Thunder struck through the sky, lighting up the dark clouds before disappearing.
"I think we can safely say that this day sucks," Kevin commented, looking through tinted glass. Rain pattered on the glass, forming puddles and turning dry dirt to mud. Gwen nodded, fiddling with the Omnitrix as Ben nodded.
"Where are we going to put... that?" Gwen asked, motioning towards the bin of ashes.
EightEight looked up from the device she held and replied, "When it clears up a bit, we'll toss that down the river. We don't want the Ectonurite to pop up in the town again, stop that mess before it begins."
The Omnitrix suddenly made a noise that sounded like a phone alarm, causing them to look at the device. The Omnitrix didn't seem to change, but Gwen took her hand off of it to observe the device. The only thing of note that seemed to change was that the green hourglass was a brighter green, almost a toxic green.
"What just happened?" Kevin questioned.
"No clue," Gwen replied, shaking her head and shrugging. She looked down at the device, holding it level.
"Maybe it's some kind of message thing?" Ben speculated, motioning towards the watch.
"I don't think so," Gwen replied. "I feel like it would be more obvious if it was."
"When that Styx copy came out-" Kevin started.
"Zs'Skayr," Gwen corrected.
"Yea that, when he got out, do you think the watch the damaged somehow?" Kevin threw in.
"I switched to Athena dur-" Gwen started, before a green flash suddenly surrounded her and she was Athena. The Galvan paused as Ben stared wide eyed, Kevin(.exe) 'crashed', and EightEight slowly looked down at the Galvan.
A beat.
"What the fuck," Athena chirped.
"I would say 'language' but in this case, that's warranted," EightEight commented.
"Wait, you don't need to touch the watch to transform!" Ben squawked, standing up.
Athena was quiet before saying, "Alke!" In a flash, she was now the Tetramand.
Kevin recovered, then said, "Do you need to say their names?" Alke looked at Kevin, then transformed into Selket in a flash.
"Geez, I forgot how disgusting Selket smells," Ben recoiled. Selket hummed before transforming into Pele.
"What was unlocked..." Pele muttered.
The Omnitrix suddenly chirped, "Master Control unlocked via code. Near all functions are available, no transformation limit."
"Master Control..." Pele whispered. She then chirped, "Wait, when we encountered Vilgax, the Omnitrix said something called Sub-Master Control. Is this connected to that?" The device beeped.
"It said almost all functions, right? What are those functions?" Ben questioned.
In reply, the Omnitrix chirped, "Translator copying, codex search, genetic repair, AI, and voice command are all active."
"Wait, so I can copy the Sotoraggian translator from the Predatrix?" Pele said.
"Affirmative," the Omnitrix hummed. "Do you wish to do so?"
EightEight blinked as Pele detransformed into Gwen and said, "Yea!"
A green spark went from the Omnitrix to the Predatrix. Barely a second later, a red spark was sent from the Predatrix to the Omnitrix. The green watch chirped, "Sotoraggian translator copied and activated."
"Does it actually work?" Kevin asked, coming over to them.
"One way to find out," Gwen said, before the focus turned to EightEight. She stared back, silent.
After a good minute of silence, Ben said, "Since, uh, we're basically staring at a blank wall here, maybe try the other parts of Master Control?"
"I think we can write off voice command and translator copying, since," Gwen started, but motioned to the watch when she finished.
"Maybe also AI," Kevin commented.
"I... That makes sense," Gwen nodded.
"That just leaves genetic repair and codex search," Ben said. "What's genetic repair?"
The Omnitrix made no reply.
"That helps," Kevin deadpanned.
"Then what's a codex?" Gwen asked. When the watch didn't chirp, they looked at EightEight.
"Towerspark if I know," she replied.
"Ha! It works!" Gwen grinned.
The Sotoraggian face palmed as Kevin complained, "What is it with me and being the only one to not understand Sister EightEight?"
Gwen paused before looking at the Omnitrix and questioning, "Is it able to copy a translator to another translator?"
"Affirmative," the Omnitrix suddenly stated.
"Oh, so it answers on some and doesn't on others, because that makes sense," Ben growled.
"That's just some logic of robots, they do whatever the towerspark they want if they're smart enough," EightEight commented.
Kevin got out his Dragoon badge- honestly, it didn't hold much purpose to them before now- and held it out. "Will this work?" the maybe-human asked.
Gwen held the watch to the badge and asked, "Omnitrix? Can you copy the Sotoraggian translator and put that copy in the badge?"
A second passed before a green spark went between the two devices. Another second passed before another happened. One more passed before the Omnitrix stated, "Data copied and transported, unknown if active."
"Why are you three like this?" EightEight gurgled.
"Wait, it worked?!" Kevin squawked.
"Yea! Now all of us can understand Sister EightEight!" Ben chirped.
"Stop acting like birds," EightEight deadpanned.
Gwen smiled, looked at EightEight, then said, "Honk." That caused Ben to burst into laughter, Kevin barely not holding back a laugh as well.
The Sotoraggian stared at them before saying, "At least don't tell Driba, Oblique, and Nezu, alright? I'd rather avoid the glee of a Galvan."
"Ok," the Wyrmlings replied, calming down.
"... Now what?" Ben asked.
"Maybe try new transformations?" Gwen suggested.
"No," EightEight snapped. When the Wyrmlings looked at her, she added, "Do not overwhelm yourself. I suggest focusing on what you already unlocked and either practicing more with those or combos between forms. You can't do much right now, since Thornapple doesn't want anyone in the undertown during storms, but we can do what we can here."
"That makes sense. Ok," Gwen nodded.
-(...)-
Max stared ahead as he drove the Rustbucket, windshield wipers pushing the water away from view. He absentmindedly thought how Plumber tech couldn't be affected by rain before he saw something break through the clouds. Sure, the rain was dying down a bit, but-
Something popped up on the Plumbers GSP. The human glanced towards it before his attention snapped back to the battleship. Of course his gut was right, Vilgax already knew. That had to be Vilgax. Hopefully he could get to them before Vilgax could.
Hopefully.
The warship descended.
-()-
Tiamat flashed to Kleodora, blinking a bit. Ben said, "Six minutes, thirty-one seconds."
"That isn't much better," Kevin commented.
Kleodora hummed before transforming back into Tiamat and looking at the Omnitrix. "Why aren't those water bubble things added?" the Piscciss Volann complained.
The Omnitrix was weirdly silent for a moment before inquiring, "Do you wish for the item 'Water Bubble Brace' to be added to any transformations who require it?"
"Yes please," Tiamat deadpanned. A green crackled around her gills before the device formed. The water bubble itself started at one gill, went around the back of her neck, then stopped at the other. A black leather-like material sealed the water bubble and connected it through the front.
"User preferences set," the Omnitrix hummed.
"Why wasn't that included before?" Tiamat deadpanned, seemingly glaring at the symbol.
"Logic?" Kevin suggested. Tiamat turned towards him and squinted. He shrugged. Tiamat transformed into Pele, looking away from the maybe-human.
EightEight stared at them before a sound like a notification alert went off on her badge. She looked at it and went into where the alert came from. The Sotoraggian paused before looking at the Wyrmlings and growling, "Masks on, now."
Kevin, Ben, and Pele suddenly looked at EightEight, oddly silent as Pele detransformed. The Sotoraggian quickly put on her ID mask, the three children hesitantly doing the same. She came to a window, moving the blinds slightly to look outside. She growled.
"What's going on?" Gwen asked.
"A warship is approaching. Unknown who owns it," EightEight gurgled, crouching down slightly. Something suddenly slammed into the ground and the Sotoraggian stared out the window. A growling hiss came out of her throat and she hissed, "Vilgax..."
She ducked down, letting the blinds close themselves as the Wyrmlings tensed. Gwen and Ben looked at each other as Kevin bit his tongue. The ground seemed to react as Vilgax seemingly walked, though they couldn't see where. However, it felt as if it was getting closer, and closer, and closer.
"Move," the Sotoraggian growled.
-()-
Vilgax walked down the road, looking around. The rain was pleasant for what it was worth. It turned the dust to mud and he glared down slightly before returning his watch. The town was much more quiet the last time he was here. This place seemed almost dead with how silent it was.
"Where are you..." he muttered, eyeing the buildings. A few drones floated behind him, silent for the most part.
One of the drones beeped something in Galvanic Morse Code. He stopped and turned towards the drone. The drone babbled on, floating there.
Vilgax tilted his head. "If it isn't Self-Destruct, then what is it?" The drone seemingly shrugged.
"Sir," a different drone started. Vilgax looked towards it, then at the building the drone stared at. One of his eyes twitched and he walked up to the building.
He looked back at the drone, questioning, "Any reason why this one specifically?"
"The Omnitrix signal is stronger than usual and is in that general direction, though it appears to be moving," the drone informed.
"What about the Predatrix?" Vilgax asked.
"No change," the drone reported.
Vilgax glared at the drone before returning his gaze to the building in front of him. "If whatever happened didn't affect the Predatrix, then what is it?" the Chimera Sui Generis muttered.
He let a few silent seconds pass before he turned to the drones. Before Vilgax could say anything, one of the drones freaked and a flash of green came from above. He looked up and-
The Chimera jumped to the side as the Pyronite slammed into the ground, its fire flaring up. She turned towards him, suddenly shifted into a Petrosapien, and released a wave of crystals at him. Vilgax jumped to avoid the crystals before raising a fist and punching the Petrosapien. She staggered back from the blow, a small crack forming on her arms. She shifted in a flash into a Galvanic Mechamorph and leapt at him. He stepped out of the way before a red light went off above him.
"Cultfire!"
The drones once again freaked as he jumped back and the Aphoom-Seeker descended. The Mechamorph shifted into a Pyronite and it clicked within him.
"How did you get Master Control!" Vilgax demanded as Pele stared at him and Cultfire joined behind her. Green seemed to dance within her eyes as she did nothing in reply. The Aphoom-Seeker, however, released a wave of flames, surging around Pele and towards Vilgax. The rain dared not stop the rush as it burned to steam and fogged the area.
The drones flew in front of him, the flames crashing into them. Vilgax growled and took a few steps back as some of the flames breached the wall of drones. Then yellow and red flames appeared and joined with the white and turned the robots into melted pebbles of non-Earthen metal.
Suddenly, something screeched, "Activating Failsafe M-I-C-4!" A massive red flash of light, the white flames fading, and some sort of electric dog took the Aphoom-Seeker's place.
"Wait, wha-" the wolf started, shaking its head as it regained focus.
"C- Shockwolf, what's wrong?" the Pyronite asked. He surged towards them, a claw glowing.
"Some sort of Failsafe I- WATCH OUT!" the wolf started before howling. She turned towards him and Vilgax grabbed and threw the Pyronite out of the way. "Pele!" Shockwolf barked as Pele crashed into a building on the other side of the street, tumbling to the ground.
He grabbed the creature by the neck as Shockwolf began to bark and howl. Vilgax lifted the glowing claw and touched the symbol of the Predatrix. As the wolf destransformed, he felt something slam into his leg. Vilgax looked down and glared at the crow dressed human. Gripping onto the Predatrix user- a rat dressed one, of course-, he quickly grabbed the crow dressed one and tossed it aside. It squawked as it rolled across the ground. Fitting.
Vilgax looked around and spotted the Sotoraggian-speaking one. It yelled something in Sotoraggian before jumping down.
Something suddenly crashed into him, making him drop the Predatrix wielder and slam into the wall.
"Max?!" the voice of a Galvanic Mechamorph yelled in question.
Of course it was Maxwell...
-()-
When Max finally got to the fight- with the Plumber made DNA scanner turned DNA burner-, Vilgax had just detransformed the electric wolf back into human. The weapon charged as the perhaps-Osmosian tried to distract Vilgax, but failed. He aimed and released the beam as something was yelled in Sotoraggian. The beam crashed into Vilgax, barely missing the African wild dog dressed human as they landed on the ground. The rat dressed one crashed to the ground.
"Max?!" Theia chirped, reforming to a more stable shape.
"This is not the time, Gwen!" Max responded, starting up the weapon again. He had to make sure Vilgax would be out of commission for a while.
"Why does the old man have a gun?" the perhaps-Osmosian questioned, standing up.
The African wild dog dressed one snapped something in Sotoraggian at him, getting in the way.
Max tried to gently move the other out of the way, saying, "Vilgax needs to be taken down."
The woman gurgled something in reply before suddenly striking the weapon, promptly destroying it.
"What's the Null Void?" Ben- he was assuming the rat dressed one was Benjamin- asked.
His mind stalled. One, how and when did his grandson learn Sotoraggian? Two, why did the woman mention the Null Void? Three, VILGAX WAS STILL RIGHT THERE. Four, the woman destroyed his only- wait...
The woman just finished gurgling something when his mind came back.
"That sounds absolutely terrible," the perhaps-Osmosian commented.
The woman gurgled something, looking at Ben, an Arburian Pelarota- when did Gwen transform into one?-, and the perhaps-Osmosian. The woman then reached for the odd hood it wore, took off an ID mask, then the Sotoraggian surged towards Vilgax. Gwen's Pelarota form changed into Nike and she followed the Sotoraggian.
"Gwen!" Max started, but stopped when Ben and the perhaps-Osmosian came up to him.
"Sister Afri said it'll be safer to throw that Vilgax freak into the Null Void," the perhaps-Osmosian stated.
"It'll be hard to escape from, but-" Max started.
"Good, old man. Do you have something that can enter the Null Void?" the perhaps-Osmosian asked. (Why was he getting Devin vibes-)
He paused for a moment before saying, "How can I trust you?"
"The Rustbucket," the rat dressed one deadpanned. Ah, he was right about the rat being Ben.
... Did they know about him not being a normal Plumber? His mind stalled again, missing the perhaps-Osmosian touch the Predatrix.
"I'm going to the Rustbucket, there might be something there. If there's labels at least," Ben said, starting off.
"Cool, don't get caught," the perhaps-Osmosian nodded.
"Got it, Kevin," Ben replied, giving a thumbs up. The boy then dashed away, leaving Kevin to join the Sotoraggian and Alke- again, when?- against Vilgax, who had gotten back up and was fighting back.
When his mind clicked back to reality, he turned and went for the Rustbucket. He got back to the RV in a relatively short amount of time. The ex-Plumber went into the vehicle, but stopped at the sight of Belltail. The Anurian Shadow faded an arm out of a cabinet, holding a mini Null Void Projector.
Belltail looked at Max, who froze. The Anurian Shadow wisped, "You never were planning to tell us what a Plumber really meant."
They knew now. He briefly nodded.
"Why?" Belltail growled.
"I didn't want to hurt either of you," Max replied, stepping towards a cabinet he knew held altered Ectonurite neutralizers. Altered to also affect Anurian Shadows.
"Too late for me," Belltail growled before turning and fading from sight.
His mind stalled again. What?
-()-
"I got it!" a hissing roar exclaimed. EightEight turned and nodded at Belltail. The Sotoraggian jumped out of the way of a swing from Vilgax and rushed over to Belltail. The Anurian Shadow met her half way and handed her the device.
Vilgax growled. He grabbed one of the loosened rocks and threw it at Kevin. The maybe-human squeaked and barely dodged as Artemis launched herself into the air and quickly transformed into Kleodora. Vilgax lifted an arm and a formed blade sliced into it, blue blood spilling onto the ground and off the blade.
EightEight looked at the item, quickly held it like a blaster, and yelled, "MOVE!" Kevin quickly listened as Kleodora shifted into Nike. The Sotoraggian pressed the trigger as Vilgax suddenly grabbed the Kineceleran.
"Gwen!" Belltail roared. A yellow portal formed on top of the two and they disappeared into it.
-()-
Nike shifted into Athena, falling out of Vilgax's grasp as they crashed onto... something. She hopped away, before stalling and looking around.
The sky around them was a glorious golden yellow, making the odd dark red landmasses stand out. Odd, large, pale pink strings attached the landmasses together like a poorly set up network. The yellow sky seemed to twinkle every now and again in an odd pattern. Weird beasts flew around, grey and like someone had fused a Vulpimancer, Earthen octopi, and Batcrazy's species. A few purple versions of the creatures flew around as well, there was much less of the purple ones than the grey ones. Directly above them was a whitish yellow swirl.
Athena shifted into Selket, but the ground shook slightly. She quickly shifted to Nike and dashed to the other side of the rock as Vilgax stood up.
Vilgax glared down at Nike as she stood there, eyeing him back. Other creatures of this void, such as more blue coated Vulpimancers and extremely pale human-likes with large horns, perched on rocks or strings to watch what was going on, the flying creatures straight up ignoring the happenings.
"So, child," Vilgax started. Nike's tail twitched. "This to the Null Void." The golden yellow sky seemed to glitter. "You dare even battle now?"
"Why not?" Nike replied before shifting into Alke.
Vilgax growled before surging towards her. Alke steaded herself and she lifted her arms. The Chimera slammed a fist into her arms, forcing her heels into the ground. Alke pushed against the fist back before flashing into Nike and getting behind him. Vilgax turned, a finger crackling with red energy, as she changed to Kleodora and erupted a wall of crystals. It was quickly shattered by a few punches from Vilgax, the Chimera Sui Generis stepping over the shattered wall. Vilgax surged towards her again, lifting a fist as she shifted to Athena.
Vilgax punched down towards her, but Athena managed to get out of his way. He glared towards her, turning as a flash changed her and the talons of a Piscciss Volann scratched at one of his eyes. Tiamat jumped back and away as Vilgax roared, lifting the crackling claw to his eye. The red energy died down as his other piercing red eye bore into her. Tiamat changed into Artemis before growling at him.
Vilgax lowered his arm, blue blood rolling over his right eye, before surging towards Artemis. She joined in, rushing towards him before jumping and lifting a paw. Vilgax landed his fist in her chest as her paw's talons dug into the arm. He threw her aside and she flashed to Selket, wings flickering like mad to keep her airborne.
Vilgax stood up fully as Selket glanced up to the vortex. It was still there. She stared at Vilgax as red energy came around his claw again. Vilgax ran towards her, jumping up. Selket shifted into Athena, but couldn't drop very far until Vilgax snatched her, crashing to the ground.
"This has gone on long enough," Vilgax growled. Athena shifted to Alke, but Vilgax slammed her to the ground. He lifted a red energy encased claw to the Omnitrix symbol.
The Omnitrix screeched a sound that sounded like complete and utter pain, as if it was alive. A red flash surrounded her and Gwen was on the ground.
The Omnitrix beeped, "Energy overload, locking Master Control. Entering rest mode." The device turned red and fell into silence.
Vilgax grabbed the grab with the Omnitrix and lifted her arm. Gwen squawked as Vilgax stared at the device.
"The Omnitrix and the Predatrix, when they were first created, were expected to be held by creatures on separate sides of each other," Vilgax growled. Gwen stared at him, fake sapphire eyes wide. "Why not form that?"
A burst of flame crashed into him, burning his skin. Vilgax yelled, dropping Gwen as he stumbled back. Belltail faded into view and went over to her.
"We need to go," Belltail wisped. Gwen nodded, getting onto his back. Belltail turned to Vilgax and released a fireball at the Chimera. Another scream and he dashed to the portal.
They went through, popping back to the rainy Earth just before the portal snapped shut. EightEight ripped the device away from Max and threw it to the ground, breaking it. She then stomped on it, firmly destroying it before Max could say anything.
Kevin ran over to them, promptly hugging the two awkwardly. "You're ok..." Kevin whispered.
"We're ok," Gwen replied, reaching a hand to his shoulder. Belltail wrapped a claw around him.
"Fucking idiot," EightEight growled, causing the Wyrmlings to look at her. The Sotoraggian was in Max's face, the human clearly uncomfortable. He stepped away from her.
"So," Gwen started, getting off of Belltail and walking closer to them. Max looked towards the trio, silent. Kevin quickly followed and Belltail floated behind. "Are you going to tell the truth?"