143. Mental Protection

- Wow, there are really a lot of people here. - Hope said impressed as we moved to the rock festival.

- Yes, this festival is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Many aliens, former Plumbers and even witches have gathered here. It seems, rightly said, music unites, regardless of origin. - I said with a smile, holding the girl's hand.

- Witches? Who are they? - Hope asked curiously as she continued to look around the festival enthusiastically.

- I'm not sure, but Gwen became friends with them. You can ask her later. It seems that these three girls are in the same group and they are performing at this festival. They call themselves 'Hex Girls'. - I said, mentioning the girls with whom Gwen spends almost all the time.

- Interesting. We should definitely watch their performance. & Hope said with a smile, snuggling up to me as always.

- Necessarily. They perform at nine o'clock. And now we need to catch the Shag Carpeting performance, otherwise Grandpa will be offended. - I said, and led Hope to the main stage, where the performance of this legendary (at least according to grandfather) group will take place.

Squeezing our way through the crowd of older people that had gathered, Hope and I spotted Max and Gwen, with Ashley, standing practically on the stage. Grandfather now had such a face, as if he were a teenager who was waiting, could not wait for the appearance of his idols. Although, the way it is, after all, men are eternal children, and Max is no exception.

- Hope! Are you here. - Ashley exclaimed happily when she noticed our appearance.

- Hey, Ashley. Lex invited me, I hope do you mind? - Hope said softly, clearly still worried that my family wouldn't accept her.

- No, of course, I'm glad you came. It's a lot of fun here, you'll love it. The food here is especially good. - enthused Ashley, who over the past two days has earned a lot of money and a legendary reputation by winning all kinds of contests associated with eating a huge amount of food.

-Is that how? - Hope asked to keep the conversation going, while nervously looking at Gwen, who was staring at the Charmcaster without blinking

- Gwen, say hello to Hope. - said Grandpa, determined to save Hope from Gwen's gaze.

- Hey, Hope. - somehow monotonously said Gwen, without stopping studying Hope.

- Um, yeah, hi… - Hope said awkwardly, acting a little out of character as she was actually frightened by Gwen's strange behavior.

In the end, we are all four, they just stood awkwardly silently and waited for what Gwen would come up with, but fortunately, this strange atmosphere was destroyed by the beginning of the rock band's performance.

Max was no longer up to the girls, and he went headlong into the concert, behaving like a true fan. Ashley just decided to pretend that nothing was happening, as she was embarrassed and did not want to get into Gwen's showdown with Hope.

And I continued to watch their confrontation with curiosity, waiting for what would happen next. It seems to me that there is a turning point in their relationship...

- Can we talk in private? - Gwen finally said over the loud music.

- Okay… - Hope said hesitantly, not knowing what would come of it. When Gwen wants to, she can really be intimidating, she inherited this from Max.

Even Hope, who usually acts more arrogantly, can only worry now. Nodding her head, Gwen began to make her way out of the crowd, somewhere more secluded. Hope just looked at me in a plea for help, but I only gave her a thumbs up, as if letting her know that I was with her, but only mentally. They really could not hurt to talk again...

Seeing that she would not wait for help from me, Hope only sighed doomedly and followed Gwen. Although, in the end, she decided something for herself and went more decisively, clearly overcoming her nervousness. This is the Hope I know and love.

- Eh, I hope this time it will be different and they won't start fighting… - I involuntarily muttered, concentrating on the concert.

***

*Three performances later*

Gwen and Hope didn't get back until an hour later, but luckily I didn't see any signs of a fight, so I guess they were really just talking.

Besides, they even seemed to have become closer and now they could talk normally, mostly on topics related to magic. I think progress has been made, but now I'm nibbling curiously....

After the concert of Max's favorite band ended and he reached a state of euphoria, we went to the performance of my alien friends, which was about to begin on the other side of the park where the festival is taking place.

In the end, it turned out very well, these guys know how to put on a show with good music, and even I participated a little and showed the guitar skills that I mastered yesterday. After that, we had dinner and then went to the concert of Gwen's friends, which impressed me the most today. I think the day turned out to be quite good and we visited this festival not in vain.

Now we were all tired back to the RV, and finally, I got the chance to ask Hope, how his conversation with Gwen went.

- So? What were you talking about? - I asked the girl quietly so that no one else could hear.

- She apologized. - Hope replied quietly.

- Seriously? - I asked with a good deal of surprise.

- Yes, to be honest, I myself was shocked when she asked for forgiveness for all the nasty things that she said about me and for the way she treated me. - Hope said sincerely.

- Unexpected, but I think it's a good start. - Thinking for a bit, I said.

- Yes, Gwen said that she would no longer be angry with me and even sincerely asked me to become a teacher of magic. - Hope said with a smile, clearly enjoying it.

- It's really good. I'm happy for you. - I said, stroking the girl on the head.

- You were right when you said things would get better with time. Although, she is clearly still mad at you, and when we talked about you, she used a lot of bad words. - Hope said.

- Did you talk about me too? - I asked awkwardly.

- Of course, we mostly talked about you. - Hope said with a bright smile.

'They obviously washed all my bones…' - I thought, involuntarily shrugging my shoulders. Girls...

- Hope, will you stay with us? - Max asked loudly as we approached the bus.

- No, sorry, I still have things to do in the castle, and besides, I don't want to embarrass you. - Hope said politely, clearly pointing out that there simply wasn't enough room for her in our RV.

- As you know. But if anything, you are always welcome here. - Max said with a smile, starting to remove his rock paraphernalia and wash off his hair gel.

- Thank you, mis…. Grandpa. - Hope said with reddened cheeks, having been corrected several times by her grandfather for saying 'Mr Tennyson'.

- Well, then I will take you back to the castle. - I said in the form of a Portaler, opening a portal to the foot of the castle.

- Today was a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me. - Hope said with a smile as she passed through the portal.

- We were glad to see you. - Max said sincerely.

- I hope next time you stay with us longer. - Ashley said with a smile, waving goodbye.

- Thanks for talking to me. - a little primly, but still sincerely, Gwen said.

- I'll call you tomorrow. - I said at last.

- Bye-Bye. - Hope said with a happy smile and went home, as I closed the portal.

- Let's go to bed already late, and send us on the road tomorrow. - said Max, who did not know when he managed to change into pajamas.

- Before, you need to eat this first. - I said, pulling out three servings of solid shadow.

- Is that what you talked about during dinner? - Gwen asked, picking up a piece of matter from another dimension.

- Yes, this is what will solve your problem with the Pyrokinesis Tattoo and Ashley's problem with her powers. - I said confidently.

- Are you sure? - Ashley asked dubiously, unimpressed by the sight of a solid shadow.

- Absolutely. I checked everything several times and tested the new mental protection, using the psi-attacks of the clone in the form of Squid. In the end, I didn't even feel anything. And the power of this alien allows you to read the thoughts of everyone on the planet, so the protection is really very good. - I said, not going to make the same mistake as with Bezel's Charms.

- Well, since you're so sure. Should this thing be swallowed? - Ashley asked, with a little disgust.

- Just put them in your mouth and I'll do the rest. - I said with a sigh.

Fortunately, my family trusts me completely, so they did as I said. I turned into a Cloak and put a diadem on my head, repeated the same trick that I did with Hope.

- I don't feel anything. - Ashley said, touching her body for some reason.

- The effect will appear only after sleeping, so let's sleep. Today was a long day. - I said as I changed my clothes into my pajamas.

- Goodnight. - We all said at the same time as we headed to our beds.

'Maybe I should take care of protecting Nebula's mind too?' - I finally thought before falling asleep.

***

July 28, 2010.

As always, waking up before anyone else, I returned to the cave and went to the training ground to test the effectiveness of my new mental defense.

And although I was able to take a couple of minutes yesterday, in order to experiment with Squid, I think a much better indicator of the effectiveness of the protection would be the use of my Osmosian.

After I absorbed all of Kevin's 11'000 powers, I didn't use the Osmosian as I was afraid that such a power would affect me too much and I would just go crazy. Now, I think it's time to unlock this alien and see if I can safely use it.

Although, I certainly won't do it without preparation. First, I created a few clones that will be ready to rescue me at any moment if something goes wrong, but I'm sure everything will be fine. Simply, an extra precaution never hurts.

After making sure that I hadn't forgotten anything, I activated the transformation and soon turned into the same mutant that the future Kevin was until recently.

Without noticing any pressure or desire to destroy the world, I have become convinced that the defense is doing its job so well that I do not even feel any influence from so many absorbed forces. Amazing. No wonder I still tried so hard for this...

First of all, I decided to repeat Kevin's trick and backed off to regain a more human appearance, removing all signs of a mutant. And unexpectedly, it turned out to be made easier than ever. It only took a little effort and I looked like a normal Osmosian again, before I absorbed Kevin's powers.

Next, I started a quick check on the powers that I can use, and it turned out that I can only use the abilities of about 15 aliens at the moment, and the rest that was absorbed only strengthens these abilities.

Although, they are still weaker than the originals. Well, this is a minus of this alien. He is a generalist, he can do a lot, but is weaker than the originals. But, can act wisely (which was difficult for Kevin because of his insanity) and combine different powers.

To be honest, this alien is not very useful for me, although it is very strong, but I prefer to use heroes whose abilities are more one-way, because for different situations, I can easily turn into a necessary alien.

Undoubtedly, a hero with a bunch of different abilities will still be useful to me (it's better to be stuck in this image than as Swamp Fire), but he will not be the one I will use all the time. Only by necessity. But it might be useful for my Ashley.

Once she's more comfortable with her powers, I'll start transferring the DNA previously absorbed by Kevin to her, which will give Ashley more abilities and make her stronger. It seems to me that this will be better than just letting her absorb data directly from the Omnitrix.

Although, this is for the future, now she still needs to get used to the absorption of energy, and only then move on to the next level.

After spending another hour training with the New Osmosian, I made sure the Circus Freak Trio and Gilbert's healing process was going well, and then returned to my family.