It had been a little under a week since the family's venture in the Big Apple as they rode down the highway, passing cars as they went. Verdona and Gwen had been tense ever since, speaking very little with each other. Ben meanwhile just tried to pass the time as he attempted to ignore the tension, at the moment doing so by making faces at a kid in a nearby car who returned in kind.
"Hey Gwen," Ben called, gaining her attention, How about you join in? Might find a new look for you." He half snarked, though his expression lacked malice. Unfortunately only gained a pouted sigh as Gwen despondently turned away.
With a frown, Ben turned back to the window, only to find the kid eating a burger before opening his mouth as he showed Ben the chewed-up food. "HAHA, Ohh, man. The seafood special." Ben chuckled as he gagged at the sight. As he gagged, he looked back at Gwen, a thought coming to mind. Leaning over the table, he whispered to Gwen, and soon a smirk crossed her face.
Returning to the window, Ben dramatically hid his face behind his hands before unveiling himself as he squished his face against the window in a halfhearted attempt. The kid was left… less than impressed, crossing his arms as he cocked a brow at Ben. However, as Ben gave an embarrassed smile, a pair of vine tendrils arose from underhand before VenusVerde suddenly arose behind him and tackled him down to the horror of the kid. This horror only worsened as Venus arose, her single eye glaring out the window as she slack-jawed and bared her teeth out the window. Screaming his head off, the boy's father noticed the commotion, turning to witness the plant monster, horrifying him as he suddenly peeled away.
As the car sped away, VenusVerde keeled over in laughter as Ben chuckled from under her tendrils. "You have to admit that was fun." Ben chuckled as his cousin laughed her butt off for what felt like the first time all week.
"Yeah, maybe a little," Venus admitted with a giggle, her voice more jolly than Ben had heard all week.
Though the fun was soon interrupted, "Hun, better get up here." Verdona called as the RV suddenly screeched to a halt, sending Venus sliding to the front till she hit the dashboard. "Ah, I see you're all ready to go. We got trouble ahead." Verdona instructed as she pointed towards a nearby truck. It was toppled over to its side as what seemed to be propane spilling from it, being slowly lit ablaze. "If that propane he's hauling catches fire, that truck will become a rocket to the moon."
Nodding, VenusVerde crawled out of the RV windows before speeding to the truck. The flames' intensity increases, making VenusVerde step back. "Ack! Ouch!" She groaned as her plant body was pelted by embers.
"Come on, folks. Give the plant a chance to work." Verdona instructed as she and Ben caught up.
"The fire's too intense." Venus grunted as embers hit her, "Ugh, had to be the alien weak to fire." The barrage of embers forcing her to hop off to reconsider her plan. However, as she did so, she found herself backing into the nearby railing, her pods hitting them, giving her an idea,
Extending her legs so that she was well above the truck, she reached to her back for the pods. She then hurled them down at the truck, where they exploded into a purple foam, suffocating the fire. Lowering back down to the truck, Venus then impaled her legs into the door before ripping it off, allowing the driver to climb out.
The man huffed and puffed as he looked to Venus with a startled but thankful expression. "Thank you." He sighed as Venus helped him ease back onto his feet.
Gwen gave a shy smile. "No problem, just… trying to help."
Tourist Trap
Once all the commotion was over the family filled back into the RV, the kids talking amongst themselves while Verdona stayed tight lip on where they were going. However, as they rode Ben noticed a sign, "You'll have a ball with It." Ben read, cocking a brow.
"Uh, Grandma? What's It?" Gwen called forwards
"You'll find out in just a moment dears!" Verdona responded, smiling back through the overhead mirror as she turned off of the main road. "We're here! Come on!" She cheered as she motioned the kids out of the RV. Following suit, Ben Gwen clambered out as Verdona motioned to a large sign, "Ta-Da! Welcome to Shreiksville!"
.
.
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The kids were silent as Verdona posed, her smile turning strained as she glanced behind herself and noted the rather mundane tourist trap town behind her. "Hehe, alright I know this old place doesn't look like much but believe me it's a real hoot!" She assured, slightly embarrassed at her hype-up of the town. "Look, I know the last place we tried to stay at didn't go… ideally." Gwen winces the reminder, a dejected expression quickly finding itself on her face. "But I thought this old town would be a fun venture!" Verdona cheered, her voice straining as she tried to keep a cheerful tone. "Besides, what's more exciting than the world's biggest fish bowl?" She cheered with a chuckle."Tho despite her attempt at levity, the kids could only muster half-hearted nervous chuckles as they bit their tongues.
"WELL HOWDY THERE, FOLKS!" an overly enthusiastic voice rang as a woman approached the family. She was an older woman, maybe a decade or so older then Verdona, with dark grey hair held up in a bun. She wore a tan suit with glasses and blue earrings. As the mayor of Shriekssville, I welcome you, as seekers of wonder!" She cheared as she put emphasis on the wonder.
"Well, I know you guys are probably excited to see It. So, I'll go check us in." Verdona continued as she handed the baffled kids tickets before walking to a nearby building.
Not entirely sure how to process all that had just happened Ben and Gwen just gave each other a look and shrug before continuing forward to a Jack-A-Lope exhibit. Walking to booth Ben rung a bell and to their surprise mayor Shelby popped up, now wearing a hat. "Tickets, dears!"
Gwen stood puzzled "I thought you were the mayor."
"Suppose to be the who now?"
Deciding to just buckle down and accept the situation the duo tried to make the best of the attractions, taking pictures in front of the giant jackalope as they made funny faces and then took some pictures behind American Gothic cutouts in the wrong positions. They then visited a planetarium, that admittedly was pretty cool, that is until the sun "died" and had to be carted off, although Ben and Gwen had a good laugh at the affair. After that, they stopped by a giant house of cards before stopping for lunch with a giant burger, only for Ben to spray Gwen with ketchup and mustard leading to her chasing him as they laughed their butts off. They then grabbed some Shrieksville merch, Ben getting a white bandana with a black stripe and some fake big teeth and Gwen getting sunglasses and rabbit ears. They then squawked around a giant birdcage before resting at a bench, Ben sipping some pink lemonade while Gwen nearly toppled over from exhaustion.
Eventually, though the moment had come and they approached the building containing It.
"Through these doors lies the weirdest, wildest thing ever to find its way to Shrieksville." Shelby monologed as she attempted to set the mood, to so-so results as the cousins looked at each other.
She then pushed the double doors to the building open allowing the kids to walk into the pitch-black room. As they walked in ominous music could be heard from overhead as neon signs began to light up around them. "Is this is, 'cause I'm getting tired of it." Gwen bemoaned as she had to duck past signs, "Do not touch it!" one read
"Do not photograph it!" Ben read on another
"No pointy object near It" Both read as Shelby finally gave them the signal to stop, ahead of them being a large sign reading This IS IT before lifting up into the darkness.
They turned to each other as they let themselves beam in excitement to finally see what It was the town got so hyped about. Suddenly the lights blared on and- "This is It?" Gwen questioned as she stared at It dumbfounded, her smile falling almost immediately.
Ben stood equally dumbfounded, blinking several times in hopes something would change, alas. "It's a… big rubber ball." And indeed it was. A big red rubber ball like you might use for a game of dodgeball. It was stationed on a small platform as speakers blasted classical music.
Shelby gleefully chuckled, "I know amazing right? Who knows what secrets lie inside!"
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.
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"I'm going to guess… air." Ben replied.
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.
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"Well anyway," Shelby started as she clapped her hands together, "Stay as long as you like. Oh, and mind the signs." She then marched out as the cousins stood dumbfounded.
Gwen turned back to the ball with a glare, "Geeze, look at this place. These guys are full of It. This place is a total sham!"
Ben nodded "I know talk about lame! Seriously all that hype for this, It's a ripoff!" Ben groaned in agreement as he glared at the ball. That is until he got an idea, a deviously awful idea. "I say we should return the favor." He smirked as he motioned to Gwen.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying they hype up It and It turns out to be a big borning ball, why not make some fun of our own? With some extra-extraterrestrial help."
"Are you crazy we'd get in trouble!" Gwen gasped as she covered the Omnitrix with her hand.
"Only if we're caught!" Ben defended as he stepped back. "Come on we had so much fun earlier, I just thought that… you know we could make this fun too." Ben defended, his expression faltering for a moment.
Thinking back to their time together Gwen couldn't deny she'd have fun, even when they hadn't been totally responsible. Looking to Ben and back to the ball, taunting in its mundanity, a smile crept across her face. Slinking behind the ball a flash of light blared from behind it. "One good prank deserves another!" Gwen cheered, her voice now squeaky as a large tongue wrapped behind the ball before hoisting it high into the air, LeapFrog under it triumphant.
"Great minds think alike cuz! What you got in mind?"
"I don't know."Gwen smirked as she jumped atop the ball, standing on one foot."Maybe... the world's best balancing act?"
Ben laughed his butt off at the scene. "Hey Hey roll it! Roll it!"
Nodding gleefully as she began jogging atop the ball causing it to roll around. "DaDaDaDa!" She sang as she rounded the room before stopping and beginning to bounce the ball by jumping on it. "Ha! Guess they were right! We are having a ball with WOAH! " Applying too much force with her bounce the ball bounced all the way to the ceiling, bashing Gwen into it before bouncing across the room wildly, knocking out the speakers.
"Gah! Gwen! Ben yelped as he raced over to where Gwen had fallen.
As he reached her she sat up, dazed but otherwize fine. "I-I got it!" She cried as she suddenly shot up and leaped to the ball, only to slam into it causing both it and her to bounce back to the walls of the room, the ball bursting through.
Ben gulped as raced to the hole "This is bad." The ball bounced as down the hill as it made it's way to town It knocks over several exhibits and crushes a food cart. And then, as if by some cosmic joke, the blasted thing began making its way to the worlds largest jar of pushpins. "Gwen!" He called back as LeapFrog regained her barings and made her way over, her eyes shooting up in hororr as she saw where the ball was heading.
Putting forward all the force she could, she leaped down the hill, making it just close enough that she was able to extend out her tongue far enough to wrap it around the ball, tho that didn't stop it. Gwen was yanked by the ball as it bounced, but through quick thinking she was able to grab hold of a light pole, yelping in pain as he tongue reached maximum length. She held on tightly to the pole as the ball bounced till eventually, it lost momentum and finally came to a stop, allowing LeapFrog's tongue to slack as she dropped from the pole tiredly.
"Gwen!" She could hear Ben call as he raced down the hill, quickly finding the disheveled heroine collapsed on the street. "You ok?"
"Yeah, just found a new respect for RubberBands." She tiredly joked as she rose. Taking in the sight of the city in the ball's aftermath, horrified at the sight, "OH Man, OH Man, What are we going to do!" She wailed as anxiety shot through her like a bullet, only for Ben to suddenly cover her out with his hand.
"Well, what we're not going to do is panic." He hissed, "Look it's fine, let's just check the damage."
Trepidashouslty they walked over to It, and to their relief it was seemingly completely unharmed save for some dust, they sighed in relief. However they then noticed a small tack just barely prodding at the bottom, but the little prick was just enough, and if they looked ever so carefully they could see the hole. Noticing this Ben looked to Gwen in concern before lighting up as he got an idea. He fished around in his pockets for a second before pulling out a little candy wrapper. LeapFrog stared at it a moment before sticking her slimy tongue out and licking the wrapper, with Ben then placing it onto the ball before giving LeapFrog a thumbs up, to LeapFrog's bafflement. BEEP BEEP BwOOSH. "We are so dead. What are we going to tell Grandma?"
"Nothing. We just play dumb."
Gwen stared at him increously, viasbly seconds away from a break down. "Easy for you. You're a lot better at it than I am."
Ben glares at Gwen , "Look all anyone knows is that we saw It. Nothing else, we play it cool and they'll have nothing on us. Ok?"
Gwen pauses, taking a breath as she forces herself to relax "... ok."
Steeling their nerves the duo checked into their room, , one turned literally on its side to Verdona's amusement, and mett back up with their Verdona who was having hoot at the room's layout. They told her of their day together,leaving out the It incident before agreeing to settle down for the night, sleeping in their sideways beds.
Morning comes and the Tennyson kids rest in their sideways beds, the worries of the night before all but forgotten."What the heck happened here?" Verdona shrieked from outside, waking the kids up as they tumbled out of their bed.
"Ah. She knows everything. We are so busted." Gwen yelped frantically as she clutched her head.
"Calm down!" Ben hissed as he raced over, clamping a hand over her mouth. "Maybe it's unrelated." He reasoned, tho if tone inspired little faith.
"Gwendolyn! Benjamin! Get out here!" And now they both visibly panicked.
"Gwendolyn? I'm doomed!" Gwen cried as Ben had practically stop her from slamming her head into the floor. In the end tho they new they couldn't hide It. And so, with a heavy heart, they stepped out, and were completely blown Away by what they saw. The destruction and havoc visible made the aftermath of It look like nothing. The town was practically torn a sunder, fires, shattered windows, toppled cars, it was pandemonium. "Whhoooaa! What happened?"
"I don't know. Looks like a tornado tore through here overnight." Verdona explained as she looked at the wreckage in awe, barely noticing as Gwen gave an audible sigh.
"Oh, it ain't no tornado hunny!" Shelby called as she approached, stepping over rubble, seemingly unfazed by the state of the town."This all here was clearly the result of juvenile actions."
"Juvenile actions?" Verdona inquired, a pointed glare pointed to the kids, "Huh, if I didn't know better, that sounds like-"
"Bah, I'm not talking about these youngsters."
"You're not?!" The three gasped in unison, Verdona shooting the two a questioning look in response. "Well, if they didn't do it... who did?" Verdona asked as she turned back to Mayor Shelby, and as if on cue a small white creature leaped over her head, "What the!"
"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" The creature bellowed, it's voice so loud and powerful that it sent all in attendance flying. "HEHEHEHE," It cackled before darting away.
"What was that?" Gwen groaned. Looking at the little imp she saw a small mostly white creature with a large head and what appeared to be headphone-like growths on the side of its head connecting to a square piece on its back by a white tube. Their eyes, mouth, and two holes in the back of the their hands showed that inside they appeared to be blue. While they were mostly white their shoulders, neck and hands were a dark grey.
"That was a Chatterbox." Shelby responded as she watched the little thing scamper away, her tone so matter of fact that you'd think such an answer was normal.
"A Chatterbox?"
"That's what I said. They're supposed to be asleep in that big ol'e rubber ball. That was until last night when that there thing fell off the podium and broke out." she explained before pausing absently, Verdina shooting the kids a glare. "Some think it's a demon scaped from hell come to torment us, some think it's an echo come to life."
"Maybe it's an alien." Ben thought aloud as he watched the Chatterbox race around.
"Alien? Ha! That's just plain kooky!" She responded with a snort. Nearby at a vending machine, the Chatterbox screeched, toppling it over as it shattered the glass, allowing it to get inside and steal the goods. "No one knows what it is or why it's here. Seems to not need any food or drink and only consumes for what can be assumed to be pleasure. All it truly seems to find direction in is its desire to cause chaos and destruction. Only known way to distract them is by playing music." The chatterbox jumps behind the machine before letting out a sonic yell, launching the machine at the Tennysons and Shelby who narrowly get out of the way. "Oh, It's also got a dangerous sense of humor."
"You left that thing inside a rubber ball all this time?" Verdona asked baffled.
"Shouldn't be a problem, so long as people minded the signs and the music keeps playing." Shelby defended, her tone matter of fact.
Exhausted, Verdona shot a glare at the kids as they looked between eachother before their gusto broke. For a second it looked like Gwen was gonna spill first, but she was cut off as Ben spoke up "It was me Grandma, I pressured Gwen into messing with the ball." Though his voice was nervous his face was tense an assured.
However before Verdona could respond Gwen pushed herself infront of Ben, "I still went along with it. I still did it… I'm sorry grandma." After staring at Gwen in surprise for a minute Ben placed a hand on her shoulder as they looked to eachother with appreciative smiles.
Watching the unexpected display of comradery Verdona let out a sigh, "We're gonna talk about this later, you two. But, for now, how do we stop this thing, Mrs. Mayor?"
Shelby looked at her perplexed, "Whatchu mean "we"? You let it out, you catch it." As she said this Chatterbox let out a sonic screech at a nearby car, destroying it in a fiery explosion as the Tennysons just watched in bafflement.
"Geez, talk about noisy nuances." Verdona winced as some flaming shrapnel nearly hit her.
Ben looked to Gwen who nodded in understanding, "Don't worry, Grandma. I know just the hero to deal with this little jerk!" Gwen exclaimed as she activated the omnitrix before slamming down in a pink glow. Emerging from the glow stood proudly Saphire, only for her to then look at her crystal hands in shock.
"Nice!" Ben complimented as he shot his crystal cousin a grin, "Someone as strong as Saphire should have no problem with these guys!"
"Uh yeah, that was totally my plan." Saphire responds with a half-hearted grin, not wanting to admit to having mistransformed. However, that mistransformation would have to do as the Chatterbox wreaked havoc amongst the town, shouting their head off as they destroyed the various attractions, shattering the glass of a giant mustard bottle and knocking the head off of a giant cow, laughing at their carnage. "Hey, peanut gallery!" Saphire called they charged at the impish aliens as they hoisted the giant ball above, "Have a BALL!" and with a heave she hurled the ball forward, nearly landing on the Chatterbox slice first.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The ChatterBox screeches as it lets out a sonic wave, at the ball pushing it back and over Saphire towards her family and Shelby.
Luckily they managed the get out of the way tho Ben shot her an unimpressed glare, "Hey Dweeb! Who's side are you on?!"
"Sorry!"
""Is it just me, or is there a lot of excitement today?" Shelby ponders as she chows on a pretzel.
The Chatterbox laughed its butt off at the failed retaliation, infuriating Saphire as she looked from their family back to the white imp, her nonexistent blood boiling. "Oh you think you're SO funny don't you!" she yelled as she shifted her hands into blades. "Well let's see how you like it!" She bellowed before chagrin at the critter leaping into the air before diving blades first.
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH" The imp screeched as it fired a sonic blast into the air at the descending Saphire, slowing her descent as her body quickly began to crack and fracture.
"ARGGGH." She yelped in pain as she flew back and onto her butt, "Ugh, right, forgot, crystals and sonic frequencies, not a good match up." She groaned before seemingly konking out.
"Not good!" Ben gasped as he witnessed the scene, the Chatterbox quickly spotting him as it turned with a wicked grin. "Any ideas?" He inquired to his grandma as desperately as he backed away.
"Gwen can't do anything so long a she has those Chatterbox's attention. E need to distract them or we're going to be in a real jam!"
"Jam! That's it! Grandma, you're a genius!"Ben cheered as his eyes lit up before turning tail and running into a nearby store.
"Well, thank you, Ben. But uh, why?"
"Just follow me!"
Groaning in her daze, Gmen stumbles to her feet, head spinning, as the Chatterbox continues to mock her. "I'm…. I'm n-not going to take that lying down!" She grunted out as she tried to rise, the Chatterbox puffing up ready to blast her again.
However just before they could do so they were cut off by a sudden call. "Hey, DoffusBox!" Ben called garnering Saphire and the Chatterboxes' attention. Hoisted above his head as radio that he hoisted over its head, "Let's rock!" and with the press of a button a rock song blared at max volume. Cackling at sound the Chatterbox appeared to attempt to replicate the sound as they forgot their opponent, creeping toward the source of the music. "That's it, that's it," Ben whispered as he slowly stepped back, the chatterbox following. He kept pacing back until eventually, "Now!" and with a heave he tossed the radio to Verdona who swiftly caught it before chucking it herself a fair distance away, the Chatterbox quickly chasing after.
"Nice thinking Ben!" Verdona cheered as she and Ben raced over to Saphire's side. "You ok dear?" She asked soothingly as she and Ben helped her up.
"Huf Huf, yeah," She sighed as she took several deep breaths, her arm shifting into a blade,
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go file a noise complaint!" She roared as she leaped into the air! "Alright, time to shut you up!" she bellowed as she came soaring down, slicing through the Chatterbox with ease, her eyes widening as she realized what she had just done. Or at least she would have, had the two halves not stayed perfectly upright as they began to float away from each other before a sudden burst of blue energy enveloped their missing half forming a whole new body. "What the!" was all Saphire was able to get out before the Chatterbox duo screamed at her, launching her away just as she was met by an even worse sound.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BWOOSH "Uh Oh!"
The two chatter boxes paused for a moment as they looked at eachother, realizing what had just been done, before bellowing in laughter, a laughter so strong that it sent Gwen hurrdeling back as she clutched her ears.
"Gwen!" Ben and Verdona cried as they watched her be sent flying through the air.
The Chatterboxes cackled at the display as Ben and Vedona reached Gwen and kneeled down to check on her. "You ok dear? Can you hear me?" Verdona whispered soothingly as she patted the back of Gwen's back.
"Uh, Grandma! We have trouble!" Ben called as the Chatterboxes approached before multiplying again and again, creating a wall of Chatterboxes. Eyes shooting wide with shock Verdona pulled the kids into a hug, situating them so that her arms were over one ear while their other would be pushed against her.
"BBBBBBBwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And with a ear splitting wail the Tennysons sent flailing through the air as they were hit by the sheer might of the sonic screech. They yelled in fright in pain as they were sent flying till eventually the screams died down, allowing them to come to a stop.
The kids groaned as their ears rang, tho fortunately the damage wasn't to bad. "Grandma are your ears ok."
Verdona winced but gave the kids a strained smile, "Oh trust me kids, this is nothing, I've dealt with much louder as a plumber."
Ben cocked a brow, "What kinds of toilets were you dealing with?"
"Uh…" However, she was cut off as the sounds of whoops and cheers caught their attention. Just off in the distance, they could see the Chatterboxes, now duplicated into a river of troublemakers, marched through the streets as they hauled seemingly whatever they could find, from cars to TVs.
Those brats' idea of good, clean fun is gonna have us all pushin' up daisies!" Verdona bemoaned from behind the corner.
Ben turned to Gwen, "Well what you waiting for dweeb? Do something!"
"Like I don't want to? I'm still in the green, no hero time any time soon."
"We don't have time to wait, come on! We'll head it off in the-" Verdona started, only to cut herself off as she saw what had been done to the RV, the ChatterBoxes had stolen her wheels and painted 'U Am Lame' on the side, much to her indignation. "Why I outa!"
"U am lame? That's weak." Ben cringed, Gwen, nodding along.
"And don't even get me started on the grammar and the spelling."
"Hi there folks!" Shelby called as she casually stepped over the rubble. "Quite the day today huh?"
"Yeah." Verdona greeted curiously, "By chance where do you think those critters are going?"
"Hmm, I reckon they'll head for the big dam nearby, which acts as a great echo chamber and will really allow them to make some noise. Of course, that is until their rambunctiousness cracks the dam open."
"Flooding the surrounding area." Verdona gasped.
There's got to be something we can do!" Gwen yelled as she began pacing, racking her brain. A look of guilt crossing his face, Ben approached Gwen putting a hand on her shoulder causing her to pause. Startled for a moment she sighed as she gave him a smile, only to then notice a very special attraction nearby. Noticing the change Ben followed her gaze and grew a wicked grin himself.
"You thinking what I'm thinking"
"Yeah." Gwen beamed as she flashed the omntirix, "Time to sho those beatem ups ho to really jam!".
Glaring at the ocean of Chatterboxes, Gwen, with a determined smile, raised her arm as the Omnitrix dial popped up. "Hero time."
TechSupport Transformation
The Omnitix turns into a liquid form as it stretches across her body, sliding up her arm.
The liquid metal stretches across her face while a pink circuit pattern grows where her eye is as it glows.
As a mainly formed TechSupport spins the dark blue of her body splits apart as the back of her head protrudes
Finally, Her legs bend as a leg bursts out her backside.
As the transformation ceased, Gwen stood proudly as the tripedal TechSupport. She was light blue, dark blue on her feet, back of her hands, and upper torso, save for the protrusion on the back of her head. She had pink circuits on her feet, the back of her hands resembling nails, and a chest pointing to her Omnitrix. Her eyes were replaced by pink circuits, and a pink line was at the top of her head.
Enveloped in a pink glow, outstepped TechedSupport, who leaped from atop the dam before landing as a puddle on the ground and reforming into her more humanoid shape. "Alright, you whiny brats! Time to shut up if you know what's good for you!"
However, in response, the Chatterboxes just stared at her before bursting out in roaring laughter, laughter that quickly turned to a sonic bellow directed directly at Gwen. However, as she was hit by the burst, TechSupport's semi-liquid form bent with the wave before reforming as the bellow ceased, the Chatterboxes staring in shock.
"My turn." Stretching her arms into the crowd TechSupport latched on to a car that a group of Chatterboxes had carried down the damn. Pulling herself to it, she quickly engulfed the car in her blue blob body. Once covered, the bulk of the body of the car was dark blue with a light blue underbelly with pink circuitry lines on the wheels and hood, with her pink eyes appearing on the headlights and the Omnitrix appearing on her wheel. "Let's rev this UP!" Spinning her wheels, the Chatterboxes were forced to drop the TechSupported car as it raced through the mob as she charmed through multiple of them. After successfully ticking them off, she then turned heel and charged away from the mob as she dodged a sonic blast. However, as she raced away, a Chatterbox managed to land a lucky hit, blasting the car with a sonic pulse, causing it to erupt into a fiery blaze.
"Gwen!" Verdona and Ben cried from atop the damn, powerless as pieces of TechSupport's body rained down.
However, after a moment, those pieces began to spring to life before slinking away and back to a giant puddle of TechSupport, reforming into her humanoid form, though not without leaving her dizzy. However, just as she regained her bearings, she looked up in shock as she was cast in the shadow of a Chatterbox tidal wave. "No!" She screamed as she held her hands up in front of her. But as she did so, pink circles on the palm of her hand began lighting up before blasting a large bright pink laser eviscerating an entire chunk of the mob. "Heh heh heh! She giggled before staring at the hoard with her glowing pink eyes as she curled her arms, palms facing the hoard. Her palms swelling with energy, she blasted forward as she wasted the Chatterboxes, several falling back as they attempted to avoid the laser, the pink interlaced every so often with a blue spark.
Her assault was relentless as she laid on the fire, to her family's confusion and concern, "Yo, computer for brains!" Stop messing around!" Ben called his voice getting through to Gwen as she halted her fire.
"R-Right!" TechSupport blurted out as she snapped back to her senses. "Hey, brats! Come get me if you can!" She called as she reached over to the broken-off engine block. Taking it over, she morphed it into a small rocket before blasting it into the air. Flying over the Chatterboxes she taunted and jeered at them, replacing their fear with anger as she then blasted away and over to the wall of the damn. They screeched and shouted as they attempted to blast her out of the sky, but she was able to dodge with ease.
"Missed me dweebs!" Techsupport taunted as he flew through the air as she made a sharp turn upward. The parade of Chatterboxes clambered over themselves to chase after her, occasionally taking shots as they tried to blast her out of the air, over to a metal platform half covered by a tarp. "Nah, Nah!" She cackled as she dismounted the engine block as the hoard took the chance to tackle her. "Gah!" Screeching creations." TechSupoort gritted, "Heh, got ya." Suddenly, her body lost all solidity as she sank into the metal floor and spread across the platform. The Chatterboxes that had been on top of her looked around in confusion, realizing too late as the platform began folding in on itself. Desperately, they tried to escape, but any that tried were grabbed by numerous hands that grew from the walls or were blasted by said hands. As the walls closed, the Chatterboxes grouped back together before merging back into one.
"Good job, Gwen!"Verdona called as TechSupport finished up.
"Yeah!" Now time for the finishing touch!" Ben cheered before fishing in his pocket. After a second of rooting around, he pulled out an old MP3 player, holding it out to Gwen.
Gwen paused for a moment as she stared at it. "Are-Are you sure? I have one too you know."
Ben's expression lightened, "Yeah, this one's on me. Besides I was thinking of getting a new one anyway." he assured with a smile.
Making a sound that seemed to indicate a nod TechSupport extruded an arm and grabbed the MP3, coating it before reutning it. "Connection complete!" She cheered as she morphed off the box, revealing it to be the world's largest speaker box.
After cleaning up the brunt of Chatterbox's mess, the speaker box was put in place of the building that had housed the infamous 'It' as it played music across town.
"Thank you folks for helping clean up!" Shelby cheered as she approached the Tennysons. "That'll sure get tourist attention!"
"It's no prob, we're happy to help. Right, kids?" Verdona taunted as she shot the kids a half-serious glare.
"Y-Yeah, super happy!
"Yeah, whatever…" Ben sighed before approaching Shelby with an old MP3 player. "Here."
"Eh? What's this?" Shelby asked as she took and inspected it.
"It's my old MP3 player. It's connected to the Speaker, so just choose a song, and it'll play."
Shelby beamed as she reached down and ruffled Ben's hair, "Thank you dear! We'll put this to good use." She then marched away, tho not without waving goodbye to the family as they headed back to a repaired RV.
"I know those Chatterboxes were annoying but I hope they'll be ok in there." Gwen said under her breat as she stared at the giant speaker.
"I wouldn't worry dear, I'm sure they'll be just fine." Verdona assured as she shot her a strained smile. There was a moment of silence as Gwen and Verdona stood awkwardly, Ben awkwardly standing at the side. Eventually, tho the silence broke as Verdona let out a sigh, "Kids about what happened."
"I'm sorry, Grandma! I know I messed up… again. I ruined everything and-"
"Woah, woah, hold up, no, I convinced her to do it!"
"Kids, Kids, calm down!" Verdona interrupted. "Geez. You're not in trouble."
The two blinked as Gwen gave Verdona an incredulous look. "You're not mad at us."
"Well, I can't say I'm to happy." She clarified before sighing, "But I blame myself more then anything. I left you two to your own devices, in a strange town while one of you hold the most powerful thing in the universe on your wrist. I rember what it was like when I was your age, I made the same mistakes… if not to this scale." She explained, chuckling at the end.
"Great! So we're all good?" Gwen asked hopefully.
"Well I wouldn't say that." Verdona smirked as she reached into the rv and grabbed a pair of buckets filled to the brim with cleaning utensils, Since you kids caused this mess together, you clean the Rustbucket together!"
The two looked at each other as Verdona shoved the buckets into their hands. "AW MAN!"
Author's Note
Certainly a different take on the old classic I'd say, did you see the Chatterboxes coming?
Got to say, I had major author's block on this, but in the end it all sort of just fell together in a way I'm really proud of.
You may have noticed that I decidently went with a tone change for this episdoe, that's because I wanted to pay off the whole "earn back my trust" thing that went unresolved in the show. With it being resolved here by Verdona seeing Gwen and Ben take accountability for their actions and insisting on the blame.
Also on the note of Ben, I feel like this episode is important to set the stage for who this Ben is. As you may have noticed Ben is taking Gwen's role as the straight man and voice of reason. The in universe, this is caused by him not having the ego boost that the omnitrix naturally brings. However, in this episode, we get to see both the good and the bad of this Ben. Yes, he is far more reasonable and pushes Gwen to embrace her hero role, but he's still a little punk. So in this chapter, I wanted to touch on how he is able to act both as the angel and devil on Gwen's shoulder.
Also Big News! I have posted my design for TechSupport and Amphibian here.
So feel free to check it out to better understand what they're supposed to look like, will try to post SuckerPunch and LeapFrog soon.