As mentioned last time, this is posted today because I don't want to post on Christmas. Once A10 is posted on Dec 31, 2021, there might be a small hiatus so I can finish up season B, then I will resume posting at normal on Saturdays.
The woman put a thermometer under Gwen's tongue, EightEight standing near the door. A few seconds passed before the thermometer beeped and the orange haired woman took it out. She looked at it as Kevin, Ben, and an odd tiger-human hybrid looked towards the room from the hallway.
The orange haired woman then said, "Gwen here is running a fever."
EightEight nodded as Gwen shivered. She then signed, 'Thank you for your help.'
"It's nothing," the woman smiled, putting the thermometer to the side. "Just make sure she gets enough water and rest."
"Thank you, Miss Gatti," Gwen shifted before wrapping the blanket around herself.
"Dear, I already told you to call me Tora," Miss Gatti smiled, ruffling Gwen's hair. The Omnitrix wielder squawked slightly as Tora walked towards the door.
The hybrid gathered up the oddly decorated cards and dice, slipping them back into the box they came from. "Thanks for playing Clawsnatch with me," the hybrid said, smiling a toothy smile at them.
"No problem, Ani," Kevin smiled.
"Alien card game that's like Go Fish but not. Huh," Ben just commented.
"When we see each other again, can you show me what Go Fish is?" Ani asked. Ben nodded as he and Kevin stood up from the floor.
EightEight nodded at Tora, causing her to nod back. "If the fever gets worse, tell me so I can get her some medicine from storage. I tell you, we're running out and need a resupply for medicines," Tora noted. EightEight nodded again. Tora stepped out of the room and said, "Ani, are you ready?"
"I am, mama," Ani nodded before putting the box in his mouth and leaping towards her.
Tora almost immediately grabbed him, taking the box from his mouth and scolding, "What did your father say about running bare-handed?"
"Not to..." Ani whimpered.
Tora dropped him, dropping the box in his hands. "I won't tell Malice about this, but be careful, sweety," Tora stated.
"I will, mama," Ani sighed, standing up. Tora and Ani then left, the hybrid waving goodbye at Ben and Kevin as they did so.
-()-
His fragile wings flickered as he landed on the ground between two buildings. Clancy lowered the orange members before unfolding his trench coat and putting it on. The wings shifted under the trench coat, but it was better than having them out. His pale blue skin already gave it away. A cicada screech ringed through the air and he reached his mind out to it.
A few seconds passed before a small swarm of cicadas flew before him. He counted the number in the swarm. Twenty, good enough.
"Go, my friends, find me a place to stay," Clancy commanded. Soon after, the cicadas scattered.
-(...)-
"Hey, Sister EightEight?" Ben started, causing the Sotoraggian to look over from where she stood.
"Yes?" she gurgled, walking closer. Gwen had moved to what amounted to a couch, claiming it was more comfy. Kevin and Ben sat near the couch, playing a card game EightEight heard them call Trash.
"Can you tell us more about the aliens we can transform into?" Ben asked. Gwen perked up slightly at that, but then snuggled into the blankets. Kevin stopped shuffling the cards and raised a brow.
"I can probably find some creature with a Lifeform Data Pad we can borrow," EightEight gurgled. "It'll be easier anyway. It can be translated to any language that it has registered in its programming."
"A Lifeform Data Pad? Is that where stuff on different species is kept?" Ben guessed. EightEight nodded.
"Better than doing nothing," Gwen grumbled before lifting a hand to her head. "My head hurts..."
"... Do aliens get headaches?" Kevin suddenly asked. Gwen whispered something, but it was muffled by the blankets and quiet to begin with.
"What is a headache?" EightEight bluntly asked.
"You don't know what a headache is?" Ben blinked. The Sotoraggian seemingly stared at him. "Gwen literally just said she has one."
"A headache is the same thing as a brainstop?" EightEight gurgled.
"A brainstop? That's a weird way to say headache," Ben replied.
"Brain freeze exists," Kevin chirped, returning his gaze to shuffling the deck of cards.
"Yea, but that's just a headache you get from eating or drinking something cold too fast," Ben countered.
"Still different from a headache. You get a chill when you get a brain freeze," Kevin hummed.
"Why does English have two different words to describe the same thing, but in two different situations?" EightEight questioned. Ben shrugged. EightEight sighed a bit before saying, "I'll try to find one, stay-"
Something loud suddenly crashed outside, causing the quartet to look towards where the noise came from.
"... Never mind, then," Ben said as Kevin dropped the cards to the floor and stood up.
"I wanna see what happened, too," Gwen chirped as Ben also pushed himself up as Kevin went towards the door. EightEight suddenly tossed her a grey hoodie with a 22 on it, which she quickly put on as Kevin left and Ben stalled to wait for her.
The Sotoraggian quickly followed after Kevin. After a few seconds, Ben and Gwen did so as well.
They came to the scene, where a few others had already gathered. A werewolf-like alien was sniffing around, growling every now and again.
"What happened?" EightEight gurgled, looking at some of the others nearby.
Beu chirped, "The building collapsed."
"Still wondering how," Jewir commented.
The werewolf creature growled before standing up and saying, "I can't get a scent on who did this! Too many pheromones from those weird sun bugs!" As if to prove its point, a cicada rang out.
"Could we help?" Ben asked, lifting up the arm with the Predatrix.
The werewolf looked over and tilted its head, but Jewir commented, "You do have a Buglizard form."
A random alien that looked like a moving puddle of purple mud chirped, "And they have incredible senses when it comes to anything bug-like!"
Gwen shivered slightly before asking, "Would a Vulpimancer help?"
"You're sick," Tora stressed from wherever she was in the crowd. Ben activated the Predatrix and turned until he found Bugcatcher. He pressed down.
In the red light, a white foam covered him before changing to form the body of a large gecko. Black and red bits began to stick out of the white skin as the tip of his head formed a pink beak with teeth. Purple eyes pierced through as the symbol formed on a collar around the large gecko's neck.
"Bugcatcher!" the Buglizard chirped. He immediately recoiled and said, "What in the world is that smell?"
"What smell?" the werewolf suddenly asked, jumping over to him.
"Like some weird burnt scent?" Bugcatcher hissed, his four eyes blinking a bit.
The werewolf's tail began to wag. "Methane! That's methane!"
"So a Northern Lepidopterran or a Methanosian?" some alien that appeared like a crab with a large head.
"It's a Northie, Buglizard are more keen on the scent of Lepidopterrans," countered a Galvan.
"Can you follow it?" the werewolf asked. Bugcatcher didn't reply, but started off in a direction. The werewolf followed him, along with EightEight, Kevin, and Gwen while the other aliens began to go at the ruined building.
-()-
He breathed harshly, the wings under the trench coat flickering like crazy. A few cicadas buzzed around him.
"I thought you said that building would be fine," Clancy hissed at the few cicadas near him.
They rang with a tone that was almost sassy.
"Sure, you stay in buildings about ready to collapse, but I'm human. ... or whatever the hell my mother was," Clancy flickered. "I swear, she wasn't even human and I barely even know anything about her."
An odd golden cicada buzzed.
"Oh please, like they would find me," Clancy replied to the bug. The golden cicada's wings flickered.
A different cicada rang out, seeming facing the same way as the golden cicada. A reddish cicada joined in.
"... What do you mean giant white lizard?" Clancy questioned.
-()-
Bugcatcher went over to a stack of boxes and bricks, sniffing at them. He then said, "The scent leads here." He turned around as the werewolf sniffed the area as well while EightEight, Gwen, and Kevin stood nearby.
The werewolf-like said, "The openings are too small for any of us and I would rather not break any of this. Brick would kill us if we did."
"Would Athena be able to fit?" Gwen asked.
After a beat, the werewolf-like asked, "Who?"
"Her Galvan form," Bugcatcher supplied.
The werewolf nodded at the lizard before saying, "Maybe." Bugcatcher lifted a claw to the Predatrix symbol and pressed.
"Quick-change is disabled. Early timeout is disabled. Seven Earthen minutes remaining," the device chirped. Bugcatcher hummed as Gwen activated the Omnitrix.
A flash of green surrounded her and when it disappeared, she was replaced with her Galvan form. Except, her skin seemed dry and her gills kept opening and closing in annoyance. The hair-skin seemed more like actual hair and a bit scattered.
She squeezed her eyes shut, lifting a hand to her head and muttering, "Dear god..."
"G- er, Athena? You ok?" Kevin asked, stepping a bit closer.
"I'll be fine. I'll be fine," Athena said, using the hand she lifted up to shoo him away before going up to one of the holes in the pile. She walked into the hole in the wall, silent.
Athena bit her bottom lip slightly, hyper aware of her sharp teeth, as a ringing seemed to go off in her head. She shook her again to try and clear the ringing from her head, but it stayed. She suddenly stopped when her eyes picked up the other end of the tunnel.
The Galvan stayed close to a wall and went forward. Athena stopped just before the exit, bending down to the ground and lifting her head up to better see who was there. Standing there was a blue tinted skinned man wearing a large trench coat surrounded by roughly ten cicadas.
"I don't see why you're all worrying about a lizard," the man said, the back of the trench coat suddenly moving.
One of the cicadas buzzed, followed by a few others. The human moved slightly, the edge of the trench coat now by the tunnel she sat in.
"I doubt it'll be dangerous to humans," the man stated as Athena moved slightly to see under the trench coat.
As the cicadas buzzed again, she saw a pair of orange wings under the trench coat. The wings flickered in response to something.
"I don't know what my mother was," the man seemed to insist.
The ringing in her head came again and she backed away into the tunnel. Athena went back as the cicadas seemed to yell something.
"Did you find anything?" Kevin suddenly said, snapping her back to reality. She looked up, her head still ringing a bit. Bugcatcher was off to the side, his attention seemingly pulled away from what a different Galvan was showing him. Kevin, EightEight, and the werewolf were looking at her.
"I did find someone behind there," Athena started, pausing a bit when her head rang louder, "but he was talking to bugs."
The other Galvan closed the odd tablet hologram device and said, "I suppose the Northern Lepidopterran could be a hybrid. Hybrid Northies aren't well studied considering how much tension is on Lepidopterra, but a connection to general insects would be predictable for a Northie who doesn't have any other Northies around."
"What does that mean?" Bugcatcher asked.
"Northern Lepidopterrans evolved to have a hive mind mentality in a sense. They connect to each other using their methane pheromones and use that connection to speak without anyone else knowing. I'm unsure if Earthen insects would be considered sapient, but I suspect that the bugs speaking to him are doing it strictly through what he can get from their pheromones and chirps," the Galvan continued.
"Now what?" the werewolf said.
"We get the hybrid out," the Galvan stated. It paused slightly before saying, "Athena, was it?"
Said transformed Galvan nodded. "Yea?"
"Dryskin sucks, do you need water for that?" the Galvan asked.
"Technically fever," Kevin chirped. The Galvan tilted its head and Kevin continued, "Omnitrix stuff or something."
"Ah," the Galvan nodded. "How long until she transforms back?"
"Max of ten minutes," Bugcatcher supplied. The Galvan nodded.
"You should be able to scare him out. The Buglizard fog should scare him enough to move," the Galvan explained. Bugcatcher nodded before slowly pushing Athena to the side.
Athena grumbled something, but decided to just sit on Kevin's shoe, causing the maybe-human to stare at her. Bugcatcher looked at the pile and breathed out a wave of sickly yellow-green gas.
-()-
Clancy noticed some weird smell and turned towards the smell. An oddly colored fog flowed through the holes of the pile of stuff. The cicadas freaked, quickly scattering away in a panic. He raised a brow before noticing a small panic rising in himself.
What was it with this fog? His wings flickered like crazy, like they were acting on his own. Clancy growled before his body seemed to act on its own. The trench coat was thrown off but still held while his wings snapped up and began to lift him off the ground. White-ish methane fell off his wings as he flew up.
Once he's near the ceiling of wherever the heck is his, he looks down. His wings freaked again as he looked around, quickly spotting a giant freaking white and red lizard.
The lizard roared at him as he dropped from the ceiling, allowing his wings to cover him. Some sort of blast struck him and his wings went wild in an attempt to keep him airborne. He looked towards the noise, seeing a creature that amounted to a werewolf on top of one of the buildings.
He looked around again, ignoring the horde of creatures- don't ask him how many there were, he couldn't answer you- yelling and pointing at him. He growled to himself as he flew towards the other end of the underground dome. Where the hell was the exit? The cicadas bailed on him, so they wouldn't be of any help.
A sharp, green beeping struck through the air, forcing him to turn around, to be blinded by a giant green light almost immediately. Once the blinding light was gone, he saw that the giant lizard had disappeared from sight.
Considering the day he's had, he'll take that as a win. He looked around again, glancing at the crowd- where was the weird red thing on a different building?- before continuing in the direction he was heading.
-()-
"Kid, you need to be more careful."
"Not my fault the Predatrix did some sort of failsafe thing!" Ben chirped in reply. The red and yellow mantaray thing scoffed, looking at him from its perch on what amounted to a street light.
"You need to learn your watch, better," the creature happily chirped.
"Would you know how a random watch that came from space and stuck itself on your wrist works right away, Jetray?" Ben hissed.
The thing simply stared at him, green eyes wide and said, "Did you literally just guess my name?"
"Wait, your name is literally Jetray?"
"Yea, how the caveland did you guess?"
"I just looked at you and my mind went 'Jetray'."
"... Kid, I don't know what to think of you, you're scary as heck."
"At least you didn't touch it, I think I would've gotten your predator if you did."
"No thanks."
A chirp of laughter that almost seemed like it came from a cheshire cat rang out, the two turning to see EightEight. Soon after, Kevin carrying Athena and the other Galvan appeared.
"Why does Sister EightEight sound like a cat?" Kevin asked as he placed down the two Galvans.
Jetray shrugged and said, "Sotoraggians, I guess."
"How do we find that person Bugcatcher tried to chase?" Ben asked. The other Galvan opened up the holopad thing as Athena once again sat on Kevin's shoe.
As the Galvan began tapping on the holopad, it said, "If we assume that the Omnitrix and Predatrix were once synced, one of the other forms in the Omnitrix should be a Lepidopterran."
"Sister EightEight just said that Selket was a Lepidopterran. She didn't specify which one she was," Athena said, rubbing one of her gills.
"Dominant," EightEight stated, looking at the Galvans.
The Galvan stared at her before saying, "I wish I learned the Sotoraggian language, now."
"Er, she just said Dominant," Ben relayed.
"So this Selket is a Dominant Lepidopterran. Northern Lepidopterrans aren't known to connect with Dominants, mainly because no one has ever tried. I believe they evolved that skill after that civil war hundreds, maybe thousands of Lepidopterran Years ago. This could be a way to check, even if it's between a hybrid and an Omnitrix creation," the Galvan said.
"We have to wait for the Omnitrix to timeout and recharge," Athena nodded from her spot.
"We're Galvans!" the other Galvan suddenly grinned, snapping shut the holopad and hopping over to her. It pulled Athena off of Kevin's shoe before warning, "If you don't mind, back off a bit. I don't know what her base form's size is." Kevin stepped back a bit, staring at them.
The Galvan looked at the Omnitrix symbol on Athena's hand, who was staring at him in sickly confusion. It pressed on the symbol and in a flash of red light, it was pushed away and Gwen was back to normal. Gwen stumbled slightly, forcing Kevin to catch her.
"You ok?" Kevin asked, helping her sit down.
"As ok as I could be," Gwen hummed, shivering slightly as she sat down.
The Galvan came up to the Omnitrix, observing it before hopping onto it. He pressed a foot on one of the buttons before rotating the dial in random directions. After a few seconds, the Omnitrix beeped green and popped up. The Galvan jumped off as Gwen began to twist the dial. She founded the form and pressed down.
A flash of green rippled through and quickly disappeared. Selket stood there, but quickly collapsed to the ground. Her wings flickered insanely quickly, pausing for brief seconds for no reason. All four eye stocks were droopy, but still able to move and blink. Her legs trembled under her, her arms barely holding her up.
The Galvan winced before saying, "That doesn't look good."
"Now I don't want to know what happens to my forms when I'm sick," Ben chirped.
"Is that like droopwings?" Jetray asked, motioning to Selket.
"The only reason I know about dryskin is because I had it once," the Galvan stated. "I have no clue on Lepidopterran illnesses."
"I'm somewhat familiar with this," EightEight randomly said, causing the group to look at her. "And the only reason I do is due to SevenSeven needing help moving one because they thrash like there's no tomorrow when touched."
"What is it, then?" Ben asked as Jetray made a little noise of realization.
"I believe it's called flickercrash. Weird name, but towerspark if I know how to cure it," EightEight answered.
"Flickercrash? That is a weird name," Ben commented.
"I remember now!" Jetray grinned. "You were one of the Sotoraggian bounty hunters Nurse Be'Jis hired when Lepidopterra nearly had a relapse into civil war!"
"The only good thing that came out of it in my opinion is giving us an excuse to pick up on medical knowledge," EightEight replied.
"And I don't know Sotoraggian either!" Jetray continued to grin, making an odd chirp. Ben turned to EightEight and tilted his head.
"Hey, you ok?" Kevin asked, touching Selket's stinger with his foot. Suddenly, Selket thrashed slightly before settling down. She then coughed, a gloop of thick goo falling to the ground from her mouth.
"Ick," Ben grimaced as Jetray looked away.
"No," Selket answered as her wings continued to flicker.
-()-
His wings flickered slightly as he looked out from his hiding spot. Clancy unfolded the trench coat and attempted to put it back on, but his wings refused to cooperate and stayed up. His extended his mind a bit before tilting his head.
So a bug stuck around. It seemed slow, for a lack of a better term. From what he could tell, it wasn't moving but it was awake and doing... something. Though, that something could easily just be them trying to get off the ground and their wings not allowing that.
He forced his wings to lower, but it happened slowly. Once they were down, he put on his trench coat and walked out of his hiding spot. Clancy looked around the area before putting up his hood. A few humans and some of those odd creatures were around, walking around and doing something. A group of three caught his eye, the woman carrying a box while the two tiger looking things dragged a cart full of what seemed like bricks. He had no clue what language the trio were speaking, so looked away and stuck to the shadows as he let his mindsense guide him to the bug.
Eventually, Clancy found it and stared. It seemed almost human-like, similar to himself, but was more buggy. Their pale green wings flickered as it laid on the ground. One of the odd stocks looked around with a tried orange eye on the end of it. Two of the other stocks looked towards him as he stared at it.
Clancy approached it slowly, looking between the bug and the surrounding area. The fourth eye stock on the ground was closed, while the first just seemed to be staring in the opposite direction. The last two stocks simply stared at him as he lowered himself to the ground to look over the bug.
"Are you ok, my friend?" Clancy eventually asked. Her wings continued to flicker. Looks like his mind sense finally supplied him with its gender.
She stared at him, silent. He was about to touch her when she thrashed. He stepped back a bit as she settled down. His wings flickered angrily under his trench coat. Why did it seem like something was staring at him?
He turned around and was met with a spiral of magenta.
-()-
Dracula smiled as the man stared into his eyes. As the hypnosis took effect, EightEight dropped back down, followed by Jetray. Kevin and the Galvan stepped out from the odd crack between the buildings.
"Pretty smart idea, uh... did you tell us your name?" Kevin started, looking at the Galvan on the shoulder.
It thought for a moment before saying, "I didn't. My name is Oblique."
"So... what now?" Jetray asked.
"We need to get him secured, first off," Oblique started. "He already caused enough trouble. Maybe Vice will be willing to look around on Earth's internet for him. Dracula, can you ask for his name?"
Dracula didn't reply to Oblique, instead seemingly commanding, "Answer the Galvan."
"Clancy," the man answered. The vampire-like grinned, piercing magenta eyes continuing to stare.
"Hm... Hopefully that'll be enough, along with his appearance, to get him in jail either in one of Earth's law systems or the Galactic Accords laws," Oblique stated. The Omnitrix began to beep and soon, a red flash forced Selket back to Gwen.
"So... where is he gonna go?" Kevin asked, pointing at Clancy.
"Northern Lepidopterrans are not known for their strength, so simple ropes should be fine," Oblique replied.
"I'll get some," Jetray said, lifting a claw before quickly flying off. Barely a few seconds passed before Jetray returned, landing next to Clancy with a bundle of steel-looking ropes in a claw. "Gottem."
"You're... fast," Kevin stated, staring at Jetray.
"We're not as fast as Kinecelerans, we can't break the speed of light, but don't doubt Aerophibians," Jetray replied, tail swinging a bit. He then grabbed the ropes from his foot and looked at Clancy. "So... I guess wrap then around him?"
"Just be careful of his wings," Oblique answered. Jetray nodded before quickly wrapping the hybrid with the cords.
Once Jetray was done, Gwen asked, "What now?"
Oblique looked at her and said, "You, EightEight, and the other two Wyrmlings go rest. Jetray and I will deal with dragging the hybrid to a cage. I'll get someone to get two Lifeform Data Pads for you guys." He promptly hopped over and landed on Jetray's shoulders.
Jetray stalled slightly to allow Oblique to get a grip before flying a bit and grabbed Clancy's shoulders. Dracula snapped the hypnosis down before saying, "Thanks for the help." Jetray smirked at him before flying into the sky.
-()-
The pod opened, the few drones not paying attention now doing so. Stepping out was their master, their creator. A large, humanoid kraken, almost Cthulhu in war armor with added additions for the sake of its health. The creature stepped over to where the drones gathered, looking at them.
The Cthulhu figure proclaimed, "Find the next signal of the Omnitrix. I will not allow this to slip through my hands once more, especially after those fools failed me. I will be at the main deck."
The drones moved as soon as their master was finished, clearing a path. It walked towards a door, going through it.
"Sir," a drone started, coming up to walk next to its master. "Based on our basic signal gathering, they have all happened in one place recently."
"Really, now?" its master questioned.
The angel-looking drone nodded. "Planet Earth. Location: Sparksville, United States of America."
Its master seemed to grin behind their breathing mask. Just then, they came to a different door and they entered. Once done, the humanoid kraken stated, "Lay a course to the Omnitrix's last known location. It is time I take what is rightfully mine."