Ben 10, Generator Rex, The Secret Saturdays: Characters and Locations are owned by Cartoon Network
Partner aid: u/2319472/Vanessa-Masters
Chapter 1
The day that everything changed
Upon the surface a blue marble in the vastness of space seems peaceful and innocent enough, but one day that all changed when an explosion occurred. This explosion sent out several microscopic robots known as nanites to the four corners of the globe which infected almost everything. Five years past since that day and nothing major had happened. "In the five years since the nanite event we have never had an EVO incident of this magnitude. Evacuation is underway, and Providence agents are on the scene." A field reporter as a hydra themed creature was terrorizing the town.
'We were sent out an hour ago when are we going to see some action.' A person on an aircraft thought as he polished his metal bo-staff while another was messing with his wrist, and the last was bouncing his ball.
"Maybe you should lay off the sody-pop, chief." A fuzzy one commented before having his hat knocked off by the ball tosser. "Yeesh, touchy." The creature commented as he rubbed the top of his head to make sure that he still had hair up there. The other two chuckled at that, and were about to try something to two others until the broadcast was talking about a new arrival.
"Providence Keep is now over the city. We may see an end to this." The reporter explained as she saw white/black aircraft above them.
"Finally." The bo-staff one commented before seeing the ball tosser touch the ground which caused a hatch to open up.
"Time for us to go down there with the seriousness and professionalism as a pro soldier." The wrist warrior said to the rest before they all said as one.
"Yeah right." With that said the three leapt off of the ship with a green winged creature coming with them. As they were falling two others were still in the vessel discussing something else.
"So, Kev, want to take bets on who's taking this one down." A Mohawk man said to a raven haired one.
"You are so on." The one known as Kevin said with a greedy grin on his face. The third one decided to be a part of that action. Back on the three that were falling - they decided to talk while falling.
"Man, that is one ugly dude." A teen wearing brown pants, orange/red T-Shirt, black T-Shirt jacket, and elbow length fingerless gloves. The teen went by the name Zak Saturday or as some creature call him - Kur, and his skill comes from strange creatures called cryptids.
"Eh, this guy is nothing one of my pals can handle…" A teen wearing blue jeans, black shirt, green long sleeve jacket, and a strange device on his wrist. This boy is known as Ben Tennyson a man with an alien device with a lot of forms to use in battle - which he was using right now.
"Humungousaur!" The new form shouted as they continued to fall.
"Please, you won't get the chance." A third person in tight black/blue pants, white/blue shirt, and yellow/red jacket with goggles said as he summoned a pair of orange/black fists.
"Nether of you are gonna get the chance, right Zon." Zak said before looking at the flyer that came down with them who cawed in agreement and grew up to the heroic lizard's size.
"Incoming!" The group shouted before going in beak and fist first. which made direct contact with their opponent. Once on the ground the group decided to go with some introductions. "Hey monster guy. We're Ben, Rex, and Zak. Now thrill us." The three said to the monster before them.
"So, who wants to me first?" Rex offered before leaping high into the air with the others following after him. "Eenie." The mechanical one stated with a punch to one of the faces.
"Meenie!" The tan one shouted as he struck another face.
"Miney!" The controller of creatures shouted as he ran up Ben's back to strike another face with his bo-staff.
"MO!" Rex shouted as he struck the main face before activating a special feature of his fist causing it to spin like a drill. When the last hit happened it caused the titan to fall down, but not before batting Humungousaur away. This caused the hero to fall onto a few buildings: crushing them under his weight.
"Maybe no one will notice." The lizard muttered after getting off of the buildings and saw that several of them were half crushed. The vaxasaurian knew that he had to worry about the giant monster instead of property damage, so he walked back to the others, and powered down.
"We've been hearing rumors that Providence has a secret weapon, and it appears to be three teenagers and a dinosaur?" The reporter explained as the camera zoomed in on the heroes who were ready for another go.
'These guys want to ruin my fun - fine.' The monster thought as he unleashed a blue beam from his chest face. Out of instinct Ben used the power of his watch, but this time it did not give him what he wanted.
'XLR8, sure why not.' The human thought after transforming into a kineceleran instead of a necrofriggian, but decided to work with it by making a cyclone barrier. Unfortunately the cold was so great that it was actually freezing XLR8's legs.
"Got your back." The fist warrior said as he raced before the sub-zero speedster and blocked with his hands which was slowly proving useless. Above them a smaller ship came down from the Keep with three experienced warriors inside.
"Who let him out?" A man in a green suit and glasses questioned to the mask soldiers that were with them.
"No one, sir. Rex just ordered the doors to open, and they did, sir." One of the soldiers informed before resumed being quiet on their ride down. It was then the one in the casual suit received a call on his com link.
"Six, I'm receiving funky bio-energy reading from Rex. Keep an eye on him." A woman in a lab coat back at their base informed while looking at one of the monitors.
"It's what I live for." The man answered back.
"Ben seems to be doing okay, but just the same - watch him, Rook." Another white coated woman explained to another warrior in the smaller craft.
"Of course, Adrianna." A armored warrior answered back on his com link.
"I don't have to tell you to watch over my baby boy." Another woman said, but she was in an orange/black outfit with a sword on her back. The only answer she got was two taps which meant no since the third one preferred to remain silent.
"Great." Rex muttered out of anger once the ice had completely consumed them. Taking this as his chance the creature used a red beam on the ice prison, but the heroes were able to fly out of it.
"Bet your happy to be out of there, girl." Zak said to the flyer since he knew se wasn't a big fan of the cold. Zon simply cawed happily as an answer, and it was then the three received a call from the ship above them.
"Don't mess around, kids. Focus." Six said while looking at them through the open door. Ben, who was now an aerophibian, and Zak who was riding on Zon's back knew that he was right, but their friend…not so much.
"That's not messing around. This is messing around." Rex said as he put on a pair of goggles over his eyes, and flew at the creature. "Can you blame a guy for having a little fun. Especially if he can build his own wings." He added while flying around the creature and dodging a laser beam that cut a building in half.
"Civilians." The sunglasses one shouted as he saw the nearly collapsing building. The airborne heroes saw this as well, and decided to do something about it.
"I can get them. I-I got this." Rex said as he quickly flew to the falling complex with the other two flyers right behind him. "Wait!" The mechanical one shouted when he saw that his wings were starting to break down.
"Rex!" B and Z shouted when they saw their friend falling to the ground, so they decided to come to his rescue. Jetray, which is what Ben calls the aerophibian, curled his tail around Rex's right wrist. Zak, using a gift from a friend, latched onto his left wrist, and with that done the group carefully placed him on the ground.
"Six, Rex's bio-metrics just bottomed out." The doctor informed with a hint of worry in her tone.
"Noted." Six answered back before producing a pair of special katanna from his long sleeves. Rook took a tool from his back and morphed it into a sword as well. Their silent partner simply pulled a hatchet from it's place, and with that they all leapt out of the air vessel. On their way down the three effortlessly cut away the debris and kept the civilians safe. They saw the four with three looking at their fallen friend with concerned eyes.
"I've tried Tsul `Kalu. When we were being iced I tried to get a connection, but nothing. Looks like this one is fully human." The black/white haired one informed when he saw the silent one point to Kur and then to the monster.
"I do not mean to doubt your methods Ben, but do you not think it best to stop that creature while there is still some city to protect." Rook offered to his friend who rose to his feet after kneeling next to Rex.
"Relax, Rook, haven't you realized that I always have a plan." The brown haired one informed with a cocky smile.
"Actually I have seen the opposite. That you rush in head first without a set plan, or allow Zak to take over if it is a cryptid that has lost his way." The blue armored one answered back which the human decided to ignore that comment since there was a multi-faced man to stop.
"Finish it." Six said to Rex who immediately got back to his feet, and was ready for another go.
"His bios are way back up. What did you do?" The doctor stated and questioned while looking at the monitor with a confused look on her face.
"The usual cheery pep talk." The green soldier explained back to her while watching BRZ and Zon walk forward to the creature.
"Fourarms!" Ben shouted as he used his wrist device to become a red skinned, four limbed man. Rex summoned a cannon of sorts that used the street they stood on as ammo. Zak and Zon just used the tore up street as ammo by bo-staff or dropping it on them since the flying dino grew in size again.
'Wow, can't believe that it actually worked.' The tetramand thought after the tenth stone hit the titan he went down.
"Rex, you are clear to move in and disarm." The brown haired doctor explained to the mechanical one once she saw on the news footage that the monster was knocked out.
"No offense, doc, but duh." The red jacketed one said while walking up to the out cold brute. "Shut em down, little guys." The teen whispered to his nanites which caused the giant to return to its normal form. "Your welcome…again." He said to the soldiers, who were already on the scene, and now putting a towel over the purified person.
"You made me normal again." The towel man said to Rex after standing up to see the one responsible for his rebirth.
"Handshakes work too, naked man." Rex informed as the man hugged him, and that was when the big white sensor bar fell to the ground. "Seriously stop hugging me." He said with an embarrassed tone, and when he looked to his partners for support he saw Ben covering his eyes and Zon blocking the sight from Zak with one of her wings.
"Thanks, girl." He whispered to his favorite of three while gently stroking her face.
"I…I think that boy just cured the EVO." The reporter explained to the viewers of the broadcast.
"Providence has no comment." Six informed while moving the camera away from the scene before them. After re-robing the human the group boarded the small flying machine.
"Do we really have to go back to base?" Rex said as they boarded.
"Yeah. Let's grab some chilli fries and smoothies to celebrate." Ben said which his teammates seemed more than happy to agree with that plan.
"Celebrate? You three wrecked ten city blocks." The swordsman informed them as he was the last one on the ship.
"Oh come on. It was five at the most." Kur tried to reason with the green outfitted one, but a glare caused him to add, "Okay - ten." This caused the mechanical one to add something.
"Personally I think most of the damage is from a certain alien lizard." Rex boasted causing the user of said creature to become a little angry.
"What was that?!" The alien based warrior shouted.
"You heard me." Te robotic one shouted back, and they were about to start a scrap on the ship until the silent one pulled out his crossbow and pointed it at the problematic protagonists.
"We'll be quiet." B and R said with a bow of the head which caused the quiet one to withdraw his weapon. As they were flying away there were three that watched the vessel take flight.
"We've found them. Tell Van Kleiss." One of the three shadowy figures explained to the other two. As for the side of good they made it back to base without any problems, and once inside they all went their separate ways.
'Can't believe that this is our room.' Rex thought as he walked into a broom closet with three rolled up sleeping bags in the corner, and sign that read 'home sweet home'. The alien and machine often sought after shelter in there, but didn't like that this was their living quarters.
"You're failing to control our weapons." A man in pure white explained to the swordsman and armored avenger.
"What do you suggest. Have him neutralized like the others?" Six offered to his boss even though five years ago he would have done such a thing in a heartbeat, but that was until something happened.
"Five years of living in a global freak show, and those kids are only way out." The white complected man said as he poured himself a glass of milk. "Almost everything on this planet is infested with those nanites…except for aliens, and the lucky humans wonder when it will be their turn to pop. As long as Rex cures them. Zak influences cryptid EVOs, and Ben subdues them then we might have a chance to end this war. Reign them in you two. I don't need to remind you of the alternative." The commander explained before cutting the feed to them so he could enjoy his milk in peace.
"I apologize for this, Agent Six, but I know the procedure for Ben is to have Azmuth reclaim his Omnitrix, and cold storage for Zak Saturday, but what is the procedure for Rex?" Rook questioned as he walked along side his teacher.
"I am sure that Max Tennyson had informed you of how we have dealt with EVO in the past, and if he had then there would be no further explanations." Six said as they continued to go to the lab since they knew that was wear some of the heroes were.
"Scans seem normal. So, mind telling me what happened out there today?" The doctor of Providence questioned to Rex after deactivating the CAT scan machine.
"Just another stunning victory. Saved a lot of lives. I believe that entitles me for some sort of reward maybe dinner? A movie?" Rex informed and offered to her but received a thermometer to the mouth and a Golf clap from Ben.
"I'm talking about the negative 90% spike in your bio-readings. Have an explanations for that?" The female worker said while jotting some notes on a clipboard.
"My bio-metrics spike every time I see you, Doctor Holiday." Rex said as he gave her one of his biggest grins. He then saw and heard the alien hero do the bomb hand signs followed by a comment from his partner.
"Smooth like sandpaper." R knew that she wanted the truth, but he was too scared to admit it. The mechanical one looked up for support to the white haired woman, but she was glaring at something in the window. Holiday's assistant turned her back on him and pretended to work.
"I messed up. In front of Six, and then I…I don't know what happened. I freaked out, and my machines just broke apart. Oh, hey." Rex informed her, and then avoided his teacher's eye contact once Six entered the room.
"I need to test your stress levels. Give me a lap around the petting zoo." Holiday offered since she could tell that Rex didn't want to be there with the swordsman at the moment.
"Come on, bro." Ben offered as he gently pushed him in the direction of the exit with the monkey right behind them.
"Now, how was your day?" Holiday offered to the soldier who could only raise his eyebrow in confusion, and Adrianna bashfully looked over at the experienced Plumber beside him.
"Wheels or wings?" The simian questioned once the three of them got out of the elevator that led to the petting zoo.
"Wheels. I wanna tear something up." The mechanic informed before summoning a motorcycle out of his legs, and once the one eyed man got on the vehicle the two of them rode off.
"Well, I better…" Ben started to say something as he pulled a disk from his pocket before seeing a familiar sight over to his right, and decided to make sure he was seeing things right.
"I keep telling you, Rani Nagi, I'm not interested to be a world ruler." Zak said to a rather large snake woman with four arms, and a single coiled neck.
"Pardon my persistence, Kur, but I believe that with all of this EVO nonsense you can easily overthrow these pathetic humans." The snake woman proclaimed to her master that she easily held in high regard.
"You've been trying to persuade me to do this ever since I was ten and the answer remains 'no'." The young hero said with a kind smile, and when he saw that she was going to try another statement he cut her off with, "Besides I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you." To cement what he was saying the hero gently stroked her right face cheek.
'He really does care about me.' Rani thought to herself, but dared not to show any signs that his words had touched her. "Very well, Kur, I will leave this subject alone until you deem to talk about it." She said and prayed that she did not offend the humans shaped monster.
"I'll accept that." Zak said with a sigh since he knew that she would never let this subject die. Seeing that the conversation was over Ben pulled out a tool that a friend of him gave to him, unfolded it, and hovered away.
'She better not be turning my boy.' The white haired woman thought as she watched as her son walked away from the cryptid section of the petting zoo, and over to an open field.
"There's obviously something wrong with them." Six said as he watched two of the three weapons zip around on the ground.
"Aside from all of you treat Rex, Ben, and Zak like machines instead of 15 year olds. Present excluded, Drew." Holiday said and corrected herself when she caught the venomous glare from the white haired woman.
"So, what's your problem?" The monkey questioned the driver of the cycle once they were out of sight from the lab.
"Oh, the usual. All work and no play, and don't get me started on that broom closet they call a bedroom." Rex answered back while dodging the roots from a tree EVO with Ben on his hoverboard right behind them.
"Physically Rex and his nanites are fine, but think about it Six. No memories of who he is, no family. How do you think that makes him feel?" The doctor questioned to her fellow employee, and prayed that he would see where she was coming from.
"How he feels isn't the concern of Providence." The soldier said back to her while gazing down at the petting zoo.
"I agree with Agent Six - locating and deactivating EVOs should be Ben, Rex, and Zak's only responsibility." Rook said as he tried to find the alien hero in that habitat.
"Unless we make some changes they won't be able to do that much longer." The doctor said as she was worried about the well being of those three. Drew did not like that Six and Rook were talking about her boy like a weapon, but instead of arguing with them she decided to find something to beat up on instead: family mostly.
"So, think they fed Mel." Ben said after catching up with Rex as they rushed to a stone ramp and used it to jump over a lake. While in the air the risk takers saw an overgrown alligator jump out of the water.
"Obviously not." The hairy one said with their faces mere inches from the creature's snapping jaws.
"See you next time." Rex hollered once they were back on the ground and away from Mel. About that time Zak had convinced his other brother Fiskerton to bring his tricycle to the petting zoo for a bit of fun which against his better judgment the taller creature did so.
"So, today, when he lost it. His machines fell apart?" Six questioned to the female beside him after hearing from her what Rex said to her.
"Mental. The fear of making a mistake. Of what you would think of him." Holiday said back trying to make him understand that one of the three really look up to the swordsman, but he still wasn't getting it.
"What I think? All they need is more training. Control those emotions." The green outfitted one replied back to her which was angering her even more.
"They are all teenagers. That's like asking you to get a new color suit." The good doctor said back while trying not to get mad at him…given what path he was once on.
"Or for Rook here to get a different color body armor." Adrianna commented while looking at the warrior in question. The two saw that they were thinking about what was said, so they tried something.
"I'm sorry, but we have better get back to training." The alien warrior said and walked off with Six before either of them had the chance to hold their hands. Down below the three heroes stumbled upon a door that they knew led to the outside.
"Well, up for a little road trip?" Ben questioned to the others as they were all looking at the door.
"What do you think?" Rex questioned to his tag along and Zak did the same.
"Don't ask me - I'm a bad influence." The monkey said back while the other fuzzy one did some nervous muttering. After persuading Fiskerton to go for the sake of food and drink they opened the door and headed out which sent an alert through out the whole building.
"Again?" Another black/white haired man only with a bulkier build asked the monitor on his desk as he was working on a gauntlet.
"Again." Drew said back and was instantly worried about where they may have gone. Such a back and fourth happened two more times, but the three could care less: they just wanted to have some fun.
"Hey, what going on over there?" Ben questioned to the others when they rolled into town and saw a few kids hanging out in a spillway. For safety Fiskerton hid his wheels in a dumpster, and Ben collapsed his hoverboard back into his pocket.
'I don't know about this?' Fiskerton thought as he followed after the other four over to the spillway. They heard them wanting to do a stunt on it, but all were too scared to actually do it.
"I'll do it." Rex said to them after jumping in behind them.
"You gonna ride one of those monkeys?" One of the guys said before they all laughed at the 'joke'. Rex ignored it, put on his goggles, built his ride again, and went to work by doing a front side mc twist 1260 - psycho style. After that he deactivated his ride and landed on his own two feet.
'Yeah, that won't attract attention.' The bigger simian thought as he heard the civilians realize that Rex was an EVO.
"Thirsty?" Rex questioned to the new guys, and with a unanimous nod they headed shack to hit the vending machine. One in the distance asked for another soda, but Ben feared with this popularity he may put a bit too much power in this next one, so he decided to be prepared.
"Lodestar!" The now magnetic Ben shouted just as a can came shooting out of the machine which the alien tried to stop, but it still hit the teen in the forehead. Much to the three's surprise the others laughed at what they saw instead of comforting their friend.
'Some friends.' Zak thought before hearing them talk about getting freebies because of Rex's abilities to talk to machines which he did not like.
"Those kids could care less about being friends, you know." A blonde haired teen warned as he walked over to the group.
"What's wrong with that?" Rex questioned back since he was just happy to hang out with someone that wasn't wearing a uniform.
"I hate to ruin the fun, but this guy may have a point." The humanoid magnet whispered even with the other guys coaxing them to go with them.
"Let's just hang here. Now, I'm tired of the whole machine thing. I can't hook you up with anymore freebies." Rex said since he did trust Ben's opinion on most matters.
"Then I guess we're done, freaks." One of them said with the others laughing about what he said before walking off.
"Uh, might I remind you that monkeys like the throw Bobo bombs, and I had Mexican yesterday." The smaller simian said while smiling at Rex for approval.
"Good monkey." The mechanical one said back and watched as he rushed off.
"Go with him Fisk. Have your fun." Zak said to the tallest one in their group who smiled and followed. Kur knew that Fiskerton didn't throw poo all the them, but throwing anything at those losers would probably feel pretty good.
"So, you have a talking monkey?" The blonde one said as he remained with them.
"Chimpanzee technically." Rex said back and Z added his own two cents.
"And the other one was a gorilla cat." The machine of the team decided to treat this guy for the advice.
"Thirsty?" R questioned while lighting up his right hand.
"It's on me. I'm Noah." The blonde said while showing off a few one dollar bills in his hand. They got their sodas and decided to talk about stuff.
'I need to report this to my one true master.' The recon warrior thought as he sunk back into the shadows. There were two others, but the recon expert only saw one as his leader.
"You control cryptids. You change into a lot of aliens. And you cure EVOs. Seriously?" Noah stated and questioned once he heard the abridged version of what the three could do, and about this time the phantom and the chimpanzee were back from messing with those two, but they were just lounging with them.
"It's like making my machines. It's just something I can do. I can't make people completely nanite free, but I can extract the ones that make them EVO." Rex explained to his new friend.
"No wonder they keep you guys locked up. That's pretty huge. Like Earth changing huge." The full human said as he tried to praise the three for what they can do for the betterment of humanity.
"I guess. I mean, I just wish they could help me figure out who I am." The tech factor of the trio stated with a serious tone before adding, "But you know the best thing about amnesia?" He said in a slacker tone and with almost everyone's attention on him he finished with, "I forgot." Z and B gave weak chuckles since he used that on them for a while, but the new guy did chuckle about it.
"You call that comedy." The clothed monkey stated in a dismissive tone.
"I'm glad someone's laughing." A voice said causing the smaller simian to fall from where he lye and the others to turn and face the voice.
"Who are they supposed to be?" Noah questioned as he looked at five masked soldiers and three tough looking guys.
"The guy in the armor goes by Rook - a high ranked Plumber, and to think he's the same age as the rest of us." Ben said as he pointed to the one he spoke of.
"The lion looking guy is Tsul `Kalu - he's kind of my personal body guard." Zak informed while waving to the man in question.
"And the last one is Six. He's kinda like a nanny: just more agro." Rex said to the third one since he was hoping to get the swordsman angry with the comment, but it didn't work.
"Hysterical. Now, let's go." Agent Six instructed them which Fisk was ready to follow, but not the heroes.
"We're just going to chill here for a while. Thanks." The tech based one said before turning his back on the teacher.
"Rex/Ben duck." Rook and Six said as one before pushing the said people away, and dodged stone projectiles aimed at them. The lion man on the other hand stood before Kur and slashed away at them.
"Let's make this look good." The field leader said to two others before slashing away at a fence, and ran onto the battlefield. The wolf took out the soldiers, but was stopped by the hatchet hero who blocked with his hatchet for one claw and grappled the others.
"I am on top of this one." Rook informed as he went after the one that removed two soldiers from the battlefield with stun gun in hand. When he charged at the opponent she split by going into a portal.
"Don't worry, Rook. Help is on the way. It's hero ti-." Ben called out before a shadow was cast on them. Out of instinct they were about to attack until the third creature spoke.
"Don't worry guys, we're on your side." The salamander creature informed the group who became confused over what he had said.
"Our side? Six may be a pain, but…" Rex informed the strange creature before them, and that was when another voice spoke.
"Through here. The promised land." A female voice said, and that was when they all saw a tear into a different location all together.
"Ben, Rex, Zak, come here. We're waiting for you." A charismatic voice beckoned them to come into the void. S, R, and T saw this, and did not like it one bit.
"Rex, wait." Six called out as he and Tsul tried to fend off the wolf as a tag team. BRZ heard him, but the salamander clubbed them into the tear. With a swift kick the wolf left his opponents and leapt after the six.
'Drew is going to skin me alive.' `Kalu thought after they rushed to the portal, but it closed before they could reach it. On the other side of the tear the group was collecting themselves after hitting the dirt.
"Never flying coach again. No siree." Bobo said as he adjusted his hat. At this time the three others came out of the portal and circled around them.
"Where are we?" Rex questioned while looking at the horrific location for any idea of where they are.
"Home." The wolf informed them before walking away from them, and it was then they saw the trees bend like a tunnel of sorts. On the far end was a black/white haired man in a casual outfit of sorts. A white faced man with a blue color scheme going, and a squid headed man with pistons in his arms, and a guard over his mouth.
"Hey, head honchos. Act all impressed." The smaller creature informed them.
"Not acting." The three answered back since Rex and Ben were getting strange vibes from the squid and casual one. Zak knew of the last one because of his show, which his parents disapproved of, and now in his presence he understood why since there was something off with him.
"You can control nature?" Rex questioned to the middle one as he watched a rose path following the three as he walked closer along with the tree branches around him as well.
"In a matter of speaking - yes." The middle man said back calmly.
"Good. Do you think you can crank the heat down a smidge there, Skippy?" The clothed creature questioned before getting a sudden rain cloud to cool him off. "Show off." He commented since he was less than impressed by that trick.
"I am Van Kliess, and these are my partners: V.V. Argost and Vilgax. And this Rex, Ben, and Zak is Abysus. A haven for EVO, alien, and cryptid alike." The man explained of who he, and his buddies are along with the location.
"You…you know who we are?" The mechanical one questioned since he did not recall introducing himself to any of these guys. Rex looked around and saw Kur and the hero of heroes were confused by that as well.
"But of course. Our associates: Biowolf, Breach, and Scalamander have been watching you three for some time now." Argost stated casually at the visitors.
"Isn't that a little stalker-y?" Ben asked and heard an angry growl from the tallest of the three which got his attention.
"This way." Van Kliess said as he moved some trees to reveal a castle of sorts. Against their better judgment the heroes followed after them into the root filled building. "They call it a plague, but nanites are everyway a gift. A gift Providence, the Secret Scientists, and Plumber officers seek to destroy." He continued on to informed the heroes while summoning a path for them to walk on.
"The EVOs we go after - they're monsters. They use their powers to hurt people." Rex informed as he tried to explain why they work for them.
"We are not all savages, Rex. Some EVOs are capable of so much more. You've only just begun to realize your full potential, and that goes for you two as well." The host explained to them, and wondered if that was enough for them to join their cause.
"Potential? I don't even know about my past." Rex informed which got Van Kliess' attention.
"Is that so?" He said back while thinking, 'Yes, that sounds just like them.' He then decided to keep them around by adding, "Then perhaps a little history lesson is in order." Trusting these guys was still in the air, but what other choice did they have.
"Sounds delightful." Bobo said in a deadpan tone before hearing a noise from his gut. "You got anything to eat in this dump?" He asked while holding his belly to calm it down.
"You three: go to the garden and help them satisfy their appetites." The tentacle tyrant told them while trying his best to keep his anger in check…until Van Kliess' plan is complete of drafting them to their side.
"Don't worry, buddy, we'll be there soon. Just don't hog all the food for yourself." Zak said with a calm smile on his face. Reluctantly three of the heroes followed after the ones that attacked the soldiers to a different part of the castle.
"Five years ago on this very spot is when it all began. The so-called 'nanite event'. The dream to create microscopic machines became real. Some were too eager to see the fruits of their labor. Against the wishes of the wisest of their number inadvertently gave birth to a new age, and a violent birth it was." Van Kliess explained to them before turning to go deeper into the castle. "That day everything changed - the EVOs were born." He added once they ended up in their throne room.
"That's great and everything, but what does that have to do with us. I mean I got the Omnitrix when I was ten, and it protects me from any nanite." Ben explained to them.
"I have been able to influence cryptids since I was ten, and my parents believe that is why cryptid EVO attacks are a rare sight to see." Zak explained to them since he didn't understand it either.
"This really is an interesting tale, but does it have anything do to with me?" Rex questioned once his 'brothers' were done explaining their parts first. Van Kliess chuckled amused, as he reached his throne, Vilgax and V.V. Argost standing to the side.
"It has EVERYTHING to do with you, Rex." Gestures vaguely toward the others. "I'll admit your friends play a small but vital part too. But we'll see how they play out first."
"A demonstration of their abilities, Van Kliess?" Argost suggested from the side.
"Excellent point, Argost." Replied Van Kliess
"Huh?" Ben, Rex and Zak stuttered. A flick of his metal handed wrist and the ground exploded beneath Rex, Ben and Zak, revealing a mass of vines that stretched and entangled the three boys, squeezing them to the bone. Elsewhere, Noah, Fiskerton and Bobo were strolling behind the Pack as they made their way through a eerie section of the Castle.
"THIS...is the Garden?" Bobo exclaimed incredulously.
"Furr, gurrah-daha-ner." Fisk growled in agreement.
"I hear yah, Fuzzy. 'Better fire 'Da' Gardener." Bobo translated to Noah's disbelief.
"You understand what he said!?" Noah remarked.
"Course, don't you?" Bobo asked in vague curiosity.
"Not really..." Trailed off Noah, looking aside to see the horrified expression's on the Wooden "Tree's" in the Garden and THAT'S when Noah came to a horrified conclusion.
"I don't think these are statues.." Noah whispered to the Simian and Gorilla-Cat, so not to be heard by the Pack. Unfortunately, someone did hear him reveal his discovery to the others.
"Smart Kid." Growled out Skalamander, who raised his club arm over his head at the Trio. Biowulf turned to hunch over in attack position.
"HRRR-AHHAHHH! DOODA!" Screeched Fiskerton in fright. As the sidekicks were busy with their fight Ben, Zak and Rex were tangled up, sadly Ben couldn't reach his watch and so, him and Zak could only watch in apprehensive fear.
"What…are you doing!?" Rex demanded as the roots brought him over to Van Kliess, who stepped down to peer closer at Rex, before stabbing his metal fingertip's into Rex's chest. Causing Rex to cringe in pain as the usual white lines shot from his finger's and across Rex's chest.
"Call it, an experiment." Grinned Van Kliess as the yellow glow shone through the room. Causing Ben and Zak to squint against the light, as Vilgax and Argost stayed a ways back to avoid causing interference.
"Auugh!" Rex screamed in pain, as the white lines spread like a cobweb over his face.
"REX! BUD!" Ben and Zak shouted from their position on the far side of the room.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU, FRUITLOOP!?" Ben shouted angrily.
"Not everyone's relationship with the Nanites is as...'Co-operative' as yours." Van Kliess explained to the boys.
"To put it mildly, Van Kliess body is unstable, the poor thing." Chuckled Argost ruefully.
"His body requires daily supplies of Fresh Nanites to survive." Vilgax joined in the explanation. "So, we entered a sort of contract. We give Him the Nanites..."
"And he provides The Cryptids and Vilgax's Alien citizens with a new home." Argost finished for Vilgax.
"Today: Abysus, Tomorrow: The World!" Van Kliess smirked nastily. "A fair trade, wouldn't you say so?"
"Especially since YOURS should be particularly, 'Nourishing'" Hissed Argost in sadistic amusement as Rex's hand started to turn to stone. As the heroes were having their problem the sidekicks found themselves surrounded by the three heralds.
"Ever been in a fight, Blondie?" Bobo questioned while keeping his eyes on the canine before him.
"I've took kick boxing at the mall once." Noah stated and wondered if that was the sort of answer the monkey was after, but the two just groaned out of aggravation. Without a second thought Bobo went after the wolf while Fiskerton stalled the rock lizard while the human narrowly dodged being slapped by the girl.
'Three on three a fair fight. Besides my master didn't tell me to interfere, so I will not.' A watcher of the fight thought before going on with his man servant duties. As he was leaving the one eyed chimp was able to direct the metal one to collide with the scaly one which let Noah flying kick the girl.
"Not bad." Bobo remarked as he saw the kid's work before heading out back to the heroes since something was telling them that they were in trouble.
"Now, Rex, I was expecting so much more from you than this." Van Kliess shouted as he continued on with his experiment, and all three saw that the second stringers had arrived just as they knew they would.
"Get your hands off of him you dang, dirty cape." Bobo said before grabbing a rock with his feet and threw it at Van Kliess which was a direct hit. With him disoriented the heroes used this as their chance to strike.
"Swampfire!" Ben shouted out once his roots were weak enough for him to use his watch. After burning them away the plant/flame hybrid charged at the squid with both fists growing. With all his efforts the hero twin punched the brute before changing again.
"Heatblast!" The pyro shouted and tried forging a firewall between them. "Now stay there. I've got a weed to deal with." The pyronite shouted before racing back to his friends who were also free.
"Good thing I've felt the skree above us." Zak said as he commanded them to attack the white faced man: which they did. As he dodged their dive bomb attack Saturday was able to score a kick to the villain.
"Got it." Heatblast said as he shot another fire blast that created another firewall. Now with the other two taken care of Rex formed a big mech foot and kicked his opponent right into a wall.
"You three are as powerful as I was led to believe." Van Kliess said to them after adjusting his head to where the guests were facing right side up.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't intend on being anyone's lunch!" Rex shouted at the man that was trying to drain him dry. It was then the raven haired opponent decided to clarify something to the heroes.
"You're far more valuable to me than that, Rex, and I'm sure my associates know what to do about your 'brothers'. Besides, I merely wanted a taste." Kliess said as he summoned a root to take him down to the floor.
"What gives you THE RIGHT to do that to our Earth?!" Ben snapped at Vilgax and at the other two. "This is our home: our HERITAGE!" He added and wished that there was an alien form that showed them just how angry he was.
"YOUR HERITAGE!" Vilgax shouted back while spitting in disgust. "You destroy it, pollute the sky and sea, ravage the land, subjugate the animal life and gorge on their flesh?!" He explained while using the information his yes man has shown him.
"Yeah, nasty image there, Squidy." Zak gagged, but did not puke since he had seen Rani and Zon eat their food.
"Humans are nothing but primitive and destructive." Argost agreed with his alien alley. "You, humans, invented gun powder and your FIRST thought to use it, was to go to war." He informed them and knew that they were doing the right thing.
"Human history, is nothing but a Catalog of destruction!" The tyrannical tentical warrior finished for him, and knew that his people would not be welcomed here with open arms unless he did something first.
"Riiiiiight, and what your gonna do is SOOOOO much more different." Kur drawled in disbelief since he knew that they meant no good for anyone, but themselves.
"These guys are just a three bean salad of crazy!" Rex stated to the others who nodded in agreement.
"Ready to go home and not die now." Noah said since he was not a warrior class. The tech factor summoned his wings and tore throw the wall with an overgrown bug following after him.
"Thank you for flying Air Rex and Stinkfly airlines." Rex said as they were being attacked by fast growing trees.
"Whew!" Noah groaned as he covered his nose. "Stink is right!" He added to his first statement.
"Yeah. Yeah. I heard it all before." Stinkfly griped as he continued to fly with his passengers right with him.
"Better be a movie on this flight.?!" The gun loving simian shouted out as they dodged the stocks of lumber as best as they could. Van Kliess went after them since he still believed that they could be talked into helping them.
"Do you believe we should help out the chap?" V. V. Argost questioned as he walked through the flames due to his fire resistant cloak.
"No. This was his plan, and he should have the honor to face them. The next time I see Tennyson I shall rip off his arm and claim the Omnitrix as my own. You can try to figure out how Saturday can influence cryptids, but I doubt that you can." Vilgax responded as he walked through the firewall without a scorch mark on his body. As they left to do their own thing the heroes had hit ground with a slightly out of it Rex.
"Come on, Rex. Don't let him get to you." The machine said as he tried to summon a weapon, but with no success. "Need a minute. Bio-metrics way low." He informed when the other five went over to him.
"That's really inconvenient." The blonde human commented before glancing over and saw that the three from earlier were there.
"Yeah, I see what you mean." Zak said before getting ready for the wolf: who decided to go for a downward claw attack, but was denied by Six on his own hoverboard. Once he was out of the way the swordsman than tossed the monkey his blasters.
'Finally. Some serious payback.' The monkey thought before opening fire which Skalamander defended with his club arm until it suddenly stopped.
"Guess you give…" The lizard started to speak before a fist plowed through club, and nailed him right in the face. Now looming over the out cold lizard was a dark complected man with an orange/black outfit, black/white hair, and a glowing glove.
"Six o clock." Rex warned his guardian as the third one tried to attack with multi portals, and she scored several clean hits which angered the man in green. The swordsman was about to do something about it until Drew slowly walked over portals.
"Boom." She whispered after unsheathing her sword and unleashed its mystical flames into one of the holes, and as expected the girl responsible fell out of one with a slightly smoldering body.
"Wow, she's mad." Noah said as the white haired woman sheathed her sword, and walked over to the heroes. The canine of the three slowly got back onto his feet, and was going to attack Ben with his claws before he was shot in the back.
"Keep your claws off my son." An elder by the name of Max Tennyson shouted to the would be attacker before walking over to see if his boy was alright.
"Zak, sweety, are you okay?" Drew questioned as she looked at him with worried eyes, and scanned his body to make sure that he was well.
"I'm okay mom, but listen there's this weird white faced man back there." Kur informed while thumbing over to the castle.
"That's V. V. Argost a has been TV star that had a strange fascination with cryptids, but after the fall of his show he went into seclusion and the scientists didn't bother with him." The black man said before kneeling down to see if his boy was okay.
"Okay, but there's also an alien back there with a big squid face. Called himself…" Ben tried to informed, but someone finished for him.
"Vilgax. I fought him back in my prime when he attacked Earth by himself. Thought I did him in. I guess not." Max informed as he gently placed his hand on his grandson's shoulder.
"So, that takes care of them, but there's also this EVO - Van Kliess…" Rex said, but was stopped by his guardian.
"We know. He, like the others, haven't been a problem until now. We have to move." The swordsman informed before running off with the others following after him. "The Keep is hovering just beyond the mountains." He added as they entered a forest terrain.
"How'd you find us?" Ben asked to anyone that was willing to answer.
"High frequency transponder." The glove based hero informed while running off.
"You tagged us - like a bunch of dolphins?" Kur questioned as he followed behind Rex.
"Not you exactly, honey." The mother of the Sumerian cryptid informed, but the others were still confused about where it might be.
"It's in the monkey's diaper." Six informed which caused the creature in question to stop and seemed to look ashamed that such a secret was blown.
"It's a simian undergarment." Bobo informed while adding, "And if you so much as chuckle, fuzzy, I'll give you an up-close and personal BoBo bomb." This caused the gorilla cat to wave his hands in defeat. With nothing else to say they all raced off to the Keep.
"I'm a little disappointed that it's only you, the Saturdays, and Max, Six. I figured Providence would send an army after us." Rex said in an honest tone so the others weren't too offended to what he had said.
"They did." The swordsman informed once they arrived at the crash site of a smaller air vehicle with a bunch of dead Plumber and Providence soldiers. Seeing this made the three feel a little bad since this happened because of them.
"Ben, forget it." Max said before feeling the earth shake causing him to add, "Move." It was too late a whole mess of roots burst out of the ground with Van Kliess standing on one of them.
"Such a waste. If only Providence would keep out of things that don't concern them." The veggie villain stated after seeing the crashed ship, but decided to focus on attacking them with roots.
"Keep running. You'll be safe at the Keep." Six said as he hacked away the weed attack and charged at Van Kliess with the Saturdays and Max providing cover fire on their way up.
"Guys, I don't think Van Kliess just controls the earth." Noah commented as they watched the root riot above them.
"He's a part of it." Rex said back before taking off his glove to get a pure feel of his theory. "There are nanites everywhere. He's connected to all of it." The tech said after feeling all of the tiny machines in the very earth beneath them.
"Grandpa!" Ben shouted as the man in question and three others were pushed away from their target, and were slammed onto the ground - hard.
"How them bio-metrics looking now?" Bobo questioned to his best friend before a tree barrier was placed around all of them.
"Enough of this foolishness. You were here when it happened Rex. We all were. Stay, and all your questions will be answered." Van Kliess instructed to the three main ones.
"We'll take our chances with Providence." Rex retorted back, and their current foe did not like that look of defiance in their eyes one little bit.
"Really? Even if it means sacrificing an entire race of beings?" Van Kliess said, crossing his arms in a serious stance.
"What cha talking about, crazy?" Ben stated to the vegetable villain in a sarcastic tone.
"Simple. The cryptids, EVOs, and Vilgax's people will all convene on this spot a year from now from the home planet of Vilgaxia." Kliess added while motioning dramatically before adding, "And they will make their home here, on Earth. Vilgaxia alone will bring over 50 million beings." He informed the heroes.
"Quite joking around!" Zak shouted in startled apprehension. "If that's true, what will happen to the people on Earth?" He questioned to the titan of grass before them.
"Humans? HA!" He said while briefly turning away from them. "You speak as if they will have some importance in this matter, they will all be eliminated, so to make room for the Vilgaxians, cryptids, and EVOs, and it will be you and I Rex who will lead the EVOs into the wonderful new empire that will be formed by the ashes of the humans destruction!" He shouted while racing his metal fist up in triumph.
"Your crazy if you think we'll let you get away with that!" Rex shouted out at the host in anger.
"You're messing around with your destiny." Van Kliess informed them, and at that moment Rex felt a familiar feeling deep within his spirit.
"Messing around? That's not messing around." The mechanical one informed before summoning a sword while Zak switched the falcon figure head on his staff to a spear blade, and Ben silently transformed into Diamondhead who also changed his right arm into a sword of sorts.
"Fisk, hammer throw!" Zak shouted as he watched his 'brothers' race up the tree Kur decided to take the easy way. The phantom creature did said move which caused the three to be airborne roughly the same time. Once there they all struck together - tearing through his defensive line and went right through the plant controller.
"This is messing around." Rex said before a big explosion occurred which only took away Van Kliess and spared the heroes. Once he was gone the heroes withdrew their weapons, and was glad that it was over.
"Great. Can we go home now?" Noah said which caused Rex to call on his vehicle build, and drive off with the blonde while the others simply decided to walk to the keep…so long that it was Humungousaur doing the walking. Unknown to them the gardener survived such an explosion. Once back at the base Holiday had a surprise for the trio, and Bobo.
"Well, what do you think? You keep on saying that you want a bigger room." Holiday said once they were all in the bigger bedroom for the three of them.
"It'll do." The mechanical one informed as he looked at the three piece bunk beds, video game chairs, video game console, and big flat screen TV.
"This may not exactly be the life you asked for, Ben, Rex, and Zak, but it's the one you have. We will have to make the best of it." Rook commented as a way to make them feel better.
"And my past?" Rex questioned back to them since he was still wanting to know that sort of information.
"We'll keep looking - together." Six said with a smile as he looked to Rex.
"So, can we still hang out with Noah?" Zak questioned since it was nice having a civilian friend that wasn't family.
"I think that can be arranged." The green outfitted man replied back before tossing Rex his ball back. Unknown to…most of them the man in white was congratulating someone he got from rent-a-friend.
"Guy's is there really a lesson here?" Ben questioned as he read one of his first Kangaroo Commando comics as he lied on the bottom bunk.
"Sure there is. Complain enough, and these guys will cough up a flat screen." Rex said from the middle bed as he was listening to some music.
"Seriously though. We often gripe about what we do here, but it really is awesome." Zak stated as he simply was lying on the top bunk.
"Yep. Sometimes we just have to remind them who's boss." Ben said just as he was getting to the good part of his book.
"Lights out." Six informed them while turning off their lights which earned a collected groan, but he did not care.