CHAPTER 3

Timber Wolf

On a distant planet from Earth, the forests succumbed to darkness as flapping bats decorated the night sky. An aged man, wearing a green suit and yellow glasses, wandered through the woods in search of something. Something...dangerous. He was using a tracking device to direct his path while accompanying him were a small group of robots to keep him safe from what he might encounter on his journey. The robots advanced on toward the bushes but he raised his hand, signalling them to stop.

"Show yourself!" He ordered out loud to a strange creature hiding within the bushes.

A rustling noise was heard followed by a deep growl, as a large, grey, wolf-like creature, with black mane-like hair with a white streak, and eyes with golden scleras and red irises, burst through the bushes and towards the man.

Unable to track the beast's sudden movement, the machines were taken down easily by the beast; its razor sharp claws tearing the robots apart, blowing them all up to smithereens.

Afraid, the elderly man ran off into the forest to escape the beast, as he ran past a cliff with the wolf creature atop it. It howled at the three moons before jumping down from the cliff and after its prey.


Meanwhile, not too far away, a large creature was located near an asteroid cluster. It looked like a 15 foot, giant amoebae-like creature; its body had a self-luminous surface and had four tentacle-like appendages formed from its innards. If one looked closely, ships were trapped within the creature like fruit pieces in gelatin.

Superman, along with Ben and Lightning Lad flew towards the beast.

"That thing's eating all the ships!" Ben stated.

"Yeah, a mortsac will eat anything crossing its path." Lightning Lad replied.

"Anything we need to-" Superman spoke up before he was interrupted by Lightning Lad.

"Watch and learn, boys. Watch and learn." The Winathian smirked as he flew off towards the mortsac.

"This isn't gonna end well, is it?" Ben questioned to Superman.

"Probably not." The Kryptonian shrugged in a nonchalant manner.

Lightning Lad charged up an electric attack and fired it at the monster only for it to bounce back upon collision and just barely missed the boys by an inch.

"That...worked well." Superman remarked sarcastically.

"Haven't you three gotten rid of that thing yet?" Saturn Girl questioned from within the Legion javelin; along with Dawnstar, Brainiac-5 and Bouncing Boy.

"We've got it right where we want it, Saturn Girl." Lightning Lad responded before abruptly a tentacle itself wrapped around him and pulled him out of sight on the screen within the ship, causing the Titanian to face-palm.

Suddenly, the alarm went off in the ship.

"What's goin' on?" Bouncing Boy questioned looking around.

"We're receiving a transmission on the emergency channel." Brainiac-5 answered as he tapped a button on the control panel. "Look." He instructed, directing their attention toward the screen displaying an elderly man with yellow glasses.

"Legion of Superheroes, this is Mar Londo of Rawl." The man introduced himself. "Your immediate assistances needed." A crash echoed in the background. "Please!"He pleaded before the screen fuzzed out.

They all shared a glance, clearly shocked.

Outside, Lightning Lad was being pulled by the tentacle, while Ben, who transformed into Jetray, was busy keeping few tentacles at bay with his consecutive neuroshock beams while Superman struggled to avoid getting caught by the tentacles as well.

"Forget globby and get back inside; we have another mission." Saturn Girl instructed the boys.

Lightning Lad discharged electrical bolts at the tentacle wrapping him before he felt the grip loosened slightly, then Superman grabbed it and pulled it off him.

"What about this Mission? We can't just leave this thing out here!" Superman pointed out while Lighting Lad flew away toward the ship entrance.

"Superman!" Jetray called out. "Ready for the Neuro-Heat combo attack?"

"Am I!" The Kryptonian grinned widely matching the Aerophibian.

That's all Jetray needed to hear before he fired a triple emerald neuro-beam from his tail and both his eyes before it conjures in the middle and shot forth as a massive neuro-beam. While Superman fired his own heat vision.

The dual energy attacks merged together to form a massive swirling beam of red-green color energy before the combined beam attack was directed toward the mortsac and struck it dead center; it had enough force and power for it to throw the mortsac very far away into deep space and out of sight.

In a flash of emerald light, Ben returned back to his human form before he and Superman exchanged hi-fives for a job well done and they both returned to the ship where they are greeted by the awestricken Lightning Lad.

"What...was that?"

"A little something Ben and I came up with during training." Superman replied.

"You two could have just done that in the first place, you know." The Winathian stated somewhat bitterly.

"We were watching and learning, remember?" Ben mocked shrugging his shoulders, earning an annoyed glare from the Winathian.

...

The ship was off and it was that moment when Brainiac-5 decided to play Mr Inspector. With his neck stretched out all the way to the Bouncing Boy sitting across the hall, he stared at him.

"Can I help you?" Bouncing Boy asked, irritation clearly evident in his tone.

"You're flying without the auto-compensators." He pointed out. "I specifically designed that sub-system to assist you." He stated as a-matter-of-factly and stretched his arm over.

"No offence, Brainiac-5, but when I fly a ship, I actually want to fly it, not babysit a console." Bouncing Boy retorted.

Not even acknowledging what was said, the Coluan tried to tap the button. "W-w-what are you doing?!" Bouncing Boy asked irritably as he tried to push the stretched arm away; but Braniac-5 was determined and easily managed to by-pass the resistance and tapped a button. But it wasn't the intended one.

"Uh-oh." Brainiac-5 muttered before the ship began wobbling violently, causing everyone inside to stumble around.

Lightning Lad caught Saturn Girl but Ben, Dawnstar, Brainiac-5 and Bouncing Boy weren't too lucky as they all crashed into the other side of the ship. Luckily, the former three had some relief as they had crashed into Bouncing Boy while the latter one groaned in pain. However, the ship shakes again and everyone except Lightning Lad landed in a heap on the floor. Though, it wasn't awkward for rest, same can't be said for Ben and Dawnstar who had ended up rather in a very...embarrassing situation meaning...

Ben and Dawnstar broke apart; embarrassed to no end, especially the Omnitrix wielder who was redder than tomato while the latter's blush, while not as severe as Ben's, was still visible.

"Ooh, Ben and Dawnstar sitting on the tree, K.I.S.S.I.N-"

"You finish that song and I swear I'll go Rath on your ass, Sparky." Ben venomously threatened interrupting the song, in low ominous tone causing the Winathian to hold up his hands in mock surrender.

"That felt like we hit something." Saturn Girl noted.

"Technically we did. The planet Rawl. We've just entered the atmosphere." Brainiac-5 replied as the ship was practically coated in flames and the temperature was increasing exponentially. The monitors began beeping rapidly only for Bouncing Boy to rush over the control panel, where the screen was repeatedly flashing 'WARNING!'.

"Stabilizers offline, atmospheric thrusters at 20 percent. This is gonna be a rough one." Bouncing Boy warned urgently and everyone held on anything they could grab as the cruiser crashed into a rock formation and made a very terrible landing, leaving behind a long trench and a humongous cushion at the point of impact.

...

Lightning Lad helped Saturn Girl out of the ship and Ben helped Dawnstar whilst Brainiac-5 analyzed the wreckage and amount of destruction inflicted upon the cruiser as Bouncing Boy took a seat outside on a rock protruding from the ground.

"It could have been worse." Superman quipped while staring at the damage.

"How? We're grounded." Bouncing Boy pointed out.

"Well, we could've disintegrated on re-entry." Brainiac-5 answered in a monotone voice.

"Hate to spoil your feel-good moment, but this is a rescue mission, remember?" Lightning Lad reminded them and not waiting for a reply, he took off hastily, and so did Superman, Brainiac-5, Bouncing Boy (in his ball form), Ben and Dawnstar.

Saturn Girl was about to follow until her ears perked up. Was that…voices? The Titanian stopped and looked in the direction of the forest from where the voices were coming from. But, they almost sounded...inhuman; animalism and blood-lust were clearly evident in those voices. Might be, her head was just making things up? Do animals even talk? Not wanting to find out what exactly those voices were, she spun around and quickly flew off.

Despite being behind, she caught up rather quickly with the others and levelled next to Ben and Dawnstar behind the group however her expression didn't went unnoticed by the two.

"You okay, Saturn Girl?" Ben asked his teammate.

"Yeah, you look kinda spooked all of a sudden." Dawnstar agreed with the Omnitrix wielder.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Saturn Girl assured the duo, but mentally, she was still unsure.

Superman was scanning the area below with his x-ray vision. "My x-ray vision's picking up lots of movement down there, but nothing remotely human." He informed the others.

"Rawl is known for its abundance of wildlife, most of you would classify as: unfriendly." Brainaic-5 explained. "Aside from Dr. Londo's research station, little else is here."

"What about you, Saturn Girl? Sensing anything?" Superman asked.

Saturn Girl places her fingers on her temples, trying to sense any signs of human life. "Everything...and nothing." She replied. "There's just too much noise, but back at the ship I'm pretty sure something was watching us." She added in.

"Okay, now you're creepin' me out." Bouncing Boy commented as he bounced by hoping to not come across anything.

"Yeah, Saturn Girl, you sound like those actors from Bouncing Boy's cheesy horror movies." Dawnstar remarked.

"Hey!" The human-ball shouted annoyed.

"Bingo." Everyone minus Ben sent Superman confused looks.

"That means he found it." Ben informed the others after noting the strange expression of their faces.

"Right! Down there." Superman pointed down as all followed him and lowered their altitude until they ended up above a large facility.

"It seems pretty quiet." Lightning Lad noted as they glanced around, when the lights shone, forcing them to shield their eyes from its intensity, and the doors opened revealing the same man who had sent the S.O.S transmission walking out.

"Don't be deceived, these woods are more dangerous than you can possibly imagine." He informed the teen heroes.

"Dr Londo, I presume?" Brainiac-5 asked, walking up to the man and shaking his hand.

"Yes, yes. Come inside quickly. It may be safe for the Legion, but an old man like me doesn't stand a chance out here." The elderly man stated as he walked back inside followed by others save for Saturn Girl who seemed to be hesitant at first for some unknown reason, but caught up with the others and entered the facility.

"My repair facilities are at your disposal. But, I only ask one thing in return." Dr. Londo requested.

"Not a problem." Ben assured him with a smile. "We can get you off this planet in no time."

"Oh I can't leave Rawl." Dr Londo replied in a nonchalant manner. "My work is here, that's why I called for help." He explained. "What I need is for you to make it safe."

"Safe...From what?" Saturn Girl couldn't help but ask.

"A creature...out there." Dr. Londo answered gravelly. "This creature, it's destroyed everything I held dear to me; my research, my team...even my son." He said forlornly and showed them a picture of himself at a younger age, standing alongside next to him was a smiling, teenage boy with a mullet-like hairstyle. "That's Brin. Remarkable young man; takes after his father, don't you think? He had so much potential." He added before his smile faded. "But now...I want it caught, and I want it to be brought back to me."

"Don't worry, we'll find your creature." Superman assured the old man.

"And I'll make sure it will never harm anyone again." Lightning Lad smiled.

"Yeah, we can..." Dawnstar trailed off before giving the Winathian a look. "Wait, waddaya mean 'I'll'?" She demanded, as Saturn Girl, herself looked very uncertain.


In the hanger, Bouncing Boy and Brainiac-5 were working on repairing the ship while Dawnstar stood on the other side, simply watching.

"You can't substitute a plasma conduit for an injector port Bouncing Boy; it's not in the schematic." The Coluan told him while unscrewing one of the screws in a panel on the ship.

Bouncing Boy wipes oil off his face with a towel before replying. "Brainy, it's called improvising, you should try it sometime." He smirked while cleaning his ear with his pinky finger.

"A twelfth level intellect has no need for improvisation." Brainiac-5 countered.

"Fine, if you're so smart, fix it yourself." Bouncing Boy dared before he ambled off while Brainiac-5 unscrewed another screw.

"Where are you going?" The latter one asked.

"Any place you're not." Was the blunt reply from the human.

"Dr. Londo asked us to confine ourselves to the hanger. He insisted!" The Coluan reminded.

"So, I'm improvising!" Bouncing Boy yelled back; exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

"Was it something I said?" Brainac-5 asked the only left companion in the room who merely shrugged her shoulders in response.

...

Meanwhile within the deep part of the forest, Ben, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad and Superman were seeking for the creature Dr. Londo had warned them about and had asked them to be aware of.

"Been awfully quiet, Saturn Girl." Lighting Lad noted. "Not scared are ya?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"I'm fine." She replied rather far more quickly than intended earning the confused stare from her companions.

"Come to think of it, you've been acting kinda weird since we came to this planet." Ben pointed out.

The blond girl sighed. "Sorry." She apologized. "This place, you remember when I said I couldn't sense anything?" She asked. "Well, that's not exactly true. I keep getting an impression; sounds really. It's as if hundreds of life-forms are calling out for help." She explained recalling everything. "Something's going on here, something...extremely bad."

The boys shared a glance when they heard some electricity crackling noise from around.

"Check it out." Ben pointed out as he knelt over and picks up what appeared to be remains of a machine nearby. "Robot parts. Wonder if our creature did this." He wondered aloud when Superman heard something approaching them.

"I have a feeling we're about to find out." Superman warned everyone before few dozens of more robots with spherical-heads, four spider-like legs, one-eye each and tails, surrounded the group from all sides causing the team of four to face back-to-back of each other.

"Not scared, are you?" Saturn Girl remarked mockingly causing a frustrated groan to escape from Lightning Lad as he glared at her before answering with an electric blast that sent a robot reeling backward but nothing more that could be said vital.

Superman stuck with close combat and used his brute strength to punch away few machines and deck down another while Lightning Lad fired more of his electric bolts only for his attacks to bounce off instead. He didn't even have time think when he was forced to duck beneath a wild swing of a tail aimed at his head; however instead that tail missed him and swiped right through a tree behind him, causing it to fall down on top of them.

Suddenly a bright emerald flash had momentarily blinded everything before it revealed an alien form standing whose body was yellowish with black stripes all over it. It had spiky shoulders with two toed feet and hands that looked like pincers. Unlike the rest of its body, its head was a round, metallic, skull-shaped head with greenish eyes. The head was not connected to the body, but floated in between its spiky shoulders. Like all of Ben's forms the Omnitrix dial was positioned on his chest.

"LODESTAR!" The Biosovortian shouted with a mechanical edge to his voice, though his mouth didn't move when he spoke.

Upon the appearance of their new enemy, three robots lunged at Lodestar, only for the latter one to point his pincer-like hands at the robots and shoot green waves of magnetic energy distorting the air around them. The result was as expected by the Omnitrix bearer; the robots had ceased their attacks and were being levitated in the air courtesy of his magnetic force.

If Lodestar's mouth could move, he would've smirked. "Unfortunately for you guys," He said smugly. "No one can resist my magnetic personality."

Focusing his powers more in a compact and concentrated manner, the Biosovortian compressed the robots, tearing and crushing their bodies together to form a large metallic ball which was tossed further at another group of drones at an astounding speed; destroying them instantly.

However, one of the robots snuck past his guard and popped up from behind him, wrapping its tail around Lodestar; it lifted him in the air and slammed his body hard into the ground before more robots used the opportunity to dog-pile the magnetic alien in a huge heap.

Nothing happens at first, until the robots were lifted off the ground by an unseen force and were all blasted backwards by a massive green, magnetic-force field projected by Lodestar. "You just underestimated my ability, tin-cans!"

Saturn Girl was completely surrounded and was trapped by the machines; they all leaped at her but were halted mid-air as her eyes shone brightly and they were all blasted away by a transparent dome of telepathic energy. Unfortunately, the Titanian fell to the ground and into unconsciousness, probably from exhaustion making her vulnerable to the drones.

As more machines advanced toward her, a howl emanated from within the forest, stopping them in their tracks. They all glanced up only to see the wolf-like creature leaping upon them out of nowhere and swinging its arms wildly tearing two of the drones in an instant. Lashing out with its right arm, it grabbed another robot by its head and crushed it in brutal manner. It let out an ear-splitting roar causing the drones to take cautious steps back.

The roar had caught others' attention as Superman and Lodestar rushed toward Saturn Girl's location, where Lightning Lad was the first to arrive and find her presence gone without any trace.

"Saturn Girl!" Superman called out as he and Lodestar caught up with Lightning Lad. The latter one touched the Omnitrix disk and reverted back to his human self.

"Where is she?" Ben questioned dreading for the worst after hearing that animalistic roar.

"She's gone!" the distressed Lightning Lad answered.

The other two couldn't believe their ears. "No, she can't be." Superman glanced around, worried for the Titanian's wellbeing.

"And I have a hunch; Dr. Londo's creature is behind this." Lightning Lad added angrily as resisting the urge to blast anything while thinking about zapping that creature to oblivion if it did anything to his crush; even a scratch on her.

"Don't worry guys." Ben said, getting their attention. "It couldn't have taken her far. I know exactly how to find them." He said as the Omnitrix holo-wheel popped up and he scrolled through the DNA library.

"How?" Superman asked hopefully.

"By picking up their scents." The respond came before he slammed down the dial and another signature emerald flash forced Superman and Lightning Lad to turn away. When the light disappeared, they turned back to see that Ben was replaced by an eight-foot-tall, werewolf-like being covered in dark grey fur and a long, flowing mane, had a large bushy tail, four sharp claws on each hand, and three clawed-toes on each foot; two on the front and one at the back. He wore a tight, green suit with a white belt and green wristbands, and he wore a green collar where the Omnitrix dial was displayed.

"BLITZWOLFER!" The Loboan howled.

Lightning Lad raised an eyebrow. "The wolf guy? Why not Wildmutt?"

"I can't talk as Wildmutt." Blitzwolfer explained. "Besides, you'll understand me better when I tell you if I found Saturn Girl." He stated as if it were obvious.

"He has a point." Superman agreed.

Blitzwolfer got on all fours, brought his sensitive nose closer to the ground and sniffed a couple times. Lifting his head, he sniffed the air, analyzing the multitudes of scents pouring into his nostrils. After a moment of sniffing, he finally caught two scents; one was a familiar scent obviously belonging to Saturn Girl, and the second scent, he could detect a being with...a bloody aroma.

"She's this way." Blitzwolfer said pointing in the direction before breaking into a sprint. "Come on!"

The Winathian and Kryptonian immediately followed the Loboan, hopefully to where Saturn Girl was; each of them, mostly Lightning Lad, hoping that their Titanian teammate was alright and safe until they reach her.

...

Back in the facility, Bouncing Boy was walking through the many halls at a leisurely pace when he was stopped by a horde of medium-sized robots popping out from the floor.

"Restricted area." One of them stated.

"No problem, I was just leaving." Bouncing Boy replied nonchalantly and tried to walk past them when his movement was again intercepted by those machines.

"Restricted area. Restricted area. Restricted area. Restricted area." They each repeated in mechanical voice as they all deployed their weapons from their heads.

Bouncing Boy's eyes widen in shock as instantly shifted into his ball form and bounced away from the robots with all of them chasing him down the hall.

...

Back in the forest; Saturn Girl finally gained her consciousness and groggily opened her eyes to find herself within a cave somewhere and right in front of a fire.

"No more thought blasts." She mumbled to herself.

Suddenly, a low growl emanated from within the cave before the wolf-like creature from before stepped out of the shadows and towards Saturn Girl; her breath hitched in her throat as she recoiled back instinctively, expecting the beast to attack any second.

"Get away!" She panicked the beast and immediately greeted the beast with her foot right across its face. The only difference it made was to cause the best growl even more and advanced toward her.

"Stay back! I, I have powers, and I will use them!" She threatened despite of trembling herself and finding her threat hardly fazing the wolf, she made a dash for the exit of the cave.

But, instead the wolf-beast stepped between her paths, blocking it and let out another growl in a threatening manner.

This knocked the bewildered Saturn Girl off her feet and to the floor. "Okay, I'm not leaving." She relented raising her hands in surrender. "Just, don't eat me." She pleaded, terrified before the wolf-beast picks her up by the back of her suit and drags her back near the fire with ease.

A horror look crossed her face at the trepidation of the wolf going to roast her on fire but it soon replaced by confusion as it left her near the fire and instead took a seat on the other end. It wasn't going to roast her? She breathed a sigh of relief.

Saturn Girl sat up and thought of starting a conversation. "Nice place you got here..." She complemented rather awkwardly while rubbing the back of her head in the sheepish manner. "Who built this fire?" She asked. "Did you?" While she wasn't sure whether the beast could even talk, let alone answer her but she figured it was better than saying nothing at all.

The beast stood up and walked over to her again and kneeling beside her, it began drawing something in the soil with its clawed-finger. "Are...are you trying to tell me something?" She asked stunned at a beast trying to converse with her and it turned into utter surprise when another growl escape it mouth as if saying 'yes'.

The wolf continued drawing whatever it was wishing for but messed it up and wiped it off and held its head in frustration. "If you'll let me read your mind I can..." Saturn Girl offered before realizing something and a groan escaped her lips. "Wait, why do I need permission? It's a monster." She wondered aloud before putting her hand to its head and her other hand on her temple.

Saturn Girl's eyes glow pink and flashes of Dr. Londo and an experimenting table materialized into view followed by the creature being transformed into the very same monster. It jumped back roaring in what seemed like to be in pain but enrage no less.

Saturn Girl stood up on her feet, stunned. "What have they done to you?" She asked in bewilderment as it howled again.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Saturn Girl and the wolf-beast turned toward the entrance to find Lightning Lad, Superman and Blitzwolfer approaching them rather fast.

But what caught Saturn Girl attention was the Winathian charging up a fist for a lightning blast. "No! It's not what you-!" She was cut off as Lightning Lad shot forth a lightning bolt.

The wolf creature stepped in front of the Titanian as if to protect her and took the full blunt force of the attack causing him to be knocked into the latter one and unintentionally crash her against the wall, knocking her out cold...again. It towered over her, examining whether if she was okay but instead was tackled by a grey blur. It was none other than Blitzwolfer who tossed it into the wall, while Lightning Lad checked on Saturn Girl.

"How is she?" The Loboan questioned.

"She's just knocked out." The Winathian replied before shifting his attention toward the beast. "He on the other hand won't be so lucky!" He yelled and charged up another of his signature attack.

However, the wolf was faster and far more agile to let such an attack to hit him again and instead leaped to the side to avoid the projectile. Noting a movement to its right, it lashed out with its other arm and with a nick of time to spare; it grabbed the end of spiked rock used by Superman to impale him. Growling, he swung the rock with its other end and smashed it along with Superman into the ground below before launching it at a slightly stunned Winathian and decking him into the wall behind and eventually, pinning him to the floor with the overweighting rock.

It shifted its attention to the advancing Blitzwolfer. "Why don't you pick on someone your own species?" The Loboan quipped.

The wolf-beast responded with a feral growl and flexed claws, which Blitzwolfer happily returned with his own similar gestures.

Both the wolves stared each other down like cowboys in a western standoff, before both of them let out their respective battle cries in the form of howls echoing throughout the cave and lunged at each other.

They crashed and traded a flurry of swift and strong punches, agile kicks and sharpened claw attacks. Both let out feral growls and barks at each other, signalling that neither side was giving in to other.

The wolf-beast lashed out with its right fist aimed to impale Blitzwolfer right on face only for the latter one to block it with the back of his hand and grab it before twisting around and swinging the beast overhead and decking it into the ground with a loud thud. Rearing back his fist, Blitzwolfer went to smash the wild wolf directly into the face only for it roll out of the path and Blitzwolfer's fist creating a mild crater instead into the ground.

The wolf beast retaliates with grabbing the Loboan by his tail and tossing him back-first into the cave wall and creating another dent into the cave wall.

Blitzwolfer let out a growl and charges forward with the beast following likewise; the Loboan lashing out with his right fist. Ducking beneath the assaulting limb, the beast delivered an uppercut into the Loboan jaw and sending him staggering backward. Steadying himself, Blitzwolfer dashed forward at an astounding speed and rammed his body straight into the wolf beast before they were both careening backward under the force of the impact.

However, the wolf beast managed to dig its feet into the ground and halted their movement and the two opposing wolves ended up grappling, both trying their best to overpower the other in strength. They seemed to be even at first, neither of them losing the ground as they fought for dominance; but to Blitzwolfer's utter shock, his strength began to dwindle in comparison to that of the beast as he was forced on one knee while cringing in pain from the feeling of his knuckles breaking. Apparently whatever Dr. Londo did to this creature has drastically amplified its strength as well.

It only got worse when the beast drew Blitzwolfer in for a bite on his left shoulder. The Loboan grits his teeth to keep the painful cry pinned in his mouth from the painful injections of the fangs ripping into his flesh.

Thinking quickly, Blitzwolfer opens his quadra-hinged muzzle wide and lets out green waves of sonic energy that not only forced the beast to loosen its fangs and grasp on his arms, but also send it crashing into the farther end of cave wall while howling in unbearable pain.

Ceasing his attack momentarily, Blitzwolfer looked at his wounded shoulder in puzzlement. He knew he had to end this battle quickly if he doesn't want another injury like that.

Once the wolf-beast recovered, it practically roared at the Loboan and extending its claws, it charges at the Blitzwolfer to deliver the finishing blow; Blitzwolfer responded with a likewise attack of his own but also putting more pressure on his feet, his speed was risen momentarily.

Once they were within each other's range, the two wolves lashed out with their claws and swipes at each other and in a blink, Blitzwolfer and the wolf-beast were now ten feet apart from each other with their back to each other.

A moment of silence went by with the only noise of heavy and strained breathing from the duo after the tough battle before the wolf-beast's eyes roll to the back of its head, wheezes and collapses down on its back with a loud 'thud'.

Recovering from his exhaustion, Blitzwolfer turned to the beast and gave a toothy smirk. "Sorry buddy, but I'm the top dog around here now."

Lightning Lad and Superman had also recovered by then and they all approached the defeated beast. Its chest was steadily heaving up and down, indicating it was still alive. That was something Lightning Lad was about to change when he charged up his signature attack and prepared to zap the wolf to oblivion, but was intervened by Superman.

"I think Ben's already gotten him." He told him; his firm grasp on Lightning Lad's wrist sent the message loud and clear. The latter one simply pulled back his limb and glared at the unconscious beast.

"Remember, Dr. Londo wants us to bring it back alive." Blitzwolfer reminded him.

The Winathian huffed in annoyance. "Fine, whatever. Let's grab it and get the hell outta here. I think I've had enough jungle for one day." He said as he created an electric net to contain the beast in case it woke up and became a nuisance again.

As Lightning Lad picks up Saturn Girl in bridal style, Superman grabbed the beast and carried it. The trio walk out the cave when suddenly, Blitzwolfer's ears twitched ever so slightly.

"Something wrong?" Superman noted the demeanour of the Loboan.

"I heard something, not too far from here." He answered before sniffing the air. It was faint, but it there was no doubt that it was sweat and...Fear. As Blitzwolfer and Wildmutt, Ben has ability to recognize the aroma of a certain pheromone secreted by humans or animals when they were afraid or panicked. In this case, the pheromone was coming from a certain animal not too far from where they were.

"You guys go on ahead." The Loboan told the other. "I'm gonna go investigate something."

"Alright." Lightning Lad nodded. "Don't take too long."

"Take care." Superman warned the Omnitrix wielder.

The three then split up; Lightning Lad and Superman flying back to the facility along with Saturn Girl and the wolf-beast; while Blitzwolfer sprinted off into the direction his nose lead him to find the source of the smell.

...

Back in the facility hanger, Brainiac-5 continued working on the ship whilst Dawnstar helped him out. Right now he was using a blow-torch in his hand on the circuits.

"I'm not worried." He stated and Dawnstar rolled her eyes. "There's no reason to worry."

"And even if there were, Bouncing Boy can take care of himself." He stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Brainy, why don't you just go find him already?" She suggested with slight annoyance.

The Coluan nodded and flew down and opened the door.

The second he did, a gasp escapes his mouth at the sight of the Bouncing Boy pinned on the floor, tied up in glowing blue ropes courtesy of those robots.

"Little help here?" He asked urgently.

"Hold still!" Brainiac-5 exclaimed before extending all his fingers and connected them with each of the robots in an instant. He sends out white electric energy waves that electrocuted all the robots, causing them to malfunction before blowing into bits and pieces. Bouncing Boy was released in the process.

Brainiac-5 ran over to him and offered his hand to help him up. Bouncing Boy smiled. "Nice save there." He commented accepting the hand.

"Thank you. I improvised." Brainiac-5 replied with his own smile. As, he pulled him up, Dawnstar walked out, having heard the commotion from inside the hangar.

"What happened here?" The winged-girl asked.

"I was attacked." Bouncing Boy stressed out. Before he explained further, the trio heard what sounded like animal growls from down the hall.

"Come on." Brainiac-5 lead them and round a corner to see a room; likely Dr. Londo's laboratory. Peeking into the room, the group was greeted with the sight of several animal claws were scratching at the various cages bar from inside as if they were trying to break free.

"Don't leave the hanger, huh? I can see why?" Bouncing Boy quipped.

"I assume we'll be snooping!" Brainiac-5 stated with a smirk while Dawnstar and Bouncing Boy mimicked his expression.

"Damn straight." Dawnstar answered before they flew inside.

While looking around the lab, Dawnstar noticed an odd looking device kept on the table and had glass over it. Upon closer inspection, she noted that it was rather hexagonal-shaped and colored red-and-silver. The symbol on the centre looked like an open mouth with sharp teeth. The meta-human removes the glass and inspects the device in her hand. For some reason, it reminded her of Ben's Omnitrix…

...

Back in the forest, Blitzwolfer was drawing closer to the source of the smell. As he did, his sensitive ears perked up at what sounded like canine growls and another one that sounded more like whimpering.

Blitzwolfer peeks from over some bushes and his eyes widened at what he caught sight of. The Loboan noticed what appeared to be five large wolf-like creatures, but rather of a different species than himself. They were brownish-orange with spikes on certain areas, had green eyes, as well as white muzzles and underbellies, and they each possessed deadly fangs that were purposed for ripping flesh. Each of the wolves had predatory gazes, as if they were ready to pounce on prey. Blitzwolfer glanced down to find the subject of interest upon which the wolves were ganging up on and his eyes widened further in shock.

It appeared to be a young pup of the same species as the wolves. While it did share the smaller spikes, green eyes and white areas, the only difference was its fur color: red. The poor pup was cornered against a boulder as its own kind prepared to end its life. Giving off another frightened whimper, the alien wolf pup closes its eyes and puts its paws on its head, waiting for its inevitable demise.

One of the wolves roared and lunges at the pup, ready to sink its fangs and claws into it with clear intention to rip it apart, only for it tackled by a grey blur and was pushed back into the others. The big wolves and the pup stared in shock and surprise to see Blitzwolfer, glowering at the older wolves while standing protectively over the pup.

"Not so tough when you're up against someone who can fight back, are you?" Blitzwolfer snarled flexing his claws as if daring the older wolves to even make a move. If there's one thing Ben couldn't stand, it was bullies ganging up on the small and weak, whether they are people or animals.

The pup was really surprised of how for the first time in its young life, another animal was protecting it instead of trying to kill it like its own pack. Speaking of the pack, they growled angrily at Blitzwolfer for interfering with their kill.

The one who was thrown into its gang earlier lunged at the Loboan intending to tear him to shreds. Using his superior strength, Blitzwolfer easily countered with the back of his right arm, pushing the assailant away and followed quickly after with powerful a sonic howl that send the remaining wolves also skidding backward but failed to inflict any serious injury.

"Wanna see something hot!" Blitzwolfer growled before slapping the Omnitrix dial and transformed into...

"NRG!" The armored energy being proclaimed before his hands began glowing reddish-orange and slams his fists on the ground, which instantly melted and created a lava pool threatening to consume anyone around it and eventually separating him and the pup from the pack.

Needless to say, the pack, now scared, retreated back from wherever they had come from for all Ben cared. Behind his vented helmet, NRG smirked in satisfaction. "That'll learn 'em." He touches the dial again and reverts back to human form.

Ben brings his attention back to the pup, who was still staring at him in awe. The teen walks over to it and the pup returns to its rather shaky timid state. Ben couldn't blame it. After being on the brink of death by its own pack, of course it'd be wary about others.

With a gentle smile, Ben said. "Don't worry, little guy. It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you." He assured it but the pup didn't seem to be convinced. It gave a threatening snarl and barked at the human, warning him to leave it alone.

But Ben wasn't intimidated at all. In fact he actually found it adorable. "Really, I won't." He kneels down and gently patting it on its back, he picks it up. The latter one struggles to break free, but the grasp was too firm for that. "You don't have to be scared." He gently rubs pup's back, effectively calming it down. The pup stares at Ben in awe. "Told ya. I won't hurt ya." He smiled before the pup licks his cheek, earning a good laugh from the Omnitrix wielder.

...

Meanwhile, Lightning Lad and Superman continued flying over the forest with Saturn Girl and the wolf-beast in tow, the latter one had regained consciousness and was struggling to break free.

"Easy fella, I don't want to drop you." Superman told the creature.

"Go ahead, save us the hassle." Lightning Lad muttered angrily.

Deciding to change the subject instead of enraging the Winathian any further, the Kryptonian questioned. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah, it's a healing trance." Lighting Lad explained. "Be careful what you say though, sometimes she can hear you...found that out the hard way." He mumbled the last bit as they continued flying.

Back at the facility, Dawnstar, Bouncing boy and Brainiac-5 were outside the building, hiding from the security robots that seemed to be hunting each of them, when Bouncing Boy tried communicating with the others.

"Stop! Londo will no doubt be monitoring communicator traffic. Perhaps if I think hard enough, Saturn Girl might just notice my brain waves." The Coluan stated with both hands on his head trying to concentrate.

"...or I could just do this." Dawnstar proclaimed blowing her cover and shouting. "HEY GUYS! OVER HERE!" She yelled and the two flew down to them.

"Looks like they caught it." Bouncing Boy remarked.

When the boys landed, their eyes caught sight of the knocked-out Saturn Girl on Lightning Lad's arms.

"Uh-oh, healing trance," Bouncing Boy realized.

"Is she okay?" Dawnstar asked worriedly.

"She better be." Lightning Lad replied, a little unsure himself.

"Dr. Londo is conducting outlawed experiments on the indigenous life forms here." Brainiac-5 took the opportunity to inform others. "This creature is undoubtedly connected." He stated as Dawnstar put her hand on the beast's head.

"What do you think it is?" Dawnstar asked.

"...Not what, who." The now awakened Saturn Girl spoke up, then noticed her position and gave Lightning Lad an annoyed look. "And you can put me down, now." She told him bitterly.

"How about a little gratitude, we just saved you from this thing." The later one retorted, though compiling nonetheless.

Titanian stood on her feet and fixes her hair. "It wasn't going to hurt me; if you hadn't charged in fists-a-zapping; I would've told you that." She stressed walking over to the wolf creature. "I don't think Dr. Londo hasn't been completely honest with us."

"Y-You're not going to let it loose are you?" Bouncing boy asked fearfully.

"We have nothing to worry about...hopefully." It wasn't that convincing but Saturn Girl makes the net fade away, freeing the beast. It stood up letting out an animalistic roar before it suddenly dropped its arms in exhaustion.

"I'd feel more comfortable if we did this on the ship." Brainiac-5 insisted.

"I doubt he would." Saturn Girl replied. "And for what I'm about to do we need him as calm as possible." She explained preparing to use her powers.

"In case things get a little hairy." Lightning Lad smirked charging his hands with his signature attack. This only earned him a look from Saturn Girl that said 'put a cork in it' and he begrudgingly levels his powers down "Fine." He sighed reluctantly.

Ignoring the Winathian, Saturn Girl used her mind powers to flash everyone the projected images of what had happened to the beast during Dr. Londo's experimenting. They saw the Doctor placing an operation mask over someone, an arm that grows fur and claws, and the Doctor pulling a lever, with the struggling beast strapped to the operating table.

"Yes. It's perfect."

That final image causes it to rear up its head and howl in unimaginable pain.

"You aren't a monster, you have control." Saturn Girl spoke clearly.

Suddenly, the beast's body appeared to shrink a bit and gained a more humanoid form; he turned into a 6'2 male teenager with grey fur, long black hair with a singular white streak from the center of his forehead, and long wolf-like ears. He was also wearing red pants. With fatigue overwhelming him, he fell down on his hands and knees.

"Interesting." Brainy spoke sounding intrigued. "He must have been in some kind of super agitated state." He assessed by poking the male rather cautiously.

"Do you mind?" The wolf-teen asked in annoyance, looking up causing Brainy to back away in shock.

"Have you...got a name?" Superman questioned as the male noticed everyone.

However, before he could answer, another voice beat him to it. "His name is Brin, Brin Londo." Dr. Londo answered from above them. He was surrounded by monster-like animals as well as hovering robots; all of them ready to pounce at them in a flick.

"Welcome home son." He said with a cocky smile plastered on his face before he faced the team. "Well done Legion, I could've never brought him back on my own."

The teens all glared angrily at the Doctor who deceived them.

"You used us, that distress call was a fake." Superman accused.

"There is nothing more distressing than to lose a child." retorted Londo.

Brin growled in anger at the response.

"Brin, don't let him get to you." Saturn Girl instructed the wolf-like teen. "You're in control, remember?" She reminded Brin, who relaxed and smiled at the assurance provided.

"You better think of your next move, Doc." Dawnstar warned the true bad guy.

"How about...Back off?" Lightning Lad added in smirking himself.

"No more experiments, I'm through." Brin told his father in a dead serious tone. "You'll never lay another finger on me again." He declared in a deep cold voice which would make most people shiver in fear.

"Then you leave me no choice. Take them all." Dr. Londo commanded and his rather interesting army charged upon the group of heroes.

Superman charged up and used his brute strength to break through three robots disabling them; Dawnstar grabbed two robots by their heads near her and crashed them into each other and leaving them headless.

Saturn Girl created an illusionary image of Londo holding a device that was projecting electricity to scare the beasts away only for robots to charge at her. She flew away from her assailants but they were too fast for some machines and caught up her side and next thing she knew was her back greeting the ground and a gasp leaving her throat.

As a machine prepared to deliver the finishing blow, Brin; with a feral growl, lunged at it and ripped off its head, smashing and tearing it into shred and smirks in satisfaction at his handiwork, which Saturn Girl returned with her own.

Lightning Lad used his amplified lightning attacks to keep most enemies at bay while some drones getting caught in the fire were blown up into smithereens as Bouncing Boy carried Brainiac-5, the latter one was spinning his hands round like sharp razor fans, blowing a load of them away.

"Suggestion, you should deflate." Brainy told the round meta-human.

"Thanks, but I think I know when to use my powers." Bouncing Boy retorted impassively only to be greeted with a body collision courtesy of a robot that had him bouncing around uncontrollably.

Not really in mood for a rather hectic ride of his life, Brainiac-5 leaps off his partner and extended his arms aiming toward the machine who had caught them by surprise. A bolt of lightning shot forth only for it to be somehow redirected back at him by the drone. Stunned by sudden change in event; Brainiac-5 brought up his arms in feeble attempt before he was zapped by his own attack.

"You're pretty good." Brainiac-5 admitted ducking beneath the wild swing before stepping back to avoid another hook from the robot.

He somersaults over the robot as the latter one's armored arms came down on where he stood a second before; Brainiac-5 stretched his right arm out and descending downward, he sliced the robot's own arms off. Then with a smug smile on his face, he twisted around with his other arm lashed out before the machine was completely dismantled and destroyed. "But I'm the one with the twelfth level intelligence." He smirked rubbing his shoulder.

Superman shot away a couple of robots with his heat vision. Bending his knee slightly forward, he sped through the dense smoke cloud. However, he barely had any time to register the monsters' sudden appearance before they all dog-piled the Man of Steel.

However, the latter one merely pushed through them despite the growing numbers upon him before he burst through them with rather relatively ease. "Dog pile?" He smirked. "That's so junior varsity." He commented dropping down creating a mild shockwave but strong enough to affectively send all of them jolting backward as an aftermath.

Brin and Lightning Lad were standing back to back against each other; the former one facing a couple of robots while two monsters were charging at the latter one.

"Switch?" Brin asked only for Lightning Lad to leap overhead him and shot at the robots.

The Winathian charged a lightning bolt before hurling it down at the robots and blowing them up to pieces. "This doesn't make us buddies or anything." He stated as Brin lunged at the approaching monsters and body slamming them, sending them reeling backward. With a smirk, he charged at more enemies.

At that moment, Ben entered into the fray with the pup in his arms and found himself before the Lightning Lad.

"Dude, where've you been?" Lightning Lad asked slightly agitated. His eyes shifted upon the pup. "And uh...what's with the dog?" He asked in confusion.

"Long story." Ben replied nonchalantly before he noticed Brin attacking the robots. He stared in surprised. "Why does the wolf guy look more human?" He asked.

"Long story." Ben face-faulted at the reply from Lightning Lad. "Just know that he's the good guy, and Dr. Londo's the real bad guy." He added in as he fired another lightning bolt at more approaching robots.

"Fair enough." Ben nodded kneeling down and putting the pup on the ground. "Stay." He told it firmly like a dog owner would.

Ben stood back up on his feet. "More hostile robots, huh?" He smirked before he activates the Omnitrix and the holo-ring pops up. "Nothing a little magnetic treatment from Doctor Lodestar can't fix." He quipped before slamming down the dial and was enveloped in green light.

Once the familiar green flash disappeared, rather than Lodestar, standing in Ben's place on all four limbs, was a light-orange creature that looked to be the cross of a dog, gorilla, and lion. It had no eyes, ears, nose, or tail, and was roughly the size of a car. Its teeth are much defined and stick out of its mouth. It had three gill-like nostrils located on both side of its neck.

This was one of Ben's original ten transformations, Wildmutt.

Ben let out a series of howls and snarls, exclaiming his name in the alien's language.

Ben looks at himself and growls in frustration about turning into the wrong alien. However, with no time to waste, he did what he did best: using whatever the Omnitrix gave him to his advantage as always.

Wildmutt opened up his neck slits wider, letting in a plethora of various scents that created an image of the outside environment for him to see. Wildmutt's sonar-like vision detected three mechanical movements heading his way; they all fired laser beams at him, which the Vulpimancer easily evaded with his enhanced agility and fast reflex. Bending his knee forward, he somersaulted in the air and landed in front of one of the machines.

Wildmutt let out a roar and ripped off the arms of the robot before tearing its body in two; then swinging around and crushing the second robot's head with his clawed hand and grabbing it by its body, he hurled it into the third, destroying them consecutively.

More drones tried to ambush him only for him to charge abruptly upon them and slashing and jabbing at them and tearing them apart with sparks flickering around.

Suddenly, the Vulpimancer detects some massive movement from behind, and by the time he turns around, a tail greeted him and sends him crashing into a tree, snapping it into half. Shaking his head to blink away the dizziness, Wildmutt looks to see a large white Salamander-like monster; at least twice Wildmutt's size, with red eyes, three purple toes on each limb and gray spikes on its back.

Hovering next to the Salamander, Dr Londo looks at Wildmutt with interest. "A Vulpimancer." He said, easily recognizing Wildmutt's species. "I've wanted to study one for some time. You'll be the perfect addition to my next batch of experiments." He sneered eagerly.

Since the eyeless Wildmutt couldn't glare at Dr Londo, he settled for giving him a threatening growl. Who was this guy? Dr. Animo's long lost brother or something? Darn it. He would have believed him as Dr. Animo if it wasn't for the scent giving his identity off.

"Take him down." Dr. Londo ordered and the Salamander-like beast opened its mouth, releasing a long, thick purple tongue at Wildmutt, who narrowly dodges with a nick of second to spare.

Wildmutt charges at the Salamander, only for it to knock Wildmutt off his feet with its tail before wrapping its purple tongue around his torso and consecutively smashes him in the ground a few times before flinging him toward another tree.

Wildmutt tries to get back up only for the Salamander to pin him down with its front foot, causing him to struggle. The Salamander prepared to finish him off, but suddenly hissed in pain.

Wildmutt is momentarily confused before he looks behind the giant Salamander and noticed the wolf pup biting into its tail with its sharp fangs. Hissing in anger, the Salamander swings its tail a few times before finally freeing himself from the pup. Fortunately the pup landed on its feet, and glared up to find the Salamander slowly approaching it. Rather than become timid, instead the pup snarled at the Salamander and barks repeatedly at it, futilely attempting to ward it off.

Wildmutt immediately slapped the Omnitrix disk and four prongs popped out. His body doubled in size as his fur turned into a maroon-red color. He now has four huge greyish-white spikes running down his back that overlap. These spikes start out as a shark-like fin at the head and rises almost into an arc over the back, tapering near the rump. He also now possessed a long tail where the tip has a horn, resembling a scorpion stinger. His lips are now black and the Ultimatrix dial is positioned on his chest.

"ULTIMATE WILDMUTT!" He roared in a deep raspy voice before charging at the Salamander.

As the salamander-beast prepared to devour the pup, the hyper-evolved Vulpimancer tackles it to the side and away from the pup.

"Don't even think about it." Ultimate Wildmutt snarled.

The salamander retaliates by swinging its tail hoping to crush whatever dared to interrupt its meal.

Prepared this time, Ultimate Wildmutt leaped over head to dodge first swipe only for his opponent to swing its tail again. Using his enhanced agility, Ultimate Wildmutt caught the tail in his powerful jaws before jerking his head to the side and swinging the salamander across the ground, sending it tumbling further backward at the force.

Not giving up upon his temporary advantage, the hyper-evolved Vulpimancer somersaults over to the Salamander and brought his blade embedded tail downward in slashing manner, leaving behind a large wound, followed by sinking his fangs into its leg, causing it to hiss in pain.

Jerking his head backward, the Ultimate Wildmutt dragged the Salamander again across the floor before reeling his head backward and swinging around and eventually decking the monster into the ground creating a light crater causing it to let out a painful roar.

The pup barks happily as Ultimate Wildmutt continued to overpower the Salamander with ease before finally delivering a finishing blow and ending the battle instantly.

After finishing off the last monster, Brin set his sights on Dr. Londo causing him to immediately hover away on his machine from his own son giving him chase. This didn't go unnoticed as other also followed them into the facility. Dr. Londo ran down into his research lab and stupidly stumbled upon and eventually releasing the rest of the captured monsters in his lab, who in turn advanced on him.

"Go, attack!" He ordered, wishing the monsters would attack the Legion, but instead, they shared a glanced and continued their advanced toward him, much to the doctor's sheer shock. "No...Stop! I am your master!" He exclaimed backing away in fear and terror.

At that moment, Brin, along with the Legionnaires, arrived and the former one let out a mighty animalistic roar causing all the monsters to walk away silently. They did what expected of them; respecting their superior.

"I'd have let him get eaten." Lightning Lad stated impassively before Superman step forward and grabbed Londo by the coat. "Alright Doctor start talking." He ordered

Dr. Londo smiled, "Very well, what would you like to talk about first? My creations I suppose; perfect specimens, marvels of nature, but not nearly human enough. No I needed a better subject for my crowning achievement." He explained looking at his own son.

"So you used your own son." Saturn Girl summarized.

"You must be the worst dad in existence." Dawnstar scolded angrily.

"It was to see him transform into the most formidable creature ever created for battle." Londo spoke as Brin let out a low menacing growl. "He should be thanking me, but no. He ran away before the process was complete." He snarled.

"Change him back!" Superman ordered, pinning Londo up against the wall; the weight and force actually caused the Doctor to inhale sharply.

"He can't, Superman." Brin interrupted the Kryptonian. "My DNA has already been altered too much for altering anymore." He explained. "This is as close to human as I'll ever get."

"But for how long? A day or a week? At topmost a year? You'll never be able to control yourself, Brin." Londo informed his son.

"Yes he will, and the Legion will be there to help." Saturn Girl defended.

"But there is one thing I don't get." Dawnstar said, catching everyone's attention. "What does this have to do with your experiments?" She asked, pulling out the device, she had grabbed earlier from the lab.

Ben, who had the pup resting on his right shoulder, widened his eyes at the device. "Dawnstar, let me see that." He asked more like ordering.

Confused, the winged-human compiled and handed the device over to Ben. The Omnitrix wielder studied the device and was now sure of what it was. He gave Dr. Londo rather a demanding glare and practically growled. "Where'd you get this Nemetrix?"

The Legionnaires, plus Brin all gave him confused looks. How did he know what the device was?

"Is that what you call that device?" Dr. Londo questioned. "Well, I stumbled across the 'Nemetrix' some time ago during my field research back on Earth. I found it aboard an abandoned ship and it appeared to not have been functional. So I took it with me in hopes of advancing my research. Primitive piece of tech, yes, but it intrigued me."

"Well you can throw your research plans out the window because I'm taking this with me." Ben declared, stuffing the Nemetrix in his pocket. "It's obviously not safe to leave it in your hands."

"So what do we do with him?" Bouncing Boy asked, jerking his thumb at the doctor.

"This sector is outside any jurisdiction, not even intergalactic law can't touch me, and why would they? My work is a gift; I create life." Londo stated in a near smug manner.

"What you create is suffering, and the forest out there is filled with it." Brin glowered. "Children expect their parents to protect them. The only thing I've ever been to you is a science experiment; your own son!" He snapped before proceeding to destroy every bit of technology stuffed in that room while the Legion enjoyed the sight calmly.

Finally with tearing apart the final piece of technology, Brin stopped and faced his so-called father, breathed out heavily. "Never again!" He left along with the rest of the Legion as Londo hopelessly sank to his knees. Most of his life-long work and achievement was now destroyed and torn into pieces; what was he going to do now?!

A few minutes later, the teen heroes boarded their cruiser and took off from the forest planet while they could and as soon as possible.

"I still don't see how we're leaving the planet without functioning atmospheric thrusters." A bewildered Brainiac-5 stated.

"Improvised." Bouncing Boy stated in a smug tone.

Unbeknownst to them, from under the ship, a smirking Superman was using his super strength to push it out of orbit.


Later on...

"Well, what do you think?" Bouncing Boy questioned.

They'd found a new set of clothes for Brin to wear: a black, v-necked vest stopping at mid-chest (leaving a tuft of grey fur exposed), orange lines forming a 'wolf head' starting from his shoulders to his waist. The eyes were gold (same as his scleras giving him an intimidating four-eyed look at a distance) and are located mid-chest. He also had black pants with orange lines on the side stopping at mid-thigh. His boots are out of a lightweight but durable material. The boots go up to mid-shin, orange lines on the boots are connected to his big toe and little toe with three black with orange in the middle straps on his calves. Finally he also wore blackish brown gloves up to mid-forearms.

"Umm, a little tight." Brin replied, observing his outfit.

"You'll get used to it, eventually." Superman smirked.

"We can find you something else to wear." Saturn Girl offered.

"Nah, I think it suits him." Dawnstar commented.

"It's not the uniform, what if he's right? What if I can't control this monster inside of me?" Brin shook his head at the uncertainty in his voice.

Lighting Lad pats him on his shoulder, "Don't worry; we've got your back. Just...watch the claws." He added cautiously.

"Hm, it's a deal." Brin smiled.

"Are you ready?" Superman asked and then opened a black box to reveal a Legionnaire belt with a flight ring.

The wolf teen puts the belt on around his waist and the ring on his right middle finger. He then raised his hand and exclaimed. "To the Legion of superheroes, I make this solemn pledge; to use my powers for good, to fight for justice and protect the innocent, to aid my fellow legionnaires in times of peril and to keep their secrets safe. I choose a new name to honour the heroes of the past, I am...Timberwolf!"

"YAY WOLVES!" Dawnstar grinned happily and glomped the fuzzy teen, while the team, including the Legionnaires on the surrounding screens applauded. Even the wolf pup barked happily for Timber Wolf's achievement.

Then Brainiac-5 recalled something. "Ben," The said one faced him. "I've been meaning to ask; how did you know what that device that Dr. Londo had been?" He asked as everyone directed their attention toward him.

Ben took out the device from his pocket. "You mean this? It's called the Nemetrix." He said. "It's sort of like a cheap knock-off version of my Omnitrix, but instead transforming the user into my aliens, it turns them into their predators." He explained, earning astonished looks from the others.

"How do you know that stuff?" Lightning Lad asked.

"One of my old enemies; his name was Khyber, the self-proclaimed best huntsman." Ben answered nonchalantly. "Back when he tried hunting me for a trophy, he used the Nemetrix on his dog, allowing it to transform into just about any predator of some of the aliens I could turn into. Fighting it wasn't easy, believe me."

"Wow, sure is a good thing Dawnstar took it before Dr. Londo figured out how it works, huh?" Bouncing Boy remarked.

"So what are you going to do with it?" Saturn Girl asked.

Ben thought about it for a moment; he wasn't sure on what to do with a dangerous weapon like the Nemetrix apart from keeping it as a souvenir, but Ben felt that he could do more with it in his possession. He then felt something rubbing against his leg and looked down to see the wolf pup rubbing its head against him before looking up at him, his tongue stuck out and innocently wagging its cute little tail.

Ben stares at the pup for a moment, and then looks back at the Nemetrix and back at the pup again. He smirks while rubbing his chin with a finger as he contemplated the fact. "Hmmm."

...

Later back at HQ, the team was in Brainy's lab waiting patiently for the Nemetrix to be repaired. On a work table, working on the Nemetrix is a grey skinned, bipedal frog-like alien that is only four inches tall with large green eyes, which have rectangular pupils. He wore a green jumpsuit with a black belt. His suit has a black collar covering his long neck, wore black, fingerless gloves with a green rectangle on the back, and the Omnitrix dial is on his back.

Grey Matter does some final rewiring with the Nemetrix and closes the top part. Then he presses it and the Nemetrix base color shifts from red to green. "Okay, that should do it." The Galvan proclaimed, dusting his hands. "By re-configuring the DNA and altering function of the Nemetrix; I've restored its purpose of rearrange DNA molecules of the wearer to the desired sample it currently stores." He explained before tapping the Omnitrix dial and reverts back into Ben. "In other words, our little friend here can now turn into whatever predator alien he picks from the Nemetrix." He simplified his explanation as he puts the green Nemetrix around the pup's neck like a collar. "Okay boy, show them how it works."

The pup barked an affirmative before the Nemetrix glows with green energy, as does his eyes. The pup's body grew and swelled up until it transformed into a large, purplish-grey, bee/moth-like creature. He now had sharp fangs, four legs, two sharp teeth, a dual-stinger on his tail, two antennae on his head, four rapidly beating wings and green eyes. The giant insect gave a low screech noise.

The teens, minus Ben who was smiling proudly at his accomplishment, stared in shock at the major transformation of a cute and fluffy wolf pup to a giant predatory insect-like creature.

"Whoa!" Dawnstar breathed in awe.

"Astounding!" Brainiac-5 commented, who was the most awed of the group. "A Psycholeopterran; predatory alien of Necrofriggians. They all died out from being poached to extinction centuries ago." He stated.

"Is that its alien name?" Ben asked. "I usually just call it 'Hypnotick'." He stated before Hypnotick shrank back into the adorable wolf pup Ben had rescued, which gave another happy bark.

"Aww, he's kinda cute." Dawnstar gushed. "Well you know, for something that looks like he wants to rip your face off anyway. So what are you going to name him?" She asked Ben.

"I have always wanted a pet named Comet myself." Saturn Girl wondered.

"Perhaps Proty?" Brainiac-5 suggested. "Or maybe something more in keeping with his newfound ability to transform, like Metamorpho, after the member of the Justice League?"

"Ooh, how about 'Krypto'?" Superman suggested, earning him a menacing snarl from the pup.

"Yeah, let's not. You can name your next dog that, farm boy." Ben smirked.

"So what are you going to call him then?" Timber Wolf questioned, coming up with nothing suitable.

Ben smirks. "I'm actually thinking 'Snarl'." He answered earnestly.

Superman blinked at this. "'Snarl'?" He repeated. "Seriously Ben, that's the best you of all people can think of for a name?"

Ben shrugs. "What? It's awesome and it's what he does." He pointed out.

"No kidding." Dawnstar nodded in agreement.

"It certainly does fit. Isn't that right, Snarl?" Saturn Girl asked the pup with a smile.

'Snarl' barks happily at the name given to him by his new owner. The latter one beams smugly. "Told you. Awesome."

Lightning Lad shakes his head, "You guys can call that mutt Streaky the Supercat for all I care. Just remember he's also called 'House-broken'. 'Cause I'm so not cleaning up after him."

Credit to Zero 10 for editing anf Codecrash for the idea of Ben having an alien wolf pet with the Nemetrix. Note: Snarl is based off the alien wolves frim the dcau Justice League episode "Hereafter part 2".

Please read and review and I'll see you soon.