"Quick, Ben, let's get out of here!"
"I am, I am!"
SK-KRAKOOOOOOM
"For the love of prime numbers, shield this vessel, Tennyson, do you want us all to blow up?"
"I'm steering the damn ship, Albedo! Why don't you do it? You have the bubble too!"
"My gem abilities are relatively underdeveloped compared to yours, that is all. Or else I wouldn't be putting my life in your hands to begin with."
"Ben, Kraab's ship is firing another missile at us!"
"Okay, okay… bubble's up." szrrrrwt-DU-DRUUUUUUM. "Happy?"
"Were I not currently under pursuit by entire intergalactic underworld, yes, I would be happy. But I'm not, am I?"
"Ben, another ship just started following us!"
"Please be someone we're friends with. "Lars, Rad, I'd even take Argit…"
"I'M BAAACK!" – a transmission popped up on the car's dashboard monitor. An orange face familiar to both Ben and Steven, with jagged teeth and two horns protruding out of his chin, and a metal plate on top of his head was grinning at them.
"Vulkanus!" – Ben and Steven exclaimed in unison.
"Do you have any idea how glad I am that I didn't cash in on Universe's gem during our last fight?" – he cheerfully asked them. "Cause I'd be missing out on the reward of a lifetime!"
"You still will be, detrovite." – Kraab's face popped up on a secondary transmission next to Vulkanus'. "Better scram before that regenerated body of yours gets blown to smithereens again."
"Maybe healing Vulkanus with my powers was not the best idea." – Steven supposed.
"You should take your own advice, Kraab, and get out while the getting is good." – Ben remarked while dodging an asteroid. "Remember the time when you locked me out of the Omnitrix and I still beat you?"
"Why, you little…"
"Gahahahaha, seriously, Kraab?" – Vulkanus chortled. "You might be getting a little rusty there. Why don't you leave this to the professionals?"
"Kotal chokol lok!" – SixSix's transmission came onto the dashboard.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" – Kraab immediately reacted.
"You can't just say that!" – Vulkanus pointed out.
"What did he say?" – Steven asked Ben. Ben shrugged.
"Great, the Sotoraggians are back. I thought we lost them back on Lursit."
"Look on the bright side, at least that Sunder guy was caught." – Steven tried to stay positive.
"Yeah, one down and approximately a billion to go." – Albedo sarcastically remarked. "I can always rely on, Tennyson, to always find a situation to screw me over. Why did we have to go to that infernal planet?" – he continued complaining, which still sounded silly coming from Steven's body.
"Hey, it was your idea, genius." – Ben reminded him.
"At least I wasn't put on a leash by Vilgax, SixSix." – Vulkanus, SixSix and Kraab were still arguing on the Star Skipper's monitor.
"Korite rakomo!" – SixSix groaned at him.
"Latum kolo?" – SevenSeven, his brother, asked SixSix from his side of the monitor.
"What, you didn't think I'd know? Heard about it from Hoverboard. Half the galaxy knows about that."
"Chokol Tetraks…" – SixSix groaned angrily.
"Well, neither of us got our diapers changed by our henchmen, Vulkanus, how 'bout that?" – Kraab remarked and started laughing to himself. SixSix chortled in laughter, too. Even Ben, Steven and Albedo had a good chuckle. Vulkanus seethed in rage.
"Hey, should I remind you that all three of you have been getting your collective asses kicked by ME ever since I was 10 years old?" – Ben then yelled at the screen.
"Yeah, well… this time, half the market is after you. Someone's gonna get you, Tennyson. And it might as well be me." – Vulkanus noted.
And sure enough, another ship suddenly appeared and started blasting, prompting Ben to dodge in a barrel roll. The interior of the Star Skipper rolled with it before it had the chance to adjust the artificial gravity inside, and everything that wasn't strapped down – Albedo's paper bags of chili fries, Steven's spare clothes, some old junk and Albedo himself flipped around with the ship.
"Okay, who is it this time?"
"Ah, my quarry is finally in my sights." – a lion-like alien, only without the mane, popped up on their screen now.
"At this point we're getting people I don't even know!" – Ben yelled out.
"I'm Huntor, the greatest hunter in the universe. Remember that name, Ben Tennyson and Steven Universe, for it is an honor to be my prey."
"Mhm. Get in line, buddy." – Vulkanus deadpanned.
"Vokos rotola Khyber." – SixSix remarked, and Kraab laughed.
"Khyber WISHES he was half the hunter I am!" – Huntor angrily retorted.
While they were arguing, a blast from Kraab's shield managed to hit the ship and was strong enough to force Ben to drop the shield.
"Did they get us?" – Steven asked.
"I'm not sure." – Ben replied.
"The damage could have carried over to the ship." – Albedo noted.
"The systems are fine right now. But we can't hold off forever. Steven, come on, turn into something!" – Ben urged Steven. Just then, another blast came at them, one Ben managed to deflect with the shield, but this one was a close call. "Now I know why Gwen would always complain about shielding a moving ship."
"You don't really think I should turn into Jet Ray and go out there with them, right? There's like five of them now!" – Steven reasoned.
"Doesn't this excuse for a vessel have any kind of offensive capability?" – Albedo snidely remarked.
"Well… Lars did put in blasters, but, uh, they're not gonna cut it against these guys…" – Steven admitted.
"If only this ship had some sort of upgrade…" – Ben hinted and looked at Steven.
"Yeah, that would be nice…" – Steven agreed.
"Wh- ugh. No, Steven, I mean, the alien, Upgrade. Turn into Upgrade!"
"Sorry, I didn't realize! Wha-which one's Upgrade?" – Steven asked as he activated his gem-Omnitrix and went through the alien holograms. "Why can't they just be labeled?"
"That one! Do that one!" – Vulkanus suddenly yelled from the monitor as Steven's selection was on Walkatrout.
"DON'T listen to him, that's not it!" – Ben warned him.
"Hehehehehehe!" – Vulkanus chuckled.
"Ugh, just let me do it for you." – Albedo rolled his eyes. Steven unbuckled the safety belt and climbed over to the backseat with his gem active.
"This is the galvanic mechamorph. The form Tennyson redundantly nomenclaturized as Upgrade." – as he picked the alien for him. Albedo seemed apprehensive at the idea of even touching Steven, as he kept his distance and visibly attempted to only touch his gem and not the rest of his belly.
A pink flash enveloped the interior of the Star Skipper, some of it making its way out through the windows, as Steven's body changed shape once again. This time, his form was metallic and somewhat blobby, mostly black but covered with glowing pink circuits.
"Okay, what now?" – Steven asked. It was still his voice, and yet, it wasn't. It sounded like he was talking through some sort of computerized speaker.
"You plop into the ship and make it better!" – Ben yelled from the front seat.
"Well, here goes…" – Steven said as he melded with the Star Skipper. It looked like he was melting, dissociating into a puddle, but the metallic blob was actually integrating with the Star Skipper, synchronizing with it and allowing for a… let's say, techno-symbiotic relationship.
"Okay, I see why you call this one Upgrade." – Steven's head popped out of the steering wheel right in front of Ben. "I'll be taking over the controls."
"Give them hell." – Ben nodded.
And indeed, Steven started modifying the Star Skipper. It wasn't a matter of materializing things out of thin air, as it would look at first sight, but rather taking what was already there and optimizing it to a ridiculous degree, and maybe lending a hand to it via the mechamorph's physiology. The blasters expanded, with more power surging through them… and so did the jet exhausts behind the ship.
"WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" – Steven yelled as the ship suddenly blasted off away from the pursuers much, much faster than it originally could.
"I thought you were gonna blast them!" – Ben pointed out.
"More and more were gonna show up." – Steven/Upgrade replied. "Sometimes you gotta know when to get out of a fight."
"We can't run from them, either. They'll catch up to us once you detransform." – Albedo pointed out. "Furthermore, we can't use hyperdrive, as they'll be able to track us if we do."
"And that's why we're gonna be using a method of transportation which they won't be able to follow!" – Steven cheerfully said as he closed in on a planet.
"Not to be a backseat driver but Steven, you're going a little bit too fast in entry there." – Ben pointed out as he held on to his seat. Albedo quickly buckled the backseat's safety belt on, too.
"STEVEN, PULL UP!" – Ben yelled.
"I'm trying! We're going a bit too fast for that!" – Steven responded from the ship.
They were heading towards the ground extremely quickly, but right before the crash Steven managed to pull up at least a little bit so instead of diving into the terrain headfirst, they made contact with the Star Skipper's… tires?
"Deploying car mode!" – Steven pointed out after the extremely powerful whiplash of a touchdown.
"Wait, how did you turn the ship into a car? I don't think Upgrade can do that." – Ben pointed out.
"I didn't, it has different modes for different types of environment. It's definitely a step up from Lars' last Star Skipper."
"Did this Lars also add a self-destruct algorithm? Because you're trying to get us all killed!" – Albeod pointed out.
"Sorry, I didn't exactly realize that we were gonna go that fast." – Steven apologized from the dashboard.
"You're an okay pilot, but a terrible ship." – Ben pointed out. "Why are we on this planet?" – he then asked him.
But before he got the chance to answer, a blast came down at them from the sky. The bounty hunters had caught up to them.
"Steven! I thought you said you were gonna lose them!"
"I am, I am! Only a little bit left!" – Steven told him. He drove the car to the left to dodge another blast coming from Kraab's ship. The terrain of the plane they had landed on was wide and flat, which made them a target, but also gave them a lot of space to steer. However, it was actually a series of plateaus very narrowly brought to each other, but the narrow gaps in-between of those plateaus were extremely deep.
"Hold on tight!" – Steven said as the Star Skipper skipped from one plateau to another, causing another bumpy landing. At this point, they had seven ships above them in pursuit, each shooting as much as they could. Ben projected a gem shield above the car to protect it from incoming attacks, but he couldn't hold it forever.
"Albedo, come on, help me out here!" – Ben said. "Cause they're kinda kicking my shield's ass right now."
"I'm trying, Tennyson, but it's not as easy as you make it seem to project a hardlight construct!" – Albedo yelled.
"Just a bit more, guys, I promise." – Steven the ship reassured them as he dodged incoming blasts left and right.
"I think your navigation is triggering my emesis reflex." – Albedo said and held his mouth with his hands.
"Please do not puke inside of me." – Steven pleaded. "Okay, Ben, we're almost at the warp pad. It's on the plateau right after this one. What I want you to do is warp us away the exact moment we're on it! If we miss it I'm gonna have to turn the car back around and they might blow it up before we have another chance!"
"I don't know how to activate the warp pads!" – Ben frantically yelled. "Can't you just slow down so we don't have a split-second to do it?"
"If I do we're gonna fall in the ravine!" – Steven replied. "You're gonna have to do it! It's just like making a shield or Hardlight's constructs, just instead of projecting light from within you you project a beam from the machine!"
And with that, Steven drove up a slight ramp that would give them enough of a boost to make it over the ravine. Ben was concentrating on getting the warp at the right moment. But as he was focused on that, he lowered his guard and had to drop the shield. And while in the air, the Star Skipper had a predicatable trajectory so one of the ships above, specifically Kraab's, fired a laser at that exact moment and hit the ship straight on while it wasn't protected.
"Crap!" – Steven said. Albedo actually hurled the chili fries back up. But Ben ignored everything. The only thing that mattered now was making the warp.
The impact with the laser slightly pushed their trajectory lower, and for a moment, it looked like they weren't even going to make it onto the plateau. The tires hit the ground, however, at least 3 of them did with the last one was too behind so it missed the terrain and almost caused them to fall back into the ravine. Steven floored it (into himself, of course) and the Star Skipper picked up enough speed to get away from the ravine.
"Okay, Ben, now!" – Steven yelled as they made contact with the gem warp pad.
Ben strained as hard as he could, thinking about how much he wanted to be anywhere but here, how he created constructs as Hardlight and how he manipulated light energy as Chromastone, and…
Ben, Albedo and the car found themselves being beamed through light. It only took a second, until they landed someplace else. Ben didn't know where, but he knew it would be far away.
Wwwr-prrrrrh!
The warp pad activated, shooting a beam of light up, and where there was nothing, now stood a vessel intended for space travel that a galvanic mechamorph had melded into.
"That was too close." – Steven sighed and slowly removed himself from the Star Skipper. He was so exhausted that even peeling his techno-organic matter away from the ship felt like a chore. Finally, he plopped himself on the ground, not even bothering to rematerialize into his solid state. After that, he detransformed back into Steven.
"Ew, gross." – he said as he took his jacket off. It still had the vomit that Albedo had regurgitated during the chase.
"I'm never letting you be the ship again, Steven." – Ben said as he stepped out, hands on his hips. He felt nauseous, too, but not as much as Albedo.
"Come on, it was my first time!" – Steven tried to defend himself. "And I got vomited on!"
"And whose fault is that, Universe?"
"Yours, because you insisted on horking down all of the chili fries." – Ben snapped. "Now, if you had bothered to share…"
"Oh, spare me this garbage, Tennyson." – Albedo dismissed it as he practically fell out of the back door, still sick from the flight. "Regardless, this is exactly why only beings with higher intelligence were supposed to use the Omnitrix." – Albedo added in regards to Steven.
"We'll get you a carseat the next time, Albedo, don't worry." – Ben remarked.
"What is that? A stabilizing device for the cabin?" – Albedo inquired.
"Something like that. It's what people put toddlers in when they're driving." – Ben said with a smirk. Albedo just glared at him.
"Okay, we should be safe for now." – Steven told them. "I don't think any of those guys are gonna have access to gem technology to be able to interface with that warp pad and see where it took us. I don't think they'll be a problem anymore.
"What planet did you bring us to anyway, Tennyson?" – Albedo told him.
"Why is it always Tennyson with you? I feel like we're supposed to be on a first-name basis by now but you keep going out of your way and saying two extra syllables just to be rude."
"Hmph." – Albedo put his nose up. But, as always, him doing this while in child Steven's body looked much funnier than Albedo intended.
"Wait, I know this planet! I've been here before." – Steven pointed out.
Only now did Ben look around to see the planet's environment. The terrain was really muddy, but there was rich vegetation all around them, ranging from low bushes to tall treetops. There were some patches of grass here and there, but solid chunks of rock were much more common. A bit away from them, Ben noticed a bunch of lotus flower-like plants, but on second glance, he realized that those were actually tiny alien beings that blended in with the plantlife.
"Yeah, I was here once for a little bit. There were these two Lapis Lazulis that were determined to terraform the planet even though they didn't have to anymore. But how did you bring us here, Ben? I didn't realize you've been here before."
"I haven't. I just wanted to be anywhere that wasn't here. I guess the warp pad just chose this place." – Ben shrugged.
"Steven?!" – a new voice exclaimed from the distance. "Wait… Steven…s?" – she asked in confusion.
Steven turned around. But he didn't really have to. He'd know that voice anywhere.
A short green gem was standing between the bushes, holding some kind of packet. She had a bright yellow star on her torso, two more dark green ones on her knees, a yellow-hued visor that was way too pointy in the corners and a big triangle-shaped head that Steven would know anywhere.
"Peridot? You're here?!" – Steven exclaimed happily. He didn't expect to meet up with an old friend. Not while being chased by half of the scourge of the cosmos, at least.
"I'm conducting the revegetation project on this planet, of course I'm here. But why are you here? And why are there two of you?!" – Peridot asked as she ran up to them. "Hi, Ben."
"Hey, Peridot." – Ben greeted her. They had met before, back when Ben used to help out on Little Homeworld before their shared road trip began.
"This is Albedo. He's kind of… genetically bound to me for the time being, I guess?" – Steven tried to explain. That was as good as a short explanation would get without getting into specifics.
"Hooooho he's not just a Steven. He's Steven Classic!" – Peridot pointed out as she got up all in Albedo's face. She even prodded him on the cheek. "I mean, he's a bit off-color, but I don't judge. Anymore."
"Get away from me, you demented she-mineral!" – Albedo angrily pushed her away.
"Oh, no! He's a clod!" – Peridot yelled while clinging onto the real Steven.
Albedo glared at her with catty eyes. Peridot hissed back.
"He may look like Steven, but he's about the polar opposite." – Ben told her.
"I'm so glad you asked, Steven." – Peridot told him as she brought him along. "You see, Lapis told me of the encounter you had with the two Lapises here. She didn't mention it, but she was upset about what those two did to the planet."
"She was probably feeling guilty." – Steven supposed.
"Most likely. So, I decided to revegetate some of the areas to rebuild the planet's ecosystem." – Peridot told him while she brought him to the plot of land she was working on. This was the edge of the lush jungle that the warp pad was located, and was now the area where the Lapises had clashed. Most of the area was covered in watery mud, which was how Lapis Lazuli used to operate while terraforming planets under the Diamond Authority. Now, as far as Steven could see, there were seedlings – young trees, planted and cared for by none other than Peridot.
"You did this all by yourself? Wow!" – Steven said, in awe.
"Eh. It's just planting trees." – Ben shrugged.
"Excuse me?" – Peridot turned her head around. "I'll have you know that agriculture takes a lot more skill and knowledge than just to "plant trees"! You have to be aware of their blooming cycle, control the pollen spread, genetically select the plants over multiple generations, and don't even get me started on getting the right conditions for these plants! They are annoyingly picky about where they grow. It took me ages to lower the soil pH to suit them! So I will have you know, "Ben Ten", that I was not just planting trees!"
Albedo watched her lecture Ben and smiled. It wasn't every day he witnessed someone put Tennyson in his rightful place, without him even snapping back with those annoying remarks. Even if this Peridot was about as grating.
"If you really knew what you were doing, you would plant a row over there." – Albedo pointed out. "That area is prone to a landslide so unless you want the mud to flood that valley over there, you would do well to plant more trees on the slope."
"That is…" – Peridot turned her head. "Actually a really helpful idea. Not only will the trees provide a physical barrier, their roots will strengthen the soil. Thank you. Clod." – she non-chalantly told Albedo.
Ben and Steven looked at each other.
"So what brings you here, Steven?" – Peridot then turned to the guys.
"Well, long story, but there's a bounty on our heads and we had to take the warp pad to throw them off our tail." – Steven summarized. "We should probably get on our way, though."
"Yes, yes, you're clearly busy." – Albedo sarcastically chimed in.
"Aw, some on! This is the first time I've seen you since you left for the trip!" – Peridot pleaded.
"Yeah, but we have bounty hunters on our tail and we don't know when are they gonna find us. So unless you want your work to be blown up by some dudes trying to make a quick buck, we should probably leave." – Ben pointed out as he got in the Star Skipper. "Later, Peri." – he told her as he activated the ignition.
The engine gave a chortled sound, but did not activate.
"That's not right." – Steven pointed out.
"Do eartheners have an obligation to state the obvious under the fear of execution?" – Albedo snidely remarked. Steven rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, something's clearly wrong." – Ben scratched his head. Albedo scoffed at Ben doing the exact same thing Steven did.
"I think you're gonna have to go Upgrade and fix the ship." – Ben told Steven.
"No!" – Albedo interrupted. "Under no circumstances is Universe to meld with the ship again. That is what got us into this predicament in the first place."
"Well, it's because the ship took a hit." – Steven pointed out. "That hurt a lot, actually. A thank you would be nice."
"For what, stranding us here? Absolutely phenomenal job. I really hope you don't control ships as well as you stop galactic wars, because if you do, this whole universe is going to have a very bleak future."
"Don't listen to him, I appreciate you, Steven." – Ben told him, ignoring Albedo as if he was a child going on a rant. He certainly looked the part. "So if you're not letting Steven touch it then how are we supposed to fix the ship?"' – he then turned to Albedo.
"That task is up to me. Obviously, a child could do it, but I don't think either of you have the capability." – Albedo remarked.
"In that case, I'll take care of it." – Peridot stepped in.
"I have no doubt you do indeed have the capabilities of a child, but I would rather not entrust the task to someone else." – Albedo snapped. Peridot stared at him with disdain, and Albedo threw the stare right back.
"How about you both do it." – Ben told them.
"Whaaaaat?!" – Peridot exclaimed.
"Absolutely not." – Albedo refused.
"Whoever figures out what's wrong with it is the smarter one. How about that." – Ben egged them on. "Come on, Steven, let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"You gotta wash that jacket, dude. You still smell of Albedo vomit."
"Yeesh." – Steven said as the two of them went down to the stream.
That left Peridot and Albedo at the Star Skipper.
"If I must work with you, let's just get on with it." – Albedo opened the ship's hood, revealing the engine. "Try not to be a hinderance if you're not going to be useful."
"Wow, you really are the polar opposite of Steven." – Peridot remarked.
"As if I would want to share anything with that overly-sentimental idiot." – Albedo dismissively told her while he disassembled the main engine block. "Merely this form is revolting enough."
"Oh, I know who you remind me of." – Peridot suddenly realized. "I thought you sounded familiar. You're like me!"
Albedo raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, I was totally like you. Even towards Steven I was all "you clods have wasted enough of my time, why won't you DIE DIE DIE!"
"And what changed?" – Albedo humored her comparison.
"Well, I met Steven. That's the thing. And it wasn't even the Steven you know. More like… this one." – Peridot said as she turned the Star Skipper's rear-view mirror around so that it would face Albedo. "Except, you know, different colors, and not a total clod. I went from high-ranking specialized kindergartener in my division, strictly loyal to Yellow Diamond, to pretty much a traitor in the span of a month. Steven taught me how to love the Earth, and appreciate it in a way the Diamonds never could."
"I spent years on that crummy planet. There's nothing to appreciate there."
"Yeah, not with that attitude." – Peridot remarked.
"You really betrayed one of the most powerful and terrifying military forces in the cosmos in favor of a backwater planet and a failed rebellion from millennia ago? You're more of a fool than I had imagined."
"Yeah, well, Steven dismantled that military force without even throwing a punch, so who's the fool now?" – Peridot told him as she teasingly prodded his forehead. "At some point you gotta admit that the Steven way of doing things is just better. By the way, the combustion chamber is leaking." – she pointed out.
"Wh- oh!" – Albedo realized as he saw what was wrong with the Star Skipper's engine. "I didn't even notice!" – he mumbled. He was preoccupied with thinking about what Peridot had told him about Steven.
"See? I'm that great." – Peridot said, self-satisfied. "But, do you really want to tell me that you liked who you were before you met Steven?"
Albedo reviewed the short-long history of poor decisions that led him to where he was now. A being as smart as he was could at least recognize that he would be lying to himself if he said some of those were not his own doing. Trusting Vilgax, twice, had to be up there on the list of bad choices. And he said something out loud that he hadn't even been brave enough to admit to himself until now.
"I don't even like who I am now." – he sighed.
"See? You just need a little Steven in your life. You're free to come to Little Homeschool anytime, even if you're not a gem, and still are a bit of a clod…"
"That being said, I still don't think that the "Steven" way of doing this is suited for me. He's still way too… goody-goody."
"Oh, definitely. Like, nauseatingly so, right?" – Peridot immediately agreed. "Sometimes I still think about when I almost crushed him wish a remotely operated mega fist. Good times."
"I regularly think of turning into a t'okustar and launching him into orbit." – Albedo casually admitted. Both of them laughed at that.
"Okay, okay. I have an idea."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave those two with the ship?" – Steven asked Ben as they walked down the slope to the running river. "I still don't think we can trust Albedo, and Peridot… can get intense sometimes."
"Dude, I don't care even if they blow up the ship. I just wanted to get away from them for a while." – Ben admitted. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is when he keeps lecturing you on how much stupider you are?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm patient with people but it's getting to me as well." – Steven told him. The two of them reached the river, so Steven bent down and put the jacket through the running water. Ben, meanwhile, sat down on a dry boulder. He took his jacket off, too, and sat on top of it. Otherwise, the boulder was cold.
"I could bear it when he was, like, a bad guy, because it would be over quickly and I would kick his butt. But can you imagine anyone actually willing to hang out with that guy for more than thirty seconds? Now I know why Vilgax betrayed him!"
"Why do you think he is that mean?" – Steven asked him.
"It's called having an overinflated ego that's not proportional to his talent. Like, he was smart enough to work for Azmuth, but he couldn't stand working under someone else, so what did he do? He stole Azmuth's work and made a rip-off Omnitrix. Which turned him into me. And he's been digging himself into a deeper hole ever since then."
"Sounds to me like he needs help." – Steven supposed.
"Come on, it's Albedo."
"So?"
"So… well, what do we do with him? Send him to therapy? He's gonna say that it's below him and ignore everything."
"True, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try." – Steven told him. "Just because we don't like him, doesn't mean that he should be left to wallow in his own sadness. Even if he did bring it on himself."
"Cool, so, you got any way to fix whatever's wrong with him?" – Ben sarcastically said. Steven stayed silent. "Yeah, me neither." – Ben added.
"We'll think of something. He's in my body, after all. Like, most of my powers come from the feeling of empathy. It's gotta be at least a positive influence on Albedo, right?" – Steven supposed.
"Idunno." – Ben shrugged.
"Yeah." – Steven sighed. He didn't know either.
Now that whatever was left of Albedo's chili fry bits was off the jacket, all Steven had to do was dry it off.
"Can you hold it for me?" – Steven asked.
"Uhh… sure?" – Ben held his hands out and held Steven's pink jacket. Steven pulled his black shirt up and activated his gem. He had gotten used to the Omnitrix functionality. He picked the correct alien and pressed, and within a flash of pink light, a pyronite stood in front of him.
"Nice and warm." – Steven-Heatblast said as he sent a wave of heat towards the jacket to dry it off. "There we go." – he said as he detransformed. He held his hand out to take the jacket from Ben, but before he got the chance, Ben pulled it back and put it on himself.
"Look at me, I'm Steven Universe. I sing and dance and I forgive people to death!" – Ben jokingly mimicked Steven while wearing his pink jacket.
Steven smiled, then picked up Ben's white and green jacket from the boulder and put it on himself. "Well, I'm Ben Tennyson, and I'm gonna ask for Humongosaur every single time but not even look at the dial!" – Steven mocked Ben.
"What's that, White Diamond? You're sad? Oh, that's a perfectly good reason for you to start a galaxy-wide conquest! Could you please stop if I asked nicely?" – Ben continued doing his Steven impression. He even mimicked his voice by making it lighter.
"Oh, yeah, well, I'm gonna do the exact same thing with the HighBreed except I don't even know those guys very well." – Steven put on a slightly deeper voice to mock Ben. It ended up being deeper than Ben's, but that was somewhat intentional.
"And I proposed to my girlfriend!" – Ben joyously exclaimed.
"Well, I can't keep a girlfriend!" – Steven did the same thing.
At that point, neither of the guys could handle it anymore as they both burst out laughing. "So stupid." – Ben said in-between the laughs. "Alright, let's head back and see if Albedo and Peridot killed each other yet."
They kept each other's jackets as they headed back up the slope.
"We're back!" – Steven called over when he reached the clearing where the warp pad and Star Skipper were. But he didn't get what he was expecting.
"MWAHAHAHAHA! YOU CLODS!" – Peridot did an evil laugh. "It was a mistake for you to leave me alone with Albedo! He has reminded me how much more fun it is to destroy things and take them for yourself!"
"That's right!" – Albedo backed her up with an evil smirk. "And now, we're going to team up and collect the 20 million tayden bounty on your heads ourselves!"
Ben and Steven stared at each other, jaws agape.
"GAHAHAHAHAHA!" – Peridot and Albedo broke out into laughter. "I can't believe you actually fell for that!" – she said while wiping a tear from her face.
"You should have seen your faces! They somehow managed to look even stupider than typical!" – even Albedo was laughing at them.
Ben and Steven looked at each other again, this time, with unimpressed annoyance.
"Yeah, it was a mistake to leave those two unattended." – Ben remarked.
"Did you guys fix the ship?" – Steven asked them.
"Or did you spend all this time planning for this prank?" – Ben added.
"Don't worry, it's good to go." – Peridot slammed her hand repeatedly on the Star Skipper's hood.
"Don't actually do that, though." – Albedo somewhat nervously grabbed her wrist to stop her from doing that.
"Okay, then let's get out of here. We still gotta get to Xenon. We're better off with access to our own power sets if we want to handle whatever space throws at us." – Ben pointed out as they got into the car.
And speaking of whatever space threw at them, a huge gem spaceship descended upon them. It was shaped like an eight-sided die and had four thin extensions coming out from behind, all bending towards the middle of the ship.
"You idiots!" – a new transmission popped up on the dashboard of the Star Skipper.
"We really gotta switch automatic incoming calls off." – Ben remarked to himself.
"You really thought that an Emerald such as myself wouldn't be able to track your warp pad history?" – the Emerald from the transmission boasted.
"Emerald?" – Steven said. He threw a glance at Ben, who, if he had a reaction, did a good job of suppressing it.
"That's right! Me and my crew are also in on the bounty on your heads, Steven Universe! But I would have done it for free. After all, it's your fault me and my 67 elite Citrines are out of a job." – Emerald scornfully told them.
"Depart, already!" – Albedo yelled in Steven's ear.
"Where? They'll chase us!"
"Does it matter? Anywhere but here!" – Ben also yelled out.
And with that, the trio waved Peridot goodbye and flew away to get the bounty hunter heat off this planet. Too bad they couldn't get it off themselves. Before they left the planet, Albedo thought that it was nice to have someone to have a discussion with on a similar intellectual level as him.