"Urrgh." Humungousaur grunted as he loaded the massive crates onto his back, an impossible amount of cargo from Banan's port was now completely unloaded in one fell swoop.

The large demihumans who usually did most of the unloading cheered as the huge dino man lumbered across the dock and set the cargo down where it needed to go. 

"Anything else boss?" Humungousaur grunted, looking at the diminutive Mouse-like Demihuman who wore a kimono like most of the citizens and had a small clipboard in one hand. 

"Hmmm, you seem to have finished all of today's work in one go, again!" said Kata with squeak-like laugh. 

Humungousaur nodded. "Right then, I guess I'll be going-."

"Wait, uh, it pains me to say this Tennyson-san, but unfortunately you've done your work a bit too well this past week. I'm afraid it has come to a choice of either keeping you and firing everyone else or-."

"Oh." Humungousaur sighed. "Damnit, knew Humungousaur was overkill. Don't worry about it Kata-san, I'll be out of your hair."

Several of the demihuman workers booed as Kata wrung his hands. "Look people, it's either he goes or you all go! I can't afford to pay people to do nothing! It's the less cruel option here!"

There was a flash of green light as Ben returned to human form and held out a hand to receive his last bag of payment from his now former boss. 

Keeping a job in Kararagi had been harder than he thought. 

After about 2 months, he had either done his job too well when it involved something that his aliens could handle, or he landed in a job where he just couldn't handle anything due to his lack of experience. 

He had done well at first working as kitchen staff in one of the restaurants, but his boss had a rather huge distaste for Ben's inability to swindle money, which not only earned Ben another bout at unemployment, but also earned his former boss a swift trip to jail after Ben reported him to Crane at the Employment agency.

"And once more I'm shit at bringing home the bacon." Ben muttered in English so nobody would understand him as he complained on his way home. 

He currently wore a set of loose pants and a robe-like shirt, the typical kimono outfit of men in Kararagi, only this one was colored white on the outside, with a black inner shirt that was visible from the neck down. 

The clogs he now wore had taken a bit of getting used to as they tended to throw him off balance a bit, what with their strange design of having two pegs on each sole. 

What passed for footwear friction features around Kararagi and Japan definitely just couldn't be understood by Ben's American brain which still believed in soles with grooves that allowed for minimal balance. 

Not that he complained too much. Ever since he had been spending more time with Rem, he had started regaining his ability to spend extended periods as his alien forms far more to the point that when he got annoyed with his footwear, he transformed into something that either didn't need shoes, or had comfortable footwear already provided by the Omnitrix's clothing protocols. 

Oh, speaking of Rem.

Ben frowned. He could already picture how things were about to go. 

Indeed, the instant he came back into the Tenement Apartment, passed by Ram, snoring under the table, still buried in her futon like a caterpillar in its coccoon, and Blukic and Driba on the low dining table fiddling with who knew what,  he immediately got on his knees proper Kararagi apology style, bowing with his forehead to the floor before the blue haired girl in a beautiful florally patterned kimono, busying herself with the kitchen-ware.

"I'm sorry!" Ben said. "Once more, I am an unemployed bum hole!!!"

"E-eh?" Rem turned around quickly. 

"WHOO! We are ALSO unemployed bum holes!" said Driba. "It is accepting the great truth that allows the intelligent to truly soar!"

"Driba, why are we takin' pride in bein' bum holes?" grunted Blukic. 

"Bum hole is an earth term for absolutely super stylish Blukic! You need to start paying attention to properly learning Earth Customs and language!" said Driba. 

"It means you're a bunch of unemployed fools who freeload off of my sister's kindness." said Ram's muffled voice from under the covers.

"Oh.. " said Driba. "Now I feel like a jerk."

"Yep, we're jerks." said Blukic. "Bu' I guess we gotta own it."

"No you don't, find a damn job!" Ram growled, her glaring eyes peeking out from under the covers now. 

"Ben-kun, it really isn't becoming of you to apologize like that." said Rem with a small smile. "I thought I told you not to do that. Just tell me straight up what happened."

"R-right I'm so- I mean sure, er, turns out Humungousaur is overqualified when it comes to carrying cargo into port."

Rem sighed. "I told you before didn't I? Its good that you're practicing getting used to using your power without panicking now, but there's such a thing as overkill. Perhaps next time you use Four Arms instead, or maybe just downgrade to Swampfire."

"Yeah, sor- I mean sure, I'll keep that in mind." said Ben.  

Rem smiled and kissed Ben on the cheek. "Just as long as you are listening."

Ben felt his face turn hot from Rem's kiss and he sat up straight. "I-I promise I'll get a steady job! Just you wait! Before we return to Roswaal's manor we'll be swimming in cash!"

"Eheheh, Ben-kun can do anything! I'm sure of it!" said Rem. "Now as soon as you finish helping me set up for dinner, we can resume your Language Lessons!"

Kararagi people spoke Japanese, and though that sort of language barrier was no problem when the Omnitrix had a universal translator, Ben didn't  want to constantly rely on that. He wasn't sure how the Omnitrix might mistranslate him anyways. So he'd periodically turn off the feature and let Rem instruct him in speaking Japanese (Or Kararagian as it was called in Lugnica). 

Rem was a patient teacher, and considering she got a job at the elementary school in Banan, it was no surprise. As a master of etiquette thanks to her time as a maid, she was well versed in teaching children. 

Ram on the other hand sucked at it in spite of being a maid, so she had taken her magic skills to bounty hunting, a much favored job since Banan didn't exactly have a blooming police department. 

"You should do the bounty hunting." Ram would say. "I do not have my horn anymore, so using my magic is taxing. Your powers would make the job easy."

"You know that me fighting at all is a last resort." Ben would then retort. 

Indeed, even after Ben started taking meditation lessons with Halibel, he had not yet gotten the courage to get back into a battle.  He knew he'd eventually have to test his emotion locking training if they wanted to make progress in taking down Eltanin, but.. 

"I wish Julius would hurry and turn up something in this investigation already." Ben muttered to himself during dinner as once more he subjected himself to Rem's delicious cooking.  "I mean this peaceful life ain't bad, however.."

"You're worried about Emilia aren't you?" said Rem with a smile as she passed out rice bowls to everyone, as well as two little thimbles of rice for Blukic and Driba. "I'm worried too. But the messages we've obtained from Master Roswaal so far show they're doing fine.  The Royal Selection has been delayed thanks to the investigation of the Vertilot family, which means that Julius-sama definitely must be trying his best."

"Yeah, but if we go back, he'll be forced to jail us, and that wouldn't be good." said Bartholomew, who was dressed in a dark blue kimono, his green hair tied in a pony tail.  "My mother could declare an execution, and without us around the investigation could be argued as pointless to the Council which they will likely agree on."

Bartholomew had impressed Ben for the past 2 weeks. After the first week of living in Banan, he had complained over and over of the lack of luxuries, from the food all the way down to the lack of proper capes for outer wear. 

But he had now seemingly come to accept his lower standard of life in the Tenement house. 

"Itadakimasu." Rem clasped her hands together, reciting the Kararagi traditional phrase meaning "Lets Eat."

Ben repeated the phrase along with everyone else before he picked up his chopsticks and began putting a few chunks of pork on his rice. 

"Now now Ben! Chin up!" said Driba. "Worst case scenario is that we live here forever and use our superior knowledge of Galvan technology to take this entire town by storm!"

"Please tell me you didn't build another bomb." Ben muttered. 

"BETTER! We've finally gotten 4 steps closer to remaking the original Mr. Smoothie Recipe!!" said Driba excitedly. 

"Wait, oh shit that actually IS amazing!" Ben said, his eyes lighting up. 

"After careful concoctions,  Blukic near fatally poisoning me 12 times and then us accidentally making a deadly destructive android that nearly obliterated the town-." Driba said. 

As Driba mentioned the android, everyone shivered in memory of the large robot drone made of bamboo, scrap metal, old samurai armor and powered by mana stones that had rampaged through a market place and was only stopped after Rem round house kicked it into Eatle's mouth.

"I still don't get how that was supposed to be your attempts to make a mixer." Ben muttered.

"They did say they wanted it to be fully automated." Bartholomew muttered back. 

"-Finally we found the base recipe by which Mr. Smoothie concocts all its flavors before throwing in their various fruits!" Driba continued without a care in the world.  "You say you want a job Ben Tennyson!? Well right here we have the means of being rich! And having unlimited Mr. Smoothies!!"

Ben felt his mouth water, but his temptation for having his favorite restaurant drink back in his life was cooled by the tempering hand of past experiences regarding Blukic and Driba. 

"You say you're close, how close?" Ben muttered. 

"See for yourself!" said Blukic, holding his galvan sized cup filled with suspicious fruity smelling liquid.

Ben took the tiny cup between his finger tips, the thing being no larger than the tiny cups they used for grape juice in passovers at churches. 

Rem looked at Ben tentatively as if prepared to call the doctor, while Ram lazily munched on her pork, only watching with mild curiosity. 

Ben sipped it, and immediately felt tears come to his eyes. Why was he crying? Was it because it had been so long since he had this taste in his mouth?

"Strawberry Cheesecake Surprise." Ben whispered. 

"EUREKA!" yelled Driba as he hi-fived (or four-ed) Blukic. "At last, we have smoothies! Ram my love! Have a taste."

"Keep your infernal liquid away from me, foul frog." Ram said coldly. 

"Aww Ram, she's such a joker! A beautiful angelic joker given to us by God himself!" said Driba, pink patches appearing under his froggish eyes. 

"I wonder if I just accidentally picked you up with my chopsticks, that I could possibly squeeze your head off ." Ram muttered. 

"Ahhhh, her voice speaks of heavenly kindness." Driba, smiling as an imaginary chorus fell upon his ear holes. 

"I'm afraid Ram is definitely going to kill him one day." Ben muttered to Rem. 

"I can't help but feel the same fear." Rem whispered back. 

"Anyways." Ben said. "I can't help but think you guys might've actually done it this time. Mr. Smoothies in Kararagi might in fact be a good business venture that'll actually pay the bills."

"Does that mean that instead of going back to Crane's Employment Agency, you'll be attempting a Merchant stint?" Bartholomew asked. "You know, I happen know that Crane has put up new work for Magoji Mansion. Apparently they're in need of a male servant." 

"I mean it couldn't hurt to try both out." Ben said. "I mean Blukic and Driba could try selling on their own for a bit."

"Ben-kun I think you should really be the face of whatever sales operation they run." said Rem, worry apparent on her face. "Blukic-san and Driba-san don't exactly have the best reputation in town anymore after the android incident, and with their size and being the only aliens, I'm sure an angry mob will congregate within seconds."

"Oh yeah! We almost forgot about the angry mobs!" said Driba. "I mean what's the big deal! It wasn't as if the drone was that dangerous!"

"It attempted take 3 preschoolers and blend them into a giant smoothie." said Rem. 

"Well if you're going to take it that way! Living things suffer to survive all the time!" said Driba

Rem raised an eyebrow at Ben who nodded

"Right." Ben muttered. "Hold off on the idea for now then, I'll go check out the job at Crane's then after training with Halibel I'll see what we should do about bringing Mr. Smoothie to Kararagi without having it all blow up in our faces.. literally and metaphorically."

The next morning, as promised, Ben headed to Crane's Employment agency, which was where everyone went if they wanted to find a job. 

Various  employers would put up notices on Crane's job board, and Crane would send employees their way. It was a simple and effective method of finding work in Banan. 

Crane was a Lizard Man who looked more like a frog with his short stature, bloated features, and even looked rather adorable with the little apron he always wore. Ben sometimes thought he was looking at a Gourmand from Peptos XI when he saw the guy.

"Back again I see." said Crane grumpily as Ben made his way in. 

"Yep. " Ben said. "Sorry."

"Don't say sorry for being too good at your job, it feels way too weird." said Crane. "I'm sure your wife's told you that."

"Wife?" Ben muttered.

"The blue haired oni, Rem-chan!"

"We're not married." Ben said. 

"For now!" said Crane with a laugh. "That cute little lady is into you and you're into her, don't wait until some fool snatches her out from under you!"

Ben blushed and sighed as he looked at the bulletin board. " Yeah, got you, but if I wanna do something like marriage don't I have to be more of a breadwinner?  Anyways, I heard that Magoji Manor's in need of somebody. Got any news on that?"

"Oho? Is Ben-san looking for a job at Riften-sama's place?"

Ben looked over his shoulder to see none other than Halibel standing behind him, smiling as he puffed on his kiseru calmly.  

"Well look! The Eternal Playboy arrives!" said Crane. "Halibel-sama, what brings you here?"

"I heard from Rem-chan that Ben-san got the boot for being overqualified thanks to his fancy wristwatch again, so I thought I'd come here for morale support." said Halibel with a chuckle.

"I can't believe that everyone's calling you that now." Ben muttered. "Just what do you all think a Playboy is anyways?"

"Well I rather like the nickname you gave me Ben-san, it feels natural somehow." said Halibel. "In any case, I'd watch out working at Riften-sama's if I were you."

"Yes, Riften the Fierce isn't exactly known for being able to keep his male employees!" said Crane. "There's a reason why many boys before have quit the job."

"Eh? Wait, why is he called the Fierce? Is he a warrior?"

"Nah, that's just what we call extremely formidable merchants here in Kararagi. He's a shrewd and clever man." said Halibel. "As such he's known by the title 'Fierce' to show his prowess in the market."

Ben scratched his head. "Huh, kay then, so why did guys quit? Is he harsh?"

"No, rather its the work environment." said Crane. "Riften-sama's notorious for having only women in his employ.  

"Oh." said Ben. "Yeah, okay I can see the problem. Not a lot of guys around, first thing the girls think when they see a guy already- okay."

"Indeed." said Crane. "Though if you can transform into something disgusting and untouchable, perhaps-."

"What you want me to work as Eye Guy or Goop for 24/7?" Ben muttered. "Come on it can't be that bad."

"Hmph, whatever you say. In either case, this might be a job where overqualification isn't a problem." Said Crane. "Even with that super fast Lizard Man you call XLR8, I doubt you can do everybody's chores for them in a mansion that large. Perhaps just stick to cooking and you'll be okay."

"Alright then." said Ben. "Hook me up Upchuck!"

"Why do you call me that?" Crane muttered. "Eternal Playboy is catchy, but what is an Upchuck!? I've never vomited in my life!"

Magoji manor was indeed large. It reminded Ben of Roswaal manor to a degree, except instead of two oni maids, he found himself faced with an army of different maids. 

The head Maid who interviewed him didn't give him much trouble. She didn't even ask any questions about the Omnitrix, which was odd as at least every other employer Ben had worked for had asked a few questions regarding the mysterious 'magic transformation artifact' Ben had on his wrist. 

But before long he found himself getting to work. 

It wasn't tough or easy depending on the various tasks he got into. In the kitchen, as he cooked, adjusting his new butler's uniform a little ruefully as it reminded him of his old one, he could hear the various girls whisper about him, giggling.

"Oh look at him.."

"He's so cute.."

"They say  he can turn into weird monsters.."

It got easier after Ben began participating in mopping the halls, as he found himself mostly alone as he scrubbed the floor and dipped his hand sponge into the soapy water bucket. 

But this went away after he felt a hand aggressively grab his butt, causing him to yelp in surprise as a giggling maid passed by, hurrying away from the scene of the crime. 

"The hell!?" Ben muttered.

After that Ben turned into Big Chill, and whenever he heard girl's voices or footsteps approaching, he immediately phased into the wall, leaving girls confused as they saw a random mop and bucket lying in the middle of the still freshly wet floor. 

"Weird, I could've sworn I heard him mopping just now." One girl said as she passed by. "How did he disappear so quickly? Is he a shinobi?"

Big Chill let out an icy sigh as he phased out of the wall, his breath turning some of the water into frost. 

Oops." Big Chill muttered as he looked at the now icy floor. "Ah crap, gonna have to wait for that to melt."

"EEEEEEEK!!" There was the sound of sudden crashing and a few panicked cries. 

Big Chill gave a start, his hooded form levitating over to the other end of the hallway, making a sharp turn. 

"What's going on?!" Big Chill exclaimed. 

The scene was rather strange. In the middle of the floor was a maid's uniform, a mop and a pair of rubber gloves for cleaning, just lying their in a heap as if somebody had just stripped naked in the middle of her job and run away.

A couple of other maids were just sitting standing their, looking shocked, the one who had screamed apparently, being a maid who had fallen over, her bucket tipped over, spilling its soapy contents. 

There were some more shrieks as everyone saw Big Chill. 

"Wh-whoa, it's me!" Ben exclaimed, transforming back to human form immediately. "Does anybody know what happened here?  Please don't tell me we've got a naked woman sprinting around or something."

"Oh, the new boy." said one of the maids. "I heard he could transform into weird monsters, but that was startling. That one looked like a ghost!"

"Th-the girl over there, sh-she was cleaning and she just.. poof, vanished.. r-right out of her clothes!" stammered the maid who was on the floor. 

"Somebody call the Head Maid! Clear out of the room!" yelled one of the senior staff. "Come on ladies move!"

A few  moments later, Ben watched alongside the maids, crowded outside with bated breath while the head maid stepped into the room and began eyeing the heap of clothes sitting there in the middle of the room. 

Ben was already throwing around multiple theories in his head, mostly alien related. 

A: Galvanic Mechamorph Prank, B: Limaxes found a new way to feed using teleportation capture devices, C: One of his future selves, Ben 10,000, tried to contact him again but ended up sending a random maid to the future instead.. somehow without her clothes, Terminator Style. 

But knowing this world and its lack of alien activity before he ended up here, perhaps not. 

As the Head Maid came back out, Ben raised a hand. "Er, ma'am. I have a form that can use scent to track her, if you need it-."

"Won't work." said the Head Maid, shaking her head. "I appreciate the offer Tennyson-chan, but even her scent has vanished from the world, everything from traces of her mana to even the mere memory of her is gone."

"That can't be right!" Ben said. "Memory? I mean you all remember her name right?"

All the girls looked at each other, looking disturbed and putting their hands to their mouths. 

"H-her name.. that's right."

"Wait, I.. I don't even remember her face."

"Wh-why can't I remember her!? We worked together for.. er.. how many years? I forget."

Ben felt the color drain out of his face. This was insane. This wasn't just murder or kidnapping or a plain disappearance. Somebody had wiped a person's entire existence from the face of the Earth. 

In all his years of fighting aliens and magic and seeing the strange and abnormal, this was a new one even for him. 

That day everyone ended up being sent home early, and even as Ben contemplated coming home to the kind blue haired girl who always kissed him on the cheek when he came home, he couldn't put the incident that just occurred out of his mind. 

What the hell had happened?

Naturally the description of his day was met with a large amount of shock at the dinner table that evening.

"No trace, no memory." Ram muttered, "that is not just ordinary magic.  What could do such a thing other than one of the 3 Great Mabeasts?"

"Nothing alien that I know of." Ben said. "Except maybe a Celestialsapien, though I don't think they'd be bothered with an ordinary maid working in a random manor."

"What's a celestialsapien?" Bartholomew asked. 

"God-like extradimensional beings that can manipulate reality with their mere thoughts!" said Driba. "Ben Tennyson has a Celestialsapien form!"

There was a shocked silence now.

Ram and Bartholomew slowly turned to look at Ben, their eyes, their mouths agape.

"Y-you have this much power!?" Bartholomew stammered. "Forget training to defeat the Arch Bishop, you could've already done it in mere seconds-!"

"Alien X isn't something that should be used so callously! It's more complicated than that." said Rem fervently. 

"He told you about it?" Ram asked.

"Of course, I know all of Ben-kun's secrets." said Rem with a wink and a smile. "And its as I said, Alien X isn't just some alien Ben can use on a whim. It comes with its own set of problems. And I'd rather not have my Ben-kun stuck motionless in eternal debate with 2 of his other selves for eternity."

"Plus how scary is it to have free control over God-like power even if I could make Alien X do what I want?" Ben said. "No thank you, that's a bit too much."

"Back to the topic at hand." said Bartholomew. "This certainly is a disturbing turn of events. It might indeed be a fact that the Witch's Cult pursued us to Kararagi. Though why they would take to making women disappear-."

"There is no rhyme or reason or logic in how the Witch's Cult attacks." said Ram. "That much was made apparent at the loss of me and Rem's village... that fateful day."

Rem turned quiet, but Ben patted her head. 

"Hey, that's just a very depressing thing to think about right now." Ben said. "We can't be too sure that it's the Witch's cult yet or anything involving the Vertilot Family. We just have to investigate until we find answers right?"

"I suppose that's an option." said Ram. "But you don't have any knowledge of the magic that's done this, and the only person who we know would have that sort of knowledge is-."

"Beatrice, yeah." Ben said. "Been a while since I thought about her. But its not like we can consult her about it at any point in ti-."

"Beatrice, I request your presence." said Ram. 

"I am here at your behest I suppose." 

Ben fell over, yelling in shock as the twirly haired little girl appeared, sitting at the table. 

"DRILL HEAD DEMON!!" screamed Driba. "Blukic, activate all defenses!"

"Aye aye!" Blukic brought out a large wooden rubber band gun the size of his body from under the table which he fired at Beatrice. "How do yeh like dem apples!?"

The rubber band glanced off Beatrice's head as she pouted, a vein throbbing at her temple. "What's this supposed to be?"

"IT'S INVINCIBLE!!" roared Driba. "We're doomed!"

"How the heck-!?" Ben stammered.

"I carry a piece of the Library at Roswaal's manor." Ram said, taking out a necklace locket from under her kimono. "As such, for certain periods of time I can summon Beatrice to speak on the issues involving magic we have no knowledge of."

"Oh, of course." Ben said, chuckling nervously. "Yo! Betty! How's things?"

"Hmph!" Beatrice turned away from Ben. "Well I see the troublesome boy is still alive I suppose. Well, why have you summoned me?"

After the situation was explained, Beatrice sighed. 

"Naturally it is something caused by a Mabeast." said Beatrice. "A unique one I suppose. However the fact that its happened inside a populated building is the strange one I suppose. It's probably being weaponized by somebody I suppose. Either that or we have an actual Authority of Gluttony, but Gluttony doesn't usually wipe out a person's body I suppose."

"A Mabeast being brought in from outside to cause havoc." Ben muttered. "Wait, what's a mabeast again?"

"Dog Pee Boy, you can't honestly be expecting us to have to explain this." said Ram. "Mabeasts are monsters that crave destruction, and have a connection to the witches of sin. They despise and devour humans and fill the wilderness of our world."

"So how do I even go about investigating this?" Ben asked. 

Beatrice sighed before giving Ben a serious look that almost positively spooked him to the extreme. "You watch, and pray I suppose."