Time for another chapter.
I hope you don't mind if I scare you a bit.
Ourabora is pretty evil.
She just might be able to rival Vilgax in evil...which is really saying something.
Sorry to disappoint you, but Ben isn't the star this chapter.
It's a day in the limelight for Max. Or maybe cherrylight? Max dresses in red.
I figured I would include Xylene in the previous chapter because she's the reason why Ben has Upchuck. Just a side note.
Chapter 14: Through the Snake's Mouth
Max navigated the cavern, but not before he put on a protective suit.
That way he would stay safe.
However, it also occurred to him that perhaps Ourabora was mutating creatures with corrodium. The idea filled him with dread.
He couldn't think of another reason for her to be in a cavern filled with the substance, except for keeping out intruders of course. Anyone who knew about corrodium would stay away from it without proper protection.
However, it didn't seem adequate for keeping out a team of plumbers. They typically had special gear designed for specific planets, unless the alien in question happened to be native to one particular planet. For example, there were some aliens that were adapted to the planet Vulpin, as uninhabitable as the planet was.
Realizing that aliens exposed to corrodium would be dangerous, he made sure to equip his gun with a solvent that would nullify the corrodium's effects. Part of a plumber's job was to protect the innocent, not simply capture alien criminals.
While he predicted that Ourabora had managed to mutate many aliens, chances are there wasn't enough time for the effects to be permanent.
It had taken a while for them to find her though.
Soon after he entered, he encountered another plumber.
"There you are, Max! I lost track of my teammates..." noted one of the plumbers.
"Did they run off without you?" asked Max.
"I'm afraid so. I hope they're doing alright." answered the plumber.
Suddenly, the ground underneath the plumber's feet collapsed.
He fell into a pit, gasping as he did so.
Unfortunately, Ourabora was able to sense the heat signature of others.
This made her a very dangerous hunter.
"It looks like I'm having a snack tonight!" exclaimed the snake.
Grandpa Max couldn't see it, but he could tell that Ourabora was eating him.
"Oh dear, it looks like that plumber's been sucked down the drain." remarked Ourabora.
"Ourabora, you murderer!" exclaimed Grandpa Max.
"If it makes you feel better, he tasted pretty good. Maybe I could taste his fear." remarked the snake.
Max clenched his fist.
Ourabora began to slither away.
"To be honest, I hope you follow me. I'm looking forward to hearing you scream." spoke the serpent. Though if he didn't, she would have an opportunity to free Vilgax from his prison.
"Ourabora, get back here!" shouted the veteran plumber.
Unfortunately, not long after he began to chase her, he encountered two Vulpimancers.
The two of them howled at him.
But there was something wrong with them.
He immediately realized that they had been mutated by corrodium.
Fortunately, a zap of his weapon turned them back to normal.
In the process, they passed out.
However, Max wondered why Ourabora was mutating the aliens.
Was she using the corrodium to control them?
If so, she might have a small army at her hands.
Max realized he was in trouble...and so were his two surviving companions.
He needed to find them fast. Lest they ended up like his comrade who had been eaten by Ourabora.
Something told him that she hadn't killed him simply for food, but because she enjoyed it.
There was another plumber locked in a cage.
Max used the nearby keys to release him.
Though he wondered why Ourabora hadn't eaten him.
"Thank you, Max. I don't know what I would do without you." said the man.
"You're welcome. Just be more careful." answered the man with white hair.
Suddenly, the plumber had Max had saved was crushed by a boulder.
It seemed he had triggered a trap.
Max gasped in alarm.
All that were sticking out were his feet.
Max gasped.
It appeared once again he had lost his comrade.
He had experienced this before (such as when he lost a comrade due to a terrible betrayal), but it wasn't normal for him to experience it twice in rapid succession.
"I bet you're crushed by the fact that your friend didn't survive." taunted Ourabora.
She was using a spell to communicate with him from a distance.
"It's bad enough you killed one plumber, but now two?!" exclaimed Max.
"Why quit while I'm ahead?" asked the snake.
"I can think of a million reasons..." answered the plumber.
"Well, I can think of a million reasons why you're not going to survive this mission!" exclaimed Ourabora.
The magician pressed a button, and countless Dasypodidae began to come out from holes in the walls.
"I could give you a painless death...but where's the fun in that?" asked the snake.
A painful one would be much more exciting.
She wanted to make sure that Tennyson died screaming.
Additionally, Ourabora would likely want to record his death.
Luckily, she had a spell for that.
On the subject, perhaps Vilgax had a recording of the time he destroyed Petropia.
If she managed to rescue him, she would want to ask him about that.
Max scowled upon realizing what Ourabora wished to do to him.
Fortunately, his gun could be adjusted to fire a stream instead of blasts designed for individual aliens.
This worked well against the mutant Dasypodidae.
Upon turning back to normal, the insect aliens went back into their holes.
It seemed they didn't want to attack him anymore.
Max discovered another plumber chained to the wall.
He was guarded by a mutant Tetramand.
But he dealt with him.
It wasn't easy, however. Even if this Tetramand happened to be male.
After all, the Tetramand had four arms. And he only had two.
The plumber was grateful for Max's help.
Though Max was again a bit confused as to why she hadn't eaten him like she had eaten the other plumber. She seemed to enjoy swallowing humans.
Perhaps she was saving him for later?
Well, he decided not to question his luck.
Fortunately, the key to the chains happened to be nearby.
The plumber was understandably nervous about the whole situation.
It was good that Max happened to find him.
He knew that he was a veteran plumber and could therefore protect him if the going got tough.
But then again, Ourabora was more dangerous than anything that he have ever faced.
"Ourabora's completely insane. I don't know who's worse, her or Vilgax himself." noted the plumber.
He regretted not allowing Max to keep up with him. The serpent was more dangerous than he thought she was.
"Your guess is as good as mine." shrugged the man.
Suddenly, a fireball was shot at the plumber that Max had rescued.
"No!" exclaimed Ben's paternal grandfather.
The plumber that had been hit by the fireball did not survive the mission.
Which was a shame, since he had just been rescued.
The fireball was from a mutated Pyronite. Max wondered for a moment if Ourabora wanted to make the planet burn.
Well, she certainly wanted him to burn, at least.
Max quickly blasted the Pyronites to turn them back to normal before his goose was cooked.
Unfortunately, he was again too late to save his comrade. Ourabora was just that deadly.
But at least he saved those Pyronites.
Still, he was pretty angry.
"Those plumbers just aren't doing well against me. Oh well. Maybe you'll be more of a challenge." noted the snake.
"Three plumbers, Ourabora. Three plumbers are now dead because of you." said Grandpa Max with fury.
"I'm sure you'll perform an eulogy at each of their funerals...oh wait, that's right. You're going to be dead too!" exclaimed Ourabora.
"I've had enough of this. I'm ending this now!" bellowed Max.
Ourabora was not getting away with what she had done. Not as long as he still breathed.
"You're right, Max. All things must come to an end, eventually. Though I will admit that I've been enjoying myself so far." noted the snake.
As it turned out, she had captured the two plumbers earlier because she wanted to come up with creative ways to dispose of them.
"So you actually agree with me?" asked the man.
He was kind of surprised.
"Still, if this must come to an end, I say that we end it...with a bang!" exclaimed Ourabora.
Suddenly, the cavern began to shake.
Max narrowly avoided losing his footing.
He realized what was going on.
Ourabora was using explosives to make the cavern collapse.
Seemed that she had taken preparations in case he had made it that far.
The veteran plumber realized that he needed to make a run for it.
"On the brighter side of things, I'm going to save your plumber friends the trouble of digging you a grave." remarked the snake.
Max rolled out of the way to avoid a stalactite falling from the ceiling.
"Farewell, Max! It's been a long and fruitful career for you...but as I said, all things must come to an end!" exclaimed Ourabora.
That included him.
Fortunately, Max was able to escape before he was crushed.
But just barely.
He then made his way towards Ourabora's chambers.
It seemed that he had arrived not a moment too soon.
There were signs that the snake was planning to release Vilgax from the Null Void, such as the cauldron that was in the room.
"Are you still alive? You're stubborn..." remarked the snake.
"I'm sending you to the Null Void!" exclaimed Max.
"You're the one whose going to the void." answered Ourabora.
The snake attacked first, firing a blast of magic at the elderly plumber.
But he avoided it and shot the snake with a laser.
Ourabora screeched. Max was a good shot.
But unfortunately for Max, so was she.
The serpent launched a fireball at Max.
Quickly, he moved out of the way. Which was fortunate, becsuse the fireball exploded upon impact.
"You don't intend to hold still, do you?" questioned the snake.
Max shook his head.
"It's just as well. I'd be disappointed if you made things boring for me." noted Ourabora.
Still, killing him would be enjoyable in itself.
Ourabora launched more fireballs at the veteran plumber.
He managed to avoid them, though one scorched his suit.
She attacked with lightning.
Unfortunately, the spell had come too fast.
Max screamed from the electric blast.
For a moment, his skeleton was visible.
However, he was still alive.
You'd had to be pretty resilient to face Vilgax and survive.
"I'll just have to try a different spell." noted Ourabora.
This time, she decided she would freeze Max.
He would make a nice ice sculpture for her home.
Of course, when she got bored with it, she would just whip out a hammer.
However, Max narrowly avoided the icy beam.
"I almost had him..." thought the snake to herself.
Max shot Ourabora once again.
"You fool!" exclaimed the snake.
His persistence was getting on her nerves.
She attempted to bite him, but Max punched her in the face.
Max then struck Ourabora at point blank range with his weapon.
This was dangerous, but he couldn't let the snake bite him.
Chances are her fangs were poisonous.
Ourabora collapsed on the ground.
Luckily, this risky maneuver had paid off.
"But how? You're past your prime!" exclaimed the snake.
She shouldn't lose against someone like him.
"I assure you, I still have gas in my tank." noted Max.
Though part of him was happy Ben had the Omnitrix.
He could carry on his legacy pretty well.
Max seized his opportunity to banish the magician.
She shouldn't be allowed outside of the void any longer.
"No no nooooo!" bellowed the snake, who was kicking and screaming. Well, screaming. Since when did a snake have legs?
It looked like she was on a one-way trip to the Null Void.
Perhaps she would see Vilgax.
Not Psyphon though. He wasn't banished.
Ourabora was sucked inside the vortex.
Max sighed in relief.
His mission was finally over.
Fortunately, there was an exit that he could use to leave the cavern.
It was pretty convenient.
He came back to Ben and Gwen.
They were happy that Max had succeeded in his mission. And the fact that he had returned to them in one piece.
The less evil aliens in this dimension, the better.
"What happened to the three plumbers that went with you?" asked Gwen. She heard that Max wasn't going on the mission alone.
Which was good, because Ourabora sounded like a pretty nasty alien criminal from what she did to her home planet.
"I'm afraid they didn't make it." answered Max.
He wished that he could have saved them, but he couldn't.
Still, at least Ourabora was in the Null Void, where she belonged.
Now he wouldn't have to worry about Vilgax escaping...for now.
Ben and Gwen had a moment of silence for the unfortunate plumbers.
"If it makes you feel any better, I saved the aliens she mutated." explained Max.
There were a lot of them, but the plumber got them all.
The two heroes were relieved to hear that. Prolonged exposure to corrodium could have permanent effects. And unpleasant noes.
They remembered the time they encountered a mummy harvesting corrodium. He had been working for Ghostfreak, but our heroes hadn't known it yet. Though he was scary like he was.
There was a Vulpimancer licking Grandpa Max.
"Is that Vulpimancer licking you in the face?" asked Gwen.
From what she could recall, they were known to be aggressive.
It didn't have an impact on Ben when he shapeshifted into one though.
Which was good, because the two of them squabbled enough already. Slightly less than last year, but still.
"They recognized what I did for them." explained Max.
While it certainly wouldn't replace the ones he had lost, it was nice to make some new friends. Perhaps some of them would become plumbers someday. They had plumbers from all across the galaxy.
Though some of them were surprised to find out one of their best was a normal human being.
It was surprising what humans were capable of.
Max was happy that he had done the galaxy a huge favor by getting rid of Ourabora.
Still, he made sure never to take peace for granted.
If Ourabora escaped from the Null Void, he would be ready.
I bet you're glad that Ourabora is in the Null Void. She was a psycho.
Just for the record, the thermal vision that snakes have isn't something I made up. There was a Ben 10 Reboot episode based on that.
But she's probably going to escape.
I kind of have fun writing her.
Let me know if you want any more villains to appear.
I figure I'll feature Cyborg in the next chapter.
I have an idea as to what Ben 10 villain he can face.
As a reality note, I'm going to have a root canal about a week from now.
Wish me luck.