Chapter 2: Heat and Fur

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"I'M ON FIRE! I'M ON FIRE!" Emi dropped to the ground and rolled around to put out the flames. She soon paused her rolling and stood up. Looking back at her hands, Emi realized another thing.

"It doesn't hurt? I'm on fire and I don't feel any pain?" Emi said, out loud. The flame woman opened and closed her hands. Emi then did a couple of squats and stretches to test her new body. Not noticing anything different in body functions besides being on fire. "So...did the watch turn me into this? What kind of watch turns people into fire creatures?" Emi questioned as she stretched out her arm.

To her surprise and horror a ball of flame shot out her hands and impacted a tree in front of her. Emi quickly went to put out the fire in fear of starting a forest fire on her first school camping trip. Luckily for her the fire was small enough to go out at the first couple of hits. Emi sighed in relief and backed away from the tree, keeping her hands glued to her sides. "So...I can shoot fire apparently. Just what kind of mess have I gotten myself into…" Emi frowned at her predicament.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE

"Ummm….Rekka? Are you sure Emi went this way?"

"Totally! Trust me, Mai. We'll find Emi and be back to camp before they even notice we're gone."

Emi panicked at her friend's voices coming through the bushes. "I can't let them see me like this! They'll freak out! Gotta hide somewhere!" Emi panicked. The flame woman looked around her surroundings and only found trees. Trees that wouldn't be able to hide her glowing fire body. "There's nowhere to hide!" Emi shouted in her mind.

To her horror both of her best friends walked into the clearing and froze at the sight of her. Emi shifted nervously in her spot and waved at her friends.

"Uhhhh...hi?"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Emi started walking to her friends as Rekka picked up a stick to defend herself and Mai. "Stay back...you fire monster!" Rekka tried to look brave, but was mentally panicking. "What is this thing!? It doesn't look like a Planet Cray unit at all!" Rekka stood in front of Mai who was shaking in fear.

"D-D-D-Do you think it ate Emi?" Mai asked, terrified. Rekka gulped at the thought, but pushed the fear back down.

"Girls! It's just me, your friend! I'm Emi Sendou!" Emi tried to convince the two shivering girls.

"Don't lie to us!"

"I'm not lying!"

"If you're really Emi, then tell us something that only Emi and I would know." Rekka tested the fire woman in front of her. Emi started to rack her brain in hopes of thinking of something to prove who she was. Suddenly a memory popped into her head.

"Rekka! Last weekend at Mai's house you broke her favorite mug and blamed it on her cat!" Rekka balked at the creature's words and Mai's expression turned from scared to mortified.

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Mai screeched into Rekka's ear. The young idol winced in pain at both the revealed secret and Mai's scream. She looked at the fire woman and blinked repeatedly.

"Y-You really are Emi?" Rekka asked.

Nodding her head repeatedly in a "yes" manner, Emi rushed over to her two friends, excitedly. "Yes! It's me!" Emi jumped up and down, ecstatic.

"But, what happened to you?" Mai asked, calming down from the revelation of her precious mug.

"I-I'm not too sure. I found this weird watch in that crater over there and when I reached for it, the thing just attached itself to my wrist." Emi explained.

"Well...it doesn't exactly explain why you're all fiery." Rekka tried to poke Emi, but pulled back from the strong heat.

"That's the other weird thing. When I turned the watch on, the dial popped up with 10 different silhouettes. I pushed the dial down and I turned into this." Emi finished explaining, with a saddened tone.

"Are you stuck like that, Emi?" Mai asked, concerned.

"I-I'm not entirely sure. I can't go back to camp like this! Heck, I can't go back home like this! How am I supposed to explain to mom and Aichi that I turned into some fire monster!" Emi wanted to cry. Would she have to go into hiding, because of her new appearance? To never see her family and friends again? Emi would've started crying if the form she was in was capable of producing tears.

Mai picked up on Emi's sadness and spoke up. "Don't worry, Emi. Even if you are stuck like this, we'll still be your friends! Right Rekka?" Mai turned to the idol.

"Of course! We'll always be friends, Emi." Rekka responded with a smile. Emi would have hugged her friends if it didn't mean she'd burn their skin off.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Huh?" All three looked at the blinking symbol on Emi's chest. Then there was a flash of bright red light. Once the light died down Rekka and Mai looked back to Emi, blinking in surprise. Emi stood right in front of them, no longer on fire and back to normal in her pink pajamas. The youngest Sendou felt herself all over to make sure she had turned back to normal and when she was sure of it she hugged her best friends.

"You're back to normal!" Mai exclaimed.

"Yup! Guess the thing has some sort of time limit." Emi replied, looking at the bulky watch stuck to her wrist. Emi would be lying if she said that she still wasn't the least bit curious about the watch on her wrist. Especially since she knows that she wouldn't be stuck looking like a monster.

"Welp, we can figure all of that out tomorrow. I for one vote for getting some shut eye!" Rekka yawned. With the chaos of emotions now resolved, the idol was more than ready to get some shut eye. She'd talk to Takuto about the weird watch once she got home.

Her friends agreed and started to walk back to the camp. Emi turned around for a moment and looked back at the crater, before quickly following after her two friends.

Back in space, Vilgax's ship floated stationary as drones flew around the outside of the ship doing repairs. Inside of the hulking ship there was a large healing tank in the middle of the damaged navigation station. Inside of the tank was the galactic tyrant himself, however his body was severely damaged. He floated within the healing liquid groaning and scowling at the mess that he was now it.

A robot minion walked over to Vilgax's healing tank. "Sir, we've managed to capture the escort ship that was holding the Omnitrix."

"Good, now hurry and bring me my prize!" Vilgax ordered. The robot started to sweat(If that's even capable of machines) and lifted up a finger.

"About that sir...when the scouting bots searched the ship there was nobody inside. Along with there being no Omnitrix…" The bot flinched from Vilgax's furious gaze.

"WHAT!?" The tyrant screamed in uncontrolled fury. If he had good use of either of his arms he would've slammed them into something. "How come you don't have it!? Where is the Omnitrix!?"

"Don't worry, sir. We've managed to track down the Omnitix's signal to a planet called Earth." The robot explained to his master. However that did little to lighten Vilgax's fury.

"Then why are you standing here telling me this instead of sending out drones to get the Omnitrix?"

"Uhhh...ummm...well…"

"If whatever you have to say doesn't involve handing me my prize then don't waste my time. HURRY AND RETRIEVE THE OMNITRIX!" Vilgax roared and the bot quickly rushed to send down two bots to retrieve the Omnitrix.

Emi suddenly sat up in her tent. Looking around she noticed both of her friends still asleep. Emi reached for her phone and turned it on to look at the time. The time read 2:30 and she mentally groaned. Emi slowly crawled out of her sleeping bag and undid the zipper on the tent to get out of it. "Need to use the restroom. I hope they kept the cabin unlocked." She said, mentally as she walked towards the cabin.

As Emi was in the bathroom, two drones flew down near the camp and started to scan for the Omnitrix signal. Both splitting up to scan the tents of the students and adults. Once nothing came up on their scanners of both drones met back up in their air. Transmitting signals to one another of their findings, not knowing if they should hurry and report back to their master or not.

"Ahhh, that feels better." Emi's voice drew the attention of both drones. Quickly scanning the human both drones found the Omnitrix attached to her wrist. Feeling the sensation of success both drones fly over to the unsuspecting Emi.

A red beam of light impacts the ground right next to Emi. "EEEK!" Emi jumps back in fright of the attack. She turns her attention to the two drones rushing towards her. Emi does the only thing she could possibly do in the situation.

Run.

The youngest Sendou ran into the woods at the top speeds her legs could take her. Both drones flying towards her and shooting lasers repeatedly. Emi ducked and dodged to the best of her ability as each blast impacted the trees around her. She was pretty thankful for being way more athletic than her older brother for once. "What the heck are these things!? Why are they trying to kill me!?" Emi ducked under a bush as both drones flew over her. Immediately they started to search around the area for her.

"What do I do? These things are trying to kill me. What could be special about a regular middle school girl?" Emi asked herself. Then her eyes shifted to the bulky watch on her wrist and realized that they must be targeting the watch. "Should I just reveal myself and let them take it? No...they tried to kill me instead of just taking the watch. Ohhhh...what should I do!" Emi mentally contemplated. At that moment she remembered how she shot fire out of her hands as that fire monster. Emi activated the watch and without a second thought slammed it down. Enveloping the forest in a bright flash of green light.

Both drones turned their attention to the green light, believing that must've been the Omnitrix being activated. Neither drones noticed the large creature sitting on a branch behind them. It was a large and dog-like creature with orange fur. There were no eyes or nose on its face, but had three gills on each side of its head. On the creature's hands were large sharp black claws. On the creature's right shoulder was a black and white brace with the Omnitrix symbol on it. Emi Sendou didn't know what she had turned into, but at the moment she didn't care too much. All that mattered was surviving and allowed the animalistic instincts to take over.

She jumped onto the first drone and whacked it repeated with her giant paws. The hits messed up the robot's sensors causing it to fly around in disarray. The 2nd drone shot lasers at Emi to defend its brother. Sensing the attack coming, Emi flipped into the air to dodged the beam.

The beam nicked the side of the 1st drone causing it to sizzle and fly out of control. Emi landing on a tree branch. She grabbed another branch and ripped it off with her enhanced strength. The beast-girl hopped off the branch and smacked the 2nd drone with her weapon as if it was a baseball bat.

Her attack sent the 2nd drone flying into the 1st one and they exploded on contact. From the smoke, bits and pieces of the bots clattered onto the ground. No longer feeling the sense of danger around her, Emi tossed the branch to the side. She sniffed the air and took back off towards the camp.

Back inside of Vilgax's ship, a messenger bot flew over the healing tyrant.

"Any news on the retrieval of the Omnitrix?" Vilgax demanded. The bot shifted nervously as it responded to Vilgax.

"Sorry, Lord Vilgax. Seems as if the scouting drones were destroyed in their quest." The bot flinched back as Vilgax began to tremble in fury.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Vilgax screamed at the top of his lungs. His roar made all of his minions flee in fear of angering their master any further.

Right as Beast-Emi made it back to the camp, the brace on her shoulder started to beep red and in a flash of red light, a human Emi tumbled on the ground. Emi laid on the ground for a few minutes before getting onto her feet. "I definitely need to tell this to Rekka and Mai in the morning. There might be more to this watch than we previously believed." Emi thought and re-entered her tent quietly. Seeing as her friends were still asleep, Emi crawled back into her sleeping bag and peacefully went back to sleep. Blissfully unaware that her crazy adventure was just getting started.

Chapter End