Reunion (Chapter)

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Reunion
Release Date	April 3rd, 2022 September 1st, 2017 (Archaic)
Read Chapter	Chapter 3
Details
Volume	1
Chapter Number	3
Number of Pages	53
Credits
Drawn by	Kuro the Artist
Designs by	Kuro the Artist Insane-Mane O.R.Ash (Additional Designs) (Recalibrated)
Chapter Guide
Previous Chapter	The Lonely Ghost
Next Chapter	The Fallen Gods

"Even in my absence, you grow more like me each day."

―Vlad Plasmius

Chapter 3: Reunion is the third chapter of 5 Years Later.

Plot Summary

Ben Tennyson and Danny Fenton begin to face-off against Vlad. Vlad briefly destabilizes Danny, causing Ben to go in alone, but Ben quickly underestimates Vlad's strength. After recovering, Danny attempts to burn Vlad with his ocular ecto-beams, but that Vlad was just a clone.

Enraged, Danny introduces Vlad to his new ghost power, dubbed by Vlad as the Phantom Flame, as the battle transitions to Bellwood Park. Vlad reveals that he spent his five years in isolation mastering his ghost powers, and unlocked new abilities as well, notably the Ghost Wail, which was previously a power exclusive to Danny.

Ben catches up to the battle as the two attempt to take Vlad head-on. Vlad manages to stun Ben, transforming him back to human, but is quickly saved by Danny, who temporarily traps Vlad in a pillar of ice. Ben begins to analyze the type of energy Vlad used, as his transformation, Chromastone, has never encountered an energy he couldn’t absorb before. After coming up with a plan, Ben leaves Danny with a communicator and orders him to lead Vlad away from the city while Ben ensures there are no civilians in harm's way.

Vlad frees himself and chases Danny around the city. The destruction of their battle causes a Weather Tower to topple over, nearly crushing a few blocks of civilians. The Tower is stopped by Danny using his ice abilities yet again, but the over-use of his powers causes him to nearly pass-out. Danny is thanked by all the civilians he saved, but they confuse him to be another one of Ben’s aliens.

This catches Danny off-guard enough for Vlad to gain the upper hand, and phase Danny into the sewer, where he continues to attack him. Ben gives Danny the idea to attack more offensively, and lures Vlad out of the city to the Bellwood desert, where he uses his belt's Ecto-Sword to pierce through Vlad’s shields, as Vlad primarily uses defensive tactics.

Danny, nearly drained at this point, gets punched around a few times by Vlad before Ben is able to trap Vlad using his Gravattack transformation. Just before Danny can begin to question Vlad, Eon slows time to a halt and pulls Vlad out of Ben's Dimension. When time resumes, Ben and Danny had not seen how Vlad escaped, leaving them to speculate what Vlad’s true motivations were.

Back at the Plumber base, GIR is shown escaping into another dimension.

Details

Major Events

• Battle in Bellwood
  • Danny and Vlad fight for the first time in five years.
  • It is revealed that Vlad has mastered every ghost power available.
• Infiltration of the Orion-Cygnus Outpost
  • Eon has successfully stolen information from the Plumber Archives via GIR during the Bellwood City Battle.

Characters

• Danny Fenton
• Ben Tennyson
• Bellwood Civilians

Villains

• Vlad Masters
• Eon
• GIR
• Zim

Transformations

• Slingshot
• Four Arms
• Slampeed
• Chromastone
• XLR8
• Gravattack

Locations

• Ben's Dimension
  • Bellwood
  • Plumber Base (Orion-Cygnus District)

Mythology

• The device Vlad uses to incapacitate Danny resembles Vladco technology.
• The park in Bellwood where part of the battle takes place is the same one Ben defeated Vilgax in during the Ben 10: Alien Force episode The Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 2.
  • The blue crystal at the center of the statue is salvaged from Ben's Diamondhead transformation during that battle.
• Danny calls Vlad a “Fruit Loop”, one of his most common insults towards Vlad during their rivalry in Danny Phantom.
• A Highbreed Weather Tower is shown from the first two seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force.

Differences From The Archaic Version

An event known as 5 Years Later: Recalibrated took place in preparation for the Motion Comic Counterpart, where Kuro went back and refurbished the first eleven chapters of the series. A large portion of the artwork was edited or completely redrawn. Many scenes were replaced, cut or extended. Dialogue was fine-tuned and rewritten, while most typos and grammar errors were corrected. Attributes that became standard to 5YL’s general art style were retroactively added in, such as a stronger difference between Ben’s lime green and Danny’s turquoise green, colored outlines and shading, refined facial features for most characters, square dialogue boxes, and the signature floating dots around ecto-energy. Every transformation used by Ben is now accompanied by an Information Hub, and each alien has colored text. While nearly every panel has been altered, these are the significant changes:

• The cover now has Vlad using both his default purple ecto-energy alongside his red lightning ecto-energy, with Danny using his default green ecto-energy alongside his blue ice powers.
• Danny and Ben’s dialogue changes from the former trying to use the latter’s catchphrase to a brief reflection on Vlad’s unexpected arrival. Vlad also comments on having more than just similar powers to Danny.
• The in-universe Ben 10 poster has been redrawn by O.R.Ash and now resembles the official Ben 10 (2016) art style closer, and now includes Overflow, Shock Rock, and Slapback.
• Slingshot now quips “Going up!”, while Four Arms’ and Chromastone text boxes shouting their names are removed.
  • However, you can still hear them shout their name in the episode version.
• Instead of transforming first before rising to his feet, Danny now does both in one swift motion.
• The “THUMP!!” onomatopoeia when Danny presses against Vlad’s shield is removed.
• Danny’s line exclaiming “I will never be like you!!” is now emphasized by a green, jagged font.
• Danny proclaims that his Ghostly Wail is a power implied to be unique to him, making Vlad’s use of it more surprising.
• The “SKRRRTT!!” onomatopoeia when Danny presses against Vlad’s shield is removed.
• The backgrounds when Slampeed and Danny are fighting Vlad change from Vlad to their signature greens depending who is in focus.
• Ben’s Omnitrix now warns him of Chromastone’s transformation failing, now being the first time the Omnitrix talks in 5YL.
  • The Omnitrix also flashes red when Ben is forced to change back to human. In the same panel, Danny is now shown punching Vlad’s shield.
• A “Click!” onomatopoeia was added when Danny first takes off his belt.
• The surprised lines when Ben nearly hits the ground before Danny catches him are removed.
• The display for Ben’s Omnitrix when replaying the battle’s footage has been redesigned.
• Three “Crack”s and a “Shatter!” onomatopoeia was added when Vlad breaks free of Danny’s ice.
• While putting the communicator in Danny’s ear, XLR8 says “Here, take this!”
• The background when XLR8 first calls Danny has been changed from green to yellow.
• Vlad’s Shadow has been redesigned.
• The civilian Danny saves is now Phil Gacks, replacing Butch Hartman. This was done with the Motion Comic in mind, as to avoid portraying a real person in the series, and set up Phil’s character early. As such, all of Hartman’s lines were rewritten to match Phil’s character.
• Cameos of Gourmand Ramsey and Everett The Nemuina were added, characters created during Dum Doodles Livestreams.
• Danny and Vlad are shown more clearly flying through the sewers opposed to only their tails being in frame.
• The background when Danny’s belt transforms changes from blue to green.
• Danny taunts Vlad before he slices his shield open.
• Vlad’s comment on Danny’s use of his sword is more elaborate.
• Vlad now glows pink to indicate Eon intentionally giving him immunity to time pausing.
• The “payed” typo in Danny’s dialogue is corrected to “paid.”
• The final location text now reads “Plumber HQ: Orion-Cygnus District”.
• GIR’s “Yes, Master!” dialogue box is now grey with a blue outline and white, cybernetic text.

Trivia

• This is the first chapter to take place in only one dimension.
• This is the first chapter not to include an opening monologue.
• The Ben 10 (2016 Reboot) series exists in the 5YL continuity as a fictional cartoon, as shown through advertisements and merchandise around Bellwood.
• Full Stop's silhouette appears on the cover, this was released four years before his proper debut in Chapter 11: Shattered.
• In addition to the previous easter eggs, Max’s Plumbing also shows a poster for O.R.Ash’s Hollow Knight-themed Avatar, a poster for The Ink Tank’s second YouTube Channel The Rust Bucket, and a poster for the fictional contest that named Itsy Glicky Spider.
• On the roof where Ben places the civilians, four of them resemble Duncan Rouleau, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, and Steven T. Seagle of Man of Action, the creators of Ben 10.
• Astrodactyl, AmpFibian and Antigravitesla were almost used in place of Slingshot.
• In a cut scene from this chapter, Eon would have revealed himself to Danny and Ben while rescuing Vlad before they teleport away. In this cut scene, Ben would have transformed into Sucker Punch to try and stop Eon.
• A billboard advertising the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company makes an appearance during Danny and Vlad's fight.