Chapter 248: A Plea Across the Stars
"Klein Azeroth… The most powerful Plumber in history. The man who defeated the galactic overlord Vilgax, destroyed half of the Anur Vladias Empire, forcefully suppressed the Highbreed invasion fleet… A great hero who has saved the entire Milky Way Galaxy countless times!"
Inside the living room of Klein's home, a sleek, disc-shaped communicator lay flat on the coffee table, projecting a flickering blue holographic pillar. Within the light stood the virtual figure of a short-haired little girl. She wore a tattered, oversized skirt, her bare feet covered in digital dirt, yet her eyes shone with absolute reverence.
"Hey, I like her style," Kevin remarked, leaning back on the sofa with a lazy smirk. He crossed his arms behind his head. "Anyone who praises the boss like that is basically my brother."
Ben, sitting on the opposite side, slumped his shoulders. Despite agreeing with Kevin's assessment of his cousin's ridiculous track record, a sour pout tugged at his lips. "I helped out a lot too, okay? Where's my credit? Why don't I have any die-hard fans across the galaxy?"
"Shush." Gwen shot him a sharp glare, her brow furrowing slightly. "Don't interrupt, Dweeb. Keep listening."
Kevin and Ben immediately clamped their mouths shut. They knew better than to push it right now. The fact that Klein had actually called them over to watch this message meant it was important. It certainly wasn't just to stroke his own ego; they knew their boss and cousin far too well for that.
In fact, Ben half-suspected that before today, Klein didn't even realize he had a fan club. Whenever he actually encountered civilians in the middle of a crisis, he was usually in the form of XLR8, flashing past as a blue-and-black afterimage to handle his own business, never bothering to stop and chat with the locals.
"My name is Xiaojie," the little girl in the hologram continued. "I've heard so many stories about you from my mom. You're really amazing!"
Her face beamed with pure adoration for a fleeting second before the smile collapsed. Her small shoulders slumped, and a deep, weary sorrow replaced her excitement. "Do you… do you like war?"
Sitting near the back of the room, Klein rested his chin on his knuckles. His expression remained utterly placid, but one dark eyebrow arched upward in silent observation.
"I don't like war," Xiaojie whispered, her digital projection glitching slightly with static. "So I hope… if it's possible… you could come here. Please stop them from fighting. But… of course, if you can't come, it's okay! You're still a great hero! Thank you!"
With a final, polite bow, the transmission cut out. The blue light collapsed into the metal disc, plunging the room back into normal lighting.
"What do you guys think?" Klein's voice broke the silence, calm and unreadable.
Ben's brow was knit in a tight, heavy frown. His green eyes softened with immediate empathy. Looking at the girl's ragged clothes and the desperate plea in her voice, it didn't take a genius to figure out that a massive, devastating conflict had broken out on her home planet. She was likely just struggling to survive the crossfire. Ben's stance was instant and unwavering: he wanted to help.
Kevin and Gwen, however, remained quiet.
Kevin's silence was entirely pragmatic. He felt a passing twinge of sympathy, sure, but he was far more focused on Klein's ultimate decision. If the boss gave the word to deploy, Kevin would be the first one out the door, fists coated in solid steel. If not, it wasn't his problem.
Gwen's silence stemmed from a much deeper place. Her heart ached just as much as Ben's did, but her analytical mind immediately began running through the logistics. How were they supposed to pinpoint a distant, unnamed planet based on a single transmission? And even if they got there, how exactly did one go about stopping a full-scale planetary war?
She knew, of course, that these obstacles were absolute jokes to Klein. He was the most capable, terrifyingly overpowered entity in the Milky Way's history. If he wanted to, he could micromanage the entire universe and solve every single person's problems with a snap of his fingers.
But how vast was the universe? Could he really shoulder the weight of everything?
Gwen's chest tightened at the thought. She never wanted to see her cousin crushed under the endless, exhausting expectations of the cosmos. He wasn't the only hero out there. The Plumbers existed for a reason; these burdens shouldn't fall exclusively on his shoulders. She vividly remembered Klein once casually stating, "I don't consider myself a hero, and I never wanted to be one." If the day ever came when he was truly tired of fighting, Gwen would be the first to stand between him and the rest of the universe to let him rest.
So, instead of relying on Klein, Gwen's mind raced with her own capabilities. She wanted to help Xiaojie, but she wanted to do it on her own merit. The innate mana of an Anodite was staggeringly powerful, theoretically capable of allowing one to traverse galaxies under their own power.
Unfortunately, she just wasn't there yet. If she had reached the level of Grandma Verdona, or even half of that, she would have confidently opened a portal right then and there. But right now, she lacked the sheer magical output required for deep-space travel.
"I'll go," Klein suddenly announced, standing up from his chair. He stretched his arms casually, joints popping. "Stopping a war? That's pretty easy. Just consider it a vacation."
Ben, Gwen, and Kevin blinked, momentarily stunned. Klein was notoriously lazy. Unless Grandpa Max specifically asked him to intervene, he rarely went out of his way to get involved in galactic politics. Most of his legendary feats were just him passing by, getting annoyed, and swatting the problem away.
"Oh, I get it!" Ben suddenly grinned, pointing a finger at him. "Cousin, you're totally a tsundere, aren't you? You just don't want to disappoint your cute little fan and—Ouch!"
Before Ben could finish his teasing, a sharp flick struck his forehead with pinpoint accuracy, sending him stumbling back a step.
"So what if I am?" Klein rubbed his right fist, a faint, amused smirk playing on his lips. "Do you guys want to go check out another planet or not?"
There was no grand, righteous crusade in his eyes. He genuinely just wanted to take his family out for a road trip. Even if the journey took a whole day, he could squash the planetary war in about sixty seconds, leaving them twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes to sightsee.
Oh, wait, Klein mused internally. An alien day might not actually be twenty-four hours. Whatever. We'll wing it.
"Hiss… Yes! I definitely want to go!" Ben shouted, vigorously rubbing the red welt on his forehead.
Gwen's serious expression melted into a warm, fond smile. "Mhm. I'm with Ben on this one. Please take us, Cousin."
"Boss, do you even have to ask?" Kevin shrugged, feigning a dramatic sigh of helplessness. "If there's a fight brewing, I've gotta be there to watch your back. Or at least watch you punch someone through a mountain." Despite his casual tone, his boots were already moving toward the door.
Since the decision was made, there was only one thing left to do.
"Ship! Ship!!"
Bang! Bang!
Something small and heavy hammered against the front door.
The moment Kevin twisted the knob, a blur of black-and-green liquid metal darted through the gap. In the blink of an eye, the Galvanic Mechamorph pet bounced across the living room floor, sliding to a halt right at Klein's feet and affectionately rubbing its smooth, dome-like head against his ankle.
"Ship! Ship!" it chirped happily, a single green optic glowing brightly.
Klein crouched down, gently stroking the little creature's metallic head. "Do you want to tag along too, buddy?"
"The little guy wants in on the action?" Kevin raised an eyebrow, though he clearly remembered the sheer, terrifying firepower Ship was capable of producing.
Klein chuckled, scratching Ship behind its optical sensor. "The spaceship form he takes has considerable interstellar travel capabilities. He's perfect for this."
"But, Cousin, don't we need to hurry?" Ben asked, a hint of worry creeping into his voice. He hadn't actually experienced Ship's deep-space flight speed yet. The only time he had traveled off-world in the little guy was through a pre-established Highbreed jump gate.
"Relax. Ship's speed won't slow us down." Klein's voice carried absolute confidence.
While it was true that using one of his more overpowered alien forms to instantly teleport across the galaxy would be faster, riding in Ship wouldn't delay them by any meaningful margin. And it was far more comfortable for the passengers.
Hearing the absolute certainty in Klein's tone, Ben and the others immediately dropped their concerns. If Klein said it was fine, it was fine. There was no point overthinking it.
Less than three minutes later, a sleek, heavily armed black-and-green spaceship tore through Earth's atmosphere, leaving a trail of emerald energy in its wake as it vanished into the endless expanse of the stars.
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