(The game was hanging out in a rock by the lake, all wearing either black or green swimming trunks with no shirts for Ben and Kevin and Jen, Gwen, Becky and Allison were all wearing pink, blue, red and black bikinis as they all hung out with a smile on their faces... except for Gwen, tattoos in plain view who was looking out depressed as Jen looked to her and sighed, laying a hand on her shoulder in sympathy.)
Jen: "I know. I miss him too."
(Jen said.)
(Kevin smiled and absorbed the stone from the rock with a smirk.)
Kevin: "Let's settle this, Tennyson."
Brainstorm: "Oh, my dear Kevin."
(Ben as Brainstorm said with a smile.)
Brainstorm: "Your nigh gladiatorial bellicosity has once again outpaced your ratiocinative processes."
(Brainstorm noticed Becky sitting quite a ways from him as she sharpened her weapons in the clearing, obviously keeping her distance.)
Brainstorm: "Rebecca?"
(Brainstorm asked.)
Brainstorm: "Are you afraid of me or something?"
Gwen: "She's not afraid of you, Ben."
(Gwen said, turning to her sister.)
Gwen: "She's just allergic."
Becky: "It's true."
(Becky said with a shudder.)
Becky: "Something you didn't know about me: I'm severely allergic to shellfish of any kind. Including alien. The last time I survived an attack by a Cerebrocrustacean in the Null Void, I was broken out in hives for nearly three days. Trust me, I wished that he had killed me at that point."
Allison: "As you were."
(Allison smiled with a bow.)
Kevin: "I have no idea what you said but... CANNONBALL!"
(Kevin leaped outwards from the rock and then did a cannonball into the lake, sending a torrent of water upwards as Brainstorm released the folds on his upper shell and revealed his brain that sent an electromagnetic pulse out that immediately evaporated the water coming at him.)
(Kevin surfaced as Brainstorm smirked at him.)
Brainstorm: "Oh, attempting to short me out, hmm? Before you could ever cause such an involuntary cognitive discharge, my intense electromagnetic storms would vaporize you. Twit."
(He then sent a lightning blast outwards that blasted into Kevin, sending him flying back with a groan as Jen caught him in her telekinesis without even looking and set him down on the ground.)
(Brainstorm then crawled up to the rock, careful of his cousin as he smirked at the Osmosian.)
Brainstorm: "As a coder and at the risk of gilding the lily, I submit..."
(That was when Ben transformed back to human and smiled.)
Ben: "...that I wasn't even thinking that hard."
Kevin: "Okay, okay. You got me that time."
(he said.)
Becky: "Okay, boys."
(Becky said with a smile towards them, separating them.)
Becky: "We live and we learn, right sis?"
(She looked over to see Gwen depressed as she looked out onto the lake with Jen by her side as she hiked her knees up to her chest.)
Becky: "Gwen?"
(She said nothing as Jen bowed her head in sympathy.)
Ben: "They miss Grandpa."
(Ben realized.)
Allison: "Well, so do we."
(Allison said.)
Allison: "Jen probably more than anyone."
Kevin: "They were fine in the car."
(Kevin shrugged.)
Ben: "It's all my fault."
(Ben said.)
Ben: "I suggested that we come here. I thought that bringing the two of them here would cheer them up."
Gwen: "This was Grandpa Max's secret fishing rock guys."
(Gwen explained as Jen stood up.)
Gwen: "He used to come out here all the time when he wasn't travelling."
Ben: "Oh, yeah. I remember that now."
(Ben said.)
Kevin: "Away on Plumber business."
(Kevin said.)
Gwen: "The three of us didn't know back then."
(Gwen said.)
Gwen: "When we were five, he brought me here and I caught a teeny tiny fish. He wanted me to release it. I had put up a big fuss. It was my fish, you know? Grandpa finally convinced me to come back when he was bigger."
(Jen then sighed as she picked up a small flat rock and skipped it out over the lake with a sigh as Gwen stood up.)
Gwen: "I guess I never had an easy time letting go of anything. Especially not you, sis."
(Becky then hugged her in sympathy with a sigh.)
Becky: "It's okay. I understand, Gwen."
(Ben then sensed something nearby and looked towards the tree to see an old woman in a blue cloak walk over and placed a pink and yellow flower down by a tree.)
Allison: "For a secret hiding place, this sure gets a lot of visitors."
(Allison nodded as Kevin ran up.)
Kevin: "Hey, you in the cloak!"
(The old woman shot her head towards them and saw the kids running towards her with a chuckle before she moved behind the tree and suddenly vanished in a bright violet light.)
(Jen and Gwen felt their brain suddenly pulse out at the sight as she vanished.)
(They all looked around the tree and found nothing and no one around it but the flower.)
Ben: "That woman just disappeared."
(Ben realized.)
Becky: "What do you think she was doing?"
(Becky asked as Jen walked up and traced her hand on the carving on the tree with a skeptical look on her face.)
Jen: "'Max + Verdona?"
(she read.)
Jen: "Who's Verdona?"
(Gwen then picked up the flower on the ground as she looked to Jen.)
Gwen: "Let's find her and ask. The two of us should be able to track her with this flower."
(Jen then took her hands with the flower in them and the two focused intensely, their eyes glowing pink before the flower just wilted in Gwen's grasp and she sighed.)
Gwen: "I really thought we had that move perfected."
Ben: "Huh."
(Ben said, looking down at the tons of flowers around the tree.)
Ben: "This clearly isn't the first time she's been here."
Kevin: "So what now, guys?"
(Kevin asked.)
Allison: "Yeah."
(his sister said.)
Allison: "We can't just wait for the woman to come back."
Jen: "Actually..."
(Jen said with a smirk to her brother.)
(The very next night, the group was waiting in Kevin's car as Allison stood on her bike with a glare towards the lake as Kevin yawned.)
Allison: "This is crazy, guys. She didn't show yesterday. What makes you think she's going to show tonight?"
(Allison asked with a sigh.)
Gwen: "Humor us."
(Gwen said as she and Jen stood by in the seat, determined while Becky stood next ot her sister.)
Kevin: "Ugh."
(Kevin said as he heard a clicking sound and saw Ben was playing with the lock to the doors.)
(Kevin glared at Ben wordlessly, in a gesture for him to stop and Ben did so for a few seconds as Becky yawned and laid her head down on her cousin's lap as Jen pet her head with a sigh... right when Ben started playing with the lock again.)
Kevin: "Do I look like I'm kidding, Tennyson?!"
(Kevin glared as Ben immediately ceased.)
Gwen: "Guys."
(Gwen said with a sigh.)
Gwen: "I have to go find a bathroom."
Kevin: "There are lots of trees around,"
(Kevin said only for his sister to walk over and slap him upside the head.)
Allison: "Real mature, Kevin. We're girls!"
(she said with a glare.)
Jen: "I'm gonna go too."
(Jen said as she and Gwen walked out of the car.)
Jen: "There was a gas station a few miles back."
Allison: "We'll drive you."
(Allison suggested.)
Allison: "You haven't perfected the teleportation spell yet."
Gwen: "No, you guys are going to keep watch. W'ell be right back, I promise."
(Gwen said.)
(As the two mages walked off, Ben, Kevin, Becky and Allison sat bored in the car and on the bike again with a groan as Ben started playing with the lock again and Kevin groaned.)
Kevin: "Okay, that's it!"
(he threateningly grabbed Ben by his jacket before Becky looked out.)
[To Be Continued...]