"You killed them!" Ben growled.
"I absorbed them," Aggregor said, holding his hands up with a satisfied look on his face. "All their powers are..."
The Osmosian didn't get another word out before Ben turned into Ultimate Humungousaur and grabbed Aggregor by his head. His grip was practically crushing as he bodily flung Aggregor out through the roof. In an instant, he was Jetray. And the moment he closed the distance, he turned back into Ultimate Humungousaur again.
The punch that followed afterward was hard enough to send Aggregor skidding across the ground, his head leaving a giant hole in the ground.
The Osmosian shook the gravel off his head before turning around just in time to see another fist knock him face first in the dirt.
Ben then transformed into Jetray and flew high up in the air, nearly reaching orbit before speeding back down. The moment before he hit the ground, Ben changed into Armadrillo, both of his arms aimed right at Aggregor's head and body, sending a shockwave throughout Los Soledad powerful enough to destroy all of the surrounding buildings from the force of the shockwave.
Ben noticed that Aggregor had stopped moving once the dust cleared, which made him wonder if he had actually killed him. Though he had his question answered when he saw Aggregor uneasily shifting on the ground. His head was now Bivalvan's helmet. Only he had his red eyes instead of the alien's blue ones, and the sight shot a sharp feeling of anger into his gut.
"You can do it. You have the power to," Ben thought to himself, raising a hand with his elbow pistons still moving. His hand trembled.
He didn't want to do it... and yet at the same time, he did. It was a feeling that legitimately scared him.
"Ben!" He distantly heard his name being called, and Ben looked away from Aggregor to see Max, Kevin, and Gwen rushing towards him.
"He's down," Armadrillo said, not taking his eyes off his trembling arm.
"Are you going to do it?" Max asked.
"I... No. I'm not gonna. If there's a chance we can reverse this, then I can't. We..." Ben's brief moment of calm disappeared when he could hear Aggregor laugh gently.
"Well done Tennyson. I actually managed to feel that," he said, getting to his feet and cracking his neck.
"Then you obviously-" This time, Ben was the one unable to finish his sentence before Aggregor hit him right in the jaw, hard enough to send him sailing through the air like he was shot through a cannon.
"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed before aiming at Aggregor and tossed an energized mana orb at him. Her eyes widened when the orb only bounced off.
"Did you know Gallapagus' people can't be harmed by mana?" Aggregor said with a wide smile. Then his eyes shot a radiation blast at Gwen that she was forced to block with a shield.
Aggregor's grin turned more sadistic when he raised a hand and slammed on the ground in front of him, sending a tremor through the ground. It also helped prevent an approaching Kevin and Max from getting too close to him.
Gwen's shield held, but the earth under her was too unsteady for her to stand on, so she resorted to flight. Aggregor then increased the pressure by firing a radiation laser from his hand with enough force to push her back a few meters, but her shield held steadily.
"AGGREGOR!" Ultimate Humungousaur roared in a booming voice, stomping his way over to the mutated Osmosian.
Aggregor smirked before turning his free hand into a piston before wheeling around, aiming for Ben's face with the intent to take it off. But not only was it ducked, his arm was firmly hooked by one of Ben's in order to pin it. Then with his free hand, Ben socked Aggregor in the gut with enough strength that would've sent him skidding into a house once more if he hadn't dug his claws into the ground. Had it not been for his new biology, he had no doubt his arm would've been torn out of the socket from the force.
Aggregor may have been powerful even with only four out of five the aliens, but even with their considerable power, but those Ultimate forms of Tennyson were something else entirely. It would likely prove to be a problem as he tried to collect the piece of the Map, but first he needed to get out of here. Then his eyes moved to Max, and he smirked.
He put his hands on the ground, creating several plumes of magma to rise up from out of the ground. Kevin was able to leap away from the one underneath him, Ben only transformed into NRG to ignore it, and Gwen flew away from the one underneath her while making sure to shield her grandpa.
Then as Ben approached him, Aggregor smirked.
"Think fast Tennyson," the Osmosian said, darting his gaze over to Max and using both of his hands to fire a radiation blast at him that slowly started to crack the shield Max was in. Ben jumped in front of it with no hesitation, but Aggregor immediately smashed the ground hard enough to collapse the ground half a mile out from in front of him.
"Aperta," the Anodite cast, opening the suit NRG was usually contained in. Then he was just able to fly over the crumbling earth while still blocking the radiation beam.
Aggregor then eventually broke off one of his hands from firing the radiation beam, using it to shoot a stream of water that created a large amount of steam that quickly surrounded him.
"Turbo!" Gwen cast, easily blowing away all of the winds. But Aggregor was nowhere to be seen.
"There!" Kevin exclaimed, pointing up at the sky.
Ben immediately turned his gaze towards the sky, his gaze growing more angered due to the fact that Aggregor was nothing more than a speck in the sky from this distance. But he'd be able to catch him no problem with Jetray.
Though when Ben neared, Aggregor was ready. The moment the Anodite fired a neuroshock blast, Aggregor shot a radiation blast from his hand, not even taking his eyes away from the sky and still flying away.
"I'm not letting you get away," Jetray said in a furious tone.
"That's too bad for you then," Aggregor said before increasing the intensity of his radiation beam, eventually breaking through Ben's neuroshock beam. He immediately followed it up with a hard punch that sent the Anodite flying down towards the ground.
Ben stopped himself from crashing into the ground halfway down, but he growled in frustration as he used his mana to mend his broken ribs. He knew he'd never be able to find him now. He nearly made orbit in only a few seconds. He'd be way further now.
"He's gone. Damned coward," Jetray said in a frustrated tone as he rejoined the others.
"You did the best you could," Max assured his grandson as he returned to his human body.
"We were right there, grandpa. We could've stopped him, but Aggregor still got what he wanted in the end. And the other four aliens paid the price for that," Gwen said, sounding just as frustrated as Ben.
"Not to mention we have no idea where he's going on top of all of that," Kevin added, who also sounded equally as frustrated.
"I can help with that," Azmuth said, appearing in a flash of light.
"Oh, great. Azmuth and Paradox in the same day. The last time that happened, the Highbreed tried to obliterate the universe," Ben said sourly.
"An adept observation. Because the entire universe will be under Aggregor's mercy if he gets what he wants," Azmuth said, making Ben sigh.
"Great. Of course the lunatic with an obsession for power wants to get a power that could help him conquer the universe," Kevin said sarcastically.
"Come with me," Azmuth said before teleporting each of them to Galvan.
"You've been tracking Aggregor as well?" Gwen questioned.
"Not necessarily. I was forewarned by Professor Paradox about Aggregor's knowledge of a very powerful item," Azmuth said as he was typing on a console. "This item, to be precise."
On the digital screen in front of them, an item in the shape of the infinity symbol appeared.
"What is it?" Ben asked, walking next to Azmuth.
"It is the single most important object in the universe - The Map Of Infinity," Azmuth said.
"It's real?" Gwen said, her eyes wide.
"Come on! That thing's just a legend," Kevin said with his arms crossed.
"You know about it?" Ben asked, looking at Kevin and his cousin curiously.
"A couple of details, yeah. Remember when we got our hands on Hex and Charmcaster just a few weeks back?" Gwen questioned, causing both Kevin and Ben to nod. "Well, his hideout was just chock full of magic books. I didn't want them to have ready access to them if they ever escaped, so I just helped myself to them and hid them away. It came up in some of the texts, but as nothing more than a legend."
"So, what does it do?" Ben asked.
"Azmuth could likely explain it better than I can," Gwen said.
"It is a complete map of space and time - expanding through to seventeen dimensions. Including this one," Azmuth said, typing on the keyboard in front of him.
"So it just lets someone find whatever they want?" Ben questioned.
"It doesn't just lead that person to where they want to go. It takes them there when it would otherwise be impossible. Other dimensions, outside of the realm of existence, all of it," Azmuth said, making Ben's eyes widen. "Professor Paradox deemed this map too powerful, and has since then divided it and spread the pieces across the galaxy."
"Wait a minute. If Professor Paradox hid them away and all records of them show them as nothing more than legends, then how does Aggregor know where to go to get them?" Gwen questioned.
"Well, the pieces themselves are magical in origin. No one knows how or why the map was created - only that it was. I'm sure as far as you're aware, magical items with sufficient enough power can be traced. My only theory is that Aggregor has magical origins and at least a general understanding of the way magic works, but not a drop of magical talent. That's why he chooses to absorb the powers of others to gather his strength instead," Azmuth explained, pacing back and forth. "Professor Paradox himself described Aggregor as a time anomaly - he doesn't have a clue as to where he came from. Or how."
"So what, he just showed up out of nowhere?" Kevin questioned.
"It seems that way. It really is a mystery," Azmuth said.
"So he doesn't have any power relating to his background, so he instead chose to embrace the power he had as an Osmosian and steal others' power. And that lead to the whole thing with the five aliens, and as to why we're here now," Gwen said with a thoughtful look. "I can only guess he wants the power cause I doubt getting to these pieces of the Map are going to be easy."
"You would be correct. Three of the pieces we do know of - their locations were scattered around the galaxy by Professor Paradox. But he never said a word about where he sent the fourth piece. He has remained surprisingly tight-lipped on that matter. The reasons, I could not tell you," Azmuth said.
"That's really strange of him," Ben said with a frown.
"He usually keeps quiet about that sort of thing if it might affect the timeline or something, but this is just about stopping Aggregor. What's his deal?" Kevin questioned.
"We'll pry it from him if we need to going later down the line. Because I doubt he'll keep quiet about if it means everyone dies," Gwen said before looking back to Azmuth. "Speaking of which, where is he going with the map if he gets his hands on it?"
"The Forge Of Creation," Azmuth said, and those four words betrayed a lot of Azmuth's concern.
"What's there?" Ben asked.
"The Forge Of Creation is where all Celestialsapiens are born. I believed you've tokened that species with the name, 'Alien X,'" Azmuth said, making all three teenagers' eyes widen.
"That alien can do anything... But why would Aggregor willing to bind his decision making to two other voices in order to do anything? Even if their power is astronomical, he'd have to get the voices to agree to help him on his quest to conquer the universe. And speaking from my personal experiences, the personalities are loathe to do much of anything, much less something like that," Ben explained.
"Besides, there's no way Aggregor could take on an Alien X - even with his new powers," Gwen said.
"Valid points. But there are two details that you do not know about Celestialsapiens..." Azmuth trailed before looking up at Ben, his gaze truly worried. "The first is that Celestialsapiens spend so much time debating that they do not pay attention to what is going on right in front of them. So Aggregor would meet no resistance. And second... infant Celestialsapiens have the full power of a fully developed Celestialsapien, but only have one personality."
Ben's insides suddenly went extremely cold. Aggregor was looking to get... maybe not the full powers of Alien X, but he didn't exactly want to see what ten percent of near omnipotence actually calculated to. Add that level of power with only Aggregor regulating it...
"Oh, fuck that," Ben swore.
"There's no way we can let that happen," Gwen said, giving everyone a look of urgency.
"Then we have to get going," Max said, and Ben's mouth thinned.
"You can't come grandpa," he said. His tone was firm, and left little room for argument.
"What?" Max asked, looking at his grandson in surprise.
"Ben..." Gwen trailed, but her boyfriend didn't pay her any mind as he stared at his grandfather.
"I'm sorry. I know you want to help stop Aggregor. I know this is just as much your fight as it is anyone else. But if we want to improve our chances of stopping him, we can't have anyone or anything slow us down. And back at Los Soledad, you slowed us down," Ben said grimly.
"You can't be serious," Kevin said, surprised Ben was speaking this way to his grandpa.
"I am. Dead serious. I'd do anything to keep grandpa alive. But that is exactly how Aggregor managed to escape. Because he knows that. He'll just keep using you against me to get those pieces if he can manage it," Ben said, looking remorseful but resolved. "There isn't a nice way to say this."
"No there isn't. But I understand," Max said.
"Grandpa, I'm..."
"You don't have to apologize. A leader has to be the one to make the hard decisions," Max said with a nod. "Besides, you can't have me believe that Aggregor isn't going to retaliate once you get one of the pieces. I can handle that while you take care of Aggregor."
Ben sighed and nodded before looking to Azmuth.
"Where do we start?" he asked.
"I've been tracking Aggregor since he made to space, and I've already sent the coordinates to the piece he's going after to your starship. Just get going," Azmuth said, teleporting the three teenagers away in a flash of light.
"What is it?" Max asked, knowing the Galvan left him behind for a reason.
"Will he kill Aggregor?" he asked.
"While all of the aliens are absorbed in him, no. He won't. Afterwards... I don't know," Max admitted, remembering the look of rage on his grandson's face when he attacked Aggregor.
"He has his head on straight for the most part. But you of all people know he's teetering on a very dangerous line," Azmuth said.
"I know. But Ben's a good person at heart. And even if one day that doesn't prove to be enough, the people with him help keep him grounded," Max said.
"It's what I was thinking as well. I just needed a second opinion," Azmuth said, clasping his hands behind his back.
"I'm glad you're looking after him," Max said with a smile.
"I am merely making sure the Ultimatrix is still in capable hands. That's all," Azmuth said firmly. Then he sighed. "Though even I am one to admit that despite his talent, no human his age should be capable of killing."
"It was either that, or repeat a cycle that would likely never stop. And Ben's much more pragmatic than that," Max told him.
"No Galvan could deny the logic of that," Azmuth said before looking up to Max. "You're off to your family then?"
"Preparations need to be made," the ex-Plumber said with a nod. Azmuth merely nodded back before teleporting him away.
"Did you have to really say that?" Gwen asked.
"Look, I didn't like it any more than you did. But we can't ignore the fact that I did have to turn my attention away from Aggregor in order to help grandpa. If it happened once, it can happen again. Plus he's more vulnerable to the stuff Aggregor can throw at him than we are," Ben explained, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. "It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I had to make it. Because the alternative is far, far worse."
"I can't really disagree with him there," Kevin said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess not," Gwen said with a sigh.
"Let's focus on what we're doing. What's this planet we're coming on?" Ben asked.
"It's called Mykdl'dy. Apparently, one of the pieces is in the locals' ancient temple," Gwen said before frowning. "This is weird."
"What is?" Kevin asked.
"It's really close to the sun and entirely locked," Gwen pointed out.
"So one side's likely going to be scorching?" Ben asked.
"Three thousand, six hundred degrees to be exact," Gwen said as they came into view of said planet.
"And the other side?" Kevin asked.
"Three hundred and twenty below zero," Gwen said.
"Chances are, whatever we're looking for will be on the cold side. I think you'd be hard pressed to keep anything safe when it's that hot," Kevin deduced.
"Sounds like a good idea. So that's where we'll land. To be honest, that's the only spot we can land on," Ben said, steering the ship towards the cold side of the planet.
"Good thing we've got these suits to help with the cold, but they're only gonna be good for about an hour," Kevin said, moving to grab one before looking at Ben. "And you can't really do much alien swapping in this kind of climate."
"I know. But there are a couple of aliens that can take it," Ben said as he brought the Rust Bucket down for a landing. Then his form immediately shifted into that of Ultimate Big Chill. "Let's go."
"Right behind you," Gwen said as they stepped off the ship.
It was really bizarre. One side was entirely engulfed in flames while the other was completely frozen cold. It was like the elements themselves were at a stalemate.
"There's the temple," Gwen pointed out.
"Then where are the locals?" Kevin asked, looking around. "Now that I think about it, who could even live in this temp?"
"If I was a Big Chill, I would," Ultimate Big Chill said, his wings spread out at his sides. "This feels wonderful."
"Of course you'd think that," Kevin said flatly.
"Plus it looks like your statement was spot on," Gwen said with a point. Ben and Kevin looked in that direction, and there were indeed Necrofriggians standing guard outside of the temple. But they were snow white as opposed to the dark blue Ben's original transformation was.
"Well, these are technically your people right now. Make sure to tell them that we come in peace and all that jazz," Kevin told him.
"Right. Let's just hope I won't need my translator on the off chance they don't speak English," Ultimate Big Chill said before turning back into regular Big Chill. Then he lead the way forward.
"Who approaches the sacred temple?" the lead Big Chill said before laying eyes on Ben. "You are... one of us."
"We're Plumbers. Ben Tennyson, Gwen Tennyson, and Kevin Levin," Big Chill said, gesturing to each of them in turn. Then he gave the alien a small bow. "We mean you no harm."
"This is... unprecedented. Only pilgrims who seek wisdom are allowed inside of the temple," the Necrofriggian said.
"Well, there's a guy named Aggregor who doesn't seek wisdom at all. He wants to come here to steal one of the four parts you have of the Map Of Infinity," Big Chill told him.
"He will not make it past us," the lead Necrofriggian said, anger entering his tone at the thought of someone stealing an artifact.
"I'd agree with you if he wasn't a mix of four different aliens that make him near invincible. If you wouldn't mind, we'd like to grab the artifact for safekeeping. So..." Ben stopped when the Necrofriggian let out a vicious hiss at the words.
"Guess that's a hard no," Kevin said.
"Ok, no touching the artifact. Got it. Then... could we at least stand guard for a while in case Aggregor comes for it?" Big Chill questioned.
"Your aid is unneeded. Leave this place," the lead Necrofriggian said, his tone having an air of finality to it.
"Listen, you don't understand how dangerous Aggregor is. He's not going to go down to a group of Necrofriggians! He's tougher than that!" Big Chill exclaimed.
"Leave this place. Now," the lead Necrofriggian said, his voice leaving no room for argument. It was an inch from being hostile.
"I think that part about wanting to grab the artifact made him really wary," Gwen said.
"We're not leaving," Big Chill said firmly. "This is bigger than any of us here."
"So be it then," the lead Necrofriggian said before the other colonists rose up behind him with a vicious hiss. Then he blew a puff of cold breath while intangible.
Ben also turned intangible and grabbed the Necrofriggian by the throat while tilting his head upward so that cold breath would aim at the sky. He knocked him out by flying towards the ground, knocking him unconscious with a mana bolt to the head.
"I can't absorb anything while in this suit," Kevin said.
"Then stay behind us," Big Chill said before slamming the dial on his chest. "Ultimate Echo Echo!"
Ben threw half a dozen sonic discs that surrounded each of the temple guardians. Sonic frequencies immediately started to blast out of the devices, making the Necrofriggians scream before they succumbed to the sound waves and fell unconscious.
"Well, that couldn't have gone worse," Ultimate Echo Echo said with a sigh as the discs returned to him.
"Let's keep going. By the looks of things, we beat Aggregor here. So let's get in and out before he finally does decide to show up," Gwen said, getting nods of agreement from both boys.
"Well, since the Map's magic, I should be able to..." Gwen trailed before her eyes shone a bright pink. "Got it. This way!"
The moment she took another step, she wound up stepping on some kind of pressure pad. And the door behind them immediately closed before a spike wall came barreling into them. Gwen and Ben wasted no time in raising a shield, preventing it from doing any damage when it actually impacted.
"This place is probably full of traps," Ultimate Echo Echo said.
"Well, it's probably a better idea to fly instead of walk so we don't step on anything else," Gwen said before putting a small platform underneath Kevin. It levitated in the air while Gwen and Ben started flying.
"Finally. For once, I get the easy gig," Kevin said.
"I wouldn't exactly call not being able to use your powers the easy gig," Ultimate Echo Echo said.
"I could use that stone over there, probably. It's been here long enough to last. And it isn't frozen or burnt," Kevin said with a point.
"Maybe..." Gwen trailed before putting a mana bubble around him and Ben. The Anodite in question transformed into Heatblast to help counterbalance the cold. "Alright. Get out of that suit and absorb it. All else fails, we can teleport you back to the ship."
Kevin nodded before following her instructions exactly. And when the mana bubble dropped, he was still fine thanks to the armor.
"Good. Now we have all our hands free. Let's keep it going," Heatblast said, transforming back into Ultimate Echo Echo as they continued forward.
"I've been meaning to ask Tennyson..." Kevin trailed after a couple of minutes passed.
"Yeah?" Ultimate Echo Echo asked.
"Instead of naming your transformation Ultimate Echo Echo, shouldn't it be Ultimate Echo Ultimate Echo?" Kevin asked, causing Ben to give him a look as close to bewilderment as the evolved Sonorosian could make. Then he let out a chuckle.
"You know, the thought never crossed my mind, but the only problem with that name is that it would be a mouthful. It'd take two seconds just get it out of my mouth," Ben told him. "I mean, it's kinda hard to take anyone seriously when they take more than a second to introduce themselves. It's why those really long names in movies are mostly played for laughs."
"Totally makes sense though," Kevin said.
"You're ri- ahh!" Ultimate Echo Echo yelled, falling to the ground. In the same moment, Gwen's flight completely failed her as well and Kevin fell right through Gwen's platform.
His elbow also happened to hit the next trap, which sent them flying right towards a pool of acid.
Gwen created a platform big enough for everyone to land on, but they just sunk on through regardless.
"Plan B," Ben thought before transforming into Ultimate Lodestar and spreading himself out into a flat surface large enough for Kevin and Gwen to land on safely. Gwen quickly covered herself and Kevin to make sure none of the acid from their landing splashed on them.
"That was too close," Kevin said before absorbing the material Ben was made of.
Kevin paddled Lodestar forward with some assistance from Gwen, who grabbed the edge of the acid pool to pull them forward. Once they were on solid ground, Ben turned himself into a pile of liquid metal and worked his way onto solid land before transforming into Ultimate Big Chill.
"Thanks. What the heck happened there?" Gwen asked.
"They might've changed the gravity in that room," Ultimate Big Chill said.
"Or something more complicated. My barriers didn't even work," Gwen said.
"It makes sense though. Why make a place full of floor traps when there are thousand of aliens that could just fly over it if they attacked this place?" Kevin questioned.
"Well, regardless of how it happened, we're down here now. I'll have to reroute the path," Gwen said before her eyes started to glow again.
There was a loud roar as they reached the end of the tunnel, causing each of the three teenagers to be on alert as they got closer.
It was too dark to see anything, and Gwen was barely able to stop herself falling down the slide.
"Wait," Gwen said, holding out a hand. "There's a slide here."
A loud roar was heard before anyone could say anything else, signaling that there was something dangerous waiting for them down there.
"Get ready," Ultimate Big Chill said before sliding down on his feet. Gwen and Kevin followed after, sliding down the exact same way.
The moment they landed, they came into view of a two headed, fire-breathing and ice-breathing dragon alien.
Ben shot a plume of plasma breath at the fire coming his way, turning it to ice before it even reached him. Kevin changed his hand into a shield, and the ice heading towards Gwen just bounced off of it.
"Guess who's made out of stuff you can't hurt?" Kevin said with a smirk before leaping in the air and knocking the ice-breathing head out with a hammer punch to the skull.
Both Gwen and Ben created two mana hammers near the alien's fire-breathing head, slamming them on either side to knock it out.
The rest of the way forward was about as eventful as the others, with Ben being the one to step on a trap that sent a volley of poison needles at them. But all that took was a simple shield in front of them to block it. Gwen looked out of the corner of her eye, and saw an entire different set of blow darts that sent more needles at them. She raised a shield in front of them to protect them before she felt a small prick on her arm. One of the needles pierced her suit and skin both.
"Dammit," she said, taking the needle out.
"Probably should've gone for the full shield," Ultimate Big Chill said before turning back into his Anodite form. He easily mended her suit and the hole the needle made.
"Probably so," Gwen said as they approached a large door. "The piece is through here."
"Great. Then I should just be able to pop in and out," Ben said before turning into Big Chill and turning intangible. But he just bounced off. "Should've known it wouldn't be that easy."
"We're gonna have to lift it," Kevin said.
"I can handle that," Ultimate Big Chill said before changing into Humungousaur, a green aura of mana surrounding him so he wasn't subject to the cold. Holding the door open wasn't a problem for him whatsoever. "Just run in, grab it, and we're out of here."
"Kevin, watch our back. I'll grab the piece," Gwen said before walking forward.
"No problem," Kevin said.
"Try not to drop it, eh tough guy?" Gwen said, flashing Ben a grin as she walked past.
"Yes ma'am," he said, returning the grin.
The female Tennyson made it halfway through before her vision started to blur. A prickling sensation started to register on her right arm.
"Oh, son of a..." Gwen muttered, putting a hand on her face. She quickly found herself fighting to stay conscious.
"You alright there?" Humungousaur asked.
"I think those needles were poisoned. I'm just a little lightheaded," Gwen said as she kept walking forward. But she could barely take a few steps before falling to her knees in exhaustion. "Dammit..."
"Come on Gwen. Get up!" Humungousaur shouted.
"I... I'm..." Gwen trailed, her voice fading off before she fell unconscious.
"Gwen!" Humungousaur exclaimed before looking back at Kevin. "Get her from under there!"
"On it!" Kevin exclaimed before, running forward.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Levin," an unwelcome voice said, causing Kevin's eyes to narrow as he turned around.
"Screw you Aggregor," he said venomously. Then he ran forward, moving to get Gwen.
Almost as quickly as Kevin made it under, Aggregor made it to Ben and grabbed his tail with a grip hard enough to make Ben wince. The cold seeping in through the mana he had broken off his tail wasn't helping either.
"I repeat, I would rethink that avenue Levin," the mutated Osmosian said with a grin on his face. "You see, you wouldn't be able to make it to your Anodite friend and back before I knocked Tennyson away. The piece would be safe, but the both of you would be crushed."
"I'm gonna hurt you, Aggregor," Humungousaur growled in a venomous tone.
"Perhaps. But not now if you want your friends to live," Aggregor said as he walked past him. "It's nice of you to hold the door for me."
A muscle was twitching in Ben's jaw as he watched Aggregor pass him. Kevin didn't look any less angry, but he too seemed to accept the fact that they were stuck. Ben couldn't move without crushing both of them.
"Move!" Humungousaur exclaimed once Aggregor reached the end, and Kevin didn't waste any time in grabbing Gwen and running out. A radioactive blast hit him in the back, but that still pushed him out far enough to be safe.
Ben didn't waste any time in dropping the door on Aggregor. With some luck, this door was made out of some super heavy material that was tough enough to crush even this damn near invincible mutated freakazoid.
But the years of alien fighting had mostly killed his sense of optimism in these situations, so he doubted that was the case.
"We need to leave," Ben said, transforming into Ultimate Cannonbolt.
"What about the map piece?" Kevin asked.
"It either got crushed or Aggregor has it. Either way, we're not gonna be able to get it. Now let's go," Ultimate Cannonbolt said before scooping Kevin and Gwen up in his shell before rampaging through the temple walls as a shortcut out.
Ben had been silent and brooding even after he had administered the antidote to Gwen, his attention focused on flying the starship. It didn't seem to matter to him that the autopilot could've easily taken them back home.
"Ugh... stupid poison," Gwen said as she stirred from her unconscious state. "What happened after I knocked out?"
"Aggregor showed up. Ben couldn't move without dropping the door, and both of us were underneath. So we waited until he hit the end of the pathway. I carried you out, and then Ben dropped it on him. Either way, we lost the piece. Whether it's destroyed or Aggregor got it," Kevin explained.
"It sounds more likely Aggregor got it, so we need to continue looking for the other pieces," Gwen said.
"That's what Ben was thinking too. Azmuth said him, Max, and the Plumbers are doing everything they can to find Aggregor and the other pieces of the map. Apparently universal threats gets us a lot of help," Kevin said with a wry smirk.
"Who knew, right?" Gwen said dryly before looking in the pilot's seat. Ben still hadn't moved. "How's he been?"
"Hasn't said a word since we left the planet," Kevin said, looking back at his friend.
"It's never good when he's quiet," Gwen said.
"It does make me think more," Ben spoke up as he stood to his feet. "Except this time, there's nothing to do but wait."
"You ok?" Gwen asked as Ben took a seat next to her.
"Yeah. Just a little stressed," he said, rubbing his temples. "That's one of the pieces that's out of our grasp."
"We'll stop him the next time. Just as long as I avoid any more needles along the way," Gwen said with a weak grin.
"Talk to me," Ben said, knowing the needle situation was bothering her.
"Anodites in their natural bodies are immune to poison," Gwen said, her tone flat.
"Gwen..."
"Had I been in it... I would've still been conscious when Aggregor made his way around," Gwen said.
"Don't you dare start blaming yourself," Ben told her firmly.
"It's a fact. No one can dispute that. Once we get back, I need to put more time into practicing," Gwen said in a determined tone.
"Take a few moments to rest first. You scared the hell out of me," Ben said, and Gwen gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey. I'm not going anywhere," Gwen assured him. "Especially when this body's more of a wrapper covering my real one."
"Plus you Tennysons are too damn stubborn to die," Kevin said, taking a seat across from them.
"Let's just hope we're stubborn enough to survive this whole mess," Ben said.
A/N: For all of you that are wondering how Aggregor can still fly without absorbing Ra'ad, don't forget that P'andor's species can naturally fly on their own. The only reason he can't is because he's in the suit.
But that's not all that important. What is that I'm adding my own spin on who Aggregor is as well as retconning a few things about how the Map Of Infinity came to be. Nothing about Aggregor is ever explained - who he is, where he came from, or how he even knows where the pieces to the Map Of Infinity are when Professor Paradox took it upon himself to hide them. And the guy has proven he can travel to places most people can't get to. They'd be a bitch to track, much less find.
And considering that one of those pieces is in Ledgerdomain, you have to wonder who the hell Aggregor is to be able to find all that stuff. But it's never explained. I'm going to give it a shot, but it's going to be a while before you get the full picture.
Also, yes. I had to make sure Gwen still got poisoned to make sure we at least got to the third piece of the Map. You'll find out why next time.