Chapter 9 - Permanent retirement, haunted, and... last laugh?

After i took care of the Krakken, i tested if it have anything that could help me against the Limax. Surprisingly it have! Those tendrils like tentacles that protrude from it's maw can suck and shoot water just like an elephant trunk! Isn't it handy? I can brake that pipe that's right at the entrance of the Limax hideout, and use it to reload the water ammo.

Early in the morning Grampa Max had a small encounter with some robbers but Ben as Upgrade took care of them. I just watched everything while drinking a juice enhanced by Pearl Jam together whit Gwen. I got close to them and said:

_ That's our hero! *Sucking straw noise*

_ Ok, ok, shut up! - Ben responded with a robotic voice then he turned back to human form.

_ Hahaha! Alright, let's go your grand aunt Vera is waiting for us! - Grampa said with a big smile on his face.

Then it happened. Ben started complaining

every fucking 5 minutes, holy shit! If watching the series on TV already pissed me off imagine this shit in real life for 2 fucking hours! Motherfucker!

_ Beeeeeeennnn! Shut up! We all know that you don't like it, but please just shut up! Just 5 minutes, can't you stop being yourself for just 5 minutes!? - I said greatly pissed. I couldn't swear in front of kids i still have my principles.

_ Ok, ok, chill man! - Ben said surprised.

Not just him, everyone was surprised by my reaction. Seeing this, Gwen came close to me and started massaging my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

_ Ahn! - I moaned.

_ Thanks Gwen!

She blushed and said:

_ Don't mention it.

Grampa Max watching us putted a huge grin on his face, and seeing this i acted like i saw nothing. And thank God, Ben stayed silent the rest of the way! Finally arriving at our destination we met grand aunt Vera she pinched our cheeks and i asked to use the bathroom. In the bathroom i turned into Armstrong and flew straight to the Limax hideout i stayed invisible and started to analyze their physiology. When i finished recording i immediately added their powers and abilities to my body. I broke the pipes that passed right next the entrance of their hideout then i started to absorb, shoot and reload my tendrils like trunks and killed all of them. Then i used all my heightened senses to look for survivors i found some and killed them too. Right after wipping out all of them, i took all the missing elders and put them on their respective homes using Wildmutt's sense of smell to do the job. After an hour i came back and left the room. No one noticed anything. Hahaha! All according to Keikaku! Everything went well after this and we left.

**Outer space**

In outer space in Vilgax's ship. Within the ship, spotlights highlight SixSix, Kraab, and Tetrax Shard. Vilgax's voice comes over on an intercom, announcing the start of their audition. A swarm of robot drones come in to start a fight. First up is SixSix, who makes short work of most of the robot drones. Kraab uses his claw to dispose the last of them. Then the same robot droid that Ben had fought before shows up. Tetrax flies right towards it and the robot blasts him but is hardly affected by it. Tetrax then smashes through the droid in a single blow. With Vilgax impressed, he offers a reward to the hunter that retrieves the Omnitrix. He then sends them to Earth.

**Back to Earth**

At some point on the road Grampa had the idea of take us to some place to train. We arrived at a desertic place , and grampa Max made an improvised training field with a lot of obstacles and targets. While Ben was training and grampa talking about the importance of thinking and not just muscle everything for the win, me and Gwen were just watching form aside. And my God Ben is slow as fuck! Even boosted by Diamondhead's strong and agile body, Ben moved like a concrete block! It didn't took long till he screwed up and almost hit Gwen and me with crystal shards. Of course i easily dodged the shots, but one of the shards hit the sunscreen tube and it spilled all over Gwen's head that was hiding under the table. That aroused me a little not gonna lie, but i decided to ignore it and went back to the RV.

We decided to get back on the road, then suddenly, the RV sputters and breaks down. Me, Ben, Gwen, and Grampa found ourselves in an abandoned mining town, called Slaterville. Grampa founds the cause of the breakdown. One of Diamondhead's stray diamond shards had hit the fuel line, puncturing it. Ben suggests for his help by going alien, but Grampa insists on doing it himself. With nothing to do, he decides to check out the town. Grampa asked me and Gwen follow him so he doesn't get into any trouble. Max surely likes to raise flags don't he? *Sigh* What a pain! By now the bounty hunters already found Ben i guess.

When arrived we saw Ben fighting them, and i let everything happen as it should be for Tetrax to become our ally. Then we got back on the road and left. But not forgetting to Analyze all of them, their armors and weapons included. Good, very good! With everything recorded, i decided to create my first power suit. I only need it to be resistant to great strain and have good defense, after all i don't really need it. It's just to hide my identity but it has to look cool, alien and tactical at the same time. And i have the perfect design for it, the bio-boosted armor Guyver 1. When you think about battle suit you have to think about one of these babies, that can literally fire mini black holes! By now i'll wait for Ben to unlock Cannon Bolt for me to use it's shell as the outer layer of the armor.

During our trip, Gwen notices an advertisement for a circus and she and Max want to go and i agreed, but Ben tries to get out of it. Finally, he concedes and the circus is very crowded, but Ben appears to be distracted. We all know that you're afraid of clowns Ben, but don't worry i got your back! I let everything happens just like in the show, but right in the middle of Zombozo's presentation i turned invisible and left to investigate his emotions sucking machine. I analyzed everything the machine, Zombozo, and the Circus Freaks. And i discovered shocking informations that weren't showed in the series. It seems that Zombozo isn't alive but better saying he is a psionic entity that inhabits a dead body and control it using possession. While the Freaks, are mutants altered by psionic energy. And i found even more information about the psionic energy it seems that it's not only psychic waves, but it's directly connected to the soul or life energy/force of a person.

This means that Zombozo is feeding from the souls of the innocent people. He's not an emotional vampire but a soul vampire! I didn't even thought 2 times for me to absorb and recreate the powers and effects of Zombozo and the machine. Suddenly i felt that i could directly access my soul energy, and could manipulate it with a certain level of freedom. Then i discovered that i could condense it into a single point and shoot it like an energy blast. This ability is too powerful to let be in the hands of a clown! I'll wait for the opportunity to kill Zombozo, but not in the old fashion way, but just like he did whit those people, sucking out all the soul energy from his body turning him into dust, and completely destroying his psionic conscience, so that he doesn't possess another body. Creepy as fuck! I had an idea! Muhahaha! *Evil maniac laugh*

Using my shape shifting ability, i turned into Ghost Rider and made a whip of flames, then i binded Zombozo right when he was trying to scape from Ben after supposedly exploding. Letting him binded i got close to him with a flaming skull, and laughing creepily whit a demonic voice. When he saw me, he got terrified and started to sweat then pulling his face close to mine i said:

_ "I smell the sin on you. No one escapes their crimes."

_ M-monster! - Zombozo said terrified.

_ "A monster like you deserves a monster like me. Your soul is mine!"

Whit that said i started to suck all the soul and psionic energy from his body, while intensifying the temperature and flames completely killing Zombozo and turning him into ashes. When i was sure that Zombozo really died, i whipped the ground with the flame whip, and said:

_ "The wicked will burn. Ashes to ashes. The Spirit of Vengeance rides this night!" I said bursting in flames turning invisible fading away.

I quickly flew invisible towards the team turning back into human to create the illusion that i was by their side this whole time. And it fucking worked! Hahahahah! I laughed inside, and talked to them like i was with them all the time. Going back to the RV we got back on the road. This is gonna be a fun trip!