11 Protector of Earth

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DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK! I BEEN HERE FOR YEARS! 😎👍

Greetings to all of my readers! I know it's a bit late for that, but Happy Christmas! And I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Wait! Before reading this chapter, I would like to recommend that you reread this fic from the start. For those not aware, I've been rewriting this fic for the past month, so a couple of details might be new for old readers of this fic. Not to mention that I really hope you all find this new version of my story considerably better and easier to follow.

As for the quality of this chapter or the recently rewritten ones, if their narrative is still a mess or I've made too many writing errors, I deeply apologize for that. Hopefully with your feedback I can fix everything as quickly as possible.

Please, consider leaving a review if you still haven't! Sorry to bother you! Have an enjoyable read!

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[TRUTH]

—FLASHBACK BEGINS—

It was late at night at a nuclear missile testing site, when a golden energy suddenly shined down on three of the missile pods and the missiles rose up from their silos as the guards on the inside noticed and panicked.

A red light shone throughout the area as an alarm sounded out.

[SECURITY BREACH! RED ALERT!]

"I didn't authorize any launch." The lead officer said. "Abort! Abort!"

"We're not launching the nukes, sir!" The operator exclaimed. "Something's pulling them out of their silos!"

The missiles rose up to the Chimerian Wrath as the soldiers looked on in a state of shock, an explosion occurred near them and two of Vilgax's drones came out of the smoke, firing powerful beams at the soldiers, slaughtering them.

A younger and less bulked up Vilgax walked out of the smoke and observed his handiwork before two blue beams burst out and destroyed one of his drones and pushed Vilgax back before he glared at them.

"You." The much younger conquering warlord growled.

The memory then reveals two men wearing blue suits with blue helmets and visors with heavy artillery weaponry.

"It's over, Vilgax! You're going down!" One of them announced through his helmet's voice filter.

"Many have tried, none have succeeded!" Vilgax spat back, dismissing the threat as empty words.

"Until now, slimeball!" The apparent leader said and he confidently ran towards the alien invader.

"Phil, wait!" The other one, who kept a level head, warned.

However, the one named Phil still fired his blasters at Vilgax, sending out tons and tons of energy bolts. But Vilgax jumped up to dodge them and immediately landed a jump kick to his head, knocking his helmet off, revealing his black hair and chiseled, handsome face.

The cautious soldier from before aimed his gun at the alien warlord carefully. Unfortunately, Vilgax had Phil locked in a headlock and the other one was caught between a rock and a hard place. Vilgax aimed his blaster at Phil's head.

While this predicament was happening, the other drone was at the computer on one of the missiles and hacked into it, initiating the missile launch.

"Back away or watch one of your cities be destroyed!" Vilgax threatened as the ceiling of the facility opened and prepared the missile launch.

The other soldier looked on in shock as Vilgax aimed his blaster at him.

"Put the weapon down! Now!" Vilgax warned him for the last time.

The soldier sighed as he dropped his blaster and put his hands up.

"You can't just let him get away!" Phil shouted.

"Never said I would, kid." The soldier said as he shot out his fist, revealing a hidden blaster strapped to his wrist that blasted Vilgax, knocking the weapon out of his hand and sending it sliding across the floor.

Phil took advantage of this and elbowed Vilgax in the face, freeing him from his grip and he pushed him back towards his drone. Unfortunately, the drone had just finished activating the launch as the coding turned from red to green.

"You're too late." Vilgax gloated.

"Wrong. My timing is perfect." The soldier boasted as he kicked his weapon into his hand and fired, revealing a sort of sticky gel that stuck Vilgax and his drone to the missile as it was launching.

Vilgax struggled to get free, but it was too late as the missile left the facility and the alien invader shouted. "NOOOOO!"

"What are you doing?!" Phil asked as the other soldier removed his helmet, revealing himself to be a younger Max Tennyson with red hair.

"Sending Vilgax out with a bang." Max said.

"TENNYSOOOOON!" Vilgax growled as the missile collided with his ship, causing a massive explosion, seemingly destroying everything it came into contact with.

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—BACK TO PRESENT DAY—

MC'S POV

"...And then kablamo," Max finished his story as both me and the girls were listening. "No more Vilgax... or so I thought. Until today."

"Whoa!" Kate said, amazed at the story, before asking with stars in her eyes. "So you were a real hero?"

Strangely enough, Lucy was the one acting less excited this time after hearing a bit of the story, a noticeable difference from her regular self that even Max became aware of.

"I didn't always do things I was proud of. I was just a guy doing a necessary job that I knew not many were capable of." The older man explained while looking at Lucy. "Your parents already knew about my past when they trusted me with keeping you safe for this summer vacation."

"Excuse me." Gwen interrupted with a raised eyebrow. "But exactly what was that job? And how does Lucy have anything to do with that?"

Max hesitated for a moment, but as he continued driving he eventually found himself further explaining his past. "We called ourselves the Plumbers. Officially, we didn't exist. We were the guys who fixed the problems no one else could: extraterrestrial, extrasensory, extraordinary. As for Lucy, her family has a bit of a complicated history with our organization."

"So that chamber you brought us back to Mt. Rushmore..." Kate started.

"Was an old Plumber base." Max confirmed with a nod.

"So all this time we've been doing our heroics... we've been following in your footsteps!" Kate realized before hugging my neck with an arm over my shoulder. "We're Plumbers in training! That's so dope!"

"And you knew about the Omnitrix the whole time?" I finally asked, not really bothered by the invasion of my personal space.

"Not really." Max quickly admitted. "Just rumors and scuttlebutt. Having always considered it to be a myth I was as surprised as you when it showed up here on Earth."

"You always told us that we could tell you anything." I said, still not fully satisfied about Max's explanation. "Guess you didn't feel the same."

Gwen then got a concerned look on her face as she looked at her grandfather. "Do our parents know who you really are?"

"No." Max immediately said. "I never told either of my sons what I really did. As far as they were concerned, I was just an ordinary plumber. That's a matter on a need-to-know basis only, the less people need to know, the better."

"Guess that's your answer to everything, isn't it, Grandpa?" I asked rather provocatively before asking some questions I've been struggling to understand. "I can comprehend the concept of not scaring the masses about the existence of extraterrestrial life. But don't you think that, now with the Plumbers no longer active, people need to know about it, for them at the very least to not be sitting ducks for any alien bastard wanting to have their way with us? I mean, what would've happened to Aunt Vera if we hadn't visited her?"

"Hmm. It's…" Max took that in for a moment, unable to come up with a proper response, before eventually confessing not having an answer to that. "I don't know. I guess I never really considered that possibility."

"That's…messed up…But what about… my father?" Kate suddenly asked, releasing me from her hug as she was finally ready to reveal another piece of her own past. "We were from Bellwood. Before he passed away, I recalled him telling about his adventures in space. At first I thought he just was a regular astronaut that enjoyed making up stories just to put me to sleep."

"Wait! You are from Bellwood?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Really? How could we have never met earlier on? And why didn't you say so before?"

"You guys never asked. Besides I wasn't really taking the news of my father's death and my mother finding another substitute for him all that well." Kate shrugged, explaining it in a way that appeared dismissively but she still reached for the car key on her necklace.

"Took me a while, but after hearing your last name and seeing so much of him in you, I eventually realized that you were Devin's kid. And yes, your father was also a Plumber." Max admitted, earning Kate and everyone else's complete attention. "All Plumber agents are great soldiers. Our lives were discipline, duty, battle, secrets and death. Our job was grim, and we greeted it grimly."

"I-I…should've known." Kate half whispered more to herself, but Max clearly wasn't done talking about his best partner.

"But Devin Levin was unlike the rest of us. He wore a smile even in the worst of times. He was happy. He inspired us to hope... that though we were expendable soldiers dedicating our lives so others could live in peace and safety, yet there was humanity in us…all of us. Goodness. When the day came for him to lay down his life for the mission, his sacrifice saved countless others, including me, and turned the tide in our favor. I gave your mother the news of his passing myself, and buried him with all the honors of our customs. His memory was and still is a comfort in dark times."

Max then pulled the Rust Bucket over onto the side of the road once some emergency vehicles pulled up behind him, blaring their sirens out.

As Kate received some support from both Gwen and Lucy, offering her hugs and tissues, the punkish girl was a bit tougher than they gave her credit for. Surprising everyone, Kate immediately turned to look at Max with a proud smile on her face. "Alright! This could be a chance for us to honor the Plumbers' legacy or perhaps even bring back the family business!"

"Sorry kiddo, but there is no family business." Max said apologetically. "My hero days were over a long time ago."

"Well, ours are just getting started." I said just as Kate was about to argue. "And I kind of have been planning for the world to know that there's someone behind the aliens that have been showing up."

"Ben, are you really…" Gwen began telling him. "I mean, the three of us have occasionally made our appearances after stopping crime, but you always said that you would rather avoid exposing yourself."

"Relax, I'm not really going to reveal who I am either." I replied as I activated my Omnitrix and selected my uniform mode before donning my much more advanced biosuit. "My 'Omni-suit' serves as a perfect foil for my identity. It will reveal that the alien appearances are really just one hero and that my identity will still be top secret. On Earth it might not matter all that much, but the rest of the universe will have to acknowledge that Earth is under the protection of the wielder of the Omnitrix. Hopefully that will be enough to make most aliens up to no good to think twice before messing with us."

"Ben, I can understand your logic." Max told me. "It makes perfect sense. But I must warn you that this is a one way ticket. People might not know your identity, but once you present yourself as a hero, people will start to keep track of your mistakes much more attentively than before."

"Good. Accountability was always in my plans." I quickly replied before opening the door of the RV.

"Then I guess It's hero time." Kate said with a cheer.

Soon after, our group eventually arrived at a building that resembled a city hall, moments before the firefighter popped up and the owner of the building walked toward him, concerned clear in his demeanor.

"Stand aside boys. Mulder and Sculley aren't around, so I believe the supernatural are our jurisdiction." I said smiling at my own reference as I arrived in my Kinneceleran (XRL8) form while carrying both Kate and Lucy, who were already transformed to hide their own identities, with Gwen also disguised and hovering on her hard-light board just a few seconds after me.

"Who are we? Give us about... 5 minutes to find out." Gwen announced to the people worried that we were friends with the alien wreaking havoc inside the nearby building.

We then walked up to the door as I turned into my Petrosapien (Diamondhead) form whilst bowing to the girls, dramatically announcing. "Ladies first."

They thanked me while Kate took the lead and opened the door, all of us got on our guard as we walked in until Kate asked no one in particular. "Okay, who's the punk giving us a bad name?"

We then heard a growling as an alien with a red exoskeleton and black claws roared at us... and we soon realized it was only about 2 feet tall.

The girls couldn't help snickering and laughing in hysterics at how minuscule the creature was to the point Kate's sides started hurling. The alien, with its feelings hurt, picked up a rock and tossed it at Kate and it struck her in the head, momentarily stunning her at the creature's audacity.

"You picked a bad day to be an alien, pal." She immediately said in a threatening way, before faltering for a moment and turning to both me and Lucy. "No offense."

"None taken." We both replied before Kate lunged at the alien, who jumped out of the way and she slammed into the fountain as the alien stuck its tongue out at us. It then leaped into the fountain and guzzled a ton of water and spat it back out at Kate as she was still getting up, who just glared back at it given her current form of being coated in metal.

"Argh! That little pest is trying to rust me away!" Kate groaned in annoyance. "Oh, you are so going down."

However, tried as she did, the creature was just too slippery for her to get a proper hold of it. Both me and the other girls couldn't help but chuckle at what just happened, eventually I felt a bit sorry for how many times the creature sprayed more water on her.

"Hey Kate, need some help?" I finally asked while both Lucy and Gwen kept struggling to hold their laughter at the situation.

"Don't any of you dare take this away from me, especially you Tennyson!" Kate immediately replied, her eyes glowing with rage. "You've come just to help take any big guy we three can't possibly handle. This pipsqueak is MINE!"

"Suit yourself." I said with a comprehensive nod followed by a shrug.

We continued to follow Kate as she continued chasing the alien run through the hallowed building, eventually losing sight of it, I finally said. "Kate, I know you want to prove yourself worthy of following the steps of your father, but he wouldn't want us to have that creature get away and hurt others."

"Yeah…I know…You are right." She replied while still recovering her breath. "Let's split up."

That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, I mean, I could speed around as my Kinneceleran (XRL8) transformation and cover this entire city in less than a hour, but I knew that she also knew that I could do that and therefore didn't think there was any real danger that this troublemaker would pose to the community.

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Meanwhile outside, the Rust Bucket had pulled up to the building, with Max exiting the vehicle and asking the nearest person. "Anyone see a group of alien heroes walk through here?"

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KATE'S POV

After a couple of minutes of splitting our group, both me and Lucy were left investigating the whereabouts of our target on the right side of the building, however the silence between us was already starting to annoy both of us.

"So…" Lucy tried to make small talk with me. "…you want to join the plumbers? To be just like your father?"

"Honestly?…Nah, I'm doing fine." I casually rebutted. "Sure, I've got great respect for what he did and what he still represents, but I don't picture myself as a space cop that goes around risking my life for people that would've called me a freak if they had the chance."

"I…see. So…why did you join us in stopping crime?" Lucy asked, not in an accusatory tone, but one of genuine curiosity. "I mean, just recently you were almost finished by that crazy squid dude that was after Ben's watch."

"That was different. Ben needed me to help keep you guys safe, and you better believe I would've done it all again if it meant helping him out. I just…hope not to be taken down so easily this time." I turned to face her while bearing a serious expression. "I mean, even if that massive bastard had succeeded in taking Ben with him to outer space, I don't know how, but I wouldn't stop until I found a way to bring Ben back."

"Same for me." Lucy admitted, again more serious than her usual self.

"What's up with you?" I finally asked. "I mean, I know you have a massive crush on Ben…who doesn't?" At that Lucy actually blushed. "…but why did you ask me if I wanted to join the plumbers? Grandpa mentioned that there's some convoluted backstory between them and your…kind. Sorry if that offends you."

Lucy actually laughed and snorted like she usually did. "You are not offending me by pointing out the obvious." She then brought her focus to her muddy appearance. "I'm not half human or a mutant. I'm an alien from a different species. As for the Lenopans' history with the Plumbers… I don't know much beyond what I've heard from my parents."

"Your…alien parents… right?" I asked, still a bit uncomfortable with the subject. "I mean, you weren't adopted by humans, right?"

"No silly." Lucy smiled at me before switching places and started to lead our search. "Although I am indeed an outlier from my kind because I was born here on Earth." She stopped for a moment just to check if I was still following her. "The Plumbers and the Lenopans have been at war for generations. But a few years ago, both groups' children, my cousin Camille and one of Ben's relatives named Joel, met and became close. A truce was forged from that single relationship. It was what the most reasonable amongst both groups had so long been waiting for."

"I see." I acknowledged it while finding the whole scenario an unexpected cliche. "A bit too Romeo and Juliet, don't you think?"

Lucy suddenly turned to face me for a moment and said with a dreamy smile. "I think it's really romantic."

Still a bit flabbergasted, I managed to only say. "Okay."

As I backed up slightly from Lucy's antics, I suddenly backed into a man with black hair and a slightly grizzled face wearing a blue suit with heavy weaponry, we all gasped at one another.

"Who are you?!" The three exclaimed to each other. "Who am I? Who are you?"

The man then used his freezing blaster and fired at Lucy, solidifying part of her torso before he kicked her back into the desks. Pointing another weapon at point blank against my chest, he stopped me from reacting harshly. "Today's my lucky day. Three aliens for the price of one. And one of them had to be a Lenopan…some of the toughest, meanest, nastiest beings in the galaxy." He announced proudly before firing his stun pistol. "Just sit tight, freaks. I'll be back in a minute."

It was then that the final adversary he thought he had easily neutralized grabbed the pistol he just fired, despite the considerable quantity of energy it was capable of discharging, I just looked at him with bright blue eyes and grabbed him by the collar of his special suit.

"Don't call us, freaks!" I demanded angrily while breaking the weapon with my other hand, however, before I could do anything more than that, I heard a familiar voice.

"That's enough, Kate." I heard Ben's voice as he was followed by both Gwen, who was carrying a special cage of crystal with something struggling to escape it, and Grandpa Max, who unbeknownst to me recognized the suit of the man I had in my grasp.

"Tennyson?" I turned to Ben, anger still flooding my mind despite my belt working properly. "This piece of nutjob just attacked us." I explained as they eventually sighted Lucy still struggling to get over her frozen torso.

Before I could say anything else however, in less than a second, I was startled by the image of Ben punching the strange man so fast I could barely register it and in return instinctively release my own grasp over the man's suit. Ben's punch was so strong that it easily cracked the man's helmet and pushed him a couple of feet from where I was holding him.

"Wow!" I said while looking at Ben, now sounding just like Lucy so oftenly did.

Ben then immediately turned from his human uniformed form into his Pyronite (Heatblast) and moved to help Lucy after making sure I was fine.

As the strange man groaned in pain, he still managed to mutter a name. "Urgh…Tennyson?" The man then struggled to recover for a moment as he removed his badly damaged helmet, spitting a bit of blood and a tooth, he eventually looked over their group and his face beamed as his eyes landed on a familiar face. "Max?! Thank goodness you showed up."

"Phil?!" Max realized as he walked over and helped his once partner to get up, with me and the girls then looking on in shock at the two.

"You know this… guy, Grandpa?" Ben asked, more coldly than his usual self, but unbeknownst to me even he knew who this man was.

"You can say that, buddy. Heh. Ouch…impressive punch by the way." Phil said, his teeth still red from the bleeding he caused on the man. "We used to be partners back when this guy was still a Plumber." He then stopped and looked around, quickly understanding the misunderstood situation. "I-I think I owe you guys a massive apology."

Later on we all exited the building as Ben, Gwen, Lucy and me morphed back to our normal attire while both Max and Phil began catching up.

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MAX'S POV

We eventually reached the hotel Phil was staying at, noticing almost immediately that it indeed was a luxury suite that was enough to house 10 people if necessary.

"Havok Beast, huh?" I turned to my old partner after learning about the alien Ben and Gwen had caught. "I haven't seen one of those since the one we caught terrorizing Denver years ago."

"Yeah, well, it sort of was bound for us to stop it again. You know, once a Plumber, always a Plumber." Phil said, dismissively of my previous claim, while holding a bag of ice next to his face, the older plumber had been apologizing to the kids for an entire hour before that. "You ever think about getting back in the game, Max? You know, relive the glory days and all?"

"Before? Of course, all the time. But nowadays? No thanks, I'm happily retired." I told him frankly. " And from what I was led to believe, so are the Plumbers."

"Yeah, I've heard that too, thanks to you." Phil told me with a smile that didn't seem quite genuine. "Once you put Vilgax out of the picture, the work just seemed to dry up."

"I was just doing my job." I put it simply before asking something I should've started our conversation with. "So…how are you?"

"Pretty good considering I've been having quite a lot of work. Sure, this time you got to the Havok Beast first, but just yesterday…I found..." He lingered almost as if he was trying to come up with a proper way to frame it. "Two Vulpimancers tearing up a meat factory plant on Highway 44!"

"Vulpinmancers?" I questioned, finding something really weird about that fact, however noticing the girls' confused looks I quickly explained. "Ben's large orange hound transformation."

"Yeah. They were about to finish me after we scuffled, but fortunately I had a sonic screech with me. You know with the right frequency humans might not hear it, but Vulpinmancers, well… they can be easily incapacitated by the sound."

"Indeed." I agreed, though I just couldn't help myself from exposing just how suspicious I was starting to get. "Quite lucky for you to have brought along a sonic pitch whistle with you."

"You can say that again. Anyway, from experience like those, it looks to me like things are picking back up again. I'm starting my own freelance Plumber business." Phil told me, though I could see he was also trying to get a reaction from the kids. "It's fate that we all met up, you know. I think this could be the beginning of a new partnership."

"Phil, I'm flattered you appreciate what we did, but you can't bring back the past." I could finally see where the conversation was going, until the two of us heard one of the kid's voices.

"Ben, I'm fine, don't worry. I sort of got used to being turned into a popsicle by now. Heh. Besides, the guy already apologized and you gave him a purple eye." Lucy said while stuffing herself silly with the room service tray, meanwhile Kate had begun looking over Phil's film collection and Gwen was about to start reading in a rather comfy chair.

"I can't stress enough how sorry I am, Lucy, I didn't know you were one of the Manns." Phil apologized again, this time feeling like explaining his motives. "But in my defense, it's not like the peace treaty hadn't been defied by a couple of rogue Lenopans."

"No biggie." Lucy just shrugged before continuing to stuff herself with more food. "By now I shouldn't be caught by surprise by others shooting me first and making questions after."

Phil chuckled at her snarky comment but was immediately shutted once he noticed Ben's glare.

"So, the stories are indeed true. The Omnitrix really does exist and I can see that you've kind of mastered some of its uses." Phil tried to make small talk but soon noticed it wasn't a topic Ben was willing to discuss, before immediately switching subjects. "Hey Ben, pretty good move back there, you totally got me. It reminds me of your grandfather back in the day, you know, this grandfather of yours has always displayed his fair share of superhuman feats. I guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree after all."

"I can handle myself in a fight." Ben remarked as a matter-of-factly, less coldly than before, but still not as friendly as Phil had been hoping for after several times apologizing. "As for the Omnitrix, I'm sorry, but that's my business."

"Heh. I-I…I see…" Phil was momentarily lost for words.

"Nifty suite." I suddenly admitted, probably looking to change subjects again and lighten the mood. "It must have cost a pretty penny."

"Just a little thank you I negotiated with the manager for helping with his alien problem. And trust me, this is just the tip of the old alien iceberg." Phil was glad that I had helped him out, something I immediately regretted doing. "You know, kids, you definitely would make great Plumbers. Especially you kid, I should've recognized Levin's powers but it just had been so long since the last time I saw an Osmosian, much less a half human."

"We would?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow, Phil's first bad impression still somewhat muddying the waters. "And you knew my father?"

"Sure. How could I forget? Devin saved both me and Max's life." Phil told her, this time with genuine respect in his eyes before taking a more direct approach to what he had come up with. "As for being Plumbers, the four of you are real chips off the old block. We'd all make a great team. With your powers, Max's experience and my instincts, we'd be an unstoppable team. What do you think, Max? We're definitely going to need a bit of that old magic."

"I think that it's a strange coincidence for a hyper weasel and two mega mutts to show up so close to each other." I explained.

"Aliens. Go figure." Phil quickly dismissed it with a casual smirk, but I was still unsure.

"I hate to second-guess you, Phil, but I think I agree with Grandpa on this one." Ben said with his arms crossed while leaning against a nearby wall. "If you want to, I could do some investigation before continuing on our way. You know, I can cover a lot of ground really fast."

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think that it will be necessary." Phil tried to dismiss the offer without appearing suspicious. "Sure, it hasn't been easy, but it also hasn't been anything that I couldn't handle myself."

"Suit yourself." Ben replied, apparently not falling for the man's reasoning.

"I need to get some fresh air." I finally said before I excused myself and left the room, intending on investigating a wild theory of mine.

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MC'S POV

Right after Grandpa excused himself, Phil scowled for a bit before he turned to me and the girls, telling us before he followed his old friend out. "Hey kids, order whatever you'd like off the room service menu."

"Now we're talking!" Kate said as Lucy continued to go all in with the food we still had.

"Is that shrimp cocktail? I love shrimp cocktails." Gwen said as she dipped the shrimp in the sauce before munching on it.

While the girls were distracted by Phil's offer, with my aura having influenced their minds to not have found Max's previous statements to be suspicious in the least, I used the time to contact and send my mud clones alongside my current black ops team of Forever Rangers to go after Phil and intercept him before he met with Grandpa.

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SCARLET'S POV

In less than a second I dodged out of the way from a blue explosive arrow that was aimed at my head, with the blast of its explosion once it landed being almost enough to push, but before I could proceed to counterattack my archer adversary, I ducked just in time for a wide slash from behind to miss cutting me in half entirely.

Quickly drawing my energy sword from my back, I immediately spinned myself while using the momentum to cut in half the weapon of my close quarters opponent, which was a golden energy spear, just in time to diverge my focus in order to deflect another vicious shot aimed at my head which explosion produced a thick cloud of smoke.

My cybernetic body was immensely powerful, granting not only inhuman strength, senses and durability but also amazing reflexes that allowed me to easily dodge bullets, however these two adversaries I was facing had sufficiently powerful armament that even I couldn't act carelessly while facing them. Proof of that was that in the fraction of a section that it took me to properly assess that situation, I was forced to react again from the spear user's strikes with her now split weapon.

Her swings were now much faster than before, though her reach had also decreased considerably to the point where it gave me more space to properly retreat a few steps, a strategy that my bow wielding adversary easily predicted and met by releasing several arrows in advance, most of which I managed to either outpace or deflect, though this time the couple which evaded my sword managed to at least graze my nearly impenetrable armor. The worst part was that each arrow kept exploding as soon as they met the ground, forcing me to keep my balance while dividing my attention between my two opponents.

I quickly understood that their advantage would only continue to grow as long as I dragged this fight, which resulted in me course correcting my retreat towards rushing at my bow wielding opponent, which I could see she was expecting by how easily she adapted and picked a special arrow from her quiver. It was one that moments before it met my blade, exploded into an energy net that would've cost me the battle, had I not slid underneath it with my leg thruster helping me keep my fast pace.

As the energy net captured instead my golden spear wielding opponent, I was finally ready to finish my last opponent, but just as I was about to complete my sword dash I heard an alarm inside my head.

'Skarlet, Mr. Billings has finally left the hotel.' I heard the robotic voice echoing in my mind, louder than my own thoughts. 'The Boss not only expects him to be apprehended immediately but also that his capture will be made to seem as if he decided to run away and hide.'

Before I had the chance to properly reply back to Alpha, I heard my companion speak to me.

"Uh…Ro…I mean, Scarlet…is everything okay?" It was my underling who before our capture was named Azul, a dark skinned woman with blue hair, right now she was paralyzed due to my blade being pressed next to her neck.

"Urgh…" I said while lowering my weapon. "It's nothing Azure, I just got a message from Alpha. Our next mission has just begun."

"I…I see." She said while letting out a sigh of relief. "I think it's about time, we've been training for it all this time."

"True. But your skill with this alien technological bow still needs improvement." I told her while pressing the commands in my forearm and prepared our vessel for our immediate departure. "Against mundane opponents I'm sure you have sufficient firepower to easily overpower them. But still, aim where your targets are going, not where they are." As we both heard Amber, the blond Asian of our old biker gang who previously went by Amarillo, still struggling with Azure's energy net, I ordered her. "Go help Amber out, our window of action will end soon."

"Sure thing, at once boss!" Azure replied, but once she left, I couldn't help myself from snorting in scorn.

'Hmpf…boss. Quite the leader I am…' I thought, immediately cursing the fact that I knew Alpha had heard me. 'I-I didn't mean to…'

'Your time is running out.' The machine coldly stated. 'I wouldn't recommend you to fail our master.'

'Yes.' I immediately replied in my thoughts, knowing that if mere thoughts were enough to make the big boss dissatisfied with me, I'm sure he would've wiped my memories a long time ago… or worse. On our way out of our base near Mt. Rushmore, I got a glimpse of what 'worse' could look like.

Training alone on a different room against several drones, I saw the other redhead of our group, the clown freak with living hair, as she ripped the advance robots to shreds with her blades while laughing maniacally, completely covered in inorganic fluids which I assumed would easily translate to the blood of her victims once our master gave her a mission.

"Jeez, that one is a goner." I heard Amber remark just as we passed the Forever Hellequin of our organization.

"From what I know, she's our master pet." I stared coldly at my companion before warning. "And most likely a reminder of what we could become if he is not satisfied with our efficiency."

Azure gulped worriedly at that possibility.

We soon were joined by a couple of mud people my master seemed to have under his control, each capable of shapeshifting into any people, animals or even objects. With their silent demeanor yet intense stares, I couldn't help myself from thinking that these guys were scary as fuck. And by the looks of it, they wouldn't be the last of our master's soldiers to creep me out, given how I have already seen the production of the humanoid androids with blank features, their schematics were amongst what we retrieved for our master from that alien squid's ship.

Once we arrived at Mt. Rushmore, we waited patiently as a rusted RV arrived and a elderly man made his way inside the secret base, after that we spotted a car and quickly identified it as belonging to our target.

'Alpha, make sure the old Plumber base's security protocol won't activate as soon as we engage in a fight with the target.' I asked through my thoughts.

Immediately after that I received a single word of response. 'Done.'

Sending both Amber and Azure to close the perimeter, I sent one of our mud agents to bait Mr. Billings by appearing as the old man with a red Hawaiian shirt that arrived moments before him.

After the bait exchanged words with our target, I then watched as the latter brandished the special weapon we were after and fired the Null Void Projector, releasing a golden light from its spherical tip, which our mud agent easily dodged.

The light then opened a portal and out of it stepped a monstrous alien…slightly taller than an adult human, with overall proportions that were lithe and lean. Its body posture vaguely resembled a cross between a gorilla and a flightless bat: all four of its limbs were digitigrade, walking on its knuckles, with arms drastically larger than its legs. Its head featured a large jaw filled with sharp teeth, and no eyes.

Mr. Billings looked at it, horrified. "I-I… I was trying to bring out the Wigsilian Org Beast… what is…this creature?"

'A Death Angel.' I heard Alpha announcing in my mind. 'This species has thick armor that is hard to penetrate with conventional methods and since it has no sight it compensates with its advanced hearing.'

As the alien in question was about to bring its claws down on the screaming ex-plumber, my team took action. The mud agent easily retrieved and subdued Mr. Billings while me and the other Forever Rangers stepped up to face this 'Death Angel' monster.

Quickly sharing the information I got from Alpha, by the time the alien managed to pried its claw from the ground, the three of us made short work of it. Thick armor or not, it was completely outmatched against our superior arsenal.

Obviously, since it apparently was a bit too easy for us to call it a day, we soon heard more 'Death Angels' rushing out of the still open golden portal before they all roared ferociously.

'Alpha, let me shut that thing down.' I requested and the artificial intelligence quickly unlocked my technopathy ability. Reaching for the projector while my companion slaughtered the monstrous creatures, I eventually found the way to properly close the portal before it spawned more aliens then we had the ability to deal with.

Just then, I was tackled by a desperate attack of one slightly larger variant of these 'Death Angels, as it tried to rip my guts out but soon understood that it was to no avail since my exoskeleton was much more durable than its claws and fangs.

"Nice try! Now get the hell out of me!" I shouted at it before reaching for my sword and impaling it, once I swiftly slashed my weapon to the side I heard a pathetic screech from the creature before it died. Noticing there were still a dozen of these armored bats, I couldn't help myself from grinning. "Shit, I'm really becoming just like that clown freak, for this is getting fun!"

After we were done exterminating the pests and finished making a false trail for Mr. Billings disappearance, Alpha mentioned that our boss would be pleased with our efforts and that he certainly will appreciate the new test subjects. I was about to argue that had it informed me of our boss's wishes I would've captured one of them alive, but Alpha quickly dismissed it as not being necessary.

————————————————————————

MAX'S POV

After I finally reached the Plumber base at Mt. Rushmore, I opened a chamber to a secret room in the underground Plumbers base. Unfortunately, it was then that I confirmed that the object I was looking for was gone, in its place was just an empty socket of a gun-shaped device with a sphere at the end of it.

"The Null Void Projector." I told myself, finally sure of what was going on. "I knew all those aliens looked familiar. He stole the Null Void Projector to release all those aliens we caught back in the old days. But why would he do all this? Just for the money?" I asked myself before saying. "I can't let him get away with this."

Easier said than done, for I've spent the next half hour looking for anything on the Plumber base that would help me either locate or at least neutralize the null void projector, however it also dawned on me that Phil had cleared basically everything from our arsenal. Worst part was that by the time I contacted Ben to have him keep an eye on Phil, my grandson told me that my old partner had left them about the same time as I did. It took him no time to bring all the girls with him to where I was.

"So, how many aliens did you store in that Null Void thingy?" Ben asked after I gave them a brief explanation of what I had discovered from Phil.

"At least a couple hundred." I admitted. "But it's a portal to another dimension. In theory, it could have millions inside of it. Some of them might not even be from this universe! Other dimensions entirely separate from ours could very well exist with alien species that may not even exist in this one." I then showed signs of being ashamed. "I'm sorry I had to keep my past a secret for so long. I should've known I could trust you guys."

"It's okay. We can only hope that you've finally understood that." Gwen quickly answered with a smile.

"And for what it's worth, Guys, Phil was right about one thing. All of you would've made great Plumbers." I told them.

"Hey, both me and Ben are your grandkids. As for Lucy and Kate, have that alien touch to help them with. So what do you expect?" Gwen bragged with a proud smile.

"What about Phil?" Ben asked after briefly looking around the chamber we were inside.

"He fled, probably knowing he couldn't face us once the truth of what he was doing was revealed. And from what I found out on the plumber base, he had already scavenged almost anything worth the penny." I told him, finally noticing how professional the boy was in dire situations such as this one. "Knowing how well Phil was known to cover his tracks, I doubt we would hear about him anytime soon. I believe we only came across this time out of sheer luck."

"You're probably right. Do you think he will continue to put people in danger for his own gain?" Ben asked, to which I could only shake my head for I didn't know what to say, so my grandson punched a nearby wall while gritting his teeth in anger. "I should've known. That imposter played us like a fiddle!"

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Ben, you had no way of knowing anything." I placed my arm over my grandson's shoulder. "It was my fault. I've been so used to not sharing my thoughts that I totally botched it. I'm sure you would've stopped Phil had I trusted you with my suspicions." I then lingered for a moment. "I promise you that it won't happen again."

After that mutual agreement, once we got a chance to properly collect our feelings, our group left the plumber base and resumed our summer vacation.

————————————————————————

[THE BIG TICK]

MC'S POV

Max, the girls and I were camping out at Yellowstone National Park while admiring the beauty of the park's nature.

As Max took in a breath of deep air and sighed in satisfaction, he said. "Ah. Nothing like relaxing in the peace and quiet of the great outdoors."

Just as he was about to receive a answer from us, a radio gave out a special report. "Astronomers at Mt. Hamilton have caught a glimpse of a small group of meteors and they appear to be heading toward the northwest part of the state."

"So, who's up to admire a meteor shower?" Max asked with his usual grandfatherly tone.

As the girls were all excited, I remarked smugly while raising the Omnitrix. "Last time I watched a meteor in the sky I got this."

"I would say that's an excellent track record. Heh." Kate replied before grabbing her belly. "Aw…I don't want to sound ungrateful, but despite the breakfast we had earlier today I'm already starving."

"Don't worry, I got you covered!" I told her before offering Kate some food. "I used my speedy transformation to hit that burger place in Casper, got a double cheeseburger with pickles for each of us. And I've also brought some chili for those who like it."

"Aw, Ben!" Kate feigned tears as she hugged me. "You really are a hero!"

While both Lucy and Gwen cheered for my thinking ahead, Max had another piece of wisdom he wished to share with us.

"Alright…alright guys, a cheeseburger is great and all, but…" Max said as he walked over to a log and pushed it with his feet, revealing some grub worms that were crawling around in the mud underneath it as he smiled. "Yellowstone just happens to be one of the coolest places around. And we can live right off of the land." He then slurped it right down the hatch, much to the girls' disgust. "Mealworms. Good for protein."

"Ew!" They all protested, though I was slightly inclined to test out if my Lepidopterran (Stinkfly) transformation would've enjoyed it just as much as my grandfather did.

Noticing he was losing them, Max decided to offer some alternatives to sweeten the deal. "Grill 'em up with a sun-dried tomato paste, they are-"

"Grandpa, as much as I appreciate your opinion, you can't guarantee that those worms will go down as easily as you are expecting them to, especially for those who have never tasted it before." Gwen tried to argue. "I mean, I certainly don't want our bathroom to become a hazardous environment…again."

"She…kind of gets a point." Kate admitted, a bit embarrassed as she recalled the first time she accepted the food Max had been talking so much about, while Lucy just laughed at her.

After we had our lunch in peace, I decided to ask. "Now, I know you guys want to enjoy the park, but would you like to know about something cool I've just unlocked from the watch?"

"You mean other than that cool uniform you got?" Kate asked.

"Yup, something else entirely." I nodded before telling them. "I've unlocked a new transformation!" At that, Lucy perked up, thinking that I was about to reveal my Lenopan transformation, but I just winked at her. "And, unfortunately it isn't the same species as Vilgax, but I still haven't given up hopes that I will unlock it eventually."

"Sure, Champ, let's see what you got." Max stepped in with a proud smile, sounding as supportive as he always is.

"Come on, Ben. Enough with the drama." Gwen remarked, clearly curious about the latest form I had acquired, before asking to herself. "Where did I put my sketchbook?"

"Okay, but I'm warning you…" I told them with a chuckle. "I might gain a couple of pounds, so no fat jokes, please. Heh."

After I got a pinky promise from them, I activated the Omnitrix and selected the newest option the watch had spontaneously unlocked, they were all momentarily blinded by the usual bright flash of green.

My Omnitrix sank into my wrist and my entire body started to bloat into a more rounded shape as I clutched my eyes shut. And when I opened them again, they were fully golden. My body was covered in yellow armored plates with a white inner body with black markings on my eyes and the Omnitrix symbol appeared on my forehead. I spun my body around like a ball before striking a pose as my transformation finished.

Due to the sudden shift in weight, I almost lost my balance and crashed down onto the ground, had I not mastered my senses from an earlier age. Once I got the hang of it, I stood straight and asked in a deep throaty voice. "So, guys, what do you think?"

"That's… a heroic alien." Kate stated while holding her laughter.

"Haha. Very funny." Lucy remarked a bit sarcastically to Kate before approaching me. "Wow. You are big!"

"So, what can this guy do?" Gwen asked as she held her sketchbook and started drawing.

"I'm kind of an alien armadillo." I said before curling into a ball and fully encasing myself in my yellow plating.

Without proper warning Kate punched the armored ball with her fist encased in metal, though from her wide eyes and painful expression, my shell must've been tougher than she was expecting. "Dude, that must be good for… when you are taking quite a beating."

"That's as far as I've got with this guy." I said as I got out of my spherical form, then turned to Max and asked. "So, Grandpa, got any old Plumber intel for us to use here? You seemed to recognize one of my transformations by name back with Phil."

Max raised an eyebrow, thinking about the features my newest transformation possessed, he eventually said. "You've become an Arburian Pelarota. This species is very famous for its peaceful nature and nigh-invulnerable armor."

"I see. So Kate was right on the spot about it being an option when the situation gets bad." Lucy spoke up. "Anything else?"

"Only thing else I can recall at the moment is that you can still move while curled up into a ball." Max pointed out while scratching his nape. "Something about the chemicals in your exo-plates that reduces friction, you can increase your rotation momentum and maneuver around your surroundings in ball form thanks to the short fur on your body, registering shifts in air and motion around you."

"Pretty neat!" Lucy cheered for me.

"I just can't believe you're a new alien." Kate remarked, still somewhat spiteful about her metal hand in pain.

"And where's one more, who knows? There could be a hundred more." Max mused as he grabbed his chin.

Just as Grandpa mentioned that possibility, both Lucy and me smiled at one another, before I went still for a moment and then glanced upwards.

"Oh Man, I can even hear it. My hearing isn't that bad either." I said while still in my Arburian Pelarota (Cannonbolt) form.

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asked, momentarily lowering her sketchbook.

"You guys won't believe it, but I'm actually hearing the meteor the radio just mentioned now." I told them. "We better move, I think it's actually coming this way."

After getting some distance on an elevated terrain, we all saw a giant meteorite, which now resembled a flaming ball of death, come hurtling towards the position we were just moments ago in the park.

After the massive boulder from outer space landed, with the group feeling the shockwave even from that distance, I curled into a ball and declared before rolling down the hill towards the crash site of the meteor. "The last one to the meteorite is a rotten egg!"

Max and the girls then followed my rollaway figure as I rolled down the crater that the meteor left until I came to a halt when I was directly in front of it, before standing up and saw just how big it was as Lucy, Gwen, Kate and Max arrived next to me.

"Whoa!" Lucy gaped. "It's huge."

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and tremble, causing me to almost fall over again as we all saw that the meteor started to split open, as if something was inside of it.

"And alive." Kate said in awe.

We all looked up and watched as through the cracks in the meteor six legs bursted out of its shell. Acting quickly, I displayed another one of my newest form's abilities by housing the whole group within my spheroid form while also providing them the same level of protection that I had before immediately rolling away from the scene as the giant alien beast took its form and fragments of the meteor shell rained down on its surroundings.

Once further enough, I released both Max and the girls and we then all took a look at the giant beast. It was a huge tick-like alien with a pink and red shell and abdomen with giant blue eye-like pores on the sides of its shell, six dark blue legs and deep pink tendrils coming out of its mouth. It then stabbed its legs into the ground for stabilization and stabbed its mouth tendrils into the ground and started sucking, with its pores on its shell releasing a green gas. Once the gas faded into the atmosphere, we fanned away the foul stench despite our distance.

"Ugh, and aromatic." Max said, following on both Lucy and Kate's previous comments.

"Uh-Oh! What are these guys doing here?" I said, turning to my side as several News Vans and Helicopters rushed past our location, setting camp just as multiple reporters began reporting the landing of the alien tick.

One of them even noticed our group due to me sticking out in my alien form, but before we were also approached, suddenly, a large needle-like spaceship appeared in the sky, not going unnoticed by everyone as the hatch opened up and three aliens emerged from it. The first was a tall, pale-skinned alien with six tentacle-like feet. The second was shorter with six arms and yellow skin. The final one was of medium height, had four eyestalks and carried what appeared to be a large ax.

"Rejoice!" The tall alien announced to the cameras after tinkering with a piece of technology in his chest, which probably meant it was some sort of universal translator. "He's arrived in all of his glorious glory."

"Redundant much?" I asked as I rolled all the way from my group to be amongst the reporters, immediately getting comments like 'who are you?' and 'are you with them?'.

The three aliens from before then departed on three hoverboard-like devices towards the tick. The short alien in particular flew up to the tick and pressed its ear to it, as if trying to listen to what he was saying before muttering. "I await his proclamation."

"Who are you guys?" One reporter asked, displaying a mixture of curiosity and suspiciousness.

"Relax. We come in peace." The tall alien said with his arms stretched open.

"That's what the bad aliens always say." One cameraman couldn't avoid saying. "Right before they blow you to bits."

"Hmm, a Homo Sapien with an attitude." The middle alien said, flying by until it reached the group of people belonging to the cameraman from before. "I heard they exist here in large numbers. Or should I say…did."

"And an Arburian Pelarota to boot." The tall alien said as he glared at me, unknowingly revealing that they weren't together.

"His presence here must be a sign provided by the Great One." The tall alien announced. "Is he not tremendous?"

"He is indeed tremendous." I agreed with a smile to the reporter next to me, who followed my comment with a snicker.

"All hail the Tremendous One." The aliens all chorused, unable to distinguish my tone of mockery.

The middle alien then flew by me. "But you are a little far from home, aren't you? Unfortunately, there's nothing to go back to. We purified your planet last week."

"Actually, I'm from Earth." I announced, to the shock of my audience.

"Shh!' The short alien interrupted us all, his voice echoing loud in the area thanks to some unknown alien technology. "Everyone quiet down. He's speaking to me."

As everyone else attempted to listen to it closely, they only heard dead silence.

"I don't hear anything." One reporter said.

"Only I speak his language." The short alien explained before going back to the tick. "The Great One says... your planet will be purified before the next moon. You are quite lucky."

And as the tick fed, a dark energy coated the ground from his tendrils outwards, continuing with the trees and just didn't stop going.

"I don't think so." I announced while stepping forwards.

"No. It's actually quite the experience." The tall alien answered with his hands raised. "Let me show you."

"Not the audio-visual thing again!" The middle alien complained but the tall alien ignored his companion and pressed a button on his helmet, projecting a series of moving images in a pink light.

"We followed the Great One from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, after he paid a visit to each and every one of our planets." The tall alien then projected the image of the Great One as its legs were planted deep into the ground of the planet like roots. "Notice his technique, the deep burrowing of the appendages into the core of the planet, rotting it from the inside and then... ingesting it."

As he finished, the planet in the image exploded, much to the horror of everyone witnessing it.

"So, just to make sure there's no misunderstanding here, that's what he's going to do here?" I asked out loud as if I didn't know better.

"Of course." The tall alien said. "Your cities will be laid to waste, your oceans will dry up, your mountains will crumble."

"It will be the end of your world as you know it." The middle alien confirmed.

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!" They all chorused.

"Not under my watch!" I shouted. "This planet is under my protection, if you don't remove this Big Tick immediately from here, I will exterminate it."

"As if your words were everything it took to scare us." The middle alien replied while wielding his weapon.

After that, the worshippers approached me and started simultaneously firing their beams at me as the reporters immediately ducked and took cover. Meanwhile I just stood there and stuck my arms out, only for the beams to deflect off of my armored plates as they each bounced back onto the aliens who shot them, sending them flying as I smirked.

"Everyone, evacuate this area. Now!" I warned the reporters and crew of cameramen, as just then my yellow eyes momentarily shined a bit green.

As the regular people followed my instructions, just then a group of soldiers began to set up a protective barrier around the perimeter. Then, a large black armored truck pulled up in front of the landing site as a man walked out, wearing an army badge on his black and green vest, green cargo pants and a shaved flat top with a long scar on his face.

"Lieutenant Steele." He introduced himself and showed his badge before asking me. "Now, what the hell are you doing here?"

"All you need to know right now is that I'm on your side and here to help." I quickly replied, not taking my eyes from the massive alien.

"Yeah, sure you are. Just like those other alien friends of yours that have been all over the news nowadays." Lt. Steele replied, not all that much surprise about being close to an actual alien. "I'm from the Special Alien Containment Team Division. We'll take it from here. Concussion bazooka!"

Two soldiers walked out from the black armored truck, carrying a large yellow bazooka that was strapped to one's chest that he carried out towards the Big Tick. However, after a couple of shots, they soon realized that their firepower wasn't anywhere near enough to damage the creature's outer shell.

"These extraterrestrial monsters never go down easily, do they?" Lt. Steele remarked, before raising his eyebrow and turning to Ben. "I mean no disrespect."

"We're good." I just shrugged. "So…is that the best you got?"

As we were talking, I glanced once again at the skies before anyone could understand what I was staring at. By the time we sighted anything, I grabbed the Lieutenant to protect him from a surprise airstrike. After the airstrike passed, the agent looked at me, who in return looked at the Big Tick who was momentarily clouded with smoke from the attack, until it dispersed and revealed it had produced no effect on the creature's outer shell.

Suddenly, the leaves started falling off of the trees around us as they mutated into gray ugly husks and we all looked on in concern.

"The trees are changing." One of the agents pointed out.

"That big tick's poison is mutating the landscape!" Another remarked.

"That does it." Lieutenant Steele remarked, not bothered by the unannounced airstrike, but still surprised that neither of their attacks had made the slightest impact on the Big Tick. "This monster must go down or else this country, possibly the world will suffer for it. You either finish it or my superiors will press the red button and nuke this park. Any ideas?"

"If the outside is solid…" I hinted, giving some time for the Lieutenant to catch up.

"Then you gotta take it out from the inside!" Steele realized.

"Yup, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." I nodded.

"But how you're going to get there, we barely put a dent on this motherfucker's shell." Steele replied, breaking a bit of his stern yet composed posture.

"Go get your team somewhere safe and let me worry about this giant planet sucker that is about to wipe Earth off the face of the universe!" I replied before curling up into a ball that rapidly picked up speed as it rolled towards the Big Tick. "Let's rock and roll!" I shot off towards a natural ramp to shoot myself inside of the Great One's body, leapt up towards a loose pocket of skin in the Great One's shell and shouted. "Say 'Aah!"

"NOOOOO!" The worshippers shouted back just as they managed to recover from their own attacks.

After that I absolutely demolished the Great One's inner workings, blasting through its heart, bouncing off of its muscles, severing its ribcage, landing on its spine as the inside filled with its blood and basically destroying everything in sight.

Suddenly, from outside the entirety of its shell broke off as its skin started shifting uncontrollably and the poisoned landscape surrounding it halted its expansion. The Big Tick then completely exploded outwards in a burst of toxic gas and blue goop as the nearby soldiers and reporters shielded themselves however they could as it rained down on them.

"Ugh! The ultimate yuck! It's raining tick goop!" One of the reporters shouted while I emerged from the goop in the Great One's shattered remains.

The small alien from the worshiper's trio pressed its ear to a scale only to hear dead silence, and said with sadness. "Nothing. The Great One has been silenced. Forever."

"You destroyed him." The tall alien accused in shock.

They then gave stern looks as they hovered in front of what they believed to be the last Arburian Pelarota in existence before the tall alien bowed down to me and said. "Hail to the new Great One!"

"Hail! Hail!" The small alien agreed, now appearing much more cheerful.

"Whatever." The middle alien scoffed, clearly done with all that bullshit.

"Not too loyal, are they?" Lieutenant Steele asked.

"I could get used to this." I said with a smile before turning back to my human form while activating the Uniform Mode on my Omnitrix, which completely hide my identity and sort of made me look a couple of years older than I actually was.

"So…you are actually a human?" Steele asked, his stoic expression barely hiding how shocked he was with that revelation. "Don't tell me you also have a hand on the other alien's appearances."

"It's complicated. I might explain it later if you prove yourself trustworthy." I said while looking him in the eyes.

Once the three worshippers were about to mention their intentions to follow their new Great One wherever I went, the lieutenant stepped in with his soldiers ready for a fight.

"A pity you three must answer for the crimes of your previous boss." Lt. Steele announced threateningly while pointing at the shattered remains of the Big Tick, however, he was halted once I stood between him and the three aliens.

"Let them go, Lieutenant… from what the tall one mentioned before, each of their planets had been destroyed by this…Big Tick creature…I bet they just followed it around from planet to planet under duress and deep mental trauma." I argued while faking ignorance of the cameras pointed at us.

"I don't try 'em, kid. I just catch 'em, no matter who they are under the skin. We'll let the guys at Area 51 decide who's naughty and who's nice." Steele suddenly stopped, he might've opposed me further had he not noticed the group of reporters commenting on what had just been said. "You know what, I'll let you have this one. Hope we can continue to count on you."

"Absolutely. I will be in touch." I nodded and handed him a device I've prepared for this occasion.

After I shared a few words with the worshiping aliens, two of them left as they immediately headed back to their spaceship, but the small alien stayed behind a few seconds as he waved to me.

"Enjoy the rest of your day." Were his words to which I immediately nodded.

"Right back to you." I said as the small alien joined his companions while the ship attempted to leave Earth's atmosphere, however, unbeknownst to everyone there but me, another spaceship intercepted them.

"That was incredible." A reporter said as she walked up to me while my true identity was still hidden by the uniform armor as I waved to the crowd.

"So all of those alien heroes that have been popping up all over the country?" Another male reporter asked as he walked up.

"That was me." I told them. "All of them. Alongside my incredible crew that couldn't be here today due to them being needed elsewhere."

"Can you at least tell us your name? The people out there should know who saved them all those times, especially today!" A third reporter asked.

Just then I sighted as the Rust Bucket pulled up next to the news vans, with Max and the girls then stepping out of the RV, smiling at me and nodding their heads, clearly proud of me.

Taking that as my cue I smiled back, despite my face being hidden by my visor, and gave a thumbs up to the cameras. "You can call me, Omni-boy."

————————————————————————

Back with Max and the girls…

Max smiled as the landscape had already shifted back to its normal lush green color, flourishing with life as they all stared in admiration.

"Wow! So you're like a bowling ball!" Lucy commented.

"More like a cannonball!" Gwen said with a smile.

"Actually, make that a cannonbolt!" Kate almost shouted. "Sorry for doubting the new guy."

"Don't sweat it." Ben nodded with a wink of his right eye.

"It looks like everything's going back to normal." Gwen said. "Great job, Ben."

"Thanks, but I hate to break it to you, Gwen." Ben said as he cleared off the last of the tick goop with his magic. "But nothing we ever do is normal."

"You can say that again." Kate agreed.

"Nice job, buddy." Max finally complimented, ruffling Ben's hair with a smile as Lucy tackled him with a hug.

"Yep, now he's officially the alien hero who saved the Earth." She said as they all laughed.

"About that…" Kate approached Ben before shaking him dramatically. "Why would you pick Omni-boy, Tennyson? A bit generic, don't you think? Why not go with Omni-man at least?"

"Dude, it's just a name and you know I suck at them, so I didn't even try." Ben just shrugged. "As for going with the 'boy', well I knew that I wasn't going with 'kid' and 'man' just makes me an easy target for the trolls on the internet to mock me. I mean, I'm tall, but not grandpa Max tall."

"Yeah…at least you were practical about it." Gwen mused to herself. "It also helps to tie your identity with the Omnitrix."

"I love it!" Lucy cheered. "Now we have to think about our own hero names."

"Good luck with that." Ben told them before turning to his grandfather. "Now, shall we resume our tourism around Yellowstone?"

Max smiled and nodded before replying. "Sure thing , kiddo."

————————————————————————

[FRAMED]

MC'S POV

During our visit to San Francisco, we passed by a video game store to get my latest game and even enjoyed ourselves drinking some cold coffee in a nice air-conditioned bookstore where we bought some rpg starter kit.

Who would've thought that I would actually get a group of girls to join me on a session?

We even went to the local mint, as it printed out money about to be shipped out for countrywide circulation, mostly to satisfy my completionist spirit of going through everything original Ben did while he visited the city, just as we would bookend this trip by going through the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

Most importantly, I wanted to make sure Kate wouldn't be falling behind her male counterpart, for that reason and the fact that I would also appreciate the opportunity for more testing was why I had taken my time to share a feature I've developed for my Omnitrix.

————————————————————————

KATE'S POV

"Uh…Benji?" I asked with my arms raised while Ben was still hanging on the belt he gifted me that aided me with better controlling my powers. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Heh. Nothing dangerous, I assure you." He dismissed my earlier concern with his cute smile while still in his alien frog-like transformation (Grey Matter). "Now that you've gotten used to it, I've just increased the amount of energy that you can absorb without losing control. Well…that and one extra feature that I think you will totally enjoy."

"Extra feature?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Like what?"

"One second." He replied as he adjusted my belt one last time before leaping from me and quickly assumed his human form. "Now…as I was saying…" He handed me a small piece of technology that resembled a battery. "This will serve as a last resort juice in case you don't have anything nearby and recharges by itself in a couple of hours."

"Neat." I admitted as I felt the massive energy stored inside it, as I was about to store it in my pocket the small battery was suddenly pulled from my hand and the piece of metal attached itself on my belt. "Scratch that… this is awesome."

"Nice of you to think so." Ben smiled at me before reaching for my belt's buckle. "But that's nothing."

As he finished saying that, I heard a beeping sound and immediately noticed that the buckle of my belt morphed into a dial.

"Wow!" I gushed out loud. "Don't tell me…dude, you've made me an Omnitrix?"

"Well…not exactly…" He remarked with an embarrassed expression while scratching his nape. "You won't instantly transform into my alien forms, I fear that might be a little too much for you to handle at the moment. But since I know you can absorb energy and matter, while also having some success with copying some of my inorganic forms, I thought that I could make something resembling your pouch of materials and managed to share some of the DNA samples I had stored inside the watch."

"And that's supposed to mean what exactly?" I asked, genuinely confused about where he was going. "Translate that to English."

"What?" His expression showed some disbelief. "You're serious?"

"Come on, Tennyson…give it to me straight." I asked with my arms crossed, a bit annoyed he might've been making fun of me.

"Well…to put it simply, you can select a transformation and directly absorb its powers from the belt. The longer you concentrate, the more you will look like one of my forms…if not a bit more feminine." He smiled in the last segment of his explanation.

"So you do remember that I'm a girl." I teased him with a punch to his shoulder.

"Of course. Heh." He said while faking being hurt by my punch. "One more thing, since the belt will remain with you even after you absorb enough power, you might also be able to fuse each transformation, though I would recommend that you avoid mixing more than two forms until you are used to it."

That really caught me by surprise. Until now I thought the best I could be was a bootleg version of him, but if fusions were a thing…perhaps I could be more useful in a fight.

"Hey, earth to Kate." Ben snapped his finger before my head, waking me from my thoughts.

"Sorry." I apologized before hugging him. "Thanks, dude. This partnership has definitely been the best thing I've agreed on in all my life."

"You flatter me with your kind words." He faked being shaken by it, though I could still see that his friendly smile was genuine. "So, let's see how well you can handle it?"

"Absolutely!" I said and immediately started by picking up the battery he handed me earlier on.

As I absorbed it, I could actually tell how much I've progressed, all that energy and I could still maintain my focus. I pulled up some electric stunts in a public park after I got myself properly disguised.

"Hands! Lightning with my hands!♪" I sang while putting up quite the light show and even got a tip from other tourists, meanwhile Ben remained amongst the crowd with the occasional chuckle and facepalm. "♪Lightning with my hands! ♪Lightning with my hands!♪"

After I had enough fun and tested my newest improvement, on top of being surprised by how much smoother electricity seemed for me to manipulate, I felt it was enough messing with the battery and decided to focus next on my upgraded belt.

Working my way across all the alien silhouettes, I was glad to see that Ben knew me well enough to know that I had no use for his tiny frog looking transformation, much rather have the armored gorillas that wrecked that big tick the news never seemed to get tired from.

It functioned just as he said it would. I just had to select the alien heroine I wanted to and place my hand over the buckle of my belt, the longer I held it the less I resembled a human.

Good to know that I also got the support tech some of Ben's transformations naturally had, like the speedy blue velociraptor's visor and the shark-like mermaid's breathing tanks. Unfortunately I was still under the training wheels protocol, so after ten minutes the belt would drain my alien powers back and remain inactive until it was sure my mutations weren't affecting my mind or my general health.

As for the potential for fusions…

"Ah…Benji? Are you sure this is a good combination?" I asked him with a deep voice while noticing that my tongue was now made of fire.

"Trust me on this one, Kate." He told me with a thumbs up as I went and checked myself on a nearby window.

I was a fusion between Ben's fiery demon and his crystal statue dude forms.

Being now a silicon-plasma-based life form, my body was composed of a super hot inner plasma body covered entirely of pale green/blue crystals, which were of a very tough and durable diamond-like substance, and I also sported four crystal shards on my back. As a fire entity, my body obviously radiated high amounts of heat, while my collarbone resembled a volcano which generated a fiery 'hair' that covered my head, leaving my mask-like face visible with no nose or ears.

"As you can see, your normal clothes might not resist the drastic changes that your body will go through once you absorb alien DNA, fortunately I've also managed to have it stored inside a compartment on your belt until you turn back and a simple bio-suit will come out depending on your need." Ben told me as I noticed that only my special belt remained.

"Heh. Thanks for thinking about that, I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to appear naked in the news." I told him with an embarrassed smile.

"Don't sweat it." He gave me a wink. "Now, shall I help you with everything you have at hand while merging these two forms?"

I immediately nodded, he was considerably better than me with this stuff and I was really eager to see what else I could mix and match. So after we told Max and the other girls that we would be running around town, while Ben had to promise he would make sure that we wouldn't cause havoc, we got the green light to start training.

"First things first." Ben told me while morphing into his fiery demon transformation. "While you can now fuse each of my forms and mix their move sets, I must let you know that just because something doesn't come as naturally for each transformation…" He trailed off momentarily before lifting himself up from the ground on a blazing piece of rock, and as the gap it left in the ground closed itself Ben continued. "You will see that there's plenty of room for you to improvise."

"Wow! So the stinking insect isn't the only one that can fly!" I remarked out loud, to which Ben nodded his flaming rock skull head.

"Here, your turn." He told me before flipping backwards and handing me the blazing rock platform he had been standing on, which forced me to act quickly.

"Ugh!" I muttered while almost failing to climb over it, however before I allowed it to touch the ground I raised my flaming hands in the air and got a hold of the flying piece of rock. After I struggled a bit with keeping my balance and stabilized my improvised hoverboard, I eventually managed to stand straight. "That's…awesome!"

"Heh. I knew you would dig it." Ben said with a chuckle as he had his arms crossed, before he took off by blasting himself upwards like a rocket, he shouted. "Follow me!"

"Slow down, Tennyson!" I shouted back, briefly struggling to build up speed.

As the two of us torpedoed ourselves across the sky of San Francisco, with Ben occasionally trying to test my flying skills by shooting me with firework-like blasts, we made a few stops along the way.

Together we even had the opportunity to step in to do some hero work, like stopping a trolley that seemed to be out of control.

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MEANWHILE

Soon enough, as the heroic duo passed by an antique shop with Chinese writing on it and a young Asian girl wearing an orange sweatshirt saw the whole thing out the window.

"Hey, Uncle Jackie, I just saw that Omni-boy guy fro. the news with a girl that appeared to be a cross of his transformations riding on a trolley that seemed to be out of control." She said while being clearly excited.

"Now, Jade, that was probably just your imagination." Another voice said from nearby.

"Yeah, and the demons and Shadowkhan were just my imagination too." The girl named Jade scoffed as she tried to look where the heroic duo had gone after saving the people on the trolley.

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BACK TO KATE'S POV

Later on Ben explained in more detail the abilities of each species I had just absorbed, mentioning that if I combined the crystal dude's construct creation with the fiery demon's heat manipulation, I might get…

"One sick-ass sword!" I shouted in excitement as I wielded a massive blazing sword with diamond-sharp edges. "Hell, yeah!"

After we tried more combinations, once my time was up I was left thinking about more of my other transformations and combinations of each form. Suffice to say that I was understandably hyped for the next opportunity I would have to train with Ben, only problem being that he was just so popular with the other two girls that it might take me a while until then.

Later that day, after buying some supplies we needed in order to continue our journey, the Rust Bucket rode away, with our group eager to recall our adventure in the Golden City.

From the photos we took, we spent a couple of days touristing around, exploring places such as Yosemite National Park, Lassen National Park, Pinnacles National Park and even got time to go on a museum tour on Alcatraz Island.

Max even made sure we didn't miss the opportunity of experiencing a tomato-based stew, known as Cioppino. The type of seafood used in Cioppino often varies but it always features a tomato-based broth and spicy peppers, with lots of locally grown garlic and a crusty loaf of sourdough bread.

"Delicious!" Ben remarked after finishing his meal.

"Yummy! Yummy!" Lucy added in agreement.

"You know, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would." Gwen remarked despite having eaten everything on her plate. "San Francisco does have its charms."

"What about you, Kate?" Max asked me with his grandfatherly tone. "Did you enjoy our visit to the city?"

"That was really good!" I told him with a thumbs up after finishing my second plate. "As someone who spent quite a segment of her life in New York, I gotta say San Francisco didn't embarrass itself in comparison."

"Wow, such high praises coming from you? This place must really be special." Lucy teased me. "And that belt of yours, did Ben get you an improvement for it?"

"He did, mud brain!" I teased her back while standing up and activating the buckle on my belt. "Wanna see?"

"Girls, girls! We will have plenty of time for a friendly spar on our next stop." Ben stepped in after taking our plates.

"Ben is right, Pittsburgh is a long way from here, so we should hit the road as soon as possible." Max said while backing him up.

"Aw…" Gwen groaned a bit sad that she didn't get to watch my fight with Lucy. "…just because I had my camera with me."

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(29/12/2023)

*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking.

Any ideas for powers, adventure arcs and girls are more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.

If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait, I'll promptly try to fix it. But for that I need your feedback.

Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.

Bye.

**Yup, we are finally into season 2 of the classic series, baby! 😁 So, what are your opinions? Did I rush it? Was the name Omni-boy too cringey for you? 😅 What about the girls? And Ben's secret schemes?

I know, neither the ultimate forms or the Omni-Kix/Nauts had been used since their introduction, but I'm still saving them for later.

Since I've been delaying this fic for quite some time now, I will grant you guys some spoilers for the next chapter. So if spoilers are not your thing, I guess I will be seeing you in the next chapter, whenever that comes out.

Now, for those of you who are staying to the very end, I won't be skipping the Gwen 10 episode, however, I have big plans to change quite a lot of stuff on it.

First change, I will make that parallel universe where that other Ben transmigrated into during the classic series to a genderbend one. No, the MC won't become a girl, and no, he won't lose access to the Omnitrix. Short story short, he will bind the Omnitrix and charms to his soul and they will follow him. As for who he might be switching bodies with, I was planning to have it be with male version of Gwen, but without magic and no watch, that guy won't be fooling anyone while my MC is away.

Second change, I plan to have that dimension pop up even after the next chapter is over, something like what they did with the Miles Morales movies about the spider-verse. This will serve as a starting point for me to expand into more versions of Ben Tennyson, kind of like what happened in that Omniverse episode where Vilgax and Eon collect a bunch of Ben from other realities.

Third and final topic is mostly a question for you guys. Is it too much for my MC to have a relationship with a female version of Ben? I mean, he sort of has something similar with Kate, who's a Genderbend version of Kevin, but since I know not everyone enjoyed that development I think I should bring it up to you guys first. I'm not saying that your response will definitely change my opinion about where I will be taking my story, but if anyone manages to convince me that it isn't all that worth it, I might make it a regular twin/sibling relationship.

Anything else I forget to mention, feel free to ask me in the comments and I will reply as soon as possible. 😉👍