28 CH 27: Ancient Galvan Technology (E5)

(A/N: I didn't skip the 5th episode, where those bounty hunters come, alright? Remember how the episode began, with Max having built an entire training field? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that took hours and even maybe a few days to make. And I'm pretty sure Ben wouldn't know what to do to help out with XLR8. So instead of wasting that much time there, they just had that spar, and continued on the way. And you're going to love why.)

A few hours later, and the gang had reached yet another city. But with spare time at their disposal, after Gwen constantly asked to hit a museum, they had gone to visit a museum for fun.

"And this is" Their guide explained as they toured the place with quite a few other people. But Alistair didn't pay attention. Not really much of a fan of museums like this. Ben didn't seem to be either, so he whispered :"Al, how is it that no one recognizes us? Didn't we have more than 10 million views or something?"

"One, even with that many viewers, it's not like everybody will recognize us. The app I've made is still pretty fresh, after all. And two, do you see what we're wearing?" Ben glanced at the ring on his pinky :"They're Recognition Disrupters. Basically, they'll interfere with the nearby people's brains a bit and stop them from being able to recognize us unless we pull their attention."

"Oooh, that's neat. A pretty straightforward name, huh?"

"You know me, I like things simple."

"But why though?"

"Because I just like things when they're not complicated?"

"I was talking about not letting people recognize us."

"Oh, that. No reason, I just wanted us to have fun in peace and quiet. Can't exactly enjoy a museum if people are running around screaming and trying to get autographs, right?"

"Ugh, who cares about this museum? I'd rather enjoy my new fame."

"Hahahaha, don't worry, you'll get to do that when we aren't in places like this-" Alistair patted his shoulder with a chuckle, before his Nemetrix began to beep loudly. "What in the..." He frowned, but the device wasn't stopping.

The place went quiet except for his watch, and he noticed that everybody had turned to look at him. He tried to hold it to see if he could at least bring down the volume, but didn't seem to find where the sound was coming from.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Ben frowned too as he checked his own watch, but saw nor heard anything wrong with it. Alistair smiled apologetically at the group :"Sorry, sorry, I'll be back in a second!" And ran off to the bathrooms.

When he got in, after checking that nobody was around, he started messing with the beeping watch :"Seriously, what the heck is going on?!" But it stopped when he pressed on the symbol and the familiar female voice of the Nemetrix spoke up :"[Attention, piece of ancient Galvan technology detected: Potis Altiare. Please retrieve it from the detected location as soon as possible.]"

"What?!" His eyes widened in shock. Hearing that there was a Galvan technology nearby was already shocking enough. But when he heard what it was, the real shock sank in.

Potis Altiare, he remembered it. It never appeared in any of the series, but it was the main weapon in one of the Ben 10 games, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction. It was a powerful device created by the ancient Galvans with the ability to multiply its users abilities by several times over.

But realizing that what they had created was far too dangerous, to the point that even Galvans could be corrupted by the power it bestowed, they hid its 6 pieces on Earth since even if the humans found it, they wouldn't know how to use it. And in the game, Ben used its power to defeat the evil To'kustar.

He couldn't forget the device, since it was the only time he had used Way Big in a Ben 10 game and this device had made the giant even better by several times. And it was just so cool, and the only device that was added to Ben's arsenal that could strengthen the Omnitrix.

After the shock, it was the excitement and hunger that took over :'Potis Altiare... I want it! But it seems to be in pieces just like in Cosmic Destruction, huh? Well, no problem. The effort and annoyance to get all the other pieces is nothing compared to the power it will give me!

Hahahaha, I thought my hunger for power would be fulfilled after getting the Nemetrix. But I guess I was wrong. I want more power!' He stared into his own crazy smile and red eyes filled with pure hunger, before there was a sudden explosion that shook the place.

(A/N: Vergil would be proud.)

'What the?' He frowned, before quickly getting out just to be greeted by panicked screaming. "Seriously, what's going on?!" He quickly dodged a grenade-sized missile when his senses were triggered. Seeing the explosive power of the tiny missile, he figured why they did.

"AAAHHHH!!" He heard a familiar scream. His head whipping to the side, he saw a wall was about to crush Max and Gwen. Eyes widening in panic, he quickly turned into Vicetopus, the predator of Brainstorm, and his tentacles moved straight away to shield all the civilians from the crumbling building :"[Vicetopus!]" Techtrix said.

"What's going on?!"

"Forget about that, what the hell is that octopus monster?!"

"Wait, look at its neck! I've seen that collar!"

"No way... is it them?! And those two are the side characters, right?!"

'I would very much appreciate it if you made a run for it right now instead!' With the falling rocks ending, he turned back, and everybody's shock grew even more.

"Holy shit, it is him!"

"That shows real?! That kid can actually turn into monsters?!"

"Not monsters, aliens!"

"If that's Alistair Aliyev, then that must be Diamondhead, Ben Tennyson's alien!"

Hearing Ben's name, Alistair turned to see him fighting against a giant mechanical crab and a man in armor. Groaning at their bad timing, he shouted at the civilians who were taking pictures and films :"Everybody, run if you don't want to get in the crossfire!"

Without waiting to see if they listened or not, he was about to sprint towards his partner and their enemies. But catching something from the corner of his eye and hearing the Nemetrix notification, he froze in place :"[Piece of ancient Galvan technology detected nearby, please equip it to the Nemetrix.]"

On the ground, next to destroyed glass that was probably containing it, he saw something green made of unfamiliar materials. It glowed under the sunlight, and seemed to be inviting him. Glancing at Ben to see his situation, relieved that he was holding on, he bit his lip and picked up the alien material :"You better be quick in whatever you're going to do, watch-"

And just when the piece got close to the watch, the Nemetrix suddenly lit up and absorbed it instantly like a ray of light. He jolted in surprise, before his eyes widened at what he heard :"[Upgrading in process, please wait.]"

"Oh, goddamn it, I just had to be impatient!" He cursed himself, waiting no longer as he ran to his partner. Checking to see if the watch could work, he sighed in relief when its center sprung up before pushing it down and transforming :"[Ventriloquism!]" Transforming into the predator of Rath, he entered his shadow and moved even quicker.

-

Ventriloquist Description: Predator of Appoplexians (Rath). This species stands at an even larger size than its prey, and although it's physically slightly weaker than its prey, it mainly uses its innate ability to control its shadow, stay inside of and move through shadows to ambush its prey. It also has the innate ability to notice all pressure points of all organic organisms and use them to have an advantage in hunting. But due to not having intelligence, it only attacks the pressure points that leave its prey completely immobilized. (Khyber's Hephaestan Neuro Grip was developed after studying this ability.)

-

"Hahahaha, even if you have such a powerful device, it's useless in the hands of an amateur like you!" The crab laughed, trying to crush Diamondhead before it was grabbed and his sword was blocked by his diamonds.

"You know why that's the case?" But suddenly, Diamondhead's struggling face was replaced by a smug smirk :"It was because I needed all the attention of you idiots on me while my bud was saving everybody."

Mechanical eyes widening, he looked back :"What?!" And taking advantage of it, Ben turned into Fourarms before double punching his guts. He groaned, before Fourarms disarmed him and landed several more hits. As he stepped back, head dizzy from all the punches, Ben turned into Heatblast and shot a beam of fire.

Screaming in pain as parts of him began to melt, he flew away as Heatblast smirked :"All yours, Al!" Jumping out of the shadows like an orca leaping out of the water, he landed a punch so powerful it made him fly into the opposite direction.

"[Unidentified DNA...]"

"Here, let me give you a welcome gift!" Heatblast smirked at SixSix flying at him from behind. Heating himself up, he surged his fire to the surroundings till he made a fire tornado that blinded the bounty hunter.

But it was too late to stop. He had flown too fast when wanting to catch Heatblast off guard and could no longer stop. As he covered himself with his arms, his crab partner suddenly came out of the fire and shooting towards him.

Eyes widening, he shouted in pain as the oversized crab crashed into him, causing both of them to fly away. They slammed into a wall, causing it to come down and bury them under the rocks.

The watch wielders stood next to each other, eyeing the rubble that exploded as the villains got up :"You goddamn punk! I'm gonna make you and your little pet regret that!" Making the two frown, especially Ventriloquism :"[Bitch, who you calling a pet?!]"

The bounty hunters froze up, frowning :"What the hell? How is your pet able to speak?" While he felt like splitting the crab into pieces, Heatblast frowned back :"What the heck are you talking about?! What pet?! This is my friend, a human!"

SixSix said something, but neither of them understood. Crab however did :"Yeah, what nonsense are you saying? Human? Huh, you're pretty bad at jokes. A human can't wield the Nemetrix! No sentient being can! The device will completely destroy their minds in seconds!"

"Nemetrix?" Heatblast raised an eyebrow, glancing at Ventriloquism :"[I think he's definitely talking about the watch.]" But hearing him talk made the bounty hunters frown even more. Heatblast nodded :"He called mine the Omnitrix. I guess we finally got their names."

"[Sorry to break this to ya, but I'm both sentient and a human.]" He turned to the two :"[And I know for a fact that my mind is completely fine.]" Scoffing, the bounty hunters got ready to fight :"Whatever you are, I don't care! I'm going to take back both the Omnitrix and the Nemetrix and take that reward!" Snapping his pincer, he glared :"Even if I have to rip them off your corpses."

The heroes glared back :"[Bringing it, punks.]" They said, before the fight broke out again :"Leave the mutt one for me!" Transforming into Ghostfreak, he phased through the incoming pincer and SixSix's energy dagger before uppercutting him.

Phasing through his attack again, Ben turned into Stinkfly and knocked away the missiles and grenades that he threw at him with his slime projectiles, before shooting at SixSix. On the ground, Ventriloquism smirked at Ben's fight :'Man, I shouldn't be feeling so proud.'

Before effortlessly dodging the Crab's sword. He jumped back a few times, creating fighting space. Kraab spoke smugly :"A Ventriloquist, huh? You know, I would have been worried if I wasn't like this and saw one with intelligence. Unfortunately for you, your powers won't work on me."

"[And unfortunately for you, nobody said I can't transform into something else. You really should do your homework before getting smug. Might come to bite your sorry-]" Ventriloquism glared, but was interrupted by the Nemetrix around his neck.

"[Upgrading complete. New function unlocked: Evolved Transformation Function.]"