| WARNING: PROFANITY FOLLOWS |
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| The following content contains profanity that may not be suitable for readers of all ages. Please proceed with caution. |
| Of Gemstones and Watches | |
| Season 2, Episode 13 | |
| Written by | Transwiththeplans |
| Episode Guide | |
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Next Everlong (Gemstones) |
Vilgax is the twenty-third chapter of the series Of Gemstones and Watches.
Plot[]
"Yes! Yes!"
Psyphon was laughing, eyes lit up with crazed joy. In a matter of seconds Vilgax would be alive again, and all thanks to his loyal servant. Everyone was ready for a fight, prepping up for what would be the hardest battle of the summer.
Or so they thought. A bright flash filled the room, and suddenly-
The tube was empty. Ben gave a sigh of relief, wiping some obvious sweat from his brow. "Close one," he muttered, his thoughts of dying today fading.
Psyphon stared at the tube and crumbled to the floor, defeated. He slammed his fist into the ground and gave a loud sob.
"I...failed you, Lord Vilgax," he said weakly. "I thought the boy would restore you to you former glory, not destroy you…"
The group just felt relieved. After hearing everything about Vilgax, the fact that they accidentally killed him was a huge plus.
"I...am a failure." Psyphon said, utterly defeated, before passing out. After weeks of fruitlessly trying to restore his master, his body gave up on him; a poetic end to this horror show.
"Well, I suppose we should take him in," Anna said, rolling her eyes as she walked on over.
"No."
Everyone froze.
"Who said that?" Gwen asked, her voice small.
"In order to grow, we must defeat the mistakes of our past. You think like a mortal who only has a short time on this planet, unable to even correct the mistakes they made previously. It's pathetic. You must crush your fear! That is what it means to live!"
Something was moving in the dark.
"The cowards who can't bother to fix themselves will forever be regarded as such. They lack such qualities, like patience and experience. But I have those in spades. A man can do anything if he has those values."
Something stepped out into the light.
"And those skills have been great use to me all these years. So...we finally meet, Ben Tennyson."
Ben slowly turned around, to see… Vilgax. He blinked, and a memory was brought forth, of a green-lit basement and a witch whose beauty hid her diabolical nature.
"Beware," she croaked, "beware the coming threat, the threat from the stars. Beware, the threat from the dawn of shadows. Do not go gentle into that good night."
Ben stood there, frozen, as the cosmic warlord loomed over him.
Vilgax and 'threatening' might as well have been synonyms. He had tentacles dangling in front of his face, like a makeshift beard. His skin was dark green with darkening spots on his face and tentacles, with red eyes, and green sacs on the sides of his head. He wore black armor, with spikes on his knees and shoulder pads and black, fingerless gloves.
Vilgax stared at the Omnitrix.
"An interesting device, isn't it?" he asked, his voice sending shivers down Ben's spine. "It must have a thousand uses. And a million different samples, if legends are correct." Vilgax circled around Ben and the others.
"With every sample, you become increasingly more powerful," he went on. "A Galilean could crush someone's body with the force of an entire moon. A Prypiatosian-B could irradiate an entire area, if freed from the shackles that binds it ever so tightly. A Celestisapien could destroy an entire galaxy," Vilgax snapped his fingers, "just like that."
"Y-yeah." Ben gulped. "What of it?"
"No one deserves the Omnitrix more than me," Vilgax told him. "I've suffered more hardships than you in your very, very small, insignificant life. I've worked hard to get here…" Vilgax raised his arm. "And will work even harder to pry that thing OFF YOUR WRIST!" He slammed his fist down, but Ben had already transformed.
Vilgax's tentacles were cut up in seconds as Diamondhead's crystals pierced through them.
"Seriously?" Ben taunted as he freed himself. "You're the greatest evil the galaxy has ever seen?"
"Watch your tongue, boy!" Vilgax snarled as his tentacles fell to the ground. Green blood oozed from out of the wounds and onto the floor.
"What, you just got tough talk to back you up?" Ben mocked. His snark was on full force. Ben felt braver now that he was talking behind one of his most durable aliens. Besides, if he could cut up Vilgax that easily, he couldn't be that hard to beat, right?
...Right?
Newer tentacles regenerated from Vilgax's arm within seconds, catching Ben off guard. He wrapped his tentacles around Ben again, and slowly cracked Ben's hard form.
"Regenerative abilities, personally added by the good doctor," Vilgax said with a savage grin. "I won't go down so easily, Tennyson. I am the greatest obstacle you've ever faced...and you will the easiest one I've ever defeated."
"Get your claws off my grandson!" Max yelled as he unloaded gunfire onto Vilgax. Red hot bullets shot out from the barrel, digging into Vilgax's green skin, but they barely stung. The bullets popped out of his skin as he regenerated quickly. Vilgax dropped Ben to the ground and turned his attention away.
"Maxwell," the warlord greeted. "I see time has treated you well." Vilgax's tentacles shot out and snatched Max's weapon from out of his hands, crushing the firearm in his tentacles like thin ceramic.
Max grimaced as he slowly backed away. A blue barrier formed around him, and Vilgax paused in his tracks, turning to see Gwen.
"S-stay away from him!" Gwen said, breathing heavily.
"I see...your efforts to protect your grandfather are rather noble. I truly have no quarrel with him, nor you even...rather, the boy."
"YOU MEAN ME!" Kevin yelled as he charged at Vilgax; he shot out more fireballs from his right hand, striking Vilgax and crystalizing most of his body. Vilgax frowned, studying Kevin's horrid form.
"So, you're my donor," Vilgax noted, as the crystals encasing him started to crack. "Fascinating."
"What, you gonna try to take me apart too?" Kevin fumed. "You're the reason I'm in this mess."
"In this universe, the cause has no meaning. Only the effects remain ," Vilgax countered as he freed himself. "And if you truly believe that I'm the source of all your problems...then I implore you. Take me on."
"With pleasure." Kevin grinned as he sped towards Vilgax, body sparking with electricity. He phased through the warlord; a normal person would've described the pain of being struck by lightning as id having a solid, molten, churning core of fire and heat sitting at the very center of your body. For Vilgax, it was like his whole muscle system short circuited for a moment.
A moment.
In that brief second after Kevin exited his body, he shot his tentacles out and delivered a powerful one-fisted blow, right into Kevin's back. The blow didn't break his back, but it threw Kevin off track, and he painfully crashed into a wall. Vilgax jumped over and wrapped his tentacles around Kevin's arms and slowly pulled at them.
"A worm this pathetic cannot be my donor," Vilgax jeered, tightening his grip.
Kevin opened his mouth and released a powerful blast of star energy, hitting Vilgax right in the face. Vilgax recoiled in pain as his face was slowly crystallized. Kevin turned his body into mucky water with a strange circuit board pattern to it. It oozed across the ground and circled around the warlord, before it whipped itself at him, the tip of the form hardened in hard crystals.
Vilgax tried to catch the thing, but the attack passed through his hands and slashed his face, making him to scream in pain.
"How's THAT for a worm?" Kevin quipped before unleashing a barrage of slashes at Vilgax, slicing his body open. Kevin quickly reformed and prepared to unleash another quick barrage of punches.
Suddenly, Vilgax spun around and fired a powerful optic blast from his eyes, hitting Kevin dead center in the chest. Kevin went flying through the air and crashed into the ceiling of the cavern. He quickly recovered and decided to try out his new wings; he soared through the air and started spewing strange liquid fire from his tail.
"Drown in flames, asshole!"
Vilgax stretched his arms to wrap around Kevin's body. Then he quickly retracted, crashing into the foe at top speeds. "For your insolence," he huffed, "you will take my place!" He threw Kevin into the ground, hard enough to make a crater, the shock waves taking out all the flames in the area.
"Lucky shot," Kevin coughed out. His eyes fluttered, and he fell unconscious.
"KEVIN!" Ben yelled as he fell to the ground.
"Ok, so, that's a good display of what to expect," Ruby said shakily. "I have a feeling I'm gonna be useless against that regenerative power."
"Relax a bit, kid," Anna said, flashing her teeth. "I'm gonna tear apart Vilgax myself."
"You will try, and you will fail," Vilgax scoffed, unfurling his tentacles once more. "The path to victory is long and winding, but in the end...it is rewarding."
"Cut it with the philosophy, Socrates."
An ocean wave of paper smothered Vilgax, smashing him against the walls and out of the cave.
"Do you truly think you can stop me?" the warlord jeered before another wave of paper came over him, suffocating him.
"Yeah, no, gonna have to shut you up there," Anna snarled as she stalked out of the cave. "You don't get to walk around talking trash about my kid and getting away with it. AND YOU DON'T GET TO LIVE AFTER HURTING HIM!" she shrieked, and yellow blood erupted from Vilgax as paper fell on him like a rain of knives.
The wounds sealed up quickly, as Vilgax forced his way through the blizzard of paper, regenerating effortlessly. He looked utterly apathetic at Anna, a first; people tended to either die quickly or run away screaming whenever she attacked like this.
Vilgax threw a few heavy punches, trying to break through her defenses. Anna blocked them all easily, making small paper shields that were as strong as titanium. She quickly created a sabre and thrust up, the blade going right through Vilgax's neck. The alien shuddered out a breath and coughed out blood, and Anna slid the blade to the left. The head sagged to the side, connected to the body by only a few thin fibers. The body dropped to the ground in an inglorious heap, yellow blood staining the grassy floor.
"And that's why I'm always sent out on missions," Anna snarled, retracting her papers into her coat. "Not only do I get shit done quickly, but I deal with my enemies. Something you never learned, no matter how many times I told you."
Vilgax hissed as his body quickly reformed, as if the onslaught hadn't happened. "And that's why...I improved myself. I should thank you for letting me test the full throttle of my regenerative abilities..."
Paper fluttered around him once more, and Vilgax froze.
"You know, there's something you should know about humanity," Anna declared into the deathly quiet. Vilgax stared at the paper storm around him in absolute horror. "You look like one of the gods we used to worship. And we killed most of them."
"Most," Vilgax chuckled as he unleashed a powerful optic blast, tearing through most of the papers like they were nothing. He rushed forward and wrapped his tentacles around her, and started thrashing her around like a ragdoll. He tossed her up in the air and started unleashing a flurry of lasers, most of which missed and hit the trees above them. Anna quickly evaded all of them as she landed back on the ground. Vilgax yelled as he unleashed another powerful optic blast, more powerful than anything Anna had faced.
Anna sent up a shield to protect herself, but the edges caught fire almost instantly. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her head felt light; she was running low on power. She could feel the last of the paper assault wavering, but she sent it all at Vilgax's back, like a harpoon into the deep sea. It struck through his armor and right through his heart, and his body flopped onto the ground.
But Vilgax merely groaned as he reached over his shoulder and dislodged the spear. His heart regenerated itself almost instantly, and he stood up on sure legs. "And now...I have proof. I have defeated the limbo that once held me captive." He chuckled. "Thank you for this display."
"Oh my god, shut the fuck up," Anna told him, her head light and her heart beating out a dangerous rhythm. With shaking hands she gestured to Ben and Ruby, who had run out of the cave as soon as the fight ended. "All yours, kids. Give him hell." And then she went staggered to the side and collapsed.
Ben eyed Anna's weakened form, but he could see her shakily taking a medicine bottle out of her coat. She'd be fine for the time being. "Omnitrix still is on recharge, Kevin's knocked out, and Anna's down for the time being. The Worf Effect fucking sucks."
"I'll stall for him while you wait this one out," Ruby said, reloading her weapon. "I know I can't take him...but it isn't gonna stop me."
"Kick his ass, Rue." Ben grinned as Ruby took off sprinting, switching Crescent Rose into its scythe mode. Vilgax used his tentacles to block the scythe and kick Ruby backward. She barely remained upright and they clash again.
Ruby leapt back to take a swing at him, her blade an arc of destruction. Vilgax dodged and then landed a powerful blow against the body of the scythe, causing a red shimmer to cross her Aura in the area of the strike. Ruby flipped through the air and switched her scythe to its war mode; she then propelled herself to the ground to impale Vilgax.
Vilgax yet again dodged, and he quickly rotated his hand at high-speed and stabbed at the girl. Ruby dodged and slashed at his legs, breaking apart his armor. Vilgax tried to grab the scythe user, but Ruby did a circular slash around herself, cutting off Vilgax's tentacles.
Ruby screamed as she unleashed a flurry of lacerations followed by a backflipping slash, and then three extremely fast slashes that knocked Vilgax back into the wall.
The warlord had the audacity to smirk.
"What?" Ruby frowned. "What's so funny?"
"The fact you're so adamant about your weapon doing damage." Vilgax grinned as he stepped out, unharmed. "My regenerative abilities are too fast for you to combat, child. This is perhaps the easiest battle I've had all day."
Ruby frowned as she reloaded her weapon. Aiming at the ground, she fired a shot from her weapon, launching herself and Crescent Rose into the air. Transforming it back into its gun-state, Ruby fired at Vilgax, who quickly dodged it.
Landing on all fours, Ruby got back up readied her gun again. She charged forward, leaving a flurry of rose petals behind her and rapidly swung her scythe, vertical, diagonal, and horizontal. Ruby jumped back, expecting Vilgax to fall to pieces, when she noticed she only managed to scratch Vilgax...fucking hell, she had been hoping that would work, despite the odds!
Vilgax seized Ruby by the shoulders and dragged her to the side of the clearing. Without warning he delivered a flurry of punches before delivering an uppercut; Ruby's aura only barely protected her. She crashed into a tree and quickly found a branch to hang on to. She groaned, disoriented by Vilgax's sheer strength. She looked toward her ammunition to see she only had one clip left. She grit her teeth; she needed to make these bullets count, but how?
...by playing dirty, that's how.
Ruby blasted off at a higher speed than ever before and struck Vilgax's arm, slicing right through it. She quickly changed her weapon into its gun mode and launched some bullets to seal the wound. Vilgax froze up as Ruby landed on the ground.
"What did you do?" Ben asked, running up to her.
"Something clever," Ruby chirped. But she knew it wasn't going to be that effective; Vilgax quickly regenerated from his wounds, and he had spent those precious few seconds writhing in pain, twisting his tentacles around and around, compressing and making his next punch more powerful.
Vilgax grinned. "Your loss, girl."
"Nah. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses."
And then Vilgax exploded.
What looked to be spikes made of rock erupted from his body, which was struggling to regenerate from the wounds. Ruby had launched some Earth Dust into Vilgax's body amongst the electricity dust, and waited for it to 'detonate'. Vilgax's prepared attack came to a halt, and Ruby took a step back.
"Thanks Ruby!" Ben yelled as the Omnitrix lit up. "I'll take it from here!" He slapped down the Omnitrix and bolted at Vilgax as Heatblast. "I'm gonna turn you into a burnt seafood platter!"
The warlord slowly stood up, his body still half unformed. His single eye glared hatefully at him, but Ben sent an enormous stream of fire at him, lighting up the warlord and the clearing along with him.
"BEN!" Anna yelled as the fire spread too quickly, cutting the child off from the group. Ben turned around, but Vilgax simply backhanded him to the ground, his body now almost entirely reformed.
Ben struggled to get up. "Ow," he groaned, before taking a deep breath. He had to plan quickly, he could tell Vilgax wasn't done with him.
"I suppose I should thank you for bringing the Omnitrix," Vilgax spoke from behind him. Ben spun around to see Vilgax, his eyes locked on the symbol. "It was the Omnitrix that rebirthed me, and it will be the weapon I use to take down any other threat that stands in my way."
Well that was uncomfortable. "Hey, my eyes are up here, Vilgax!" His fists flared up. "But whatever. Hope you're in the mood for some calamari, Vilgax!"
"I'm always ready, changeling," Vilgax sneered as he slowly approached the boy. Ben ran at Vilgax with a flaming fist, but it suddenly transformed into Cannonbolt's soft 'paws'.
"What? Ugh, fine." Ben curled up in a ball and prepared to steamroll Squidface, but again, he suddenly transformed into Water Hazard.
He skidded against the floor as Vilgax grabbed his arm and started tossing him around like a ragdoll, before slamming him against a tree. Ben grunted as he propelled himself through the air using his water jets, preparing to powerwash Vilgax's stupid face off, but he transformed again.
Upgrade slammed into Vilgax and covered up his face, restricting his vision.
"Not what I had in mind, but this'll work!" Ben grinned as he tightened his grip around Vilgax.
Suddenly, Ben's body started to feel very warm, and in the next moment Vilgax was lasering Ben's form with his laser eyes. Ben quickly loosened himself, and Vilgax easily tore the Mechamorph off of him and onto the ground. He tried to obliterate Ben again with the lasers, but Ben quickly avoided the blasts with his liquid form.
"Try to catch me now, hot shot!" Ben taunted before he transformed, this time into Eatle. Vilgax hit Ben dead center in the jaw, sending him flying through the air and onto his back. He helplessly tried to force himself up, but Vilgax just laughed.
"Pathetic bug," Vilgax said as he stepped on Eatle's stomach, putting some pressure on it. "How did such a child gain such immense power?"
"I call it a lucky break," Ben grunted, his ribs slowly getting crushed. Vilgax slowly wrapped his tentacles around his mouth.
"When a grown up is speaking, a child should listen. Seen and not...OW!" Vilgax suddenly released his grip around Ben's neck and forced his hand back.
Ben had taken a nasty bite out of his tentacles, which slowly regenerated. Ben nervously chewed on the raw tentacles. They were awkwardly squirming around in his mouth, like live worms, but he forced himself to swallow them.
"Still better than Grandpa's cooking," he quipped as he blasted Vilgax into a wall.
Vilgax grunted as his arm regrew, and he charged at Ben. Ben stampeded towards Vilgax...only to pass through him. Ben had again shifted, this time into Ghostfreak. If anything, it felt like a very awkward chill had passed through Vilgax's body. Ben cursed the Omnitrix as he flew off, leaving Vilgax confused for a few precious seconds.
"What's with you, Omnitrix?" He rasped, staring down at his blinking chest. "I thought you were supposed to look out for me and stuff and…"
Suddenly, Ben realized what might have been the problem.
"...you're scared, huh?"
(In a weird way, the Omnitrix was an overprotective mother, trying to shield her stupid, naive child from the world. Her micromanaging could stop her child in his tracks and prevent him from finding those interests he would like to pursue, like fighting a crazy monster from space. She'd never let her son fail.
Deep down, she knew made that kids should experience and learn about risk and threats when living, so she let her guard down sometimes.)
(Of course, Ben would totally sneak out at night due to her parenting. But she would know...mostly because she was literally on her wrist.)
(She had seen everything before and knew every move someone might make, but she had never seen a force as destructive as Vilgax. And it scared her, just like any mother could, and she overthought everything to protect herself and her young child.)
"I don't blame you," Ben said quietly. "When it's hero time, if I mess up, somebody could die. Maybe it's too much to have in your head when you have to win. Maybe if I pretend that everything's a big joke, when the time comes, I'll be able to do what I have to do...and I think the time is right."
The Omnitrix continued blinking green.
"But, if you want to keep freaking out, that's fine," Ben said, grinning. "I can't control my transformations, but maybe I can control my lack of control!"
Ben phased out of a wall and flew at Vilgax. "Guess who's coming, sourpuss!" Vilgax turned around and started firing off his laser vision, but Ben simply phased through it. "Better get ready, Vilgy! I don't even know my next attack!"
Ben suddenly transformed again, this time into Astrodactyl. He flew around Vilgax and started blasting him with star blasts, causing some light but still effective chip damage. Vilgax couldn't hit Ben with his tentacles due to his speed too, so this made this even more irritating.
Vilgax tried hitting Ben again with his lasers, but Ben dodged them with ease, before transforming again; XLR8 hit the ground running and unleashing a quick dual-swipe that knocked Vilgax into the air.
Ben ran up a tree and transformed again. Diamondhead jumped through the air and slammed his fist into Vilgax's face, sending him to the ground. Diamondhead plummeted to the floor, unharmed...but Vilgax was angry.
"Your crystals meaning nothing to me!" he roared as he sent out his tentacles. Ben quickly sliced through them with his blades, before shifting to Blitzwolfer.
"It's not about the crystals, Vilgy!" Ben taunted as he slammed his massive metal-coated fists into his chest. "It's all about the element of surprise!"
He unleashed an upward barrage of punches, finishing with a powerful delayed hook that sent Vilgax flying, but he quickly grappled onto the ground with his tentacles and collided with Ben.
Vilgax felt nothing underneath him; he either figured that Ben had been smashed flat, or that he'd changed forms again. Surely enough, the latter was right. Ghostfreak had discreetly wrapped his tentacles around Vilgax's body, restricting his movements.
"Gotcha!" Ben phased through the ground, taking Vilgax with him, and leaving him between the ground and the open air.
Vilgax, utterly enraged that a grade schooler was kicking his ass, burst from the ground, his laser eyes firing blindly...and that was his downfall.
Cannonbolt's hard shell bounced on the ground and then slammed into Vilgax's face a few times, before Ben flipped through the air and landed as Wildvine.
"Awful hard to fight what you can't see coming, isn't it?" Ben teased as he ensnared Vilgax in his vines. Vilgax pried them off, but was yet again ensnared, this time by Spidermonkey's steel webs.
"Come on, Vilgy!" Ben yelled, a big shit eating grin painted on his face. "Come and get me!"
Vilgax prepared to fire another optic blast at the brat, but Ben jumped down and webbed his face. Vilgax was blind, but he could still fight- at least, he thought he could.
Vilgax screamed in pain as something dug its pincers into his back. Spidermonkey's pincers had taken a chunk out of him, and his body was struggling to regenerate. Vilgax struggled to tear the web off of his face before ripping the rest of the webs off with what little strength he had left. Ben shifted into Water Hazard and he blasted Vilgax into another wall with a strong stream of water.
"I-impossible!" Vilgax yelled as his vision started to blur. "A child dares to stand in my way? I am at the apex of life, reborn from limbo! You are beneath me!"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it," a voice yelled as Vilgax's arm was sliced clean off. Ruby landed next to Ben as the rest of the group gathered. "You're the best, and we're just a bunch of dumb dirty apes with a mangy mutt."
"You...all survived that fire?!" Vilgax cried out, his arm slowly regrowing.
"I warped us out of there in time," Gwen said smugly. "Best time to learn a spell is when you're under extreme pressure."
"This...this can't be happening!"
"And the bad news just keeps on coming!" Anna threw a paper spear at Vilgax, sending him flying through the air.
Ben ran after him and suddenly, Echo Echo flipped through the air and landed on his feet, unleashing a horrible sonic screech as he did so. Vilgax collided with the screech, sending him into the path of one of Ruby's bullets, which pierced his head.
Suddenly, Spidermonkey drop kicked him from the sky, and into Kevin's range...and Kevin just phased through the man for a brief second, destroying his arms. But that was just unsatisfying.
Astrodactyl shot a powerful blast of energy from his mouth, hitting Vilgax dead center in the chest and sending him crumbling to the ground. Vilgax groaned, weak and in extreme pain.
"INCOMING!" Multiple Slapbacks landed on top of Vilgax, further injuring him. They were all around one ton, maybe more. And they all hurt like hell.
The fire was still spreading, smoke choking what little air that remained. The humans spread to the parts where the fire died down thanks to Anna's paper, and they watched as Vilgax slowly shriveled fire spread to his downed body and seared through it, his green skin blackening as he screamed in pain.
And then, merciful silence. Paper was sent out to the rest of the fire, smothering it completely.
"Welp, didn't expect that to knock him out," Ben said as he reverted back to human.
"Kinda anti-climatic too," Ruby said tiredly.
"The fire's mostly gone, but at this point someone's gonna investigate," Max pointed out. "Let's get out of here."
"Hop on!" Anna beamed as she reformed her paper airplane. Everyone climbed on, sans Kevin.
"Hold on." Kevin launched a powerful blast of flames from his left hand, and formed a thick layer of crystals on the rocks where Vilgax was 'resting' currently. "That should hold him," Kevin grinned as he took off.
Anna used what little of her energy remained to soar through the sky, dodging smoke and ash. The airplane remained mostly steady even as she became delirious.
"Hold on," she slurred, "This...might get bumpy." Anna quickly maneuvered her way through a tight cluster of trees, and suddenly they were back at the campsite. The smoke hadn't reached here, and everyone took a moment to just relax.
The battle was over. Vilgax was currently mostly cremated underneath a coffin of taydenite, with the rest of his body a mess broken bones, stretched or broken ligaments, internal bleeding, and lacerated or punctured organs...anything that would slow down his fighting, really. His promised revenge would never come to fruition.
...mainly because his eyes were set on a different group now.
"TENNYSON!" a voice screamed out as the ground exploded in a flash of red. Vilgax climbed out of his makeshift coffin, wounds slowly healing.
Ben took a deep breath, wanting to go home.----
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