"We're going back!!"
Sokka could only growl this repeatedly as he steered the Rust Bucket around the area.
"Again, we agree Sokka, but we should land first!" said Katara. "You don't know how to drive this thing!"
"I've gotten the basics down thanks to the manual. I can do this!" said Sokka. "Actually, this feels unusually natural."
"Ben is okay right?" Toph murmured. "I mean, he was NRG."
"Of course he is. Ben told me all about NRG's powers. He's a living energy being. He devours energy as a means to gain more power. Explosions overall would only feed him. He's fine!" said Sokka. "We just have to find him!"
The Rust Bucket continued to circle the smoking wreckage of the Ladies Ship, but as they did, shapes began to move down below on the surface.
Sokka pressed a few buttons on the dashboard, and images on a hologram projected out, showing zoomed in images of Matriarch Soldiers, and Azula herself refusing the offered hands of a few other soldiers.
"No casualties." said Katara. "Figures. Ben probably knew how to control the explosion to keep deaths at a minimal.."
"That kind of thinking is not going to win this war." said Sokka with a sigh.
"But Aang never killed anyone either." said Katara.
"He's a monk, he's got a religious exemption or whatever." said Sokka. "But Ben.. well I guess everyone needs a code."
"We should peel out of here." said Toph. "If those survivors notice us-."
"They won't we'll be fi-" Sokka began to say right before a thud was heard on the hull of the Rust Bucket, and an alarm blared out on the dashboard monitor.
"We're being pulled in by something!" Sokka yelled as more thuds slammed onto the vehicle and he looked out the window. "Hooks on rope.. on a pully?! Wait!! I think we're okay!"
"What part of this is okay!?" Katara exclaimed.
"The Ladies only use their weird threads when they pull in stuff.. but this, I recognize this, heck I helped build this! The Grapply Grapply Whirly Dirly!!"
"You mean the Air Snatcher." said Toph.
"That's what Teo wanted to call it, but I think we both agreed my name was better." said Sokka.
"No I'm pretty sure the Mechanist agreed on Air Snatcher." said Katara.
"Whatever, in any case, I think we just stumbled onto a Resistance Camp! And even BETTER!!"
Sokka pointed gleefully at the hologram projector showing a zoomed in image of the soldiers pulling in the aircraft. One of them was a familiar looking face painted female warrior.
"SUUUKI!!" Sokka squealed with glee.
As the Rust Bucket was pulled down, ropes and hooks that had been launched from a rectangular cannon-like structure made of metal and wood now being wrapped around the Rust Bucket Hull and rooting it to the earth, resistance Fire Benders and Earth Benders stepped forth, readying their bending stances and weapons as Suki stepped forward.
"You're surrounded! Come out with your hands up!" Suki said. "And know that if you're a Matriarch who believes us humans inferior, we have more than enough firepower to obliterate you before you even use one of your stolen powers."
The door to the Rust Bucket opened, and Sokka leaped out, sliding on his knees over to the Kiyoshi Warrior. "GUESS WHOSE HOOOOME- POWWWW!!"
Sokka was sent sprawling as Suki kicked him in the jaw reflexively in shock.
"S-SOKKA!?" Suki blinked. "Oh jeez! Sokka!!"
Suki picked up Sokka and hugged him tightly before kissing him full in the mouth. "Oh I'm so sorry are you okay!?"
"I'd like extra pickles with my sandwich pweeeeaasee." Sokka moaned, his face frozen in a goofy smile.
"Oh man I really think I hit you harder than in the Boiling Rock this time." Suki muttered.
"Suki! Uh, is he going to be okay?" Katara leaped out of the Rust Bucket as, did Toph.
"Everyone hold your fire!" said Suki as the soldiers all looked momentarily confused. "E-everyone! Toph! Katara! I can't believe it, it really is you all! Wait, how did you get that thing!? We thought it was a Matriarch machine at first!"
"Oh Rusty!?" said Sokka, wobbling back to life. "That belongs to a friend of ours, which we could actually use help looking for if you can believe it."
"His name's Ben, he's an important new ally in the war." said Katara. "Actually, he's probably THE most important ally, it's that serious."
"Is he a brown haired boy per chance with a foreign appearance that can't be placed? And a strange device on his left wrist?" asked Suki.
"Oh! You heard of him!" said Sokka. "Ben 10 right? Upstart hero whose been taking down Matriarch associated thingies with the help of the Mighty Sokka and friends?"
"Um, no, nothing like that, though I don't doubt the Mighty Sokka having a hand in these victories." said Suki. "But we found your friend in the forest, and, well.."
A few moments later, Sokka and Katara were standing over a bed in one of the medical tents, looking down at a silent and sleeping Ben, whose face was pale with tubes going into his neck, while his left arm was out, the Omnitrix fitted with braces filled with observation magnifying glasses.
"The device blocked his arm, so we found a way to fit the tubes into his vitals through his neck. It seems that device keeps his injuries from getting too dangerous, so I don't think we would've been able to do this with anybody else." said the doctor. "Jin told us what the device is.. is that truly-?"
"Yes, it's called the Omnitrix." said Toph, stepping into the tent. "It allows Ben to transform into alien creatures. And as it turns out, the Matriarch is very scared of him. He's.. um.. going to be okay right?"
Katara looked over at Ben's bedside, where Jin was seated, putting a wet towel over Ben's head with a worried expression.
"I don't know." Jin whispered. "His body's healed, we drained the Spirit Particles from him, but he's still not waking up."
"His spirit has journeyed beyond the Spirit World.."
A familiar old man stepped through the tent. He was no longer dressed in traveling garments, but in Fire Nation garb and old armor that appeared as if it hadn't seen battle in quite a while.
"Iroh!" said Katara. "Y-you're-"
"Here? yes, where I am needed." said Iroh with a brief smile.
"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm at a loss, how are we meeting so many of our buddies here in one random place!?" said Sokka. "Is Zuko here!? ...wait.. YOU'RE HIDING MOMO IN YOUR SHIRT AREN'T YOU!?"
"No, I'm not hiding lemurs.. though I am hiding away quite a few bean buns I've eaten over the past 2 years since we parted." said Iroh with a chuckle. "It's good to see all of you again. When my messenger hawk told me that somebody fitting Ben's description was in such a state, I had to come.. and now I fear the situation is more dire than you all realize."
"What do you mean?" Jin asked. "Mr. Iroh, what's happening to my Ben..?"
"It appears the Omnitrix is quite a Spiritually Attuned machine. Much more so than I originally theorized." said Iroh, looking over the sleek watch. "I suspected that it might have Spiritual Properties when I first saw it the time I met Ben Tennyson. It's aura was quite unique. This Azmuth fellow was truly a genius surpassing any being who exists upon this planet, perhaps even the Spirits themselves. In other words, thanks to this device, Ben Tennyson has obtained a Spirituality similar to that of the Avatar."
"Meaning he can go into the Spirit World at will?" asked Katara.
"Perhaps? Or perhaps merely by accident, it's hard to say what his Spiritual Abilities might progress to. At the very least, he might even be able to transform into alien creatures while in the Spirit World itself." said Iroh. "Even so, this powerful spirituality gives him the ability to travel through the Spirit World's various exits."
"Exits?" said Sokka. "Wait, like come back here in Spirit form?"
"No, not that kind of exit, I mean the type of exit that allows him to travel to worlds even higher in planes of existence than that of the spirits." said Iroh. "I have traversed into the Spirit World a fair amount of times, and have done my own research regarding the matter. But the Spirit World is a plane of existence that exists on a higher scale than our own, though not too high, meaning that we can still physically exist within it, and influence it, but there are other planes of existence normally only accessible by gods and monsters.. and even they cower before it. Gateways to places that go far beyond the Spirit World. Far into the Origin of the very concept of Existence itself."
"Have you ever seen what's beyond those gates?" Katara asked.
"No, but the spirits have told me of what is beyond." said Iroh. "Infinite worlds.. infinite existences.. infinite realms.. infinite possibilities.. and at the top of it all, if where I believe Ben is headed is correct, his guide intends to have him meet the guardian of the Final Gate."
"Whose he?" asked Sokka. "Or she?"
"He is the avatar of the being behind the final gate, and therefore speaks for him. A being known by the name Umr At-Tawil in the common tongue of Ben's people before the great disaster 10 million years ago." said Iroh. "But his true name is in a tongue far older than time itself. He is the avatar of Yog Sothoth, the all knowing."
"Is Yog Bottle Broth-?" Sokka asked.
"Yog Sothoth." said Katara.
"Right him, is he a spirit or something?" asked Sokka.
"No, he is a god, one of the eldest gods." said Iroh seriously. "And not one anybody should regard flippantly or even with the slightest bit of ridicule. He is not to be underestimated. He is a malignant deity who regards those mortals who exist in our plane as mere ants to be ignored. Should he exist in our universe, he would be able to devour it in a single blink of an eye without much regard. He is the dark side of the cosmic energy and chi that binds things together. Even glancing upon his true form drives the sanest beings to madness.
"What the heck is Ben doing going to a baddie like that?" asked Toph
"He intends to find the answer, The Answer to answer all answers. The one that will win the war." said Iroh. "The reason for the Ladies, the reason for the invasion.. one that I do not even know, nor do the spirits. It is an answer that Yog Sothoth can answer. But it is not the wisest method to come upon this answer. If anything, Koh has chosen the riskiest path to helping Ben Tennyson defeat the Ladies."
"Ben.. just where are you?" Jin whispered, tears trickling from her eyes as she hugged Ben's quiet shoulders tightly.
******************
Ben opened his eyes..
He was 10 years old now. Older than his previous self, now wearing a black and white shirt, and green colored pants, the same clothes he wore during his summer vacation millions of years ago.
"Ahhh, do you remember more now?" asked Koh as he continued to tread along the path.
"Yeah." Ben looked up.
The sky was now covered in colorful violet stars and streams of light.. strange plants with mouths and eyes and buildings forged in non-euclidean geometry that strained the eyes with their strange shapes and their unusual physics.
Weird flame-like beings could be seen walking around upside-down on some pathways in the vast 'buildings' or sideways or even right side up, with half of their bodies walking right-side up somewhere else as if they were walking in two directions at once."
"Naljians." said Koh. "Strange as they ever will be. But we're almost there.."
"How many gates have we gone through?" Ben asked.
"9,000,456,002." said Koh. "We've been travelling for 8 billion years. But time has not passed for nary 3 hours in the world you come from, and you have not felt the passage of time, nor have I."
"H-how's that even possible?" Ben asked.
"If I tried to explain it, your head would probably explode.. literally." said Koh. "So what do you remember?"
"I was 10, when this thing fell out of the sky.." Ben muttered, straining his mind. "I... I became something more than just myself.."
"Hmmm.. intriguing, you're healing up nicely.." said Koh. "Ahh, here we are.."
Koh stopped before a stone archway, which he passed through. Immediately the world changed again..
They were now in a desolate world.. filled with rocks, pitch blackness and spires that towered into the black skies.
If the Middle of Nowhere were truly a specific place, then here was truly the middle of that middle. The most "nowhere" you could possibly be.
In front of Ben and Koh was a tall cloaked figure. The cloak covered its face, it's arms, its entire body like an ominous ghost of some sort..
Ben felt if he looked under the cloak, there would be no going back. He actually didn't know what would happen exactly, just that whatever it was, there definitely would be no going back. It was a strange and precise feeling that terrified him to say the least.
When the creature spoke, it was through telepathy, an echoing ancient voice, impossibly old in Ben's mind.
"I am he who stands before the Ultimate Gate.. and speaks for the great Keyhole who knows all. If you wish to know the ultimate knowledge you may step forth, but let it be known that a great price will befall thee for the ultimate secrets of existence."
Ben raised a shaky hand. "Uh, I don't want to know that really."
Umr At Tawil, who was truly just a puppet avatar of the Great Yog Sothoth speaking through him, tilted his head. "Hmmm? Curious. What other quest would you come here for? Oh yes, I already know, and it is an insignificant irritating thing. You want to know who the Ladies are..? The reason for your being 10,000,000 years late.."
"Uh.. right." Ben was back to his 16 year old self, standing quietly in front of Umr, sweating slightly.
"Such information is not worthy of my time, leave." said Umr.
"Master." said Koh. "I am sure you remember the debt I am owed? Answer that debt by giving the answer that both he and I require."
There was a pause..
"A debt is not well left unpaid." said Umr. "Very well. And what is your request Koh?"
"Merely to observe this boy and learn. As well as to see what true darkness lurks within him.." said Koh.
"Granted.. " said Umr. "Hmph, knowledge without a price, is it truly ever worth knowing..?"
"Only for us inferior mortals who would consider this knowledge useful in our pathetic puny existence." said Koh with a respectful bow.
"And you?" asked Umr, looking at Ben slowly with an ominous drift that sent chills down Ben's spine. "I suppose I should show you knowledge.."
"What about Koh, weren't you going to-?"
"I projected the information into his mind, it feels like minutes, but to those observing it takes only but a moment.. " said Umr .
"And is this.. the knowledge with a catch to it?" Ben asked. "The knowledge with a price?"
"No, it is mundane, boring mortal knowledge for mortal problems in your boring mortal universe." said Umr. "Knowledge that could've been obtained without coming to the center of all of existence and seeking the all knowing Yog Sothoth."
Koh shrugged his spindly legs. "This.. seemed quicker to me overall."
"Not like google exists for me anymore." said Ben. "Alright, give it to me."
Ben's vision flashed for a brief moment and he saw as if he was a disembodied form floating somewhere, an image of Earth during his time, with towering cities, lines of cars in the streets, ordinary non-chimeric animals...
A meteor of large size was burning through the atmosphere and approaching it.
"They arrived during the peak of your 21st century. The Ladies always started their invasion of a planet by hitting it with a disaster. Granted not a disaster powerful enough to erase the native population, but great enough that civilization would fall, and the victim race would be forced to repeat their rediscovery of society gradually.
"It took longer this time, as a few hundred years after, the Spirits emerged, holding back the Matriarch and spoiling the humans for more than 9 million years. But eventually after the emergence of the First Avatar 10,000 years ago, humans learned to live for themselves and started evolving once more.
"What? The Matriarch started their invasion that long ago? Why so much time dedicated to Earth?" Ben asked.
"They didn't dedicate much time? Not at all. Rather they've been here ever since the disaster they caused to reduce humanity to this state of advancement, and yet they haven't been here that long."
Ben thought hard, scratching his chin. "They created a disaster, to regress humanity so they'd be easier to invade.. and then, wait they cryo froze themselves or something until the right moment?"
"50 percent correct.. now as for what truly happened.. It is time you looked beyond your planet's atmosphere for a brief moment."
The vision zoomed out of the now desolate looking planet that was covered in fog, dust and debris from the meteoric impact... and now Ben was staring at the Earth from space, and just outside was-..
"Ships.." Ben murmured, looking at the sleek white and green crafts that hovered just beyond the atmosphere, a few just next to the International Space Station. "Not just any Plumber Ships! No way! They're still around after all this time?
Then Ben froze. He looked at the International Space Station. It looked fine. It hadn't fallen out of orbit, or fallen into disrepair. Even though the elements weren't there to erode or rust the metal, it still needed maintenance to stay there right?"
"This is just a past image you're showing me." Ben muttered.
"Yes, and no." said Yog Sothoth's voice. "It is both."
Ben's eyes went wide. "Oh shit.. OH shit.."
"Yes, you've figured it out haven't you? The greatest weapon of the Matriarch, how they are able to subdue countless worlds in spite not even possessing weapons on your planet that even match most of the foes you encountered.." said Yog Sothoth. "There it is.. feeble knowledge that is worth nothing."
Ben blinked as his vision disappeared and he looked upon Umr. "You're so powerful.. too powerful. That even if a black hole swallowed half the Universe, it would mean only as much as a fly landing on a leaf in your eyes."
"I have seen all in time and space. I knew you would come eventually, though dealing with your presence is still mundane as ever."
"Why?" Ben muttered. "We just me-."
"He sees and experiences all of time all at once and exists in past present and future at the same time.. " said Koh. "That is the power of Yog Sothoth's omniscience. Come we have stayed here long enough."
Umr chuckled, Yog Sothoth's ancient voice shimmering into Ben's mind like a malignant god filled with eternal disgust and amusement at the same time. "We shall meet again, Ben Tennyson, yes we shall meet once more, perhaps when Shub Niggurath finishes playing with you in that other place.."
Ben bowed respectfully to Koh and Umr. "Until then.. but I must return home.."
"Heheheheh, you think you're going back?" Koh whispered as his face morphed into that of a cackling monkey. "I brought you out here for answers true.. and yet.."
Ben glared at Koh as Umr stood aside impassively. "Yeah I figured. You're not exactly an honest spirit are you? I feel it, Yog Sothoth and Zs'Skayr have an oppositional relationship, he's not around right now to stop you from taking my face."
"You even figured out that much.." said Koh with an impressed voice. "Umr will not interfere here, our quarrel is nothing but a fight between ants. And the knowledge he granted me, I know everything now Tennyson. The Omnitrix. Such vast power, even to a spirit it is not something to be ignored, and yet that device has granted you spirituality to match the Avatar.. it is telling you of our secrets.."
"Yeah, I can't explain it, but it is, like right now, I can.. I can feel what you're feeling.. and its desire.." Ben said. "Not just for my face.. but for what's on my wrist."
"Glad we understand each other.." said Koh as his face returned to kabuki form, and he lunged in.
Ben grinned as he smacked the Omnitrix in a flash of green light.
"FRAGON!!"
The massive dragon-like alien opened his jaws and fired a massive metal bomb at Koh, which exploded with fierce light, throwing the centipede-like spirit horror backwards.
Dust filled the area, causing Umr's silent cloak to billow, as if in a fierce wind.
Dark aura exploded from Koh's body, sweeping the dust away. "This is impossible!! The Omnitrix cannot be used in the Spirit World! That defies logic! The device is on your body! The device you see on your spirit self is only a visual construct!! The device cannot transform the soul!"
Koh looked at Umr furiously.
"I showed you the knowledge for what you wished to know, this was not specifically what you wished to know." said Umr in an amused voice.
"Tsk!" Koh growled. "Even so.. I know everything else. I know your history, your power, and I am beyond you, a being of a higher plane, you cannot-."
"Oh just shut UP!" Fragon burst out of the ground just beneath Koh and wrapped around his body using his long serpentine body. "I hate it when the villains MONOLOGUE! Like Bla bla bla!"
Fragon deposited multiple bombs from his body that latched onto Koh with their robotic arms.
"KAABOOOOOOM!!" both the alien and spirit were engulfed in a huge fireball.
Suddenly the flames were blown apart as Fragon was sent flying back into the ground with a crash..
A massive shape loomed over the dragon-like alien.. dark.. shaped like a diamond with a long tail, and red markings sliding over itself like a horrible criss cross of shadows...
"Ahhhhh.. Koh, you continue and continue to fail me.. even when I had you lead him here.. to the Ultimate Gate of Gates.." said a demonic voice..
"Master Vaatu.. I have tried.." A kabuki mask appeared in the center of the giant spirit's body, Koh's most often used face. "Umr did not give us everything."
"Rather you didn't desire the right answers." said the massive being called Vaatu. "That device holds the power to release me. I care not what it was made for, that is the answer we received. Use my power!"
Vaatu's voice faded away as his body morphed into a massive mutated centipede creature with black armor and giant tendrils coming out of the top of his head, all of Koh's multitude of faces appearing in the center of the worm-like head as it towered at the size of a skyscraper over Fragon.
"As you wish.." Koh's faces all exclaimed.
Fragon transformed in a flash of green light, turning into Jetray who soared into the void-like sky, firing neuroshocks at the monstrous Demon Koh, who tanked the blasts easily as he used one of his many tendrils to swat the alien out of the air.
Jetray let out a cough as he smashed into the earth and then transformed once more, turning into NRG, who hurled out a powerful beam of radiation out of his visor at the demonic entity.
"You cannot defeat me as you have your other foes Tennyson.." said Koh as he moved easily through the energy beam as if it were just a water gun. "To me you are a bug, and I.. an impossibly massive obstacle that stands over the fools known as mortals."
Koh hurled down his tentacles, smashing them into NRG..
A green light erupted under the dark tendrils, and Koh's faces all gaped as something incredibly massive rose up before him, exceeding him in height..
Huge and humanoid, with large arms. White skin, red markings, four yellow eyes, armored metal feet and arms.. and a huge fin protruding from his head... it towered over him..
"If the obstacle's impossibly massive, then I just need to get WAY Bigger!" growled the gargantuan alien.
Ancient Gaurdian Titan: Way Big.
Way Big hurled a punch into multifaced head of the mutated Koh, sending the demonic spirit reeling back a massive distance, gauging a canyon through the rock of the silent cosmic world.
"NO!" Koh recovered and fired a massive dark blast of energy at the huge alien.
Way Big crossed his arms together and a giant blue beam comprised of cosmic energy slammed into Koh's dark spirit blast, driving straight through it and smashing Koh against a nearby sky scraper sized rock formation.
"I have the power of Vaatu, a spirit of 10,000 lifetimes!!" Koh growled. "You cannot defeat me!"
"Universe is a big place, might wanna tell your Vaatu guy that before he starts challenging aliens he's never met! Though I'm sure Yog Sothoth's already made that apparent!" Way Big roared as he launched himself into the sky and hurled a double kick into Koh's body, smashing him into the earth with a tremendous shockwave.
Koh hissed, slithering away before Way Big's hands could grab him.
He towered upwards hurling multiple giant blasts at the Godzilla sized alien, only for Way Big to deflect them with his fast punches. The alien hurled his hands outwards firing small cosmic bursts into Koh's body, making the creature flinch.
"HADOKEN HADOKEN HADOKEN!!" Way Big said, grinning as he continued throw the small cosmic jolts
"What even IS that!?" growled Koh.
"Ah no reference you'll ever get!" Way Big said. "SHORYUKEN!!"
Way Big sent an uppercut exploding into Koh, hurling the demon into the air.
"FALCON KICK!" Way Big let out a goofy jump kick that sent Koh smashing back into the earth.
"I love a memeable fight." Way Big said as he dusted himself off casually.
"DO NOT MOCK THE SPIRITS!!" Koh screamed, his tendrils gathering up all the immense power that Vaatu had given him, raising into the air, a massive sphere the size of a city, burning straight into the void heavens at the foot of the Ultimate Gate to all things.
Umr continued to watch silently as the sphere formed above his silent world, indifferent as the master who spoke through him..
Koh hurled the blast down at Way Big. "We are the reason.. WE ARE THE ONLY REASON that your species even lives after the Great Disaster the Matriarch caused. We are the only reasons you even have a civilization!! AN AVATAR!!"
"And we are thankful for that." said Way Big. "But.."
There was a flash of green light as Way Big disappeared, and Feedback leaped high into the sky, grinning wildly as sparks fizzled from his plugs.
"At some point, we're gonna have to do things ourselves." Feedback slammed his plug fingers and antennae and tail into the dark sphere of spirit energy. " Thank you for everything Koh. Without you I wouldn't have figured out what I needed to know."
Feedback gave the amazed spirit a face filled with true happy gratitude. "I won't forget this, but I really have to go now, also tell that Vaatu guy.. that I'll see him soon."
"Y-you.." Koh hissed furiously as the energy sphere drained into Feedback's body, transforming into sparking electricity.
"WHEW! urp.. that's a BIG one!" Feedback yelled as his eye blazed white, sparks hurling out randomly before he aimed his finger outlets down at Koh.
A blazing white light, exploding with static charge, slammed straight into Koh, filling the air with bright explosive power.
"RAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Koh reeled in slamming his tendrils into the lightning blast squeezing it, crushing it into a small sphere. "Y-you dare.. thank me!? I am the one who ended the Avatar because he hesitated on the final blow.. I am the one who killed his lover. I am the Spirit who steals faces! Who would THANK me!? Wh.. why would you-?"
"Because.."
Chromastone soared out of the dust, and his crystals were shimmering with multi-colored light unlike anything that the ancient spirit in all his lifetimes had ever seen, the eyes of all his faces wide with a strange awe..
"That's just how spirits are.." Chromastone murmured. "I get it now. You were the first who chose to help us because you saw what we would become, you lived with us, you died with us, all the while just lurking one dimension away, changing with our order and our chaos. You came to help us when nobody else could.. when the Plumbers were left frozen outside our world.. while I was left frozen within a cold metal ship in my grandpa's RV.. Even you Koh.. even Vaatu, you all answered, whatever your alignments you answered cause you knew the humans needed you.. and that's why the Spirit World exists so close to ours now 10,000,000 years later.. thank you.. so much."
Chromastone held out his hands as suddenly his crystals turned red in color, and the top crystal on his head also turned red, extending in length.
"There's lots of cosmic energy here.." Chromastone murmured. "No.. the energy of space and time itself.. this particular alien, is not somebody you can beat.. in a place like this! I'll see you again some time... KOH!"
Chromastone hurled a massive energy blast filled with rainbow light into the spirit.. and when the dust cleared, Koh was frozen in a large magenta crystal tower, shimmering in the deathly quiet world at the end of all of existence
"I apologize for bothering you." Chromastone said, looking at Umr.
Yog Sothoth's voice remained quiet, and instead continued to merely watch the alien impassively.
Instead a different voice spoke..
"Come on.."
A golden light in the shape of a different gate opened up nearby..
Chromastone turned around as he saw a strange short figure step out of the golden light beckoning him towards it.
It was a young boy's voice, a young boy, who had an arrow tattooed on his head.
"They're waiting for you Ben.. Sokka, Katara, Toph.. everyone.."
Chromastone reached his crystal hand to the light..
"A.. Are you-?"
The crystal fingers grazed the golden light, as the Avatar's hand took the hero's hand in his.
In that instant.. the world at the End of All Things.. disappeared..
Like a distant dream..
Leaving naught but the gate and the frozen spirit who dared to seek the power held by a single selfless mortal..
********
Ben gasped as Jin and Katara tearfully hugged him, holding him tightly. "Ga-ah? G-guys? And.. and the old guy too!?"
Iroh smiled at Ben. "So it seems your meeting went well?"
"Uh.." Ben stared for a moment, overwhelmed by the people surrounding him in the medical tent, the doctors who were all applauding, and Sokka who was wheezing with relief as Toph grinned.
Ben then looked back at Iroh, who seemed so calm, and yet silently relieved himself.
Ben smiled slightly. "Yeah, it had a few hitches, but I think I made a breakthrough.. doing.. er.. whatever I was doing.."
"Well it better have been worth it! Cause according to Iroh here, you've been taking a weird road trip to like.. everywhere and nowhere at the same time! Which makes no sense when I say it that way, but there you go!" said Sokka.
"Yeah." said Ben. "I know everything. I know WHY the world's like this! This Ladies have a weapon.. it's been speeding time up.. ALL over the globe!"
"What!?" said Katara.
"10,000,000 years within a SINGLE second.." said Ben. "The world in here may be 10,000,000 years older than the one I came from.. but the world outside our atmosphere. Is still the same universe! The Matriarch's greatest weapon is a Temporal Distorter, one of Azmuth's oldest inventions, stolen from him by the Matriarch! It's literally having Earth's time going hyper fast as the rest of the universe is still in normal time. It's why NO aliens other than the Matriarch have ever visited this planet in the past 10,000,000 years! It's why.. it's how they conquer other planets, regressing their civilization down to nothing, and playing the long game by establishing themselves as gods of their civilizations! And yet, even with the thousands of years it takes to do something like that, they were able to do that in an instant!! All because the planets had their time accelerated, conquering the world before the other denizens of the universe could do a thing to stop them!!"
Ben looked up at the sky. "There are ships out there right now! Just past our atmosphere, frozen in a slower time stream than we are! Inches from our atmosphere, and by the time time slows back to normal on Earth, The Matriarch will have conquered it!"
"Th-that's.. amazing!" said Katara. "But then.. how... HOW do we stop them!?"
"We destroy the distorter." said Ben. "We destroy the distorter and we gain help from the reinforcements. We destroy the distorter and we have what we need to drive the Matriarch off our planet. But there's one problem.."
"This feels like another 'it's in the Fire Nation' quote from Aang." Sokka muttered.
"The Temporal Distorter is in the center is in the center of Ba Sing Sei." said Ben.
"CAALLLLED IT!!" said Sokka.
"Ben.. w.. we don't have the resources.. the Resistance doesn't have the resources to mount that kind of assault." said Suki. "We can't just attack it now."
"I'm not saying we have to." said Ben, sitting up in his bed and clutching the Omnitrix solemnly. "There's one thing I'm going to do first."
"What's that Monster Kid?" Toph asked.
Ben grinned, his eyes showing a new flame of determination. "I'm going to free the Avatar, and we're taking Ba Sing Sei.. together!"