Chapter 8: Vive L'évolution!
As Lucario stared through the glass of the exhibit, he tried to find the main occupants of the little terrarium. But they blended so well it was near impossible to see them. Turning to his Aura sense, he was eventually able to see the tiny little insects that remained still as the sticks within the exhibit. Brown, thin, and spindly, they would pass by unnoticed to him, had it not been for his Aura.
"Ahh! I see you've taken an interest in our insects! Not a lot of our visitors, extraterrestrials included, usually give much notice to them!" The burly zoo employee remarked. Despite his size and wild dark-brown hair, Lucario could see nothing but gentleness and sincerity in his gaze.
"Yes. I was taught to appreciate all life, and this planet is not short of wonderful creatures. How does a little insect manage to know how to imitate the motions, or rather the lack of motion, of a stick? It's quite fascinating!" Lucario told the employee.
"Indeed. It's the wonders of adaptation and evolution that help shape the natural world. Even with the transformations of Ben Tennyson, you can see the changes brought upon by their environments granting them the power they need to survive and thrive," the employee stated. Seeing the small piece of plastic attached to his t-shirt, Lucario saw that the man's name was Gordon.
"I see. Well, thank you for your time, Gordon," Lucario sincerely stated. This trip to the zoo was rather fascinating, and he knew he would have to thank Ben for this.
Yesterday
"Again, I have to thank you Mrs. Tennyson. I imagine my arrival has been rather sudden, so I appreciate you giving me food and lodgings," Lucario said to a blonde woman with green eyes, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt and black pants and flats.
"Please. Call me Sandra. Ben told me he trusts you, and apart from a couple of times, he's usually a pretty good judge of character," Sandra Tennyson warmly replied. Ever since he and Ben had been fighting together after the Vreedle incident, Ben had generously offered Lucario a room in his place. It was a sudden change, but Lucario certainly wasn't about to turn down food and warmth. Still, it took a lot of adjustment to get used to the new world. However, it had yet to be a total waste, as soon, Ben came over. Giving greetings to his parents, he walked over to his new partner.
"Hey Lucario! How's it going?" Ben happily asked. Giving a small smile, Lucario nodded.
"I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking," Lucario replied. Noticing a piece of paper in Ben's hand, Lucario decided to inquire about it. "What's that in your hand?"
"Yeah, so I know it's been pretty tiring trying to deal with baddie after bad guy, so I managed to get you tickets to the zoo for tomorrow!" Lucario's eyes widened. Sure, he wasn't that subtle with his interest in the fauna of this world, but Ben hadn't been there when he first took notice of that colony of ants.
"Wha-! The zoo?!" Lucario had always wanted to go, but without any currency on him, he didn't think he'd be going any time soon.
"Lucario, my parents told me that when you get the remote, it's always been to the nature channel, and I figured that since you want to find out more about our planet, a small trip there would be good to see more about what we offer in terms of fauna," Ben replied, a kind smile plastered on his face.
"I, uh, thank you, Ben," Lucario answered awkwardly. Honestly, however, a trip to the zoo would be a good way to help take his mind off a certain slanderer.
2 Hours after stopping Lady Decibel
Stopping the mad musician and her minions had been an arduous task, and Lucario was quite exhausted. Still, they had finally been able to finish things off, but it was then he decided that it was time to relax. Walking towards the guest room, he collapsed onto the bed, his muscles cramping in pain. Sleep proved illusive, though, as he heard sounds coming from downstairs. "Raised voices? Are Ben's parents in some unhappy times?" Lucario thought in worry. Indeed, it sounded like they were shouting at something. When Lucario got out of the bed, he tiptoed down the stairs to the source of the voices: the main room. However, when he arrived, he found himself seeing that the raised voice were not at each other, but rather the black box, a "television" if he understood correctly.
"How can he continue say that about Ben? He risks his life on a daily basis to protect people and aliens from any threat, and yet he still feels like slandering him?!" Sandra said with great ire in her voice.
"He'll just do anything for popularity, and he's also probably jealous of Ben being a more popular person than he is," her husband said. Mr. Tennyson resembled his son quite a bit, particularly his brown hair, but he had brown eyes instead of green, and he had a white dress shirt and brown pants and shoes.
"Who'll do anything for popularity?" Lucario asked, stepping in, relieved to know that Ben's parents had no martial strife.
"Lucario? Were you trying to sleep? I'm sorry, I didn't realize," Sandra said apologetically, concern plastered on her face.
"Not to worry. However, I must ask what provoked you so much. You have usually been quite level-headed, so this sudden outburst seems very sudden," Lucario replied. Pointing the TV and turning up the volume, Sandra soon made it obvious what was angering her so much. What he heard made him fume in anger.
"Once again, another so called "crime" has been thwarted by Ben Tennyson. Will he ever learn that we will not be fooled? Us Americans know well enough that he is a threat to our security. Someday, he will turn against us!" The black suited man said, an angry sneer present on his face. Alongside that, he had brown hair going grey on the sides, and wore a pair of glasses. Lucario was appalled to hear this. Ben may have been arrogant, but he certainly wasn't in the hero work for the fame. Okay, perhaps there was a little bit that sought some recognition for what he did, but who didn't want recognition for their work, especially since Ben was putting his life on the line each time? If Lucario was angry before, the next words out of the man's mouth made him downright furious. "Oh, and don't think to forget his new friend! Who is and where does he come from? Is he some mutant, or yet another filthy alien? Do you not see that Ben is a traitor to his own kind? Now you know the-" the transmission was quickly shut down by Mr. Tennyson, who had noticed the Aura Pokémon's furious expression, but then again, even the air around Lucario reeked of rage.
"Now you see why we're upset?" Sandra asked Lucario. "For no reason other than attention, Will Harangue slanders our son, even though without him, the world would have been under any villain's heel! The worst part of it is that some people actually by this schlock! I suppose it's a small people, but unfortunately, the vocal minority overshadows the silent majority," Hearing this, Lucario felt a blood vessel break in his head and he grit his teeth. He was honestly surprised to see them not breaking from the sheer force. At least now he had a name to fit that infuriating face.
"It's infuriating to have Ben continuously slandered by a jerk like him! It worsens his life, because reporters heckle him about his alignment! It's not fair to someone who's done so much without asking for too much in return!" Mr. Tennyson angrily agreed. "But I think we've wasted enough time, so why don't we just get back to bed?"
"Yes. I believe that is the wisest course of action," Lucario stated. Returning to the guest room, Lucario pondered on what he had found. If he ever saw Mr. Harangue again, it would be far too soon.
Shaking his head of the bad memory, Lucario felt that what he had seen at the zoo more than made up for the displeasure of watching that slanderous newsman. While none of them controlled elements like fire, lightning, or water, it was still interesting to see how they behaved in their environments. The bits of information he found out about the animals certainly didn't hurt either. The intelligence of the elephants was incredible, and he honestly felt like chuckling when he saw how peacocks tried to attract mates. It was also funny how the parrots actually mimicked his talk when he spoke to them with his telepathy. It was honestly quite adorable in a way. However, his happy recollection soon soured when he noticed something. Out of the window, he saw a strangely garbed man sticking a needle into one of the animals. What was his plan?
"I'm sorry, Gordon, but there are some more exhibits I want to see. It was a pleasure meeting you, though," Lucario said hastily.
"No, don't worry. I understand. Go ahead. Enjoy the rest of the day," Gordon kindly stated. Nodding his head, Lucario exited the insect exhibit and began to follow the strange individual. Seeing him exit the zoo, Lucario tracked him, activating Detect so that he could continue to lock onto the strange man's Aura. What was his plan? Following him across the parking lot, Lucario saw him putting the needle into a van with the emblem of a boat emblazoned on it. Trying to see what was going on, Lucario hid behind another large car and took a look. He was shocked to see that within the van were numerous other syringes, filled with the blood of no doubt countless animals. What ever he was planning couldn't have been pleasant. As he entered the vehicle, Lucario readied himself for a chase. However, it appeared that he had been noticed, as the man, before closing the door of the vehicle, pulled out a cellphone.
"Yes, Lieutenant? I think I need help. It seems one of the doctor's freaks has tailed me, so if you could provide back up, that would be appreciated," the man talked in a stoic tone. Alarms rang in Lucario's head, screaming at him to let it go, or else he would be engaging in more trouble than it was worth.
"Yes, Lieutenant? I think I need help. It seems one of the doctor's freaks has tailed me, so if you could provide back up, that would be appreciated," the voice of biologist Billy Linnaeus said within Lieutenant Steel's earphone. The Lieutenant was a well built men, with blonde hair shorn into a buzz cut, a scar running down his face, a black long-sleeved shirt, and grey pants. Gritting his teeth and growling, Lieutenant Steel was upset that somehow, Dr. Animo had found out about the A.R.C. Project Mark II and had sent a minion to track it.
"Listen up, men! It turns our old friend Dr. Animo has managed to find out about our target! Right now, Dr. Linnaeus told us that he's being followed by a mutant of some kind. You start working to capture him, and I'll make sure Dr. Linnaeus manages to get those samples to their new destination after I get contact with our Plumber allies!" Lieutenant Steel ordered. After hearing the affirmation of his soldiers and the melodic pounding of boots on pavement, he went to his communication center. "Get me Magister Tennyson right now, soldier!"
"Yes Sir!" his subordinate immediately replied. The wizened face of Max Tennyson quickly appeared on a screen nearby, and from the look on his face, he wasn't particularly happy.
"Lieutenant Steel. What a surprise. Let me guess. Another dangerous alien on the loose?" Max dryly asked.
"Not quite. You know how we lost the A.R.C. Project thanks to Dr. Animo and his future self?" Lt. Steel replied.
"Yes. He only managed to get the DNA of a poodle. Still, that wasn't unexpected when you consider how badly the two selves got on with each other," Max said with a chuckle in his voice.
"Good that you remember. Well, if you need to know, we recently nearly finished our last batch of DNA for the A.R.C. Project Mark II. We thought we kept it on the down low, but it appears that our wacko biologist foe found out. Dr. Linnaeus just told us that he was being followed, apparently by one of his mutants. We'll take care of him, but we need Ben and some allies right here, right now!" Lt. Steel responded, ignoring the laughter of the Magister.
Sighing, Max conceded. "Alright. But we're only doing this because you told us that it's Dr. Animo behind this. Had it not been the case, we would have left you to your own devices. So make sure you treat Ben and whatever allies he has well. Are we clear?" Max continued, a much more angry tone present in his voice.
Retaining his stoic gaze, Steel mirthlessly replied. "Crystal. When this transmission ends, I'll send the location to you, and I expect to see the asses of Ben and his allies over there ASAP!" With the transmission shutting off, Lt. Steel prepared to join his soldiers in capturing the "mutant".
As Lucario followed the vehicle, he found himself running across Bellwood. Hitching a ride on the roofs of nearby cars, he maintained a strong grip each time. Thankfully, following the boat-marked van was easy: it moved fairly slowly and made no real sudden moves. However, Lucario's ears quickly picked up on other vehicles making their way towards his location, and that was when he saw them. Armored vans made their way to the truck he was currently standing on, and began to surround him. Soon enough, armored men with black face visors exited, pulling out firearms and aiming them right at him.
Figuring his life was more important than his target, Lucario nimbly jumped off the truck and landed on a van on his right. The soldiers were clearly not expecting this kind of action, which made it easy for Lucario to quickly knock the guns out of their hands, and then swing into the vehicle through the window, knocking one guard out in the process. As he did so, he quickly managing to lock the other soldier into an armlock and tossed him over his shoulder, sending the poor man into the wall of the vehicle and rendering him unconscious. Heading into the front of the van, he ambushed the panicking driver, and slammed him into the dashboard. The sudden lack of a driver, however, caused the vehicle to spin out of control, and Lucario found this out quickly when he ended up stumbling down when the van lurched to the right. Getting up, he was startled to see that he was about to run into a group of diners outside a small coffee shop. Instinct taking over, he rushed to the steering wheel and turned it to the left as much as he could. The van managed to avoid the civilians, but it ended up running into a street light.
The crunching of metal flooded his ears as the van crashed into the lamp. Lucario was certain he was going to end up flying out, but a bag popped out of the steering wheel and cushioned his path. Dazed, but not unconscious, he opened the door, stumbling a little, but soon enough, he felt small prongs entering into the back of his shoulders. Electricity coursed through his nervous system and screams of agony flew out of his mouth. Collapsing to the ground in a heap, he panted as adrenaline coursed through his veins, trying to keep him conscious. As he fell unconscious, he had a cocky voice ring out and say, "Gotcha! You mutant freak!"
To be honest, Ben hadn't been feeling too happy when he found out that he'd be repeating the same the events of before. Still, the idea that Dr. Animo could hit the genetic jackpot to create an eternal army of mutants was something that could turn the doctor from a bumbling, incompetent, nincompoop, into a genuine threat that would send the world into chaos.
"Ben, we'll be approaching the rendezvous point soon, so shouldn't we be letting the Lieutenant know that we're nearly there. It would also be a good time to know if he managed to take care of Dr. Animo's scout," Rook Blonko interjected. Accompanying Ben on the Proto-Truk in its Earth truck disguise were Rook, Julie and Ship, but Ben was worried how Lucario was doing. He hoped that this would be a nice day off for him after taking care of Lord Decibel, but who knew how he was doing?
Julie picked up on this and quickly grabbed his hand in an attempt to comfort him. "I'm sure Lucario knows what he's doing. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Probably better than yours at times, right?" she soothed. Ben felt some tension dissapate but it wasn't enough.
"I know. I know. It's just that I keep remembering he's from a different time period, and not quite the most tactful. He could mistake an act of kindness for a threat, or end up scammed by someone preying on his inexperience. I know how that feels thanks to Gorvan," Ben replied solemnly. "Still, let's not keep the Lieutenant waiting. Put him online,"
Returning to the front of the vehicle, Ben was met with the scarred face of Lieutenant Steel. The two had quite the history together: it all started back when Ben was 10, and when he and Kevin wanted to do nothing more than fight one another since Kevin manipulated his trust. After gaining Ben's powers, Kevin went on a cross-country crime spree, using Ben's transformations to frame him for his crimes. Of course, Kevin made things worse when he left Ben holding stolen cash as Diamondhead and ended up attracting SECT's, or SACT as it was called up until two years ago, attention. Ben had managed to keep the fact he was Diamondhead secret, but once the Lieutenant saw the prototype Omnitrix on Ben's wrist, it was clear that he felt Ben and his family were harboring them. Tracking them for days, he eventually caught them in San Francisco unawares, interrogating Ben about his role in the robberies, but when his men found Kevin rampaging on the Golden Gate Bridge, he tried to fight the sociopathic Osmosian, only to end up beaten up for his troubles, and helped Ben by keeping his men from firing on either of them, and once Ben defeated a horribly mutated Kevin, he kept his men from firing on Ben, earning respect for him in the process.
"Lieutenant Steel. Long time, no see," Ben replied in a joking manner, before adapting a more serious disposition. "We'll be arriving at the rendezvous point soon. How's your hunt for Dr. Animo's scout going?"
"Ben. I see you're as disrespectful as ever. But at least you have the courtesy to cut to the chase. It's good to see that you'll be arriving at the rendezvous point soon. You know what this about, right?" Lt. Steel replied stoically, his face an iron mask.
"Yeah. Don't want to give Dr. Animo the genetic jackpot for his mutant army, that's the gist of it, right," Ben answered.
"Oh, and we've managed to catch the mutant spy. My men are interrogating it as we speak. It does seem quite strong, but it's only a matter of time until we manage to make it talk. It almost seemed human in the way it fought, and gave my men quite the run," Lt. Steel responded
"Good. Can you tell me what this mutant looks like?" Ben was quite intrigued. Dr. Animo's mutants were generally wild and animalistic. Had Animo been improving his tech to make them smarter?
"Yeah. He's some blue and black jackal thing. Doesn't really speak much, so I can't really say how much he knows," With that description, Ben's blood froze.
"What?" Ben sharply asked. "Rook and Julie will be at the rendezvous point, but I'll be joining with you later," Ben said with anger laced within his voice. As soon as he finished, he broke contact with them.
"Ben?" Julie asked in worry. Even she knew it was Lucario, and Ben would not be happy that his friend was being interrogated.
"You go on ahead. Like I said, I'll join you later," Ben said as he turned on the Omnitrix and dialed for Big Chill. Slamming it turn into a Necrofriggian, Ben quickly turned intangible and flew out of the Proto-Truk.
Ben knew that Lucario was the one being mistaken for Dr. Animo's scout when he heard Lt. Steel's description, and he was not happy to say the least. How badly had he been injured by SECT? Flapping his wings through the air, the Necrofriggian scouted the city, looking for any sign of his Pokémon friend. Seeing smoke nearby, he saw a SECT vehicle crashed into a street lamp, and that was when he saw three SECT operatives having tied Lucario in rope around another street lamp nearby. Big Chill was not pleased when he saw them slapping Lucario and making him wince. Swooping down, he quickly landed behind the trio and loudly cleared his throat. "Hello, boys. Mind explaining why you're currently beating up a new ally of mine?" He asked in an icy tone, fury laced within his polite question.
"Wha-! New ally?! But he-" One soldier asked in total surprise.
"You really want to get on his bad side? Let's let the guy go and hear him out," another soldier responded. The third soldier heard this and began untying Lucario's bonds.
Once his bonds were released, Ben could Lucario wasn't in particularly good shape. He could barely stand and had his right eye and left cheek pretty badly swollen due to their rough treatment. "Hold on a sec. I'll get you recovered in no time," Big Chill said when he hit the Omnitrix on his chest. Another alien Lucario hadn't seen took his place in a flash of emerald light.
This alien was far more mechanical, reminding Lucario of Pokémon like Bronzong or Magnemite, but instead of steel, his skin was more like copper. Black lines crossed across his skin, and his face seemed more digital, with the op of his head having a holed clock key on his head. On his chest was an opening revealing gears, and that was where the Omnitrix symbol lay.
"CLOCKWORK!" the new being shouted in a German accent.
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Codon Stream Entry: Clockwork
Species: Chronosapien
Home World: Hemsut
Rarely seen, but very dangerous, Chronosapiens are regarded as masters of time. Their ability to control its flow and travel through it gives them a multitude of dangerous abilities. While not physically powerful, they are capable of various unique abilities. They are able to view into the past by rotating the key on their head, projecting holograms to let others see the past as well. Chronosapiens can fire energy beams from their chest that freeze opponents in time or send the physical bodies of their allies back in time to heal wounds, stop time around them for a few seconds, slow it down enough that they appear to move at super speed, or launch beams of energy that cause targets to age rapidly, turning into dust. They can also leap into the past or future, or once older, into other timelines.
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"Don't vorry Lucario. I''ll get you fixed up in no time," Clockwork soothed the injured Pokémon. Firing an energy beam from his chest, he saw life return to Lucario as the injuries in his body began to wash away like leaves on the surface of a river.
Coughing, Lucario slowly got up. "Ben. Thank you. I tried to tell them I had nothing to do with Dr. Animo, but they wouldn't listen to me,"
Clockwork chuckled at this, "Vell, you didn't make a good impression when you stalked one of zeir scientists, und then chose to fight against them instead of seeking a peaceful option,"
His head slumping in shame, Lucario admitted, "I suppose that is true. But I had a feeling that something was up, and I was worried that he was gathering animal blood for more nefarious purposes."
The first SECT soldier chuckled at this. "Yeah. Fair enough. I suppose a scientist taking numerous blood samples from varying animals would be a very suspicious thing, and you'd have to be blind to ignore it. However, he did have a good reason to do so,"
Clockwork nodded his head. "Indeed. Perhaps you can explain zhe A.R.C. Project to Lucario here,"
The second SECT soldier agreed. "Of course, you see Lucario..."
Unbeknowst to all of them, they were being watched. A strange rat sparrow hybrid had hidden itself in a nearby tree, and recorded the conversation with the camera strapped to its back. It had the grey fur, body and front legs of a rat, but its hind legs, tail, and head were those of a sparrow. Seeing Ben Tennyson, its alpha's greatest enemy, it quickly flew away to show its master.
The small sparrow-rat hybrid made its way to its new den: a small house out within the woods, but hiding some nifty technology underground. As it flew in through the window, it found its way towards its alpha: a muscular scientist wearing a black tank top, black fingerless gloves, black boots, and brown pants, alongside a grey handband with a red light on the forehead. His hair went down to his shoulders and was a stark white, and his eyes were pale yellow, as was his skin. It landed on its alpha's shoulder, letting him take off the camera strapped to its back. Plugging it into a computer, the scientist broke out into a grin.
"So the little fools think that they can hide the fact that they've redone the A.R.C. Project from me, Dr. Animo, the greatest biologist to ever walk this planet?" the newly named Dr. Animo boasted. He was probably Ben's main earth archenemy, with the two having fought several times over Ben's 7 year span as a hero. His main MO was mutating animals to be used as soldiers. "Well then. Let's not keep them waiting! We've laid low for long enough," Turning on an intercom, he gave out an order. "ALPHAS. TO ME!"
The first of the "Alphas" who came was a massive, pink humanoid pig. Big, burly, and muscular, he towered over most wrestlers and bodybuilders. His only attire was a pair of black shorts. However, that was not the most unusual thing about him. That would be the fact that he had two heads: one lay on his shoulders, like a regular head, while another one, alongside two small arms, replaced his right hand.
"Napoleon is present, oh great Dr. Animo," the hand-head answered in a British accent.
"Present!" the regular head parroted. Following Napoleon came the burly hybrid of a gorilla and a horse. His back half was definitely that of a horse, having the hind legs end in hooves and his spine running into a horse tail. It also had very distinctive brown fur, which clashed with the black and silver fur on the front half, which moreso resembled a gorilla. While his head was more horselike, his arms and torso were most definitely that of a gorilla. Scratches ran across his right eye, causing him to kept it half closed.
"Bruiser's right here, sir!" the horse-gorilla hybrid said enthusiastically. Following this came a fairly diminuitive creature. In fact, it seemed rather harmless, given that most of its body was hidden in fluffy white wool. However, it didn't change the fact that its limbs and snout poking out of the wool were those of a grey wolf.
"Wolfen Sheep is pre-e-e-sent," the sheep/wolf hybrid bleated, a slight mechanical filter coming out of its voice. And finally stepped out the biggest of them. Hooved feet, massive horns, and a red and white toga were the main attributes of his body. Black fur covered his body, and a wicked-looking axe lay in his hands.
"I AM HERE, MASTER ANIMO! MEGATAUR IS PRESENT! MOOOOO!" the giant bull screamed out, ending his speech with a distinctive moo.
"Excellent! I managed to make you Alphas as great as you can be! But if we are to take over the planet, we will need more soldiers! So are you ready to help your master?" Dr. Animo gleefully inquired. Hearing the affirmations, the mad scientist couldn't help but erupt into a fit of evil laughter.
At least everything made more sense, and Lucario honestly felt he could have simply told him he was with Ben and save himself a lot of trouble. The A.R.C. Project (named after the mythical Ark of Noah), short for Archival Recominate Codex, was meant to serve as a storage for the DNA of every life form on Earth, so that they could be restored to life in the event of a mass extinction event. However, this also made it a massive target for one of Ben's oldest enemies: Dr. Aloysius Animo. Once a promising veterinary researcher, his career came to a sudden end when it was revealed that he was performing horrible genetic experiments on animals. Ben thwarted an attempt to steal an award the mad scientist believed he deserved, but ended up losing it when Ben interfered. Ever since, the two had become bitter enemies. Now Lucario saw why he was asked about the doctor's location: he hadn't been seen in a while since he escaped Plumber custody, so they didn't know what mutants he had made. Hence, SECT (Special Extraterrestrial Containment Team) had been called in, since they were responsible for protecting the A.R.C. last time.
Now, however, the soldiers, Ben and Lucario were trying to make their way over to Rook and Lt. Steel to rejoin the escort. Thankfully, Ben had managed to fix that. Changing from Clockwork, Lucario witnessed him turn into another alien, but this one was a little more famliar. It resembled a bigger version of Ship, as he was mostly green and black. His bottom half, and the parts inside his hands were green, while the rest of his body was black. Similarly, he had circuit patterns crossing the black parts, alongside two small black lines crossing his chest to end up on the Omnitrix symbol.
"UPGRADE!" A voice similar to Ben rang out, albeit with a mechanical filter.
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Codon Stream Entry: Upgrade
Species: Galvanic Mechamorph
Home World: Galvan B
A race born utterly by accident. Initially, Azmuth and other scientists wanted to terraform Galvan Prime's moon, Galvan B. However, it went further than intended as the terraforming device, the Helix, ended up creating a brand new species the Galvanic Mechamorphs. Made out of tiny cell-like creatures known as nanites, they are a shapeshifting gel-like race, able to morph their density and shape at will, and can fire lasers from their eyes and create plasma blades of varying shapes. However, their most important ability is their technology augmentation powers: they can augment themselves with technology and improve and sophisticate it to a more advanced stage. They are able to control this as their own body, and after detaching themselves, can turn into any technology they have upgraded whenever needed.
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As soon as Ben turned into Upgrade, he quickly augmented himself with the crashed van and began to repair and upgrade it, and Lucario saw where his name came from. The armor became thicker, the engine roared louder, and a mini gun formed out of the roof. "Get in. We need to get there so we can make sure Dr. Animo doesn't get his claws on the A.R.C.!" Hearing this, the three soldiers and Lucario quickly entered. The sound of rubber on asphalt quickly came out, and using the upgraded radar, he was able to find Dr. Linnaeus's vehicle soon enough, and the upgraded van quickly sped up to rejoin them.
It was an odd sight to have truck saying "Max's Plumbing" accompanying armored vehicles. However, Rook and Julie knew that that the Proto-Truk would be able to handle it. Ship had already merged with Julie as her battlesuit, so they were ready to fight if it was needed.
"I am getting a signal from another SECT vehicle. Perhaps Ben has resolved the misunderstanding with Lucario being a mutant soldier of Animo's," Rook said.
"Yeah. That's probably the case. Hopefully not with too much fighting," Julie replied. Thankfully, that seemed to be fixed when they saw a SECT vehicle with Upgrade's color scheme covering the entire thing. At least they were here now.
"Lt. Steel? We're here now," Upgrade's voice called out. Hearing this, Lt. Steel connected to Upgrade's frequency and spoke.
"Excellent. Did the spy happen to talk about where Dr. Animo would attack?" Lt. Steel asked.
"Negatory. It also turns out he was an ally of Ben, so he's with us on our vehicle right now," the first soldier responded.
"I see. Apologies for the misunderstanding, Ben. I know when I've made a mistake, and we goofed up big time," Lt. Steel replied apologetically. Accepting the apology, Ben refocused and decided to keep an eye out for Animo's minions who would certainly be coming soon. Grateful to know that Lt. Steel was acting on the information of a paranoid scientist rather than his own beliefs, Lucario decided to help out, activating Detect.
"No issues thus far, correct?" Lucario asked after finding Lt. Steel's Aura.
"What the-? Who is this?" Lt. Steel asked in shock. Of course. He didn't Lucario could talk through the walls as long as he had Aura.
"I apologize, but since I lack vocal cords, telepathy is the only way I can speak. I am Ben's new ally, Lucario," Lucario assured the Lt..
"I see. Well, you'd be correct. No issues thus far," came the curt reply.
For the next few minutes everything seemed to be going smoothly. Despite having to go through wooded terrain and across a cliff face, there were no signs of Animo's mutants, and that worried Ben. He knew they were waiting but where were they? That answer came quick when, on a patch of empty freeway of all things with a forest on the right side, a sonic scream erupted in front of them, one powerful enough to force the armored vehicles and A.R.C. van to stop in their tracks. Even Upgrade nearly felt he would be sent flying from the impact of the sound waves hitting his "skin". When Upgrade looked ahead, he got his answer. He'd heard of "wolves in sheep's clothing" but he never thought he'd see it literally. It really looked like a grey wolf literally wearing a sheep's white wool on its body, except for its legs and head.
"End of the l-i-i-i-ne for you!" the sheep/wolf said with a mechanical filter in its voice. "Wait, what?! When did Animo start making mutants with enough sentience to talk?" Upgrade thought to himself.
"Men! Looks like Dr. Animo found out about the A.R.C. on his own! Defend it and make sure it doesn't get damaged. There won't be a A.R.C. Project Mark III!" Lt. Steel ordered. The response was immediate: several men emerged from the sides of two of the vans and began firing bazookas and machine gunfire at the mutant sheep. However, that soon changed when another two mutants appeared. One looked like a hybrid between a horse and a gorilla, and after banging his chest a couple of times, charged into one of the SECT vehicles and lifted it, and like a baby, he shook out the SECT operatives, and then proceeded to punch the guns out of their hands. His partner, a giant pig mutant with another pig replacing his right hand, similarly attacked, but he seemed much more focused on the A.R.C. Project. The pig hand began to try and tear open the door of the van, ready to try and take the samples out. However, he didn't get much of a chance as Rook and Julie exited the Proto-Truk. Turning his proto-tool into an energy sword, Rook charged at the big mutant, but soon ended up getting attacked with a crimson energy wave, knocking him to the side.
"DIRECT HIT FROM MEGATAUR! OH YEAH!" A voice with the subtlety of a brick called out. Turning his gaze towards his target, Rook found yet another mutant, this one obviously being a bull. Black fur covered his skin, but over that was a red and white toga, and he was equipped with a steel axe with a series of red LEDs on the axehead. All of the mutants were quite big: the wolf/sheep was the size of one of the SECT's vehicles, and the others were bulky and as tall as two healthy adult humans.
"Identify yourselves! Who are you?" Lt. Steel ordered. Internally, Upgrade rolled his eye. Did he really think that made him seem more powerful.
"Ah. I suppose it's quite rude not to introduce ourselves to one another. I am Napoleon, and the leader of this squad of fine farm animals," the pig mutant said, talking from the pig hand. Guess that gave a new meaning to the phrase "talk to the hand".
"Fine farm animals," the more normal head parroted.
"Name's Bruiser, and right now, you're cruising for a bruising if you try and stop us," the horse/gorilla hybrid introduced himself.
"I'm Wolfen Sheep, and you'll be having ba-a-a-a-d time if you don't let us get the A-a-a-a-a-rc project," the wolf/sheep hybrid bleated.
"AND I'VE ALREADY INTRODUCED MYSELF, BUT I'LL DO IT AGAIN! I! AM! MEGATAUR! MOOOOOOOOOO!" Megataur bellowed, snorting out of his nose. Upgrade sweatdropped, thinking to himself, "That's a lot more volume than we usually get out of Animo's mutants,".
"Dr. Linnaeus, you go on ahead, we can cover for you," Upgrade called out.
"Okay! If you say so." Putting the pedal to the metal, the biologist quick sped away from the scene of the fight and nearly ran over Wolfen Sheep (who quickly dodged to the side), and while the back door of the van had been damaged, it was able to hold until he could make it to the facility.
"No! Megataur, don't let that van escape!" Napoleon's hand head ordered.
"No escape!" the big head parroted dumbly. Nodding his head, the massive mutant bull readied to follow it, but the Upgraded van quickly drove in front, with the minigun pointing directly at him.
"Not! The only you're getting the ARC is through us!" Upgrade declared.
"OH YEAH! I like that!" Megataur accepted the challenge. In the meantime, the other three mutants soon found themselves facing SECT, Rook and Julie. Wolfen Sheep, his canine side taking over seeing Rook's feline appearance, targeted the Revonnahgander and leapt towards him. Thinking quickly, Rook turned his Proto-Tool into a shield, preventing sharp claws from raking across his chest. It worked, but Wolfen Sheep did something completely unexpected: he stood up on his hind legs and then began to extend his neck. It rose into the air before snaking down in an attempt to bite him from above.
"You'll regre-e-e-et this!" Wolfen Sheep claimed as he tried to bite Rook.
"No. I will not," He remarked coldly, turning his proto-tool into a taser. Releasing a small electric shock into the mutants mouth, it caused the mutant to first scream in agony, and once it stopped, he whimpered as he tried to ignore the pain, turning into a much smaller form, where his head, apart from his snout, seemed to hide within his wool. "You will, though."
Meanwhile, SECT focused their attention on Napoleon, and Julie decided to try and take down Bruiser. The horse/gorilla hybrid snorted as he readied to charge at the tennis star. Unleashing a swarm of missiles, Julie hoped to distract him and then blindside him. The missiles whistled through the air as they flew at Bruiser, but despite this, he still had enough agility to dodge the projectiles fairly easily. It was a particularly gruelling run, and Julie was sure he wouldn't be ready for an attack from the side. As he ran through the onslaught, Julie leapt out of the way, and readied herself for her ambush strategy. However, the way Bruiser dodged the missiles caused him to actually end up shoulder tackling her into the ground, but Julie quickly adapted and had Ship charge her fist with plasma, socking him in the jaw, causing him to wince in pain.
"Lucky shot! Won't happen again!" Bruiser muttered, charging at her, and raising his fists into the air, slammed them down to create a powerful shockwave, sending asphalt flying into the air. Julie thankfully managed to dodge the flying asphalt projectiles, but the kicked up dust gave enough time for Bruiser to tackle her into the ground.
Napoleon was undergoing the . The energy bullets from SECT's weaponry didn't badly injure him, but it was like mosquitoes were biting him over and over agin. "STOP THAT, YOU EVOLUTIONARY INFERIORS!" he squealed out, unconsciously adding in an "OINK!". Taking his left hand, he ripped open one of the vehicle roofs like the lid of a can of sardines, and pulled out one of the SECT soldiers, only for the to pull out a tazer and zap him, but that did nothing but tickle the mutant pig, and Napoleon tossed the SECT operative behind the vehicle.
As those three mutants fought their respective allies, Megataur engaged in battle with the Upgraded van and Lucario. The soldiers fired bazookas at the mutant bull, as the driver mounted the minigun on the roof. Lucario had exited earlier and began to engage the larger mutant in hand to hand combat. However, something odd began to happen: each time he would land a hit on Megataur's axe, the red lights would light up a little more.
"I see an animal like you is interested in shiny lights!" Megataur stated with a smug sneer, causing Lucario to growl in anger. "This axe uses special energy absorption tech that our master stole from Fisttrick, and the fist of it is that the more you hit it, the more it can do! Watch!" With that, a crimson wave of energy, identical to what hit Rook earlier, came out of the axe. Lucario managed to dodge it, but when it hit the road, it left a deep gash, leaving Lucario feeling happy that he avoided a nasty gash or worse. Still, that meant he'd have to keep dodging attacks and target the wielder instead of the weapon. Not usual fighting strategy, but it was either adapt or lose. Upgrade decided to help out as well, letting his blobby head emerge out of the armored vehicle, firing a laser at Megataur that hit him in the shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Watch yourself! We have range on our side!" Upgrade boasted. Hearing this, the soldiers began to unleash more attacks on him. Energy cannon fire flew towards him, and the minigun unleash a hail of bullets. Putting an axe in the line of fire is usually a good way to get it wrecked, but Megataur's axe's absorption properties made it a valid combat option. More and more energy came into the axe, and soon, Megataur slammed it into the ground, releasing a powerful shockwave that sent the armored vehicle flying up. "WHOA!" While the soldiers were about to fall, Upgrade created wires that grabbed onto their legs to keep them from flying off.
"Phew! Thanks for the save, Ben!" One of the soldiers thanked.
"No problem! Lucario, you got any ideas?" Upgrade said. Mulling it over, Lucario had an idea.
"One. His axe is the main source of power. Why not try to overload it and see if we can make it short circuit?" Lucario suggested.
"It's better than nothing, anyway," Upgrade agreed. Firing more eye beams at the axe, he directed the soldiers to do the same, and energy bullets pitter-pattered like against Megataur's weapon. Lucario also pitched in, charging up dark energy and using Dark Pulse. Now the axe was practically coated in crimson light, and seeing this, Megataur spun around, releasing a circular wave of energy that Lucario was able to dodge while Upgrade was able to project a forcefield around the vehicle.
"See? It appears that while the axe can absorb energy, there is a limit to it, and he must keep unleashing energy attacks to make sure it does not overflow!" Lucario noted. Seeing the logic in this, Upgrade and his three passengers continued their assault. "Keep going! I'll make it harder for him to carry it!" Lucario ordered.
"Understood!" Upgrade responded. Seeing that Ben and his passengers were on board with his idea, Lucario decided to play the role of diversion. Every now and again, he would slam Megataur from behind, where his axe was not protecting. Each time the sluggish axe swing would come, he would simply use Double Team and avoid the attack. Every now and again, he would unleash an Aura Sphere into the axe, and between his constant punches and kicks, as well as the fire from Upgrade and his passengers, it was difficult for Megataur to find an opportunity to unleash an energy attack. However, Wolfen Sheep saw this, and his head soon poked out bearing a horrified expression.
"St-o-o-o-p it!" he bleated. "You'll overload the axe!"
"Yes. I believe that is the idea. Overload it until it short circuits," Rook stated.
"No-o-o-o-o! If that happens, it won't short circuit, it'll blow up!" Wolfen Sheep revealed. With that, Julie and Rook's eyes widened, as did the mutants. However, the memo didn't reach Ben and Lucario, because they continued to try and overload it. Megataur knew an explosion would be imminent so he tried to unleash more energy attacks. Unfortunately, Ben unleashed a powerful slew of laser fire, and Lucario hurled a larger Aura Sphere into the axe. At first, it simply seemed to spark and short circuit as they thought. However, beams of light soon began to form out of cracks across the weapon, and every mutants eyes opened up in shock.
"Uh oh," Bruiser plainly replied.
"ALPHAS, RETREAT!" Napoleon's hand head ordered.
"Retreat!" the other head parrotted. The four mutants ran away, with Megataur dropping the axe.
"What? What's going on?" Upgrade questioned.
"BEN! THE AXE! IT IS GOING TO EXPLODE!" Rook shouted. That caused Lucario's and Upgrade's eyes to open wide. Lucario quickly gathered his bearings.
"If that's the case..." Lucario mused. "Ben! Can you wrap around the axe and try to contain the explosion?"
"I can try, but I'll need help. And for their sake, tell SECT and Lt. Steel that they have to get out!" Upgrade stated. Detaching from the armored vehicle (not before repairing it), he spilled off and slithered to Megataur's weapon. Morphing into a protective dome, he tried to seal in as much of the explosive force as he could. In the meanwhile, Rook and Julie let SECT and Lt. Steel on what Ben was doing, and feeling that Ben would be able to handle it, the operatives quickly drove off in the direction Dr. Linnaeus did.
The task proved far more difficulty, as Ben constantly had to juggle making himself elastic enough to not let out rips, but also making it so that he didn't just go flying all over the place. "GUYS! Need some help here!" he pleaded. Three holes began to form across his body, and he couldn't muster enough concentration or effort to try and close them up. It was like trying to juggle while riding a unicycle on a burning trampoline over a pit of spikes while being quizzed on calculus at the same time; it induced a lot of physical and mental strain, and there would be painful consequences for failure. Julie took care of a hole on Ben's left side, using the strength granted to her by Ship to seal it up. Rook handled a hole that was more on Ben's backside, creating an energy thread to sew Ben together again. Finally, another hole appeared more on the upper right of Upgrade, and Lucario jumped up to try and pull it together with all his might. It was a good effort, but it didn't really work out too well. The axe detonated, releasing crimson energy across the freeway. Upgrade was sent flying into the air with the force of the explosion, tearing off part of his bottom half in the process, while Rook and Julie were blasted backwards. Lucario had a mix of Ben and Julie's flight paths, being sent in an upwards arc to Ben's right. Of course, none of them knew each others flight paths, but Upgrade did get a brief glimpse of Lucario's flight before the light entirely blinded him. Falling to the ground, he splattered like a birthday cake. Disoriented, he gathered all his parts together, and when he was finally complete, he detransformed back into Ben, falling into unconsciousness soon after.
Oh boy. Master Animo wouldn't be happy to know that they'd failed to get the A.R.C.. However, Megataur soon realized something was coming, and it landed in his arms. The new guy alongside Ben, unconscious! They knew of Rook, Julie, and all of Ben's various transformations, but never this guy. A light bulb lit within his head, and he came up with an idea.
"No! Master will be so upset with us. We let Ben Tennyson and his allies get the better of us!" Napoleon's hand head cried in terror, covering his eyes with his trotters.
"Upset with us!" Napoleon's other head repeated, covering his eyes with his normal left hand.
"You mean he'll be upset with you. I ain't tellin' him that we failed. It was your incompetent leadership that got us in trouble," Bruiser said, shifting the blame to his leader.
"Indeed. It's ultimately your fault we got nothing from this missions," Wolfen Sheep agreed.
"Not exactly. Look what I got!" Megataur interjected, holding the unconscious body of Lucario with him.
"Is that-? Megataur, you are an actual genius! Master Animo's always wanted alien DNA, and you hit the jackpot," Bruiser realized, looking at the Aura Pokémon, a smile on his face.
"YES! Not to mention Ben will most likely be trying to save him, so we could potentially ambush him there, and get all the alien DNA Dr. Animo wants! We can kill two birds with a single stone!" Napoleon's hand head cheered.
"Single Stone!" Napoleon's other head repeated.
"That's what I was thinking. Napoleon, shall we head back to our master's hideout?" Megatuar asked.
"Yes, we shall," Napoleon's hand head answered. The quartet and their prisoner began to head towards their base of operations.
The explosion had left everyone rattled and unconscious. While SECT had quickly left Ben and the others after Megataur's explosion due to Lucario's risky order for them to leave them there, Ben, Rook, Julie, and Ship lay in a heap across the highway.
Soon enough, everyone began to awaken. Ben was the first to do. Having been detransformed for about 5 minutes, there was time enough for the Omnitrix to recover.
"Oh...my head," Looking around him, he saw Julie and Rook in a heap, Ship having managed to take the brunt of the explosion and protection of his owner. Rook was similar dazed, but his Proto-Tech Armor took the brunt of it, ending up very badly singed. Seeing his friend and girlfriend safe, Ben had some worries assauged That was when he noticed something. "Guys? Where's Lucario?"
"I..I do not know. The last thing I remember was being caught in the explosion of Megataur's axe. I think everyone except for us managed to escape, however, but everything is a bit hazy for me," Rook admitted.
Ben sighed in relifef. Even if he didn't particularly like SECT, that didn't mean he wished ill on them. However, that also meant that Dr. Animo's mutants were also on the loose. His memory slowly awakening, he remembered two things: first, the mutants came from the woods, and second, Lucario had been launched INTO the woods. The two points clicking together shocked Ben.
"OH NO! I just realized that Lucario got launched into the woods, and that is where the mutants came from!" Ben said in a shocked voice.
"And if that's the case, Dr. Animo will probably not care about the ARC Project. Lucario's DNA is completely unknown, so that would be an absolute jackpot for him!" Julie continued. "We need to find him!"
"How? We know the general location, but those woods aren't exactly small! We could be searching their for the rest of the day and still not find him!" Ben complained.
"Not exactly. I did manage to save this!" Rook told Ben. Pulling something out of the pocket on his right forearm, Rook revealed a piece of Wolfen Sheep's wool. "Perhaps use this to track them down, Ben,"
Seeing this, Ben silently activated the Omnitrix and dialed for Wildmutt. Emerald light flash as a Vulpimancer stood where a human once was. Getting of Wolfen Sheep's scent, Wildmutt took several leaps, leaving Julie and Rook in his dust, though the two quickly began to try and catch up.
After a long smell trek, they managed to reach their destination. A simple hut within the woods, but the opening inside was definitely big enough for Animo's mutants to exit and enter with ease.
"Well. Give him credit. I don't think we would've thought he'd lay low long enough so far away," Julie said in an attempt to lighten the mood. A growl from Wildmutt made it clear that he wasn't in a joking mood, though. Rook blasted down the door, but they didn't find much that indicated where there could be an opening. Growling angrily, Wildmutt made a reckless decision, and slammed the Omnitrix symbol on his collar. In place of Wildmutt was what could be best described as a yellow, robotic armadillo. His head resembled that of a Greek Corinthian helmet, with grey ears on top of it. His tail, hands, and feet were grey, while his upper arms and legs were black. His forearms had jackhammer parts on them, and the Omnitrix Symbol lay on his chest.
"ARMODRILLO!" the new alien cried out in a deep voice.
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Codon Stream Entry: Armodrillo
Species: Talpaedan
Home World: Terraexcava
Hailing from the Andromeda Galaxy, the Talapeadan home world is a very mountainous and hilly world, covered with deserts and prone to dust storms. As such, its inhabitants were forced to work on underground life, and altering their skin to be more of a substance similar to metal. With their jackhammer like arms, they can tunnel through the ground, create earthquakes, generate fissures, and unleash shockwaves through the ground or the air. This also gives them the ability to sense vibrations through a surface by planting their arms into said surface, essentially giving them a form of ground-based radar. Their hands can also turn into drills, and they have remarkable strength and durability.
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"BEN?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rook asked in total shock. "What are you doing?"
"Animo's definitely put his lab underground, so we have no time to waste, he could be giving his Alphas Lucario's DNA by now!" Armodrillo responded. Planting his arms into the ground, Armodrillo sent out small vibrations, trying to see how exactly the design was. he soon found a small rectangular opening in the ground beneath him, big enough for all the mutants to leap down. Releasing a small vibration, he ended up causing a clock on the side to fall off the wall. As it crashed to the ground, the opening revealed itself. "Figured."
As Rook went to examine the "clock", he shared his results. "It is a solid light generator. Not detectable by vibrational technology, so that is probably how you figured the opening was there."
"Ok then. Let's not keep the good doctor waiting," Armodrillo answered. Jumping into the hole, the three ended up falling into a mud pit alongside numerous metal columns to keep the house from falling down and exposing the lab. Everyone's eyes turned to a large metal door.
Dr. Animo was quite happy with his minions! Yes, they failed to get the ARC Project, but the idea of getting entirely new DNA and luring Ben into a trap would be just as good! Two successes would more than make up for one single failure. Taking a syringe to extract Lucario's blood, he saw the weakened creature reflexively wince in pain, and after gathering a good amount of blood, he decided to try and extract the DNA. He'd need pure DNA if he wanted this to work, and that would take a while.
"When my Alphas told me that they failed to get the ARC Project, you know, I was furious, but that was until Napoleon told me that Megataur had something to replace that! You! I've never seen a creature like you before, so this quite the turn of events. And when Napoleon suggested that I use you as bait, things were so much better for me!" Dr. Animo said as he laughed without sanity.
As Lucario felt a pinprick sensation on his arm, he noted that he had been cuffed to the wall of a rather clean facility. His vision was blurry from all the weakness due to the explosion and his blood being drained. He could still make out maniacal laughter, and realized what happened. His strategy had backfired badly. He thought that Megatuar's axe would simply short circuit, not explode like that. Upgrade and Ship managed to contain the explosion, but he'd been sent flying like a boulder tossed by a Machamp. Everything else was a blur, but the smell of singed fur danced across his nostrils. It hurt to move, and Lucario berated himself for being so foolish. He simply hoped that Ben would be coming soon.
"Knock Knock! Is the doctor in?" A burly voice asked. The banging of metal rung out, and it was not unlike a battering ram. After a couple of bangs, the door broke down, and much to Lucario's relief, the yellow creature who came in had the Omnitrix symbol, and he was accompanied by Rook and Julie.
"NO! You will not take this creature's DNA away from me!" Dr. Animo shouted.
"I didn't even tell you that I was taking Lucario back! Guess we know each other well enough that we can predict what the other says!" Ben stated. "Still, I am gonna be taking Lucario back. He's not your lab rat, he's my friend!"
"So that's his name. Lucario. How exotic! That means he's a rare specimen, and a once in a lifetime opportunity. All you've done is make me want to fight even harder to keep him!" Dr. Animo replied with a demented grin. Lucario felt sick being treated like an object, but he could barely keep himself conscious. That was when he noticed something. Water vapor. Every present around him, and capable of washing away weariness and cooling painful burns. If only he could move to get it.
"We know how your mutants fight. They will go down," Rook plainly stated the facts.
"Perhaps. But plans never survive first contact with the enemy. ALPHAS, ATTACK!" Dr. Animo ordered. In a second, Napoleon, Bruiser, Wolfen Sheep, and Megataur appeared at Dr. Animo's side. The hand head of Napoleon gave a "come at me" gesture with his little trotter, Bruiser beat his chest as a gorilla would, Megataur snorted and cracked his knuckles, and Wolfen Sheep simply growled as he revealed his wolf head.
Deciding to exchange opponents, Julie charged at Wolfen Sheep, figuring that her greater strength might be better, while Rook figured Bruiser would be less agile. Armodrillo readied himself for a massive duel against both Napoleon and Megataur. Would it be easy? No! Were good things ever easy? No! Besides, he'd definitely fought against worse than an oversized piece of beef jerky and a plus-sized pork chop. Deciding to make the first move, he decided to knock them off their feet, doing so by slamming one of his jackhammer arms into the ground. Powerful vibrations rocked the earth, and left everyone off balance.
"Ben, be careful. We do not want the facility to fall down on us!" Rook warned. He noticed small stones falling from the top. It was easier for someone lighter like him to regain his balance, but someone with smaller legs like Bruiser had a harder time readjusting. Seeing this, Rook seized an opportunity, and activated his Proto-Tool's auto-turret function, attaching it to his left shoulder blade. Small orange bullets kept getting fired from the Proto-Tool, freeing Rook's hands and letting him engage in hand-to-hand combat freely. He had no doubt Bruiser was strong. But his fighting was far more animalistic, based on brute strength instead of technique.
Indeed, more like a bull than a horse, Bruiser charged directly towards him, and Rook, at the last second dodged the attack, continuing to pelt him with bullets from the Proto-Tool. Soon, it seemed that Bruiser decided to forego speaking in place of rage, roaring like the animal he actually was. He began to simply swing his arms around, and while they would probably hurt like being hit with a tree trunk, it wouldn't mean anything if Rook wasn't actually hit by the attack. Raising his arms up, Bruiser tried to swing at him from above, but Rook managed to dodge the attack, thankful that he did due to the rather large crater left in place. Had that been his skull, he would probably end up on an obituary. Seizing an opportunity, Rook disable the auto-turret function and switched it back to a taser. Leaping behind the horse/gorilla hybrid, he quickly managed to zap the mutant in the back of the neck, near the spinal cord. The result was as expected: jolts of electricity ran through Bruiser's body and it soon became too much for him to bear, falling unconscious after a few seconds.
"Not Bruiser! I'll make your friend pay for that by beating you!" Wolfen Sheep growled, his vicious wolf side taking over. Extending his neck once again, he made an attempt to bite, but Julie managed to dodge to the side. Running towards her, he then tried to slice her up with her claws, and while he wasn't big, his speed made him quite the threat, as Julie rarely had time to breathe. Then, Wolfen Sheep managed to get lucky, and inflicted a nasty gash on Julie's chest, or rather, on Ship.
"SHIIIIIP!" the Galvanic Mechamorph cried out in pain. Angry at her pet getting injured, Julie decided to get some distance so he could recover. Firing yet another missile onslaught, she quickly leapt backwards. As the wolf/sheep hybrid dodged the attacks, Ship managed to seal up his wound; it still stung, but at least irritants couldn't make it sting any more than it did. The diversion had worked, but Wolfen Sheep howled and decided to attack from above yet again. Extending his neck to great lengths, it shot up and crashed down, trying to bite off her head. Shockingly, it worked, but Ship did managed to keep her head armored enough so that only the helmet popped off. However, she knew she wouldn't be lucky the second time. Retracting back, Wolfen Sheep readied to extend his neck again, but this time, Julie trapped his jaws in her grip, and spun him around and around. Disoriented, his body soon began to contract involuntarily, and soon enough, Julie was able to send him flying into a wall, and knock him unconscious.
"Look at that, you two! Do you really think you can stop me?" Armodrillo boasted, seeing what his friends had been able to do.
"That doesn't matter! We will not let you incarcerate our master again. We'll fight with all our might!" Napoleon's hand head retorted.
"FIGHT!" his other head repeated.
"Alright, but remember. You and Megataur asked for this beatdown!" Armodrillo stated. The first one to charge was Megataur, who proceeded to bullrush him. His horns could provide quite the pain if they hit, so Ben tried to grab him by them so he could at least try and halt his momentum. It was difficult, and Megataur quickly let his head fall, but then he suddenly jerked his head up, sending Armodillo flying into the roof. Screaming as he ascended, Armodrillo landed on the ceiling with a nasty crash before falling down in a heap. Quickly managing to recover, he forced himself up, readying for Round 2. This soon became more of a regular brawl, as Megataur charged straight ahead, fists raised. Swinging a haymaker at Armodrillo, Megataur only ended up missing and punching the wall, getting his fist stuck inside it. Armodrillo seized the opportunity to punch him in the gut, and then the face, leaving the bull mutant wincing in pain. However, that only angered him further, as Megataur began to unleash a flurry of punches into Armodrillo's gut, and that was when Ben felt lucky that Armodrillo was more armored than most of his other forms.
"I'm gonna beat you into a pulp! You're gonna pay for destroying my weapon!" Megataur raged, practically frothing.
"Hey! Don't blame me! I only wanted to short circuit it, not destroy it! Your master just gave you faulty tech!" Armodrillo retorted, grabbing him with both arms. This stopped the bull mutant's onslaught of punches, and Ben decided to disorient him further. Pumping his pistons rapidly, he let vibrations rumble within Megataur's body. For an idea of what Megataur was going through, imagine being thrown into one of those carnival rotor machines at very high speed. Needless to see, it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience for him, and after Armodrillo let go, he was dazed and, more importantly, vulnerable. Readying his right arm's jackhammer, he uppercutted the bull mutant, sending him flying into the ceiling and lodging him into the hill above. Gravity soon overtook him, and he collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.
Turning to Napoleon, Armodrillo noted that the mutant pig was clearly very angry, and the words out of his mouth confirmed this.
"WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU, BEN TENNYSON, THERE WON'T BE ENOUGH LEFT OF YOU TO BE BURIED" Napoleon squealed as he ran to Armodrillo. Having been the strongest out of all of them, he quickly tackled Ben, and pinned the Talpaedan down, keeping most of his weight on Ben's chest, and having his head hand hold down Ben's right arm, while putting a foot on the other upper limb.
"WEAK! WEAK! WEAK! WEAK!" The main head said, talking on its own for the first time. Every time it shouted "weak", it punched Armodrillo in the face. Normally, that wouldn't be too bad, but Napoleon's weight was crushing his lungs, and he'd been weakened by his battle with Megataur.
"Yeah. I'm weak," Armodrillo admitted. "You're definitely stronger than me, especially with how badly your friend weakened me," The hand-head smirked at this.
"So you admit that you are inferior to me, the leader of the Alphas?" Napoleon asked in a haughty tone.
"Yeah, I am," Armodrillo answered.
"But WE are not!" Rook declared, turning his Proto-Tool back into a taser and zapping the mutant pig, who proceeded to squeal in pain. Julie followed this up by unleashing a flurry of energy bullets at him. Finally, Armodrillo, his hands free thanks to Napoleon lifting his leg and his hand head letting go, grasped Napoleon's paunch, and activated his jackhammers. Between the vibrations, the electricity, and plasma running through him, Napoleon was overwhelmed, and he soon collapsed on top of Armodrillo, finally knocked out.
"NO! MY ALPHAS!" Dr. Animo cried out after Napoleon was thrown off Armodrillo. Without much in terms of arsenal on hand, it was easy for Armodrillo to grab him in his arms with a bear hug, let his jackhammers activate for a few minutes, and then drop him, knocking the mad scientist unconscious.
Having defeated Dr. Animo, it was time to free Lucario. Ripping off the restraints holding his friend to the wall, Armodrillo freed his friend, who landed on the ground in a coughing fit. Before Armodrillo could transform into Clockwork to heal Lucario, though, something interesting happened. Tiny blue lights popped in and out of existence, like minuscule fireflies. They soon began to morph together into a giant clump of glowing water, and Lucario began to concentrate it into his palms. As he began to rest his paws on his stomach, a soothing sensation overtook him, like he had run a marathon and was being handed a massive jug of nice, cool water. The mystic water began to flow into his wounds, and he felt them closing up and energy returning to him. Seeing his friend recovering, Ben transformed back to human form and let the injured Pokémon lie on his shoulder as Julie carried them all up to the surface.
As Animo was hauled away by Plumber agents, as were his mutants, Lucario went to Ben, as Julie and Rook were explaining what had happened to the Plumber agents handling the arrest. "Ben. I apologize for being so foolish. I should have thought that the components in Megataur's axe were more fragile. I deeply apologize for my foolish actions."
Ben waved his hands, showing he didn't particularly care that much. "Hey, you didn't know that, and I've fought a few villains where they were vulnerable to ending up getting overloaded," He assured Lucario. "Malware definitely comes to mind with that," Ben thought to himself. "I think it's just best that we let it go and get some rest back home, don't you think?"
"Yes. Some rest would be nice," Lucario agreed. At this point, he was just relieved to know that his power wouldn't be used by evildoers any time soon.
Voice Cast:
Lucario - Sean Schemmel
Gordon - Tony Goldwyn
Sandra Tennyson - Beth Littleford
Ben Tennyson - Yuri Lowenthal
Carl Tennyson - Don McManus
Will Harangue - John DiMaggio
Billy Linnaeus - Bill Fagerbakke
Lieutenant Steel - Michael Gough
SECT Soldier Communication Operative - Dee Bradley Baker
Max Tennyson - Paul Eiding
Rook Blonko - Bumper Robinson
Julie Yamamoto - Vyvan Pham
Big Chill - Dee Bradley Baker
SECT Soldier #1 - David Kaye
SECT Soldier #2 - Michael Gough
Clockwork - Dee Bradley Baker
Dr. Animo - Dwight Schultz
Napoleon (Hand) - Patrick Seitz
Napoleon (Head) - Fred Tatascoire
Bruiser - David Kaye
Wolfen Sheep - Jeff Bennett
Megataur - Trevor Devall
Upgrade - Yuri Lowenthal
Wildmutt - Dee Bradley Baker
Armodrillo - Dee Bradley Baker
Ship - Vyvan Pham
Author's Note:
Well, here's the next chapter. Like I promised, a more classic villain than what we've been dealing with before. Also, I want to bring attention to yesterday. July 16, 2020. 15 years since the American release of Lucario: Mystery of Mew. I felt this would be a good way to celebrate its anniversary, even if it is a day late, especially since this is my biggest chapter to date. Just a couple of things I want to note. Lucario's new move that he learned in this chapter is Life Dew, which came from the eighth generation. Yes. Will Harangue is human in this story, since in this continuity, his dealings with the Forever Knights have been hidden, and in case I did not mention this before, the Forever Knight appearance in Omniverse are not canon to this story. Thus, Will Harangue didn't turn into an alien. Also, yes. Animo's minions in this chapter were the Alphas from Animo Farm. The only exception, as you can tell, is the replacement of Madcow with Megataur, who is essentially the evil, stronger version of Minitaur. As for designs, Clockwork essentially has the main body of the UA version and the key of the Omniverse design, and Upgrade and Armodrillo retain their UA designs.
Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to favorite, follow, and review.
Next Time: Uncouth Youth
Jealous of Ben and his popularity, Billy Billions manages to bring the Vengers back together again. While Ben foresees an easy victory against the ragatag wannabe heroes, the bratty billionaire bad guy deages Ben and Lucario into younger forms, devolving Lucario into Riolu. Worse, he uses the remains of the Stalker to form a mecha that adapts to Ben's transformations. Will a younger Ben and Riolu stop the gang from taking over Bellwood and then the world?
