving Blake a pat on the back. "No problem at all. Also, I'm amazed that we aren't crying right now."

"Hah, I almost broke if I'm being honest." Blake admitted. "But we've got to get back to the gang soon, and if I let them see I've been crying, I'll never hear the end of it from the girls."

"Very true. Speaking of which…" With a wave of her finger, Gwen cast a spell on the bookshelf, shrinking it down into a small mana orb that she tucked away in her pocket. "We can sort through these books later. Let's get back to the others, shall we?"

The Faunus nudged her Anodite friend in the arm playfully. "Haha, I'm all for that. What do you say, Swift?"

Giving a thumbs up, the Aerophibian agreed as well. "Right behind ya, ladies." With that, the trio went off… though Swift stuck toward the back of the group as she pulled out her Plumber-issued cellphone. Opening her chat room, she selected the icon labeled; "Freckles" and began typing up a message to her girlfriend. 'Now, time to help out with plan "Monkey Brain".'

…..

~Hokkaido, Japan – Evening~

Halfway across the world, much to the ignorance of the Omni-Hunters… something BIG was happening at the base of Mt. Yotei. The once clear countryside where people were driving home on their evening commutes was now dotted with several sinister portals, spiraling with violet energy. Several cars were driven off the road as many of these portals popped up right in front of them, their occupants either fleeing immediately… or completely trapped, forced to watch as these portals brought through numerous menacing vehicles.

These vehicles were massive, with color schemes of black and dark grey with purple and gold accents. They were all about the size of a tank… namely because, in a way, they WERE tanks. Not the conventional, treaded kind, but they were all heavily armored and featured HUGE tires; two larger ones at the front with four smaller ones at the back, all held on by glowing orange bolts. Mounted high up at the rear of the tank were massive miniguns that looked like they packed a punch.

But most prominently, the front ends of these tanks were stylized to look like bull faces. Their large "foreheads" were actually furnaces that kept the tank running, with vents at the front resembling burning eyes. The bumpers were also outfitted with plows that resembled sharp, toothy underbites, and the smokestacks curved up and ended with a horn-like golden tip. Finally, there was a golden "nose ring" hood ornament that they all featured as well, bringing the whole package together.

Each of these vehicles were being manned by two Iron Bull Robots; one at the central controls and the other at the minigun turret. However, there were two exceptions. At the head of the pack was a tank being driven by Blood Stalk, with Night Rogue at the minigun controls. The other tank, however… was being controlled by Thunderhog and Exo-Skull, barrelling forward at top speed toward the mountain while blasting "Can't Stop" by The Red-Hot Chili Peppers.

"WOOOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!" Hog hollered, swinging his mace around in the air. "Yeah, boy! Can't Stop, WON'T Stop!"

"Hell yeah! We're SO addicted to this shindig!" Skull agreed.

Further behind, Night Rogue was lamenting their lack of subtlety. "Hah… MUST they be this way? What happened to the element of surprise?"

"Well, it's not as if we can make much of a "surprise" with these tanks anyways." Blood Stalk rationalized, peering back at his bat-themed cohort. "Now c'mon, relax those wings and enjoy yourself! Not every day you get to drive a tank, right?! AHAHAHA!"

Despite his misgivings… Night Rogue was admittedly keen on using the giant minigun, and in no time, he was at the controls and moving it around freely. Then, with a press of the trigger, he fired it at the ground… which resulted in several, fiery blasts that exploded into the air. "Oh-ho… yeah, this thing can definitely do some damage!" Just then, he spotted an even larger portal opening up in the middle of the field the tanks were rolling across. "Huh, and here comes the big boy himself."

And indeed, the vehicle that came through next was a VERY big boy. In fact, it was an enormous, long-nosed semitruck that was built like a moving fortress, sharing the same color scheme as the tanks. The rear was an entire platform moving on four huge wheels, the same kind that were at the front of the tanks. It was outfitted with a set of bomb launchers, a tow crane, and three emplacements where Iron Bull soldiers controlled everything on the platform; two at the back and one at the front.

Meanwhile, the cab of the truck was supported on two smaller wheels, with a pair of cow catchers at the front. The grill was multi-layered and had a bull horn hood ornament over it, the Demon Bull Family symbol proudly emblazoned on the hood itself. Once again, the smoke stacks were stylized to resemble bull horns, only instead of ending at curved tips, they were blasting out fire as the enormous truck revved out through the portal, all while tearing up the earth in its wake.

And inside, driving the truck, was none other than Red Son… with Cinder in the passenger seat. "Hahaha! You see? I TOLD you it would be an amazing ride!" the demon prince boasted. "Is my Inferno Truck impressive or what?"

"Hm, very impressive." Cinder said with a bit of sarcasm. "I must say, the whole "Mad Max" look really screams your aesthetic."

"Yes! I knew you'd understand!" Red Son celebrated, though he crossed his arms with a huff. "Hmph, the others all remarked that I was "compensating for something", whatever that means. What would I have to compensate for? My lack of Samadhi Fire?"

The Fall Maiden rolled her eyes. "I doubt that's what they were talking about…" She trailed off, though, reminded that her team wasn't there to begin with. "…Hah, though I do wish they could've come with us. Our numbers are great, but robots can only do so much."

The demon prince hummed at that. "Hmm, your assessment is fair, but I'm not surprised that they still aren't feeling up to snuff after yesterday." He snapped his fingers, bringing up a small flame. "After all, their mortal bodies being transformed in such a way WILL do that to you. …And that Magenta Man's assault didn't help matters."

Cinder's features scrunched in contempt… though a small tap on her shoulder brought her out of her hatred for a moment. She turned around to the back seat, seeing Neo staring at her with determination. The only member of her team who was well enough to come. Seeing her, Cinder nodded in solidarity. "Yes… if we see that Decade fellow, leave him to me." Her eyes began to burn as her Maiden Powers activated. "I will make certain that he pays for his insolence."

"Best of luck to you on that one." Red Son uttered. "I'm convinced that man is probably unstoppable."

"We'll see. …Hm?" As they closed in upon Mt. Yotei, however, Cinder saw a bright flash of light emanate from the mountain, concentrating into a beam where a white-robed woman with dark hair appeared. She wore a golden headpiece that resembled a shining sun, and in her hand, she held a pole weapon with a long, tri-pointed golden blade on the end; a juumongi yari. No doubt, this was who they'd be dealing with. "So, this must be the goddess that Macaque mentioned."

Red Son gave her a silent nod, the roof of the Inferno Truck sliding open. "Indeed… let's greet her, shall we?"

Cinder followed his lead and stood up as the roof opened in full, only to be greeted by a gruff, metallic voice. "Sire." Their attention was brought to one of the Iron Bull robots that was manning the battle platform, though he had the distinction of being a bit different than all the others. His horns were dark, steely grey instead of violet, and he wore a set of spiked shoulder pads that added more bulk to him. Finally, he had a tattered violet cape hanging from his back, giving him the appearance of a high-ranking officer. "We've just received word from one of our other operatives. One belonging to your uncle, the Flood Dragon King."

"Ah, excellent." The demon prince smirked. "What news did they bring?"

"She's currently just outside of Bellwood. Apparently, a messenger from the Heavenly Court attempted to warn Wu Kong of our invasion ahead of time. But worry not, she managed to wrangle the squealer before he could."

A nefarious chortle passed Red Son's lips as he tapped his fingers together. "Hehehe, that is VERY good news indeed. Thank you, General Ironclad. Now, tell your men to be at the ready! After all…" He spun back around and thrust his hands up to the Sun Goddess. "We have a VERY important guest!"

The goddess herself wasn't as enthused to see him. "Red Boy… of all demons, of course YOU would be the one to do this."

"Lady Amaterasu." Red raised his chin up, clearly not afraid of her daggering glare. "It is truly an honor to be in your presence. However, I must ask that you step aside." He waved his hand, shooting her away. "We have business on that mountain, after all. It's time that my father have a taste of fresh air!"

Amaterasu's features slightly flinched at the mention of the Demon Bull King. "So… you know that he lies here, beneath Mt. Yotei… how?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Amaterasu gasped at the whisper in her ear, spinning around in midair to cleave at whoever it was. But her weapon didn't even make contact, instead slicing through a disappearing shadow. "Hehehe… gods are always so easy to fool…"

"What trickery is this?!" Amaterasu belted out, searching the area for the invisible threat. "Show yourself, coward—AGH!"

"Happy to!" Appearing directly behind her, Macaque brought out his bludgeon pole and SLAMMED it directly into Amaterasu's back, sending her tumbling through the air. Then, from below, a strong gust of wind blew the Sun Goddess back even further, sending her crashing into the mountain side.

Gliding up on the wind, Iron Fan grinned victoriously. "Hmhm, oh dear, it seems you're off your game, Ama…" the demon queen mocked with an insidious grin. "Too busy lounging about in your woman cave? Is that little hussy Ame No Uzume still dancing for you?"

To the demonic duo's surprise, however, another beam of light shot out of the mountainside, and Amaterasu was directly before them once again in the blink of an eye. She swung her juumongi yari weapon, catching them both on it to send them careening down toward the battalion of Iron Bull Tanks. Still, they were none the worse for wear, though given the Sun Goddess' glowing state, it was obvious she wasn't messing around anymore. "You keep your mouths SHUT! And keep Uzume out of this!" Her head snapped down to Macaque. "And you! I suppose you are the one who discovered this was the Demon Bull King's resting place."

"Guilty as charged." Macaque spun his cudgel around, draping it across his shoulders. "Then again, I really have to thank Wu Kong. He's the one who led me here, after all. Benefits of being brought back from the dead; I'm practically invisible to him now! Haha!"

Amaterasu's features scrunched in contempt. "How were you even brought back to life, six-eared one?!"

"Heh, wouldn't you like to know?" Macaque craned his head back, grinning down to the tanks below. "But that's too long of a story to tell. So instead, we're gonna take your mountain and free my brother. So don't make this any harder on yourself, would ya?"

"Oh, I surely will not. After all…" Amaterasu raised her juumongi yari toward the heavens… where dark clouds began to form as the wind picked up. "I am not alone." As the villains craned their heads up, they could see bright lights flashing from with within the clouds, the air filling with potent energy as loud, rhythmic rumbles began to roll through as well.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *Boo-boo-boom-boom-BOOM*

By that point, the wind had gone from gusty to gale force, and while the tanks and the truck were heavy enough to stay on the ground, everyone else had to brace themselves. Iron Fan and Macaque, however, were unaffected, the duo staring up into the storm clouds with narrowed gazes. Sure enough, within the dark vortex above, the flashing lightning revealed a pair of tall, powerful figures, both male in appearance.

And it didn't take long for them to descend onto the scene. Under the light of the moon, their appearances were made much clearer… though the Ministry quickly found them hard to look at. They both were quite monstrous in nature, with one having vibrant crimson skin and stark white hair that seemed to constantly flow with static electricity, resulting in it sticking straight up. He was backed by a ring of drums, and in each hand, he held a hammer that was no doubt used for the instruments.

The other had dark green skin and fiery red hair, a tiger skin pelt draped around his waist. Slung over his shoulders was a rather large bag, one filled with the winds he used to whip up that very storm. The two drifted down on clouds, all while glaring down at the villains as they took to Amaterasu's sides. "You called us, your Majesty?" the green one uttered.

"Please tell me we get to have some fun here." the red one smirked, twirling his hammers eagerly. "It's been a while since we got to rough some idiots up."

"You will." Amaterasu affirmed, glaring down at the Ministry. "Villains! Behold, to my left; Raijin, God of Lightning! And to my left, his brother, Fujin, God of Wind! …Have fun."

On that note, the Storm Brothers roared and flew forth into battle, though Red Son didn't seem too worried. "Oh, don't worry… we will." Reaching down into the cab, he pressed a big, orange button, causing a massive cannon to rise out of the Inferno Truck's battle platform. "AS WILL YOU! AHAHAHAHA!"

*KRA-CHOW*

The cannon went off, but rather than firing any sort of ammunition… it instead shot out a certain red-garbed doppelganger. And, in a bright flash of red light, Albedo had transformed into Negative Ultimate Humungosaur, catching the Storm Gods by surprise. Firing his arm cannons, the evolved Vaxasaurian blasted his way past them and straight toward Amaterasu, SLAMMING his fist into her and unleashing another round of missiles at point blank range. The Sun Goddess screamed and fell to Earth, landing on her feet while clutching her abdomen in pain.

"I must admit, I have never fought gods before." Albedo smirked in anticipation. "This should be quite the experience." Behind him, Cinder flew up from the truck as the rest of the Iron Bull Army prepared their arsenal, leading Albedo to give his command; "ATTACK!"

…..

~Bellwood~

His eyes snapping open, the Monkey King gasped and nearly stumbled backward, taken aback by what he had just sensed. But that astonishment quickly gave way to fear when he realized exactly WHERE all of that power was coming from. "No… oh gods, NO!" His head snapped around, facing westward in Hokkaido's direction. "Don't tell me… they've found out?!" As the moments passed, Wu Kong began piecing together how this was possible… and eventually, he grit his teeth as he could only come to one conclusion; "…Macaque."

Just then, an Aurora Curtain opened up next to him, with Tsukasa casually strolling through. "I'm guessing you sensed that as well?"

"Yeah, kinda hard not to." Wu Kong affirmed. "Surprised that you did, though."

"My omnipotence lends me some handy abilities." the Rider explained. "So, I suppose we should gather the team, hm?"

"Goes without saying. I—"

*CHYOOM*

But neither of them would get the chance to leave as a bright flash of pink light appeared before them, where Charmcaster appeared the very next second. And clearly, she was in a panicked state. "Oh my god, PLEASE tell me you guys felt that, because I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a Code Red!" she said worriedly.

Wu Kong raised a hand to her, trying to keep things calm. "Yes, we did. We were just about to go get the others."

"Y-Yeah, of course, but… we can't afford to fail this one." Hope's voice was laced with genuine fear, her arms and legs trembling. She tried to steady her breathing, but quickly found herself having a panic attack instead. "Oh gods, oh gods, this is really happening, isn't it? The Demon Bull King is about to be—AH!"

Bringing his hands down firmly on her shoulders, Wu Kong snapped her out of it. "Get a grip, Witch Girl! We can't afford to lose our cool here." He met her eyes with a stern gaze. "And believe me, I know more than anyone that we can't screw this up."

"Then we can't afford to waist any more time here." Tsukasa said, summoning another Aurora Curtain. "I'll go get Build and his team. You two fetch the Omni-Hunters and we'll meet in Hokkaido."

"Right, we'll see you there." On that note, Tsukasa departed, leaving Wu Kong to summon a magic circle beneath him and Hope. "Hang tight, kid. We're rollin' out."

…..

Meanwhile, back in Los Soledad, Kevin was busy explaining his plans for the dragon stable to the others. With some… interesting connotations. "Okay, so now that the Plumbers OWN this dust bin, basically what we're gonna do is bulldoze the entire military base and the dragon stable is gonna go right on top where it used to be." he said extremely casually. "Pretty simple, I'd say."

"Oh yeah, sure, simple when you say it." Yang rebuked. "But in execution, that's gonna take freaking forever."

The Osmosian, however, seemed to be prepared for that. "I knew you'd say that. So, I brought these with me…" Kevin brought out a subspace storage cube from his pocket and pulled out a handful of small, cylindrical devices, which he presented to the group. "Fusion grenades. Same kind that Max used to destroy the Highbreed gate right here years ago. I'm gonna have each of you take a handful and we're gonna make these buildings disappear!"

"Hah, wow, you really thought of everything, Kev." Ben remarked, though he couldn't help but scan the surrounding base once more. "Still… it's gonna be a shame to see all of this go. All of the things we did here… they'll just be memories now."

"Eh, sure, but change can be good." Kevin rationalized. "After all, if we're getting a base, then why not give Titan and other dragons a place to call home, too?"

"…Other dragons?" Ruby repeated.

Kevin grinned and gave a shrug. "Well, I mean, who knows? With our luck, we're probably BOUND to meet more dragons in our adventures."

Ren deadpanned at that. "You do realize that sort of luck would have to be insane, right?"

Nora, though, was all about the concept. "Ah, c'mon Renny! I think Kevin's got the right idea with this forward thinking! I mean, have you met us? We're the kings and queens of luck."

"I wouldn't argue with that." Everyone's attention was garnered by Gwen as she approached, with Blake and Swift at her heels. "Though to be more accurate; we're more like weirdness magnets, hehe…" But suddenly, Gwen's breath hitched in her throat as an oppressive feeling washed over her. Almost as if an immense surge of power had just been unleashed. It was far away, but even so, it was enough for her to be concerned. "Oh… my god."

"Holy crap!" Zak whipped his head around, sensing the energy as well. "Did you feel that? …Wait, how'd I feel that?"

Just then, Kaz popped back out and answered; "You can thank me for that. Bein' a demon, I can sense mystical energy, and hot DAMN, that's a lot of it."

Gwen swallowed a lump in her throat, knowing exactly where that surge had originated from, too. "And it's… coming from Japan." She stared off toward the west, beckoning the other Omni-Hunters do the same. "What is going on?"

*BONG*

"I know what it is." Everyone was startled as Sun Wu Kong appeared right in the middle of their group in a flash of golden light, accompanied by Charmcaster. "It's happening. Princess Iron Fan and Red Boy are trying to free the Demon Bull King!"

The jarring news made the teens do a doubletake, all of them trying to process everything as it was happening. "W-Wait, Monkey King? Hope?" Ruby asked. "Man, you guys got here fast! A-And what do you mean they're trying to FREE the Demon Bull King?!"

"Yeah, what DO you mean?" Blake said, her voice filled with uncertainty and fear. "Y-You said that the Bull King's resting place was well hidden and heavily guarded. Amaterasu should have it under lock and key!"

Wu Kong's features scrunched in annoyance. "Yeah, well… given that I can't sense Macaque anymore, it stands to reason that he must've followed me there, and now they ALL know where it is." He furrowed his brow toward the team. "Decade is getting Cooper and the others as we speak, but we can't afford to waste time here! We need to get to Japan and… wait." Doing a quick headcount, Wu Kong quickly found that not everyone was here. "Where are the rest of you kids? I thought you were ALL out here today."

"I-Ilia and the others are out on a hiking trip with Sun…" Swift explained as she went to fish her phone out to call her girlfriend. "Hang on, I've got 'em on speed dial…" But, after three rings, the call went straight to voicemail, which made the Aerophibian girl's stomach flip. "…Oh god, that's not good."

"W-What? What's wrong?" Yang leaned forward in concern.

Swift's hand ran through her hair, going back to her messages to see that Ilia hadn't read the text she had sent to her yet. "Oh god, oh no… Ilia hasn't responded. A-And she usually picks up on the first ring, but now…"

"Well, she IS in the mountains." Jaune reminded. "She's probably in a place with no signal."

The Monkey King gave a disparaging groan and shook his head. "Ugh! We don't have time to wait around! …But still, it WOULD be good to have them." He craned his head down to Charmcaster. "Witch Girl! Think you can head back to Bellwood, get 'em, and then meet us back in Japan? …All of 'em except Pilgrim, I mean. He's still benched."

Hope nodded without hesitation. "I can do that, sure."

"Take me with, please!" Swift pleaded. "I wanna make sure that Ilia's safe."

Rook volunteered to go as well. "And I shall accompany you. I AM your parole officer, after all."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. You two, gather up." Once Rook and Swift were by her side, Hope summoned a magic circle beneath her feet, looking up to Gwen with a small smile. "We'll meet you guys there as soon as we can, okay?"

"Right. Best of luck, you three." Gwen saluted, the trio disappearing soon after. Taking a deep breath, the Anodite prepared herself for what was to come. "So… Hero Time again?"

"When isn't it Hero Time?" Ben quipped before giving Wu Kong a thumbs up. "We're ready when you are."

"Good, then let's go." Smacking the Ryui Jingu Bang upon the ground, Wu Kong summoned his magic circle again, this time big enough to transport them all. "He may be my brother, but DBK cannot see the light of day again."

…..

Meanwhile, Ilia was starting to grow deeply concerned. Their hike through the mountains had been an enjoyable one, to be sure. They had seen incredible fauna, flora, and even came across a waterfall that not even Penny or Vados were aware existed out there. However, none of that was the problem she was facing. The issue she had was that she hadn't heard anything from Swift in the two hours they had been out here. …And she knew the reason why.

"Goddamn it, why isn't there any sort of signal out here?!" she muttered to herself, frustratingly trying to reach her scroll as high as she possibly could on top of a big boulder. She even tried hopping to get some extra height, but no matter what she did, there was absolutely no signal. "These things are connected via Plumber satellite! How isn't there a SINGLE bar?!" By that point, she was so frustrated that she started shaking her phone. "Damn it, would you just—"

"Uh… Ilia?"

All at once, the chameleon girl went completely rigid, her head slowly turning toward her entourage. Helen and Vados were staring at her, completely baffled by what was going on, while Penny, Neptune and Sun wore awkward winces at her behavior. Her spots shifting to bright pink, Ilia smiled sheepishly, hiding her scroll behind her back. "Ah, hehehe… yes?"

Helen raised a brow, tilting her head. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, um… j-just trying reach the others. To tell 'em we're on our way back and all."

But the speedster wasn't too convinced. "Really? Seems a lot more urgent than just that."

"Indeed, you were saying "damn it" a lot." Vados pointed out.

"Hah, okay, maybe I was hoping to get a text from Swift about now." Ilia admitted, shooting Sun an apologetic glance. "But the signal is so bad out here that I just can't get anything."

Neptune could only give a shrug. "Well, I mean… we ARE in the middle of the woods." He gestured around to the wall of trees surrounding them. "Not exactly prime real estate for cell service, ya know. Maybe once we get further down the mountain, we'll get it back."

Sighing in defeat, Ilia hopped off the rock and went back over to them. "Yeah, I guess you're ri—wait a minute." Just then, an idea struck in her mind, causing her to spin around to the robotic sisters. "Do either of you have any sort of signal boosting features?"

Penny's eyes widened in realization, smacking a fist into her palm. "Oh, yes! I believe we do! Sis, let's see if we can help out, hm?"

"Sounds like a sensational idea!" Vados agreed. On that note, the duo's eyes began to glow a brighter green, accessing their hot spot capabilities. But then… they stopped all of a sudden, much to both of their confusion. "Huh? W-What was that?"

"What was what?" Helen inquired.

Scratching her head, Penny's gaze shifted around suspiciously. "It's very odd… there seems to be some sort of interference. I can't place exactly what, but it's dampening both of our signal boots." Her eyes narrowed toward further up the mountain. "And I believe the origin point is coming from up there." And then, not two seconds after…

*RUM-RUM-RUMBLE*

The entire mountain began to shake, the group collectively screaming as the earth moved beneath their feet. They struggled to move out of the way as rocks and boulders came rolling down at them, though Helen, Penny and Vados managed to grab the others and get them to safety. Finally, after half a minute, the shaking stopped, leaving the six teens shaken and astonished. "W-What the hell was that?!" Neptune exclaimed.

"Not sure… but I can only guess where it came from." Sun's sights went back to the mountain top. "Something weird is going on."

Ilia nodded in agreement. "Yeah… and we should probably check it out."

Vados was quick to point something out, however. "Wait, Sun, aren't you prohibited from Omni-Hunter related activities? What if Ben finds out?"

"I doubt this qualifies, Vados." Helen asserted. "After all, we're just gonna go up and investigate, nothing more. And if we run into trouble, Sun can just stay back while we handle it."

"Thanks for the reminder, Helen…" Sun sighed. Even so, he swallowed his pride, choosing to accept his sentence with dignity. "Anyway, let's head up there and see what's going on." And so, they did, though not without some difficulty. The actual mountain path had ended before they could reach the top of the peak, so Penny and Vados had to fly them all up the rest of the way. But, once they did reach the top, they were met with an astounding sight. "…Woah."

Wedged between a pair of massive stone spires were a pair of golden cymbals, each molded with decorative dragons on their tops. The cymbals were jammed together in a way so that they clamped shut, making it seem like that had been done on purpose. And, as it turned out, that was indeed the case, as they saw someone standing just below the giant instruments. The group landed quietly and snuck behind a large boulder, their eyes widening at the sight of a beautiful woman… who was immensely tall and had blue skin. Her face was dotted with several patterns, painted on in white, her yellow eyes striking out against her deep azure skin tone. She wore a bright yellow robe over a black undershirt, marked with lightening patterns all over. Her long, black hair draped down over her back, reaching the top of her rear. And, as the teens all noted… "…Damn, she's gorgeous." Ilia muttered.

"Girl, watch it. You're spoken for, remember?" Helen whispered with a smirk.

Ilia shot a glance back at her. "Hey, doesn't mean I can't stop appreciating the beauty of others, can I? Heck, Swift would probably agree with me."

Penny held a finger to her lips. "Shh! She's speaking…"

As she paced back and forth in front of the cymbals, she called out in a very eloquent tone; "Admiral, why so stubborn?" The woman smiled knowingly at the instruments. "Keep at it and you'll melt into a puddle of flesh and blood!"

In response… a muffled voice could be heard from the symbols, one that was gruff yet with its own eloquence as well. "Haha! Darling, come on!" came the muffled reply, no doubt belonging to a male. "It's plenty cool in here! Join me inside, will you, and I will show you a good time! Promise! Hahaha!"

"Such humor, admiral." The woman returned with a hint of sarcasm. "Let go of your stubbornness and I will put a good word in for you to my master. Then I'd be willing to join you."

"She's so lying." Helen commented. "You can tell."

Penny furrowed her brows inquisitively. "Indeed, but what are they even talking about?"

It wouldn't take long to find out as the man in the cymbals spoke again. "Oh-ho, I don't deserve you! That old bastard really has you by the throat, doesn't he? Bending to his will like the good little snake that you are." He paused for a moment before proclaiming; "Yet my senses tell me that Wu Kong has already left to intercept the Bull Family's forces! Pity, I was truly hoping to join the fight… though perhaps I still could."

"I highly doubt it, admiral." The blue lady rebuked. "These Golden Cymbals were used by that old Yellowbrow to seal the Monkey King away, and it took several Celestial Courtiers to break him free." She raised a finger up toward the giant instruments. "And smartly, Grandmaster Jiao Mowang has decided to repurpose them here. So what makes you think you can escape?"

"Hahaha… because we are not alone, my dear." The man answered. "I sense that there are mortals here on the mountain with us." His response made the teens do a doubletake, knowing that he was talking about them. The blue woman also seemed equally taken aback. "And wouldn't you know it, but I've just caught a whiff of monkey stench, so Wu Kong's student must be amongst them!"

All at once, the others eyed their blonde friend with sour faces. "Nice one, dude." Neptune silently grimaced.

"H-Hey, I took a shower this morning!" Sun defended. "Don't blame me—" *ZZZZZAAAAPP* "Gyah!" The monkey boy cried out as a bolt of lightning crackled through the air, blasting a hole in the boulder and just barely missing Sun's head. The others all screamed and ducked as well, instantly exposing themselves.

"Intruders!" the woman growled.

The man in the cymbals, however, seemed greatly amused. "Haha! You see? Right on time! BOY! I know you're out there, so why not lend a hand, eh?!"

Sun peaked his head out from behind the rock, still trembling from the near miss. "Bro, I don't even KNOW you! Whatever you and your girlfriend have got going on, I don't want a part of it!"

The blue woman seemed to take umbrage with that as her eyes crackled with golden energy. "Insolent WORM! You will hold your tongue in my presence!" She belted out a loud scream… which slowly converted into a screeching roar as her body began to transform. What was once blue skin became hardened azure scales, her body elongating as her hands and feet became clawed talons. Her head extended out into a long muzzle with golden whiskers, with two sets of crackling yellow horns to match. Her hair changed from black to yellow as well, becoming a mane that extended all the way down to the tip of her new tail. As lightning crackled all around them, the teens looked on in astonishment as the woman had transformed into a rather menacing serpentine dragon, one that loomed over them with malicious intent. "In the name of the Flood Dragon King, I, Fengbao Long, will SMITE you where you stand!"

The young heroes all armed themselves for battle, but even as they did, Sun couldn't help but utter; "Okay, I know this is usually Pyrrha's thing, but… crap baskets."

…..

A/N: Yeah, that's a pretty well-deserved crap baskets, too. The gang's luck with dragon's lately is proving to be about 50/50, that's for sure. But that aside… yes, this situation IS taking some heavy inspiration from a certain videogame that came out this year. You may have heard of it, it's called "Black Myth Wukong". And I mean… come on, I have the title character IN THIS STORY, so of course it was only inevitable that I'd incorporate certain aspects of the game here, too. It isn't the same dragon, though, as Kang-Jin Long's presence here wouldn't make sense in terms of the mythology. So instead, this is an original dragon demoness that I created just for this. …And yes, her name literally translates out to "Storm Dragon". But hey, it still sounds cool in my personal opinion. And for those in the know… it's pretty clear WHO is trapped in those cymbals, but I'll keep quiet on that for now.

But that aside, like I said, this was a pretty Sun and Blake focused outing, with both sides being helped through their troubles. Of course, the former is being helped out by Ilia, because while she's frustrated that Sun screwed up, she also hates seeing her best friend be sad, so she's gonna do everything she can to fix this. And, by that same token, she's convinced Swift to help her out… in a rather sneaky way. Though of course, their plan kinda hinged on cell service, so that's kinda kaput.

Even so, we did see Blake confiding to Gwen about her personal worries when it comes to Sun's whole deal, so there's that. Of course she'd be afraid that her boyfriend would become that monster again, and that's the LAST thing she wants. And it helps that Gwen can relate on that front, too. Here's hoping that she and Sun can clear things up a little if they get the chance.

On another note, though, welcome back to Los Soledad, everybody! Truly a historic place in the Ben 10 universe… that will soon be converted into a stadium-sized Dragon Stable! Because, as the ending proved, Titan won't be the LAST time that the gang encounters dragons… though Fengbao Long probably wouldn't like to roost at such a place since she's a more demonic dragon.

And of course, can't forget the main plot! Red Son, Cinder and the Ministry have arrived in Hokkaido to free the Demon Bull King! And while Amaterasu has brought Raijin and Fujin as backup, the villains have Macaque, Iron Fan and Albedo to work with here. This is probably gonna get messy. So on that note…

NEXT TIME! The Omni-Hunters fight the Ministry in the East, Sun and his group battle Fengbao Long in the West, and the fate of the future rests on ALL their shoulders. Will the villains free the Demon Bull King? Find out with… Bull Family Ties. Thanks for reading, everybody, and I'll catch you all next time! And, as always, stay safe out there!