Omnitranyl (Ben 10 Alien Force)

Kevin was trying to keep himself calm enough not to make a mistake and put everything at risk.

"You're just a worm," the Squire shouted at Theodore, "not a worm. A worm would be too good for you... You're the excrement of a worm," the squire pointed his finger in the page's face, "No, come on, I wish you were just excrement! You are the bacteria in a worm's excrement! You are not capable of doing a simple task! Useless, incompetent! Now, get out of my sight!"

Theodore nodded slightly and walked off to the right. There was no sign of the young man's characteristic good humor.

The Squire followed his victim with his gaze until he saw him kneel by the toilet and pick up a mop. A smile formed at the corner of his lips. He turned in the opposite direction from Theodore and headed for the upper floors.

Kevin approached Theodore. He crouched down next to him, took one of the mops as well, and began to help him clean the communal bathroom.

"No need, man," said Theodore.

"Relax, I'm done with my chores," answered Kevin.

If this were another time, Kevin would have already absorbed the wood or the stone from the first object he saw in front of him and would have punched the Squire in the face. It would have been a nice punch. He wondered if he would break his nose and some teeth. At least two? Nah, three for sure!

But at the moment, none of this was possible. He needed to go unnoticed. His current goal was to get the Chaotic before Albedo did. Strange that he hadn't shown up yet...

About the sermon, maybe you think that Theodore has done something very absurd to receive such gracious words of motivation. I leave it to you, the reader, to judge:

The Squire gave Theodore the task of washing the castle's communal bathrooms, all five of them. The page spent half the day scrubbing walls and toilets; pulling clumps of hair from drains, enough to make a Persian carpet. As soon as he finished, he discovered that he should have used lavender soap, not coconut soap. The end of the story you may have already understood...

"Theodore... Are you crying?" asked Kevin.

"What? I'm crying?" Theodore wiped his eyes with the arm of his shirt. "It's the product..."

"I get it. It really burns the eyes..."

"..."

It was already the third sermon just that day.

"Hey, you should not mind what the Squire says" Kevin was filling a bucket with water from the faucet.

"I don't."

"Okay then."

From then on, only the sound of mops being forced against walls, floors and toilets was heard. The smell of coconut was slowly replaced by the smell of lavender. When they were finished, they gathered up their buckets and mops and looked with pride at the work completed.

"Doing it together will get us finished faster," said Kevin.

"Thanks, Phillip!"

"No thanks, there are still four more to go."

"Geez, you had to remember..."

"Stop whining and let's go!"

As soon as they removed the 'In cleaning' sign from the bathroom door, George, in his disheveled style, rushed towards the two of them:

"No, don't go out, come in, come in!" He pushed them both back into the bathroom.

"Are you crazy, George?" said Theodore, "What happened?"

As soon as he closed the door, George began:

"I found a way for us to get into the Crypt."

"And who asked you to discover it?" Theodore put the bucket on the floor.

"I asked," answered Kevin.

"What for?"

"Are you going to tell me that you've never been curious to enter the Crypt?" George's gaze said 'Everyone wants to go into the crypt.'

"Of course I have. But my curiosity ends at the exact distance between me killing my curiosity and my curiosity killing me."

Pause for explanation:

Kevin's request to George was also constructed through a lie. He was getting good at this! First he asked his colleague if he knew about the legend of the Knights' Pajens. George did not, although much of his upbringing was under the wings of the Eternal Knights. It made sense not to know, according to Kevin, because it was a History that was kept under lock and key in the Eternal archives and the Leaders feared that more pageboys would decide to take on the adventure and risk their lives. George became more and more curious and questioned "what the hell was this legend!"? Then Kevin told the story of the two pageboys who broke into the Crypt of Secrets of the Eternal Knights and, for showing courage and aptitude to face the dangers of the Crypt, were immediately elevated to the rank of knights.

It may sound like a silly story, but the most famous origin story of the Eternals was of a knight who fought a dragon on the moon, so... Their belief threshold is pretty low. The proof of this is that George believed it.

Kevin's interest, of course, was in the possibility of acquiring the Chaotic, since the Crypt is the most secure vault in the castle.

End of break.

"Dude, you don't have to come if you don't want to," said Kevin.

"But you'll regret it if you don't," George challenged.

"I don't know why, but I think I'll regret it more if I go."

"It's up to you," Kevin answered.

Theodore thought for a moment, then made a counterproposal:

"If you help me clean the other bathrooms, I'll go with you."

"What, why?" questioned George. "It's your job, buddy."

Kevin stared at George. The coldness in his gaze made the page check the proper functioning of his urinary bladder.

For reasons 'unknown' George changed his mind:

"W-we can help you, no problem."

"If that's so, then fine," Theodore smiled. Three getting the job done might give him time to watch the series 'The Game of Kingdoms' that he had been planning to catch up on for days. "But if I die, I'll kill you."

"Right," replied Kevin.

"Right..." replied George.

* * *

Four lavender-scented bathrooms later, the three pageboys decided to gather near George's bed to discuss the plan.

Theodore expressed a 'it's going to go wrong...' face with each new piece of information. Kevin kept a close eye on the explanations and the pictures on George's cell phone, which he took in his father's living room. George obviously didn't stop talking for a second; every now and then being forced by his own lung to take a breath when his voice started to fade.

"No, no, no!" George moved his hands in the air waving a negative sign "This here are the lasers," his index finger pointed to a spot on the cell phone picture, "the electrocuted area is further ahead" his finger slid over the cell phone, going through the pictures until it found what he wanted. "Here. This is the electrocuted part."

"A doubt," said Theodore. "Actually, several doubts, but let's go in parts. The first is, why the hell under the castle has a vault inspired by medieval dungeons, with high-tech traps?"

"As a matter of identity and respect to the origins?" said George.

"I was referring to the necessity of the vault."

"Ah, it's just that we have technologies and discoveries here in the castle that are too unstable or dangerous to be easily accessible. So, better to keep it well guarded underground."

"Fine then" Theodore's face changed from 'it's going to go wrong' to 'we're going to die with absolute and absolute certainty' "Is giving up on this idea really not an option?"

"No," replied George and Kevin.

"Got it, go ahead."

"Then... Tomorrow, after dinner, we should meet again-"

"Tomorrow?" asked Kevin.

"Yes, tomorrow."

"Why don't we go today?"

"Today's not good..."

"Why?" Kevin began to get annoyed with his colleague's hesitation.

"It's just that I planned for us to go tomorrow, so..."

"What do you mean, man, what's the difference if we go today or tomorrow? What about the adventure?"

Something is wrong, thought Kevin.

"Relax, Phillip, it's no problem for us to go today," George started to put away his cell phone.

"I am tired," said Theodore.

Kevin looked at his colleagues. Suspicions began to cross his mind at an incredible speed. What if it was a trap? What if Albedo had also disguised himself and adopted George's identity? Or Theodore? No, not Theodore... What if George had opened his beak for his father? Maybe at this very moment the Eternal Knights were preparing an ambush to arrest him, but it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow... What if? What if?

"Just give me one decent reason why we shouldn't go today," said Kevin.

"I..." George looked away from Kevin. "I had planned to see The Game of Kingdoms..."

"You watch it too!" Theodore put aside all his concern and embraced his usual enthusiasm

"But of course I watch it!" George also embraced the excitement "The series is really good, geez!"

"I'm a bit worried about this last season, actually..."

"You too! I thought they started to deviate too much from the books and..."

From then on Kevin stopped listening. He left his colleagues chattering among themselves about their silly series of knights and dragons.

About the plan: his suspicions remained, of course, but what to do?

* * *

Dawn. Full moon.

Standing in front of the ventilation duct opening, Kevin once again wonders if it was the right thing to do. In his right hand, George's cell phone with the pictures of the maps and notes about the traps. He would give it back later.

His plan had always been to go alone, but after George's hesitant posture, he no longer knew the ideal moment to act.

He put his cell phone in his back pocket. He absorbed some of the iron from the opening grating of the duct, thus gaining enough consistency and strength to bend the grating to the point of gaining enough space to pass through.

It went in.