The next morning, we went to the new Mega Mart, which was not far from our hotel, to buy groceries for our onward journey.
At the grand opening of the district's newest Mega Mart, after entering and finding our way around the place—with Grandpa Max leading with a stroller and us kids following behind—Ben suddenly looked to his side and noticed the cereal aisle.
Without telling anyone, Ben secretly made his way into the section.
I noticed his action, so I followed him but stepped aside to find my own brand: Explorer of the Universe cereal. At the bottom left corner, there was a caption that said:
(FREE: INSIDE EXPLORER OF THE UNIVERSE CARDS).
"Sumo Slammer cards! Cool." Ben rejoiced as he picked up a package with a sumo in a cereal bowl. In the bottom right corner was another caption:
(FREE: INSIDE SUMO SLAMMER CARDS).
Seeing that, Ben finally showed a contented smile.
Marketing towards kids should never be underestimated, I thought to myself, satisfied with the recent actions my agency had taken to expand into the merchandise market.
Now we should move towards the anime and then the game market. That was the plan for now. With AI, most of the drawing and CGI work could be done even better than any artist in this era, and with recent updates, AI was performing better and better. I was sure it could handle everything smoothly.
The cost of artists could be minimized. As for voice actors, AI could substitute for them too, but for marketing, we'd still need some reputable people to show their faces.
I just needed to prepare the basic materials—the rest could be left to the agency.
As I was thinking about these matters, Ben approached me with a smile that told me all too well what he wanted.
Looking at the box in my hand, he said, "Rio, hehe… do you… have some… hehe… money left?"
"Please, Rio! I promise I'll return it soon!"
Looking into his pleading eyes, how could I, as an older brother, refuse? But still, there had to be a limit.
"Sigh… how much do you need?"
"I just need to buy around 50 boxes, and I can find the gold card!"
"No, that's too much. At most, 10."
"But—"
"No 'buts.' I only have this much to give you. For anything else, ask Gwen or Grandpa."
"You know Miss Perfect won't give me anything, and Grandpa might even stop me from talking about these! Please, Rio, help me this once!"
"No means no." With that, I stuffed just enough money into his hand for 10 boxes of Sumo Slammers cereal and left to look for Grandpa. "Also, don't go thrashing around the whole aisle. If anything happens, we'll leave you here to work for the store."
Leaving him with that warning and ruffled hair, I made my way toward Gwen and Max, who were standing with the shopping cart. I heard Max pick up a can in disappointment.
"Only canned octopus? I thought this store prided itself on a wide selection of goods."
"Grandpa?" I called for his attention. "I think it's because we're in the canned goods aisle. Maybe you should check the seafood section."
"Hmm… I think you might be right, Rio." Max agreed with a nod. "Thanks."
"Uh, Grandpa? No offense, but can we please, please, please just have normal meals on this vacation? Ones that don't involve stir-fried tentacles?" Gwen asked, clearly disgusted.
"Yeah! How about some hamburgers and French fries?" Ben chimed in, suddenly appearing behind me—holding at least 10 boxes of Sumo Slammers cereal.
Then he dumped all the cereals into the shopping cart.
"So, Ben, why are we buying all these cereals?" Max asked, taken aback.
"Well, to find the gold Sumo Slammers card," Ben said with full vigor.
"Ben, now, I can appreciate how much this card means to you, but don't you think you're getting a little obsessed?" Max tried to make Ben understand what he was doing wrong.
"Grandpa, there's no use telling that to him. After all, if I hadn't stopped him before, he would have already bought all the cereal boxes for that one card," I stated, simply sighing.
"Maybe you're right, Grandpa. I don't deserve a gold Sumo Slammers card," Ben said, looking like he had been wronged, but suddenly raised his volume, looking toward me. "I mean, it's not like I was the one who rescued a bunch of people from a burning building or anything. Like a certain someone."
"Superhero jealousy: pretty high," Gwen said, frowning.
"Anyway, Grandpa, let's just go and buy some normal things," I said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Nonsense." Max smiled amicably. "Now, where do you suppose they keep the sheep's bladders?"
As we continued into the electronics aisle, Max suddenly suggested, "Let's check out the pet department."
"Please tell me you aren't looking for our breakfast," Gwen begged desperately.
Ben looked confused. "Yeah, why are we going to the pet department? We don't even have a pet."
"I-I… was just kidding with you, kids." Max smiled awkwardly before moving on.
Later that day, after buying supplies for the journey, the Rust Bucket rode away, heading south as our adventure in Washington, D.C was now complete.
We had spent the day touring around, taking pictures in front of landmarks like the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and United States Capitol, along with a quick visit to the National Museum of Natural History and the Library of Congress.
Grandpa Max made sure we didn't miss the chance to try the half-smoke, sold as Washington, D.C.'s undisputed champion of street food—a sausage filled with beef, ground pork, and a blend of special spices.
Everything was normal.
But for those who had watched the show, this was not normal.
Today, a villain named Dr. Animo was supposed to appear, and Ben would have defeated him.
Dr. Animo would later become a long-term antagonist in the series, even working with Vilgax and other villains.
But all of that could be stopped—because Dr. Animo wasn't a villain from the start.
At first, all he wanted was recognition from people and fellow scientists, who dismissed his research and labeled him as delusional. This rejection nearly drove him to a mental breakdown.
But when Ben defeated him and the police took him to a mental hospital, he finally snapped—truly becoming a villain who wanted to turn the world into mutants.
From then on, due to his constant defeats at the hands of Ben and his allies, Animo grew increasingly unhinged. By the time of Omniverse, he spent much of his time in a Plumber prison, creating plush toy versions of his mutated creatures and talking to them.
So, how did I stop Dr. Animo?
For that, we have to go back to what happened the night before.
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Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
If these chapters are a mess of grammatical errors, please point it out and I will try to fix it.
Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.