"So to get this straight." Said Mikoto as she walked back to their dorm with Ben. "We're about to be visited by an old friend of yours who looks like DiamondHead and used to be an alien mercenary. Plus you have to bring this wierd looking rodent guy along?"
"Yep." said Ben as he dragged Argit by the wrist with them. "That's about the gist of it."
"Hey!!" Said Argit. "I didn't choose to come on your little thing here, so you can stop with the whole rodent remarks now!!"
"Shut it Argit!" said Mikoto. "You seem to have forgotten that whole incident last month, so just in case you've forgotten, I'll just say if you don't close your mouth now I'll zap you till you're a parapalegic!"
Despite Mikoto's usual unfamiliar attitude towards Argit, they had met once before. Ben wasn't sure of the details that had occured, but by the time he arrived on the scene, it had been Argit who had needed the saving while Mikoto chased him around furiously sending heavy metal objects and lightning bolts flying in his direction.
"Look, I'm not that kind of guy anymore." said Argit. "I've gone totally straight now. I'm just an alien trying to see what kind of living he can make in this neck of the woods."
"Yeah." said Ben. "And I'm sure aliens regularly love to hang out in the one city that would disect them if they were found. Really smart choice."
"It's not as if I had a lot of choice!" said Argit. "All the underground alien communities on earth have been hit rough lately, so I thought if I scored a gig on the most successful Earth city, then maybe I would have it at least slightly made."
"What do you mean 'all the underground alien communities have been hit hard lately'?" Mikoto had heard of some of the secret alien towns that were scattered around the globe, it's where aliens were legally allowed to stay as residents on Earth until humans were ready to know about aliens.
"Everyone has been preparing for some kind of war." said Argit. "No one is selling food anymore, just weapons. And since food has gone scarce, residents are being forced to go outside into the human world just to find enough eats to feed their children. And whenever I've been asking for some eats of my own, those stupid residents just tell me 'Diagon is coming, best be prepared'. I mean who the heck is Diagon? A stupid gun enthusiast?"
Ben and Mikoto looked at each other. This was indeed worrisome. If the alien communities were indeed experiencing this much trouble then there was a chance more aliens might show up in Academy City and even try to get themselves an education here disguised as humans. Argit was right about one thing after all, the most dangerous city for aliens was probably also the most prosperous, especially since some aliens couldn't stand the lack of advanced tech on Earth. Academy City was a treasure trove of the only technology on Earth that had ever gotten close to level 4.
Ben looked at Argit. "This does sound bad, but I still don't think that's why you're here. You can try to sugar coat your lies with the truth all you like, but I'm not letting my guard down for a second."
"Well then you leave me no choice." said Argit. The quils on his back suddenly raised up. However, Ben and Mikoto had already prepared for this.
Just as Argit's quils shot out like little missiles, Mikoto stepped behind Ben who immediately turned into the humanoid rock and crystal ChromaStone. The quils rebounded harmlessly off of ChromaStone's impenetrable silicon compound skin.
"Aww!!" Argit shouted as ChromaStone picked Argit up by the wrist. "No fair!"
"Like you have ever played fair in your life you evil coniving freak!" Said Mikoto as sparks furiously jumped out of her bangs.
By the time Ben and Mikoto made it back to Ben's dorm, Argit had already attempted to escape eight times, which had resulted in Mikoto zapping him a total of eight times.
Mikoto kicked Argit into the room. "Now shut up, and don't get your filthy quills on the new furniture!! I helped pay for those!!"
"Y-yes your glorious Railgun Majesty Ma'am." said Argit in a frightened voice as he scrambled to hide behind an armchair.
Touma and Kuroko, who were in the middle of cleaning up from the Christmas party while Index sat at the dining table and devoured the leftover cake, looked up curiously. Truth be told, they had both already seen so many alien stuff, hanging around with Ben, that nothing surprised them greatly anymore.
"Friend of yours Ben?" Touma said looking at Argit.
"More like a big annoyance." said Ben. "Keep your distance, if those quills touch you, you're going to have a nice long nap for the next 2 hours or so."
"But Argit won't be trying anything like that anymore." Said Mikoto as her eyes flashed dangerously. "Will you Argit?"
Argit just gulped and hid even lower behind the armchair.
Suddenly their was a knock at the door, Ben walked over and opened it to find Tetrax standing there.
"I might be a few minutes late." said Tetrax. "But may I come in?"
20 minutes later, Tetrax was sitting on one of the couches sipping some juice that Mikoto had insisted upon.
Tetrax brought out some photos and spread them out on the coffee table. "I'm sure you have heard about Diagon the Destroyer?"
Mikoto thought hard. Ben's Grandpa Max had mentioned this to her once. "Diagon is some sort of extradimensional demon right? He was supposed to be the first alien who ever arrived on Earth."
"That's right." said Tetrax. "And ever since Diagon's arrival, many myths have sprung up about him, most of them being on Earth since that's the first planet he came to when he was in this dimension. The most recent myth I believe, being that Cthulhu creature that was created by that human writer H.P. Lovecraft."
"So what does any of this Cthulhu stuff have to do with Ben here?" Kuroko asked as she attempted to stop Index from raiding Ben's fridge by putting her into an arm hold.
Tetrax pointed at one of the photos he had spread out on the table. On it was what appeared to be a very ancient hieroglyphic drawing of the Omnitrix. "I found that under one of the Seven Inscriptions of the Appocalypse. The inscriptions were made by an ancient race of alien mages that once visited Earth. According to the inscriptions, Diagon will one day return to start another war between the entire Universe. Every one of the Inscriptions in different locations predicted the impending doom of the world except one. This one here predicts the coming of a warrior who wields the knowledge of all sentient life within one device."
"Okay.....that is a little wierd." said Ben. "But the Omnitrix is pretty legendary, they probably heard about it from somewhere-."
"That's impossible." said Tetrax. "Azmuth didn't start working on the Omnitrix until around 800 B.C. in Earth time. The inscriptions date all the way back to the time of Moses, which is pretty odd considering I found this in a Mayan tomb."
"That's crazy!" said Index, much to the surprise of everyone who thought Index was too focused on food to follow the conversation. "It seems like you're suggesting that Ben is part of some big old prophecy to save us!"
"I'm afraid the only way to be sure...." said Tetrax. "Is to ask the very ones who created the prophecy themselves. Plus one thing I'm sure of, is that Diagon is definitely coming back soon. You may not be aware of this, but the Universe is now in quite a lot of turmoil."
"You're not suggesting...?" said Mikoto.
"He is!" said Ben. "Road trip!! Which means I get to bring you guys into space!! (Again.)"
"Hey Ben. My ship is actually parked out back in cloaked mode." said Tetrax. "Why don't you go talk to Gluto a bit? I'm a little worried he might get bored and start wandering through Academy City... Oh and bring Argit with you, I don't really think I want to leave him on Earth."
Ben dragged Argit out the door. The moment Ben left, Tetrax gave Mikoto a serious look. "I hope you don't mind, but I would like a private word."
Mikoto and Tetrax walked into the kitchen.
"Listen, I know it's a little strange to ask, but I would really appreciate it if you to kept an eye on Ben for me...."
"Why?" Mikoto asked. "It's not like Ben needs protecting."
"Well...." Tetrax looked around for a moment. "I thought it would be best if I told only you for now since Ben and you are so close, but searching for the Ancient Ones who made the Seven Inscriptions is only a small part of our journey. Part of the way, we'll be passing by the Anur system.."
"Anur system?"
"One of the planets there is Anur Phaetos, the home planet of Ectonurites......GhostFreak's species."
Mikoto could feel the temperature drop in the room. "What are you saying Tetrax?"
Tetrax sighed. "Mikoto, I heard from Azmuth about Ben's brief rampage in Vilgax's ship."
"But GhostFreak is gone!!" Mikoto said a little frantically. "We beat him......didn't we?!"
"I'm afraid to say you only suppressed him that one time." said Tetrax gravely. "Right now Ben is in a slow return phase of an unconscious takeover. If we don't act quick, Ben is going to turn back into GhostFreak.........And I doubt anything will ever change him back."
Mikoto fell to her knees breathing hard. Not that....anything but that......She couldn't lose Ben to that nightmare again.
"There is something in Anur Phaetos that I believe might help him." said Tetrax. "But I don't want to tell Ben until the time is right, I don't think it would do to bring him such dark tidings now...........I know it's hard, but please don't tell him any of this."
"You know, it's odd." said Mikoto softly. "I always thought that if I was going to lose him someday, it would be in some fight to the death with some big villian or something......and I would hate that to happen.......But this way..........It's just too cruel for words."
Tetrax gave Misaka Mikoto a long look. Minutes passed before he spoke. "You love him......"
Mikoto didn't respond. She continued to kneel on the same spot in the kitchen.
"We leave in 2 hours.....If anyone else wants to come along.....they're welcome......But it's best that they are prepared for a long journey. You should use this time to pack supplies." Tetrax walked out of the room.
Mikoto continued to kneel there as a tear slowly went down her cheek.
It was was just too cruel........too cruel for words.