A/N (Please Read): Welcome back everyone! Hope you're all having a fine day! Surprisingly, we've got a bit of a shorter chapter this time, which I guess I can attribute to it mainly being just one big fight against a single opponent for the most part. However, a couple things before we begin; for one, there is actually a piece of artwork out there that is very nearly identical to the Ultimate Humungousaur design I described last chapter! It's by Insane-Mane on DeviantArt, and while it's not exactly the same (I described there being a few extra horns on the head and spikes on the chest on mine), it IS very close, so check that out if you want an idea of what Ult. Humungousaur looks like in this story.
And secondly… things are gonna get pretty intense in these next two chapters, so bear with me as we go through this, okay? You'll see what I mean when we get to it. And finally, stay tuned to the end of the chapter for a special announcement. But now, let's get to the big fight, huh? It's one that should be pretty ravenous. After all…
My need to feed gives me the will to survive!
I gotta find it fast to keep me alive!
I can't believe my…
Chapter 113: Hunger
…..
"So… let me get this straight…" Ben Tennyson was honestly, quite baffled at what he had just been told. Azmuth, the proud creator of the Omnitrix… was giving him back the Evolutionary function, essentially granting him back the Ultimate Forms. But he knew that there had to be SOME reason why the Great Thinker was doing it. He knew how much Azmuth disliked the Ultimates, and even then, that was speaking generously, so he felt the need to ask. "You're just gonna give me back the Ultimate Aliens… and you have no problem with it?"
"On the contrary." Azmuth denied, having pulled the larger microchip out of the Omnitrix once it was done downloading the Ultimate's DNA data. "In fact, I have MANY problems with what I'm doing right now." He hopped off of Ben's wrist and landed on the couch, facing up to his creation's bearer with a serious expression. "As you know, I created the Omnitrix to bring unity and harmony to the galaxy, to allow other species to walk a mile in another's shoes. It is also a repository for DNA should any one intelligent species face extinction. I never intended it to be used as a weapon of war… something that Albedo was too short-sighted to understand."
Ben nodded at that. "And then he created the Ultimatrix to try and overpower the Omnitrix… and get revenge on you and me."
"Exactly, and it's something that I still truly abhor…" Azmuth trailed off as he craned his head down, his eyes focused on the couch cushions. "However, while I am still very reluctant about giving the Omnitrix this feature, it is not without good reason." He placed his hand behind his back and returned his gaze to Ben. "As I said before, Professor Paradox had informed me that many things are going to be happening in your future, Ben Tennyson. But he also told me that your challenges will be ever increasing… to the point where catastrophe could occur if you or your team are not ready."
The hero furrowed his brows, taking the words seriously. "Not exactly reassuring."
Azmuth paused before going on. "No… no it isn't." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Ben… Paradox took me to see the future… one that would result should you and your comrades fail in your mission."
This took Ben by surprise. Outside of the one time that he took them to see a post-apocalyptic Earth from the moon, Paradox almost never showed anyone what could happen in the future. "Wow… why would he do that?"
"To convince me, perhaps, of the Evolutionary Feature's usefulness." Azmuth answered as his eyes opened back up. "As you know, the Ultimate Aliens are all combat ready, and—" He then took note of the hint of a smirk on Ben's face, making his eyeridges furrow. "I thought you were taking this seriously."
"Oh, I am, it's just… that phrase has become VERY familiar to me." Ben explained. "Please, keep going."
"Hm… in any case, the Ultimates are all evolved to handle the most extreme conditions possible, and they will no doubt be useful in your fight…" Azmuth pursed his lips in thought. "…And hopefully, the future the professor showed me does not come to pass."
Ben blinked at his dower tone before pressing the matter further. "Azmuth… what did Paradox show you?"
A sigh escaped Azmuth's lips and he shook his head. "Ben… this future is probably the worst-case scenario that any one of us could have imagined. This Salem woman, she and her forces will not only take control of Remnant if she succeeds, but her reach will also extend to your world as well. But she is not the only one you have to worry about. If you perish in this fight, then Vilgax will run rampant across many different worlds, subjugating and destroying them without a second thought… including Galvan Prime."
Ben's fists tightened at the mention of his arch enemy, remembering that he was also still on the loose back in his world. "…So none of our worlds are safe from this threat, are they?"
"We are talking about a galaxy-wide cataclysm should Vilgax and Salem have their respective ways." Azmuth stressed. "Mass genocide on multiple planets and countless more will simply be utterly destroyed." He raised a finger and pointed straight at Ben. "Now more than ever, the universe… no, MULTIPLE universes need Ben Tennyson, as well as his new team." He held his hand out with his palm out toward the Omnitrix. "So I hope you will not take this lightly. Use the Evolutionary Fuction to bring peace to the galaxy, and don't make me regret giving it back to you."
"I won't." Ben raised his left arm, putting his right hand over the Omnitrix mindfully. "Trust me, that's a promise I can keep."
"I should hope so." Azmuth nodded before making one final note. "But before you use it, I should mention this to you as it is very important." He pointed toward the Omnitrix once again. "While the Evolutionary Function is still quite powerful, you still have to take into account that you cannot use it to solve EVERY problem."
Ben nodded at that. "Right, because it drains the battery a lot quicker if I use it, right?"
Azmuth gave him a nod back. "Exactly… but you must also realize that the new Omnitrix is NOT the Ultimatrix. Compared to Albedo's invention that was focused solely on enhancing his strength, the Omnitrix has many more… quality-of-life features in it."
"Like the life protection protocol, I know." Ben waved.
"Ah, but not just that. There are countless other features that I have yet to explain to you, ones that all draw from the Omntrix's battery. And now that I have added the Evolutionary Function to it, it will unfortunately cause an even greater energy drain." Azmuth placed his hands behind his back. "I'm sorry, but now, you will have even less time if you choose to use the Ultimate Forms. If you do, I suggest you end the fight quickly if you wish to at least have enough energy for even ONE more transformation."
Ben crossed his arms, taking the information in. "So if the fight drags on for too long, then I risk draining the battery completely. I'll have to wait for a full recharge before I'm able to use the Omnitrix again."
Once more, Azmuth nodded. "Precisely. However, I trust that you will be mindful of this going forward. I have watched you grow for many years now, Benjamin, from an impulsive boy to a serious-minded teenager… to a strange mix of a young man."
"I think I've gotten over my impulsive phase, thanks." Ben deadpanned.
A rare chuckle escaped Azmuth's lips. "Hmhm, perhaps. But still, you have had to grow up fast, so I cannot blame you for wanting to relax going into adulthood. Especially now that you have… quite the verbose romantic partner."
Ben smirked at that. "Yeah, Yang's pretty great, huh?" He took a brief pause and rubbed his arm nervously. "Azmuth, I'll be honest… I'm fairly certain that I love her."
"Hm, that is certainly quite the big step." Azmuth shrugged. "But I suppose her spontaneity is quite attractive to you at your age." Ben raised a brow at that before Azmuth went on. "But in any case, you have exhibited wisdom beyond your years in the past, Ben Tennyson, so I hope I can see that same wisdom going forward. And… if you are that serious about your relationship, my advice would be to tell her how you truly feel…" Azmuth lowered his head a bit as a hint of remorse came to his face. "…Should you lose her forever." he whispered to himself before moving his head back up, his expression returning to normal. "As always, I am counting on you, young man."
The hero placed a fist over his chest in a salute. "Thanks for the advice, Azmuth. And don't worry, I won't let you down."
…..
"…See that you don't, Ben Tennyson." Azmuth murmured to himself as he kept his focus on the television. Behind him, everyone except for Professor Paradox were staring with their mouths agape at what was on screen. They had cheered when they saw Ben transform into Humungousaur… but when he went Ultimate, the room became completely silent, save for a few audible gasps from Athena and Holiday. But still, Azmuth kept his sights directly onto the evolved Vaxasaurian as he began to square off with his corrupted counterpart. "See that you don't."
"What… what even IS that?!" Athena exclaimed.
Holiday put a hand to her forehead in disbelief. "I… I don't know! Ben never did THIS when he came to our dimension!" She whirled her head around to Max, hoping that he would have an answer. "Max, what did Ben just do?"
The elderly Plumber was just as dumbstruck as the ladies, but he was able to find it within himself to answer. "That… that's Ultimate Humungousaur." he uttered. "Ben was able to transform into many Ultimate Aliens back when he had the Ultimatrix…" His eyes shifted down to Azmuth as his suspicions grew. "Azmuth… I thought the Ultimates weren't available in the new Omnitrix."
"They were not… up until a half hour ago." Azmuth answered as he faced the room. "With things escalating the way they have been, I thought it best to grant Ben the use of the Ultimate Aliens once again, even if I myself am still reluctant to do so." He trained his eyes onto Professor Paradox near the back of the room. "But… I can thank a certain someone to convince me of that choice."
Everyone turned toward Paradox and the time traveler smiled, giving everyone a shrug. "Well, what can I say? He said that the Ultimate feature couldn't make that big of a difference on the future… and I took him up on that bet."
Tai raised an eyebrow at that. "So, what, you took him to some sort of bad future or something?"
"Precisely!" Paradox answered enthusiastically. "Good to see you all are coming to grips with how time travel works."
Holiday sighed and focused back onto the TV, just in time to see everyone running away from the Grimmungousaur and Ultimate Humungousaur as the two giants began grappling with one another. "Well, if it helps them defeat that giant Grimm, then I suppose it's a good thing that Ben has it."
Oscar was grinning from ear to ear as he kept his gaze locked onto the television, his fists balled up in anticipation. "No kidding! Plus, this makes for an awesome fight to watch! Man, Ben is seriously the coolest!"
Professor Paradox came up and stood behind the couch where Oscar was sitting, keeping his eyes trained onto the TV all the while. "Indeed, Oscar. That, I will not argue. This match should be quite entertaining."
"Hm, still, let us hope that Ben is able to keep control of the fight for the duration of his transformation." Azmuth pointed out. "Or at least is able to destroy it before the Omnitrix times out."
Max blinked at that before glancing down at the Galvan. "…Excuse me?"
"Ah, yes, while the Omnitrix IS able to utilize the Ultimate feature, the battery is unable to keep the transformation going for as long as the Ultimatrix did due to all of the other features that the Omnitrix has." Azmuth explained. "Meaning that he now has even less time to maintain his Ultimate forms than he had before."
"…WHAT?!" The old Plumber exclaimed.
…..
Back in the city of Vale, the entire team was gazing on in complete and utter shock at what was happening before them. Just when they thought that Ben didn't have any more surprises up his sleeves, he pulled out something so totally unexpected that they didn't even have time to comprehend what it even was. The adults among them were also flabbergasted, with Lisa shakily keeping hold of her microphone as the two giant lizards tumbled across the city street. "Ladies and gentlemen… I don't even know what to say to this. I just saw a young man transform into a giant lizard… to fight off another giant lizard… only to then transform even further into an armored giant lizard." She craned her head to Yang and asked; "How do you deal with something like this?"
"Honestly… this is the first time he's ever done something like this." Yang admitted with a shrug. "So I guess that was the big surprise that he mentioned earlier."
Next to her, Vernal put a hand to her head in disbelief. "Surprise is an understatement, Blondie! Just how many tricks can your boyfriend pull out of his ass?!"
Yang rolled her eyes and smirked at the question. "Way too many, V."
"I see." Lisa nodded before moving her attention to Penny. "And you, Robo-girl! Have you been holding off that creature this whole time?!"
Penny smiled and gave a salute to the camera. "Indeed, I have! I was trying to keep it away from you guys for as long as I could so that you were able to take care of the other Grimm and the bad guys." She brought her focus back to the battle at hand, just in time to see Ultimate Humungousaur sock his corrupted counterpart across the face. "But it would seem that the timing could not have been more perfect!"
"Well I'm certainly not complaining!" Nora shouted as she watched Humungousaur deliver another strong punch to the Grimmungousaur's stomach, managing to chip away at some of the bone armor with his metallic knuckles. "Go, Ben, GO!"
Jaune rubbed the back of his head as he took note of something. "As awesomely cool as all of this is… why did he shrink back down?" The other's eyes quickly widened in realization. Indeed, the supposed "Ultimate" Humungousaur was actually back to his regular height, if a bit bulkier thanks to the new armor added onto him. But still, he seemed to have no problem going toe to toe with the Grimmungousaur. "Why didn't he just stay big?"
"Because he physically can't." Rex piped up, taking everyone by surprise.
Weiss raised a brow at him. "What're you talking about, Rex? Do you know about this?"
"Yeah, while Ben never changed into his Ultimate forms in my world, he DID tell me about them." Rex jerked his thumb toward Ultimate Humungousaur. "And apparently, each Ultimate has drawbacks from its normal form. Humungousaur can't grow anymore, but now he's got his armor to compensate for it… plus another little feature."
Everyone trained their eyes back toward the battle as the Grimmungousaur swung its tail around, intending to strike at Humungousaur with an unexpected feint. However, the evolved Vaxasaurian quickly countered it with a tail slam of his own, the two giant clubs colliding with each other and creating a shockwave as a result. Surprisingly, it managed to bring both Vaxasaurian's down, though Humungosaur was able to recover a bit quicker. A devilish smirk came to his face as he brought his hands up, chuckling as the appendages began to twist and morph into something else.
Everyone's eyes widened when each of his hands transformed into huge, quadruple-barreled cannons, the plates on his knuckles transforming into the barrels of said weapon. Without warning, a whole barrage of missiles suddenly blasted out of the cannons and shot straight at the Grimmungousaur, its eyes widening before it was engulfed in a huge explosion of fire and smoke.
With a satisfied sigh, Humungousaur shifted his hand back to normal. "Ah, gotta admit, missed doin' that."
However, everyone else behind him could only stare on at the awesome absurdity of what just happened. "Did… did his hands just convert into rocket cannons?" Ren asked.
"…Yes, yes they did." Raven confirmed.
Pyrrha rubbed her eyes to make sure she hadn't just dreamed that. "And he just fired rockets from them, correct?"
"YES! AND IT WAS AWESOME!" Nora screeched at the top of her lungs.
Qrow let out a sigh as his eyes trained themselves to where his flask used to be. "I'd ask what was in my whiskey to make me see all of this, but I just chucked my flask, so I don't have an excuse."
Vernal suddenly thrust her arms toward the evolved Vaxasaurian. "Seriously, what the FUCK is even happening anymore!?"
Ruby gave the lady bandit a small shrug. "I have NO clue, Uncle Qrow… but I do know who will." She cupped her hands over her mouth and called out to the hero; "Hey BEN! What the heck is even going on here?!"
Ultimate Humungousaur did an about face and gave the group a big, toothy grin, sending them a thumbs up. "Pretty cool, eh guys?! Hope you're enjoying the show, cause—" GYAAAOOON! The familiar, chilling roar made the Vaxasaurian spin around just in time to see the Grimmungousaur come leaping out from the immense fire that had been created, the giant creature slamming down on the ground in front of him. Humungousaur grit his teeth and prepared himself for another attack. "…Things are only starting to get goin'."
With a roar of his own, Ultimate Humungousaur charged directly at the Grimmungousaur's abdomen, intending to stab his large horn into one of the creature's exposed parts. However, before he could make contact, the giant Grimm grabbed a hold of the horn and swung Humungousaur around, flinging him clear through a nearby building. Humungousaur tumbled onto his feet, but at the very next second, the Grimmungousaur plowed right through the building as well, reducing it to nothing but rubble withing seconds.
It came to a stop and opened its mouth, its maw glowing deep violet as it readied its laser once again. Humungousaur's eyes widened as the beam shot out of its mouth within a split second, before turning around to face away from the laser. Shockingly enough, the evolved Vaxasaurian's hard shell actually took the violet beam, leaving him with only a scorch mark on his hard scales.
This made nearly everyone's jaw drop. "Oh… my… god." Blake uttered. "He survived the death beam?!"
"Okay, it's official." Sun threw his hands up in the air. "Ultimate Humungousaur is my new favorite alien."
"Ditto, man." Neptune nodded.
"No, that's a different alien." Yang smirked, earning a few chuckles and groans from her friends. "But seriously, I'm seriously liking this Ultimate transformation, too." She pumped a fist up into the air and called out to her boyfriend. "Go get 'em, Green Boy!"
Humungousaur smiled as he heard his girlfriend's encouragement. 'Will do, Goldie Locks.' He swung his tail around and slammed it against the ground, sending another powerful shockwave out at the Grimmungousaur. The corrupted Vaxasaurian tried to remain steady as the earth beneath it shook, moving onto its hands to keep itself stable. However, it was then that Humungousaur converted his hands into his rocket cannons again, shooting another volley at the rampaging beast.
But the Grimmungousaur had learned something from the last attack; those things hurt. So it moved itself so that the rockets would make impact with the most protected part of its body; its spines. The missiles struck the large dorsal plates and exploded against them, and while they did manage to chip a few pieces off of the bones, they managed to absorb most of the attack. A growl escaped the Grimmungousaur's throat as the plates began to glow again, its mouth opening up and quickly shooting another laser blast from it.
Humungousaur growled back in response, though this time, he didn't try to block the laser. Instead, he sent more missiles at it, causing a big explosion that sent both Vaxasaurians flying back. Humungousaur landed right on his back, his ears ringing from the intense volume of the explosion. "Ugh, alright, never do THAT again."
GYAAAAAOOON! The evolved Vaxasaurian picked his head back up to see the Grimmungousaur standing as well, the beast still laser-focused right onto him. With a few cracks of his neck, Humungousaur stood up and punched his fists together, pumping himself up for battle. 'Best to save the firepower, anyway.' he thought to himself. 'Might need the energy later.' With that, he charged back in and began grappling with the beast once more, sending the larger dinosaur onto its back again.
As the tussle continued, the teens and adults all stuck to a safe distance as they observed the giant lizards fighting, with many of them cheering their friend on. However, not many were as enthused about following the action. "Perhaps it would be best if we stayed away from the giant beasts?" Lionheart stressed. "This really is not the safest place to be at the moment."
"As much as I hate to agree with the scary lion man, he's right." Greg agreed. "This is WAY too close."
"Ah, don't be silly, Greg." Lisa reassured as she waved him off, not taking her eyes off the battle. "We're at a fine enough distance. Besides, I'm sure the people at home are going to LOVE this."
Next to her, Winter raised a skeptical brow, the elder Schnee crossing her arms at the over-enthused reporter. "Are you quite certain that getting footage of this fight is the best course of action? This could cost you your life, you know."
Lisa shot the fellow white-haired woman a sideways glance. "Ma'am, I have been reporting for almost fourteen years and I haven't felt this excited about a story since my early years. I don't think you quite understand how important this story is to me."
As the adults conversed, however, Yang balled her hand into a fist, her determined gaze focused squarely on her boyfriend and the Grimmungousaur. "…I know I'm gonna sound crazy when I say this, but… I think we should try lending Ben a hand."
The reaction was immediate; "WHAT?!" came the collective voices of everyone before Blake picked it up from there. "Yang, are you CRAZY?!"
"We couldn't do anything to that thing the first time." Weiss added as she placed a hand on her chest. "And I only managed to take a single horn off its head with the Arma Gigas!"
"I'm not saying that we have to go in guns a-blazin', girls." Yang explained as she raised her hands to her team. "I'm just saying that maybe some supporting fire could help whittle down the Grimmungousaur a bit more. Maybe we can even distract it while Ben gets some more heavy hits in."
Raven placed a hand to her chin in thought. "Hm, that IS a good point." She locked eyes with her daughter for a few good seconds before giving a sigh. "Well, so long as we keep our distance, I don't see why not." She pointed a finger at everyone present. "But I don't want any of you within twenty feet of that monster, understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone sounded off.
All of a sudden, Penny brought forth her Bash Blasters, the large energy cannons glowing green as they settled upon her shoulders. "Just point me in the right direction and I will bring the suppressing fire, my friends!" she said with a salute.
Out of the corner of her eye, Raven saw Lionheart attempting to lay low, but Qrow quickly caught the lion mutant before he could fully hide himself, giving him a harsh glare. "Oh no ya don't, yer gonna help us with this too, Leo." Qrow scolded. "Whether ya like it or not."
"He's right, professor." Sun said with a serious face. "Think of this as your first piece of recompence for what you did at Haven Academy."
Lionheart sighed and nodded his head. "…I suppose you're right. Very well, then, I will do what I can."
"Good, we'll need all the help we can get." Raven said before sending a quick glance up toward Beacon Academy. "I certainly hope the others are having better luck than we are…"
…..
Back up at Beacon, Gwen Tennyson was standing at the academy's front entrance, secluding herself from the ongoing battle as she attempted to recoup and regain her energy. From what she could see of the giant brawl between the Beacon students, staff, the three White Fang leaders, and the Grimm, the dark creatures were beginning to lose ground pretty quickly, thanks in no small part to Coco and her team bringing on the heavy assault. Of course, Ironwood and Goodwitch were holding their own as well, and Ghira, Kali and Sienna were all quite fierce as well, the three feline Faunus ravaging each Grimm that came their way.
…She couldn't also help but find it cute that Velvet and Cardin were actively watching each other's backs. 'Not in an official relationship, huh, Vel?' Gwen smirked to herself before shifting her focus over to the fight between Cinder's group and her other friends.
Tetrax and Rojo were clashing their blades against one another with quick, successive strikes, the blows heavy and unrelenting as both the bounty hunter and the former mercenary didn't give any ground to one another. Across the way, Kevin was using his new giant earthen fists to drive Mercury backward, the silver-haired assassin blasting out multiple blasts from his boots to try and make the giant stone arms break. Oddly enough, they DID break easily… but then they reassembled just as quickly, leaving the young man to grow angrier each time it happened.
Swift and Ilia were also working quite well with each other, the former having hoisted Emerald up into the air by her feet before throwing her down at the chameleon girl, who then delivered a strong round house kick to Emerald's stomach. This, combined with the direction that Ilia kicked, resulted in Emerald being sent directly into Neo, who managed to catch her, but not without falling onto her rear. The Aerophibian hybrid landed next to her friend and they gave each other a nod, with Ilia taking her Lightning Lash for good measure.
Ilia then whipped the lash at the duo and successfully hit Emerald in the shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain as both she AND Neo were electrocuted. At the same moment, Swift blasted her eye and tail beams toward the ground where the two villainesses were sitting, knocking them back the moment they made impact. As it happened, the duo were blasted back to where Kevin had just knocked Mercury with one of his large arms… and it was then that an idea formed in Gwen's mind.
'It might be a long shot, but I think I've built up enough mana for at least one more spell like that…' However, Gwen quickly realized that something important was missing. 'Gah, but Cinder's not here. I'm going to need all five of them if I—' However, the sounds of jet boosters suddenly caught her attention, brigning her gaze upward. 'Huh, speak of the devil.'
There, high up in the sky, she saw none other than Cooper and Cinder flying back toward Beacon at high speeds, the duo locked in midair combat all the while. However, Cooper's suit looked to be MUCH worse for wear, with multiple scorch marks, gashes, and even a bit of smoke billowing from the thrusters as he flew. Gwen's eyes widened when she noticed that Cooper was falling fast, now seeing that he HAD to get out of that suit. She cupped her hand to her mouth and yelled; "COOPER!"
The armored genius perked up at the sound of her voice. "GWEN?!"
"BITCH!" Cinder snapped as her eyes followed his gaze.
Gwen pointed toward the battle and explained; "Bring her over here, I have a plan!"
"Gotcha!" Cooper nodded before going back to Cinder. "Well, you heard the lady."
"No!" Cinder pressed as she strengthened her grip on Cooper's arm, bending the metal of the gauntlet while heating it up. "I will NOT be subjected to more of you tricker—" BLAM! At that moment, Cooper shot his laser rifle directly at Cinder's midsection managing to blast her away from him and back toward the ground. She landed back first and actually managed to bounce off the pavement, allowing Cooper to land and deliver a punch directly on her, sending her careening back further to where Emerald, Neo and Mercury were being cornered.
Finally, Gwen began to run back to the battle herself, calling out to her Petrosapien friend all the while. "Tetrax!"
"Gwen?!" Tetrax pushed Rojo away and raised a hand to the Anodite. "Get back! You still aren't—what?"
As it happened, Gwen had actually jumped up and clung herself to the alien's back, taking hold of his shoulders while giving him a serious face. "I have a plan, but you'll have to trust me. Get Rojo and force her over to where the others are cornering those guys over there." The redhead pointed over to where the villains were being rounded up, giving Tetrax a small smile. "And then, I'll take things from there. Are we on the same page?"
Tetrax shifted his eyes from her to Rojo and then to the others gathered across the way, giving her a nod. "Alright… but I hope you know what you're doing." With that, Tetrax charged directly at Rojo, the bounty hunter smirking as she raised her sword.
"HA! What're you two doing—GAH!" Rojo's amusement was cut short when Tetrax delivered a strong shoulder tackle to her midsection, bringing her along with him as the three charged over to the others, with Gwen calling out to them as well.
"Kevin, Ilia, Swift! Stay on them and make sure they don't go anywhere!" Her eyes then went to Cooper, who seemed to be on the verge of collapsing with his suit. "Cooper, you stay here with the others… and get that suit OFF!"
Cooper sighed and gave her a salute, giving Cinder one final push so that she collided with Emerald, Neo and Mercury. "A-Alright… will do."
Once Cinder and her three teammates were together, Kevin used his massive arms to give them the biggest bear hug imaginable, with Ilia and Swift landing on the earthen appendages to keep the villains secured. "Grr, what IS this foolishness?!" Cinder exclaimed as she tried to free her arms. Next to her Mercury kept attempting to dislodge himself by kicking and shooting the ground beneath him while Emerald and Neo kept trying to use their Semblances, only for Kevin to keep putting on the pressure and making them lose their concentration. Cinder, however, had a quick solution; she activated her maiden powers and began freezing the massive rocky arms, making them brittle and easier to break. 'We should be out of here in no ti—'
"CINDY!" Cinder's eyes snapped up just in time to see Rojo being plowed right into all of them, with Tetrax keeping her in place while Gwen leapt up and off of the Petrosapien's back. The Anodite's eyes began to glow once again before she raised her arms and chanted one last magic spell;
"ABAEO EXORIOR!" With that, a large, pink mana dome appeared over all of the combatants, with Cooper being the only one outside of the dome. The armored genius watched as all ten of them suddenly disappeared in a pink flash of light, leaving him the only one left in the courtyard.
Cooper breathed heavily as his suit began to smoke more and more. "Hah… hah… good luck, guys." he said in exhaustion. "We're counting on—" BANG! "AUGH!" Without warning, Cooper's right shoulder suddenly burst into flame, sending a surge of pain throughout him. "VADOS! Transfer to left gauntlet and initiate Emergency Exit protocol! Eject me from this thing!"
"Already on it, Mr. Daniels!" All of a sudden, the Centurion armor began falling apart at the seams, the metal pieces all clattering to the ground except for the left gauntlet, which remained on Cooper's arm.
Once all of the pieces were off, Cooper rolled away on to the grass to put out any residual fire that may have been on him. After he was sure there was none, he stood up and set his eyes on what remained of his armor, letting out a brief sigh of sadness before checking in on his A.I. "VADOS? You there?"
"Indeed, I am, Mr. Daniels." VADOS confirmed as the gauntlet opened up to reveal a screen, one that had an electronic vocal pattern on it that moved with her voice. "Apologies for the suit. I suppose it was not as durable as we thought it was…"
Cooper smiled down and shrugged. "Ah, it's alright. I'm just glad that you managed to escape alright."
"TECH HEAD!" The genius perked up when he saw Coco, Velvet, Fox and Yatsu all charging toward him at a rapid pace, the fashionista jumping up and hooking her arms around his head. Surprisingly, to him at least, she seemed to be quite frantic as she nearly choked him in the hug. "Are you CRAZY?!"
"Coco, I—"
"We SAW you falling out of the sky with the suit about to catch fire!" Coco interrupted, removing her glasses so that Cooper could get a good look at her eyes. What he saw made his gut wrench. There were few times when he saw Coco's confidence break, and now was definitely one of those times. "And you were fighting CINDER of all people?! What were you thinking?!" She pulled him back into an embrace and Cooper could hear her voice grow hoarse as she said the last part quietly. "…For a second, I thought I was going to lose you."
Slowly, Cooper brought his arms around Coco, caressing her back slowly and tenderly in reassurance. "Coco… I agree that taking on Cinder was probably a bad idea to begin with… but if it meant being able to protect the woman who's hugging me right now, then it was worth it." He pulled back and traced his lips against hers, giving her a smile as the brief kiss ended. "Besides, you know for a fact that I'm not going down that easily."
Coco sighed and pressed her forehead against his, a small smile appearing on her face. "…I know, it's just… I thought back to all of the lives that Cinder took during the Battle for Beacon. I just… didn't want you to end up like all of them."
"I know, and I won't." Cooper assured as Coco settled her head against his chest. "And I promise, I'll be more careful who I pick fights with in the future."
A small smirk worked it's way to Coco's face as she tapped a finger to Cooper's chest. "Good, glad we understand each other." The fashionista's eyes trailed over to the smoking, fiery heap that used to be Cooper's armor, a saddened expression coming to her face. "Oh, gods… sorry about your armor, Tech Head."
"Ah, it's alright." Cooper waved. "I'm just glad that I got out of it in time."
"B-But you worked so hard to build it!" Velvet interjected. "And you put so much thought into it as well!"
"Also true, but if there's one thing I've learned from studying Tony Stark's building philosophy, its that there's ALWAYS room for improvement. So don't worry…" Cooper brought up a holographic keyboard on his gauntlet and began typing in a few commands. In a few seconds, he brought up another holographic display, this one resembling a schematic of his armor… only it was in gold. "I'm already working on the Mark III as we speak."
Everyone's eyes widened as Fox spoke up first. "Heh, why am I not surprised?"
Yatsu raised a brow at it. "But why is it… gold?"
"Because I'm going to be making it out of a gold titanium alloy that's less susceptible to freezing." Cooper answered while jerking a thumb over to the burning Mark II suit. "Besides, I think I've learned that keeping a Fire Dust melting solution in the suit is kind of a bad idea." He pressed another button on the holo-keyboard and then, the suit schematic suddenly had a new layer of purple coating over the gold metal. "And once I'm done building it, I'm gonna paint it purple!"
Coco rolled her eyes at that, knowing it was her boyfriend's favorite color. "Of course, you are."
"Cooper!" The five teens whirled their head around to see Ironwood, Goodwitch, Sienna and the Belladonnas all making their way over, the adults visibly concerned. "Are you alright?" the general asked. "Where are Gwen and the others?"
The blond genius' gaze trailed over to where his friends and their enemies once were, his brows furrowing in contemplation. "She… she teleported all of them away. But to where, I have no clue."
"Perhaps back down to the city?" Sienna suggested. "It would be a place where they would have plenty of back up."
Glynda put a hand to her chin. "Hm, very good point. But still, we should probably… oh dear." The headmistress' eyes trailed up and everyone followed her gaze, only to see the Mistralian Airship flying straight over their heads. Everyone held their ground as the huge flying boat began to descend down past the academy's docking bays and back toward the city of Vale, leaving everyone to confirm their thoughts.
"I believe it's safe to say we were right in our first guess." Ghira said with a furrowed brow. "We have to get back down there and help them, now."
Kali's shoulder's visibly sagged, the cat woman leaning against her husband for support. "Ugh, this game of back and forth is utterly exhausting. Is it too much to ask for these villains to accept their defeat already?"
"Until that Grimmungousaur is dealt with, I don't think they'll give up so easily." Ironwood answered before the sound of descending jet engines caught their attention. The group turned back around to see the Resolute coming in for a landing, its boarding ramp lowering the moment it settled on the ground. "Come on, I think we're already being expected."
…..
That last spell had done it. Gwen could feel the familiar feeling of fatigue begin to take over her body as she and the other nine people she had transported all appeared back in the city. She had focused on Ben's energy to begin with, hoping that it'd take them all right to the rest of their friends. However, she couldn't see them… or anything really as her vision began spinning, resulting in her losing her balance and falling off of the pile of people.
"GWEN!" Kevin called out before reaching out to grab the Anodite's falling form, letting out a sigh of relief.
"GRRRAAAAAH!" With a mighty cry of exertion, Cinder summoned every ounce of strength she could muster and created a bright fiery orange energy field around her Aura, forcing the heroes to be sent flying away from her and her allies. Cinder took a quick look at Emerald, Neo, Mercury and Rojo to make sure they were all okay before focusing her glare onto the heroes. "That is IT! Your interference has gone on for… too… long?" Cinder's eyes widened as they shifted up a bit, her lips parting in surprise. "What in the world?"
Rojo rubbed her head and stood up, as did the others. "Ugh, huh? What is it Cindy?" However, the moment she saw what Cinder did, they bugged out in disbelief, her pale completion becoming even paler at the sight before her. "Oh… no." Next to her, Neo's jaw dropped like a brick while Emerald and Mercury were left flabbergasted by what they were seeing, which ended up piquing the heroes' interest.
"What?" Ilia asked as she and Swift turned around. "What's going—OH MY GOD!" There, right down the street, the two girls saw their allies facing off against the Grimmungousaur… with who they could only assume to be Ben fighting against the beast in a somewhat unfamiliar form. It looked like Humungousaur, but at the same time it was very different. "What the HELL did Ben turn into this time?!"
However, by contrast, Swift had a big grin on her face. "Oh… THIS is very interesting."
Tetrax and Kevin also saw the familiar transformation, though they seemed to be in just as much disbelief as Rojo. "No… fuckin'… way." Kevin uttered. "THAT was the surprise that Azmuth gave him?!"
"Wait, Azmuth?" Tetrax exclaimed. "He's here as well? Well, I suppose that explains things."
"Uh, no it doesn't!" Emerald shouted as she pointed to the dueling Vaxasaurians. "Who the hell is Azmuth?! And what kinda alien is THAT?!"
"Not just that…" Cinder started as she focused her gaze onto a certain lion mutant, who was busy trying not to get hit while dishing out attacks of his own. "But they managed to free Leonidas! What even IS going on here?!"
"I have to agree, completely lost." Ilia nodded.
However, with Kevin still supporting her, Gwen let out a groan at the constant loud speaking, rubbing her temple, hoping to stave off the onsetting headache. "Ugh, why are we all talking about Azmuth? And what's going on with Ben?" The redhead groggily opened her eyes as her vision slowly returned to her, seeing the massive green, armored dinosaur fighting off his doppelganger. "Oh, it's just Ultimate Humungousaur." Gwen smiled before closing her eyes again… only to snap them open a second later. "ULTIMATE HUMUNGOUSAUR?!"
Hearing his name being screamed out across the street, Ultimate Humungousaur craned his head slightly to see Gwen, Kevin, Ilia, Swift and surprisingly, Tetrax all a standing some yards behind him, staring straight at the fight with Cinder and her crew standing not far behind. 'What the hell?' he thought to himself. 'What're THEY doing back here so soon?!' However, this moment of distraction proved costly as the Grimmungousaur managed to swing its tail around and slam him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him while sending him flying backward.
"BEN!" the other teens cried out as they saw the evolved Vaxasaurian get flung away, causing many of them to see Gwen and the others as well.
Raven took the opportunity to unsheathe Omen, having changed the blade to that it now had a white Wind Dust Blade to it. Activating her Maiden Powers, she brought forth a huge gust of wind, one which surround the blade before Raven send forth a powerful slash at the beast. The blade didn't make physical contact, but the resulting gale of wind that shot out at the Grimmungousaur was enough to stagger the creature back toward an abandoned building. After the wind was spent, Raven whipped her head toward a certain android. "Penny!"
"Affirmative!" the redheaded android called back before aiming her Bash Blasters at the beast and firing at it. The twin beams of green energy slammed into the beast and caused it to topple into the empty building, causing the structure to fall on top of its head.
Raven turned to her charges and waved her arm toward Humungousaur. "Go, fall back! Ben needs to get back up to his feet if we stand a chance!" The teens complied with their orders and began a tactical retreat, with Raven, Winter, Qrow and Lionheart bringing up the rear.
Meanwhile, after Ultimate Humungousaur had landed, Kevin and the others began making their way toward them… only for a certain reporter to get there before them, her camera man pointing the lens right at the Vaxasaurian's face. "Ben! Er, I mean, Humungousaur!" Lisa shouted in concern. "A-Are you—"
"I'm fine, don't worry. Also, just call me Ben, it's easier." Humungousaur quickly stood up and looked down at his friends in shock. "What're you guys doing back here?!"
"We came back to get THEM away from Beacon." Kevin answered as he pointed back toward Cinder's group, the five villains still taken aback by what they were seeing. Kevin then raised a brow at Lisa. "But uh… who the heck is she?"
Lisa perked up and gave them all a bow. "Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network." She pointed to Gwen and Kevin. "And you two are the absorbing hero and the energy heroine, correct? It's a pleasure to meet…" However, Lisa's immediately glanced to Tetrax and Swift, their appearances catching her attention immediately. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together. "AAAAAAH! Real ALIENS?!" From there, the reporter got right in the duo's faces and began asking them question after question, her voice going a mile a minute.
"Woah, woah!" Swift raised her hands defensively. "Back off, lady!"
"Yeah, that's enough, Miss Lavender." Humungousaur said while pulling Lisa back. "Besides, we have other things to be dealing with at the moment." Lisa gave him a pout, but complied, crossing her arms to make sure they knew she wasn't happy about being silenced.
"Thank you, Ben." Tetrax sighed before gesturing toward the Vaxasaurian. "But uh… I suppose you don't need any help fighting the Grimmungousaur, eh? I take it this means that Azmuth really IS here, correct?"
"Heh, ya think?" Humungousaur smirked.
"I kinda wish you told us about this, Ben." Gwen reprimanded slightly, though she found it hard to do in her groggy state. "Having the Ultimate feature back is kind of a BIG deal."
"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry. But can we discuss this later? I'm on a bit of a time crunch. But first…" Ultimate Humungousaur eyeing Cinder and her followers, the quintet flinching as the massive, armored beast spread his arms out. "So guys, be honest, how d'ya like the Ultimate duds, huh? Been a while since I put 'em on, but I'd say they still fit well."
The five were silent for a few moments before Mercury piped up. "Wait… so that thing IS Humungousaur?!"
Rojo glared at the hero in annoyance. "Yeah, only it's the Ultimate version of Humungousaur. And I have to be perfectly honest… we don't stand a chance against that thing."
However, Cinder was quick to scoff at the notion. "Please, at most, it looks like he only has some heavier armor on…" She created two heated blades in her hands, her Maiden powers flaring to life. "And I'll enjoy carving him out of that shell of his. Come now, Tennyson, let's see what your "Ultimate Form" can do."
Ultimate Humungousaur glanced down to Kevin, Gwen, Tetrax, Swift and Ilia, the former four giving him a grin each while the chameleon girl wasn't too sure about what was going on. The hero' sights went back to Cinder and he shrugged his massive shoulders. "'Kay." He raised his right arm and his hand began to shift and convert into its rocket launcher mode, firing out a volley of missiles a split second later.
Needless to say, the quartet of Remnant villains were all completely confounded by that, especially Cinder who deflated immediately. "…I must admit I did not see that coming."
"Yeah, nobody does." Rojo said before spinning around and yelling; "RUUUUN!" Her comrades followed her lead, but they still ended up being blown back by the explosion that resulted from the missile's impact, careening them toward their unconscious teammates.
Ultimate Humungousaur shifted his hand back to normal afterward. "Ah, I love doing that."
"Ben!" The Vaxasaurian and his allies turned back to see the rest of the team coming back, with Yang waving up to her boyfriend. "Haha! Nice one, Green Boy! Ya sure showed 'em what Ultimate Humungouaur can do."
"Yeah, no biggie." Humungouaur shrugged again before moving past the large group while using his large hand to keep them back. "Alright, now that everybody's together again, I'm gonna need you guys to stay back from here on out. I'm about to unload everything I've got on this guy and the last thing I want is any of you to get hurt."
While Kevin, Gwen, Tetrax and Rex nodded in understanding, many of the others wore surprised expressions at his words. "What?!" Sun exclaimed. "Dude, I thought we were supposed to be in this together. Ya know, as a team?"
Neptune was quick to agree. "Yeah. I know we might not be able to do much against that thing, but—"
"That's not the reason." Humungousaur interrupted before craning his head down to the Omnitrix. "I only have a set amount of time left before the Omnitrix decides to time out, so if I wanna beat this thing, I have to go all out." He shifted his focus toward his friends, though he zeroed in on Yang in particular. "And if any of you got hurt in the crossfire… I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."
GYAAAAOOON! Everyone's heads whipped up at the sight of the Grimmungousaur slowly standing back up, a now thoroughly angry glare having taken over its features as it zeroes in on Ultimate Humungousaur once again. With her own violet eyes meeting the beast's, Yang suddenly had an idea, one that would ensure that Ben wouldn't be alone on this. She ran over and began climbing her boyfriend's back, much to his confusion. "W-Wha—Yang! What're you—"
Yang made it up to his head and shoulders and sat herself on top of him, patting his massive neck. "Here's the plan, Green Boy, you're gonna get me close enough to that thing so that we can knock it down. Then I'm gonna take out its eyes so that you'll have the upper hand." She smiled down to him with a thumbs up. "Then you can get in the finishing blow, alright?"
Humungousaur blinked and gave her a deadpan expression. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Yang shook her head vehemently and the evolved Vaxasaurian sighed in defeat. "Alright, all abord the Jurassic Express, then."
Back down on the ground, Vernal crossed her arms and glanced toward her mentor, curious as to her thoughts in all of this. "Well, Raven? Any objections?"
"…The plan is sound." Raven sighed before looking up at her daughter. "But should anything go wrong, I WILL step in, understand?" Yang gave her a smile and a nod in response.
"Hold on just a moment." The couple perked up when Winter stepped forward and summoned her Manticore, the winged lion belting out a loud roar the moment it appeared. "You will need some kind of strong backup to help take that thing down."
Yang sent her a thumbs up. "Hey, thanks Winter, I—"
"Wait!" Weiss suddenly came forward as well and brought Myrtenaster forth, stabbing it straight into the ground as she brought forth a summoning Glyph of her own. "Take this with you, too." Just then, her Sphinx began to rise up from the massive glyph… only to get stuck halfway again like it had that morning. "Grr… come ON! Why won't you—huh?" All of a sudden, a surge of energy suddenly began coursing through her, causing the glyph to spin even faster and for the Sphinx to rise up the rest of the way, allowing it to stand on its legs. The beast belted out a powerful roar as it spread its wings, a smile appearing on Weiss' face all the while.
It was then that she noticed that someone was touching her shoulder, so she craned her head up to see Jaune giving her a supportive grin and a thumbs up, his Semblance in full gear. "I thought you could use a hand with this one."
Weiss smiled back and stood up, giving Jaune's hand a small pat in thanks. "Thank you, Jaune. It means a lot." Her gaze went back up to the Sphinx and she pointed Myrtenaster at the Grimmungousaur, giving it the order; "Attack that freak of nature!" Both the Sphinx and the Manticore roared again before taking to the skies, swarming the Grimmungousaur in a matter of seconds. Weiss then eyed the powerful couple next to her, giving them a nod. "Alright, guys, good luck."
The duo smiled back down to her before Yang sent her boyfriend a wink. "Ready?"
"Oh yeah." Ultimate Humungousaur got onto all fours and began charging at his opponent, all while both he and Yang belted out; "IT'S HERO TIME!"
As the group behind them watched the two go head first into battle, a sigh came from Ilia, her head craning up toward the sky as she was still trying to process all of this. "Seriously, how the hell does Ben keep surprising us like this?"
"That's a question I keep asking myself." Gwen admitted. "Still trying to figure out an answer to that one."
Kevin let out a chuckle. "Heh, no kiddin'." But then, the Osmosian noticed something… or rather the absence of a couple someones. "Hey, uh… where'd the crazy reporter lady and her camera man go?"
Everyone's eyes widened and began searching for Lisa and Greg, only to find that they were indeed gone without a trace. "Oh, come ON!" Ruby shouted in frustration.
…..
As the battle continued to wage on, Cinder found herself with her cheek plastered against the cold pavement, her eyes fluttering open after being thrown for a loop by those missiles. "Ugh… alright, I suppose that IS quite "ultimate" after all." The Fall Maiden lifted herself up off the ground to see that her team were all in a similar state as her, though Neo's head seemed to be spinning more than the others. "Is everyone alright?"
"I think so." Emerald rubbed her head and stood up, with Mercury helping to keep both of them stable. "Okay, so let's remember one important detail; NEVER pick a fight with Ben's Ultimates."
"Psh, I wouldn't say that." Mercury said with an eyeroll. "We just had no idea what was coming. Next time, we'll—"
"Merc, take the lady's advice." Rojo said as she helped Neo to her feet. "Tennyson's Ultimates are his strongest transformations bar none. Unless we can find a REALLY good counter to them, we don't stand a chance."
Cinder took a second to let that sink in. If Rojo of all people said that they didn't have a hope in beating that Ultimate alien, then she must have been serious. The Fall Maiden slowly rose to her feet while keeping her sights trained on her wedged shoes, contemplating their options. 'If we don't retreat, we'll have to face against Tennyson as the missile blasting lizard if we want to get the crown.' She brought her hand up to her face, slightly biting her knuckle in apprehension. 'But if we DO retreat, we can fight another day… but face Salem's wrath once we return. No crown and no Leonidas is a bad equation. Either way, we will have to face SOME form of punishment.'
Suddenly, she was brought out of her thoughts when Emerald called out to her. "Cinder! The others!" The Fall Maiden craned her head up to see that, indeed, the three other mutants and Subdora were all strewn about in the street, and all of them had been utterly defeated. Exo-Skull was just starting to awaken in the rubble he was trapped under, Thunderhog was flat on his back with his arms and legs splayed out, Silyrian was struggling to free himself from the ice he was trapped in, and Subdora was trying in vain to yank herself out of the garbage can she was in… only to then immediately fall over and get herself more stuck.
The Merlinisapien rolled over and narrowed her eyes at the others, waving her arms indigantly. "Do not just stand there like tree stumps! HELP US!"
"O-Oh, right, sorry!" Emerald immediately went over to pull Subdora out of the trash can while Mercury slapped Hog awake… which caused the pig man to snap up and sock the assassin in the gut while screaming for help. In response, Mercury kicked Hog right in the face, sending him flat on his back again.
Rojo and Neo went over and helped Exo-Skull out of the rubble, the bounty hunter sitting him down on the pile as the rhino rubbed his head. "Jeez, and here I thought you guys could handle it."
"We were." Skull emphasized. "Urgh, but then Tennyson came back an' he and his team ruined the whole damn thing."
"So we saw." Cinder said as she approached as well. "Perhaps its time we consider a tactical—"
"HEY!" The Fall Maiden snapped her head to the right to see Silyrian still struggling against his icy prison, the scorpion clicking in frustration as his eyes landed on Cinder. "Don't you DARE just give up now! We came here with clear orders from our queen to retrieve the crown, and goddamn it, we're going to do it!"
Cinder glared at the mutant before crossing her arms at him. "Callows, I don't know if you've noticed, but that beast that Tennyson changed into is nigh unstoppable." She pointed directly at him. "And I don't know what YOU think you can do, because that armor seems pretty thick."
A soft chuckle escaped Silyrian's throat, his vocal cords clicking all the while. "Hehehe… well, I may not be able to pierce him, but I could always pierce someone else, hehe." Cinder furrowed her brows as Tyrian went on. "Think about it, Cinder! That group is so closely knit that if any one of them were to fall, the others would soon fall with them! In their grief, we can take advantage and head back to Beacon, where we will waltz right into the vault, claim our prize, and be gone before any of them know what hit them!"
There was a long pause before Emerald put a hand to her chin. "That idea may just be crazy enough… TO GET US ALL KILLED!"
"Yeah, not sure if you're paying attention mandible mouth, but if we kill one of them, then they'll ALL gang up on us to pay us back." Mercury emphasized.
"NOT if we get away early! Heeheehee!" Silyrian glanced toward his right side. "You see, I've been keeping an open channel with Animo for quite a while, and he is on his way here as we speak. If we can get this done by the time he returns, then we will be able to get back to Beacon in no time flat!" He nudged his head toward the ongoing fight. "And besides, Tennyson cannot possibly hold that form for long. I imagine it must take quite the toll on his Omnitrix, does it not? Should he be unable to transform for a while, it will present us with the perfect opportunity!" Silyrian grinned maliciously toward Cinder, awaiting the Fall Maiden's answer. "Well, Cinder? What do you say?"
Cinder contemplated the scorpion's words for a good few moments before creating an obsidian sword in her hand, taking everyone except Silyrian himself by surprise. She lunged forward with a forceful yell before slicing her blade… cleaving it right through the ice and causing it to melt instantly, freeing Silyrian from his icy prison. "I will admit, I would not be going along with this plan if you hadn't thought it out." Cinder said as she faced Silyrian once again with a devilish grin of her won. "However, even if it doesn't work, we can still leave knowing that we took something precious from these heroes, leaving them a broken mess."
Silyrian chuckled and gave her a theatrical bow. "I am pleased to hear you agree, Miss Cinder. And I know just who my target is…" Silyrian began to slink off into the nearest alley way, cackling to himself all the while.
As Silyrian slunk off into the alley, Rojo quirked a brow at her partner. "Are you sure this'll work, Cindy?"
"Perhaps, but I'm not counting on it." Cinder shook her head before glancing back toward the fight. "At this point, I simply want those do-gooders to suffer for getting in the way. If we can salvage the mission as well, that will be a bonus." However, as she said this, she saw a lone Seer floating high above the buildings, observing the fight between the Vaxasaurian's below. A chill went through Cinder's entire being before thinking to herself; 'Lady Salem… lord knows what YOU are thinking about all of this.'
…..
If there had been one thing that Salem was not expecting to see during this second, more direct raid on Vale, it HAD to be this. Not only did Tennyson transform into Humungousaur to counter her beautiful Grimmungousaur, but the fact that the boy could still transform into the Vaxasaurian at all was another factor that perplexed her to no end. 'I could have sworn I damaged the Omnitrix in SOME form after extracting his life force…' But of course, that wasn't all, oh no. On top of Humungousaur returning, there was also the matter of this "Ultimate Humungousaur". While she initially wasn't all too concerned since he shrunk back down to his regular height in favor of just mor armor… her concerns came right back the moment she saw him fire rockets from his hands.
"This… has to be the most preposterous thing I have ever seen!" Watts exclaimed as he flung his hands up in the air, pacing about the room with a worried expression. "Not only does the boy have his giant lizard back, but now he can shoot missiles?! What sense does that even make?!"
Hazel was also in disbelief over this, though he was calmer about it than his cohort. "Indeed, this is most troubling. What even IS this, anyway?"
"I do not know." Salem said as she placed her hands together, keeping her eyes on the battle intensively. Briefly, she glanced over to Viktor, hoping that he would have the answer. She had noticed that he remained peculiarly silent since Ultimate Humungousaur had appeared, and she could now see why. He was staring into the crystal ball with a surprised face, seemingly having not expected this to happen. "Dear Viktor, what do you make of this?"
"My lady… I am afraid we may have cause for concern." Viktor answered warily. "What you see before you is what is known as the Evolutionary function, a feature designed by the Galvan known as Albedo to enhance the Omnitrix Aliens' combat abilities to their full extent, granting them Ultimate Forms."
Salem's eyebrows rose up at this. "I see… and why has Benjamin not used this until now?"
Viktor crossed his arms, pursing his lips at the question. "I am afraid that may be a part of my other troubling thought… one that relates to how Tennyson has access to Humungousaur again in the first place." He locked eyes with Salem and, with a small sigh, he spoke his thought. "I am afraid that Azmuth, creator of the Omnitrix, has somehow arrived in Remnant."
Now THIS caught Salem's attention. "The Omnitrix's creator? Are you certain?"
"Indeed. There is no other way that Tennyson could have gotten Humungousaur AND the Ultimate Function back in such a timely manner, Miss Salem." Viktor's sights went back to the Seer, just in time to witness Ultimate Humungousaur and Yang go charging back into battle. "And, if my thoughts are correct, we may have an entirely new mountain to overcome."
Salem stayed silent for a few seconds… before Viktor received the last response he would ever expect from her. "…Good." He faced her again to see a sinister grin coming to her face, her finger tips taping together in anticipation. "I must admit, over the years, Ozpin's response to my moves have been lackluster at best. It has been a rather boring war up to this point, to be honest. But now… I have been presented with quite the challenge."
Watts and Hazel were also quite surprised, the former leaning toward the larger man and whispering; "Is she serious?" He only received a shrug in response.
…..
Back in Vale, the Grimmungousaur was trying to keep up with the Manticore and Sphynx that were flying around in the air, the white beasts circling it as if it were their prey. The large cats constantly kept a barrage of blue fire breath on the giant lizard, forcing it to cover its face to keep the flames from hitting its eyes. Every time it saw an opening, the creature let loose a brief blast of purple energy from its mouth, hoping to down the flying felines in one shot. However, the two nuisances constantly kept bobbing and weaving away from the large beam, flying gracefully through the air before coming back down to ram themselves into the beast in random areas. Whether it was the sides, the shoulders, the stomach or even directly in the face, they managed to do two things; make it stumble… and annoy it even more.
It was about to blast out another beam at the large cats, but then, a familiar voice called out to it; "HEY! Rejecto-saurus!" The beast spun around, just in time to be met with Ultimate Humungousaur socking it in the face. The smaller, yet stronger Vaxasaurian had used his tail as a propellant to enhance his jump, allowing him to get up close and personal to the giant beast. Humungousaur landed as the Grimmungousaur staggered back, but it still held its ground and stayed up right, swinging its tail at its opponent.
"Look out!" Yang shouted from her boyfriend's shoulders.
"No worries!" Before he could be struck by the giant club, Humungousaur surged forward and grabbed the large tail, keeping a hold of it and stopping the Grimmungousaur's momentum. With a mighty exerted grunt, the evolved Vaxasaurian began spinning himself around to gain more momentum, tossing his corrupted counterpart away with a single throw. The couple watched as the beast sailed down the street before rolling along the ground, stopping on its hands and knees.
Wasting no time, Ultimate Humungousaur let out a roar and began charging at the giant Grimm again, with the Sphynx and Manticore flying right by his side. Meanwhile, Yang was holding on to his neck for dear life, recognizing that the opportunity for her to strike was coming soon. 'Alright, this is it. Better make this one count.'
With another slam of his tail, Ultimate Humungousaur created a shockwave that helped propel him into the air, allowing him to sail clean over the Grimmungousaur's back. He grabbed the largest dorsal plate on the creature's back and began to perform a front flip, shockingly taking the huge creature with him. Using his momentum, the hero slammed the dark creature head first into the ground, its body being bombarded by the Sphinx and Manticore almost instantly.
As the two white Grimm pinned its legs and body to the ground, Humungousaur went straight for its arms, giving his girlfriend the opportunity to enact her plan. "Yang, NOW!"
The Blonde Brawler gave him a nod and jumped down off his shoulders, immediately rearing a fist back as she jumped down toward the Grimmungousaur's massive face. "This'll hurt you more than it hurts me, pal!" The Grimmungousaur went to bite the girl in half, but was instead met with a Dust round right into the mouth, the bullet exploding in the back of its throat. As it let out a pained bellow, Yang landed on its forehead and shot another two rounds into each of its eyes, blinding it instantly.
As to be expected, the monster didn't take it very well. GYYAAAAAOOOON! The Grimmingousaur slammed its tail against the ground, using it as leverage to escape the flying cats and Ultimate Humungousaur's grip, flinging the Vaxasaurian away. The giant beast coughed and hacked up smoke as it sputtered to regain itself, finding its new handicap to be quite cumbersome.
Yang, however, was quick to make fun of it. "Ha! Not so tough now that you can't see, huh?!" But the moment she saw it snap its head to her, her face fell and her jaw dropped as the beast began to open its mouth, preparing for another laser blast. "Oh… shit." The blonde would have been hit… if not for the timely arrival of the Sphinx, the creature scooping her up before taking to the skies once again. "Hah… that was a close one."
The Grimmungousaur craned its head up to start firing its attack willy-nilly into the air, only for Ultimate Humungousaur to jump up onto its back again and grab a hold of its head, slamming its jaw shut. From there, the two Vaxasaurian's continued their tussle from earlier, falling to the ground while delivering punches and tail strikes to one another. A few moments into the scuffle, though, the monstrous Grimm got in a lucky shot, sending Humungousaur careening away with one tail whip. It then sent a huge shockwave through the ground with a mighty WHAP of its tail, which also successfully hit the hero before he could collect himself.
Humungousaur breathed heavily as he got to his hands and knees, his eyes darting down to the device on his chest. "Omnitrix, how much charge is left?"
"Twenty percent and dropping.' the device answered.
"Shit!" The Vaxasaurian cursed, pounding his fist against the pavement as he did. "I'm nearly out of time!" He began to charge forward, only to see that the Grimmungousaur's nostils began to flare up, its head whipping in his direction before letting lose its beam attack once again. Humungousaur's eyes widened before spinning right around, allowing his shell to take the brunt of the energy attack. 'Crap! It still has its hearing and smell. It can still notice me coming! What do I—"
"BEN!" Humungousaur's gaze snapped up at the sound of a familiar voice calling out to him, his head whipping up to see Lisa and Greg standing in a nearby alley way. He could feel the energy beam still blasting against his back as he locked eyes with them, straining to hold his ground as the attack threatened to knock him over. "Don't give up!" Lisa shouted to him in support. "We need you! All of Remnant needs you!"
"What are you DOING here?!" The evolved Vaxasaurian demanded with a jerk of his head. "Get away before you get killed!"
Greg peaked out from behind the camera and furrowed his brow at Humungousaur. "Look, man, I haven't agreed with Lisa on a lot today, but THIS is something I can get behind. Remnant needs its new hero!"
"They've got a point, Ben!" the hero craned his head up to see Yang on the Manticore's back, currently reloading her Ember Celica for another set of attacks. "Now are you gonna stand there and TAKE that?! Or are we gonna finish that thing off?!"
This made Humungousaur's eyeridges snap up in surprise. It had been a while since any sort of news media actually got behind him in situations like this, and he had to admit, it did raise his spirits quite a bit. A smile appeared on his lips and he transformed one of his hands into a rocket blaster, waiting for the Grimmungousaur to stop firing its energy beam before spinning around and shooting at it. The missiles made direct impact with the beast's chest, making it bellow as more of its bony armor began to break.
"Haha, YES!" Lisa cheered. "Now THAT'S what I wanna see!"
Ultimate Humungousaur shifted his arm back to normal and wave his hand at the two reporters. "Thanks, now get out of here!"
"Are you KIDDING?!" Lisa dismissed, ushering for Greg to keep the camera on the fight. "We need to keep the camera rolling now more than ever! Show Remnant what you can REALLY do, Ben Tennyson!"
Humungousaur rolled his eyes and faced the Grimmungousaur as the creature stood up… only for it to get divebombed by the Sphinx at the very next second. The winged cat began clawing and biting at the giant Grimm's face, gauging at its eyes at the same time to cause it even more pain. Soon enough, the Manticore came flying in and rammed itself straight into the Grimmungousaur's abdomen as well, giving Yang the cue to jump off its back. The Blonde Brawler pumped her Ember Celica and propelled herself up to the Grimmungousaur's face, latching herself onto its snout.
"Let's clear that nose up a bit, huh?!" With a mighty scream, Yang punched directly into one of the beast's nostrils, making it roar in agony again as its nasal passages were literally set on fire. She was about to unload another round into the other one, but the Grimmungousaur jerked its head around and tossed her off, and with another flex of its arms, it tossed the ethereal white Grimm away as well, rolling onto its stomach as it coughed and sputtered out smoke from its mouth.
But before it could even compose itself, Ultimate Humungousaur ran forward and slammed its club tail on the ground, sending a powerful shockwave toward the beast. Once again, the ground beneath it began to rumble and shake, which allowed Humungousaur the opportunity to activate his rocket blasters again and shoot at the beast's chest, making it howl as the missiles began to pierce through its inky black skin.
Yang pumped a fist in excitement. "YES! We're whittling it down!"
"Yeah, but it's still got a lot of steam left in it." the evolved Vaxasaurian observed as the giant Grimm stood up, growling as faced its adversaries once again. However, before it could take a step forward, both the Sphinx and the Manticore leapt in and stood in front of the giant creature, both growling at the beast to dissuade it from approaching. The Grimmungousaur growled right back as its maw began to glow purple once again.
GYAAAOOON! With another mighty roar, the beast let loose another powerful energy blast aimed at the two cats, though they were able to take to the skies and avoid it. The felines darted to opposite sides of the beast and began to approach to attack with their respective flame breaths… only for the Grimmungousaur to whip its head toward the Manticore and aim its beam with it, obliterating the beast and making it dissolve into ethereal white smoke.
An audible gasp came from the couple as the Grimmungousaur then swung its rear around and slammed its large club into the Sphinx, impaling the creature and making it give out a loud shriek of pain. Once the beast smashed the smaller Grimm against the pavement, it too disappeared, dissolving like its comrade. From behind, Yang and Humungousaur could hear their heiress friend scream out; "NO!" after seeing her newest summon be defeated at the hands of the beast.
Yang clenched her teeth and balled her fists, scowling at the Grimm as it faced them once again. "Alright, that's it, we've gotta take this thing down, NOW!"
"Right… stay here, Yang." The blonde's eyebrows rose up as she watched her boyfriend stride forward, keeping his concentration directly on his corrupted counterpart. "You've been a big help, Goldie Locks, but now it's time for me to finish this." The evolved Vaxasaurian raised his hands and clenched them into fists, preparing for the fight ahead of him. "I think I barely have a minute left in this form, so I'll have to finish this up as quick as I possibly can. It's time for me to put this thing to bed."
After a few seconds, Yang smiled up to him and nodded. "Good luck."
Ultimate Humungousaur gave her a thumbs up before surging forward, belting out a roar as he sprinted on all fours to meet the Grimmungousaur head on. In response, the corrupted beast let out a roar of its own before meeting Humungousaur in the middle, the two Vaxasaurians colliding their fists in equally powerful punches. 'I won't let you down, Yang. I promise I won't let anybody down!' Humungousaur opened his hand and caught the Grimmungousaur's next strike, the creature's eyeridges snapping up in shock. 'Because I'm not just Earth's hero anymore, I'm Remnant's hero now, too!' He shoved the Grimmungousaur back and swung his tail, taking off another chunk of the creature's bone armor.
However, the giant beast fought through the pain and lunged itself back into the fight, delivering a flurry of more punches at the Ultimate Alien. But Humungousaur was able to easily counter them all, matching the Grimm's speed shot for shot. The force of the punches colliding was enough to start kicking up a few powerful gusts of wind, which forced Yang, Lisa and Greg to brace themselves against the ground.
"Jeez, what IS this?!" Greg exclaimed.
Yang smirked as she watched the battle play out, seeing that Ultimate Humungousaur was shifting his hand back into its missile launcher form. "THIS is what Ben Tennyson's really made of!"
The Grimmungousaur was able to sock Humungousaur right in the side using its tail in a feint attack, but the hero just grit his teeth and bore through the pain as he followed through with his next attack. "Alright, big guy…" BLAM! Humungousaur slammed his blaster hand into the club tail and fired at point blank range, the force of the combined blows allowing him to effectively shatter the massive club. The Grimmungousaur recoiled in pain before Humungousaur smashed his own tail into the beast's stomach, right into a part where its bone armor had been destroyed. "Let's see how tough you REALLY are!"
The Grimmungousaur doubled over and stumbled backward, only to immediately lurch forward and reel its fist back for another hit. Humungousaur drew his own fist back and hit back, the two Vaxasaurian's going back to trading blows. However, in-between one of these hits, Humungousaur could see the beast's dorsal plates and mouth lighting up again, now realizing that these punches were just a distraction.
'So that's how you wanna play it, huh?' The hero waited until he saw the Grimm's mouth start to open before he pumped his legs and jumped backward, bringing up his rocket launcher again. He let loose a single missile that sped right into the Grimmungousaur's mouth, exploding upon impact and causing its energy blast to die. After sputtering up more fire and smoke, the Grimmungousaur tried again to fire its laser… only for nothing to come out of its mouth.
"HA!" Lisa guffawed from the sidelines as a wave of cheers came from behind them. "Not so tough without your big laser, are ya?!"
"GRRAAAAAH!" With a mighty roar that echoed throughout the whole city of Vale, Ultimate Humungousaur surged forward and delivered another strike to his corrupted counterpart's chest, using a brief missile blast to power it up. The resulting hit sent the beast skidding back on its heels before tumbling backwards across the asphalt. Then, much to everyone's shock, Humungousaur transformed his other hand and used both missile launchers to boost his next jump, sending him propelling after the Grimmungousaur as it managed to stop itself and bound its way back toward him.
As he hurtled toward the creature, Humungousaur thrust his arms out and launched more missiles at it, sending it careening back toward the ground. 'A real hero…'He crossed his arms and shoved the Grimmungousaur away, using his missiles to once again go after it. '…will ALWAYS find a way for justice to be served!' As it happened, he ended up going right past the creature, allowing him to grab it by the arm and swing straight it over his head, slamming it back-first against the ground so hard that it actually rebounded against the pavement and came back up into the air a bit. The cheering died down as everyone was left in awe of the amazing feat of strength, their mouths agape at what they were seeing.
However, as he did this, Humungousaur could hear the familiar beeping of the Omnitrix, which meant that now was the time to finish this up. 'Time to give it one last shot!' Keeping his left hand shifted into its missile launcher mode, the evolved Vaxasaurian pulled his arm back for one final blow. "ULTIMATE…" He grabbed on to the Grimmnungousaur's face and pulled it toward him while bringing his other hand in toward its stomach for the final blow. "SMAAAAASH!" He let loose a blast from all four barrels at once as they made contact with the creature's chest, resulting in a gigantic explosion that left nothing but a gaping hole through the it's torso, its dorsal plates being blown away long with it.
The Grimmungousaur's face was unreadable as it just stood there with its mouth hanging open… but that didn't last long as it then fell back like a massive tree. Its jaw remained open as its head fell backward, falling onto the cold pavement as its entire body began to dissolve into black mist. As he watched his adversary billow upward into nothing but black smoke in the wind, Ultimate Humungousaur fought to catch his breath before suddenly being overtaken in a flash of red light, reverting first into his unevolved form before finally retuning to his human form. Still breathing hard, Ben could tell that the camera was still on him, trained onto his back.
'Eh… why not give the people what they want?' he thought to himself before raising his left fist into the air, right at the moment when the Grimmungousaur fully dissipated.
Once again, an onslaught of happy cheers erupted from the team as they all surged forward, all of them elated at the fact that their leader was victorious. Yang was especially eager to get to him, leaving an utterly stunned Lisa and Greg behind. …Well, Lisa was only like that for a couple seconds before flinging her head back and screaming into her microphone; "BEN TENNYSON WIIIIINS!"
Ben did an about face just in time to be tackled to the ground in a hug from his girlfriend, her lips pressed firmly to his in an intense and passionate kiss. This persisted until all of their friends were surrounding them, the blonde pulling away to allow Ben to catch his breath once more. "Ben, that was AMAZING!"
Before he could even respond, Ruby and Nora pulled both of them up into an embrace, the two bouncing up and down excitedly. "That had to be the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Ruby almost shrieked. "Your Ultimate forms must be amazing if they can pull off stuff like that!"
"Not bad, guys, not bad at all." Vernal nodded as she approached them as well. "That had to be one of the most intense fights I've seen in a while."
"And that LAST SMASH!" Nora emphasized as she pulled an uppercut maneuver like Ultimate Humungousaur had just done. "That had to be the most awesomely-amazing-superific punch I've ever SEEN!"
"They both make a very good point." Raven spoke up to catch their attention. She was standing with her brother near the back of the group, though the Spring Maiden was currently making her way toward them. "Ladies, if I may?" Ruby and Nora stepped back and allowed Raven to bring both Ben and Yang into a hug, the couple returning it gently. "Words can't describe how proud I am of both of you for facing that thing." Raven grinned. "Excellent job, you two."
It was then that Qrow stepped forward as well, with Lionheart standing next to him. "She's got the right idea, kids. Nice job, Firecracker, Watch Boy."
"Never doubted 'em for a second." Kevin piped up as he and Gwen came up, the Anodite now on her own two feet. "I think it's safe to say the bad guys have lost this one."
Gwen was quick to glance pointedly at her boyfriend for saying that. "Don't jinx it, Kevin. We still need to actually drive Cinder and the others out of town first before we can claim any victory." She smiled as she focused on her cousin and Yang once again. "But that said, it would be a bit easier now that the Grimmungousaur's been toppled. Nice work, you two."
Yang laughed as she and Ben fell out of her mother's embrace. "Hehe, thanks guys. Won't lie, I'm still amazed we actually pulled it off."
"I'm kinda at a loss for words myself." Blake said with a shake of her head before pulling her partner into another congratulatory hug. "But still, great job, Ben."
Sun rubbed the back of his head as he too was trying to process all that just happened. "Yeah, same here, my dude." He and many of the other boys then offered Ben a fist bump, which the hero began reciprocating. "You did pretty damn good today."
Ben let out a nervous chuckle at that. "Heh, well, ya know. All in the line of work for a hero. No big deal."
"Dude, you punched a literal hole through that monster." Jaune emphasized.
Pyrrha felt the need to agree. "Indeed, that probably has to be the BIGGEST deal ever." She then directed her gaze over to a certain redheaded android. "And Penny, I am still very impressed that you were able to hold off the Grimmungousaur for as long as you did. Great job!"
"Think nothing of it, Pyrrha!" Penny said with her usual salute. "I was simply doing what I knew was right!" Her sights then went back to Ben. "Though they ARE right, Ben. You finished it off in a truly sensational way!"
"Seriously, man, you saved the city." Neptune added before taking notice of just how much damage there was around the multiple city blocks where the whole fight had taken place. "Er, well… most of it, at least."
Ren grimaced as the others began to take note of the city's sorry state as well. "Yeah… it might be a bit longer before the city recovers from THIS attack as well."
"Hm, but still, that was all pretty intense." Ilia pointed out. "I didn't think Humungousaur could move like that, let alone an Ultimate Humungousaur."
Swift raised an eyeridge at Ben. "Yeah, where'd you get the idea for those "missile-boosts" anyway, Tennyson? Don't think I've ever seen THAT move from Ultimate Humungousaur, even on the news."
The Omnitrix bearer gave her a shrug. "Believe it or not, I thought that idea up on the fly. I knew I needed some extra mobility if I wanted to beat that thing, so I just used what was available to me." He spread his arms out toward the rest of the group. "But hey, let's not just ignore all of the awesome stuff you guys pulled off today! Honestly, you all put in a lot of effort."
Weiss gave her friend a sad smile. "Yeah, thanks, Ben… I just kinda wish my Sphinx could've been a bit more useful in that fight."
"WHAT?!" Rex's sudden exclamation made Weiss whip her head toward him in surprise. "Ice Princess, what're you talking about? The Sphinx was totally useful! It managed to pin that monster a whole bunch of times!" He thrust his arm over to Ben and Yang for emphasis. "It let those two get in the hits they needed, right?"
"W-Well, yeah, but it—"
"Yes, we know how it got taken out, dear sister." Winter assured. "We all saw it. But still, the Sphinx and Manticore proved to be quite effective in helping Ben and Yang overcome this challenge." She sent her sister a smile. "You should feel quite proud of that if anything, especially since you were able to summon it… even if you had help." Winter eyed Jaune for a bit, who gave a nervous laugh before she focused on her sister again. "I hope you get the hang of summoning it by yourself after that little extra push."
Weiss gave her sister a hug in appreciation. "I will, Winter. And thanks." Then, much to everyone's surprise, she went over and hugged Rex as well. "And thank YOU, Robo-dolt for reminding me of what my Sphinx DID do."
"U-Uh… yeah, sure." Rex said as he returned the embrace lightly. "N-No problem." At the sight of everyone giving him knowing looks, especially from Winter, Rex blushed up a storm and cleared his throat. "Ahem, s-so, uh… what's next?"
Tetrax stepped forward and answered that. "Well, during the battle, received a short message from Ironwood… Doctor Animo is on his way here with the airship, and the others are in hot pursuit—AH!" Without warning, though, Tetrax suddenly found a microphone shoved in his face.
"And what exactly does that mean, Mr. Alien, sir?" Lisa eagerly asked as Greg kept the camera trained on Tetrax. "Are the villains going to be making another move? Are they retreating? And what connections do you have exactly with General Iron—eep!" Lisa let out a surprised squeak when Tetrax suddenly picked her up by her collar with this thumb and forefinger, pulling her away so that she was not in his personal space.
"For one, Miss Lavender, my name is Tetrax. Secondly, Ironwood and I have been working for a good while, almost since we all arrived in this world." Tetrax answered as he then gently pushed the camera away from his face. "And thridly, this really isn't the time for interviews. The villains are still roaming the streets of Vale, and—"
"HEY!" Everyone whirled around toward the other end of the street to see Cinder and her group once again, though this time, they appeared to be much more peeved at them. Rojo especially seemed to be quite frustrated, glowering at the group while pointing at them. "You freaking BEAT the Grimmungousaur?! What the hell?!"
Emerald brought up Thief's Respite and aimed the guns right at the group. "That thing was the size of a building and it could shoot lasers!" She screamed as Neo shouldered her umbrella next to her. "How the HELL did you beat it?!"
Ben began counting off on his fingers as he listed the factors in their favor. "Teamwork, punches, and a WHOLE lot of missiles, that's how." He stepped forward and crossed his arms at the quintet, smiling confidently. He knew that the Omnitrix's battery was dry, but that was something that they didn't know, so he decided to use that to his advantage. "And what's better is that I think the Omnitrix has enough power for one last go-around." He extended his arms toward them as he let his offer sink in. "So, what'll it be, guys? Are we gonna get into another big fight, or are ya gonna go back home to Mama Salem again? Your choice."
Mercury was practically seething at this point. "You BASTARD! You mock us even now?!"
"I've said this once before, but I mock anybody who uses the word "mock"." Ben grinned cheekily. "So, what's it gonna be?"
Little did the group know that, in a nearby alleyway, a pair of gleaming yellow eyes could be seen making their way out of the darkness… and they were shifting into a bright purple color as they approached the heroes. At the same time, the approaching figure's whole tail began to glow the same purple color, his eyes focused onto his unsuspecting target…
Cinder stepped forward, her face calm and collected as her eyes began to flare up with her Maiden powers. "Oh, we are FAR from done here, Tennyson. You may have taken the Grimmungousaur down, but we still stand!" She formed a long, obsidian blade in her hand and glowered at the group, focusing on her fellow Maiden in particular. "I don't care if I have to go through both you AND the Spring Maiden herself, but we will NOT be giving in here!"
Rojo brought up her own sword as her compatriots began to prepare for battle once again. "Yeah, what Cindy said! We've had enough of all the crap you've put us through up to this point. Even if we don't win, at least we can say we went down fighting!"
"I think you'll find that the latter is the more likely outcome here." Raven said with an unimpressed look on her face. She, Qrow and Vernal all stepped forward, the former's Maiden powers beginning to flare to life as well. Raven's hand settled upon Omen's handle as she, her brother and her protégé readied themselves for combat once again. "After all, we outnumber you by quite the large margin."
"Even if you were to fight back with everything you had, it still wouldn't be enough." Vernal added with a sneer. "So I think you should probably take the long walk home."
Cinder put a finger to her chin in thought. "Perhaps so…" Her signature nefarious grin then came to her face. "But then again, I think you'll find your number to be quite a bit less very soon…"
The group were initially confused at her words. However, from out of the corner of his eye, Qrow could see a set of glowing purple orbs approaching from the nearby alleyway… and they were concentrated directly on his sister. Before anyone could react, Silyrian suddenly leapt out from the shadows and dove directly for Raven, faster than anybody could even predict. Raven whipped her head up just in time to see Silyrian land directly in front of her and thrust his tail directly at her, the appendage glowing a bright violet as he cackled with glee.
But then… "RAE!" Qrow pushed his sister out of the way and took the hit for her. With a sickening schick, Silyrian's stinger was driven right through the man's stomach, the scorpion mutant's glowing tail somehow breaking Qrow's Aura at the same time. Behind him, everyone's eyes widened in utter horror as Qrow let out a pained gasp as all of the color began to drain from his face, his eyes glazing over as a very large amount of blood began to pool into his shirt from the wound.
With another gut-wrenching sound, Silyrian removed his stinger and allowed Qrow to fall to the ground, his manic grin still about him as his eyes became yellow once again. His head whipped over toward Raven as the others stood frozen at what had just happened, seeing that the woman was also appalled and even starting to tear up at what she had just saw. "Hehehe, OOPS! What rotten luck! I meant that for you, but oh well! Your brother is MORE than a viable substitute! AHAHAHA!"
In snap second, Raven's face contorted into one of pure rage as her tears fell freely, her face heating up as her anger began to overflow. "NOOOOO!" She pulled Omen out and lunged up, her vision now seeing only red as she made to attack the scorpion mutant. "Tyrian, you bastard! I'LL KILL YOU!"
…..
After Raven had made the move to attack Silyrian, the others immediately began to spring into action… or at least most of them. Jaune, Gwen, Kevin and Pyrrha had rushed to Qrow's side to try and help in whatever why they could, with Yang scrambling over to do the same while crying her eyes out. The moment she saw how bad the wound was, though, she fell to her knees and put her face in her hands, weeping uncontrollably as Ben fell next to her and put her into a comforting embrace, though he was also beginning to inadvertently tear up.
At the same time that Silyrian had engaged with Raven, Exo-Skull, Thunderhog and Subdora all began charging out from other alleyways as well, effectively ambushing the rest of the team. Cinder and her group followed suit as Rex, Weiss, Penny, Nora, Ren, Blake, Sun and Neptune all engaged them as well. Vernal had since joined Raven in her fight as well, helping her mentor fend off the scorpion mutant.
Winter, Lionheart and Tetrax made sure to lead Lisa and Greg away as Swift and Ilia covered their escape, the two reporters also visibly shaken by what they had just saw. Even Winter still seemed to be reeling from what had just happened. And there was no doubt that the camera had still been rolling when that happened.
However, there was still one individual who was still staring at the scene in utter disbelief… Ruby. The Hooded Huntress' sights had never left her uncle, even as his body fell to the ground, her face etched with horror, shock, and disbelief. It was almost as if everything was moving in slow motion for her, and she could feel her eyes burning as tears started to brim her eyelids. She dared not blink, as if threatening to do so would mean her uncle would just disappear altogether.
Her eyes began to grow hotter and hotter as her thoughts turned frantic. This… couldn't be happening. It just couldn't have. 'No… no, please, no!' Her emotions surged in turmoil as the weight of everything began to hit her all at once, her face eventually contorting into one of pure anguish. And at the same time, her eyes began to burn at an intensity she never thought imaginable. Her head snapped back, and she cried out for her uncle.
"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby felt something burst forth from her eyes… and then everything went blank.
…..
A/N (PLEASE READ): To quote a certain song; "The Day of Fate has finally come". Indeed, Ruby has unlocked her Silver Eyes… and Qrow took a pretty heavy hit for his sister. And you guys probably thought that this was just gonna have the Grimmungousaur fight and end the Negative Ten arc, huh? But no, that will be for the next chapter… which will have to have a little more time in the oven for it to be completed. Thus, Chapter 114 will be released on Halloween. What better day to end a big arc like this, huh?
But yeah, while the Ultimate Feature IS back, Ben can't use it for as long as he used to. The amount of time he has as an Ultimate depends on how much charge is left in the Omnitrix. This is to balance out the Ultimate Forms a bit better so that they don't overshadow their normal counterparts. That being said, you really didn't think I'd bring them back without Cinder and her crew getting a taste of that power, did ya? Of course not! I would NOT pass up that opportunity! Haha! Also, more Lisa Lavender shenanigans, because why not? And as for Qrow himself… well, sometimes ya gotta hit the bottom before things can get better, and in Qrow's case, that couldn't be truer here.
Alright, NEXT TIME will be the big finale of this arc… and hoo boy, it's quite the event. After things clear up with Ruby's Silver Eyes (which end up doing a quite a bit of damage against someone in particular), the gang scramble to try and heal Qrow… but his Aura isn't restoring fast enough, and he's still losing quite a bit of blood. Even Jaune's finding it hard to keep up. However, it's then that Gwen remembers that a certain someone owes her a favor… But of course, that's not all. The Grimmungousaur might've been defeated, but another massive beast has finally arrived in Vale's harbor, much to our heroes' chagrin. And… okay, you guys have been clamoring for him to make an appearance… and it's finally time. Thanks for reading everybody, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!
