The robot that once belonged to the Forever Knights stood deactivated in the center of the RV, silent and dead. EightEight stuck the device she found into an odd slot on the robot, then used the screen that came up to reprogram it. At some point, Kevin and Asani had fallen asleep on the couch, the small Nosedeenian being held in his arms as it happened. Gwen and Ben were sitting next to each other at the table, each with a notepad-like phone-ish device, doing something with it and speaking quietly between the two.
As time crawled by, EightEight paused when a noise came from her Dragoon badge. She walked over to the table, ignoring the duo as they glanced at her, then picked up the badge. She went to the badge's notifications and stared at what popped up.
"The towerspark?" EightEight suddenly gurgled, causing Ben and Gwen to look at her.
"What's wrong, Sister EightEight?" Gwen asked as Ben looked towards Kevin and Asani.
EightEight looked at the, before starting, "Have you heard of Corrodium?"
Ben tilted his head as Gwen answered, "It was mentioned in the Ectonurite and Loboan entries, but it just said they were immune to Corrodium."
EightEight nodded slightly before saying, "To non-Anur-native species, Corrodium is a potent material that, if exposed to it for long enough, can mutate other creatures. The Anur System uses it as an energy source and it's basically everywhere in Anur, especially on Anur Khufan."
Ben and Gwen nodded, but the boy added, "Why are you mentioning it?"
"Some other Dragoon members alerted Dragua of Corrodium radiation," EightEight answered. "It's already beginning to mutate the farm it's somehow near. Dragua contacted me to see if Gwen's Ectonurite form could help move it so either the Plumbers or Galactic Enforcers can pick it up."
"I… don't mind," Gwen replied, pausing slightly. EightEight nodded.
"We'll start heading out now, there's a massive storm brewing between here and the farm, so we need to be quick," EightEight gurgled. When the duo nodded, she added, "Inform Kevin when he wakes up so he knows."
She went back to the robot as Ben and Gwen went back to the devices in their hands. The disguised Sotoraggian pressed something on the holoscreen, causing it to shut off and the device to click off. EightEight grabbed the device, then pressed a button on the robot to retract it into a cube. She picked it up and put both items away, then went over to the front of the RV.
-()-
Snow looked around, ignoring the beginnings of a storm brewing above him. Tears began to sting his eyes and his mind swam. All he wanted was his family back. How is he going to find them?
He stopped when he noticed a rock structure that wasn't a cave, but did block most of the storm. Snow walked over to it and entered, his body lighting up the darkness. He sat on the ground before allowing his emotions to break. Sobs broke from his throat as he hid his face and the storm continued on.
Was it so hard to ask for his family back?
He reached up to his arm, then tensed slightly as he couldn't feel what should've been there. Did he lose it? Dear Omni Override, why did he-
More sobs and tears and the distraught crackle of his electricity rolling off of him.
-(…)-
Thunder roared through the sky, a bolt of lightning striking along the clouds. Rain poured down hard, pattering the windows and drenching everything it touches with water. EightEight crossed her arms and looked out. They were forced to stop due to this stupid weather. Through the static of rain, she saw a strange arch with slate light coming from under it. She looked towards the Wyrmlings.
Kevin and Ben were distracted by a video about Osmos V, basically watching it together. Asani had moved to one of the beds to rest- how was the Nosedeenian so tired anyways?- and Gwen was looking outside while fidgeting with the Omnitrix.
EightEight was beginning to growl when Gwen suddenly said, "Sister EightEight? Remember when me and Kevin were teleported and we came back with a Fulmini?"
The Sotoraggian looked at her before tilting her head slightly and saying, "Yes, any reason why?"
She stopped twirling the Omnitrix and pointed towards the slate colored light. "That's the same color as Snow's body."
The Sotoraggian blinked. "Really?" EightEight gurgled. Gwen nodded. The disguised Sotoraggian looked towards the light before asking, "Are you sure?"
"I think so," Gwen replied. She looked at EightEight before she asked, "Can I see if that's him?"
EightEight stared at Gwen for a good minute before she gurgled, "I will be watching and disguise yourself as Cobra."
Gwen quickly nodded, standing up and snatching her ID mask. She put it on, turning her into Cobra, before she stopped briefly. "I should bring an umbrella or something," she muttered.
EightEight scoffed before reaching under the driver seat and throwing the item towards Gwen. She quickly caught it before looking at the item. Before Gwen could ask, EightEight said, "Galvan Rainfall Protection. I have no clue why NineNine kept one, but hey." Gwen nodded before going to the door. Ben glanced at them, but quickly returned his attention to the video.
She stepped outside and quickly activated the device. Somehow, it formed a green film over her that blocked the rain entirely. EightEight watched on as Gwen started towards the rock formation.
As Gwen approached the entrance of it, she heard crying and the noise of dancing electricity. The source of the electric noise was obvious, but not the crying. She looked inside and quickly saw a Fulmini sitting near one of the walls.
"Snow?" she started. The Fulmini flinched and looked up at her. She deactivated the device as the electricity calmed down and Snow stared at her with tears in his eyes.
"H-Hello," Snow muttered.
-()-
"H-Hello," Snow replied, looking at Cobra. His mind jumped around with questions. Why was she here, where was Crow, did she know where his family was.
Cobra came over to him and he snapped himself out of his thoughts. "Have you had any luck with finding your family?"
Snow looked away before answering, "No…"
Cobra put the hand with the Omnitrix on his arm before she asked, "Is there any way you can try and contact them?"
Snow was quiet for a second. "Um… I-I can't, since I only follow one Override. Neutral F-Fulmini, if they stay neutral, can contact any Override, but it risks mindless acting and unless it's the Directive Override, they can't speak very well between the two parties. From what I k-know, when a neutral Fulmini and an Override talk, it's in odd chunks and the neutral Fulmini has no choice but to follow with what's given."
Cobra moved her arm away, the faceplate of the Omnitrix touching his electric skin, before she moved that arm to her chin. After an odd second, she asked, "How does a neutral Fulmini connect to an Override?"
Snow tilted his head. "I-I don't know, I never spent much time as a neutral Fulmini before following the Storm Override full time." He lowered his head, hugged his legs, and stared at the ground. "Maybe Thunder would know, but…"
Cobra suddenly stood up, causing Snow to look towards her as she said, "I have an idea, but you'll probably have to come with us."
Snow paused before asking, "Can you really help?"
"If your species was in the Omnitrix, it would default to a neutral one, right?" Cobra stated.
Snow tilted his head. "I'm… not too sure."
"Well, we can check if you come with us," Cobra replied, holding up the device. Snow looked towards the wall briefly. A chance to be with his family again was all he wanted at the moment. He looked back at Cobra, nodded, then stood up. Snow walked over to Cobra, to which she then activated the device and the odd cover went over them. She started off and he made sure to follow.
He paused slightly when the cover blocked the rain in its entirety. Snow's eyes stared at the raindrops rolling off of the cover before making sure he didn't slow Cobra down.
They came to an odd vehicle that was painted navy blue and with a multi-star design. The cover seemed to stop at the vehicle as they came to a door and Cobra opened it. She looked at him and motioned inside. Snow paused for barely a moment- gosh, this felt rude- before going in.
Once in, Cobra followed, shutting off the machine and the door. Snow looked at the others inside. There was a Sotoraggian- wait, it was the same Sotoraggian that was with the strange not-Loboan from when he left Cobra and Crow. The Sotoraggian sat at one of the chairs, staring at him. There was a Nosedeenian on… why did that look so soft- it was on some sort of comfy thing. Two other humans, both with brown… hair, he believed it was called? Brown hair, but looked vastly different otherwise.
Cobra slipped pass him before looking at the Sotoraggian and asking, "Can I?" She motioned to her face. Snow tilted his head slightly. He didn't pay attention to it before- because spark-napping- but her blue eyes were really pretty.
The Sotoraggian gurgled something. Cobra nodded, then reached up to her face and- she was wearing an ID mask? Snow stared, head still tilted, as he looked at Cobra's apparent true self. Reddish orange hair(?), skin like quartz from Andesite, shining emerald eyes…
She suddenly turned towards him and Snow flinched. "I'm Gwen," Cobra started. "The Sotoraggian is EightEight. That's my cousin, Ben, and Crow is Kevin." Snow looked around again. The Sotoraggian continued to stare, while the male with the same emerald eyes waved at him and the other boy suddenly looked very different with near black hair (fur?), much paler skin, and different clothes.
"I-I'm Snow," he muttered.
The emerald eyed boy quietly said, "I'm Ben."
"Sup. Name's Kevin," the taller boy added.
The Sotoraggian, EightEight, gurgled something. Whatever she said, it caused Kevin and Gwen (Cobra?) to laugh and Ben to look away.
Snow looked at Gwen and asked, "Y-You said you could help…?" The laughter died down as Gwen nodded.
She went to the device on her wrist before pressing something, causing the faceplate to pop up. Snow stared as Gwen changed the dial of it before pushing down. A flash of green, causing Snow to cover his eyes. He looked back, then stared.
In Gwen's place was a Fulmini, but clearly young, no older than nine Fulminian Planetrounds, but also very beautiful. She was smaller than him by quite a bit, she was more skinny and less bulky in general, and the green-blue rock armor covered more of her body. Her electricity was a magnificent bright blue, eyes a captivating white, and helmet horns shaped on her head like a mini crown. The strange hourglass faceplate was on the rock armor's collar, as if it was a badge fused onto it.
She looked at herself, like she hadn't expected what was coming. Snow looked away briefly as she said, "It did default to a neutral one."
Kevin seemed to notice him and the boy asked, "What's up, Snow?"
His mind skipped slightly. Right, Earth had some of the strangest expressions, even by Appoplexian standards. He must've meant something else. Snow looked at Kevin and requested, "C-Can you repeat that normally, please?"
Kevin squinted at him slightly before he asked, "What's wrong?"
How does 'up' connect to 'wrong'? Also-
"H-H-H-How am I u-understanding y-y-you?" Snow stuttered, pointing at them.
The female Fulmini said, "The Omnitrix has a translator."
EightEight gurgled something.
"I'm pretty sure the Predatrix has a translator that isn't Sotoraggian in it too," Ben muttered.
"The Dragoon badges have a universal translator, I guess," Kevin shrugged.
Suddenly, the Nosedeenian thrilled, causing them to look over. It zipped over, moving their sights as it settled on Kevin's shoulder.
"C-Can you help me get to them?" Snow asked before the Nosedeenian could distract them further.
The female of his kind was quiet for a moment before asking, "Do different Overrides feel different in any way?"
"I've n-never spent very long as a neutral Fulmini," Snow answered, looking away again.
She nodded slightly before looking outside. "Ok… guess I'm searching blind." Her brilliant white eyes closed as she, assumingly, began to search for an Override connection.
He felt his heart drop when she didn't connect after a few seconds. Snow lifted his hands up to his neck, one hand squeezing the other as time seemed to crawl.
Then, suddenly, her eyes snapped over and her electricity sparked to the same color as his own. Snow's hopes peaked as he crackled, "Yes!"
He ignored the fact that, when his Override took control, the mini crown became more of a crown, the odd energy cloth things connected from her wrists to her back, and her more bulky figure.
-()-
The Override looked at his other five followers as he allowed the storm to roar around them. He was a bit larger than the typical Fulmini, but that was par the course for Overrides like himself. No, what made him the Storm Override of his control of the weather. His cape was designed with the ideas of different weathers, from rain to sun, from fog to snow. The Storm Override looked at Sun, Thunder, Aurora, Rain, and Cloud.
Sun, his follower who wore a sunstone armband, took Snow's disappearance the hardest. Poor Sun was still staring at the spot Snow was before he suddenly disappeared, making a desperate and sad noise every now and again. Rain, who wore a blue silk scarf, also took it hard, but she wasn't as bad. Rain managed to calm herself after the initial outburst, but still looked towards the spot every now and again. Aurora, who wore a pair of fingerless pale pink and purple gloves, at first took the disappearance of her brother well, but quickly fell into disarray after the Override calmed them. She hid herself behind one of the rocks, facing the structure and tears running down her face. Thunder, who wore a bracelet made of Sotoricity fur, was near Aurora and mainly followed her lead. As for Thunder himself, he was clearly hiding how nervous he was, and if the Override had to guess, he was doing so to prevent Aurora from panicking further. The last one, Cloud, who wore a fluffy scarf designed to look and somewhat float like clouds, was the only one to barely react. They were off to the side, looking at his fellow followers. The bandana designed to look like beautiful snowflakes was being held by Aurora and no one fought her on holding Snow's personal item.
The Storm Override let out a rumbling sigh, his frustrations and sadness shown through the storm he was producing. There was always this risk with permanent followers, there was no way to track them in the slightest. Even if that wasn't the case, a connection can be wobbled by a teleportation signal.
Storm felt a signal of a neutral Fulmini searching. He looked in the direction of the signal, silent. He wasn't too sure how long passed, he was extremely unfamiliar with this planet's time, but the signal continued to be emanated.
Finally, he connected to the signal. Storm recognized the presence of a young female and, just for the moment, ignored why a member of their kind this young was on this planet. Instead, he sent the mental command of 'Speak'.
A reply came. 'With Snow'.
The storm swirling around them died slightly. His followers seemed to notice the slowing of the storm, then his lack of action.
He sent 'Prove'.
'Helped, location?' came the reply.
He flinched at the answer.
"Override?" Cloud started, looking at him. Storm lifted part of a hand, making a talon shape with two of his fingers. Cloud looked towards Thunder, who shrugged slightly.
'Undetermined' he replied.
A beat.
'Tracker signal?' the neutral sent.
'Cannot track, no machine' Storm sent.
'Through you, track?'
'Never tested'.
'Test now?'
'Unsure'.
'Identifiable landmarks?'
'Unknown'.
'Test now?'
Storm Override paused for a moment. Doing something like an Override connecting to a machine wasn't done before. There was no way to know if it would work or not. Then he remembered something. 'Disconnect, reconnect. Signal search'.
'Explain?' came the almost immediate reply.
'Neutral searches, Override tell direction from' he sent as an explanation. That was the best way to describe it in the limited amount of speech that nearly all Overrides can have with neutral Fulmini.
There was a bit of silence on the other side before a reply came. 'Alright'.
As he disconnected the connection, the Storm Override looked towards the other Fulmini. He calmed the storm above them and the five others approached him. When they did so, Storm said, "Snow has come into contact with a neutral Fulmini. Through a neutral's nature, I can tell which direction they're in. We just need to follow the signal."
"Snow is ok?" Aurora asked, gripping the bandana. Cloud, Thunder, Rain, and Sun looked at him expectantly. Storm nodded. The five visibly relaxed, Aurora making a noise of pure relief.
He refound the neutral's signal and turned towards it once again. He began to move towards it, followed by the five. Once he was sure they weren't going to forget the direction, he reconnected.
-()-
In a snap, Gwen's new form went back to the blue she was before. "What did the Storm Override say?" Snow asked.
"From what I could tell, he'll be able to tell where we're at once he gets a good read of the direction from where they're at to here," she replied.
"What are you gonna call this form?" Kevin asked.
She tilted her head slightly as she thought. Snow tilted his own head before she said, "Raijin."
Ben changed to mostly ignoring them as Kevin nodded and Snow somewhat lowered his eyes. "Raijin? What is that on Earth?" he asked.
"It's a god of lightning, thunder and storms in Japanese mythology," she answered.
Snow still had his head tilted. "In Fulminian culture, a raijin is a sign that is often seen appearing before something too important to ignore happens to the Fulmas System," Snow added.
"How are those two things connected?" Kevin muttered, leaning back slightly. Raijin shrugged before closing her eyes again. Ben looked over briefly at them before extending the arm with the Predatrix to Raijin's arm. The faceplate rubbed against the arm before he pulled back the arm. Snow stared at him as Ben activated the Predatrix, turning the dial until he came upon the unlocked form.
Based on the hologram, the unlocked predator was snake-like, but with parts that made it stand out. There were four floating rings around its body, all with four floating spikes that seem to originate from the rings. At the end of its tail, floating a bit after it ends, is an orb seemingly made of the same energy as the rings. Its face was unclear, but it seemed to have no mouth and a single odd eye.
Snow noticed the hologram before he asked, "W-Why is there a hologram of a Milazondo?"
Ben looked at him before answering, "When the Predatrix touches a species it doesn't have a predator unlocked for, it'll unlock it."
Raijin then surged back to being under the control of the Storm Override.
Snow blinked before muttering, "W-Well, most Milazondos have been domesticated, and those that aren't are either in areas Fulmini can't safely travel to or are in a reserve of some kind."
Ben seemed to perk up slightly when Snow mentioned the reserve. Kevin nodded a bit, but stopped when EightEight gurgled, "Why did you get interested in the reserve, Ben?"
The boy went red a bit before calming himself, deactivating the Predatrix and replying, "I guess zoos and aquariums and things like that always catch my interest the most."
Snow looked at him before asking, "Have you heard of the Omnium-Bioreserve?"
Ben looked at Snow. "I wasn't aware of aliens until this summer, so…"
"Really? H-How?" Snow asked.
Ben looked Snow dead in the eyes, lifted up the arm with the Predatrix to show it, then said, "It started when an alien device did what it did."
Snow blinked before whispering to himself, "That's… fair." Ben grabbed the notepad-like device he was on and continued with doing… something on it. Kevin grabbed the tablet and a pair of headphones before sitting down, Asani quickly zipping to his lap as he tapped the device and put on the headphones. EightEight looked out as the storm subsided, seemingly watching for something. Snow just stared at Raijin, silent.
At some point during the silence, the Omnitrix began to beep in warning. However, it didn't last very long until the Omnitrix stated, "Function O-C-FS activated. Activating O-C-FS Lifeform Lock."
Snow tilted his head slightly when the watch chirped. EightEight glanced over, but continued to look out to the horizon.
…
Silence reigned until, eventually, Raijin snapped back to normal, followed by the tired screeching of the Omnitrix. In a red flash, Gwen was back. She looked at Snow, who was clearly startled, and said, "They should be nearby, according to the Override, anyways."
"R-Really?" Snow said before going out of the RV. The Sotoraggian quickly noticed and followed the Fulmini, Gwen joining her. Asani noticed what was going on and made an odd chirp at Kevin, causing him to notice what happened. Ben stared at the door, before looking at Kevin and shrugging slightly. The maybe-human turned off the headphones, put down the tablet and headphones, then walked over to the door with Asani in his arms. Ben stared at them, silently looked at the Predatrix, then stood up to walk out, moving pass Kevin to join Gwen and EightEight.
Outside, Snow stopped after making sure he was away from the Dark Eagle before forming a bolt, lifting his hands, and releasing it into the sky. The slate bolt crackled as it traveled, before bursting into an electric-made firework. Snow lowered his hands, staring at the burst as it fizzled out before looking towards the horizon. Gwen and EightEight came up to him, with Ben quickly following behind, before the wielder of the Omnitrix asked, "Was that some kind of signal flare?"
Snow nodded. "H-Hopefully they saw it," he added.
Then, another similar burst erupted in the sky, just over one of the hills. Snow let out a noise that best sounded as a cheer, his spirit seemingly brimming with happiness.
The Fulmini looked at them before saying, "Thank you so much."
"But… you still have no way home," Gwen mentioned.
Snow paused for a moment, then replied, "I was more worried about never seeing them again…"
Ben looked away as Gwen said, "You really care for them, huh?"
"My sister is with them, Sun just… makes me so warm and fuzzy and everyone is just… we just go together so well. Thunder is attached to my sister and he's related to Rain… Cloud is set to be the next Storm Override once the current one passes his title," Snow somewhat ranted, looking towards the sky. "Sun's friends with Cloud and… I guess everything fell together from there."
"Family is always important," EightEight nodded.
A beat.
"Still don't understand Sotoraggian…" Snow muttered, looking between the two.
"She said family is always important," Gwen relayed. Snow seemed to lift himself up slightly, smiling.
"Yea," he nodded. Ben turned away from them, keeping his gaze on the ground.
A few seconds passed before they looked towards the hill and saw a figure at the top of it. The figure noticed them and waved down to them. Snow waved back, his energy bubbling. The figure seemed to look back and say something, then promptly bolted down the hill towards them.
As the figure approached, Snow bolted towards them. The figure was made more clear as it approached. They looked nearly identical to Snow, but wore an armband that looked like it was made of beautiful sun-like stones. EightEight moved to follow Snow, Gwen doing the same. Ben looked at them, but stayed quiet.
"Snow! You're ok!" the new Fulmini cheered, the two effectively crashing into a hug with each other.
"Sun! Sun, Sun, Sun!" Snow chirped, tightly holding his arms around his friend. Barely a second later, more Fulmini came up to the duo. There were two female Fulmini, one male, one… odd one, and a Fulmini that appeared as the Override of this small group.
Snow immediately began speaking in another language to them, soft enough the translator didn't pick up on it. The other clearly gendered ones crowded Snow, speaking to him in the same language as the Override and the odd-gendered one looked towards them.
The taller of the two then asked, "The neutral Fulmini that helped Snow, can I speak to them?"
A beat.
"Oh, I didn't mention the Omnitrix, did I?" Gwen muttered. The Override reacted in surprise while the odd-gendered one tilted its head.
"The Omnitrix… I thought it was just a rumor," the Override stated.
"Override?" the other started. The Override paused for a moment, raising his hand to form a claw with two fingers before lowering it.
"I am the Storm Override," the Override began. "This here is Cloud." At being mentioned, the Fulmini bowed slightly. "Thank you for helping Snow. There would've been no way to find him without your help."
"You're welcome," Gwen nodded.
EightEight then gurgled, "Are you still looking for a way back to the Fulmas System?"
Cloud tilted their head slightly as the Storm Override paused for a moment.
"I'm afraid none of us know Sotoraggian," he stated.
Gwen relayed, "She asked if you're still looking for a way home."
The Storm Override nodded before saying, "Before Snow vanished, we were trying to find either a Plumber base, Galactic Enforcers outpost, or a mechanical dump. However, when the boy vanished…" What was unsaid was left unsaid.
EightEight pointed down the road before gurgling, "There was a tech dump down the road. Just follow it until you come to a sign that's green and white with a blue bar in a white chip. Then follow the curved road until you reach a gravel path and follow that. It should lead to a tech dump that might be of some help."
"We were at a tech dump before we started heading somewhere, but the storm forced us to stop," Gwen stated. EightEight glanced at her.
Despite that, Cloud asked, "May I ask what is inside of this… tech dump?"
"There's some Earth technology in there, but I think it's mostly alien machinery," Gwen replied.
Cloud glanced at the Storm Override. The Override didn't move or say anything, so Cloud looked back at the two and asked, "Can you specify any non-Earth tech you know is in the dump?"
EightEight then said, "Gwen, relay this. Sotoraggian, Anurian, Pyronic, Shadowian, Teneditan, and Chimeran are what I was able to recognize."
"EightEight was able to recognize Sotoraggian, Anurian, Pyronic, Shadowian, Teneditan, and Chimeran tech," Gwen relayed.
The Override nodded before closing his eyes. The fog-like cape seemed to suddenly expand as he did so. After a few moments, the cape returned to its original state and the Storm Override looked at them. "Thank you for your help," he said before turning towards the other five Fulmini, which had somehow descended into a pile.
EightEight turned, motioned for Gwen to follow, then started back. Gwen followed her as Cloud followed his Override back to their family. When they got close to him, Ben joined them in walking back.
They entered the Dark Eagle, Kevin backing away as they did so. Once they were in and the dark closed, EightEight said "Now let's hope for no more distractions. We need to get there in time."
Ushi: 1- No, the Omnitrix only scans sapient DNA. Since Vladat DNA wasn't in the Omnitrix's database until The Vampire Strikes Back, which is in the middle of Omniverse, the Omnitrix saw Dracula and was like "golly gee, a DNA sample that I haven't scanned AND is sapient? Don't mind if I do!" so... yea. 2- I mean, I'm not complaining about them.