The Problem with Portals: Arc II
Chapter 1 - Prologue: After Four Months - Stories

The Lounge, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D. - Four Months after Arc I

Considering everything that has been going on around the city of Bellwood recently, one would think things in general would be quite hectic, yet in the Hideout of the former alien criminal named Albedo, things were looking quite peaceful, relatively speaking. Well as peaceful as it could be considered. In the middle of such a calm day, where almost nothing could be heard inside the curiously built base besides the faint talk of people coming from the kitchen, and the only light in the lounge being the setting of the evening Sun, the silence was soon broken eerily fast as the ever similar blue swirling portal opened horizontally facing the ground next to the couches. After a couple minutes of awkward pause three figures fell through it, one after another, onto each other in a comedic fashion. The one unfortunately landing at the bottom groaned in pain as he seemed to have drawn the short straw, he tried to move or get up to no avail. The three figures were Albedo, Jeff and Charmcaster in the order they fell out of the portal which soon closed after them as if to mock them. The sorceress sat on top of the pile of people and gently rubbed her head before she realized who exactly made up her comfortable landing, following which she was quick to move and chuckle awkwardly.

"Do you guys think I broke a rib again?" Jeff groaned as he slightly lifted his head off of Albedo's back allowing himself to catch his breath. He wanted to rub the sore spot but his hands got stuck under him for the moment. "Cause that would suck. Last time wasn't really pretty."

"Excuse me, which one of us landed on the bottom?" Albedo sarcastically replied as he crawled himself out from under the other young man. "Though considering we fell from quite the height I would say this is an achievement."

"Point taken." Jeff cringed as he finally stood up and stretched. "Are we ba- Oooh~ I smell something cooking! We back peeps!" he sniffed the air like a dog and dashed off towards the kitchen, his hood falling back from his head.

"Of course he'd go for the food." Charmcaster chuckled, "Were you counting?"

"I lost count at the 20th time he had reacted like this." Albedo snickered in response. "But it appears we have made it back once more." he let out a short sigh, "And still nothing has changed."

Normally such a statement would be welcomed with smiles yet in their case they had a lot to worry about. The knowledge that the current leader of the Earth's Plumber force was researching Chronosapien technology was fresh in their mind but they could not actively act on it yet... However, after two months of travelling one starts to realize some problems have arisen. After initially leaving four months ago, time seemed to have continued its course in the world even with them not being around. It seemed to at least. Sure, the portal had proved itself capable of messing with time, time and time again, yet upon their first return two months prior to now things started to finally click together.

"Usually I would be quite amazed at such a phenomenon, yet within our current predicament, I feel we drew the short straw in life."

"Isn't that the usual?" Charmcaster shrugged with a smile.

"Hah, perhaps it is." Albedo nodded with a smile and a shrug as he closed his eyes.

Two months ago, Two months after initial departure

The Lounge, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

The portal once again has opened in the Lounge as it did some months back as the trio stepped out of it much nicer than they would do so in the future. They looked around for a couple seconds, as Jeff and Charmcaster sighed taking in their surroundings with a relieved smile, Albedo simply frowned as he looked up. He did not like what he was seeing.

"It is still Summer..." he mused under his breath, not catching the attention of anyone for the moment. "Say, today marks the second month we have been going from portal to portal, yes?" he asked, turning his attention towards the sorceress.

"Uhuh." Charmcaster nodded, "Why?"

"And by my knowledge a season on earth lasts approximately three months yes?"

"Yes..?" she raised an eyebrow.

"And last I checked we were well into your second season when we figured out who our enemies were, no?"

"Yes." she nodded, "Where exactly are you going with this?"

"Then, why is it still Summer exactly?" he blurted it out as he turned towards Jeff and Charmcaster, the others not yet recognizing they were back.

"Huh?" she looked him straight in the eyes, "That can't be right."

"It cannot, indeed... Yet it is still, as clear as day." he sighed, "Sometimes I want to believe I am just going crazy when I see these location markers, but it is apparent that they have a more deeper rooted meaning, and sadly if they say it is Summer, there is not changing it." the alien clicked his tongue in frustration, "What exactly did Clyde do this time..?"

"So what? Hold on. Time just stopped?" Jeff looked at him dumbfoundedly, "Isn't that like, bad? No hold on, stupid question. That's really damn bad."

"I would say quite so." Albedo nodded in full agreement, "More so because we have absolutely no idea what had caused it. Is it the same around the world or only inside this barrier..?" he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I had an inkling for a while but the time that had passed back then did not suggest that anything should have been out of the ordinary... It all seemed fine... But now it is clear."

"Oh hey you guys are back!" Ben's happy voice cut into the conversation from behind them as he greeted the trio with a smile. "It's been a while!"

"Quite a while indeed." the alien nodded, "Anything worthwhile happen in the two months we have been gone?"

"Not much thankfully, we watched the Plumbers' movements but it was nothing out of the ordinary, they just set up a patrol perimeter around the city and close to the barriers... But Clyde has not tried anything yet."

"So it seems plausible that he is behind this all..." Albedo sighed.

"Behind what?"

"It appears to still be Summer Benjamin... even after four months since you have returned back from your trip."

"So it is just like I thought." Ben let out a lengthy sigh. "Well that's just great."

"Benjamin?"

"For a while after you have left, the days seemed to pass by in a monotone... But it did not take more than a week to notice that it wasn't that the weather was stagnating or that we just had a good weather streak... It was the same day all throughout. We passed time, we remembered but the world seems to have forgotten to pass the time."

"Is it worldwide after all?" Albedo clicked his tongue.

"Gwen 'called' us after a while and she has confirmed it... But the thing is, the Earth is apparently still spinning continuously, yet time is completely resetting each day."

"I have never heard of technology like this before..." Albedo gasped in wide eyed surprise, "Chronosapiens are the masters of anything time related but this does not sound like one such invention... Which would mean two things." he looked at Ben and Charmcaster who both nodded in response.

"Either Chronosapiens had a lot more hidden technology that the universe doesn't know about..." Ben started.

"Or Clyde has gotten the tech from another world..." the sorceress finished with a sigh, "Great. One is better than the other."

"Clyde seems more and more punchable if you ask me." Jeff chipped in, his expression showing he was quite ticked off "Scratch that, I'm gonna cut him the first time I see him."

"Normally I would hold you back from doing such a thing but I find myself sharing your sentiment." Albedo nodded. "So... Time has stopped. How do we even go about fixing this?"

"Don't let it affect what you three are doing for now." Ben smiled as he punched Albedo gently in the shoulder, "We are fine here and doing all we can, you do your best to find out what's causing at least one of our problems. I think stopping the portal is a bigger concern than time stopping considering it isn't affecting us negatively in the long run."

After their initial departure without so much as a word to anyone, the trio took the first chance they got to try to contact the base and confirm with everyone that the portal was indeed responsible for their disappearance. Yet Albedo decided back then to continue going from world to world in hopes of finding a possible source of sorts for this peculiar gateway, yet thus far it has been unsuccessful.

"Ha! Sure, I would like to believe I can handle that." the alien grinned widely. In a matter of seconds, the alarm, though now quieter, blared up again as the portal opened back up, allowing the trio barely ten minutes back at the base, "Oh, speak of the Devil, I think our next stop is inbound. Apologies for the short visit, it was beyond our control."

"No worries, we'll talk when you come back for real." Ben shrugged, "Have a nice trip. We'll hold down the fort here."

"See ya." Jeff did a two-finger salute as the three left again, leaving Ben to his own devices.

"Back to work I guess." the former hero shrugged as he headed off towards his room.

The Present

"I guess things didn't change that much around here." Charmcaster mused, "Still to think we have been gone for four total months excluding that one visit... This has been a wild trip."

"That is a precise understatement." Albedo rolled his eyes, "To think there was so much out there, beyond our own multiverse... We made so many friends, met so many people."

"Helped out so many." Charmcaster mused, "It feels nice."

"Oh definitely." the alien nodded enthusiastically, "A lot better than whatever I did in the past... If Rednus could see me now."

"I'm sure she would be as happy as I am." Charmcaster smiled as she side hugged Albedo, "You are a helluva lot different than what Ben has told me a year ago, in fact both of us are! So here to reformed sibling buddies!" she held up a hand, as Albedo without hesitation gave her a high five.

"Hear, hear!"

"And still we did not find a clue to the origins of this blasted thing." the alien sighed in frustration. "Oh well, I at least hope there are some good ne-"

"Oh, who's that I hear?" a blue tail appeared around the corner, which was soon followed by the appearance of the blue vixen named Krystal as her head popped up around the corner as well. Once she turned around and appeared in full before the two it was clear that she was wearing a white short jacket with short sleeves, over a purple and pink jumpsuit in the same style as her old one. She had two thigh pouches on each leg. She wore gloves on both hands that extended until her elbows, along with boots with shin guards reaching up to her knees. Her neck was hidden in a comfortable looking green short scarf. And to add to it all, she looked as happy as ever, "You guys are back!" she happily walked over to them.

"Krystal!" Charmcaster clapped her hands together in happiness, "You're up an' about!"

"Huh, as if I wasn't moving around four months ago." the fox teased.

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"Yeah, I do Hope." she smiled as the two shared a hug.

"How are you feeling?" Albedo asked with a smile relieved that at least someone of the three could leave the Infirmary already.

"Better than ever!" the fox commented with a wide grin, "You guys sure got me back to tip top shape in a relative jiffy."

"We tried our best." Albedo chuckled, "It is good to see you finally out of the Infirmary for good."

"Believe me the feeling is mutual." the fox laughed, "I mean four white walls is a happy place for a good two hours, after that you just want to go."

"What has been happening around here recently? We seem to have lost Jeffery to the power of the kitchen." Albedo sighed.

"Oh yeah, we planned on doing a big feast today. Ben was adamant about it, and seeing how you guys are back it feels like he had an inkling." the fox girl chuckled.

"Oh you really should no-"

"Shut up, I appreciate it." Charmcaster put a hand over Albedo's mouth surprising the Galvan greatly, "I haven't had a thing to eat for the last two days, I appreciate anything edible."

"I guess you really should have." Albedo shrugged as the three shared a chuckle. In a matter of seconds however, Albedo was knocked over from behind, falling in between the two girls as a white ball of fur was bouncing around in his back, "Hello to you too Leo. How have you been you little furball?" the lion cub growled for a second as he began playfully biting Albedo's head, who laughed in response, "Haha, I see."

"Where are the others?" Charmcaster asked as the tall man suddenly appeared behind him and the sorceress shuddered, "You really have a knack for this." she chuckled as she turned around to face him.

'Apologies, I am trying to fix the habit.'

"Don't worry too much about it." she chuckled.

'It is good to see you back.'

"The feeling is quite mutual, friend." Albedo smiled as he got up, Leo taking his space on top of the alien's head. "There is a feast abound I hear?"

'Ah yes!' the tall man nodded enthusiastically, 'Gwendolyn has managed to send us some supplies after Benjamin had told her about our current members and situation. There seems to be a wide variety of foodstuff packed up for us so Benjamin thought it best to prepare most that cannot last for extended periods of time... But now that you are back here it seems all the more fitting.'

Albedo smiled gently and let out a short laugh, "Haha, I see. In that case we shall enlighten you with a wide variety of stories! Are we not?"

"Oh yeah!" the sorceress nodded with a thumbs up, "The things I've seen Krystal..." she seemed to shudder at one thought as she turned towards the fox with a horrified expression and continued in a whisper, "There are things that cannot be unseen."

"Where exactly have you guys been?" Krystal grew worried as she put her hands on the sorceress' shoulders.

"To a wide variety of places, some of which as our dear Hope has exclaimed were not for the faint of heart." Albedo sighed, though he seemed to be recalling an unpleasant memory before he deadpanned, "Jeffery was having a field day wherever we went to though."

"That man has balls of titanium." Charmcaster added under her breath.

"H-how about we get to the kitchen for now?" Krystal hurried to change the subject as Albedo's smile returned.

"A splendid suggestion! Let us go, we shall not keep them for long." the alien nodded, "Though before that... Any updates on Maxwell?"

Krystal suddenly hung and gently shook her head from left to right, "Nothing. He and Patelliday seem to be regaining their energy sporadically but currently they show no signs of waking up." the fox explained, "Also the tools you have on all beds say that their mental readings are stable, so no injury there... They're just recovering."

"Good. Good." Albedo nodded slowly, "That is swell, as long as nothing too major has happened to them there is hope to hold on to." a brief moment of silence hang around the group before Albedo clapped his hands together rather loudly, "Alright, let us proceed towards our meal shall we not?"

"Yeah, let's go." Charmcaster nodded with a semi enthusiastic fist pump in the air.

The Kitchen - Dining Room, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

As the group of four has entered through the double doors of the kitchen, the smell that they have felt welcoming them back home intensified by the moment. It felt pleasant and calming as they felt all their worries melt away, even though it was just a hot meal.

"Ha! Since when can you cook Ben?" Charmcaster teased a soon as she lay eyes on the boy in front of the stove, currently meddling with what seemed to be soup.

"You know with my mom's and grandpa's cooking, I needed to learn to survive on something different than junk food." Ben shrugged with a chuckle, "Welcome back. I hope it's final."

"Oh so do I Benjamin." Albedo nodded, "I hope our forever hungry teammate did not cause too much of a fuss." he raised an eyebrow as he turned towards Jeff who was sitting at the table expectantly holding up a knife and a fork, even though Ben was clearly working on soup.

"Hey! You say that like all I think about is food!" Jeff pouted.

"Should I recount the universes where you instantly sought out a form of nourishment the moment we set foot on land?" Albedo deadpanned.

"Umm. No thank you." Jeff said, seemingly apologetically as he looked at the plate in front of him and set down the utensils neatly, "You got me there." he added under his breath. Ben and Rex just chuckled at the exchange.

"And Holiday said we were troublemakers." Rex laughed as he looked at Ben who shared his enthusiasm.

"Ha! Well our friends clearly haven't met Jeff." he added.

"Stop it!" Jeff snapped, "Why is everyone suddenly picking on me?"

"Because you make it easy." Ace added as he looked up from his phone like device.

Jeff proceeded to mumble angrily under his breath as he folded his arms in disbelief. The others once again shared a small laugh as things seemed to calm down.

"Alright people, food is almost ready." Ben said with a smile after taking one last sip of the contents of the pot. "Gather round."

"Yes father." Albedo joked as he took a seat gaining a glare from his counterpart.

As everyone gathered around the rather large table, that even with all of the occupants of the building taking a seat had remaining spaces, they all shared small talk and generally tried to forget just for a brief moment the grave situation that was currently their day to day life. Until the food was actually in front of everyone in their plates, they all got lost in the small serene world of the kitchen. Then again, conversation tends to pop up around the dinner table.

"Sooo, where have you guys been?" Rex sparked up and turned towards Albedo mainly.

"Yeah, tell us something!" Ace nodded enthusiastically, followed by the fox girl and even Slenderman.

"Phew, where should we even start..?" Charmcaster put a finger to her chin in wonder.

"There've been a lot of hectic places." Jeff nodded.

"Perhaps let us go in order and tell the more intriguing ones?" Albedo suggested, and the other two seemed to agree. "Hmm, well to start off our very first adventure took us to the past of a planet Earth."

"A planet Earth?" Ben raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell it wasn't ours?"

"Well, George Washington had no knowledge about Plumbers or aliens at all for one." Charmcaster pointed out.

"And there were no traces of alien life ever visiting, nor even existing outside of Earth. In this planet's history there have been multiple run ins that humanity of the past deemed false or just sightings, but not even a mention of a U.F.O. or the like existed in history books, nor was it mentioned by people."

"Also the Spinosaurus in the middle of a city kinda distracted us." Jeff chipped in gaining odd looks from everyone except his traveling companions, "What? It happened."

"Yes indeed." Albedo nodded, "About a week into our stay there, desperately trying to search for ways to change worlds or whatever problems may arise, a lot of screaming caught our attention... Which was soon followed by a rather guttural roar we have not heard before. A live specimen of a Spinosaurus appeared in what would later become Washington D.C." he explained, "The poor thing was utterly confused and quite obviously did not understand how it got there. When mister Washington himself arrived on the scene you should have seen the look on his face at the sight of the giant creature. I managed to help her calm down and with the generous help of the would-be president we escorted her out of the city and from prying eyes."

"How did a Spino even get into Washington?" Rex asked with raised eyebrows.

"Whilst it did take a while after the incident, in one abandoned building that has had reports of strange noises and buzzing emanating from it during some nights, we have found what seemed to be a working time machine."

"Woah, was it-"

"No!" Albedo smiled, "The strange thing is it had no trace of alien technology, it was based on the technology capability of the current era and was put together with precision... Yet it worked like a charm." he chuckled, "To my insistence to prove I was not going 'mad' as the president put it he reluctantly tried the machine and curiously we ended up in the Cretaceous period, much to the shock of Mr. Washington."

"You took George Washington to the Cretaceous... Dude." Ben went wide eyed, "I thought me fighting Vilgax with the man was something."

"To be fair, it was not the same person." Albedo shrugged as Ben chuckled, "Nevertheless we soon sent the dinosaur back to her own timeline, and whilst we never found out about the creator of the machine, Washington took custody of it, saying it belonged to an anonymous creator who did a great service, and I am pretty sure that Earth became a rather advanced planet earlier than this one will be. The portal's appearance had us drop the bomb on the poor man that we were in fact from a parallel world."

"The thing is though, George said he had an inkling that something was off!" Jeff chipped in, "The man's a beast."

"No matter what world huh." Rex smiled.

Soon after this story, with their food finished everyone sat around just listening to the trio tell their tales one after another. About a weird clown monster infested spaceship in a parallel future. A world where primates were the dominant life and there were no humans around. One which was a planet with no intelligent life on it. A tale of a 'beached' space whale they had returned to, well, space. A rather dystopian future where Germany has won World War II. One after the other stories kept piling up, one more different than the other, none of them even a little bit related to the others, yet everyone kept listening. Their knowledge about the apparent multiverse just kept increasing with each story.

"Then we met this little girl." Charmcaster continued.

"Hold on, a little girl?" Rex asked.

"Yeah! She was the cutest little thing..." the sorceress continued, "Until her hair turned into blades and she attacked us."

"Excusemewat." Ben quickly splurted out as he and the others looked at the girl dumbfounded.

"Indeed, she looked about 11-12 years old at best, but the eyes of her clearly said that she wished we were gone." Albedo explained, "As it turned out however, without knowing much about her, she was an assassin specifically created to be a living weapon. My stomach turned at the thought of having a child do their dirty work for them, however by that point the organization was apparently already gone. Nevertheless, even when we talked the little one seemed like an emotionless doll who did not question anything she was ordered to do, it was sad to see, but ultimately we could do naught but stand to the side. Nonetheless we talked for quite a bit, and below all that emotionless facade she seemed to really be just that, a little girl. I did not know the details, and we felt it was not our place to ask, but she also seemed quite distant... Soon after we left through the portal, not gaining anything from that meeting, or so we thought back then. After a multitude of other worlds, we seemed to end up on a different Earth once more, seemingly everything normal."

"I really don't like when you use 'seemingly' nowadays." Ben shuddered, causing the alien to chuckle.

"I understand." he smiled, "Nevertheless, once making sure we did not stand out like a sore thumb we walked around a rather bustling little city, somewhere in Japan if I recall... And that is when it happened."

"We met again." Charmcaster smiled.

"The changes were suuuper wild though!" Jeff added.

"Indeed," Albedo nodded, "It was the same little girl, no doubt, however perhaps not so little anymore. It seemed like a good chunk of time had passed since our last visit, and I was not sure if she would even recognize me. Yet, all these so-called fears melted away as soon as she saw us. A small smile seemed to have forked its way onto her face as she ran over to us." the alien seemed to be fond of the memory, "She still had the same stoic demeanor soon after but she almost felt... liberated. We once again talked about a lot of things, and then she told us about a target of hers... yet, she seemed to be conflicted."

"Conflicted how?" Rex raised an eyebrow, "You said she was some sort of man-made assassin no?"

"Yeah." Charmcaster nodded, "Yet here she was in front of us, fiddling with the possibility of why she should even do the deed."

"And then she asked us for advice." Jeff chipped in again, "Like what am I supposed to do? Tell her how to make people sleep?"

'So he is aware that 'sleeping' is in fact killing people.' Albedo, Ben, Rex and Ace thought in unison.

"I thought myself inadequate to answer such questions, but with her curious face I just could not refuse, so we gave her some advice." Albedo gained a glare from Ben and Rex, "Not like that, we just nudged her to think what would be the best option for her to choose. Her eyes almost seemed to sparkle as we gave her options to talk about. Then she told us she had somewhere to be, and left, but not before giving us a piece of food in the shape of a fish, some sort of cookie I would presume, I am not quite familiar with Japan's culture."

"Well, all in all this is a pretty 'in a nutshell' description of us meeting little Yami, a lot more happened obviously with her, but that would take too much time to explain."

"Hmm," Albedo put a finger to his chin, "On the off chance that the worse were to happen, I feel it is needed to show you some of my memories of the meeting." he declared as he walked over to everyone else and in a matter of seconds transferred his memories of the events. "If you were to mee-" however the others stopped and just looked at the three, "Is... Is there a problem?"

"She's adorable!" Ben, Rex shouted in unison, quite unlike their usual personalities. Krystal however also cheered the same.

"Kinda makes you wanna protect her, even though you said she's quite capable of that." Ace chipped in.

"Haha, yes. I believe if she ever meets people she can trust as friends, she will be quite capable of opening up."

"And by the 'worst to happen' you meant... the portal right?" Ben raised an eyebrow with a sigh.

"Indeed, whether it will be this world, or one some of you might end up visiting down the line, look out for her, for my sake."

"Hah, you don't even have to ask bud." Rex nodded. "That's kinda our job anyway."

After a short bit of talking about different topics, the trio went back to their remaining adventures, telling them in detail about all of them. Including some vampires on a sunken pirate ship, and a submarine on the Moon. Another different world where the only difference was the sky being green and vegetation being blue. A planet of arachnids, that have never seen bipedal creatures before. A random portal which took them to the middle of Anur Khufos interestingly. Nevertheless, whilst the multiple of adventures took place during the span of four months, or from the trio's perspective even more time occasionally, the story time lasted deep into the night with no one realizing how late it has gotten.

'Perhaps it is time for all of you to turn in?' Slenderman suggested, 'It is not suggested for all you young folk to stay up too late... especially within our situation.'

"I agree." Ben nodded, "We never know now what the future may bring."

"I'm done." Jeff sighed as he took a step but fell forward onto the ground, with a loud thud. "Oh, apparently I can't move."

"C'mon I'll carry ya." Rex offered as he helped him onto his shoulder and the two left the room, "Night peeps."

"Same to you all as well." Albedo smiled. "I shall take care of one last thing, Hope, if you could come with me for a moment?"

"Hmm? Sure."

The Lounge, The Hideout, Outskirts of Bellwood, America, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

"So, what did you want?" the sorceress asked, wiping her eyes gently, apparently trying her hardest to stay awake.

"Could you contact Gwendolyn for me?"

"This late?"

"If what Benjamin told me about his dearest cousin is true, than I believe she is up and about even this late."

"If you say so." the sorceress shrugged as she spread her hands apart, both of them glowing magenta in seconds as the television once again took on the same color scheme and a place appeared on screen.

"Hello! Anybody around this time?"

"Hmm?" came a feminine voice from the other side, and in a matter of seconds, as Albedo had predicted the redhead cousin of Ben showed up in front of whatever surface the comm-portal appeared on.

"Splendid! Good night to you Gwendolyn!"

"Albedo! Charmc-"she stopped once she gained a half-asleep glare from Charmcaster, "Hope! Why are you calling this late?" Gwen asked once she corrected herself.

"I am quite surprised you are so happy to see me." Albedo teased.

"Hah, if it was 5 months ago, I would be as well."Gwen shrugged, "Anyway, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you would mind if I popped over for a second." Albedo cheerfully smiled before it turned into a serious frown, "I want to see how your situation is currently."

"Well, it's not that I mind or anything, but how exactly do you plan to get here with the barrier in place still?" the redhead raised an eyebrow in question.

"If you would stand aside for a moment." Albedo smiled with closed eyes as Gwen did as she was told, in the last seconds whilst she was in frame she seemed to recall why exactly Albedo asked her to do that, "Thank you for your help Hope, you should probably head to sleep."

"Right-o. Was about to do that." she nodded as she left slowly.

Albedo turned back towards the screen and looked over every detail present. In a matter of seconds, and with the added flair of his fingers snapping, he disappeared only to appear moments later on the television screen.

Colony Evacuation Shelter, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

"Ha! This went smoother than expected." Albedo chuckled as he dusted himself off, "Greetings!" he added with a cheery salute.

"For just that small second I forgot that you can do that." Gwen sighed, holding her forehead. "Hello, it's been a while." she held out her hand with a smile, which Albedo shook without hesitation.

"It certainly has." he smiled as he looked around for a couple seconds, "How have things been whilst I have not been around?"

"At the beginning it was quite hectic, as you can probably imagine, with everyone struggling to adjust... But four months is still four months, we are getting better and better as the days go by, all things considered. Morale is still high for the moment."

"That is great to hear." Albedo smiled as he looked around again, this time in more detail. He was currently in a rather spacious room, about the same size as their Lounge. The walls were made of solid metal, with vents spaced evenly throughout the sides. A large carpet resided in the middle of the room, and on it stood an enormous table with a multitude of chairs, upon further inspection of the room, the alien's suspicions of this room being similar to a dining room held true. "Quite a place."

"You've only seen one room." Gwen laughed.

"And it is impressive." he smiled back, "And you say this was a colony already existing before this whole fiasco started? Inside the Pacific Ocean. Quite the place to hide a location like this one."

"Yeah we were really surprised when we finally got here." Gwen nodded, "It's a lot larger than it appears at first. Plus, there are a lot of rooms we still don't have a use for, which is quite nice."

"Interesting." the alien smiled as he started walking around, "Mind coming with me? Provided you do not have an important task to do this late in the night?"

"Nothing much, I was mainly organizing the dining hall, it's quite a mess when most of us get in here."

"Ha! I can imagine, it is quite troublesome with just how many people we have back home, not to mention a whole colony." the two shared a small laugh as they left the confines of the dining room.

As soon as they took one step outside of it though, Albedo's eyes started wondering again, marveling at how large this place seemed. It would not have been an overstatement to call it an underwater city. It seemed to have glass covering it at the top which allowed anyone to see the sea and its inhabitants.

"Is that actual glass?"

"No, no." Gwen shook her head, "It's something similar to one way glass, from the outside it appears as the ocean floor, whilst from inside you can see."

"That is splendid." Albedo smiled, "It is best to stay hidden."

"Agreed."

"I would never have thought you would walk by my side Gwendolyn, without any animosity I might add."

"What can I say? People do say that life works in mysterious ways." Gwen shrugged, "Perhaps we just never tried to speak to each other like civilized people."

"I never really gave you lot a reason to do so did I?" Albedo sighed, his shoulders drooping.

"Hey, chin up! That's all in the past, and you have done a lot more good to us in the recent past than ever before. You are making up for all of it."

"All you Tennysons just say the same things to me." Albedo laughed, "It feels nice." he added under his breath.

"It's a family agreement then." Gwen shrugged again. "So, how do you think this place looks?"

"It is as safe as it can be in the current conditions I would say." Albedo smiled, "And you have managed to get most people around Bellwood into here which is a marvel in and of itself. I assume most are already sound asleep?"

"Oh no! Mostly the children and some of the elderly. A lot of people are volunteering on helping out with whatever they can, whenever they can. After we filled them in on what actually is happening, most people who knew grandpa and some of the Plumbers personally got understandably upset. Yet obviously we cannot even enter Bellwood, even if they were able to do anything. So instead, they had to make peace with our living conditions and chose to help out everyone here."

"I see." Albedo nodded as he looked towards what seemed to be a rather large farming area, where people and aliens alike were tending to the crops even now, causing a question to pop into the white haired teen's mind, "Say, what was this colony originally housing?"

"It was, well still is, a group of Cerebrocrustaceans and interestingly Piscciss Volanns." Gwen recounted, surprisingly, to Albedo at least, not fumbling the crab like alien species' name once, "Not a group you see merging everyday."

"Truly, what a strange combination." Albedo nodded musingly, "Then again it is great to have such powers on our side. Well, your side."

"I still am thankful that they took us all in, a lot of others feel the same way, which is mainly why they are helping."

"Reminds me of what I am trying to-" he then suddenly stopped talking as he looked ahead on the corridor.

"Albedo?"

"Say, did you recruit two obnoxious snakes as well?"

"Snakes?" Gwen raised an eyebrow as she herself looked ahead and saw two, rather large snakes slithering their way, "What the?"

A vein seemed to be throbbing intensely on Albedo's forehead as Gwen saw two pair of pale purple spider legs extend out of his back, much to her surprise. She was used to seeing Ben transform to literally everything imaginable, but this one was a bit out there.

"What exactly are those?"

"An evolved Arachnichimp's legs." Albedo explained.

"Oh, right, you can still evolve the aliens... But how exactly did you do this? Wasn't Spidermonkey a six-legged gorilla last time you evolved him?"

"Apparently, just as there are many dimensions around as we came to find out recently, evolution paths diverge as well. I messed up in calibrating the replica Ultimatrix last time and it evolved the Arachnichimp, Spidermonkey you called it, into a different form. Since I no longer possess the device it reverted to the original path, or so it would seem."

"That's intriguing." Gwen honestly smiled with a finger on her chin. Albedo just smiled widely.

"Ha! Truly a wonder you are Miss Tennyson." he declared, "Nevertheless, as I have said since I do not have a device to help me transform with and I thus am required to do it with my own raw power, I had to learn partial transformation to avoid overexerting myself... Thus the spider legs." the alien explained, "You have to admit they are quite intimidating are they not?"

"You got me there." Gwen shrugged with a chuckle.

Albedo did the same before his expression turned into a scowl, "Very well, if you would excuse me I am going to skewer some stragglers." he declared, his face not hiding his annoyance one bit, Gwen however was as confused as she could be.

"Skewer? Wait!" she snapped out of her confusion as she put a hand to Albedo's shoulder, "What do you mean?! Who are they?"

Albedo let out a lengthy sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose then looked Gwen straight in the eyes, "Arnas and Etala."

Indeed, it was the same pair of idiotic yet strangely intelligent alien snakes. The one with a top hat and a monocle, holding his head high as if trying to intimidate others with his presence, and the one with a blue bandana around her neck, acting like a queen on a tour. Interestingly enough however the two seemed a lot smaller than when Albedo met them in the other world, around the same size as the resident alien crabs. Gwen let him go as she recalled Ben enthusiastically talk about how the two of them were the most annoying creatures he had ever met a while back, then she even read the Plumbers' files on them and agreed. And somehow, internally she knew that they would not actually be made into snake kebabs, even with Albedo menacingly walking towards them with spider legs at the ready.

"Oh my, what a blunder Etala!" Arnas shuddered, apparently bewildered, "We have no idea where we are!"

"I know Arnas! I know, but we will find out soon enough! As long as we don't have those pesky ap-"

"Etala?" Arnas turned towards his mate, slightly off put by the sudden silence and soon after by the horrified expression frozen onto her face, "Etala, dear? Speak to me! What is i-" as if he was feeling an aura of danger he immediately turned around, only to come face to face with Albedo, giving them the same smile as he did four months ago back in the Forest of Death. "Oh lord." he hastily muttered under his breath.

"Hello to you two!" Albedo declared cheerfully, his face not once changing, "To what might we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Arnas began nervously chuckling, "Haha, well, to be quite honest with you old chap we have no idea where we are! Such a blunder!"

Etala seemed to calm down somewhat as well, even with the sharp end of a spider leg pointed at her face, "We awoke here suddenly, not even sure how. Thanks to our marvelous skills, no one seemed to notice us... yet. Or until now more like."

Albedo let the transformation go as he just raised an eyebrow, "You two just... ended up here? Out of nowhere?"

"Y-yes!" Arnas nodded vigorously, "After our last meeting in that awful forest, that professor chap took us back to our planet and all was swell for the following months."

'So at least that part was an actual dimension travel.' Albedo sighed inwardly in relief, that at least some part of his initial misadventure was true and not just a simulation.

"But then out of nowhere we felt a strong chill and next thing we knew was that we blacked out... then boom! We are here! Where is here anyway?"

"You two imbeciles are on Earth." Albedo sighed, "And if you ended up here randomly, then it must mean the portal got to you two again. Quite curious."

"Portal? Ah, perhaps that is why we did not remember going to a parallel world even back then!" Etala surmised, "If it was the same as now, we might have been knocked out back then as well."

"Perhaps." Albedo nodded, "Perhaps it has a different effect on idiotic space snakes. Nonetheless, do not try to get out of here. The Plumbers will kill you, not that it would matter much in the long run anyhow to us."

"K-kill?" Arnas nervously laughed, "Surely you jest! The red spots would never k-kill anyone!"

"That was in the past." Gwen chipped in as she joined them, "Sadly the 'Red Spots' are under new management."

"Gwen Tennyson?" Arnas asked as he turned towards Albedo, "And you? What is this?"

"I have told you, you dumb space noodle, things are changing." Albedo groaned, "We are all changing accordingly is all. Unless you do not wish to survive."

"So we are going to die if we leave this place. Duly noted!" Arnas shuddered as he collapsed on the floor, "I shall now live my life as floor."

Gwen and Albedo collectively facepalmed, "I am starting to get what Ben meant." Gwen groaned as well.

"We... we can help out!" Etala shakily offered as Albedo just raised an eyebrow.

"You? What can you two possibly do that could in any way be of any help?"

"Ah yes! Nice my dear Etala!" Arnas rose from the ground in triumphant glory, using his tail as if he was pointing to the sky with an index finger, "We are a species that dabbles in illusions, yes? Perhaps we could be of assistance were there ever to be an attack on this lovely place?"

"Hah, that is the best joke you have told yet." Albedo said dumbfounded.

"We are quite serious mister!" Etala pleaded, "We... we might not be the best at making plans, but we are great in following them!"

"So, you're saying that if we ordered you to do things you would do them?" Gwen asked with a raised an eyebrow.

"Precisely so my lady!" Arnas nodded vigorously, yet his top hat showed no sign of falling off. "We are quite capable." a shrewd smile seemed to form on his scaly face.

"As much as it pains me to say, they really are without pair in making illusions... However..."

"We will have to put up with them, huh?" Gwen sighed, "Great. No matter what we do we still can't send them outside, so I guess we'll have to make a deal.

"On the off chance that they were to do something ridiculous, just give me a call." Albedo smiled sinisterly as he turned towards the two snakes who shuddered in fear.

"Of course." Gwen smiled as well, but the rather innocent looking smile creeped the two alien snakes out even more, as the two were visibly shaking.

"You two!" Albedo shouted as the two snakes snapped to attention with makeshift tail salutes.

"Y-yes sir!" they said in a shaky unison.

"I truly hope you make yourselves useful, am I making myself understood?" he asked as he put his hands behind his back.

"Yes sir!"

"You can find some work suitable for you from Paul over there." Gwen chipped in pointing to a rather buff man next to a nearby 'shop' of sorts.

"Understood!" they hastily said as they scurried off.

"You handled that like a champ." Gwen teasingly praised the alien.

"I was this close to tying them into each other again." he sighed.

Gwen chuckled at the thought before her face adapted a horrified expression, "...Wait, again?" however Albedo was quick to move on.

The two moved along on the large corridor with the former Galvan marveling at the sheer size and expertise of the building. The creativity behind the design was intriguing him all the more. He complimented how it was capable of feeding a large colony of differing creatures to the foreseeable future without fail.

"Would it be a problem if I popped in from time to time?" Albedo asked genuinely, turning towards the redhead, "I feel it would help ease everyone's tensions back home as well if we at least had a way to procure fresh edibles."

"Sure! Just bring Ben along sometime okay? I miss the dweeb somewhat."

Albedo laughed, "I shall try my best."

"Hey look... Can I ask you about grandpa?" Gwen fidgeted for a couple seconds before facing the alien.

"He is in no mortal danger let me assure you." Albedo sighed, "But as you have probably heard, even in the past four months he, nor Patelliday, has not awoken. But as it seems he suffered no mental damage only the obvious effects of starvation which are quite severe for someone his age." Gwen seemed downtrodden by the response, "Nevertheless you shall not fear for anything. Your grandfather is a man that was built to last, surely he will be up and about in a moment's time, helping wherever he can."

"Haha, that's grandpa alright." Gwen nodded, put a hand to her chest and sighed deeply, "Thanks for that. For getting him out and taking care of him and all."

"Of course." Albedo smiled, "I owe it to you all... Besides, the real me could never leave someone like that behind."

"The real you huh?"

"Forgive me, slip of the tongue." Albedo hastily derailed the conversation and turned away from Gwen before she could continue to pry, "Ah, what is this?" he asked turning towards a rather large room of sorts. Interestingly, the metal walls were colored a pale white with a light peach color stripe running horizontally close to the ground decorating it.

"Ah, that is the medical bay." Gwen smiled, "Doctor Carranza should still be inside."

"Do you mind if I-"

"Go ahead." Gwen chuckled.

Medical Bay, Colony Evacuation Shelter, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

True to the Anodite's word, the good doctor was sitting on a chair inside the large and spacious room, looking over a multitude of documents as the two entered the confines of the Medical Bay. To their surprise however, a certain black-haired car enthusiast was inside with bandages around his left arm.

"Well, you two aren't exactly the duo I expected to see." Kevin chuckled, catching the doctor's attention as well as he looked up from his papers.

"Good night to you as well Kevin." Albedo smiled, "Whatever did you do to get into this situation?"

"Maybe a shelf fell on me, maybe it did not. One will never know." Kevin's eyes darted around the room once he noticed Gwen glaring at him, before she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Didn't I especially tell you to take care of yourself better you big oaf?" she walked over to inspect the arm.

"It's nothing major babe." Kevin tried but failed to reassure his girlfriend.

"It is just a bruise currently, but you probably shouldn't strain it for at least a little while Kevin." David chided. "Albedo! It's good to see you again. You ran off last time."

"Ah yes doctor, I was somewhat preoccupied, my sincere apologies." the alien bowed as he said, "Have you and your family been well?"

"Thanks to you we have." David smiled, "I can't thank you enough for t-"

"No, thank you. I did what I thought was right, no need to thank me."

"Still, how exactly did you get in here?" Kevin asked, his thoughts not clicking as fast as Gwen's did.

In a matter of seconds Albedo disappeared only to reappear in front of Kevin and Gwen, "I teleported of course!" he declared matter-of-factly.

"Okay, that's still cool." Kevin admitted as he recalled the conversation before Max was freed. "How can I do that?"

"Get killed by Slenderman and reviv-" Albedo's eyes went wide, "Oh wait."

"Yeah, not doing that. Ever." Kevin deadpanned.

"Well, to be perfectly fair, it would be weird if you could do it Kevin." Albedo deadpanned as well. "Nevermind that, I have to say, lovely place all of you have set up here."

"Thanks, we do try." David chuckled.

"Except for the snakes."

"Snakes?" Kevin raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Arnas and Etala." Gwen and Albedo chorused in pain. Kevin's eyes just drooped, much the same as he was with Argit.

"Are those two here?! Oh, for the love of..."

"Exactly my reaction." Albedo nodded, "Nonetheless, on the threat of being turned into shoes they seem to have warmed up to the idea of helping."

"Those two and 'help' somehow don't fit in the same sentence." Kevin shuddered.

"I, as well, truly hope you can cope with them." Albedo bowed apologetically. "I think it is time to leave you to your devices, is there anything else I should see?"

"Perhaps t-" Gwen however was interrupted by the same buff man from before, Paul, rushing into the room.

"Gwen! There you are! We have visitors!"

"Visitors?" Gwen, Albedo and Kevin looked together in confused unison. After a brief exchange of silent gazes, Gwen spoke up, turning towards Albedo.

"I would ask you to stay here, in case our 'visitors' are from the few remaining Plumbers outside not under the main branch's control, seeing how they probably have no idea about your side change and all but..."

"You know very well I will not do that, is that it?" Albedo grinned as Gwen just sighed.

"Yeah, just like Ben."

"In his defense, they do share the DNA." Kevin shrugged as Albedo just chuckled.

"We do indeed!" he then turned towards the door of the Medical Bay, "Shall we?"

Main Foyer, Colony Evacuation Shelter, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

Two people stood in the entrance to the Main Foyer, surrounded by a multitude of humans, Cerebrocrustaceans and some Piscciss Volann who looked at them in relative confusion, especially since they specifically requested Gwen. One of them was an older man, possibly in his 60s, with his hair tied into a small ponytail. He wore a brown coat with white fur on its sleeves and around its collar, over a yellow shirt with green leaves on it. He wore a bluish-gray pair of jeans with brown boots. Next to him stood a young lady, around the same age as Ben, with long dark hair tied into a large ponytail, tan earrings adorning her ears. She wore green shorts with thigh pouches on each leg and a utility belt, along with a red and white sweater and brown gloves. Her brown eyes were darting around the place much the same as Albedo's did half an hour prior. They soon after landed on a certain redhead approaching them along with the black-haired mechanic, the man next to her took note of their arrival as well.

Gwen's eyes went wide as soon as she saw who stood at the door of their safe haven. Kevin on the other hand was a tad bit confused as he had never met the two guests, but he judged by Gwen's expression that they were at least friendly.

"Kai! Mr. Wes!" Gwen ecstatically exclaimed as the girl at the door, Kai, suddenly smiled from ear to ear as well.

"Gwen! Do you know how hard it was to reach you guys?!"

"Yeah, being under the Pacific Ocean has its perks." Kevin sarcastically joined in on their conversation, "Sup, I'm Kevin."

"Kevin, this is Kai Green and her grandfather Wes Green." Gwen introduced the duo.

"Oh yeah! You're Wes?" Kevin grinned, "Max told me a lot about you a while back."

"Hah, the pleasure is all mine Kevin." Wes grinned as well, extending a hand which Kevin shook, "Still to think you were forced to evacuate this far... How could we have let this happen..?"

"Mr. Wes, please don't blame yourself over this. We were all caught off guard, and this Clyde took that opportunity for all of this."

"Still, we as Plumbers let that happen, we can't stop until he is out of the picture..." Wes sighed, "How is Max? Is he here?"

"Grandpa Max is still recuperating." Gwen revealed, "He has not woken up for the past four months..." she looked at the ground sadly, "Also, no, he's not here... He's with friends."

"Friends?" Wes raised an eyebrow, not liking the way Gwen phrased that.

"Well yes, that would be me." a voice came from behind them as Gwen audibly gulped. Wes and Kai smiled at the sound of the voice, Kai even getting somewhat flustered... that is until its owner actually revealed himself, coming up from behind Gwen and Kevin, "Greetings!"

Kai's eyes went wide at the person in front of him, who looked so much like the hero she knew, yet so different... However, Wes on the other hand was quick to point a rifle at him without a moment's hesitation.

"Grandpa! Could you not point a gun at Ben?!" Kai snapped, though somewhat confused herself.

"Oh, that is not Ben darling." Wes shook his head with a scowl.

"He is right you know?" Albedo smiled as he disappeared in a matter of seconds, reappearing seconds later next to Wes and taking the gun out of his hand and throwing it away, soon after he leaned in close to Kai who became flustered once again and a small blush appeared on her cheeks, "So you are Kai Green!" that sentence was all it took for the blush to disappear and for it to be replaced with utter confusion, "Benjamin has told me a lot about you, dear."

"How did yo-" Wes stuttered on his question as Albedo felt a pair of eyes burning through him causing him to turn to his left as Gwen looked at him with her hands on her hips, a scowl on her face.

"Hey, you knew I could not pass up such an opportunity!" he shrugged as he appeared next to Gwen in a flash once more. "Once again, this time without a gun, hello! My name is Albedo."

"Albedo..?" Kai muttered under her breath.

"What is he doing here?!" Wes snapped, having not met him personally before, the old Plumber new the Galvan's report and most of the things he had tried to do, but ultimately failed.

"As I said..." Gwen sighed, but then followed it up with a small smile, "He's our 'friend' in question."

"Quite so." Albedo nodded, adopting a more serious expression, "Perhaps you would be keen on hearing me out rather than trying to shoot me? Ultimately it would be futile anyway, and we have much to discuss rather than point shooty sticks at each other. Be thankful we need the firepower lest I would have snapped the thing in two."

"Albedo..." Gwen sighed.

"Hmm?" the alien turned towards the redhead with a raised eyebrow, "Did I perchance use too much of my old condescending persona there?"

"If you count 85% as too much." Kevin sighed.

"Ah, yes, perhaps I did go a tad bit overboard." Albedo sheepishly chuckled, "Nevertheless, if you would be so keen on following these two so we can talk in peace perhaps? Put animosity aside for the rest of the day?"

"Fine, alright." Wes nodded then turned towards Gwen, "If you trust him, then for now I will too."

"That is all I ask Magister Green." Albedo smiled as he turned around and started walking forward, his hands behind his back.

"I knew this would happen..." Gwen sighed.

"Hey babe, you and I both know we couldn't have stopped him." Kevin chuckled, "Plus, you gotta admit, the reactions were priceless!"

"Kevin!"

"What? It's true." Kevin shrugged as he followed Albedo on their way towards what would be a conference room, in a matter of seconds the two got to talking, surprising Gwen that Kevin could hit it off so well immediately with Albedo.

'Then again, they synchronized really well when we escaped together as well...' she mused.

Gwen's 'Office', Conference Room, Colony Evacuation Shelter, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Summer, 2014 A.D.

"You did not tell me you were in possession of an office Gwendolyn!" Albedo smiled wildly in marvel.

"She kinda got made into an honorary leader." Kevin explained.

"Much to my discomfort." Gwen admitted, "Still, you can't just leave all of them to themselves."

"You are fit for the role, at least in my opinion." Albedo admitted.

"That's one more thing we agree on!" Kevin nodded.

"One more?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"It seems that since I started dabbling in increasing my knowledge about vehicles the past years, me and Kevin share a lot in common." the alien clarified, "It is always nice to talk with someone about similar interests." he then heard a cough from behind them, reminding him of their purpose inside the room, "Ah yes, forgive me Mr. Green, but before we get into it in detail, I feel a little bit of self introduction is in order since Ms. Green seems utterly confused."

"Go on." Wes nodded with folded arms.

"Now then, my name is Albedo. I am originally from the planet Galvan and through a series of poor life decisions I have been stuck in the body of Ben Tennyson for about two and a half years now, with the added flair of an inverted color scheme. Why your grandfather acted that way around me is... because I have a not so pleasant history with the Plumbers you see? The old ones I mean. Is that enough for an explanation Ms. Green?"

"Y-yes." Kai nodded awkwardly, "But could you please stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"The whole 'Miss' business? It feels weird for Ben to be calling me that."

"Ah, I understand." Albedo smiled, "Benjamin did say some pleasant things about you when the topic popped up so I shall honor that request." he turned his attention to the veteran Plumber, "Now then, I believe you have knowledge of Benjamin and co.'s travel around the universe for the past year?" Wes nodded in response, "Now, in that time, my depressed self got released from my forced labor in the Null Void and have faded into the darkness for the most part. Shortly after their return they, with the exception of a certain sorceress got captured by the new Plumber forces and kept for a good while. Maxwell and a multitude of rebelling old Plumbers were captured and promptly tortured. Maxwell himself has been starved and kept on the bare minimum to survive, he is currently resting in our hideout, but as was previously said has not woken up for the past four months since his escape. He will wake up in due time however so for now there is no need for too much concern. Now, about the time when Benjamin was captured I myself, beyond my knowledge have been trapped in a simulated world that seemed much the same to the real one... However, on a faithful day four months ago I have temporarily broken free of the simulation by entering a parallel world."

"A parallel world?" Wes repeated in question with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed." Albedo nodded, "During my time there I have met with Charmcaster and together we thought up a way to return to our world... However unbeknownst to us our return would immediately result in me returning to the simulated world, whilst Charmcaster having revealed her location with this action promptly got captured as well. The things I have experienced in this alternate world along with the simulated version of the people you know... Suffice to say I have had my eyes open to all that I have done wrong since a certain time in my past." Albedo continued to explain his meeting with Rex and their initial escape from Plumber captivity, which Kevin and Gwen testified to, and thus their initial agreement to trust their former enemy.

"You missed a crucial detail there bud." Kevin pointed out, as Albedo raised an eyebrow and so did Wes, this time however much calmer. He seemed to remember the dates Albedo had mentioned and compared it to their info which matched. All the details connected, he had no more reason to doubt the Galvan too much. Still he decided to make a final decision after seeing himself that he could be trusted, yet this one claim from Kevin raised his interests. As Albedo turned to Kevin, he saw the man do a throat slitting motion as the message seemed to immediately click for Albedo.

"Ah, of course! That one is kind of important."

"'Kind of.'" Gwen did air quotes in response.

"So, well in my time in that other dimension, during our first try to return home... I have perished."

"What?" Kai and Wes echoed in confused unison.

"I have forgotten to mention that during my time in that world I have realized that I now shared my body with a certain individual you might find alarming."

"Go on." Wes urged as Albedo's eyes turned jet black, surprising him greatly.

"Well, yes, that is just about the reaction we should expect is it not?" Death's ethereal voice echoed from Albedo's mouth.

"You two are enjoying this aren't you?" Kevin chuckled.

"Perhaps a little bit." the Horseman chuckled, "Greetings from me as well, my name is Death as you would call me."

"Death?!" Kai snapped, "The Grim Reaper?"

"The one and the same! I am delighted that there is not much need for further explanation." his eyes turned back to white and red, "Yes... He is the one who I know share my body with."

"You merged... with the Grim Reaper?" Wes seemed to be having a tough time collecting his thoughts, but honestly no one could blame the old man.

"Indeed, it was a shocking experience for me too. Nonetheless back on the topic, I have died that time, but apparently thanks to Death being a part of me now, I resurrected... And that is when we realized a strange and truly horrifying ability I came to be in possession of."

"W-what is it?" Kai reluctantly asked, this all being a bit too much too suddenly for her.

"I seem to copy a particular characteristic or ability of the thing or the person who ended me. And I am as of that moment immortal in the truest sense of the word."

"That's a lot to take in." Kai admitted, though apparently not deterred by the fact that a person in front of him claimed to be immortal.

"Indeed, and I am sorry to spring it onto you all so suddenly." Albedo nodded. "I hope this is enough information to make me trustworthy to you too as well, even if just on the surface for now."

"Well of all the things, I did not expect this today that's for sure." Wes chuckled nervously as he held his head. "But if you are willing to share this much with two complete strangers to you, I got to hand it to you." he admitted, "Fine, I'll trust you."

"Thank you." Albedo humbly bowed, "Now about that portal we mentioned in relation to everything."

"There has been a weird portal popping up from place to place since the first time Albedo said he disappeared." Kevin explained, "And according to him, it can open literally everywhere in the multiverse."

"How vast are we talking here?" Wes asked.

"Well, Slenderman is an ally for us now." Kevin shrugged as Kai and Wes just stared at him blankly.

"Seriously?" Kai asked after a couple seconds of piercing silence.

Albedo teleported next to her in a moment's notice, startling her again, "How else do you think I can freely teleport Kai?" he smiled.

"Don't. Do. That." she slowly said in between deep breaths.

"Apologies." the alien chuckled. 'I seem to be picking up the weird habits along with the abilities.' he mused in his thoughts.

"Wait, but that means..." Wes adopted a horrified expression.

"Yes, in another series of misunderstandings I have died at the hands of the mythical figure you know as the Slenderman, but let us not delve into the details." Albedo shrugged, "For now the bigger question however, is what you two will be doing?"

"What do you mean?" Kai asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know that your loved ones, or even you yourselves are involved in this whole ordeal, I get that but we cannot act recklessly."

"Indeed." Wes nodded in agreement, "Once we heard the whole thing after everything happened, we wanted to rush over as fast as we could but the new Plumbers are fearfully effective. We had to travel to a multitude of underground or secret passages to even get to Bellwood's general vicinity... I would like to help of course, but just as Albedo says we are currently best suited to help here."

"Grandpa!" Kai deadpanned.

"Kai, I can assure you with my all that Benjamin is in no danger, and currently since the barrier is still in effect it is better if I do not abuse my teleportation ability too much lest they find our location." Albedo placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "But hey, maybe I can bring him over sometimes?" Kai seemed to quiet at the thought as she was now lost in her own thoughts.

"Oh right, I wanted to ask: What have you been up to since helping Max out?" Wes questioned.

"I have been going from portal to portal the last four months, visiting different worlds in the hopes of finding a possible source for the phenomena with no success. I have met a lot of different people and made friends but that hardly helps our current situation." Albedo sighed. "Albeit I at least have a general idea of how the portal seems to function now."

"Isn't that good though?" Kevin asked.

"Perhaps. That is yet to be determined however." Albedo shrugged. "It is awfully late, I advise you two get some res-" Albedo's sentence however was soon interrupted by everyone in front of him going quiet and looking at him with shock... No, they weren't looking at him, they were looking behind him.

'Albedo...' the ethereal but deep voice of Slenderman resounded from behind Albedo, causing him to turn around, his face in a frown. 'We have a situation.' he declared. The alien let out a deep and lengthy sigh.

"How bad is it?"

'Nothing major has happened yet, as it opened about 2 minutes ago... But it stayed, it does not seem to want to close.'

"Hmm, intriguing." Albedo mused before feeling like he forgot about something. It took him about five seconds to turn around and still see the other four stare at the tall man in awe. Well Kevin and Gwen were staring in awe, Kai and Wes were shocked out of their minds.

"Dude, you're even more impressive in person." Kevin commented after a couple more seconds of silence.

'Oh my, that is a first.' Slenderman chuckled, 'Greetings! My most sincere apologies on the rude entrance however this matter is of the utmost importance.'

Albedo just looked at Gwen, his eyes showing sadness as the redhead just shrugged, "Just go." she smiled, "We can pick this up later."

"Haha, thank you, and apologies." Albedo nodded as he and the tall man disappeared in a flash.

"I feel like things will never be the same for us from now on." Gwen sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Tell me about it." Kevin fell back into his chair with a sigh, but still taking care not to hurt his left arm.

"If it's not too much bother, could you fill us in in greater detail in the morning?" Wes asked, his face still somewhat blank, "I think this was enough for a night."

"I feel you." Kevin nodded, "Morning, same place?"

"Sure." Kai nodded, as Gwen got up and lead the two out to their new quarters.

"What exactly is going to happen from now on?" Kevin inwardly sighed as he inadvertently fell asleep on the table soon after his thought.

Alright, the second Arc is officially started, albeit a bit late because of some IRL matters, sorry about that.

Nonetheless, we are done with the official prologue (Arc I) and the prologue for Arc II, so as far as I am concerned, we are in the thick of it now. Thanks for reading this far!
See you soon, hopefully anyways.