"Ya got everything?"

"Yeah I've got it all."

"Ya sure Boss?"

"I'm sure I'm sure."

"Cause the new tenants are gonna be here like tomorrow, no turning back, unless we want the paparazzi up our asses."

"C'mon Hanzo, you know I've gone over the entire place as Eye Guy, Wildmutt AND XLR8.  That place is cleaner than a hospital by now."

"Alright then."

Hanzo Miyamoto and Ben Tennyson both slipped on their seatbelts, boxes of things stacked in the back of the van. 

The van had gotten a new paint job over the week. It was now dark green with an Omnitrix symbol painted on the side. 

Shi-Jian had suggested calling it the Radiant Machine and putting on a logo to match, but Hanzo had firmly put his foot down.

Before Christmas had even gotten started, Ben's house had been raided by members of the media surrounding it, with only authorities from the JSDF being able to stop them getting in. 

After assuming title of head investigator in the SIB, Rasputin herself had taken to ensuring that Ben and the rest of his friends weren't harassed, and had- much to Ben's gratitude, kept Mika's own abilities a complete secret. 

Now that everyone knew that Ben and the Radiant Seven from another world, and now that it became apparent that Shub Niggurath would not wipe their memories this time, going to school to keep up the charade had become pointless. 

And so, after de-enrolling from Sato City High school,  The Radiant Seven were moving on. 

Ophelia's Fake Parents, the ones whose memories had been altered to think she was her daughter, a rich influential family, kicked her out. She held no grudge on the issue, instead merely shrugging and saying "Well imagine how you'd feel if you found out your kid was not your kid but a pretending immortal vampire."

Erice and Ben didn't get as much of a blowback thanks to having no fake parents, and Erice had already cut ties with her own "fake friends" before she met Ben. 

And while many fans still remained loyal to Parvarti, with the amount of conspiracy theorists planning violence against her, she was forced to cancel all her tours. Though she didn't seem to mind so much, singing merrily while she walked down the hallways, carrying boxes into moving vans over the next several days. 

Overall the only big issue was finding a peaceful base of operations to finally commence planning to fight Shub Niggurath directly. Ben's initial goal of uniting all of them had succeeded. The biggest hurdle had been overcome, now they just had to exercise the power they had been given. 

And so, the best option was to say goodbye to Sato City. 

Ben and Hanzo had only come back to get the last few trinkets. Overall thanks to XLR8 and Shi-Jian,  they had managed to move everything to the new house in only 2 days, allowing them to really get out of dodge before anybody could get in their way. 

But now.. 

"Hold on.." Hanzo muttered as he held up his keys to the ignition. "What the hell?"

Ben looked up, and to his shock he saw a bunch of kids standing in the road, grinning and waving, with Mika standing at the forefront. 

"M-Mika.. e-everyone from school!? Wh-what!?"

"Hey there!" Mika said cheerily. "Everyone just wanted to wish you good luck you know!"

Drayna, the class pres, walked over and sighed. "Honestly. I don't care if you DO have alien super powers, or if our class rebel Erice is a water fairy of some kind. You all still have a terrible time behaving in class! SO I must ask that you don't give your friends too much trouble wherever you're going!"

"D-Drayna.." Ben said. "I.. I don't know what to say."

"Say that you'll at least come back and visit us while you're tryin' to figure out how to beat that Eldritch God everyone is terrified actually exists!" laughed one student. "Honestly!

The rest of the class exclaimed in agreement. 

"We don't care what the media says." said Ellis, a girl with glasses, known as the class geek. "I still remember when my car was in that pileup, and that mysterious diamond guy pulled me out.. "

"And lets not forget when that big muscle guy was at the mall, and all of you showed up and beat the living hell out of him!" exclaimed another student. 

"Y-you all remember that!?" Ben stammered. "But-.."

"But our memories were wiped, well yeah they were." said Drayna." But after Mika-chan started telling us about some of the incidents, well.. stuff started to come back to us. I guess Shub's memory thing only works if nobody's around to jog our memory... and now she isn't wiping anymore, we're allowed to remember. Point is, you've helped a lot of people in this school, without asking for any fame or recognition. You might not have been with us our entire lives like we were made to believe... but.. you remain our friends, and we're not going to let you all go without at least thanking you."

"Looks like we couldn't catch the others though.." said Ellis. "That's a pity."

"Yeah, we honestly came back just to fetch a few stuff. "Hanzo muttered, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "J-jeez.. wasn't expecting this fanfare."

Mika just grinned. "You can thank me for that. Well Shi-Jian and the Girls are all welcome to come and visit too! And when they do, we have a big hug ready for them!!"

"Th-that's for sure!" Yelled one male student. "I mean goddamnit why couldn't we at least meet Parvarti-chan while we had the chance! AAAAHHH! I wanted her autograph!"

"INDEED!! I mean come now Tennyson-san, you surround yourself in beautiful women and you NEGLECT to share them with your best friend!"

"That voice." Ben said, blinking in recognition.

Tay walked through the crowd, grinning. He wasn't wearing a school uniform, but a business suit, his hair slightly messed up. 

"Y-you're supposed to be-."

"In America yeah. Well I took a plane ticket." said Tay. "Look Ben. I know things are tough for you right now. I know that maybe you might be afraid to know what I think of you now that I'm aware that maybe our friendship wasn't as close as I believed it to be.. but Mika still thinks the world of you, and I do too. At the very least before the both of you go, I wanted to let you know that in person, just in case the chance never comes again."

Tay turned to look at the students surrounding him. "This world's been Shub Niggurath's play thing for centuries maybe.. it still blows my mind. But the fact you're fighting against her doesn't just mean you're fighting for your freedom. You're fighting for our right to live out of the influence of a terrible evil goat goddess. You're carrying all our hopes and dreams on your shoulders. Its heavy, but, if you need more people to help make that burden lighter, we're all here for you, super powers or not. Not just you Ben. You too Hanzo, everyone."

"Calling me by my first name..?" Hanzo muttered.

"Heh! Any friend of Ben's is a friend of mine! Don't think too much about it!" said Tay with a thumbs up and a grin.

"Also, I made this for you." Mika said, giving Ben a disc in a transparent case. "Don't watch it till you get home. I know.. er.. I could've made a cellphone video instead, but I want it to be truly private. Though if the other 6 want to see it too, they can, this is for your eyes only."

"Oh dear me Mika-chan!" said a girl. "Is this a confession!? Teehee!"

"E-eh.. d-don't let your imagination run wild Saka-chan!" squealed Mika, blushing. "Obviously it wouldn't be if I was okay with Ophelia and Erice-chan seeing too! Hmph!"

After some conversation, and happy farewells, Ben and Hanzo got back in the van. 

As Hanzo drove towards Tokyo, Ben watched everyone waving in the distance get smaller and smaller in the light of the setting sun..

"Tenko Benimaru."

"Eh?" Ben muttered, looking at Hanzo abruptly. 

"The name of the guy I used to call Boss before I met you." said Hanzo. "He was a weak guy, no strength whatsoever. By all respects, no talent to become a samurai whatsoever. However he amassed a huge following, because he knew what it meant to be a samurai even if he didn't have the talent to be one like me. He inspired me and others with his courage and made anything possible by teaching us to work together and ride against evil and corruption."

Hanzo looked at Ben for a moment before smiling and turning his eyes back towards the road. "You remind me of him. There's plenty of key differences, but overall you're the same in your ideals and ability to gather the best in people. You may feel that without the Omnitrix you're nothing special, and perhaps Sephiroth might agree that you'd garner no interest without that thing.. but that's wrong.  You have the Omnitrix because you're who you are. Azmuth would've taken that thing away from you a long time ago if that wasn't the case."

Ben blushed. "Everyone's always singing my praises, sometimes it gets real embarrassing you know.  Like I'm not smart and wise like Ophelia. I'm not spunky and brave like Erice. I'm not calm and so worldly like you are. I'm pretty sure if Gwen had the Omnitrix she'd be WAY better than me at using it. Hell Parvarti told me about this one Gwen 10 episode thing in her world where that might've been apparent."

"Uh-huh.." said Hanzo.

"But.. out of every sapient person in the Universe.. Azmuth chose me to keep the Omnitrix in the end after I met him on Xenon years ago."

"Going into space at 10 years old.. huh, I'd be impressed just from that, but I don't think he really looks at qualities like fighting ability, though you've definitely got a lot of that." said Hanzo.

"I still wonder what it was he saw in me." said Ben. "He never really was straight forward about it, even when I messed up and tried to hack the Omnitrix that one time. He continued to let me keep the Omnitrix."

"He saw the same thing I see now." said Hanzo.

"Oh..?" Ben looked at Hanzo, brimming with curiosity. "And what was that?"

Hanzo smirked. "Heheheheh, can't spoil the surprises Boss."

"Aw come on! Ya gotta tell me!" Ben said. 

"The day I tell you, will have to be a certain point when you truly need it. But for now, I'm glad to keep you guessing." said Hanzo with a chuckle. 

"Oh come on! No fair!" Ben said with a laugh.  "That's just like Kevin too! He just loves to mess with me like that."

"Just like Kevin huh?" Hanzo said in nearly a whisper. "Huh.. I do wonder..  how you'd react to meeting a guy like that.. Benimaru."

*************

After hours of driving, and a night sleeping at the new house in the loud suburbs of Tokyo.. Ben awoke on Christmas morning to find two faces grinning at him. 

Erice and Ophelia were both dressed in what appeared to be attractive Santa outfits with christmas hats, ones that revealed much of their legs. 

"Wh-WHAAAA!?" Ben stammered, blushing. "Wh-what is this!?"

"Hahaha! Just a bit of friendly competition ya know!" said Erice. "I thought I was the only one who came up with this idea.. but.."

Erice glared and pouted at Ophelia. "Seriously?"

"I thought I was the only one who came up with this sexy santa look too!" Ophelia said, frowning back. "Honest! Well anyways, we compromised and decided we'd both wake you up and let you decide which one looked cuter in the private space of your head. Don't wanna force you after all- but if you do think I was cuter.. well.."

Ophelia blushed and giggled. "Feel free to visit me tonight for an extra christmas present."

"Sh-shit, she really is putting in the effort." Erice stammered, sweating a bit. "Aw crap!"

"I think I will pass on extra presents for now." Ben said, sweating. "Eheheh.. I mean I can't say I've had the anime harem morning experience before.. wow."

"YOU AND YOUR GODDAMN PROTAGONIST LUCK!!" roared Shi-Jian's voice from the hallway. "GET UP ALREADY!!"

Ben stepped into the hallway and down to the living room to find the christmas tree fully decked out and Deca bouncing on the couch in her pajamas, shaking with anticipation. 

"Presents presents presents!" Deca squealed. 

"Ohohohohoho!!" Dragfeld grabbed a gift, also dressed in her pjs, her tail wagging in delight. "EHEHEHE! What did Santa bring me? What did Santa bring!?"

"You know that says 'From Ophelia' right sweetie?" Ophelia muttered, with a delighted giggle as she pointed at the tag on the box.

"W-wait, then where are the gifts from Santa?" asked Dragfeld. 

"Santa does not exist, except for in a few select universes Demon Idiot!" said Deca. 

"EHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?" Dragfeld's jaw dropped, aghast. "You mean he doesn't live in the North Pole, surrounded by his Army of Holy Delivery Seraphs with their jolly bell tipped spears of Repentance!? Bringing gifts to all the children in the kingdom!?"

"I think your Santa Claus might be exclusive to your world." said Shi-Jian as he sat down, dressed in boxers and a sleeveless shirt with a picture of a cute anime girl on the front.  "In this world he's pretty much just a myth. Mine too. What about you guys?"

"I'm not sure." Ben muttered. "Honestly I once went to this weird Christmas Village where this guy thought Grandpa was Santa and a whole lot of stuff happened. We encountered REAL elves and me and Gwen were even Elves for a bit.. honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he did exist in my world.. maybe he's an alien."

"Santa's real in my world." said Erice. "He was a Saint blessed by God and the Fairies gave him immortality till the Rapture. He doesn't make toys anymore though. Too many kids want Nintendo Switches and stuff, it would be complicated if he made branded products that just appeared out of nowhere. He just lives a quiet life now."

"Never had a Santa Claus, but we did have a version of Jesus." said Hanzo. "Honestly believe THAT guy's been literally EVERYWHERE.. so we do have Christmas, though not many people celebrate it since Japan took over the entire world pretty much assimilating jewish and christian culture. Most people are Shinto or Buddhist."

"And you?" asked Erice. "S-sorry if that's a bit personal.."

"Ha!" said Hanzo. "I'm Christian, long story that one, but I've never been much of a 'follow the crowd' kind of guy at the least."

"Santa's definitely fake according to most of what everyone believes in my world." said Parvarti. "But just like this world, lots of kids believe in him.  I don't really have a religious belief though, I never actually gave any thought to it and my parents never took me to churches or anything. I don't want to draw any conclusions until I'm certain after all. So unless I have definite proof that any of the others are fake, I won't judge!"

"Even on Scientology?" muttered Shi-Jian. 

"Oh that one's definitely BS!" said Parvarti cheerily with a wink. "I mean even knowing aliens are real.. it's complete horse shit! Hehehe!"

"Only you can say Horse Shit and yet sound so innocent and happy." said Shi-Jian with a sigh and a sparkle in his eyes. 

"The heck is Scientology?" Muttered Hanzo. 

"Ehem." Erice handed Hanzo her phone. "Read this article."

Hanzo began to read.. the longer he read, the more raised his eyebrows became. "The fuck..?"

"That is a bad word Lord Hanzo!" Dragfeld exclaimed.

"Anyways, we've been waiting a bit too long havent we!?" said Deca. "Hurry hurry! Presents presents! This is my first Christmas after all! Right Big Brother!?"

"Yeah." said Ben as he handed Deca a present and Ophelia got her camera ready. "Wait.. er.. Ophelia you ready?"

As Ophelia took pictures, Deca ripped open present after present from each of the group. 

"EHEEEEE!" by the end of her presents being opened, Deca was happily wearing 2 colorful Christmas sweaters, hugging a brand new sketchbook  (she had recently acquired art as a hobby), and holding a huge Sumo Slammer Ishiyama plushy she had received from her brother. "I love them all! And.. B-Brother how did you know I love Sumo Slammers!?"

"Uh.. kind of an intuition really.. and honestly I'm starting to think it runs a bit in the family." Ben said. 

"Alright Dragfeld next!" said Ophelia cheerfully. "Can't wait to see how you react to mine!"

It was a good day. A rare peaceful moment. 

It was especially pleasant to watch Dragfeld looking adorable as she ran around gleefully flaunting her new giant sword, which Ophelia had apparently made by using Eldritch Magic to forge it.  (Ben: "D-Don't swing so close to my head!"  Dragfeld: "But master! Look its got a green gem, like the Omnitrix!") 

Ben had to admit it was probably his most interesting Christmas by far.  From Hanzo, he received a ceremonial custom made japanese knife, a Kaiken according to him, usually worn by samurai warriors. 

"I have the other one." said Hanzo, showing Ben his own tanto. "Whether our fate be ill or good, we follow the same path. Plus if you marry someday, you can give this to your wife.. when people marry samurais, the spouse is expected to carry a Kaiken as well. The blade forgers in this world don't have the ability to make anything magic like my sword, but at the very least, I can fix some spells to that blade if we ever get to my world after this is over."

Ben got a set of Art Illustration books from famous anime illustrators from Shi-Jian who went pink, giggling ominously as he told Ben to "Check out page 69 of this one, don't show the girls though." 

From Parvarti he got a personally signed Album from her last tour.  

"I.. I feel ashamed that I don't know what you'd like aside from Sumo Slammer stuff." Parvarti said. "I watched you show so long but I hardly know what would really be a good thing to show my gratefulness from the bottom of my heart.. other than something I made myself."

"YOU KIDDING!?" Shi-Jian roared. "Even now an autograph enhances the value of the product to at least 100,000 USD!!!"

From Erice, Ben got an illustration journal much like Shi-Jian's gift, except this one seemed to be hand binded, and they all contained illustrations of Ben and the rest of the Radiant Seven, from portraits of them, and scenery, to pictures and sketches of Ben's various aliens. 

"You draw these!?" Ben stammered, looking at Erice, astounded.  "wh-whaaa!?"

"I.. might contribute to a few galleries now and then in my world. It keeps me level headed." said Erice, looking nervous. "Wh-what do you think?"

"They're beautiful! I'll cherish these forever!"

"EEEP!" Erice went red and immediately almost fainted. 

From Ophelia, Ben got what appeared to be a gladius-type sword with a jewel encrusted hilt and a leather handle. 

"Since you were learning swordsmanship from Hanzo, I thought I'd make something unique for you." said Ophelia. "This sword changes its form and abilities based on what alien you transform into. It's a soul printing blade."

"SOUL PRINTING!?" roared Hanzo. "Look.. we may be from different worlds.. but even then.. it's pretty much KNOWN in my world that to make a Soul Printing blade you need HOURS.. no YEARS of.. oh who am I kidding you're 10,000 years old."

Ophelia chuckled. "Yep. But just be aware, I'm not entirely sure what your sword might do depending on the alien, it's not like I regularly met Vaxisaurians or Methanosians during my lifetime. The blade is made of the same kind of essence as the Dreamlands in which the Eldritch Gods dwell, so like Sephiroth's 'Masamune' imitation, its pretty much indestructible.  Try transforming with it during training whenever you get the chance and giving each form a try."

From Dragfeld, Ben got a painting that was absolutely horribly done, but he could tell much love put into it, with the words "Me and Master." painted on the bottom. 

And finally from Deca, Ben got a large box of homemade cookies, each made into the shapes of various chibi versions of aliens and tasted better than any cookies he had ever eaten previously.

After that, celebrations were simple, but fun.  Crackers were pulled, holiday specials on TV were watched, with Dragfeld's first experience of Rudolph being an absolutely adorable joy to watch. 

And when the day was over, and Ophelia helped Ben carry both a completely zonked out and snoring Deca and Dragfeld to their rooms, Ben finally found himself sitting on his bed, with his hand resting on the DVD that Mika had given him before. 

Ben blinked as he looked at the DVD. He had almost completely forgotten about it, but he supposed now was as good a time to watch it as any.

He slipped it into the Bluray player on his laptop and sat at the desk in his room as it began to play. 

The footage showed Mika for a moment, sitting in her room. 

"Hey Ben, I know you might be thinking this is a confession of some sort." said Mika. "But like I might've already said before.. if I'm letting Erice and Ophelia see this too, this isn't that. In fact, you might say its one of those videos that says.. we never had anything in the first place.."

"Eh?" Ben muttered.

"Don't be afraid, its not what you think." said Mika. "Truth is, I have a confession of a different sort which will explain why. My original name.. is not Mika Homura.. in fact.. I'm adopted and in Witness Protection.. I didn't think I'd tell anybody about this, but after you began to remember your old life and tell me about your family, I finally became aware that this was something you needed to know of all people... Ben, my parents were named Carl and Mikazuki Tennyson.. You might notice that while my mother's name is unfamiliar, my father's on the other hand..."

"No way.." Ben breathed, his eyes going wide."

"This world's Grandpa Max, he's gone, I never knew him. The fact is Ben.. Azmuth revealed this to me when you were out cold, our DNA.. shares quite a bit of similarities. You could say our relationship is more like you and Deca than anything.. Ben.. I'm you.. I'm the you of this world."

Mika chuckled. "Told you it wasn't what you thought. But don't be sad.. I know you and I did have some feelings between us, but overall it would be weird to marry your sister. This isn't like that show Loki!  The fact is, we are technically relatives on a scale a lot closer than even cousins or simple brother and sister!  And, you still have Ophelia and Erice!  Ben, I just want to let you know.. that I will continue to fight by your side if possible, even after this war ends and you forget me-. Oh!.. uh.. I wasn't supposed to say that yet..."

Mika went silent, her face looking sad. "B-Ben.. Azmuth needs to tell you something.. but before I hand the camera to him.. if the others are watching, they won't see this part.. this footage was enchanted by Nia so that only you would see it.. right now they should be seeing an illusion of me closing out the video.. but you.. you keep watching.. "

Mika turned the camera so that it was looking at Azmuth himself, standing on the desk in Mika's room. 

"Ben.. " Azmuth said, heaving a sigh. "You've done well over these months. You've done far more than even I would've ever thought capable of you, and all things considered, that's huge.  But its time for some heavy truths.  There is a way of beating Shub Niggurath, the only way perhaps to defeat her... an alien in your Omnitrix, the most powerful form you ever transformed into, and perhaps ever will..  though there are far more mysterious beings hidden in the depths of its DNA databases. You called it.. Alien X."

Ben froze. "Alien.. X..?"

"It is the one form Shub Niggurath will NEVER let you remember, but you should know.. that if you are the one who defeats her and uses this form... if you are the one who wins.. there will be a price.. " said Azmuth.  "And here it is.."

There was a pause, before Azmuth finally spoke..

"If you win... if you free the Radiant Seven, and they all return to their worlds..  their memories of you.. of the war.. of all the things that happened... they will vanish..."

Victory... means goodbye forever.." 

Ben stared at the screen, tears welling up in his eyes.

For a moment, his lips trembled..

The light of the screen seemed to reflect off his disbelieving horrified eyes..

 "Wh-what?"

END of Book 3.

The final Battle against Shub Niggurath begins book 4.