Once I post the first chapter of the second episode, I'll be compressing all of the chapters of episode 1 into a single chapter, so don't worry if it suddenly goes from 4 chapters to 3.
"I knew you kids would get popular with those on your wrists." Grandpa Max admonished the eldest and youngest of the Tennyson kids, Gwen and Trixie standing to the side. "That's why I told you not to mess around with them, at least until I came back."
"Excuse me, Mister Tennyson," Trixie began, "But I must claim partial responsibility to this outcome due to how I explained to the two how to operate the interfaces."
Grandpa Max pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thank you, Trixie, for telling me that. But this still doesn't change how there are going to be a lot of people wanting those Omnitrix, so we better teach you how to use them properly. Fast."
"Yessss!" The Tennyson siblings cheered and exchanged high-fives at their grandfather's decision. However, the crackling of Grandpa Max's communications radio drew their attention away.
"Mayday! Mayday!" A ranger's voice sounded from the radio, "Somebody, please, help us! We're under attack by some sort of, I know you're not going to believe me, but… robot!"
"That sounds like the robot that attacked us!" Gwen observed. "It must be after the Omnitrix! Omnitrixes? Omnitrices?" Gwen looked to the rest of her family and Trixie before slumping. "We really need a concrete named for their plural."
"Those people are getting hurt because of us!" Ben exclaimed, standing up from the chair before turning back to look at Maxine. "We have to do something!"
Maxine sighed but gave a smile. "Okay, let's do this."
THEM ►◄ TEN
The Tennysons and Trixie ran through the forest and towards the caravan park where the distress call had come from, Grandpa and Max holding flashlights to light the way. When they got close enough to see smoke and hear explosions, they stopped, and Maxine plus Ben readied their Omnitrix.
Looking to their grandfather for his confirmation, and getting it through a nod of his head, they activated the selection menus and began twisting the faceplates.
"Any Suggestions, Trixie?" Maxine asked the personification.
"I believe that both of your currently unlocked transformations are capable of disabling the robot, save for perhaps Benjamin's nemuina form."
"So don't turn into Pesky Dust, don't have to tell me twice." Ben nodded, finished choosing his transformation and rearing his hand back. "Here goes!"
"Please do not hit the facepl-" Trixie's deadpan request was ignored as Ben slammed the faceplate down and was enveloped in a green flash of light.
What stood there when the light faded was a large figure of green crystal in a white and black jumpsuit.
"So what can this guy do?" Gwen asked Trixie.
"The petrosapien has an extremely tough crystalline body that they are able to mould into different shapes, and they are even capable to eject shards at high speeds as a form of ranged weaponry." Trixie supplied helpfully.
"Sweet!" Ben cheered. "What are you choosing Maxy?"
"Hmm..." Maxine flipped through her transformations a few more times before settling on one with a lanky form. "This one." She said, pushing the faceplate in, enveloping her in a golden light.
Coming out of it was a tall, lanky red figure with one yellow eye in a white bodysuit with the Omnitrix symbol squarely on the chest, and a yellow jacket. Two tendrils came out of their head and a tail did the same at the base of their spine. On the tips of their fingers, as well as on the ends of both the tail and the tendrils, were golden conduits, the fingers being hollow.
Maxine, now this alien, looked expectingly to Trixie.
"This is a conductiod, they are able to absorb and redirect energy through their fingers, tails and tendrils. Being female, you are naturally positively charged, meaning you'll generate your own energy but will need to discharge more often as to not build up too much energy." Explained Trixie.
"Got it, don't build up too much charge," Maxine said in a smooth, slightly crackly, voice. "Now come on, I want to see how... Circuit Breaker, handles." Circuit Breaker smirked.
"Yeah," Ben agreed. "Same with... uh... Diamondhead! Yeah!" Diamondhead proclaimed.
Trixie's form shifted and changed until she was, instead of a human, the red four-armed alien that Maxine had first changed into, albeit with a black jumpsuit with green-yellow circuits running around it.
"Then let us go," Trixie stated.
"Wait, you can transform too?" Diamondhead asked in surprise.
"Of course. Remember, you are only using an interface of myself, so it would be impractical if I did not possess all capabilities that they did."
"Um, okay then?" Diamondhead nodded, getting the general idea of what Trixie meant.
The Tennysons, along with Trixie, finishing their jog to the caravan park to reveal the large robot with brown plating and curved red optics.
"Looks like papa robot this time," Diamondhead commented. "We'll get gearhead's attention; you guys get the campers to safety." He then said to Grandpa Max and Gwen.
"Got it!" Gwen agreed as she and their Grandfather ran towards the panicked camp goers whilst Diamondhead, Circuit Breaker and Trixie ran towards the robot.
"Uh, are you sure we can do this, you guys?" Circuit Breaker asked, a hint of worry in her smooth electric voice.
"Don't worry about it!" Diamondhead reassured cockily, "We'll be fine! We've got super cool alien powers!"
"Mmm..." Circuit Breaker replied in an unsure hum.
"Look, I'll show you," Diamondhead turned his attention to the robot, who had picked up a park ranger with its claw. "Hey, you! Leave him alone Want someone to pick on? Well then try us on for size!"
"Beeeeeeen!" Circuit Breaker hissed under her breath.
"What?" Diamondhead looked over his shoulder and shrugged. "S'not like we can't han-"
Diamondhead was cut off when he was blasted away by a laser beam shot at him by the robot, which then shot a second beam into the RV that Diamondhead had just landed in.
"That!" Circuit Breaker wildly gestured at the destroyed RV. "That was what I was worried about!"
A sound of metal being torn screeched out from the flaming RV as a crystalline blade sliced open the roof for Diamondhead to escape from, revealing the blade to be his arm in the first place.
"Cool..." Diamondhead commented at his arm, growing more crystal from it. "See, I'm fine!" he waved the arm at the freaking out Circuit breaker and the stoic Trixie.
Turning to face the robot that was now looming over him, Diamondhead ran forward to swipe at it with his arm blade. Dodging it easily by jumping into the air, the robot spun its three insectoid legs like a propeller before descending and trapping Diamondhead under itself.
"Uh-oh. Think I'm in trouble. Little help here guys?" Diamondhead asked, unable to move.
"Uh, yeah, I've got you Be-uh, Diamondhead!" Circuit Breaker called to her brother, aiming her fingers at the robot and letting loose a torrent of electrical power that hit the bot in the should, causing it to stumble off of Diamondhead.
"Thanks, Cir-whoa!" Diamondhead was quickly grabbed by the bot as he was talking to his sister before the bot reared back and threw him at her.
Seeing her diamond-tough brother hurtle towards her, Circuit Breaker prepared to quickly duck. Fortunately, however, Trixie interposed herself between the two and used her extra set of arms as well as enormous strength to catch Diamondhead, rotate him, and set him back down on his feet.
"Heh, thanks, Trixie." Diamondhead chuckled, giving a thumbs up. Trixie studied the thumbs up for a second, then awkwardly returned it with her right arms.
Hearing an ominous noise, the trio turned to see that the bot was aiming an arm at them and that the hole in its wrist was glowing increasingly brighter.
Sensing what was about to happen, Circuit Breaker ran forward, aiming her tendrils and tail at the anticipated laser blast which was subsequently fired by the bot and easily absorbed by Circuit Breaker.
"Thanks for the gift, but it's not really my style," Circuit Breaker quipped, aiming her fingers at the bot once again. "So you can have it BACK!" And with that, she pushed the electricity out of her fingers and back at the bot who tried to block it with its other arm.
Unfortunately for it, its arm wasn't strong enough to handle a conductoid's energy blast, and simply exploded into pieces, staggering the bot, but still leaving it operational enough to fire another blast, this time away from Circuit breaker and at Diamondhead and Trixie.
Trixie quickly grabbed a hold of Diamondhead and jumped back, out of the blast radius of the laser shot. Touching down she let go of Diamondhead, who wobbled a bit due to suddenly stopping but stayed upright due to creating spike on his feet that dug into the tough dirt.
"Hmm..." Diamondhead hummed in thought, orange eyes narrowed. "Hey... I might have an idea! Hey Trixie, how hard can you throw something?"
"Tetramands' strength is recorded to exceed push limits of..." Trixie began explaining to Diamondhead.
"Yeah, yeah, that's great," the human-turned-petrosapien interrupted, "But what I want to know is if you can throw me into the robot hard enough to break it?"
Trixie didn't answer for a few moments, instead choosing to look back and forth between the robot and Diamondhead.
"Assumably."
"Good enough!"
Diamondhead raised his arms together like he was about to dive into a pool, sharpening them into a point to make himself into a kind of living spear. Trixie heaved the transformed boy over her head with all four of her red arms, rearing him back slightly as she calculated how best to throw him.
"Hey, Sis!" Diamondhead called to his sister, who was still catching the bot's energy beams as it tried to shoot them past her.
"Huh? What is it?!" Circuit Breaker called over her shoulder, catching another laser and redirecting it upwards.
"Duck!"
"What are you- WHAGH!" Circuit Breaker only just ducked in time for a very quickly moving Diamondhead to sail over her, and directly at the bot. The bot, not having enough time to move, could only watch as Diamondhead impacted with its chest, and not stopping there as he pierced through the bot entirely and came out the other side.
The freshly made hole in the bot crackled and sparked a bit, the bot frozen in place. And then, it exploded into a magnificent burst of fire, causing everyone bar Diamondhead to shield themselves from the wave of heat that swept over them.
"Way to go, erhh, Diamondhead!" Circuit Breaker cheered her brother, still not used to calling him by an alias.
"Aw yeah! Who's bad?" Diamondhead jumped in celebration, causing the ground to quake. "Yeah!"
"Uh, DH?" Circuit Breaker tried to get his attention, jutting a thumb to the side in an attempt to get him to notice the onlookers.
"Uh. Whoops." He commented when he finally realised people were watching, including Grandpa Max and Gwen, who were shaking their heads. "Well, I think our work here is done. Come on, guys." Diamondhead announced before awkwardly running off.
"Gah-! Diamondhead!" Circuit Breaker called after him, before giving chase with the still expressionless Trixie right behind her.
THEM ►◄ TEN
Far, far, far, far, away from earth a shiny black armoured marine crossed a bustling hangar floor, filled with many others of different shapes and sizes but all dressed the same as him. Some had little modifications to their armour, some had major. Some with gills, some with fur, some with tails and some with tentacles, people of all sorts roamed the massive starship hangar.
But one seemed to stand out from the rest, standing straighter, with an air of confidence and authority. This pointy-eared, blue-skinned woman with orange hair and triangular sunglasses was who the marine was heading for.
"Duchess." The marine greeted quickly with a small salute.
"Heya there, ya got something for me soldier?" The woman asked, far more casually than her subordinate.
"Yes ma'am. A report from The Clubs' 7th."
"Alrighty, let's hear it." She motioned for him to continue.
"They recently returned from the Sol System, Earth proximia. They report engaging with a chimera sui generis battleship, only one lifeform aboard and mainly manned by drones. Apparently, it was Vilgax."
"Hmmm," The woman hummed. "Now that is interesting. Wonder what he's doing skulking around there. Maybe trying to hide out of our Jurisdiction?" She shook her head. "No, he'd have to land on earth to do that, it's the only tech-2 world nearby, the Martians already report their troubles to us."
"That's... the other part of the report, ma'am." The marine continued.
"Hm?"
"He was chasing a ship, Uxortie design. We recovered the craft's black box and they apparently directly came from Xenon, making a straight line for Earth."
The woman stared at the marine for a few moments before chuckling. "Oh, those crazy..." She shook her head. "Okay, start pushing against the plumbers for jurisdiction there. Even if it's a small, covert team, I don't care. Just get us permission to have boots on the ground. Soon as that happens, I'll have more orders, understood?"
"Yes, Dutchess!" The marine straightened up and saluted again.
"Good. Dismissed."
The soldier ran off, hopefully, to get her orders underway.
The woman, The Duchess, turned to look at the giant window of space that made up the door to the hanger. "I warned him." She said to herself. "I warned him what would happen. And now, these are the consequences."
THEM ►◄ TEN
"You pass me that tv please Maxine?" Grandpa Max asked his granddaughter, who had turned into a small, white creature with yellow accents that could replicate itself. She named it 'Reverb'.
"Sure. Thing. Grandpa." A Reverb agreed in a broken sentence as a completely different Reverb took the tv off of the camp bench. "Hey. Have. You. Guys. Seen. Ben?"
"Not since breakfast." Gwen shrugged as she and another Reverb loaded another sack onto the Rustbucket. The Tennysons and Trixie heard a sonic boom in the distance, only a few moments before its source arrived right in front of them.
"Hey, guys!" the black and blue person greeted.
"Ben?" Grandpa max asked.
"Ah, I see you've discovered the kineceleran DNA." Trixie nodded. "They are one of the fastest creatures in the known universe."
"Heck yeah, they are! I call this guy XLR8!" XLR8 agreed. "Watch this!"
XLR8 then proceeded to quickly clean up the remaining items that were still lying about, and stow them inside the Rustbucket in record time. "Pretty cool, huh?" He then noticed the multiple Reverbs standing about. "Oh, hey Maxy! Guess you found a new alien too!"
The Reverbs all nodded together. "I. Call. Them. Reverb." One of them told ben, whose Omnitrix beeped red before returning him to his human state.
"I think this is going to be the best summer ever." Ben declared with a grin.
Grandpa Max smiled broadly. "Absolutely." He agreed.
"I guess it at least won't be boring." Gwen shrugged, wearing a smile of her own.
Ben smirked.
"So, where are we going next?"