"Gods, mythical warriors, The Forever Knights, now this?" Impulser paced the room furiously, his arms folded. "Damn if it wasn't crazy before it sure is now. Is it wrong to miss the good ol' days where the only fucking problem was a throw down between you and me in the warehouse district!?"

"Kind of, you were a bit of a mess back then." said Mikoto's voice. "I mean, I know I don't miss it."

Impulser froze then bowed his head. "Sorry, that was insensitive."

"It's fine, you're different now.. I know that." Mikoto said softly from where she was back in the present, sitting in the back of the van Birdway drove as the equipment ran around her. "We barely made it out ourselves. Gilgamesh is insanity at a whole other level. Honestly I think he might even be stronger than Atomix."

"Stronger than Atomix is kind of the name of a lot of our problems right now." Mordred grunted from where she sat at the Round Table, listening to Mikoto's voice. "Thor was already bad enough in all honesty, how did that fucking murderer end up here too?"

"So it's true. That monster that took Ushiwakamaru's life." said Lancelot, musingly. "He was the monster that you reported meeting in the future in an attempt to learn of Aleister's actions, during that mission for the King.."

"Of which we are only all just becoming aware of." said Gawain a little sourly, looking at Arturia, who stood silently at the head of the table near the stairs, staring pensively at the door. 

"He had his reasons Gawain." said Galahad. "I doubt the King wanted anything about time and space leaking out to the public. None in the kingdom would understand gods, monsters and mages who travel through time. Where is Merlin? Should he not be present for this?"

"He is currently on another mission for the king." said Lancelot. "Lancer, anything to add?"

Scathach sighed. "I am afraid while I expected Thor to be challenging, Vilgax's arrival was out of my field of prediction. If anything, in this Holy Grail war he is an anomaly among anomalies, something completely unpredictable that was not supposed to happen. But something caused it to. Something outside our perceptions."

"I'm in agreement." said Birdway's voice in the air, at the moment in the Present era, she was currently driving the van. It was dark, as if Birdway had somehow taken a route outside of Academy City.  "I think I can however, answer the mystery of Vilgax's current power in that time period.  Manny, if you would take over the wheel for a bit.."

"Yeah sure." Manny's voice said as the sound of shifting filled the magical broadcast while Birdway switched places with the Tetramand hybrid. 

"Vilgax was never an ordinary Chimera Sui Genaris that much is certain." said Birdway. "To those of you knights who are still catching up on our true identities as time travelers, that is supposedly his species.  I have checked Vilgax's family tree with help and connections from the Plumbers many times over. While his status as Emperor of his Planet is uncontested, his line however is strange. He possesses no known father or mother. Even the thorough infiltration by the DNAliens of every planet could not find anything, and Reinserracc the Third assured me that while they are in the process of burning them, they did collect detailed record's on Vilgax's world since he was already regarded as dangerous, lots of private info that you wouldn't even find on their equivalent Earth's Dark Web. "

"Suspicious." grunted Impulser. 

"Still don't get much about the aliens and your supposed internet." said Gawain. "But yes, that does sound unusual."

"It gets more unusual. The name Vilgax isn't a common name among that species. It's regarded as blasphemous because it refers to an almighty god who is said to be the father of their race." said Birdway. "It was not the god's true name, rather it was a title meaning 'Mighty One' or alternatively 'Priest of the Dreaming God'. A being who was said to possess the head of the the Chimeri, and the wings of a dragon. "

"Wait, I get it." said Gareth, snapping her fingers. "This Vilgax isn't your Vilgax, it's that god! The one who came here just looked like him cause well.. he's the father of the other Vilgax's species right? The one you know's just a pretender!"

Impulser went silent. He heard the being's voice for himself. There had been no mistaking that voice. He had met Azmuth's assistant Myaxx, another Chimeri, before. He knew they had as much differentiation in voice as humans did. There was no mistaking, that was Vilgax's cold proud voice. 

"It would be easy to draw that conclusion there." said Birdway. "But unfortunately it's not that simple. See looking into the origins of 'our' Vilgax as you would say, there are several horrifying indicators. Firstly our Vilgax first emerged around 200 years ago on what would later become Vilgaxia, the planet he renamed under his rule. He was like a knight errant, a lone warrior, who possessed unusually high charisma and power and yet he came literally out of Nowhere. No record of his existence on or off world till he turned up and started gathering followers and funds."

"Huh, like Jack Reacher." muttered Impulser. "Or John Wick. Or Jason Bourne

"Except even Jack Reacher had records of his existence." said Birdway. "Good to know what movies you like though Akuma."

Impulser blushed slightly. "Just get to the point."

"The point is, he just turned up like the big bang. Except there wasn't even a point of origin. Poof he's there." said Birdway. "And according to some deep records, when he emerged, he didn't even know the name Vilgax was actually the name of his god.  He said once, to one of his now deceased close followers, that he had no memory of his past except the name. "

"He's an amnesiac!?" Impulser said. 

"That's.. different." Mikoto said quietly. "You know I've never really given much thought to Vilgax's past before. I guess I always pictured him like Doctor Doom. Big bad guy, don't need to know why, he's just there cause the Fantastic Four is. Vilgax just came around cause Ben had to have a big baddie rival right?"

"When you think of Ben like a super hero, that is indeed an easy view to take." said Birdway. "But Mikoto, you of all people know that Ben isn't simply a Super Hero. O-or a weapon or tool for that matter."

Impulser went silent, as did Mikoto. This was the first time they ever heard Birdway not refer to Ben as merely her tool against GREMLIN. Did she actually secretly care about him?

"So he didn't take the name because he was pretendin' to be a bad ass." said Mordred. "What? Are we supposed to believe that future Vilgax is an amnesiac Past God-Gax or whatever?"

"Yes, I've studied traces of Vilgax's DNA, don't ask me how I got the stuff, it was a nightmare." said Birdway. "His magic circuits are so endless, that if he blew down his arrogance enough to look up magecraft, he'd already be the equivalent of many Saint Class magicians in skill and potential, perhaps more.  Except a lot of his circuits are empty, as if somebody just drained all the power out of him eons ago.  And also what's more is that Vilgax was strangely aware of the Omnitrix."

"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked

"The Omnitrix was already famous, but it wasn't until Vilgax that many began seeing it's usefulness as a weapon. As far as anybody knew, Azmuth had made a huge encyclopedia that would be cool to look at when anybody went on tour to Galvin Prime in the future. Vilgax on the other hand, revealed to the public that it was in fact a device that could transform you into any one of the alien races that evolved in harsh enough environments to develop high grade survival abilities, like Tetramands and Vaxisaurians." said Birdway. "Not even Azmuth can figure out how Vilgax knew... except.... it is around THIS era that Vilgax disappeared for reasons unknown and it is in THIS era that the Omnitrix lay dormant in King Arthur's Britain."

"You think the Omnitrix had something to do with Vilgax's descent from god to mortal alien?" Arturia finally broke her silence.

"It sure would explain his obsession for the device." said Birdway. "The Omnitrix is overpowered when utilized as a weapon no doubt, but Ascalon or Excalibur would've been far more fruitful goals to aim for. The Omnitrix wasn't even recognized as a weapon until he went through the work of personifying it as such. It didn't command the same presence or history as a proper Noble Phantasm. Not like on Earth where it has a history as being created by the one who provided the blade that saved Earth from Diagon.  Something happened around this time period. Something peaked Vilgax's interest in the Omnitrix in such a way that the obsession remained in his subconscious upon losing his power and most of his memory."

"It keeps coming back to that doesn't it?" Mordred muttered. "That device."

"Vilgax is a problem no doubt." said Gawain. "But forgive my asking mage. You never mentioned why you all came back to this time period.  Were the Forever Knights specifically why you came here?"

Impulser paused. He wasn't sure how Arturia would react if she learned they just came back to make friends with her, heck learning something so silly might make her feel averse to them and make the job harder. Even so, they deserved the truth."

Impulser opened his mouth to speak, but Gareth spoke up first. "Their reasons are important, that's all we need to know. We shouldn't ask a difficult question when it's obvious that secrecy in their task is what they require. They aren't bad people, we know that already, lets give our fellow knights a bit of trust."

Gareth smiled at Impulser, who now turned away slightly, feeling his cheeks turn hot. 

"Where's Ben?" asked Gawain. "I feel like he should be participating in this talk."

"He's pissed." Impulser grunted. "Leaving somebody behind to take the fall isn't his style. Leaving Ushi behind, not to mention ordering her to stay behind took a real chunk out of him. He might be a while."

Scathach stared up silently at the stairs, her arms folded. "I did warn him, unless he had access to that power which he used to defeat me at any given moment, he would find himself in an unwinnable situation."

"We didn't have a choice."

"No, you didn't, unfortunately these things do happen." said Scathach. "Even to the most legendary heroes. Eventually everything falls, even Camelot."

Mordred drummed her fingers on the table, looking strained, as if trying to come to a decision about something. "I.. I'll be right back."

Mordred stood up and hurried up the stairs. 

Impulser made to follow, but Mikoto's voice sounded out. "Wait. Let her go to him."

"Why!?" Impulser snapped. 

"Look, Ben's told me about Jen, but just like the other previous girls in his life it's always been a bit of a difficult subject." Mikoto said. "He hides guilt for everyone, even those he's never been romantically involved with. He needs to every opportunity to lift the weight off his shoulders. 

Mordred blinked as soon as she opened the door to Ben's room. 

She really didn't understand what she was looking at. 

Ben was sitting in the bed, but his eyes were closed. He looked to be deeply asleep, but, sitting upright? That was weird.

Suddenly Ben's eyes flitted open. "Oh, hey there."

"Whatcha been doing?" Mordred asked. 

"Trying to figure out the truth." Ben said. "It's been tough but, somehow I never found out why she existed."

"She?" said Mordred. 

"I'm supposed to be the Omnitrix, me." said Ben. "But then this entity turned up claiming to be the Omnitrix back when I fought Oriana Thompson during the Daihaseisai.  Thing is, I never really figured out what she really was. Was she a backup personality downloaded into me? Or what? I've been trying to talk to her, but she's ignoring me. She won't answer my calls."

Mordred sat down next to Ben. "So, ya think she'd have answers for ya?"

"That's what I've hoped." said Ben. "I mean lets be honest. Aleister's a-hole level meddling in all of this has really pissed me off. I mean every single plot point in my story has had a 2nd plot point in it, wrapped up in a plot twist, wrapped up in another plot, combined with three plots! What was even the point to all of Aleister's meddling with Azmuth? How the heck do I figure into his ultimate goal!?"

"Meh, you know me, I could never figure out complicated plans like that, part of why Aleister pisses me off too." said Mordred with a shrug, clapping a hand on Ben's back. "So what do ya plan on doing now?"

Ben bowed his head. "I'm not sure. Aleister told me to find the Omnitrix that is hidden in this era, but I'm not sure I can trust his word. I came here to help your King, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that.  And I think this place is the key to helping Sakura Matou, but I don't even know where to find her anymore, past or present... and to top it off.."

Tears streamed down Ben's cheeks quietly. "Ushi is gone, and I'm not sure what to do anymore."

Mordred paused in silence for a moment before she took Ben's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. 

"Wh-what are you-?"

"I'm yer sis right? This ain't weird."  said Mordred. "Shit, you've gotten real big. I remember when you were a midget. My body is frozen younger than my body back from when I was livin in that time period, so I'm smaller now, but still you really have gotten big."

Ben smiled slightly. "I mean.. I think I'm a bit too big for you to have to do this-."

"Screw the age gap, you're my little bro." said Mordred. "Ain't a single age that I have to go by personal space rules. Cause I'll always be here ta make sure you stand tall when you're down. Kay?"

"Down.. wait.. down down download.. HEY!" Ben exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "I get it. I know how we can do this!!" 

"Eh? Got an idea?" said Mordred. 

 The Original Me seemed to be in a cave, like underground, and if there's one thing I know about the Omnitrix is that Azmuth is constantly monitoring it, even when it's not throwing out a big signal to indicate that its in use or something." said Ben.  "And how does it do that? It does it through a signal that has the ability to link through dimensions! Constantly! And that's part of why there can only be ONE Omnitrix, because when you make a new one, it picks up the signal and freaks things out because both Omnitrixes start using the same signal."

"R-really?" Mordred said, folding her arms. "Huh, guess ya can't just make me an omni-whatsit then."

"I mean you could, but it would have to be made carefully with the original in mind." said Ben. "Albedo didn't heed that warning, and as a result he ended up turning into a damaged version of me."

"Hah!??" Mordred blinked. "Wait Al-who looks like you?"

"Not important right now." said Ben. "Thing is, now there are two of the SAME Omnitrixes using the same interdimensional signal to link to Primus, to link to the Azmuth of this era, whose probably going crazy trying to figure out what the heck is happening. So.."

Ben stood up and grinned. "You CAN hear me right? Azmuth! That's right, the Omnitrix is messing with time, whatcha gonna do about it?"

A flash of bright white light glowed in the center of the room as Mordred stood up with shock, putting a hand on the pommel of her sword. 

The light vanished, fading as fast as it had come, revealing a familiar wizened alien face.

"You  have been causing me quite the pickle!" snapped the hundreds of years younger version of Azmuth. "To think that my own creation would one day be reborn as a human and then along with those Forever knights, start causing havoc!"

"Yeah, sorry, wouldn't happen if it wasn't absolutely needed." Ben said. "Huh, you really don't look any different. Nice Galvan longevity, am I right?"

"Tell me, did you always act this blatantly disrespectful with the older me?" Azmuth said. 

"Yep, it's a nice dynamic we have going." said Ben, holding a thumbs up. 

Azmuth snorted. "Nice, I can't say I mind too much."

"Wait, this tiny frog dude made the Omnitwistoroo?" said Mordred, raising and eyebrow. 

"Rude, impulsive ,and absolutely lacking in tact due to an idiotic sense of bravery." said Azmuth. "Yes, you are a Tennyson alright."

"Eh-EH!?" said Mordred. "Wait how-?"

"Do I know about the Tennyson Family this far in the past!? You aren't the only ones who have methods of eying different timelines and time periods." said Azmuth.  "Apparently my future self does as well. I was contacted by the Azmuth from your time period, you could say we were waiting to see if you'd come up with the solution on your own. I'm rather glad you did."

"So all this time you could've just told us?" Mordred grunted, her eyes twitching. 

"Yes, but that wouldn't have allowed Tennyson to grow would it!?" snapped Azmuth. "Now come along. I might be about a thousand years younger here, but my back still hurts!"

Ben and Mordred looked at each other and shrugged before following Azmuth over to the window of the room. 

"Your next target in this Grail War will have to be Berserker. The fact of the matter is, her current master cannot control her very well, and there's a chance she might blow up this planet, irreversibly  destroying it in your timeline's present." said Azmuth. "And just so you know, it's not as simple as simply going back in time again."

"Yeah, I'm aware." said Ben. "So that's why I need to beat Charm- I mean Thor first, and if I'm going to do that, I need to unlock my full power, all of it, even the parts you'd rather not have." 

Azmuth sighed. "True enough.  Look to the East of Camelot, around 50 miles straight into the mountains, I'll leave a marker that I'm sure you won't miss. Good luck."

Ben grinned. "I don't need luck. I'm not alone after all. By the way, I have a little mystery I need solving. There's a-."

"-Girl in your head who calls herself the Omnitrix, but you know that can't be possible because that's what you are." said Azmuth.

"Y-yeah." 

Azmuth sighed, and for a moment he seemed to look sad. 

"I suppose you will find out when you get there." said Azmuth. "Either way, it's as I said before, my future self has already filled me in from the moment Leivinia Birdway contacted him.  Though I never thought Heaven's Feel would be able to affect my greatest creation in such a way.."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked. "Who is the Omnitrix Entity?"

Azmuth looked at Ben seriously. An Esper whose able to use magic all of a sudden." Do you find that strange? The Omnitrix possessing a sudden massive source of magic energy when it runs on Interdimensional Fusion.."

"Yeah I guess. I still remember the time I nearly died trying to use magic during the Daihaseisai." Ben said. "And I was an alien then. What does this have to do with- with that?"

  Azmuth shook his head and sighed. "Think Ben, the memories Servantis took from you should've already come back fully.  We're not looking for the right answer here, but the right question to ask, because the fact of the matter is we already have the answer." 

"And that question is?" Mordred muttered. "Come on! Out with it Froggy!"

Azmuth glared at Mordred for a second before folding his arms and laying out the final plot twist that had been so obvious, and yet not at the same time. "Haven't you wondered where Sakura Matou was all this time?"