Of Sentience and Predator

C1: The Prey Hunts

They stood on a hill or mountain just outside of a massive city so alien in nature it was nearly unbelievable. In the center of the city was a massive tower that nearly touched the clouds, black, white, and green in color. There were a few buildings that almost seemed to want to challenge it in height, but stood down after a bit. The city itself, besides the central tower, was colorful and appeared so active with its sparkling lights and clear flight paths.

"Hey, so you finally took the dive!" a new(ish) voice asked, causing them to look over. "About time!"

Landing next to them was a creature that looked like an amalgamation of what seemed like a large black pterodactyl, some sort of clockwork creature, and strangely Nike. It wore a black shirt and pants with a silver chain necklace and black boots. Its multiple eyes we're all brown.

"Hey, Kev," Ben 10K replied.

"That's Kevin?" Gwen gawked.

"Eh," the amalgamation shrugged before it suddenly shifted, retracting into itself to reveal what he really looked like. With the alien-ness gone, he appeared to be just an older version of his older self, just with longer hair, the same clothes as when he was an amalgam, and four horns growing out of his head.

"How did you do that?" Ben asked, staring at the older Kevin. The older maybe-human broke down into laughter at that.

"Oh, what day did you yoink them, this is amazing!" the older Kevin laughed.

"He doesn't mind if you call him Ethan, Argit calls him that all the time," Ben 10K deadpanned. That didn't stop the older Kevin from laughing, but the maybe-human did give a thumbs up in response.

"Can... we have context?" Gwen asked, looking at the two. Suddenly, a burst of wind and a female Kineceleran was near them.

"What the hell are you two doing?" the Kineceleran asked, standing up slightly and seemingly glaring at the two men through her visor. From looks, it seemed like an older version of Nike.

"Hello to you, too," Ethan squeaked through the rest of his laughs.

"What do you think we're doing, Nike?" Ben 10K replied, a flash of red happening. It faded, revealing him to have transformed into a larger, clearly older version of Goowash.

The now confirmed older Nike looked at the two younger versions before demanding, "Send them back." Goowash stepped closer to her, but Nike didn't flinch. She seemed to turn to Ethan.

Ethan sighed, then noticed Nike's look, then shrugged. "Hey, I don't want to drop them back in the incorrect time, Spacetime did that."

Nike tilted her head slightly before growling, "Send them back." She suddenly burst away, leaving a dust cloud in her wake.

Once Goowash flapped his wings to chase the dust away, Ethan sarcastically quipped, "That went wonderfully."

"Well, good to know Gwen picked up on my stubbornness of all things," Goowash commented.

"That was future me?" Gwen asked.

"Yup," future Kevin replied, popping the 'p'.

"What happened?" Gwen asked, looking in the direction her older self seemed to disappear towards.

"A lot of stuff, really," Goowash shrugged. "Kev knows better than I do, I mostly stay with PB and JP nowadays."

"Who are those two?" Ben asked. A red flash.

"For me to know and you to find out," Dracula replied. Dracula looked towards the city and his eyes seemed to glow. This version of Dracula had slightly different clothes on, its normal robe more like a wizard's cloak with the top half connected up, revealing legs covered in the same colored cloth as what made most of his outfit. Dracula licked his lips before saying, "That's a problem."