Chapter 5: The Battle for Eunice

Minutes after Albeedo and Eunice teleported away, Ben and his team teleported onto Primus.

"Eunice? Eunice!" Ben called out.

"I am not detecting her electrical signature on my scanner," said Rook as he surveyed the area with his Proto-tool.

"Wait! Over here!" called Max as he stood near the Codon stream, waving everyone over.

The gang rushed over to where Max was standing and noticed footprints in the ground.

"Well, obviously these are Eunice's footprints," said Ben, "But who else was here?"

Gwendolyn's eyes immediately glowed pink as she stretched out her palm and scans the area. Then she gasped and powered down. "It's Albeedo! He must've gotten Eunice!"

"Crap! They already beat us here!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" said Kevin.

"Guys! Focus!" said Max, "We need to find out where Albeedo took Eunice, and how he managed to do it!"

"Especially since there doesn't appear to be any sign of a struggle," said Gwendolyn, "I mean, with the power she has, how could someone like Albeedo manage to take her down without at least five minutes of fighting?"

"I don't know," said Ben, "But it doesn't matter! Grandpa's right, we need to find out how they got her! Rook?"

Rook got out his Proto-tool and scanned the area. "I am detecting a small amount of residual radiation normally found from teleportation."

"So Albeedo teleported her away! Can you trace it?"

"I am afraid not, the amount is so small, I cannot find a good trail. It would take a genius to find that out!"

Ben's eyes immediately widen and he touches the Omnitrix. "Azmuth, this is Ben, we need you here on Primus now!"

"Ben, I am still recovering from my injury, in case you haven't noticed. But what could be so important that you need me there now?"

"We've got a lead, but we need your help to fill in the gaps!"

"If you have a lead, you probably do not need . . ."

"Do you want them to find the sw—um, I mean, the . . . thing we talked about? 'Cause that's what's gonna happen if you don't come here right now!"

There was a moment of silence, until Azmuth finally said, "I'll be there momentarily."

With that, the line went dead.

"Uh, Ben?" asked Gwendolyn, "What was all that about?"

"What was what about?"

"What 'thing' did you talk about with Azmuth? And why won't you say it around us?"

"Yeah, c'mon, Tennyson," said Kevin, "What's the big deal?"

"Look, I promise I'll explain everything later," said Ben, "But right now, Azmuth doesn't really want anyone to know about what the bad guys are looking for."

"Well, how are we supposed to help if we don't know what we're protecting?"

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Ben realized he yelled when everyone either stepped back or looked shocked at him. "I—I'm sorry, I . . ."

But before he could say anything else, Azmuth suddenly appeared amongst the group.

"Azmuth, thank goodness!"

"Yes, yes, I'm here. Now, what is so important that you require my assistance?"

"Rook detected some teleportation radiation, but he can't trace the trail because there isn't enough radiation left."

"Very well, I now understand why your demands were so urgent." Then Azmuth got out a small scanner and waved it around the footprints, then spent the next half hour typing and calculating.

Just when some of the gang were about to drift off to sleep, Azmuth shouted, "I got it!"

Everyone jolted awake and walked back over to Azmuth.

"I have calculated the coordinates where our enemies should be . . ."

"'Should?'" interrupted Kevin, "Well, that sounds very reassuring."

"If you have a better idea, Levin, now is the time to speak up." When Kevin didn't respond, Azmuth continued, "Anyway, since we're short on time, I'll spare you the details and teleport all of you there along with your ship." Then he solemnly stared at Ben and said, "Do not fail us."

With that, Azmuth pushed the button, and everyone except Azmuth vanished.

Meanwhile, in the villains' secret lab, we see Eunice strapped to the torture table, with multiple wires coming from her head and to a computer manned by Albeedo. There were also other wires coming from her arms, legs, and body and to the computer or to other machines.

"Ugh, I will h=give it to my old mentor," said Albeedo, "He knew how to hide his secrets."

Suddenly, an alarm goes off!

"Ugh, what now?" asked Albeedo.

Vilgax walked over to a console on the other side of the room and looked at it. "Proximity alert."

Then the three villains look outside a window, revealing an endless void of darkness and stars, except for a large, green jet that suddenly appeared.

"Tennyson's spawns!" said Milleous.

"Well, don't just stand there! Take care of them! I have my own problems to worry about!" said Albeedo.

"Time to break that ape's face for releasing my ex-wife!" said Milleous.

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Vilgax, "By jumping out into deep space and holding your breath? Anyway, it's nice to know your priorities are on point."

Then Vilgax starts to walk out of the lab.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Milleous.

Vilgax glances back at him. "To settle the score."

The doors close.

Back outside, we see the gang teleport inside the Rustbucket.

"Whoa! Where are we?" asked Ben.

Gwendolyn checked the dashboard computer and said, "We're lightyears from Galvan Prime!"

"It looks like an uncharted sector of space," added Rook.

"Uh, guys?" asked Kevin as he pointed outside, "I think we have company."

Everyone looked outside and saw Vilgax flying up to the ship at record pace!

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" yelled Ben.

Vilgax crashed into the ship, causing a massive explosion!

After the explosion died down, Vilgax searched among the wreckage for his enemies, until Atomix slammed into him!

"Face my wrath, you fowl fiend!" said Atomix, posing as if he were a comic book hero.

"Why you insolent little . . . ARGH!" Vilgax roared, then he charged back into him and punched him, sending him flying into an asteroid.

Ben lodged himself free and, powering up his fists with nuclear energy, flew straight into Vilgax and delivered a series of punches.

Meanwhile, in the background, Gwendolyn gathered everyone with her powers until they were all inside an energy bubble. Then she started floating them toward the base, which sat inside a massive meteor!

However, Kevin stared at the wreckage, on the verge of tears.

"My . . . my . . . MY SHIP! Do you have any idea how much it cost to get that thing?! To modify it?! And he just . . . just . . . BLEW IT UP!"

"Kevin! Not now!" said Gwendolyn.

"Gwendolyn is correct," said Rook, "Our priority right now is to save Eunice before they obtain whatever information they are looking for."

Suddenly, the group stops at the hanger door.

"Great, so how do we get in?" asked Kevin.

"I have a device from Blukic and Driba that should help us get inside," said Max.

"We're so screwed."

But, after Max worked on the device, the doors slowly opened, generating a forcefield to prevent the air from escaping.

"Level 5 remote hacker. Can open any door or lock no matter how complex."

"Ben, keep Vilgax busy!" said Gwendolyn over the comms, "We'll find Eunice!"

"Well, make it snappy, huh?" asked Atomix, "I don't know how much longer I can stay in this form! And I'm in space!"

As Gwendolyn maneuvered the energy bubble inside the hanger, Ben and Vilgax continued their battle.

Ben created a huge sphere of atomic energy, then hurtled it at Vilgax, but he grabbed the sphere as if it were a beachball and absorbed it. Then Vilgax launched a massive energy blast from his eyes, and Ben countered with an atomic energy blast. However, Vilgax's beam slowly cut its way through Ben's until it hit him and sent him spinning.

"I heard you are mating with the Incursean princess," said Vilgax, "I'm not surprised."

Vilgax zoomed into Ben and punched him, knocking him into another asteroid. However, before Ben could even move, Vilgax zoomed into him again and pinned him to it.

"Why . . . not?" asked Ben.

"Because you're just like your womanizing grandfather, mating with whatever inferior lifeform is gullible enough to fall for him."

"Don't you DARE talk about my grandfather like that!" Ben's eyes suddenly glow intensely.

Then there was a huge green explosion, which sent Vilgax flying. Ben rockets to Vilgax and delivers a series of fast and hard punches, but vulgar caught the next one and punched him back. Then Vilgax created energy swords out of his arms and flew toward him, slicing downward but Ben dodged. Ben fired another atomic sphere, but Vilgax dodged and managed to fly up to Ben and cut his arm, then blasting him with his laser eyes into yet another asteroid.

"Just give up, Tennyson. You couldn't beat me in this form before your Slime-biot saved you, what makes you think you can beat me now?"

"Hmm, how about determination!"

Ben unleashed a battle cry as he soared to Vilgax, ready to launch another nuclear-powered punch . . .

Inside the lair, we see Gwendolyn and the others running down the hall.

"Wait, do we even have a plan, guys?" asked Kevin.

"Since when has that ever bothered you?" asked Gwendolyn.

"Well, I mean we don't even know where Eunice is! This place is huge, she could be anywhere!"

Suddenly, Rook spotted a computer terminal just ahead of them.

"Look! A terminal! Perhaps I can hack it and determine her location," he said.

The group stopped and Rook got out his Proto-tool, then he detached a wire from the device and plugged it into the terminal. The Proto-tool transformed into its scanner form and Rook set to work typing on his tool as well as the computer.

However, not long after he started, they all heard a heavy stomping down the hall, and it was getting closer.

"Uh, Rook? Might wanna hurry up a little!" said Kevin.

"Be silent!" Rook said, "I am still trying to get past their firewalls!"

"Well, could you perhaps pick up the pace?"

"Shut up, both of you!" said Gwendolyn.

There was a huge roar, echoing throughout the hallway and shaking the whole area. Then Milleous crept around the corner, but then made a huge leap and cleared the distance between him and the group.

"We're out of time!" yelled Kevin.

"THERE YOU ARE!" roared Milleous, slamming his fists onto the group, but they dodged before he could flatten them.

"Continue hacking into their system and find Eunice!" said Gwendolyn, "We'll hold him off!"

"Got it!" said Rook, then he continued his work.

"No! You're not finding the girl!" roared Milleous.

Then Milleous was about to punch Rook, but Gwendolyn created a shield and stopped him. Milleous stumbled back from the shock, but then he roared and started slamming his fists onto the shield over and over, with Gwendolyn straining with all her might to keep the shield up. Meanwhile, Kevin and Max, who managed to hurry behind Milleous after his first attack, rushed to action. Max got out a large blaster and tried shooting Milleous' back, but the energy attacks bounced off. Then Kevin absorbed the floor until the material covered his body.

"Hey! Poor excuse of a dad!" Then he turned his fist into a large hammer and slammed it onto Milleous' tail!

Milleous howled in pain and snapped around to face them.

"Aw, did I hurt de wittle fwoggy's tail?" mocked Kevin, "I'm actually surprised that hurt, since you're so heartless that you don't give a crap when you hurt your own daughter!"

"WHY YOU . . . AAAAARGH!"

Milleous slammed his fist down, but Kevin dodged. Max shot his blaster again and this time managed to shoot Milleous' eye, making him hold it and snarl in pain. Milleous was about to charge at Max, but Kevin jumped up and whacked his face twice before landing again.

Milleous roared in rage, then lashed out his gigantic tongue and smacked Kevin and Max into the wall. Kevin helped Max up, but before they could do anything else, Milleous grabbed them both in his humungous hand and held them up to his face.

"So, you think I'm still heartless, huh?" he snarled, "Well, let's see if you think so once you're in my stomach!"

"Your heart isn't in your stomach, genius," remarked Kevin.

"That's it! I was gonna make it quick and easy, but now I'm gonna make this hurt!"

"Minova Querteva!" shouted Gwendolyn as she grabbed onto Milleous' tail. Suddenly, Milleous gasped and dropped Kevin and Max, then they all noticed he didn't move afterwards.

"Uh, what happened?" asked Kevin.

"Stunning spell," replied Gwendolyn, "But it won't hold him for long. Rook, please tell me you found Eunice!"

"Indeed, I have, Gwendolyn!" said Rook, "She is being held in a laboratory down the hall!"

Then the gang noticed that Milleous began to twitch a little.

"The spell's wearing off!" said Max, "Quick, Gwendolyn, you and Rook go save Eunice! Kevin and I will take care of Milleous!"

"Are you sure?" asked Gwendolyn.

Milleous began twitching more!

"Yes! Now go! Quickly!"

Gwendolyn nodded, then ran off. Rook saluted Max and hurried after Gwendolyn.

Immediately after Gwendolyn and Rook hurried around the corner, Milleous finally broke free from the spell.

"Round two, freakshow!" said Kevin.

Milleous roared once more and lunged at him . . .

Inside the lab, Eunice screamed as electricity surged from the wires connected into her head, then flowed to Albeedo's computer system.

"Don't worry, my dear," said Albeedo, "It won't be much longer."

Suddenly, the door opened behind him and Gwendolyn and Rook rushed in.

"Freeze! By the authority of the Plumbers!" shouted Rook, Proto-tool aimed at the humanized-Galvan.

Albeedo smirked and turned to face them. "Your authority has no meaning and thus no hold on me, Revonnahgander."

"Don't care!" snapped Gwendolyn, fists charged with mana. "Let Eunice go and step away from the computer!"

"Or what, dear cousin? Are you going to blast me with your magic energy blasts? Heh, such a primitive yet predictable response."

Gwendolyn growled and unleashed a blast of mana at Albeedo, but the Galvan transformed into Terraspin and the attack did nothing.

"Have you learned nothing from our past encounters?" asked Albeedo. Then he activated the ultimate function and turned into Ultimate Terraspin, which looked slightly bigger than Terraspin, with gnarly yet muscular arms and legs, a few spikes coming out from them, and larger spikes on his back, and he also had a large horn on his head and some armor for his knuckles like Ultimate Humungousaur. "I'm always one step ahead of you imbeciles."

Albeedo stretched out his arm, which turned into a cannon, and a massive hurricane blast shot out. But Rook and Gwendolyn dodged just in time.

"Go! I will cover you!" shouted Rook.

Gwendolyn nodded and ran around Albeedo, distracting him with mana spheres, with started to get his attention, but Rook shot him with super-charged energy blasts from his Proto-tool and drew his attention back to him.

However, Albeedo chuckled and said, "You really think I don't know what you're doing?"

Then he withdrew into his shell and span very fast, barreling into Gwendolyn and sending her flying into a wall, then ricocheting back to Rook like a pinball. However, Rook was able to dodge and land further away, but Albeedo rammed into him as well, causing him to crash near Eunice's torture table.

Albeedo came back out of his shell and laughed. "It's the oldest trick in the book! 'Distract the big monster while your partner frees the captive.' That's why you and your friends will always lose! Because you're hopelessly predictable!"

Albeedo shot another hurricane blast at Rook, making him fly and crash into another wall. Rook groaned in pain as he clutched his shoulder, while Albeedo just laughed again.

Then Gwendolyn shot another mana blast at his head, which still did nothing, but it made him turn around to face her.

"We may do things you find predictable, but that doesn't mean we'll ever lose to scum like you! Remember, we've always beaten you before, no matter how smart you claimed to be then!"

"A noble statement, Gwendolyn," said Albeedo, then he pointed his arm cannon at her, "But ultimately worthless."

He fired it again, but Gwendolyn nimbly dodged it and shot pink lightning at him. However, it still did nothing. Albeedo rolled his eyes and fired a bunch of missiles from the holes in his chest, Gwendolyn dodged them, but whenever a missile would hit the ground, it would cause an explosion of wind that almost knocked Gwendolyn off her feet. However, just as Gwendolyn landed, a missile finally managed to hit her, causing her to shoot right into a wall. She collapsed and groaned in pain, struggling to get on her knees.

Albeedo flew over to her and pointed his arm cannon at her. "Any last words before I end your miserable human existence?"

"Actually, yeah," she grunted. Then she used her mana to rip electrical cables out from the floor and ceiling, then plunging them into Albeedo.

"Surprise!" she grinned as Albeedo screamed.

Albeedo sunk to his knees, and Gwendolyn stood over him with the cables.

"Had enough?" she asked.

"Not . . . even . . . close!" Then Albeedo transformed into Ultimate Echo Echo and quickly launched sonar discs that shot and flew around Gwendolyn.

She put up a shield just before the discs unleashed their devastating sound waves. The shield held up for a while, but soon it began to crack, and Gwendolyn gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold it up.

Suddenly, Albeedo noticed that Gwendolyn's eyes flicked behind him just for a moment. His eyes widened as he realized the setup.

"No!" He whipped around to find Rook trying to access his computer, so Albeedo redirected the discs to fly at Rook.

However, Rook saw them coming and backflipped out of the way. He then got out his weapon and shot down the discs, except for one that managed to knock him to the ground with its sonic scream.

Seizing the opportunity, Gwendolyn dropped the shield and blasted Albeedo.

Gwendolyn stood over him once more. "Not so predictable now, are we?"

Albeedo growled back.

"Gwendolyn!" called Rook. "I could not hack into the computer and deactivate the machine!"

"Well, of course not," said Albeedo, "Do you really think I would just leave my computers unguarded from unworthy and prying eyes and fingers? I created firewalls that Azmuth wishes he could have in his own!"

Suddenly, the computer screens turned green and made happier beeping noises, and Eunice stopped screaming as the electricity stopped surging.

"And that's my cue," said Albeedo.

With that, he quickly transformed into Ultimate Spidermonkey and shot a huge glob of webbing at Gwendolyn, sticking her to the wall, then he did the same to Rook. With the heroes trapped, he rushed over to the computer and pulled out a flashdrive, plugging it into the machine for a second before taking it back out.

"If I were you, ehe ehe ehe," said Albeedo, "I would be thinking of the fastest escape route possible, assuming you have enough time."

Then he typed on the keyboard, and an automated voice said, "Base self destruct in 30 seconds."

"You imbeciles are finished! With this knowledge, we will finally obtain the power we need to exact our revenge and bend the universe to our will!"

With an evil laugh, Albeedo vanished.

Gwendolyn's eyes glowed pink, then she evaporated the webbing off of her, then she blasted it off Rook.

"We have to free Eunice and warn the others!" said Rook.

"There's no time!"

Then Gwendolyn's eyes glowed extremely bright, and pink light engulfed the entire room.

Meanwhile, as Kevin and Max continued their battle in the hall, Milleous was about to pounce on them again. However, before he could land, he vanished in red light. Before Kevin and Max could comprehend what just happened, they vanished as well, but in pink light.

Out in space, Vilgax knocked Ben into another asteroid and then punched him through it, but Ben charged back into him and sent him rolling through the debris. However, Vilgax righted himself, then noticed that he was glowing red.

Then he laughed and said, "You're too late, Tennyson! I have already won!"

"NO!" screamed Ben, then he flew up to him, but Vilgax vanished before he could lay a finger on him.

Before Ben could even scream in frustration, he vanished in pink light, just before the entire base exploded.

On a nearby planet, we see Vilgax, Albeedo, and Milleous appearing into the air and landing on the ground.

"Argh! Why did you bring me out of the fight?" growled Milleous. "I was about to flatten Tennyson's stupid friends!"

"Would you rather I have left you to get blown up with the rest of the base?"

Milleous growled and lifted his fist to punch him, but Vilgax grabbed his arm.

"Enough!" Then he looked at Albeedo and said, "I presume you have the information we seek."

Albeedo pulled out the flash drive from his pocket and smiled proudly.

"Eh, I still think this is a bad idea," said Milleous.

Albeedo and Vilgax turned to him.

"I'm serious! I may be mutated but I ain't stupid! I heard what that thing did to my homeworld years ago! I want revenge on Tennyson and my daughter more than anything, but I'm not sure that means we need to look for that thing!"

"Then what alternative do you have?" asked Vilgax. "Because even in this mutated form, you still couldn't defeat Tennyson and his allies. If you truly want your revenge and to secure your hold on your empire, then this is the only way."

"Unless you would rather, as the humans say, 'chicken out,'" said Albeedo, "But I'm afraid your chances will not fair any better, especially when we obtain the sword and you are on the other side of it."

Milleous was about to say something, but then he closed his mouth and stared down at the ground, grumbling in defeat.

"Didn't think so," smirked Albeedo, "Now, I suggest you muster your forces. The journey ahead will be most treacherous . . ."