139. Nightmare

- Looks like I'm just in time… - I muttered as I moved straight to our RV.

Now the sky was filled with leaden clouds, in which the very iconic purple lightning crackled. Looks like Victor made another attempt to find his master.

Apparently, having lost the Mummy's signal, he decided that it was worth rethinking the original plan. Although, this will not give him anything....

Just when the lightning was about to strike the ground, I transformed into the Phantom Virus and pulled it towards me like a lightning rod without any problem, completely absorbing it. It only gave me a small boost of energy.

- Everything is good? Did the lightning move anyone else? - Grandpa asked quickly as he approached, just as I turned back into a human.

- It's Okey. Don't worry. It's just Victor going crazy for not being able to get the Corrodium. - I suggested, reassuring my grandfather.

- Is that how? This is good. Luckily he hasn't arrived yet. - Grandpa said with relief.

- Mm, he's probably really angry right now. If I understand his character correctly, in a few days he will arrive on Earth and independently begin to prepare his plan. - Thinking for a bit, I said.

- Fortunately, he's in for a nasty surprise in the form of us. - Grandpa said with a grin.

- Exactly. But I think we need to declare a general readiness and tell the Saturdays and the Greens to get ready. - I said, opening the RV door and catching Nebula who missed me.

- Okey, I will call them tomorrow morning. Well, how did you spend your time at the festival? I see you are no longer worried about your problem. - Max asked, pointing out that the Omnitrix was working correctly.

- Yes, flowering is over and everything is back to normal. And the festival turned out to be much more interesting than I thought. I even met some interesting people. The girls don't seem to get bored either. - I said with a smile, pointing to Gwen and Ashley, who were now on stage and participated in some kind of competition.

- Hahaha, I'm glad. No wonder I brought you. - Grandpa said sincerely, once again getting a few scratches from Nebula when he tried to pet the wayward tigress.

- Yes, this place turned out to be much better than I thought. - I said honestly, and then asked: - How did you spend your time? Met old friends?

- Yes, many people with whom I studied at school and university came here, so we can say that we have a memorial evening here. And even Donovan came, in the company of Vera…. - Grandfather said happily, nevertheless managing once to stroke the tigress on the stomach.

- Is Aunt Vera here? I didn't even see her. And how did they get along with Mr. Grandsmith? - I asked with genuine interest.

- They just started a serious relationship, so they behave like teenagers in love and do not stick to each other at all, stuck in their own romantic world, not at all reacting to the environment. - Grandfather said a little displeasedly. Well, it's his brotherly instincts that react like that...

-Hmm? - I said involuntarily, imagining this, and then, shrugging my shoulders and regretting that I had such a rich imagination, I said: - Well, I'm happy for them. They deserve happiness.

- Oh, it's hard to argue with that… - Grandfather said with a sigh.

- What else interesting happened while I was gone? - I asked, noticing that the competition was over and Gwen had won a very good bass guitar worth at least a few thousand dollars. How serious are they...

- Gordon came for a couple of hours. And brought good news. - Grandfather said, referring to his older brother, who was also an Plumber, even when he got into the Main Branch.

- Yes? And what exactly? - I asked, basically guessing.

- Joel did propose to Camille, and she accepted. Wedding in a month. We are all invited. - said grandfather, not knowing how to feel about this.

Joel is Gordon's eldest son, Max's nephew, and Gwen and I are either an uncle or a cousin. I don't even know what it's called. He, unlike the children of Max, our fathers with Gwen, followed in his father's footsteps and became a Plumber. And very good.

A few years ago, the Plumbers went to war with the Lenopans, mud monster-like aliens, because they broke several intergalactic laws and prevented the Plumbers from restoring their order in the Lenopan home solar system.

To be honest, I still think that the aliens were within their rights to do what they want in their home world, but nobody cares about my opinion….

So, the war ended, as in some kind of romantic story. Joel met Camilla, a warrior of the opposite camp, and as they say, there was love at first sight. Two representatives of different races fell in love with each other, just like Romeo and Juliet. But, fortunately, my relative's story ended on a good note.

Through great efforts, Joel and Camilla together managed to end the war and sign a peace treaty, albeit a very shaky one. Not everyone liked it, and on both sides, but everyone was tired of this war, and therefore agreed to a truce.

Since then, Camille has been living on Earth with Joel. Gwen and I met this girl and her cousin Lucy two years ago. Although, Gwen, unlike me, still does not know that they are Lenopans.

Initially, it seemed to me that Camille was just using Joel to end the war and save her race, but after checking her mind, I saw that she really had a crush on the guy. Sweet….

I must say, it's amazing how Camilla turned out to be so good and sweet, especially if you remember her parents, who were almost the most important radicals of their race, who wanted to bring the war to a victorious end.

Although, it is clear to everyone that in this case, their race would simply die out, but such people do not understand this ... In any case, I am happy for them and wish them true happiness. What can not be said about the parents on both sides...

- A fun wedding will come out... - I muttered involuntarily.

I understand the situation very well, and I am sure that everything will be much more 'fun' than it was shown in the series.

- Yes. I hope Gordon doesn't do anything stupid… - Grandpa said, knowing full well what he would most likely do.

- Well, the main thing is that Joel and Camille are happy… - I said, also realizing that it would be me who would have to clean up this mess.

- Okay, let's put this worry aside, there's nothing we can do right now anyway. - said Grandpa, a sensible thought, and then changed the subject: - So, what were you doing when you left?

- Made medicine for Gilbert and the Circus Trio. - I answered shortly.

- O? And How? - Max asked with interest.

- The process has begun. It remains only to wait. - I said, noticing that very happy girls go in our direction.

- Well, that's good. Good job. - patting me on the shoulder, said Grandfather, after adding: - Let's go, let's eat something harmful and tasty. Today it is possible.

- Let's go. - I said as I cast the disguise spell on Nebula that Gwen had used on me this morning to make the tigress look like a normal cat so she could be taken with her and not hidden from people.

Approaching the girls and telling them our plans, we all went together to the nearest food court. Although, since Ashley did nothing but eat today, she limited herself to soda. After the meal, we decided to return to exploring the festival, but already together.

***

July 27, 2010.

It was late at night and everyone was already asleep, but suddenly I was awakened by a noise in the RV. When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was grandfather, who climbed through the boxes and collected everything that might seem valuable in a bag.

- Grandpa, what are you doing? - I asked softly, trying not to wake the girls.

Having received no answer, I got up from my bed and walked over to Max, who continued to loot without paying any attention to me.

- Grandpa? - I asked worriedly, touching his shoulder.

Again getting no reaction, I looked at him carefully and noticed that he was still asleep. When I tried to wake him up, I again did nothing. Grandfather just continued to fill the bag, and when there was nothing of value left, he went out into the street.

- What the hell? - I asked in shock when I noticed that a crowd of sleeping adults had gathered on the street, who, like sleepwalkers, were going somewhere, while everyone had a bag or a bag with valuables with them.

'Grandfather does not suffer from sleepwalking, and even if he did, it would not explain why are there so many people in the same situation. What is it?' - I thought, and heard some faint whistle, which even with my improved hearing, I could hardly notice.

- Hypnosis? Maybe something like a rat-catcher's flute? - I suggested aloud, immediately thinking that this whistle could not be noticed by children or teenagers, but only by adults.

Not wanting Grandfather to go somewhere, I quickly neutralized him with Cobrasapiens sleeping poison and put him back in bed.

After that, I turned into a Wildmutt and tried to use his hearing to find the source of the whistle. The Vulpimanser did not let me down, and now I could very clearly hear the mesmerizing whistle coming from somewhere in the city center.

Skillfully maneuvering between hypnotized people, I ran to the whistle at great speed to find out what the hell was going on here. In a few minutes, I ended up next to the river, on the banks of which was my old acquaintance, who became the cause of this entire epidemic of lunatics.

He stood on a mountain of jewels that had been dumped by hypnotized adults, and was clearly very happy.

- HAHAHAHAHAHA, YES, YES, BRING ALL YOUR GOOD TO ME! MAKE ME RICH!!! - the ugly clown I haven't seen for a couple of months exclaimed with great joy while dancing a strange dance.

Next to Zombozo, and it was him, if you haven't guessed yet, there was a tape recorder, which was the source of this hypno whistle. Looks like he managed to find the devil's tape, or whatever they call it.

- You don't seem to have learned your lesson from last time, do you, Zombozo? - I asked loudly, becoming the man in the costume to get the attention of the clown I really hate.

- What? YOOOOOOUUUU…. - immediately recognizing me, Zombozo shouted with incredible hatred.

- Why are you so angry? - I asked innocently.

- Last time, because of you, I returned to that world!!! Do you know how much it cost me to get back here? - Zombozo said with hatred, saying something very suspicious.

- What are you talking about? - I immediately asked, sensing something was wrong.

- You don't need to know about it. Now the main thing is that I can take revenge on you, and at the same time eat your brains, hahahahaha ... - with a crazy laugh, the clown said.

- What? - I involuntarily asked, taken aback by such words.

- Capture him, my faithful servants!!! - Zombozo shouted loudly, pointing his finger at me as the sleepwalkers dropped their things and started running at me, wanting to tear me to pieces, at the behest of the clown.

Wanting to get this over with quickly, in order to save the poor people and still know what Zombozo meant, I quickly turned into a Portaler and opened a portal to the desert, right behind the back of the clown, which in the next second was driven into it by my water dragon.

After destroying the tape recorder with a jet of water and freeing people from hypnosis, I managed to fly into the portal at the last second before it crept in, still in the form of Water Hazard.

- So…. Are you a real zombie? - I asked in surprise when I saw Zombozo, who had lost his make-up because of the water and became visible his true appearance, which could only be described as a living dead.

- YES, AND ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!! - Zombozo shouted furiously, attacking me with a laser whip, which I just caught and snatched from the clown's hands.

- What are you talking about? - I asked, not remembering anything like that in the animated series.

- I managed to escape and not get infected... I escaped from there and even almost gained a foothold in this world, but you came and ruined everything... I came back and this time I still got the virus from that damned monster.... - Zombozo said, crying with bitter tears.

- So you're from another universe where there was a zombie apocalypse? - Somehow, understanding what he meant, I asked.

- YES!!! AND NOW I'M A ZOMBIE TOO!!! BECAUSE OF YOU!!! - Zombozo yelled as a piece of flesh fell off his hand. Fu…

- Nothing, now you won't stop me and I'll infect the whole world, at the same time getting all the riches, hahahaha… - Zombozo seemed to have gone completely crazy.

But before I could do anything, a purple portal suddenly appeared under Zombozo's feet, from which terrible zombie hands protruded, which began to pull Zombozo inside, and I clearly saw a watch resembling the Omnitrix on one of the hands.

- NO! NO! I DON'T WANT!!! NOOOOOOO…. - the clown screamed in horror, resisting with all his might, but he did not succeed and he was nevertheless sucked into the portal. As a result, only his hat remained from the clown...

- What the hell? - I involuntarily said, not fully understanding what had just happened. I hope it was just a nightmare....