Two Halfs, One Heart

Chapter 14- Truth

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Ben was now back to normal. "Got to go," He said in a deep voice. "Ben, Paige, are you two all right?" Max asked us, concerned. "Barely. Some nut job in there nearly roasted Paige and I," Ben said. "Max?" "Phil!" Then Max and the man hugged. Ben and Gwen looked at me, I just shrugged. "You know this guy, grandpa?" Ben asked, confused. "Well, you could say that. We used to be partners," Ben and Gwen looked at me again. I took them aside. "Even with everything Max told me about his past, he never mentioned a partner. I always thought he worked alone," I said.

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Then, the three of us shrugged, unsure about all of this. "Yeah, she's not much to look at... but it's better than that old rust bucket of an RV you used to drive," Phil said. Letting the comment slide, Max said, "So, how are you?" "Pretty good, considering I just bagged a havoc beast. Seems like old times." "You bagged it? As if! It was Ripj--" Ben began to say but Max cut him off.

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"Havoc beast, huh? I haven't seen one of those... since the one we caught terrorizing Denver years ago," Max said. "Yeah, well, good thing I was around. You know, once a Plumber, always a Plumber. You ever think about getting back in the game, Max? You know, relive the glory days?" Phil said. "No thanks. I'm retired and so are the Plumbers," Max said, turning down the offer. "Yeah, thanks to you. Once you took Vilgax out of the picture the work just seemed to dry up," Phil said. "Why do I get the feeling that this guy is blaming Max?" I thought.

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"I'm just doin' my job." "Yeah, anyway. Looks like things are picking back up again. In fact, I'm starting my own freelance Plumber business. Wow! Cool watch, it looks so familiar," Phil said, as he noticed the Omnitrix. "It ought to, it's the Omni--" Ben began to say before Max and I pulled him away. "Look at the time. Well, we need to go. Nice catching up with you, Phil. Happy plumbing," Max said.

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"I don't get it, how come you didn't tell Phil about the Omnitrix?" Ben asked his grandfather. "That's on a need-to-know basis only, Ben. That's goes for your magic too, Paige. The less people who know, the better," Max said. "Guess that's your answer to everything, isn't it, grandpa?" Gwen asked. "Why don't we start up the Plumbers again? You, me, Paige and Phil. We'd be super alien butt kickers!" Ben said, excitedly.

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"Ben, I'm flattered you appreciate what I did... but you can't bring back the past." Suddenly, we heard Phil's voice, "Max! If you're out there, I need help. Two Vulpamancers tearing up a meat processing plant on Highway 44." "Vulpamancers?" Max questioned. Then we turned around and went to help. "All right! The Tennysons are back in plumbing business," Ben said, excitedly. Max and I shared a look, we had a gut feeling this wasn't going to turn out well.

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We arrived at the meat processing plant and could hear growling from inside. "I don't like the sound of that," Gwen said. "Me either, Gwen," I said, worriedly. "Don't worry, princess. I'm right here," Ben said, trying to soothe me. We went inside and saw Phil on the ground. "Phil!" Max called out to his old partner. "Max, thank goodness you showed up. Two aliens. Nasty! We're going to need a little of that old magic," Phil said.

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"No worries, we're on it," I pulled Ben aside. "Benji, I don't think that you should use the Omnitrix. I'm not just saying that. I believe the less people who know, the better. We don't even know Phil. I'm saying this because I love you and I want you safe," I said, worried. "Princess, please don't worry. Everything will be fine," Ben said as we want back to the others. Then we saw the aliens and they looked just like Wildmutt. "Friends of yours?" Gwen asked.