jacm1888: Honestly, I didn't even realize it until your review, but I guess it works considering how much fluff there was here.

Ben quickly made his way to the hotel room they had been renting, opening the door to find Hope with her legs crossed on the couch, and Bad Ben beside her, his eyes turning from the window to Ben.

"Do you need me to come with you?" His counterpart asked, leaning forward.

"Being honest... I think you'd be too outmatched. I don't want you to get hurt either."

The other version of himself nodded, perhaps glad he wouldn't be getting into trouble. "Are you contacting the team?"

The hero shook his head. "No. I can't let anyone else get hurt. It's bad enough Hex and Kevin are both wounded-"

"You didn't tell my uncle was struck." Hope interrupted him. Ben eyed her with some caution.

"I wasn't certain if you wanted to know. But it's nothing serious. Kevin got beat up pretty badly in comparison."

It didn't seem like his girlfriend – wild to think of her like that – was too satisfied with his answer, but she said nothing. Ben gave his counterpart a last look. "You're visiting Elena too often. Anything you'd like to tell me if I'm not here to hear later?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's only Ghostfreak." It was interesting that Bad Ben knew Ghostfreak as such. Even more so since they shared the same name for the Ectonurite transformation. Ben 23 had completely bizarre names for his transformations, and Gwen 10 – the one he met, he mentally added – didn't give her transformations names. Another curious detail was that Ben got used to calling his Ectonurite pain in the ass by his given name, while Bad Ben was still saying Ghostfreak. Considering his track record, perhaps he didn't fight the ruler of Anur Phaetos on Anur Transyl. "I'm trying to get her mind back together. If only through normal means. I'm sure you could use Grey Matter or Brainstorm to figure out many things humans don't grasp, like what you already do by rearranging neurons from the Rooters."

"Good luck." Truth is, Ben wanted to see Elena recover. But at the same time, how would she be after that? At the present date, she didn't love Bad Ben, she loved him. And that was not something to be proud of. The girl had been special in his heart... for a time. But...

He had someone else now. And he knew Elena didn't take kind to rejection.

But at least Hope was more powerful than Elena had been as the Queen.

"Should we go?" Hope said, already wearing her robes. "Where are we heading?"

"It's the place the Dagon was trapped," Ben spoke carefully. Hope had been aware of the Dagon in some capacity, after all, it was to him, that she had offered the souls of all beings in Legerdomain – and also Ben, Gwen, and Kevin – so her father would return. Ben was still a bit sore about that and thanked God his late father-in-law was a reasonable man who didn't want to live on top of bodies.

"Oh." Hope frowned. "I... Why would he be there?"

"I don't know. The seal is gone. And so is the Dagon. His power imprinted into Ascalon. I hope you know what I'm talking about."

"I do," Hope reassured him. She had read everything she could about him before meeting him at the bank she was supposedly robbing. "Quite a messy night, wasn't it?"

And it was. The worst thing was wielding the Ultimatrix and Ascalon that not only had its natural abilities but like he had said to her, with the power of the Dagon contained in it after he stabbed VIlgax. And unlike with Alien X, that even if he convinced Bellicus and Serena to do what he wanted, there would be no repercussions. Vilgax tempted him, and Ben imagined if it would be better to change the world like that. But he decided he had no right to that. He wasn't a god, and instead just reverted all that had been turned into Esoterica back to normal – not before he chose to put all of them back into where they had been, pretty much resetting the world three hours back to avoid mundane things like economic collapse or people being in completely different places and dying because of that.

"Anyway." He said to both Hope and himself. "I don't want to take the car. It's too long. Would you mind if I carried you there?"

She rolled her eyes, smirking. "Yes, of course I mind. Don't touch me, you vile boy-scout." She then dramatically fell to his arms, and Ben had to thank his goalkeeper's reflexes so that Hope didn't fall to the ground. He smiled from above, looking at her satisfied face.

"I pray your phase of teenage love ends soon." Bad Ben complained, and Hope got on her feet again.

"I'm older than you, stupid. Try to live a bit."

To Ben's surprise, his counterpart smiled. "I know how to live quite well. And if you two think of enjoying each other's company, do warn me so I go visit Elena instead of being present for that."

That comment made Ben quite embarrassed, and he felt his ears warming up. Before he could splutter a response, Hope interjected. "It's fine, we wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction to hear it." She turned to Ben. "Shall we go, lover?"

"Yeah. Sure." Ben hoped he didn't look as flustered as he actually was. Going through his Omnitrix, he once again selected XLR8. Between him and Fasttrack, Ben would always have a soft spot for the Kineceleran, if only for nostalgia. Both had their merits, but XLR8 was probably best to carry people. He skidded toward Hope, and grabbed her bride-style, before sliding his visor down and running outside. Not five seconds later, they were on the way to where the Dagon had been trapped.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked loudly, so she could be heard amidst the wind. "You got a bit quiet."

"Uh..." Ben tried to find the best words. "I guess I didn't quite think about what Benjamin implied."

Hope raised an eyebrow; a gesture Ben didn't catch. "Really? Isn't that what boys straight out of adolescence think above everything else?"

"Maybe. I'm no ordinary boy." Ben said without hesitation. The seal was somewhere in Nebraska if he remembered correctly. He had a lot of theories on how it got to America. His best one was that the successors to Sir George – or even he himself since he had been immortal – moved it there to dissuade attention. Undoubtedly the seal had been in Europe before. It was a twenty-minute run for XLR8 at worst.

"Alright. I guess we can stick to making out."

It was quite hard to concentrate when she kept being subtle and her words had double-meaning that made his brain not work properly. "I didn't say we should."

"I know. I'm playing with you." Hope stared at him curiously. "I'm not about to ask around for your sex life if you're curious. I don't care about it. Despite what I told you before, I think I'm gonna be quite possessive."

"Just don't be like Elena and we're set," Ben said, desperately wanting to change the subject to something that would shift his focus from the mission at hand. This witch messed with his brain.

"I promise. Though I might curse someone if they set their eyes on you for too long."

XLR8 sighed behind his visor. "Alright. If that makes it any better."

"It does trust me." Hope leaned against his arms. "You would understand if you saw Michael again now. You'd want to punch him in the face."

"I think I have many other reasons to want to punch Michael."

"Huh. Fair point."

The rest of the journey was quiet enough, if not a bit unnerving. For some minutes, Hope closed her eyes, enjoying the wind that made her bright hair fly all around. Eventually, Ben could see the dam in the distance, the same one he had broken in his fight with the Dagon.

It hadn't been his proudest moment. The brute force didn't help, even with Ultimate Way Big. Perhaps it had been time to gamble with Alien X, but considering Bellicus and Serena's delay when dealing with the Annihilarrgh, maybe it wouldn't have worked. He had to be thankful for Vilgax for absolutely bottling it, even with the power of the Dagon Ben still managed to beat him with Ascalon. Sometimes more was required than the Omnitrix.

They reached the cliff the Forever Knights had battled against the Esoterica. This had been a carnage, as the knights got almost eradicated, with some small factions remaining, but almost all knights had died. Including old foes like Enoch or Driscoll. In truth, Ben didn't miss them at all.

"It's here." XLR8 placed Hope on the ground and changed back to human. He remembered standing here as Juryrigg, looking in horror at the Dagon as it laughed from above.

"There's an aura of death in this place." Hope's voice shook slightly. "What happened here?"

"A battle," Ben explained. "Dagon's followers fought the Forever Knights. Most of the latter were killed."

His girlfriend looked up to the skies, seemingly alarmed. "The clouds are purple. He is... doing something... perhaps a ritual..."

And that was true. Not only the skies were grey despite it being the middle of the afternoon, but the clouds were also purple. He remembered quite well seeing something like this... when Dr. Viktor resurrected Zs'Skayr in the airplane graveyard. He just remembered that just like today, he was transformed into XLR8 when the Ectonurite returned to life.

"What do you think he's up to?" Ben asked her.

"I can't say... We'll need to find out... where could he be?"

Ben examined their surroundings. Like the graveyard, this place was empty... dead. There were no hordes of Ectonurites coming at them, nor there were minions from the Anur System jumping to kill the couple.

Instead, only silence.

"Where the seal was." Ben pointed towards the cave he had been to so many times during those two months he fought the Esoterica, the Lucubra, the Knights, George... "There's no point being here if not to go there."

Hope nodded and held his hand. Ben squeezed in return, trying to comfort her. It seemed to have some effect, and they walked together to the cave. Hope lit up one of her hands with mana, serving as a light source. Ben kept his left wrist close, ready to jump into action. An eerie violet light emanated from the end of the cave.

They didn't have to walk forward for too long to find out what it was. The place looked the same as it did before, with the portal to Dagon's dimension still open. The difference was the place looked very much not magnificent. Sure, Vilgax had thrown the temple dedicated to Dagon on him and George, but the place looked even more dead than the cliffs outside. The previously green skies were now duller, and the buildings were full of cracks and plants growing. Ben didn't even know there were plants in Dagon's parallel dimension.

And with legs crossed in the air, right where the seal had been, was... Gwen. Or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, Ben had to look twice to grasp what she was wearing. Instead of her usual shirt, skirt, maybe some jeans or slacks, she was wearing robes not too different from Hope's. In fact, it reminded him of the Gwendolyn he saw in the future once.

But where that Gwendolyn's robes had been blue and black, his Gwen's current robes were purple, with black and white stripes at the end. It looked like a pathetic imitation of Zs'Skayr's skin.

"Took you long enough." Her voice was still... her's, but not completely. It had an undertone, a second whisper within. From the distance they were standing Ben could see the cracks around her eyes. And when she opened her eyelids, instead of the emerald eyes Ben was used to, instead, black and purple replaced her usual eye colors. "I suppose I should have sent an invite, Ben."

"You're so sick, Zs'Skayr," Hope commented from his side. "Possessing a person is one thing... but this is almost theatrical."

Zs'Skayr's chuckle reverberated across the cave, and he landed on the ground. "For now, it might be, Charmcaster. But..." Another chuckle. "You won't be here to see it. Neither of you." For the first time, he looked towards him, and if looks could kill, Ben would drop dead. "I almost used to like you, Ben. I saw a boy with potential. But your pathetic hero complex-"

"Stopped you several times." Ben interrupted him. "You never understood it quite right. With you, it's personal. Even Vilgax was willing to spare my family if I surrendered myself. But you..." He returned the glare intensely. It was easier when the eyes he met weren't his cousin's, but instead from the Ectonurite. "You threatened to kill Gwen. I know you would have. Let's make one thing clear. You can come back as many times as you want. I'll always bring you down."

Zs'Skayr's smug grin had faded, replaced with an eye twitch of fury. "Okay... doofus..." The way he said that was unnerving and infuriating. How dared he- "Unlike me, you do not come back if you're killed once."

"I beg to differ," Hope said, lighting up her hands and her eyes with sheer power. "This one is a tough cookie."

"I expected better from you, Charmcaster. But alas. Maybe you'll finally succeed in killing your rival." He grinned again. Ben was aware he would sacrifice Gwen if needed, but like the cockroach that he was, he would endure.

Ben didn't know what his girlfriend would say next, so he was relieved when her answer was, "My rival doesn't deserve death. Maybe an ear-pulling. Some choice words. But the only one deserving of death here is you."

"Hm." He shrugged and immediately began attacking. Her blasts came differently, with the mana certainly not pink now. Hope erected a shield that protected them, but it cracked when the blast struck against it.

"Go on!" Hope cast down the shield and fired back. She was never as defensive as Gwen had been, so it would be interesting to see how they fought. Ben tried to select something useful in the Omnitrix.

And he had just the idea.

Hope was having a bit of difficulty. Gwen had never been this aggressive. Every blow she received was lethal, only her skills preventing her from falling.

She had always been the most experienced, with the age gap between the Legerdomain-based witch and the half-anodite, but the skill gap shortened the moment Gwen got a hold of her first spellbook. From there, Hope could still bring her down in normal conditions, but it had become more and more of a challenge.

And now, with all of Gwen's power released with murderous intent, Hope had to step up her game. Groaning, she waved her hands much like in a dance. It was funny to see the roles so reversed. Combat wasn't something that common in magic, since true sorcerers had fallen out of fashion a long time ago. But the earth rumbled beneath them as they cast fire from their hands, the wind knocked off their balance, water threatened to drown her, and good old mana hit their bodies like bullets.

But Hope wasn't fighting alone. A purple figure with pink crystals sprinkled over its body jumped in front of one of Zs'Skayr's blats. Hope panicked, but Ben stood tall, too tall in fact. This transformation... it had been the one he had used when he attempted to absorb the machine, she had constructed to absorb souls in Legerdomain. Ben had explained what happened that day, and how one of his other transformations would have been better then – only that he didn't have said transformation at the time – but still, Chromastone wasn't useless. And it certainly wasn't when he shot a rainbow blast back at Zs'Skayr and it actually knocked him off his feet for good.

"Still works like a charm." Ben looked at Hope with a single green eye. "How can we make him get out of Gwen's body?"

"Well... he's not a literal ghost. An exorcism isn't guaranteed to work."

"I won't even ask why you say that like actual ghosts exist." He answered, much to her amusement. "But we'd have to knock him down. That's easier say than done." At that moment, Zs'Skayr got to his feet, murderous intent in his eyes.

"You're always such a nuisance, Ben." Gwen's form began to shift, her skin becoming purple. But it couldn't be further away from Lucky Girl. The ectonurite ripped pieces of rock from the ground and threw them at the couple, who both dodged. Ben, as Chromastone, could handle the aftermath with no problem, but Hope was unluckier, knocking her head on a piece of rock, and making her yell in pain.

"Hope!" Ben wasn't sure Zs'Skayr heard him, but that was the last thought in his mind. He searched through the rubble and found her with a nasty wound on her head. Blood poured from it, but her eyes were still open, even if her breathing was ragged.

"Damn it. I wasn't fast enough." She groaned. "I might have a concussion. Everything's spinning."

"I can't let you get hurt more than you are already," Ben said, looking back across the dust, not finding a trace of Zs'Skayr. He looked back at his fallen girlfriend. "I have an idea. It might be dangerous."

"Well, we need something." She said amidst some groans of pain. From the ground, Hope watched as he changed back to human, still looking back to see if Zs'Skayr was nearby. Pushing the Omnitrix core, his form began changing, and in a split second, it was familiar.

"You gotta be shitting me." Hope tried to get up, but saw black dots sprinkling over her vision when doing so. "Argh. You better not fail, Tennyson. I'm going to kill you myself if you don't succeed."

"I'll try what I can." Ghostfreak's voice was gravelly, not too far from the whisper that was currently accompanying Gwen's voice. "Don't make too much effort..."

"Not like I even can." Hope chuckled, perhaps a bit hysterically. Her head had been knocked good. Ben flew upwards, wishing he could have kissed her before this.

Immediately his eye met Zs'Skayr's, and the Ectonurite couldn't hide his surprise. "Oh? Are you willing to become a part of me again, dear Ben? That offer has expired for eight of your Earth years. I have a better replacement." His vicious grin didn't fit Gwen's figure, and Ben couldn't hide his fury.

"Not quite what I had in mind." He whispered, going invisible. Internally, he smiled when he saw Zs'Skayr's grin fading, meaning he couldn't quite sense where Ben was. He took the opportunity to not creep in slowly but to dive in at full speed at the Ectonurite. He probably felt Ben's presence at the last second, but his reaction time was too slow.

Ben, as Ghostfreak, did one of the only things he swore he would never do with a transformation, especially after what happened with the Lucubra. He entered Gwen's body, but not to possess her.

No, he needed to get rid of the contamination here.