A/N: Hello again, guys. Just saying a little hello…. Oh, I kinda forgot to say this earlier, all the alien forms affect Louise's personality in different ways, not just the select few that messed with Ben when he had the omnitrix, like Rath. (Who may or may not make her debut in the next chapter...) ;) Looking through this chapter, I have to say that I didn't really like how I did with this one…. Might have been why I took so long with adding it. Meh, the next one should be up in a month or two. P.S. For those of you reading Equinox: the unusual lantern…. I put up a poll at the end of the last chapter there, it was kinda last minute I put it up, but I don't think one of my readers saw it. I put it up as he was reading…. (That's you! Blank-name26! Seriously, I like that you put up a review on each chapter.)

"So? An ice cream place in the middle of nowhere?" I curiously asked, panting a little in the dry desert heat. "Really? Not that I'm complaining, but who opens one out here?"

Max smiled at me. "It's nice, isn't it? Why don't the three of you go on inside, I just got to make a withdrawal from the ATM over there."

Ben practically teleported past us and was already inside, leaving Gwen and I to share a look at his behavior and hurry after him. We joined him at the glass counter, looking at all the different flavors displayed inside. A sour faced man came up behind the counter, his arms crossed as he stared us down.

Gwen looked up at him with a smile. "What do you have that's nonfat with less than 3% sugar?"

The man blinked at the question. "Napkins." He grunted and promptly turned to Ben. "What about you, Kid?"

"Chocolate." Ben simply said, smiling widely at the man.

As the man turned to me, I heard a commotion outside. "Make mine a mint chocolate chip, I'll be right back." I placed my order and went outside, seeing two redneck guys trying to rip the ATM out with their truck.

Seeing Max on the ground, I popped up the dial on the omnitrix, gave it a quick spin and pressed down without looking. In a flash of familiar green light, I turned into everyone's favorite fireball, only my flames are blue and my magma-like body a little curvier than the original.

"Hello, boys!" I called out in my new rough tomboyish voice. "How about you two dumbasses stop what you're doing and go back to your brother-dad and sister-mom?"

The big one, whom I'm gonna call Gus, promptly ripped his tow chain hook off out of the ATM apparently thinking he can take on the being made of fire before him. He swung the chain at me, the hook catching me on my shoulder, only to be melted and drip onto the pavement with a quiet sizzle noise.

I narrowed my eyes at him, my hands turning a bright white as I kicked the heat up a notch, grabbing the chain as it fell and gave it a harsh tug. Gus practically flew towards me, his face meeting with my burning arm in a clothesline and leaving him with a painful burn.

I crossed my arms at the scrawny one, the buck toothed man fearfully eyeing me. "So? What are you gonna do? Run? Sorry, bud." I shook my head and strolled over to the truck, the tires melting, and the roof of it warping just from proximity of me. "Not gonna happen."

He saw the situation he was in and promptly gave up, wordlessly wrapping his own hands up in what was left of the tow chain. Realizing that I should probably stop using the alien fireball, I tapped the Omnitrix on my chest, transforming into Big Chill a moment later.

Turning over to check on Max, he just finished tying up Gus, and gave me a thumbs up. "Good job, Louise. Took them out in record time."

I shrugged and smiled at him, Gwen and Ben finally coming out of the shop, having watched it all from inside. "So….what's….. next?" I asked, something about this situation ringing a bell.

Max looked a little excited. "Well, we're off to see Ben and Gwen's Aunt, Vira."

Ben gasped. "Boring old Aunt Vira?" He dramatically dropped to his knees, throwing his fists up in the air. "NNNNOOOOO!"

Later……

My face collided with the table. "I just wanted my mint-chip….." I bemoaned the lack of ice cream, earning a giggle from Gwen.

"Maybe next time." She assured me as she washed the few dishes leftover from lunch. "When Aunt Vira said she wanted to move away from it all, she really meant it." She pointed out to nobody in particular.

Ben crossed his arms, looking out the window. "Oh, man. This sumer was supposed to be about F.U.N. not about hanging out in some old ladies place."

Gwen looked back in our direction. "I happen to like Aunt Vira."

Ben snorted. "Duh, it's because you act like you're a hundred years old."

"Hey, don't be like that." I said with a small smile. "How often do you even see your Aunt?"

Ben gave me a look. "Not much, why?"

I sat up and returned his look with one of my own. "While you may not like her much… She is still family, and it'll make her day seeing you guys again after however so long it's been since the last time it's been." I sighed, feeling a little sad. "You don't know what you have, until it's gone."

Ben blinked at me. "Oh yeah, that's right. You can't see your family anymore, can you?"

I deadpanned. "Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, buddy."

Ben winced, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry…"

I sighed again, waving him off. "It's fine." I got up and stretched, yawning loudly. "Imma take a nap." I simply announced, going to Gwen and I's bunk.

Just a little while later……..

"Louise, wake up. We're almost there."

I woke up to Gwen shaking my shoulder. I slowly and groggily joined them at the table, rubbing my eyes and yawning. Gwen went back to doing something on her computer and Ben kept complaining about whatever he could about old people.

As I was rubbing my eyes again, Ben said something I didn't catch. Gwen looked up from her computer and out the window, then back to him with an unamused look. "See what? The heat must be frying that pea-sized brain of yours." She told him, then went back to her laptop.

He gave me a look, to which I just yawned. "Didn't see nuthin', showry bud."

Max finally pulled up in front of a house and got out. "We're here!"

I yawned again and got up, still feeling tired, exiting the Rustbucket and leaning up against the side just next to the doorway. "Man, it's hot out…."

Ben was out shortly afterwards. "I know, right? What is up with old people and moving to where it is so hot?"

"They get cold easily. My grandma was always complaining she was cold, even when it was, like, 90 outside." I said with a shrug.

Ben grumbled and went towards his Aunt's home, only to be shot in the back by Gwen, who just got a small squirt gun from somewhere. Ben yelped in surprise and glared at her, only earning a giggle from her as she dashed right past him.

I smiled and went up to him. "I have a good feeling about this place, buddy." I said as I clapped him on the shoulder, my eyes being drawn to the neighbor's window.

The creepy looking old man's face twisted and silently snarled at us, before ripping the blinds closed. Ben and I shared a look. "Yeah, a good feeling….."

Max came up next to us, smiling widely. "Just watch out, Vira's a pincher."

A tall portly woman came out and smiled at all of us, her eyes landing on Max. "Max!"

Max walked up to her with open arms. "Vira!" They both hugged for a bit, then let go.

I stuck back a little ways, shyly trying to stay out of the familial bonding bit as Ben and Gwen joined Max with their Aunt, feeling somewhat like I'm intruding on something personal.

The woman hugged Gwen pinched her cheeks. "I can't believe you're finally here! And look at you two, so grown up!"

"Ouch…." Gwen muttered, not that her Aunt was listening anyways.

Ben rubbed his cheeks after Vira got to him. "Ow…."

"Oh? And who's that cutie?" Vira asked, finally noticing me. "Don't tell me…." She gasped. "Did you adopt her! I knew you wanted to raise another one!"

Max stuttered and stammered not really sure how to respond to that. I just laughed and came up to the group, my shyness replaced by humor. "Nah, I'm one of Gwen's friends from school. Call me Louise, my folks said I can join in on the summer trip."

She just smiled at me and reached out to pinch my cheeks, only for me to dodge under her hands. We both stared each other down for a moment, then she tried again and missed her target, me sidestepping her hands. "Sorry, miss, no pinching me today."

Vira pouted and quickly stood up and clapped her hands together. "Well, nice to meet you. I can't wait to chew the fat with all of you."

We all went inside and I took a seat on a couch as Max and Vira chatted away near the window, Gwen off exploring the home. Ben took a few sniffs and gagged. "Ugh, why does old people's houses always smell like somebody's cooking socks or something?"

I raised a brow at him and shrugged, relaxing into the soft couch with a content sigh. Vira came to me a few minutes later, taking a seat next to me. Curiously, I gave her a glance.

"So, I hear you are quite the chef." Vira started slowly.

"I guess, so?"

Vira gave me a kind smile. "Want to help me cook dinner? I doubt my niece or nephew want to join me in the kitchen."

I returned the smile with my own. "I'd like to."

Yet another time skip……

I winced at the looks Ben and Gwen gave me as I placed the large cauliflower and pork chop jello mold onto the table. Vira looked proud of our work, while I just shrugged and made my plate.

Max took a bite of his chunk, then smiled at Vira. "This is very good, what are these brown chunks in the mold?"

"Pork chops." I informed, taking a bite of the oddly tasty meal. "The white bits are cauliflower. Not my best work, but Vira insisted."

"None of that, little Missy." Vira scolded with her ever present smile. "My kitchen, my rules." She then turned to Ben, who was eyeing the blob on his place with some amount of disgust. "So, what have you been doing this summer?"

Ben dropped his fork. "Dealing with alien lifeforms."

Vira just kept smiling. "Ohoho, you." She chuckled, missing the sharp look Max and I sent to Ben.

Gwen spotted something on a nearby shelf and got up to get a better look. "Aunt Vira? Is that a stuffed red billed north american chickadee?"

I blinked at the oddly specific question, finishing my plate. Vira got up to join Gwen, her smile seeming to grow larger. "How perceptive, Gwen. Did you know that the call of the red billed north american chickadee is actually…."

"A call indicating alarm or excitement. Brrrrr!" The both said at the same time, imitating what I presume is the call of the bird.

"That is just the cutest thing I've heard all day." I stated with a smirk, making Gwen blush in embarrassment. I noticed Ben not so subtly scraping his portion onto Gwen's plate and gave him a look, him catching my annoyed look and take it back, hesitantly taking a bite as I stared him down.

He practically inhaled his portion once I made the omnitrix visible to him, the dial showing the silhouette of Heatblast. "Ugh…. I'm stuffed."

Vira suddenly came up behind us, a bowl of brown candies in her hand. "Ben, Louise would you like some candy?"

"Thanks." I said, taking one and throwing it into my mouth, letting the gentle coffee flavor chase the odd jello mold taste out of my mouth.

Ben spat his out. "Bleh, coffee? As a candy? Is this some kinda joke?"

"Dude, you're being very rude." I gave him another annoyed glare, shaking my head.

He ran off and disappeared into the bathroom, a locking sound coming from the door. I shared a look with everyone, sighing and taking another coffee candy, liking the taste a little more than I should. It wasn't long before he came back out, smirking some as he approached me once I was left alone at the table.

"Hey, wanna sneak out?" Ben not so subtly gestured to the watch. "Come on, let's have some fun with an alien of yours."

I furrowed my brows, something in the back of my mind ringing as Gwen held up one of Vira's sea shells to her ear. "Was this an episode?" I thought to myself, trying to remember for a moment, then sighing as nothing came to me. "Okay, I guess we can duck out for a few minutes. Let me at least tell Max, 'kay?"

Ben became almost giddy once I agreed. "I'll be waiting out front!"

I snuck up next to Max, tugging on his hawaiian shirt to get his attention. "I'm gonna step out for a bit, do some exploring with Ben."

"Just be back in an hour, Vira wants to watch a movie with everyone." Max looked down to me, giving me a wink. "Keep Ben out of trouble, will you?"

"Got it, have fun." I said as I left, waving over my shoulder.

Ben's evilly grinning face shot up into mine the moment I got outside, the mischievous young boy grabbing the omnitrix strapped to my arm. "H-Hey!" Was all I could say before I was promptly transformed into Ghostfreak, my grey robes having repaired from when I tore them, my lone purple eye narrowing down at him. "How did you even know how to work the omnitrix?"

"I mess around with it when you take your naps." Ben shamelessly admitted, before running off.

I just sighed and followed after him. "That explains all those times I've woke up as an alien….."

"Oh, this looks like it could be fun to ride in." Ben said once I caught up to him, spotting the golf cart. "Come on, let's make it look like it's driving itself. That'll freak out some old people."

I giggled, the ominous sound coming out like an echo. "Heheh, sounds fun."

The dumbfounded faces of everyone who saw the cart driving a little boy around was absolutely priceless. Pretty soon, Ben and I smelt something pretty delicious, the boy sending me off to nab the thing for the both of us to share. Needless to say, Ghostfreak me apparently holds no qualms to steal for her apparent sweet tooth, happily agreeing to hunt down the food after parking the cart as close as I could to the scent.

"Cool, apple pie…. Huh?" I blinked my single eye at the old woman currently on all fours and munching on flies on the ceiling. "The….fuck?" I blinked again, grabbing the pie off the windowsill and slowly floating away from the odd scene, carefully trying not to gain her attention.

I set the pie down next to Ben, contemplating the implications of the bug muncher as he happily ate his stolen desert. It wasn't long until the creepy neighbor from earlier drove past us with a bulky carpet , fearfully swerving out of range of the sprinkler system that just kicked on.

"Ben, you might want to head back to Vira's." I spoke quietly, looking in the direction the old guy went. "If Max asks, I'm checking out something."

Ben just shrugged and kept eating the pie, barely paying attention to me. With a sigh, floated upwards and in the direction the old man went, eventually finding my way to the gated dumpster area in the middle of town. I watched in awe as the man lifted the large carpet roll in one arm and stretch like elastic to step over the gate.

I floated to the inside of the gate, watching the old man push one dumpster out of the way and reveal a secret passage leading underground. The omnitrix sent out an almost invisible light that scanned the man, going unnoticed by him.

"Species scanned: Limax. Loves to eat the elderly, even though they don't have to." Omni quietly informed. "Situation: dangerous. I recommend that you might want to leave them alone."

"How about no. I can't stand by and let old people be eaten." I growled, the old man's head now swiveling unnaturally on his neck to look for the sound. "Now that's just unsettling…."

Upon not finding the source, the alien spun his head back around and went into the secret passage, me following close behind him. Eventually I followed him into a large cavern, a bunch of green pod things on the ground around a large metallic object that I could only assume that is the ship. I floated and curiously poked my head into one of the green pods, finding an old person inside it, sleeping soundly inside the steamy insides of the odd form of containment.

"They are alive. The Limax like to bring their food home instead of eating it on site." Omni informed quietly, the omnitrix emblem on my chest giving a single quiet click. "These are probably smugglers of their kind, if they are attempting to clear out the entire retirement community. Just three would suffice the whole group for a year."

"Well, all the more reasons to take them out then, right?" I muttered, watching as the alien I followed unroll the carpet and place his twin into one of the pods. "Let's see…. Who's the leader here?"

I floated past the alien man and into the ship, spotting an ugly looking green blob monster, its organs clearly visible from within its gelatinous form. It looked at one of the smaller blobs, the little thing easily carrying one of the pods into the ship, and barked an order.

"Hurry it up! We are on a tight schedule here!" It growled out, waving an appendage.

"I'm trying, sir!" It hurriedly said.

"Ooooohhhh, so you're the thing taking the elderly here….. Naughty, naughty~!" I spoke up, making my voice distort and warp as I floated around the chamber.

"Who's there! Show yourself!" The boss commanded, making me smile under my robe.

"Oh, nobody special. Just an…. Upset party in your operation here." I growled towards the end of my sentence, making the underling shiver from the sound. "How about you just leave this planet and leave everyone you have captured behind? That way things won't be as…. freaky, hehehehehe….."

The boss's eyes roamed about the chamber as I spoke, trying to find where it was coming from, his ugly mouth twisting into a snarl. "How about you show yourself and we'll have a little….chat."

"Nope. I'd much rather stay invisible." I chuckled at the angry slime ball, floating ever so closer to him and giving his shoulder a poke. "Here's the deal….. You have until tomorrow to put everyone back to where they belong, or I'll come and rain hell down upon each and every one of you." I giggled again as the slimeball waved its appendages about in an attempt to find my location, only phasing right through me. "If you try to leave before that….. Well…. Let's just say that it won't be very healthy for any of you."

I didn't even wait for a response, just phasing through the ship's wall and exiting the cavern through its ceiling, my exit taking me around Aunt Vira's street. I floated into a nearby hedge and reverted back into my normal self, the flash mitigated by the thick foliage. Uncomfortably digging myself out of the hedge, brushing the leaves and stuff out of my hair and clothes, I made my way back to Vira's.

The moment I entered, I was greeted with the sight of the Tennyson family sitting down on the couch and watching a Disney movie, Max giving me a smile and a sight wave. The others didn't seem to notice that I entered, happily munching on popcorn as the lion cub sang about impatiently waiting to be king. I gave Max a grimace and motioned for him to come over, the man whispering something to Vira and getting up to meet me in the kitchen.

Max leaned against the fridge and gave me a curious smile. "What is it, Louise? Something happen?"

I scratched the back of my head, wincing as I thought about how to explain the situation. "Well…. You might want to know that there's an…. infestation of sorts in this town."

Max frowned and raised a brow. "I don't see the problem."

I sighed, deciding to rip the bandaid off. "A bunch of shape shifting blobs that eat people. Omni identified them as Limax." I cringed. "I….. might've spooked their leader as Ghostfreak and gave the thing an ultimatum to release all the folks they captured or die." I scratched my arm. "Yeeeaaahhhh…… Ghostfreak is morbid like that."

Max stared at me in stunned silence, then his hand slowly met with his face. He took a deep breath and let it out, shaking his head and placing his hand on my shoulder. "Thanks for telling me."

"So, you're not mad?" I cautiously whispered.

"No, not at all." He sighed and placed his other hand on my shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Okay, uh, good. So, er, uh, I think I got a plan. I think I saw a water main at the top of the cavern they're holed up in. Based on the one I saw, they're afraid of water, so I'll break the pipe and drench the place." I explained. "Using XLR8 during the chaos, I'll just move all the people off the ship and then….. Hope the aliens flee? I don't got an alien unlocked that can use water." I finished with a shrug. "Big Chill might finish the job."

Max blinked at my plan. "That's…. remarkably well thought out."

"Eh, if water works, ice might be super effective. They did come to the desert in the middle of summer. " I murmured, furrowing my brows. "I think I'll do it tonight when everyone's sleeping. You might want to be cautious and keep Gwen's squirt gun handy."

Max nodded and stood back up. "Sounds good." He ruffled my hair, earning a small 'hey!' from me. "Though you should start right now. If you spooked them, they might just leave with what they have."

I frowned a little at him. "Yeah, I probably should….." Thinking for a moment, I smiled widely at him. "Just tell them I'm taking a walk….. a very enthusiastic walk." I giggled a little at my reference and left, leaving Max very confused.

I snuck out of the house easily, snickering under my breath. Fiddling with the dial of the omnitrix briefly, settling on the moth woman and pressing it down. With a flash of green light, I became Big Chill. I turned intangible and flew under the road, stopping when I entered the underground cavern.

Taking a moment to look around, I noticed eight slime balls conversing just outside of the ship. Unfortunately for them, they somehow managed to park their ship just under the pipe running along the roof of the cavern. Smirking, I silently flew to the section of pipe above them and stopped when I got close enough. After a moment of thought, I descended underneath the pipe and took a bite of the rusting metal, starting some chaos below with the ensuing rain of water.

Quickly floating down, I froze one Limax with a breath and flew into the ship, somehow making it into the entrance before the others got there. With a raspy giggle, I froze the group of them as they were in the middle of merging together into one massive slime ball, presumably in a last ditch effort to deal with me. After a brief moment to check if any others are around, I stopped the annoying shower with another ice breath.

After all that, I took a seat on one of the frozen Limax and looked out at all the cocooned people in the cavern and scratched my head, not really believing that my plan went as well as it did. With a flash of green, I turned into Four Arms and started dragging my frozen foes into the ship, careful to not crack the ice. It took a few minutes, but I unloaded all the people off the ship and left the frozen Limax in the cargo hold, using Greymatter to program the autopilot and set the ship to fly towards a random destination.

"Now…." I mumbled as I stared out towards the cavern filled with old people in pods, the spaceship silently flying out of the cavern and into the sky. "Where do I put everyone? How in the hell did they figure that out in the show?"

timeskip…..

In the end, since there were so many pods, I just went XLR8 and went to random locations in the town with most of the pods. After I had all of them placed in front of houses or on benches, I pulled off a feat of speed, that left even my form tired, tearing through each of the pods with my claws with surgical precision and releasing the people within. After that, I quickly went Ghostfreak and observed the confused elderly as they tried to remember how in the hell did they get where they were.

Miraculously, they managed to get home without problem, not even blinking twice at the melting pods they woke up next to. Breathing a sigh of relief, the sound a raspy echo throughout the town, I went back to Vira's, turning tormal in a bush. Entering the home, I yawned as Max and the Vira came up to me, looking a little worried.

"What?" I asked, eyes drooping as I fought off sleep.

Vira frowned. "You were out for quite a while, we were getting worried." She informed, sounding stern. "Young ladies aren't supposed to stay out this late at night. The others are already asleep."

"Late? What time is-?" I spotted the clock on the wall, then stopped. "Man, 11:30? Sorry, had some fun playing chess with Mr. Gerson down the road. The guy can really teach." I bluffed, chuckling nervously.

Vira stared at me, looking a little skeptical. "Really?"

I nodded, yawning again. "Yeah… Just me learning about chess from a german man. He was actually kinda fun to hang around, didn't know it was night until I looked out the window."

"If you say so… Just don't do it again. Many things can happen to a young lady like you, perish the thought." She sighed, giving me a hug. "Time to go to bed, dearie. If I don't see you in bed in the next fifteen minutes, there'll be trouble, young lady." She wagged a finger at me, then walked away, leaving me with Max.

"Long story short, Max?" I gave him a tired look. "It's dealt with, Limax frozen and sent to…. dunno, but it's far from here. Old people released and found their way home. Now, lemme sleep, 'kay?"

He nodded. "A-Alright, just follow me, you'll go in the guest bedroom with Ben and Gwen."

"Kay..." I nodded, blinking drowsily. "Never going that fast as XLR8 again…." I moaned, dragging my legs.

"Bad night?" Max asked, not really knowing what to say.

"Turns out, getting rid of the Limax was the easy part. I had to figure out how to get the elderly back to their homes." I shuddered. "Much harder to do, when you don't have a clue where most of them live."

"Makes sense." Max chuckled, apparently knowing what I went through.

"Yeah, yeah…. Through this door?" I asked pointing to the door he led me to.

At his nod, I entered as quietly as I could, slowly wandering about in the dark room. I found Ben laying on the floor, my foot lightly nudging his blanket wrapped form and almost tripping me. Yawning again, I managed to find the bed, carefully maneuvering around the suspiciously Gwen-shaped bulge under the covers and taking a spot next to it. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow, thankfully not having any nightmares about mutant old people.

This is the last timeskip, I promise….

"Don't be strangers." Vira warmly told us, giving Max a hug.

Max chuckled. "We won't."

Gwen came up to her to get her farewell hug, smiling at the cheerful old woman. "Bye, Aunt Vira."

Vira smiled back. "Bye, dear. Oh, here." She a plastic tin with another jello mold in it, this one green. "Ben told me how you liked my gelatin mold, so I made another with Louise's help." She nodded towards me, not noticing the grimace on my face. "This one's lined with grouper and chickpeas." She informed with a warm look, Gwen cautiously taking it into her arms.

"Eh, thanks…" Gwen thanked, her smile turning a little forced. As she went back to the Rustbucket, she sent Ben a glare, the boy looking away with a smirk.

Vira turned to Ben, looking a little apologetic. "I'm sorry that there wasn't enough excitement around here for you, I hope you weren't bored to tears."

He shrugged. "It turned out better than I thought."

Vira smiled and wrapped him in a hug. "I'm glad. Have fun on the road!" She bade him farewell once they separated, leaving it just me and her left hanging around outside.

"Well, I guess I should join them." I awkwardly started to go to the Rustbucket, only to be hugged by the woman as well.

Vira giggled at my nervous blush. "No need to be embarrassed, dearie." She waved me off, reaching behind her and revealing a small bag of coffee candies. "Here, as thanks for helping me cook."

"O-Oh, thanks. I think these will last me a bit." I thanked her, giving the bag a little shake. "See you later, Vira."

She gave me a conspiratorial wink. "Have fun dealing with those alien lifeforms that Ben told me about, dearie."

Raising a brow at her, not saying anything, I shrugged and entered the Rustbucket. I took my spot at the table, putting my candies up in one of the cabinets, then cracking out one of the books Gwen loaned me. The Rustbucket began its long trek through the desert, a single thing coming to my mind in that instant.

"The bounty hunters are next, right?" I looked up from my book, giving the sky outside a thoughtful glance. "That friendly Diamond head guy comes with them, too…." Racking my mind for details, I did remember something. "Ben fought them in the middle of nowhere…. We're in the middle of nowhere…. Wonderful." I looked out at the desert. "Might be in a day or two that I have to fight Mr. Cyber-Crabs and SixSix."

"Louise." Max gained my attention, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. "How do you feel like training out in the middle of the desert? I've got some targets and cardboard stuff for you to practice on."

I paled a little. "Uh, alright, how soon?" I scratched my arm a little. "I'm still tired from the Limax situation yesterday."

That seemed to gain the attention of both Ben and Gwen, the both of their heads snapping in my direction, Ben's in excitement and Gwen's in concern. "Limax?" Both of them asking in unison, then glaring at each other at the odd moment of synchronicity.

"I'll tell you both the story in a moment." I sighed, regretting not telling them until now.

Max laughed at my situation. "How about the day after tomorrow. We'll find a nice, secluded spot to set up the things tomorrow and the next day you can practice with some of your aliens."

"Sounds good." I nodded. "Now…. Time for storytime…." I rolled my eyes as Ben jumped out of his shotgun seat and joined Gwen and I at the table.

A/N: Alright, still not my favorite chapter. I was tempted to just trash this pile of garbage and go on to the next chapter, but I was already halfway through it, so I committed and finished this. I promise, the next one will be much better than this. (Spoiler:A certain bounty hunter's sister joins in on the hunt!)