Hello again.
"Ugh... My head..." Ben utters, waking up after blacking out from whatever the Forever Knights hit him with. "What happened?"
The alien hero stood up from his spot, rubbing his temple as he massages the pain away. "Ugh... Omnitrix, quick rundown on all active functions."
"Processing..." His Omnitrix suddenly spoke back, beeping a total of 10 times. Eventually, it responds again, telling him, "Process complete. Transformations, available. Quick change function, available. Failsafe, active. Voice and mental command auto transformation, available. True Master Control, locked. 78 transformations, available. 1,000,764, locked and pending. Energy consumption reduction and transformation time out decrease, active. Hyper Evolution software still installed. All other non combat functions, active."
"Everything seems to be normal." Ben notes to himself as he looks around. But once he does, he gets immediately worried. All he finds himself in is nothing but grayish dirt for miles. The sky had no clouds and was colored in a strange violet and yellow mixture. There were stars visible, but for some reason, every now and then, some stars would blink out and fade. All in all, the place looked incredibly surreal. "Oh no... No no no! The city! Did they... Did they destroy it?!"
In a panic, he transforms himself into a big, rotund, mechanical figure with lots of hears visible through his translucent green chest, with the Omnitrix on it, while he has an expressionless face with a wind up key of a clock on his head.
Clockwork then emits a green glow from his body and spreads it into the horizon. Using his time powers, he tries to see if he can rewind and play what happened in this specific area. Normally, he can see what other people did, showing visible flashbacks that he can playback and determine what transpired...
But for some strange reason, nothing is playing. Was he unconscious for a very long time? He tries to rewind further back until something catches his glance, but there was not a single person that is shown, no matter how much he rewinds. In fact, he mentally had his powers even rewind several thousand years into the past, just in case, and still nothing.
"This could mean several things... But if I can't find anything relating to my situation... Does that mean... I'm in another world?" Clockwork theorizes in his thick, almost German-like accent. "Did those knights send me here with that cannon? Did they even know that's what it did and didn't realize they didn't kill me with it?"
Seeing as how much he has reminded, the Chronosapien finally realizes the futility of his actions and stops, switching back to Ben in his normal, human form. "Great. Let's hope Paradox swings by any time now. Is there even life on this world?" He asks himself. "Only one way to find out."
One again changing forms, Ben turns himself into an alien creature that resembles a velocitaptor with balls caught by the claws of his feet. He had a striped, black and white tail and a black body suit with a white chest area where his Omnitrix is found. He also has three claws on each hand and a helmet over his head with a retractable, X shaped, blue visor over it.
With a burst of speed, XLR8 zooms away in a straight line in a random direction, kicking up a large blast of dirt from where he left.
He couldn't tell how far he had ran in mere seconds. Kinecelerans become faster the older the grow and he had already moved so fast, time seem to slow down when he was 10. Now that he's 24, he can't even tell anymore.
Still, he had to keep moving. It fortunate that this form has enhanced reflexes to keep up with its own speed, so even when he's moving in speeds beyond human comprehension, he can still react fast enough to see if he passed by a village or two.
So kept running, leaving trails of clouds as he runs through the dirt around him. They don't feel like sand at all, otherwise, his movement would be limited and he'd sink if he goes too fast, so it really must be dirt.
Still, it's nothing but dirt after what felt like miles of land trekked. Eventually, XLR8 took the time to just think about what happened and how he ended up here.
"It doesn't add up. The Forever Knights always push their luck, but when it comes to tech, they always research it and find out about what the devices do. So did they know the gun would blast me into another dimension? But if they did, why did they seem so determined to kill me? Was it the Omnitrix? Did the failsafe react and tried to find a way to help me survive but whatever the energy was in that cannon, none of my aliens could save me from it, so it just teleported me? Whatever it is, I need to find a way back. There are people that need me... And I need to go back and protect—"
"Look out!"
"What?"
Lost in thought, it was at this moment that XLR8 could not react fast enough as he crashes into something and causes him to tumble alongside whatever it is that he hit. After what felt like several bounces, XLR8 subconsciously turns himself back into his human form and finds himself underneath...
...an alien woman?
She had bright pink skin, a black tube top cover her chest, white, baggy pants with a golden belt over her waist, black, heeled shoes, long, messy white hair and beautiful blue eyes.
"Oh... Did I hit you?" Ben asks the strange woman on top of him.
"Yes but it was my fault. I didn't move away fast enough." She responds while rubbing her head in pain.
"Okay... Can you get up?"
"I think so..."
The woman, instead of pushing himself off Ben, simply floats off of him and even levitates off the ground a few inches away before landing on both feet. As the alien hero stands up as well, he notices that the woman also had a pink tail.
"Sorry about that. I'm... I'm Android 21." The woman reveals to him and offers a handshake.
While a bit warry, Ben didn't really have much of a choice, considering he doesn't know what this place is. Hesitant but also feeling rude if he doesn't oblige, Ben shakes her hand and responds in kind. "Ben Tennyson. Call me Ben."
"Its nice to see another person, Ben. You can call me 21." says the pink skinned being.
"Another person? So you don't belong here either?" Ben asks as the two of them let go of each other's hands.
With a nod, 21 tells him, "Yes. I don't know how I ended up here, but the last thing I remember is that I was sacrificing myself to save my friends and took a blast of energy, but the next thing I know, I'm lying here on the dirt."
The shapeshifter cups his chin, comparing his situation to 21's. That cannot be a coincidence. Their stories are almost identical, with only a few minor changes. What caused this happen? "Funny. Same thing happened to me. Some of my enemies tried to blast me with some kind of alien cannon but then I woke up here."
"I don't suppose you know a way out for both us, do you, Ben?" 21 asks, putting her left hand over her right and clasps them hard, like her own way of crossing her fingers.
Ben tried to think. There is one form that could help the both of them. It would certainly make things easier. But there was one problem...
"Sorry. I actually do, but unfortunately, I had that option locked away by two of my closest companions and now the keys to unlock him are back in my world. I'm really sorry." Ben replies, which saddens 21 as she sighs and holds her hands close to her chest.
"It's okay. Neither of us seem to have expected to arrive here, so you couldn't have foreseen this and prepared— 'Him'?" She responds but ends it with confusion, not expecting Ben to refer to a solution as a person.
Ben tells, "I can explain later . Right now, we need to find out what's going on and hope there's a village out here we can shelter for a bit. Maybe even ask for food."
But, as if the gods of comedic timing would have it, 21's stomach suddenly makes a cute little growling noise and causes her to touch her belly as she blushes from her very pink cheeks. "That was... embarrassing. I haven't eaten... in a while..."
"All the more reason we gotta move. Come on." Ben replies. The two of them began to head into the direction Ben had been traveling towards.
Several minutes had already passed. Perhaps a full hour or two. Or perhaps more than that. Time was almost meaningless to both Ben and 21, as the sky has seemingly never changed for the time the two of them have spent traveling this mysterious land.
Ben, who had transformed himself into Chromastone minutes after 21 told him she could fly, is now flying as well as he and his new pink companion stick to the skies to have a bird's eye view on the horizon, hoping to see anything or anyone around, all while they travel without tiring themselves from walking.
So far, however, they have yet to find another living being. It's been nothing but gray dirt and rocks for what felt like miles now.
Just when they thought it was getting worse for their sanity of being alone together, 21's stomach grumbles again.
"Oh dear..." 21 could only mutter, but the Crystalsapien heard her, considering she's right next to him as they fly.
"You gonna be okay? Because if not, with our current luck, I don't think we're gonna be able to find you any food." Chromastone spoke, worried for his companion.
The pink skinned woman, however, waves it off, a sheepish smile forming on her lips as a cold sweat runs down her cheek. "No, no, don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Though it is strange that the only other people we've seen are each other. I don't know how long we've been travelling but I'm sure it's been very long."
Chromastone grumbles, knowing what she had just said was true. It might not hurt to take a rest. It's not like they're in a rush anyway. Well, apart from 21 requiring sustenance some time soon. But with the environment they've observed by now, food isn't exactly something they have in abundance. "Okay. We can take a rest for a bit. Let's stop over there."
The Crystalsapien entity pointed over to a large rock formation that resembled a rocky mountain shaped like spires. 21 nods in agreement as they slow their flight and descend upon the ground on the flat surface made of the same gray dirt all around them, just close enough to the rock formation to act like their shade, even though there really isn't a Sun above them.
The way this violet-yellow color combination sky is made out to be, it gives both the feeling and sight that it is simultaneously both day and night. It's not too dark that it'd be hard to see anything, but it's also not bright enough to see the horizon without being in an elevated position, just like Ben and 21 were while they were flying. With the sky so static aside from the occasional star suddenly disappearing and another star appearing, they won't be able to tell when it's morning, so they'll just have to pick up and leave later once they feel like they've fully rested.
Setting up camp, Ben, now as Swampfire, throws some seeds he picks from his arms before they eventually grew into thick, vine like plants, sprouting upward. Then, with a wave of his hand, the vines twirl and pile themselves on top of each other to create a makeshift campfire as the Methanosian himself ignites the vines. Thanks to his precise control over the plants he created, Swampfire made sure these vines are strong enough to last for a while before the fire finally consumes them as he turns back to Ben, sitting on the ground next to 21, who wars herself with the fire.
"I don't suppose you can grow something I can eat, can you?" 21 playfully asks, a small smile on her lips. Ben chuckles at this notion as he scratches the back of his head.
"I don't know if anything Swampfire creates is consumable. I never tried. Plus, they'd probably smell." Ben jokes back, the two of them laughing it off before 21 wraps her tail around herself as if it were a blanket. Ben, seeing this, takes off his white jacket and places it over 21's shoulders, who smiles and nods at the caring notion.
"Thank you, but wouldn't you feel cold too?" The pink lady asks her companion as he himself moved closer to the fire, warming up his hands in the process before he rubs them together.
"Eh. I'll manage. If it gets too cold, I'll just transform into something warm." Ben responds, giving his new friend a nod.
This does rekindle 21's curiosity for Ben earlier as she perks up her head and asks, "So how are you able to do that? Transform into different creatures out of nowhere?"
Realizing he hasn't answered the lady's question ages ago, Ben sheepishly scratches the back of his head out of embarrassment before sighing, lifting up his left wrist to show 21 the Omnitrix. With his jacket off, the Omnitrix is much clearer to be seen. It seems to have grown a bit larger than when Ben had it when he was 16. Like a parasitic plant, the Omnitrix has extended over to almost half of Ben's lower left arm and even half of his hand. The Omnitrix dial was much larger but still glowed bright, like a beacon of hope. The white portions of it has become diluted and almost grayish and the black portions look like they're rusting a little bit.
"This let's me transform. It's called the Omnitrix and it let's me transform into 1,000,912 different alien species, though most of them are locked and I can only turn into 78 right now. I'm still figuring out how to unlock the rest. But long story short, this device is letting me turn into aliens and allows me to walk in a species' shoe and fight to protect people with their abilities." Ben explains, still showing the Omnitrix to 21 before pulling back his hand.
Tapping her chin with the tip of her tail as if it were a finger, 21 nodded along, taking in Ben's narration. "That's very noble of you. I'm from a world where aliens and monsters exist as well." 21 shares, holding Ben's jacket she was handed to tightly around her as she spoke.
"Really? What are they like? Are you an alien too?" Ben asks, moving closer to listen to 21.
A cute little giggle escapes 21's lips as she shakes her head in response. "Well, yes and no. I am actually... How do I say this... I am a bio-android. An artificial being made with the DNA of several other creatures, two of which are actual aliens and another was another artificial creature like me... but also with DNA from other aliens and a few humans and... Well... Okay, when I put it like that, I suppose I am an alien." 21 says, her pink cheeks blushing into a much deeper red.
"Reminds me of Kevin's mutations..."
Ben mentally told himself before shaking his head to 21. "I've never seen any android as alive as you are. To me, you're a person. Pink, can fly and has a tail, but still a person." Ben tells her, which makes 21's blush subside as she smiles.
"Thank you." says the bio android, her smile remaining on her lips as she hugs Ben's jacket closer.
Ben smiles back to her before looking up, with 21 following his gaze. Once again, they spot one singular star in the sky again before it vanishes like the other ones before. This, unfortunately, wipes the smiles on their faces, with Ben in particular glaring at the peculiar sky above them before closing his eyes, his head tilting down as he takes a deep breath. "You better get some rest, 21. I'll take watch for the night."
"We haven't seen anything or anyone for a long time, Ben. We can rest together." The bio android spoke to the transforming hero, who merely shakes his head as he gets up and finally opens his eyes.
"We can never be too sure. We're both in uncharted territories. It's best for at least one of us to be awake." Ben tells her, eyeing the rocky spire they're near up and down to see if it's elevated enough for him to spot anything for miles.
With a defeated sigh, 21 finally nods, conceding to Ben's decision as she replies, "Fine. But if you're starting to get tired, don't be afraid to wake me up so you can rest and I take my turn to watch for us."
"Okay." says Ben, nodding before transforming into a new creature 21 has not seen Ben turn into during their brief time together. He resembles a bug-like creature with four insect-like flat legs and two arms, whose hands only have three clawed fingers each. He has four small eyes on long stalks connected to his large head, as well light green wings with a very fragile look to them with lines on them, and his limbs are a brown-greenish color. He has a long, stinger-like tail, with the stinger itself being large, black and seemingly sharp. His body was primarily black with a few white stripes here and there and the Omnitrix symbol is placed on the empty spot in the middle of his black face.
Flapping his wings in rapid speed, Ben, now as Stinkfly, flies upward and over to the top of the spire he was looking at before, landing at the very top where has his eye stocks move around independently from one another, each eye looking at different directions so he has several areas to see anything coming.
"Maybe Eye Guy will be better for this..."
Stinkfly thought to himself, contemplating on switching forms later.
Back down at the small campfire they made, 21 was still looking at Ben, still not used to the fact that a human is capable of turning into so many forms. "Not even Frieza or Cell had that many forms, and definitely not as versatile." She tells herself before chuckling. With the chance to rest given to her, 21 yawns and stretches her arms out. She hasn't felt this tired since all the fighting she did with her friends back in her world, and although hungry, she can hold it in for now. Besides, the last time she tried to feed herself...
"Gah! Don't think about that!" 21 scolds herself, clapping the cheeks on her face to lightly punish herself before taking a deep breath and sighing. She then moves her tail in a way for it to become her makeshift pillow before using Ben's jacket on herself as her own blanket, closing her eyes to give in to a deep sleep.
Hours passed. Maybe even an entire day. With the sky static apart from a few blinking stars here and there, there was no real way to tell the time. Ben, who has now transformed into a new form, could only sigh of boredom. The new creature he transformed into has his entire upper-body covered with green, almost snake-like eyes, although, ironically, he has no eyes on his face, which consists of a mouth and a very large pair of bat-like ears. He has dark yellow skin with lighter yellow skin on his chest. He has green wrist bands on his wrists as well as matching green pants with black stripes, with the Omnitrix symbol located on his belt. With eyes all over his body, Ben as Eye Guy now has 360 vision on the empty wasteland around him and 21.
And yet nothing interesting or useful has happened at all for the time he has been watching. A big part of him is relieved no one is going to attack them at all, but on the other hand, with nothing at all around them but dirt and rocks, they're still nowhere close to even getting a clue as to where they are and how they can leave.
Meanwhile, back down to 21, the bio android was still resting by the fire, which itself has slowly been dying as the vines are beginning to burn out. However, 21 winces and curls herself into a fetal position, hugging her legs close as she shakes her head, a nightmare stirring in her head as she slept.
You're hungry... and he's right there!
He has so many powers and so much potential! Imagine how much stronger you'd be if you eat him!
Come on! Feed! Embrace your — nay — OUR power!
You can't pretend to hold it in forever. You will devour him and you will fail him...
Just...
...like...
...16!
"Ahh!" 21 yells, jolting from her sleep as she gets up. The force of her awakening was so intense, she released a brief gust of wind around her, putting out the fire beside her as well as kicking up dust all around her.
That voice in her nightmare was her own. Worse... It was her.
21 was breathing heavily and rapidly as her fears are slowly creeping back to her. She thought she had gotten rid of her, but...
"No... It was just a bad dream. A really... really bad dream..." The bio android attempts to convince herself, shaking her head as she clutches it. Unfortunately for her, her scream from waking up and her finally moving from her nap caught several of Eye Guy's eyes looking below, which made him jump off the spire, landing on the dirt floor before approaching 21, turning back into Ben to keep her at ease.
"21! Are you okay?" The hero exclaims to his pink skinned companion, who finally manages to slow her breathing to a normal pace before facing Ben.
"It's fine. It was just a nightmare. Bad memories started playing. But otherwise, I'm fine." She reassures Ben, who sighs in relief as sits down next to her.
Ben then tells her, "Oh man. You scared me. Nothing has happened for a long while now so I thought something finally came up."
"How long has it been since I slept?"
"I dunno. Several hours, probably. The Omnitrix could usually tell time but because of where we are—"
"Even it could not tell."
"Yeah."
Ben finally yawns, rubbing his eyes as he shakes his head, all of which 21 noticed, eventually having her ask, "Since I'm finally awake and you look like you're bored, would you like me to take watch now and for you to rest?"
Usually, the chivalrous, manly pride within Ben would have her deny her suggestion, but right now, in uncharted territories, they can't really afford one of them to be horrendously exhausted when something does come up eventually. "Yeah. A rest sounds good, but you better wake me up too." Ben eventually concedes.
21 nods with a smile before he hands Ben's jacket back to him. "There. Oh, and sorry about the fire... I must've put it out by accident."
"No worries. I was getting a little sweaty anyway." Ben replies, taking back his jacket with a smile as 21 was about to fly up to the spire to take her post. However, with Ben about to lie down and 21's back turned, she sighs, her smile fading and a frown replacing it on her lips. As she slowly flies upward, she thinks back on what had just happened in her head while she slept. A part of her really wants to believe it was just a nightmare, with her hunger driving her mind into things she doesn't want to remember. But the other part of her is scared. What if she really is still around?
"But that's impossible..." she thought, still in denial. "There's no way she could..."
However...
"What the heck is that?"
21 looks back down to see Ben was looking at a part of the landscape around them, causing her to follow his gaze once more and see something strange.
A portion of the dirt within their view is heating up, with the floor gradually glowing brighter like something hot was burning through it from underground. It was the first strange thing they've seen for a while now, so all of Ben's tiredness and 21's inner panic were all shoved deep down at the back of their thoughts for now as they look at the burning sands before them.
As the bio android floats back down to join the shapeshifting hero, who gets up from his lying position, 21 asks, "What do you think it is?"
"Something burrowing from the ground with fire? My guess is either a very big fire worm... or a demon." Ben answers her, with both of them getting into fighting stances as 21 closes both of her fists with glowing pink energy while Ben raising his left fist in front of him.
"You have demons too, huh?" 21 comments, which made Ben scoff a little.
"A story for later. Looks like whatever it is—" Ben responds but was interrupted when the flaming portion of the dirt wasteland ahead of them finally bursts forth into a torrent of flame. And within this blazing tornado was a loud, animalistic roar that can be heard for miles, something Ben and 21 are annoyed by due to being the closest to this sudden event.
As the flames vanish into hot air, Ben and 21 are presented with a terrifying sight to behold.
Before them is a gigantic, demonic creature wreathed in flames. It resembles a centaur-like beast but with it's lower half being that of a dragon, with clawed feet and a long, scaled tail. It's upper half was humanoid but still covered in burning scales. It's head was lion-like, with long, gigantic bull, almost demon-like, horns, with the tips growing bright and hot. It had big wings made of fire on it's back while one of it's two scaly hands held a charred sword with a flaming blade.
"Okay. It's Heatblast crossed with a centaur cat." Ben comments as the creature before them continues roaring. "Wanna bet he's a demon?"
"I would rather we stay out of it's sight before—" 21 adds but then, to their surprise, the creature started speaking.
"That excrement of Sparda!" The beast bellows. "I will tear him apart and scatter his body to the deepest pits of Hell!"
"Demon. Called it." Ben says. However, seeing as he and 21 are the only ones around it, the creature finally spots them and growls. "Uh oh." Ben mutters as 21 glares at the beast.
The bio android, not wishing for conflict right now, only says to the demon, "We mean you no harm, sir. We are just as lost as you are."
"Lost?! What are you talking about?!" The demonic beast roars as it stomps the ground with both of it's front feet. Then, after it asked those questions, the beast starts looking around the new environment it has been placed in, causing it to snarl as the realization is slowly sinking in to it. "Wait... This place... Is it not... Fortuna?"
As it kept looking around, moving it's entire body with it's gaze to check it's environment, Ben gestures to 21 that they should probably move, thumbing over to hide behind the rocky spires around them. 21 nods in agreement as she and Ben were about to move until the beast finally turns back around after taking a good look.
"I no longer sense my domain and my gate! Not even the scent of the spawn of Spar— Wait...!" The creature snarls as soon as he spots Ben and 21 attempting to move away, both of them freezing as soon as the beast noticed them. "Measly human pests! Don't try to run from me! I demand answers!"
"We're just as lost as you are, man! This isn't our world either!" Ben yells back as the beast approaches, gripping it's flaming sword harder than it already did.
21 nods in agreement to Ben as she adds, "Please calm yourself. If we work together, we can—"
"Work together?! With pun mortals?!" The creature bellows, stomping on the ground once more in anger as it makes the dirt floor around them crack before pointing the tip of it's blade at the two smaller people before it. "I serve no one! I do not work with anyone! You insignificant pests will serve Berial! Conqueror of the Fire Hell! Or you will die!" The beast, finally introducing itself as Berial, angrily proclaims to the two, causing Ben to roll his eyes and 21 to sigh.
"Great... Just great." Ben mutters as Berial charges at them, flaming horns first, like a bull, ready to ram and burn them. Ben was about to transform, but 21 zooms in front of him, charging a ball of energy in her hand, aiming it at the charging demon before them.
"Enough!" 21 yells, firing the charged energy ball at Berial. The attack collides with the demon, exploding into dust... only for Berial to emerge from the cloud and continue his charge. "What?!" 21 could only say, shocked her attack didn't even slow down their enemy before Ben has to grab her and pull her away, causing Berial to miss and for him to instead ram straight into some of the spires behind Ben and 21.
Ben, now XLR8, slows to a halt before gently putting 21 down back on her feet. "I didn't know you could shoot energy." XLR8 comments.
"Y-Yeah. I forgot to tell you." 21 comments, stuttering a little after what had just transpired.
Their short moment together was interrupted when from the rocky rubbles where their campsite was erupted a still enraged Berial, roaring to the sky as he looks around for his foes. "He's gonna rampage all over this place if we just leave and let him be. And if he's any indication, then it means we're probably not alone in this world." Ben points out, with 21 recovering from her stunned state as she listens.
"And we won't know if they can handle this... Berial if they encounter him." 21 nods.
"We could at least knock him out. I'll attack him directly. Can you cover me from the sky?" XLR8 requests.
21 didn't even hesitate to nod as she smiles both excitedly and proudly. "Don't have to ask me twice."
XLR8 smiles as a response before closing his visor and speeding off to Berial's direction, kicking up a trail of dust in his wake. While Ben was away, 21 took a moment to take a deep breath. Strange things have been happening to her since she got here. But what bothers her is the earlier skirmish with Berial.
"I'm powerful enough to match Cell or Buu! I should have been able to blast through Berial!" 21 mentally notes. "Either he's so much stronger than he looks... or I've gotten weaker ever since I..."
With a sigh, the bio android put those thoughts away for now as she looks back to the battle before flying in supersonic speeds to assist her friend.
Meanwhile, XLR8 had returned to Berial, halting himself into a sudden stop to unleash a sonic boom from his speed alone that disorients the demon, stunning Berial momentarily before the Kineceleran skates in high speeds to run up to one of the remaining rock spires in the area, the one closest to Berial. Zooming up to the natural structure in a spiral motion before reaching the top, scoping out Berial's current status.
The Conqueror of the Fire Hell is currently dazed, but slowly recovers, snarling as flames spew for a brief moment from his nostrils. However, he could no longer see where XLR8 went, who now observes from his position that Berial is still looking for him. Taking advantage of this, XLR8 jumps off his rocky tower, rocketing towards Berial like a bullet, ready to kick the demon in the face.
Unfortunately for the Kineceleran, his demon foe finally looks up and spots him in mid-air. Shocked and having no time to react, XLR8 was unfortunately swat away like a fly by Berial, striking the alien speedster back down on the ground, creating a small crate and an explosion of dirt and dust. Pain overpowered most of XLR8's sense as he struggles to lift his head up and stand back to his feet. As the cloud of dirt around him starts to dissipate around him, he gets a clear view of Berial, ready to swing his fiery blade down towards him,
But fortune was on his side when a barrage of energy blasts rain down upon Berial, injuring the demon just a small bit. XLR8 looks to the skies to se 21, firing the blasts of golden energy from her palms in quick succession. With so many blasts hitting rapidly and all at once, Berial was eventually forced to his four knees, using his sword as a cane to try and keep himself up as much as possible.
With the demon distracted, XLR8 takes this moment to switch form as he is engulfed in the familiar green light from the Omnitrix. 21, meanwhile, kept up her attack, flying and zipping all over the battlefield while she fired as much of her energy attacks as possible. Angered, hurt and annoyed, the Conqueror of the Fire Hell eventually roars before swinging his blade in an arch, unleash a huge wave of hellfire towards 21. The attack was coming at her fast, so 21 stretches out her arms outwards before unleashing a sphere of pink energy around her like a barrier, the hellfire attack colliding with her new shield, negating it completely as it explodes into smoke.
Despite her attempt to defend herself, though, Berial charges at her, jumping from his original position, swinging his sword downward with a heavy strike. Hitting her barrier hard enough to crack it, Berial's sword actually breaks through 21's protective field before striking her directly, blasting her away into the dirt floor below.
Down, but not out, 21 winces as several chunks of her pink, almost goo-like body, are scattered around her, but she's slowly regenerating them all. Though she may not have enough time as Berial approaches her, rearing back his sword and ready to stab her with the gigantic blade. But before the flaming colossus could, several explosion occur on Berial's back that knocks him down, causing both of his left legs to kneel as the beast looks for the source of the attack.
"What?!" Berial could only exclaim as he is then met with a giant, green fist to his face that knocks him down to his side completely. As 21 fully recovers, her gooey chunks returning to her body and fully healing her, she stands back up and flies up to see Ben, yet in another transformation.
This time, he has transformed into a humanoid dinosaur-like creature, with dark blue armor similar to that of an Ankylosaurus. He is big, bulky and very muscular and burly, with deep, camo green scales as his skin. He has a helmet with three silver spikes running down the top, and two downward pointing black horns on the sides. His back armor has long spikes running down each side, his plated chest and torso are dark blue with five spikes on each end and his tail has a blue mace on the end of it, with silver spikes. His knuckles have silver metallic protrusions on them that all resemble that of barrel of a gun, as well as black claws at the tip of each of his fingers.
Strangely, the usual Omnitrix symbol on his chest now has four spikes protruding outward in four directions that resemble an X.
With every stomp of his feet a small quake, Ultimate Humungousaur approaches 21 while eyeing Berial cautiously. "You okay?" The hyper evolved alien asks his companion that he now completely towers over.
21, still a bit stunned from the sight of seeing Ben absolutely dwarfing her, could not help but chuckle at this new form. "I'm fine. I can heal. But you... You grew up so fast." 21 found the time to tease her friend, who chuckles in response.
"I had a growth spurt." Ultimate Humungousaur jokes back before the snarls and groans of Berial catches their attentions. "I'm about his size now, maybe bigger, so he can't ignore me anymore. Same plan. I take his attention, you give me covering fire. We take him down from all sides. Use his size against him."
"Good idea. I'll keep my distance. But you better be careful." 21 replies, flying a little further back as the evolved Vaxasaurian charges at the fire demon.
Groggy and stunned, as well as sustaining several injuries on his body, including a huge, lava spewing dent on his right cheek from Ultimate Humungousaur's punch, Berial had little time to react as the same giant alien tackles him forward, both of their feet creating a huge trail on the dirt they traverse on. As he pushes Berial around, Ultimate Humungousaur keeps it up by punching the demon repeatedly on his stomach, doing as much damage as he can before letting go of the beast and letting Berial skid backwards on his own. The evolved alien did not stop there, however, as he jumps over to Berial's position before grabbing his tail and spinning around. After a few spins with the conqueror still in his grasp, Ultimate Humungousaur eventually tosses Berial aside and into more of the rock spires, toppling them over like dominoes as they daze the hell lord.
Absolutely infuriated at this point, Berial lets out a rageful roar before glaring at the saurian tank before him. The demon then clenches his hand that wasn't holding his sword, gather hellfire within it, before slamming that same hand into the ground. With no idea what his enemy is doing, Ultimate Humungousaur aims both of his fists at Berial before he morphs both into quadruple barreled cannons, with each barrel glowing red.
Before he could unleash his attack, however, Ultimate Humungousaur was interrupted almost immediately when the ground beneath glows bright and hot. He had no time to process what's going on before an eruption of hellfire engulfs the evolved Vaxasaurian, burning his tough hide and scorching his armor a little bit. As the hellfire disperses, Ultimate Humungousaur falls to his knees, wincing at the pain as he watches Berial running at him at full speed, ready to attack.
Alas, the shapeshifting hero is saved in time when 21 swoops in and fires a gigantic beam of pink energy from both of her hands that knocks Berial several blocks away and onto his back. This time, 21 sees that her attack dealt proper damage as Berial's chest, the part of his body that took the brunt of 21's blast, has been caved in and leaking his molten lava-like blood. This was not enough to stop him, however, as Berial jolts up and lands on all four of his feet, clutching his chest before looking at his hand to see it covered in his burning blood. This only further enrages the beast as he runs towards 21, swinging his sword sideways in an attempt to cut her in half.
To retaliate, and remembering she was struck by this same weapon from earlier, 21 charges forward as well, conjuring a blade of pink energy from her hands and parrying Berial's own, much bigger sword. Both of their blades strike one another, colliding into a spark of embers and energy as 21 holds back the beast before her with her energy weapon.
Berial snarls at her as usual, but this time, he gets cut off when several blasts of explosions hit him all over his body, from his face to his torso to his legs. As Berial is forced away from 21, the bio android herself looks to where the explosions are coming from and sees Ultimate Humungousaur to be the cause, firing his strange looking, almost bone-like missiles from his cannon hands at their foe as they explode on contact with the Conqueror of the Fire Hell.
This barrage forces Berial to take a defensive position and block them all with his sword, but Ultimate Humungousaur unexpectedly stops firing as he runs at Berial before catching him off guard by spinning around fast enough to whip the mace on his tail, striking Berial in his face like a flail, knocking him back further. In retaliation, Berial attempts to swing his sword at the evolved alien, but Ultimate Humungousaur simply blocks the swinging arm of the demon with his own left arm before punching Berial with his right fist, dazing him further.
When Berial tries to swipe his claw at Ultimate Humungousaur, 21 intervenes by firing a big beam of energy once more, this time aimed at Berial's face, injuring the demon further and distracting him as he is knocked backwards. The beast tries punch 21 but completely misses thanks to her much smaller frame as she dodges the jab before running down on Berial's own arm then delivering an energy infused kick to the demon's face, making his head jolt backwards as he stumbles around in pain.
Once 21 backflips off of the fiery creature, she charges up energy in her left fist as Ultimate Humungousaur cracks his knuckles before rearing back his right fist for a punch.
Too stunned to retaliate further, Berial could only clutch his heavily injured head and face as both heroes lunge at him. In unison, 21 and Ultimate Humungousaur punch Berial on the wound on his chest together, creating a powerful shockwave in the process that blasts Berial away from them and into the mountainous formation nearby, shattering several spires along the way and kicking up dust, smoke and rubble all over the battlefield.
When the dust settles, Ultimate Humungousaur transforms back into Ben as he and 21 eye Berial careful. Surrounded and buried in several rocks and stones, Berial has been knocked out completely. He was heavily injured, bleeding lava and most of his bright flames have now seemingly extinguished. His volcanic body has basically been turned into a smoldering shape of his former self and his sword had now been torn in half, the tip having landed elsewhere while the rest of the weapon is still within his grasp, the flames on it gone just as much as it's wielder.
Relief and exhaustion overpowering their senses, Ben fell flat on his rear as he sat down while 21 fell to her knees and breaths a very deep sigh. "That guy... was NO joke..." Ben comments before giving in to his tiredness and lying down on the dirt.
"I agree... It's been a while since I had to fight seriously like that." 21 adds. Her genetic make up ensures she can't sweat, but if she could, she knew this whole time she'd be sweating from all of that fighting. "Perhaps we should get out of here before he wakes up."
"No kidding... Just let me catch my breath then we can—" Ben tells her, still lying on the ground. Unfortunately...
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The familiar roar they wish they didn't hear anymore echoes across the valley as both Ben and 21 get back up, albeit slowly from exhaustion, to look back and see Berial is angrily emerging from the rubble all around him. This time, his flames had grown larger, brighter and hotter, including the fiery wings on his back that had doubled in length, and his horns had also extended and are now just as much on fire as the rest of his body. His wounds were still there, but either through sheer will, rage or both, the Conqueror of the Fire Hell is ignoring them as he sets his glowing, burning eyes towards the two heroes.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT PESTS!" bellows Berial, grabbing his broken sword before striking the ground with it, creating massive sparks in the process. "I HAVE BEEN HUMILIATED BY TWO PUNY MAGGOTS ALREADY! I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN!"
Berial stomps the ground with his flaming feet so hard, he practically melted the dirt around him. Even from a distance, Ben and 21 can feel the heat emanating from the demon as Ben began to sweat profusely while 21 could feel some of her slime-like skin were slowly starting to melt. "He can't be serious!" Ben exclaims.
"We need to take him down now!" 21 comments before aiming at Berial with her pointing finger as it began to gather pink energy at the very tip of it.
"He's just going to dodge it! But if we get close, we're toast!" Ben points out as Berial began charging at them at full speed like a raging bull. He raises his broken blade over his head as it began to gather more hellfire onto it.
Both heroes clench their teeth as exhaustion was still dominating the rest of their body, barely even able to stand up as their furious foe nears. But before he could even get close enough to attack...
SLASH!
A blur of golden energy suddenly zips past Berial and through his raised, sword arm before it lands right behind Ben and 21. All of a sudden, Berial's arm was suddenly cut and torn off, the hand holding his sword dropping that very weapon as the demon could only halt in shock as he watches the rest of his arm fly off and land helplessly, separated from the rest of his body.
Confused, both Ben and 21 look behind them to see the golden figure responsible for Berial's limb loss.
It turned out to be a tall woman with a slender, albeit still muscular, figure, dressed in an all white outfit. She had messy blonde hair with a few, longer strands hanging with braids, olive eyes and her mouth was covered by her high collar, white jacket, which still revealed the rest of her midriff. Her jacket had very long sleeves that extended towards her palm, leaving only her black gloved fingers out. She also had a long, white hakama over her legs as well as light brown, wooden slippers with black socks on her feet underneath.
In her hand was a peculiar sword which, while not particularly long, is unusually wide, and has the distinction of being completely hollow in the middle, essentially consisting of nothing more than the edges of what would otherwise be a normal sword. Its handle is purple, and its guard is as wide as its blade, with three small holes on either end. The sword came with a pure white sheath, just like the rest of her outfit, and she wears it horizontally on her upper back.
The blade itself is covered in soot and a few splashes of lava from Berial, proving she was responsible for severing his arm.
"Cat!" The woman yells out in a slightly deep voice, confusing Ben and 21 until they look back towards Berial and see him suddenly gets the rest of his limbs, his neck, his lower and upper torsos and even his tail tied up with strange ropes made of dark red energy, immobilizing him completely.
In a rageful tone, Berial bellows towards his enemies, "UNHAND ME! YOU WORTHLESS, PIECES OF SH—"
He was interrupted, however, when a strange, bluish gray cat dressed in a black and red suit with a strange symbol on the chest and a peculiar, pure red ring around it's tail suddenly floats over to his face and hisses at him angrily. The black ropes all over Berial are seemingly being projected by the cat's tail ring as it lands back down on the ground.
"Is that... a cat?" Ben, understandably confused, comments.
"You two!"
Ben and 21 look back at the new, mysterious woman in white as she points at them, then at Berial. "Finish him off!" She demands of them.
The two heroes gave each other a brief, confused look, but eventually they nod together, agreeing with the other woman's words. Leaving Berial merely unconscious is no longer a valid option. He needs to be stopped, and the two of them knew it now that he has shown his rage knew no bounds.
Ben then transforms into Chromastone as 21 gathers the energy she had produced on her fingertip back in between both of palms, cupping them together as she makes the ball of energy larger and larger. Chromastone does the same, only he starts gather a multicolored, ultraviolet energy on his chest.
Once again, in unison, 21 and Chromastone yell out a battle cry together before unleashing their attacks together as two separate beams, both heading towards Berial's already caved in and wounded chest. As their beams travel in light speed, both attacks merge into one larger beam, giving Chromastone's ultraviolet laser a bright pink outer layer thanks to 21.
Their combination attack finally strikes Berial and they continue projecting their attack as Berial could only howl in pain.
With one final, loud yell, Chromastone and 21 unleash any of their remaining strength into their attacks, making their combined beams larger and finally piercing through Berial, tearing a hole into his chest as their beams pass through it. Both heroes stop their final move as Chromastone switches back to Ben. Berial's flames had gone out once more and his eyes turned hollow before blacking out as he finally fell lifeless on the floor, the strange, flying cat retracting back it's red rope constructs and joins the blonde, blade-wielding woman.
In mere moments, Berials body suddenly blackens before fading away into ashes, leaving behind only two strange, glowing orbs in his place. One was green while the other was pink, matching Ben and 21's colors. Without warning, the green and pink orbs suddenly fly towards Ben and 21 respectively and towards their chests before fading, confusing the two of them, although this did cause the new arrivals to look at them with interests.
"Just like us, it seems." The woman spoke as the alien hero and the bio android faces her and her feline companion.
"What do you mean? What did those orbs do?" Ben asks the lady.
21, also curious, asks them as well. "And who are you two? Were you both from other worlds as well?"
The blonde swordswoman nods, sheathing her hollow sword into the sheath on her back as she approaches them, all while the floating blue cat with her eyes them all, hissing a little. "We know not what the orbs do yet, but the feline and I fought a beast before we met you, and upon defeat, the creature left behind similar orbs that also vanished upon coming into contact with us. One was glowing yellow, the other was dark red, matching the two of us."
The cat then suddenly projects a red construct from it's ring, showing an exact replica of the creature they fought. It looked like a normal wolf, but it wielded a gigantic blade on it's jaws.
"You guys fought a wolf... with a sword?" Ben asks.
"Trust me. It was just as large as the demon you had just slain." The woman tells Ben. "As for who we are, I am Tier Halibel, but this feline... Refuses to introduce it's name to me, but so far, it has been following me around. Perhaps it, too, knows it needs allies in these uncharted waters we are all in."
The cat, after dispersing the construct of the great grey wolf it had just made, hisses at Ben and 21. "Not very friendly, is he?" Ben comments.
"But he looks like an absolutely good kitty." 21 says, smiling at the cat. It hisses again, of course, though it seems a lot more subdued after the bio android's comment.
Halibel, the swordswoman, closes her eyes as she speaks once more. "We should all keep moving. If the things we fought are any indication, there could be more beasts lurking out here that will attack us."
"So just like that, we're allies now?" Ben asks, skeptical, crossing his arms at Halibel, who opens back her eyes to look back at him.
"In a place as hollow as this, where monsters could appear at any moment, you should be gathering as much allies as you can, for the strong will prey on those alone." Halibel points out. "We don't all have to be friends, but if any of us are to survive out here and find a way back to our worlds, we need to gather the sane and defend ourselves from the predators like the one you had just fought."
Ben sighs, nodding in agreement. "I know. I was just... making sure. You guys have been our first contact in a while here that hasn't attacked us yet."
"Then we should stick together. At the very least, until we find some method to go back to our homes. If that's even possible... I was mere moments before my..." 21 shares before trailing off.
"Demise?" Halibel continues for the android, however, causing both of them to look. "Hmm. Interesting. Lord Ai— No... Some bastard had just cut me down. Twice. And I was plummeting to the streets below where I was fighting before finding myself here."
"Yeah... And... I was about to get blasted by some of my old enemies." Ben shares with them.
After that, all three of them turn to look at the cat, who glares back at them before snarling and backing up. "He's never gonna share what he knows, isn't he?" Ben surmises.
"If we were all moments away from death before appearing here... Then there's one likely chance where we are..." Halibel ponders, turning around to look at the sky. Coinciding with her look, a single star once again twinkles in the sky before vanishing just as fast. "We're in hell." Halibel adds.
"I... would not be surprised... After some things I did..." 21 mutters. Meanwhile, Ben raises a brow at Halibel's words, recalling his own past.
He comments, "Okay, I don't like bragging, but I've done a lot of good and helped a lot of people. I was a superhero."
"Perhaps there are things you've done that justifies your presence here?" Halibel answers back, turning back around to look at Ben, who only glares back at her. "Regardless, that's only a theory. It's likely we really are just transported elsewhere, merely coinciding with our final moments. Besides, I know there is a Hell in my world. A man I once trusted mentioned it once in a while. This is not the Hell he described."
"And I know Hell exists in my world as well." 21 shares with the rest of their current team. "I doubt it's anything like this at all."
Arms still crossed, but no longer glaring at Halibel, Ben nods along. "Yeah, I doubt Hell would let me keep the Omnitrix with me. It's part of my body, not my soul. Still, we need to find a way out of here anyway. And our best bet at surviving that may come our way is... Well, what Halibel said. Staying together. Hopefully, we find others like us sooner than later."
Both ladies nods in agreement while the floating cat rolls it's eyes. "Good. Because the cat and I saw something strange over in that direction." Halibel turns back around and away from Ben and 21, pointing in the direction she's facing. "It looked like a strange shack of sorts. We were on our way there until we saw you two and the flaming beast. Seems like a good place to start our investigation."
"If it is indeed a structure, hopefully there's people inside..." 21 adds... and then her stomach starts growling again. "...And food."
"And a bed. I'm exhausted and I don't think I have it in me to go for several more hours without a nap..." Ben also adds, yawning afterwards. His words cause the cat to seemingly scoff at him. "What?" Ben exclaims.
"I think he's trying to say he's not carrying you if you fall asleep on the way." Halibel attempts to translate for the flying feline, who actually creates a red construct of an arrow to point at Halibel, as if saying that she's right.
"Well you don't have to worry about that." Ben proudly tells them before turning into XLR8 in a bright flash of green light. "See you in a flash." XLR8 jokes before running off in the direction the blonde swordswoman pointed, once again kicking up dust in his tracks. Halibel herself simply closes her eyes to shake her head before suddenly dashing forward in blinding speeds, the cat in the black and red suit following. As all her companions, new and old, go ahead of her, 21 takes a moment to bring up her hands as she looks at them.
Having some time for herself, 21 thinks back to all her questions from earlier. The voice in her nightmares, her abilities not strong enough to obliterate Berial in one attack and forcing her to exert just as much force that's normally preserved for the likes of her allies and enemies back in her world, who could all match, and sometimes surpass, her in power. Something weird is happening, and whether it's her, her current environment or her new allies and enemies, she's not sure yet. For now, she'll see where this goes and hopefully find some answer.
The bio android then finally blasts off and flies to follow her comrades to the shack.
However, she was absolutely unaware that, deep within her own psyche, a dark reflection of her's laughs.
Notes:
Yes, I know I am two years late, but I had a lot of IRL stuff I had to take care off. On top of that, I spent a lot of time watching, reading and listening to a bunch of media that will all be added into this crossover, and since this crossover will be very diverse in terms of what stuff I'll be putting in, it was a ton of manga, anime, cartoons, games, books and movie franchises I had to go through.
(And yes, that's Sif from Dark Souls that Halibel and, yes, Dex Starr had just slain)
Anyway, that's it for now. The first taste of the growing cast of characters we'll have for this story, as well as an updated and much cleaner cover photo for it.
Hope you guys enjoyed and I hope to see you in the next chapters.
Lady out.