"We are approaching Earth. Where do you want to land, Viktor?" the Thep Khufan asked, never looking away from the screen. The Thep Khufan mainly wore a somewhat dark pale royal red lined with dark royal yellow. Between some of the wrapping that made up its body was a pink, almost magical light.
The Transylian approached the screen, observing it. His skin was a bit of a patchwork, being mostly dark pale green, but there were sections that were light pale green on his arms. Around his forearms and palms were metallic gloves, leaving his fingers uncovered. He wore the same metallic material for pants and boots, not bothering to cover his chest. His eyes were a deep purple, with one eye larger than the other and his hair a near black purple. From his back were two tower conductors, incorporated into his body.
"What are some points we need to take note of, M?" Viktor asked, looking at his companion.
M pointed to a spot already marked on the map. "That is where Lord Zs'Skayr sent his message from," the Thep Khufan stated. It then pointed to different parts of the map, some unmarked and others marked. "There are two different Fulmas Override signals- here and here. Nearby this one is what appears to be an untouched and forgotten clump of Corrodium. I can only speculate why neither the Galactic Enforcers nor the Plumbers picked it up, but there is no doubt it will be useful. Here is a small village that has more complex machinery that we can use for the revival machine, but the machinery is in what could best be considered a dumping ground. The village seems to dislike machinery with an unreasonable hatred, so I believe there will be no problem with that.
"As for landing spots, I have a few ideas, just depending on how close you want us to be to each material. This one, near where the signal came from, is not what I would suggest. It is too far from the other resources and there is a river nearby that, if he was burned, he would be thrown down. This one is better, since it is closest to the machinery dump, but it could cause problems if we need more Corrodium from the untapped mine if we did not collect enough. I would suggest this spot here. It is further down the river if they did throw Lord Zs'Skayr down it while still being reasonably close to the machinery and the Corrodium pile. Where shall we land?"
Viktor hummed before saying, "Land where you suggested. When we land, I'll inform Benwolf to go to the machinery dump to collect some parts, if he can find any." M nodded.
"Hey, I heard my name, what's going on?" a Loboan asked as he walked in. The Loboan had grey fur, dark grey tail, mane, and claws, and wore what could best be described as a religious robe with Anurian writing along the edge of it.
Viktor looked at him before saying, "We're landing soon. Once we land, you're going to a place marked on the map that has a machinery dump, Benwolf."
"Oh, so I'm heading there to get tech!" the Loboan barked. Viktor nodded and Benwolf gave a toothy smile. "Cool cool cool! I'll do it!"
"Entering the atmosphere of the Oct-One System planet Earth," M stated. Benwolf quickly bounced over to a window, looking out as Viktor looked over as well.
A backwater planet in a backwater system, barely touching planets outside of their home one. What a sad thing this planet was.
The ship descended.
-(...)-
"Why do you want a different disguise, Kevin?" Gwen looked, leaning on the couch slightly.
Kevin fiddled with the ID mask as he replied, "I… don't want my mother to know, and if my dad does know, I don't really want to speak with him for a while."
"That's curious," EightEight, in her Dealla disguise, commented. She was at the driver's seat, driving the Dark Eagle along. "I know you're looking into Osmosians, but considering if one knows the other may be an alien, why do you want to avoid them?"
Kevin stopped for a moment before he answered, "I was already friends with some of the kids in New York City- my home town, Long Beach, was close to it- so when my powers went haywire and damaged most of our house, I ran away."
Dealla hummed before gurgling, "You're afraid of how they see you." Kevin nodded slightly before returning to doing something with the ID mask. There was a silence before saying, "My brother, SixSix, is scared of his own appearance."
Kevin stopped again to look up at the disguised Sotoraggian. "Really?" he asked.
Dealla nodded, silent for a few seconds before she said, "When his face got damaged, he hid it from myself and SevenSeven for a long while. We knew something was wrong since his helmet changed to be larger than before, but he refused to talk to us. It took a while to get him to a point where he was willing to show us, and when he did… I'll admit, I understand why, it was rather disturbing, but we just showed him the affection of family and he had a meltdown. He was scared we wouldn't see him as family anymore and the simple action of familiar affection was extremely relieving to him. If anything, there's a good chance they'll be happy to see you again, though there's no way to tell for sure."
Kevin looked back at the mask, stayed silent for a few moments, then went back to messing with the mask. Gwen looked over to Ben, who was sitting at the other end of the couch with his attention wrapped on a futuristic tablet in his lap, which was playing a video about a planet called Khoros. The video was on a website of some kind called 'VideoSearch' and he was listening to it with sleek headphones that somehow didn't leak noise out. From the angle she was at, she saw the video was showing what seemed like farmlands with the main focus being what seemed like a big, red, extremely odd looking cow.
Gwen looked back at the phone in her hands before she looked at Dealla and asked, "Where are we going?"
Dealla glanced back, before refocusing on the road and started, "You remember the robot those weird knights had that I took?" As Gwen nodded, the disguised Sotoraggian continued, "I need to reprogram it, but only tech designed to reprogram that kind of robots that it is can do such a thing. There's some tech dumps on Earth that the Dragoon has taken notice of and basically claimed, which is why neither the Galactic Enforcers nor the Plumbers have taken the dumps yet. One of the dumps is in Arizona, which is nearby enough, so we're stopping there to grab tech. It might take a bit, but it's also an excuse to be able to get other jobs that aren't all that close to Sparksville."
"Ok, Sister EightEight," Gwen nodded before returning to the device in her hands.
How the heck was she supposed to reply to this text message?
…
Apparently the answer was to eternally ignore it, since she got distracted pretty quickly by Kevin asking her if the disguise with the ID mask was good. He almost looked like a younger version of the Dealla disguise, just male, hair more chestnut brown, and with black and white clothes. She thought it was good and they immediately after began brainstorming names, ending up with Damana, which was an Irish name that meant 'to be tamed'. (Apparently, Dealla was an Irish name that meant both protector and an early invader, so they just went with that idea.)
The Dark Eagle stopped just outside of a valley of sorts just as the sun began to set. EightEight stopped the vehicle before standing up and walking over to them, somehow managing to steal Ben's attention at the moment.
"I want to start looking now, during the night, so the nearby village doesn't notice anything odd. Feel free to stay here if you want, but I don't mind if you follow," EightEight gurgled, looking at the trio. Ben stood up, placed the device he was watching on the table, then looked at EightEight. The Sotoraggian nodded.
Kevin said, "I'll… stay here." He then promptly grabbed the discarded tablet and headphones, quickly focusing on that. Gwen stood up and placed the phone in her pocket.
"I'll go," Gwen said.
Dealla nodded before saying, "Kevin, do not leave no matter what." Kevin looked over briefly to give a thumbs up. She looked at the two cousins and said, "While we're out there, refer to me as Dealla, alright?" Ben and Gwen nodded, causing the disguised Sotoraggian to hum. She then moved to leave the RV, the two cousins following.
-()-
Viktor handed the magitech device to Benwolf, who took the device in his claws. The Transylian explained, "Marked on the map is where we detected the tech pile to be." Benwolf nodded, tapping something on his robe. The robe suddenly retracted into a crystal. Viktor raised a brow as Benwolf placed the crystal on a table next to M. The Thep Khufan paid little to no attention to the crystal next to him, simply focusing on the screen in front of him.
Seemingly sensing his confusion, Benwolf explained, "You know the Loboan deity, Goddess Light? One of the rituals for following her is to not wear her cloak to places she wishes not to spread." Viktor nodded slightly, causing Benwolf to give a wolfish smile and start out, saying, "Welp, I'll start towards the site. C'ya later, guys!" The Loboan bounded off, a noise sounding through the ship that signaled that he left.
A long minute after Benwolf left passed before M said, "Sir?"
"Hm?" Viktor prompted.
"There is a Sotoraggian signal," M stated, pointing a bandaged finger at a spot on the screen. Viktor walked over and looked at the spot, silent as he stared at the new marking and signified where the Sotoraggian signal was from.
Viktor asked, "Have you just detected it?"
"Correct," M nodded.
Viktor crossed his arms, staring at the map for a moment before saying, "The signal is near where Lord Zs'Skayr's signal was. We have no reason to worry about it unless it moves at all."
"Understood," M replied.
…
Benwolf jumped over one of the rocks before perching on one of the taller ones and looking at the device. His tail wagged, he was close! He shut off the device, stuffing it in his mane before jumping off to the place.
He lowered himself to the ground when he noticed a strange smell in the air. He crawled up to the edge of the hill valley thing and looked down. There were three humans down there. The one which seemed like the oldest was looking through the tech piles, while the younger two seemed to stay off to the side, talking to each other. Benwolf's ear twitched as he slowly began to make his way down. As he approached, he noticed they were speaking a language he didn't understand.
Benwolf hid behind one of the piles before taking out the device. He quickly tapped his claws on it, getting it to a certain text message-like screen. The Loboan lifted the device to his mouth and said, "There's humans here, what do I do?" He lowered the device and tapped it again.
He waited a few seconds before his ears perked up at something falling on the other side of the pile. Benwolf lowered himself before a vibration came from the device. The Loboan looked at it then smirked. He stuffed the device away before crawling near the base of the pile and looking around. His ears picked up the humans saying something, but one of the humans had such an extremely weird accent.
He looked towards them, an ear twitching. A small part of the pile the oldest was at had fallen down and now the smaller two were near the other. Benwolf jumped up and howled, his muzzle splitting into fours and releasing a burst of sound waves. The three humans immediately noticed, the oldest grabbing the younger two and managing to throw themselves out of the way as the sonic burst crashed into the pile. His muzzle closed on itself and he growled at the trio.
The only male of the group, one of the small ones, screamed something, but he had no idea what he was saying. The oldest replied something, extremely calm for some reason. The younger female was silent, moving a hand over top of the strange device upon her wrist.
Benwolf lunged towards them and released another howl, but they didn't react the way he thought they would react. They all tensed, sure, but the male lifted a hand to the weird device on his wrist, the younger female doing something with the device. The oldest, when he was finished, surged towards him.
Benwolf leapt over the oldest before slashing down towards the younger female. The small male made a noise of distress as he slashed the device on the young female's wrist.
Then, a red flash of light and-
Fear consumed him as the bell of an Anurian Shadow rang out. He turned and ran away, fear clouding his mind as he ran off.
Why didn't they say there was an Anurian Shadow here?!
-()-
Belltail growled as the Loboan- according to EightEight- ran away. He stopped the ringing before floating over to Gwen and Dealla. The Anurian Shadow wisped, "Are you ok, Gwen?"
His cousin breathed slightly, staring down at the Omnitrix. She then said, "I think, yea." The Omnitrix had two gashes on it and the green was now yellow. The hourglass symbol twirled and twisted, glowing a bright yellow, but was odd was that the dial was still up.
Belltail floated to the other side of Gwen before asking, "What's wrong with the Omnitrix?"
"I… don't know," Dealla replied, staring at the device. She then looked at Belltail and said, "Belltail, keep an eye out for the Loboan. Make sure it doesn't come back until you're about to time out." Belltail nodded before floating away. He began to hear something EightEight was telling Gwen, but he didn't pick it up.
Belltail flew to the top of one of the piles and looked around. Dark vision was amazing, especially now. He spotted an out of place blue spot and began to ring the bell at the end of his tail. The Loboan clearly heard and began to freak out, desperately looking around.
The Shadow's pure white eyes and the Loboan's pure purple eyes met and smoke bellowed from his mouth. The Loboan then bolted away, bounding up the wall of the valley (hill?) quite quickly. Belltail floated a bit after it, but the Loboan noticed and dashed away into the horizon.
Belltail smiled, a flicker of flames escaping his mouth. He turned and began back, his bell falling silent.
As he flew back, his head tilted slightly. From this distance, the Omnitrix had less glow to it and… something was happening to Gwen.
As Belltail came to them, he heard Gwen bark, "What do you mean by that?!"
"Well, a Loboan has no powers nor can transform other creatures and this werewolf thing just sounds like Loboans but magic," Dealla replied, somehow much more calm than Gwen.
"What's going on?" Belltail wisped, gaining the duo's attention.
Gwen looked at him dead in the eyes, the white becoming more brown as she barked, "I'm turning into a werewolf!"
"No, you aren't," Dealla sighed.
Belltail looked at Gwen again. His head tilted. Gwen did appear more wolfish and the Omnitrix was slowly sinking behind greyish blue fur. Her orange hair was slowly turning a brownish blue color and her fingers were already beginning to fuse somewhat into claws.
He looked between the two before he wisped, "What's going on with the Omni-?" He started, before pausing. Gwen's new wolfish ears twitched before both she and EightEight looked at where the device should've been.
"Where's the Omnitrix?!" Gwen yapped, eyes dead on her wrist. As time seemed to crawl, she became more wolfish by the second. Her hair was more of a mane now and more slate colored fur covered her skin. Her clothes had a green tint and the hints of a tail were starting to form. Dealla put her hand to her chin, quiet.
"What in the world…" Belltail wisped, floating around the werewolf thing. He looked around briefly before asking, "Should… we go back to the RV?"
Dealla was quiet for a moment before saying, "I can search in the morning, whatever the Loboan did to the Omnitrix has a higher priority right now." Gwen- the new form?- nodded, as did Belltail before the trio went back to the Dark Eagle.
-()-
Benwolf calmed his beating heart as he kept his ears alert. The absentminded clink of the bell rang slightly, but it was gong of noise it would typically be. The device on the ground rang out something, causing his ears to twitch. Benwolf crawled over to it, before snatching it and bounding behind a rock. He pressed the prompt.
Viktor's voice immediately demanded, "What was that for?!"
Benwolf's tail swished angrily as he barked, "What the lightrealm was I supposed to do about an Anurian Shadow appearing out of nowhere! The only warning I had was a red flash!"
A weird silence followed before, in the background, M's voice stated, "If the rumors are true about the Predatrix, it will be safe to assume that this apparent Anurian Shadow is a transformation of the Predatrix."
"Shit…" Viktor muttered on the other side. Benwolf's ear flicked as Viktor, seemingly aiming it towards M, asked, "Do the rumors say anything about Vladats or Transylracks?"
There was silence.
"Unknown," M's voice replied.
Viktor snapped something in Rural Transylian, causing Benwolf's ears to perk. Don't ask the Loboan what he said, all he knew was Common Anurian and Rural Lunan. Suddenly, back to a language he understood, Viktor said, "Keep an eye out for the Predatrix wielder. Do not get caught."
"Ok… ok, I get it," Benwolf nodded. The connection suddenly cut and he shut off the device, stuffing it away.
The Loboan breathed for a few seconds before starting back to the tech dump. Quickly, he saw something and ducked behind a rock. Staring out, he saw the Anurian Shadow floating near… wow, that vehicle blended in really well with the night sky. It seemed to wait for something before fading into the vehicle, something being moved to block light from leaking out.
Benwolf jumped down to the tech pile, tail swishing. This time was as good as any.
-()-
Belltail curled on the couch as EightEight quickly brought up Loboans on the lifeform data pad, Kevin stared on, and Gwen- actually, this was definitely a new form now, sat on the floor of the RV. Any skin that was showing was now covered in slate colored fur with a mane, tail, and claws that were a dark brownish blue. There was no sign of the Omnitrix on her and her clothes had gone a pure Omnitrix green. Her face was clearly not human anymore, but it wasn't clearly Loboan either.
"This is clearly an Omnitrix thing," EightEight eventually gurgled, placing the tablet back on the table. Just then, the Predatrix began to beep and Belltail was replaced with Ben. Ignoring the tired green light, the disguised Sotoraggian added, "We just have to wait to see what the Omnitrix decides it wants to do."
The weird Omnitrix mess sighed slightly before saying, "What is this, opening Pandora's box?"
"Seems like it," Kevin replied, placing his elbows on his crossed knees and head in his hands.
A beat.
"Pandora's box?" EightEight questioned.
The slow mid-transformation replied, "Really?"
"Why do you think I would know?" the disguised Sotoraggian gurgled, crossing her arms.
"Pandora's box is a Greek myth, where when it was opened, it released what's considered 'evils' onto the world and when it was closed, only hope was left inside," the Omnitrix wielder answered.
EightEight tilted her head slightly before saying, "So basically the Starburst Soul but with diseases and hardships, stuff like that."
"Explain the Starburst Soul," the weird amalgam deadpanned, sharp pure brown eyes looking at her.
"A myth that spans many systems that talks of how the stars themselves were created. It speaks of a group of Celestialsapiens, before they've developed their multiple personalities, trying to create light for the universe, yet failing. Eventually, a fight breaks out and one of the Celestialsapiens is beheaded and it's said that the stars came from that Celestialsapien's dead body," EightEight explained, sitting down near the beginning of the story.
A few odd seconds passed before Kevin said, "That does kinda sound like Pandora's box but space." The almost Loboan nodded in agreement, while Ben didn't really do anything in reply.
Suddenly a green light swallowed the nearly Loboan, refining its shape within it. Then, in a flash of green, the transformation was complete. The new form appeared like a werewolf with slate fur and with a deep blue mane, tail, claws, and nose with what seemed like a mouth that was split four ways and a pair of pure brown eyes. Covering her was a bright blue mesh with odd pale green highlights. Around her neck, draping down from under the mane, was a bronze necklace of sorts with the symbol of the Omnitrix atop it.
Her brown eyes widened as she observed herself, now without the mess of slow transforming, before the Omnitrix chirped, "Damage repaired. Scan Mode activated. Loboan DNA unlocked."
"It was the Omnitrix!" the new transformation barked.
"Scan mode…" EightEight gurgled. "Depending on how the unlocking system works, you could transform into anything."
The young Omnitrix made Loboan grinned before she stated, "Pandora!"
"On the topic of names, assuming you're calling your Loboan form that," EightEight started, getting a nod from Pandora, "Why did you call your Pelarota form Zorya and Florauna form Medeina?"
Pandora almost immediately replied, "Zorya is a sun goddess and Kevin mentioned that the form looked like the sun. For Medeina, she's a nature goddess."
"What can Loboans do?" Ben suddenly asked.
EightEight lifted the tablet slightly before saying, "Loboans have strong claws, thick fur, and a strong sonic howl. With their claws, they can climb up rough surfaces and with their fur, they're rather warm in the cold. On the other hand, their sharp ears increases their natural fear of Anurian Shadow, plus Anurian Shadows can use their fire to burn off a Loboan's fur."
"They sound powerful," Kevin commented, holding his hands together and allowing electricity to dance between them.
Suddenly, a zipping of a Nosedeenian and Asani appeared in Kevin's lap. The maybe-human reacted in shock, staring at the Nosedeenian, along with EightEight and Pandora. Asani stared at the others, smiling slightly. Ben looked away, leaning on the couch.
"That's why," EightEight muttered. Asani looked towards the disguised Sotoraggian and tilted her head. She then said, "We can find the tech and do more with the new form tomorrow. We should rest, it's getting late."
Ben was the first to move, moving towards the beds while Kevin and Pandora made a noise of resignation before doing the same.
-()-
Benwolf noticed something and his eyes went wide, jumping over to the machine. Pushing some of the other materials out of the way, he pulled back the somewhat broken machine. The Loboan took out the device, seemingly took a picture of the item, then quickly sent it off. He waited for a good minute until a reply came back.
Benwolf smiled before putting the device away and coming up to the device. He looked over it a bit before pressing something on it, causing the machine to retract a bit, condensing into a much more carry-able box. He picked it up before leaping away, a grin on his face.
-(…)-
Light shone down on the quintet as they were out. Dealla, like last night, was searching through the tech piles while Asani sat near the Wyrmlings, who were grouped together with Belltail ringing his bell, Pandora grinning, and Kevin reacting in confusion while he was currently mutated slightly.
"No fear!" Pandora eventually barked.
"No fear!" Belltail echoed.
"How and why?" Kevin immediately asked before they could start chanting.
"Well, it helps that I got used to it with Styx," Pandora replied.
"I'm the source," Belltail reasoned. Kevin twitched a bit and Asani tilted her head.
"Dear Celestialsapiens, that took forever," Dealla commented, causing the four to look over. The disguised Sotoraggian was starting back, holding something in her hands. In her hands was a strange phone looking device with three antennas at the top of it. She saw the four and said, "Back to the RV, I think Dragua might have something for us to do and even if he doesn't, I can start reprogramming the robot."
"Ok, Sister Dealla," Belltail wisped, getting nods of agreement from the other two.
As the quintet went back to the RV, Pandora suddenly asked, "Do you think the Omnitrix will scan your other forms, Ben?"
Belltail tilted his head slightly before saying, "I don't know. Maybe Dracula, since I haven't found anything on the data pad about him, but the data pad didn't say anything about sapience. You said your forms were all sapient, right?" Pandora nodded, ear twisting slightly.
"Should we test Dracula, just in case his species is sapient?" Pandora questioned.
Belltail shrugged. "Have to wait for a timeout and recharge but…"
"I could recharge them," Kevin shrugged. Asani made an odd thrill in agreement.
"That's fair," Pandora shrugged.
The group entered the RV and right as they did so, the symbols began to flash. They detransformed and the watches fell into a rest-like state. As Asani zipped to the table and Kevin let out a small spark to both watches, Dealla said, "Don't wreck anything."
"Ok, Sister EightEight," Ben replied, Gwen and Kevin nodding, before he activated the Predatrix. Barely a second later, the hologram of Dracula appeared and he pressed down.
"Dracula!" he proclaimed, spreading his arms slightly. Dracula then lowered himself a bit before placing a hand on the Omnitrix.
Gwen and Kevin stared on as the Omnitrix chirped, "Uncataloged DNA detected! Commencing collection."
"Uncataloged DNA?" Gwen blinked as Dracula removed his hand. She moved her wrist to look at the watch. The green hourglass was now pure yellow and was spinning, the yellow slowly fading back into green.
"I haven't heard of this," EightEight commented, seemingly deciding to come over. Asani made an odd chirp and zipped over, perching on Kevin's shoulder. Dracula tilted his head, staring at the watch as it continued doing… whatever it was doing.
After a good minute, the Omnitrix chirped, "Unknown DNA cataloged and unlocked."
"So Dracula's species is sapient, but we still don't know what it is," Dracula mused, staring at the now active green watch.
"What will a female Dracula look like?" Kevin asked. Dracula shrugged and Gwen quickly activated the Omnitrix. Quickly, she found the silhouette of the new form and stared at it. The completely black silhouette showed a humanoid wearing odd footwear, a long 'shirt', and the face wings were droopy. She lifted her hand up and pressed down. A flash of green consumed her, forcing Dracula back before it faded.
In her place was a vampire-like the slightest bit smaller than Dracula. Her skin was the same milky white as Dracula's and her clothes were light grey. The robe was replaced with something that was like a long shirt. The highlights of the mask, around her arms, and close to her fingertips were a calm blue. There were other highlights, such as marking out her boots. Her eyes were the same magenta as Dracula's, just shaped more feminine. There was no metal present on her, either being replaced with the grey or just left to reveal skin. Between her arms and the sides of her chest were wing flaps that were strangely Omnitrix green and not even close to the color of the other highlights. Around her neck was nearly the same necklace that was on Styx and Pandora, just with a small emerald with an eye. The Omnitrix symbol laid on her right shoulder, unlike with the Predatrix symbol on the left of Dracula's neck.
She looked at herself as Dracula tilted his head as he did the same. Kevin stood up and went over to her as EightEight and Asani both tilted their heads somewhat, though mostly with curiosity from Asani and hesitance from EightEight.
"Vampires, I guess," Kevin randomly commented. Dracula suddenly popped into his bat form, flying around a bit. After a few seconds, mainly the new vampire-like observing, she popped into bat form as well. Compared to Dracula's bat form, her wings were the Omnitrix green, the 'mask' was calm blue, the black was replaced with light grey, and her eyes were more feminine.
After a bit, the two vampire-turned-bats calmed themselves and popped back to normal. Once they landed, the female snapped up and proclaimed, "Carmilla!"
"Carmilla and Dracula!" the male grinned.
"This is going to be the origin of some new dark corner, isn't it?" EightEight muttered.
Ushi: 1- Animo and Zs'Skayr, mostly. 2- Tetrax is cool. 3- My favorite episode of the reboot is either Roundabout Part 1 (and only part 1 because evil Ben) or Animorphosis. I like the aliens the reboot introduces if me stealing the Fulmini and Cascans wasn't evidence enough. In fact, I enjoy the Alien Worlds shorts a lot, Hexadeca actually comes from the second Four Arms Alien Worlds short. As for its movies, I saw Alien X-tinction and thought it was cool. I haven't properly seen the other two movies yet, but from what I do of the two, I probably won't touch the Generator Rex crossover because what I know about Generator Rex is what was in the Heroes Untied special during Ultimate Alien and Ben 10 Versus the Universe is just if Secret of the Omnitrix, Voided and Universe vs Tennyson had a baby.