Steven was speed-walking towards High Override's office. He was angry… no, furious, and he was putting one leg in front of the other as quickly as he could without straight-up breaking into a sprint. He couldn't wait a second longer. High Override had some explaining to do.

"Let me in. I need to talk to him." – he demanded from the two fulmini guards outside the building.

The watchmen looked at each other. They had let Steven in twice already before, but this time, he was alone, and he was angry. So if the High Override refused to see him, this might turn ugly…

Fortunately, the decision was made for them, as the "door", which on Fulmas, was an energy field occupying an empty door frame, dissipated, which meant Steven was clear to be let in.

"Explain yourself." – High Override said calmly, though it sounded more like a demand, as Steven stomped into his office. High Override's arms were in front of him, with elbows on the desk and hands with fingers crossing with each other.

"You know, I was just about to ask you the same thing." – Steven replied with a fake casual tone, through which his anger was slipping away. Though, he never meant to hide his anger, anyway.

"About what, exactly?" – High Override testily asked.

"Ohoho, several things." – Steven said, and manically laughed. He actually laughed, because he was finally letting the fume out all over High Override. "Enough to make a list, even."

High Override narrowed his eyes. This Steven Universe was overestimating himself. Him and Tennyson were sent to do a simple task for the benefit of Fulmas, but he barged in back, with no mention of the crawlers. This insolent brat, who had no idea what it truly meant to run a planet. A combination of Pink Diamond, famous for her temper, and a human from a level 3 planet. A human child, even. And now he was about to lecture him on how to be a world leader. Well, sure, let him. Just let it be over with quickly.

"Do you have ANY idea how gems are being treated down there?" – Steven furiously started listing his grievances. "Your fulmini guards are working them to the ground. Even the new ones. From the moment they emerge, they are met with nothing but orders and shouts, to the point that they enjoy it, since it's all they know. ALL of this goes against what I fought for when I dismantled the Diamond Empire!"

"Do YOU have any idea how needed those resources are?"' – High Override objected. He seemed insulted that Steven had even brought it up. "Fulmas wouldn't be in the state it's currently in if a certain empire hadn't kneecapped its development 2,000 years ago. Now, we have to rebuild. Not to mention, defend against new invaders while we are still weakened. Do you understand?"

"Oh, I understand." – Steven responded without dropping any steam. "What I don't understand is if Fulmas is in such a dire state then why did I only see gems doing all the hard labor? Because surely the fulmini would also have to work if the planet really needed it that badly."

"You mean the untiring workers that don't need to eat or sleep?" – High Override deflected. "Why wouldn't I leave more labor for them? It's what they're made for." Typical for a Diamond, he thought, only concerning himself with his citizens while ignoring the needs of fulmini.

"Gems aren't just what they're made for." – Steven said firmly. He felt like he had to make sure this was clear, or else people – whether Diamonds, High Override, or others – would never see the gems as anything more than laborers. "They're not some robots you can command and control and own. Every single one of them is a living being that can have their own emotions, feelings, aspirations. And I'm not even saying this just because they're gems. Had you been treating the fulmini this way, I wouldn't have found that acceptable, either."

"They're free to leave Fulmas anytime." – High Override waved it off. He had to suppress the annoyance that he felt in his voice. "All the gem warp pads are functioning." – he added. Of course, he'd be waving it off as if it was a non-issue, but Steven saw through that.

"Not if you manipulate them so that they don't realize that's even an option." – Steven immediately parried his deflection. "I've been down to the colony, and to the Kindergarten. They're so concerned with following your orders that they don't even think about leaving. Not to mention the fact that that's not even a good solution. You should be building a welcoming community for both gems and fulmini, not telling whoever doesn't like it to get off your planet." – he ranted on. "But don't you worry. There was a newly-emerged Jasper being abused by the guards, and I helped her get out of here without her even looking back. I'm sure that's what you would have wanted." – Steven told him with a cheeky smile, expecting a reaction from him. High Override's eyes narrowed again, but that was it. "And speaking of the planet, what the heck is up with the Kindergarten? You are aware of the long-term implications keeping it active has on the resources, right? That's only making things worse for your own planet, and your own people."

"I am fully aware, yes. As I said, the workforce…"

"Could use a couple more fulmini lugging the crates around." – Steven interrupted him. "Definitely not worth it to drain the planet of life. What do you intend to do when you run out of resources?"

"I have things planned." – High Override shrugged it off, pretty casually considering the gravity of the matter.

Steven stared at that statement for a second, as if the words were solid and had flown out of his mouth. What exactly did he mean by that? What could he have planned?

"Fine. Then let me ask you this. What happened to the Communications Hub? Because as far as I've sfound out, it was blown up right after the Diamond colonies were liberated. Right when Era 3 was beginning."

"The Communications Tower was destroyed in a terrorist attack. They had a problem with gem occupation of the planet and wanted to get rid of them. They call themselves Circuit Breakers."

"Pretty weird that they only decided to blow it up after the colony was freed." – Steven doubtfully said. "If they were gonna do it, surely they would have done it when there were actual gem operations that would have hurt… right?" – he said suspiciously.

"What are you insinuating?" – High Override asked him. He unclasped his hands and leaned closer, as if to intimidate him. He seemed fed up. As if he had any right to be fed up with anything, thought Steven.

"Oh, you know what I'm insinuating." – Steven deliberately provoked him.

"Careful, Steven Universe. You have no idea how patient I've been with you thus far. You wouldn't like me as your enemy." – he warned in a foreboding voice.

"I don't even like you as a friend!" – Steven yelled.

"So, what are you trying to accomplish, then?" – Override sneered. "Is this one of the famous Pink Diamond tantrums?" – he mockingly said, and noticed from Steven's eyes that he had gotten the reaction. "What are you gonna do, threaten me? Force me to change my ways?" – he pressed on. "Or do you want to wage a war against Fulmas? Spill some more… innocent blood? Ironic that Gemworld will refuse to aid Fulmas when it needs it but won't hesitate to wage war against it."

"I…" – Steven started, the frustration boiling inside him. He couldn't believe he was facing a leader so selfish that would throw anyone not his own race under the bus. In fact, there Steven was, with the intent of helping him protect the planet from an outside force, the incursean danger, and he was still this… dismissive, hard-headed, ungrateful. But even if the threat was averted, things would return to High Override's status quo once again. The anger was building up, and he really felt like he could punch something… and High Override's stupid face sure sounded appealing, in fact, it seemed to be asking for it.

But even now, Steven had enough sense in him to realize that in this case, punching a dictator would be of no use, no matter how good it felt.

"I'm going to go back to the gem camp." – Steven decided. "And I'm gonna tell them all about the things you kept from them. And I'll make sure everyone understands how much better life is away from this planet. And then me and Ben are gonna talk to the incurseans to stay away from here. You don't deserve it, but your people do. You and your fulmini can mine your planet hollow after that for all I care. Good. Luck." – he declared and turned around to walk away.

Was this a good decision? Were any of these the right thing to do? He'd be abandoning the fulmini to live under a dictator. He'd be taking away the gems from what they considered their home, for better or worse. As he learned from the Amethyst, a lot of them liked it here. They were even friends with the fulmini – the civilians, not the slave-driving guards. Would they even follow him back to Homeworld? Or would he have to play the dreaded Diamond card and force them? And would that make him any better than Pink, or the other Diamonds? But if not this, what else could he possibly do to make things better? What was the alternative?

"You won't be doing any of those things." – High Override suddenly said. As he did, the two fulmini guards entered the room.

"Wha…" – Steven muttered, but the two of them raised their energy glaives and attacked. Steven summoned his shield to stop both of them.

"I can't believe you're swooping this- hrrhrrhrrhrrhrrhrrhrrhrr..." – Steven started saying, but then got shocked with a horrible energy. An energy that made him feel like he was slowly splitting apart into a hundred pieces. He could barely move. This wasn't fulmini electricity. Steven knew this energy all too well. Enduring the jolt that was making it hard for him to control his muscles, he slowly turned around.

High Override was right behind him. Standing up, he seemed much taller than Steven realized. Taller than the other fulmini. And in his hand, there it was… something he had saved, it seems, for this very occasion.

A gem destabilizer.

That was the last thought that ran through his head before one of the guards punched him right in his temple, knocking him out immediately.

"Okay, so… who are you guys?" – Ben asked as him and Lars were being led through a tunnel. There was a whole lot of fulmini both in front of them and behind. Fulmini with guns, energy maces, energy spears, glaives, swords. Fulmini riding the minecrawlers like horses, with special saddles and everything. And gems. There were several gems among them too. None of them were pointing said weapons directly at them, though, and they were willingly going along. If he had to, Ben was sure he could transform into something and wipe the floor with them, but he decided that it would be better if him and Lars went along with whatever this was.

"We're the Circuit Breakers." – one of the fulmini told him. "We are the ones that were perpetrating the attacks that High Override assumed minecrawlers were responsible for."

"So, did he know that he was sending us after you guys, or…?" – Lars asked them.

The fulmini talking to them laughed again. "No, no. We hide our tracks. In fact, I don't think he would have sent you outsiders if he knew who really was down here."

As they talked, they finally entered a larger chamber with more of these Circuit Breakers in there. Ben and Lars noticed boxes lying around, empty, full or half-full, the same kind that Amethysts were carrying around back on the surface. They were filled with some sort of mineral that was giving off an electric buzzing. Some were full of taydenite shards.

"Hey, hey, what do we have here?" – one of the fulmini, slightly larger than all the others. This one sounded female as well. Since every fulmini seemed exactly the same size, as if cut from the same shape, other than High Override, Ben assumed this had to be the leader of this group.

"We found these two off-worlders lost in the colony's mines." – she was told by the fulmini that found them.

"That so?" – she walked up to them. One of the gems followed her, standing at her side, though neither Ben nor Lars knew the name of this type. Her skin was stone gray, and she had a stocky, bulky complexion.

"Hi, I'm Ben Tennyson. You might have heard of me." – Ben held his hands out. Lars rolled his eyes at that.

"Can't say that I have." – she answered, but grabbed and shook it anyway. Her palm was massive and grasped Ben's entire hand, and Ben felt a low voltage buzz as he touched it.

"Really? There was an entire galactic broadcast about me." – Ben said, surprised.

"We don't get good off-world connection down here." – she shrugged. "Not all the time, anyway. Must have missed that."

"Okay, then." – Ben shrugged. "And that's…" – he started introducing Lars, but was cut off.

"That's Captain Lars, of Earth." – the Circuit Breaker leader interrupted him. "We know. I'm the one that sent him the request to come to this planet in the first place."

"Hmph." – Lars looked smugly at Ben. "Very nice to meet you." – he shook hands with the fulmini leader as well.

"Thanks. I'm Conduit." – the leader introduced herself. "That's Flint. She's my second in command." – she pointed with her thumb over at the gem standing next to her. Flint nodded her head at the boys as a greeting.

"We also have another friend here, on the surface. Steven Universe. He's at the gem colony." – Lars stated, just so they'd know. "If you don't know who that is, he's Pink Diamond's son, and he's the one that stopped the Diamond colonization." – he briefly explained.

"Okay, that's good to know." – Conduit noted.

"Okay, enough with the introductions. What the heck are you guys doing down here, and how forbidden are we from leaving?" – Ben asked her.

"Heh. I like this one." – Conduit said to Flint. Compared to High Override, she was pretty talkative. "Well, our main purpose is simple." – she told Ben and Lars. "Overthrow High Override."

"Really." – Ben said, reserving his opinion until he had heard everything. "Can you elaborate on that?"

"He doesn't have the planet's best interests at heart." – Flint continued where Conduit left off. "For one, he's reactivated the Kindergarten to produce more gem workers, draining the planet of its natural resources. Not to mention how he's working them to cracks."

Ben and Lars recalled how stressed the gems on the surface were, as well as the Peridot they met in the mines.

"And we believe he is secretly stockpiling said resources to go on an intergalactic conquest of his own." – Conduit concluded. "Long before the incurseans, during the Diamond days. Hell, I think he's been planning it even before that. I know all this because I was once a high-ranking fulmini guard. I discovered his plans, and decided to put a stop to it. That was when I formed the Circuit Breakers." – she went on.

"Whoa." – Lars said at the realization. High Override's plans really didn't make him any better than the Diamonds or the incurseans.

"At first we were undercover, but I got found out and had to go into hiding." – Conduit continued. "We still have some undercover operatives on the surface, though, and even in Electric City. Whenever someone goes full-time Breaker, we usually stage it as a minecrawler kidnapping or something. We got them domesticated in here."

"Hmmm…" – Ben thought. "But do you have proof of High Override's plans?" – he requested.

"She saw it with her own eyes!" – Lars exclaimed.

"Yeah, but if we did have proof, we'd call Grandpa Max and he'd know what to do from there." – Ben explained. He was speaking slowly, as every word was well-thought out and calculated.

Frankly, Lars didn't realize Ben had this side to him. Ben was acting too… rational for himself.

"Now, we definitely can't count on any help from the Plumbers, and I don't think even we should do anything drastic right now. It's not a good idea to get involved into a planet's politics half-cocked." – Ben concluded.

"Wake up and smell the donuts, Ben, we're already knee-deep in the planet's politics." – Lars reminded him.

"And that's why we have to be sure of what we're doing." – Ben responded. "Conduit." – he turned to the fulmini leader. "How do you plan on dealing with the Incursean Empire once it inevitably comes back for more?"

"We'll be using High Override's stockpile that he's been hoarding for his own conquests to build up our defenses." – Conduit explained.

"Hmm, okay. Do you have a plan on when and how are you going through with it?" – Ben continued.

"Yes, actually." – Flint continued instead of Conduit. "We are hoping to do it soon, while the incurseans' grip is broken. But, we can't disclose any further details unless we're sure you're with us."

"If you are, though, you're welcome to help." – Conduit added.

"Sure!" – Lars enthusiastically said.

"No, wait." – Ben intervened. "I'm sorry, but we can't promise anything for sure."

"You don't trust us." – Conduit plainly said.

Lars assumed that she'd get upset or angry or something, and got worried about what might happen next.

"Yeah, that's totally understandable." – Conduit replied instead, remaining her friendly tone. "You just met us. Okay, so, Flint and the boys were just about to head out to raid High Override's mines, and you guys can follow along and see how we operate. You'll trust us more after that."

"Aren't you afraid we're gonna run away and warn High Override?" – Lars piped up.

"Nah. Trust goes both ways. And I trust you guys. Come on, after all you heard about High Override, I don't think you'll side with him over us."

"That's fair." – Lars nodded. So, him and Ben followed Flint, a fulmini and their two minecrawlers. These didn't have saddles, since that would arise suspicion in the witnesses. Flint and the fulmini departed while riding them, and Ben and Lars followed on foot. They knew exactly where they were going, so all Ben and Lars had to do was follow along.

"These tunnels are connected to the entire cave system, almost all the way to the surface." – Flint explained as they went along. "This way we can easily attack the middle levels of the quarry."

"Hey, we met a Taydenite on the bottom level." – Ben told her. "Is she with you guys?"

"Well, yes and no." – Flint couldn't give a definitive answer. "We tried to recruit her, but she'd rather just mine. But she also hasn't told Override about us. I think she just doesn't care. She doesn't care about anything, really."

"Except mining." – Lars said.

"Yeah."

They had reached a ravine. There was a hole into the ground ahead of them, the depths of which were shrouded by the darkness. The ceiling was also so high that it couldn't be seen.

"What now?" – Lars asked.

"Now we climb. You guys should probably hop on."

Both Ben and Lars climbed onto the two minecralwers that Flint and the fulmini were riding on. Though, the saddle was just for them, and it was pretty rocky to sit like that. And soon, it got worse. The two minecrawlers started climbing up the wall, just as easily as they would walk uphill, and Ben and Lars really had to hold onto Flint and the other fulmini so that they wouldn't fall off.

"Well, that's an experience I wouldn't like to repeat." – Lars commented as they finally got up to the ledge they were going for, which had an exit tunnel from the ravine.

"From now, on, quiet." – Flint warned them.

Good thing she warned them, as they could now hear the dissipating sounds of mining and speaking that echoed through the chambers. A couple times, they had to wait to make sure they wouldn't run into the passing-by workers or guards.

"Okay, it's time." – Flint whispered as they got off the minecralwers. She slowly leaned over through the doorway to peer into the next chamber, and Ben and Lars did the same. There, they saw a Peridot overseeing a dashboard, in the middle of a room filled with boxes. There was a fulmini guard holding an energy sword, though he was looking in the other direction. The Peridot noticed them, and Ben and Lars got scared they'd been spotted, but instead, she smiled and nodded in a way that the watchman wouldn't notice. Flint did the same. And after that, the Peridot left.

"Wait, that's the Peridot we met!" – Lars whispered over to Ben. He nodded.

"Okay, now, you guys do your thing." – Flint told the minecrawlers and guided them to go into the room. The two of the creatures went in. The guard immediately noticed them, but before he had the chance to call for help, he had to fend off the spider-like monsters attacking him. Being the fulmini's natural predator, it was easy for the minecrawlers to overwhelm him, and then they did this weird thing where it looked like they were feeding off of his electricity. Even the sword that he had been holding looked like it dimmed out, as fulmini weapons were powered by the energy of the carrier.

"He'll be fine." – Flint assured them. "He's passed out, but his body will generate enough electricity to come to in a few minutes. But, in the meantime…"

She grabbed onto a box and started dragging it away, then tied it to the minecrawler. The Circuit Breaker fulmini did the same. And so, they carried those boxes full of electrically charged minerals back to the Circuit Breaker hideout.

"See?" – Conduit asked them, to prove her point. "No casualties, no bloodshed, nothing. Our agents on the inside make sure everything goes by as smoothly as possible."

"Yeah, your methods are admittedly commendable." – Ben admitted. "Me and Lars are gonna talk about it, though. Somewhere that's totally private. Is that okay?"

Asking that wouldn't exactly delight either Conduit or Flint, but neither of them let it be obvious.

"Dude, what are you saying?" – Lars whispered over to Ben once they were in a secluded corner, free from prying ears. "High Override sounds shady AF, and these guys are definitely better for Fulmas than him. We even saw how they operate."

"We just can't jump to conclusions like that, dude!" – Ben loudly whispered. "For all you know, these guys can be lying and they could be even WORSE than High Override! And if Steven were here, he'd say the same thing."

"Hey, I've known Steven for longer than you have." – Lars whispered back.

"And?"

"And… yeah, he would." – Lars admitted. "But, we can't just go off of "can" and "could", can we?"

"Yeah, you're right. Uh… Lars?"

Lars' facial expression changed. In fact, it felt like he was shutting down, like a computer, and Ben held his shoulders in case he was about to fall down. Soon enough, he came to, and slowly opened his eyes. Though, his eyes looked… confused, as if they didn't know what was going on.

"You alright? What was that?" – Ben asked him.

"Ben!" – Lars yelled. "Okay, it worked."

"What worked?"

"It's me, Steven!" – Lars told him.

"Uhh… what?"- Ben said with a confused smile on his face. He thought it was a joke from Lars, but he didn't see how it was funny.

"I can project my mind into people, remember? You saw me do it in the courtroom during the trial."

"Ohh, right." – Ben nodded. He had a point, and even Lars' body language had changed somewhat. He was no longer slouching, for one. "What happened?"

"Dude, it's crazy. High Override is treating the gem workers like he owns them and when I went to talk to him about it, he knocked me out and put me in a cell!"

"He managed to knock you out?" – Ben inquired.

"He had a gem destabilizer." – Lars-Steven clarified.

"Okay, yeah. Me and Lars are down here with this group of rebel fulmini called the Circuit Breakers. They're planning to overthrow High Override because he's planning to invade other planets. Just like what we saw on Encephalonus IV."

"Override told me about the Circuit Breakers! He said they were all gem-hating terrorists. Of course he was lying!"

"Yeah, no. They have gems among their ranks. They seem better than Override, but at the same time, I don't think we can just blindly trust them. You stay put and don't go anywhere, we'll break you out and think of something to do with Override."

"Where would I even go? I'm in prison!"

"Exactly."

"Hold on…" – Steven changed his mind. "Maybe you shouldn't break me out." – he told Ben. "I mean, all of this has to be illegal, right? So if I'm in here, that's proof of his wrongdoings. It's something solid we can use against him!"

"But Grandpa Max said this is a no-Plumber zone!" – Ben reminded him.

"I feel like political kidnappings could overrule that." – Lars-Steven argued.

"Maybe… but then…" – Ben was still thinking cautiously.

"Then what?"

"If they drag away High Override now, the incurseans are sure to take over again. And I don't think this time they'll leave so easily. They'll garrison a whole army and keep a much closer eye on it. Hell, even if Circuit Breakers manage their coup… I don't think it's a good idea to do it now. We do it after the incursean threat is averted." – Ben decided.

"What exactly was the plan for that, again? Do we just hope Fulmas defenses pull through?" – Steven asked.

"Well, that, and me and you helping them in battle… but if you're trapped in here… Then that's gonna be harder." – Ben admitted. "But it's the only way we can go if we want to rid Fulmas of its dictators."

"Well, what about these Circuit Breakers? If they're going to overthrow High Override anyway, you can break me out now so I can help in the battle. You just have to convince them to do it after the incurseans are gone."

"That's the thing, I don't think we can just blindly trust anyone who's not High Override!" – Ben explained. "The Circuit Breakers could be just as bad as him." – he added, though quietly, since he didn't want them to overhear him.

"Do you have a reason not to trust them?" – Steven asked him.

"No, but in this kind of business, you can't trust anyone that's hasn't proven themselves. I mean, High Override didn't give us a reason not to trust him at first, but look where that's got us!"

"That doesn't exactly leave us with a lot of options." – Steven stated.

"Yeah, I know. Listen, I'm gonna take a look around down here to make sure they don't have anything hiding in their closet. And me and Lars are gonna decide from there." – Ben told him.

"Okay, sounds good. Oh, and after I leave, tell Lars I'm sorry for possessing him again."

"You got it. Wait, again?" – Ben questioned, but Lars was rebooting again, and soon he became his normal self.

"Mmmmmmmh… What happened?" – Lars asked Ben as he rubbed his head.

"High Override put Steven in prison. He possessed you to deliver the message."

"Oh, again?!" – Lars protested.

"He says he's sorry."

"Okay, fine." – Lars answered, understanding the importance of situation. "So what was so urgent that he had to tell us?"

"High Override put him in prison." – Ben calmly said.

"He WHAT?!" – Lars yelled.

"Shh!" – Ben shushed him. It wasn't anything too bad, but he still preferred if they didn't make big, dramatic exclamations in front of a rogue group. "What are we doing? We have to break him out! The Circuit Breakers might help us, too."

"Me and Steven agreed that what he did will definitely get High Override arrested."

"Are you sure? What if he has some sort of space diplomatic immunity?" – Lars questioned him.

"Yeah, that might also be true. If it comes to that, I guess we can threaten him with war with the Diamonds so that he'll let him go." – Ben casually said.

"I don't think Steven will like that."

"He won't. But we're gonna have to do it." – Ben firmly said. "It's the only way to get him out of there peacefully."

"If you consider threatening war as "peacefully"…" – Lars muttered.

"But we still have to check in with the Plumbers first." – Ben said as he put his finger on the side of the Omnitrix's dial to activate the communications feature. "Grandpa Max? Are you there?" – he asked.

The Omnitrix only gave off static in return.

"Grandpa Max? Plumber HQ? Anyone?"

"Conduit did say that they don't have good reception down here." – Lars reminded him.

"Okay, that's not good." – Ben muttered.

"You think?" – Lars remarked.

"Okay, before we do anything else, I'm gonna take a look around here to make sure the Circuit Breakers don't have any skeletons in their closet." – Ben decided.

"How are you gonna do that without them noticing you're gone?"

"I have a plan." – Ben whispered. "Um, excuse me?" – he said loudly to the fulmini, who were on the other side of the chamber. "I need to go to the, uh… bathroom." – he told them. From the unsure looks on their faces, it seemed like they didn't know what they were talking about. "Uh, you know, I need to, uh, discharge… waste materials?" – he awkwardly tried to explain.

"Gross!" – Lars whispered.

"Take him to the waste disposal room." – Conduit let them. Two of the fulmini showed up to take them to a specific room, and Ben and Lars followed.

They were taken to a specific room that was blocked off from the rest of the system by a metal wall lining it, with a large door built into it. When it opened, a rancid smell emerged from it.

"Uh… he needs to go in there with me." – Ben pointed at Lars.

"What? No, I don't!" – Lars protested at first, but Ben grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in.

"And don't come in after us! If you do, you might get covered in disgusting human discharge!" – Ben told the guards. "It will take us about 30 minutes in here, so wait out there!"

"Great, so I have to wait half an hour in this stinky room?"

Lars wasn't exaggerating. The room had a stench to it.

"Just go along with it, okay? I'll be back as soon as possible." – Ben said and activated the Omnitrix's transformation selection dial, scrolling to look for the right alien. Swampfire, Humongosaur, Ditto, Arctiguana, Hardlight, Waterhazard, Clockwork…

"Anytime, now…" – Lars said.

"I got like 60 aliens to select from, it's sometimes hard to find the one you need." – Ben said, for the record.

"There's gotta be a better way to do that." – Lars muttered, but Ben finally transformed into the alien he was going for. In a flash of green, he became a milky-white ethereal figure, floating in the air.

"What's this one do?" – Lars asked him.

"Well, now you see me…" – Ghostfreak said in his raspy voice. "…and now you don't!" – he showed off as he disappeared right in front of Lars.

"I can still see you, though." – Lars noted. Ben was still in front of him, though now semi-transparent and dark, like a shadow.

"You can?" – Ghostfreak asked, somewhat astounded.

"Yeah."

"Weird. Others usually can't. Must be because you're a pink zombie." – he said as he flew into the wall, phasing through it.

As Ghostfreak, almost no wall or guard could stop Ben. He freely floated through the Circuit Breaker caves, on the lookout for some heavily-guarded or locked doors. Though, he flew in through several, and nothing of importance showed up. There were storage rooms and what looked like charging facilities, which must have been the fulmini equivalent of eating to gain energy. No deep, dark secrets, though.

Though as he was flying near a pair of the fulmini…

"Sniff… sniff…" – one of them turned his head, right towards where Ben was looking.

"What is it?" – the other one asked.

"I could sense electricity… it was like it was floating in the air." – that one responded.

Crap. He must have sensed the Omnitrix's electrical impulses, which apparently, didn't go intangible with him. Ben quickly dove into the nearest wall to get away as quickly as he could.

"Come on, your allergies must be acting up again." – that fulmini's friend reminded him.

"I guess you're right."

But as soon as he saw where he ended up, the two fulmini were the least of Ben's concerns. He had ended up in a chamber that had no doors, which must have meant there was a secret entrance to it. But it was the room's contents that had shocked Ben so hard that if Ghostfreak had had a mouth, it would be agape.

The place was filled with bubbles. Bubbles floating around, most of them near the ceiling. Some of them were clustered near each other, like a grape. All of them without fail were a translucent gray-ish color. Those little bubbles that Ben had seen Steven manifest before, to keep things safe. Or to store poofed gems and prevent them from reforming. And that was what was going on here – inside each of these harmless bubbles, there was a gem. And there were hundreds of them.

Well, well, well. Look who's made it to the end of the month.

The Fulmas arc has made it to chapter 5, and, well, if you think that it's gotten too long, it's gonna take one more chapter to finish things up. I was considering ending it in 5 chapters, but I couldn't possibly fit everything into this one without bringing down the fic, and I refuse to compromise when it comes to things like this. So a full 6 chapter arc it is. Just like a comic book.

Other than that, I don't really have much to comment about in this chapter. I'm satisfied with the conflict that I've been writing - a political maze which doesn't seem like it has any way out for our heroes, forcing both Ben and Steven to make some very, very hard choices.

Next month: The end of the Fulmas conflict, and the next step in Ben and Steven's adventure!