//------------------------------// // Talks // Story: Balance // by BioQuillFiction //------------------------------// After a week and a half of apologizing, gift giving and family time Ben finally heard a knock on the front door. “Wonder who that is…” Ben hums to himself, fixing his hood and tail and making his Assistant look like a bracelet before walking up to the front door and opening it. “Hello?” Before him stood a man in Keyblade armor, not Zeke. “You’re Ben, right?” He asked. “Yes I am Mr. Armored person. Who are you and where’s Zeke?” Ben asks. “You are being summoned to Daybreak to speak to the council about integration of this reflection, please bring two visitors with you to act as key speakers.” He said, opening a DTL behind him and walking into it.. “Luna! Trinity! Gonna need your help!” Ben calls out into the house. Trinity was the first to race down. “What happen, dad’s message said shit happened!” She said, looking around. “Bring Jenny, I just met a messenger from Zeke...cause he couldn’t appear himself for some reason.” The cloaked man says, worried about the situation now. Trinity took a sigh of relief at that. “Oh, I thought dad’s promotion did a thing.” She said. Luna came down before Ben could ask what Trinity meant. “Something about who Ben?” Luna asked, barely putting on a shirt as she came down. “We’re taking a road trip.” Ben says. “Oh, to where?” “A friend’s world.” Ben says while pointing to a DTL. “And there’s our ride.” Trinity walked into it, caution to the wind as she entered, Luna and Ben followed closely, Ben carrying the still sleeping Jenny on his back. Once in Daybreak the trio made their way up to the castle, stopping outside Zeke’s office. “Knock knock!” Ben calls out, ‘knocking’ on his door with his foot. “Enter.” Zeke’s voice calls out as they open the door. As they enter the first thing Ben notices is that Zeke has gotten a helper for the paperwork, stationed in a slightly smaller desk near the front door, and Zeke’s chair was rather low. “Oh, hey Ben…Your Luna, who’s the angel… and why is my younger cousin with you?” “I have a laundry list of shit to explain…” Ben sighs out. “Also…” Ben starts. “One...your chair is rather low...and two why do you look like Da-er Cript?” He asks, almost letting slip that word when he only want’s to call Den ‘mom’ at the moment. “Well, the thing with Cript I have no idea, coincidence likely, As for the chair…” Zeke slowly rolls his chair out to the side, showing Ben his legless form. “Core… tried to get me to activate my killing mood, I didn’t let him and lost my legs for it.” Zeke states, sighing. “What a dick.” Ben frowns. “And here I thought I had the worse situation to talk about…” “Let’s head to the lounge, more free room to talk.” Zeke looks at his helper. “Rich, take over for a while.” “Yes sir.” The stallion replied. The group headed out to the lounge, Ben’s Luna pushing Zeke against his wishes. Once settled, they began to talk more freely. “So, I ask again, who’s the angel girl?” Zeke asks. “This...would be my new sister and teacher, Trinity.” Ben says, putting Jenny gently down on a couch and putting her head on a pillow. “Still surprised she looks so harmless while sleeping when not long ago she tried murdering me with a children's card game.” Zeke chuckled. “She did do that, though she somehow did it without magic back on earth, she loves card games. And when you say new sister… did you finally marry?” “No, not yet.” Ben explains before sighing out. “Have you met Cript?” “Yeah, back when I was helping another survivor, John, cause Core and an apparent long lost brother of Core and God, had a fight and a good chunk of the world was fucked up. Cript… snapped his fingers, fixed the moon, clapped his hands, stopped the world from falling apart. He’s powerful, even offered me a spot in his family, but I said no unless I can match Core. If I can’t do that before my son Blake and daughter Nix turn one, then I’ll take the offer.” “Well I made a deal with Cript.” Ben starts. “Which is ‘only when I get the Humanity blade will I get all the demigod powers’.” He explains. “And here’s the side effects of such a choice…” Ben sighs out, standing up and fixing his tail and taking off his hood, showing off that he has a wolf tail and all the face changes. “So...yeah…” Zeke just stares at Ben. “Wow…So…your new sister is an angel, and from what Cript told me, your new mom is a furry?” “My mother is a six breast, twelve foot tall anthro wolf named Den….” Ben explains. “And she’s my mother and I am so happy that she is…” He says with a warm smile. “Six…breasts…don’t let Rune hear that, she’ll look for a spell to pull that off.” Zeke jokes. “But… wow, so…Trinity, is a demigod then?” “Yeah.” She replied. “Dad got a promotion.” She states happily. “Oh did he?” Ben asks, but shook his head. “No side tracking, I have a ton of crap to explain and I don’t need to get distracted.” He frowns. “So I mastered Fair Game.” Ben says, bringing out a single Nobody Card without having to ‘summon’ it. “So now I have eleven weapons left to master...and it’ll still be a nightmare to learn.” “Huh. Nice job. So what else happened on your reflection? Being a part of Cript’s family must be…interesting.” “I mean I have a bunch of other relatives living in Ponyville, but as long as I have mom I don’t care.” Ben starts. “But anyways, a Titan suddenly appeared on my reflection. And yes, I did just say ‘titan’. Destroyed all of Manehattan...only a hundred or so survived…” Ben says bitterly. Zeke gritted his teeth. “Core’s work?” “Actually… that’s from my realm.” Trinity says. “They are called shadow creatures, slightly smarter than heartless, triple in numbers, if not near infinite, and one common shadow creature for you, is equivalent in strength and speed of a novashadow. They make their way into realms via residue left over from realm travel, a gust of air carrying even a small amount of atoms can give them a trail, though, if they don’t have enough to go on only one trip can be made.” Zeke looked surprised. “Well, that’s a thing that we’re likely to face later on.” “Likely.” Trinity responds. “So… anything we’re missing?” “I made a bet with Jenny that if I beat her at her own game she cuts all ties with Core and tries to get a normal life…” Ben says. “I should add that...I couldn’t save your aunt but...I’ll try to save your family...whoever want’s the chance to have a normal life where their name doesn’t instantly cause people to try and attack them.” Zeke sighed. “Even those that would love a chance at normalcy, they won’t admit it or defect for three reasons, Josh would kill them, my grandpa would hunt them for sport, and their general fear. Being in public we all gained a fear of someone spotting us, was part of why when we rested it was usually in abandoned areas, forests, and the main reason we were always moving around. I’ve lived in almost every continent since I was born.” “Well I know two people I need to kill.” Ben frowns. “I’m willing to bet my life on having your family get the second chance they so desperately need.” Ben explains. “And you are also an important part to that.” He says. “Because I was told your family’s origins, and how someone fucked with your family in the 1500’s.” “That old witch story? It’s just a legend Ben, no magic existed on earth.” “Actually…” Ben starts. “Jenny explained that Josh knew more about it. And Trinity, along with Cript, explained that their is some weird and very bad blood circulating in every Ventral.” He explains. “Trinity would be better at explaining this cause….fucked if I know to be perfectly honest.” “Basically, you have Psychopath blood in you.” Trinity says. “I could have told you that.” Zeke says bluntly. “No, a Psychopath is someone who has become a physical representation of the fact of murder. Once that connection is made to that fact, they gain power from every murder ever. That explains your family’s Killing Mood rather well, the Psychopath blood absorbing the energy a body releases upon death, and no, not a soul, more like… the lost potential. Somehow back when someone gave your ancestor Psychopath blood, and since Psychopaths are strong enough to kill most high level entities, they can easily traverse between realities. Your ‘god’ must have let his guard down or this ‘witch’ forced her way in. Red eyes and black whites are the sign of a Psychopath.” Trinity explains. Zeke looked up. “So…that means Core is one. His eyes are exactly like that.” “I think there’s a difference between Core’s red eyes, which could probably be natural and not having weird demon blood, or it’s because of the shit he’s done to himself.” Ben explains. “I don’t know this is confusing.” “No, Zeke is likely right.” Trinity says. “Though, since Core has had no access to void he had no way to surpass his realms limitations, he’s as strong as a humanoid in this reality can become without traveling to another realm, meaning only I am likely stronger than him, and Ben here can now surpass him with time.” “I’m not entirely sure if I needed to go to another realm to be that strong…” Ben says. “I don’t know...but I feel like just mastering all my weapons will lead to something...a lot bigger than I originally thought…” “Maybe. Either way, when dad finally has the ‘routs’ into this realm open things stronger than Core will enter, you’ll need the training.” “Well I was going to have to train anyways because I have thirteen weapons to master. Now down to eleven but still.” Ben frowns, feeling like he’s the one that has the biggest ‘training road’ out of all his friends. “I’d go to train somewhere else, but without proper legs I’m kinda stuck in this chair.” Zeke says. “Don’t suppose you know anyone with good prosthetics? No world we’ve found has yet to have the type I’d need.” “Haven’t you looked for a Fullmetal Alchemist world?” Ben asks curiously. “Automail dude, you practically make suits of the stuff.” “I’ve tried, no luck. X says it’s either a world that fell before I got here of is too new for him to distinct from others.” “Your keyblade armor. Can’t you make anything with that? I know you have a shit ton of smart people that would know how to make those working prosthetics.” Ben explains. “Or hell, just find a world full of Dwarves, their normally master blacksmiths.” “We looked into it, but the problem there is that, I have no magic in me, other than this apparent blood stuff in me. Twilight says even if we did make it, only magic would work, but since I have no magic within me, it won’t work, and medicine, though largely advanced, has no methods of mechanical surgery for the nerves connecting to the metal limbs.” “Didn’t you tell me that you were a human keyblade?” Ben asks curiously, feeling like he’s pulling this out of his ass for some reason. “Or am I finally going crazy and spouting nonsense?” “No, I am now, but what’s that have to do with anything?” “I kind of thought that means you literally have magic in you cause you're technically magic.” Ben says. “Seems weird that a human keyblade isn’t magic in someway shape or form.” “A keyblades body can be made from anything when the keychain is attached, in this case, my heart, while my body now has a keyblades durability, and even those break. Unless I had magic before it happened, It’s like I’m a keyblade with a zero or negative magic number.” “Trinity…” Ben sighs out, rubbing his temples. “Mind helping cause I’m clueless here.” “Well there are prosthetics that my family can get you, things are a bit hectic there. Long story short, dad’s promotion made him a REAL god, he’s got his own realm to create and a lot of moving and such is being done right now, opening portals would be risky, but I do have prosthetics on me, kinda a rule to keep a city's worth of med supplies on you, though I don’t know how to attach them.” “Cripe…” Ben sighs out. “Wait...maybe…” Ben mutter before snapping his fingers, three doctor nobodies appearing. “I call these ‘Medics’, maybe they have the medical know how to attach prosthetics.” Ben says, looking over the three. “Do you know how to attach prosthetics to a person?” He asks. Trinity looked them over. “Maybe. The legs I have in mine will require only a small surgical incision, from what I know, but it’s in a rather…well, Zeke will have to be awake for it and it’s right over the nerves. Think you can handle that?” Trinity asks the Nobodies as they nod. “Well, you ready?” She asks Zeke. “If it gets me walking and a chance at Core again, I’ll muscle though it.” Zeke answers. The ‘surgery’ took less than an hour, and for Zeke, the incisions that the Nobody medics made was the easy part, once the legs were inserted in them he felt multiple vine like things grow through the still flesh parts of his legs, even in his bones. He managed to say conscious and once the pain had faded, he stood for the first time in two weeks. He, Trinity, and Ben were out in the castle gym, Zeke testing out the new legs. “As you can guess, it’s not ordinary metal Zeke.” Trinity says. “It’s monofilament, a metal Wolverine can’t cut though.” “Now that’s saying something.” Ben says in honest surprise. “How do they feel?” “Light.” Zeke says. “I expected them to feel heavier.” “That’s monofilament, light as aluminum, stronger than any metal in this realm. It’s combat leggings so there are… well, just feel for a small button.” Zeke felt along the sides of the new limbs, finding the small button near his still flesh part. He pressed it as a holster opened up on each side, a small handgun in each already. “Wow… they loaded?” He asked, taking them out. “Yes.” Trinity said. “Handy.” Ben says. “Think you’ll ever need a gun or you sticking with X and any other keyblades you normally use?” “Like John…if I need to I’d rather not get blood on any keyblade. And like I told him, if my killing mood ever happens… keep me occupied till it wears off, or kill me then and now.” Zeke said to Ben’s surprise. “You sure about that man? I mean sure Jenny said you were supposed to be the strongest of the Ventrals cause of your eyes but…” Ben says worriedly, not wanting to strike a friend down. “I don’t want to kill again…” “Josh only had one red eye, and when his killing mood happened he caused the marines and the NSA to get deployed on him, and about half of time square was completely destroyed, like a mini nuke went off. Mine will be worse.” “And that is where I can use Fair Game to stop you cold.” Ben says. “It won’t work.” Trinity adds. “At that moment he’ll be a Psychopath, nothing short of dad could stop him, so Ben, get strong fast…cause I will have trouble dealing with him when and if it happens.” “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the Hyperbolic Time Chamber here.” Ben frowns. “I can’t get that strong in such short time.” He says worriedly, feeling like he needs to get stronger that fast. “You should at least master your Knives then, you’d be able to match him in speed at that point.” “Or I could master my Scythe and use it’s hidden Doom property and make him weaker with each hit.” He brings up. “But yeah that’s true...well I needed to figure out what weapon to master next so glad to talk about this now rather than later.” “Just remember this Ben.” Zeke says. “If I’m in the killing mood and I pull out the guns… just use protect, dad taught me to never miss a shot.” “I can imagine.” Ben sighs out. “But I think sooner or later I’ll be something no one ever thought I could be.” Ben says, having had this strange thought in the back of his head after he mastered Fair Game. “With dad around, that is gonna happen.” Trinity says. “Though, with his new position our purpose is slightly shifted.” “Shifted how?” Ben asks curiously. “With dad a real god, or Admin now, he, nor us as his kids can fight specific battles. For example, I’ll be able to help deal with Zeke and his killing mood, but as for Core only you guys can fight him, I’m not allowed. Only in… special cases, can we hop in.” “Right then.” Ben nods. “But...that doesn’t include me right? Since technically I’m his son…” He asks worriedly, not wanting to just suddenly have a ‘you can’t do that’ sign bash his face in when he needs to help his friends. “Since you aren’t a full member of the family, plus this IS your story, shared with the others, that’s an exception. Afterwords though, it depends on the battle. Since dad is now… well, looking over this stuff, he might be able to bend some rules, but only if needed.” “My story isn’t going to end when Core’s dead that I know for a fact.” Ben says. “But where that story leads I have no clue…” He sighs out. “I think we can all agree that Cript is possible what happens next, but I do have a question. How did he go from having a god title to becoming a literal god?” Zeke asks. “All it said was that it was a payment for his last mission, whatever it was.” Trinity says. “Wonder how much the house has changed, I know the location is different now, but still.” Trinity ponders. “Yeah that’s true…” Ben agrees. “Hope mom’s okay with the move.” “They’re all likely alright Ben, I’m more worried about dad honestly, went from the fighter to the orchestrator, that’s the job of an admin, while the bad things are… largely random, it’s his job to pick the ‘heros’ and now that he’s an admin, we as half admins, yeah the curse added that, can’t take the ‘thunder’ of the heros.” “But..I am a ‘hero’...” Ben says worriedly. “You know what? Screw it I’ll learn more about this later Zeke’s probably either zoned out completely or just clueless…” “I get the jist of it Ben.” Zeke says, putting the handguns away. “Makes you wonder, now that’s he’s one of the most powerful beings, to just… create, how’s he gonna react to not being able to help when he can handle it so easy?” “Probably go a bit stir crazy not being able to fight things anymore.” Ben shrugs. “Anyways we came here because of council meeting and to see if you want to help Jenny or if I should be her ‘councilor’ on the way to a better life.” He says. “Also...does your family actually care about bet’s that they lose fairly?” “Only if it’s with another family member. Otherwise, well, she would have killed you in your sleep. I’d keep her sleeping til you get that blade, might try and get one too when I accept. Either way, with Core getting… more active and then this stuff from Cript’s realm, shit’s gonna hit the fan, fast.” “Yep.” Ben nods. “All the more reason to train.” Trinity said. “Look, even though it can technically be considered cheating your way up, dad can now give you all… boosts, for lack of a better word. Plus, if Core is, or is becoming, a Psychopath, you’ll get stronger faster.” “I made the deal that I would only get a power boost when I get the Humanity Blade, which won’t be for a long time because I need to master all my weapons.” Ben says. “Yeah, but I don’t mean the family boosts, I’m talking about… think of it as… an advanced level boost, or like finding a rare candy in pokemon.” “Oh…” Ben says while thinking about it. “Well that’s true...Zeke?” He asks, wondering what he thinks about this. “While a boost is welcome, with Core advancing and getting more aggressive with each step, we may have to take what Cript offers, he is now a real god, plus with him no longer being able to fight himself, this will ease his mindset about everything.” Zeke says. “Will the others be getting similar offers?” “Yeah, from what I figured he has a great interest in you… survivors? Anyway, yeah, if they haven’t already met him he’ll meet with them soonish.” Trinity replied. “Right then.” Ben nods. “So might as well accept the good power boost...by the by has there ever been a Hyperbolic Time Chamber in existence? A place where you can get a year’s worth of training in only a day?” “Yeah, dad has one in the vault back home, but like I said, opening portals won’t be safe for a while. Maybe… dad?” As Trinity said ‘dad’ Cript, to everyone's surprise, just fell out of the sky, face down. “Ugh…” He muttered. “Uh...you okay dad?” Ben asks with a worried look, wondering if he should help the poor guy. “I’m good.” Cript says as he gets up. “Changing from a ‘main character’ to an Admin has never been done before, power rush was insane and making a whole new… well, let’s just call it a creation, is mentally taxing. Just a tad dizzy, so what you up to? And when did Zeke get monofilament legs?” “Trinity said she had prosthetics on her, I summoned newly dubbed ‘Medic’ Nobodies and they performed the surgery very well all things considered.” Ben says. “I still wonder if they're supposed to be healers or if they’re supposed to be something completely different…” “Let me check.” Cript says, checking his Assistant. “Medic Nobody, no attack, only healing, and they only heal whoever they are ordered too.” He read off his device. “Why am I not surprised that thing could tell…” Ben sighs out. “But that’s good to know. Kind of thought I would have seen the things throwing out scalpel sharp thorns at people like medical ninjas or something.” “Meh, so what you guys need?” “Trinity said you can hand out power boosts like rare candies. Wondering if that’s true and if so is it alright if me and Zeke get it? And no it doesn’t affect our ‘deal’.” Ben says, adding the last part cause sometimes ‘deals’ can be pretty important to people. “Fair enough.” Cript says. “You are among a variety of heroes in this realm, so it is technically my job to help. Let me think on what can help here…. Oh. Well here’s one for Ben, this is usually either a one in who knows how many chance of getting, but I think this will help you out.” Cript held out his hand, to which Ben shook it as a sudden headrush hit him hard. “Sorry about that though.” Cript says as they stop. “Fucking headrush…” Ben grumbles, holding his head as he tried to get his bearings back. “So what’s the power?” “It’s the same ability that helped me train stupidly fast and learn crap impossibly fast. Copycat, any info, technique, or even power you can copy it almost as fast as you saw it. If it’s an attack of someone stronger than you the one you copy and do will only be half as strong though.” “Makes sense.” Ben nods. “Thanks...dad.” He smiles, wanting to tell him that after he told his story to his family. “No problem, now for Zeke…” Cript thinks, wondering what ability to hand him. Cript snapped his fingers. “Got an idea.” Cript walked up to Zeke, placing his thumb on Zeke’s forehead. Blue electricity and a migraine in Zeke’s brain soon followed as he went to his knees. “Yeah… that was gonna hurt more now that I think about it…” “The Fuck was that?” Zeke moans, clutching his head. “Blunt answer, I reworked some of your brain’s neural pathways, and gave you power over electricity, well, we call it electronium back home, but it’s generally the same thing. It’s not enough to do much with, but you will have faster reflexes and keener senses. Enough to, oh say… dodge bullets.” Zeke finally managed to stand, doing his best to grin. “Nice.” He said, still holding his forehead from the migraine. “That’s good to hear.” Ben nods. “But how’s mom? She doing okay with the move?” “Oh, Den is good.” Cript says. “She’s also………VERY pregnant…. again.” “Why?” Ben asks, wondering why he said ‘very’ like that and worried about things now. “Let’s just say that… well, demigod children aren’t born like normal kids, they’re ready to be born minutes after they… conceive. Though, they don’t actually need to be born then, that’s actually up to the mother, Den has always had large litters, but now, well, explaining this is… not easy. Basically… do you really want me to flat out say it?” “I already have Trinity as a sister how many more brothers and sisters will I suddenly have?” Ben asks. “Well… they’ve gone from one to nine, and no not always was the nine from wives like Den… to basically… well, how many sperm cells are in… well, a shot, that’s how many, though, it’s… well she looks nine months pregnant but with how her body is now she’s holding… billions…” Ben looked between Trinity, Zeke, and then Cript, and then placed his face into both of his hands. “The...the fuck….” Ben whimpers. “Den’s not the only one though… all your mothers are… like that, physically they look nine months with one, actuality… they have billions. Guess they got tired of not getting the full pregnancy experience?” Crips says unsurely. “Zeke….” Ben says, looking up to the man with a hilariously sad look. “Help…I can’t…” “I ain’t joined yet, and I’m disturbed.” Zeke replies. “Just get used to it.” Trinity says. “It will not be the weirdest thing you all see, or hear, in your lives.” Trinity finishes bluntly. “I suppose there was a good reason for getting a bottle of scotch the first time I met mom...besides the fact I told her and my girlfriends how I lost my parents…” Ben says. “You might want this.” Cript says, tapping on his Assistant as a large keg appeared with some mugs. “Asgardian…doesn’t give me a buzz but you’ll need it.” He walked over to the keg, replacing the mugs with small shot glasses. “That is really all you’ll need.” He finished as he vanished in a flash of light. Ben decided to be the one to first pass out from alcohol poisoning. “Please stop me before I do something stupid.” Ben says before gently getting his shot glass full of Asgardian mead. “Here’s to hoping I forget what my dad just said.” He says before downing the shot glass. No sooner did the liquid pass his lips, Ben fell over in a drunken slumber. “Wow… effective…” Zeke said, looking between his one shot drunk friend and the keg. “I best take him home.” Trinity said, pulling the sleeping Ben over her sholder. “Lightweight.” She said, summoning a mug of her own and dipping it into the mead, downing it in under a minute. “Huh, apple, but a hint of raspberry.” She said, tossing the mug and walking into Daybreak, grabbing Jenny before heading off, leaving Zeke with the mead. “The fuck do I do with this?” He asked no one, looking over the keg. Ben had snoozed off the Asgardian mead for the majority of the day, finally waking late into the night. Only Rarity was with him in the bed, the others were not present. Though, in his hungover state, he barely had the sense to go back to sleep, getting up to look for them instead. “The fuck happened?” Ben mutters, his head screeching in pain. He very stumbly walked over to the bathroom, splashing cold water and taking some headache medicine Zecora had stocked up on, the magic and herbs taking some of the pain away. After two more quick sips of the rancid tasting potion, his headache was minor enough to ignore, though he was sure a bright light or loud enough noise would be enough to spike the pain back. “Fuck asgardian mead…” Ben mutters, holding his head and walking downstairs, not caring that he was only wearing a white shirt and his underwear at the moment. “Hello?” He mutters, hoping to find someone else at home besides Rarity. As he walked downstairs he could hear laughing and small talk, followed by a familiar voice. “How much longer will he be out?” The voice of his new mother Den rang in Ben’s ears, followed by the painful memory of what Cript had told him before drinking the one shot of Asgardian mead. “I’m here Mi-I mean mom…” Ben says, fixing himself to not say ‘milf’ cause that would cause his head to cave in even worse than his crippling hangover. When he finally got into the living room he saw Den surrounded by his girlfriends, and to his surprise Luxu, Time and Sweetie Bell were there. True to what Cript said, Den did indeed look very pregnant, though just how he imagines she’d look with a normal litter size for her species. “Morning pup.” Den cooed, not wanting to spike Ben’s obvious hangover. “Morning mom…” Ben mutters with a smile, his tail wagging gently at seeing his mother again. “How’s pregnancy?” “Filling.” She joked. “While I don’t mind at all, I’m getting used to walking around this big again, before the others and I did this we would give birth often the next day, left us feeling rather… cheated.” She explained. “It’s alright mom…” Ben says. “Uh...does your breast milk cure hangovers?” He asks curiously, still holding his head in minor pain. “We’re out.” Time, Luxu and Sweetie said, running for the basement. Den giggled at that. “I guess not everyone is open the the idea of continuous breast feeding. Yes Ben, it does, just be wary of my belly.” “Thank you...but isn’t there a milker around to help keep me away from your belly?” Ben asks, looking at Pinkie and Luna specifically for that reason. “We…hand milk…” Luna admits sheepishly. “Feels kinkier.” “Oh…” Ben slowly nods. “Well...okay then. I suppose I’ll just have to be careful...also I’m worried that that ‘hand milk’ will...lead to the bedroom fun…” “I’ll go buy a milker.” Pinkie says, jumping out of the room. “I think the pawn shop has one for sale, just needs cleaning.” With that, Pinkie jumped out of the house. “I don’t want a pawn shop milker used on you girls...or mom…” Ben mutters. “Anyways...what are you doing here mom? Besides...being a convenient hangover cure?” “I told you I was gonna come by and visit again, though, your siblings I brought ran off to look around.” Den explained. “Some of my siblings?” Ben asks. “Where did they run off to?” “Squirrel is likely exploring around, Tiara and Scootaloo are probably late night shopping with Trinity.” “Wait...why are you talking about Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo?” Ben asks curiously. “Remember sweetheart, multiverse of multiverse. They may exist here, but these are… some, of the reflections we adopted/saved. Diamond Tiara was saved since her world… well, I’d rather not say, and Scootaloo and Squirrel were adopted back when Cript only had four wives.” “I understand.” Ben nods. “Well...let’s hope our world’s Diamond and Scoots don’t see them...I know two of them will freak out…” He says sheepishly. There was the distinct sound of gunfire outside, causing Ben to run outside, and quickly put on his cloak. Out near the Everfree, he saw an anthro Diamond Tiara, and Scootaloo, both dressed in some kinda strange armor, shooting at each other. Diamond Tiara with a shotgun, and Scootaloo with twin laser pistols. “You are not winning this one!” Tiara yelled, firing off a shot that the Scootaloo dodged with ease. “You need to work on your aim sis.” She retorted. “WHAT IN ZE FUCK!?!” Ben shouts. The two stopped, looking at Ben confused. “Uh, dude, you interrupted our match?” The Scootaloo said. “Yeah, I was finally gonna break her win streak.” Tiara added. “I don’t give a racoons right ass cheek right now.” Ben says, walking up to the two and the mares seeing the obvious worry on his face. “What was I supposed to think when I immediately heard gun fire, only to see you two trying to shoot each other huh? Laugh it off and say ‘oh it’s just a silly thing they do all the time’?” He asks, his tone adding the worry he was feeling at just seeing the two trying to shoot each other. The two looked at each other, then back at Ben. “Duh!” They said in unison. “Aren’t you the new kid?” Tiara asked. “The one that’s the main cause of his parents collective suicides yes.” Ben says bluntly. “And I’ve barely been apart of this family for more than a week and a half and I still have barely looked into this...so just suddenly seeing family trying to murder each other isn’t really that good of a sight. And yes it was practically trying to kill each other when I see laser pistols and shotguns involved.” He huffs. To his surprise, the two started laughing. “He thinks these things can kill us!” Scootaloo yelled mid laughter. “Yes yes, laugh at someone actually worried for his new siblings safety. That just helps.” He says, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “Great...just fucking great. I show worry for people and I get immediately laughed at...thanks.” He says bitterly, holding his head in pain from his hangover acting up. “Hey, you didn’t know these things can’t kill us.” Tiara said. “Frankly they bearly sting when we get hit, plus the regen factor is a welcome when fighting combat practice or live combat.” “Well I wouldn’t know that because I’ve barely been apart of this family and all my fights so far have been, besides training, life and death.” Ben frowns. “I don’t even have the special power boost you two have because I wanted to get stronger on my own before getting it...but I’m just rambling like an idiot and no one cares. Just like older siblings should right?” The two looked at each other again. “Uh, we’re four years younger than you.” Scootaloo said. “I’m taking the ‘older’ part because you’ve probably been apart of this family longer than me.” Ben shrugs. “Cause you know, age is one thing, age as a demigod is another.” “We’re still only fourteen.” Tiara said. “Cript adopted me about a year ago and Scoot’s here was back when dad had four wives so… five years ago?” “Six.” Scootaloo corrected. “Well congratulations.” Ben sighs out while holding his head in pain. “And you’ve also spiked my hangover pain...christ I’m not drinking that Asgardian Mead again…” Scootaloo poked a finger at Ben’s head. “Detoxify.” She said, his hangover gone as if someone dumped water on Ben’s head and it washed off. “Okay thank you…” Ben says with a little smile. “Don’t mention it. Still, where the hell is Squirrel?” Scootaloo asked, looking around. “He better not be-” She was cut off when an anthro Thestral appeared behind her, a sword through her chest. “Oh real mature.” She grumbled, pushing the sword out as her wound healed in seconds. “I still win.” The thestral said. “Who are you and why are you named Squirrel when you're a thestral?” Ben asked. “I am Squirrel, and I was named that because before dad picked me up I was the town orphan/thief who lived in trees.” He replied. “Ah, makes sense.” Ben nods. “So...fan of swords huh?” “Back in the village I grew up stealing daggers and kitchen knives to hunt with, after dad adopted me I kinda… kept the habit. So you’re Ben? I heard you got Keyblades, among other things.” “Thirteen different weapons actually.” Ben says honestly. “From a deck of cards to ethereal blades, lances to claymores, shields to tomes actually.” Ben shrugs. “Want to see them? I sadly only mastered two so far but hopefully I’ll master another.” “How about a quick keyblade match?” Scootaloo asks, her keyblade appearing in her hands. It had an odd design. It was a cloud with wings at the top, gold pillars ran down from it to a dark base where the grip and guard was a dark cloud with what looked like red rain starting to fall. They keychain was equally odd, a black and white cloud with a blind eye. “Been awhile since I used Fate Splitter here.” “Is that your Keyblades name?” Ben asks before summoning his keyblade. “Meet Reunion.” “Nice.” Scootaloo said, grabbing Fate Splitter by the grip, she tugged on it, and the Keyblade split into two, the colors changing as it did, one was all bright clouds, the other was dark clouds, a blood red wing, and the gold on the blade was rusted looking. “Bet yours can’t split into two.” “I don’t know what my keyblade does honestly. All I know is that this keyblade is literally me and became this when my heart became whole.” Ben explains before summoning his ice shield. “But I normally like using a shield along with Reunion. Remember I don’t have a healing factor...don’t have the standard demigod powers the special bundle gives.” “Meh, I’ll go easy then.” She said, jumping across the field in one leap. “Three hits wins!” She called out, taking a stance akin to Sora in Valor form. “Well this is gonna hurt.” Ben mutters while raising his shield and sword in a stance like that of a Spartan. “Who’s the ref?” “I’ll handle it.” Squirrel says, he and Tiara standing on the sideline. Ben and Scoot’s nodded. Ben blinks twice and Scootaloo was already a foot away from him, too his shock, when she came in for a slash, he, without even thinking, did the same, their blades meeting in a cross as Scootaloo’s eyes went wide. “No way. You got the copycat ability too?” “Well Dad said I’d need it.” Ben says honestly, unable to do much as Scootaloo’s strength was keeping him from counter attacking. “This just got interesting then.” Scootaloo jumped back, readying her blades to find a weak point in Ben’s copycat ability. Ben took the initiative and dashed towards Scoots, stepping down and swinging both his keyblades at her a lot faster than he’d originally thought he’d go. She jumped into the air, and slammed her Keyblades on Ben’s back. “Point one, me.” She said, stepping off her partly flattened brother. “Ow…” Ben mumbles before getting up and getting back in his stance. “Hmm…” He hums before switching his stance, this time his hands crackling with energy as he got into the stance of Sora’s Master form. “Let’s hope this works.” To his shock, his white cloak crackles with energy, turning a distinct pattern of yellow. “Oh, you can do that?” Scootaloo asked. “I had no idea I could do this…” Ben says honestly. “I thought only a specific person could do this but apparently not.” He says before taking a deep breath, his magic, strength and speed feeling so much better now that he’s in this form. “I just wish I had a drive gauge here to tell how long I can hold it…” He mutters bitterly. “Bottom right of sight, don’t you keep that vision sensor on battle mode?” Scootaloo asked. “You know, your Assistant and chip X?” Ben sighs out. “Now that you tell me that I just noticed it.” He says. “Probably too focused on the person to see the bars and all that.” He says, now noticing his drive gauge, his health and all the other things a Kingdom Hearts hud would have. “Anyways, Master Form here we go.” He says, cracking his shoulders before jumping into the air slightly and bolting after Scootaloo, his Keyblades swinging in a giant circle towards her. She met both his keyblades with one of hers, her armor suddenly turning a familiar pattern of red. “I prefer Valor honestly, I like the speed.” In a red haze, she was behind him. Ben’s copycat kicked in, turning around and blocking her attack before he even realized what happened. The two stepped back. “Hope you put that copycat to good use, you learn a lot about people when fighting them with it.” “In more ways than one apparently.” Ben says honestly, before he twisted around and a forceful wind followed by a keyblade tried smacking her back. She reacted by unfolding her wings, which Ben actually had not noticed, and took the the air, casting Thunder spells and throwing strike raides at him with her other keyblade. Ben countered with Reflect, a dome of magical glass appeared and blocked and deflected all her attacks, before he dashed and swung his keyblades at her, the explosion of Reflect caused helping add to his attack. Scootaloo blocked them, flying in a circle around Ben, firing a barrage Mega Flares. Ben kept up his Reflects, noticing that his mana was dropping quickly with the constant amount of magic he was forced to use. “Yeah, Mega Flare sure is fun to use isn’t it!?” Ben shouts at Scoots, not entirely liking his situation that he couldn’t stop. “Only when you can shoot off a lot.” Scootaloo replied, she was about to shoot off another barrage of Mega Flares when- “Kids, stop playing and come inside, it’s late out.” Den’s voice called from the distance. “Yes mom.” Scootaloo said, stopping her attack and flying down to the ground next to Ben. “Let’s pick this up some time later.” She said, walking over to Tiara and Squirrel. Ben nodded, before his Master Form ended and he tried taking a step forward, before doubling over in pain. “Okay….ow….too much master form…” Ben groans. “Uh...little help? In a weird amount of pain right now.” He says, not sure if it was because of his reflect magic doubling back at him or if it was just because he went into Master and Valor form for the first time. Squirrel walked over, casting a healing spell Ben didn’t recognize and helped him up. “Yeah, copycat must have taken a toll considering the level difference between you and Scoot’s, even if she did hold back.” “I also think it’s because I suddenly got a new ability my body didn’t originally have…” Ben sighs out before standing straight up again. “Well let’s see.” Squirrel grabs Ben’s arm, bringing his Assistant out and looking through the stats menu. “Yeah, well according to this you received master form as a level bonus nine levels ago in your spar with Scoot’s. That much leveling so fast probably messed with your body also.” “I’m going to need a major explanation about all this later because I have to get back and meet Zeke, I have a council meeting I sadly forgot about.” Ben says, gently taking his arm away from Squirrel. “I just hope I’m not too late.” He says while fixing his cloak’s hood and covering his tail. He opened a DTL, told them to let his girlfriends and mom know he went to finish up some work. When Ben walked through the DTL, he was met with a rather angry looking Luna. “You forgot about me…” She said in a deadpan voice. “I’m so sorry Luna…” Ben mutters, lowering his head bitterly at sadly forgetting his girlfriend. “Just...too many things…” He sighs out, knowing he screwed up royally and thinking she’d hate him for this. “While I’m made you left me I did have a fun time, Rune and I traded some… fetishes and I thought of a good way you can pay me back for this.” She stated. “I’m not going to get pregnant.” Ben looks at her dead in the eye with a stern look behind his hood. “That is the one thing I’m not going to do here. Also I don’t want weird fetishes here, Twilight made me listen to her secret math fetish for months I don’t want weird things thrown at me got it?” “Are you really in a position to argue? But no, they aren’t that bad, but your payment for me is simple. Fourteen.” “I have no idea what you're talking about.” Ben says honestly, not knowing what ‘fourteen’ is. “When we get married, I want fourteen foals, one for each weapon you have, including those two keyblades.” She explained. “I have a feeling I’m gonna need two more wives for that feat…” Ben says worriedly. “Fourteen foals with me only.” She added. Ben sighs out. “Listen, you're only getting thirteen. No one besides myself is going to keep my ‘special’ Keyblade. That weapon is off limits alright?” “I’m not saying they’ll inherit it, I’m just counting that one as a weapon of yours too. Besides, with Zeke his kids are half Keyblade, with ours they might each get the weapons you have, though I’m not sure about that last one given what that God fellow told me about it while I was stuck here.” Ben made a face between worry and anger. “What did ‘God’ tell you?” He asks simply, hoping Luna didn’t listen to Core pretending to be God. “He said to first tell you ‘if you think I’m Core I’m gonna slap you’ and then we just talked about your world and he gave me a rundown on how bad Core really is. Other than that he said congrats on your new family, the one you made and the one you were adopted into.” “Oh, well that’s good to hear.” Ben sighs out thankfully. “But how bad did God describe Core?” “He’s been keeping an eye on Core since apparently someone under his command is something called a ‘sleeper cell’ or something like that, God placed in there, and from what they have written it’s not looking good. Core’s readying armies and as God feared he now has means of controlling Nobodies, and Dream Eaters.” “Well Core’s going to have a bad time knowing that I’m better at controlling them.” Ben says with a frown. “But that is so not good…” “He also said Core is working on something that is taking a lot of hearts to make, though from what he said it seems like it’s specific hearts.” “That’s not good…” Ben frowns. “Does Zeke know anything about this?” He asks, having a feeling God would tell Zeke about this important stuff. “Yeah, the three of us were all talking about it. Zeke also wanted to talk with you after the council meeting, which you’re half an hour late for…” Luna finished as Ben B-lined it for the council hall. He made it through the doors, Luna next to him and Trinity appearing somehow on the other said. “What?” Trinity asked. “Nothing.” Ben sighs out, not believing he is a half an hour late. “God I hate being late…” Zeke rang a bell that was next to him. “Ben, you’re half an hour late. I’ll admit though given that mead managed to mess me up to when I tried some we’re overlooking the tardy. This meeting is now in motion. First order of business, Ben, how many worlds other than Equestria have you been to?” “Three.” Ben says. “Radiant Guardian, Knowhere and the Keyblade Graveyard.” “And how has their state of peace been?” “Radiant Garden is in working order. Knowhere is about as good as you can see from a massive black market, and the Keyblade Graveyard...is worrying. Some of the Keyblades are missing from there if memory serves. Oh, and my reflections Castle Oblivion has disappeared.” Ben adds quickly. The council muttered among themselves, causing Ben to worry. “Have you encountered any survivors of the Keyblade war?” Leon asks. “Three. My reflections Discord, and Celestia and Luna’s parents, Locus and Faust.” Ben nods. “Does anyone else other than you and likely these survivors wield keyblades?” “Discord, Locus and Faust, after they survived the Keyblade War, stabbed their keyblades into the ground and will never touch them again. Hoping they would rust away so nothing like…that would ever happen again.” Ben explains, still saddened by the giant wasteland filled with Keyblades acting like tombstones. “I have a Keyblade.” Luna says, summoning her Keyblade. “Oh, Sweetie is able to wield Time Bell and Terra, Aqua, and Ventus are on my world as well.” Ben says, his mind slightly jumbled at being so late and the fight he had with Scoots. “Also Luxu.” “How advanced would you say the technology is in your reflection given the worlds you’ve seen.” Cid asks. “My girlfriend Luna here has every gaming system known to Ponykind, has a specially made gaming computer...but besides that I haven’t looked into it that much sadly.” Ben sighs out, knowing how much gaming there was but not knowing their full technological advancements besides the stuff he normally saw. “But as far as I was told, Minotaurs on my Equestria do make guns, and griffons are apparently the ones that help show others how good they are. I don’t know if the people of Equestria use them but just thought I’d mention that…” He says, rubbing his temple gently, trying to get his thoughts in order here. “Has any major event or catastrophe happened since you’ve been on your Equestria?” Shining Armor asks. “A Titan destroyed all of Manehattan…” Ben says bitterly. “Killed all but a few hundred…” He says. “59,000 lives were lost…” The council muttered, louder than last time, among themselves. “We were told about this, Titan, from Zeke, who spoke with you and a god named Cript.” Lord Death said. “We now know that there are greater things than Core, or even Kingdom Hearts, but this changes little of our original goal. Core is our enemy, if these… shadow creatures and dark beings from beyond the void are to interfere we are placing you in charge of dealing with them.” “Can you help me with that Trinity?” Ben asks, knowing his angel sister knows a lot more about this than he does. Trinity stepped forwards. “I am Trinity, one of the human god, now Admin, Cript’s daughters. While the new laws my family and father must follow restrict us from fighting the main threat, we can still offer aid in the way of supplies, advanced training, at the cost of speeding up the possibility of beings from our reality entering. While we can deal with them, we are afraid in terms of lending… soldiers, to fight with you in your battles, we are limited in what we can do. This does not mean we refuse to help, we can, but not directly.” Trinity explained. “So what you are saying is that you will train us to deal with the threats, but you can not physically aid us on the battlefield?” Lord Death asked. “Exactly. As a peace offering, and sign of good will I can give you something you’ll likely make use of.” She said, tapping her assistant and several crates appeared. “Within these few, small boxes, is a digital library of my realms history, including Fathers.” THe council muttered again, slightly annoying Ben. “We will accept.” Zeke says. “But as you said, we must be cautious about how we receive these items. We don’t want anymore Manehattan incidents… I feel like there’s a joke there but I’m not making it. Meeting closed.” Zeke said, ringing the bell again. “That went a little better than expected…” Ben mutters to himself while standing up, thinking he should start leaving right now. Luna placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Ben, Zeke wanted to talk to you.” She reminded him. “Oh yeah.” Ben nods. “So do we just go to his office or just wait in the lounge?” Ben asks, not really sure where to go. “Office.” Luna said. The group made their way to Zeke’s office, his helper wasn’t there, likely off the clock, Ben assumed, and Zeke was at his Desk. “Glad you could make it.” He said, motioning them to take a seat. Ben took a seat. “Listen I’m sorry about being late. It was less about the mead, which yes gave me an insane hangover, but my sister...Scootaloo believe it or not wanted a practice fight.” He explains. “I didn’t think it would take that long...also apparently my copycat ability let’s me use Drive Forms now.” “At this point I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though me having my reflection Scootaloo as a daughter, now you saying she’s your sister feels… odd. Anyway, I wanted to ask you a favor Ben.” Zeke says, a serious expression on his face. “What’s the favor?” He asks. “Well, it’s about a family member of mine. Not Jenny, my brother Kevin. I think he might be able to leave willingly knowing him, join us.” “I’m sensing a massive catch here.” Ben frowns, knowing that things aren’t as simple as they seem. “Well, for starters Kevin is the family… clown, to say the least, when he’s not working he’s stupidly drunk, but that’s not the point. Point is, he… likely knows where my mom and dad are, since Core seems to have taken all of my family to work as his ‘allies’. The only issue is that our eldest brother, Dillen, always enjoyed messing with him in…not so nice ways. If he’s with Core than likely he’s been experimenting on Kevin. Willing or not. Thing is though, we both know a grand secret about each other.” “And what’s the grand secret?” Ben asks, not wanting to make a joke about how the Ventrals care about their family only to have them torture each other for funsies. “Kevin knows about my dream back on earth. If I could escape I was planning on faking my death then getting a new identity set up and work as a marine, saving people rather than killing innocents. Now Kevin is a different story. I was there the day he first killed. His killing mood never activated. To make it look like it did he kinda blew up cars and shot at whatever.” “Well that’s a thing.” Ben says honestly. “I suppose some people just don’t have it for some reason…” “No, Ventrals do, this is where we found out a secret, Dad is a pure blooded Ventral, mom married in. What does that tell you?” “Something weird happened?” Ben asks. “Kevin isn’t a Ventral by blood. We found out via DNA test, dad’s not his…well, biological dad. Mom never said so we don’t know if he knew or what.” “Would seem silly if he didn’t know.” Ben shrugs. “My point is, that’s our trump card in getting Kevin with us, even though he’s not Ventral by blood he was high ranked. If he still carried that into working with Core, we can learn what the bastard is up to.” “Sweet.” Ben smiles. “That will help so much in our quest to stop the bastard.” “Yes, plus, Kevin was rather good with explosives, so you should remind him to… let his boss know he quits, before you leave. I’d go with you but… well, the wives got me on a twenty foot leash since I lost my legs, even though Core dragged me into the realm of darkness that time.” “Do you know where to start? Cause I’d rather not go on a man hunt with just a name and high hopes that he loves Mythbusters enough to blow things up a lot.” Ben says honestly, not wanting to rush into this new thing blindly. “Umum said when she was still under Core’s influence, he saw someone with Kevin’s description at Core’s…cattle farm, as he calls it.” “That doesn’t sound creepy at all.” Ben says sarcastically, finding the mere thought of that horrifying. “It’s likely a place where Core placed people to later fuse with Heartless or Unversed. Though why it’s called that Unum didn’t want to say.” “I don’t want to know.” Ben frowns. “But I have a place with generic creepy name somewhere...cripe…” Ben sighs out, still not knowing where to go. “I think Luxu might know where it is given he likely stalked Core’s work during his time in the realm of darkness.” “That’s true…” Ben says with a nod. “But I don’t think he want’s to stand next to me because of...reasons.” Ben says nervously, still remembering how quickly those three left when ‘breastfeeding’ was talked about. “Let’s hope he helps, I’m sure Time would like some payback against Core so there’s a reason for her.” “That is also true.” Ben nods. “Anythings else my friend?” “No, that was pretty much it, you should go home, your Luna has… new things to show you.” Zeke said, groaning. “She and Rune talked for three hours…” “Thankfully it’s nothing to terrible that would make me run away from her.” Ben says nervously. “But she want’s fourteen…” Ben whimpers. “Dude, so far I have twenty six kids, including the adopted ones. That’s with all my wives, plus, you’re still human...ish. It will take more than a month and a half for your kids to be born.” “She want’s fourteen by herself.” Ben frowns. “I don’t know how many kids your wives had but still…” “So? You, from what Cript pretty much told us, are a part of a family that is way to huge to count the numbers, compared to that Luna is keeping it tame.” “I’m sorry I’m not you.” Ben frowns. “You take things in stride while I’m still concerned about so many things. You are strong and smart, and the leader of an entire world...while I have five girlfriends, am I complete jackass half the time, and still have anxiety issues.” Ben explains. “I also...just got done explaining how I made my parents both commit suicide not long ago...so yeah…” “Think of it like this, the past shackles you, the future frees you. You need to find the key in the present, for me, forgetting about my past and how fucked up my childhood was was when I saw my first born kids. It like, none of my old problems matter, these little guys, and girls aren’t me, they have none of my past problems, so why keep that over my head and make them suffer? I’m not saying forget about your past, just don’t let what makes you suffer make them suffer.” “I know…” Ben nods. “My girlfriends and mother made sure I’m happy...I just didn’t expect to get an infinite amount of siblings...and a billion extra siblings not long after…” He says sheepishly. “Hey, think of it like this, you went from the only child and losing your family, to gaining the biggest family to likely ever exist. Weather with them or with your girlfriends, you’re never gonna be alone or away from family ever again.” “Yeah...and hell knows that I need this family to stay sane…” Ben smiles warmly. To Ben’s shock, Trinity wrapped an arm around his neck and noogied him. “That’s why dad has so many and is always adopting. He knows how it is to be totally alone.” “Sis stop~.” Ben laughs, trying to stop the angel from her antics. Trinity let go, playfully shoving Ben. “Now that you’re on the path to getting over yourself, get your butt home, spend some time with mama Den then go fuck your still awake girlfriends.” She said, opening a DTL behind her. “Alright alright fine.” Ben laughs. “Okay Luna.” Ben says before moving swiftly, picking up Luna in a bridal style way. “Let’s get home, and I’m not forgetting this time.” He says with a warm smile. “Thanks for the talk Zeke, hopefully we can have a...more friendly get together alright?” “One can pray.” He replied as Ben walked with Luna in his arms, Trinity followed, the portal closing. “Let’s just hope Kevin can help…”