Later that night, after the floodwaters had finally begun to settle and the worst of the storm had passed, Wes dragged his granddaughter and the Tennysons to the Navajo Historical Museum, insisting that he had made a remarkable discovery about the giant beast that had appeared during the storm.
He led them straight to an ancient tapestry hanging on the wall, one that showed a rough, faded image of what looked like a wolf-like creature standing on two legs. The fabric was old and worn, the colors long since dulled by time, but the shape was still there.
"I never thought I'd ever see one," Wes said cryptically, staring at the tapestry with a grave expression.
"One what?" Ben asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
"A Yenaldooshi," Wes replied. "A Navajo werewolf. I thought they only existed in folklore, but if one has appeared here, then something is terribly wrong. Their presence is a sign of pure evil."
Gold Ship immediately pointed at the tapestry. "So you're saying a giant evil werewolf just showed up because it felt like ruining everyone's day?"
"More or less," Wes replied without missing a beat.
"And your plan is what exactly?" Orfevre asked.
Wes folded his arms. "I'll find it. Then I'll tranquilize it and bag it."
"That sounds like something better left to the Saturdays," Orfevre said casually, folding her arms.
"Unfortunately, we can't leave it to the Saturdays," Max said with a frown. The older man stepped forward and studied the tapestry for himself, his expression growing more serious the longer he looked. "If that creature really exists, then it's too dangerous to ignore. I'll go with you, Wes. You'll need my help."
His gaze shifted across the room. Evan was currently holding Gold Ship under one arm while she repeatedly reached toward a museum display case with the same kind of determination that suggested she had absolutely no intention of giving up.
"Golshi, stop trying to touch the exhibits," Evan said flatly.
"But they're just sitting there!" Gold Ship protested.
"That's generally how museums work."
Gold Ship stretched even farther, trying to twist out of his grip just enough to reach one of the displays. "I bet that spear is real."
"That's exactly why you're not touching it."
Max rubbed his forehead before continuing. "Evan will help too. I think everyone here has already seen how reliable he can be."
Evan: "?"
Wes nodded immediately. "He'll do."
Evan glanced between the two men and came to the sudden realization that he had just been volunteered without ever actually volunteering himself.
"Count me in!" Ben declared suddenly.
He struck what he clearly thought was a heroic pose, puffing out his chest while making sure Kai could see him.
Kai stared. Ben maintained the pose. Kai continued staring.
"…What are you doing?" she finally asked.
Ben quickly lowered his arms. "Nothing."
"I'd like to help too, Grandpa," Kai said.
Wes immediately shook his head. "You know only Braves can be trackers, Kai."
"Who made up that rule?" Gwen asked, placing her fists on her hips.
"It's been that way for centuries," Wes said simply.
"That doesn't answer the question," she shot back.
"Times change," Wes said firmly. "Traditions don't."
Gwen's eye twitched.
"You girls will remain behind." The firmness in his voice left absolutely no room for discussion.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Gwen exclaimed. "That's such a load of-"
"Their land, their rules, Gwen," Max interrupted before she could storm over and turn the argument into something much bigger. He gently held her back, calm but firm.
Gwen let out an irritated huff before shrugging off his hand. Kai looked equally disappointed, though she kept her frustration quieter. The two girls walked off together, both clearly unhappy with the decision.
Orfevre didn't particularly care. She enjoyed fighting her brother more than fighting some monster. Gold Ship was similarly unbothered, at least for the moment. While causing trouble had its appeal, her respect for her grandfather still outweighed her desire to make a scene, and she knew better than to push it too far when he was already serious.
She might be a little rascal and troublemaker, but she knew her limit and knew that she shouldn't disappoint her grandpa.
"Kai seems pretty bummed," Ben remarked, watching the girls leave. A grin slowly spread across his face. "Maybe I can cheer her up."
Gwen immediately looked at him. "Since when are you considerate of a girl's-"
She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing as the realization hit. "Ooooh."
Ben instantly looked nervous. "Ooooh what?"
A teasing smirk spread across Gwen's face. "Now I get it."
"Get what?" Ben asked.
"You're infatuated with Kai," Gwen said, leaning in just enough to make the accusation sound even more irritating.
"W-What?!" Ben nearly shouted.
"It's true, isn't it?" Gwen retored.
"No!" Ben blurted. "Absolutely not!"
"You have a crush on Kai." Gwen continues in this teasing tone.
"No way!" Ben said back.
Gwen doubled over laughing. "Ben's got a crush. Ben's got a crush."
"So not!"
"Ben's got a cruuush."
"I do not!"
She leaned closer, wearing the most smug expression possible. "Just admit that you like her already, Benjamin."
Ben crossed his arms. "I so don't."
He paused, then rubbed the back of his neck with a frown. "…But if you're hanging around Kai or something, could you do me a favor?"
Gwen's grin widened. "That depends."
Ben suddenly looked much less confident. "Can you sorta… let it slip how cool I am?"
Gwen stared at him for a moment, especially at the way he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck like he was trying to look casual and failing miserably.
"You know," he added, trying again, "mention that you're lucky to have me as a cousin."
"Actually," Gwen said without hesitation, "I feel more lucky having Evan as my cousin than you."
The response hit Ben like a truck.
"I'm just being honest," she added, seeing his downcast expression.
"That somehow makes it worse," he muttered.
Gwen snickered.
Ben clasped his hands together. "Oh, come on, Gwen. Pretty please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty, pretty please?"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."
"That's not a no. It's definitely still a no." Ben kept staring hopefully anyway, clearly determined to wear her down through sheer persistence alone.
Gwen sighed. Unfortunately, she knew from experience that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
As her gaze wandered toward Kai, she noticed something unexpected.
Kai was talking with Evan. More specifically, she was listening to him.
The girl who had been visibly upset only moments ago now seemed completely absorbed in the conversation. There was a quiet curiosity in her expression as she listened to whatever Evan was saying, her attention focused in a way Gwen hadn't expected. It was small, but it still caught her off guard.
For some reason, Gwen found herself staring a little longer than she intended. A strange feeling settled in her chest, an odd sense of unease that she couldn't quite explain.
Why did that bother her? She wasn't even sure herself.
Gwen quickly looked away and exhaled. "I'll see what I can do."
Ben's face immediately lit up. "Thanks, Gwen! You're the best!"
"Don't make me regret this." Gwen said.
"You won't regret it!" Ben said with a smile.
Before she could change her mind, Ben happily jogged off, probably already imagining Kai being impressed by whatever ridiculous plan he had cooked up. Gwen watched him leave before glancing back toward Kai and Evan once more. That strange feeling lingered for a moment longer before she shoved it aside.
Whatever it was, she was probably overthinking it.
...
Evan, Ben, Max, and Wes followed the Yenaldooshi's trail to a steep canyon out in the wastelands, where the rocky ground made every footprint and broken branch easier to miss if you were not paying attention.
Wes, however, seemed to notice everything. He moved with the confidence of someone who had done this sort of thing many times before, crouching low now and then to examine the ground, brushing aside loose dirt, and pointing out bits of dark fur snagged on the rocks, claw marks gouged into the earth, and snapped sticks that showed exactly where the creature had gone.
Even in the middle of the night, he never seemed to lose the trail.
"You know, this reminds me of when we went after the Yeti in the Himalayas that time," Max told Wes, sounding thoughtful as he kept pace beside him.
"You're a Plumber?" Ben asked, clearly surprised by that.
"Was," Wes said simply, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Evan crouched down as well and picked up one of the dark tufts of fur, holding it carefully between his fingers before letting it fall again.
Wes gave a small nod.
"Extradimensional Control Division," he confirmed. "I was in charge of making sure the bad guys stayed out of our dimension. But I'm retired now."
He glanced ahead into the canyon, where the path narrowed between the cliffs. "And it appears our Yenaldooshi friend has gone this way," he added, pointing deeper into the darkness.
Ben leaned forward, trying to see farther than he could. "Great. Of course it went into the creepy canyon. Why would it go anywhere else?"
Max gave him a look. "Ben."
"What? I'm just saying."
Evan straightened up and looked down the canyon too.
"At least we know it's not lost," he muttered.
"Not lost, just monstrous," Ben replied.
"That's not really better." Wes gave a low, dry chuckle, then started forward again. "Stay close and keep quiet. The last thing we need is to warn it."
Ben immediately lowered his voice. "Right. Quiet. Got it."
...
Back at the village, Gwen, Orfevre, Gold Ship, and Kai were sitting together on the edge of the roof of Kai's house, waiting for the boys to return.
The night air was cool, and the whole village had settled into an uneasy silence that made every distant sound seem louder than it really was.
Gwen was still miffed about being excluded, so she lay flat on the roof with her head resting on her hands, staring up at the starry sky as if the answer to her frustration might be written somewhere between the constellations.
Gold Ship was occupied with her Rubik's Cube, turning it this way and that with a determined expression that suggested she was either solving it or making it far worse.
Orfevre, meanwhile, continued to play with her clacker balls, the sharp clicking sound keeping time with her impatience, before she pulled out the second pair her brother had bought and started using both sets at once with a smug little grin.
Kai had been staring off into the distance for some time now, her thoughts clearly elsewhere, until Gwen finally remembered the promise she had made to Ben.
She had wanted to help him somehow, but the problem was that she and Kai still did not exactly have anything to talk about, and Gwen was beginning to realize that forcing it would only make things more awkward.
Before she could figure out how to start, Kai suddenly spoke. "Your brother seems pretty cool."
The comment caught the others' attention right away. Gold Ship immediately looked up, her face lighting with pride. "Of course big bro is super cool! He's very caring, good at housework, and he has a soft spot for family."
She lifted the unsolved Rubik's Cube for emphasis. "Look, he even brought toys for Golshi."
Kai glanced at the cube and then back at Gold Ship, smiling faintly.
"That's… really sweet of him," she admitted.
Her first impression of Evan had already been good, since he seemed strong and reliable, but finding out he also had a softer, more caring side made him feel even more interesting to her than before.
Orfevre noticed that look immediately and narrowed her eyes. "Why the hell are you suddenly interested in our brother?"
Kai blinked and quickly looked away. "Oh, I mean… he did save my life. I just thought it would be nice to repay him somehow."
"Repay him how exactly?" Orfevre asked at once, and Gold Ship leaned in too, clearly just as curious.
Kai stiffened a little under their combined attention.
"I don't know yet," she said, sounding more awkward by the second. "I just wanted to say thanks properly."
"Uh-huh," Orfevre said, still watching her. "And that means what, exactly?"
Kai opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I was just trying to be polite."
Gold Ship nodded seriously. "Polite is good. Big bro likes polite people. Probably..."
"Probably?" Gwen repeated, finally sitting up. "That does not sound very certain."
"It sounds certain enough for Golshi," Gold Ship said, nodding as if that settled everything.
Kai let out a small, embarrassed laugh, and for a moment the tension eased just enough for everyone to relax.
Then, from somewhere far off beyond the village, they heard the distant howling of a wolf. The sound cut through the night and immediately drew everyone's attention.
Kai straightened, Gwen sat up fully, and even Gold Ship stopped spinning the cube for a second. Orfevre looked out toward the darkness with a sharper expression now, while Kai's earlier curiosity was replaced by worry.
Their grandfathers and the boys were out there somewhere in the canyon, and the girls could only wonder if they had already found the Yenaldooshi, or if the creature had found them first.
...
Evan, Ben, Max, and Wes climbed to the top of a mountainous outcropping and looked down, discovering what appeared to be a scrapyard sitting in the middle of the desert for some reason.
Rusted vehicles, broken machinery, twisted metal beams, and mountains of discarded electronics stretched across the canyon floor. Every now and then, sparks of electricity flashed from somewhere within the heaps of scrap, briefly illuminating the darkness between the piles. They could also see the shadow of the wolf-like beast darting between the junk, occasionally climbing over the piles before disappearing again. It appeared to be digging through the scrapheap, tossing aside chunks of metal and old electronics as if it were searching for something specific.
Ben frowned as he watched the creature work. "Okay, I get that it's a giant supernatural werewolf, but why is it digging through a junkyard?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Max replied.
Wes narrowed his eyes at the creature. "Whatever it's looking for, it can't be good."
Meanwhile, Evan's attention was focused less on the Yenaldooshi and more on the mountains of discarded electronics surrounding it.
"That's a lot of usable parts," Evan commented.
Ben slowly turned toward him. "There is literally a giant monster down there."
"And?" Evan replied, his gaze not leaving the massive mountains of discarded electronics.
"And you're looking at the trash." Ben said.
Evan shrugged. "There's enough technology down there for Brainstorm, Juryrigg, and Grey Matter to have fun for hours."
"Of course that's your takeaway." Ben said with an eye roll.
"If nobody wants it, that's basically free loot." Evan shrugged.
Despite the conversation, Wes remained focused on the task at hand. He quietly loaded a tranquilizer round into his rifle before taking careful aim at the Yenaldooshi below.
"Just make sure that thing doesn't come up here," he said.
Ben glanced at the giant wolf. "Pretty sure that's easier said than done."
Wes ignored the comment and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle's mechanism produced the faintest click. The Yenaldooshi's ears immediately twitched.
Before the tranquilizer dart could reach its target, the creature effortlessly ducked beneath it without even turning around. The dart sailed harmlessly overhead and vanished into the junkyard.
The creature immediately spun around and fixed its glowing eyes on the humans standing above it. For a brief moment, neither side moved. Then the Yenaldooshi launched itself forward.
"Yeah, that's not a good sign," Max muttered.
The creature bounded across the scrapyard with frightening speed, clearing piles of metal and broken machinery in a matter of seconds.
Wes fired another tranquilizer round. The wolf tilted its head slightly to the side. The dart missed again.
The Yenaldooshi continued charging forward before leaping toward the cliffside and rapidly climbing upward.
Moments later, it launched itself directly at the group, jaws snapping open as it attempted to bite through them.
"Royal Guard!" Evan parried it with his hands just in time.
The creature slammed into him with enough force to send cracks through the stone beneath Evan's feet, but he held his ground and pushed back, forcing the Yenaldooshi away before throwing it several feet backward.
The beast landed on all fours and skidded across the rocky surface.
While Evan stood his ground and used Royal Guard, Ben, Max, and Wes instinctively backed away to avoid its attack. Unfortunately, the edge of the cliff was much closer than any of them realized.
The loose stone beneath their feet suddenly gave way.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Ben groaned as all three lost their footing.
The ground disappeared beneath them and they immediately began plummeting toward the canyon floor below.
"BEN!" Max shouted.
"I'm trying!" Ben shouted.
While repeatedly smacking the Omnitrix's activation switch while falling. The faceplate sprang open, and the dial popped up.
"If you give me Gray Matter, I am so tossing you out in the desert." Ben said to his Omnitrix.
He slammed the faceplate down. A flash of green light engulfed him.
Wes instinctively shielded his eyes from the transformation.
When the light faded, he cautiously looked over and immediately froze. Instead of Max's grandson, a small yellow insect-like alien was falling beside them.
The alien blinked before looking down at himself.
"Ball Weevil?" he said. "Not exactly what I was going for, but I can work with this."
Before either of the older men could ask what that meant, Ball Weevil spat out a glowing green ball onto the side of the cliff. The sphere immediately stuck itself to the rock face and Ball Weevil landed on top of it with all four legs. The moment he made contact, the ball began rolling down the cliffside at remarkable speed.
As it rolled, it gathered dirt, sand, rocks, and loose debris from the canyon wall, steadily increasing in size until it became larger than Ball Weevil himself. By the time it reached the bottom of the canyon, the ball had grown into a massive sphere.
Ball Weevil arrived at the canyon floor well ahead of Max and Wes and quickly positioned the giant ball beneath them.
A moment later, both men landed on top of the sphere instead of the ground.
The impact caused them to bounce upward before settling safely onto the sand.
Wes sat there in complete silence as he watched Ball Weevil casually begin rolling the giant sphere away.
The Navajo man slowly turned toward his friend. Max already knew exactly what kind of questions were coming. The older Plumber rubbed the back of his neck and gave an awkward laugh.
"Yeah, I know. I have some explaining to do."