Author's Note: Hello again peeps! This is story number three in my Hero Time series. You'll need to read Hero Time and Certain and Uncertain before you read this one, as some very important stuff has happened. I own nothing, enjoy!
Evolution
1 Still Alive
The floating feeling was nice. Much better than the pain, it had felt as though her blood was replaced with needles and her head was so full it was going to implode and take everything around her with it like a black hole. All the while fighting Vilgax. Wait Vilgax? Jen shot upright gasping for air, panic filling her brain as she reached for the Omnitrix. Someone caught her hands and she kicked out blindly and connected with something solid and unyielding. She kicked it again and her ankle twinged as she wrestled with whoever was holding her wrists. It was then that sound returned and she heard a familiar voice.
"I swear if you keep fighting me Tennyson I'm going to punch some sense back into you!" She blinked as her eyes finally focused.
"Kevin?" Blurry shapes became clear and she blinked at the very human face of Kevin Levin. He nodded, a slight smile pulling at his lips.
"Yeah it's me, you gonna keep fighting or can Gwen drop the shield?" Jen looked around Gwen was at the end of the device she now recognized as the Genesis Cradle. It was a particularly clever device of Azmuth's that allowed the Omnitrix to recreate whole species in one go. It was also one of the only safe and pain free ways for him to work on the Omnitrix. Jen grabbed Kevin's hand and let him pull her free of the Cradle.
"What happened?" She asked as Gwen rushed forward to hug her cousin. Jen returned the redhead's hug as Jen spotted Grandpa Max talking to Azmuth a few feet away. Pierce was nowhere to be seen and that concerned her, she thought he'd been with them for the final fight with Vilgax. Gwen spoke before Jen could panic.
"We won. Pierce is back at the base in Bellwood keeping an ear to the ground for any whisper of Vilgax, nothing so far but it's only been a few days." Jen blinked.
"Days!" Kevin nodded.
"Yeah, you decided that blowing up the Omnitrix was a good idea. You know even though it's part of you." Gwen glanced at Kevin with a bit of reproach in her eyes. Kevin shrugged. "What? It's what she did!" Jen nodded.
"I remember that part. Then the ship crashed into the ocean, I took the Ultimatrix from Albeda and Vilgax turned into a giant squid. What happened after that?" Max had stepped over to them.
"The fusion core in Vilgax's ship blew. We're not sure if he made it out or not. We've got Plumbers out looking but nothing so far." Jen nodded as Kevin deposited her in a seat. She sighed and looked down at the Ultimatrix around her wrist. Though around her arm might be more accurate. This device was much larger than even the original Omnitrix, stretching from the base of her wrist halfway to her elbow. It was also bright green not the red she remembered. Before she could ask Azmuth hopped onto her arm. He examined the Ultimatrix.
"It will do for now." He looked up at Jen. "The Ultimatrix wasn't finished when Albeda stole the core. Only a few of the transformations have their evolutions programed." Jen frowned.
"Yeah I was wondering about that, how come Ultimate Humungousaur has guns in her hands?" Azmuth shook his head.
"These are theoretical peek evolutions of your aliens. A bit of an experiment really. I was curious really. But as I said the core wasn't finished when she stole it. Keep up with your entries on the aliens, I'll be checking in on that from time to time." He hopped off her wrist and tapped a button on his wrist before she could ask anything else. The now familiar feeling of being teleported overcame them and they blinked, finding themselves in the mostly finished Bellwood base. Pierce blinked at them and Gwen laughed.
"You know I'm starting to get used to that." Kevin quipped as he held out a hand to Jen, who'd landed on the floor without the chair she'd had moments before. Jen grinned and took his hand. Gwen tossed her cousin's other arm over her shoulder.
"Let's get you home, your parents are worried." Jen grinned sheepishly and nodded.
She spent the next two days at home, catching up on homework and being fussed over by her parents. She'd been in the Cradle recovering from catastrophic organ failure and what Azmuth called 'brain overload' for two days. Her school was under the impression that she'd caught a cold. Julie came by and Jen regaled her with everything she remembered of the battle while Ship cuddled her. He seemed curious about the Ultimatrix but he was warned off again as he had been from the Omnitrix and settled for curling up on her shirt while Julie helped her catch up on her homework and let her copy her notes. The tennis player sighed.
"I'm sort of glad I opted out of the whole Plumber thing, that's nuts." Jen nodded as she chewed on her pen cap focusing on the history notebook in front of her.
"You're not wrong." Julie laughed. Jen's phone buzzed. She answered.
"Hello?"
"We got Knights on the move, feel up to a little ass kicking?" Jen grinned at Kevin's words.
"Pick me up in five." Julie rolled her eyes but smiled patiently as Jen snapped a few photos of her notes and raced out the front door to meet Kevin's car at the curb. At least life seemed to be getting back to some semblance of normal. Jen's hand found the necklace around her neck and the ring that still hung there. Things would never be completely normal again. Not for any of them but she could make life work, at least she hoped she could.