NOTE: It's Fusion day! Dr. Animo is back to cause some mutant mayhem. How will Yukiko and Tennysons stop this meddlesome scientist? Find out this time on Priestess 10!
Anyway, I'm glad that you've all been enjoying the chapters lately and hopefully this one gets the same reactions from y'all.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 34: Dr. Animo and the Mutant Persona
"Oh! Looks like we beat the crowd!" Max happily informed his family. The ex-plumber stepped out of the Rustbucket to welcome the creepy fog of the swamp.
Gwen and Yukiko joined him outside. "Yeah? You sure we're in the right place, Grandpa?" Gwen asked.
"Looks really lackluster," Yukiko said. For a place that was supposed to have an entire festival dedicated to alligators, you'd think they would've set up earlier.
"Tomorrow this place will be crawling with Gator Fest fans," Max tried to ease their worry. He stepped away to get a better look of the swamp.
Gwen took a foot off the RV and found herself stepping in muddy water. "Ew!"
Yukiko flinched in disgust, wishing she had a pair of boots to wear. Following Gwen, the two found Ben sitting on the front bumper of the Rustbucket. The boy had a screwdriver in hand and was using it to mess with the watch's faceplate.
A sight that placed immediate worry in Yukiko's stomach. "Ben, what are you doing?"
He didn't bother to look up at them, still trying to shove the screwdriver into the watch. "After getting Wildvine I started to wonder how many more aliens are inside the watch. I just have to figure out how it works."
"You shouldn't mess around with that thing, Ben. You're just asking for trouble," Gwen warned.
If it wasn't obvious before, Ben didn't exactly like being told what to do. "Will you chill out? I know what I'm doing." He continued messing with it.
"No, that would require you to actually think," Yukiko's words made him growl at them.
Max joined his grandkids after overhearing their conversation. "Your cousins are right, Ben. I want you to promise me you'll take it easy on the Omnitrix."
Ben seemed to have relented, something that neither Yukiko nor Gwen believed for a second. "Alright, Grandpa."
"Now don't stay up too late. Tomorrow's a big day," Max informed him before retreating to the Rustbucket to sleep. Gwen gave one final stare as a warning before following her grandfather.
Yukiko stood in place, staring down at the nervous 10-year-old.
"Uh, Yukiko?"
"Since you obviously lied to Grandpa. I know you won't break my promise." She knelt down to his level. "Promise me you won't do something stupid with the watch. Anytime something weird happens to it you almost get hurt. So, please just don't."
Ben knew the incidents she was referring to and he understood why his family was concerned about the watch being tampered with. However, his own curiosity and desire for more forms was outweighing his common sense. "Alright. I promise I won't break it." Ben held one hand behind his back, crossing his fingers.
"Thank you," She hugged him. The heiress soon retreated into the RV to prepare herself for bed.
Once he was sure that Yukiko was out of sight, Ben got right back to shoving the screwdriver into the faceplate. Technically, he wasn't breaking his promise if he was careful enough to not brea-
CHINK!
Ben's mind froze as he watched the faceplate fly across the ground. The metal plate crackled with green energy. He looked down at his wrist, watching as the watch was glitching from having its faceplate broken off. "Oh no…! AAHH!" Ben screamed as the swamp was enveloped in an explosion of emerald light.
Ben sat on his rear after the light died down, he examined his own body, and sighed in relief to know that he was still human. Both his watch and the faceplate were still glitching out. "Oh man…! I am so dead if the others see this!" Ben quickly picked up the faceplate. He was hoping that the others wouldn't have noticed the explosion.
"Ben?"
Obviously, he was being too optimistic for that to be true. Turning around, Ben saw his family approaching him and hid the broken faceplate behind his back.
"What was that!?" Yukiko asked, concerned.
Thinking quickly, Ben came up with the best response he could. "What was what?"
"What was that noise?" Max asked, suspicious.
"Uh…lightning?"
Max and Yukiko gazed up at the sky, wondering if it actually was lightning.
"There's not a cloud in the sky," Gwen didn't believe him.
"Uh…lightning got rid of them?"
"He's up to something, guys." Gwen inched closer to him.
Ben hissed at Gwen, annoyed that she was too smart to trick easily. "You're so paranoid! She's just trying to get me into trouble!"
Yukiko narrowed her eyes. "Ben, what's behind your back?"
He straightened up, trying to think of something. Ben reached into his back pocket, finding his way out. "Oh! I-It's something I wanted to show you!"
The heiress gasped. "Really!?"
"Y-yeah! Here!" Ben slid the faceplate into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of gum from the pack he had.
"Gum? But I don't even like this flavor," Yukiko frowned at Ben's 'gift'.
"Don't fall for his tricks, Yukiko! He's lying like always!" Gwen hissed.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
Max cut in between them. "Alright, you two that's enough! All of you back into the RV and get to bed." He and the girls re-entered the Rustbucket.
Ben sighed, not knowing how he was possibly going to fix this situation. All he could do was prepare himself for the physical and verbal punishment he would receive from Yukiko and Gwen.
Unknown to him, the spot that the faceplate had been sitting on previously left some residue DNA from the Omnitrix. Creating something new and grotesque.
Ben quietly snuck out of the Rustbucket as his family was preparing for the festival. Chewing on some bubble gum, Ben used it to stick the faceplate back onto the watch. "There! Good as new!"
"What's good as new?"
"AHH!" Ben flinched back as Gwen snuck up behind him. He quickly regained his composure. "I wish I could say your face, but it's the same old one."
"I think the Florida heat has fried your brain," Gwen scoffed.
Yukiko exited the Rustbucket, wearing a white sundress with a short sleeveless yellow vest over it. A sun straw hat over her head with a pair of sunglasses. "Phew, it's so hot out here…" The heiress fanned herself off.
Ben snorted. "Your main abilities are specializing in fire, and you can't take the heat?"
"I'm aware of the irony, yes," She huffed. The three walked around the Rustbucket, staring in shock at the large festival that seemed to have appeared overnight.
Festival games, snack booths, and merch stands were stationed all over the swamp grounds. Not to mention the large crowd of people that had appeared to celebrate the Gator Festival.
Max walked up behind them. "Heh, told ya. Let the Gator Fest begin!"
Yukiko was a bit excited; this was going to be her first festival over in the States. "Time to see how these compare to the ones back home." Yukiko and her cousins followed Max.
As they were exploring the festival grounds the Tennysons walked past a group of fishers. "Hey, Larry, look at these weird worms I found." The fisherman pulled out two worms that seemed to resemble Stinkfly.
"Woah," Larry gasped.
The family of four joined in on watching the gator egg hatching event. "You know I think you kids are gonna enjoy this, it is a rare event!" Max couldn't contain his excitement. Yukiko giggled, finding it funny.
"Like Ben changing his underwear?" Gwen jokes.
"Hey! I change it every few days," Ben huffed.
Yukiko lightly smacked him on the head. "Don't be proud of that."
The three gator eggs started to hatch, and three baby gators crawled out of the broken shells. Cries of amazement at the miracle of life came from the audience. Everyone watched as the three babies made their way to the swamp water.
Yukiko clapped along with the audience, happy to have seen something so beautiful. Made her think about what it would be like to have kids of her own.
"They are kinda cute," Gwen smiled.
However, something weird happened next. The three babies suddenly sprinted out of the water in fear and hid in the tall grass. "Uh? What are they running from? They're alligators," Ben asked.
"They're still babies, Ben. Something must've scared them." Yukiko felt bad for them.
Max scratched his chin. "It is odd though. What do you think made them do that?"
CROAK!
Gwen's eyes widened. "Uh…! I'll give you one guess and it goes ribbit!" She pointed at the large, mutated frog that hopped out of the swamp water. While everyone else ran in fear, the Tennysons stood in place, recognizing the mutated frog.
Ben gasped. "No way! I recognize that croaker! That's Dr. Animo's frog!"
"Dodge!" Yukiko cried out as the frog shot its tongue at them. Ben ducked out of the way as Yukiko, Gwen and Max ran in a different direction.
Ben groaned, glaring at the frog. "This is so not my idea of leapfrog." He didn't even notice the faceplate falling off of the watch. When Ben noticed a shadow looming over him, he turned around to see Dr. Animo himself standing over him. "Dr. Animo…"
The crazy doctor was now decked out in new gear. He had a metallic chest plate that held two cables that were attached to the large gauntlets on his arms.
"How did…?" Ben backed away.
Animo crept towards him, glaring at the boy. "I find you?" He finished Ben's question. "It wasn't difficult to track your alien exploits when you insist on helping people all the time!"
Ben gulped. "Who would've thought being a hero would come back to bite me?"
"You thought you were a big shot after stopping my mutated creations! But they were merely the beginning! I will not be denied my place in history-"
"AGI!"
"BUWAH!" Animo cried as the fireball knocked him away from Ben. The mad doctor growled, seeing the Tennyson family approaching.
"Get away from him, Animo!" Yukiko growled.
Animo spat into the dirt. "As if I could forget the meddlesome witch! Destroy them, my pet!" Animo commanded his frog. The creature whipped out its tongue, forcing Ben to roll out of the way.
"You're going back where you belong, Animo!" Max declared.
"NEVER!" Animo raised his gauntlet. Shooting a laser bolt at Max, which the ex-plumber managed to dodge.
"Grandpa!" The kids cried out.
Gwen whipped out her spell book, and Yukiko prepped her fan for battle. Ben activated the Omnitrix. "Alright, Dr. Freakamo! Party's over!" Though, he looked a bit nervous when the watch started sparking. Ben slapped down the dial, transforming into…
His family were VERY confused by what just happened to Ben. "Ben, you're…?"
"Stinkfly?" Gwen questioned.
"Four Arms?" Yukiko tilted her head.
"Stink Arms?" The girls figured out a name for it.
Ben didn't even know how to answer them, because he was just as confused. Ben had transformed into a fusion of both Stinkfly and Four Arms. The fusion had the body of Four Arms, but Stinkfly's eyes, wings, and tail. The Omnitrix symbol was placed on his face just as it would've been for Stinkfly. "Four Arms' and Stinkfly's bodies?"
Animo's frog attacked, not caring about the confusion in the air. Stink Arms jumped over the frog, landing near the broken faceplate. "Must be another new alien! Now I can fly and kick butt at the same time!"
"But, wouldn't he have the weight of Four Arms?" Yukiko mentioned.
"The wings would compensate enough for that, right?" Max assumed.
Stink Arms caught the frog in his arms, actually struggling to hold it back. "Y-you gained weight since the last time..! Or I'm not as strong as I used to be! AAAHHH!" Stink Arms was flattened by the mutant frog.
"BEN!"
"Agidyne!" Yukiko fired her spell.
"Emocha Objectia!" Gwen did the same as well. Their attacks moved simultaneously, combining together. The frog jumped out of the way, dodging the attack.
Stink Arms, however, wasn't as lucky. Their combined spell smashed right into him, sending the fusion flying towards the edge of the swamp. "OW!"
"SORRY!" The girls winced.
Animo's frog took advantage of the moment to tackle Stink Arms into the swampy water, where multiple alligators were drawn to their battle. Stink Arms attempted to fly away to avoid being bitten, but the wings could barely lift him off the ground.
Stink Arms made it back to dry land with the frog giving chase. Stink Arms grabbed one of the alligator props from a burger booth, using it as a bat. The fusion swung hard, sending the frog flying through the air. The frog went flying directly into Animo, who was knocked back rolling across the ground.
Animo groaned from the collision, noticing something glowing right next to him. He saw the broken faceplate of the Omnitrix. A tiny crab had touched it and got mutated in the process. Animo picked up the faceplate, smiling as if he just received a Christmas present. "Well, well. What do we have here?"
Stink Arms and the Tennysons rushed to continue the fight. Animo however, had no need to continue the battle and called his frog over. "Let's go!" Animo commanded, riding away on his mutant pet.
Stink Arms turned back to normal. "That's right! You better run!"
"So, Ben? Why did you turn into some freaky alien combo platter?" Gwen asked.
Seeing as there was no way lying was going to get him out of this situation, Ben just raised the watch up. The device was still glitching out due to his meddling. Saying that his family was shocked would be an understatement.
"What did you do to the watch!?" Gwen asked.
"It's no big deal! It goes right back on!" Ben tried to reassure them. He looked back to where he last saw the faceplate.
Only to not find it anywhere.
"W-where did it go? It was right here! I saw it right before Dr. Animo and froggy hopped out of…" That's when it hit him. "Uh oh…"
Max put a hand on his shoulder. "Ben, you need to tell us everything."
The boy slightly gulped from the serious stares on his family's faces. He should've known this was coming after breaking the watch. The boy came clean, confessing to breaking the watch even after promising both his grandpa and Yukiko that he wouldn't keep messing with it.
He really hated that disappointed look on their faces, especially Yukiko's.
The Tennysons had rented out a boat to chase after Dr. Animo and get the watch's faceplate back. With no clue as to where he could be hiding, they had been searching for hours, and were now searching the swamp in the dark of night.
"We've been searching for hours," Gwen complained.
"We have to keep looking. If the good doctor can figure out how to tap into the watch's alien DNA, who knows what could happen!" Max warned.
Gwen made a quick glance at Ben, which the boy did catch. "I saw that! Go ahead and say it! You know you want it!" Ben hissed.
"Say what?"
"You know! The big I told you so speech about messing around with the Omnitrix and how you were right all along and if I listened to you, we wouldn't be in the trouble that we're in right now!" Ben yelled.
Gwen's face didn't change. "I didn't say a word."
"Yeah, but you're thinking about it!" Ben huffed. "Yukiko, tell Gwen that… Oh. Right." His annoyance died down when he remembered that Yukiko was ignoring him. The heiress hadn't said a word to him since he finished explaining how he broke the watch.
She was currently doing what most teenagers would do and scrolling through her emails, not paying mind to Ben whatsoever.
Guilt swelled up in the place his annoyance once was. "I already said I was sorry! How many times do you want me to repeat it?"
She didn't even acknowledge that he just spoke to her.
"Give it up, doofus. You made her mad," Gwen smirked.
"I'm not mad, Gwen. Just disappointed," Yukiko spoke to her responsible cousin.
"HA! You just spoke!"
Yukiko's attention was still glued onto her phone. She lifted a hand to wave away some flies from her face.
The boy grumbled at being ignored once again. "Ugh! I rather you guys just do what you normally do, which is hit me or yell at me!" Ben turned to their grandfather. "Grandpa! Tell them to cut it out!"
A loud roar echoed through the swamp, cutting off their conversation. "I don't like the sound of that," Max said.
Suddenly, from the skies above a torrent of fire was unleashed upon the swampy water. A large bat that had been mutated to resemble Heatblast began to attack the Tennysons.
"Woah! It's Heatblast gone batty!" Ben exclaimed.
"Hold on!" Max ordered as he shifted the engine. Maneuvering the boat to avoid getting blasted by the Heatbat.
"Jeez, you think Animo has figured out the power of that piece of the watch?" Gwen asked sarcastically.
Ben glared at her. "That is definitely an 'I told you so'!"
Max continued steering the boat away from the Heatbat. Yukiko took out her fan, taking aim at their attackers. "Maragi!" The mini fireballs were unleashed upon the Heatbat. However, much to her displeasure all her fire did was make the Heatbat stronger. "Dammit! Should've figured that would happen."
"Then leave it to me! I'll take care of this hothead!" Ben activated the watch.
Yukiko didn't acknowledge that she heard him.
"Seriously!?" He groaned at her.
"Ben, I don't think going hero is a good idea," Max warned. "You don't know what you'll turn into."
Behind them, the constant rain of attacks was getting closer and closer to them. Until the bat was right on top of them. Gwen pushed her hands outwards. "Contego!" A blue shield appeared, blocking the fire blasts. Gwen grunted as more and more streams of fire were being rained down on the shield. "Not sure how long I can hold this!"
"Well, if I don't try then we're all gonna get barbecued: Cajun style!" Ben exclaimed. Another harsh blow against Gwen's shield, knocked Ben over. A green flash momentarily blinded everyone.
"Oh man!"
Everyone looked down to see Ben had transformed into a fusion of Gray Matter and Diamondhead. The newest fusion had the body of Diamondhead, but the height and eyes of Gray Matter. The Omnitrix symbol was on the middle of his chest. "Diamondhead and Gray Matter? I'm a razor-sharp hood ornament!"
"Snrk! Pffft!"
DiamondMatter gasped at Yukiko, who was struggling to contain her laughter. "HA! I got you to laugh!"
Her amusement died on a dime. She stared at him as if he was the lowest piece of dirt on Earth.
"Why are you looking at me like that!?"
SHATTER!
"KYA!" Gwen fell back as her shield broke against the constant fire. Yukiko caught the girl in her arms to keep her from falling off the boat.
"Gwen-Woah!" DiamondMatter was taken into the skies by the Heatbat. It then dropped him into the swamp water, the fusion swam back up to the surface.
"Ben, behind you!" Max called out.
DiamondMatter turned around to see an alligator clamp its mouth over him. He wasn't gone for long, since DiamondMatter stabbed it from the inside. Forcing it to spit him back out. He landed on a branch above the swamp.
"Ben!"
"Could this get any worse?" DiamondMatter asked. He saw the Heatbat, it crashed right into him, knocking him back onto the boat. "This is definitely karma…" He groaned.
The large Heatbat wasn't through with them. "Hold on!" Max angled the boat, slowing it down to splash water onto the Heatbat. Weakening the mutant, it flew away from the Tennysons to get its strength back.
"We'll find Animo if we follow that Heatbat!" Yukiko exclaimed.
"Follow that rip-off!" DiamondMatter yelled.
Max shook his head, seeing the large branches blocking their way. "Can't! Road's blocked!"
Yukiko and DiamondMatter took aim. "Maragi!" Her fireballs destroyed half of the branches, while DiamondMatter tore through the rest. The fusion grunted; his little body wasn't sturdy enough to fully take the force of the branches.
"Wish DiamondMatter was more of a tough guy!" He said before turning back to normal. The boy saw a large tree in their way. "Grandpa! Hard left!"
Max turned the boat before they could make the deadly crash into the tree. But they had momentarily lost sight of the Heatbat. "Where did he go?"
"Over there!" Gwen alerted them. She was pointing at the old observatory that the Heatbat descended into.
Max slowed the boat down as they approached. "Looks like an old observatory. "
"What's an observatory doing in the middle of a swamp?" Ben asked.
"Without the lights of the city, the stars are brighter and can be seen more clearly," Gwen explained.
"Oh, thanks, Ms. Know it all! I bet you're just dying to tell me that I screwed up!" Ben grumbled. He looked over, expecting Yukiko to intervene like she always did by swatting him in the head, but she wasn't paying him any mind. Only staring at the observatory.
Gwen giggled at Ben's grumblingly, scooting over to Yukiko. "This is the most fun I've had all summer," She whispered.
The heiress giggled quietly with her. "Nice. He deserves a good punishment."
The Tennysons entered the observatory to find a gigantic ray sitting inside of the building. "Animo's been busy," Max growled.
"What would he even use that for?" Yukiko questioned, worried.
"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know," Gwen shivered.
SPLASH!
The mutant frog jumped out of the water, surprising the Tennysons. The large mutant landed right on their boat, forcing them to jump away before they could get crushed. The four of them looked up, finding Animo sitting at his giant ray.
"You really should've not! It's not polite to sneak up on someone like this!" Animo grinned.
"And it's not polite to steal from others, Animo! Give me back my property!" Ben demanded.
"Oh yes, an interesting piece of technology. Its potential power is virtually unlimited! I will put its alien DNA to good use!" Animo denied Ben's demands.
"What do you mean 'good use'?" Max asked.
"With this telescope I'll be able to bounce my transmodulator signal off of a satellite. Which will blanket the planet with its power, creating a new more interesting world order!" Animo explained.
"You mad man!" Yukiko yelled.
"Tell me something I don't know already, girlie!" Animo laughed.
"Alright, science project is over, Dr. Quack!" Ben announced.
"Oh, but it's just beginning." Animo plugged his gauntlets into the machine. "And I think you should feel privileged to be the first human test subject!" Animo pointed the ray directly at Ben. The machine fired a beam of green energy at the 10-year-old.
"BEN!" Max shoved his grandson out of the way, taking the beam instead. His grandchildren watched horrified as Max was mutated into a disgusting green slug.
"NO!" Yukiko rushed over to Max, activating her Persona. "Mediarahan!" She used her strongest spell to try and fix her grandfather. Unfortunately, it had no effect on their mutated grandfather. "No…"
Ben shook in anger more so at himself than Animo. "If I had just listened to you guys in the first place about messing with the watch, none of this would've happened."
Gwen punched his shoulder. "Forget about that! Mopping about the past isn't going to save Grandpa!"
Yukiko wiped away her tears, turning back to her cousins. "She's right, Ben. Right now, we need a plan to deal with Animo."
Behind them, Animo was cackling with joy. "A successful experiment indeed. But as a scientist, I must be sure!" He readied up to fire again.
Ben activated the watch, worrying his cousins. "You're going alien again?" Gwen asked.
"If I don't then that increases our chances of getting turned into that," Ben pointed at Max. "And besides, wasn't it Yukiko who said that sometimes we have to take risks?"
Yukiko smirked, at least something was sticking in that hardhead of his. She and her cousins perked up at the sounds of the ray activating again.
Ben rolled out of the way of Animo's blast, coming face to face with the massive mutant frog. Behind him the Heatbat landed on the ground, screeching loudly.
"Agidyne!"
"Emocha Objectia!"
Both the frog and Heatbat were knocked away from Ben. The mutants rebounded from the surprise attacks, screeching at the Tennysons.
Yukiko and Gwen stepped in front of Ben. "You take care of Animo, we'll handle his hideous pets," Yukiko said.
"Hurry up, doofus!"
Ben slapped down the dial, hoping that the watch would give him something useful. Once the light died down, both girls groaned at the fusion before them.
Ben had transformed into a fusion of Ripjaws and Heatblast. Which was without a doubt the WORST combination he could've gotten. The fusion had Ripjaws' upper body, but Heatblast's limbs. A small fire was present on his head. "Heatblast and Ripjaws? Not the best combo." Heatjaws groaned.
Animo found it fascinating. "Well, well. What do we have here? Walking fish fry?"
Heatjaws growled at Animo. "Turn my Grandpa back to normal or so help me-" His threat was nullified when the flames in his hands died out.
"Looks like you're the one who's going to need help!" Animo fired his ray at Ben once more.
"BEN!" The girls yelled, horrid at what could happen.
Turns out there was no need to worry, because Heatjaws was perfectly fine. "Hey, nothing happened!"
"Your altered state seems to have made you immune to the effects of my ray. Pity. Instead of giving you a new life, I'll just have to settle for ending your old one!" Animo declared. "Kill them all, my pets!"
The frog whipped its tongue out at the girls. Yukiko acted instantly. "Agilao!" Fireball met tongue, burning the wet appendage. The mutant screamed in pain from having its tongue burned, which Yukiko capitalized on. "Agidyne!" A stronger fireball blew the creature back into the wall.
The Heatbat went straight for Heatjaws, grabbing the fusion with its claws. Gwen raised her hand into the air, firing a blue bolt of energy at the bat. She struck home, causing it to drop her cousin.
Heatjaws turned around. "You want me? Fine, I'll fight fire with fire!" He shot a blast of flames at the bat.
"No, Ben! Remember when Yukiko tried that!" Gwen called out.
Heatjaws gasped after realizing his dumb move, not only that he was also breathing heavily from a lack of oxygen. The Heatbat's flames burned brighter than before, it shot its own wave of fire at Heatjaws. Before it could connect, a blue shield stopped the attack from connecting.
The Heatbat hissed at Gwen for getting in its way, turning its attention onto her. The girl back flipped away from the endless stream of fire that was being aimed at her.
Heatjaws climbed to his feet, trying to figure out a way to hurt that thing. He looked over and saw a sharp spike of wood in the floorboards. Tearing it out, he aimed it like a javelin, and shot it directly at the Heatbat.
The Heatbat hadn't seen it coming, screaming in pain as the spike stabbed through its back. Gwen used that opportunity to try out a new spell. Concentrating her mana, she extended her hands towards the water. "Aquata Risa Spackwata!" A medium sized bubble of water shot out of the swampy lake. The bubble nailed the Heatbat directly in the face, drenching it in water. It struggled to maintain its place in the air, hissing in pain.
Heatjaws jumped into the air. "Guess, you never saw it coming, bat-brain!" He slugged the bat in the face, sending it down into the swamp water. Heatjaws touched back onto the ground, breathing heavily.
"Good job," He said to Gwen.
"Thanks, not too bad yourself. Now what about-"
"CROAK!"
The two turned around to see Yukiko standing in front of the burning frog corpse. "Hm, now I'm thinking about having frog legs for dinner," She hummed.
"Yukiko, move!"
The heiress jumped out of the way of the green beam of energy. She snapped her head to the left to see Animo preparing another shot. "Enough of you pests getting in my way!" He continued firing at Yukiko. He glanced down to see that his Heatbat was still alive, slowly crawling out of the water.
"We need to help Yukiko!" Gwen exclaimed, ready to charge in. Until Heatjaws dropped to the ground. "Ben!?"
"Need…water…" He muttered.
Yukiko took the chance while Animo was powering up his ray for another shot. "Agidyne!" She expected the attack to hit Animo, but instead the Heatbat jumped in the way, absorbing her fire for itself. "Damn!" Yukiko ducked under a swipe from the bat.
Animo grinned, satisfied with it for the moment. He glanced at his screen. "Yes, the satellite is approaching its position. Who says one man can't change the world!?"
"ME!"
Heatjaws jumped onto the ray. Climbing towards Animo's position. "Change my grandpa back, Freakamo!" Heatjaws coughed.
"And ruin my best work? Never! Not when my experiment is at its climax!" Animo took one arm out of his machine to blast Heatjaws with a laser blast. Heatjaws countered it with his own blast. The fusion struggled to maintain his grip on the ray.
While he did that, Gwen was crawling inside of the machine, using Ben as a distraction to find the faceplate.
Animo laughed triumphantly. "You're too late, boy! Soon the next evolution will be televised!" He plugged his gauntlets back into the machine to fire it at the satellite, however his plans were halted when the Heatbat was smacked right into the ray, knocking it off course. "WHAT!?"
Both Heatjaws and Animo looked over to see Yukiko fanning herself off. The heiress had used Sumeo-Okami's sword to stab right through the Heatbat, and tossed it with enough force to disrupt Animo. "The only thing evolving around here, Animo, is your failure rate!"
"Not only that, Dr. Nutjob." Exiting the machine, Gwen stood triumphantly with the faceplate in her hands. "Guess you won't be needing this anymore, huh?"
Animo was growling like a feral animal. "Curse you! Only an intellectual like myself can properly utilize such technology!" He pointed both gauntlets at Gwen in an attempt to kill her.
However, to his dismay, both Yukiko and Heatjaws fired simultaneous blasts of fire directly at him. The mad scientist was sent flying off of his ray and he crashed down onto the wooden floorboards. Animo had been defeated.
With Animo down and out, the kids turned their attention back to Max. "What do we do about Grandpa?" Heatjaws asked.
"I'm not sure. I've never experienced anything like this before," Yukiko replied.
Heatjaws could only blame himself for this. "You guys were right about everything. I just wish I could take it all back. Reverse everything I've done."
Gwen gasped. "That is the smartest thing you've ever said! You guys wait there!" She hurried to place the faceplate back into the ray.
"Never thought I'd hear that," Yukiko said.
"Me either."
Gwen stuck her head out. "Fire it up!"
"Gwen!? Are you sure?" Yukiko asked.
Heatjaws wasn't keen on it either. "We don't know what it might do to him!"
"Trust me!"
Heatjaws and Yukiko relented, deciding to trust Gwen's judgment on this. The fusion walked over to Animo and took the gauntlets off of him.
Heatjaws stuck his hands into the machine. "3…2…1!" He and his cousins watched with bated breaths as Max was shot with the ray one more time. To their relief, Gwen's plan did work and turned Max back to normal.
"Grandpa!" Yukiko wrapped the ex-plumber in a hug. He was a bit disoriented but hugged her back anyway.
"Grandpa, you're back!" Heatjaws was relieved.
"Ben? Where did I go?"
The fusion looked back at Gwen. "What did you do in there?"
"I put the faceplate in backwards and hoped for the best. Too bad we can't do the same for you," Gwen sighed as the watch began to beep.
Her words gave him an idea. "Maybe we can! Hurry, toss it here!" She did as told, tossing it to him. Heatjaws quickly pressed the faceplate onto the watch right before he timed out. Ben turned back to normal, and the faceplate was properly attached back to the watch. "Aw yeah! It worked! Good as new!"
Yukiko helped Max back to his feet. "Why do I have this strange craving for rotten eggs and sugar water?"
"Eh, better if you never find out, Grandpa," Yukiko giggled.
Gwen slid down to Ben, who was still at the control panel. "Oh, Ben. I almost forgot something."
"What?"
She got really close to his ear and grinned. "I…TOLD YOU SO!"
"Snrk! Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yukiko erupted into a fit of laughter. Gwen and Max joined her, leaving Ben blushing in embarrassment.
The boy guessed that he did in fact deserve this.
After handing Animo over to the police, the Rustbucket drove away from the ruined Gator Festival. Gwen was watching the news report of Animo's arrest. "I feel like I'm watching a rerun."
"YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF ME!"
"Yeah, I wish," She shut off the television.
"I wonder if he learned his lesson. Don't mess around with the Tennysons," Max smirked.
Gwen shrugged. "I'm not sure, but at least Ben learned something. Right Ben-" She stopped once she saw what he was doing. "Ben!?"
Ben was once again using a screwdriver to meddle with the Omnitrix. "I was thinking I could rig this thing so that I could become even cooler combinations-OW!" He grunted from the very familiar smack to his head.
Ben turned around, shaking in fear as Yukiko glared down at him. "Even after the entire mess we just went through, you still haven't learned your lesson!?"
The boy dropped the screwdriver, backing away in fear. "W-w-wait, Yukiko! I was just kidding!"
"Maybe you need a harsher punishment!"
"IT WAS JUST A JOKE!"
Chapter End
NOTE: And that's the chapter folks! We're at the final stretch now with season 2!
Yukiko gave Ben the silent treatment instead of telling him "I told you so". He broke a promise with her again, so she was rightfully pissed at him.
Gwen got some action in this chapter with showing her progress with her magic in battle.
There was a part of me that wanted to play with the idea of fusion aliens, but I just couldn't at the moment. Maybe later down the line in Omniverse I'll play with it much more than the series itself did. But until then that's it for fusions.
Ben 10 really suffered from episodic episodes. It's a little hard to justify Ben doing dumb stuff sometimes.
Next chapter - Ghostfreak Out