Chapter 13

"And I thought this dimension couldn't get any weirder," Kevin commented, as he and Ben stared in shock at the cyborg-Julie.

It was only just recognizable as Julie. The rest of her body was still robotic material-just her head was showing. And even that was still altered in some ways. There was a headset strapped to her that was seemingly unremovable. There was also an patch over one eye-though the eye itself was still visible. Indeed, this was a mere shadow of Julie in some regards.

"Julie...what are you...what is going on?!" Ben managed, still shocked.

"Don't worry, I will explain everything," Julie replied-for the first time in her voice. It was clearly her voice, although there was still a robotic undertone to it. It was almost as if it was Julie's voice with a monotone of sorts.

"I was told you were dead!" Ben retorted, still unable to believe his eyes. "Who is this?" Charmcaster asked, still confused by the boys' shock.

"I'll answer both your questions, but you're going to have to let me talk a while," Julie replied, "I got us out of there, didn't I?" Ben and Kevin shrugged in agreement. "Fair enough," Kevin agreed. "Let's hear it."

Julie began, "Well, first off, you may or may not know that I was one of the first to rebel when Vilgax took over here. I sided with the Plumbers, and even when they went down, I tried attempting a sneak ambush on Vilgax. It didn't work, and I barely escaped with my life. A couple nights later, he burned my house down."

"And that's where you're supposed to be dead," Kevin broke in pointedly.

"I'm aware," Julie replied equally pointedly. "I don't know how. I just know that I woke up to a burning sensation-and saw my own flesh burning in this huge fire. I-I don't think you even want to know what I saw. I blacked out pretty quickly-and the next thing I knew, I woke up. There was this glass over my eye here that said, 'Startup.' Then I came to in some sort of cave. I tried to get up, and realized I was being weighed down by the robotic material that my flesh was now. I quickly realized that I was a cyborg now."

"So wait... you came back from the dead as a cyborg?" Ben asked in disbelief. "How is that even possible?"

"I wasn't just raised back by some supernatural force," Julie replied firmly. "Someone or something rescued me. Took the remainders of my body, I guess... and merged it with this cybernetic suit. I think it was the Plumbers."

"I don't think the Plumbers are capable of that," Kevin replied skeptically. "Besides, weren't they all destroyed by Vilgax?" "That's what I thought too, but who else would have done it?" Julie asked. Ben and Kevin didn't have an answer for that.

Julie continued, "So, I knew I was 'sent back' to fight against Vilgax. One thing that happened when I became... this... was that I was able to see across dimensions. I couldn't travel to them, but with my new vision, I could see other dimensions. That's how I know that you two aren't from this world-and that's also how I know that in that world I mean something to you. So I decided you were the best choice for an ally."

"Julie... you're my girlfriend in that other world," Ben said hesitantly. "I figured that out," Julie replied, "But that's not going to happen here if that's what you're hoping for. I'm more machine than woman now."

Charmcaster than piped in to Ben, "So wait, *this* was your girl in your world?" "She didn't look anything like this!" Ben shrugged. Charmcaster just turned away, looking a bit put off. Julie rolled her eyes.

"I'm aware that you're in need of more allies since your friend left," Julie went on, "and although I can help give us a better chance, it wouldn't hurt to find extra allies. Do you guys know of any?" "Not unless they've been morphed into cyborgs like you and we didn't know about it," Kevin replied.

"I was in hiding for awhile until I knew it was a good time to strike," Julie informed him. "Vilgax is not somebody to mess with any old time. The Vilgax from your world is child's play. Here, he's far more dangerous. He's fortified with some sort of armor that makes him invulnerable to most things. The only things I know so far that can even hurt him are my cybernetic skin and some of the Omnitrix's aliens."

"So, you got a hideout then?" Ben asked. "Where do you think I was hiding all this time?" Julie asked sarcastically, and at that point the sports car plane began to descend. None of them had bothered to look out the window in a while, they had been so caught up. They now noticed that they were apparently out of Bellwood, and in the forest, and were coming up on a cave."

"This isn't too far from where we were transported from our world to here," Kevin commented. "I still don't know how that happened," Ben sighed, "One moment we were just standing there, and the next we were falling and then here?! Who just leaves a dimensional portal in a hole in the ground?!" "I don't know *that* much," Julie replied.

They landed in the cave, which was basically in the middle of nowhere and well out of sight of Vilgax. Julie stepped out, her cybernetic suit holding her down-and then more of suit began to fold away. As Ben and Kevin watched in surprise, the suit folded away to reveal just bare skin. She kept morphing until she was nearly human again-but she had left the cybernetic suit on from her chest down to the top of her legs to cover critical areas.

As Ben and Kevin stared in shock, Julie informed them, "A side effect of losing my humanity. I usually go around like this, because that cybernetic material is pretty heavy." Dismissing the subject, she went on, "This is your new home while we fight the war against Vilgax."

"So, you got a plan?" Charmcaster asked, coming out of the car last. Julie nodded, and told them, "Basically, it's going to involve brute force. With our combined abilities, we can take care of Psyphon in a cinch-Vilgax is the real problem. Now, you guys have two Omnitrixes right?" Ben and Charmcaster nodded as Julie continued, "Well, one thing we're going to make sure to try is to have you transform into To'kustars." "Who?" Ben and Charmcaster both asked. Julie sighed in annoyance, and corrected herself, "Way Big." "Oh," Ben replied.

"Also, have you considered using a Celestialsapien... er... Alien X?" Julie asked. "No," Ben replied firmly, "That is a last resort." "Well, it may come down to that," Julie replied grimly, "We're going up against a lot here. If we fail, then we'll be dead and this world will burn along with the rest of the universe, eventually."

"Then we'd better make sure we don't fail this time," Ben declared, "And that starts *now.*"