Right now Ben is sitting in his school's phantom hunting club room, he was sitting next to Reina with complete disinterest. In front of him was Mai, she on the other hand looked rather irked and irritated.

Ben took notice and saw she was glaring at Supuraito, the boy turned phantom in question had been sitting on the table next to Iwa. They joined their phantom hunting team after reuniting with each other. Lately the activity was minimal, no phantoms had been reported besides a few isolated incidents at the school.

The shapeshifter found this lack of conflict rather boring 'just something happen please' He thought then heard Supuraito yelp. Looking to him he saw he was being strangled by Mai.... wait what?! "What the heck?!" Ben said before separating the two "jeez what happened?" He asked the two.

"I was just minding my own business when Mai just out of no reason attacked me" the phantom said as Iwa hugged him. "Mai what did you do that for?" She asked, "he used his threads just now I thought he was going to use it on one of us" the elemental girl retorted. "Yeah I used my ability to grab a pencil on that end of the table and get it for Iwa" Supuraito said.

The rock girl just glared at the carrot top "you're just attacking him because of the times he scared you back then just get over it" she said to her. Mai in response had growled ready to activate her ability when Ben got them both in the face with Stink fly goo. "Okay first of all, can someone please tell me what she means?" He asked.

Ruru then came over "oh I can, a long time ago when Supuraito was human, he used to scare the heck out of Mai a lot" she explained. "I was four, those were all just harmless pranks" the phantom defended while Mai rolled her eyes. "Those weren't harmless I hated every one of them" she retorted "you overreacted... GAH?!" Ben had nailed them again. This time with Snare-Oh! Bandages, "anyway since those incidents Mai has really Hated Supuraito since then" Ruru finished.

"And he scares?" Ben asked "just a monster mask in her bag, a small toy spider in her hair, it didn't even look scary. They were all harmless, then there was the time she actually attacked me for no reason" Supuraito said. "Oy again with that stupid doll" she said when the phantom flailed his fists "it wasn't a stupid doll it was my favorite toy in the world and you broke it!" He yelled.

"Favorite toy?" Ben asked, Iwa the answered him "a long time ago Supuraito had a small puppet he got from his Grandma, he really loved it. And played with it everyday, then when he went to show it to me and Mai it scared her and she broke it" she explained.

"I really loved that puppet my grandmother made it for me with her own two hands!" The phantom yelled. "It was scary!" Mai said, the two were at each other's throats, and this time Koito intervened by binding them in her golden chains. "You two should really calm down" she said, "and get some well needed counseling" Ben added.

"Oh really? what if he ends up betraying us?" Mai shot as Supuraito used his powers to make her punch herself in the face. Then had Ruru put him in a chokehold, "Okay, that's it you two need help" Ben said. Just then Miss Himeno runs in "team I'm afraid that a phantom may be messing with the town" she said.

"Remember those isolated incidents? Apparently the teachers reported their possessions floating around in the air, and the same accounts in a few houses." Ben raised a brow "What's so bad about that? Do they attack anyone?" He asked "no but it does seem that when the phantom sees certain pictures they attack it" Arisu informed.

"Well how did it move the objects?" Ben asked "Well believe it or not, it's actually similar to one of our previous alert" the teacher said which for some reason made Mai look at him with a scowl. "During the events some people claim to have seen energy threads holding the objects" she explained.

Mai then shot up and pointed to the string phantom "see it has to be him! Who else can use threads to do that kind of thing?!" She yelled. "It's not him" Iwa yelled back "it can't be, Despite his tendencies Supuraito was a very nice person" Reina said.

"I can't really believe it either, according to the reports during those incidents Supuraito was with us the whole time" Haruhiko said. "Come on!" The elemental girl growled, Ben then spoke up along with Koito. "Plus it says in the report that the strings looked more like sewing threads" the pink hair said. "And most of the time our little friend here's strings look similar to fishing line rather than actual ropes" Ben added.

In a moment a scream was heard, Mai was seen floating in the air as she was given... oh god... the worst possible torment ever. A mega Atomic wedgie!!!!

"This... is... not... FUNNY!!!" She yelled before getting dropped on the floor. Above her they saw numerous energy threads, the victim looked up to see them. "Ha you see that was him!" She yelled before Ben grabbed one of the threads.

"No it isn't" Iwa shot at her, Ben then went over to Supuraito "Uh Pardon But May I have one of your threads?" He asked. The phantom nodded and gave him one, looking over it Ben spoke up "Mai that isn't one of Supuraito's" he said.

"How could you know?" She asked "Well for one thing, Supuraito's threads do look like fishing line. These threads look like miniature ropes" he explained when the one that attacked Mai has retracted back into the air vents.

Haruhiko then sighed, "Uh Miss Himeno" he spoke, "I think we're going to decline this mission until we can get our team back To working condition" he said.  The group looked at him "or at least a few members, Mai and Supuraito I suggest you two get some professional help."

"What?! Don't tell me I need professional help" the elemental said before Iwa dropped a stone anvil on her. "Yeah you need help, while the rest of us go to deal with the phantom I want you to go through some exercises" Ben said.

And over the next few hours Arisu had put them through many different trust exercises. A few involving the classing trust fall, having Supuraito catch Mai and Mai catch Supuraito. And another having paint how they see the other, the phantom proved to be more postitive than the human.

And even after that they still couldn't be allowed to be in the same room, "this is harder than I thought" the teacher said. "Mai it's clear your the one with trust issues" she said to her as the hunter just scoffed.

Just then Ben ran back in and shut the door, "Well that didn't go as smoothly as I hoped" he said hyperventilating. Then began to barricade the door with diamonds "Uh Ben what're you doing?" Supuraito asked.

"Uh we found the phantom, turns out he knows you" the alien answered before his barrier was blasted away. On the other side were their teammates only they had the threads connected to their limbs. And standing behind them was a tall human sized puppet that looked similar to Pinocchio.

"What the?!" Both yelled surprised while the teacher hid under her desk, "ah, so nice to see you old friends" it said with a scowl like smile. "Wh-who are you!" Supuraito asked as he hovered back.

"I'm sure you would've recognized me, after all I am the thing you treasured before hiding me away in the attic" the puppet said before launching its strings at them. Only for Ben to jump in front and put up an alien x shield, "What the... wait, Uddī?" The phantom kid asked as Mai looked at him.

"Wait that thing is your puppet?" She said, "oh look it's the bimbo that broke me, I'm going to enjoy taking your bodies and adding them to my collection" he said before making Koito vocalize and tried to hit Ben. Only for him to use Echo Echo's power and blast the vocal waves away. And after charge the marionette down, Iwa was then seen getting him in the back with a stone hammer.

Only for him to turn intangible and allow the hammer to phase through and hit the phantom toy. "I'll handle these just take care of the puppet" Ben said before turning into Omni and pulled the controlled team away from their master.

The two went into fighting stance, Uddī then cracked his joints and used his strings to fling Miss Himeno's desk at them. The teacher herself had already left in all the commotion, "Really is that the best you've got?" Mai asked before her foot enflamed and kicked the table. Only for her to be struck by several splinters.

She screamed on impact and fell, she couldn't move, "w... what happened to me?" She asked as she made a desperate attempt to get away. "Mai! What did you do?!" Supuraito said as he summoned several strings to defend.

"I shot her with my paralysis splinters, with her down I can now freely take control of her with no resistance" the puppet said as he summoned his own threads. "But why are you doing this?" The other phantom asked, "why because she broke me for no good reason, and after that you never played with me and had forgotten about me entirely. For that I'll make you both feel how I've felt always being controlled by strings" he said before throwing his strings. Only for Supuraito to use his to pull Mai out the window and onto the roof.

Ben had bursted throwing the roof after successfully removing the strings from their teammates. Unfortunately they couldn't move also due to the paralysis splinters, "I got the strings off them, make sure you get her somewhere safe" he said before facing the puppet as he climbed to the roof.

"Okay you Pinocchio rip-off, let's see if there aren't any strings on you" he taunted before using CannonBolt's powers to knock him off. And after Spider Monkey's web tail to grapple Uddī and swing him around.

"Come on Mai, let's get out of here" Supuraito said pulling her before she yelled. "NO!! Just get away from me! I can handle myself!" She spoke, "just let me help! What's your deal with me anyway?" Supuraito asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked, "ever since I met you you've been giving me the stink eye. Why? I never did anything to hurt you personally or physically. The pranks weren't even enough to scare a little kid, so what is the deal?!" The phantom yelled. "You really don't know? This is coming from the person who stole my best friend away" she said.

"What?" He uttered, "before you loved here "me and Iwa were the best of friends, then you had appeared. After meeting Iwa you always spent time together, and I hardly ever see her" Mai went on. "So the reason you never liked me, was because you thought Iwa liked me more than you?" He asked, "isn't it obvious?! She rarely sees me any more, and even when she does she never even says hi" she shot.

"You're kidding? Iwa never stops speaking about you, when we first met she told me about how cool and strong you were" the boy turned phantom said. They then heard Ben "I've fought a clown tougher and scarier than you, you don't even seem that strong!" He said using Diamond Head's crystals on him.

"I won't stop, not until those two are punished!!" Uddī yelled firing more splinters. Supuraito "Mai, we have to help stop Uddī, but uh order to do that you have to trust me" Supuraito said.

Back with Ben, he is currently dodging the thread attacks with Ghost Freak's intangibility. "Give up boy, sooner or later I will make you a part of my collection!" The puppet yelled. "Dream on, Ive faced a hypnotist who could control people better than you! And he was smaller" Ben replied before blowing him away with Terraspin's wind power.

The phantom got angry, but before he could do anything Mai had come in with Supuraito controlling her with his strings. She kicked him right in the chest and sent Uddī hurdling back, "looks like you two had finally come to an agreement" the alien retorted.

"Sorry it took so long" the two said facing the puppet, "since he's made from wood, I think I can burn him" Mai said. Then she chanted her parole "of the four elements i channel the fire within my heart to my fists".

Supuraito then flung her towards the puppet and she struck him, at the same time Ben created a barrier of fire to keep him contained. "Now how do we seal him with everyone down?" He asked, that's when Reina and the others came out.

"Well that was convenient" Mai said, "quick Reina we got a big meal for yah" Ben said pointing to the puppet who was currently being burned "right" she said. The phantom devourer then inhaled and started to swallow Uddī.

All that was left was a small broken up puppet in his place, the next day Mai had seemed to accept Supuraito into her team. Which was a relief to everyone as they couldn't stand to hear her arguing with him anymore.