Lum decided to park her UFO in the mountains away from any major city, since there was a good chance people would not react well her to being close by. She hadn't said another word to Ataru, just reassuring him everything would make sense when she had time to tell him everything.

When everything was done, Lum sat in front of Ataru. "Darling, that device on your wrist, it was never supposed to bond with you. And now that it has, I don't know how to take it off."

"You can't take this off?" Ataru asked. "Well, considering what it does I'm not sure I'd want you to. Unless it can do something like make me explode."

"I think there might be a self-destruct function on it." Lum pointed out, making Ataru panic. "Oh wait, that doesn't really help here."

"You think?!"

"Relax, it's not going to do anything like that anything soon unless you damage it." The oni girl reassured. "What should I tell you first? What the device is and does, or why I brought it here?"

Ataru thought it over. "What it is. That should help the other part make more sense."

"Alright." Lum replied with a nod. "For starters, it is called the omnitrix, and from what I'm told it's one of the most powerful inventions in the entire galaxy."

Ataru raised an eyebrow. "Powerful in what context?"

Lum adverted her eyes in thought. "I'm not sure. I just know what it does, not what makes it powerful."

"Gee, don't you sound smart." Ataru remarked.

Lum huffed. "You know what a battery does but do you know how exactly it does it?" At Ataru's defeated sheepish look she smiled. "I thought so. Anyway, the omnitrix is a full body cellular and genetic reconstructer. It can alter the very being and sometimes even the mental capabilities of the one who possesses it to allow them to temporarily have the body and abilities of another life form. Basically, it transforms you into other aliens for a temporary amount of time."

"That's cool. How many can I become?"

"I'm not sure on that either, but last time I checked, the current available limit is ten. There should be more options saved inside like files, but for now only ten are available."

"And let me guess, you're not sure why for that either?" Ataru asked, and Lum nodded. "So why did you have it? And why weren't you wearing it?"

"It wasn't meant for me. I was delivering it to someone on this planet." She told him, and paused to take a breath. "Perhaps this will help you understand. When you and I were racing, the rest of the oni were busy doing something else on this planet. In fact, you and I were in fact just a distraction for this."

"A distraction?" Ataru repeated, the got angry. "You used me as a distraction?!"

"Not me, I was used too. I was selected because it was believed my appearance was most appealing to your culture thus I'd be the one oni who'd hold the media's attention. I was ordered to let you win had you not been able to get me on your own on the tenth day."

"Wait, let me win?" Ataru repeated, confused. "Lum, I've had a funny feeling about this game of tag ever since it started. Now you're telling me it was basically just a ruse?"

"Sort of. You see, it all started on Uru, my home planet. A being named Azmuth who belonged to the Galvan race of Galvan Prime was seeking sanctuary on our world to do some work in peace. He was rather private but his work was of no danger to anyone, and after a while he created the omnitrix you are now wearing."

"Did he say why?" Ataru asked.

"He said... it was to apologize for something." Lum answered.

Ataru didn't like the sound of that. "What was he apologizing for?"

"I heard someone misused one of his inventions and caused a lot of trouble with it, and he blamed himself for it. He came to Uru to create something to fix the problem and he didn't want others to get their hands on it before he decided who would help him use it. But it didn't work out so well. Somehow word got out about what Azmuth was doing and another alien came to Uru demanding Azmuth hand over the omnitrix. Our armies fought them off long enough to head to earth so Azmuth could get sanctuary again, but that wasn't as easy to get here."

"No doubt, Earth's never seen aliens before." Ataru commented.

The oni girl shook her head. "Not true, Earth's interacted with other worlds many times. We weren't the first race to appear to yours. Not by a long shot."

That certainly shocked the teen boy. "Really?" Lum nodded. "Then why is it only now the world's being aware of it?"

"There's an organization on your world that's meant to deal with extraterrestrial affairs on behalf of the planet. They're called Plumbers I think. Anyway, we approached them and they were happy to help grant Azmuth asylum, but they had another idea. They thought since they couldn't hide alien existence from the general public for much longer that rather than wait until such a revelation was unavoidable to 'stage' a revelation."

"You mean the whole threat of invasion was faked?" Ataru asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I mean, what advanced race in any galaxy would try to conquer a planet using a game of tag?" Lum shrugged and shook her head. "'Win and we go away in peace, lose and you hand over your planet to us'? Who in their right mind would use that as a battle strategy? I mean, even the Shyamalites would do better than that and they have trouble with wooden doors."

"So if I'm getting this right, your race revealed itself to the world so some other species wouldn't do it first and cause a major panic. The whole tag thing was a way to calm the panic before it could get bad, and if you were supposed to lose then it would allow earth to feel like it was safe from invasion for the time being." Ataru thought out loud. "And the ten days we were competing were the days needed to hide this Azmuth guy."

Lum nodded. "I knew you weren't a dumb human, despite what my dad said."

"So now why did you come back if your job was done?" Ataru asked.

"Here's something I'm not really proud of. You see, we brought Azmuth to Earth and left him in a place neither oni nor human know about and went home to Uru, to fight off the threat to him and keep him from coming to Earth. But when we got there, some of our soldiers revealed that a mistake had been made. Azmuth left the omnitrix on Uru."

Ataru looked skeptical. "He went into hiding to build this thing?" He raised his left arm to indicate it. "And he left it behind? Doesn't that strike you as just a little bit fishy?"

Lum nodded. "Very much so. My dad thought so too. But we couldn't risk it being a mistake or a trap, so the only option we had was bring it to Earth and give it to Azmuth, even though no one's supposed to know where he is. And I being the one oni deemed nonthreatening to Earth was chosen to deliver it. Not a perfect plan by far, but it was the only one we had. And it went wrong really quickly."

"Went wrong?" Ataru asked.

"Yes, the being who tried to take the omnitrix when it was on Uru followed me. I had some security but the battle was terrible. I don't know if anyone got out alive, but they did manage to damage the enemy ship and keep them away from earth." Lum continued, looking and sounding mournful at the thought of others dying to protect her. "Those robots you saw, I think they were scouts sent after me that were lucky enough to do so."

"Not lucky enough, they looked pretty damaged to me." The teen boy pointed out.

"I had to do some evasive maneuvers in my own ship and fight too, and it lasted for what felt like hours. I nearly got killed and I don't even know how I survived. I had to make an emergency landing, and the only place I could think of was your home. Plus, I wanted to see you again."

"Lum, I wasn't asking you to marry me. It was a mistake." Ataru clarified, not wanting her to bring it up.

"And is the girl you thought would marry you agreeing to it?" Lum asked back.

"She's... waiting for the right time." Ataru said.

Lum clearly did not believe that. "If you asked me we'd be married right away. Maybe not legally by this planet's customs but enough that we could get away with consummating the union."

The image of them consummating did flash in Ataru's mind, but it was squashed by all the annoyance he had felt about the tag race, bolstered by the annoyance of the aftermath and the news of the true nature of the challenge.

"But like you said, it can't happen even if I wanted it to. Besides, I like another girl."

"Let's avoid this subject for now." Lum suggested. "The thing is, I was supposed to take the omnitrix to its maker. You were never supposed to wear it. And I don't know how to take it off or find anyone who does. So until I do, you're stuck with it. And if you're caught with it, bad people from space or even Earth might try to kill you to get it for themselves."

"So I'm not supposed to use it?" Ataru asked. "No can do."

"Darling the omnitrix is not a toy!" Lum argued. "Don't you get it? Dangerous people from other worlds want that device and humans aren't exactly top species off their own world. Not to mention many humans would love to have it too if they knew what it could do."

"Well right now it's mine, and if I want to play I will." He said, activating the device and pressing the screen before Lum could stop him. His arm glowed rather simply and it spread over him, the only sensation he felt was the one of growing taller, but by a small amount. When it stopped and the glow faded, he barely felt changed at all. He looked at his hands and they were completely normal to him.

"What the hell? I didn't change at all." He complained.

"No Darling, you did. And I must say, I like this look a lot." Lum told him.

Ataru looked into one of the metal surfaces of the UFO interior to see his reflection. It was distorted, but he could see green hair, and looking at himself more he saw a full body tiger uniform. "Oh great, now I'm an oni-Ataru. An... Onitaru if you will."

"Onitaru. I like the sound of that. But I like the sound of 'Darling' more." Lum said cheerfully.

"Wait, this means I can fly and shoot lightning." Onitaru said to himself.

"Not necessarily. Some onis have different abilities than me, and some can't fly." Lum corrected.

"Well I'm going out to try it out." Onitaru said without care and rushed outside. Once out he tried jumping into the air, and to his joy he didn't come crashing down like a normal wingless being would do. "Awesome!" He shouted, flying thru the air via means he couldn't even start explaining to an earth scientist.

But he wasn't the only one who could fly. "Darling! Get back here!" Lum called out.

"No way Lum! In fact, this time you have to catch me!" Onitaru jested, then took off, mentally laughing at the irony.

The oni girl did indeed chase him, and while she had experience in controlling her flight, Onitaru was a natural at escaping when he really wanted to get away. And this time he had a weapon at his disposal.

"Let's see how much you like lightning!" Onitaru yelled, holding his hand out to Lum and mentally picturing a bolt striking her and knocking her out of the sky. Normally the idea of being responsible for physically hurting a woman appauled him, but she had carelessly electrocuted him already, plus she probably had at least some tolerance to the stuff even if not total immunity. To him, this was justified retaliation.

But there was no lightning. Not even a spark.

"Darling come back!" Lum yelled, catching up to him.

Not wanting her to succeed, Onitaru dove into the trees below and flew thru the forest, finding this a lot harder as he bumped into several branches and crashed. "Damn, how do birds do this?"

Lum landed right behind him. "Darling!"

Onitaru momentarily panicked and waved his arms as if to ward off the threat. That did nothing, but all of a sudden the ground right under Lum trembled and shot up like it was punching her from below. The shock sent her flying involuntarily for a bit.

"Whoa, what was that?" Onitaru asked, looking at the pillar. "No time to ask questions, she might come back." He decided to run this time, since he trusted his legs more.

As it turns out, his running speed was rather impressive. It was like he was so much lighter. But unfortunately it didn't last long. After what probably qualified as a good sprint, his legs cramped up and he had to kneel down, massaging them.

"Damn, what gives? I know I'm no athlete but I'm in decent shape. Though I admit maybe a jog or two now and then might help me out a little more." He complained, hovering a bit to take the weight off his legs. "Huh, maybe onis fly around so much their natural leg strength has weakened over evolution, making them almost require flight over land travel. Kind of like the reverse of what happened to the ostrich in evolution."

He looked around, trying to see where he was. "I'm nowhere near home that's for sure, and Ken sure can't pick me up from here. Maybe I can find something to show me the way to Tomobiki."

Flying but staying out of the trees and not above them where Lum could spot him, Onitaru went forward in hopes of finding any sort of clue. Part of him felt bad for how he was treating the girl, but frankly she had complicated his life with too much too soon and to his knowledge only wanted a solution that benefited her more than him. He rationalized this as 'I owe her nothing'.

After a bit the omnitrix crest on his chest, just over his heart to be more precise, started beeping. "Uh oh, better find somewhere to lay low until this thing recharges." He looked around and not too far he saw a cave in the side of the mountain he was still on. "That'll do." With a burst of speed he flew towards it as fast as he could, then timed out in mid-air and crashed and rolled on the ground, halting just in front of the cave mouth.

"Ouch." He groaned, hissing at the bruises and abrasions he surely got from that unorthodox landing. "I'm going to need more practice with this thing." Ignoring that for now, he made himself get into the cave, trying to go in enough that Lum couldn't spot him unless she actually landed in front of it to look inside.

The cave actually wasn't as deep inside as it looked from the outside, but what was really weird was the fact the back of it looked more like a brick wall with a steel door than a natural rock wall. And carvings were in the stone too, but he couldn't make them out in the dim lighting.

"Someone built something inside a mountain? Why?" He asked, then shrugged and knocked on the door. Right away small panels opened and pointed guns at him, with red dots appearing on his body in several spots.

"A simple 'Do Not Disturb' sign would have sufficed you know." Ataru commented, not knowing what else to do. 'Lum, if you can get me out of this, I will owe you one for once.'


'Was that geomancy?' Lum asked herself, resuming the search for her subject of romantic interest at a slow but steady pace. 'What are the odds that Darling as an oni would have the second rarest power of my species? And be able to fly. I might be wrong, but geomancy onis shouldn't fly, should they?'

Ignoring the questions she couldn't answer, Lum went back to her UFO, knowing this would aide her in her search. 'It's likely Darling has returned to normal form, so I should be able to find him by scanning for human life in the vicinity. If I don't find him that way, I can just search visually. I get the feeling he'll try another flying being again.'

Seated in her pilot chair at the controls, Lum got her vehicle into the air and typed into the computer basic commands. 'Search for humans within immediate area'. Small scanners went to work, ignoring the local flora and fauna to find a specific species.

'Lifeform detected'. The computer beeped, showing a map with a collection of red dots in a localized portion.

Lum blinked. 'There's a large cluster of humans in one area out here? Why? And is Darling with them?' She headed right to the area to get her answer. 'Darling, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble like this. Why can't anything go right today?'

-Flashback-

Red lights were flashing everyone, almost as if they were trying to be the only color Lum could see. That would have been better, since she just saw one of her escort ships get blown up by enemy fire. Lum could do nothing but scream in horror and dodge to avoid being hit herself.

"Get to the destination Agent Racer! We will hold off the enemy!" A transmission of her one remaining guard ship told her, firing back at a larger battle ship that looked like a set of clamps with red gems attached.

Lum grit her fangs. "Hell no! I'm not having more die while I just run!"

"Agent Racer no!" The transmission added, refusing to use Lum's real name in case the signal was being intercepted.

Ignoring the plea Lum turned around and headed to the enemy. Her UFO was designed for long term travel and residence rather than combat, the space equivalent of an recreational vehicle, but her father was part of the Urusian military so he made sure it had weapons equipped too. She got her guns out and started firing, hoping to get a good shot in.

One of her lasers hit one of the red gem-like features of the enemy ship, and it seemed to do some good damage. But the enemy ship retaliated, firing back. She dodged but her ship got grazed, losing one of the guns entirely and destroying one of the oxygen managers. Her air was going to be limited now.

"Agent Racer you're not equipped for battle! You're going to get yourself killed!" The transmission yelled.

"If I don't help you you'll be killed!" She yelled back, continuing to fire from what she hoped was the enemy's blindside.

"If you die then the deaths of the fallen will have been for nothing." The transmission added, taking some shots in themselves that were doing far more damage than her one laser was.

Lum resisted, but soon sighed. "Very well. I'll be headed for the last point I was at on this planet. Meet me there."

"Will do. Keep the cargo safe."

Cutting the line, Lum turned and flew as quick as she could to Japan. In front of her she saw some small combat droids flying at her and shooting, not damaging her thanks to the shield she had that was strong enough to resist lasers of that magnitude. Unfortunately she lost her last gun.

Just before she could get away she saw in one of the monitors that worked as a rearview mirror an explosion, and it wasn't the enemy ship doing it. she shed some tears and kept driving.

-End flashback-

"I will not lose Darling too. No more deaths because I brought the omnitrix to Earth." Lum vowed.


"What is wrong with you people?" Ataru asked, struggling against his restraints. His hands were cuffed behind his back, preventing him from using the omnitrix without risking him breaking his wrists.

The people who restrained him wore armor that looked like European knights, very out of place in Japan. But everyone there was Japanese, and they looked unhappy that Ataru had stumbled upon this secret location of theirs.

"State your business boy!" One of the knights ordered, holding the tip of a sword at his captive's neck.

"My business? I'm trying to get away from someone I don't want to be around. What's it to you?" Ataru replied.

"You did not come here by accident creature. We know you're an alien who found our base and thought taking on human form would deceive us." The sword-wielder accused.

Ataru raised an eyebrow. 'Okay, so somehow they saw me in that alien form and believe I'm faking human form. Maybe I can turn this around on them.' He smirked. "You act like you've got something to hide, and not just me but from everyone else too. Why else would you be out here instead of in the city?"

"What did you come here for boy?"

"You tell me. What's here worth coming to get?" Ataru asked back. The knight pulled back his sword and swung it, attempting to decapitate the teen. But luckily he caught it with his teeth. 'Okay, maybe that was a bad idea. New plan, get the heck out of here.' With that he tried to carefully get the omnitrix active behind his back, with no choice but to rely on luck for him turning into something he could use to escape.

A door opened and in walked another knight, this one wearing a golden mask to cover his face. "Onode, that was unwise."

The sword-wielder withdrew his weapon and kneeled in a stereotypical knight fashion. "My apologies Enoch-sama, but the creature is a threat."

"The creature as you put it is clearly human. Have you not noticed the device on the wrist?" The masked knight Enoch replied, speaking with an accent Ataru couldn't place but suspected was British.

"I did, but I thought that was how it was able to assume human form." The kneeling knight Onode answered.

"Not quite Onode, in fact it is the opposite. It's what allows a human to assume alien form." Enoch corrected.

'This guy knows about the watch.' Ataru realized as he felt the knob of the omnitrix pop up, and he carefully and slowly spun the dial. 'That doesn't sound like a good thing right now.'

Enoch looked right at the captive, his mask covering any expression with an unfriendly look of its own. "I thank you boy for bringing me the omnitrix. It saves my organization the hassle of having to find the creator himself."

'Okay, this guy doesn't know the inventor, but he planned on stealing the watch. And with me here having practically brought it to him, my only chance of getting out of this is the alien this thing makes me become.' Ataru thought. "Why should you have this thing? What are you going to do with it?"

"It is not for you to know. For the same reason you don't tell the vendor what you intend to do with your purchase." Enoch answered.

"Well there's a difference here. I'm not selling this watch." Ataru said before pressing the knob against the wall, activating the transformation sequence.

Ataru's arms started to bulge out like his veins were trying to escape his body, then it looked like his muscles were following them. His skin turned a sunburned pink almost making his growing upper body look inside-out, and the cuffs burst apart, freeing his arms and allowing him to spread them out. A weird feeling under his arms started and as soon as it appeared two new arms appeared right under his original arms. His legs muscled up as well, his hair receded and disappeared, his skin darkened to a cherry red, and two new eyes appeared above his original ones.

"Oh yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!"

Onode backed away afraid, but Enoch showed no fear and unsheathed his sword. "You may have four arms but you're not invulnerable to steel."

Ataru pounding all his fists together. "Fourarms, I like the sound of that." He threw both right fists at the knight, but Enoch dodged with easy and tried to stab the red alien in the chest. One of Fourarms left arm adverted the strike but he did take a cut in the process.

"I am experienced in how I battle. You are completely new to these altered forms and rely purely on impulse and best guess to use them. You couldn't defeat me even if I fought with a-"

Enoch's speech was halted by Fourarms grabbing him with all hands and holsting the knight above his head.

"You talk too much." Fourarms boasted before throwing Enoch at Onode, both crashing into each other and the wall. Fourarms then pushed the wall and destroyed it before walking out, looking for his way back outside.

Alarms were blaring and armored footsteps were heard in the halls. Fortunately Ataru hadn't been blindfolded when the knights tied him up and took him inside their base, so Fourarms remembered the way out and ran like an angry bull. He quickly ran into a group of knights in one hall but he just charged right thru them.

"Oh I'm going to have a lot of fun with this watch. I just know it." He told himself, making a few turns.

The main entrance came into view, giving him his exit. He slammed against it with his shoulder and it resisted a bit but cracked under the pressure. Undaunted, Fourarms pulled back and tried again, this time succeeding in getting out. Once he was outside though, lasers started firing at him and a few hit.

Fourarms yelled in pain and fell on his knees. Some lasers were set to stun, and some to hurt. One of them had severed one of his extra hands, and he could feel his muscles convulsing as if the nerves were overloaded. And he could feel himself bleeding in some spots.

'Dammit, I'm not dying here.' Fourarms mentally swore, forcing his limbs to throw his own body outside the cave to the entrance, away from the lasers. He struggled to stand then struggled to walk, his body screaming in agony. "Those guys were really trying to kill me just then. What kind of people are they? Was this what Lum meant by people who'd try to take the watch from me?'

Walking outside, he was hit in the back of the head by a rock. It hurt and he rubbed the impact point, but it didn't knock him out. Turning around he saw more knights holding swords and one with an old fashioned slingshot.

"You will not escape us." Several of the knights said together.

Fourarms gritted his teeth, and just then Lum's UFO showed up overheard. A beam of light went over the area as if to check them out, stopping on Fourarms, making him smile. "You lose this time dorks." He taunted, then got beamed up into the ship that flew away, leaving the knights behind.

Inside, Fourarms allowed himself to collapse on the floor, wincing from his wounds.

"Darling! You're hurt!" Lum shrieked once she saw him, coming over to him right away.

"I'm fine." He claimed, like most males would in his place. The omnitrix crest signaled it was timing out, a bit sooner than he expected it to, and he returned to normal. In human form Ataru still was injured, with mild burns and laser wounds, but at least he wasn't missing a hand. Just a patch of skin under his armpit. "But I could use something to stop the bleeding."

Lum nodded and flew to get some basic first aid, designed specifically for oni but fortunately the bandages to stop bleeding would work on any species. "Lay down and take off your shirt." She told him when she came back. Ataru would normally have objected, but this was a professional request, not a personal one so he had no real reason to refuse.

Lum did her patchwork in silence for a bit, looking unhappy to see his wounds and occasionally glancing at the mechanism on his left arm. "Darling, we need to talk."


"King Driscoll?"

On a large monitor was the image of a heavily armored man, wearing white armor with a high collar and a helmet covering the entire face sporting three black horns, the center one longer than the other two, a red visor covering the eyes, and black shoulder pads. On the chest was a coat of arms featuring a shield under a crown and above crossed bones.

"Enoch, why are you calling me?"

"The omnitrix is on Earth, and is currently in the possession of a child." The golden masked knight explained.

"A child you say." Driscoll repeated, acknowledging what he had heard more than questioning it. "And you have not been able to identify this person yet have you?"

"Sadly no my liege. They seem to have more knowledge of how to use it than we anticipated and managed to get away. All I can confirm is it's a local male of high school age." Enoch confessed, sounding like he was expecting punishment.

"Then there is nothing to worry about." Driscoll replied. "Such a person is bound to be careless with the omnitrix and use it recklessly. The search for this person will barely require effort, so focus on taking them down more than locating them."

"And if this boy causes trouble until then? We cannot have him endangering others."

"It is impossible for a kingdom to experience zero casualties when a weapon is unleashed. Your duty is to catch the boy and retrieve the omnitrix, not prevent him from ever using it in the first place. If others suffer for his negligence, that is on his head, not yours Enoch."

"Understood your majesty."


"Failure... unbelievable!" A raspy voice hissed in anger, while having difficulty breathing. It belonged to a humanoid creature with a head resembling an octopus, making them bear a rather striking similar to the iconic Cthulhu. Only this entity was gravely injured, missing half of their body and hooked up to life support inside a liquid-filled cylinder. "The Urusians... were better than I thought, but to render me in this state. Confined to a restoration tube, my whole body will need cyber enhancements now to stay alive. How many Urusians made it to the planet's surface?"

"Data says only one Urusian ship managed to escape and land. All others were destroyed, their materials are being scavenged by droids to make repairs on this vessel easier." A robotic female voice answered.

"Tell me the omnitrix was recovered." The injured alien demanded.

"The omnitrix was located but not recovered. Search droids that were damaged but sufficiently functional followed the Urusian vehicle to the planet and located the omnitrix. It is currently in the possession of an unidentified being, presumably one of the Urusians delivering it." The computer responded.

"It will take time before myself or this ship can do anything directly to get the omnitrix. We cannot allow the Urusian to leave this planet. For now, try to keep tabs on the omnitrix, and work on ensuring it does not leave where the one utilizing it is."

"Understood Commander Vilgax."