"So… why the river?" Kevin asked, motioning towards said body of water.
EightEight looked at them, then signed and gurgled, "Take off your masks. They are not waterproof."
"They aren't?" Ben gawked as Gwen took off her ID mask. EightEight nodded, following her own words. Ben did so, followed by Kevin.
The ID masks were put in a line behind a rock. EightEight looked at the trio. "Ben, transform into your Crabdozer form," EightEight said. She then signed, 'Cobra, transform into stink bug.' The duo nodded before transforming. A flash of green and red happened.
"Selket!" she proclaimed.
"It does mistransform," he said, the light dying to show Fish Snatcher.
"Finally!" Selket exclaimed. "Something that-!"
The Predatrix suddenly chirped, "Error! Implementing Code M-T-C." A red light flashed again and he was suddenly Rhinorush.
"Huh," Rhinorush started. "Apparently me getting Fish Snatcher and not Rhinorush was an error."
"Are you kidding me?!" Selket steamed.
"How is a Crabdozer a rhino?" EightEight asked again.
"How is Rhinorush a crab?" Rhinorush countered. EightEight lifted up her hand, then dropped it.
Kevin said, "Do you want me to join Selket or…?" The Sotoraggian shrugged. He touched the Dominant Lepidopterran, absorbing some of the DNA and mutating.
Eight looked at Rhinorush and gurgled, "Go stand in the water and close your eyes." Rhinorush tilted his head, but nodded and went to go do so. As he walked, EightEight added, "If you hear or smell anything near or in the water, snap or slam towards it, but only after I say so." Rhinorush paused to nod.
Once Rhinorush was in place, EightEight looked at Selket and Kevin. She signed, 'Be as silent as possible and try to touch the symbol of the predator. Take turns. Decide who will go first.' Selket nodded and quickly repeated the instructions to Kevin. The mutated male nodded and Selket flew into the air.
"Begin," EightEight stated.
Selket flew to Rhinorush's side, wings flickering. She hovered above the water, causing ripples in the river. One of Rhinorush's legs suddenly lifted up and slammed down near her, causing a screech and her to fly up.
Rhinorush surged towards her, opening his jaw before attempting to crunch down on her. Selket screeched, flying around. The Crabdozer lifted his head, moving towards the Lepidopterran. She dashed diagonally, reaching her hands out to touch the Predatrix.
Rhinorush roared, trying to slam down, but she touched the symbol. A red flash filled the air. Selket screeched as she was forced into the water by Starray.
EightEight stuttered as Kevin chirped, "What the heck?! How did that happen?"
As Selket appeared on the water's surface, Starray said, "Uh… what just happened?"
"Oh, you tell me!" Selket screeched, wings flickering madly in anger.
"What's that?" Starray suddenly questioned, a movement on the water's surface showing the Piscciss Nebula's movements.
"What's going on?" EightEight asked, running up to the river. Kevin followed, wings flickering slightly.
Starray stared at the squid-looking tank robot, mechanical tentacles and propeller helping it along. He looked towards the riverbank and said, "There's some sort of weird tech squid thing."
Selket climbed up onto the riverbanks as EightEight stepped a few steps towards Starray. "What tech squid?" Starray responded by a sudden machine being crashed into the river bank, tumbling until its thrashing tentacles were in the air.
EightEight came over to the machine as Starray swam close to the riverbank and the water's surface. Selket shook, wings flickering to get the water off while Kevin went over and asked, "What is that?"
"Strange. An Encephalona Cyber Squid," EightEight commented.
"What do Ence… En-ce-whatever Cyber Squids do?" Starray asked.
"Encephalona," EightEight corrected.
Starray repeated, "Encephalona." She nodded.
EightEight then said, "The Encephalona Cyber Squid was created by Cerebrocrustaceans to do a few things. Most of them, on Encephalonus IV, keep an eye out for useful materials or the Vicetopus, the Cerebrocrustacean predator. However, there was an incident where a group of Cyber Squids turned on their creator and tried to sabotage anything he or she was trying to do."
"That's… weird," Startay blinked. "Why was it heading downstream, then?" The Sotoraggian shrugged.
"Do you think we can figure it out by taking it apart?" Kevin asked. EightEight paused before taking and talon and stabbing the machine part that held the tentacles. The mechanical tentacles suddenly stopped and dropped to its sides. Selket came over as EightEight removed the talon. Sparks came from the machine as she put her hands on it.
Selket looked at the machine's tube head from her spot before asking, "What's in it?" EightEight and Kevin looked at the tube head, a black ink-like liquid dripping out of a crack.
"Pups," EightEight hissed.
"You recognize it, Sister EightEight?" Starray asked.
"That's Vicetopus ink," she replied.
"What's the big deal with Vicetopus ink?" Starray blinked, lifting his eyes above the surface before retreating back.
"It's poisonous to most species according to Galvans," EightEight answered.
"… oh," Starray simply said.
"What did she say?" Kevin asked.
"The ink's poisonous," Starray relayed.
"Oh hell," Kevin said.
"Wait, why is it here then!" Selket screeched.
"Uh… there's more robots," Starray suddenly said, moving away from the riverbank.
The Sotoraggian turned towards Selket before saying and signing, "We need to warn the others."
"Obviously!" Selket exclaimed, wings flickering like mad.
EightEight tapped Kevin's shoulder, causing him to look towards her. She then scratched on the ground, 'Take robot back, warn them, no touch ink'. Kevin nodded before grabbing the robot near the tentacle connection.
Selket was about to ask something when a shrill beeping filled the air. She looked down, but the Omnitrix wasn't beeping. A green light came from the water. Selket scrambled towards the water and yelled, "Ben!"
EightEight dashed into the water as Kevin froze. She looked around, the yellow lines on her mask glowing slightly. Thank Celestialsapiens for night vision tech. Or watervision, the two were interchangeable. Sure, it didn't matter much with clear waters, but it corrects the vision distortion.
There was a swarm of robots surrounding Ben, keeping him underwater. His green eyes were wide as the robots gripped their tentacles around him and he saw the Sotoraggian. She surged forwards as he reached out.
She grabbed his arm and yanked him back, mechanical limbs snapping as it happened. The swarm suddenly expanded, swiftly swimming around the duo like mad. EightEight surged to the surface and broke it, making sure to lift up Ben as well.
Selket was above them, quickly spotting them and dashing down. Suddenly, something grabbed her and forced her under. A ringing seemed to go through her head as EightEight looked towards the robots. They had surrounded them, tentacles latched onto them like chains. One of the machines tried to pull something away, but that thing- no, Ben, gripped her like a lifeline. She yanked him towards her and kicked towards the machine holding him. She was barely able to hear a crack before black ink began to fill the water.
EightEight felt something crash into her back as the tentacles suddenly went away. She looked behind her quickly before once more surging to the surface. One of the bots had smashed itself into her back, the black ink-liquid staining the water.
The surface of the water once again broke. Selket immediately grabbed them, lifting them out of the water and to the riverbank.
Once the were on the ground, EightEight looked at Ben more closely as Selket asked, "Is he ok?" The black ink stained the near white shirt Ben wore and some of the ink streaked around his neck and near his ears. His eyes were screwed shut and a small splat of the ink was near his mouth. She lifted a hand and used the back of her hand to wipe away the ink as Ben carefully opened an eye.
"Are… Are they gone?" Ben asked.
"Yes," EightEight answered as he fully opened both eyes. "Did you breathe in any of the water?"
"I don't think so," Ben answered, lifting a hand. EightEight suddenly snatched it, startling Ben as she looked at the hand. The ink covered the limb, dripping off of it and onto their clothes.
"Do not touch your eyes, mouth, or nose until we can get the ink off," EightEight stated. Ben nodded. She dropped his hand before looking around briefly. Kevin and the destroyed bot weren't around.
Selket landed on the ground before saying, "Kevin went back to Sparksville with the robot."
EightEight nodded before signing, 'We need to head back.' Selket nodded just before the Omnitrix began to beep. A red flash filled the air and Gwen stood were Selket was. EightEight stood up, pulling Ben with her.
-()-
"Well nairde," Jewir muttered as Kevin suddenly mutated back to his usual self.
"Aren't they only on Encephalonus IV?" Jetray randomly said.
"No. Some Encephalona Cyber Squids have been used on Methanos to filter pollen out of liquids," Er'Apel answered, walking over to Kevin. She then pulled him away from the grounded squid and looked at his hands. A few odd black spots littered his palms. "I would recommend not touching your face for the time being. At least, until this can be wiped off safely."
"Why would one of them-?" Beu started, but fell silent when multiple pairs of eyes looked towards him.
"Isn't there some human group who hates anything not from Earth, but happily uses tech not from Earth?" Malice randomly said.
"That's not a bad starting place, the Forever Knights," a chubby, bug-eyed Galvan started.
Oblique nodded. "Yea. While, I'll admit, I know barely anything about them, based on what I've heard of them, I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to put a poisonous substance in a Cyber Squid and send it to a place that is suspected to have non-Earthens."
"Dunno why the Plumbers haven't caught on to them yet," the bug-eyed Galvan continued.
"That's part of the reason you left them, right Driba?" Tai asked. "The Plumbers not making sure planets like Earth and Revonnah don't get tech beyond their understanding?"
The bug-eyed Galvan nodded. Driba then added, "That, plus Magister Servantis and something that is supposed to keep a secret but a Galvan can easily dig up."
"Really?" Oblique asked.
"Yea. Technically, by the Plumber's definition of occupation, they're occupating a minimum of five planets," Driba said. "All in the same system."
"Truly?" Oblique continued, tilting his head.
"If I remember correctly, the Manashell System," Driba added.
"Manashell System?" Jewir blinked.
"The system with Anodyne," Vice supplied.
"Where are EightEight and the other Wyrmlings?" Er'Apel asked.
"Still at the river," Kevin answered. "Something kept Ben underwater, I don't know if they got him out."
Most of the others around them winced in one way or another, but a Piscciss Volann said, "That isn't a good thing."
"We should really let Thornapple know," the purple zombie-like said. A green goop creature thrill-chirped in agreement.
"I'll do it, I need to head up, anyways," Tai said, lifting up his ID mask.
-()-
A light beeping went off, but the large, purple-blue crab didn't notice it. It continued to beep until it seemingly realized the crab wasn't waking up, so stopped. Silence overcame the snow covered pod.
-(...)-
Er'Apel frowned, looking over Ben as he rested. Gwen and Kevin were off to the side, looking between the data pad and the duo. EightEight stared from where she sat against the wall, claws digging into the ground.
The living plant said, "How Vicetopus ink affects Humans isn't studied in the slightest, so I'm not too sure how it'll affect him. Tora said that she'd look at the chemical composition of the ink to see if there's a counterpart of it on Earth, but until then, I can't be of much help to the child."
EightEight nodded, mask hiding her face.
Er'Apel then looked at EightEight and added, "You are coming with me. The Sotoraggians I've met before coming to Earth are awfully picky about who sees their actual identity and I'd rather avoid that whole song and dance, alright?" The Sotoraggian seemed to laugh in reply before standing up.
EightEight looked at Gwen and signed, 'I will be back. Be safe.' She then looked at Er'Apel and nodded. The two aliens left, leaving the three children in the room.
A few seconds after the door closed, Kevin complained, "Why is there nothing on this thing about Vicetopus ink."
"Well, ink is technically a liquid, not a creature," Gwen started as she tapped a few things on the pad. She paused before adding, "I can't find anything about Vicetopi on this anyways."
"... Vice-top-I?" Kevin repeated.
"I'm assuming that the plural of Vicetopus has the same thing as the plural of octopus," Gwen shrugged. "Octopi, Vicetopi."
"So is it octopi or octopuses?" Kevin stated. Gwen stared at him as he smirked.
"Why not both," Gwen then replied, causing Kevin to drop the smirk and glare at her.
A few seconds once more passed before Gwen stood up, grabbing the data pad as she did so.. Kevin dropped the glare and asked, "So… what now?"
"You? You're staying here," Gwen stated. "You have that ink on you, I don't."
"And you?" Kevin sneered.
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Gwen smirked before making a mad dash to the door.
She closed the door behind her, sighing as Kevin yelled something. She looked around briefly before walking off.
Eventually, she saw the Piscciss Volann outside of a building, fixing a brace thing with bubbles of water on it around its neck. Gwen started towards them as it said, "They really need to make these out of materials from Piscciss. I hate leather, fake or not."
"Hello?" Gwen started, getting the fish man to look at her. "Is there any way I can help?"
The Piscciss Volann stared at her before saying, "You're Cobra, right? The one Vilgax tried to kidnap?" She nodded. "It's better if you don't get in the way. Heck if I know any species you transform into and I'd rather not risk it."
"One of my forms looks like you," Gwen replied.
It blinked before saying, "There's a reason Vicetopus ink is banned on Piscciss and the Aqua System in general."
"Is there another way I can help?" she asked.
The Piscciss Volann paused. "Dunno. Maybe one of the Galvans would know."
"Alright," Gwen nodded.
The two walked into the nearby building, Beu immediately looking towards them. "H-Hi," Beu said, causing the Galvan and the odd robotic humanoid to look over. The robotic humanoid looked like a thin human, but had spots that showed a red energy flowing throughout it. The main metal of the robot was a dark reddish-purple with shining, blank eyes. On its chest, showing a massive storage of the red energy, was a symbol that looked like a circle in an odd, curvy box, but with a blocking black X over it.
"Found one that fits, Choabo?" Driba asked.
"Yea. Still don't like leather," the Piscciss Volann replied.
"Leather, especially Earthen leather, should have no impact on your scale state," the robot stated.
"Doesn't mean that it isn't uncomfortable," Choabo countered. "Even one's made out of Crabdozer liver are more comfortable than this." Gwen stared at him, silent.
"I-I'll go down now," Beu said, walking over to the rimmed hole in the ground.
"Er'Apel is going to hate us," Choabo commented, walking over as Beu jumped into the hole.
"Is there any way I can help?" Gwen asked.
Driba hummed, "An extra pair of eyes is always helpful." Suddenly, a game controller was thrown at her, causing her to squeak before catching it. A little white robot that looked like a mini submarine with propellers splashed into the water as the humanoid robot brought up another view on a screen.
Gwen walked over and asked, "What's this?"
"Underwater Searcher Bot," Driba chirpily answered. "Myself, Atom-Admix, and now yourself will look out for when the Encephalona Cyber Squids approach. Plus, I can test these to see if altered Earth materials work for independent water drones!"
"Do not worry about his science speak," the robot suddenly said. "I do not get it either."
"I'm not that bad, Atom-Admix," Driba countered.
"Excuse my rudeness, but are you that bad," Atom-Admix tuned, seemingly looking down at the Galvan.
"Why did I reprogram you to not follow the Plumber's programming again," Driba sighed before backing up a bit to allow Gwen to see.
The human girl stopped as Atom-Admix hummed, "I believe you have said it yourself in the past, specifically when you reprogrammed me. For one, I am grateful for your kindness in that regard. Too bad we-"
"Shush," Driba deadpanned, cutting the robot off.
"How do I control the searcher bot?" Gwen asked before Atom-Admix could continue.
"Oh simple," Driba started. "You know how underwater physics in video games work?"
Gwen blinked before answering, "Ignoring the fact you know what video games are, yes…"
"Remind me to show you 'Life As Nothing Yet Everything' later," Driba began. "Controlling the Underwater Searcher Bot works like how you would control a character in that underwater world. … or level, both work." Gwen nodded, shifting the controller in her hands a bit.
-()-
"You have this blank look in your eyes," Er'Apel commented, causing EightEight to look up at her.
EightEight signed, 'This just reminds me of what happened to Six.'
"Six… One of your brothers?" Er'Apel asked, picking up a jar from a cupboard.
EightEight nodded, signing, 'Youngest alive brother.'
Er'Apel squinted at her before sighing, "What is it with Sotoraggians seemingly not caring for their own lives?" EightEight looked towards the ground, silent. The living plant immediately noticed the Sotoraggian's silence. She then said, "I struck a nerve, didn't I?"
EightEight looked at her and signed, 'Sorry. My older brother, Nine, died trying to protect myself, Six, Four, Three, and Two. He-' She paused, stopping briefly before continuing, 'failed to save Four and Three.'
Er'Apel frowned, but didn't say anything as she walked over. The living plant opened the jar and placed it down next to the Sotoraggian. She grabbed a small cloth, dapped it in the water, then lifted the cloth up. Er'Apel tapped EightEight's arm, causing her to turn away from the jar. She touched the cloth to her back, causing the Sotoraggian to wince.
"It'll be ok," Er'Apel hummed as she rubbed the cloth. EightEight whined as Er'Apel continued, "It'll only burn for a moment, you'll be fine in the end."
"NineNine…" EightEight gurgled, looking towards the ground. She lifted a claw to her bare, bright magenta skin and squeezed her arm.
"You'll be ok," Er'Apel repeated.
Her vision flickered and suddenly TwoTwo was staring at her, voice broken and begging.
Her vision snapped back to normal as Er'Apel had a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" Er'Apel asked.
The Sotoraggian shook her head.
-()-
"Is that it?" Gwen asked, pointing to her spot on the screen. Driba and Atom-Admix looked at the spot.
"Yup, that's a Cyber Squid," Driba confirmed, pressing a button. Gwen looked towards the hole, noticing a blue crackle come from it.
"What now?" Gwen asked.
"When they get the Cyber Squids to the surface, we can take them out and repurpose them," Driba answered.
"I wish I could help more," Gwen muttered.
"Unless you have a form that can swim and is immune, it'll be better if you stay up here," Driba replied.
"What forms does the Wielder of the Omnitrix have, anyways?" Atom-Admix questioned.
Gwen paused before saying, "There's… a Galvan, Piscciss Volann, Galvanic Mechamorph, Pet-"
"You have a Galvanic Mechamorph form?" Driba cut in, head tilted a bit.
"Yea, why?" Gwen replied. One of the mini submarines popped to the surface of the water in the hole.
"If you want to help Beu and Choabo, you can take over that," Driba explained as Atom-Admix yoinked the control from her.
She nodded, activated the Omnitrix, and turned to the dial until it showed Theia's silhouette. She pressed down and a green light surrounded her.
"Are you-" she started as the light faded, revealing Tiamat. "Stop doing that you stupid watch!"
Driba blinked as Atom-Admix cackled. "Oh man, that is hilarious!" Atom-Admix squeaked in laughter.
Driba said something under his breath, including a word that sounded like 'azimuth', but she couldn't understand him entirely over Atom-Admix's laugh.
"Sorry, the Omnitrix likes to be stupid like this sometimes," Tiamat sighed. "The last time I mistransformed was when I unlocked Zorya."
"It's fine," Driba replied. "If the symbol wasn't in such a weird place, I could deactivate it to allow you to switch forms, but…"
"Luhley," Atom-Admix chirped.
"Atom-Admix!" Driba flustered, looking at the robot.
"Am I not wrong?" Atom-Admix hummed.
"Do I want to know?" Tiamat questioned. Atom-Admix and Driba began to reply when a massive arch of electricity shot up from the hole. Tiamat ran over to the hole and jumped in, ignoring what Driba squeaked at her. The mini submarine was knocked away as she swam into the water, looking around.
Choabo swam near a black stone tower, staring at the approaching robots. Beu was the closest to the robots, who were now somewhat close to the hole they entered from. The hybrid's hand turned an electric blue before he thrusted his hand towards a robot. An arch of electricity crashed into the robot, making the tentacles curl into themselves and the propeller on it to sputter. Beu noticed her and seemed to smile, motioning towards the robot who ended up like the one just attacked. The hybrid flinched out of the way of a robot attacking it, the robot thrashing its tentacles.
Tiamat dashed over to one of the prone robots before swimming back to the hole. She lifted up the robot and dropped it off at the ledge. The female young dove back down, Choabo now noticing her.
"Kid, what are you doing?!" Choabo yelled at her.
"Helping!" Tiamat replied, grabbing another prone robot. Choabo stalled as Tiamat brought the robot to the hole.
"Just- Don't engage in combat!" Choabo stated. Tiamat dropped off the robot before going back down, nodding at Choabo.
She fell into tunnel vision as she focused on bringing up the robots Beu left prone. So much so Tiamat barely heard Beu scream, "Move move move move move!"
Tiamat looked towards Beu, then promptly dashed back to avoid a poorly timed arch of electricity. She looked at Beu, who looked guilty, then at Choabo, who was seemingly glaring at the hybrid.
She then replied, "My fault, not yours! Wasn't paying attention!" Beu's visible emotion took a 180 while Choabo dropped his glare and settled for frowning.
That's when the Omnitrix began to beep. She froze slightly before dashing to the surface. She broke the surface and barely got onto the ledge when the Omnitrix timed out and forced her back to normal.
Atom-Admix chirped (scoffed?) slightly, saying, "You know, in hindsight, ten minutes isn't very long."
"That was ten minutes?" Driba gawked, looking towards the robot.
"Yup," the robot beeped. Driba blinked, then looked back at the screen.
Suddenly, Choabo popped out of the hole and said, "No more of those bots are coming, I think bow got them all."
"It's Beu," the hybrid corrected, popping up as well, carrying one of the leftover Cyber Squids.
"Electric shell, I don't care," Choabo commented.
"There you are."
The group turned towards the door, revealing Tora who just entered.
"Hello Tora Gatti," Atom-Admix stated.
"I already told Er'Apel about this, but I found an Earth made substance that has a near identical chemical composition to Vicetopus ink," Tora explained.
"Oh, that's really neat! What is it?" Driba asked.
"Melatonin," Tora answered.
As Choabo, Beu, Driba, and Gwen blankly stared at her, Atom-Admix hummed, "So basically, Vicetopus ink is made of the same stuff as in a medicine to help humans sleep?" Tora nodded.
"That just feels anti-climatic," Choabo commented.
"Ben and Kevin will be ok, then?" Gwen asked, coming over to her.
Tora nodded, saying, "Er'Apel said she'll get the ink off now that she knows what effect it has on them. You can go to them if you want." Gwen nodded and quickly walked out of the building, followed by Tora.
-()-
EightEight stared as Er'Apel wiped the ink off of Kevin's palm. The Sotoraggian hissed, "How the pups is Vicetopus ink like those sleep pill things?"
"Ben is still asleep and neither of us can understand you," Er'Apel deadpanned, glancing at her.
The rest of the time of Er'Apel wiping the ink was spent in silence. When she was finished, the oddly smelling plant stood up and went over to Ben.
The door opened and Gwen and Tora entered. EightEight nodded towards Tora as Gwen went next to Kevin.
"Keep track of the Wyrmlings," Tora commented.
"I know Feraska already told me that," EightEight gurgled. A small chirp caused them to look towards Ben, who was awake.
"Ben, you're ok!" Gwen chirped, dashing over to them.
EightEight smiled under her mask as Kevin went over and the trio began to talk while Er'Apel worked.
Ushi: Glad you liked it! (Also, were did you get the idea of distant future ships? I haven't even posted the OSAP version of the OS Ben 10K episode.)